HereComesTheSnow

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

I never actually asked— around how old are the trio chatting ol' Gerard up supposed to be, anyway? I've just assumed, "probably younger than early 20s"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

<Snipped quote by HereComesTheSnow>

My victim friend here is going to help me look for a better picture, I'm not thrilled with the one I found, but I'm otherwise done. Faster than I thought.

Nicomede

Name: Nicomede (Nico), formerly Nicomede Durante
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Appearance:

Appearance

Personality: A serious man of noble bearing, though the edges have been worn away by long years on the road. The ceremony of his birth is long gone but Nicomede still acts in a way consistent with the respect he intends to show, even if commensurate respect has long been absent in reply. Highborn manners are taught young, and impossible to shake. With those manners comes an unshakable sense of duty followed even at great cost. A task taken is a task completed, and a life under his care is a life preserved. Whether an innocent or a man under his command, it makes little difference. Those who would spite their responsibility are Nicomede’s greatest foe, and Nicomede’s own record a fast route to his anger.

None of this is to say that Nicomede is a humorless man. He has an easy, affable disposition well-suited to making friends. So long outside of the nobility has given him a friendly understanding of the common man, and despite the grace with which he can navigate higher society’s mores he’s grown more comfortable with the rank and file than with those of his own birth. But he doesn’t truly belong in either world, and in his heart he craves nothing more than the respect he was robbed of. The right to remain in one place and hold his head high again. No longer the disowned and unwanted.

True friendship is hard won, best forged in fire and in blood, but Nicomede is unafraid of sharing the wisdom he has garnered with those younger or less experienced. If his friendship is hard won his loyalty is a Herculean task but once earned it will never waver unto even the brink of death.
Brief Backstory: The family Durante originated in Velt many generations ago but it was in Thaln that they reached new heights. The current Lord Durante, Nicomede’s father, controls an influential fief in the northeast of Thaln. A key stop in trade between the two kingdoms, bountiful land and no shortage of heirs. Nicomede the eldest of the Lord Durante’s sons was expected to inherit the lands and the title, raised his whole life for that very purpose. Though he learned to lead, of course, young Nicomede felt perhaps too strongly about the responsibility of a noble to his people than the other way around. After all the Church of Mayon teaches, perhaps above most else, the protection of the innocent. But nevertheless he acted as he should, behaved with the appropriate grace, took to his studies like a fish to water. And as with most boys his age more than anything he took to the sword. The Durante family’s preferred swordsmanship had been handed down with its Mayonite faith for generations, long before their emigration to Thaln. And Nicomede excelled. He trained, and trained, he helped train his younger brothers, and he competed at the first chance given. Possessing the capacity for magic he was, of course, trained in that field as well but his interest was more limited. His pursuits ended, with few exceptions, where the craft ceased to be a boon in combat. He studied policy, he studied tactics, he worked to mold himself into the model nobleman that was expected.

When war broke out against the traitorous Phoran Cal’s forces Nicomede took command of his father’s forces, as was his right. These duties he shared with his father, as well as his younger brother. His forces engaged in a few small skirmishes, conflicts in which they summarily routed their enemies, but Durante’s holdings bordered on traitorous lord’s. The probing, back and forth, of each’s defenses went on for the better part of the conflict without decisive action. The war was progressing firmly in the rightful ruler’s favor, but one of their allies had suffered grievous losses a previous battle. With all quiet along the border of Durante’s own lands Nicomede’s younger brother had been instructed to join his force with that of their allies, and push onwards. But days passed and those reinforcements had been nowhere to be found. Knowing that failing to capitalize on the enemy’s losses would be a grave mistake, Nicomede split off part of his own command to provide reinforcements instead.

Leaving him grossly outnumbered when their traitorous neighbor pushed his advantage. The Durante heir’s command was forced to defend a township without any fortifications, natural or otherwise, with half their intended strength. To win would have been glorious, and it was possible… But it was to be a bloody affair.

Instead Nicomede chose not to fight. His forces retreated from the township before the enemy arrived, and ordered the township to surrender when the enemy arrived. The only surrender in the course of the war, the only land forfeited without even a fight. Nicomede rendezvoused with his younger brother, a day’s ride away, and retook the town without the losses it would have cost to hold it. The traitor was routed and chose to surrender only a few months later when the war had been all but decided.

Not that any of that mattered to the Lord Durante. The embarrassment of such a surrender, the shame that his heir had ordered it, was insurmountable. Face had to be saved, and there was a clear choice.

Nicomede was a coward, he proclaimed, that had run to his younger sibling for help and it was only the work of his brother that the township had been saved. His heir had cut and run rather than face an uncertain battle, unable to face the realities of war. Under the circumstances he had no choice but to disown his eldest son, strip him of his name, and ensure that the title would fall to his more worthy sibling. He traveled to the front lines in person to do just that before the war ever ended. The Lord Durante’s men were marshalled to bear witness in the town’s main square, delivered the same decree that had already been sent to every corner of the fief and beyond and watched as the family’s crest was struck from Nicomede’s armor. In the eyes of the Goddesses, the Lord Durante announced, Nicomede had no family name and the Lord had only one son. Henceforth he was banned from setting foot on Durante land.

