Name: Balan Windfall
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Personality: The Emperor, much to his queens horror for her poor heart, has never been one to sit on the sidelines. Not just because it was expected of him as a leader, but because he felt it was his duty. If he's asking someone else to do something that puts their life at risk, he best be willing to do it himself. He is still a noble though and some of those ingrain personality traits are still there- he does give a condescending look to peoples whose profession is less than.... honorable, but he will get it of it as quickly as he can and will say nothing about it. He is slow to trust, hence why he still has a high ranking knight with the party, but he will eventually warm up to someone when they've proven they're not out to assassinate him. In his relaxed company, he is a jovial man that appreciates a good joke and good company.
Role/Title: He is the Emperor of Caradia.
History: When Balan was a boy, he knew right away what was expected of him. He strove to meet those expectations and then go beyond them. He had dreams of being the best Emperor in Caradia's history, though he knew he couldn't match the legends of the man who made it an empire to begin with rather than a bunch of small broken countries. He studied and trained with all his might, though he never seemed to reach that level to impress his own father. He didn't let it slow him down- in fact, it made him work harder. He trained with the knights, insisted they work him just like anyone else in their ranks.
As he got older, stronger, and wiser, his father created the fixed marriage between him and Esmeralda- the daughter of a noble of a large city on the far eastern edge of their empire, trying to keep the peace between them. Her beauty was already rather well known, her likeness to Caradia's Goddesses legend. She was quite her own person, however. She was opinionated, stubborn, and perfectly aware of just how pretty she was. She was not about to just be that pretty face, though, to be stationed at his side. She wanted him to hear what she had to say and he quickly figured out his best bet was to hear her out. And it proved to be useful. She had tactical knowledge for both the battlefield and the throne room. This is what lead him to being absolutely smitten to his future bride.
There were more than enough skirmishes that lead him to the battlefield, putting all his expertise to use, and leaving her at home. Though she kept the courts in check, she was always the first person the knights would see upon returning as she would sneak out to meet them on their return. The two became insperable with time and she almost thought she was going to the battlefield with him once because he couldn't bear to leave her side- and she'd have been willing to go, though her own knowledge of the sword of the time was lacking- something Balan was sure to fix upon learning, in case anything should ever happen.
Finally, they had a decade of peace, no skirmishes, not accusations of one town trying to take over another, the crops were flourishing. Balan had just come in to the crown, his father having lived quite a long and prosperous life. He and Esmeralda had been wed for some time and had several wonderful children, his favorite being his youngest daughter, Adralyn, who seemed to have the maps of the land memorized faster than all her other siblings- eager for an adventure of her own.
When the news of the plague hit, it all but broke his heart. A plague was out of his hands, a curse from the Goddesses, but why? What had they done wrong? Had he not praised them enough for their peace? Then the monsters came and he had something to direct his anger towards, his disappointment. He has his main forces staying to take care of his people and spreading out to the villages most vulnerable to falling under the monsters attacks. He figured it started in a small village. He wouldn't need an army to handle that.
Anything extra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9jcb2EnQxg
Name: Osanne Bladefury
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Personality: If the stick could be completely buried in the mud, then that would Osanne. She has zero since of humor. Her duty to the crown comes first and anything else doesn't matter, including her own safety and life. She isn't social and she trusts absolutely no one outside of the knights and her leaders. They haven't proven themselves worth that trust, so why should she trust them? She especially has a hard time getting to trust any unknown males, which lead most of her superiors to believe that something unsavory happened to her.
Role/Title: Knight Captain of the Imperial forces.
History: Osanne was found in the lower parts of the Imperial city when she was 7. She was dirty, hair matted, bruised, and clothes tattered. She would scream whenever a man got close to her and ran in to women's arms for safety. When she 10, she was passed in to an orphanage when a knight realized one of the villagers was harboring the girl that belonged to a murdered family. That same knight came to check on her every single day from that point forward, unless he was away in the field. She began to anticipate his return and some of the sentries outside the main gate began to tease her that she was the only one ever waiting for "that dumb bastard" to come back. And when he would come back, it was the only time she would smile, relieved to see him in one piece, even if that piece was in bad shape.
