Starting life on a small island off the coast of France, known as England, Lord Robin of the Whip was raised by his noble mother. It was a relatively happy life for a child in England, given all the pleasures a noble heritage would warrant. A loving mother, plenty to eat, and always a fire in the winter.

But life could not stay this blissful – especially in the midst of the Holiest of wars. What could end the bliss in this house? The war was fought a world away – in the home of the Saracens and infidels. Mother was home; ensuring the house remained a happy manor. The only answer could then be the noble knight father. Father had gone to fight for the church, and to claim lands for himself and the king.

This was a fairly common occurrence for the times, and no one thought twice of it. But, being of noble birth, and spending day after day with mother, young Robin began to see how life was in a manor. But as time went on, his nobility brought him education. Thinkers and philosophers would tutor him in the arts of the mind, while knights and warriors too old, or otherwise unable to travel for the cause of the church, would tutor him in the arts of war. (It should be noted that Squires were as of yet not common throughout England – and therefore, the training was less rigid, and not as diverse as required by later squires.)

During this period of education, Robin began to ask many questions. In fact, there were more questions than there were answers. The troublesome part of it all was that the questions were not the standard how’s and why’s – but rather "for what reason?". Specific questions as to the motivations behind the Crusade, and the purposes of killing the Saracens in their home lands, and taking their cities as our own often failed to produce suitable answers from the nobles. And now having a thirst for knowledge, Robin began seeking the answers from other sources.

At this point in time, the news of the progress of the Crusades was returning in many forms – but the most popular were the stories told by returning warriors. Of course, these stories were often told in the traditional fashion of lesser nobles and commoners – exaggerating the incidents as to make the story teller appear to be brave or stronger. This oft times meant that the adversaries were overcome by a cunning plan, or worse yet – true barbarism by the nobles in command. The worst stories came from those were injured and maimed, and were extremely bitter toward the nobles who lead them. These generally included tales of atrocities meant to make the nobles into bloodthirsty barbarians.

It was these stories that fascinated Robin most. They were told with such passion, and apparent lack of concern for political correctness, that they must be true. These were the foundation for what was to become a strong opinion against the English nobles (of which he was one…).

News came back to England, amoung much rejoicing, that Jerusalem had been won! The Saracens had been defeated, and we now controlled the holiest city in the world. This meant that the noble father should be returning with riches abound.

Instead of the expected arrival of the noble father, there came instead a message, along with large sums of money for the manor. This message stated that father was not returning yet. He had joined the ranks of a new noble Order – The Templars – named after the base they were given – the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.

Looking for information, Robin went to his favorite source. Here he learned of the capture of Jerusalem. He heard of what happened to the captured Saracens in Jerusalem. They were beheaded by the hundreds – On the very same Temple of Solomon – by the very same knights who would become the Templars.

After hearing this, it became impossible to respect his "noble and honourable" father. The noble mother, however continued to support her honourable husband. This made it impossible to respect mother as well.

Unable to look his family in the eye, Robin decided it was time to leave. There was nothing in England for him, except murderous, treacherous hypocrites. Gathering a small amount of money, Robin left the manor feeling his honor had been betrayed by the very same people who were supposed to guard it with the ideas of chivalry.

Not having a destination, or any real idea of what to do, he wandered to the coast. There he found himself in a port side tavern. Assuming he would buy passage on ship to somewhere, and figure out what to do after that, he ordered his drink and sat at the only open seat at the bar.

Being raised as noble, Robin was not aware of the fact that his clothing and attitude were a bit out of place in a portside tavern. But this did not escape the older gentleman next to him – who felt the need to point this out. But, in a true Irish style, the gentleman did so in such an entertaining fashion, that it was impossible for Robin to take offense.

A few drinks, and many back and forth insults later, Robin and Mr. McCauley became great friends. As it would happen, Mr. McCauley was a Chanteyman – And, as luck would have it, he was looking for a new ship on which to work. And being the cordial Irishman he was, he offered to help find work for young Robin as well. Of course, both knew that Robin knew nothing of sailing – or of how life on a ship was. Undaunted Mr. McCauley said he would help remedy the situation.

