Aleranicus

Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

@ghastlyInc so reading a lot of your last post, it looked like there was some ties to the Green God in Tanda's backstory. Was this intentional? And if not, do you mind if I piggyback a bit in my next post to say there might be a similarity in ideology, if not origin?

Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

@Raineh Daze Quick question: Was the "That applies to you as well, Miss" meant to be directed at me? If so, I'll make a brief edit acknowledging it.

Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

Initially, Tanda had meant to stay out of the way of the the business with the nobleman and his retinue. Really, she had. Even backward peasants like her had seen the way a nobleman- any nobleman- would act when they felt they needed something taken care of immediately. The High Patriarch relied on his religious dictates to seize sheep and goats for sacrifice to the Green God. And Tanda still remembered the time long ago when their current Lord's father came and demanded a tithe of crops for his men-at-arms in another of Taln's wars. All those times, the Hillfolk had bowed and offered up what they had in the name of the Green God.

Seeing a nobleman grabbed by his collar and carried about like a ragdoll in the hands of a giantess?

That had never happened before in the Holds.

So of course she stared like a dumbfounded idiot at the scene in front of her, subconsciously shuffling behind the shield offered by the man- Markus. She'd already reached into her bag for a stone to slip into her sling if things escalated, though she wasn't sure how much good it might do here. She'd only ever tossed stones at unarmored brigands and wild wolves. Everyone here seemed to be in a state of armament- any fight that broke out between the Knights and the Nobleman, Sunfield, would be short and bloody.

"Ah, Tanda," she said as the Nobleman continued to receive a verbal and physical thrashing at the hands of the Knights. "M'name's Tanda, m'lord. Just Tanda. The Priestess of Mayon told me I've no surname by the laws of Taln. I've come in from the Green Hills up north. Looking to reclaim some things of my family's here, and maybe squire for one of the Knights if ye'll take me." She paused, blinking as the nobleman was still being berated by yet ANOTHER Rose Knight and the Giantess dangling the Sunfield by one hand. "Does this... often happen here?"

@Saltwater Thief

Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

@Saltwater Thief No, that'd be perfect!

Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

Is it cool if I decide to post in candaeln as an observer after that?@Saltwater Thief

Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

@VitaVitaAR Understood. I'll get to work on fixing things up. Like I said, I don't want to step on anything. The work you put into this setting shows, and the last thing I want to do is wreck it up ^///^

Edit: Initial update posted! Please let me know if more is needed.

Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

Posted, but if this isn't the best place to introduce Tanda, let me know and I'll nuke it and reintroduce her somewhere else!!!

Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

~I Left The Hillfolk's Dirt Roads for the Cobblestones of Candlean~

As a child, Tanda had heard stories of the cities of Taln, the kinds of places she passed on her journey south toward the headquarters of Candaeln. The Patriarchs considered any Hold with more than a thousand souls within it too large in the eyes of the Green God. And, the Patriarchs said, such cities were vile in the eyes of the Green God. And though there were many cities in Taln, none was more vile than Aimlenn in their stories. The people lived lives of squalor and sin. The poor slept in the gutters, the elderly left to die by the young, the King and Queen sealed within their fortress castle, and plague running rampant through the streets like so much filth in the roads. And this was to say nothing of the morals of the citizens themselves. Gamblers, thieves, layabouts, soiled doves, and false prophets by the thousands. Not a single soul was worth saving within those walls, and one day the Green God would wipe it from the land while the Hillfolk in their Holds would be left in his favor for their faith.

As the trading boat Mayon's Grace slid into the riverside docks with its loads of furs and fish, at every step of her journey, Tanda was not surprised to find these descriptions of Taln's cities were largely false. Poverty and banditry existed, but they were not all powerful forces that ruled Taln. Besides, half of the things the Patriarchs preached were proven to be lies before the children of the Hillfolk had arrived at the Temple of Mayon back in Garethen.

Tanda had no experience with being a sailor at all, and she did as she had for most of the voyage down the river- kept out of the way of the ship's sailors and watched the people on the shore for any ne'er-do-well types, ready to protect the sailors and their cargo. As lines were tied down and the oars and sails stowed away at her final destination, the Outer Ward of Aimlenn, she was practically vibrating with excitement.

She held her sling at the ready, watching the citizens in the riverside district up until the moment the captain presented Tanda with her pay and released her from the ship's service. If Tanda's father had ever known she would take a journey to Candaeln, Tanda would have been locked in the house and never let loose. But if he'd known she would have been paid by a woman- a woman captain of her own merchant boat no less- she could only imagine a burning stake within the courtyard of her old hill hold to know how that would have turned out. The captain, Ailsa, was kind enough to point out the compound of Candaeln by its flags over the rooftops of the city.

