Whittaker Morganna was an Asnor Skald, founding member of the Mistborn, and later Jarl of Bregentved. His wrongful conviction and eventual exoneration became closely tied to the discovery of a hidden Nharvek influence in Lidviken.
Early Life
Whittaker was born in Arkrist on the 10th of Amunver, 8686 SE to Gram and Lothiri Morgana. His mother worked as a launderess and maintained the family home while his father sailed for extended periods. After their home was robbed during one of Gram’s voyages, the family began saving to leave the increasingly dangerous city.
When Whittaker was five, the family sailed for the Skyre Islands aboard a trading vessel on which Gram had taken work. Whittaker delighted in the voyage and learned the beginnings of seamanship from the crew. A sailor named Assan became particularly important to him. One night Assan showed the young Whittaker the path of moonlight across the sea and told him of Amundala. The image remained with Whittaker and became the beginning of his lifelong devotion to the goddess.
The family settled in Vrungend, where Gram found work first in fishing and later aboard trading vessels. As Whittaker grew older, his parents arranged for him to apprentice with Eamon Fearghasa, a Skald associated with the court of Inis Nuadha. Eamon taught him history, poetry, rhetoric, languages, philosophy, diplomacy, and the other disciplines expected of the office. When Whittaker was twenty-one, he succeeded Eamon as Skald in the court later headed by Ornolf Varsson.
Whittaker married Aisling, and their daughter Saoise was born in 8714 SE. His duties frequently took him to other islands as a diplomat. He also developed productive relationships with nearby Skyre Folk communities and dwarven settlements.
Framing and the Crimson Company
In Yilaver of 8721 SE, Whittaker returned from a diplomatic journey to Inis Tierneg and was accused of preparing forged documents in support of Bodvar Egilsson, a man whose disputed ancestry could have challenged Ornolf Varsson’s authority. Whittaker insisted that the evidence had been planted, but Ornolf accepted the apparent proof and sentenced him to service in the Crimson Company. Aisling and Saoise were confined to the Thegn’s castle under guard.
Whittaker’s sentence placed him with Cap Tan Ro’geers, Gobbles, and Mist. During the following year the four traveled widely on Company work. Whittaker became attuned to the magical vessel Vatyrnar and often served as the group’s navigator, negotiator, and religious adviser.
In late 8722, the group secretly returned to Lidviken to investigate who had benefited from Whittaker’s removal. Their attention centered upon Johan Seyler, the new Skald. Gobbles discovered a concealed passage beneath a house associated with Bodvar Egilsson, and the group found evidence of an aberrant cerebral parasite operating through the tunnels below the city. When they eventually confronted Seyler while rescuing Aisling and Saoise, the parasite was exposed.
The Mistborn were arrested after the violent escape and brought before Ornolf Varsson. The evidence they had uncovered persuaded the Thegn that Whittaker had been framed. Ornolf exonerated him, released his family, and granted him the title Jarl of Bregentved together with funds to begin rebuilding the settlement.
Bregentved and the Succession War
Whittaker invested heavily in Bregentved and made it the Mistborn’s principal home. During 8723 SE he helped negotiate the establishment of a College Arcanum academy there, despite longstanding Asnor suspicion of arcane practice. An assassination attempt disrupted the negotiations, but the agreement survived and the academy became one of the most important institutional consequences of the Asnor Succession War of 8723 SE.
During the struggle against Ulrik Lindvig, Whittaker used his experience as a Skald and diplomat as aggressively as the other Mistborn used weapons. In occupied Vrungend, he helped turn popular resentment into an uprising while his companions infiltrated the palace and freed the imprisoned Reds. He later supported Cap’s coalition through the campaigns at Aalund and Hammerheim. At the Installation of the Stadtholder, Whittaker carried a ring bearing the seal of Bregentved.
Zurath’ek
Whittaker remained with the Mistborn after Cap’s installation. He helped rescue Mist’s wife Flow from captors connected to Zurath’ek, defended the Teeth of Sekorath at Bregentved, and joined the research expedition to the Great Library on Danto that identified conditions associated with attempted apotheosis.
At the Apotheosis Attempt at Cinderfold, Whittaker fought alongside Cap, Sazed, and Gobbles while Zurath’ek attempted to use the Teeth as part of a larger ritual. The Mistborn disrupted the ritual but could not prevent Zurath’ek from escaping with the Mantle of Rektesh.