Edward Zobek (Richter's 3rd Alt)
Feb 2, 2014 4:00:43 GMT -6
Post by Edward Zobek on Feb 2, 2014 4:00:43 GMT -6
Name: Edward Zobek
Titles: Viscount of Ligure, Ex-Knight Commander of Etruria, Grand Master of the Knights Radiant
Age: 54
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 183 lbs
Class: Sage
Gender: Male
Hair Color: Grey
Eye Color: Blue
Appearance: An older, yet dignified looking man, Edward is tall, strong, and quick, and despite his age, is neither old nor decrepit. He keeps himself in good physical shape, though he is way past his prime. His hair is fairly grown out, but he keeps it in a tight ponytail as so as not to look unkempt. If he was younger, one would most likely call him handsome, but at his age he is more accurately described as dignified.
Clothes: Edward, having been born of impressive military lineage even before making his own name as a general, is quite familiar with the accoutrements of the nobility. When not traveling, he can usually be seen wearing embroidered silks, furs, and other clothing reserved for the highborn and the wealthy. However, when traveling, Edward’s garb becomes very plain. He prefers leathers and hide for their durability, and a hooded cloak to conceal him from both the weather and unwanted gazes. In combat, he wears only the pauldrons and breastplate of the golden-hued set of armor his father had forged for him when he was first promoted to captain, choosing to wear lighter protection in his older age. He has maintained it with the utmost diligence.
Born In: Etruria
Personality: Edward is a dutiful and upright man, a living embodiment of the classic definition of chivalry and knightly bearing. It has been said he is a man out of time, a noble soul in an age where noble souls are no longer valued. He is known for his decisiveness, and no matter the task Edward brings with him an assuredness and a confidence to everything he does. Because of this, he is described by both his subordinates and superiors alike as easy to work with and calming to work under, as his presence makes everyone feel more under control. The veteran soldier is, however, a stern taskmaster and demands the utmost from both himself and his compatriots.
Edward is strict but agreeable, questioning but not doubtful, critical yet understanding, and values the strength that strong friendships and long standing alliances provide. He has little patience for those with weak ideals, and sees those who quest solely for money, power, or prestige as having no foresight and little wisdom. His age has given him greater perspective, and has the patience to play the long game, laying down plans in advance only to see them come to fruition later. However, he can also be inflexible and unwilling to try new things. He also has a bad habit of being short those who would disagree with him, assuming they do so from a lack of experience rather than because they hold a different perspective.
Story: Edward was born to Lord Anthony and Lady Natasha, the rulers of a small viscounty in far western Etruria named Ligure. Known for its apple orchards, Ligure was not a rich land, at least not compared to those nearer to the capital, but its rulers were fair to its tenants and its lands were verdant and beautiful. It was in Ligure, the ancestral home of the Zobeks, that Edward grew up before being sent off to become a knight as was custom for young men of the Zobek family. He was sent to the neighboring county of Ciminia where he served as an attendant and page-boy to the son of the ruling Count Bion Verdeche III, Lord Bion Verdeche IV.
After being trained how to wrestle and how to ride a horse, in addition to both reading and writing and playing music, Edward was squired at the age of 15. He was then taught all of the things he would need to know to become a true knight, such as how to wield a sword and shield or lance, how to fight on horseback, and how to fight in armor.
While a truly excellent and gifted swordsman, Edward soon found himself longing for the more scholarly, cerebral lessons of his childhood. While his fellow squires would fill their free time with foot races and physical competition, the young Zobek would steal away to the count’s library, pouring over books about military strategy, engineering, philosophy, and most importantly, magic. Late into the night, Edward would pour over tomes detailing the intricacies and eccentricities of the arcane arts, absorbing every detail he could. At first his efforts to perform were largely futile, but with time he found himself conjuring flashes of light and faint glows. However, his bookish retreats usually resulted in a good scolding from Lord Verdeche IV and eventually put him a bit behind his peers in terms of strict athleticism, but the knowledge he learned from his private studies would become a great boon to him in later years.
At the age of 18, two years before the typical age, Edward was found worthy of becoming a knight. Like his father and his father’s father before him, his sword was blessed in the name of Saint Elimine and was knighted into the king’s service. After being knighted, Edward initially headed to his home in Ligure, where he met a young Asthore Grania, the daughter of a rich merchant from Aquleia who had made his fortune and moved out to Ligure to find himself some well-deserved peace and quiet. Edward was smitten with Asthore, a known beauty, on first sight. Whether it be her silky chestnut hair or her splendorous blue eyes, there was not a part of the merchant’s daughter that Edward didn’t find perfect. But despite his best efforts, the young knight found his initial attempts at courting her to be in vain, and before he could win her over, he found himself called to the Western Isles to serve in the king’s navy to quell the upstart conquests of pirate warlords.
