EDITS:

• Changed intellectual to methodical in describing his fighting style.
• Emphasized that he doesn't care about the machinations of the realm.
• Removed unintentional implied statement that he is a godly tactician.
• Emphasized that he spends little time in the capitol or among the nobles.
• Emphasized character's size.
• Increased weight.
• Emphasized that the common folk like him because they've seen him do right by them, and not because he's good at speeches.
• Described his attitude towards his squires.
• Increased age slightly.
• Increased height slightly. Character is now taller than I am.
• Finished background. Not perfect, but deadline met. Sort of.

Name: Sir Royce Agathon of Debbens
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Species: Human

Background

Kingdom of Origin: Talbor; Debbens Shire
Parents: Lord Jurel Agathon of Debbens, and Lady Carol Danes of Maceron.
Backstory: From the first time young Royce Agathon could speak, he made it known that he wanted to become a Knight of the Ram. Practice with wooden swords began long before he'd turned eight, and Royce had always been large for his age. Thus, it was no surprise when he was accepted to be a Page. In his training, the young page never stood out in the classroom. In fact, in the eyes of his teachers he was a middling student at best. However, he shined in the practice rings, and after a few years was beating pages and young squires alike to a bruised and bloody pulp. He was not a quick child, the instructors noted, but he was a vicious one.

There were times during his studies when the teachers were reluctant to move him ahead, but his sheer prowess on the training field, coupled with pressure from his noble father kept him on schedule. At the age of fourteen, Royce was considered ready to assume the rank of squire, and was given to Sir Valentine of Draco for the remainder of his training. Sir Valentine was, in many respects, the catalyst that turned Royce from an arrogant young noble into a man who exemplified the qualities of a knight. He allowed Royce the chance to make mistakes, and rather than insulting him for them, he used them as teaching moments.

But most importantly, Sir Valentine cared for his men. Where many of the other knights Royce had seen chose to stay above and separate from the commoners in their host, Sir Valentine went out of his way to care for them. In his words, the Knights of the Ram were servants of the realm. "Servants," he stressed. "Not overlords."

The common folk loved the man, and it was no surprise that his demeanor rubbed off on young Royce over the years. Royce's apprenticeship to Sir Valentine lasted five years, during which he was crafted not only into a man, but into a weapon of the realm. The tricks and ferocity that earned Royce praise in the practice rings were not all that there was to being a knight.

Those years were happy times for Royce, but like all things, they had to come to an end. In his fifth year of squireship, Royce was told that his knight had been taken captive, and was being held in a cave guarded by a flight of harpies. He'd heard of these types of missions before, in campfire whispers from the other squires. He knew it was his test, and he was ready for it.

When he reached the cave, Sir Valentine came out to meet him. Without a word, he drew his sword and flourished, signalling for a duel. The fight was hard won, but Royce came out the victor - and with his victory, his knighthood was earned. His journey of five years with Sir Valentine was at an end.

It wasn't long before Royce found himself in the service to Commander Knight Alric of Ferdinand. Sir Alric was everything that Sir Valentine wasn't. He was older, ruder, and more arrogant to an extreme. Royce had to bite his tongue more times than he could count, resisting the urge to draw his blade at the Commander Knight's constant barbs.

He kept to Sir Valentine's teachings, always having a kind word or encouragement to offer, offsetting his commander's toxicity as much as he could with the common born soldiers in Sir Alric's host. In the battles to come, that rapport was worth earning. Soldiers came to the Commander Knight's aid because they had to; they came to Royce's aid because they wanted to. When Sir Alric found himself surrounded by brigands after being forced out of formation in a charge, Justiciar Knight Royce and the rest of the host stood by and let them take him.

No one ever spoke a word of what had happened. Sir Alric's host was transferred to the command of another, newly promoted Commander Knight - Sir John of Jessup. Shortly after the change of command, Royce was put in charge of a new squire. Squire Kristof of Draco was a fiery youth that reminded the aging Royce of himself in many ways, except for one: Squire Kristof was smart as a whip. No Knight of the Ram is stupid, but Squire Kristof was an intellectual jewel by the standards of the tutors - qualifying in the top single digit percentages in every single one of his classes.

The boy proved himself quickly, and Royce was soon taking him by his side on every battle and mission. Bravery and talent such as that - Royce knew he was training the next Grand Master; but it was not to be. Sir John's host was marching to the supposed location of a large pack of Orc mountain bandits in Talbor's north when they were ambushed. Before Royce could react, they were already upon his squire - hacking him to pieces even after the blood had stopped spurting. The rest of the column was able to reform and repel the attack, but their casualties were staggering.

