"Raika".

Age: Roughly between early to mid-twenties.

Gender: Male

Appearance description: “Raika” has greasy, shaggy brown hair that hangs down to drape his forehead, covering both of his ears and most of the back of his neck. He has small dark blue eyes, although he is partial heterochromiac with his right eye containing faint traces of a silver hue colour. Also, he has deep, dark bags that shadow around his broken-spirited eyes.
Raika has a sickly pale complexion due to a lack of light exposure to his frail and dried up skin. His once defined square jaw and thin lips are currently concealed by a bushy and untidy beard, and he has a long diagonally scar on his left cheek, from just below his eye that snakes its way down his pasty face and beyond the hidden depths of his beard. Although he would stand proud and strong at around 6’ 4”, with an impressive muscular, athletic build of broad shoulders and immense defined muscles of his upper body, his latest appearance is that of a slight hunchback, fragile and weak man. His ripped muscles are starting to sag due to lack of training and maintenance, and his once beefed up legs look as if they are scarcely more than big-framed bones that support his entire weight. He bores a number of cuts and bruises all over his body and face, usually acquired from the numerous drunken antics and fights that he encounters as of lately. Lastly, “Raika” wears a simple, thin tonic that is forever collecting various dirt, stains and blood droplets, and the tonic itself is falling apart, with a few rips and tears in obvious and obscure places. He wears simple peasant trousers, that are also falling apart, and he disregards the use of footwear, being bare footed all the time. During the colder climates or for situations requiring stealthier attire, he will adopt a long dark hooded cloak to keep warm or remain anonymous. Despite being a fighter, he no longer carries any weapons on him, and it is evident that there are not any concealed objects among his person. In additional to his dirty and raggedy appearance, he reeks of an unpleasant stench that is almost an alchemic mixture of smells of alcohol, blood, bodily wastes, mustiness, and uncleanliness.

Personality: A former shell of this once confident and strong fighter. Depression and grief have distorted and twisted “Raika”’s personality, leaving this great fighter a mere shadow of his former self. Constantly alone when he is given the chance, “Raika” would be seen drinking glasses upon glasses of ale to avoid contact and interaction with reality and those around him, which evermore increases his social detachment and distance with people, even the ones he was once befriended to. He mumbles to people who talk to him and his mood swiftly changes to anger when his requests to be alone are ignored. His mind would seem like it has wandered somewhere else than in the present, as he thinks back on the memories. He is a broken person forever mourning and incapable of moving forwards, resulting in a vicious cycle of extreme sadness, apathy and doubtfulness. His stagnancy has affected his skills and his aptitude for combat and fighting, as he cannot concentrate or think properly, his techniques and performance are awful and disorganized, and his despair has diminished his physical strength as well.

Kingdom: Airun

School: First Fauldroth’s Training Arena – Located within the labyrinth of city of Fauldroth, there is an amphitheatre, where the open grounds are used for training the soldiers of Mount. Fauldroth. Once, it had been used to host regular bouts and the annual combat tournaments of Fauldroth, but due to the Airunese Civil war a number of years ago, a number of areas and facilities were converted and used to train the Trainee soldiers for the Fauldrothian military forces. Since the end of the Airunese Civil war, most of the facilities have returned to their original purposes, but the arena has since remained a training ground for the fighters of Fauldroth.

Within the walls of the arena are various rooms where the fighters accommodate during their training, along with a number of facility rooms that provide exercise equipment for fighters to work on different individual muscle groups, an infirmary to treat wounds and infections, a treasury store where valuable items and money are kept for safe keeping, an armoury to store weapons and armour for training purposes, a large bathing area for hygienic needs, a kitchen with a food storage room, and an enormous dining room for those hungry fighters.

