Are we in Italy, Spain, Aquitaine, Switzerland, or what?

If you mean by comparison to a real-world location, that's a bit hard. Velt's chief inspiration is basically your standard "British" fantasy country. Ithillin has French influence as well as Spanish influence(mostly for the Hundi).

Thaln's... I didn't have Italy in mind at least for an inspiration in spite of location in relation to the others.

I guess that would make it Aquitaine? AKA the bottom half of France.

@Raineh Daze

Okay, here's hypocrisy back at you. Look at Valdoth's back story application for how he was accepted.

With a goal in mind the young Barbarian trained long and hard before he finally made his way from the foothills of the Cahladren Mountains in the land of Thaln where he petitioned to be a member of the Iron Rose Knights. A year later he was accepted...

A high ranking barbarian got in with a petition. Barely a paragraph, if at all. That's literally it. How the hell is that more effective than what Zande did?

Is there some sort of sickness going around making everyone nuts? Should I donate blood to help find a cure?

@Raineh Daze: Hmm, that probably fits more or less, then.

I have one if you don't mind;

What was the previous Iron Rose captain like? I figure anyone making judgements about the new one would use the last one as a point of reference.

@Doc Doctor You were being asked for a more compelling reason than a wave of the hand. Your only answer was extremely literal. Turning to ad hominem and accusations of not reading never addressed the underlying problem of picking an origin that needs a good explanation for such an extremely foreign character.

Just leave. This argument is pointless.

So a petition isn't a hand wave? No matter what I say Zande did, how big or how small, you can just explain it away by saying "It's a handwave", even though I put more words into that part of his backstory than half the applications on this list. You know what's going on, and I know you know it. Stop playing games. If you don't want your character's asses getting handed around like cheap party favors by a screaming half naked Zulu, then say so and I'll kindly understand. But no, I don't expect any admissions like that, so whatever, I'm sorry. I'm gone. For real this time, bye. Yes, this is it. Toodles.

@Tarquin: Hmm... that's a good question, honestly. She was probably in her twenties when she died... cared for her order a great deal, upstanding captain, dedicated stateswoman... proooobably pretty vicious fighter.

Here she is.

Name: Juliana Rose Silvern

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Race: Human

Appearance: Her Armor. Juliana stands at 5'7" and has a smaller bust than in the picture XD. Also when not wearing her armor, wears clothing much more suitable for nobles like dresses and such.

Personality: Her loyalty to her family is absolute and she would do nearly anything to bring honor to their name. She is also a firm believer in the Iron Rose Knight’s duty to protect and serve. The weak are to be protected and it is the strong’s duty to be defenders; therefore, when someone who is weak is trying to protect the results can be disastrous. This belief makes Juliana feel that the inexperienced Fanilly is unfit to be captain and so someone more suited to the task should take her place, like herself.

Raised in a noble household Juliana knows the art of ‘masks’ yet is not afraid to let her feelings be known. Her distain for the old traditional way of choosing a captain is hardly veiled, but she will not let those feelings get in the way of her knightly duties. She can seem full of herself at times but she genuinely wants what is best for her country and wants to protect people with all her heart.

Brief Backstory: Juliana was born to the noble household of Silvern, a very prominent family in Thaln. Their noble ‘stock’ grew after the rebellion of Phoran Cal as they were one of the greatest supporters of the Iron Rose Knights. The Silvern household has kept its affairs close to the Iron Rose Knights and while they support the knights fully, they also are very staunch supporters for doing away with the old tradition of choosing the captain from young girls born under a full moon.

Her family had planned to give birth to her under a full moon but due to some complications in birth she was born as the moon started waning again. The idea had been to get a girl into the position first; making it rather easy to change the system from within, but this was not to be the case. Still her parents were not about to give up and so started to raise her up to be the next captain despite the fact that by tradition she was no longer eligible for the position.

