Doran Wolfharth

Doran patrolling New Steinberg.

> You should've tried asking Doran that before I hired him along. Down south? Prim and proper soldier! One-two-three marching type, right? Now, a charismatic, laid back powerhouse. The best of both worlds- strength, and charm!
>
> *- Lavinia Veneziano speaking about Doran to Latichi.*

Doran Wolfharth is a Commander serving under the Kingdom of Aedwin in its capital, New Steinberg, as well as a Corporate Bannerman for the Veneziano Estate.

## Appearance

Doran is a tall, fair-skinned man with one intact green eye, dark hair and a beard. Due to his injury, Doran wears an eyepatch. When not donning his Plate Armor, he can often be seen wearing common garb, with or without his family's signature green cloak. He's never far from his family sword: a large worn claymore with a dull brass quatrefoil cross-guard that has been taken care of over many years, usually preferring to keep the blade on his shoulder or sheathed across his back.

## Early Life

Doran was born the younger of two sons to the declining Clan Wolfharth seated in a small village in the Winterlands. Being born of declining nobility afforded him a slightly more than basic education in reading and writing. From a young age Doran was taught the importance of hard work, and was made to work the fields as soon as he was strong and able enough. Eventually, when he came of age, Doran joined his elder brother in the village militia with the mandatory duty of keeping watch and protecting the village.

One night during watch, Doran had fallen asleep and had failed to see a small group of highwaymen approach the village. Because of his failure to act, his brother died in the ensuing skirmish. Due to his guilt for getting his brother killed, Doran made it his duty to never falter on duty again. During his time in the militia Doran met a girl he would soon marry. Fathering a daughter with her, he redoubled his efforts to keep his village and especially his family safe and happy. This stayed the status quo for several years. Doran would shift between working the fields and guarding the village perimeter. After a number of years, his wife realized she was expecting once again.

Several months later, the village militia had captured a bandit who was part of a larger gang. The bandit had threatened them with retribution if he was not released. With several member of the militia deciding to execute the bandit, Doran had no choice but to watch as he hanged. Mere days later, the gang they were threatened about decided to attack. Using torches and arrows, the bandits were quickly able to overrun the unprepared militia in a quick strike, slaughtering many of the guard and burning the village to the ground. In the fighting Doran was overwhelmed and could not save his wife from being cut down by a bandit. After searching for and failing to find his daughter amongst the bodies, Doran fled until the bandits had left the area. He returned several times to look for his daughter, never finding her. Once he had taken his family claymore and buried the dead, Doran travelled from town to town doing mercenary work and menial labor, each job gradually taking him further and further south over the course of several years. Once more in search of work, Doran came across the city of New Steinberg and decided to settle down once again.

## In New Steinberg

Soon after arriving in the city of New Steinberg, Doran continued his search for work. After speaking to Duke Roland Sperhon, Doran joined the guard as a Man-At-Arms and was given the title of Constable as well as a house within the city walls. Months after joining, due to his diligent work he was promoted to Corporal. While off-duty Doran took work from the Veneziano Estate and has started to serve as a corporate bannerman. After several more months, Doran was promoted to Sergeant by Commander Emrik. While he was off-duty in Mulleburgh, he witnessed the gathering of forces for the attempted coup at Caerdrys, following them to the city to observe, but not participate. Soon after, Doran was promoted to Captain.

Doran was a part of the Aedwinian diplomatic entourage to Hallengard after the burning of Fort Merit. Witnessing the duel between Governor Corvus Creedmoor of Fort Merit and Sir Lembert of Caerdrys, Doran was among the soldiers that were fired upon by the northerners soon after Corvus's defeat and death. After retreating back to New Steinberg with the others, Doran was promoted to General.

## War in the Hales

On a normal cargo hauling contract with the Veneziano Estate to take food shipments from the port at New Steinberg up to Mulleburgh, Doran was hired as both a guard and as a worker, however due to the icy relations between Aedwin and Hallengard, Doran was denied entry into the city, along with his fellow guard Sergeant Richard. While waiting to see if the rest of the caravan made it inside safely, a group of Northerners attacked him when he was ordered to leave and complied, resulting in him losing one of his eyes. On the way back to New Steinberg, Doran came across a doctor who patched up his eye wound and sent him on his way.