It was out in the Western Isles that Edward Zobek began to make a name for himself outside of the one his family had given him. Skilled with the blade, the knight was a fearsome foe on the battlefield, clad in his shining, bronze colored armor as he fought valiantly on the decks of both Etrurian and pirate ships alike. But what truly separated Edward from his peers was his sharp tactical sense. More than once did the Ligure native narrowly keep himself and his fellow soldiers from being ambushed by an enemy raiding party through proper maneuvering, before responding with a well-placed attack of their own. And on top of that, his longtime interest in magic, once little more than rudimentary tricks, quickly manifested itself into an applicable battle skill through hours of what Edward liked to call "field study". He was quickly promoted to Knight Banneret, and became well-known for both his strategic thinking and his spell-slinging, leading small strike groups into lawless territories to sow disorder and discontent among pirate armadas.
At the age of 20, at the end of his first campaign in the Western Isles, Edward again returned home to Ligure. There he once again pursued Asthore, who had been on his mind ever since he had left. Perhaps it was his newly battle-hardened air or his more experienced demeanor, but the once elusive woman now found herself under the same spell she had put Edward under when they had first met. The two were wed within months, and soon had their first child, a son, Gabriel. The three lived together happily for the next four years until Edward, now 24, was once again called back to the Western Isles.
Edward’s next campaign lasted four years, four long years that were very hard on him. His thoughts were constantly back in Ligure; He missed his family, but he knew he had a duty to his country and his king. So he continued to serve valiantly, stabilizing and securing Etruria’s holdings and trade routes within the Western Isles, rapidly rising through the ranks of Etruria’s knighthood. And all the while his magical prowess grew, to the point where many times Edward found himself casting spells more often than he swung his sword. During his campaign, Etruria came under full control of over 30% of the Western Isles, territory that had previously been completely lawless. By the end of his service, he had earned the title of Knight Sergeant, and was ready to go home.
At the age of 28, Edward was welcomed back home with open arms by his wife, his son, who was now eight years old and fantasizing of being a great knight like his father, and his young daughter Sonia who had been born while he had been away. The next three years were happy ones filled with joy, with Asthore coming to be with child again soon into the third year, but what had begun as such great joy had ended in tragedy. Asthore experienced great complications in childbirth, and died giving birth to her daughter, Iadra. Edward was distraught at the loss of his wife, the love of his life, but found comfort in the birth of his daughter, whom he cherished and valued like a king’s own treasure.
Now a 31 year old widower with three children to raise, Edward decided to remain in Ligure with his family rather than leave his offspring under the care of his parents, the Viscount and Viscountess at the time. For the next 12 years Edward lived in Ligure training the next generation of knights, young men sent to be apprenticed to him from all over Etruria, all the while trying to be the best father he could, teaching his children all of the things they’d need to know to survive in the world. His son, Gabriel, he taught the ways of war, the ways of a knight much like he himself had learned growing up. But unlike his father, Gabriel had little aptitude or patience for magic, more interested in blades and bludgeons of all shapes and sizes. His daughter, Iadra, however picked up her father's magical arts quite well, but was otherwise sheltered, her father treating her like a delicate rose. He did his best to teach her the proper ways of the nobility, but after awhile much of her education ended up under the tutelage of her grandmother, Lady Natasha. His middle daughter, Sonia, he tried to raise like Iadra, but she was too stubborn, and too determined to be a knight like her older brother. She and Edward would clash constantly, as she refused to adopted the demure lifestyle that was expected of her.
At the age of 43 Edward was beckoned by the newly crowned king to fight for the crown. Much of the lands Edward had spent his early years fighting to bring under Etrurian control had been unofficially taken over by a particularly brutal pirate warlord, and the king wanted one of his father’s proven knights to take control of the situation. Edward, loyal to his regent until the end, obliged. Now a renown mage knight, he was promoted to Knight Commander and set out on his final campaign, a three year war he waged against the upstart pirate that dared to challenge Etruria.
