Gerard IV
The Lionheart of Alba
King Gerard of Albion (a.k.a. the Lionheart)
Gerard was born into a kingdom at war, and it is his dream that he will die in a kingdom at peace.
To Gerard, the looming threat of the Eternal Empire was always a reality, but he was taught that there was still hope, even if it had to be paid for in the blood of his countrymen. His grandfather, King Gerard III, and his granduncle Emperor Edward V of the Empire of Valconia together formed the Dominion of Man in order to unite the forces of humanity against the Eternal Empire. It didn't take long for the other mortal nations to join the Dominion and for two generations humanity held the Eternal Empire at bay.
Where hope was once a flickering candle, it was now a bonfire to light the way forward for humanity. Unfortunately, that didn't quite happen. Valconia, being the easternmost nation of the Dominion, bore the brunt of all the Eternal Empire's attacks, and its people suffered greatly. The internal strife of the Dominion to not help matters and in the end the Valconia willingly joined the Eternal Empire to save itself and its people. Gerard's second cousin, William III now calls himself the Wight King and serves as the Crimson Wight's general on the front-line against the Dominion.
As King of Alba, it is Gerard's responsibility to keep his people safe from the ravages of the Crimson Wight's undead legions, and he does so with the passion and bravery one would expect of someone called "the Lionheart". Gerard is a warrior first and foremost and feels most at home on the battlefield, doing what he does best and keeping the necromancers and blood mages out of Alba and the Dominion.
Physical Description
Identifying Characteristics
On his right upper arm, he has a tattoo of a lion's head, the symbol of his kingdom and his ancestors.
Physical quirks
After taking on his holy vows, Gerard was blessed with having perfect pitch and tone. His voice is a wonder to the ears, and the orders he gives to his men carries divine weight.
Special abilities
Gerard has taken on both the Oath of the Knight and the Oath of the Oracle.
The Oath of the Knight has bolstered his physical abilities and allows him to offer the Blessing of the Creator onto others to increase their physical abilities as well. The Oath of the Oracle has given him the power of precognition and he can (in a limited way) see into the future. This makes him remarkable as a general as he can predict his enemies' actions, but the vow entails that he cannot be dishonest, and so he must fight fairly and cannot show deception in his military orders.
Gerard has learned a few Words of Power from the mages at the Arcane College, but is by no means versed in the mystical language. Instead, he has simply memorised a few spells that can aid him in an emergency. He has no time for such scholastic pursuits and keeps a war-mage with him at all time to cast his spells.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Gerard was born in battle, and if he has anything to say about it, he'll die in battle as well.
Thirty three years ago Gerard was born amidst the chaos of war as a force from the Eternal Empire snuck through Dominion lines and laid siege to the kingdom's capital. As makeshift catapults flung undead soldiers over the walls of the Royal Citadel, Gerard came into the world.
While the attack was ultimately defeated with few casualties on the Dominion side, the effects of the siege would follow Gerard his entire life. The Empire proved that it could strike anywhere at any time, and Gerard was raised with the possibility of battle around every corner. Politics and diplomacy took a back seat in his education to combat and spirituality. His parents believed that it was only through the strength of a man's arms and the holiness of his soul that he could withstand the legions of darkness.
And so, Gerard's body and soul were trained from the moment he could walk and talk, and the training never ceased. Even when he could escape his tutors and drill-masters and find some time to himself, his mind was full of battles and conquests. He spent his free time in the royal library reading book after book about old legends, fables and myths. He particularly enjoyed the legends of the great kings and warriors of antiquity: Frederick the Redbearded who slew more than a hundred undead in a single battle; Dan the Giant who held back an entire undead legion to give his comrades time to escape; and particular Gerard the Great, the legendary founder of the Kingdom of Alba, who brought peace and prosperity to an uncivilised land.
These legendary heroes were the only friends of Gerard's lonely childhood, as his father paranoia allowed the young prince to have no living friends, and kept Gerard under heavy guard at all times. He never met someone else his age for his entire childhood, spending his days around adults who told him of the great things he must do when he comes of age, and his nights reading of mythic heroes who were larger than life.
This all changed during his teenage years when his second cousin came to visit. William was the heir to the Empire of Valconia and older than Gerard by only two days. Their fathers had decided it was time the future leaders of the Dominion got to know one another and begin to build a relation that would see the Dominion last another generation.
