Okay new comment since I've got the journal up and everything!! Hammering out backstory stuff in here, don't mind me!!
● Alaric is the illegitimate son of one of the more powerful and recognizable noble families in the kingdom, the Vernier family. They supply knights to the kingdom regularly, and that often includes their own sons/daughters. His mom was a maid at the estate, where she and the head of the house (Cornett) had a short-lived affair. Alaric was born of this union; his mom was kicked out before he was born. This didn't cause a huge fuss outside the manor - illegitimate children are pretty common in noble families. ● Unfortunately for him, Alaric was born with the trademark features of the Vernier family - blond hair, and red eyes. As he grew up, he ended up looking damn near identical to several of his half-brothers. (He could easily be mistaken for the half-brother closest in age to him, Curtis, who is less than a year younger than he is.) ● His mom scraped by throughout his entire childhood. Since she was kicked from the family, she wasn't able to get work at any other noble house as a maid, and instead had to work several jobs just to make ends meet. She did her best for him, but she had been pretty young when she had him, so things were never easy on either of them. ● Alaric enlisted with the knights as soon as he could, and became a squire at ~13. He obviously wasn't permitted to see battle until he'd trained with them for awhile, but he took to that training much faster than any of his peers. He became a full-fledged knight around the same time they did, but he was promoted quickly and started making a name for himself. ● He was repeatedly thought to be from the Vernier family, and constantly had to correct people about it. While he absolutely loathed his obvious connection to that family, he occasionally did make use of it without ever directly lying (basically being like "don't you know who I am" instead of claiming to be Curtis directly). If it works, it works, even if he dislikes doing it. ● He did get to see battle at some point, which only further proved that he's an extremely skilled warrior... and also that he sure does love killing. He's more of a berserker-type on the battlefield, but he can and will rein it in when he feels he needs to. ● (I'm undecided on if his mom's still alive or not. Narratively, it makes more sense for her to be dead because that's just further fuel for the fire that is DESTROY THE OLD ORDER, but on the other hand I kind of like the idea that he sends money to his mom and goes home to visit her and she's his big soft spot...)
● In terms of powers, he's mostly just a really skilled swordsman. He's +spd over +atk, but he still hits really hard anyway. Since he's more of a berserker-type, he has a tendency to get himself in trouble and get injured while fighting, but the adrenaline rush is so good he often doesn't even notice it until he's done fighting. "Tis but a scratch" is absolutely a thing he'd do even if he was missing an arm. So +spd -def, his res actually isn't terrible, and he's not doing great in the hp department either. "The best defense is a good offense" is basically his entire thing. ● While he does primarily use swords (and he's pretty good with any type of sword, though he prefers lighter ones), he always has some daggers on him as well. His aim's good, but he can't hit hard with those so they're only a last resort weapon if he's got nothing else. ● Despite preferring grandiose bloody battles, he can be stealthy and can kill silently; he isn't a sadist despite enjoying battle, and will kill quickly if he's not actually fighting someone. ● Prrrrobably no magic powers? He likely wouldn't have had any way of learning anything about them. Maybe he can learn from Blanche or maybe he's spent time studying while with the knights? Even if he did pick up anything, it'd be supportive instead of outright offensive or healing magic, he prefers stabbing things anyway.
● He dresses nicely primarily because he is the princess' guard, but also because he likes being fancy. And also as a fuck you to the noble family; he prefers red over blue for that reason as well. ● Alaric is surprisingly laid-back in personality - at least when it comes to first impressions. He can be remarkably casual with people, but he does know when to bow down to his superiors and play nice. ● At heart, he's deeply mad about everything happening in the kingdom, but it's less because of how it impacts other people and more because he and his mom were screwed over by the system. He's aggressively chaotic neutral - he cares about himself and those closest to him above all else. He isn't above screwing people over to get what he wants, but he doesn't intentionally harm others if he can help it. Basically, he's just a few shades away from being an outright attack dog. ● Despite his berserker tendencies and his love of fighting and killing, he's well-read and greatly enjoys learning. If the knowledge isn't immediately useful to him in some way, he's significantly less interested, but as long as he can find something in it that he can put to use, he's definitely here for it. ● He generally does believe that might makes right, and the kingdom's attempts to conquer aren't anything he really finds bad. This is partially because he was raised believing this, and partially because battle = good as far as he's concerned. But with that said, his loyalty is to Blanche, and serving her helps accomplish his own goals: to fuck up families like Vernier and put an end to disasters like that happening again. (But mostly just revenge on Vernier.) ● Alaric is pretty straight-forward; if you directly ask him something, he'll usually answer it. He's blunt and he prefers not to lie if he can help it. ● Despite everything, he does have a sense of honor. Admittedly that sense of honor is pretty twisted, but it does mean that he won't take any pleasure in killing people who can't fight back - it won't stop him, but he won't enjoy it either. He believes in fighting fairly when he does challenge someone who can fight back, but "fairly" doesn't mean that he'll ever be satisfied with losing. His honor is flexible, primarily because he's very good at justifying everything he does to himself. ● In short, he's an asshole who thinks he's justified in being an asshole - and even when he's doing things that are a bit too awful, he'll just justify it to himself and everything's fine. He isn't the sort to hold regrets or doubts in anything he's doing, even if that means he has to find increasingly convoluted ways to make it seem right in his own head.
