Harlow Rysche
Mar 3, 2010 11:23:39 GMT -6
Post by Harlow Rysche on Mar 3, 2010 11:23:39 GMT -6
Name: Harlow Rysche (also goes by Harlow Rhodes)
Class: Archer --> Yeoman
Hair Color: Dark Green
Eye Color: Green
Age: 27 (Birthday December 14, 1267)
Affinity: Wind
Appearance: Harlow is about 5'8 and has a cream-colored complexion that is lightly-bronzed by the sun. He has a slight frame, but is still fairly muscular - not strong enough to weild heavy equipment, but strong enough to be capable in most manual tasks. His straight forest green hair is somewhat unmanaged, falling about his forehead in random locks, but is cropped just beneath the ears and somehow manages to look fairly fashionable. Despite his apparent lack of concern for his hair, however, he has a fastidiously-groomed chin-beard that betrays a little more obsession with his looks than he would like to admit. His green eyes are alert and wary, and they give him the look of someone who never feels quite at rest. The corners of his lips are quick to tug into a grin, though he typically wears a blank expression, as if he were trying to hide his emotions.
Overall, Harlow gives the appearance of a cool, aloof loner, standing tall and self-sufficient, ready for action if need be but typically easy-going.
Clothes: Harlow wears a green, button-up jacket that comes down just a little past the waist and has straps about the neck and shoulders (he's not sure about the function, but he liked the way they looked). He leaves the bottom couple buttons of the jacket unclasped to allow more leg movement (and a little more dynamic appearance, he claims). For pants, he wears plain brown trousers that tuck into knee-length brown boots. over his shoulder is slung a quiver full of arrows and a fancy, shiny green bow, which he always takes with him while travelling.
Born in: Ostia, Lycia
Story: Harlow was born sick and frail, being struck with a disease in infancy that left him weaker than the other children. His family was an upper class family renowned for its military legacy; all of Harlow's ancestors dating back over a hundred years had been prominet military officers in Ostia's army. They had all been proud swordsmen, and it was expected that Harlow would follow in their footsteps.
Harlow's father, Reimus, was not a bad father, being motivated mostly by his desire for Harlow's success, but he was too concerned with upholding the family legacy, at least from Harlow's point of view. Reimus pushed Harlow from an early age to train himself to be strong and overcome the setbacks caused by his illness, with the intent of making a master swordsman out of him. But try as he might - and he did try, intent upon pleasing his father - Harlow just didn't have the strength to weild a heavy sword. His father was disheartened, and withdrew from him a little bit. In order to win back his father's affection, Harlow decided that if he was not strong enough to weild a sword, he would become dextrous and skilled with a bow so that he could still grow up to serve valiantly in the military. While this did not fulfill his father's dreams for him, it did serve to soften his dissapointment in his son. Harlow was a bright young man, and he saw through his father's attempts to seem proud of him. This embittered him towards his father, and he found himself becoming closer to his mother, Eve. While Harlow did want to be a soldier, for his father's sake, he found that he naturally gravitated towards more creative areas of interest. He found that he really enjoyed painting, and his mother encouraged this interest. Reimus, however, did not approve of such silly "women's
pastimes.
Time passed, and Harlow did join Ostia's military as an archer. At this time, he was 19 years old, and the threat of Hargus was spreading over the entire continent. Despite this, Harlow's unit saw little action until towards the end of the war, where in a dire, hopelessly losing battle, Harlow panicked and ran away. After the battle was over, and Harlow realized all his friends and fellow soldiers were dead, he became incredibly ashamed of his cowardice and ran away, deserting the army. Knowing that this would shame his father and his whole family terribly, he decided to flee to Laus and let his parents believe he had been killed in battle. He stopped calling himself by the family name Rysche and said his name was Rhodes if anyone inquired.
As Hargus' defeat was drawing near, Harlow wound up in Laus, doing odd-jobs to stay alive while trying to re-kindle his youthful interest in painting. However, he found that it was not the kind of living he'd hoped for, and that his painting was not very successful. He began to hate his father for discouraging him from cultivating his talents at a younger age, believing that if he'd spent more time at it, he could have been great, but now was doomed to mediocrity. About a year after the war with Hargus was over Harlow had grown weary of this menial life, and wound up joining a mercenary group led by a man named Kazak. Kazak was an upbeat, decent fellow, easy to be friends with, but his underlying motivation was always money. Still, Harlow took a liking to him, and the two became close friends, and Harlow remained with the group for some time without any second thoughts.
