Bladewind

Queens Guard: the Iron Company [semi-realistic medieval RP]

Well, back in feudal times you were grown up with 16 if I remember correctly. Younger rulers were not unheard of either. It is how monarchy sets itself up for disaster. When the previous generation is dead, the heirs might only be 2. They still get placed on the throne, even if the power rests elsewhere. It very well may be that this coup was not of the brothers design, perhaps there was some kind of bigshot involved behind the scenes, waiting for a moment when brother and sister had a falling out and made use of the boy's anger to gain the realm. Not everything will be as it seems.

Queens Guard: the Iron Company [semi-realistic medieval RP]

Personally I rather like the image of a gentle queen, it will contrast nicely with the backstabbing nobles and vicious warriors. Not to mention, nothing is impossible to corrupt. Especially under such extreme circumstances.

Queens Guard: the Iron Company [semi-realistic medieval RP]

Here is my CS, which will in no way live up to what I just typed.

Character sheet

Baldric Blackwood
Never rest until the rightful ruler sits upon the throne.

Full name: Nobody truly knows. Perhaps even Baldric himself has forgotten, though if one would ask, the list would go on for as long as one is willing to listen.
Titles: Protector of the Blackwood, Baron of the Blackwood, Advisor to the King, Advisor to the Queen and many others entirely honorary in function
Rank: None
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Appearance:
Personality: Nobody can really be sure what part of Baldric's multifacetted personality is genuine. His attitude toward people is warm and welcoming, no matter their standing in society, but at the same time his attention is often far too easily diverted to be heartfelt. Baldric himself will be quick to explain this behaviour with being a slightly scatterbrained man. This may be true, though not when it comes to money. Baldric takes great pride in being one of the few nobles who take the finances of their estates into their own hands. That this is in part due to having no sufficiently educated subordinates is something he will gloss over as happily as he will over the fact that the output of his estate has fallen ever since it fell into his hands. The rumors of the great Blackwood Treasure is something he likes to listen to, though always cautious not to feed them unnessecarily. The mixture of jovial socializing and cold greed is something that defines him, though not to the core. At his core he shows great concern for the queen he watched grow up and fall from grace.
History: Baldric was born into minor nobility. The Blackwoods have held their namegiving part of the world for many generations, which they pride themselves on, though the claim of thus being one of the original noble houses of the kingdom is nowadays disregarded due to the interference of younger, more powerful nobles. This further pushed the small house toward ruin. Thus Baldric found himself in a dying household. His childhood years, spent in a dilapidated mansion, were cut short by his father who, after being pushed too far by the mockery at the royal court, decided to get his son the best of education so that he would raise the house to stand with greatest ones in history. The lands of the family shrunk rapidly to finance this education. At the age of 15, Baldric was finally presented to court, where he first saw the queen, though at this time no emotion was brought forth by this encounter, he would later say it changed his life. This first visit would become the first of many, the young Blackwood rapidly becoming popular with his developed fashion sense and etiquette. During this time, a feeling of mutual hatred was created between father and son. The father saw a boy who had betrayed his expectations and was dancing what remained of the family's fortune away, the son saw a man who was incapable of understanding how the world worked, least of all the world of politics. The rift grew with each passing day, though the confrontation never came as Baldric lost his parents at the age of 16.

