Joachim

[Echo]

Name: Joachim Marcon
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Nation/Allegiance: Bern, formerly Lycia

Appearance/Description: Tall, broad-shouldered and well-muscled, Joachim is imposing at best and terrifying at worst. He'd be handsome if he cared about his appearance, but his blond hair is always ragged, roughly trimmed with a knife when it gets in his eyes too much; he shaves only when threatened with a beard. A scar traces his jawline from his ear to a sudden jag across his throat, an injury that looks like it should have been fatal. Despite his haphazard care for his hair, he does keep himself as clean as possible. He often goes shirtless, only wearing a red jacket that hides bloodstains, loose pants and just enough armor to cover his vitals without weighing him down excessively. If he must dress better for warmth or a semblance of civility, he favors black and gray.

He would look better if he bothered to smile, but life has embittered him to the point of all but forgetting how. He lives to see the Emperor fall and Ostia burned to the ground, if there's nothing worth saving behind the walls. He's grim, his sense of humor dry and morbid; he's either forgotten how to relate to most people, or no longer cares to try. Despite this outward appearance, he's the first to rush into danger to protect a complete stranger, and ask nothing in return; if he can prevent someone else from experiencing the suffering he's faced, it's reward enough. He also has a soft spot for animals and children.

Fafnir is about as large for a wyvern as Joachim is for a human, mostly black with teal-tinged scales and wings. Joachim puts more care into Fafnir's appearance than his own, such that he's been accused of stealing his mount from a wealthy knight more than once. Fafnir is mostly laid-back, but jumps to defend Joachim and those he shows concern for at even the slightest hint of a threat - not always to his benefit. He likes poking his nose where it doesn't belong, and turns into a giant puppy around children. Much like his master.

Bio/Backstory: Joachim was born into a wealthy Lycian merchant family known for its mages. He grew up traveling, wielding polearms to defend caravans, since he could barely cast even the most basic spells. One payment offered after a shipment to Bern was his father's choice of young wyverns, if he wanted. Maurice saw the use and got one for his son, knowing his affinity for animals, and Joachim and Fafnir became inseparable from nearly first sight. His father hired a tutor to teach him mounted combat to better guard caravans, who declared Joachim a natural for it.

Joachim traveled farther as he got older and more experienced, fell in love with Ada, a fellow guardswoman hired to protect a particularly valuable cargo. He was 27 when Maurice handed the business over to his son. Joachim settled down for a time and married Ada, who had already borne him a daughter, and soon a son as well. Both of them inherited the magic ability that Joachim had lacked. Aria took after her father, riding Fafnir and playing with sticks like spears. Joseph was the quieter of the two, learning the small housekeeping skills from servants that his own mother didn't have the patience for.

Joachim didn't like the changes Lycia began at the Emperor's new policies. People looked at him askance whenever he returned from a trade run. He felt disaster coming even before trade with Etruria cut off completely. Then the army mobilized. Joachim's home was in its path and caught utterly unprepared; in the confusion, not realizing it was his own country doing the attack, he and Ada fought to get their children to safety. Ada was cut down. Joachim barely got Aria and Joseph onto Fafnir before he, too, was attacked, a sword nearly opening his throat before he managed to mount and get away.

Joachim passed out during the flight. Aria guided Fafnir to the nearest place they could get help, and the village healer barely saved Joachim's life. He didn't wait to fully heal, instead returned home when the coast was clear in the desperate hope that Ada had survived. He found her body where he'd left it. His house was still burning; his parents' house had been burned to the ground, leaving no sign of whether anyone had survived. If they or any of his servants lived, they had fled.

In daylight, despite the Emperor's later excuses, it was clear that Etruria had nothing to do with the attack. Reeling from the sudden loss of nearly everything he'd lived for, Joachim took his children to Bern and tried to start over, but it was useless. He was barely a husk of himself, unable to care for his own kids. When the Emperor next turned his attention, bafflingly, to magic users, Joachim no longer felt that the remains of his family were safe even in Bern. He was a failure of a husband and a father, but he still knew how to use his poleaxe. He left his children with an old trusted family friend, and he and Fafnir flew off to find a way to pay back the Emperor - with interest.