Gerard and William became the best of friends. He was the only person that Gerard could truly confide in and talk to as just another person, not as a prince. The time when William came to visit (Gerard's father would not allow him to travel the lengthy journey to the Imperial Palace) were the best of Gerard's young life. The two princes did everything together, from playing games to hunting to sparring to reading, even to admiring the ladies of the court.
This last bit was a sore spot for Gerard. His enforced isolation meant that he never really had time to spend with the opposite sex, and on the rare occasion he was allowed he didn't have the social skills to do anything with that time. His affections, especially for the younger daughter of a vassal duke, was doomed to go unrequited. William, on the other hand, had no such trouble and he was swarmed with courting ladies each time he came to visit. It was the only time that Gerard truly felt envious of his cousin.
Gerard's childhood ended the day his father passed away. As he had grown older, the paranoia that had gripped him had only become stronger. It had taken over his waking hours and he became convinced that any moment his kingdom would fall and his family would be killed. To stop his family from dying, and perhaps also to save his people, Gerard's father led an expedition to find new land across the western ocean. He had heard rumours that there was a mythical island utopia where milk and honey flowed like water. He had convinced himself this was the only way to save his family and so sailed to find it.
A month later and fishing ships found wreckage of his ship and the old king was declared dead. Gerard was 16 years old when he became king, but he was as ready for the responsibilities that came with the title as he would ever be. His entire life had led up to this point, and he would do all he could not to disappoint the memory of his father. The day his father left on his doomed voyage, he had given Gerard their ancestral sword "Lionheart" and had given him one final piece of advice: "whatever the future may hold, if your heart is true and your conscience clear, you way forward will be clear". These were the last words his father ever spoke to him and it became the foundation for his rule.
With the peace of his childhood now gone, so too were the bars that kept him imprisoned. With ultimate power in Alba came ultimate freedom, and Gerard used this to explore every inch of his kingdom. At first it was glorious, seeing the grandeur of the mountains and forests, the quiet beauty of the beaches and rivers, and the kindness of his people. Soon, though, Gerard saw what horrors the Eternal Empire had wreaked on his kingdom. Beneath every forest there was a mass grave, on every beach a shipwreck, behind every kind smile a lifetime of sadness.
Gerard was not prepared to deal with the heartache of his people and he saw that Alba's government was ill equipped to do so as well. Gerard knew he was no politician, he was born and bred for only one thing: battle. That was what he was meant to do, to take the battle to the Empire and protect his people. Thus he began his great reforms that would forever change how Alba was to be governed.
He stripped the nobility of their land owning privileges and took away their armies. Before they could revolt and declare a civil war, he offered them the kingdom. Gerard created a parliament for the nobility (to be overseen by his royal steward) wherein they would run the country, while he centralised the military under his sole command. What few nobles resisted this new order were quickly defeated by the new Grand Albian Army and dissent quietly disappeared.
This was not enough for Gerard. He knew how powerful magic was that, in the right hands, the Words of Power could change any battlefield. Unfortunately, mages were few and far between, and when they could be found they were loathe to part with their Words of Power or teach them to others. A Word of Power was priceless and the mages hoarded them like dragons do gold. Gerard needed an army of mages but what he found was a handful of hermits too afraid to lose their power.
Except one. Bartholomew was a quiet, bookish man who enjoyed his ale and food a bit too much, but what he lacked in athleticism he made up for in intellect. For years he had gotten every scrap of paper, scroll or book about magic that he could and had bribed, blackmailed or bullied enough mages to teach him how to use the Words of Power. When he heard that the King was looking for mages for his new army, Bartholomew proposed to Gerard the construction of a college to teach any who could how to use the Words of Power. Right then and there Gerard declared Bartholomew Archmage of the Arcane College and set him to work to create his army of mages.
He had his army, his mages and his parliament, but Gerard knew there was one thing missing: his god. It had always been a dream of his father that he join one of the Holy Orders, and with the responsibilities heaped on him now as King, Gerard knew he would need their holy power. Rather than just join one, Gerard went to both the Temple of Truth and the Shrine of Charity and took on the Oaths of the Knight and of the Oracle. He would give up a lot for these in the future, but the blessings that came with the vows allowed him to see into the future, and to enhance his physical capabilities beyond mortal men. He knew he would need both in the years to come.
For over fifteen years, Alba prospered under these new reforms. The House of Nobles kept the kingdom running while Gerard led the Albian army (and often the entire Dominion army) against the legions of the Eternal Empire and triumphed more often than he lost. Alba flourished and there was hope that this would be the beginning of a new age for the kingdom and the Dominion.
