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Thou shalt believe all that the Temples teach, and shalt observe all its directions.
Thou shalt defend the Temple at all costs.
Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them.
Thou shalt not recoil before the enemy.
Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of the Four Gods.
Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy pledged word.
Thou shalt be respectful of all, especially the weak and the defenseless.
Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil.
Background and Family
"Faith Is Not Easily Rewarded"- Merrick Wulfgard
Recently…
Merrick met a mysterious woman, whom he new only as a mistress at the time that she came to him. Her name was Collette. For whatever reason, even he cannot explain fully, he was drawn to her and accepted to go for a ride to the river on a crystal clear summer night…
Afterward, he found out she was a disowned Lady of Lohstren and that rumours of her spending time around him caused further agitation to her perilous situation… He told her to forget meeting him, to cut ties with him so the rumors would stop… for her own benefit to carry on with her betrothal with Lord Augustus…
Turns out that didn't mean anything. The rumours destroyed her chance to wed the Lord…
In the meantime, Merrick was trying to help ranger Breanna with her father's plight… He went so far as to follow the ranger when she tried to reason with the men who were claiming a debt owed. It turned out he had to kill to save Breanna… though this he did without a scratch… A further incident with thugs would challenge him even further to survive… It seems he often ends up in trouble around Breanna and is quite confused on how to deal with her…
Despite the Temple dealing with Harpies and Dragons, Merrick left south to find Collette at her beckoning for his aid. He felt guilty for what has happened to her and somehow responsible, so he went to address the matter with her. Turns out he decided to protect her and become the shield for injustice…
So much for that.. He's been arrested by Sir Eldrick Lohstren's men, who claim he is there in breech of Temple orders. Perhaps he is, but he feels deeply responsible and came with a righteous need to make it right….
Merrick was born common, in a hamlet north of Rhaedan. He was taught from an early age to survive as an outdoorsman by his grandfather. At the age of 14, a broken band of corsairs raided the hamlet, killing everyone in their path. Fortunately for Merrick, he was out in the woods at the time and upon his return, was able to escape these enemies, taking one down in the process. Though mercilessly pursued upon his flight to escape, he ran into a small party travelling on the road leading toward the hamlet. Unwilling to allow the corsairs the opportunity for ambush, Merrick thwarted their plans and warned the delegation of the impending trouble. A violent battle took place, in the end, those who had been travelling were in fact from the Temple of the Four and offered Merrick a place in their chapters for the effort he made to warn them.
After refusing the offer, Merrick ended up in the kingdom of Rhaedan. He spent a few years struggling to survive in the city, making ends meet by networking with a more Other driven element… Eventually this life caught up with Merrick and he ended up facing the justice of the Temple. Though once absolved of his crimes, he devoted his life to the Temple, restoring his faith in humanity.
Once raised as a Chosen, he left for a pilgrimage, seeking the faith and blessings of Bornas. A year later, he returned with a silver wolf tailing him.
In Rhaedan, Merrick was rumored to be part of the forgery scandal that hit the kingdom some 10 years back. No one is precisely sure where he has come from and assume he's from Rhaedan, a common low born. He has been devoted to the Temple of the Four since spared a much tougher punishment for his time causing the Fifth's chaos. At the Rhaedan chapter, he showed his ability and was soon given the chance to be raised. He decided on the path of the Chosen, forever taking an oath to protect the lives of the faithful. However, before his first assignment could be given, he requested to be allowed leave for a spiritual pilgrimage. It's known that he spent a year on this journey and received the blessings of Bornas, as he returned with a large male silver wolf at his side. They call him Merrick Wulfgard now, or simply, Brother Wolf. A few year later, he's been requested to respond to the Lakestown situation and report to the Chapter there.
Merrick was raised in an impoverished hamlet built under the shadow of the mountains north of Rhaedan. His home was a modest log cabin where his grandfather brought Merrick up from childhood. Merrick had one brother, though it was speculated it wasn't by blood. Even so, his brother was quick to establish that he wasn't fit for the life and instead wanted to take advantage of political and economic affairs, drifting south toward one of the larger towns to pursue ambitions higher than his natural station. Whether he succeeded or not, Merrick hasn't a clue. They lost ties throughout the years.
