Name: Baron Niccolo Eques
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Appearance: Niccolo Eques is well-looking man with fair skin, an oblong face, and short, dark brown hair with eyes of the same colour that were round. He has a narrow bridge and an aquiline nose right above a pair of thin lips. His cheekbones were well-defined, and he had a prominent chin, as well as a sturdy jaw. He has shapely limbs gained from his occupation as a soldier for Asylia, standing at 5'7", and weighing in at 65kg. He usually wears a red nobleman's clothes, with a cloak usually draped over his shoulders. However, when armoured, he wears a cape to differentiate him from the rest of the soldiers, for he was a captain. He wore an unorthodox version of steel lamellar armour shaped like interlinked triangles with a large circular plate of steel covering the heart, and a skull cap with red tassels flowing from the top. He has metal strips for vambraces, and an aventail flowing from the top of his helmet to the shoulders, covering his face, as well.
Equipment: Eques carried with him a buckler and a long rapier when not in armour. However, when armoured, he carried a longsword and a proper shield, occasionally carrying a lance when storming enemies.
Personality: Eques Niccolo is a very witty man, cold and calculating. He saw the world as merciless, and therefore, only the merciless and the cunning could get their way. Only the cold and calculating could be the victor. He was a silent man who kept his thoughts to himself while spreading empty lies. He was a loyalist to the king. As a nobleman, he was a trained knight, so when the war against this mysterious evil began, he joined their ranks. He made his name known, and went on to become an officer in the army, using unconventional tactics that were effective. He was very much a traditionalist when it came to social matters, but his tactics on achieving victory were very much amoral and odd. However, it was these tactics which made his name known throughout the kingdom. Though merciless to enemies and rebels, he was not entirely merciless to his own subjects, and occasionally comes along to visit them, but never speak with them for too long.
Ability Alignment:
Ph: 40
Me: 60
Ma: 0
History: Niccolo was born to two loving parents. He had a humble beginning, and was raised as a traditionalist. His father was an owner of a local bread factory which baked high-quality bread for not only the peasants, but also for the fair and good nobleman, who was a knight, as well. Niccolo was considered very noble very early in his life, and when he was seven the nobleman saw in him a chivalrous nature. He was taken in as a page when the nobleman was unable to produce an heir. From then on, Niccolo began to dream big. He grew into a good squire. He was allowed to study in the College of Law, and returned when his master was killed. In his master's will, Niccolo was to be knighted and made baron. However, as he ruled over the small town, he realised that his father was killed in a disagreement between another nobleman and his father. Angered, Niccolo attempted to attack this nobleman directly, but he realised that this nobleman was much stronger than him. When he failed in his initial barrage of insults and attempts at defamation, this nobleman broke him. Niccolo's mother was killed, and a large amount of his subjects imprisoned, leaving only a few hundred workers, some of whom were harbouring thoughts against Niccolo. The good and humble Niccolo was gone. Only the cold and calculating Baron Niccolo was left, a new him. He made himself feared, torturing and slaughtering those that thought of him as weak and attempted to stage a coup. So, his subjects feared him, and that taught them that this good man was not in the mood to play games. He made them work day in, day out until he was rich enough to train and arm a few dozen citizens for his private guard. Then, to beat his enemy, he defamed him in secrecy, spreading a poisonous rumour amongst the nobleman's subjects, creating dissent. He then planted the seeds of rebellion in the nobleman's guard. They paid the captain, who leaked information to them. And so, Niccolo used blackmail, manipulating his enemy to do his bidding. At one point, Niccolo's brilliance made it so that the caravans delivering the gold for the man's treasury be sent to him instead, to a secluded cave in the middle of nowhere where Niccolo had built a small cave to his home.
Running dry, the nobleman begged his blackmailer. Yet, Niccolo did not stop. He waited until his subjects started to die of starvation, he waited until his son died of starvation, he waited until his wife died of starvation. Amorality and mercilessness, he concluded, were the tools essential to rise above everybody else. When the nobleman was completely broken, Niccolo finally left him for dead as he swallowed up the nobleman's large swathe of land. He turned his little town into a small but modernised city with small walls strong enough to withstand a small siege. However, his career as a statesman eventually had to be cut short when this evil came. Niccolo answered the call of duty and raised an entire army of peasants which his guards trained to be as professional as a peasant army could be. They were deeply disciplined, fearing Niccolo, who watched them as they trained not only how to fight, but also how to listen to commands. When the war began, Niccolo offered his services to King Gladius, and the king accepted. He rode into war, leading his citizen soldiers. Learning from the generals of ancient times who used trickery to defeat their enemies, Niccolo likewise used his men's discipline to command them while they moved, switching positions, stopping, and giving ground per command. Eventually, Niccolo's first encounter ended in a victory when the enemy's main force pushed into the centre of the nobleman's flanks, unable to see the two hidden wings of cavalry units, as well as a wing of light infantry, all three of which were hidden behind the hills. When the enemy pushed, Niccolo's infantry gave way, pretending to be pushed back. The infantry spread thinner and thinner, beginning to envelope the enemy's flanks. Then, the cavalry crashed down on their sides, and soon, the light infantry joined and charged at the enemy's rear. The enemy was completely encircled, and soon, entirely slaughtered. Niccolo's genius made him known throughout the army immediately, and at the end of the week, he was no longer just a knight commanding a small troop of a hundred citizen-soldiers, but a captain in command of a further one hundred professional soldiers.
He continued his streak of victory, and by the end of the war, he was honoured by the king, along with many others. However, some time after, the king was murdered by a conspiracy, and the kingdom was divided as the treasonous conspirators tried to crown themselves as the monarch. Niccolo sent a thief he had take all of his records, and if he couldn't, then they must burn them. In the chaos, Niccolo hid himself and his town from the map of the world. His city became his to rule. He raised a private professional army, prepared to counter any threat that would one day rise against him. These were, indeed, times of strife. He was a deep-rooted loyalist and monarchist, believing in the divine power of the Asylia family. To expose this secret would mean the entire kingdom would turn against him. And so, he hides. Should the opportunity present itself, he would have to one day ride again and defeat these traitors wherever they may be. He has made it his goal, therefore, to one day see to the rise of the Asylia family again, and to see to the reunification of the kingdom. How he would do it, he has no clue yet. However, he has always been known for his cunning plans.