Roderick Wesler

Roderick Hugo Wesler (a.k.a. The Hero, The Traitor, Ferocious)

Roderick was many things in his life, a hero, a traitor, and most of all he was just a man who finally put his foot down at the injustices of a government that treated him like he was nothing more than a dog, when in fact he was a wolf all along and he did mind biting anyone who tried to collar him. - Johan Lugar

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Years of hard labor and struggle had strengthened his body to allow him to become stronger and endure more than most others could.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

A Hard Life

Roderick Wesler was born into poverty and struggle in the Kingdom of Ardania as a member of a long line of farmers. As long as he could walk he saw himself working around the farm to help support his family. Life was never easy in his village of Lerovil as farming was often difficult when the weather changed and ruin a harvest. What food that managed to survive often was paid as tribute to the nobles that ruled the land as they often starved. His mother died from that same starvation when he was seven years old, leaving him to be raised by his father and his older brother, Claude. He learned to work hard despite his age to help his family as best he could and looked for jobs around town as well where ever was a need for any. He learned to keep his head down and do what he was told especially around the nobles that came around from time to time as they didn't need to have any more problems with what they had already. But soon enough his father was levied to go to war in the name of Keyshal Eric Caspian over land rights with neighboring nobles. That would be the last time he would ever see his father again and it was now him and his brother. Fending for themselves with the struggles that they had inherited from their parents and countless generations before them.
But they managed to make a life for themselves as the years went by and turned their little farm into some special with livestock and crops aplenty. Life seemed to become something more after all their years of hardship and Roderick was learning bookkeeping and management of a farm with the help of work hands they managed to hire when it getting too big to handle by themselves. Of course when things were finally looking up Caspian once more made a call to arms and instead of Claude going to war, Roderick took his place for he was the only one who was keeping the farm together. At the age of fifteen, he would experience the horrors of the so-called glories of war and endure all of the struggles that came with it. He saw countless men such as him die around him and those that survive gained little when it was finally over after many months of fighting for their so-called noble lord who cared little for them and only thought of himself. Causing resentment for the nobility that made him and his family suffer for all of his life. War hardened him and trained him into a killer, something that he would hone for years to come for the world only allowed those will ping to fight for what's theirs to survive. Something he was forced to do when he came upon his brother battered and beaten by thugs hired by the Keyshal to force him to sell his land or kill him to pay off his war debts at the expense of others. Roderick responded by killing them and having the bodies hidden so no one would ever know what happened to them. This of course made him realize that the nobility had too much power over the people and sought to have his voice heard like many others to be treated fairly by the law.

The Fight for Fairness

Roderick knew that he had to think smart if he was going to have any chance of getting the law on his side, this would take years to achieve while holding off the agents of Caspian while his brother had complete control of their farm. These agents would never get the chance to do any harm as Roderick gathered like-minded individuals who believed in the same thing that he did, that the nobles had too much power. From this gather, the idea of personal defense was born in the form of a militia known as the Freemen’s Militia that would protect the village of Lorvil from all harm that their lord Caspian would not bother to deal with. News of this would soon spread across the countryside as other towns would begin the form their militias as well creating an act of open defiance against the nobility and their ways. With this in mind, Roderick began to study and ask for ways to take a nobleman to court to try and put an end to abusive rule over him and others just like him. This would cause tensions to rise between both sides as it looked like blood would be spilled. But a judge by the name of Conway Deshan and a few nobles who wanted change in the kingdom heard his pleas and would allow it to happen. Something like this had not been seen for a long time as a commoner had brought a noble to court, no less their lord. Making it quite the spectacle to see.
Unlike most court cases though this one had a jury of nobles to decide if Caspian was abusing his power and punish him under the Laws of Rulership. While Roderick was mostly on his own with nothing but his word and the law on his side. After many days of heated debates and testimonies from both sides of the case a verdict was reached that was a surprise to everyone, Wesler had won the case! Evidence was discovered that Caspian was in a significant amount of debt that he had difficulty repaying to his house's income being in decline over the years, leading to abusive tax rates in his lands and fabricated claims on the lands of his neighboring lords to seize their lands to earn more money. Extortion and land grabs of those wealthy in these lands were also committed to gaining more wealth at the expense of others. For this Caspian had to compensate all those he had wronged and all the titles that he claimed to be revoked. Caspian would try to flee the country with what wealth he had but was killed by royal soldiers in his attempt. As for Roderick and his brother, they would be compensated and thanked for their service in bringing an end to a corrupt ruler and would continue to grow their farm to become one of the most successful farms in the region. They would soon find wives for themselves too, with Roderick marrying the daughter of a shepherd by the name of Annalise Gilson. The militias would remain though as there was still tension between both sides and the commoners preferred to have mud bloods protecting mud bloods rather than solely rely on the kindness of their pure blood rulers. But Roderick would leave his home to his brother to find another place to make a living to raise his own family with his own two hands and moved to the Banordom of Banor Oswald Fenn in the village Holsworth to start his farm and made a decent living for himself, along with becoming a member of the Brush Watchers of the Forest Guard to learn how to properly defend his home from the dangers of the Great Forest and for a while thing were good until the rule of Joseph IV came about leading to dark times ahead.

