Collin McAndrews

Collin Elatha McAndrews
Copyright (c) 2004, All writings under this fictitious character to his writer. Web Design by McHugh Graphics

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Last in the line of ten sons born to Mary and Chadrick McAndrews senior of Ballicastle. Six foot four with cobalt blue eyes, sandy blond hair with a tendency to curl. 26 summers seen. Good looks shared amongst the brothers. Hard to tell them apart until one got to know them. Each had their own personality but there was an underlying quality they all shared, trustworthy and honest.

Collin was the wayward son. The one the brothers were always concern about knowing his struggles. He was a man good with his hands. Hunter. Tracker. Warrior. Builder. As with all his brothers he was trained well to fight. Battles he fought in outside his lands for others' causes.

He had been away for many years but they were needed for him to mature. He traveled far and wide in search of himself until finally he found he needed to just accept who he was. Now he was ready to come home and face all that he needed to.

Shipwrights of Barrett's Bay

Collin had still to find his niche like each of his brothers had now that he was home to stay. It was a chance meeting and an idea proposed that the Shipwrights were started in Barrett's Bay. Now in partnership with Thomas Douglas.

Dry Dock Commissioned Ships

Types of Ships Ship Plans

Pirate Glossary Sailing Terms

Dragonfly

In his younger years, perhaps the fact he wore his hair long in a wild look said a lot of the person he was at the age of eighteen. He spent most of his time in the wilds of the lands hunting and tracking. He had a rapport with the woodland animals even befriending a wolf and bear cub. He felt at peace here but he needed to learn how to deal with society and fitting in as one of ten brothers. He befriended Lah at the lake and many hours they had spent fishing and talking. Her impish nature kept him off balance but at some point he had fallen in love.

He didn't discover this until the mistletoe incident where in a tease she filled his room with the weed. The reason for his aversion to this Christmastide tradition was not that he didn't like kissing but he was allergic to mistletoe. He broke out in a pox, his face swelling with spots and went after the imp with every intention of spanking her good. One hand upon her backside as she struggled to get free had her up into his arms as another emotion took over. They had fallen in love. A young love. Married and a year later twins were born. The only problem was he was still unsettled and such responsibility became too much, too soon.

He left her and the children to wander far away from the lands. He came back only to find one of his brothers that had returned was now wooing his x-wife. A discreet divorce had been declared and rightly so. It was his fault. Still he could not help the emotions stirred when he confronted his brother. Both ended up leaving for another few years. His brother returning before him and eventual marriage with another, at least his life had settled. Things had finally changed inside Collin, that which he sought to find was found. It took taking him to the brink of death. Still there was a lot of growth for one continued to grow with life's experiences. He was a better man than the one that had left and now he needed to face the damage he had done in his youth.

He hoped she had found something who could love her better than he had, although he had of heart but of treatment. It was going to be hard coming back but he had put it off far too long. This time around things would be different. When one faced death they learned more what life was about. Collin was now this determined man that a wild youth had grown into. He had new stories, experiences and things seen that changed his outlook. In the least he wanted to be a father to his son and daughter. Something important to be redeemed. Hair was cut shorter and the braids taken out. A shadow of a beard and moustache seemed to persist. Michael knew he was on his way and it was upon a large Chestnut Bay he rode in on. A gift given to him by a king of another lands. One he had fought valiantly for and near took his life in the process. It took months for him to heal wounds gained but deeper wounds were healed with them.

Collin had kept in touch with his brother Michael. Or more it was Michael that always managed to find him wherever he hid, wherever he went. He realized eventually how helpful it had been and the reason. In spite of all that he'd done, his family loved him. Maybe not like some of the things he did at times, which was understandable and acceptable. He too, like his other brothers before him, realized where he belonged. The grass was not greener anywhere else in the world but Ballicastle.

The Green Grass of Home

The fever coursed through his body, burning its path as days melted into one another until it would either consume or pass. Collin's body had been taken from the battlefield under the care of the King's own physicians. The wounds he'd sustained during the battle left the prognosis slim for him surviving. King Zion had been in contact with the brother Michael and so sent word to him on the status of his brother. Collin had never known the brother had found him and talked to this King long before the battle. Michael came and spent a few hours alone with his unconscious dying brother. When he emerged he told the King he would live but would take time to heal. As usual his visit would go without knowledge for his brother. The King and his physicians went into the room in Michael's wake to find the younger man awakening. The accumulative wounds that should have been fatal were found healing. The physicians were left baffled.

