[b][u]Character Sheet[/u][/b]

Name: Gerald Arenar
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Nationality: Relunski

Occupation: Mercenary
Skills and Abilities: Gerald is an excellent swordsman and a decent shot with a bow. He is good at moving silently, and has a fair amount of knowledge when it comes to tracking and lockpicking. He is also familiar with the basics of trade and negotiating, and has a surprisingly refined vocabulary for a hired cutthroat.
Weaknesses: He makes no attempt to hide his callous attitude, making it difficult to gain allies or friends. 

Appearance: Gerald stands at an imposing six foot five, with short, unkempt, dark blond hair, and some scraggly stubble for facial hair. He has a light skin tone with a slight tan, and dark green eyes. There is a scar running from under his left eye to the bottom of his cheek. He is physically well built from his long years of travel and combat, and has a few other scars located here or there across his body.

Equipment: Gerald is clad in a boiled leather vest, with steel shoulder plating and steel gauntlets. He wears a pair of leather pants, with padding over the thighs and groin, steel knee guards, steel greaves, and a pair of steel-toed leather boots, with a back-up pair of soft leather shoes when he needs to go sneaking. He has a shortbow and a quiver of twenty arrows slung on it his back, a steel longsword sheathed at his left hip, an ornate dagger with a long curved blade and a small emerald in the hilt sheathed on his chest, an ordinary dagger sheathed at his right hip, and a small knife hidden in his boot. In the way of miscellaneous gear, he has a coinpouch and a set of lockpicks, both kept secure on his right hip as well. Lastly, he also owns a brown riding horse named Alice, with saddlebags for his basic traveling supplies - rope, a bedroll, provisions, and so on.

Background: Gerald was born in Vesvolla. His mother and father were merchants, who owned a caravan which traveled from place to place selling its goods. From a young age, he was used to being on the move. His parents taught him to read and write, and about trade and negotiation, since he would be expected to one day follow after their footsteps. He had an older brother, but he passed away from sickness when Gerald was too young to remember them. His only other company consisted of the caravan guards, who he eventually talked into teaching him swordplay. He also spent a great deal of time reading through his mother's collection of books.

Although they mostly did their business in Relunski, occasionally they passed into Drunnic or Jarlton territory, whenever a particular foreign beverage, spice, or outfit was in fashion back in Relunski's capital. As a result, he had a rather worldly background.

Unfortunately, the merchant's lifestyle was not to last. When he was fourteen, the caravan was making its way through the Shimmering Woods. His mother had cautioned his father against the route, but he believed it would be a quicker route through the Drunnic and Relunski kingdoms. They soon came across a tree blocking the road. As the guards attempted to clear it, half of them were struck down by arrows, and then a dozen men charged out from both sides of the road equipped with swords and hatchets. 

It was then that a smaller party of perhaps three bandits came behind the caravan. Gerald's father drew his sword and managed to fight off and kill one, but the other two quickly put blades near Gerald and his mother's throats. As the man holding Gerald commanded his father to surrender, his hand drifted away slightly, allowing Gerald to bite into it, and Gerald's father seized the opportunity to run the man through. But the bandit holding Gerald's mother cut her throat.

Meanwhile, the caravan guards were clearly losing, and threw down their weapons in surrender. Gerald's father ordered him to run, and then with a cry of rage he attacked his mother's killer, the two engaging in a vicious swordfight. Gerald, covered in blood and scared out of his mind, complied, fleeing into the woods. He took one last look behind him just in time to see the bandit's face as he cut his father down - it was a face he would never forget.

He walked for several days. Every now and then he would find a berry bush, and that would keep him going, but he was hungry. Eventually he was ambushed by another group of bandits. Seeing his fine, albeit dirty clothes, they figured he had something of value or would be worth a ransom. He managed to put up quite a fight, giving one a black eye and knocking out another before he himself was knocked out. The bandits soon discovered he had nothing, but the leader had been impressed with his courage and fighting prowess, believing he had potential, and offered him a place in their ranks.

