Description
Stands 5'10'', with the workings of a beard that he fights to keep trimmed, and a permanent, constipated grimace on his face. His body is failing slowly as he progresses into old age, but his wits are as sharp as the words of his king. He dresses nicely, bearing his Imperial Schunno uniform with pride, its green stitches representing the fealty he has fought for. They have been replaced numerous times, by reasons of both aesthetics (blood, rips, campfire burns) and of size (he can't stay young and fit forever). His boots, however, are the same ones that he was issued when he was a mere 20 years of age, following him all over his beloved nation for 20 years or more (he isn't even sure how old HE is these days), having given them extra care and trying his damnest to keep it well-soled, cushioned, hobnailed, and strung. They are perhaps his most valuable posession emotionally, tying him to better days and beyond.
Personality
Angry and cocky; he is an old man that has seen a lot of bullshit in the useless civil war that destroyed his home and his government. He is generous, however, and finds time to treat people with respect unless they give him a reason to do anything otherwise. He is brutish and of a confrontational culture, and he doesn't pull punches when it comes to his own nature. As he heard a Swidish noble once say: "You Schunnoans are good for nothing but tearing down what the civilized build up. I've seen your barbaric camps; your days consist of drinking strong ales, eating blood sausage, and killing each other." This phrase always made Baz chuckle, like most things did (his sense of humour is much more sensitive than others; he always figured he just prefers laughing), mainly because it was what his childhood consisted of. He is a good man at his core, but he is always ready to roll up his sleeves with a half-drunk grin.
Equipment
He carries a flashpan rifle of Tordard origin, the Louisville Carabinne, a shorter version of the Louisville musket that is currently standard-issue for the Tordard army, as the weapon he primarily uses during armed conflict.
Tucked near his left armpit is a flintlock handgun with 4 barrels of Elmdelemian design, the Lancaster Howdah, from a Nationalist rebel in Schunno, which is usually loaded with birdshot.
No good soldier goes into battle without taking precautions for close combat, and Baz's close-up-and-personal choice is a weapon traded from an Ulstorran merchant who used this particular sword to ward of pirates and sea criminals in general. It is a hybrid between a Farnorth design, which is wide and meant for chopping, slicing, and dismemberment, and a southern design, particularly inspired by a Crebel duelling style that is more focused on stabbing and maneuvering the blade. In Baz's eyes, trading his father's ivory necklace was worth it.
The final weapon Baz has on his person is a small knife from the far east, embroidered on both the blade and the handle. He was surprised when he found that the longer end was the sharp end, which soon made sense to him as he found it useful as a chopping weapon both on the battlefield and when skinning deer. It also proved useful when cooking meat over a fire, and even found use as an eating utensil. This is his utility knife, traded for an ox and 2 goats, which, again, proved to be worth its uses.
Other than these four important items, Baz carries very little with him. There is little that is sacred to him, for he always finds something else worth trading for, and frequently moves along between valued goods.
History
Born in Hilschenbaum, Schunno, Baz grew up on a small farm just outside of the main community. He loved horses; most of his daily chores involved caring after the horses in his family's stable, which was owned by the Imperial government as a horse breeding farm for the military. He saw many good horses ride off with fresh-faced riders that barely knew how to carry themselves on horseback, let alone on foot. Most he never saw again, but one Frederick Zuggin, a Captanschumer in the army, was the one that checked in on the OcHann farm and came in every month with a batch of new riders. Baz admired the Captanschumer, and as the years went on, saw the eventual deterioration of the Schunno government in Zuggin's physical nature. It wasn't until the Nationalist rebels had organized themselves and set fire to Hilschenbaum that Baz had known where he stood on the entire political matter; all in all, he left his family, who found themselves in exodus with a number of other war-stricken refugees, and joined up with the local Loyalist militia (which sounded much better than Imperial, Baz thought), which proceeded to join with a main army group near the next big town still held by the Loyalists: Guugen.
That's where Baz spent the years between then and now. He fought bravely for the Loyalist regime, watched power come and go as the tides were turned by inept generals and weak politicians, and saw himself being physically affected the way Zuggin had. Baz, due to his luck, survived enough hopeless scenarios that he was placed in a special unit that completed special objectives; sometimes it was destroying a powder magazine, sometimes guard duty for a prince, sometimes it was just being extra troops in an understrength company. His current one, however, has him feeling fear as intense as the first time he killed men: cross Tordard, disguised as an Addmoran aristocrat, on into Swiden to persuade the government there to give up neutrality and strike against Tordard for the benefit of Schunno. He was successful, not through traditional means, however, but through manipulation: through a stroke of improvisational luck, he killed four soldiers guarding a powder magazine in the capitol before sending the magazine itself to Kingdom Come. It was only after the public outrage grew that Baz presented himself to the royal court and offered his proposition; he knew they weren't stupid enough to believe it coincided with the arrival of a Schunnoan representative, so he managed to leave personal Tordard relics at the scene of the crime, looking like a revolutionary action instead of a betrayal by a man trying to get his job done. It only took a week before the royal court was convinced by Tordardian bullets found inside of the soldiers, the work of only someone armed with equipment (or at least a rifle) from Tordard. Baz was finally given a royal decree that promised open warfare for the relief of Schunno and her allies.
Due to the mobilization of Swidish forces, the panicked populace looking for foreigners to kill, and the turmoil inside of Tordard itself, Baz decided to head west and across the waters until he reached his homeland once again, get placed back into circulation in the military of Schunno, and continue to fight against the tyranny to the north. He found himself on an Elmdelem gunboat carrying humanitarian supplies bound for the 'Starving South', the first one he was able to get aboard (time being of the essence and all). Upon reaching Vors, he chartered entry back into Schunno, only to find that during his travels, he had been identified as the man who committed the sabotage in Swiden, and labeled as a turncoat for Tordard by the Loyalist Schunnoans. After fighting off lawless bands of Vors tribesmen attempting to bring his head in for bounty, he has decided to sail back to Elmdelem and consider his choices in a world that wants him dead.
