Crasten Nathair

Crasten Nathair is the estranged uncle of Aleyina Nathair, Duchess of the Ashen Coast. Crasten was believed dead after taking a group of Galuyn men with him aboard currachs and leaving Gilneas before the construction of the Greymane Wall.

History
Born in Gilneas, in the area known as the Fallow Crest, Crasten like much of his family while Galuyn turned to infiltrate Gilnean society for a time by pretending to be nobility through his brother Conall's established ties.

Coming of age however, Crasten along with a small group of Galuyn Wavewalkers took to their currachs and departed gloomy Gilneas in an attempt to seek out new shores for raiding.

Later coming ashore in Kul Tiras, Crasten found interest in the magic of the drust, with his own abilities already extremely similar to theirs he quickly learned the arts of a thornspeaker. Tempted by the darker rituals of the drust, the thornspeaker turned towards further studies of the covens, even going as far as learning how to summon his own wicker beasts.

Joining with the Willowborne, a sect of Thornspeakers who use the knowledge of the drusts magic to combat them, Crasen created his own small cult of personality.

The Willowborne and the Blades
Crasten first met the members of the Blades in Wickenden, where he had followed the strange energies that attracted drust hags and their beasts through a gate, later known as the Geata-Bealach which connected several Galuyn key locations to Drustvar.

Crasten, a man of Galuyn heritage himself, specifically related to Aleyina Nathair was there confronted with the overthrowing of the Wicker King, the past ruler of the Galuyn. The Council that had replaced the King also did not seem to be doing their job so much like Aleyina the man tossed his name in the ring for leadership of the pagan natives, gathering votes in his favor before his niece however took the position.

Though he aided them against the cursed swine and hag magic the Blades were distrustful of him, even more so when Vanessa one of his apprentice Thornspeakers went missing along with several relics. She was later found in the Garrán Nex fusing the various relics together with her druidic magic though claimed she did not know or remember how she got where she was and how she had obtained the relics.

Convinced that Crasten was in charge of the operation to steal the relics the Blades tossed him in a cell to await trial. He later was able to convince just enough people to bargain for his return to Drustvar but warned both Wickenden and the Blades that they had not yet taken care of their hag problem to the fullest potential and would need him again. He left Vanessa behind, uncaring about her situation.

Vanessa explained to the members of the Blades that Crasten can call upon drust magic the same way hags can due to his affiliation with the Willowborne, a group of druidic Thornspeakers who study drust magic much akin to the hags in order to fight fire with fire and that Crasten was the only one of the small party that made their way through the Waygate able to teach members of the Blades the tactics of the witches.

It wasn't until months later, on a Blades deployment to Grymmtide's Hollow in Drustvar that Crasten and the Blades' paths would cross once more. There the members of the Blades were directed to Crasten one of the leaders of the Willowborne to establish a proper foothold in Drustvar from which they could work.

Crasten, still angered by their previous engagement, began to send the members of the Gilnean military on a variety of errands to prove they could be trusted. While hesitant the man began to warm up to them slowly, eventually permitting them to help look for his lost colleague Florentus Ulrik who had been missing since Crastens departure to Gilneas. While they could not find Florentus, the group came upon a gruesome sacrificial site that suggested Florentus had been sacrificed by the hags before his body was taken by the Horde who overran the Drust camp.

Finally permitting the Blades an insight into the workings of the Willowborne, it was quickly discerned that the Willowborne were falling prey to the Hags on the island, causing even their leader Randulf Wolfsbane to have been taken and leaving his second in command, Crasten in charge, who practically locked down the island to prevent people from vanishing without his knowledge.

With combined efforts Crasten and the Gilneans were able to rescue Randulf and the other Willowborne that had been trapped and eventually Randulf decided to assign Crasten, despite his open protests, as a liaison to the Blades of Greymane from the Willowborne after several successful attempts had been made to appease all of the doubts the Willowborne still had about the Gilnean outsiders.

Crasten has since taken his niece on as an apprentice, teaching her the magic of the Drust.