Brennan Evanport

**Brennan Evanport / Els**

One of the syndicate heads. He was a Two Star Silver
Swordsman as well as Charlando’s nephew.

Darkshadow Els

Brennan Evanport, known to most as Els, was a one-star gold rank who used to be a syndicate boss in Morante. He is the nephew of the owner of the Red Grace Inn, Brennan Charlando. He ended up following his close friend, Lorist, to The Northlands and became a silver-ranked knight of the house. After ten years of training, he eventually became a gold rank.

## Personality

Els might have served as a syndicate boss in the past, but that was mainly because his subordinates had forced him into the position. He wasn't like your typical syndicate boss, he treasured camaraderie and was a man of principle.

Els' behaviour had slowly aligned ever closer to that of a standard household knight ever since he joined Lorist's personal guard. He prioritized chivalry and honor over results.

## History

Twenty years ago, both his parents were Gold ranked combatants and were a rather famous couple who lead a mercenary group. However, Els’s parents joined the Battle of Whitestag Town. In that battle, the Krissen Empire lost their only Sword Saint, but the trade union’s forces did not emerge unscathed from that battle either. Most of the mercenaries hired to join that battle had perished, among which included Els’s mother. His father incurred heavy injuries and died of illness several years later. The only one left in their mercenary group was Els’s uncle, Charlando and several other Silver ranked mercenaries. Charlando was hurt in his leg and became a limp who was unable to progress from the Two Star Gold rank any further.

With their ace fighters gone, the mercenary group could only disband. Having considered the worst scenario, Els’s parents had previously made some arrangements for the remaining members of the group prior to their deaths: they provided the relatives of all members with housing in the same district. Even after the mercenary group had disbanded, the relatives of the members looked out for each other and they were also taken care of by the Morante City administration for the contributions of their family members who were in the mercenary group.

Having started an inn to be able to better educate and look out for the offspring of the members of the mercenary group, Charlando placed his hopes on the children and hoped that they would one day take up the banner of their group once again. Els was the unofficial leader of the group of children as he was the eldest and was also the strongest among them. He also cared for them a lot as if they were his blood-related siblings from a young age.

Seeing the kids grow and mature and given that Els was going to graduate from the Dawn Academy soon, Charlando was elated and predicted that the glorious days of the mercenary group will once again come. What caught him off guard was the event that made Els take up the position of a syndicate boss.

The Forde Trade Union had a unique governing system which handed the administration rights of the various districts to several syndicate bosses who had their own underlings and groups. While that legitimized the syndicates and greatly decreased the crime rate, bosses who operated beyond the law wasn’t unheard of. One such person was the syndicate boss in charge of the districts Els and his buddies lived in.

While the syndicate bosses have the right to impose taxes on the citizens on the district, this one was even worse in that he even collected taxes for clothes-drying, land-occupation and even for road repairs, and incited the rage of the citizens in the district and almost let a violent conflict erupt. Els’s gang even resisted and sent the tax collectors to the medical centers given their youthful recklessness.

However, the syndicate boss wasn’t pleased to hear that and believed that Els represented a bad example to the rest of the citizens of the district and was the main culprit of the resistance he was facing. Intending to forever remove the pain in his ass, the boss started to think of ways to handle him. It was at this moment when one of his subordinates brought him news that angered him greatly. It seemed that the whole district was planning to protest in an effort to force the city council to remove the syndicate boss from his position.

Having already paid a management fee to the city council that he hasn’t earned back from the taxes he collected, the syndicate boss racked his brains and came out with an idea: he planned to kill Els and make an example out of him to deter future protesters.

But his gang alone didn’t have the power to take Els down as he had a Gold ranked Swordsman standing behind him. Unwilling to hire professional killers for a large sum, the syndicate boss resorted to setting Els’s house on fire and hoped that he would perish in the burning embers.

Unfortunately, just when his subordinates arrived, they were discovered by Els and his gang and were beaten up to the point when they confessed their boss’s intentions. This incited the citizens and prompted them to surround the mansion of the syndicate boss to remove him once and for all. Unable to escape, the boss was captured by Els and had been clobbered to death by the raging citizens before Els could react.