The road through the Outer Ward in the early morning was somewhat congested, full of peddlers and artisans on their way to do a day's work. Navigating the roads and rivers of Aimlenn was difficult enough, but walking to Candaeln was a simpler affair by far if she stayed on the path. And the one time she did get turned around, a local Justicar was more than willing to put her back on the path.

So it was that Tanda came upon a gate to the walled compound of the Iron Rose Knights. The rose bushes outside the walls were a dead giveaway, but having been pricked by thorns in the wild before and seeing the needle length thorns being left to grow in those bushes, she had to smile and wonder how many thieves or attackers would want to wander through those without anything short of plate mail on.

The smile on her face quickly died when she heard the boisterous, loud, and demanding voice of a man with authority in the courtyard ahead of her, marching into another building with his entire retinue.

Trouble, she had no doubt. Not the kind that ended with someone dead. Definitely the kind that ended with someone flat on the floor.

Tanda took a deep breath, straightened her shepherd's shawl, considered the signed wax-sealed note that was still in her satchel, and stepped across the threshold into the courtyard. And didn't feel much different on the other side. Except that she was in the presence of dozens of what she assumed were Rose Knights and the squires, attendants, hangers on- someplace a country shepherdess wasn't supposed to be.

"Excuse me," she asked one young man- man? Granma always said Rose Knights were women. What else was she wrong about?

"I'm, ah, looking for someone to give this to."

To the illustrious Captain of the Iron Rose Knights, her Lieutenants, her Majesty the Queen, and his Lordship our King,

I hope that this letter finds you well. I can only imagine that the runners have been arriving with weekly frequency from the Hillfolk's region. The Rose Knight appointed to oversee the situation in the Hills has found the last Patriarch, and the armsmen have long since been sent back to their towns and garrisons. The Patriarch's remaining followers are faced with exile, outlawry, or integration into the kingdom.

I write to you on behalf of the young woman bearing this note, signed and sealed by my own hand as a Priestess of Mayon. Our temple took it upon ourselves to rehabilitate and educate the children of the Hillfolk in the true ways and laws of Taln, not the lies and injustices the Patriarchs instilled within them. I formally report that this measure is well underway. The girl children learn their letters and numbers with a fervor I have never seen among our acolytes. The boy children are stubborn, but are being instructed in the true idea of Taln- that both men and women are equals both before the law and in our culture. Within another year, I may judge our work complete.

This particular child, Tanda, has shown remarkable resilience and intellect. She was secretly instructed by her grandmother in numbers and letters. Moreover, she bears claim to a suit of armor within the vaults of the Iron Rose Knights. One Lady Diane di Silva was sister to Tanda's great grandmother, Hera di Silva, who cast off the Silva name upon marrying into the Hillfolk tribes. Diane died childless, while Hera's line continued. It is my belief that Tanda would be an excellent candidate to reclaim this armor and enlist as Squire or Blade within the Iron Rose Knights. She has a healthy respect for authority that roots itself in justice, a stubbornness that saw her resisting the Patriarchs of the Green God and their poisonous culture from a young age, and a physical hardiness brought about by living on the edges of Taln's borders with few of our cities' comforts.

She will not be a meek puppy, but will need guidance. The Hillfolk are a reclusive people and half of the stories she has been told about Taln are lies, while the rest are lies mixed with truth. Be patient with her if she shows ignorance to the laws and customs of Taln. She will learn happily.

~ Signed and sealed, Marion Ysmalt of Mayon's Holy Order, the Temple of Garethen

Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

Tanda, Child of the Hills

Name: Tanda

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Race: Human

Appearance:
Brown haired, brown eyed, with the body of a country peasant, one would be hard pressed to look at Tanda on the road and think she was descended from an Iron Rose Knight, much less one of their number.

Tanda in her great aunt's armor

Personality: Though Tanda grew up in the patriarchal society of the Hillfolk on the outskirts of Taln, her grandmother's doting saw to it she was inquisitive of mind, and her daily chores as a shepherdess saw she was mentally strong enough to survive in the wild with nothing but her wits and the tools on her belt.

:Brief Backstory:

Tanda grew up among the worshipers of the Green God in the north of Taln- a secretive and patriarchal culture within the kingdom known for shunning outsiders, often simply called Hillfolk by other people of Taln. For most of her life, Tanda could only look forward to a future of tending sheep, marrying, and raising a family with her future husband. Her grandmother Silana saw something in the fierce spirit of her granddaughter, and saw to it that Tanda always looked to heroes of folk stories and histories for inspiration, rather than the prophets of the Green God's faith. Heroes like the Iron Rose Knights.

