Name: Abd ar-Rahman III
Title: Crown Prince of Usamolia
Nationality: Usamolian
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Appearance: To look upon Abd ar-Rahman III is to look upon a predator coiled and ready to spring. Though not unique in height or weight among his people, he has trained to the extreme of reducing his body fat to an almost non-existent level. Even among his people he is considered dark skinned, his mother having hailed from a tribe in the Southern Desert, an exotic prize born home to the Caliph, a prize that bore him a single son, but the eldest among his children. Eyes as black as night regard the world with a sense of hostility and distrust that is well earned. Scarred from head to toe, there is something to fascinate everyone when they meet the Heir to Usamolia. As quick as a Caracal, as cunning as a Desert Fox, and as deadly as a Yellow Viper, he is known for his battle prowess, military education and little else.
Interests: Some men love women, others love to hunt or fish, others to count their coins, but to Abd ar-Rahman III there is no greater love than battle. To take the life of another, to reign supreme in the ultimate test of strength and fury, that is what drives him day to day. At sixteen he became the first Usamolia General to defeat a Euhijan army in the field in some time, inflicting a crushing defeat that earned him grudging respect from all sides. He is a man who leads from the front, sword in hand, a warrior, a leader, a King. He of course enjoys the company of women and finds pleasure in the flesh, but this is secondary to drive for conquest.
When he is not waging war he takes an intense interest in engineering and the development of new weapons. He has shown little interest in ruling after his father dies and there is hope that if he finds a bride she will serve to temper him and perhaps guide his hand in the ruling of Usamolia.
Personality: He is an intense man. His gaze is frank and open, his speech blunt and straightforward. He is a soldier in thought, speech, and mannerisms. Like many Usamolia men he cares very little for anyone elses taste in partner, but certainly looks down on those whom he considers to flamboyant and weak. He can be charming in a rough sort of way, is clumsy in his compliments, and sincere in what little flattery he offers. Even his private palace reflects his feelings, serving as an architectural marvel well suffering only a fraction of the luxury found elsewhere in the Kingdom.
History: Abd ar-Rahman III, one day to be the third in a line of Caliphs to bear the name, the son of a man crippled in the war with Euhijan Empire, and grandson to a man killed in the Vertiron Wars. His line of succession has known nothing but war as successive Caliphs sought to push their borders further than anyone had ever imagined.
Born the eldest of all of his fathers children, to a woman who had come a Southern Kingdom whose marriage had been political. Abd ar-Rahman III was not interested in his parents relationship, a Caliph might have a thousand consorts and while he might have his favourites, few were "loved". Raised as one might expect a Prince to be raised, he received the finest tutors in education, languages, combat, horsemanship, and more. All through his childhood the war with neighbours raged and by the age of twelve he was riding to battle at his fathers side. By fourteen he was adapting his own learning and quick mind to small unit tactics that proved increasingly clever as he recognized the advent of gunpowder and the advantage it gave.
At sixteen he led his own army against the Euhijan at the Saliad River and humbled the Eastern Armies, leading his own bodyguard in a legendary charge that broke the enemy line. Abd ar-Rahman III himself killed the Euhijan General and took the mans wife as his first consort. Among the treasures captured in the aftermath were several newer Euhijan guns that Abd ar-Rahman III dragged home and ordered copied, and then distributed to his soldiers. The next four years saw him, alongside allied troops, push the Euhijan back into their original territory. He liberated tens of thousands of captured Usamolian citizens and restored to the Crown a dozen major cities and countless smaller towns and villages. He became a legend.
When peace came Abd ar-Rahman III found himself suddenly adrift in a world he did not understand. He tried for a short time to immerse himself in court life but came to hate the pom, the ceremony, and the lies that swirled about the throne. Thankfully, there was always one more war to fight and, against his fathers wishes, he headed South to combat tribal warriors striking over the border.
For the next twenty years he fought, killed, bled, and savaged his way through the Southern regions, adding more lands to the Empire even as his father continued to promise peace with their neighbours. All good things must come to an end however and Abd ar-Rahman III is well aware of his fathers failing health. His own age is advancing and he has not yet married, though he has a number of children from women in his harem, and thus no legitimate heir.
Well he loves the smell of battle, the fury and the glory, he has slowly begun to see that he might secure even greater victories with a smart marriage and so he rides to Cheateu de Monfort, perhaps to seek a bride, or perhaps to make new allies to join him in striking out at Usamolia's oldest foes.