Tasis 'The Messer' Valgoot

The Gunrunner

Elder Member
The Cs:
"If it can not kill me, it had best run."



Appearance: 





A man with generally lean features, yet powerful in his natural height. He stands at 6'5, with broad shoulders and a beefy build. He has wavy long black hair, often tucked into the neck of his long leather coat. He has a bushy goatee, surrounded by a short-trimmed light beard.
He typically wears an expensive dark-brown leather coat, lined with a comfortable fabric of woven soft white wool. However, he is rarely seen with just clothing; over the coat, holding the two front halves together, is his metal breastplate proudly showing a convex skull - the emblem of his regiment. The additions include polished metal pauldrons and bracers, boiled leather pants and boots, and metal armour protecting both knees. Despite the appearance, there are more pieces which simply aren't worn due to the wishes of the paladin to uphold etiquette:

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A cleaned stained skull with a slit in the top and bottom of the cranium, offering an exotic sheath for his dagger. Above it, around the waist, he tends to wrap the tattered orange-and-brown banner of the old regiment they served in in The Order. Over the sash hangs a quiver of crossbow bolts. Around his neck are leather strings, on it hanging the bones of various animals. On his back he wears a flat oval shield, with vertical lines of brown and green covering the face. Under the shield is a sharpened short-spear, doubling as a throwing weapon should the situation require it. At the waist, on opposite sides, hang an arming sword and woodcutter's axe. A crossbow hangs from the shoulder, from a rough leather sling. Finally, he wears a sallet with three angelic feathers attached to the top - A sign, he says, of his conversion to the Kind God.



Basics:
Name: Regent Tasis Valgoot, better known as "The Messer."
Faction: The Sacrament
High Concept: A silver-tongued mercenary captain, known as a mixed bag of loyalty and mercy with greed and brutality.
Age: 34
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Bisexual



Personal: 
Biography: 
The Gherdite region of The Order is amongst the poorest in the whole nation; formerly the territory of a small tribalistic nation of the same name, the people were violently resistant to the new rule following their annexation. They have since been suppressed, but they continue to show an animosity to strangers, tax collectors, and even lesser mages. Their rapid integration has created a strange anomaly of culture - The culture, rituals, and ceremonies of barbarians mixed with that of civilization. A merchant painted in the red-and-black swirls of war, or a tavern-man wearing the bones of a successful hunt, are exceedingly common within the area. Though there aren't many strangers who come in the first place, the very few who do have short stays; businesses often fail to serve them, and the public have no qualms stealing from or berating them. Even without such attitudes, the culture alone has been enough to turn many of them away. The Order continues to try to suppress the culture and religion of the area, but to little success. Arguably, it is a region with the most autonomy in the nation. However, as stated earlier, it is also the poorest: Businesses have few customers, making work opportunities small. A black market lives strong to provide the people with holy items, but it has been infected by criminals inside and out who have desires to sell other illegal products.


Tasis is much luckier than most; his father, though not rich, is a successful merchant who deals throughout The Order. This is not to say Tasis had no experience with the criminal side of things - His father certainly did; dealing in products of both the legal and illegal kind means the most money, after all. He uses his son as a peddler and, to a lesser extent, second merchant. Tasis learns the going rate of most products, and the rules and art of mercantile. It will come to leak into other traits - His future ability to work with people, his mental wit, his success as a mercenary. With his earnings, he buys tutors to receive a proper education, primarily targeting history and music, despite the many arguments with his father. Indeed, it was a very beneficial childhood.


However, the merchant career is not his destiny; The Order realize they could not control the Gherdite region, at least not in the traditional sense. Instead, they compromise on a new strategy: One ambitious battlemage, hoping to raise in reputation if not rank, hopes to lead an expedition into the Fae wilds to crush a growing horde. However, there are few other mages willing to sign on. But there are many Gherdite warriors, stagnant in a lack of chance at glory, who would be very willing to join. The benefit is two-fold: Allow the most disfunctional members of their society to kill themselves as they wish, in a manner that can not be blamed on The Order, and hold back another assault from the woodland devils. 
the proposal is accepted.


