Name: 'Ser' Merek Harclay
Age: 45
Sex: Male
Height: 5 foot 8
Squad Role: Marine
Appearance: [url=http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/109/0/0/ser_hazell_by_jedi_art_trick-d628j4i.jpg]Merek[/url]
Origin: Mountmend, Essatar
Background:
Merek was born to a peasant farmer working on land rented from a noble who reaped just about all the wheat and whatnot that his father grew, leaving his father very little to maintain his tools after purchasing food and other essentials needed to live. As a result, Merek grew up with an innate hatred of members of the nobility because of the way the noble treated him and his family. The farm his family worked on was situated next to the small village of Mountmend known for the stone mine that it got its name from. Merek was often sent to the village to buy supplies and to sell the produce that the farm produced. This was where he met the man that would mentor him in the art of the blade.

He bumped into the man when he was heading out to buy some food, he was a short old man. His hair was black with greying streaks at the sides and his gaze was as astonishing as a Medusa's. He met the man three more times after that. Twice when Merek was selling produce at a stall and once on the occasion that would see him made into a swordsman's apprentice. Merek was working the stall at the time. He heard shouting and commotion coming from the nearby mine and went to go check it out. It turned out that a part of the mine had collapsed and a few men were trapped in. Merek tried to help as much as he could, but in truth, nothing could stop what was going to happen next. The structure keeping the part of the mine behind them up weakened and eventually snapped, killing two and leaving 3 including Merek, the swordsman and a miner. The miner had a plan to dig their way out by working in shifts with the miner doing the longest shift. The only problem was that it was pitch black and accidents could be prone to happen if they were not careful. They also had no way to gauge the amount of time they had spent doing anything and so shifts were generally done until they were too tired to work and had to switch out.

During his time in the mine, Merek and the swordsman talked often and eventually the topic of an apprenticeship came up. Merek disagreed at first, but the more he talked about it the more he was convinced it was a better option than continuing to be an impoverished farmer all his life. After he got out of the mine, he was eager to break the news to his father, but under the advice of his new mentor he decided to wait a few days before telling him. His father reacted rather badly to the news that his son wanted to go off with a strange man to learn how to kill people. Under much persuasion and a little bit of bribery from Merek's soon to be mentor Merek was soon ready to set out on his pilgrimage. They started by travelling to Suratar and buying Merek a shortsword there to train with. They then made their way down to Dissor while training all the time they travelled. They encountered very few enemies on the road much to Merek's disappointment. 

They stopped at Dissor where real action was found. They had entered a pub and had met a rather unsightly group of men fresh from a war they had pretty much avoided altogether by being placed in the rearguard of most fights. They began to act rather rambunctious which lead to Marik's mentor getting rather annoyed which ultimately led to a bar fight. This was Merek's first taste of real combat and to his delight, he actually got to stab someone. His mentor was quite hasty to get out of Dissor after the fight though and they soon arrived in Zend. Most of Merek's training took place there in his mentors home. They trained and occasionally took contracts up until Marik was in his 20s. He was then ready to go out into the world and make something of himself. At first he didn't really know what to do. He considered mercenary work, but ultimately decided on military work.

He was placed in the vanguard of most battles and experienced combat first hand. He saw his comrades die around him and was lucky to survive a lot of situations he was put in. At the end of his military career he was paid fairly and was to be welcomed back if he ever wanted back in. By this point he was in his mid 30s and was very well trained with his sword. But he yearned to rest for a while and so he returned to his old village of Mountmend. When he arrived there he did not expect what he saw in the least. The village had been ravaged by invading barbarians of which the noble was too preoccupied to send men to fight. Merek had to get revenge in any way possible. He recruited what little men where left after the attack and launched an attack on the barbarian hoard. After successfully killing and driving out the small barbarian tribe, Merek's next target was the noble that taxed the village so dearly. When he arrived at the nobles estate he was caught off guard when the noble decided to reward him rather than fight him. As it turns out, the noble was too preoccupied with helping fight the war that Merek had just left to help the village. He was massively grateful for Merek's work and in return for it gave him a medium amount of gold and had him knighted as a Ser. Merek wasn't really sure how to react to this, he had never thought of himself as a noble and practically hated the lot, but then again, the title did come with a degree of respect that couldn't be gained from a name otherwise. He decided to accept the title and begin another pilgrimage. He done mercenary work for a while and has just recently arrived in Alabaster City.

Skills:
Merek has honed his longsword skills over the many years that he has fought. He is also very versatile when it comes to using a shield or not. He generally prefers to keep a round shield on his back for protection against archers and attacks from behind, but will sometimes use the shield itself if he is up against a particularly big enemy or against a barrage of arrows. He is also proficient with a longbow and carries one with him.
Reason for joining the Fifth Echelon: An eagerness to get back into battle.
Other information: