Joseph Cassius Merca (a.k.a. Paladin Cassius)
Joseph Merca ('Joe') is a paladin who draws his power from the god Dianecht (see
The Worship of Dianecht). He serves his husband
Llywelyn Amberhide as a sworn Paladin with his wedding vows as his oath, although before his marriage he lived as a wandering adventurer or occasionally on a temporary basis as a paid guard. He now works as a permanent member of the
The Nerevarn Royal Guard.
Physical Description
Joe is of medium height for Nerevarnese human males, but appears somewhat shorter at first glace owing to his rather stocky build and wide shoulders. This, exaggerated by the physical training required for a paladin, gives him a powerful appearance even when not wearing armour. He takes comments that he is 'built like a tall dwarf' as compliments.
As a result of an acid attack by a necromancer's monster, which might have resulted in the loss of his arm had Amberhide, a cleric and skilled healer, not been nearby, Joe's right arm is badly scarred. Though the scarring has lessened over time, what remains is likely to be permanent.
Joe wears fairly standard iron adventurer's armour when on the road or expecting a fight, with a heavy travelling cloak if the weather calls for it. When out of danger, he prefers a fairly 'rough and ready' style of dress to the bright white linens or rich embroidery often worn by paladins. His everyday clothing usually consists of leather or hide, often sewn together by his own hand with thick leather thread.
His sword, which is ordinary in appearance and construction but extremely well-cared for considering its age, is almost one hundred years old and originally belonged to his grandfather, a Paladin of Dianecht and his childhood role model. He forfeited the inheritance of any money from his grandfather's estate to his siblings in exchange for the sword.
When working in the Royal Guard, Joe now wears the standard royal purple to identify him in his new role.
Mental characteristics
Joe was born in
Last Way the second of three children. His father owns and works a farm on the outskirts of town, and Joe's siblings have continued this trade, but he knew at an early age that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, a paladin. When his grandfather fell ill, Joe took a paladin's oath at age ten since it was important to him that his role model be there to see it. After several years of physical training and a short apprenticeship in the town guard, Joe set out to begin living full time as a Paladin at the age of seventeen.
Joe is bisexual. He had never been in a committed relationship before meeting his now-husband, despite many casual sexual encounters.
Joe is not particularly book-learned, having focused his entire life on his paladin training. Being the son of a farming family even his early schooling was rudimentary. However, he is quick to learn and grasp new concepts when they are laid out to him. He has little interest in learning from books, but will happily listen for hours to those who have. The result of this is that he has a wide and varied knowledge of history and the world, but little of the detail that specialist scholars would know.
For a few years, between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one, Joe trained at a Paladin Temple near the capital. However, as a result of certain personal conflicts with a fellow student,
Diana Mortenor, he left before completing the official training which would have qualified him to be assigned as a protector to a person of importance - the normal career path for those who graduate from the Temple.
As an adventurer - before his marriage - Joe made a living in a variety of ways. As a paladin, those ways have always been in service of 'good' in some form, whether that be slaying bandits and robbers on the kingdom's roads; hunting wild beasts that attack villages, farms and livestock; helping the injured or endangered to safety or sometimes even taking a dangerous journey on someone's behalf. He has also taken work from time to time protecting the citizens of Last Way or nearby forest dwellers and farmers.
In the past, Joe preferred to go by Cassius when working as he felt it was a 'nobler' name, and that he would be more respected and trusted as Paladin Cassius than Joe from Last Way. However, since breaking his first oath in order to choose a new path, he has ceased using the name and reverted to the humbler 'Joe'. Even though he has been forgiven by his deity and allowed to take a new oath more suited to who he wants to be, he has not returned to using the Cassius alias.
Since choosing a settled life and abandoning life on the road, Joe now makes his living as a member of the Royal Guard. In particular, his duties involve the protection of
Prince Henry.
Joe was given the rare opportunity of a second chance at being a paladin. Having broken his first oath when he refused to give up his then-budding relationship with
Llywelyn Amberhide, upon the event of their marriage his deity accepted him for a second time with his vows as his sworn oath. Provided he keeps that oath, he is now a paladin who directly serves his husband as protector and partner.
After many years, Joe finally admitted to those who would later become his close friends that he regretted the oath he chose to take at the age of ten. Perhaps unsurprisingly, as a ten year old he did not think carefully about the possible implications of what he swore. The exact wording of this first oath was 'never to be tied or committed to any person but Dianecht, any place but the Temple, or any life-quest but the service of his divine lord.' At the age of ten, Joe simply felt that such an oath would free him to live a life of adventure forever. As an adult, he came to realise that a life with absolutely no roots is extremely lonely.
Until the fateful meeting with his future friends, Joe ignored these feelings of regret and lived in accordance with his oath, having many friendly acquaintances but no true friends, many passing flings but no romance, and many adventures but no real goal in life. However, after joining forces with
Llywelyn Amberhide,
Bhaldrum Feldsparr and
Lenora for what was to be a one-off mission, he found this position no longer tolerable. The idea of resisting his budding friendship with Lenora - gruff but good-hearted like himself - or with his new favourite drinking buddy Bhaldrum was a miserable one, and the thought of never seeing Amberhide - the Cleric with the piercing green eyes who had saved his life or at least his arm in battle - as anything but a casual acquaintance was maddening.
When it became clear that he would very shortly be faced with an unavoidable choice, Joe spent a (somewhat alcohol fueled and tear-sodden) day in contemplation and decided that his oath was impossible to keep for the rest of his life. At some point or another he would be unable to live alone and untethered any longer. On that basis, Joe resolved to pursue his friendships and his budding romance, despite knowing that a moment would soon come where one or other of these commitments would cross the line and his oath would be broken. Shortly after the group met
Lia Galanodel, who with her roguish charm and fun loving attitude was destined to become another friend, that moment came when Joe threw himself in front of an arrow aimed at Amberhide, incurring in one moment an arrow-wound and a broken oath. As a result, he became a Paladin without divine power - in other words simply a talented swordsman. A paladin who repents may gain back their power, but Joe could not repent without giving up his new friends and the man he loved, neither of which he was prepared to do. Not knowing at the time that Dianecht would give him a second chance, he believed at that time that he was now cut off by his deity forever.
