Theodoric de Mereling
Vicomte de Par'leau
Name: Theodoric de Mereling
Alias(es): Il Leoncino
Age: 20
Sex: Male
Race: Human
Ethnicity: Merevingian
Physical Information
Eye Color: Amber
Hair Color: Golden Blonde
Skin Tone: Nobly fair, with a fading Ateriano tan
Height: 6'5 (~196cm)
Weight: ~220lbs (~100kgs)
Afflictions: N/A
Brief Description:
In the same vein as his father, Theodoric de Mereling bears an alarming closeness to the likenesses of Marloman the Great. Towering and powerfully built with quite regal features, the young man's golden countenance hearkens to an Imperial grandeur thought lost with the death of his grandfather Maximilian. His physique emulates the chiseled statues of his homeland Ateria, well-muscled and fit from a lifetime dedicated to physical pursuits. His hair is worn quite long in the fashion of the Merelais elite, a traditional holdover of older beliefs in displays of masculinity, with a significant wave in his locks potentially introduced by Ateriano blood. Notably, his eyes differ from his father's lineage- rather than the heterochromatic duality of gold and blue displayed by both Maximilians, Theodoric has taken after the former in his brilliantly amber gaze.
Social Information
Affiliation(s): Factions
Ranks and Titles:
- Vicomte de Par'leau (Viscount of Par'leau)
- Condottiero della Compagnia del Leone (Captain of the Company of the Lion)
- Langue de Merelais (Fluent)
- Ateriano (Native)
- Osterman (Fluent)
- Albish (Rudimentary)
- Jaharan (Conversational)
- Thession (Rudimentary)
- Aeteran (Rudimentary)
Skills: A consummate combatant, Theodoric is versed in the killing arts from wrestling and swordplay to archery and crossbow use. Not just a thick-skilled thug, he has run a mercenary company for several successful years now, having a keen mind for business and leadership. So too is he talented in matters of charisma and courtly eloquence thanks to his Ateriano relations and a tour of the realms- a Demici mind and tongue in a Mereling body.
Strengths:
- Chevalier Par Excellence
- Having an upbringing dedicated to training with the finest combat-masters money could buy since he was old enough to wield a blade, Theodoric has evolved into a masterful virtuoso of the martial arts.
- Gallantly Gregarious
- Charisma and charm come easily to this adonis, highly sociable since a young age. It is rare that he is not considered good company, if not the life of the party.
- Ateriano Webspinner
- Growing up within a powerful and influential Ateriano family, Theodoric learned early on the canny ways of politics and intrigue. The ambitions of two great houses run in his veins, and he strives to capitalize on opportunity and bring proper form to those idealized futures.
- Chimeric Genius
- Brilliant and quick to learn, Theodoric has been an impressive student in any matter he has set his mind to mastering.
- Impassioned Flow
- When submerged in the martial trance of true combat or other heightened states, Theodoric acts on instinct and impulse. Considerations beyond the current moment risk falling away, to disastrous consequence.
- Vendettic
- The proud scion of a betrayed lineage, a simmering anger holds his heart. Slights against himself and his kin are remembered darkly, and harsh recompense will be sought.
- Southern Charm
- The deceptively relaxed and care-free bearing of the Ateriano are all well and good for those sunny climes, but have often seen Theodoric on the wrong foot when interacting with the particularly dour and hidebound.
- Doubtful Lineage
- While he tells a pretty story of direct descent from Marloman the Great, the fact of the matter is that his line has been absent from these lands for decades, only reappearing two years ago in 772 ME with his father's defeat of the kingslayer LaCroix. Many believed his grandfather died at fifteen, leaving much room for doubt about this southerner who claims the late Emperor-To-Be lived and spent the rest of his days in hiding in some mercenary outfit across the distant sea.
Biography:
Born circa 754 ME in the Republic of Florenze, Theodoric de Mereling and his twin sister Mathilda were the first fruits of his father's frantic fight to preserve their endangered lineage. Absolutely doted upon by his parents as a child, the young lad came up with all the benefits of wealth in Ateriano society- education, fine fare, and a predisposition to clever mischief. Those educations shaped him most of all in those early years; from the age he was able to heft a weapon, the comfort ebbed and the dispossessed royal youth underwent a harshly intense pedagogy in the fashion of his father's own upbringing. His days were spent learning the ways of mercenaries and wayfaring warriors, month upon month, year by year, molding the child into a champion fighter his family could be proud of. When the child could smuggle himself away from his father's endeavors to produce a newer, more perfect Mereling, he eagerly absorbed the ways of his mother and her own family. The study of coin and how it flowed, dictating the course of the world in its wake. The tricky matter of people, of understanding and influencing them in much the same manner. Languages and cosmopolitan cultures, the tongues his combat masters didn't bark instead being found within books and overheard conversations with the family's business partners.
Showing a fair bit more Demici blood in how he acted than how he looked, Theodoric took to it all as a fish to water, not to mention revealing a tempered echo of his uncle Giancarlo's hellion ways. It was not long into his teenage years before he began besting his tutors in blade and speech by mastering their lessons or devising clever tricks, elevating himself in skill and his exacting father's eyes. By the age his father had begat him at fourteen, Theodoric had already slain a man in single combat, skewering a bandit that had sought to rob him in the lanes beyond the city's walls. When he came of age, so too was he a match in skill for the house guards and any wandering teachers they could find, leaving the boy to put his practice and theory to the practical. He joined a Free Company and thus properly left home for the first time, beginning a season of his life spent touring around the fractious Ateriano realms and neighboring polities, anywhere there was a need for sword-arms and a surplus of gold. Far from just making a living, Theodoric began to make a name for himself as well. The theatrical wars put on by competing Condottieri were a splendid way to spread stories of heroism and daring exploit whilst padding a purse, profiting off of the feuding rich and putting names into the right circles. It hadn't taken long into Theodoric's burgeoning career for persons to take note of the golden-haired and eyed "Leoncino", closely tied with the famous Demici and handsomely competent in his own right, not to mention touting the surname of the Imperial dynasty.
With wealth and fame accumulating, a somewhat older Theodoric departed his prior company to found one of his own, becoming his own Condottiero of the Company of the Lion, taking inspiration from the crest of his father's family and his own striking appearance. Many of his prior battle-brothers came along to join this new venture, cutting their teeth in the Aether Wars between Merelais and Ostrien, a much more genuine and hard-fought conflict than the business-minded feuds of the south. Amidst this conflict, the Company aided the popular revolt against the usurper LaCroix with Theodoric's father Maximilian at its head, casting the upstart down and aiding the new Regent into power.
With Maximilian being named Count of Par'leau and Theodoric himself being honored as Viscount in the aftermath, the young man's direction in life has sharply shifted. Over are the summers of safeguarding and building the honor of one merchant family or another; now he must pay mind to his own station and future, to placing a De Mereling back upon the Merelais throne. He must scheme and maneuver in this new country to bring about peace, stability and rightful rule- and once that is accomplished, who can say whether that will be merely the first step in reuniting Marloman's empire and bringing vengeance down upon the Priman Imperium whom murdered the greatest men this continent has seen.
Holdings / Possessions: A finely-wrought bastard sword and plate fashioned by Ateriano artisans, a reinforced heater shield bearing a golden lion on a red field, a leather coinpurse, a personal signet. A small collection of other weapons and armor accumulated over several years of mercenary work. (WIP.)
Kills: Several, but none yet of note; primarily the occasional rival mercenary in one theatrical Ateriano feud or another, and combatants in the Aether Wars.
Threads: None Yet
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