Sir Argial Morris

Crow of Guidance Argial Jacob Morris (a.k.a. Unbreakable, Watcher)

I gave my entire life to the kingdom, and I have failed it, but I will be damned if I am going to let my people suffer from the brutes that took everything from us. - Argial Morris

Physical Description

Apparel & Accessories

Worn Armor: A mix of armor he has managed to gather to allow him to be mobile without being slowed down by a heavy plate, with the only metal on him being his chest plate and his hands, with the rest being leather armor.

Specialized Equipment

Engraved Sword: A family heirloom gifted to him from his father for his achievement, which he keeps close to him as it's all he has left of his family.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Rise In Station

For much of Argail’s childhood, he was told to learn his place within the confines of the social hierarchy and never to expect to leave that place for the rest of his life. Yet Argail was not one born from the commoners that hold only mud blood within their veins; instead, he was born into House Morris, a Herrshal house of purebloods ruling over a large patch of land. However, he was not expected to gain much when his father passed, as he was a fourth-born son, with only his elder brothers to inherit what little they already had. Rather than just being treated like an extra mouth to feed, he proved his worth to his family by training in the art of war to serve in their military force to maintain their control over their lands while appeasing their overlords of House Marston. Despite his youth and inexperience, he made up for it with his determination and resolve in his desire to prove himself to his peers.
While much of Argail's early career comprised guard duty and tax collections, doing everything by the book to ensure nothing went wrong. But when the time came to protect his family's lands from bandits and smugglers, he was the first one always to act to stop them from causing further harm. This would eventually lead to his family taking notice of his achievement, and he would be granted a detachment to carry out his tasks to watch over the borders, while to the most distinguished of positions, he realized that it would be his first command to rise further within the ranks and prove that he was not just an expendable son, but an asset worthy of recognition. While much of his time under his company would mainly patrol the border, he would impose strict discipline to ensure that his men were prepared for anything coming their way and would periodically maintain the defense and checkpoints along the border to ensure their protection.
This would eventually turn in his favor when a raid from a rival house over a trade dispute was caught entirely off guard by the well-prepared border sentries being able to repel them quickly before they could get deep into the Morris' lands, with Argail leading at the front of his men pushing back the attacker. Yet he was far from finished as after he interrogated a solider they captured and learned of their plans, sending a messenger to deliver to his father and with what men he had given chase to the would-be attackers to their encampment in secret, filled with a small army waiting for orders to attack. Rather than waiting for an invasion of his homeland, Argial waited patiently until the darkness of night went over the camp and attacked them while they slept, capturing the sentries and setting fire to their camp as he and his men charged forth, causing chaos and confusion that left the enemy believe that another army was attacking them leading many to flee before their leaders could rally them. By the time the sun rose, he and his men managed to capture thousands of enemies and their lord himself before his brothers finally arrived with their forces. He would return home a hero for his efforts and maintain the peace again, not as a fourth-born son, but as a seasoned commander who had finally seen battle.

In Service To The Crown

Ending a war before it could even begin was quite a successful feat; with his father acknowledging his success, his elder brothers did not share the same enthusiasm. To them, Argail’s achievements were a threat, a reminder that inheritance was not the only path to power. They were not the only ones that took notice of such a feat as royal envy arrived and gave an offer to Argial that he could not refuse, a position within the royal army at the personal request of the king himself. Knowing that such a position could not be turned down, he set out to the capital city, where his skills and determination would be tested. If he only knew that the politics within Asron were more treacherous than he ever realized.
Much of his first interactions within the royal capital were quite overwhelming for someone from a lower-ranking house in the country, and being brought before the king, Felstien II, was a bit nerve-racking as he tried to keep calm was a bit nerve-racking as he tried to keep calm in the presence of his sovereign, who called upon him to be his loyal servant, offering him a commission in the royal army as a knight-commander. It was a prestigious honor to receive a knighthood from the king that few from his station could dream of achieving. Yet, beneath the ceremony and grandeur, Argail could feel the weight of expectation pressing down on him. He was not merely here for his valor in battle; he was a pawn in a much larger game played by nobles who were far more cunning than any enemy he had faced on the battlefield.
He did not let it deter him in the face of duty; he chose to serve no one else but the king and carry out his commands, allowing no one else to poison him with their ambitions. Argail was given command of a regiment stationed near the Grey Edge, near the vast and hulking mountain range known as The Spine, frequently beset by skirmishes from hostile Mountain Kin barbarians that managed to get past the vast defenses of the Mountain Guard. It was a chance to prove himself, yet he realized that his assignment had another purpose, one of political maneuvering. The very nobles who had resented his rise sought to use him as a tool or, failing that, as a disposable piece in their games. This would not deter him in the years that followed as he would see them through and outmaneuver the nobles who sought to use him while he protected the people from various skirmishes with the barbarians and even held a large army of them that managed to break from the section of the mountain defenses, crushing them in a hard-won victory. Yet his loyalty would be questioned as the line between the politics and the welfare of the people he was sworn to protect began to blur before him.