When she 15, he left to deal with some small time problem. At that time in her life, she was already working on getting herself in to the ranks, doing odd jobs for people to make herself seem useful. She would wait for him to come back and continued to wait until one day, one of the three knights that left returned and it wasn't her friend. They had been ambushed by bandits on the road back, bandits that were angry about the resolution of a problem they had started. All the knight had to give her from her friend was a ring he had purchased for her in the town, planning to give it to her for her birthday saying "All young ladies ought to have a least one piece of jewelry, right? Would hate for her to feel left out."
She put that ring on a chain and she still wears that necklace to this day. When she was training to become a knight, some of the guys tried to harass her about the ring, calling it the gift from her perverted lover, to which she would get in trouble for beating them bloody. Once given the title of knight she went about proving herself to be the most capable they'd had in some time. She forced herself to bury all emotions, not wanting them to get in the way of her progress. Being a knight gave her life some purpose, a reason. Plus it kept her close to the memory of the last person who cared two cents about her. She only very recently gained the title Knight Captain, having to prove herself able and willing to be in charge even if only on a small scale.
Anything extra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncd_cMZnC3I
6ft 3in.
Name: Logen
Age: 55
Gender: Male
Personality: I am well aware that I sound like a hypocrite. Preaching the restraint of mages and the slaying of those who refuse to be restrained, while I myself use magic. But it is a different type of magic. Mage magic comes from the darkest places on the earth, given to them so they can disrupt the balance, and ruin the balance the Goddess has created. My magic was granted to me by the Goddess, the day she let me survive the destruction of Zalcan, and I use it to bring her will to bear. I am generous to my friends, merciless to my enemies. Kind to all but the unrestrained mage, I will not suffer anyone to do harm or wrong in my presence. They will learn to be just, or they will learn to fight well.
Role/Title: I was a holy warrior of a Zalcan, an island nation far to the north. There, like these foolish southern nations, we let magic run uncontrolled. We let those who wielded it run free. My holy sect of the Goddess, called ungodly radicals by some, wished to control them. We pushed, constantly, for their powers to be leashed or their lives to be ended. No one listened. To prepare for the inevitable conflict between mages and non mages my sect had holy warriors, the closest equivalent being Paladins in the southern nations. My armor naturally resists magic, and my sword naturally slices through it. Such are my holy enchantments. I have been trained for all my life to be one thing: a mage hunter. Trained to be lethal in combat, fearless against mages and all their creations, and ruthless in the judgement of the Goddess upon those mages who refuse to serve.
However, the mages have left their mark upon me as well. When they destroyed Zalcan, they failed to kill me. I am trapped in my armor. Aging has ceased, as have most bodily functions. I no longer need to eat or sleep. I am still quite mortal, and able to be wounded and killed. But when they trapped me in my armor, they also gave me some of their foul magic. I can now fight fire with fire, as much as it disgusts me to use it. The earth itself obeys my commands, in a 10 yard radius. Shields, swords, boulders, they are all mine to make and send at my enemies.
History: My life has always been that of a mage hunter. I was given to their organization at birth, and I was raised for one purpose. When the time came, I would help control the mages, and hunt down those who do not wish to accept the Goddess's decree. The training was brutal, much like my life was after it would be over. The mages I would hunt down would show no mercy, thus my instructors could not. I watched over half of my peers die during the years my training took place. By the end of it, I was physically, emotionally, and mentally hardened for whatever the mages could throw at me I was given my armor and my sword, and I was formally inducted into the service of the Goddess as a Mage Hunter. That was..roughly thirty years ago.
Over that time, I hunted mages all over Zalcan. I lead assaults on their strongholds, desperate defenses against their attacks, and fought in vicious duels against them. I fought them in ruins and tunnels, forests and mountains, deserts and cities. My life was a constant war, a constant vigilance, against them. None of it was public, you must understand. The majority of Zalcan's population and government were cowards, thinking that if you let mages run unchecked everything would be fine. My organization, the mage hunters, operated in secret. We were branded murderers and agents of evil by our country men. But we remained vigilant. It was for their own good, that they never know about the bulwark against the mages that was my sect. But my vigilance failed me when it most counted. My entire order's vigilance failed them. We failed to notice that there was a large gathering of mages in time. By the time we found out, it was too late. They were too many. As every Mage Hunter of my order that could be alerted in time assaulted their fortress they prepared their spell. Most of that time is a blur of combat and death for me, but one part sticks out. Two mages cast spells on me, one I'm sure trapped me in my armor, but I cannot be certain. Another sealed me in the earth. We were too late anyways. The mages released their spell, annihilating almost everything living in it's path. If any of the mages were still alive, they would claim they were trying to help Zalcan. Controllable weather, no more natural disasters. They would also claim my sealing spell and being trapped in the earth helped not only save my life, but gave me my unholy powers. They would be lying. They were trying to take over Zalcan, and the Goddess gave me my unholy powers to fight back against the mage scourge. Nothing more, nothing less.
