Aric Marshall (Halian Civil War)

Sir Aric Marshall is a knight of noble birth, hailing from the Midlands of Halicourt. He is currently in the service of his liege lord, Baron Harlan Griffith of Penrith.

During the onset of the Halian Civil War, he is instructed by the baron to return to his family's estate in order to ready the carrant for battle.

Biography
The Marshall's are a family of the lower nobility, holding land to the west of the town of Durham near the heart of Halicourt. Aric Marshall was born the third son of Bradford and Caroline Marshall, and as such isn't set to inherit any of the family fortune. His father had tried to instill in his family what he thought were important values. Respect the gods, treat everyone, especially women, with courtesy, that when one says something, they had better follow through, and above all, that family comes first. Of course, not all of these stuck with the Marshall children, and as nobility, some of the values only apply to fellow nobles. Although the Marshalls pay their respects to the kingdom's patron deity, they are worshippers of the Highfather, Criador. As such, Aric commonly uses Criador's titles in place of swearing.

Aric only spent 6 years of his youth at the family estate, leaving for the Keriell lands for squiredom, as is customary among the Marshalls. While he would return home for holidays, the boy was never allowed to remain at the estate any longer than a week. Perhaps the only significant amount of time he was allowed leave was during his 15th Firestring. When Aric received a message that his father and eldest brother were overdue from their hunting trip, he rode home to aid the search. Despite a week of searching, nothing besides old campsites were found.

His mother lived, or perhaps more accurately, existed, one more year before passing. Every month she became more distant, and when spoken to would say little that was entirely comprehensible. The woman passed away peacefully one night. Desmond inherited the Marshall estate, and his uncle William Griffith came to the fiefdom in order to aide his nephew.

Late Forosta of the same year, House Keriell proclaimed they could no longer effectively house and train the squires in their care. The family released many of their retainers, and Aric was sent to House Griffith to finish his last year of squiredom.

At the age of 18, Aric participated in what was thought to be a normal crackdown on a peasant revolt. Together with neighboring lords, among them Gilles Keriell, the assembled carrant marched to where the peasants were said to be gathered. Instead of an easily won open battle, the peasants ambushed the small noble-led army. Despite terrible casualties among the Marshall and Keriell men, the peasants were defeated and properly put in their place. Among the dead, however, was Gilles Keriell, and it would fall on Aric to inform the house that ennobled his.

However, not all was grim. For his role in rallying the fleeing Marshall and Keriell Carrants, Baron Penrith summoned the young nobleman to his estate. There, Aric was presented with a knighthood and a place in the baron's court; a position the young knight could not reject.

Physical Appearance
Aric stands at just above 5'10" and weighing in at around 160 lbs, isn't exactly someone who would awe a crowd due to his physical prowess. He possesses lean and functional muscles courtesy of his decade long knightly training. The man's hair is a dark chestnut brown and barely reaches below his neck. When given the time to shave often the Halian will keep a short mustache and goatee; when time is short he will at the very least attempt to keep his beard from becoming unwieldly. The knight's skin is rather fair and is predisposed to burning in the sun rather than tanning. His eyes are dark green with gold flecks, a trait the entire family possesses except for Caroline and Owen, and are perhaps the man's most noticeable physical feature. Like many others who possess green eyes, they often subtly change color depending on his mood and to a lesser extent, the weather.

Personality and Traits
Like many nobles from the Kingdom of Halicourt, Aric is proud to be from the upper classes. As such, he tends to expect less from the peasantry; at least until they prove themselves worthy of his respect. However, as a noble, appearances come first. Aric at the very least attempts to think before speaking, in order to not offend those in his company. The nobleman has, at least to onlookers, learned to keep his quick temper in check; although this tends to result in rare outbursts.

The knight is, for the most part, serious and rather formal. For the nobility, Aric will always use the person's entitled honorific before their name. Women are always given an honorific. usually Lady or Miss, no matter their social status; something not exactly uncommon amongst the lower nobility of Halicourt. Unless a man is noble he will usually not use Sir before their name, and if he is not particularly fond of someone he will sometimes neglect to use an honorific regardless of gender.

Aric harbors some amount of distrust for mages, as do many nobles of Halicourt, for they are rare and commonly viewed as extremely dangerous. The man has never served beside one, and the few past experiences he has of them aren't entirely positive.

Aric possesses a certain fondness for alcohol, his favorite alcoholic beverage a Halian brewed drink commonly referred to as brown ale. After he has consumed a couple tankards of ale the man will usually lose some of his inhibitions, becoming more outgoing, loud, and just more fun in general. However, he takes care not to consume so much that he becomes completely inebriated.

Equipment
When prepared for war, Aric is armored in his father's suit of armor. The harness is mostly composed of steel plates, with many patches of mail sewn into his gambeson to reinforce weak points. A ridged sallet adorns the man's head, overlapping a bevor that provides protection to his neck and jaw. The breastplate he wears is not as complicated as those of richer lords; although it does possess fluted ridges in order to strengthen the piece, something the armor protecting his legs and arms share. The breastplate is attached to a skirt of articulating tassets, an addition Aric commissioned when fitting the armor. The knight's pauldrons are asymmetrical, the left being more reinforced than the right.

Covering the breastplate and pauldrons is a white tabard. It is a torso hugging garment, however, the sleeves hang relatively loose. Aric's personal coat of arms is emblazoned over the heart and is present on both shoulders.

Aric's sword belt is of a simple design and dark brown in color. Mounted on it is Aric's birth sword and his weapon of last resort, a rondel dagger. A small, beaded chain hangs on the right side of the man's belt.

Birth Sword
Aric is armed with his birth sword, a bastard sword able to be used both in one hand or two. The blade is of the type XVIIIc variant, a type suited for both cutting and thrusting. The blade begins rather wide near the straight crossguard, and quickly tapers to a very distinct point. No fuller exists on the sword. The blade instead becoming wider in the middle; creating somewhat of a diamond appearance. The pommel is of the scent stopper variety, beginning rather thin near the grip and widening to a rounded head. Overall length of the weapon is around 46 inches.

Fighting Style
According to Halian tradition, especially among the nobility, a male child is gifted with a sword at birth. Indeed, according to his family the first thing the newborn grasped in life was the hilt of the longsword that later hung above his bed. Although Aric is trained for battle with lance and horse, he has never excelled at it and his brother Desmond has almost always bested him. The man is a decent rider, nothing more.

Fighting on foot, however, is an entirely different story. Aric's weapon of choice is his birth sword, a fine weapon forged by the master craftsmen of Aylesbury. However, the blade is not incredibly effective against armored opponents or in tight quarters.

For such encounters, Aric is trained in half swording and the murder stroke. Half swording can be useful when in close quarters and swinging the blade can be either dangerous to allies or downright impractical. The murder stroke is most effective when fighting armored opponents; the sword is inverted and the user grips the blade, using the pommel as a mace and the crossguard as a spike.

In battle Aric's style of combat has shown itself to be rather dangerous to the nobleman. The knight prefers to get in close and finish the fight quickly, using his blade to parry his enemy's weapon while utilizing footwork to get inside the opponent's guard. This stands in stark contrast to the style his sister adopted to counter it, the woman preferring to keep her distance and strike only when relatively safe from counterattack.