Casey

Casey
Casey on Skarnes, photographed from a passing boat in 2051
Title	Self-styled King of Skarnes (2045–present)
Born	c. 2026 (estimated)
Known for	Escaping the Ostholm experiments
Residence	Skarnes, off the coast of Ulmarka
Subjects	c. 140 islanders (claimed)
Recognition	None

Casey (/ˈkeɪ.si/) (born c. 2026) is a survivor of the Ostholm experiments, the human experimentation carried out by a breakaway faction of the Cult of Landon off the coast of Ulmarka. He escaped the island of Ostholm alone in a small boat during a storm in 2038 and came ashore on Skarnes, a remote, treeless islet farther out to sea, where he has lived ever since.^[1]

The experiments left Casey with severe physical deformities and serious psychiatric illness. Since 2045 he has proclaimed himself King of Skarnes, ruling, in his own account, over a community of about 140 homeless drifters, famine refugees and castaways who have settled on the islet. No state recognises his claim. He is the only survivor of Ostholm living outside state custody, and the most widely known.^[2]

Little is known about Casey's early life, and he does not speak about it. Records seized on Ostholm list him as Subject 12, brought to the island as a child in 2034 by a family belonging to the movement. His family name is not recorded in the surviving files.^[1]

In October 2038 Casey took a sealing skiff from Ostholm's landing during a storm. The faction's records note his disappearance and assume he had drowned. He reached Skarnes, about forty kilometres to the north-west, after two days at sea, and survived the following winter alone in the ruins of a lighthouse keeper's cottage, living on seabirds, eggs and shellfish.^[1]

After the 2043 Ulmarkan Famine, small groups of refugees from the northern districts of Ulmarka began reaching Skarnes by boat, followed in later years by drifters, deserters and people with nowhere else to go. Casey welcomed them and, in 2045, declared himself their king. He holds court each evening in the ruined lighthouse, wearing a crown made from a ship's barrel hoop, and issues decrees on the sharing of food and driftwood which the islanders largely follow.^[2]

Visitors describe the community as poor but orderly, and protective of Casey. The Ulmarkan Empire claims Skarnes as part of its territory but has never attempted to administer it; Ulmarkan fishermen avoid the islet and call him the Skerry King.

Casey's body bears severe malformations resulting from the experiments, including disproportionate growth of the limbs, chronic skin lesions and impaired movement, and he lives with constant pain. A doctor who accompanied a 2051 journalists' visit described him as suffering from a serious psychotic illness, including grandiose delusions about his kingship and fixed beliefs about the sea, alongside long periods of lucid, gentle conversation.^[2] He has refused every offer of treatment on the mainland, saying that he will not leave his people.

Casey came to wider attention after a 2051 report by Sylvaris journalists, whose long-lens photograph of him standing on the rocks in his crown was reproduced around the world. He has become a symbol of the experiments' victims, and to some opponents of the Ulmarkan Empire of the people it abandons. Survivors' groups have asked that he be left in peace.^[3]

• Ostholm experiments
• Skarnes
• Cult of Landon
• 2043 Ulmarkan Famine
• Highlands Commonwealth–Sovereignty transition discrepancy