Luke Pendragon
Jun 30, 2014 10:31:22 GMT -6
Post by Luke Pendragon on Jun 30, 2014 10:31:22 GMT -6
Name: Luke Pendragon
Class: Mercenary
Age: 20
Born In: Lycia
Appearance:
Blonde short hair and indigo eyes, a signature trait of the Pendragon family and Luke is no exception to this. He would however be considered the runt of the litter, regardless of the fact to most people he’d be considered anything but. A strapping lad standing at nice height and still having room to grow, Luke has a well toned body from years of not only working on a farm but years of training. Along his body a few scars can be found, trophies received from his adventures. The scars are nothing that he would be ashamed of or would like to hide seeing how it is par for course in his profession.
When it comes to clothing and armor Luke keeps it light, not wanting to restrict his movement too much. He wears a red high collar vest, with a few black stripes on for design, which has black trimmings along its edges and belt like straps to keep it together as well as leather pads on the shoulders. Underneath is a light colored shirt which Luke keeps the sleeves rolled up about quarter length. Above the shirt would be a layer of leather armor. Fingerless gloves covered his hands and he wears dark trousers and boots. He keeps his sword strapped to his side along with some pouches strapped to him keeping some sort of item in them. Whether it be throwing knives or a flask he’s rather fond of. He will also wear a red cloak from time to time.
Personality:
A charismatic young man who is as charming as he is quick witted. He was raised having two rather contrasting influences shaping the way he is today. On the one had there was his father, the gallant knight with a strong sense of justice, determination and pride while on the other was his uncle, a devil-may-care type of man who was more concerned where his next coin was coming from rather than the idealistic nonsense his brother would spout. With these two pulling at either side of Luke during his younger years it wasn’t surprising that he ended up taking characteristics of both.
At the surface Luke is quite the energetic soul, being rather jovial and often looking for ways to have fun and kick back and relax. An adventurous type who’s experiences and training has made him rather courageous, if it’s not being confused with his tendency to be a bit reckless at times. He keeps an optimistic view on things and prefers to keep things rather positive. You probably wouldn’t think that he’d have an this viewpoint after experiencing what he has and listening to his rather sarcastic quips that he enjoys cracking every now and then. He’s not particularly fond of people who are constant downers.
He loves to make sarcastic jokes and quips, often messing around with people and trying to keep the mood light with his humor. This leads to it being rather hard to tell if he ever takes things all that seriously when people first meet him. Luke speaks his mind, not really carrying too much of what people think of him because of it.
Being surrounded by a group of mercenaries Luke learned how to be quite the smooth talker and was taught how to talk him out of situations, becoming quite the silver-tongue and gaining a bit of a reputation being so.
And while people would call him charming and a nice young lad most would figure the word roguish would fit better. Luke chalks it up to it being part of his charm but they’re not completely wrong as he does enjoy being mischievous and cheeky.
He was taught how to live on his own and even more importantly how to live with and strive around the scummiest of the scum and as such he’s been taught every dirty trick and play in the book. It’s hard to get the drop on him as he’s quite observant, which he needs to be due to enjoying playing people with sleight of hand.
Despite qualities that would be rather undesirable and being considered by some to be nothing more than a smooth talking thug he has a bit of a code of honor to him. Luke prides himself on being honest and reliable, his word being extremely important to him.
This is especially important when it comes to a job as having a good reputation in which people believe you not only get the job done but do it well is crucial in his field of work. Regardless of whatever rough exterior he might put off he has a heart of gold often going out of his way to do something for the betterment of mankind, despite his annoyance to this at times. He’s quite the tenacious type and has a good head on his shoulders, some believing it’s a waste he spends his talents being a sword for hire.
Story:
In the days of old the name Pendragon was one that garnered respect and authority. The Pendragon name was once a noble house that has long been forgotten to time. They produced gallant knights and brilliant scholars. It was unlikely that you were unaware of the name Pendragon and even more so if you lived in the region known as Lycia. The influence and reputation of the Pendragons were quite strong which made their eventual demise all the more shocking and devastating when it happened. The exact history behind their apparent disappearance has been unclear. There has been a name given to this phenomenon however, the Pendragon curse.
There are many theories behind what exactly caused the curse. Some believe it was caused due to the Pendragons becoming to power hungry and greedy and were thus punished by the gods. Others believe they were cursed by some druid or another that had a grudge against the family. There are some who just chalk it up to the family having poor luck. The house was struck with calamity and with tragedy after tragedy the house was believed to be all but extinct. Eventually whatever influence or claim that the Pendragons once had was dissolved into other houses and the Pendragon name was forgotten, even to future Pendragons.
It would seem that this curse meant that most Pendragons would be met with a young death. Those who decided to pursue a life of knighthood, one trying to claim glory and fame would be taken from the world before reaching that goal. Any who decided to restore the name of Pendragon also met a similar fate. For generations the name of Pendragon meant next to nothing until a few of the newer generations picked up where their ancestors had left off. The cycle seemed to have been broken with these developments, which sadly didn’t deem completely true.