Until William became a servant of the Eternal Empire.
The old king of Alba had been correct, paranoid as he may have been. Gerard's father had believed the Crimson Wight would send his spies and infiltrators to turn the lords of the Dominion into this servants and this did happen, but where he had thought they would target Gerard, they instead turned William against the Dominion. They had whispered enough lies into William's ears once he had become Emperor of Valconia that he thought the only way to save his empire was to give in to the Eternal Empire and become a vassal of the Crimson Wight.
It is said the Crimson Wight personally raised William to undeath and this link between William and the Emperor only strengthened the young undead's resolve that he had made the right choice. This choice cost the Dominion dearly. The Valconia had the largest and strongest army in the Dominion and overnight they had become enemies. The Dominion suddenly seemed much smaller and more fragile.
Worse yet was the heartache Gerard suffered. William was a like a brother to him and together these two monarchs were supposed to set the world right, but William had betrayed him and now Gerard stands alone again in this world.
In the few short months since William ascended to undeath and called himself the Wight King, he and Gerard have met each other multiple times on the battlefield, but each time the outcome was inconclusive. Neither wants to kill the other, but neither can back down. Both know that the only way this struggle will end is when one of them truly dies and their nation falls to the other one.
Gerard sees William's fall as his fault and his mistake to correct. He grew up with William and Gerard should have seen William's descent to the dark side. He should have stepped in and stopped the damned whisperings of the Eternal Emperor, or should have struck William down before he damned his whole nation to an eternity of undeath and blood magic.
Now, in the present, Gerard stalks the borders of Alba and the Dominion, protecting the living from the dead and the damned, fighting one battle after the other, hoping that what he is doing will make a difference to Alba and its people.
Morality & Philosophy
From birth, Gerard has been raised to have a strong moral and religious code. He was taken to temple every week and had a priest as a personal tutor. His father was a paranoid man by nature and had suspicions that the Eternal Empire may well send infiltrators into the Dominion to turn their kings and rulers into servants of the Eternal Emperor.
Because of this, he did everything he could to make his son into most pious and virtuous of kings in order to withstand the evil whisperings of the Crimson Wight. The old king was right, the Eternal Emperor did send his spies, but not to Gerard. It was his second cousin William that fell prey to their convincing lies.
Gerard, however, did become the pious and virtuous man his father always wanted. He lives by a simple code: God, kingdom, family, king. A simple list that shows the order of what is important to the king. Everything Gerard does he does first for god, then for his kingdom, then for his family, and only if there is anything left for him does he indulge in some selfish behaviour.
Taboos
In order to better serve his god and kingdom, Gerard took on two Holy Oaths, that of the Knight and the Oracle. Other than granting him mystical holy powers, these oaths forbid him from ever being dishonest, and he must help anyone who asks him for aid. If he ever breaks his vows, the wrath of god will find him, cripple him and curse him with ill luck for the rest of his life.
Personality Characteristics
Virtues & Personality perks
Is honest to a fault. This is a requirement for his Oath of the Oracle, but long before he took the Oath, he would make it a point of honour never to lie or be dishonest in his dealings with others.
As his childhood was far from normal and he was kept isolated from other children, Gerard still has difficulty conversing with others. However, he more than makes up for it with his empathy. Gerard speaks little but he always listens to the concerns and problems of those around him, and tries to help as much as he is able.
Vices & Personality flaws
Has a terrible temper and become easily enraged. When in one of his rages, Gerard is often impulsive and makes quick decisions he later comes to regret. To be on the receiving end of one of his rages is a terrible thing to behold, and more than once the kind has hung his head in shame after sending someone to the hospice or the grave.
Skills:
SIGILS 6 WOUNDS 5 --- Athletics 48 Broad-Craft 30 Burglary 48 Constitution 59 Deceive 30 Diplomacy 38 Drive 40 Fight 65 Fine-Craft 31 Intimidate 39 Intuition 35 Investigate 37 Logic 45 Might 45 Perception 42 Shoot 46 Special 46 Stealth 44 Wealth 30 Will 39Oath of the Knight
Vow
A Knight is a servant of the people first and foremost. When someone becomes a Knight, he vows that his interactions with others will always be polite, that he always show respect and kindness, even to those who do not deserve it. Furthermore, a Knight must always offer to aid anyone who calls on him for help, no matter how great or small the task is. From fetching a pail of
water, to slaying dragons, the Knight must always ready to help others. The Knight can only deny his aid to others if helping them would make the Knight do anything illegal or be against his religious code.