With no money, no home, and nothing but the gear on his person Nicomede sold his services as a fighter to survive. There was no company that would take in a disgraced noble, by now word of his shameful cowardice in contrast to the kingdom’s grand victory had spread far. Without status or money his reputation was a hindrance more than his arm was a help.

For five years he has roamed alone, fighting to stick to his principles as well as he could. His work paid little, his gear lost its luster, and his face faded further and further from the public consciousness. Not his story, his was a cautionary tale. But within a few years no one could have associated the roaming sellsword with the former heir to Durante.

Certainly the Iron Rose Knight he saved in the course of a job, rescuing the wounded warrior from likely death at bandit hands, couldn’t. If he had he might not have invited Nicomede back to the capital to join the Knights.
Equipment: Nicomede wears what clearly used to be a regal set of gleaming alwhyte plate armor, simple but masterfully crafted with gold trimming as befit his status. Pieces are missing now, lost to battle and too little money to repair them. His torso remains armored, but of the arms and legs only his pauldrons, gauntlets, and greaves remain. The pieces that persist are scuffed and dented, the place his family crest once sat scored away before his exile. The arrangement bears more resemblance to a seat of half plate now, thick and durable traveling clothes supplementing the remaining armor.

The spada da lato belted at his side, on the other hand, is immaculately maintained. There is no doubt that it is a functional blade, no mere badge of office, but its craftsmanship remains untouched by rough living. The blade, more slender than a contemporary longsword, runs down towards an intricate swept hilt that nevertheless incorporates a rigid cruciform guard. Some of this durability can be attributed to enchantment upon its crafting, but the rest is thanks to diligent, regular maintenance. Though not an enchantment in and of itself, the blade was forged with careful attunement to Nicomede’s preferences and synergy with his applied magic. The blade is supplemented by an offhand dagger, belted on the opposite side.

Nicomede’s final possessions are a worn but sturdy leather bag and a durable cloak to combat the elements.
Skills: A gifted duelist, and a talented tactician. Make no mistake there is as much difference between a regulated bout and real combat as there is between wading into a chaotic bloodbath and facing down a single opponent focused on you and no one else. Nicomede has a gift for both, but a true edge when it comes down to his skill and that of an opponent. His training emphasizes thought and flow, seeking or creating the perfect opening rather than battering down a foe’s defenses. His style reflects that, wielding two weapons equally suited to defense and granting the ability to strike effectively at close or medium range. He is familiar with a variety of blades but his sidesword is what he prefers.

Befitting his original inheritance, Nicomede is a deft hand at the game of tactics if not necessarily familiar with the level of strategy. And though not a Paladin himself Nicomede embraced wholeheartedly his Mayonite faith and its affinity for water in the use of his magic. Though possessing nothing but respect for Paladins who see their element differently, Nicomede had never subscribed to the passivity of a Mayonite’s defense versus a Reonite’s fiery offense. Water is strongest of all he believes; what water cannot flow around, water will flow through given enough time. To fight like water is not to be passive, but to flow around and through those who would bring harm. To that end Nicomede has, in addition to more traditional workings of the element, harnessed water’s pressure to punch through enemy armor in a concentrated point in supplement to his spada’s tip.

In addition to his extensive formal education, Nicomede had picked up the skills of surviving on the road with little money. Unfortunately for him, cooking was not one of them.

Nicomede cannot cook better than boiling even if it were to save his own life.

@VitaVitaAR

@Krayzikk

So a Magyar, an Italian, and a Vampire walk into a bar...

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

this is bullying.

out of general setting interest, I understand we’re based upon something close to Fantasy Germanic unless my memory fails me— do the other nations have similar inspirations, or am I totally talking out my ass?

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

you make me sound like such a scamp

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Naturally. It's more fun that way.

Anyways I really hate writing after not doing it for ages and having to just kind of pile my focus together, it's just the worst.

I wanted to acknowledge a little more before THINGS start HAPPENING, but Saggy lingered on this issue longer than I'd expected. Oh well

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Gerard Segremors

@VitaVitaAR

It was as though she had walked right out of a painting.

There was scarce little Gerard knew about Princess Eliabelle beyond what passed for "common knowledge" amongst a knightly order in nearly her direct service— that she was roughly the captain's age, for instance. It amazed him that someone so young could carry themselves with such an elegance and grace... her storied beauty certainly lent itself to that, but it also showed in the lightness of her stride, the read of her room, and how she held her head, wearing that beaming smile.