A Man at His Limits

King Joseph IV of House Kasval was considered ill-suited to rule even before his ascension to the throne and was abusive when it came to his use of power. Leading to corruption and the oppression of the commoners to go unopposed for many years due to his brutality against those who opposed him. High taxes made things even worse as Roderick was reverting to poverty that he endured for so many years and the nobles who were loyal to the crown were given special privileges such as tax exemptions and had more military power in their lands to keep their subjects in check. But that did not happen much in the Banordoms as the Banors saw to the defense of the kingdom and cared less for the laws of tyranny on the throne. But Roderick's hatred began to grow the more time went on as no one seemed to want to do anything to stop the rule of this king at all, no one dared to speak up nor try to stop what he was doing at all as he saw his neighbors began to suffer from the result of the unjust rule. But he would finally snap one day when he returned from work to find his home to have been invaded with his hard-earned money taken and his wife Annalise violated by men of the crown who came to collect taxes even though they were already paid for that month. All the years of struggle and abuse by those who considered themselves better than he finally came to the breaking point. He grabbed whatever weapons he had and march off to find them, but before leaving he left Annalise in the village in proper care and asked where the men went with so much anger inside of him that most of the village cowered in fear and told him what they knew. But as soon he told them what had happened, their anger began to combine with his as those men had gone too far this time and the militia was formed with a lust for blood for what had transpired.
The men responsible for these heinous crimes had decided to rest and made their stay in Oswald Fenn's castle known as Hunter's Keep as it was required to give refuge to agents of the crown or face punishment for hampering with their duties. But when Roderick and a large mob began to gather around the castle calling out for blood, things became dire for Oswald and his men as they did not want to cause a full-scale uprising in their lands. Roderick demands were simple to hand over all of the men responsible for their crimes and the property that they stole and Oswald agreed to it after hearing what they were accused of and handed them over to the mob where they were beaten, castrated, and hanged for their crimes and both sides agreed to no speak of Oswald's involvement as he was only one a few good nobles that existed in the land and his people did not want to see him punished. But after all, was said and done, they realized the terrible predicament they were in, most notably Roderick since he caused all of it. Killing men of the crown was a hanging offense and considering what was going on at the time they would be killed without a trial. But he knew what he had to do as he was now a dead man so he decide to live the life of an outlaw with men that committed the crime.
They soon took what they need and Roderick took his wife with them as they traveled south to find safer lands. Along their travels they began their life of crime by robbing merchants and tax collectors and distributing out to the poor and needy they came across. They would be known as the Unburdened as they refused to obey the laws of those who made them suffer. They wouldn't gain any notoriety for some time until finally, they robbed a Herrshal and humiliated him by leaving him tied up naked on the side of the road with all that he had taken from him. Causing a manhunt to ensue as they stayed on the move to avoid capture. At the time they just stole to survive and didn't kill anyone if they could help it. But after a few months, they become desperate. Forcing Roderick to seek refuge at his family home with his brother. Only to find his family home in ruins and along with his brother and his family. When he went to Lerovil to ask what had happened he was told that his brother stood up to some of the local lord's men and was beaten for it. He would end up becoming a cripple and despite the aid, he was given by his family and his work hands he lost his farm as the local lord raised his taxes higher they should have. He then drank himself to death and the rest of his family left to where they went no one knew. This brought great sorrow and anger to Roderick as he had lost another family member to the nobility and all of their hard work was undone. He vowed vengeance once more and he and his men set out to the lord's manor where they would set fire to it and trap everyone inside as they deserved no mercy anymore. At this moment Roderick would begin his own personal to end the suffering of the people and take the war to nobility to put them in their place.