As for his own life, Merrick felt as if he couldn't leave his grandfather, a man wise in his years. While his grandfather would often claim that Merrick's father was dead, unbeknownst to Merrick, his father died in year 1328. Who his father was remains a mystery that only his grandfather could answer but refused to do so, for the boy's protection. Merrick's mother, is (most likely) dead. The truth of being a Varghem bastard would be troublesome for Merrick, considering the implication of such a claim - the reason that Merrick's grandfather kept quiet on the subject, letting it be.
Merrick's grandfather did the best by him as he could. Merrick was brought up on the life skills needed to range in the wild - to hunt, trap, track, plant, forage, hide and survive. It's often with these skills that would put food on the table at the very least and keep them from starving. The conditions were harsh and as Merrick grew older, so did his grandfather, and so did Merrick's responsibilities of keeping them both alive - a rather hefty burden for a boy so young.
In quiet times, his grandfather would teach Merrick about humanity - the history, philosophies, cultures and beliefs, poetry and literature of the world. Most importantly, they would spend days, hours, months talking about morals and religion. Merrick always suspected that his grandfather had been someone of importance, for the knowledge was beyond a regular man, or so the whispers of other men said. Yet here too, the mystery would remain, save for the small clues - a patched symbol of the Covenant for example, discovered by the curious Merrick. At the end of the day, Merrick was given an education similar to noble children, a little less thorough based on access to resources, but all the same, attempts were made.
Eventually, for his tenth birthday, his grandfather gave Merrick his father's knives - throwing and fighting knives. These were the only remnants of his father he had and he's taken a pride to using them for almost everything he possibly can. The blades are engraved with the image of a running wolf — once Wilhjalm Varghem's famous Daciana's Fangs that mysteriously disappeared in the Duke's younger years. In any case, emboldened by the gift and some small fraction of his holding his father's life, Merrick began to hone his skills.
The day came, upon his fourteenth year, when everything changed and the peace and quiet was utterly ruined. A ragged band of corsairs, lost, turned around, separated and sorely beaten, were harried up toward the hamlet. It became an easy target for spiteful monsters and it quickly enraged their barbarian blood. The hamlet was defenseless, as those few men at arms were by nature not suited for the task. As the men were beheaded quickly enough, it left the young, old, woman and child without a hope. The ruthless nature of these barbarians turned the impoverished hamlet into a sudden graveyard of misery.
Merrick was out in the woods when he saw the first signs of trouble, smoke - from a burning hut. He soon heard and witnessed the horrors sweeping through the tiny hamlet. Despite the fear for his own life, he could only think of one person - his grandfather. Merrick raced to his home, sneaking around the monsters who were then distracted by the screams of their victims, and found it with the door kicked in and the insides plundered. His grandfather wasn't there.
Fear and anguish for his grandfather's life and safety became a sliver of hope when he wasn't there. However, at this point, Merrick had a hard time doubling back the way he came to search the rest of the hamlet for signs of his grandfather. As, upon trying to exit, he was grabbed by one of the corsairs.
Without thinking, he attacked. A knife sliced across the man's throat before he could react and that was the first time Merrick had to kill…a human. It was also the first time he had to run for his life as the others became alerted to the struggling death throes of the one he had just killed.
The pursuit lasted the night and into the morning. It was exhausting. They were relentless - they wanted blood. Their taunts kept him hiding, kept him awake, and kept him on the run. The only reason the corsairs stopped pursuit is because they came across a small party travelling lightly, whom became their next target. Merrick was relieved but instinctively knew he had to do something.
While in the end he couldn't really do anything to prevent the battle from bloodshed, he did keep the corsairs from taking their victims in a nasty ambush. Lives were lost, men, armoured with the sigils of the Temple of the Four were strewn listlessly across the ground. The Chosen had fallen to guard the divinity of their priestess. A handful of Chosen were still alive, the corsairs fallen.