Tanda was often punished for standing up to the boy children of other families when they threatened to steal her sheep or sabotage her mending, but never broken for her "disobedience" to the men of the village, something which the Patriarchs of the Green God resented her for. Many of the girl children were cowed, but all of them could look at Tanda as someone who hit back when the boy children swung at her. The Queen's Justicars saw to it that while the Hillfolk were permitted to live and worship according to the laws of Taln, they were not free to follow their Old Laws without consequence. Disciplining an unruly child was one thing. The Hillfolk's ancient practices of Witch burning and harvest sacrifices were another completely, and their good will from the Crown was rapidly disappearing. Coming to the aid of one Queen in a battle over a century ago was what brought them sanctuary within Taln. The Hillfolk had not taken up arms to defend the Crown since then- only to protect their own lands.

But only recently was Tanda able to look beyond the palisades of the Hillfolk. The prior year's harvest was particularly difficult for the people of the Hills, and many of their Holds were facing starvation on the eve of winter. The Patriarch of the Green God, after much deliberation with his fellows, decided to revive the old practice of selecting a Bride of the Green God in the hopes it would restore the harvest- a harvest sacrifice one of Taln's previous Queens had long ago forbidden when she granted the Hillfolk sanctuary within her borders. The more fanatical and desperate Patriarchs agreed to the proposal.

But just as the string of fate pulled Tanda into the Patriarch's sights, one of the less fanatical Patriarchs revealed what was being planned to the Queen, who now found her patience with these backwards tribes at an end. Between the Queen's Justicars, Paladins of Reon, a contingent of Iron Rose Knights, and armsmen of the province, the Hillfolk found that their festival grounds were occupied by a small army as they left their holds to celebrate a renewal of their faith. Every Patriarch that could be found was arrested. Those who could, including the Grand Patriarch, ran back to their palisades to be starved out under sieges. Others were to be interrogated by the followers of the Goddesses for complicity in these crimes and the systemic abuse of the girl children.

Tanda, along with most of the other children of the Hillfolk, was granted protection by the Queen's Justicars and taken to a nearby temple of Mayon for shelter. There the priests and priestesses set about repairing the damage done by the followers of the Green God to the children- teaching the girls their letters and numbers, and the notion that they were not naturally subservient to boys. Meanwhile the boys learned proper etiquette and the idea that they were not innately superior to the girls. It was during one of these lessons that a Paladin of Mayon approached Tanda with a weathered chart- an ancient family tree. Tanda had a great-aunt who, long ago, was one of the famed Iron Rose Knights, Lady Diane di Silva. Her armor should still be in the Capital, kept as a relic. If she desired, the Paladin would write a letter of introduction for Tanda to squire for the Knights and claim the armor as her own.

Tanda was quick to say yes. Then it was all a matter of arranging transportation. It certainly helped that she could peddle the herbal healing of the Hillfolk to peasants too poor to afford one of the magical Healers within Taln. Curing warts and country fevers put enough copper in her pocket to buy food for the road, and her skill with a sling allowed her to hire out as an extra caravan guard on the road to the Capital. The story of Tanda could easily have ended there- becoming another folk healer or caravan guard within Taln. But the Paladin's stories gave Tanda a trail to follow to a new future.

If the Knights had no reason to accept Tanda's service, she would at least be able to lose herself within the Capital and be able to make a new life away from the secretive Hillfolk, or return to the temple of Mayon to help the healing of the other children while the campaign against the Hillfolk continued...

Equipment:
* Sling and stones
* Armor and spear of Lady Diane di Silva
* Medicinal herbs

Skills:
* Deadeye shot - Tanda is an excellent shot with her sling, having used it to fend off wolves and hunt rabbits for supper.
* Skilled rider - Tanda can keep up with the best of 'em when hard pressed to ride.
* Country Remedy - The Hillfolk shun magic and magical Healers of all kinds, preferring to use the herbs of the land to remedy their ills. While it's not as effective as calling on a Magi, Tanda has been known to cure the odd fever with her home remedies and set broken bones to heal.

Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

@VitaVitaAR Thanks for the approval! I will admit, I was gonna use something generic like constables or whatever and decided to go with the fancier Justicar title. If you want, I will be happy to change it to something else.

If it's all right with you, I'm going to catch up on reading today and try to find a place to wind Tanda in to the story naturally. I don't want to step on any toes for pre-established plots going on!