[OOC] Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

[VitaVitaAR]

@KuramaaaZ: I figured, but it's just that I'm surprised he'd join the Iron Rose Knights when it's a big part of what they are, defending the weak.

[KuramaaaZ]

@VitaVitaAR He has mostly other motives to join. Or are there some requirements to join besides being a knight?

[VitaVitaAR]

Well, I mean, generally speaking they have to be knights who will carry out justice, desire to defend the weak, defend Thaln, that kind of stuff. There's an oath involved and all, after all.

You have an excuse for him defending the weak, yes, and it's not like you have to edit, I was just kind of wondering.

[Tracyarmav]

WIP

• Name: Gerulf Walther
• Age: 28
• Gender: Male
• Race: Human
• Appearance:
  
  
  Kitted for Bear.

  
  
  
  
  Every day garb

  
• Personality: A curious man, he is often nosing into things he probably shouldn't. He means well, he just finds it very hard to restrain his natural curiosity and often forgoes the attempt all together. He is a generous man, willing to give the tunic on his back to a man in need. His quiet manner leaves him in the background of most social gatherings, silently watching the party, and the coming and going of various attendants and courtiers. Only when on the field of war does he speak up of his own accord with any regularity, and then usually only to seek clarification of orders.
  
  If the man has a flaw, it's that he is extremely curious in any unknown front and cynical on all others.
• Brief Backstory: Born of impoverished nobility, life for him was less pleasant than for most noble born, though that isn't to say that he didn't grow up with the privileges often reserved for nobility. He spent time in his youth working in the fields of his father's lands, partly to help, and partly to fill his curiosity. It certainly didn't hurt his training as a knight any. Now, a newly knighted man himself, his family all but destitute due to blighted crops, he seeks to enrich his family by pursuing the life of a mercenary.
  
  He worked hard as a squire, studying and practicing long after the others had quite. Steadily working himself into the ground with his tenacious and rabid pace. Eventually forced to rest, he came out a more mature individual, willing and better able to weight the costs of his actions. He became a knight, just after the blight struck, and his armor and weapon were given to him by his mentor as thanks for his studious nature and strong character, even if he was just a tad too curious for his own good. Still, his curiosity leads him to be more clever than most, while his upbringing separates him from the rest of the nobility, leaving him cast adrift, between two worlds. So with his new arms and armor he resolved to carve his own future out, in a mercenary order. He looked into several different orders before finally settling on the Order of the Iron Rose.
  
  Still, why choose the Order of the Iron Rose, when other companies could promise more pay? He hasn't ever said aloud why he chose this order, he only shakes his head, smiles and changes the subject when asked. Some think his time in the fields made him sympathetic to the weak. Others whisper of a personal curiosity regarding the new captain. His father suspects it has to do with the rumors of a woman that resembles his sister, who vanished shortly after the blight.
• Equipment: A sturdy pole-axe, tall as he is, and plate armor to compensate for his lack of shield. A heavy crossbow and quiver holding thirty bolts.
• Skills: Man-at-Arms: proficient in the use of his preferred weapon, in addition to a sword, in melee combat, on the field and in the tourney lists.
  Marksman: Adept at hitting targets at range, though great focus and preparation are needed to hit his mark.

[Tarquin]

I have completed my sheet. Hopefully nothing objectionable to be found.

CS

Name: Katrina Carlus
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Race: Human

Appearance:


Personality: Katrina is a blunt, brusque, and boisterous girl. She is the type to get into a lot of fights, but not necessarily out of choice; she just ends up picking a lot due to being irreverent, easily offended and highly competitive. If she’s given a good reason to hate someone, she will hold a grudge over it for a long time, and is far too stubborn to try and reconcile. She isn’t incapable of making friends and being friendly, but she’s easily provoked and difficult to approach. Anyone attempting to make friends with her will need the patience of a saint, if they even think it’s worth the trouble.

While she may not seem like it, she is a true believer in the cause of the Knights of the Iron Rose. If you strip away several layers of caustic cynicism, you’ll find a person that sincerely wants to help the weak and do right by others. Her desire to help is usually expressed in the manner of a Reonite; that she wants to smite evildoers with all the might in her arms. She would only rarely admit to having a more personal motivation to actually help people.

Brief Backstory: Katrina comes from a poor background in one of Thaln’s major cities. She grew up in a large slum where crime and poverty were rife. As a small girl, she often witnessed many scenes of criminals and the like preying on weaker citizens, shaking them down for all the crumbs they had on them. Her own family was no exception to this, and their home was robbed many times in her youth. It was here that her anger grew, along with her desire to do something about all this injustice. As she got older, she began to fight a lot, learning to fight practically rather than through instruction. She gathered a small reputation for her assaults on the criminals of the slums, and this was how she was noticed by a knight of the Iron Rose, who wanted to introduce her to their order. Having grown up hearing stories of the knights, she had always idolised them, and was all too eager to join.