Days later, while atop of the walls of New Steinberg with other soldiers, Doran heard the bells ring, signaling the death of the King. Descending to the streets, Doran found a crowd with the dead King Ardvor, who had been assassinated. With his body being taken into the church, Doran guarded the doors with Lady Florentia, not allowing anyone inside aside from Deacon Hosea and Magistrate Sanford Akerse.

    Soon after, while Sanford was being coronated King of Aedwin, another assassin declared "In the name of the Queen, I vanquish thee!" and charged him with a sword, wounding the newly crowned King Sanford before dying to the soldiers in the room. King Sanford ordered Doran and Gibson to attack Hallengard in kind. Quickly drawing a plan of attack, Doran along with the few men they could muster went out to Hallengard to start harassing their border. Marching first to Fort Merit to muster the men from there, they were denied as they had voted to stay neutral, aside from a stray member of Fort Merit who joined anyway. Still, they marched onto the North. Expecting only light defenses, they had planned on luring out only a few Northerners at a time, but ultimately this was not to be. While firing arrows at them, the Northerners fired back, and proceeded to charge them. Standing their ground and fighting, Doran realized the battle was lost almost as soon as it had begun, and retreated back to New Steinberg to warn the others and prepare for what would come next. Arriving back in New Steinberg, Doran warned the last of his available forces consisting of Warden Stubby, Sergeant Richard FitzGerald, Constable Spear, and Constable Xion Buchard.

Just hours after making it back to New Steinberg, the Northerners arrived with a combined force from Hallengard, Findlaigh's Respite, Caerdrys, and Fort Merit. Seeing that fighting them would be suicide, and not wishing for more bloodshed, Doran opened the gates to them and relayed Marchioness Rhea's and King-Consort Declan Rossthorne's terms to the still recovering King Sanford. Escorting Sanford to the parley, Doran ordered his men to lay down their arms while they discussed terms. Doran was a witness to them binding Sanford and taking him into the castle, where he was never to be seen alive again.

Declan granted Doran and his men their former titles, and even joined the council in the name of preserving peace.

## A New Era

Under the new government, Doran did his best to keep the peace, despite butting heads with certain people who thought ill of his collaboration with the occupiers. He accompanied Cleon and a disguised Alan "Jacques" Farro to Mulleburgh to speak with Queen Vasilica Sutherland and clear up some misunderstandings. Doran assisted with the arrest of Commodus Bonaparte and Herman, leading to Commodus' execution. Doran was among those present when Commodus was buried in Fort Merit. With the death of Commodus, Lavinia Veneziano was given control of the former Fort Merit, tearing down the old banners and signage and replacing them with the colors of the Estate, newly renamed as Est-Couronne.

Doran was present in the Aedwin throne room when Tsar Ladislau Turmstadt of the Winterlands arrived in Aedwin seeking Hjordis over the "Law of Bogotyr". Despite the hefty bounty placed on Hjordis, Doran decided to help with hiding Hjordis away by disguising him and sending him north to Hallengard. However, despite the attempts made to hide him, Hjordis was discovered by three of the Tsar's men who escorted him back to their encampment near New Steinberg. Coordinating with Torrhen Belmont, Doran led a small party to pursue the Tsar's men to their camp. Confronting them, Doran demanded their immediate surrender and withdrawal, leaving Hjordis behind. Ultimately, one of the men in the group loosed an arrow at the Winterlanders prematurely, prompting battle. Though hard-fought, two of the Winterlanders were killed, with one managing to escape. Ultimately though, Hjordis decided to go with them of his own accord, leaving the Hales safe from the threat of the Winterlanders.

## Gallery

### Screenshots

Doran in his everyday garb.Doran in his original Aedwin Guard uniform now possessed by Richard Fitzgerald.Doran in his plate armor post-injury.Doran in Estate war garb with Lavinia, Evelyn, and Richard.