With nowhere to go and nothing left to his name, he reluctantly accepted, falling into the lifestyle of a brigand. They further trained him in the art of swordsmanship, but also took the time to train him with bows and knives. He learned how to track both people and wildlife, looting caravans, ambushing travelers, and hunting and foraging for food. It was a rough lifestyle, but eventually he learned to accept it, and the bandit leader was almost like a father to him.

New members came and went. Some would die in combat or to sickness, others would leave or get killed by a rival in the company (and if the person who did the killing was caught, they would be killed in return), but there would always be new faces to replace them - soldiers who deserted, criminals who had been forced to flee into the wild, travelers with nowhere else to go, they came from a variety of background. But when he was around twenty years old, there was one member he simply could not accept.

It was the man who killed his father all those years ago. But rather than immediately react, Gerald remained silent. The man didn't recognize him - why would he? He waited until nightfall, and when everyone was asleep and Gerald posted on watch duty, he knifed the man in his sleep, packed up his equipment and provisions, and left.

The band of brigands mainly operated within the Shimmering woods, and they would not care enough about the new recruit to follow Gerald once he had made it out. So, he left, heading back towards Relunski. From there on, he carved out his own path. He found employment and coin wherever he could, from working as a hired thug for loan sharks or street gangs, spending time in mercenary companies, taking on freelance work, and in particularly desperate cases full-on thievery. He spent time traveling all across the land, but recently his travels have took him back to the city where his life began.

[hider=Questionnaire]
What are you doing in Relunski’s capital, Vesvolla?
"I was born there. I recently returned, figuring it would be a good place to find work."

How do you feel about Yarrings?
"Even if they are scoundrels, I'm a scoundrel too so I'm hardly in a position to judge."

Your mother is dying of sickness, there is a known medication but the only person known to have it is also dying of the same sickness, what do you do?
"Take the cure, knife the other person to put them out of their misery, and give the cure to mother."

You are starving, you haven’t eaten in days, you have no money and you find yourself in the marketplace, what do you do?
"Steal enough food and coin to get by. Any more and the risk of getting caught increases."

You are on a small boat after the sinking of your ship, it is overfilled with people and far beyond its capacity limit to the point it is only a few inches above the water line. You come across other individuals who have abandoned ship as well, their bodies tiring from staying afloat. They ask you to toss your rope to them so they can join you on the boat, but it would surely sink. What do you do?
"Nothing. Better to let some of them drown than kill everyone by letting them on board. Beat back anyone who tries to board anyways."

You find yourself in prison, what happened?
"I took a job of a less than legal nature."

What is worth fighting for?
"Coin. And maybe some good friends, but I've yet to meet anyone like that."

What is worth dying for?
"Nothing. Well, if the entire world was at stake, that might change things, but I seriously doubt I will ever be in that position."

Have you ever killed? Would you consider this murder?
"I'm a sellsword, and originally started as a bandit. Killing is part of the job. Some of them deserved it, and some didn't, but it was me or them."

If your advice leads to the death of someone else, who is responsible for what?
"It doesn't matter. The deed is done, and both me and the killer had a hand in it."

Who holds the power of the populace, and who should hold power of the populace?
"The Kings and the upper class have the power. I wouldn't mind a bit of power myself. It's all about who's smart enough to rise up and take it, and their children need to be smart enough to keep it."

How do you feel about magic?
"I'm not scared of it, but I don't trust it."

You are retiring from an adventurer's life, what do you do with the rest of your days?
"Maybe run an inn, or a shop. Assuming the adventurer's life doesn't kill me, that is."

You are in an army at war, what role best suits you?
"Skirmish work, scouting, guerilla warfare. Ideally in a leadership role, but I don't mind following if the leader knows what they're doing."

If you know you can get away with a lie, would you do it?
"No."
...
"That was a lie."
[/hider]