[b]Character Description:[/b]

Name: Volodar Naesandoral
Gender: Male
Age: 450ish
Nationality: Imperial
Appearance:
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Personal Effects: 6 Makarios C94 Pistols and web-gear, a Haltian Cavalry Sabre, a bear-skin hat, several books and manuscripts in Elgan, a small collection of jewelry and trinkets from around the world.

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[b]Background:[/b] 

What is your job: Airship Pilot
Backstory: Volodar was born approximately 200 years before the Hasikos were restored to their imperial throne, and spent most of that time serving in the cavalry of the old Haltian armies that once dominated the battlefields north of the Circle Sea. With sympathies towards the reformist groups within the Empire, he remained within what is now the Imburian Empire after the Haitian defeats during the War of the Five Emperors and joined the newly established Imperial House Cavalry and served the Iburians in various functions, both on the field and in the barracks and palaces.

After a few decades of service with the Hasikos, Volodar resigned his commission with the Hastikos and decided to join the Monchian efforts to settle what would become the NordIsles in the Gulf of Equaterra, and managed to secure a governorship on one of the smaller island, more through conquest than appointment, despite little experience with government. This was arguably one of Volodar’s most productive ventures, as he effectively owned several plantations growing cash crops therefore improving the economic prospects of the island via what he viewed as an innovative workforce retention program and strict discipline of the laborers. He would eventually tender his resignation with grace in face of increasing demands from Vich.

Undeterred in his new situation, he turned his attention southward to the Calarian colonies in Equaterra in an attempt to weaken his old enemy, and found himself swept in with the spirit of revolution simmering through the region. Providing both money and expertise, he helped equip and build the Equaterran cavalry force, and lead a squadron through the revolutionary war. He found himself well suited to the guerilla nature of the war, although he was wounded by shrapnel twice and shot on one occasion. While recovering from his wounds, and a bout of tropical disease, he rested for a few years while enjoying his status as a minor hero and lived on a pension and accumulated plunder. Volodar made a comfortable life on the coast and served in a minor government post, before leaving Equaterra due to a scandal involving the President’s wife and another cavalryman.

From there, Volodar returned home to Imburia and Haltia for a few years due to the demands of certain family situations and to allocate his accumulated wealth towards projects at home. Here, he lived well and lived easy, enjoying frequent social events and balls as he reconnected with old circles and refreshed his lists of human contacts in Inbur. Such calm was not to remain, as his restlessness soon caught up to him again after two decades or so. 

An era of increasing industrialization and a second wave of exploration greeted Volodar as he took on the mantle of adventuring again. The first flights of fancy were to the arctic and the ice sheets north of Frosseland. Rumor had it that it may be a navigable passage connecting the two seas, at least during the summer months. To say this expedition was a failure would be an understatement. The ships broke against the ice not long after departure from the northern trading posts in Frosseland, and the survivors of the ships had to make a perilous journey back to civilized territory through hellish colds and ice. They survived on good will from the natives, and whatever meat and pelts they managed to scavenge.

His second venture during this period was to chart some of the jungles far to the south of Finiquia and Sahk in the search for signs of an ancient civilization. Sailing up a mosquito infested river, tropical diseases plagued the expedition while hostile locals whittled down their numbers. It wasn’t all for naught though, because, after a 23 day trek through the jungle, he found a tribe of strange bird-like people, who he bartered with. Trading pelts, guns, and liquor for jewelry, artifacts, and coins, he obtained the proof that he sought and made the trek back home. 

Once more, Volodar settled down in Inbur for a few more decades, and took up a rather stereotypical hobby: breeding and racing horses. This was a moderately successful venture for him, although a questionable financial decision as he invested quite a bit of funds but never produced a truly spectacular horse. Such is the nature of passion products.

Then an inventor approached him specifically, touting a new design for a machine. A machine that could enable one to fly like the birds through the heavens above, the airplane that promised heavier than air-flight. The concept enamored Volodar, who had previously been in a hot air balloon several times, and he eagerly funded its development and badgered the man to test fly the design once it had been finished, but the inventor held fast.

Dragged out to a flat along the coast of Inbur, the wooden and canvas craft sat gloriously in the middle of the field, and the crew started up the engine. Volodar watched with amazement as the man’s craft successfully lifted itself off the ground and climbed to about 100 feet, before it spectacularly crashed after the inventor lost control.  The coinciding development of the rigid lighter-than-air craft also caught the Elga’s desire for flight, and offered a far safer and practical alternative which he funneled some funds into. Aiding such developments allowed him to take roles in the maiden flights of a few craft, an experience he very much enjoyed from both a physical and mental exercise and a flaunt of his own wealth.


The invasion of Inbur from the Calarians, once it began, posed an existential threat to the rather wealthy Elgan, who soon looked for means to flee the surrounding city. Upon seeing the craft tethered to the Imperial Palace, an idea crossed the old cavalryman’s mind. A bold idea that promised adventure, and gallantry.