Her entry into the order was met with a mixed reception. Few could doubt her ability, especially as she developed further with proper instruction. Her dedication was certainly not in question, as she was more than ready to take up the cause of the knights. But she did not fit in well with the more traditional, hierarchical elements of the order, and she had no love for its antiquated traditions. She conflicted heavily with the aristocratic recruits of the order that weren’t prepared to look past her background. While she could care less about the politics of succession, she certainly wishes for the order to flourish, and so she will be watching closely as to how the fresh command of the Knights of Iron Rose fares.

Equipment: Katrina’s armour is lighter than most knights, though still fashioned from iron plates. Her weapon of choice is a double sword that she acquired during her time as a knight.

Skills: Katrina is like a rushing bull in combat, attempting to use a mixture of speed and power to overwhelm her opponent at close quarters. Her training has geared her towards making use of her unique weapon almost exclusively. This also means she’s a bit inflexible in a fight.

[VitaVitaAR]

@Tarquin: Accepted.

[knighthawk]

@Raineh DazeIf I may ask, what kind of undead is she?

[PKMNB0Y]

Ah... Well, why not?

Tiral Yuren

Name: Tiral Yuren

Age: 20

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Appearance: Standing at about 5'9" tall, Tiral has a fairly average build for his age, which is kind of strange considering how he's perpetually surrounded by the other Iron Rose Knights who seem to be much sturdier than he. His light brown hair is cut short, but has found a way of remaining a shaggy mess that barely avoids his eyes, even while he is wearing armor. More often than not, though, Tiral opts to avoid the usage of any large plate armor or metal armor, instead only wearing stronger equipment over his vitals and leaving the rest under regular leather garb. His sword will often times be sheathed at his side, ready for combat at a moment's notice.

Personality: Tiral is... Actually fairly deliberate for a knight, if not somewhat bored by the peace of everyday life. His journeys at a young age meant he was already able to experience life in the real world, and since then the dusty old libraries that the mages hold in such high regard have been... Well, fairly dull. This doesn't mean that he isn't devoted to his work, but rather that he does not wish to learn anything unless he finds it interesting. Even so, his patience when it comes to such things is unparalleled. Or maybe it's just the fact that he can slap some ice onto people's mouths when he's trying to focus. That too.

Brief Backstory: Having been orphaned a young age due to an illness that wiped out the rest of his village, Tiral was taken in by a priestess of Mayon who was moving with a group of travelers to bring aid to those in need. Though he was never explicitly religious, he greatly appreciated the efforts put forth to save his life, even then. As he grew up alongside these people, the priestess soon found that Tiral had an aptitude for magic. With a recommendation from her (and the goading of those around her), Tiral went off to the capital to further his studies of magic. Sadly, the monotonous life of a studying magician was not quite what the then-young boy had expected of magic.

It was then that he heard of the Iron Rose Knights, whose feats were oft recorded in the books he was forced to pore over. Deciding that the life of a knight was much more entertaining than the life of a magical scholar, Tiral packed up his things once more and went to join the order. Learning the sword came about as easily as magic did to him, but the combination of the two (and his somewhat strange insistence on learning both at once) made him particularly noteworthy among that year's recruits. Since then, Tiral has been honing his abilities, both magical and physical.

Equipment: Other than his rather 'unique' set of armor, Tiral wields a shortsword and a small ceremonial dagger. While the sword is standard-issue, the dagger is mainly used as a catalyst for some of Tiral's larger spells. It may be used as a glorified kitchen knife, but he'd probably never stand for that. More often than not, this dagger is tucked away in his shirt or under his breastplate, but it never leaves his person.

Skills: Contrary to many of his peers, Tiral has chosen not to solely specialize in the way of the blade; rather than just being proficient with his shortsword, Tiral is also proficient in the usage of magic in combat. This magic, focusing mainly on the manipulation on water and ice, has become particularly noteworthy for those who are particularly religious. He, quite frankly, just sees it as sort of a coincidence; his specialty being water does not mean that anything was pre-ordained by the gods.
Probably.

[VitaVitaAR]

It's a bit late but we already talked it over in PM's, so accepted.

[Doc Doctor]

You didn't mention that in the backstory section. ^^; I guess I'm just wondering how he go from the tropics to Thaln and how he heard about the Iron Rose Knights.

@VitaVitaAR

By boat/horse, and by word of mouth, unless nobody knows who the knights are, in which case he saw the job in the newspaper.

You didn't ask anyone else how their character heard of the knights, and I checked the other apps; none have that detail. Am I a special snowflake?

[VitaVitaAR]

... Okay, um... this is a former holy order of knights dedicated to the defense of Thaln and its people.

Your character is a former cannibal and mercenary.