Royce's own horse was shot out from under him, and reluctantly he took the reins of his fallen squire's horse - Victory. He personally led the charge into their den, and cut down their chieftain in single combat.

The death of his squire, the first he had ever lost, sparked a fire in Royce. Sir John quickly acquiesced to his demand for an element of the host. Then he went hunting. In battle after battle, he sought out the strongest of opponents and hacked them to pieces. It was many, many months before the rage quieted down. In that time, a dozen bandit clans had been annihilated, and Talbor's northern mountains knew true peace for the first time in years.

It wasn't long after that Royce found himself in the position of Commander Knight. Word had gotten around the upper circles of the knighthood and nobility. They called him a class traitor, whined that he was too close to the peasants; but they couldn't deny his achievements. Royce's service record was nearly impeccable, and the body count attributed to him staggering. When the common folk started rumbling about corruption, his appointment was seen as a way to appease them.

In assuming the rank of Commander Knight, Royce was able to finally use Sir Valentine's teachings to their fullest extent. In his host, all men were treated with dignity, and he held his knights to the highest standards of decency. Over the years he took on other squires, and trained them well, but he never forgot his first.

Physical Appearance:

Height: 75 inches
Weight: 217 lbs
Appearance: Royce is physically imposing man, with a large black beard and a wild mane of hair that stands in stark contrast to his polished suit of knight's armor and noble clothing. His frame is huge, and thickly muscled. He has wide shoulders and powerful legs, his physique equally as resultant from his training as his genetics. He has little of a dancer's poise, or a duelist's grace.

His eyes are hetero-chromatic, with one being brown and the other blue. His face has never been renowned for its beauty. His nose is hooked, and has been broken more than a few times. Several old wounds mar his complexion, some of which look to have been very deep. His right eyebrow is parted, and a scar leading up from the left corner of his mouth gives his face the appearance of a constant, grim smirk.

The rest of his body is similarly weathered. Royce is a veteran of many battles, and although he is a fearsome warrior, even the weakest of men can wound a dragon. He walks with a slight limp, the memory of a when his left leg was stabbed clean through with a spear, and his right hand is missing the last segments of his two outer-most fingers - caused when an enemy lance pierced the wood and metal of his shield.

Even in the clothing of the nobility, he looks like more of a mountain barbarian than a knight, and as such many in the noble class find him unsettling. This often causes him to be their first choice to send on patrols or missions, preferably the most dangerous they can find.

Attire: On the battlefield and during ceremonies, Royce is garbed in the armor of the Knights of the Ram. His tabard is decorated in the colors of Talbor; gold, blue, and white, and along his lance run streamers of the same. The armor is typical, although modified to accommodate his large frame. Bright, polished steel edged with brushed brass, the crest of Talbor inlaid and lacquered into the breastplate. The suit is heavy, although not by the standards of comparable armor found in the rest of Tithe. Nevertheless, the steel is segmented and hinged in such a way as to allow the most movement possible, and Royce wears it as a second skin. His sword is belted to his right side, and in war he is rarely without a shield slung across his back.

When in conditions of relative safety, Royce wears the silks and fine cotton of a Talborian noble. They are typically coordinated in his house colors of red and white. However, he also maintains a wardrobe of commoners' clothes for situations in which he wishes to avoid the attention typically given to nobles seen wandering the less savory areas of the kingdom. He also wears a medallion with his mother's personal seal at all times - a gift left for him to remember her by when she died giving birth to his youngest sister.

Personality:

Personality: Though Royce's face may be terrifying, his demeanor does not match it. Beloved by the men under his command, the Commander Knight finds himself more at home among the commoners of the army than in the marble halls of the nobility. Royce is a man of boisterous humor among his friends and terrible rage at his enemies - but this is cut by an understanding of their humanity. He does not allow his men to loot the farms and villages of the territories he is ordered to seize, and he has personally executed those who would rape the wives and daughters of even the kingdom's most bitter enemies.

Royce cares for his men in a way that few of the Kingdom's nobility do. At all times, he keeps a ledger with the names of the men who have died in his service, and is sometimes found poring over it, trying to figure out how he could have done better - how he could have saved them all. Whenever the situation permits, he takes the time to personally deliver news of their passing to the families, often gifting them a sum of coin from his own substantial personal coffers.