The priestess asked Merrick who he was and where he came from. Merrick, astonished at the sight of the priestess and her beauty, spit out everything. That was when the Chosen recommended them turning around, as not all the corsairs ran after the boy. They would be outnumbered and too many of their brotherhood had already given their lives. Surprisingly, the priestess asked about Merrick's grandfather.
Stunned that the priestess would know of him, he sadly shook his head and could not tell her of where or how he was. The priestess, defeated, nodded and encouraged her remaining entourage back the way they came. Merrick was invited along with promises of safety and when he refused on the condition that his grandfather was still out there, the one Chosen, at a glance, did not give Merrick a second chance to refuse, despite the Priestess trying to protest. They left him there.
Upon returning to the hamlet, the rest of the corsairs had moved on. They left nothing but ash and death behind them. Ravens were the only thing that moved. Searching gave him no answers, no endings, no hint of what had happened to his grandfather. Alas, upon hearing the noises of beasts coming to feast on the carrion, he hadn't the time to burry or put to the pyre those fallen, but only to pray for their souls before leaving.
He travelled south, in hopes he could find word of his brother or his grandfather. He came to the kingdom Rhaedan, where without a forest to hunt in, he suffered the costs of being poor and without a bloodline to boost him out of the gutters. He begged, borrowed, and stole. Falling into a cycle of desperation, he realized through observation the right documentation could allow him privileges he wouldn't otherwise have.
It took him nearly a full year to actually learn the proper style of documentation required to move food, who the orders came from, which guild members would sign, how they would sign and with what - and to make a copy that would pass inspection. He studied the heraldry closely and those who wore them. Sadly at this point, he had lost any hope of finding his brother or his grandfather. Thus as his desperation continued, he seized his opportunity and stole a surcoat, cleaned his face as best he could, rinsed his hair, and presented his first forged documentation to a guild member selling baked goods.
The cost would be incurred to one of the lower noble houses. The guild member was about to question it, as it looked suspiciously written, yet, one distraction or another led to the baker to fulfil the request and hand off a bag of bread. Keeping calm, Merrick took the bag and disappeared through the streets to enjoy his prize - a prize he couldn't keep to himself no matter how hungry.
He shared the bread with fellow street urchins and began to attempt this same scam all throughout the kingdom. He actually became quite successful at it, that while he'd continue to swindle what the group needed, the merchants and houses were all a fuss, sending out their eyes and ears, trying to determine which of their political enemies were at the root of the forgeries. They also tried to change the documentation several times, but each time, Merrick would be on top of it.
When he started to hit the higher more important houses, these random charges for food and other important supplies, became like a high stakes Russian roulette game. It didn't take long for him to find out the consequences of playing games with those born and bred to play.
A few months into this scheme of targeting richer houses, his safe house was raided by the guards loyal to one of the houses he had essentially robbed of money. He was bound, gagged, and quietly escorted to a discrete location where the guards proceeded to beat and torture him, meaning to discover who he worked for.
The Four were clearly in Merrick's favour and had a higher calling for him, because a priest, who had also been in hunt of the forgery suspect, had witnessed the guards with Merrick and followed. The Priest hung back, listening - his hands wouldn't get dirty after all and he would still learn what he wanted to. Was it the boy he wanted or another unfortunate who had done the Other's work? Only when the lad continued to profess he was doing it to survive and that he served the Four in the face of their brutal inquisition, did the priest break from his hiding and intrude. In the knick of time too.
Luckily for the Priest, the guardsmen were not about to strike a protected and divine man. That or they were intimidated by the shields of Chosen surrounding the man. After a few diplomatic words, the guards left the bruised and bloody boy to the Temple's justice. The Priest had one of the Chosen pick the brutalized boy up to bring back to the local chapter for healing, a lamb said to have been lost from the flock. Afterward, the Temple's questioning was easier but no less draining and probing.
