[hider=Leon][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/56JjAkv.png[/img]
[sub][color=F5BD02]Leonhart Astaros || 42 || The Regia Guard Captain[/color][/sub]
[color=c3313c][sub][i].[/i][/sub][/color][/center]


[indent][indent][indent][color=F5BD02][b]Description:[/b][/color] [color=bababa]From head to toe, Leon is covered in the signs of a hard life. His hands are rough and calloused, his arms, though strong and firm, are covered in the scars of combat. A bite mark here, a sword wound here. He has fought and fought, and it seems like it will never end.[/color]

[color=F5BD02][b]Feelings on Storm Touched:[/b][/color] [color=bababa]In the history of the nameless empire, Leonhart is probably the first and only Regia Guard leader to have a softened view of those ‘cursed’ by the Storm. How could he not? In his mind, the role of the Regia Guard is not to keep the royals safe, but to keep the people safe - and to consider the Stormtouched lesser would go against almost everything he stands for.

Would it be fair for him to look at them as swine when he himself has spent time in the storm, when he himself is touched (in his own way) by the Storm?

He is smart enough to keep his views to himself, but small deeds throughout his years of service have caused rumors to swirl amongst communities in the wider rings that the Regia captain is different, and those rumors fuel a hope the fourth and third rings are in desperate need of.

To almost everyone left in the city without a name, one thing rings true: Leonhart is a hero.[/color]

[color=F5BD02][b]The Hero's Journey:[/b][/color] [color=bababa]Leonhart was born to a prostitute who died in childbirth in the fourth ring.

The woman who delivered him cared for him from the time he was a toddler, to the time he was around eleven years old. Though the woman was a lowly peasant, even she could see the potential he had with Ikonomancy. When the healers came to help those who were sick, or had fallen victim to the storm, the woman spoke with the leader of the monks, Father Astaros; she asked him to come and meet the child named Leon.

After some tests, the monk offered to take Leonhart to the inner rings with him where he could get proper training to utilize the potential he held. As they traveled toward the monk’s home in the second ring, Leonhart was instructed to take on the surname of the monk, and to tell anyone who asked that he was a long-lost family member who was returning to the second ring to experience the life he should have had this whole time.

During their long journey home, Astaros taught Leon about many things. The history of their empire, morals, academics, nutrition... There was so much to teach before Leonhart was sent to the academy, that it was very lucky he was such a quick learner. The most important lesson Astaros tried to impart on his charge was that people were just that: people. When facing down the apocalypse, Astaros reasoned that all deserved equal treatment. It was why he’d traveled to the fourth ring in the first place.

When it came to Ikonomancy, there was nothing left Astaros could teach him once they arrived at his home, and Leon was quickly sent to the Wardana Academy where he could learn from the masters. Leonhart quickly rose to the top of the Academy, becoming a Wardana leader only briefly before he became an apprentice to the Regia Guard captain.

Swelling with pride, the aging Astaros was able to pass on with a smile: Leon would carry on his legacy well, he knew that.

While mourning the loss of his father, Leonhart’s legend truly began. As an apprentice to the Regia guard, Leon was allowed to face the frontlines of the storm as it ate the fifth ring. He fought valiantly, and saved as many people as he could. Defying orders, Leonhart fought the Stormbeasts back from the people as if he were an army of one.

The people whispered his name as the storm seemed to consume him as he fought to push them back. He would have traded his life then and there if it meant one more person would live to see the world he hoped would come once the Storm, like all things, finally passed.

Three days later, Leon walked out of the Storm. While bearing the injuries of a warrior, Leonhart seemed unscathed. The whispers of his name became yells, they spread like wildfire: The man who survived the Storm, they called him. He spoke of his time in the Storm to very few people, but there [i]was[/i] an undeniable change about him. He looked older, and his strength seemed it had multiplied.

The very, very strongest.

From there, his legend only grew. He fought tirelessly to protect not just the Regia, but all of those who inhabited the nameless city. When his master stepped away, it only made sense that Leonhart would take the mantle of Regia Guard captain. The selection was made long before it even came up. Only a fool would have picked anyone else, Leonhart was the hero of the people. The only hope left that many people had.

Until the day he dies, Leon intends to add fuel to the fire of hope and inspire the people to band together to fight the Storm — not each other.[/color][/indent][/indent][/indent][/hider]