At 46 Edward returned home only to find his homeland wrought by the political unrest of the “Prophet” Kraft’s rise to power. The king had been ousted by this charismatic, so-called voice of Elimine, and the royal family was driven into hiding. This left a vacuum of power for Kraft to fill, which he did so gladly. One of his first actions as despot of Etruria was to bring the military under control. He gave all knights under the former king’s service an ultimatum: support him, or resign. Edward, unwilling to break his oath to the king and unconvinced of Kraft’s weak, angry, blasphemous theology, refused to support Kraft. He quietly resigned so as to avoid provoking the Prophet’s wrath upon Ligure, which Edward was now Viscount of in account of his father’s death only a year prior.
Gabriel, however, was not as prudent. He actively and publicly railed against Kraft and his ways, ultimately getting himself exiled from Etruria all together. Edward could only be fortunate that his son had not been executed outright, for he had learned very well that Kraft had little patience for dissent. So, fearing for the fate of his daughters, Edward spirited young Sonia and young Iadra out of Ligure, bringing them both to a convent in the mountains to the south, on the border between Etruria and Lycia. There, Edward believed they would be safe from the religious corruption that was Kraft, that their minds would remain pure from his misinformation. He would not allow the Prophet to twist them into political weapons to be used against him.
His affairs now in order, Edward returned to Ligure, where he continued to rule peacefully as Viscount, all the while watching Kraft slowly corrupt the once grand nation of Etruria. He wished to act outwardly against his new tyrant, but realized that if he did so, it would be the people of Ligure that would suffer for his brazenness. So Edward, in secret, rounded up those knights that remained loyal to the king, those that had stepped down out of an unwillingness to fight for the Prophet, and from them created a knightly order dedicated to tracking down the missing royal family and installing them on the Etrurian throne once again. These knights became the Order of the Knights Radiant.
Since then Edward has lived in the shadows, tirelessly working to see Etruria returned to its rightful rulers. Years ago one of Edward's knights supposedly discovered the lost princess in a small village in Lycia. Up until now she has merely been watched, kept her safe, and made sure she was who they thought she was. It has been eight long years, and many of the Knights Radiant have begun to get impatient, chafing under Kraft's rule and insisting that it is time to bring the princess out of the shadows, but the Grand Master doesn't see the moment as quite yet here. Word has spread of external movement upon Kraft’s throne, and Edward believes it to be most prudent to wait until the Prophet is struck upon before they reveal the rightful ruler to Etruria once again. For now he travels to Lycia to fetch the princess and bring her safely to their headquarters, preparing for the life she was rightly destined for.
Titles: Viscount of Ligure, Ex-Knight Commander of Etruria, Grand Master of the Knights Radiant
Age: 54
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 183 lbs
Class: Sage
Gender: Male
Hair Color: Grey
Eye Color: Blue
Appearance: An older, yet dignified looking man, Edward is tall, strong, and quick, and despite his age, is neither old nor decrepit. He keeps himself in good physical shape, though he is way past his prime. His hair is fairly grown out, but he keeps it in a tight ponytail as so as not to look unkempt. If he was younger, one would most likely call him handsome, but at his age he is more accurately described as dignified.
Clothes: Edward, having been born of impressive military lineage even before making his own name as a general, is quite familiar with the accoutrements of the nobility. When not traveling, he can usually be seen wearing embroidered silks, furs, and other clothing reserved for the highborn and the wealthy. However, when traveling, Edward’s garb becomes very plain. He prefers leathers and hide for their durability, and a hooded cloak to conceal him from both the weather and unwanted gazes. In combat, he wears only the pauldrons and breastplate of the golden-hued set of armor his father had forged for him when he was first promoted to captain, choosing to wear lighter protection in his older age. He has maintained it with the utmost diligence.
Born In: Etruria
Personality: Edward is a dutiful and upright man, a living embodiment of the classic definition of chivalry and knightly bearing. It has been said he is a man out of time, a noble soul in an age where noble souls are no longer valued. He is known for his decisiveness, and no matter the task Edward brings with him an assuredness and a confidence to everything he does. Because of this, he is described by both his subordinates and superiors alike as easy to work with and calming to work under, as his presence makes everyone feel more under control. The veteran soldier is, however, a stern taskmaster and demands the utmost from both himself and his compatriots.
Edward is strict but agreeable, questioning but not doubtful, critical yet understanding, and values the strength that strong friendships and long standing alliances provide. He has little patience for those with weak ideals, and sees those who quest solely for money, power, or prestige as having no foresight and little wisdom. His age has given him greater perspective, and has the patience to play the long game, laying down plans in advance only to see them come to fruition later. However, he can also be inflexible and unwilling to try new things. He also has a bad habit of being short those who would disagree with him, assuming they do so from a lack of experience rather than because they hold a different perspective.
