Lord Walter Ralsh (Rawlsh)

From the Ranks of Nobility

Born to their Excellencies Ernest and Portia Ralsh, Walter Johann Ralsh (styled Lord Walter Ralsh, Baron of Middleheim) is the second son of the Earl of Harkborough. He was involved in national politics at the highest level in the Human Kingdom positioning himself as a key serious decision maker and member of the King's Advisory Council through his command of the Aynirr Army of the Human Kingdom, a position he earned through merit rather than inheritance.
Ralsh was raised in the country at his parent's primary estate, and along with his older brother Jeremiah, he was educated privately by tutors until he was old enough to enter secondary school. He spent two years in his early teens as junior squire to the Duke of Redmond where he learned court etiquette and had his first exposure to court politics. When he returned from court, he learned estate management hands-on with his father's steward Joseph McGylnn. As second son, he would inherit his mother's estate, the Barony of Middleheim, and needed to acquire the skills to manage it and her financial affairs when she was too old to do so. In his late teens, Ralsh attended Weston, a secondary boys school and graduated with honors. He was universally liked by classmates, instructors, and administrators.

A Political Animal

Upon graduation, Ralsh separated from his parents home, and set up his own affairs. Pursuing his interests in military disciplines, he enrolled at Master Telner's School of Swordsmanship, and became a top student where he was noted for his driven personality and relentless pursuit of excellence. At Telsner's he had his first meaningful encounter with the followers of Guldari (Telner himself being a follower of the god), and showed a distinct interest in the soldiers religion though he did not become an adherent until later. Upon graduation from Telner's School, he was invited and became a member of Telner's Salon. He was a close friend of the Crown Prince William Southermore, and a member of the princes inner circle at court.
Walter Ralsh was not the first in line to inherit his father's estate, but he eclipsed both his older brother and his younger sister in political status and influence at court. In court circles, Ralsh was considered an excellent guest by party hostesses as he was easy to please, a reasonable dancer, kind to those who were awkward or uncomfortable, and able to quickly smooth over difficult social situations. He was known amongst serious persons as a figure of exquisite courtesy, high personal integrity and morality, compassionate, with a relentless work ethic, and a serious turn of mind. Though he was independently wealthy and had no direct need to do so, Ralsh entered the military with an intent to pursue a professional career.

Mercenary Military Experience

Ralsh served in the military in a period when the Human Kingdom was not at war. For a man driven to pursue excellence, this was a source of conflict for him. He desired to be the best - and he realized as he came in contact with the Zol Dak that nothing engendered competence like experience - particularly when it came to battle. The mercenaries who all had battle experience were extremely competent and resourceful in fights. He realized quickly that to become the commander that he desired to be, he needed combat experience. To this aim, he took leave of his position and connected through the Warhawks Guild to an honorable mercenary unit in need of a junior officer. With a recommendation from a Zol Dak friend, Lemuel Sisteck, he was able to join the Warhawk Guild and find a position with Sisteck's previous commander Disten Chempar who was a follower of Guldari. He served under Chempar for eight years rising through the ranks to become Chempar's second in command.
Ralsh left Chempar's employ, and went on to hire himself out to a captain of a Seahawk unit as a commander of marines serving competently and honorably in many battles. It is during this period that Ralsh officially became a follower of Guldari and began a fervent religious practice that would effect the entirety of his life thereafter. His men were devoted to him, and he left his units in very good standing. He eventually decided to return to his career in the Arryn army where his first loyalties lay. When he returned, the difference between himself and those without actual battle experience was profound, validating his decision to pursue combat experience. His experience left him simultaneously much more reluctant to engage in combat, and more competent winning it.

Ethnicity

Humans

Age

42 at last sighting

Sex

Male

Eyes

Grey

Hair

Dark, cropped

Height

5'11"

Weight

230 lbs

Belief/Deity

High Paladin of Guldari

A Doomed Love

Ralsh courted the Princess Elaine, sister of the Crown Prince, who was also a member of Telner's. He conducted a quiet but hopeless courtship of the princess under the knowing eye of her brother. Elaine was starstruck by the handsome and rugged Ralsh, but she was entirely too young for a serious relationship. Her future was already mapped out for her, as a political match with Phillip Sexton, the heir of the Duke of Redmond, had been arranged between her father and Redmond who was a close supporter of the Southermore family and advisor to the throne. When Phillip who was his junior by several years appeared on the scene, Elaine fell madly in love with her younger, more handsome and well positioned suitor. Ralsh recognized that his continued pursuit of the princess would create difficulties for his friend and his sister, and decided to relinquish the field to his rival.

