Character name: Karine Madeleine
Class: Templar
Skills and talents: Karine has undergone
Chevalier training and all that it implies. Meaning that she s a skilled fighter of the shield and Morning Star, as well as with great-swords. She is a little bit less skilled in Archery, but don't think that she can't hit you from a hundred yards away with a single arrow. Karine simply prefers to destroy you in melee combat. She is also owns and is an excellent horse rider, as her own horse himself is a fearsome beast in battle. Additionally, Karine has much Combat Training, as well as improved Vitality and Clarity.
Items: Karine wears her Chevalier armor made of the highest quality steel, but retains both her Morning Star and Shield from her time as a Templar, both which have been enchanted to be very effective against mages. She also carries a Flamberg Zweihänder, which while functional in general purpose combat, she usually reserves for duels or one-on-one combat. May occasionally carry bows and arrows depending on the situation, but more often than not she goes without. She carries a few salves, poultices, and droughts for herself or others as well. Lastly, Karine is quite wealthy, and would often have a coin purse with much gold inside of it. To prevent pickpockets from stealing it, she usually has it inside of her armor.
Bio: Karine was born with a silver spoon. Her father was a Templar in Orlais while her mother was a noble woman, who's family was well connected to the Chantry. Karine's father was a well respected Templar who himself was well liked by his superiors and even a few mages respected his reasonable authority. Karine took up much after her father, much to her mother's displeasure, but when she was pregnant and gave birth to a son, she was much more lenient to her daughter's activities.
Her father was thrilled to have his daughter to become a Templar. He personally felt that the current management was, at best, dutiful, but more often than not blinded by principles and laws rather than upholding the ideals they were made for. He personally trained Karine himself to ensure that she did not have to go through with augmenting her powers with Lyrium, like he did. This actually made her a much more skilled Templar than usual, as without the additional benefits of Lyrium, she had to become much more skilled in battle. But despite being trained by her own father, Karine did not exactly inherit his ideals.
As a young girl, Karine was always a rather commanding child. She would order around others younger and older than her, stronger too, but she never backed down, never showed fear. Sure she may have been beaten a few times, but she had the determination to keep on going. More importantly, she also liked getting into those fights as a child as well. She relished in the blood-rush of violence and combat. She saw her father not so much as a heroic savior against those who would abuse magic so much as a warrior who gets to fight powerful things, like mages and demons. She cared little of the Chantry so much as the chance to fight against powerful enemies and coming out on top. Even as she trained to become a Templar, these ideals remained.
Eventually Karine finished her training and joined the Templar Order... For a short while. She was loyal enough to the Chantry and hunted down her own share of mages, some of whom posed no challenge at all, but she did get to fight against a few Blood Mages and the demons they summoned, which she considers the best moments as her life as a Templar. But for the most part, watching over the mages in the Circle was boring; only one or two would try to run every year or so, and very few even turn to blood magic before she crushes their heads with her morning star. It was boring. Her father told her that it was her duty to protect and serve the Chantry and it's believers, but Karine cared little for it. She wanted to fight, to defeat powerful enemies and flee the blood flowing through her body and out her wounds. That's when she remembered her mother.
On Karine mother's side, she had many ancestors who were "Chevaliers", noble and skilled knights of Orlais. More importantly, they were often sent out to battle on behalf of the Empress, and they get to duel each other for honor and entertainment. This sounded much more appealing than waiting around for a mage to try to run away from the Circle, so Karine had her father and mother pull some strings to allow her to undergo Chevalier Training. Unlike her Templar training, which her father oversaw, her training as a Chevalier was much more brutal and unforgiving. And she loved ever minute of it. When she eventually became a Chevalier, she was one of the best. The only reason she could not take a higher authority was simply because she cared little of the responsibilities and was more interested in challenging others to duels, those who did not believe that she worthy of the title of Chevalier or Templar.
Even now Karine has a bit of a reputation in Orlais, more so in her home city of Val Royeaux. She has the reputation of being one of the more skilled Chevaliers as well as being a member of the Templar Order, but gossip would also tell you that she has a short temper and would demand duels from you simply for being arrogant, boastful, or generally an annoyance to her. She is respected for her skill but hated for her personality, as many would think that she would fit better in the lands of Ferelden than the courts of Orlais. Karine would actually agree to this sediment, and wishes to one day fight the strongest warriors from those lands. Currently she continues to serve both as a Chevalier and a Templar, ready to face Darkspawn or Maleficar, which ever happens to come first.
