Ethan Meridian

## General

Ethan is the youngest son of Marvin and Helena Meridian and the youngest brother of Marten (the eldest) and Susan (the middle child). The Meridian’s are a family of farmers for the most part and Ethan lived the hard but peaceful life that went with tilling the land. Life would have followed the dull and well-worn path of grow up become an apprentice in a respectable profession get married start a family ect. however, an unexpected event came along that changed his life forever. At the age of 12 while playing with a close friend he ran afoul of some older kids. These guys were real jerks, the kind to torture small animals for fun. They decided to pick on Ethan and his friend who both decided they weren’t putting up with this and fought back. Unfortunately, the kids had a knife and decided to use it. Ethan’s friend was stabbed in the heart and Ethan with his throat slit. Luckily for him his grandmother was nearby. With the help of a healing potion and a local cleric as well as a hold person spell, Ethan was saved and the kids were caught. As he recovered he mourned his friend and fumed that he was too weak to save him and he protest himself that he would become stronger so that he would be better able to help others. He begged his grandmother to teach him magic which she agreed to do and as soon as he was able to he joined the army at 18. A few months after finishing basic traing he went on a mission to drive out bandits and that’s when he formally met merth He made a name for himself in the army when a year later when he saved a village from bandits. He was taking a not as well-known but more straight forward path to home. He came across a small village and the villagers told him that the bandits would be back in a few hours to collect tribute. With little time Ethan used his traning and the knowledge he gained from reading history books to help the village fortify and when the bandits came they didn’t stand a chance. He continued to rise up the ranks past the time when Merth was accused of killing the prince, and a few years later and then it happened. No one knows exactly how the rumor got started but it got out that Prince Alexander was alive and imprisoned. Real or not this was enough to light the powder keg that had been building starting a general revolt and when it was confirmed true, open rebellion soon followed. Most soldiers chose to stay with the king because that’s who their officers supported Ethan was one of the highest ranking solders to defect and those who fought under him followed. Ethan was promoted to General the second highest rank in the army and for the next few months he was able to maneuver his army made up of about 25% professional army and 75% peasants who only barely know which end of the sword to hold. Mastering the art of a war via attrition (and with the help of some of Merth’s sneaky former collogues) they managed to holed out. Unfortunately, his majesty got sick of waiting for the rebellion to be crushed and decided to end it for good. The plan had always been to free alexander and make him king so King Bernfried had his son brought out and had him executed. With their future leader gone the rebellion argued over who would take over and with their lack of cohesion they were decimated. Mirth’s family as well as Ethan’s and many others fled while the army did their best to cover the exodus. Before they left Ethan promised the lord and lady Fernash that he would find their lost son and keep him safe for a eventual reunion. With the civilians gone the last of the Rebel army of Beringia made their escape scattering to the winds in order to disappear. Ethan eventually found himself alone on Laikka and began hiring rumors of a familiar sounding elf. He followed until their paths crossed again at the gilded galgation.