Kingston

"You ever think I'm gonna learn not to make stupid decisions"
== Background ==
=== Bastard. ===
'''
The first memory I had was me dying. The year was 8:11, the memory is vague but I think I was playing and somehow tripped and broke my neck. I remember waking up to my mother crying over me, I was on a table and someone had put me in some really nice clothes, nicer than I’d ever had before. There was a chantry sister there as well and she and my mother just stared at me as if I was a ghost. Guess I am in a way. And my mother hugged me, I was surprised, she didn’t usually do that. 
My mother didn’t usually have enough money to buy anything for my birthday either, but that year she brought home a little puppy-dog that I named Pork. He was my best friend throughout my years in Gwaren.
'''
I was born 11 years earlier in 8:00, my mother's name was Camilla, she was an elven farmer. She was kind but practical, she cared for me but I always got the feeling that she would have been better off without me. She never told me that but I could never shake the thought. She told me my father was Teyrn Voric, the teyrn of the city of Gwaren nearby. I saw him a couple of times, he had another son, my brother: Voric II. I was so jealous of him. He had such nice clothes, such nice toys, and that gleaming sword hanging on his hip. 
'''
=== Soldier ===
I was eager to leave home, I didn’t want to burden my mother any further than I needed to. And so when I was 17 I joined the local militia. I trained with the men and patrolled the roads, but I didn’t actually fight anyone until 8:24 when the Orlesians invaded. Fereldan was scrambling from the surprise attack, and I was sent off to the west without even time to say goodbye to my mother of Pork. We walked for days untill we arrived in Lothering, I remember how scared I was when I saw the chevaliers sacking the village. They were slaughtering the men and dragging women and children from their hiding places. But then the Kings army arrived, I remember King Vanedrin atop his midnight-black horse and Ardal Cousland beside him. Just seeing the King brought me courage in a way that’s hard to explain. It felt like there were some plan to it all, like they had it under control.
Turns out they didn’t. We charged into the village, carving up the chevaliers as we went. To my surprise they were much weaker than I expected. I had always heard rumors of the chevaliers military prowess.
As I learned later, they weren’t actually chevaliers, they were just cannon fodder dressed in cheaply made uniforms. The real chevaliers came later.
When the faux-liers were dealt with the King and all his men cheered. The celebration was short lived when we looked up, the entire village had been surrounded. It was all a trap. I remember the deafening snap of a hundred thousand arrows being released at once. It had been a sunny day, but at that moment the sky was dark as night. I was hit in the head through my cheek, It didn’t hurt right away. I lay there dead for who knows how long, when I awoke it was night. And Orlesian vultures were picking through the remains of the fallen army. I saw the Kings corpse and a dread came over me, the exact opposite of what I’d felt when I first saw him. I grabbed his sword and very slowly crawled away. That was the first time I met my oldest friend, Nemetos. I later learned that he’d been first wieled by Calenhad. Maybe a bit of him still linger in the old blade, maybe I’m just delusional, but it feels as though the sword has an aura of its own. 
I carefully removed the arrow and bandaged it up as best I could, it wasn’t pretty but it was functional. I ran for days to report to Denerim about what had happened, I was still in the army after all, It was my duty.
'''
Brandel was the new king, he barely had time for a coronation, I didn’t envy the responsibility that now rested on his shoulders. I continued fighting for my country. I spent almost 20 long years battling the Orlesians. I was promoted to captain and returned to Gwaren only to discover it overrun by the invaders. I returned to my farm but there was naught but ashes there now, my mother had been killed the year prior, Pork the year before that. Rage overtook me and I killed one of the Orlesian commanders when he was getting drunk in a tavern. The commander's men attacked me but the other fereldan patrons came to my aid. Before I knew it, I was leading a full on militia against the invaders. We managed to route the garrison that had been installed there and I was honored as champion of Gwaren by my brother. He didn’t know who I was and I didn’t care to tell him, after all, now I had the shinier sword.
'''
I protected the town for four years, then I got a message from the king, I took the little army I had collected and went to Denerim, the brunt of the Orlesian forces were on the march towards the capital. The war would be won of lost in the heart of Fereldan. We arrived to see the city already in flames. My small militia composed of farmers fought bravely, I even saw a couple take down full on chevaliers. We cut a line through the forces and managed to get to the king. He gave us the order to stall the invaders as he fled, if the Theirin line was lost, fereldan would be lost. And so I did my duty, I held a speech to my men, they were so brave. Probably braver than me.
We held for a time, we were overunn and I was captured. I saw the king disappear, and so I was satisfied.
'''
=== Knight ===
I was brought to Orlais in chains, I must admit I was a bit taken by the fancy architecture and the masked locals sneering at me. I think one of them tried to spit on me, but alas he was wearing a mask so I’m sure you can guess how well that worked out. 