However, this new war caused by the prophet Kraft had stirred things up a little. Initially, it seemed it would be good for business, and Kazak's group was one of the many mercenary group that enlisted with Etruria for money. But Harlow's trouble began when his group was assigned to be part of the army that marched against Ostia. He had long since abandoned any real allegiance with Ostia, and had not seen nor heard from his family in 5 years, but he still loved his mother and did not want to do her any harm. And yet, this was his life now, and his contract stated that he had to follow orders from Etruria. This caused him great distress, but he eventually decided to remain loyal to Kazak, determining that he would never run from his responsibilities as a coward again. However, he was nervous that he might end up in battle against some of the people he'd used to know.
It turns out that his unit was not incredibly instrumental in the defeat of Ostia, seeing very little action. After Etruria had taken the city, Harlow took to sneaking about to find out what had happened to his family. What he discovered was that his father had re-enlisted to fight the oncoming Etrurian army and had been killed in the conflict, and that his mother now lived by herself without any real source of income, the family's noble title and position having been stripped of them after Ostia fell. Struck by this fact, and feeling incredbly guilty and to blame for his father's death, Harlow knew he could not reveal himself to his mother for fear she would hate him for aligning himself with her husband's killers, and he determined never to let her know he was still alive.
When he returned to his unit, he approached Kazak and told him he was having doubts about their contract with Etruria. Kazak, being his friend, tried to console him, but ultimately informed him that he would never back out of a contract. But Harlow had made up his mind to abandon the unit, continuing the cycle of cowardice he'd become accustomed to. Shortly after he abandoned the unit, Ostia was burned to the ground by holy fire, along with everyone in it. Broken by the knowledge that his mother was now dead, Harlow wandered off in the direction of Sacae without aim or reason, just hoping to find somewhere to belong.
-----
During the war with Kraft, Harlow spent a little time traveling with Kelvin and Gabriel, among other companions, in a small unit that was en route to Caelin. The group had stopped in Laus to try to enlist Marquess Laus's help against Erturia, but he refused to help. They also uncovered a plot by the headmaster of a magic school there, Sir Chester, who had been spreading rumors against Pherae. After a fight with Chester, Harlow left the group just as they were about to head out to Ostia, his old childhood illness flaring up and making it difficult for him to travel. He sat out the remainder of the war, staying with his old friend Teto and helping him at his cafe.
Since then, he has taken up painting again, having greatly improved his skill in the past three years to the point where he has been commissioned by various Lycian nobles to paint portraits and murals. While the profession has been good to him, he has been growing restless in recent months, particularly with the news of the unrest in Bern and the rumors from Sacae of Hargus's return.
Class: Archer --> Yeoman
Hair Color: Dark Green
Eye Color: Green
Age: 27 (Birthday December 14, 1267)
Affinity: Wind
Appearance: Harlow is about 5'8 and has a cream-colored complexion that is lightly-bronzed by the sun. He has a slight frame, but is still fairly muscular - not strong enough to weild heavy equipment, but strong enough to be capable in most manual tasks. His straight forest green hair is somewhat unmanaged, falling about his forehead in random locks, but is cropped just beneath the ears and somehow manages to look fairly fashionable. Despite his apparent lack of concern for his hair, however, he has a fastidiously-groomed chin-beard that betrays a little more obsession with his looks than he would like to admit. His green eyes are alert and wary, and they give him the look of someone who never feels quite at rest. The corners of his lips are quick to tug into a grin, though he typically wears a blank expression, as if he were trying to hide his emotions.
Overall, Harlow gives the appearance of a cool, aloof loner, standing tall and self-sufficient, ready for action if need be but typically easy-going.
Clothes: Harlow wears a green, button-up jacket that comes down just a little past the waist and has straps about the neck and shoulders (he's not sure about the function, but he liked the way they looked). He leaves the bottom couple buttons of the jacket unclasped to allow more leg movement (and a little more dynamic appearance, he claims). For pants, he wears plain brown trousers that tuck into knee-length brown boots. over his shoulder is slung a quiver full of arrows and a fancy, shiny green bow, which he always takes with him while travelling.
Born in: Ostia, Lycia
Story: Harlow was born sick and frail, being struck with a disease in infancy that left him weaker than the other children. His family was an upper class family renowned for its military legacy; all of Harlow's ancestors dating back over a hundred years had been prominet military officers in Ostia's army. They had all been proud swordsmen, and it was expected that Harlow would follow in their footsteps.
