Roderick

Location of Birth
 Location of Death
 Mother

Roderick served as the king of Antwerpen from 22 Tillund(6), 1000AE to his death on 13 Mainlund(10), 1000AE, at the age of 21. He is best known for defeating the Helm and ending the Order War while tragically dying in the final battle of the war.

## Early life

Roderick was born in the fishing village of Antwerpen, in the now defunct kingdom of Vllanderen. He never knew who his parents were, nor of the existence of his twin sister, Eryna.

He spent his early life in the village, being raised by whomever would take care of him and moving to one of the common houses at the age of 5, where he had to be self sufficient from then on.

At the young age of 10, a knight from the kingdom of Vllanderen named Toren Bromley came through Antwerpen and some nearby villages to conscript soldiers for the war effort against Nantwich.

Roderick was chosen as the elite of these conscripts, along with almost a dozen other boys and girls, all of whom would receive special training to be officers in the army of Vllanderen.

## Training

Along with the others selected to be officers, Roderick was taken to live in Bromley Manor, the home of Toren and his family.

All the children were trained in four things, Combat, Leadership, Tactics, and Gentlemanly Conduct. Roderick excelled at the first three subjects, with his "smartass attitude", as the knight described it, holding him back from acing the fourth subject.

Toren and Roderick became close over the decade in which he trained these young officers. They spoke often, and Toren shared with Roderick his fascination of the ancient Jurich Empire, which fell one thousand years prior to his birth, the exact date and cause unknown.

Toren had only a few books on the Jurich Empire, which was more than even the king had, and he and Roderick read them all front to back repeatedly and very often would be up until the sun dawned discussing what they had read and what they thought on the matter.

## Battle of Passings

Vllanderen and Nantwich had been at war since before Roderick was born, but around the time he turned twenty years old, hostilities flared up more than he had ever known. The knight was quickly off conscripting even more soldiers from his levy, as did all the knights, and before long they were all equipped, given minor training, and marching to join the King's force for battle with the king of Nantwich's armies.

Nantwich's forces were better trained and equipped, but outnumbered 1.5 to 1 by the Vllanderen forces. Vllanderen had the largest army it had ever assembled, nearly fifteen hundred men and women prepared for war. Roderick had never seen so many people in one place before, but he didn't let that phase him, he lead his section, as was his duty, against the Nantwich army.

In the end, Nantwich won, but only by a hair, both armies were annihilated in this battle, with the King of Vllanderen and the old knight, Toren, dying in combat. In the heat of the battle, before his death, Toren brought Roderick to his side and made him swear an oath to him, that he would protect the weak and the righteous, stand up for is good, and never allow mistreatment to take place before him.

After Roderick swore to all these things, Toren granted him the status of a knight, not that it mattered with the king dead and the kingdom with him, yet Roderick still cherished it and held those values in all his dealings from then on.

## The Long Road Home

After the battle, Roderick was one of the few Vllanderen soldiers who survived the battle, his life only spared because the Nantwich army didn't have the manpower to scour the field and kill the surviving enemies on the field and to take their wounded away. As he left the field of battle, Roderick could see deathly wounded men fighting, continuing the battle that was already over, for that's all they had left to do.

When Roderick left, he headed northwest and eventually came across the city of Lostwell, where he saved an older man named Byrne from a fight with Galent League members, killing several of them in the process. Orik, the Consul of the city, called Roderick for questioning, though found no clear evidence of his involvement. However, when Roderick was released, he immediately broke into the Galent League headquarters, killing all its members inside with 2 other people assisting him. Upon Roderick's return to Orik for requestioning, Orik immediately arrested Roderick and his group for all of their wrongdoings.

After only 3 days in prison, however, the Order Revolt of Lostwell saw the Order of the Sword ravage its way through the city, killing everyone on its path to the capitol building, and a town guard by the name of Aidan let Roderick and his group free in return for them helping save Orik. Roderick agreed, and so they fought alongside the remaining Galent League members to rescue Orik, then Roderick and his group escaped out of the city with a wounded Orik, headed north for safety.

On the northern road, the group stopped in the city of Tenby and hid with Kailee's brother, Isaac, where an elderly physician, Createn, healed Orik. However, after just one day, Order of the Sword members demanded to search Isaac's home, and barged in when he refused, leaving the group, including Isaac and Createn to flee to the north more.

After running for the majority of the day, the group encountered a ranger in the wilds fighting a wyvern and promptly assisted him, prompting it to leave and ravage the nearby settlement: Roderick's home of Antwerpen. He quickly slew the creature to save the people of Antwerpen, who then offered Roderick, who they remembered as one of their own people, a seat on the council that ran the broken-down fishing village. Upon acceptance, he announced that he would be off to destroy the Wyverns migrating out of the mountains to the northeast.