I was tortured for a while by a chevalier by the name of Pierre Proulx, he tried to figure out where the king was headed but I just didn’t know. When he eventually grew bored of hurting me they simply slit my throat. I woke up on a riverbank. The second time I’d died for my country. Fereldan had fallen, and so the only thing I had left to fight for was the sword. Pierre had stolen it when I was captured, and so I was determined to get it back. The Orlesians may have taken my homeland but I could at least take back a small piece of it.
'''
I spent a year in Orlais, learning the language, culture, and everything that I could find about my good friend Pierre (still don’t understand why they need to put so many letters that you don’t pronounce in everything! Drives me mad). In 8:45 I learned that he was attending a tourney in Val Royeux and I decided to make my move. I snuck into his tent and slit his throat, I don’t often revel in killing, but that felt good. I dumped his body into the nearby river (poetic justice I say), I heard guards approach so I did some quick thinking and put on Pierres armor and mask.
I had little choice but to take part in the tourney. I managed to get through the first joust and passed the single combats with flying colors. I learned later that Pierre and some nobles had agreed to lose on purpose to win a bet, so when I succeeded in his stead some were not too happy about it. In the semifinals my horses saddle came loose (even though I had made sure to fasten it beforehand) and I took a sharpened lance through my heart.
'''
I woke up later to find I had gotten a bit of a reputation from my skills during the tourney and I was hired as a bodyguard for a noble family, the gratiens. In particular the grand duke.
The daughter of the duke was called Rosie. She was absolutely beautiful, I was taken by her wit and grace the moment I saw her. And I think she felt something similar to me. Since that day she would often request me as her bodyguard when going out, and we would spend hours talking about everything and nothing. Eventually I told her about my true identity and my mysterious condition and she accepted me. With the one thing keeping me back gone, I proposed and she said yes.
'''
=== Father ===
One of the happiest days of my life was in 8:47 when my daughter was born. I decided to name her Camille, an orlesian twist of my mother's name. My time spent with my wife, daughter and family were a happy time. I look back on it with an innocent fondness. However one thing that I do not miss was the house cat, a true orlesian pest. It never liked me and the feeling was mutual. One day it had had enough and it attacked me. Scratched my eye right out. Rosie was devastated and bought me a new eye made out of solid gold. I thought it was a bit much but she assured me that there “Was no such thing as too much in orlais”. 
There were times when my mind drifted back to Fereldan, the things that I’d given for my country, the years spent fighting. I suspect that the feeling will never fade out completely but I did manage to push it back, replacing the call of duty with thoughts of family. 
'''
Alas the peace would not last and 8 months after my daughters birth we were attacked. The duke's twin brother, the emperor of Orlais betrayed his family...our family and murdered everyone. I was my wifes bodyguard, but more than that I loved her. And yet she ordered me to leave with her and take our daughter to safety...and so I did. Those words still plague me to this day and I will never forget her.
'''
After 2 years of hiding in Orlais, I took Camille to Ferelden. We found a nice secluded spot in the bannorn where we built a little farm together. We spent about ten years keeping out of sight, tending our crops and animals together. She was so full of life, she had inherited the fereldan hardiness from me as well as her mother's royal poise. I once found her arguing with the pigs about the best color of mud that would match their skin hue. She also found some way to look fashionable even with the quality of clothes that I could buy or make. 
'''
In 8:60 a a young man came upon our farm, couldn’t have been more than fifteen/sixteen. I must admit that I was a little paranoid and I hesitated to help him but my daughter rushed to his aid at once. Turns out his name was Merryn Stockton, a Fereldan rebel. We took him in and Camille nursed him back to health, she always had a gentle heart.
'''
Merryn lived with us for a few years. He was in no shape or hurry to go back to the rebellion, I sympathized with him but at the same time I envied him. I loved my daughter of course, but the news that there were people fighting back against the orlesians was a tempting prospect. I suppose it was only natural but Merryn and Camille grew very close, and she got pregnant young. I was angry with Merryn at first but I knew that they did love each other and he had been nothing if not kind and diligent during his stay at the farm. They named him Kingston, I advised against it but Camille would not be dissuaded.
When you have your first child you will look at it and be stunned that such a beautiful thing could exist on this earth. But when you have your grandchild you get a certain kind of fulfillment, I truly loved that boy as much as I did my daughter. And for the first time since Merryn arrived I forgot all about the rebellion in the south.
'''
In 8:76 we had a real bad winter, we lost our crops and all our animals. It was heartbraeaking having to put down little Kingstons pet pig for food but it had to be done. Without the farm to sustain us I took up mercenaring. Did some things I wasn’t proud of but if I hadn’t my family would’ve starved. Things got much worse before they got better and the following year a sickness came. Camille grew ill and I was heartbroken. I didn’t want Merryn or Kingston to get ill so I barricaded myself with my daughter and watched over her in her last moments. I buried her before dying myself. Of all my deaths, that one hit hardest.
