Roderick

Roderick served as the king of Antwerpen from 22 Tillund(6), 1000AE until 13 Mainlund(10), 1000AE. He is best known for defeating the Helm and ending the Order War.

## Appearance

He has jet black hair, short and well-groomed with a center tuft rising forward over his forehead. His chin is chiseled hard, cheeks shallow in the face, with his nose straight and sharp. The half-cocked grin on his handsome face paired nicely with his focused glare. He was tall and built with a strong stature, muscles hidden under his constantly-worn armour.

## Personality

Consistently self-assured and bordering on arrogant for a few, he was always the focus of attention with a natural charisma, but runs shy and nervous around females he admires. He's demanding of many, but caring of those who deliver. An intellectual at heart, he always sought ways to improve everything and to paint them in his own image. After becoming an officer in the army, he took on vows to protect the innocent and the weak from injustice, which he took dear to his heart.

## 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, Toren Bromley, came through Antwerpen and some nearby villages to conscript soldiers for the war effort against Nantwich.

Roderick was chosen as one 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. They spoke often, and Toren shared with Roderick his fascination of the ancient Jurich Empire. Toren had only a few books on the empire, but he and Roderick read them all front to back repeatedly. Very often, they would be up until the sun dawned discussing what they had read and what they thought on the matter.

At the end of the decade only Roderick and 5 others of the children made it through training, with the others being dropped for a variety of reasons.

Vllanderen and Nantwich had been at war since before Roderick was born, but around the time he turned twenty years old hostilities flared once again. Toren was quickly off conscripting more soldiers, this time with his newly trained officers joining him. Before long they were all equipped, given minor training, and marching to join the King's force for battle with Roderick heading a unit of 30 soldiers under Toren's command.

## Battle of Passings

*Main article: Battle of Passings*
Nantwich's forces were better trained and equipped but outnumbered by Vllanderen, which had the largest army it had ever assembled, nearly 1500 soldiers prepared for war. The night before the battle, Toren had taken Roderick before the king to have him knighted, to which the king agreed.

The battle started at dawn. Roderick, in unison with his fellow officers he had trained with, led his unit to take out Nantwich's right flank before wrapping around and slaying one of the top commanders of its army.

Despite his efforts, and his unit's minor victory, Roderick and his fellow officers found themselves losing soldiers and surrounded by Nantwich forces, with a routed Vllanderen army leaving them helpless. Fierce fighting ensued but the group was eventually slaughtered, Roderick knocked unconscious and surviving.

Upon waking in the afternoon, Roderick found the dead bodies of his fellow officers, as well as that of Toren. Roderick remembered back to his newly established knighthood that Toren had helped him attain. He cherished it and swore to hold to the Knight's Code in all his dealings from then on.

## The Long Road Home

After the battle, Roderick began limping back to his hometown of Antwerpen, his life only spared because the Nantwich army didn't scour the field to kill the surviving enemies on the field and take their wounded away.

Roderick headed northwest, coming across the city of Lostwell. There, he saved an older man, Byrne, from a fight with Galent League members, killing some of them in the process. Orik, the consul of the city, called Roderick for questioning but released him soon after. However, after being released, he immediately broke into the Galent League headquarters, killing all its members inside. Upon Roderick's return to Orik for questioning again, Orik immediately arrested Roderick and his group.

After only 3 days in prison, however, the Order Revolt saw the Order of the Sword ravage its way through Lostwell, killing everyone, 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. Roderick and his group managed to escape 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.