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● Alaric is the illegitimate son of one of the more powerful and recognizable noble families in the kingdom, the Vernier family. They supply knights to the kingdom regularly, and that often includes their own sons/daughters. His mom was a maid at the estate, where she and the head of the house (Cornett) had a short-lived affair. Alaric was born of this union; his mom was kicked out before he was born. This didn't cause a huge fuss outside the manor - illegitimate children are pretty common in noble families.
● Unfortunately for him, Alaric was born with the trademark features of the Vernier family - blond hair, and red eyes. As he grew up, he ended up looking damn near identical to several of his half-brothers. (He could easily be mistaken for the half-brother closest in age to him, Curtis, who is less than a year younger than he is.)
● His mom scraped by throughout his entire childhood. Since she was kicked from the family, she wasn't able to get work at any other noble house as a maid, and instead had to work several jobs just to make ends meet. She did her best for him, but she had been pretty young when she had him, so things were never easy on either of them.
● Alaric enlisted with the knights as soon as he could, and became a squire at ~13. He obviously wasn't permitted to see battle until he'd trained with them for awhile, but he took to that training much faster than any of his peers. He became a full-fledged knight around the same time they did, but he was promoted quickly and started making a name for himself.
● He was repeatedly thought to be from the Vernier family, and constantly had to correct people about it. While he absolutely loathed his obvious connection to that family, he occasionally did make use of it without ever directly lying (basically being like "don't you know who I am" instead of claiming to be Curtis directly). If it works, it works, even if he dislikes doing it.
● He did get to see battle at some point, which only further proved that he's an extremely skilled warrior... and also that he sure does love killing. He's more of a berserker-type on the battlefield, but he can and will rein it in when he feels he needs to.
● (I'm undecided on if his mom's still alive or not. Narratively, it makes more sense for her to be dead because that's just further fuel for the fire that is DESTROY THE OLD ORDER, but on the other hand I kind of like the idea that he sends money to his mom and goes home to visit her and she's his big soft spot...)
● In terms of powers, he's mostly just a really skilled swordsman. He's +spd over +atk, but he still hits really hard anyway. Since he's more of a berserker-type, he has a tendency to get himself in trouble and get injured while fighting, but the adrenaline rush is so good he often doesn't even notice it until he's done fighting. "Tis but a scratch" is absolutely a thing he'd do even if he was missing an arm. So +spd -def, his res actually isn't terrible, and he's not doing great in the hp department either. "The best defense is a good offense" is basically his entire thing.
● While he does primarily use swords (and he's pretty good with any type of sword, though he prefers lighter ones), he always has some daggers on him as well. His aim's good, but he can't hit hard with those so they're only a last resort weapon if he's got nothing else.
● Despite preferring grandiose bloody battles, he can be stealthy and can kill silently; he isn't a sadist despite enjoying battle, and will kill quickly if he's not actually fighting someone.
● Prrrrobably no magic powers? He likely wouldn't have had any way of learning anything about them. Maybe he can learn from Blanche or maybe he's spent time studying while with the knights? Even if he did pick up anything, it'd be supportive instead of outright offensive or healing magic, he prefers stabbing things anyway.
● He dresses nicely primarily because he is the princess' guard, but also because he likes being fancy. And also as a fuck you to the noble family; he prefers red over blue for that reason as well.
● Alaric is surprisingly laid-back in personality - at least when it comes to first impressions. He can be remarkably casual with people, but he does know when to bow down to his superiors and play nice.
● At heart, he's deeply mad about everything happening in the kingdom, but it's less because of how it impacts other people and more because he and his mom were screwed over by the system. He's aggressively chaotic neutral - he cares about himself and those closest to him above all else. He isn't above screwing people over to get what he wants, but he doesn't intentionally harm others if he can help it. Basically, he's just a few shades away from being an outright attack dog.
● Despite his berserker tendencies and his love of fighting and killing, he's well-read and greatly enjoys learning. If the knowledge isn't immediately useful to him in some way, he's significantly less interested, but as long as he can find something in it that he can put to use, he's definitely here for it.
● He generally does believe that might makes right, and the kingdom's attempts to conquer aren't anything he really finds bad. This is partially because he was raised believing this, and partially because battle = good as far as he's concerned. But with that said, his loyalty is to Blanche, and serving her helps accomplish his own goals: to fuck up families like Vernier and put an end to disasters like that happening again. (But mostly just revenge on Vernier.)
● Alaric is pretty straight-forward; if you directly ask him something, he'll usually answer it. He's blunt and he prefers not to lie if he can help it.
● Despite everything, he does have a sense of honor. Admittedly that sense of honor is pretty twisted, but it does mean that he won't take any pleasure in killing people who can't fight back - it won't stop him, but he won't enjoy it either. He believes in fighting fairly when he does challenge someone who can fight back, but "fairly" doesn't mean that he'll ever be satisfied with losing. His honor is flexible, primarily because he's very good at justifying everything he does to himself.
● In short, he's an asshole who thinks he's justified in being an asshole - and even when he's doing things that are a bit too awful, he'll just justify it to himself and everything's fine. He isn't the sort to hold regrets or doubts in anything he's doing, even if that means he has to find increasingly convoluted ways to make it seem right in his own head.