I couldn’t remain in that house, so I gave all the money that I had saved up to Merryn and left.
'''
=== Rebel ===
I traveled to the rebellion and offered my sword to Moira, of course it wasn’t my sword, it was calenhads and now it was rightfully hers. She brought me up from my kneeling position and said “I already have my own sword and I have no need for two”. She reminded me of Rosie in a way, they were both so strong. You could tell from one conversation with either that they would fight and die for what they believed in. One with words, the other with a sword. And so, the fool that I am, I fell in love again, it had been many years since Rosie and I must admit that I had been lonely. Me and Moira fought and killed together for many months, each battle drawing us closer. I respected her deeply and I think she thought the same for me.
'''
The year later I received another child. She named him Maric, he was so small I thought I was going to crush him were I to hold him. That fear mutated as Maric grew, and I decided that I wasn’t going to be a part of his life. When I look back at it I realize that I was selfish. I didn’t want the call from family to eclipse my call of duty like it did in Orlais. I was also afraid of seeing another one of my children die. When I saw Maric it was hard to not also see little Camille. 
Me and Moira fought hard and fiercely. We tore through hordes of Orlesians and the tide of the war was slightly wobbling in our favour. That’s when we received word from a group of ferelden banns who wanted to discuss an alliance… We never suspected anything until it was too late. We were weary from the war and the offer was simply too good to pass up. When the trap closed in upon us I tried protecting Moira. I took a blade in the chest and I bled out quickly, I crawled and I eventually came upon the body of Moira. Her red scarf hanging loosely from her neck. With the last of my strength I grabbed the scarf, lost consciousness soon after. 
The day after, I learned that the army had been wiped out… My mind went to a dark place and I assumed that Maric had been killed as well. At that moment I truly had no one. In vain I traveled back to our farm but I found little more than cold ashes. I don’t know what happened to the family I left behind there. Maybe they fled from some attackers, maybe they were killed. Either way I failed them. 
'''
I tried to kill myself, multiple times in fact but I’m sure you can all guess how well that went. I was just sick of it all, I had nothing to fight for anymore. Not my country and not my family.
After the third try I learnt that Maric was still alive. My son…
They said that he’d just lost a battle at west hill but I refused to make the same mistake as last time. I refused to assume that he was dead until I saw his body for myself. I traveled back to Gwaren, the first time in decades. Seeing the farm I grew up at completely gone and overgrown was strange to say the least, I tidied up the graves of my mother and Pork before I once again picked up the mantle as leader in Gwaren. I rallied Marics routed troops and led another defense of the city. 
I wasn’t surprised when Maric returned, something in me knew that he would. I gracefully handed over leadership back to him and followed him into battle. I was nobody, a stranger, a nameless soldier once again and I was content with it.
'''
And then we won. My son led us into Denerim and the war that I had been fighting for nearly a century was over. The feeling was indescribable and I must admit to crying when it was over.
'''
=== Cultist ===
The feeling of victory was soon replaced with an emptiness. My son was crowned king and it was clear that there was no place for me there. I had devoted so much of myself to war but now there was none. I wandered a bit untill I came upon a queer little hamlet in the frostback mountains called Haven. The people there were strange, standoffish. But something about it created a great sense of curiosity within me. It turns out that they were all fairly religious so I thought “What the hell” and...yes...I joined a cult. I mean isn’t that what people do when they don’t have anything better going on?
'''
Had an okay time mopping up dragon dung and tending to the bronko they kept (still not sure how they got it up there without it smashing the temple.) I hid my sword in my room and used a one handed axe and shield instead (didn’t want to dirty my friend Nemetos from all the dragon shit). 
And then one day a party of four adventurers show up! Four! And they kill every. single. one. at the temple. Can you believe it? It was a sight to behold for sure. Me and Kolgrim waited in the great hall for them to come. I asked him why we didn’t just simply go to stop them from killing every single cultist, maybe overunn them if we attacked all at once, but he just said that we had to wait here and that “Our great lady Andraste willed it.” I put on a helmet just in case, don’t usually wear helmets but in this case it was for safety. The party arrive and decline Kolgrims deal to defile the ashes and then he attacks for some absolutely strange reason. I just went with the flow and the elf took my right arm clean off. I cursed and died again. Woke up to discover that they didn’t just kill every single cultist there BUT ALSO THE BLOODY DRAGON. I bandaged my stump up and left the mountain. Yea religion didn’t really work out for me.
And so I come down from the mountain to discover there’s a whole ass blight going on and that the people who carved the whole cult up was a grey warden recruit (I’d later learn that the blonde man traveling with her was my grandson Alistair as well. Small world). I travel back to Denerim and join up with the army, figure I might as well make myself useful and kill a few darkspawn.
