Arthur Wick | 41 | HumanA P P E A R A N C E :
Though more often than not caught in his full plate armor when one does get a glimpse at what Arthur looks like under the silvery plate they are treated to a view of a damaged man. Laced with both scars and wrinkles Arthur has lived a hard and unrelenting life of military servitude, and bears the marks to prove it without shame. His body angular and sharp at six feet and eight inches. Under the scarred tissue Arthur is possessing of wiry muscles built for sudden bouts of speed. He wears his straight hair long and flat, and while his hair was once a dim brown stress and age has drained his hair of most of its color, turning it into a dirty grey with only traces of the brown it once was around the ears. Upon his face Arthur is sporting a hearty and long goatee with great pride, as is the custom of his family. Arthur also possesses blue-grey eyes with all the resolve of the ocean waves they match in hue. On the rare occurrence that Arthur isn't marching around in his full plate, he can be found in an equally intricate uniform in the white and red of the Wick clan, with their signature candle heraldry upon his breast.
M I N D :
Arthur is a man bound by his honor. Many years ago he swore loyalty to Tarkus, and while his master has been warped, Arthur's oaths have not. Everything Arthur does is for Tarkus, his armor kept clean, his weapons sharp and his skill in battle honed so that he may best uphold his oaths. Because of this Arthur often has a case of tunnel vision, thinking of nothing but how best complete his most recent orders, though perhaps this is simply because Arthur is avoiding thinking too hard on what he has done already in Tarkus' name.
In his years of war, especially the most recent years, Arthur has done many things that conflicted greatly with the codes of honor that his family imparted to him, and if not for his love of the old Tarkus Arthur would have attempted to run away years ago, not that Arthur even believes he could. Arthur was praised for his sharp wit from an early age, and learned speech craft and the sciences as a part of his noble upbringing, however as of late such skills has rusted, as Arthur slowly works to distance himself from reality.
Overall Arthur is an intelligent man, ever loyal, but cold as he tries to forget his bloody life.
H I S T O R Y:
Born the third son of the noble Wick family during the rule of Caesius, Arthur was taught the noble arts befitting his station. As such he was made to learn the ways of combat, so as to join the Legions as a knight to gain further honor for the knightly Wick family. With knowledge of fighting, strategy, and to a lesser extent the arts and how to conduct oneself in the courts Arthur was sent off to join the military. Distinguishing himself on the field of battle Arthur rose through the ranks, coming so close as to even become friends with Tarkus, and then Caesius died.
With the death of the Emperor and the rise of the Hand came great turbulence. Tarkus maneuvered to fight the usurpers, and Arthur swore his eternal loyalty to Tarkus and his noble goal. At first it seemed that Tarkus and the legion would win, beating down the anthem of rabid murderers and monsters the enemy commanded at every turn, however Tarkus was captured, and with him the conflict ended. Warped and defiled as his commander was however Arthur's oath of fealty still stood. The first order of the Legion of the Hand, now Endless, was to destroy the final few who rebelled, and among them was the Wick family in their ancient castle home.
The battle was harsh, for the Wick family was one built on war and it showed in the strength of their castle walls. There were no secret escape routes to exploit, and the soldier's who lined the wall gave no quarter, however the might of the Legion was not to be broken and after a month of siege a breach was made in the walls late in the night.
That night would forever be burned in Arthur's memories. Tarkus' orders were clear, Arthur was the first one in. Fire and blood marked the night, as Arthur and his forces ascended the levels of the fortress until Arthur stood face to face with his father and eldest brother.
Since that night Arthur has dutifully served the Legion as if a man possessed. Much like his home and bloodline Arthur was burnt out, and with no greater goal has obeyed Tarkus.
It has been many years since, and Arthur has still yet to fully accept his unfortunate fate, but knows of no way to change it while maintaining his vows and so coldly carries on with his orders.
M O D U S O P R E R A N D I:
Arthur is a master of the spear, and as such tends to frequent the front line. His fairly tall and lanky body mixed with his quick wit and reflexes affords him great natural skill with such weapons, and the years of training and experience have only compounded this. Often marching into battle with a spear a foot taller than him he controls any conflict he enters, often outwitting his foes with feints and quick precise movements of his far reaching weapon and disallowing his foes the chance to attack until he dims it fit.
While on a open battlefield Arthur can be found commanding phalanxes from the front, leading his men to pin enemy formations and tear apart cavalry regiments. Though due to the nature of the dwindling Legion Arthur has also had to from time to time take on the role of cavalry. Arthur favors a lightly armored horse, dancing around enemies with speed and grace, shifting from his fairly defensive and controlling combat style on the ground to a heavily aggressive style in the saddle.
Not only does Arthur fight on the front lines though. Due to his acute mind and years of experience he has been known to frequent the general's tent, drafting plans and strategies, although Arthur prefers to command men personally from the front. And of course due to the constant lack in manpower Arthur has also taken the role of quartermaster for the legion, doling out weapons and armor and managing the army's food and other such supplies.
