Name: Garviel
Race: Elf
Sex: Male
Rank: Warden-Commander
Description:
While Garviel appears youthful and beautiful to look upon, with fair skin, long golden hair and eyes the colour of a clear Antivan sky set like gems into high cheek bones, he is in fact nearing the end of his life as a Grey Warden, with precious few years left with which to continue the struggle against the Great Enemy. Despite his impending doom he is jovial, joyous and is often caught laughing and smiling among his fellow wardens. His voice is often described as being as soft as silk, and melodious.
His physique is distinctly elven: tall and lithe with firm muscular structure; defined, without being grotesquely stocky and bulbous like a dwarf. His gait and style of movement are also perceptibly elven, with an upright posture and as perfect a balance and stance as an imperfect creature can have. What little armour he uses is made of light leather of greens and browns: a cuirass styled with images of tree branches across each breast, and a pair of simple fur-lined leather boots. Under his armour he wears rich, thick cloth, similar to robes, of deep violet and blue, trimmed with golden thread. Over his clothing and armour he generally wears a long, hooded grey cloak. While, in his youth, other wardens boasted martial prowess and magical ability, Garviel was always seen to be the warden with the most style among his order. Against the Darkspawn he uses a long, curved, steel elven greatsword; its hilt formed of ancient oak and inlaid with gold, and its edge as sharp as a woman's tongue. He also carries an ornate shortbow made of whitewood slung around his shoulders.
Garviel was born into a human settlement, as a city elf. Throughout his youth he and his people faced prejudice and discrimination from the local people and, in particular, the landed gentry and nobility which owned the alienage he called home. Unable to inflict the physical harm on his human oppressors that he so desired, he took to thievery as a means of infuriating and humiliating them instead. The local lords would never believe that a simple elf was able to break into their homes, so he remained uncaught for several years. He had no use for the gems and treasures he could steal, but he found it very useful to place stolen items in the homes of various lords and ladies, to instigate rivalries between them. He enjoyed watching them bicker and fight each other over his tricks, knowing that he would never be suspected; being under the notice of humans as he was. Other elves eventually took to similar acts as a way of getting back at their oppressors, until eventually the local guards caught a group of elven youths stealing money from a merchant's home. A riot broke out in the alienage when the guards were ordered to cull the elves as punishment. Garviel had been practising swordplay in his home since childhood, using it as an expression of anger and frustration. Knowing that he would be executed if he was caught with a weapon in the alienage, even an improvised weapon such as a stick or knife, he practised alone. When the riots broke out his skills were invaluable to his own survival. Elves swarmed the guards and tore their weapons from them, but only Garviel, while not particularly skilled, had any notion of how to use them. While sustaining numerous wounds, he was able to kill two guards in single combat and wound several others as they attempted to restrain him. The observing guard captain had ordered his men to capture Garviel, and to publicly execute him and several others as an example to the rest. However, they were unable to subdue him for several minutes as he gracefully deflected their blows and slashed wildly at them as they attempted to grab him. The Warden-Commander at the time had been informed of the riot and had arrived at the alienage to observe. As Garviel's strength was sapped from his body, he was eventually disarmed and restrained. The Warden intervened immediately before the executions began, and invoked the Right of Conscription.
Garviel survived the Joining several weeks later while his fellow Warden recruits perished. For twenty-five years he has battled the Darkspawn wherever they emerged across Ferelden. He has outlived almost every other member of the Grey Wardens from the time that he joined, though his time is now nearing its end, and for fifteen years he has served the Ferelden Wardens as Commander of the Grey. He now acts as an advisor to the king in matters pertaining to the Darkspawn, and he, along with what few Wardens exist in Ferelden, stands against the Enemy.
"Don't write too much," he said... Oops.
And for anybody wondering, Duncan does not exist (or is simply a regular warden) in this AU. For the sake of the RP my character is the warden-commander.