"The old ways are our ways. They and we die hard."
Name: Balder Goldenwood
Nickname/Alias/Title: The Fighter/Old Man
Sex: Male
Age: 58
Race: Human
Occupation: Heavy Gunner & Weapons Master/Trainer
Past: Balder was born and immediately pushed towards a career as a warrior. Standing at around six feet tall while still a boy, he would eventually grow another half foot still, his wide-shouldered frame ornamented with thick, corded muscles. Not an unattractive man, Balder always looked more rugged and manly than handsome. His strong jawline and wide nose appropriately matched a thick barrel chest and bear-like limbs. His ferocious personality was mirrored by wild, flowing hair and a low-hanging mustache, both as golden as his namesake would suggest.
A veteran of many battles, Balder's greatest test came at a much more personal level. Still a young man with less than three decades under his considerable belt, Balder was presented with a child of no less than eight years by one of his lovers from the seemingly distant past. By all appearances, this young boy was his son, there could be no doubt about it, but Balder was in no position to be a father, especially to a boy who had already lived nearly a decade without his father in his life. He would give it his best effort at parenthood, but, despite huge sacrifices of time and energy that virtually derailed his military career, months and months spent apart due to the inevitable callings of war widened the rift between father and son. The boy would eventually grown into a passionate, determined young man – much like his father – but with a calling much different than Balder's. During one of Balder's military campaigns, the young Goldenwood would become infatuated with a certain sect of religious zealots and leave his family home without anything more than a short letter.
Balder couldn't understand his failings at the time, and so he chose to avoid them altogether by dedicating himself fully into his bloody craft. He had lost much by attempting to divide himself between two different responsibilities, and for awhile he became lost. He often attempted to find himself in what proved to be a faithful source of courage and friendship, the double edged sword that is wine, whiskey, and ale.
Present: Just as alcohol gives courage to warriors before battle, so too does it dull the passage of time for those same warriors. No longer the powerful, explosive warrior of his past, Balder has acquired a few layers of fat over his years of muscle – his thick barrel chest now featuring a sizable gut. Though his long, flowing locks have long since left his cranium to be replaced by wrinkles, his mustache thankfully remains intact (though what was once blonde is now a distinguished white). His deep brown, squinting eyes still remain their twinkle, and his large hands have maintained their calluses.
Despite the apparent effects that aging has had on him, Balder's priorities have remained constant. He still protects those around him with his weapons and with his instruction. From martial training to instructions about artillery safety, Balder hopes that he can impact the people he cares about and ensure their continued existence long after his old bones lie down for the last time. Though he will always struggle to admit it to himself, his protective nature is a response or substitute for his paternal instincts, instincts that he would have never expected to surface.
Future: Balder has accomplished much in his life, and, though he never aspired to be the legendary warrior that his earlier year might have hinted at, he is relatively satisfied with his career. He is now primarily interested in passing on his knowledge and continuing making sure that he looks out for those whom he takes under his wings. This selflessness comes easily to Balder but at the cost of his own mental well-being. Though he has always found fraternity in his companions and pupils, Balder continues to realize the implications of his missed opportunities at creating a family. He is proud of the wisdom and martial prowess that he is able to pass on, but that is no substitute for an impact of flesh and blood. Any thinking focused on the future inevitably leads to a reminder of his own mortality and of the fact that everything he has made can be too easily swept away.
Skills: Balder is a master of many weapons and proficient at more. Though he prefers to fight with heavy weapons like claymores, plançons, and battle-axes, he is more than passable with light, one-handed weapons like smallswords, dueling sabres, and rapiers, utilizing a heavy armguard or buckler in his off hand. Because of his experience in different infantries during his younger years, Balder has a basic knowledge of various polearms (halberds, partisans, ranseurs), shortspears, and tower shields.
As far as ranged weapons go, Balder's specialty lies with rifles over handguns due to his belief that every ferrum bullet – no matter the size – is only valuable if it hits its mark. The added points of contact with the shooter's body and ease of sighting and their added accuracy are especially invaluable to warriors rapidly losing their speed with age.
Balder is invaluable aboard ships in the operation of artillery, for he can be an efficient one man crew or he can orchestrate multiple crews of gunners operating multiple cannons. In under five minutes, Balder can have a cannon cleaned of all remaining ferrum and sparks, loaded and rammed with a ferrum crystal base and alumen-enforced steel shot, and ignited with more, unstable ferrum. In his years aboard ships, he has been experimenting with different kinds of shots specially designed for any circumstance.
Strengths: [Attack; Intelligence]
Though not as strong as he was in his younger years, Balder is still extremely deadly when he attacks. With a wide range of weapons and techniques, Balder pairs years of training and wisdom with his natural brute strength.
As a result of a lifetime of hard training and practical experience for that training, Balder has stocked a library of tactical information. He was not born with any particularly special level of intelligence, but he is sharp and practical. This mind is augmented with a wisdom that comes only to those who have, not only decades, but also trying experiences and hard fought triumphs behind them.
Weaknesses: [Dexterity; Willpower]
It is only natural for bodies that have been moving for almost six decades to begin to slow down. As a larger man, Balder was never the most nimble or agile, and this weakness has only been accentuated by hard years. From cartilaginous breakdown and loss of elasticity in his knees and ankles to a heavy accumulation of body fat and loss of calcium in increasingly fragile bones... Balder would just say that his best years are surely behind him. You surely won't see him on the dance floor – or hope you won't.
Spending much of his life around those (from soldiers to other old men) who do nothing but encourage his vices has had its impacts on Balder's own willpower. To cope with the gradual loss of his martial prowess – something that has defined his entire life – Balder has made a habit of turning to the bottle. Though his aging organs are less and less able to handle the alcohol, Balder continues to increase his intake. He desperately wants to live in the present, for thoughts of the loss of his past and of his non-existent future are things he is determined to avoid.
Equipment: Balder's arsenal consists of a multitude of weapons, but he usually looks toward a specific few: a heavy, steel plançon à picot (sturdy shaft under a heavy metal cylinder, lined with rows of four spikes and featuring a larger spike on top), an iron cutlass (thicker and shorter than a sabre or a rapier and with a heavy metal hand guard), a buckler (for his off hand when wielding the cutlass), and a flintlock rifle (a piece of flint, held by a set of jaws, can be sparked by a small hammer released by a trigger and a frizzen, uncovering the ferrum-containing pan – the production of actual flames in the firing mechanism unleash powerful ferrum rounds).
For operating heavy artillery, Balder utilizes a sponge/sacatrapos hybrid to clean the barrel. An alumen-enforced ladle and rammer load the alumen/steel shot and the ferrum crystals, and a linstock with unstable ferrum finally lights the cannon.
What other characters would know: N/A