Harlow's father, Reimus, was not a bad father, being motivated mostly by his desire for Harlow's success, but he was too concerned with upholding the family legacy, at least from Harlow's point of view. Reimus pushed Harlow from an early age to train himself to be strong and overcome the setbacks caused by his illness, with the intent of making a master swordsman out of him. But try as he might - and he did try, intent upon pleasing his father - Harlow just didn't have the strength to weild a heavy sword. His father was disheartened, and withdrew from him a little bit. In order to win back his father's affection, Harlow decided that if he was not strong enough to weild a sword, he would become dextrous and skilled with a bow so that he could still grow up to serve valiantly in the military. While this did not fulfill his father's dreams for him, it did serve to soften his dissapointment in his son. Harlow was a bright young man, and he saw through his father's attempts to seem proud of him. This embittered him towards his father, and he found himself becoming closer to his mother, Eve. While Harlow did want to be a soldier, for his father's sake, he found that he naturally gravitated towards more creative areas of interest. He found that he really enjoyed painting, and his mother encouraged this interest. Reimus, however, did not approve of such silly "women's
pastimes.
Time passed, and Harlow did join Ostia's military as an archer. At this time, he was 19 years old, and the threat of Hargus was spreading over the entire continent. Despite this, Harlow's unit saw little action until towards the end of the war, where in a dire, hopelessly losing battle, Harlow panicked and ran away. After the battle was over, and Harlow realized all his friends and fellow soldiers were dead, he became incredibly ashamed of his cowardice and ran away, deserting the army. Knowing that this would shame his father and his whole family terribly, he decided to flee to Laus and let his parents believe he had been killed in battle. He stopped calling himself by the family name Rysche and said his name was Rhodes if anyone inquired.
As Hargus' defeat was drawing near, Harlow wound up in Laus, doing odd-jobs to stay alive while trying to re-kindle his youthful interest in painting. However, he found that it was not the kind of living he'd hoped for, and that his painting was not very successful. He began to hate his father for discouraging him from cultivating his talents at a younger age, believing that if he'd spent more time at it, he could have been great, but now was doomed to mediocrity. About a year after the war with Hargus was over Harlow had grown weary of this menial life, and wound up joining a mercenary group led by a man named Kazak. Kazak was an upbeat, decent fellow, easy to be friends with, but his underlying motivation was always money. Still, Harlow took a liking to him, and the two became close friends, and Harlow remained with the group for some time without any second thoughts.
However, this new war caused by the prophet Kraft had stirred things up a little. Initially, it seemed it would be good for business, and Kazak's group was one of the many mercenary group that enlisted with Etruria for money. But Harlow's trouble began when his group was assigned to be part of the army that marched against Ostia. He had long since abandoned any real allegiance with Ostia, and had not seen nor heard from his family in 5 years, but he still loved his mother and did not want to do her any harm. And yet, this was his life now, and his contract stated that he had to follow orders from Etruria. This caused him great distress, but he eventually decided to remain loyal to Kazak, determining that he would never run from his responsibilities as a coward again. However, he was nervous that he might end up in battle against some of the people he'd used to know.
It turns out that his unit was not incredibly instrumental in the defeat of Ostia, seeing very little action. After Etruria had taken the city, Harlow took to sneaking about to find out what had happened to his family. What he discovered was that his father had re-enlisted to fight the oncoming Etrurian army and had been killed in the conflict, and that his mother now lived by herself without any real source of income, the family's noble title and position having been stripped of them after Ostia fell. Struck by this fact, and feeling incredbly guilty and to blame for his father's death, Harlow knew he could not reveal himself to his mother for fear she would hate him for aligning himself with her husband's killers, and he determined never to let her know he was still alive.
When he returned to his unit, he approached Kazak and told him he was having doubts about their contract with Etruria. Kazak, being his friend, tried to console him, but ultimately informed him that he would never back out of a contract. But Harlow had made up his mind to abandon the unit, continuing the cycle of cowardice he'd become accustomed to. Shortly after he abandoned the unit, Ostia was burned to the ground by holy fire, along with everyone in it. Broken by the knowledge that his mother was now dead, Harlow wandered off in the direction of Sacae without aim or reason, just hoping to find somewhere to belong.
-----
During the war with Kraft, Harlow spent a little time traveling with Kelvin and Gabriel, among other companions, in a small unit that was en route to Caelin. The group had stopped in Laus to try to enlist Marquess Laus's help against Erturia, but he refused to help. They also uncovered a plot by the headmaster of a magic school there, Sir Chester, who had been spreading rumors against Pherae. After a fight with Chester, Harlow left the group just as they were about to head out to Ostia, his old childhood illness flaring up and making it difficult for him to travel. He sat out the remainder of the war, staying with his old friend Teto and helping him at his cafe.
Since then, he has taken up painting again, having greatly improved his skill in the past three years to the point where he has been commissioned by various Lycian nobles to paint portraits and murals. While the profession has been good to him, he has been growing restless in recent months, particularly with the news of the unrest in Bern and the rumors from Sacae of Hargus's return.
