[center][img=117812]newheader[/img][/center]
[center][b][color=white]Story/Sex Driven RP :[/color] [color=green]✔[/color] [color=white]| Fantasy :[/color] [color=green]✔[/color] [color=white]| Historical Fiction :[/color] [color=green]✔[/color] [color=white]| Modern :[/color] [color=green]✔[/color] [color=white]| Random Friend Requests :[/color] [color=red]✘[/color] [color=white]| IC Starts :[/color] [color=red]✘[/color][/b][/center]

[center][img=151031]another[/img][/center]
[center][color=red][small]The following is all based on Tabletop sessions involving this character.[/small][/color][/center]
[center][color=cyan][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG_ZEovDDKk]Son of a farmer, gun of a nation, but who's really aiming?[/url][/color][/center]
[center][color=white][big]B[/big]orn to a farming family, eldest of three siblings, and first of his family to join The Golden City's Black Powder Legion, Nathaniel Ryder rose from squalor and a quiet life to one of service and battle. At the age of twenty he was able to enter the grueling training of the Lionsguard, a regiment of soldiers that were his capital city's front line defense. Months of nightmarish training, brutal sparring, and rigorous study turned the simple farmer into a crack shot, one that surprised even his superiors and sergeants. Upon graduation, he was placed within the Black Powder Legion, a special task force used by the King's Army as pinpoint marksmen, muskets slung over their backs ready to be fired upon their enemies.

[big]D[/big]espite his new calling in life, Nathaniel, or Nathan to his friends, has never once found himself become cold to the world around him. Thanks to members of his squad, the ever cheerful and helpful Thomas, the sly and quick Landra, and his brother in arms Alexander, Nathaniel has found that his happy go lucky disposition has stayed true after all these years. Though, as time went by, more and more took him and his home down paths he didn't think would happen in his lifetime.

[big]T[/big]ime went on, and soon Nathaniel found himself working in the capital itself, a full fledged member of the Lionsguard. Promoted to Second Sergeant along with his fellows Alexander, Landra, and Thomas, the four found themselves in more of a leadership position than they thought they'd be in. Each day found them assigning work to various guards and recruits, managing patrols all about the city, handling public event cases as well as criminal ones. A year passed, and they all found their 'proteges' throughout the guard, members that they took likings to, the ones that were sure to get assignments from them. Then, one cold day in the winter changed things in the city for good. A string of murders, slaying so gruesome that many thought the perpetrator had to be a demon. The reality was more startling. A man, simply known as 'Madro' was found to have escaped his bonds in prison, the serial murders bearing his telltale, grisly signatures. Soon the four Lionsguards had a new case they had to focus on. The capture and arrest of Madro.

[big]M[/big]onths passed, the escaped madman evading Nathan's regiment at every opportunity, each day making them falter in their assurance that they'd be successful. Then, a silver lining showed itself. A lead, putting Madro in an abandoned guild hall on the far reaches of the city. The four took arms, preparing as they made way for the capture. It was all for naught, the entire lead a trap as the crazed murderer revealed his true intentions. The eventual assassination of the King himself. By the end of the encounter, dozens of Madro's minions lay slain, but the man himself stood victorious, Nathaniel bleeding out, Alexander blinded in one eye, and Landra deafened partially. Thomas, their cleric and heart of their group, hung in Madro's grasp, paralyzed. He wouldn't survive the night.

[big]A[/big] year came and went, captain's changed positions, old wounds healed, and soon Nathan found himself in the position of Guard Captain. It wasn't a position he actually enjoyed, nothing he yearned for. He wanted something simpler, something more mundane. With Thomas's death, though, a weight fell over his shoulders. Madro was still loose, the murders stopped, the King very much alive, and the city none the wiser. Becoming a Captain simply led Nathaniel to think that, maybe, somehow, he would be able to make a difference in the long run. Landra had become a Captain as well, leading a troupe of guards in the Chapel district, while Alex had become a Ranger, rooting out threats on the outskirts of their city. The gap that Thomas left never would feel fixed in their minds, but they remembered the example he'd left behind. Compassion, patience, and unwavering kindness. Still, as days went by, as weeks and months passed, it became harder and harder to live up to his ideals. The summer to come, during the Festival of the Sun, the marksman would find his faith and convictions tested more than ever before.

