[Hider=Claes Astra] Name: Claes Astra Nationality: Hamrock Isles by descent, spent most of her life in Tolos Occupation: General, Grey Wind Mercenary Army Religion: Oromism, for her own reasons. Appearance and Personality: Claes is a surprisingly attractive woman. She is by no means a rare beauty, like one would find in courts or in great epic stories, but living a soldier's life has done less to mar her natural features than one would expect. She is well endowed, managing to stay in proportion to her more muscular, tall frame. Her face is fortunately unscarred, soft lips and large green eyes twisted by a deadly stare and a sneer of cold command. Her skin is pale, usually dirtied by mud or ink, and she is crowned by a shock of radiant red hair, long and wind-blown, unkempt and wild. Her dexterous hands are marked and scarred after a life of holding a bow, her gait wide and confident from a familiarity of command and a life in the saddle. Claes values self-knowledge, and has lived her life trying to control herself, know her flaws and strengths and weaknesses and accomplish her goals. She is a firebrand: quick to anger, prideful and used to command, she dislikes being slighted and is prone to fearful rages. She is a woman of action, hating to be idle and bored easily, she dislikes waiting or doing nothing. She is prone to speeches and tirades, and holds everyone she meets to her own exacting standards. She cares truly for few, but for those she does she is driven to do anything in or outside her power to protect and aid. She holds grudges, enjoys revenge and petty vengeance, and has an excellent memory, especially on her failures. However, she is aware of these things. She has worked her entire life understanding herself, and has fashioned excellent control over years of work. She is more than able to wait, to scheme and plot and save her efforts for later. She may not like it, but she can feign interest or pleasure on any number of things, and has wrangled her temper onto a short leash, capable of cold calculation over rash emotion when the time suits her. Her values never change, but she is able to take the bigger picture and understand what must be done and what must be sacrificed. Despite her disgust at the idea knows that she cannot do everything to run an army, and has learned to wrench herself from unhelpful micromanagement. She cannot make herself happy with doing things which go against her nature, but grins and bears it in the pursuit of her only true goal, no matter the situation: victory. Biography: A third generation descendant of original Mardochians, she is racially Tolosan though did not see her homeland for almost her entire life. Her ancestors, after the assassination, did not follow their kith to the isles, being soldiers through and through. They joined the Grey Winds, learning quickly the ways of the Tolosan light cavalryman. Claes' father was born into the company, and rose in rank, eventually holding the position of executive officer. He married and sired Claes, an only child, and she grew up around soldiers, in the saddle nearly before she could walk. She learned her numbers and letters in a military context, learned archery and horsemanship and the hundred stories and songs of soldiers, a child more of the company than her actual parents. She joined when she was only 14, and had her first command by 16, gifted with a mind for tactics and battle. When the Winds lost their command staff at the hands of outlaw assassins, Claes entered the power struggle, aided by her small group of loyal followers. Four months later, she found herself at the head of nearly six thousand of the finest cavalry in the world, at only 19 years of age, killing her last competitor in a duel. Over six years of command, she fought on the behalf of Tolosan lords and for the Emperor on more than one occasion, making a name for herself as a brilliant commander of brilliant troops, developing her own distinct style of mounted combat which has begun to draw the attention of the military sciences. She fought great victories at Scipillar and Uldon Ridge, throwing Etruscans back across the border time and again, against forces much larger numerically. With these successes, the Grey Winds have become rich and famous, and she has earned the almost total loyalty of her soldiers, many of whom would follow the standard into hell if she asked. She heard Oromis has resurrected, and led a march across the entire content, the Grey Winds making their pilgrimage across the sea to pledge their service to the God-King. She promises wealth, status and victory to her soldiers, assuring them in the success of their new master, and they believe her, eager to earn their rewards for their fighting. Magical Artefact(s): None. Motivation: Ostensibly, Claes serves her Grey Winds, wanting to make her soldiers rich and successful, to earn wealth and prestige to enjoy the niceties of life. She has pledged her entire self to the conquests of Oromis, and has taken no actions to contradict this, praising his divinity and the justness of his cause. Detractors are quick to point out her thirst for glory, her sacrifice of soldiers to bolster her own prestige, and her ambition that has, on more than one occasion brought defeat to allies and subordinates, but she dismisses these as the ravings of the sore defeated. [hider=Grey Wind Order of Battle] General Astra 1st Battle: Colonel Laurence Ostilla [300 Archers] Captain Calib 4x Lieutenants Captain 4x Lieutenants Captain 4x Lieutenants 2nd Battle: Major Aliden Bayaz [300 Archers] Captain 4x Lieutenants Captain 4x Lieutenants Captain 4x Lieutenants 3rd Battle: Colonel Jorge Gordon [300 Archers] Captain Flint 4x Lieutenants Lt. Myra Tavellan Captain 4x Lieutenants Captain 4x Lieutenants 4th Battle: Major Willem [300 Archers] Captain 4x Lieutenants Captain 4x Lieutenants Captain 4x Lieutenants 5th Battle: Major Hellico [300 Lancers] Captain 4x Lieutenants Captain 4x Lieutenants Captain 4x Lieutenants 6th Battle: Major Sim [300 Lancers] Captain Marko Elias 4x Lieutenants Lt. Myra Tavellan Captain 4x Lieutenants Captain 4x Lieutenants [/hider] [/hider]