Who Is Springhill Jack?

A Closer Look At The Enigmatic Wizard And What We Know About Him

By Foy LeVanc of the Highcrest Library

In the rolling hills of the Green in Kilt, lies the humble village of Springhill. The people here are quiet, respectful and cheery. They are always sure to greet you with a smile, a wave and a “Good mornin’,” or “Have a lovely evenin’.” Travelers are welcome, what few of them there may be. One thing happens to stand out in this remote village. In a small cottage, whose stone chimney is always billowing a cloud of white smoke, lives the reclusive wizard known as Springhill Jack.

He stands out amongst the other denizens of Springhill. He wears a long grey cloak and a pointed cap. He stands quite a bit taller than the other citizens and has a long black beard. He wanders the countryside while leaning on his long wooden staff that is always in hand. The townsfolk are far too polite to be nosy and are just as polite to him as they are to any other person in the town. All they know about him is that he is a wizard and he enjoys his pipe and rye whiskey. But who is Springhill Jack and why does a man of his reputation live in such an unassuming place?

No one knows where he was born, where he grew up or if Springhill Jack is even his real name. The citizens of Springhill, the old and young alike, say that he has always been there, living in his small cottage on the bend of a trickling creek. They say that their parents spoke of Springhill Jack and that his presence here has been acknowledged for generations, which never stuck out to them as odd apparently. “He’s just as good a customer as any,” said Jimmil Ruddy, the owner of the local inn and tavern, “he comes in and drinks his rye whiskey by the fireplace. Sometimes he’s alone and sometimes he’s joined by his friend, Blix Finnegan, from the next town over.”

There must be more to him than being a standout character in such an unassuming place with a love of rye whiskey, right? I spoke to the headmaster of the mages college in Myrmidon who told me she knows Springhill Jack quite well and that he once held the position himself briefly. Headmaster Nuriel Mythrin told me, “Jack grew disillusioned with the rigid nature of the academic study of magic. His pursuits are his own and his understanding of magic goes well beyond what anyone within these walls could comprehend.” I asked many students wandering the halls of the college who all said that Springhill Jack holds a mythical status at the college, some not even believing him to be real. The image of a wizard with a pointed cap and staff sounds too folksy and rustic to some of the younger students…

Oddly enough, traces of him can be found all over Randós. In the northern land of Terrador, they seem to have a place for him even in folklore. They mention a wizard, whom these people fundamentally distrust, that they call Old Oakey, who matches the description of Springhill Jack. It’s said that Old Oakey tricked the ancient king Holsgier Daínn into being trapped forever in a sea cave on the northern coast. Legends differ on why “Old Oakey” would have done this to Holsgier. Furthermore, Holsgier was a king of the north more than five hundred years ago. Is Springhill Jack the oldest man to ever live? Perhaps his grasp of magic gives him an unusually long life. Could he have traveled through time just to betray Holsgier? No one knows. To this day, Old Oakey persists as a common boogeyman for the superstitious people of Terrador.

In my travels to learn more about this strange wizard, I’ve asked many questions and have gotten few coherent answers in return. He spends time in his quiet cottage in between visits to the few taverns he has yet to be banned from. He has a pet dragon named Nallygaster and grows his own food, including his own breed of sweet potato that tastes like fermented honey, a very popular local commodity in Springhill. His best friend is Blix Finnegan, a short and round man with a frizzy red beard and hair that hides beneath a knitted toque. The man is clearly hiding something and is much more than he presents on the surface. We may never know the truth about the man that the world knows as Springhill Jack.

Addendum: After completing this work, I met a man wandering the streets of Myrmidon near the mage’s college who claimed to have been an apprentice of Springhill Jack. The man was dirty and half crazed, mumbling in a bizarre language that I’ve never heard before. He said his name was Raskell Churley and that he could give me more information, and a warning, about Springhill Jack. Raskell told me that Springhill Jack is immortal and wanderers the world looking for a cure to his immortality. This is supposedly why he trapped Holsgier, to see if anyone else could come along and break his eternal curse. He told me that some people refer to Jack as “The Walking Man,” for he’s found a way to walk in between past and future worlds and took Raskell to another world that he called "the other place." Raskell warned me to stay away from Springhill Jack and rambled on about a web of conspiracies involving the wizard. I was assured by the college that Raskell was nothing more than a mad beggar and that he should be disregarded. Although, I can’t help but shake the feeling that there is some truth behind his words. Especially due to the fact that Raskell had a marking on him, a mysterious rune that I also saw on a depiction of Springhill Jack’s staff.