Lord Rendyl Blackram
Family is what matters. More than you realize.
Description: Rendyl bears the trademark height of his forebears, giving the man a sort of 'stretched' look when taken in combination with his narrow frame. He's wiry, but packed with lean muscle, with long and calloused fingers writhing at the end of his lithe arms. His skin is of a fair, reddish tone, lightly tanned by time spent in the sun. His hair is kept crudely trimmed to avoid overtaking his features. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the beard, which often grows untamed along his cheeks and chin. Thankfully, his facial features are chiseled and fair, making him appear more rugged than outright savage at his worst. He smiles to often and too broadly. His blinks are too few to hide his glassy-eyed stare. He puts his full strength behind every minor motion - though luckily, he rarely strays from a neutral expression or a practiced little smile.
Personality: Rendyl has all the charming neo-noble quirks one might expect from a legitimized bastard. He's embraced his new status with a great deal of enthusiasm - unbefitting as such a level of enthusiasm is for a Blackram - and although his manners can be quite superficial, it's hard not to be charmed by the effort. He still struggles with despondent moods which come and go - his past haunting him despite how swiftly he's tried to fit himself into the lifestyle of the peerage. As well, his time apart from civilization has left him with a few.. ugly quirks that crop up here and there, amidst the well-trained court demeanor.
Background: Spawned from a branch off of the main line of the Blackram family, Rendyl was born a bastard in the Cloudspine, the son of a lord and a common woman. He was afforded some care from his father - never officially acknowledged as a son, but he and his mother never struggled for a day they lived in the Stoneburner Hills. A small stipend of gold allowed him to live along the wealthier edge of the common folk, supplied with a soldier's education in combat so that he could serve in the troop commanded by his lord father. He even recieved training in the family art of greatsword combat while his comrades stuck to their pikes. Despite the comforts afforded to him, Rendyl was mostly known in the Cloudspine for being a nuisance - a pest, afforded protection by the unspoken fact that he lived under his father's watch.
Well, that is to say, he DID live under it. He disappeared shortly after turning twenty. Promoted to command a small unit, he brought his score of pikemen out beyond the walls of Cloudspine for a tracking exercise. He instructed his men to wait five minutes before pursuing him. Unfortunately, they never found him - instead, Rendyl's men were slaughtered by the Abandoned hiding in the forests. Though the commander was presumed dead, he was never found.
Bits and pieces of the story regarding his years away from the Cloudspine have filtered out over time, but Rendyl has never been eager to speak of it himself. He was taken for a noble - kidnapped, his sword stolen, intended to be ransomed - though if such a thing occured, there's no record of it among the Blackrams. He returned to the Cloudspine one day, though he was.. changed. He had been lively and jovial, beloved among the soliders despite his elevated status. His mother said the Shavs had stolen the light from his eyes. He doesn't deny that his experience affected him - only the severity to which it did.
His father was apparently quite moved by what had happened - the day Rendyl return was the first day his father had publicly acknowledged him as a son. He took him in more closely - the bastard had turned out to be his only child, and he relished the opportunity to play father on his second chance. The two were inseperable for a good while. The boy proved himself worthy in combat with his lord father, and was eventually legitimized, taken as a knight of house Blackram.
The boy's father took him on a celebratory hunt shortly after the occasion - revelling in the fact that his boy was once again brave enough to venture beyond the walls of the Cloudspine. Fate was not kind to Rendyl, however - and his father, too, was ambushed in the hills. He refused to let the northern Abandoned take his son again, choosing instead to fight while the younger man fled.
Thus leaves Rendyl with his father's name and assets, the small branch he had fell from now left with him as the lone inheritor. Thankfully, it was enough to take him to Arx, in pursuit of a place among the other Blackrams under the new Marquis.
| Name | Summary |
| Faye | A charming man who makes pleasant company. I do enjoy finding someone interesting to talk to when watching a sparring match. |
| Gilroy | I love playing Oathlander or Northerner. Militant, uptight and self-important? Could go either way. But he's fully dressed, so I'm guessing Oathlander! |
| Reese | A knight who fights with strength, likes large weapons and has the dance of an agitated bull. He has power about his person and likely will do great thing for compact and his house. |
| Tescelina | He has not heard the stars, oddly being so high up, but he knows the screaming wind. I hear it in his sword strokes. Alas, I think I frustrated him in our spar. |