Power
A Knight has the holy power to bless the bodies of others to increase their physical attributes to supernatural levels. To do this, the Knight selects a target within Near Range (which can be himself) to bless and rolls a Will Skill Check. If the Knight succeeds on this Will Check, then the target will gain a bonus to all their Physical Skill Checks equal to the number that the Knight Rolled. This blessing will last until the target has rolled a number of Physical Skill Checks equal to the first digit of the Knight’s Will Skill Level (So if the Knight’s Will Skill is 38, then the bonus will last until
3 Check have been made).
Perk
Just as the Knight is able to bless the bodies of others, so his own body has been blessed to be faster, stronger and tougher. By taking up the Oath of the Knight, he permanently gains 10 Levels in all of his Physical Skills.
Penance
The Knight has failed to help others, and so now he will not even be able to help himself. The Knight’s Penance is to have his own physical prowess crippled by permanently losing 20 Levels in all of his Physical Skills. This is on top of losing his Perk, which means the Knight is in fact losing 30 Levels.
Oath of the Oracle
Vow
Oracles can see beyond what the rest of us can, but their power is not meant for themselves. It is meant to be shared with the world. Because of this, the Oracles vow to always be honest, no matter what. The Oracle must always tell the truth and accept any consequences that come with it. He cannot knowingly be dishonest in any way, shape or form. The Oracle cannot intentionally tell a lie, write a lie, be dishonest through body language or innuendo. He cannot tell a half-truth, or lie through omission. In short, the Oracle cannot be deceptive. Not even a white lie is acceptable. All of this is based on the Oracle knowing what the truth is. If the Oracle does not know he is telling a lie, then the Vow is not broken. If he was given false information and then spreads it, he is not at fault. All
that matter is whether the Oracle is honest.The Oracle has vowed to always be honest, but he has not vowed to always speak or answer every question posed to him. The Oracle can refuse to answer a question or to speak in general, as long as he is honest about why he is doing so.
Power
For his honesty and integrity, the Oracle has been granted the power of prophecy. The Oracle can see through the veil of time and space to see into the future and to see events that happen far from his
location. To use this Power, the Oracle chooses a time and then an event, a place or a person(s). He then rolls a Special Skill Check. If he succeeds on this Check, he can ask the GM one question about his target for each 10 points he rolled above 0. For example, if the
Oracle rolled a 28 then he can ask 3 questions.These questions must only have one word answers and the GM must answer these truthfully. For example: the Oracle can choose tomorrow morning as the time and himself as the person. He then rolls a 04 and so can ask one question. He asks his GM if he will be attacked tomorrow morning to which his GM responds “Yes”.
The Oracle can only select a time, event, location and/or person(s) once per session to ask the GM questions. So in the above example, the Oracle cannot scry again to see what will happen to him tomorrow morning. He has asked, and he has seen all he can see, and that is that. The GM can also disallow further questions if the Oracle is trying to be clever about his scrying. In the above example, the GM can disallow the Oracle from doing another Special Skill Check to ask where the attack will happen, or if his companions will also be attacked, since all of this is part of the same event.
Perk
The Oracle can not only see into the distant future and in places far away, but can also feel on an instinctual level what is about to happen to him. This is not something he can control, but comes to him in gut feelings and a sense that all is not as it should be. Because of this, the Oracle’s Sigil Threshold is permanently raised by 3. This means that the Oracle starts each session with 3 more Sigils than what he ordinarily would have.
Penance
The Oracle has proved himself to be unreliable. He can no longer be trusted with the knowledge of time and space. His Penance for his dishonesty will be an eternity of bad luck. The Oracle can no longer use any Sigils under any circumstance. On top of this, the Oracle must accept any and all GM Intrusions, no matter how bad it would be for him.
Honorary & Occupational Titles
His Majesty, the King of Alba. Lord Commander of the Albian Army.
Year of Birth
1119 I.E.
33 Years old
Birthplace
Albion, capital of Alba
Children
Current Residence
Nominally the Royal Palace, but in practicality wherever his army is camped.
Gender
Male
Eyes
Forest Green
Hair
Long auburn locks
Height
5'11''
Weight
105 kg
Aligned Organization
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