For a paladin, Joe is unusually friendly and personable, with none of the aloof and holy bearing with which many of his calling choose to carry themselves. He has a sharp wit, which is most often used to lighten potentially difficult or embarrassing situations. Quick to trust, he prefers to go through life believing that most people he meets are likely to be good, rather than taking precautions against betrayal at every turn. Despite this however, owing to the oath by which he has lived his life, he has lived a fundamentally solitary life until very recently, with jovial acquaintances almost everywhere but few roots. Most people in his life have come and gone quickly, perhaps explaining how he has avoided ever being seriously hurt by his naturally open nature.
Social
As a paladin who draws his power from Dianecht, Joe is extremely committed to the ideals of that deity, although he is not on a personal level particularly devout. He may not have the personality of a conventional worshipper, but he is firm in his commitment to protection of the innocent, the destruction of evil and the defence of the law.
Joe is considered generally charismatic and likeable, which results in his being well-received in most social situations, except perhaps those which are unusually regulated and formal. In particular, he is known to be extremely charming and and even seductive when it suits him, which it often does. In this regard, he is believed by many who know him to be something of a 'player', a title he vehemently disputes on the grounds that although he has in the past welcomed and enjoyed one-night-stands with (often) very recent and short-term acquaintances, those with whom he has shared such encounters are fully aware of - and enthusiastic regarding - the purely physical nature of the arrangement. Sexual ethics are extremely important to him, and the idea of persuading someone to join him in bed under false pretenses is one which repulses him.
Since his marriage, Joe has adopted a life of monogamy and thus although still particularly charismatic he has toned down the flirtatious aspects of his manner (except with his husband!) in order to avoid giving the wrong idea.
Joe plays the violin and sings with a decent degree of skill, although he is entirely self taught and cannot read music. He can be more easily persuaded to sing than play as he is somewhat self-conscious about his violin playing. His singing on the other hand, though very much in the 'tavern' style, is almost always well received.
Direct, open and without undue flourish, Joe's manner of speech is much more in alignment with his birth name than his previous working name of 'Paladin Cassius'. He is prone to profanity, though almost always without malice, using it liberally to express surprise, amusement or as part of his tendency to diffuse situations through somewhat irreverent humor.
Husband
Towards Joseph Cassius Merca
Husband
Towards Llywelyn Amberhide
History
Llywelyn and Joe met when the former, along with his travelling companions, encountered Joe attempting to help Eranur whom he found apparently injured and alone. Joe was grateful for Llywelyn's healing skills in such a situation, and he offered to meet him and the others in The Axe and Scroll Inn that evening and buy a round of drinks as thanks. Upon discovering that the 'Paladin Cassius Merca' they had met by accident was in fact 'Joe from Last Way', an adventurer and roving sword for hire, the party recruited him to assist in their next journey which they knew would take them into danger.
During this journey the two began an - at first - casual flirtation while Joe continued his habit of picking up occasional partners for casual hook-ups, an arrangement Llywelyn made it quite clear he had no interest in. After Llywelyn saved Joe's arm and quite possibly his life in the middle of a raging fight however, Joe's interest in such arrangements rapidly dropped off and his attempts to engage Llywelyn's interest became more obvious and more clearly serious. After deciding to break his paladin's Oath against earthly commitments - a decision triggered at least in part by his desire to pursue the kind of committed relationship he knew Llywelyn would want and need from him - he declared his feelings, and shortly after Llywelyn admitted that he returned them. In the end, it was Llywelyn who took the final step and established the relationship, when he was unable to stand by and watch a devastated Joe struggle alone through the grief of losing his connection to his deity as a result of becoming an oathbreaker.
Nicknames & Petnames
Llywelyn has no particular petnames for his husband, using his name, dear or darling fairly interchangeably depending on the situation and his mood. Joe likewise uses his husband's name fairly frequently, especially when talking casually, although the tongue-in-cheek petname 'Angel' is often used when Joe is feeling particularly affectionate or flirtatious.
Shared Secrets
Llywelyn has shared certain traumatic incidents from his past, normally kept privately to himself, with Joe. In return, Joe is willing to show emotional vulnerability and - when relevant - physical weakness when alone with Llywelyn, which are both things he finds humiliating in front of most others.
Shared Acquaintances
Both currently travel with their friends Lenora, Bhaldrum Feldsparr and Lia Galanodel, and have done since before their relationship began.
Previous sexual partner
Towards Joseph Cassius Merca
History
During their days as Paladins-in-training, Merca and Mortenor were fellow students and casual acquaintances. For several months, many of their comrades had suspected that Mortenor had developed feelings for Merca. However, if this was indeed the case, then either due to his oath preventing committed relationships (which was public knowledge) or to his lack of reciprocal interest shown, she did not inform him of her feelings.
At some point, Merca, who was well known as a serial frequenter of one-night stands, appears to have taken an interest in Mortenor which she eagerly reciprocated, and they apparently spent that night in her chambers. What happened next is unclear, but it appears that while Merca intended only a passing physical encounter, Mortenor had believed, been led to believe, or chosen to believe, that he reciprocated her feelings. The resulting unpleasantness, which according to the student rumor mill included Mortenor attempting to break into Merca's room in the early hours of the morning, appears to have been the main cause leading to Merca's decision to leave the Temple before his official training was complete.
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