Haines Brady

Name: Haines Brady

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Age: 54

Occupation: Head of Guard

Location: Cardend, Venago

Captain Brady was once a feared name during the original war between Venago and the elven council that claimed the northern borders. His leadership was critical in the battle of Peddleton's Pass, which is arguably when the tides of the war were changed, as it was when the humans finally went on the offensive.

After the war, Brady, his wife Thara, and their three children: Vara, Elizabeth, and Melva. They had a small homestead that they built on the outskirts of Moreo, where they lived for close to 30 years. Haines loved his family but after a long military career, he found the life of tending chickens and growing crop too mundane and always longed for his glory days on the battlefield. He loathed his retirement.

It was around this time that a young Nathanial Viviane came with his sister to find Captain Haines. The young man had heard about the Captain's legacy from his veteran father. Nathanial had a plan to use Haines' hero status to grab political power in the city of Cardend. For this assistance, Nathanial offered him a prominent position as the head of Nathanial's personal guard who would travel with and protect him for a considerable salary.

To Haines, this seemed like a glorious return to his military career. To be able to travel, to be rich, to have the people clamor over him again, to fight, to have the glory he was so nostalgic over. He accepted Nathanial's terms, and was ecstatic to tell his loving wife, whom he assumed would be just as excited for the move to a big city as he was. To his surprise, his wife refused. She told him that she wanted to be happy, that she would always support him, that she would always be faithful, but she would not leave the home they built together to move to a grimy unsafe city, especially with their daughters.

So Nathanial moved alone, hundreds of miles away from his family. Then they were on a political warpath: events, meet and greets, fancy galas, town hall meetings, every minute of every day was a political event. Until election day finally arrived.

To everyone's glee, Nathanial was elected the mayor of Cardend. There was a parade and a feast, and it was in this moment that Captain Brady felt like his self again. To celebrate, Nathanial planned a tour of the surrounding cities to meet their mayors and introduce himself to the local politicians. Haines was excited to travel again, and he had dreams of moving town to town, celebrating their victory.

That is, until the morning they were supposed to leave, he found the cart long gone, and Nathanial's sister Daniella waiting for him. She informed him that everyone is excited to see the fresh faced politician who started as a peasant, and no one cares about a washed up old solider. She told him that his busted and scarred bodies would scare the members of higher society that they so eagerly wanted to impress. His consolation prize was the job as the head of Cardend's city guard. A job that would make him a prisoner in the city walls, stuck in the bog like an old boot, and at a salary considerably less than they had originally agreed upon. Although, to him, he couldn't return to his family a failure, he couldn't return now that he had made them sacrifice so much, and he failed them. He accepted the job.

This was when the drinking started. These days, Captain Brady can mostly be found wandering tavern to tavern, moving on when a barkeep refuses to serve him anymore.