The Rebel and His Cause

For two years Roderick and the Freemen would be on the run from the law as they robbed and butchered anyone that crossed them. Not once during this time was the crown or the nobility able to corner as Roderick had trained his men in to fight, along with Annalise that partaken in their thievery. But eventually, they would be cornered when they tried to gain better weapons and armor from a garrison in the town of Sanswich. Where he and his men would be trapped inside the garrison while being surrounded by royal soldiers. Leading to a tense stand-off between both sides as the garrison demanded that Wesler surrender and no harm would come to him or his men, knowing that if he did he would be executed later. But eventually, it would to a heated debate with the garrison's leader Louis Thean on who was the real criminals, him or the king. To their surprise, the mob gathered to watch the stand-off soon began attacking the garrison as they sympathized with Wesler and his cause. Many of them were killed and many more would have if Roderick did not intervene and convinced the mob to imprison them up along with several officials as they all at this point commented treason and didn't need any word of it spreading. Many praised him for his defiance against tyrants but he only replied that he was just a farmer that decided that enough was enough. It was from here that gathered in the town's church where he and his men took refuge and were given sanctuary by its priest.
Soon enough plans were begin made by him and local leaders that sided with him began a full-scale rebellion seeing that many finally had enough of the abuse of the crown. This event would lead to the declaration of the Freemen's Oath and the formation of the Freemen's Rebellion as they refused to be ruled by oppressors any longer. Many months would go by he began to secretly train an army under the nose of the crown and secretly spread the world of the coming rebellion to many other like-minded individuals who wanted to end hardships placed upon them. But eventually, their plans would be revealed after Louis Thean lead an escape from their prison with several others to warn the crown of the rebellion that was already there. Causing him to flee with his army to find a better position to defend as they would be no match for an open battle with trained soldiers. They would make their stand at Stone Hill for its rough terrain and wait for the enemy, thus truly beginning what would forever be known as Roderick's Rebellion.
At first, Roderick didn't believe that they stood a chance that they could hold off an attack if were to come as they were underequipped and only numbered in a few hundred as many of them were sent out to train other groups to prepare for the coming war. But his doubts would disappear when hundreds of reinforcements would come and greet him when they heard that the war had begun and brought more weapons. Days later after they set up their defense an army of local lords would face them in the Battle of Stone Hill and resulting in a rebel victory as they were ill-prepared for how well trained the rebels truly were. It inspired him that they could stand a chance a better-equipped foe, it emboldened him even more after seeing how many lords had fallen that day. But he decided to stay at Stone Hill until a proper plan for the war could be created and instead gather anything of value to fuel their war effort from their fallen enemies. Though no crown forces would dare face them at Stone Hill again as he soon hear the news that much of the kingdom was up in open arms.
It was from here that he took the initiative to train his army more to better prepare themselves now that they had a better understanding of what they were up against and the recruits that would come daily. Making him realize that they lacked the supplies to support their ever-growing army and commit raids and guerilla tactics across the countryside as he and many others tried to bring as much as they could to tend to their needs. Stone Hill would become his temporary base of operations for the rest of the year and into next year as he did his best to build up the strength of his army. It was not until late spring he would finally leave with his army and gather with other forces now that they were fully prepared. He would soon meet other rebel leaders that would become the core leadership of the rebellion such as Orion Madok, Hebert Kines, and Kelly Waters. Including a man known as Gerard Lumer, leader of the Knives in the Back. A man that he would not like that much due to his bloodthirsty nature. He would not face any armies for quite a while as they were scattered across the land and just continued to fight smaller groups and increase his numbers. But after hearing and witnessing unspeakable atrocities being committed he wanted to strike a devastating blow to the crown to gain a decisive victory over it.
His choice of destination would be Evergreen forest to try and outflank a part of the royal army near the capital of Asron. If the royal forces were successful they could lay siege to the capital and hopefully force the would-be king Joseph to surrender as it was reported to be lightly guarded. However, his plans would be altered greatly as he came with fever from overexerting himself while leading his army and was brought to a farmhouse where he would be the same and his wife would care for him. When he finally came out of his sickness he would return to the main army only to be shocked to find that the royal army had intercepted them and the Battle of Evergreen Forest took place with a large amount of the army lost. It would be here that would learn three things that Gerard Lumer had abandoned the army and Herbert Kines was wounded and that the army was trapped. It did not take long for him to find Gerard and kill him as he was too dangerous to be left alive for the enemy to capture him. He then would devise a plan of escape without the royal army noticing that they left by setting up dummies and fake camps to distract the enemy while they escaped. Not too long after they fleed into the night and headed south where they would end up in the rebel-occupied town of Luge where he tried to think of a better plan to make a counter-attack against the kingdom. But it seemed that they were running out of time as the kingdom's forces were wiping out the rebellion everywhere they went. Using whatever influence he had to find more recruits and keep the remains of the army from deserting, especially when Herber Kines succumbed to his wounds making that were a part of his army wanting to leave. But his words would keep many from leaving as he still believed that there was still hope, even more so when he was told by Annalise that she was with child. Making him more determined to win to ensure that his family would live a life without any more suffering he experienced.

