[hider=Haljon Gunnarsson][b]Character Sheet[/b]
[B]Name:[/b] Haljon Gunnarsson
[B]Age:[/b] 27
[B]Gender:[/b] Male
[B]Race:[/b] Human
[B]Physical Description:[/b]
[INDENT]A towering man of stout build, Haljon stands at a staggering 6'9, and weighs nearly forty-five stones (450 lbs). He is barrel-chested, and his arms are unusually long. Possessing strong, angular facial features, he may be considered ruggedly handsome by some. His eyes are deepset and a dark brown, almost black. A scar travels from his forehead to beneath his left eye, and his nose is crooked from multiple fractures. Haljon's mouth is framed by a large beard, which is complimented by bushy black brows. He seems to be permanently coated in a layer of dirt or dust.

[hider=Appearance][img]http://th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/279/c/b/badass_by_88grzes-d6pgeuj.jpg[/img][/hider]
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[B]Skillset:[/b]
[INDENT]Haljon is frighteningly strong and a renowned swordsman. A capable leader of men, he is an expert at recruiting and training and noted as a strict, but effective, disciplinarian. He is also an able tactician, but his strategies are none too subtle and often quite straightforward. He has a peculiar interest in geography and cartography, and thus is especially knowledgeable about the layout of terrain and areas surrounding Dara and beyond. Haljon is also quite fond of history, especially of the mythological sort.[/INDENT]
[B]Ancestry:[/b]
[indent]Haljon hails from a land far to the north, one steeped with mythology. Tales of heroes and the sons of Gods abounded, along with those of treacherous sorcerers and vile monsters. He grew up listening to these tales, and his family even claimed descent from one of the many heroes; Letholdus, a towering demigod famous for having slain the Twelve Great Beasts by himself, in atonement for the egregious sin of kinslaying. Supposedly Letholdus was the child of the God of the Sky, and had the capability to throw lightning bolts. His great height was the result of his father wishing for him to closer to the sky. Being incredibly strong and tall, Haljon was often compared to Letholdus as he got older, possessing many of the same features as the hero in the tale.
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[B]Character History:[/b]
[INDENT]Haljon grew up in a village located in the far north, one without a name or place on any map. Surrounded by an icy wasteland and having never experienced any season except Winter, the village survived through ice fishing and trading with the few merchants who dared venture that far north. The fish they caught were prized for their oil, as it apparently turned flame a multitude of colors when burned. Haljon had a normal, if grueling, childhood. As the village stayed at a nearly constant population due to the climate, children were expected to take large amounts of responsibility at an early age. They were taught that duty, particularly to the village, came before all else; that a person's word was the summation of their entire being, a terrible curse befalling all those who broke theirs. 

The village often had to deal with slavers who raided the village for new slaves every few years. Supposedly, the villagers were renowned for their hardiness and made excellent laborers, and thus were favored by those who made a living through the sale of other humans. Through these attacks, the villagers learned to defend themselves, quickly becoming proficient with axes and spears. They fended off the slavers for nearly a decade. Then, one year, the slavers arrived in huge numbers. Despite the villagers best efforts, they were defeated and the entire village was sold into slavery. Haljon was thirteen when this occurred, and was particularly prized by his captors due to his already-impressive physique and young, impressionable nature. He, along with the rest of his village, was loaded onto the slaver's boats and taken far south, where they were sold at the markets of great cities.

Haljon was separated from all those he had ever known, making another trip across the sea to a forested land dotted with the odd town, inhabited by a barbaric and warlike people who called themselves the Treveri. There, he became a slave-soldier and was trained in the arts of war. He became quite skilled, and he distinguished himself on several occasions in the frequent battles and skirmishes the Treveri fought. By the age of seventeen he had reached his full, towering height and was famous across the land as being a fearsome warrior. The Treveri granted him his freedom then, and offered him an official place amongst their warrior-ranks. But the Treveri had been cruel masters, and so Haljon fled the tribe in the dead of night. He boarded the first ship he found, trading one of the many prizes he had collected over the years for passage. Since then he has roamed across many lands as a sellsword, and has most recently been doing his bloody work in the city of Vrent.
[hider=Alternative Bio]
Haljon was born into an impoverished noble house with a small amount of land to it's name, his father a Knight of some renown and his mother of low-nobility. From a young age, Haljon had a keen interest in martial pursuits, and could often be found sparring in the courtyard or against other boys, including commoners (though this detail was much frowned upon by his mother). His father began teaching him swordplay at age seven, and while he mainly focused on these lessons, he also managed to learn to read and write, though his penmanship is horrid and his reading laughably slow. Haljon learned basic manners and some arithmetic, though he was never good at either. However, Haljon proved to have a keen eye for strategy and tactics, and he adored military history. 

