[@WestWall] First draft. This is an odd iteration of this character if you knew what he was before, but I'm quite pleased with it.

[b]Name:[/b] Levi Yve Nykolas
[b]Age:[/b] 37
[b]Race:[/b] Human
[b]Gender:[/b] Male

[b]Profession:[/b] Soldier of Fortune - Travelling from village to village, doing whatever work is available. The march of Altar’s armies has made safe work - that which is unlikely to get him killed - a scarce find. He keeps ahead of the marching death, never staying to aid places he has learned are about to come under siege. No amount of gold has convinced him to face Altar’s legions; he would never live to collect it.

[b]Appearance:[/b] Aged, scarred, gruff, not known for appearing friendly. He neither barks nor bites as harshly as he may appear however. He has a set of three scars cutting across the right half of his face, stemming from the corner of his mouth, the bridge of his nose, and just under his eye ... courtesy of a long night in the woods in winter and a pair of hungry wolves. His armor is a lightweight, yet durable mix of steel plate and thick leather, scratched and gouged by both blade and fang. His waistbelt is heavy with steel, a pair of high-quality arming swords he has carried for years without end, and a set of carefully balanced kunai bought from an elven trader.

[hider=some images][img]https://orig00.deviantart.net/d695/f/2014/190/9/f/kings_of_the_realm_by_grafit_art-d7pwk1i.jpg[/img]
General idea. Armor is a bit bulky on this though (imperfect matches are why I don’t care for photos). The face is more accurate.

[img]https://orig00.deviantart.net/6119/f/2014/190/b/5/kings_of_the_realm_by_grafit_art-d7pwk16.jpg[/img]
Better armor, slimmer and more lightweight, but the face is too young, nor does Levi carry shields. Both the swords in these are really too heavy and can’t be easily wielded off-hand.[/hider]
[b]Revenant Ability:[/b] [i]Walk the Shadows[/i] - Levi fades from existence, leaving only a wispy black fog in his wake. He moves swiftly to strike from unexpected angles and evade attackers.

[b]Personality:[/b] Blunt, brutally honest, and a bit pessimistic, but loyal to a fault. Though his line of work would suggest he is loyal only to wealth, he grew up on stories of heroes of old. But in his own words, [i]“There are no great causes left to fight for, no feats worth fighting for, no battles worth dying for. There is no valor to be had in throwing one’s life away vainly trying to stop Altar’s conquest.”[/i] When the legion’s came for Dalath, his last wish was that his inevitable death would be worth something, that some townspeople could escape with their lives. In his mind there may be no heroes anymore, but sometimes one fool who tries to be can make the difference.

[b]History:[/b] Levi originally was an apprentice blacksmith. He never finished his apprenticeship before his village had to be abandoned when word arrived that Altar’s legions had set the town in their sights and were on the march. Barely a man, he answered the call for volunteers to fight. The town’s few trained warriors planned to strike the army when they made camp, slowing their advance and buying time for the townspeople to make it to the next village. A sound plan in theory, but the god-king’s legions marched through the night, burning the town as they passed though rather than making camp. It was deemed too risky to return to the townspeople, and the war party scattered into the woods. None of them were ever sure if the townspeople made it.

Levi and a few of the others made it a day later to another town that had no idea how close the army of the apocalypse had come to them. Of the small band, only one was a trained soldier who trained the others whenever possible. Levi, being somewhat familiar with swords from forging some, picked up the skill a bit more readily than the others. As years past and they traveled, men parted the group and went their separate ways. Eventually, even Levi’s master believed it was time to settle. He said it was better to live while one could, than constantly running until the end of one’s days.

Levi carried on alone. His blacksmithing skills were still rudimentary, not proficient enough to make a profession out of, so he made a name for himself on the one other proficiency he had: swordsmanship. For years he was a travelling blade for hire, but work in that realm grew scarce over time. He kept ahead of Altar’s rampage most of the time, but during a stay in Dalath, he was caught unaware. He was among the first to notice the faint sound in the distance: a charging cavalry.

With the legions coming, there was only one thing to do: [i]hold the line.[/i] Half the soldiers would go with the evacuating townspeople to a mountain pass a mile west of Dalath where they could hold off Altar’s army for a time. Everyone else who could swing a blade efficiently would hold the first line at the town itself to buy time for the retreat. Levi took up his place at the first line of defense. Each successive hold would buy more time than the last, but it all rested on the first one. The first-choke defense held longer than expected, cutting down nearly a battalion, but in the end it would not be enough time. The fleeing caravan did not make it to the pass in time. The second wave defense was not even a defense, it was a slaughter.