He needs a VERY good reason to be allowed into the knights. Also, he would only have heard of them after arriving on the continent where Thaln is located on... and probably getting relatively close to Thaln as well.

He's not a Knight Errant like a couple of the other characters are, he's not someone who was taken in by someone who could shuttle them towards the Iron Rose Knights. And he's not nobility or a knight of Thaln who wanted to join them.

He needs a really good reason to be part of them, especially given his history.

[Doc Doctor]

@VitaVitaAR

And henceforth upon the coming of Zande, our noble savage woneth ye olde tournament of champions and used the prize money to benefit ye olde local orphanage. Two days later he saved a friar falling from a foundry by wayeth of catching him with both arms.
HENCEFORTH did Zande then seeketh audience with the Rose Knights and made clear his aspirations, at the sameth time neatly inventing a believably heroic past for himself, in such a way that he was accepted.

[Themerlinhawk]

@Tarquin Katrina is awesome dude XD just read her CS I think she and Garrett will get along

[Antediluvixen]

So...

Merlin linked me here, and it looks pretty interesting.

Thoughts on a cynical mercenary who accidentally killed some innocents and joined the order to "atone"?

[VitaVitaAR]

@Doc Doctor: That still doesn't really explain how he managed to get from the other side of the world to what's basically fantasy Europe.

@Monochromatic Rainbow: I would like to remind everyone that characters do have to have somehow attained knighthood. So far everyone I've accepted has in some way. There's an oath of fealty and everything involved in being part of the Iron Rose Knights, and knight is right in the name. ^^;

[knighthawk]

@VitaVitaAR

And henceforth upon the coming of Zande, our noble savage woneth ye olde tournament of champions and used the prize money to benefit ye olde local orphanage. Two days later he saved a friar falling from a foundry by wayeth of catching him with both arms.
HENCEFORTH did Zande then seeketh audience with the Rose Knights and made clear his aspirations, at the sameth time neatly inventing a believably heroic past for himself, in such a way that he was accepted.

@Doc Doctor

*takes a mop and bucket to sop up the dripping sarcasm*

Looking at the history, I see some small blips:
He was exiled from his village for exceptional reasons (Are these reasons because he is a canibal?) and became a freelance mercenary and bandit leader, feared across the land. He lived a cannibal and a headhunter, who seeks to further his reputation by collecting the skulls of formidable opponents. (reputations work both ways)
Before too long, he grew tired of playing the bad guy and changed professions.(tired? bored? This is perhaps in need of a better reasoning, a diametric shift in core behavior should not be so flippant. Even if something like 'he wiped out a rival group and the villages mistook him for a hero and thanked him for saving them. He was touched by the appreciation for good deeds and the first nights rest in years without bad dreams that he went in search of other good deeds to do." A vision quest from a shaman is also a common reason to change his ways or go seeking the "flower of steel" if not 'a woman born on the full moon, born of a woman on a full moon' ) He joined with the Blades of Iron Roses to fight the good fight, leaving his dark past behind. He still keeps skulls though. Some habits die hard.

As for how he got there, a tournament of arms is a valid reason to travel to test his powers and met a knight of the iron rose.

Just for me, my twinge is the skillset. He seems to be a master of many skills on top of his own weaknesses being hidden strengths. Swinging twin six and a half pound axes are telegraphed but he is cunning enough to make false telegraphs. He can bite through a coconut, A coconut can be pretty tough to crack open. It takes about 1,400 pounds per square inch to break one open. A human can only generate 200-300 PSI, so he has a jaw strength 5 times stronger than any other human.

[Themerlinhawk]

@knighthawk Vita did point out this has some anime influences and is not strictly down to earth. I'm not disagreeing with you btw just the coconut think caught my attention is all since generally speaking feats of superhuman strength and skill are not uncommon in anime that is more slice of life let along anime that is more fantasy in nature. In addition such things also tend to occur if fairytales/stories about knights etc. This is litterally just my commentary on the coconut thing. I agree with the rest of what you said XD sorry the last couple lines just gave me the urge to point out the obvious. I'm a bit of a talker so you can usually safely ignore my random tangents

[Doc Doctor]

@VitaVitaAR

By boat and horse, I've already said. How else, magic?

@knighthawk

I do believe I'm familiar enough with my own character to decide how "flippant" he is. His motivations are for me and me alone to decide, and should have no bearing on the application. As for the coconut...



I rest my case. As for the weaknesses, I don't recall a weakness section of the application being required. It's not like he's superhuman, be creative.

Are we finally done?

[Raineh Daze]

@Doc Doctor It's not a literal 'how', it's more a 'why is someone from south of the Sahara in the Low Countries', given the distance between them.

And... it's a highly renowned order of knights. Wouldn't they ask why you want to join? O_o

[VitaVitaAR]

That pretty much hits the nail on the head there.