The next morning, the two set out to the piers to find ships hiring. Mr. McCauley easily found a decent looking ship, and approached the Boatswain to see about work. The Boatswain of course asked what they did – and Mr. McCauley went on to tell him that they had both worked together for a number of years, and that he was a Chanteyman, and his younger counterpart was a lookout – accustomed to the crowsnest.

The job had been secured, and Robin went to work in the crows nest – where he couldn’t screw anything up, and he had a "birds-eye" view of the entire ship and how it worked.

Working on various cargo ships, running from England, Ireland and France, he got to see the world, and more importantly, how life on a ship worked. He decided that the best job on a ship was the boatswain. So he watched the Boatswains very carefully. He learned the ins and outs of the job without ever having done it.

At the next port (in Ireland), Robin told Mr. McCauley that he wanted to become a boatswain. Mr. McCauley was able to arrange this quite easily. They went to a new ship to sign on – and when asked what they did, Mr. McCauley simply changed the Years as a lookout to years as a boatswain. And having studied the Boatswains on prior ships, Robin was able to answer any questions asked. He was told he needed to make a cat of nine (his reply was that his was lost overboard in a storm just before hitting port). Being an important position on the ship, there were more personal questions asked of Robin – like his name. When he reported for duty, he did not want to use his family name, as that was something he left behind. But Mr. McCauley – being quick on his feet, noticed2 things – one was that Robin was till noticeable as noble (good hygiene stands out), and 2 – the shiny new leather whip. Robin got his first name out – but Mr. McCauley quickly interjected "You mean you haven’t heard of Lord Robin of the Whip? Most renown Boatswain on the sea!" Such the name became his own.

Years later, they were working a spice frigate, brining spices from the east. The ship was over-run by the Turks, and those who survived became galley slaves. Robin was spared this, however because of a medallion he took from his father’s treasure. It was a religious symbol of the Turks (this of course was unknown to Robin). This allowed him to bargain for Mr. McCauley. It was agreed the two of them would work as slaves assisting the slave traders.

This lasted a bit over a year. Then the two planned their escape. In the process, there was a young woman from Europe who had been taken as a slave. Robin could not leave her behind, so he added her to their escape plans. He and Mr. McCauley had been able to build trust amoung the Turks, and as such were able to gain small amounts of freedom, which they used. Robin arranged for a small boat to be at the end of the main pier, and a ship was to wait for their arrival.

Their plans were discovered early, and they were all forced to run. They were of course chased, and the archers were brought out. On the run down the pier, Mr. McCauley was behind the others – being older and slower. But his age helped the others to escape – he valiantly died – his back pierced with the arrows that would have otherwise killed them all.

Robin and Charmaine made it to the Boat, and rowed out of range. Unfortunately, when the ship saw the commotion – they left – not wanting trouble. This left the small bot alone in the sea. But not for long – a ship from Japan – branded as a pirate ship – came by and picked them up. Japanese Pirates were forbidden from landing on Japanese soil – and were forced to sail the world. Therefore, it was no problem for them to take the two strangers to a friendly port.

Making their way back to Ireland, Robin decided he had finally had enough of the ocean, and purchased land on the inland border of what is now County Wicklow. (This could very well be the first and only time that an Englishman who owned land in Ireland actually paid for it……)

It was here that he established his Household – the House of the Golden Rose, and started his family with his wife Kendrah of the Golden Citadel, and son Brennan of the Golden Whip. Charmaine stayed with Robin and became Seneschal of the household, to assist in the daily business of running a manor. Yearning for a more adventurous life than a manor could give, Robin formed a Mercenary squad known later as Robin’s Roughnecks. This proved to be profitable with the various battles fought in Ireland between the many kings and nobles. But these are tales for another time.