By the end, the priest had absolved the sobbing teen of his crimes and of the noose, on one condition - that Merrick become an acolyte and work for the greater good. This was the second chance in his life he was asked to follow in such a path. His first lesson of denying the Guardians was evident and he did not say no a second time. But was it a choice?
Upon his opportunity to decide upon a specific path years later, Priest or Chosen, he decided to be a Brother of the Chosen. Twice now, he had been protected by the Covenant and his life spared. He believed, as well as his teachers believed, it was for some higher reason that he was spared and brought to them, a divine intervention that would reveal itself when it truly became his time. At least now, he could repay the lives lost and help those in need.
At the age of twenty, he was raised, a few years behind the others. At this time, he requested to be allowed to go on a pilgrimage, needing to awaken his spirit fully before he could protect and serve the Covenant as they needed him to. Without question, he was granted permission. He first went north on his spiritual quest, hoping to find the guidance of Bornas, amongst the others. He also wished to find answers to some long overdue questions…
Faithful, he always believed he would find his grandfather or hear of his grandfather in his travels…
The pilgrimage lasted a year. He returned with a silver wolf at his side. The story is rumored that he survived the darkness of the Fen against all odds, sent there upon a righteous quest given to him by Bornas and came upon the wolf as a pup, abandoned. To Merrick, it is simply the gift from Bornas and his sign that his pilgrimage was over and his soul cleansed of the Other. He means not to surrender the details of how he came across the wolf, for it is between him and the Guardians alone. This, is how he adopted the name Wulfgard and the by name of Brother Wolf - as irony would have it.
He's served the Rhaedan chapter until recently, as he's ventured to Lakestown Chapter at the request for his presence.
- Grandfather - Martel, MIA Presumed Dead - Possible TP Hooks with Covenant
- Father - Wilhjalm Varghem — Merrick ICLY does not know the man's identity, nor that he is bastard born.
- Mother - Unknown or Deceased - Possible TP Hooks
- Brother- Mathius, no true blood relation - Temple Hook
- Other Siblings - Wilhjalm Varghem's legitimate children. Unknown to Merrick. Plots Pending.
Character Profile
Merrick bears the type of facial features that can belong to any plain faced northern man - a jutting wide chin, strong narrowing jaw, full lips, a nose with a crooked bridge and a pointed tip, and soft cheekbones. On closer look, he doesn't seem to exactly have a symmetrical shape to his face, his left eye and brow sit higher on his face than those on the right, angled up toward his ear on a minor slant. In fact, his whole face is jolted just a smidge higher on the left side than the right, from the corners of his mouth, to the sharper cheekbone, to the way his nose hooks right, and finally to his ears, which fail to line upon the same symmetrical plane. Regardless, the man's blue eyes help to avert the attention, as his eyes are piercing steel blue, surrounded by blond lashes, thick brows, and waves of blond hair. His stature is characteristic to a man who has spent his years in combat training - lean of waist, his shoulders are broad and his legs are powerful. His skin bears the evidence of his study of combat, for there are several nicks and lashes dotting his arms, neck, and chest.
- Height: 6'2
- Weight: 190lbs
- Birthday: October 7th 1988
- Language: Common
- Special Skill: Forgery
- Fighting Style: Rogue class, quick, stealth, short sword or a pair of daggers, agile, perceptive
- Weakness: If he cannot move, he will likely lose. Small confined spaces or facing a foe with a great sword
- Pilgrim of Bornas - Although there are hundreds of people who flocked to the sites deemed as sacred, Merrick is a particularly well known tale, as upon his year long pilgrimage to the North, on the quest for Bornas' blessings, he was rewarded with an animal to which now he guards with his life. It is said not many men walk with the blessings of the Guardians, but to be paired with a spiritual beast surely must put him up on high. He took it as a symbol of his cleansed soul and in honour of his acceptance from the Guardians, he adopted the name Wulfgard for a last name. He is humble however, about his pilgrimage and speaks of it rarely, since it is to him, a matter most personal to one's soul.