With the position of the syndicate boss now vacant, the elders of the district discussed with one another and picked Els to succeed the position. Els, not wanting to disappoint the people, could only take it without complaint.

Given that he didn’t accept the position willingly, Els slacked off on the responsibilities of the syndicate boss. Luckily, he had many trustworthy subordinates who handled everything without problem and didn’t cause him any worry. In the years to come, Els only found out that the other two districts had also fell under his jurisdiction without him knowing. That was how Charlando’s ideal mercenary group morphed into one of the most active and developmental district syndicates of Morante City instead.

## Story

Two months prior, to the convey's departure Els’s dark attribute Battle Force had finally reached the Three Star Silver rank which prompted him to go seek out Lorist for a duel, only to end up losing flat on the ground as usual. Given that Charade was talking down on him during his duel with Els, he got challenged by him right after that. Having reached that rank a year before Els and seeing Lorist defeat him without breaking a sweat, Charade believed that he wouldn’t have much trouble defeating a newbie like him. Nobody would have expected Els’s dark attribute Battle Force to be far superior to normal ones. Coupled with the various rogue skills Els claimed to train in, Charade was totally creamed three out of three times. Not satisfied with his loss, Charade challenged Els for seven more times privately within the coming month. Even though Charade wanted Els to keep the results of the duels a secret, Els didn’t bother either.

Els didn’t accept the position of the syndicate boss because I wanted to. It was his friends who forced him to take up the post. Since they were handling all the work for him, he had been rather bored with nothing much to do. So, he thought that it would be a great idea for him to join Lorist on his expedition.

## Abilities

While his darkness attribute Battle Force is harder to train in and Charade has already overtaken him to reach the Three Star Silver rank, he believed that no other Silver Swordsman in the whole city could take either of them on. But against Lorist, however, both Charade and he hasn’t even won a single match. Even when they fought him two-on-one, they could only hold on for up to 100 moves before losing to Lorist.

Els’s dark attribute Battle Force was best suited for tight spaces. The night vision his Battle Force granted him also put him at more advantage in the low light conditions, allowing Els to efficiently chase down each and every foe without accidentally harming his allies.

Two months prior, to the convoy's departure Els’s dark attribute Battle Force had finally reached the Three Star Silver rank. Although he was still not a match for Lorist, Charade, who had reached that rank a year before Els, was totally creamed.

Els’s dark attribute Battle Force to be far superior to normal ones. His ability of being able to see in the dark is not at all inferior to Lorist's own dynamic vision, and it’s extremely helpful in poorly-lit environments, allowing him to see just as good in the darkness as he does in broad daylight. That coupled with the various rogue skills Els claimed to train in, he is quite the force to be reckoned with.

Els is a Silver ranked mercenary. He got his Iron ranked badge back when he was still in the academy taking up missions from time to time. He got a Silver ranked one from the mercenary guild after he became a syndicate boss,

Els, trained in the dark attribute battleforce technique passed down in his family. Dark attribute battleforce was known to be slower to train. Even though Els only held the position of the leader of Lorist's guards and didn't seem that impressive, Lorist believed that the moment Els broke through to become a gold-ranked knight, he would be able to impress many with his prowess.

 In 1777, Els who was training at Maplewoods, had become a gold-ranked household knight. He took Mancheny’s daughter as his wife after he broke through to the gold rank. The ceremony was held in Redriver Valley, he also went to Morante to see his uncle and his other pals, so he was given a three-month leave.

### Gear

* Fire Salamander Leather Armor: The skin of the Fire Salamander had the peculiar quality of keeping one’s body warm as well as driving insects away and was particularly suited for underground excursions. However, the price of the material was rather high and was not something that most adventurers and mercenaries could afford.
* Silver Ranked Mercenary Badge

## Relationships

 Norton Lorist: Els was oblivious to how Lorist originally felt about him and even believed that they had already become close friends judging by the way he intimately referred to Lorist as his ‘brother.'

Something seemed to have happened between Els and the lovely daughter of Master Mancheny when they pretended to be siblings during their entry to the city. From time to time, they would give each other yearning glances, which Lorist happened to notice. Even though Els was 16 years older than the girl, it didn't stop the two from feeling attracted to one another.