This all has led him to have a reputation as one of the Knights of the Ram's most noble warriors - if not in appearance, in deeds. However, Royce does not have a reputation as one of the Knighthood's greatest intellects. Perhaps due to disinterest, or perhaps due to sheer lack of scholarly talent, the Commander Knight was never known for his grasp of political machination, or the history of the realm. Royce prefers to live in the here and now, and as such the majority of his education that remained with him was for things he considered to be important. He has a keen grasp of tactics, and is very capable of organizing and leading an effective fighting force.

In training squires to take on the mantle of Knighthood, Royce has tried to engender a sense of humility and humanity. He does not expect his squires to wait on his every need, and forgoes the need for a constant guardian while he sleeps. He emphasizes dealings with the common folk, and tries to force his squires out of their comfort zone. He has been known to leave squires on farms in the middle of nowhere, expecting them to help the families with their tasks. To a particularly snotty squire, Royce once said, "There are enough preening pricks in the Rams. You're not going to be one."

Royce's steadfast support of his men, coupled with his willingness to meet them at their level has endeared him to the common folk. However, this very same demeanor does little to win him the love of the nobility. Because of this, a career that should have led him to the Crown Officers or above has stalled at the rank of Commander. This does not bother him, however, because he believes that the battlefield is where he can do the most good - leave the politicking to the spineless cowards. He cares little for the machinations of the realm.

Hobbies: Royce is a man of simple things. He is most at home on the battlefield, or in the training square. He takes great pleasure in turning green village boys into deadly warriors. But not all of his interests lie in martial fields; Royce is often found drinking among his men, or helping widows with the farm work. On other, quieter days, he can be seen sitting outside his tent nursing a flagon of ale, lazily whittling a block of wood, or poring over his terrible ledger.
Skills: Royce is a hero of the common folk, known for his deeds and not for idealistic speeches. As such, he finds very little trouble winning the willing cooperation of the lower classes. That said, he is a singular man. Outside the realm of combat and command, Royce is capable of little more than dumb labor.

Abilities/Combat:

Abilities: As a Knight of the Ram, Royce Agathon is a master with sword and lance. He is also left handed, which often catches his foes off guard. The Commander Knight is strong, but not particularly quick, and as such he is more of an methodical fighter than a savage one. In battle, Royce will often fight defensively, watching for the right moment to use his superior strength to level foes in a single hit. However, Royce is capable of flying into a black rage in battle if enough of his men are murdered, or upon viewing instances of particular cruelty. Under these circumstances, his normally defensive style of combat turns towards the offensive. Utilizing the superior quality of his armor and blade, he hammers his opponents into dust.

While skilled on foot, Royce is also a talented lancer. While not always the champion, he has won his fair share of jousting tourneys against the knights and noblemen of the realm. On the battlefield, Royce has no qualms against lancing the mounts of his enemies and leaving them for foot soldiers to kill afterwards.

While Royce is a fearsome opponent, his primary value is as a symbol and as a commander. The men he leads fight harder than any other, partially due to the time he spends training them but primarily due to a desire to live up to his example. He has an unparalleled ability to rally common troops and lead them to victory - even if he relies more on his nature than on clever battlefield tactics.

Weaponry: When mounted, Royce wields a long lance. He also carries a bastard sword on his right hip at all times, both as his primary weapon and a mark of his station. He also wears a knife at his belt, but it is more of a tool than a weapon.
Weaknesses: While trained in the use of ranged weapons, Royce was never of any particular talent and makes little use of them. As such, he lacks any ability to harm foes that he cannot physically reach. His left leg is also somewhat weaker than his right, the result of a wound sustained many years ago. This causes a visible limp which could be exploited by his enemies. The rage into which he sometimes flies leaves him with tunnel vision, unable to comprehend the wider situation. As such, he is useless as a commander under these circumstances and easily drawn into traps.
Mount: Royce rides a great black warhorse, named Victory. Its namesake was the mount of a squire killed during his training. The boy's family wished for Royce to keep it. While the name was a bit more ostentatious than he would have chosen, Royce considers the mount a reminder of his greatest failure. When it grew too old to ride to war, Royce retired it to his manor. Knowing he could not be without a horse, Royce took another and gave it the same name, never to forget his fallen squire. The horse is well trained, and in battle it is barded in steel and caprisoned in the colors of Talbor.

The horse's chanfron is mounted with a pair of ram's horns identical to those on Royce's own helm, and the steel of its barding is made in the same manner as Royce's own armor. It is a veteran of many battles, and one of the Commander Knight's most beloved possessions.

Other: