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Description

Tall an well built with darkly tanned skin from his times in the crusades, Sir Martin stands, at times, a captivating figure with his short yet slightly shaggy dark brown hair, and sharp bright blue eyes. As Martin dreds court, you'll more than likely find him wearing his simple knight's garb than any of the flashy clothes of the nobles.

Personality

Confident, earthy, reserved, and perhaps a tad bit jaded, Sir Martin comes off to many as anti-social for his elusive and un-extravagant ways. Martin is a strong capable knight, that distains the over indulgent ways of court. While Martin has a direct blood relation the Norman arostocricy, he did not grow up in a luxurious lifestyle, and his hard work ethic as well as his preference to tavern Inn's have defined him in the public eye as much as his half Saxon blood.

Equipment

Sword, Chain Mail, Shield, horse, and a rough basic knowledge of healing herbs.

History

Sir Martin of Essex, is the son of a Saxon knight, and Lady Mary of Kent, the ward of King Richard and daughterofone of his barons. Normally, the match would have been a scandal beyond belief, but Martin's father Sir Argus of Essex, saved the life of a young Prince Richard in battle on one of his earlier campaigns. Out of gratitude, Richard offered Sir Argus his friendship, and anything else he wanted, gold, title, a place a court, anything! After coming to court under Richard's request, Sir Argus met and fell in love with his ward. Prince John, having despised Sir Argus from the moment they met, had done everything possible to sabotage Sir Argus at court, and jumped at the chance to dislodge Argus from Richard's favor when he learned of the growing longing affection between his brother's ward and Argus. When Richard was forced to confront and question his new friend about the relationship between him and his sister, Argus replied that he did not feel deserving of Richard's offered boon, but if he was tocollect on Richard's gererosity, it might as well be for love. Some were scandalized, many were touched, and Richard bellowed with good natured laughter, granting his friend's wish.

While his parents got their happy romantic ends, they did not live a life of comfort that nobles in court enjoyed, as Sir Argus had but a small farming estate to his name, and refused Richards offers to increase his holdings, and a highly affronted Baron of Kent purpopely refusing to give but the bare minimum of Mary’s dowry to keep her creature comforts. Martin grew up learning hard work and fair leadership from his father, who he learned his preference for the woods and the land from. When he was old enough, Martin was sent off to train for knighthood in York, under a hard and Grizzled knight named Sir Namuk, where he gained further skill with a blade, horse, lance and other knightly implements under his tutelage.

Once Martin took his oaths, he joined King Richard's cause and fought in the crusades. There, he had been captured and badly injured in battle by a warrior sheik. The sheik spared his life, finding Martin an interesting man after hearing tales from some of his own men that Martin had spared in the English Camp from the brutalization of his fellow knights. Presumed dead by his comrades, Martin was held in a kind of house arrest with the sheik, who showed Martin the more advanced technologies of the Arabs, and even taught him about herbal healing. While Martin was unhappy about his imprisonment (comfortable or not), he still struck up a friendship with the sheik, and appreciated that he had spared his life. The sheik however, while formidable, was not invincible and was siege by an English army. The sheik died in the battle from a fatal wound, but asked Martin to protect his daughter to repay his debt. And so Martin returns home to England, seemingly from the dead, a score and seven with a independent minded and at times downright hard to handle young Arab woman in tow.

Sir Martin of Essex's Story