Name: Balthazar Guisemere

Age: 46

Race: Valanian

Nationality: Volintisian

Allegiance:King Lothair, formerly, and now Prince Lucius. No one else.

Appearance: He stands six feet four inches tall, with a head full of black hair, cut short and styled as neatly as he can. Brown eyes, a slightly crooked nose and thin lips adorn Balthazar's face, along with a scar that runs horizontally across his nose. He is built very well, as a soldier should be, yet age and the fires of war have taken their toll: scars cover his hands and arms, even across his chest and back there is evidence of his travels.

Profession: Mercenary, formerly of King Lothair's Royal Guard.

Biography: Once he served as part of the Royal Guards during the reign of King Lothair, being a personal bodyguard to the king himself. After the assassination, Balthazar still served under the Dauphin de Valania, Prince Lucius, and life was still alright, though he was quite saddened by his king's untimely demise. Then Sarife invaded, the Prince was forced into exile, the Puppet King Richter was put in place instead and Balthazar snapped. He'd had enough, and promptly left the Royal Guards of his own volition. Broken-hearted, sullen and weary, he set forth on a life of wandering, scouring the world for a new purpose in life. At the time, he did not know of the Prince's exile, but when he returned to Valania fourteen years later, rumours reached his ears of the throne's rightful heir being an exile from his own home. During the decade and a half that he was absent, he travelled the world as a sword for hire, fighting in wars for coin and earning many scars and weapons as rewards. Now, armed with exotic weapons, heightened combat skills and a renewed sense of purpose, he seeks out Prince Lucius to serve as a guard to royalty one more, and to be used as a weapon by the heir to the throne to seek out enemies of Valania and end them personally.

Notable skills/abilities: Extremely proficient in armed and unarmed combat. An able marksman and proficient horseback rider.

Other Notes:

• He is equipped with a scimitar in a sheath on his left hip, two boot knives, several poor man's grenades on his belt, a set of flint and steel and a bardiche. He wears an almost full set of gothic plate armour, minus the helmet and several small pieces of armour, and a cape with the livery of King Lothair's Royal Guard on full display. The armour and cape are all a deep dark blue, bordering on black, and he normally wears the cape the wrong way up, with the former king's livery hidden against his back instead of out in the open.
• As part of his reputation as one of the most fearsome fighters and soldiers in Valania, he is mostly known only by his nickname as the Ghost of Valania, being a remnant of the old Kingdom, once forgotten, now a bitter and weary soul with one thing in mind: vengeance against the Puppet King. As such, he has many contacts amongst the resistant public; the whores, ex-soldiers, barmen, workers, beggars and the lost and oppressed.
• His goal is firstly to seek out Prince Lucius, no easy task in the city. After that, he aims to assist the Prince in whatever ends he requires to regain his rightful throne and to restore proper rule and stability to Valania.

A bad peace is worse than a good war.
When I go more than ten miles out of the city, the love and loyalty of friends comes to an end.
All citizens must place the common good before the private good.