Story: Edward was born to Lord Anthony and Lady Natasha, the rulers of a small viscounty in far western Etruria named Ligure. Known for its apple orchards, Ligure was not a rich land, at least not compared to those nearer to the capital, but its rulers were fair to its tenants and its lands were verdant and beautiful. It was in Ligure, the ancestral home of the Zobeks, that Edward grew up before being sent off to become a knight as was custom for young men of the Zobek family. He was sent to the neighboring county of Ciminia where he served as an attendant and page-boy to the son of the ruling Count Bion Verdeche III, Lord Bion Verdeche IV.
After being trained how to wrestle and how to ride a horse, in addition to both reading and writing and playing music, Edward was squired at the age of 15. He was then taught all of the things he would need to know to become a true knight, such as how to wield a sword and shield or lance, how to fight on horseback, and how to fight in armor.
While a truly excellent and gifted swordsman, Edward soon found himself longing for the more scholarly, cerebral lessons of his childhood. While his fellow squires would fill their free time with foot races and physical competition, the young Zobek would steal away to the count’s library, pouring over books about military strategy, engineering, philosophy, and most importantly, magic. Late into the night, Edward would pour over tomes detailing the intricacies and eccentricities of the arcane arts, absorbing every detail he could. At first his efforts to perform were largely futile, but with time he found himself conjuring flashes of light and faint glows. However, his bookish retreats usually resulted in a good scolding from Lord Verdeche IV and eventually put him a bit behind his peers in terms of strict athleticism, but the knowledge he learned from his private studies would become a great boon to him in later years.
At the age of 18, two years before the typical age, Edward was found worthy of becoming a knight. Like his father and his father’s father before him, his sword was blessed in the name of Saint Elimine and was knighted into the king’s service. After being knighted, Edward initially headed to his home in Ligure, where he met a young Asthore Grania, the daughter of a rich merchant from Aquleia who had made his fortune and moved out to Ligure to find himself some well-deserved peace and quiet. Edward was smitten with Asthore, a known beauty, on first sight. Whether it be her silky chestnut hair or her splendorous blue eyes, there was not a part of the merchant’s daughter that Edward didn’t find perfect. But despite his best efforts, the young knight found his initial attempts at courting her to be in vain, and before he could win her over, he found himself called to the Western Isles to serve in the king’s navy to quell the upstart conquests of pirate warlords.
It was out in the Western Isles that Edward Zobek began to make a name for himself outside of the one his family had given him. Skilled with the blade, the knight was a fearsome foe on the battlefield, clad in his shining, bronze colored armor as he fought valiantly on the decks of both Etrurian and pirate ships alike. But what truly separated Edward from his peers was his sharp tactical sense. More than once did the Ligure native narrowly keep himself and his fellow soldiers from being ambushed by an enemy raiding party through proper maneuvering, before responding with a well-placed attack of their own. And on top of that, his longtime interest in magic, once little more than rudimentary tricks, quickly manifested itself into an applicable battle skill through hours of what Edward liked to call "field study". He was quickly promoted to Knight Banneret, and became well-known for both his strategic thinking and his spell-slinging, leading small strike groups into lawless territories to sow disorder and discontent among pirate armadas.
At the age of 20, at the end of his first campaign in the Western Isles, Edward again returned home to Ligure. There he once again pursued Asthore, who had been on his mind ever since he had left. Perhaps it was his newly battle-hardened air or his more experienced demeanor, but the once elusive woman now found herself under the same spell she had put Edward under when they had first met. The two were wed within months, and soon had their first child, a son, Gabriel. The three lived together happily for the next four years until Edward, now 24, was once again called back to the Western Isles.
Edward’s next campaign lasted four years, four long years that were very hard on him. His thoughts were constantly back in Ligure; He missed his family, but he knew he had a duty to his country and his king. So he continued to serve valiantly, stabilizing and securing Etruria’s holdings and trade routes within the Western Isles, rapidly rising through the ranks of Etruria’s knighthood. And all the while his magical prowess grew, to the point where many times Edward found himself casting spells more often than he swung his sword. During his campaign, Etruria came under full control of over 30% of the Western Isles, territory that had previously been completely lawless. By the end of his service, he had earned the title of Knight Sergeant, and was ready to go home.