Due to the nature of training that the fighters are subjected to, the style of life at the Arena has a militia custom to it. From the early morning through to the early evening, the exercise routines and the intense drill sessions throughout the day install self-discipline, combat training, and basic survival skills into the fighters. The newly recruited fighters are first taught the basic empty hand combat forms before they can progress onto the various weapon fighting forms. They then proceed to the advance empty hand combat forms and the advance fighting forms for a weapon of their choice. Every month, a week is taken out of the fighters’ training program to go on an expedition where they will be taught basic survival skills on and off the mountain. On top of that, as part of their commitment after a few years of training, a handful of skilled fighters are assigned patrol duties within Fauldroth every two weeks.

Due to the aftermath of the Airunese Civil war, the practice of magic is restricted to Restorative magic within Mount. Fauldroth. Thus the only magicians residing within the arena are Restorative magicians, as they treat the injured fighters in the infirmary. Therefore, although the fighters are physically trained to their peaks, they have zero resistance to magic since the arena is strictly a fighting facility rather than a place of study and practice of the magical arts. The Arena is also a completely all-male training facility, but there is a separate training facility located within Mount. Fauldroth where female fighters are trained as a Fauldrothian soldier.

The standard uniform of the Fauldrothian fighters when training are dark green tunic, black pants and dark brown leather boots, which are issued by the Arena.

History: “Raika”’s childhood and a part of his adolescent remain unknown; a mystery even to him to this very day. The earliest and recent events of his life that he does remember, he does not discuss with anyone, not even to the Empress of Nerepis.

However, the earliest record history of the retired Knight indicate that he was a newly, perhaps the youngest, recruit among Lady Iona Fauldroth’s private military force, the First Fauldrothian. Rumours have speculated that during the Airunese Civil war, a lone, distant, young man displayed unusual fighting techniques and single-handedly held himself against a number of Lady Fauldroth’s personal and highly skilled knights. This caught the attention of Captain Lancius Fauldroth, Lady Fauldroth’s younger brother and the commander of the First Fauldrothian. Despite the distrust that Lady Fauldroth exhibited towards the young man from the beginning of their encounter, her brother took particular interest in recruiting the young man into her military force, in hopes that “Raika”’s strange, yet effective fighting techniques could be taught to the rest of the Fauldrothian forces.

Although, after numerous attempts and sparring sessions against Captain Fauldroth, “Raika” could not display nor recall the techniques he had used against Lady Fauldroth’s soldiers. Rather than expel and waste a potential warrior, the young man was kept on and trained as a Trainee soldier, although he was reportedly known to be distant from all the other trainees, and seemed almost as if he were lost. It was also recorded, before his recruitment, and a few years during his training, that “Raika” had trouble sleeping, even to the point where he was screaming throughout the night during his sleep. Diagnosis from Restorative wizards claimed it as psychological trauma from a psychic inflitration, and although the treatment assisted in calming down “Raika”’s disturbed psyche, the damage inflicted upon his mind and memories would remain a permanent scar.

A number of years passed, and “Raika” exceeded in his training, mastering Xu Huan Zhang and the advance swordplay form, although he never formed any true companionship with the other trainee soldiers. However, he was visited by Captain Fauldroth on most days of his training, despite the cynicism and doubtfulness that Lady Fauldroth displayed toward the young trainee. “Raika” was reluctant at first, but gradually he and Captain Fauldroth connected with each other over the years. His dedication, integrity and growing friendship with Captain Fauldroth earned him his ranks among the First Fauldrothian, and he was quickly promoted as one of Lady Fauldroth’s personal knights, her youngest knight, in fact. As a knight of Lady Fauldroth, he was personally taught and trained by Captain Fauldroth, his best friend back then, about the responsibility role of a knight. He was also trained in a special fighting skill that only Captain Fauldroth taught to the First Fauldrothian knights, and the philosophical concepts behind the techniques.

After two and a half years of his knighthood training, Sir “Raika” received his first Call to arms with the First Fauldrothian knights when a warlock was reported to have infiltrated the city, and started raising the corpses of the dead. The First Fauldrothian went to deal with the incident, and they fought well against the army of zombies that the warlock had summoned. After an entire day of battling against the horde of the undead and the warlock, the First Fauldrothian were successful in eradicating the threat, although they had taken a heavy toll; Captain Fauldroth, and most of the First Fauldrothian knights had lost their lives. The surviving knights, Sir “Raika” and a handful of his companions, were admitted to the Royal Fauldrothian Infirmary where their injuries were treated.