Raised with the best tutors nobles could buy, Juliana was molded into a great warrior and noble. Being devout followers of Mayon Juliana found herself gravitating toward the paladins of Mayon and incorporated their more defensive type battle style into her own. While her training was focused on the battlefield she did not neglect her noble daughter duties and is accomplished in the political field as well. Her parents made sure to give their daughter the opportunity to grow socially as well so as to gather favor with the other nobles to strengthen her position.

Equipment: Juliana wears ornamented plate armor with chainmail mesh underneath to increase mobility and reduce friction. Her standard equipment is a large shield in her left and a long sword in her right

Skills: Juliana has been taught the traditional art of sword and shield with an emphasis being on using the shield effectively to punish her opponents while defending herself. Bashing, parrying, or even just pushing her opponent with her large shield are integral parts of her training then using her sword to finish off her opponent.

Outside of combat she is an accomplished dancer, socialite, and rider. Essentially skills designed to make her look like the ideal noblewoman and captain material.

Looks good, accepted.

@VitaVitaAR

Hi, uh, sorry it took me this long to get back.

Um... avoiding that previous shitstorm, I was wondering if it would be possible for mercenary lady to join the order not as a full knight, but as a retainer of sorts to another knight? Part of a personal entourage, perhaps? Knightly orders historically wouldn't have been 100% full knights, there's a lot of support network required and such - and that's where she would come in. Instead of charging valiantly into battle to slay great foes, she's simply part of the personal guard of one of the knights of the order or somesuch - or simply a woman-at-arms kept around as extra muscle? Or, alternatively, would it perhaps be possible for her to be a "squire" or somesuch to a full knight, however reluctantly?

I can't think of how she would've earned knighthood, unfortunately, but it might be interesting to show the interactions between someone from the lower social order with those of the full knighthood?

Dunno really, but if you have any suggestions or feedback on the idea I'd be glad to listen!

Hmmm, that actually sounds pretty promising. Any one of your proposed explanations sounds plausible, so I'd say that it works well enough. It's your choice in terms of which you go with.

@VitaVitaAR

Was talking with Merlin and he said he'd be willing to have Garrett take her on as a part of his personal entourage.

Thanks! I'll get started on a CS.

Looking forward to it!

My bio seemed too lazy and lacklustre. So I redid it.