While certainly the Pendragon name is better off than it was before there is no denying that it is not even close to where it once was. There is also the fact that the curse still looms over the family, many Pendragons being afraid to pursue lives that would put them in any sort of danger. Then there were the others who felt that nothing was going to stop them from restoring the family name and honor but more importantly live their life the way they wished it despite any curse holding them from it.
On this side of the family would Haywin Pendragon belong to, a great knight who served Lycia for most of years. He would go on to have three sons, Gawain, Rennes and Alphonse. All three of these sons would pick different paths of their lives that had quite the affect on the family and their name. From an early age the three were trained, the plan was to make them knights much like their father. Gawain and Alphonse took to this with great pride and enthusiasm. Rennes, always the troubled child, found knighthood to not agree with him and ended up becoming a sellsword much to the dismay of his family.
This was quite the blow as there weren’t many Pendragons to carry the name that didn’t end up dying young and even more so when it came to the male children. Gawain and Alphonse brought pride and honor to the name of Pendragon through their acts of valor and heroism. While this was going on Rennes made his notoriety becoming a mercenary. Rennes’ antics eventually got himself ex-communicated from the family, them not wanting to be associated with such a seedy character. The other two sons were praised and adored, many riding on hope that the two would restore glory to the name Pendragon.
Alphonse, being the eldest, turned his life from knighthood to politics. He’d be married off to a woman of noble background and eventually found himself becoming a Count. Gawain was pushed to go in a similar direction as his eldest brother but the man wanted a simple life, tired of the constant fighting and bureaucracy of it all. He settled down with a woman named Lia and the two decided to live a simple farm life, despite the protests by his family. Gawain would then go on to have five bustling children, all of which great expectations were put upon.
Luke was born the runt, being the fourth child of Gawain and Lia Pendragon. Childhood was an interesting one for the Pendragon children. The eldest three were being groomed into taking up the legacy that would left behind for them by their father and uncle. So whenever they weren’t working on the farm they were training. There would be even summers where they would spend time with their uncle and continue their training and studies there. Being the runt and the fourth child Luke wasn’t trained or watched over as seriously. There wasn’t much that was expected out of him given his overall meek demeanor as a child.
From time to time there were visits from Rennes Pendragon, who was on fairly good terms with his brothers who both thought he was a bad influence. It was something they kept to themselves as he was still their brother and they cared for him. During visits from his uncle Luke would hear stories of his adventures and missions. He’d hear things from the time he battled with a rampaging Bernese Wyvern to how he managed to best knights and all sorts of different opponents. Rennes had gained quite the experience as a mercenary. As he was once nothing more than troublesome rebel he was now a leader of his own mercenary band and had gained quite the name for himself.
Rennes and Luke were rather close and often Rennes would joke about taking Luke with him during one of his trips. This idea hadn’t come true until the lad was older. At the age of twelve Luke had gone off with his uncle to live the life of a mercenary. Now Luke’s parents were heavily against this idea. Not only did they not have that much faith and trust in Rennes they also did not like the idea of their son being around Rennes’ company. It took a lot of convincing, and Luke running off at one point, for his parents to give their blessing on the idea.
For the next five years Luke traveled about the world with his uncle’s mercenary company. The mercenary group consisted of misfit mercenaries who hail from many different parts of Elibe and bring to the table something different. There were certain oddballs and characters from the Ilia rogue with a talent for knife throwing to the Nabatan swordsman whose unorthodox fighting style made him a wonder to watch.
Traveling wasn’t all fun and games no in fact Rennes had all intentions to train Luke during their travels. Training wasn’t easy, if you asked Luke he’d probably tell you that training was probably the worst part of his time spent with his uncle due to how brutal it could be. Well it was either that or some of the missions they went o
Each member of the mercenary group had a hand in training Luke in some capacity. They all had their own methods and own things they wanted to teach him while his uncle took care of the bulk of it. Luke was taught how to survive in the cold reality of the world. He was taught how to hunt, people and animals, how to fight and most importantly how to survive. The use of one’s mind as well as their body was important especially seeing how they were dealing with rogues and scumbags alike.
They taught him every trick in the book on how to live either in the wilds of the world or the slums of a city. It’s where Luke learned his little sleight of hand tricks and his way with throwing knives he enjoys so much and his overall attitude. You wouldn’t be able to tell that Luke is considered a runt anymore.
Once their journey had come to an end the group returned to the home of Gawain and Lia Pendragon. Happy to have their son home any bad feelings they might have harbored towards the lad were gone by now. During his travels Luke kept in touch with his family back home the best he could.
Being home was strange for him. He forgot what it was like to have a cozy bed to sleep on every night and not having to worry about sleeping on the hard floor or where his next meal was coming from. Going back to farm work and talks of becoming a knight weren’t something Luke was fond of. Instead of following the footsteps of his Father or Uncle Alphonse like his siblings Luke decided to follow the life of a sellsword, make living on his own.
For years now Luke as been on his own, traveling from place to place making as much as he can. Despite being willing to do a lot for some coin he still has a bit of a knight’s code of honor in him. His made a bit of a name of himself around parts of Lycia but has yet to make much of a stride in the world. From time to time he meets up with his uncle and they’ll do a mission or two together.