Zalcan was destroyed. It is nothing more than an ashen wasteland. An entire civilization, and all it's people, gone. I am the only survivor, by the grace of the Goddess. It is clear she has one mission for me. To spend my days hunting down rogue mages and ensuring that what happened to Zalcan never happens again. Ever since the destruction of Zalcan, I have been wandering the Southern nations, bringing the foul creations of mages and the mages themselves to justice. And what beyond magic could this epidemic of monsters be?
Age: 23
Gender:Lady
Personality:She is a rose, a rather beautiful person but she has plenty of thorns. As with most nobles she has a strong connection with her family but she isn't so foolish to suggest they are without their problems. She cant help but be shocked at some individuals lack of refinement but she tries not to act like she was sheltered. While most girls look forward to being the princess she found herself interested in being a knight, and much to her families embarrassment she took to it like a fish to water. That said she still has a fondness of both dancing and theater, and does enjoy bartering. (What girl doesn't like shopping?)
Role/Title: Lady of the Lance
History:House Novaros is a family of merchants that have developed its fortune acting as the middle man in a lot of the larger trades and transportation of the goods. As such they are well informed on the various customs across the land and can notice even the lowest members of the many houses of the land. Latulla was born as the third child and second daughter to the lord of the house, making it all but impossible for her to not be spoiled. Between the tutelage and the constant doting of her mother she had only the best of upbringing, perhaps that is why she found herself with the rather unexpected giving nature. Constantly she tried to share with others around her, offering her servants some of her food or even attempting to cover up for the mistakes of her cousins.
These qualities had been cute at first, but she began to take a fancy to knights and stories of heroism. While her mother had thought this meant she was to be a darling little damsel, the local soldiers got a kick out of her demanding to be trained. Most thought of it a flight of fancy, but one of the older veterans could tell from the fire in her eyes that this wasn't just a nobles passing fancy, it was a genuine spark! By the time she was 11 she could trade blows with the younger squires, but then again she noticed the hesitation both because of her gender and her status. It was beyond infuriating but soon enough the veteran gave her the treatment she wanted, the man began to train her with the same fervor he trained the newer recruits.
Obviously her father didn't approve of this but it was hard for him to complain as she was still a proper lady at the various events she went too. Her weakness for the arts also made it clear that she was still a classy little girl, so how could daddy tell her no. Much to her dismay at thirteen she became quite the lady. Her mother forced her into keeping her hair long and all but forbade her from continuing her strange hobbies. Thankfully she was able to continue her riding practice, there she was able to try something new. The lance.
While she wasn't allowed to openly practice she had become rather skilled at sneaking off to go practice at her secret spot. While not the best way to gain skill, she was able to work on the basics such as form and her fitness. She worked hard at mimicking what she saw at the various events and from that she developed a rather unorthodox style. Using a blade and lance in tandem she found that she could fill in the gaps and created an unorthodox style. But as she began to gain muscle and her hand became rather calloused her mother finally put her foot down. A night when she went to escape, she found her mother sitting at the door with a rather smug smile...It was a rather awkward conversation where her mother caved and came to a rather unexpected arrangement.
While not exactly sure of it she had to take the hand of the first man to best her, but in trade she was going to be trained by the best that they could afford. At the age of 16 she was allowed to participate in a tournament of nobles, her mother thought herself clever as the men participating where all very acceptable suitors and potential alliances of high profit. Much to her mothers dismay and her fathers pride, she bested each one of them! She wasn't the most skilled but their treating her as both a child and a girl led to her playing them for fools, just a true merchant would. While her mother plotted her marriage finding houses of prestige and inviting them to "court" her daughter, but her father enjoyed how lively his family had become. It was on her eighteenth birthday that she received a gift from both her father and brother, the heat lance. A weapon made of a rare material known as pure azure and tipped with "the red" the two rare materials allow her lance to take on magical properties based on her natural magical skill. This of course made it even harder for her mother....