h2]The Noviate
When Ralsh returned to Arryn and army life in the capital, he continued to pursue his religious studies and activities. He was discovered by a cleric of the sword who encouraged him to make submission for consideration as a paladin of Guldari. Not only was Ralsh an excellent soldier and devout, but the credential of approval from the Human God of War and Valor could only enhance his standing in the human army, and he was being considered for a promotion to colonel. Ralsh applied and was accepted into the novitiate.
As an experienced swordsman, Ralsh had little difficulty with the military aspects of his training as a paladin candidate. Rather, he struggled with the theological nuances of the religion, falling into most of the major traps of simple minded thinking that laypersons following Guldari fall into, and struggling even more with the practice of magic. As a pure blooded human, Ralsh was not a native magic worker, and the practice of wizardry was not a field of study he had ever pursued. As a paladin, divine magic was expected and he needed to acquire both comfort and proficiency with the discipline. This took time, and the intent patronage and concerted mentoring of the Paladin Syla Worthington. Divine magic is a practice of prayer - a request made of the gods for power not one's own. Ralsh, by his nature and position in life had never recognized a need that he was not either competent to fill himself or something that he was unable to provide just or equivalent value in return for the favors asked. The practice of divine magic required him to acquire a humility he did not have at the beginning of his training. For the rest of his life, Ralsh stated that the relationship he had with Worthington - though never sexual - was one of the most profound he had ever experienced.
Eventually, he passed his training, and Guldari chose Ralsh to become a paladin in full. Later, Ralsh would state that nothing had prepared him for that experience, and nothing had ever meant more to him. The pursuit of excellence and honor became a lightning sharp focus that drove his every thought and action.

Exploits

During his novitiate, Ralsh was sent on several missions to deal with different threats that had manifested in the Human Kingdom. His combat experience as a marine commander, led to his assignment to the southern shores where incursions into commercial shipping channels by the sepituiget were becoming a major obstacle to trade. The amphibious soldiers would climb onboard a trade ship under way, typically in the middle of the night watch, kill the watch, and comandeer the ship. Commercial routes were severely threatened, and the Human Navy - with the innovation of carrying detachments of army troops - were sent to safeguard the shipping channels.
Ralsh was sent to oversee the deployment of these new marines, and ensure they received adequate support for sea duty. He established a training program designed to address the unique aspects of close combat at sea, and worked with naval logistics to ensure that supplies necessary to support the marines were adequately planned and executed. He also designed a communication protocol that allowed ships that were under hostile command to identify themselves without revealing the communication to the sepituiget. He established a training and certification program for officers of commercial vessels that reduced the vulnerability of these commercial vessels including watch-around practices and lighting strategies to assist the night watches. These new practices virtually cut off the problem within three years; a major success for the human kingdom which earned him special recognition from the throne.
Service to Guldari also commanded military action on his part, though in less of a command and on a more personal level. Most famously, Guldari called his newest paladin to take on the Dark Knight Bozarth, servant of the notorious Dark Mage Torrington. Through bloody hand-to-hand on-foot combat, the paladin of Guldari triumphed, slew the dark knight, and forced the Dark Mage to flee from the local area where he had established a base terrorizing the local populace and using human sacrifice to fuel his dark magic spells. Torrington would eventually be killed and his staff Soul Eater would be destroyed during the War of the Eternals.
By this time in his career, Ralsh had distinguished himself well beyond his contemporaries. He had been promoted to General Officer, and served as commander of battle ready troops that formed his elite units. His friend the Crown Prince Sothermore was serious minded young man prepared to take over the throne, and Ralsh was one of his trusted advisors. The Crown Prince often acted on behalf of his father as the king was known for his commitment to living a decadent lifestyle that frequently left a power vacuum near the throne. Ralsh was promoted to General of the Army, answering only to the Joint Commander of the Armed Forces, and the king himself. He served on the King's Privy Council and took the field leading the army when the king decided to engage the orcs at the beginning of the The Lost War.

The Godslayer

The story of the Battle of Arryn is well known, and Ralsh is the undisputed hero of the tale. After aggressively attacking the human kingdom, the orcs were driven by the human army under the command of Ralsh into their fortified citadel at Arryn. After four months of bloody skirmishes on the open Orcish Plains, they arrived at the city and laid siege to it. Within several days they were able to enter the city through a breach in the east wall and defeat it at great cost in human lives. Over 30% of the army was killed. Losses amongst the orcs were even higher. At the end, Ralsh and his personal guard entered the throne room of the citadel and faced down the most powerful of orcish magics - that of the fierce war goddess of the orcs Yulasta who threatened the very existence of the human army with a powerful magic spell. In a move of desperation, Ralsh called on the power of his god and drove his sword into the goddess destroying her concentration on the dangerous spell and ending her life. His bravery is unmatched, proven by his daring actions in saving his troops and the human cause from destruction by the primal savage orcs.
Ultimately, with this act Ralsh surpassed all of his previous honors and bravery. His quick action to defend his men saved all their lives and quite possibly the entire Human Kingdom. As a reward for his service, upon Ralsh's return to Errin, the king bestowed upon him the title "Godslayer", and bequeathed him and his descendants the Dukedom of Westborough and lands surpassing those of his father's holdings in perpetuity, incorporating his new title into his personal crest.
At this time, after his most daring of exploits - the defeat of the orcs, Ralsh has retired from pubic sight on his new estate, enjoying a respite from notoriety, though he will never be free from the gratitude of the Human Kingdom.