Haljon was formerly taken into his father's tutelage at age fourteen. By this time Haljon was the size of a full-grown man, and his growth showed no signs of slowing. By sixteen he would be taller than his father, who was considered a fairly large man, and by eighteen he would reach his full height of nearly seven feet tall. Along with his enormous size came a tremendous strength, and he was often compared to an ox in that respect. Haljon also proved to be a more than competent swordsman, and one with a surprising amount of speed and agility. Coupled with both a weight and reach advantage, he proved to be quite the formidable foe after he was formally knighted in his twenty-first year. 

However, his father's liege-lord was apparently quite power hungry, and decided he was in a prime position to rebel against the Empire and forge a Kingdom of his own. As a vassal of this lord, his father was obligated to obey, and thus Haljon found himself marching to war against the forces of the Empire, much to his dismay. The war was, as could be expected, brutal and swift; the rebellion was crushed mercilessly in a single great battle, the rebellious lord slain on the field. His parents were executed for high treason, though Haljon was spared. Apparently he had acquitted himself quite well in the battle, and he was given the option of swearing fealty to a new lord. With little choice, Haljon accepted, swore an oath, and, in the dark of the night, absconded away to a nearby town. There he bought a horse and traveled to a far corner of the Empire, near it's very frontiers. 

He drank away his grief and sorrow in a tavern, selling his horse and most of his clothes and armor to support his new-found love of ale. The only thing he kept was his sword Limbcleaver, a gift from his father. At some point whilst he was drowning his misery in the cups, he was approached by a man who introduced himself as Rikard, the leader of a mercenary company of some renown. He offered Haljon a place in the company, which Haljon accepted with a significant lack of grace. Over the next several years he traveled, fought, bled, ate, shit, and sweated with the company. He learned new skills and made many friends, some of which he believed to be his companions for life. OVer time the company became more and more famous, and thus their services were required by wealthier and more powerful men. Their battles became harder, but they endured and became stronger from it. Until, however, a day came when they were simply far too outnumbered. Rikard had insisted that they could handle any foe, and thus they found themselves surrounded on one lonely hilltop by three times their number. The company fought long and hard, but their numbers slowly dwindled; and although they killed two for every one they lost, they fell one-by-one until not a single one of them was left standing. 

Haljon had slain a dozen or more of the enemy, and was only taken down after he was knocked over a shallow cliff ace onto several rocks below. He was presumed dead, but in reality alive, albeit gravely injured. He cursed the nine as he fled the aftermath, and once again turned to the cups to drown his sorrow in. Over time, a deep-seated hatred of the Immortal Nine took root in Haljon's soul, blaming them for the deaths of his parents and brothers-in-arms. He dreamed of the day he could take his vengeance, and that day seemed to come a few short weeks later in the form of a robed man. He spoke to Haljon of Erthantis and his followers and offered them a place in their ranks, and of course he accepted, recalling Rikard approaching him in the same manner, years ago...
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[B]Personality:[/b]
[INDENT]Haljon is known as an affable, boisterous character who is fond of light-hearted jests. He is something of an alcoholic, often found drinking copious amounts of wheat ale at his favorite tavern while off-duty. His word and reputation mean everything to him, as they are some of the few things he truly values.[/INDENT]
[B]Equipment:[/b] 
[INDENT]Haljon wears a thick cuirass of lamellar, as well as vambraces and greaves made of the same material. Underneath all this he wears a long mail shirt that goes to his knees (hauberk). The rest of his outfit is made up of boiled leather, covering his thighs and shoulders. His boots are made of this material, as are his gauntlets. Haljon typically does not wear a helm. He has a massive two-handed iron sword that measures six feet long, slung across his back in an intricate sheath. He has dubbed the sword "Limbcleaver". A knife with a wide blade is sheathed at his belt. He has five groats, three shields and twenty farthings.[/INDENT]
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