And while Arthur has, due to the fate of Tarkus, sworn to never partake in the art again, his family line has practiced a form of magic, and Arthur had once been skilled in it due to his sharp mind. The Wick clan had developed a means of using one's own blood to produce fire, be it great walls or, for instance, the light of a candle. It is in fact this magic that gave the noble house their candle heraldry. However after Tarkus was corrupted Arthur swore to never use any form of magic again, and discarded the bladed ring his family used as both signet and as a means to create a rend in the hand to let loose blood.
O P I N I O N S O N O T H E R S
Verse: A clump of raw iron. While Arthur hadn't appreciated when a group of Anthem savages assaulted his storehouse late at night he did value the fact that their commanding officer had come to serve in the place of the lost men that had been with Arthur during the rabid attack. Arthur also found it quite humorous that the legion had received a verse from the anthem, though that wasn't of import. While it saddened Arthur that such creatures as the tainted existed, he saw potential in the lethal creation of the Endless, and sought to teach Verse about the ways of honor and chivalry in an effort to turn her into a true weapon befitting the legion.
Myaenthar'Sul: After an incident in which the kobold nearly impaled itself on Arthur's spear he has decided that the creature was more an annoyance than an ally on the battlefield. While Arthur was intrigued by the possible uses that the kobold's exploding bolts could serve it was unfortunate that such a potent weapon laid in the hands of both a coward and a tripping hazard. Better would it be if the kobold simply shared the secret of his weapon and allowed the Legion to produce it for the other missile troops, but Arthur couldn't find himself in a mood to request anything from the kobold, or talk to the miserable creature for that matter.
Reika: A powerful ally who deserved a measure of respect. Arthur trusted the wanderer on the battlefield, knowing that with his blade that Reika could hold the line nearly on his own, however his temper needed work. While more often than not he made for interesting conversation the warrior was easy to turn to anger, though Arthur rarely found himself setting the powder keg of a man off.
Magatha Toil: Arthur highly respects Mag's skill with her chosen weapons, and appreciates the existence of such a skilled battlefield messenger and mage slayer, however her open and negative views of Tarkus were unforgivable. After attempting several times to lecture the godling on the proper way to talk about such a figure as Tarkus, and the following arguments that followed, luck would have it that the two rarely have need to converse off the battlefield.
Aeudla Vesnat: A respectable archer. Arthur respected the elf's ability with her weapon, however her mental state was something of concern. In his handful of previous interactions with the women she seemed to be either all over the place or nowhere at all, and Arthur wasn't even sure if they was a good way to describe it. He managed to learn through second hand sources that she couldn't read and made a promise to himself that when time allowed he'd teach the women, soldiers that can't read written orders are a problem.
Of course, Arthur also learned that the elf was a mage, and that compounded Arthur's concern. Magic was what warped Tarkus, and Arthur was always wary around such arts these days though he felt more pity than concern for the young elf.
Saga-Hanir: Hanir was a trusted friend and ally. Arthur enjoyed the chance to converse with another the finer points of life and combat over a glass of wine, however sometimes Hanir was too much sometimes. It would appear that the Saga clan were more prone to decadence than the Wick house, though with the death of the Wick family that hardly mattered. All that aside Arthur enjoyed his chats with Hanir more often than not, though it appalled Arthur that Hanir would work so hard to hide his scars, scars earned in battle were to be worn with pride and grace, a mark that proved honor, and of course as both a friend and quartermaster Arthur aided the other noble in his procuring of balms perfumes and incense and it would make Arthur's job simpler if he didn't have to spend time on such pointless tasks.
Andrea Albane: A great pity. Arthur greatly respected her skill at arms, but her lack of appreciation of any other art form was a great shame. She was of great use on the battlefield and Arthur appreciated her presence, but her constant need to shed blood concerned Wick. Perhaps it was simply a byproduct of the violent times they all lived in, however Arthur wished that few would follow the champion's bloody example. Perhaps if the blood ever stopped flowing Arthur could teach the Albane of the other noble arts, but such was a dim hope in a world controlled by the Endless.
Marcus Vantiri: Arthur wished that he could meet every member of the legion, knowing your comrades and having a relationship with them often increased the effectiveness of all involved parties and while Arthur was sworn to Tarkus it didn't mean he couldn't grow close to others. That said however Arthur could not say that he knew much of the front line soldier Marcus. As a quartermaster Arthur had been tasked with doting justice out when a grunt had accused a higher up of restricting food to his men, and rather than having the grunt disposed off Arthur decided to look into the claim and found truth.
When Arthur later learned the same grunt had become something of a camp cook the knight decided that while he couldn't ever make time to get to know the soldier the least he could do was misplace a shipment of dried meat or ale every once in awhile, discreetly leaving the supplies where Marcus would find them. After all, starved men make poor soldiers.
Tristanya Aurelain: She is certainly stunning, likely an inconvenience for the men that need to fight near her, but what could be done for that? The fact that Tristanya fought with a staff was of note, a similar fighting style to how Arthur wields his spear. Aside from that though Arthur mostly tries to avoid being near the icy mage, her magical skill matched with her cold temperament is worrying and Arthur silently hopes that none of the men are foolish enough to attempt courtship with the noblewomen.
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