Assuredness and propriety oozed through her every movement, even beneath her eagerness to meet her honored guests. Never a gilded hair on her head out of place. It was easy to tell why she was so well-regarded, in that respect. As far as passing judgement upon royalty went, even a lowlife like he could certainly ascertain that she looked the part.

That dress alone is probably worth enough to feed my home for a month, he mused, watching its ornate porcelain-colored frills and folds and golden beads shimmer as she walked. Something about elven tailoring, was it? I've never met an elf, but they certainly didn't hold back.

An all too visible reminder of the type of world Knighthood meant stepping into. Seeing genuine royalty in person, being called to attendance of this celebration of extravagance by her, even perhaps exchanging a few words face-to-face...

The mind boggled. Intellectually, he knew such things were supposed to come with the territory. His head had filled itself with enough dreaming for that, but knowing and doing, as it so often was, were two very different things. Now that it faced him, it was was as though he was staring down—

"I'll be outside to look at the pretty gardens. You guys have fun with the princess, alright?"

"Ah—"

Before he could rebound and make a proper response, his compatriot had slunk away. Though he'd disguised his exit as he so often liked to, with an airy laugh and a wry sentence, Sagramore could feel that Lady Violette's dissatisfaction had hit home. The silence from him before the princess's entrance, before he took his leave, was telling enough. It wasn't like him to let the air hang where it had for so long. It drew a plain grimace from the swordsman as he belatedly realized what had transpired while he was trying to count golden beads.

"... I... didn't mean..."

His eyes flitted over to the Lady in question, tearing themselves from Jarde's wake to rest upon her sagging form. Haughty as she had been moments prior, now she seemed to begin to understand the weight her venting could have upon someone. That there were bridges one could burn by doing such a thing.

He'd hoped as much. She'd been all but smacked in the face with them; if not by Gerard himself, then certainly by this departure. They were socialites, weren't they? Women whose whole lives revolved around reading cues and piercing facades. To simply exist within court, noble trappings or otherwise, wasn't that much necessary?

...Is this not very similar, though, to what she believes of us?

"Er... I apologize, sir knight," Angenese said, bowing her head, the other blonde doing the same. Violette averted her eyes.

Gerard exhaled through his nose, clearing his breath as he gazed upon the three...

"Don't."

His stance was simple, and his position honest. For all he had worried about maintaining a knightly image, he couldn't allow this to be swept beneath the rug. It disagreed with him. It would simply stew, fester, and poison his friend's mind. His confidence would be shot to hell, and that could prove fatal. Moreover...

That Violette couldn't meet his gaze told him that she needed this just as much.

"At least, don't apologize to me. That's not going to solve anything." he continued, folding his arms with the sound of metal sliding against metal. "I'm not the one who got hurt."

This was definitely presumptuous of him. His tone had firmed now, and his words were getting freer by the minute. Certainly not a way to ingratiate oneself to somebody he had just moments ago pegged (rightfully or not) as coddled by the luxuries of nobility.

But even so. One needed to own what they said and did.

"I'm not the one who needs to hear it, though I thank you for your courtesy. Just as I said, you've merely lit a fire in me to excel. More importantly— You're not the one who should be apologizing either, Lady Angenese." his eyes locked with hers for a moment, before falling back on the girl in black. "The antagonist should be making amends with the antagonized."

Though his voice remained resolute, his face softened somewhat as he looked upon the clear shame she carried.

"Lady Violette."

That meant she knew she had made a mistake, and that meant there was still hope. For this, and for her. He just needed to address her directly— and she just needed to address this directly.

"We come from worlds alien to eachother. Where you've seen enough parties like this to be bored out of your skull, if I were to guess— I've spent seven and a half years living my life on the edge of a sword. That's a huge gap to cross when we try to make conversation. I can't speak for his background, but I feel safe saying it's just as removed from yours as mine."

His assumptions laid themselves bare before his mind's eye once again, even as he spoke. Everything he was saying wasn't exclusive to these girls trying to understand the knights, after all.

"It's hard to bridge a void like that flawlessly, I know. Missteps happen— I've probably already made plenty just by saying what I am. Saying it in the way I am, too." he admitted. "There's no way it's proper, for certain."

It was rather austere and stern compared to the eggshells he had danced upon prior, but he felt he was still being fair to her. Acknowledging the mistake rather than saying it was malice was far from an attack upon her, when paired with an offered solution to the problem it had created. Hopefully he could get that much across.

"This wasn't unavoidable, I'm not saying that. But for what it's worth, I think I can understand it. I can get it, and I can forgive it. I'm certain Jarde can too. Enough that you won't be hated, at the very least. But the apology needs to be one-to-one. You to him, saying exactly what you mean to."

On this, he would stand firm.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Today or I commit sudoku

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

sounds exciting. this last week of work is kind of shooting holes in my focus, but i’ll keep grinding

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

noblewomen, go for it

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

post up hopefully tomorrow