The End of Defiance

With the odds ever aginst him, Roderick needed to deliver a crushing blow to the royal army if he was ever going to take the capital and win the war. So he decided that his best plan was to lure the royal army into a trap that would see destroyed and had his army head to a location known as Three Hills near The Spine where he would lay his trap. He sent out riders to any other rebel forces and head out with his army and did not stop. When they arrived they he and the rest of the leadership would set their plan into motion to crus the crown's forces once and for all. Along with waiting for reinforcements to come to their aid. Sadly there would be no reinforcements would not be coming as the rebel forces that were to meet them were intercepted in the village of Every by a part of the royal army and crushed at the Battle Everly, now they were on their own. Though they made sure to use their sacrifice to better prepare for the battle when the royal army came. Wesler believed that they would win as long as they had the advantage of surprise on their side, all they had to do was to keep ensuring the royal army didn't catch on. After several more intense days of waiting, they finally came and Roderick had the army divided into three to take a position on each of the hills, luck came as well as fog came in to hide what they were doing. When the Battle of Three Hills began, he and his forces would charge at the enemy from the center along with the army from the right, but the army of the left side did not attack as plan leaving them fighting to survive. The battle was going in their favor as the crown forces were having difficulty fighting them off from two sides and he finally thought that Madok's force was finally coming down the hill to deliver the final, only to be shocked that a part of the royal army was coming down the hill and clashed with his forces leading the entire rebel army finally breaking. The battle was lost and his dream of ending tyranny with it. He would find himself capture along with many other rebel leaders and soon discovered who he was, leading him to be brought to Asron in chains.
During that time he only thought of his wife who was but lost as she stayed to fight despite the early stages of her pregnancy and could not be found amongst the prisoners. He would bring to the Asron as soon a possible and parade in the streets like one prized animal, but he saw in those who watched them that they were tired as much as he was. All the suffering that was caused by this defiance was now all in vain as he was imprisoned in the White Palace, where he would be tortured to sign a confession so he would not stand trial. But he would not break under their brutality as he had suffered enough to endure it. Even when he was brought by the court to stand trial he remained defiant as to surrender his beliefs he would cause many others to lose all hope of one day living free of the abuse of the nobility. He when he was found guilty and dragged out of the court he cursed the House Kasval for their bloodline to end and be brought to the executioner stand where he would be hanged along with several others and speak his last words, "I die a free man. Can you say the same for yourselves? One would think after his neck broke it would be all over, instead the opposite happened as a riot ensued by his supporter as they forced their way toward his body and whisked its way in the ensuing chaos. No one ever knew what happened to Wesler’s body after the riot, but his dream and defiance would live on for years to come by all and would not be so easily forgotten.