It turns out I had somewhat overestimated my ability to fight with only my left arm and I didn’t last too long in the battle of Denerim until one of those big Ogre fellas punted me into a brick wall. 
'''
=== Mercenary ===
The blight was gone and suddenly there was a high demand for someone to do some private musclework. I joined up with the Blackstone Irregulars to get some money and practice using my leftie to fight. That’s when I met Luther Wiggins, a fellow one-eyed sellsword. We got along fine, he doesn't really talk much which gives me more opportunity to and he brews a mean drink. Apparently I’m the only person to drink It and walk away alive. I also met a young circle mage by the name of Hugues (or Hugh as I’ve come to call him.) He’s clever and curious, and very orlesian. Almost reminds me a bit of Camille…
He approached me after the whole “Rage Oatmeal” incident at the circle. Damn that was a long day of scrubbing blood and oats out of the circle carpet. 
Also had a quick jaunt over to Antiva with Luther. I proposed an overseas expansion of the Blackstones, said we could make more coin if we expanded a bit.
So there I was, in Antiva on a job, luther assisting me. I was looking into a series of brutal killings. A local noble suspected that it could be one of their family doing the deeds so they went to the blackstones instead of official channels. So while I’m in Antiva I’m getting the taste for this amazing dish, it’s like thin bread with all sorts of toppings and cheese. Anyway I'm trying this new kind, it had all kinds of spicy peppers and god it set my mouth on fire. And it kept like that for the entire day! So at night I’m investigating some alleys, and I hear a noise. I run and I find a woman being attacked by a huge beast! I had never seen a werewolf before, much less fought one. He sees me and is on me in a second! He pins me down and his face is just an inch away from mine. And so I breathe out out of fear. And wouldn’t you know it, must have still had the peppers on my breath! Because he grabs his nose and starts scratching at it. So I take my chance and stab him!
Now that would be a happy ending except when he dies he shapeshifts back into a human. Annnd it turns out to be the nobles son...aaand he’s dead. And that’s the story of how I’m banned from Wycome! And why the blackstones expansion into antiva didn’t go too well. Another guy got assassinated by a crow and a third irregular quit when he got there. Apparently he got offered a job with better pay as a...oh what did they call it. A “leather daddy”.
Today I made a mistake, but that shouldn’t be a surprise to you if you’re reading this journal. Anyway a couple of days ago I received a book from Hugh, apparently it might have some information on what’s going on with me. I don’t know if it’ll change anything, I’m my own man, always have been, immortality or not. But it would be nice to know.
The problem was I couldn’t read the cypher, and then the book got stolen. Hunted it to highever and apparently there’s more people looking for it.   
We continued to the tower and got Hugh with us, the boy isn’t suited to life on the road, but alas few orlesians are.
We continued on to lothering where I made the mistake. I got little Albert to kill me, I dunno why I did it. I wanted the gold reward, It never feels right having someone else pay for me, always brings my thoughts back to mom. But what I did was selfish, no way around it. Thankfully everyone was alright in the end, but I still can’t believe Sarah and Aiden didn’t go after the kid, showing some of their true colors. 
I guess, in the end, I’m just an old man who’s lived too many years. I can’t afford more selfish mistakes, It’s not fair to the children. Doing good by them is all I can hope to do right now.   
== Involvement ==
=== Dragon Age: Origins ===
During the events of dragon age origins, The hero of ferelden assaults the village of haven and the dragon cult. Kingston is killed and has his arm cut off by HOF and Alistair. Kingston later takes part in the battle of Denerim and is killed by an ogre. 
=== Season 3: Sweeney Hunt DLC ===
While camping with the irregulars, Kingston receives a package from his contact within the circle tower, a mage named Hugh. A book with runes that might provide a clue for his "condition". In the morning however, the book was stolen. He travels to Highever and meets Sarah and Albert who join in the hunt for Sweeney and D'ezoir. The journey takes him to the circle tower where he meets up with his contact and meets a woman named Charity in a tavern by the lake whom he hugs. Later on the way to Gwaren, Kingston asks Albert to stab him for a talent show and appears to be dead. He explains that it's an enchanted dagger.
Kingston and the party travel to Gwaren where he reveals that it was actually a real dagger that Albert used. The party eventually makes their way to Jader where Kingston reveals his plan to stage a coup in the irregulars and start his own mercenary band with the goal of being less shady than their former band. He makes a note of the mercenary band already stationed in Jader, full of people who might make good recruits.
=== Season 4: Night Wonders ===
Kingston gets a message from Aiden, asking him to help. Apparantly both Alice and Sarah are trapped in the fade so Kingston's going in after 'em. Along the way he meets Erik who's also going into the fade for mysterious reasons. The two manage to get in and there they meet Anais who's also there for mysterious reasons.
Category:Player Character