Loyalty and Rebellion

When Argial was sworn into the service of King Felstien, he was an old man, and like all old men, they soon enough die to be replaced by their heirs, in this case, his son Joseph, who he was sworn to serve all the same. Yet King Joseph was a terrible king who abused his power at the expense of his people, with Argial being forced to watch helplessly, knowing he could do nothing to stop it due to his oath as the king's word was law despite him knowing it was wrong. It was not until Roderick's Rebellion he began to question if he was on the right side as he rallied behind the king and served as a general in the royal army against the Freemen's Rebellion for control of the kingdom's future. He led many campaigns to crush the rebels scattered across the kingdom; his sword that was once sworn to protect was now stained with the blood of his countrymen, fighting in the Battles of Evergreen Forest, Everly, and Three Hills to achieve victory for the crown.
It was not until the rebellion finally ended that he started to realize the true idiocy of the king he served, and the madness would not stop so long as he was on the throne; when the nobility finally arrested King Joesph, he ensured that the Royal Army would secure the capital with no means of escape for the king. Not long after, Joseph would be found dead, and his brother Peter would take the throne. Yet many would look to Argial, seeing him as one of the most powerful men in the kingdom now, with everyone weakened or dead; in a way, he achieved the goal of rising above all the rest, not bad for a fourth-born son. But the way he gained it was bitter, and he decided to leave his position as general, seeing that there was no need for one. Yet, the new king sought to keep him by his side as a just and honest man, giving him the position of commander of the Royal Guard, seeing that he needed a new one that wasn't in his late brother's pocket. He accepted the offering, vowed to protect the new king, and swore that he would never let anyone corrupt Joesph or his heirs to ensure that another dark reign like King Joseph would never happen again so long as he lived.

Witnessing The Fall

In the following years, Argial would hold his duties as leader of the Royal Guard to protect the king and the peace brought in rebuilding the kingdom, maintaining an ever-watchful eye upon the king's court for any trouble nobles start up trouble. During this time, Argial finally married a kind woman named Lucila, and he was happy for the first time in a long time, but the prospect of children was not meant to be after many years of trying. Yet he did not mind it so long as they were together as he watched the war-torn lands  slowly healing and its people returning to normalcy. He truly believed that the peace would be kept and he would die within it when the time finally came, but that was until some concerning news came from the Green Edge from the Narrow Path that the Imperial Legions of the Vatian Empire had begun amassing. By the time anyone could fully understand the situation, they attacked Fort Hightower and plunged the kingdom into war as the War of the Raptors was now underway.
Unlike his previous position in the rebellion, Argial would act as an advisor to the inexperienced King Athelstan, who showed great courage at the great power before them. He would also begin rapidly rebuilding the royal army while the empire was preoccupied with the nobles who rallied to face them in the borderlands. He would also begin teaching the young king all he knew about war in the chance he needed to lead his people into battle. In less than two months, he would have the royal army fully trained and marching off into battle as he returned to his duties in serving the king, who was fully engrossed in stopping the imperial invasion and often had his commander carrying out his orders when he was the only one to be trusted with them. For much of the war, he would often be in the capital, keeping an open ear to any developments in the war, with only a few times being sent out into battle to lead the army personally in campaigns such as the Battle of the Dark Forest and the Red Crossing.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 However, as the tides of the war began to go against them, he would begin the preparations for the defense of the capital against a full-scale siege, fortifying the defenses and manpower to hold the city's walls. Then, the day finally arrived as the full might of the empire was at their gate, with Argial manning each of the city's walls to hold off the imperial forces, only to be pushed slowly to its final wall to ensure that the empire paid delay for every step they took into the city. As he prepared for the defense of the Elder Wall, he was shocked to discover that the gates were opened, knowing that a traitor had doomed their defiance as he rushed to defend the Whitemoore Palace with anyone he could find to fight off endless waves of attackers till he was trapped with the king and his family preparing to die where he stood to defend them. However, that moment never came as King Athelstan decided to sacrifice himself, ordering Argial to take his family to fight another day through a secret passage. He reluctantly followed the order of his king taking his wife and his remaining men with him as they escaped the place into the city streets, only for building near them to collapse under artillery fire, with the debris falling ontop of him as he shielded his wife from it and everything went black. When he awoke, he found himself alone in the ruins of the city, his wife having been crushed by stone, while his armor protected him, but he did not left grief overwhelm him as he rushed to find the king's family to aid thier escape. However he was struck with horror to find them and his men all dead having been caught in an ambush by imperial waiting for them, most likely from the same traitor that doomed the city, but what was the point of it all as all he knew was now gone.

