☩ Ƀiography--
Garth was born thirty-six years ago, in 91 P.B., during the reign of King Tristan. He was the elder child out of two and it was expected that he would inherit his father’s lands when the time came. Tronach was a small holding in the western reaches of Grosswick and not particularly rich, but Garth still received an education befitting a minor noble – he was taught letters, studied Monarchist religious texts and practiced the knightly arts: swordplay, horse-riding and archery.
His early life passed without much else of note. When he came of age, at sixteen, he immediately joined the war with Restwaerd, where he fought well and was knighted at the end of it by King Tristan himself. Garth returned to his lands and made a bit of a name for himself by competing in local tourneys; he wasn’t a particularly good jouster, but he seemed to have a knack for melees and even won a few.
When Cherwin declared war, Garth, along with many others, answered the King’s call and marched to war. After Tristan’s death, Garth subsequently served Queen Ella and then the Bastard King, Gregar Balin. Though he never achieved great fame, his experience and skills were acknowledged, enough to win the hand of a nearby lord’s daughter. He married and sired a child, thereby securing his family’s future.
Garth fought in the last war with the Sultanate and this is when his life took a turn for the worse. During the heavy fighting, his company was surrounded and cut off from the rest of King Gregar’s forces. Instead of going down in a blaze of glory with their commander, some of the men, including Garth, laid down their arms and surrendered. They were taken captive by the Sawarim, who were eventually beaten back, but not before they withdrew with their new prisoners.
The next four years he spent as a slave, sold and traded between a few different masters. It was a gruelling time, full of hard labour, beatings and humiliation, but Garth endured and refused to be broken. On one fateful day, he took advantage of the chaos surrounding his master’s grand funeral, managed to steal a horse and rode away before the guards could stop him. With a combination of sheer will, equestrian skill and a lot of luck, Garth eventually managed to make his way back to Broacien.
Much to his dismay, he discovered that those who didn’t consider him dead knew of his company’s surrender. He found out he had been stripped of his lands and titles, which had passed on to his younger brother, Lorran. Branded a coward, Garth was spurned from the capital. Back home he learned that his father had passed away years ago, while his brother had not only taken his lands, but his wife and son as his own. Lorran met him with scorn, refusing entry into the castle and banished him from Tronach under pain of death.
With nothing left to his name but the clothes on his back, he began wandering Broacien, working as a common sword for hire in order to earn a living. Garth’s spirits sank and he took to vices – women, drinking, gambling, among other things. For a period of two years he lived as a vagabond, growing more jaded and callous by the day, a far cry from the knight he had once been.
Upon hearing news of the expedition for St.Friedrich’s Banner, Garth decided that his was his last chance to make something of himself. Despite his better judgment he made his way to Hoffburgt and joined the seekers.