[big]W[/big]ar. Unwavering, unblinking, remorseless, and cold. War had come to the Golden City. The Eastern nation of Jhaigon had done the unthinkable. During the Festival of the Sun, their nation's most cherished day, as assassination was attempted. Not just on the King, but on the city itself. During a gladiatorial event, in the arena itself, blades all throughout the stadium flashed in a flurry of violence. Cutting down bystanders and unarmed citizens, the nation of Jhaigon had declared war on The Golden City, fed up with their ever encroaching advances upon the rest of the world. Barely surviving, only alive to this day thanks to Alexander Crestwall, Nathaniel made his way through the crowded arena with his fellow guardsmen, retaliating on the hundreds of combatants within. Arrows flew, steel clashed against steel, and the barrels of muskets cracked throughout the air around them. By the end of the day, the whole nation was changed. Recruits flooded into the city, patriotism and compassion spurring the highest rate of new soldiers the country had seen in decades. Though they had survived, though they were soon to go to war, something bothered the marksman. Something about a symbol found on the body of one of the would be assassins.

[big]A[/big] symbol used by Madro himself.

[big]N[/big]ow a guard defending a city at war, Nathaniel feels aged beyond his years, despite his youth. Still he clings to his caring personality and disposition, yet he knows it wanes and falters as each day passes.[/color][/center]


[center][small][color=red]Journal entries added during slow periods. Expect one every few days, a more personal touch on the above story.[/color][/small][/center]
[collapse=Journal Entry #1]
[color=white]Training day. Been a long time coming, honestly. Still can't believe I convinced mom to let me leave home, come to think of it. I'm glad dad was approving, though. As I write this, I'm in a carriage with a few other recruits. There's about ten carriages in total, a few of us in each, so I think they got a decent 'haul' of recruits in for this year's training. They're taking us to some place, 'Murkywater' is what they call it. Supposed to be swampy, middle of nowhere kind of place. That's where the training's happening, supposed to 'harden us' by being in crappy conditions. Things might actually be alright here, you know? Being a guardsman is something I've wanted for a long, long while now... feels like things might actually change for me. No more farming, just duty. I'll write as the days go by, see how things have changed as we progress. I've a good feeling about all this.[/color][/collapse]

[collapse=Journal Entry #2]
[color=white]It's only been a day, but I can tell that this place wasn't called 'A Wet Hell' for no reason. Murkywater is a damp, cold, frigid hellhole of a camp. I swear, as I write my feet are still frozen, or at least they feel that way.
We've a few second sergeants in charge of the camp. Sergeants Grimm, Wyrd, and Rommel. Grimm's this hardass with a scar along his right cheek, makes him look like he's always got some strange smirk on his face. He's the one that greeted all of us at the camp, 'welcomed' us in. All our belongings were taken, placed in lockers, we're not to touch them until we're finally done with our training. Wyrd, she's the crossbowman and Grimm's right hand. She doesn't talk much, hell I don't think I've seen her talk at all, really. She's got a stare though... one that kind of bores through you like a damn arrow. Sends chills up all our spines when we think she's not looking, but actually is. Rommel, he's the cleric of the bunch. He's not as strict or in our faces as Grimm is, but he's just as diligent. During a training session I saw him channel heal at least twenty other recruits as they collapsed from exhaustion, to keep them going with the rest of us.
Speaking of which, we've all been given half plate armor. We're to wear it every day, every hour, all the time as we train. I cant' imagine what they think we're going to accomplish by weighing us down in this damned tin can every day, especially when we get to climbing sections of obstacle courses. Only one day, and I feel like my limbs are going to fall off.

I've a few bunkmates too. Alexander Crestwall, some kind of nobleborn from the Northern quarter of the capital. A Sumerian criminal named Landra is another, she's a half elf. Don't exactly know what she did to get conscripted here, but it must have been something if she'd elect to join a foreign nation's army as an alternate to prison. Lastly there's Thomas Cross, another from the farming lands to our capital's South, like me. He's a good sort, very religious and dedicated to Serenrae. Since we all sleep next to each other, I think we'll be talking more and more over time, though Alexander is the quiet type and Landra is the sort to brood in a corner. Thomas has been more than friendly though, but his stories about meals he can cook are only making me miss home. I think this might go well as long as I have others to at least speak with through this ordeal.[/color][/collapse]


[center][img=151028]nathanheader3[/img][/center]
[center][small]All art belongs to [url=http://sticksandsharks.tumblr.com/]the ever wonderful, Sticks and Sharks.[/url][/small][/center]