An unfortunate accident many called it, but nobody truly meant it. The rockslide had freed them of an obsolete, arrogant couple which had been a blight on the court with their unwillingness to understand their position as the lowest of low nobility. Their son took over immediately, disappearing from court to find a way to rescue his slipping power. He found it with relative ease. Veins of ore had been found in the mountains but pride had prevented the preceding generations to let their beloved woods to be torn down to make use of this. Baldric had no such qualms. The blackwood now houses men and women with skin black from dirt and soot. The mines have both revived the barony and enabled the entirety of Arlon. The widespread use of armour among the kingdom's military was made possible by Balric. This allowed him to become a major member of the court with 20 years. During the following years he began to watch the royal children more closely, his favour falling upon the girl to become queen, though he treated the boy that would become usurper and king with the same respect. To this day he blames himself for not being able to foresee the brother's betrayal, paying closer attention to the other members of royalty, no matter how distant, attempting to judge their demeanour. He has swallowed his pride and continues to act the loyal vassal to the new king, even as he extends the resources that he previously withheld from the crown with clever bookkeeping to his queen. He has spent the majority of his life up to this point on gaining power, now, with one foot in both courts and his heart lying with Stags Rest, it is time to make use of that power.
Skills: Baldric may be the best bookkeeper in the entire kingdom, though this is in part due to his active prevention of anyone else gaining such ability.. His ability to move among the elite is welldeveloped, allowing him to make friends among the nobility easily. His fencing skills are as good as they have to be to survive any potential duels that may occur, though his tendency to train with the exotic weapons that nobility use as decoration can make for unpleasant surprises for anyone that has yet to encounter the weapon.
Dreams and fears: He dreams of a country united and free of things such as religion. Gaining more money and power on the side would not be bad either. Horses are something he does not fear, but rather distrust.
Favored equipment: His apparel changes with the fashions of court and so do his weapons, no matter how bizarre and lacking in practicality.
Extra: Baldric has somehow gotten his hands on a coin with the queen's image on it despite her brother's rise preventing these coins from ever going above one digit in number. He plays with it frequently, though naturally only in the presence of loyalists.

Queens Guard: the Iron Company [semi-realistic medieval RP]

Derp, about making your character more indepth, something that might help is a summary of his time with the mercenaries till now, maybe a specific story from that time, for example how his subtle nature once aided the band on a mission, how his love of women and drink placed him in trouble or how his fear of his brother has influenced meetings with members of nobility or knights. So far you have given us his origin story, but things have happened since then. Events that shaped him from a man who only ever really brawled to one who could be relied upon in serious battle by his comrades. Since this RP is for a large part about the mercenaries, you should try to establish your role within the mercenaries more clearly. If you were a fresh recruit, your history would work, but your character is old and thus implied to be more of a veteran.

Adding more depth to his personality and skills would probably help too. For example what topics anger him. The mercenaries will undoubtedly already have come across some of them already, with bad results, so tripping people up with that would be unfitting. Also whether his respect toward authority would prevent him voicing his outrage at those topics or not. How he is calculating should probably also be pointed out. Does he just not let emotions influence his decisions or is he calculating in other ways, always looking for escape routes and scape goats, no matter the situation or something like that? This can also be worked into his skills, naturally stealthy can mean, in my opinion, two things. Either being able to sneak well and having a good instincts for creaking floorboards and such or being unremarkable, forgettable. Sharp mind comes back to what I said about calculating, specify in what way he is sharp minded. What mental skills does this apply to? Social situations? Scouting? Both of these take a sharp mind, quick to notice things that seem strange, but they are still completely different fields. On that note, he spent a lot of time brawling, so does he have a reputation? Could he come to an underground fighting tournament and get recognized as "Theo the Dirty Drunk" or whatever?

There are a lot of questions one can raise about characters. Most of these will remain unanswered in the CS and most of those again may never come up, but make use of these things nonetheless. Every little piece of trivia can add to the depth of your character and be used by others in the RP. If you do not note how Theo acts drunk, people will be a lot less likely to have their characters note his tendency to dance on top of defeated opponents while singing nursery rhymes.

Queens Guard: the Iron Company [semi-realistic medieval RP]

Since I assume Joachim is cleared, please remember to add him to the first post.

That aside, I would like to ask about gender equality. Since there are a number of female warriors among the mercenaries, I assume it it differs from feudal europe?

Queens Guard: the Iron Company [semi-realistic medieval RP]

Since you have a section for accepted characters, would you prefer to have character sheets sent to you through PM for approval or is throwing them into the OOC alright?

A ''Queens Guard'' 'realistic' medieval RP.

I will have to see if my schedule permits it but if that is the case, I would very much like to see where this will go.