[hider=Joren Volkov][center][b]Full name:[/b] 
Joren Volkov

[b]Titles:[/b] 
Knight

[b]Social rank:[/b] 
Highborn courtier

[b]Job or societal position:[/b] 
Master-at-arms, advisor

[b]Age:[/b] 
54

[b]Gender:[/b] 
Male

[b]Appearance:[/b] 
Joren is a tall, stern-looking man with thick gray hair and a thick gray beard. He is very fit, and seldom seen without chainmail and a longsword at his side. His eyes are a dark brown, and his mouth is almost constantly in a slight frown. He walks with a visible limp, favoring his right leg.

[b]Personality:[/b]
Joren is a very straightforward men, as many in the Whitelands are, blunt and abrasive at times. Despite this he is very slow to anger, and rarely gets frustrated. He is loyal to the Weades, as they are his liege lords, but finds it difficult to look on the young now-Duke and his regent brother as his superiors rather than his charges.

[b]History:[/b] 
Joren was born a member of one of the minor branches of House Volkov, a noble family which controls a few keeps and surrounding forts and villages in the Whitelands. His particular parents were second cousins of the family's head, and had little land of their own. From a young age Joren distinguished himself with sword and lance, and seemed to have the makings of a knight, as his father and his father's father had been. 

However, a very large obstacle was put in the way of this goal when Joren was an adolescent. One day, while out hunting in the forest, his horse tripped over an unseen root and collapsed. While Joren was mostly thrown clear one foot caught in the stirrup and his right leg was crushed under the fallen horse, breaking it in several places. 

While a local village doctor was able to set the leg, it was predicted that Joren would never walk unassisted again. He made do with a long walking cane, hobbling on one leg from place to place. In the end his leg did recover enough to allow him to place some weight on it, but it took quite some time for any skill at arms to return with such limited mobility. But return it did, and at the age of twenty-eight Joren was knighted by Rikard Weade and went into the man's service. As a knight who could not -- or would not -- ride his uses on the battlefield were rather few, so instead Joren was made into the Weades' master-at-arms as well as an unofficial adisor, and worked to train the keep's garrison at sword and shield. He also lent his skill to the education of the Weade children themselves, and taught them the intricacies of sword, shield, mace and hammer. 

Eventually, however, Joren's hair began to gray and his skill at arms to fade a bit. Regardless of this, however, Lord Rikard kept him in the castle to provide advice and to train his children. He was unable to join Rikard in the Ironhill Dispute, instead remaining behind to serve as castellan until Weade's return -- or, as it turned out, until his death.

[b]Skills:[/b] 
Skilled with sword and shield, provides solid advice.

[b]Dreams and fears:[/b]
Dreams of returning to his family's home once his skills are no longer needed.
Wishes to help the young Duke and his younger Regent in becoming capable rulers.
Fears horses -- not the animals themselves, but rather the idea of riding them. Naturally, this tends to incur a bit of contempt among 'real' knights.

[b]Favored equipment:[/b] 
Chain mail, longsword, shield.

[b]Extra:[/b] 
The insignia of House Volkov is a pack of wolves guarding the Weades' tree. Joren has two children -- a boy and a girl -- being raised at his family's seat.[/center][/hider]