In time, the expedition would be known merely as one grand failure - An amalgamation of incompetent leadership, owing to their lack of experience in this manner of warfare; a slowly dwindling amount of supplies; and a truly underappreciated and brutally neglected soldiery. There are no sergeants to hand down the orders in battle, so they had to be unofficially elected by the more experienced Gherdite. There was little understanding of their formations, so it again fell to the Gherdite. Decision after decision, or lack thereof, left more and more power in their hands. The mages smart enough to realize what was happening attempt to suppress the development, but such means the entire regiment becomes weak to suffer heavy losses. There is no faith in their mage-lords... But then one of their worst flaws came to light: Their lack of knowledge in grand army logistics...



As they ran out of food.


In the future, they would be called 'deserters.' 'Murderers,' even. 'Brutal savages who know nothing of order or respect,' 'but,' they would respond 'you were not there.' In the night, their mage lords are massacred - Ruthlessly and without exception, for there is none to make. Their bodies are piled for a funeral pyre, and the strongest amongst them have their bones and skulls collected as trophies.


Under the lack of leadership, some of the most influential members convince others into making them the new regimental commanders. Tasis is amongst those men, commanding one of the larger collections at 1342 men. Each regiment tries to fight their way out of the wilds, and many of them fail. Those who do escape come out of the battlegrounds starving, bloodied, and scarred. Though horrifying, for Tasis it is his greatest accomplishment; his unit fought ferociously, under the constant supervision of its new commander. They fought with him, and they were drilled under him. No other regiment could claim to be as effective as that of commander Valgoot's, and it only grew in power as more and more men flocked to join him. After their escape, he more than doubles that number. 


The Order declares them deserters and, thanks to their scryers, murderers. Each is convicted of a crime calling for summary execution. Indeed, a fix to the problem that plagued them in Gherdite for years. So Tasis creates a new problem: The regiment remains under his command, each man an experienced fighter in his own right. They come to earn their living as mercenaries, fighting for any who can pay and against any foe. As Tasis and the men grow in experience and ability, he slowly establishes his own reforms to their drill and doctrine; using a mix of historical knowledge, his own ideas, and what he has witnessed in the field he bred new maneuvers and organization. Those who would fight them would learn their method - to "Use the unexpected." Though much of the doctrine had already been learned in those hellish woods, Tasis emphasizes it. He sets it in stone and specifies its training.


The regiment became one of the more renowned in Aflos - An unusual gathering of people with an exotic but dying history, with great competence under contract. They are known for their exceptional ability to uphold their rule of war, with deception, guerrilla raids, ambushes... and the collection of bones as trophies. Tasis gains a reputation of his own - A highly competent commander, with a unique outlook on how to handle traditional warfare. Additionally, he was known to be one of the more honourable mercenaries; though coin was one of the highest importances, he was known for keeping his word - Under contract, the regiment was their's. However, under their contract with The Sacrament they would become infamous; against the Darklands' hordes, they were terrifying - so far as to be called their bane. Mages could be assassinated, even in the battlefield; their armies could be starved out; and their superior numbers could be made irrelevant.


Following the end of their contract with the Sacrament, they were offered citizenship within the nation - A sign of the end of their desertion. It was well-received, and in the nation's fold the Bonesmen grew increasingly fond of the Kind God's mercy. His display of power was unquestionable through his angels, and his people were forgiving to their strange ways. When they accepted the god king as truth, it came as no surprise. Tasis himself bows his neck to their deity's altar, and speaks prayers of both culture's values - War in the face of horrors, and mercy to those who resist corruption. Though he continues to mix his own rules and methods of worship, he protects and serves the Kind God all the same. Him and his bonesmen together, they show their loyalty to the First Paladin as if he were one of their own.


Personality: Understanding Tasis is, it is said, much like bending rocks... Just don't try. He is a man who will in one moment remain in a room of elders, reserved and collected until the situation requires a thoughtful and experienced response. Then, in the next, jump in the bed of a lord's wife. He is someone who, in one moment, shows a mercy and kindness often impossible for a mercenary, and in the next use fire and plague to achieve victory. What can easily be said is that Tasis is impulsive in the extreme - Someone who finds himself easily and quickly bored with a situation, and constantly in an attempt to find entertainment. However, this can make somewhat interesting company; he comes with no shortage of stories from many mistakes and rapscallios misshaps, ending each story with a shrug and a smirk. Though of his many negative traits, there is oneimportant positive: He is loyal, incorruptible... when corruption means betrayal, and unbribable in his tasks. 