For days Collin had been in a fever induced awakening state as his life poured before him in that blazing haze. Unconscious state on the physical side. Days of youth were viewed as an outsider then his wife and children in the flow of events. There were times heated tears were seen to stream his cheeks that the physicians thought were part of the fever. There was a battle going on within Collin both mentally and physically to survive. The places and faces came in faded memories that paraded in his mind from the time he was first gone then the return when he felt he was ready to be a husband and father. The confrontation with his own brother and the woman torn between them both to flee. She only fled from them while they fled the lands. All the brothers were home now, except him. Fate had a way of working things out for each individual and individuals in turn. His only took longer. Perhaps it was his troubled and stubborn ways. Stubborn enough to survive too.

     It was within a few months after his last departure, feeling Lah and the children would be best without him along with his family, that Collin came upon this small isolated kingdom. He was the wayward son, the troubled one. The one who only brought discord upon all whose lives he touched. Eventually he learned it was his own inward struggles that caused the outward actions and reactions with others. Here he was given work in helping to build a ship along with repairing another. His expertise was quickly recognized and he moved up swiftly in the ranks of the workers. This in itself would cause discord amongst the other workers. King Zion would come down to watch the progress of his ships. It would be hard to miss the tall faired haired man he was told about. Most of their people were average height and of dark hair. Few were the ones over six foot one and a light shade of hair. Collin stood out and was also picked on by quite a few of the other men.

     As feverishly as the man worked it was quickly discovered he was an experienced warrior-fighter. Even when a few ganged up on him they were put down leaving Collin standing victorious. It was also noted he was driven by an intense nature of one fighting a bigger battle on the inside. Zion recognized it, recognized a few personality traits of a man that was troubled. A man much like the son he lost a year prior for that very uncontrollable and unpredictable nature. He had been unable to help his son but he was drawn to helping this lad if he could. Zion made sure circumstances offered their paths crossing a lot. Once the ships were finished Collin was offered a position amongst his personal guards for his fighting skills. Here he would practice with the lad one on one and a rapport gradually gained. Collin's stubborn nature made it hard but Zion's persistence won out gradually over the years as the lad finally opened up. The King became a father image and subtly offered him food for thought he could only hope would help the younger man.

     The small kingdom went under siege of another small warring kingdom. There had been no warning and all took up arms, even the women and children. The battle waged for days on end as victories would waver back and forth. When the enemy would try new tactics and footage gained, Zion would consult with his closest men, Collin being one of them. They found the foreign lad to have knowledge of such tactics used and counterattacks suggested. Ultimately the advice made the difference in who won the battle. King Zion became victorious in a surge of warriors to pour out of his castle to battle directly. During that ploy, women and children were taken to safety in the footlands. Food gathered in the diversion or otherwise they would eventually be starved out. The battle itself was gruesome and many lives lost but more were the ones of the enemy who ended up retreating with the few left of their troops.

     When the flames flared of the fever to where Collin felt his spirit being lifted, a familiar presence was felt. The fires were smothered as he swore he saw his brother Michael's eyes glowing before him leading him back. The pain of multiple wounds eased as if the cool waters flowed from Ballicastle over him directly, healing him. The lands of his family for generations was seen before his mind's eye calling him home. There was no greener grass than the green grass of home. He would no longer run from himself nor others. Others he loved. He knew who he was now, had proven himself to himself and was a better man for it. A man finally and one that now had to face all the discord he'd left in his path. He didn't know the solution other than to be himself and do the best he could. Stepping from the flames of the fever as a new man he would step forward in life instead of backwards. Conviction set in but when he opened his eyes it was not is brother he saw but the fatherly King Zion and his baffled physicians.

     A few months passed in healing and even then they kept him until the scars were fading. He had resumed his duties as a personal guard and it was during a practice that proved he was healed that Zion told him it was time for him to go home. Collin learned that his brother not only had been there that night but had been in contact with the king in keeping tabs on him but without interfering. A feast was given in his honor the night before his departure. Collin would not only keep in contact but visit when he could. There had been a bond strengthened between the King and him that would not be broken even his path would take new direction over an old one. His hair had been cut which reflected the change along with the more suited clothing of a warrior and prince. Life was once more beginning now that it had been reofferred. He was given one of the King's favored steeds as a gift for all his help in battle but the saving of the King's life to nearly losing his own. Collin named the large Chestnut bay, Peanut. This was how he arrived at Ballicastle and surrounding lands.

*Writing and page done by the player of Lahoneee although another plays Collin.*

Wife: Lah

Son: Myles

Daughter: Laoise