Edric Royce

**Edric Royce** (born 21 NA) is an exiled relative of House Royce and the former squire of Daveth Royce. He wound up on The Hales as a result of a shipwreck and has remained a citizen on the island ever since.

## Biography

### Early age

Edric Royce was given birth to on 21 NA by Daveth Royce, a well-known Frostman and the second brother of King Aiden Royce of Tovaria, and Idonea Morne, a noblewoman. Even among the rest of his kinsmen in The Winterlands, Edric grew up as a quiet and shy boy who only ever looked up to his father, even going as far as spending most of his life as Daveth's squire. By the age of five, he received a white fox pup as a pet like many other Royces as part of tradition for Royces who grow up, and began to adore it. He named his fox after his own father, affectionately nicknaming him "Little Daveth" from time to time. While he was groomed by several other of Aiden's servants such as Jonan Royce and Lord Talvace, he only ever sought education from Daveth and Idonea, often distancing himself from the rest of his kinsmen.

### Young age

In his teenage years, Daveth frequently brought Edric along during travels throughout Tovaria, mostly due to diplomatic missions. It is within this time that Edric began to witness the uglier sides of the Winterlands when he traveled to the Republic of Blindkeep, land occupied by one of King Aiden's vassals, House Chylde. He saw the brutal atrocities committed by the Ravens (House Chylde's personal special forces) and grew hateful towards them, as well as becoming desensitized by violence to some extent. What horrified Edric the most about his time at Blindkeep however was his encounter with Jasper Vargus, the current First Lieutenant of the Ravens, the brutal owner of Bloodharbor and the mockingly proclaimed "lapdog of Lord Chylde". While it started with tense small-talk, their conversation soon escalated when Jasper began making disturbing sexual advances towards the young Edric. The more Edric resisted, the more Jasper became aggressively forceful. However, Edric's sexual assault came to a halt when Daveth furiously confronted Jasper for his vile acts, kicking off a fight between the two. As soon as Daveth gained the upper hand, he beat Jasper to a bloody pulp and ended up permanently blinding the man's left eye while Edric watched the whole time. Edric learned from Daveth's victorious fight that he should protect anyone close to him at any cost.

### Adult age

Even by the time he reached twenty years of age, Edric Royce remained somewhat naive, antisocial and dependable on others, but it didn't stop him from being able to learn new things. With the help of other Frostmen and members of House Talvace, he became fascinated with military strategy and often participated in war games with his fellow peers.

#### *Exile*

When he heard of the news that he would soon be accepted into the Frostman's ranks with his father, Edric decided to celebrate. During a party, he met a young woman from Lauchette named Lita and spent the rest of the night with her, culminating in Edric being lured into a bedroom by her. Despite losing his virginity, he forgot about King Aiden's personal distaste for the people of Lauchette and was eventually informed that Lita is actually a Lauch noble. King Aiden's hateful view towards the Lauch got the better of him and decided to have Edric banished from the Winterlands due to two factors:

1. To not further validate Lauchette's claim on the Empire of the Winterlands in his struggle to unite the Winterlands under his rule.
2. Out of fear that Edric might "taint" his family's bloodline by letting a Lauch woman give birth to a Royce, legitimate or not.

Despite hearing protests from Daveth and Idonea, King Aiden stubbornly refused to allow Edric in his kingdom any longer and declared that he would be exiled or executed. Before Edric set out to leave the Winterlands by boat, Daveth visits him at the port one last time. Edric instantly saw the look of horror on his father's face and was left devastated by what Daveth showed him: a white fox pelt. It was what was left of "Little Daveth" after Aiden had the fox put down. After long minutes of crying, a broken Edric says his goodbyes to Daveth and leaves the Winterlands for good. On his journey away from home, Edric's boat gets caught in a violent storm just as it starts to pass the Hales. As a result, the boat is destroyed, but Edric barely manages to survive and is swept off to Aedwin's port town in the wreckage. And thus, Edric's adventures on the Hales began.

## Trivia

* Edric suffers from a mild case of autism, evident from his difficulty to socialize with people, fascination towards certain subjects, behavioral quirks and dependency on other people.
* Edric's height is 6'0".