Likes: 
Wines and beers
Coin
Battle
Music


Dislikes: 
Tedium
Personal questions
A disgruntled husband


Hobbies: 'Courting,' drill, gambling, duelling, singing, and counting his money.


Job Application



Regency: Tasis is a loyal , if shameless, man willing and able to protect and fight for his lord. He can be used as an advisor, commander, negotiator, and fighter.


Allies: 
Those infatuated under his charms. In a strange way, Tasis' rampant courting has played greatly to his benefit; while disgruntling any who find out, he has still turned a close friend or member of the family to his side. It is true that they are not in direct power, but they are nevertheless usable as an extension of an ability to manipulate the royalty. As Tasis has difficulty finding support for his policies and concepts, he frequently uses these close aquaintances to sway otherwise skeptical minds.


The Bonesmen, of course - A very experienced and fiercely loyal company able to claim participation in various conflicts and skirmishes. They are well-drilled, yet organized in a way to utilize the formations and strategies used by generals when commanding against larger enemies. Their doctrine is to constantly tip the odds in their favour, using a variety of maneuvers to corner portions of enemy units or bring their crossbows to bare. They have been known to use guerilla actions during contracts - to ambush patrols and supplies, and even use scorched earth tactics in the most desperate situations. To any who have faced them, they are terrifying. There are angels, there are demons, and there are mages... And then there are Bonesmen.


Regent's privallage: "Deceive in blood, starve with brothers, die in peace." -  Motto of the Bonesmen.
For Tasis, he has only requested that his personal company be given access to the royal armoury and its reserves. Naturally, they answer solely to him and accompany him in many of his tasks.



Clash: Tasis is loyal to the paladin, as is his company; both were given a great gift when allowed to become official citizens within the clan. However, Tasis' respect lasts only as long as the paladin remains someone to be respected - A murderer, or a traitor are not to be respected. Alternatively, the paladin may remove the gift and make them all nationless again. It would not have him betray the paladin, but they would no longer feel loyalty towards him.


Talents: The Bonesmen company, his knowledge of military drill and unit organization, his ability in infiltration, his experience with guerilla warfare, and his ferocity in combat.


Strengths: 
Tasis is blessed with a silver-tongue. It has led his men, it has silenced dissent, it has corrupted officials, it has unwoven plots... and it has brought more than just a few men and women of the court to his bed. Regardless of his indulgences, it seems there is no bad situation he can not talk his way out of.


The old captain has something of an unorthodox thought pattern. Normally, it is what would make him little more than the court version of a village fool. However, it is tempered under years of experience and know-how, and delivered with the confidence and zeal that it demands. Few can match what he has learned after so much time, but many can cower from it. It is certainly what brought him under the paladin's good graces.


As the saying of his people goes, "Your brother holds his sword, and you hold your own." Aye, and indeed he can; countless battles have made him an adept at combat, able to fight off most of the soldiery in a fair fight. Though in typical mercenary fashion, a 'fair fight' is not when he is adept - Complaints are aplenty when he happens to throw dust in the eyes of an enemy, or dig his boot in what was once used to pleasure the wife, or knock the wind out of the opponent after a few knuckles are violently applied to the throat. Tasis is rarely offered duels these days.


Weaknesses: 
Tasis' mind is sharp, and has dug deep into the inner politics of the court... However, there are simply many things that he can not learn or remedy - Simply, those who truly know its ways have grown amongst them. Tasis did not, and has much to learn. Additionally, he has disgruntled many royals with his presence; a mercenary deserter, who's most notable accomplishment and ability is creating a manner of warfare both brutal and rogueish, with (to those equally underhanded, it should be added) a tendency to sway under bribes and personal benefits. That is the elaborate way of putting it, anyway. In the short version: It is difficult for him to manipulate the court.


Tasis is confident - prideful even. It is difficult to conclude whether he exaggerates his abilities or is too spontaneous to even consider them. Whatever the case, trouble finds him as well as a cow finds water. It finds him when he steals money, it finds him when he accepts a challenge, it finds him when he 'interjects' in a marriage. Whatever stupid new thing he has done, and however he has escaped the consequences, it'll find him eventually. No matter how many beatings or scars he takes, he will do something that causes it to find him again.


Fluff (Optional)
Quotes for the codex:
Theme song: (It could be sung by the bards...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpv261r01Eg
 
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