Whilst the knights were recovering, they were paid a visit by Lady Fauldroth, who sought to find out the details of the battle and her little brother’s death. After interrogating the surviving knights and Sir “Raika”, Lady Fauldroth had Sir “Raika” arrested and detained so that he could face trial over the events of Captain Fauldroth’s death.

Six months had passed, and the lengthy trials was held and concluded with Sir “Raika” convicted over the death of Captain Fauldroth. He was given a death sentence to account for his crime, and he was imprisoned for a time before his execution date. During his captivity, the King of Airun, the only son of the Empress of Nerepis, had paid Lady Fauldroth a visit, and made a request to release the troubled ex-knight. Despite Lady Fauldroth’s irritation, she was bound to the word of her King, and so “Raika” was eventually released, but not before issuing a banishment upon the ex-knight and exiling him from Mount Fauldroth. The Airunese King was accompanied by his mother’s Valerian knights, who took “Raika” back to the capital of the central kingdom.

Over the next few weeks, “Raika” was accommodated at the Royal Valerian Palace, where he could recover from the events of Captain Fauldroth’s death, the trials, and his imprisonment. He was also offered to train and get back into shape with the Valerian Knights, but he has not lifted his sword nor practised any of his combat forms since his best friend’s death. Usually, “Raika” would be seen in various pubs and taverns throughout Nerepolis, drowning his sorrows in alcohol, or getting into drunken fights.

Coincidentally, “Raika”’s arrival may be significant as the Rite of Unifying Bond approaches upon the Kingdoms of Nerepis…

Fighter Rank: (retired) Knight

Skills and Techniques:

Xu Huan Zhang – Deceptive Palms. This close-range fighting style focuses on the use of deceptive and tricky hand movements to confuse and obscure the attention of the opponent(s). There are a number of forms within this style that aim to bewilder and bypass the opponent’s defences, allowing for grappling and striking techniques to be employed upon them. With this style, the fighter can defend themselves against two or three opponents at a time, but any more than that will overwhelm the fighter as their attention is spread thinly between the outnumbering opponents. Also, this fighting style favours more of the upper body, hands and arm movements in comparison to extensive or high kicks.

Xu Huan Swordplay – Adapting the principles and style of Deceptive Palms, the fighter wields a double-edge bladed straight sword in combat, utilizing similar deceitful movements to fool an opponent. A by-product of Xu Huan Swordplay is that the fighter learns to be ambidextrous; being able to employ the use of both their hands during swordplay, and effectively fight with a sword in either their left or right hand. Their ambidexterity also allows the fighter to efficiently fight with a weapon in both hands, although in this case, this is limited to double-edge bladed straight swords.

LongdeMeng – Dream of the Dragon. This defensive fighting style is only taught to the First Fauldrothian Knights. One of the main components of this fighting style is its slow, fluid and graceful training form, which conceals a variety of spiralling techniques used to defend against an opponent. Its circular footwork allows the fighter to be evasive, whilst maintaining in close range of the opponent. Due to its defensive and elusive nature, this style lacks fatal, offensive moves that bring the conflict to an end. Additionally, the slow movements and stretches of the fundamental training form has been speculated to have been drawn upon principles of restoration magic, and thus, it has reported to be a healing tool, as well as a fighting style.

Weapon[s]: None.

WLtM: A male wizard who would be able to bring “Raika” out of his sorrows; one that could “fix” this fallen knight.

Colour of character text: Olive.

Other: It has been speculated that “Raika” may possess a small degree of magic within him, but it lies dormant and incontrollable. It is considered such a minor talent that enrolling him in formal education and training would have been a waste of time, although his magical talents may awaken and mature given the right circumstances and time.