Sexuality

Heterosexual

Species

Humans

Ethnicity

Ardanian

Life

1474 CA 1508 CA 34 years old

Circumstances of Death

Executed for treason

Gender

Male

Eyes

Brown

Hair

Long Black

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

White

Height

5’8”

Weight

172 lbs

Quotes & Catchphrases

I once believed that laws were meant for all people to follow to protect them from those who would take advantage of them. Only for me to realize that those laws only applied to those who lived under those who made them. Those in power care little for laws as they believe that they can do as they please for they were the ones who made them and befit only themselves while others suffer. The only law that a man should follow is that of his own conscious for those who listen to it know what is truly wrong to remain true and it will haunt you for all the wrongs that you have committed.

People live with one another, not their governments. It's for that reason that they can easily forget what the people one and instead follow their interests.

I die a free man. Can you say the same for yourselves?

We are simple men just trying to live and take care of our families, we don't need fancy clothing or feather beds to know what is important in life. But the nobles tend to forget these things more often than not as they try to keep more than they should when people are struggling. I think it's about time that we unburden them with some of their things, they most certainly will not notice that they are gone.

Belief/Deity

Exalted

Other Affiliations

• Forest Guard
• Kingdom of Ardania

Known Languages

• Vasili

• Ardanese

Achievements

• Building up his families wealth

• Saving his families farm

• Helped his family escape poverty

• Forming the Freemen’s Militia

• Stealing from the Rich and giving to the poor

• Inciting a rebellion against tyranny

• Starting up his own farm

• Winning his court case against Eric Caspian

Failures

• Failing to protect his wife

• Being forced to fight in someone's war

• His years of hard work taken from him

• Failing to overthrow the government.

Trauma

Roderick held a deep hatred for the nobility for much of his life as he suffered from their decisions often having his family suffer in the process and sought justice for the wrongs that were committed by them.

Morality & Philosophy

Roderick believes in treating people how they want to be treated rather than looking down on them as they try to live their lives as best they can. He has a strong sense of duty to one family and one's community as they are often all in it together as they suffer through everything together and help one another. Making him have resentment for the nobles as they use their power for their gains rather than helping the people they rule over and those people have to suffer because of it. Making it all the more to stand up for one's self rather than being shoved to the ground for all your life and just taking the abuse. Leading him to believe that the monarch would destroy the country and seek to overthrow it to bring about a new age where the people had more say in government.

Religious Views

He was raised to follow the faith of the Exalted that his parents taught him and that is what he did all his life. Often finding peace and comfort in a power that will bring peace and warmth to those who were faithful no matter their position in life.

Movtivation

All that he ever wanted in life was to have a decent life where his family no longer had to scrape by to survive so his children never had to. Along with being treated as a person and not someone’s property that believed it his duty to serve and obey them.

Education

• Agriculture

• Reading

• Book Keeping

• Warfare

• Tactics

• Guerrilla Warfare

• Law

• Survival

Employment

• Farmer

• Feudal Levy

• Militiamen

• Brush Watcher

Bonds

• Brother: Claud Wesler

• Wife: Annales