- Faith Before Swords - Merrick does his best to never draw a sword or be the spark that ignites the flame. His faith and his oath comes before the sword and his life. If threatened, he often gives the opponent the opportunity to back down and disarm in the name of the Four. If ambushed, his words of faith will be used to diffuse the situation if at all possible. His oath restricts his sword and his faith demands homage. As well, he will always say a prayer before pulling his weapon, such as: "May the faithful be ever guided by the wisdom of the Four and in this hour, what is - shall be ever regarded as the decision of the Four. Bornas give me strength." Also, as he sheaths his weapons, he will put an end to the conflict by issuing a further prayer.
- Robin-Hood Syndrome - As the classic tale goes, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor was a way of life for him prior to the Temple. It has since transcended to a more holier mission, as he devotes his energies to helping the poor, the defenseless, sick, and the weak. If he can help, he will find a way to help, which often resorts to him recruiting individuals for the Temple. Unfortunately, the temptation to take from the rich and give to the poor rears its ugly head when by no other means can he help a person out. He may just demand a defeated enemy to not only lay down his swords but his coin purse as well.
- Who Am I? - Merrick doesn't know the truth of who his father and mother were, which for a young man is hard to accept. His grandfather, last seen prior to the Corsairs attack on the hamlet, had been the only one who could reveal the truth to him at the time, but he chose not to. Struggling to understand why he was not privileged to know who he came from has made him at times irritable and sullen, especially around the subject matters of where he is from. He blames the Corsairs for this void, as with their coming, his grandfather disappeared and is assumed dead. The only clues now to his past are a pair of dirks, called Daciana's Fang - blades that have an image of running wolves against them.
- Wolf Brother - Merrick came to find a silver male wolf pup upon his pilgrimage. Taking it for a sign from the Guardians, the wolf was cared for and taken along with him. The wolf, as large as a fenwolf now, continues to follow him like a sidekick. Merrick will do what he must to protect his spirit brother and has adopted the wolf as such. The name he selected for the beast came from Pilgrim, and is simply Grim.
- Forgive Me - Unknown [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbp8GaALXp8] - Unable to help those he loved…
- Night Of The Hunter - 30 Seconds To Mars, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSqzSGMbUvU] - A song to describe his need for revenge…
- End of All Days - 30 Seconds to Mars, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyEF7fWOrEc] - A song mocking that faith will bring redemption of the soul, prior to him finding faith! Irony.
- The Song of Faith - Renee Brennan , [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4iCt_vch-8] - He's finding his soul, a new awakening, a soul's journey…
- Black Parade - My Chemical Romance, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q9q6zl3WIs] - Accepting his duty as a Chosen…
- By The Sword - Slash, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOxRJiTt0cA] - Life as A Chosen…
- Gleipnir - Adrian Von Ziegler [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM2HVBPvpwc] - Merrick all wrapped up into one Celtic song! Stunning! Rwar!!! FAVOURITE!
Recent Logs
Recent Memoirs
On the Grid
Known Associates
"There is not much we can do to change what has happened, but we can choose what to do with tomorrow and with right now.""- Merrick Wulfgard
Thomas Marbry : I saw the man do battle. He is looked to as a leader in our order. He's won many victories. He is always at the Mother Superior's side. He's a man to be respected. |
Cafell Penderghast : Acquaintances, I met her while she was fleeing dangerous men and protected her without knowing whom she was. She just looked in need of my help. |
Synniva : Acquaintances, though she seems to me a gift of Ravas. |
Cordelia Nerys Sollinger : She was the first to go down in the dock fighting. I would like to get to know a woman whose brave enough to stand against the Corsairs. |
Pawel Varghem : He calls me a bastard! Hypocrite! |
Johan Grimson : I saw the man do battle… and I'm pretty sure he was drunk. He's one tough son of Bornas! |
Bryony Fearn : The woman seems confident and capable. I briefly watched her and Johan together in the field of battle. She seems to me a woman you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of. |
Oliaf Penderghast : Laketown would be lost without his help. This stonemason packs a punch! |