Thalrick Greyhane

Thalrick Greyhane is the eldest son of the fallen knight Rodrick Greyhane, and the older brother of the deceased Orlund. He is an esteemed knight of the crown, as well as a skilled tracker and aspiring poet. When his brother and father were killed, Thalrick swore to avenge them, no matter what the costs.

## History

Thalrick Greyhane was born a bastard, to a tavern wench and a knighted father, Rodrick Greyhane. Many shunned Rodrick for impregnating the woman, but he saw the child as a blessing. He remained at her side until Thalrick was born, and then left the town and never returned. Rodrick was a knight and a lord, and owned a castle that he had earned in battle. Castle Greystone was where Thalrick was raised, trained by his father's men to wield a sword, use a shield and ride a horse. The castle librarian, Eldorn, taught him to read and write, and opened him up to the idea of books and tomes. Thalrick soon became a well-rounded warrior and scholar, with an aptitude for poetry.

At age twelve his father left to fend off a rebellion, and returned when he was fifteen with a baby boy beneath his arms. The child's name was Orlund, and he was the second bastard of Lord Rodrick, one he had fathered the night before a battle. Thalrick spent all of his time with his brother until he turned twenty years old, and Rodrick deemed him a man; a man who had a duty to his people, and his king. At this point Orlund was five, only just starting to walk and talk. Thalrick left the castle three days after his twentieth name day, to pledge his service to King Talfyr I. They travelled fourteen days on end until they reached the capital. Thalrick was entered into a melee tournament by his father, to prove his worth to his highness. He jousted six other men, and fought four more in single combat until they submitted. Thalrick emerged the victor of the small tourney, and caught the eye of his king.

Enlisted as a knight in the king's army, Thalrick joined his father on his first crusade; a crusade that lasted nearly six months. An army of a thousand men, many just boys with swords, were sent into the White North, a barren land where it snowed all year round, to force a small group of rebelling nobles to submit their allegiance to the crown once more. These five families had amassed an army of their own, and the two clashed in snowy fields and narrow crevasses until finally the king's troops won a great victory, routing the enemy into a pine forest where they were ambushed and destroyed. Though the battle was won, the nobles did not submit; and Thalrick personally removed their heads for his king. He had tasted his first victory; and savored it for all it was.

He did the king's bidding alongside his father for the next five years that followed, gaining the title *The Bold Knight* for his courageousness during battle. During a skirmish his arm was sliced from shoulder to elbow, leaving him unable to fight until he recovered. He returned home to find his brother, Orlund, now ten years old, had become adept in reading and writing; with the dream of becoming a great scribe and historian. He remained at the castle for the next year, furthering his own passion for poetry and reading as well as his brothers. He was then called upon by his father to the capital, to attend the funeral of King Talfyr I. The great king had died in battle, slain by an arrow to the throat. He was fifty five years old, and his legacy and throne passed to his son, King Talfyr II.

The king's heir was much more a tactician than he was a skilled warrior, and overcame the rebellion through sheer tactics and strategy alone. He was not as revered as his father had been, for he did not fight his battles, but he was loved by the people for saving them. He enlisted Thalrick as part of his own personal honour guard, six men entrusted with guarding the king's life every hour of the day. Thalrick spent three years straight within the capital, guarding the king at his meetings, at his dinners, and at his speeches. Though the position was prestigious, it also left Thalrick itching for battle. At thirty he was granted his wish, when a rebellion formed from within the capital, and nearly took the king's life. Thalrick struck down two dozen of the men alone, as well as the man who planned to usurp the throne, Darrion Horne. Horne was a former knight of the capital, who had retired due to unknown circumstances. King Talfyr watched Thalrick defeated Darrion in single combat, with a sword to the belly. The would-be usurper was dead, and Thalrick was granted pardons from his role as honour guard, so he could return to his family at Castle Greystone for the next year.

However, when he returned, he found the castle burnt down, it's town left in ashes, the bodies of its people scattered across the grounds. He found the corpse of his brother hanging from the castle gate, and his father had been nailed by his hands and feet to the floor of the main hall and left to perish with stab wounds in his chest and stomach. He was lifeless by the time Thalrick arrived. The only survivor had been Eldorn the librarian. He told Thalrick that savages had came in the night, scaled the castle walls, and ransacked the village. They bore the symbol of a bloodied claw on their shields. Though he had managed to hide in a cellar, Eldorn had been hit with an arrow in his ribs, and soon died of his wounds.

Though a messenger was sent to recruit Thalrick back into the service of the crown, he was never found. He spent the next year wandering the country, looking for details on men who bore the symbol of a bloody claw. Not many people had seen them before, and those that had did not know anything past the fact they were savage and cruel. Before he could exact his revenge, a messenger caught him at The Bloodied Boar and explained that King Talfyr's two children were missing; and he was personally asked to find them. Though reluctant at first, Thalrick quickly grasped the importance of the children, and accepted the quest to bring them home.