• Name: Tyaethe Radastirin
• Age: 228
• Gender: Female
• Race: Sentient Undead (Human)
• Appearance: A rough approximation of the armour, though aside from the chain sleeves it’s entirely composed of plate. She never fails to wear a scarf over it—partly because of a personal preference for scarves and partly to obscure the particularly thick gorget.
  Since she stubbornly refuses to remove the armour, her actual appearance can only be guessed at—since everyone she once met is dead—but looking through the visor makes two things clear; Tyaethe has pale skin and red eyes. Given her imposing presence within the armour, her height lies somewhere around the upper end of five feet and the lower of six.
• Personality: If there’s one thing that all her instructors tried to do, it was to cure Tyaethe of her temper. Fervour and determination in a battle is all well and good but carrying that attitude over to your everyday life? Despite their efforts, it was a fruitless endeavour and the tall paladin is as irascible as ever, though with enough self-control to avoid the worst outcomes.
  At heart, Tyaethe is a dutiful knight and a good person. So despite her frequent anger, she has never once backed down on her duties or struck out at a child or someone truly innocent, even if rather aggressive verbally. Her unfaltering devotion to her duty—or anything else, as she seems too stubborn to ever back down—is best exemplified by her continued presence in the Iron Rose Knights, despite the drift from being a religious order.
  Something more familiar to the newer recruits than the veterans is her sullenness and risk-taking. Not a behaviour always evident but at the same time a concerning trend, as if her patience for something is running out.
  One trait carried over from her normal life is a dislike of being seen out of her armour. Since Elionne’s death, this has exacerbated into a full refusal to remove it for any reason short of their first captain’s return. Partly, at least, this is to prevent anyone from learning of her undeath and to preserve the idea of an immortal knight.
• Brief Backstory: Tyaethe was born to a minor noble family and, as the only child, was expected to carry on the family’s duty as knights. To this end, at the age of seven, her education was entrusted to an important but highly religious duke that owed her father his life. It was for this reason that instead of continuing on to be a squire, the young Tyaethe pledged her service to the church and became a paladin.
  As an adult, her strength and steadfast service was admirable, even though her hot-headed attitude caused friction with some of those she had to work with. It was for this reason that she was granted the honour of protecting the High Priestess and, when reports of an incoming force surfaced, left Falthir in order to conduct the fighting when she wouldn’t be at risk. Naturally, this backfired and it was only Elionne’s intervention that prevented the deception from being successful due to the diversion of the guards.
  Owing the maiden for fulfilling her duty where she could not, Tyaethe swore to serve her in life and in death, second only to the goddesses. Part of the Iron Rose Knights since their inception, Tyaethe’s death came in a pitched battle where their foes managed to split herself, Elionne, and some less experienced knights from the majority of their comrades.
  The reason for her survival has never been perfectly explained. Some of the knights assumed it was just sheer luck and the high level of mana in the region and the more religious assigned it to divine intervention. Some of her detractors have even accused Tyaethe of dabbling in necromancy. As for the paladin herself, she cites her oath and willpower, as well as a refusal to go down whilst Elionne was still in danger. The fact of her undeath has been kept a secret within the knights, to cultivate a reputation as an immortal holy warrior, though doubtless people have guessed the truth.
  Tyaethe has been unsurprisingly steadily more bitter since the original captain left, wanting to know why and find out what happened. Despite this, she has faithfully explained new captains their duties and guided them through it, even as the knights have drifted further and further from the religious unit she joined.
• Equipment: Forged nearly two hundred years before, the styling of Tyaethe’s armour is antiquated to say the least—not least because aesthetics was sacrificed in order to afford extra protection to a wholly superfluous and actually damaging level. Few people can move efficiently in such weighty protection, let alone adjust to how it restricts movement in order to fight but even going for its vulnerabilities leads to a difficult time in scoring a fatal injury. Of particular note is the one addition made before Elionne left: a reinforced gorget, to make even accidental decapitation even less likely.
  Her other armament consists of a sword that most refuse to treat as one and an immense shield. Both are as long as she is tall and the sword itself as wide as most shields; it crushes as much as it actually cuts. The shield, scratched though the design is over the years, is adorned with a wolf rampant, a lesser-used Mayonite symbol.
  All three pieces were blessed and enchanted to regenerate under moonlight, since even before Tyaethe’s death they took vast amounts of punishment and repairing them manually was prohibitively costly.
• Skills: Raised as a member of the nobility and intended to become a far more ordinary knight, Tyaethe knows falconry, board games, how to ride, and the social graces needed for polite company. All of these skills, save the riding—and that relies on draught horses in her case—are incredibly rusty skills due to neglect. Her literacy and ability to recite scripture on a whim, due to her training as a paladin, are as strong as ever.
  In combat, Tyaethe’s immense strength and armour leads to an approach best likened to an oncoming tide: she’s not the most agile or that hard to hit but actually stopping her or resisting the offence is futile. Her speed can also be deceptive; she chooses to adopt a slow approach for psychological reasons and is more than capable of surging forwards to strike down a threat. Though a shield might seem redundant with such armour, she happily uses it as a second weapon or to force an opening from someone hoping to budge her defence.
  With over a century of experience on her side and an initial training in the arts of warfare, Tyaethe is also a valuable tactical and strategic source—provided that you ask her opinion when she’s not agitated in some manner and ensure that the reason Tyaethe suggests she be put in the thick of it is due to needing an immovable obstacle.

Deeeefinitly re-accepted, and a big improvement even if the first version was acceptable. ^^;

I'm going to be starting sometime this week, most likely before Friday.

@VitaVitaARhey just got in from work and I've been meaning to ask what does Thaln's government look like. Is it a monarchy? Or a Theocracy or what?

Thaln is ruled by a monarchy with a fairly large amount of nobles as well.

And the other contries??