Fast forwarding to the present she is actively trying to spread true peace and help those less fortunate. While she cant help her upbringing she does try to at least appear more down to earth. Her notoriety and prestige outweighed her gender, and her title Lady of the Lance was earned with her constant victories. Her mother made it openly known that 'any' man that can best her daughter can have her hand in marriage, but no man has stepped forward in something about a year.
Anything extra:
Name: Thomas Milliner
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Personality: Thomas is a rationalist, or at least he tries to be. Instilled in him at a young age, he attempts to make decisions through utilitarian ethics, informed by his constantly-improving understanding of the world. An optimist at heart, Thomas always attempts to make the most of a bad situation, and has a great deal of faith in humanity to achieve great things and scrape the heavens by their own ingenuity. An affable, if occasionally awkward man, he tries to be as friendly as possible to others, and looks to do all in him power to improve he lives of others. Despite this, Thomas is clearly not one to trust others easily, and hates to burden others with problems facing only him. Thomas is obviously more comfortable in the company of books than in the company of people, and has a sharp distaste for the dogmatic or simple-minded members of society. Creativity, awareness and self-improvement are Thomas’ driving principles, dreaming of improving all of humanity through the greatest power of all: knowledge.
A frequent criticism leveled at Thomas is “manipulative”, and it is not unwarranted. Thomas attempts to optimize the world, and though the personality above is his true self, he is more than willing to put on a persona to improve his life or the lives of others. Thomas also tends to over-estimate the value of himself in his mental calculations, and though consciously trying to remedy this overestimation, he occasionally rationalizes his own selfish desires through improper estimations of utilitarian value.
Role: Adjunct-Professor of Meta-Magical Research at the Imperial Academy of Caradia, Thomas is knowledgeable in Natural Philosophy of all stripes, most focused on physics, medicine and the science of magic. His powers over magical phenomenon is limited, using what little power he has as accurately as he can for any challenges he cannot overcome by him intellect. Thomas is not ignorant of the less-reputable skills of thievery and lawlessness, and uses them as him morality dictates, usually in the pursuit of additional books, his personal addiction. Thomas is not a combatant, and his initial reaction to danger is to flee, but when such courses of action are impossible he meets danger with him limited, though highly accurate powers of tele- and pyro- kinesis [Thomas always wanted to throw fire like in the books, but never had the power for it. He contents himself with being able to make things rather hot, or rather cold, and move them around a fair bit]
History: Thomas was born to loving parents in the town of [WIP]. Him father was an engineer under the employ of the ruling lord, and him mother tended to a flower garden and sold carnations on the street in front of him house. An adventurous youth, Thomas had difficulty stopping himself from trying to learn. He read all him father’s books until he understood them [a project years in the making, despite Thomas’ predisposition to mathematics]. Punctuating this arduous task, Thomas would frequently find himself in trouble exploring places he should not be, and accessing things he should not be accessing. Thomas is no prodigy in the realm of physical activity, but he learned how to not be seen, how to look out for danger, and more importantly the finer points of picking locks and palming purses from him seedier acquaintances in [WIP]. After being schooled by his father for the first decade of his life, he applied to and was accepted into the Imperial Academy. He managed to earn a small scholarship, but is still thankful to his parents for accepting the daunting costs for him to attend.
Spurred on by him parents’ sacrifice and him natural disposition to learning, he threw himself into study with reckless abandon. Magic caught his eye, but with minimal talent for it, he did his best to equip himself with the arcane before moving onto the esoteric fields of study. Physics and Medicine caught his attention next, as well as a continued academic study of the causes and specifications of magical phenomenon. For almost a decade and a half Thomas learned from the college, earning a wage as a scholar and assistant teacher within a few years to offset the costs put upon him family. He is not particularly respected, still being young in the realm of academia and only having reached the rank of Adjunct-Professor. He dreams of making big contributions, and being immortalized either physically through magical research, or figuratively in a grand statue, one of the many portraying great minds that dot the Academy.