Rise of A Rebel

The whole idea of dying a glorious death crossed his mind for a brief moment as he was consumed by guilt for his failings; it quickly passed over him, seeing that there was no point in it now. So he decided to fight another day, discarding his armor for peasant clothing he found in an abandoned house; the only thing he took with him was his sword that he secretly hid in some cloth. Fleeing the city with anyone he came across, both civilians and soldiers, to at least make up for his failure. As he and his group made it away from the burning city that was once the capital, he vowed to avenge all who had fallen and continue the fight to free his people from the empire. He would then begin conducting guerrilla fighting, arming anyone willing to fight, and for weeks, continue to harass imperial forces he came across and protect civilians as they fled their war-torn home. He was always on the move as the empire was hunting him and his group, and after facing overwhelming odds and ever-encroaching imperials on all sides, he fled towards the Great Forest to rest and regroup with what men he had left and when he was discovered by a band of survivors led by the Rangers, Carne and Fredrick Lumbren, and later on other as the noblewoman Sophia Kelner, the enigmatic thief Cassius Flint, and the renegade Knight Sir Dayne of Wayne.
From this encounter, he became a founding member of the Brotherhood of the Wood as they continued the fight against the empire to set Ardania and its people free. He would lead one of the six branches known as the Guiding Crow, a division dedicated to training and equipping its members for war against the empire. It was a task that Argial accepted as he did not wish to lead others into battle any longer, seeing that they all ended up in failure in recent times and his old age was not helping him either. From that point on, he would vigorously train anyone who came to them; his strong will and charisma honing raw recruits into trained fighters that would join other branches of the brotherhood or form militias to wage war on the empire. As each recruit completes their training, Argial counts the days until when they will rise to overthrow the imperial occupation to redeem himself finally for his failures in a new and freed Ardania.

Education

Warfare:
Strategy:
Horsemanship:
Swordsmanship:
Logistics:
Survival:

Employment

House Morris: 
Ardanian Royal Army:
Ardanian Royal Guard:
Brotherhood of the Wood:

Accomplishments & Achievements

Capturing an entire army with a smaller force
Serving in the royal army and defending the kingdom for all threats
Become a general in the royal army
Various victories in battle
Became commander of the royal guard

Failures & Embarrassments

Guilt for the atrocities committed during Roderick's Rebellion
Fail to protect the Royal family and his kingdom
Unable to produce children

Mental Trauma

In his many years of service to the kingdom, Argail had only two regrets. One was supporting the devastation he allowed to happen during Roderick's Rebellion and most recently was his failures to protect the Royal House of Kasval and the kingdom's fall at the hands of the empire.

Morality & Philosophy

Much of Argials personal values are centered around honor and duty fully believing in the foundations of how society are built upon rather then the people who rule over them

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Argial has only one desire to achieve before his time in this world has come to an end: to free his homeland from the empire, and if he survives to see it, then he can figure it out afterward.

Current Location

Del Toren

Species

Humans

Ethnicity

Ardanian

Year of Birth

1474 CA 58 Years old

Gender

Male

Eyes

Brown

Hair

Balding brown

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Tanned

Height

5'8"

Weight

169 lbs

Quotes & Catchphrases

One should always place their duty into idea rather a man, for men are flawed, but an idea will always remain pure at its core.

Belief/Deity

The Exalted

Aligned Organization

Brotherhood of the Wood

Known Languages

Ardanese 
Vasili