At the age of 28, Edward was welcomed back home with open arms by his wife, his son, who was now eight years old and fantasizing of being a great knight like his father, and his young daughter Sonia who had been born while he had been away. The next three years were happy ones filled with joy, with Asthore coming to be with child again soon into the third year, but what had begun as such great joy had ended in tragedy. Asthore experienced great complications in childbirth, and died giving birth to her daughter, Iadra. Edward was distraught at the loss of his wife, the love of his life, but found comfort in the birth of his daughter, whom he cherished and valued like a king’s own treasure.
Now a 31 year old widower with three children to raise, Edward decided to remain in Ligure with his family rather than leave his offspring under the care of his parents, the Viscount and Viscountess at the time. For the next 12 years Edward lived in Ligure training the next generation of knights, young men sent to be apprenticed to him from all over Etruria, all the while trying to be the best father he could, teaching his children all of the things they’d need to know to survive in the world. His son, Gabriel, he taught the ways of war, the ways of a knight much like he himself had learned growing up. But unlike his father, Gabriel had little aptitude or patience for magic, more interested in blades and bludgeons of all shapes and sizes. His daughter, Iadra, however picked up her father's magical arts quite well, but was otherwise sheltered, her father treating her like a delicate rose. He did his best to teach her the proper ways of the nobility, but after awhile much of her education ended up under the tutelage of her grandmother, Lady Natasha. His middle daughter, Sonia, he tried to raise like Iadra, but she was too stubborn, and too determined to be a knight like her older brother. She and Edward would clash constantly, as she refused to adopted the demure lifestyle that was expected of her.
At the age of 43 Edward was beckoned by the newly crowned king to fight for the crown. Much of the lands Edward had spent his early years fighting to bring under Etrurian control had been unofficially taken over by a particularly brutal pirate warlord, and the king wanted one of his father’s proven knights to take control of the situation. Edward, loyal to his regent until the end, obliged. Now a renown mage knight, he was promoted to Knight Commander and set out on his final campaign, a three year war he waged against the upstart pirate that dared to challenge Etruria.
At 46 Edward returned home only to find his homeland wrought by the political unrest of the “Prophet” Kraft’s rise to power. The king had been ousted by this charismatic, so-called voice of Elimine, and the royal family was driven into hiding. This left a vacuum of power for Kraft to fill, which he did so gladly. One of his first actions as despot of Etruria was to bring the military under control. He gave all knights under the former king’s service an ultimatum: support him, or resign. Edward, unwilling to break his oath to the king and unconvinced of Kraft’s weak, angry, blasphemous theology, refused to support Kraft. He quietly resigned so as to avoid provoking the Prophet’s wrath upon Ligure, which Edward was now Viscount of in account of his father’s death only a year prior.
Gabriel, however, was not as prudent. He actively and publicly railed against Kraft and his ways, ultimately getting himself exiled from Etruria all together. Edward could only be fortunate that his son had not been executed outright, for he had learned very well that Kraft had little patience for dissent. So, fearing for the fate of his daughters, Edward spirited young Sonia and young Iadra out of Ligure, bringing them both to a convent in the mountains to the south, on the border between Etruria and Lycia. There, Edward believed they would be safe from the religious corruption that was Kraft, that their minds would remain pure from his misinformation. He would not allow the Prophet to twist them into political weapons to be used against him.
His affairs now in order, Edward returned to Ligure, where he continued to rule peacefully as Viscount, all the while watching Kraft slowly corrupt the once grand nation of Etruria. He wished to act outwardly against his new tyrant, but realized that if he did so, it would be the people of Ligure that would suffer for his brazenness. So Edward, in secret, rounded up those knights that remained loyal to the king, those that had stepped down out of an unwillingness to fight for the Prophet, and from them created a knightly order dedicated to tracking down the missing royal family and installing them on the Etrurian throne once again. These knights became the Order of the Knights Radiant.
Since then Edward has lived in the shadows, tirelessly working to see Etruria returned to its rightful rulers. Years ago one of Edward's knights supposedly discovered the lost princess in a small village in Lycia. Up until now she has merely been watched, kept her safe, and made sure she was who they thought she was. It has been eight long years, and many of the Knights Radiant have begun to get impatient, chafing under Kraft's rule and insisting that it is time to bring the princess out of the shadows, but the Grand Master doesn't see the moment as quite yet here. Word has spread of external movement upon Kraft’s throne, and Edward believes it to be most prudent to wait until the Prophet is struck upon before they reveal the rightful ruler to Etruria once again. For now he travels to Lycia to fetch the princess and bring her safely to their headquarters, preparing for the life she was rightly destined for.
