Celys

Title:

Captain of the Esgaroth Watch

Description:

A tall, slender man with dark hair, dark eyes, and a fair complexion, the man before you has a regal carriage and haunted look about him--his eyes are deep-set and have dark circles around them, and he has an expression that seems predisposed to frowning rather than smiling. Thin lips in a gaunt face are, often as not, pressed into a thin line.

He wears the blue cloak of the City Watch, clasped in silver with the Taurdain crest, over a navy blue surcoat and fine shirt of mail. A longsword is sheathed at his belt in a plain black leather scabbard. The hilt bears the Taurdain crest in silver.

History:

Celys Taurdain is a lord in style only, the younger son of one of Taurdain's finest shipwrights. When his older brother perished to a sudden illness, Celys should have stood to inherit his father's fortune, but it went instead to an adopted son--and for most disinherited sons of nobility he should have found a quiet station to live in relative comfort. But such was not the path for Celys Taurdain.

Sullen and given to brooding even as a child, Celys was nevertheless a brilliant and eager learner. In his military training--as it was long assumed that he would simply live a life as a minor officer in the King's Men, in relative comfort and obscurity--he learned quickly and proved equally adept as a tactician. And as he learned the history of his house--the house that disinherited him--he took an interest in the politics. Why, when the Arathmor and Girion houses played power politics, did the House Taurdain merely lie silent and avoid maneuvering? Why did they allow the Karaths unquestioning control of the military, or silently relinquish mercantile rights to the Arathmors? Why did the oldest, the proudest of the houses, not assert its authority over Esgaroth?

As he grew he gained a reputation as a man who was gifted at plans, both tactical and political, and he was clever enough to build alliances. Disinherited though he was, he knew that he needed to consolidate his place within the house if he was to accomplish his ends. It took very little effort to win the favor of the House lord and an appointment as Captain of the house guard. He readily swore his allegiance and his blade to the House--a young, bright appointment that was definitely loyal, talented, and ambitious. He was watched, of course, but apart from a tendency to brood, he showed no sign of disloyalty.

But this was just the beginning. If Esgaroth had a bright future, Celys Taurdain would see himself at its forefront--Taurdain granted its rightful place, and himself restored to much greater honor than his father could have ever provided.