Aersho Dreshcar
From Greatelementrpg
Name: Aersho Dreshcar - Captain of the Dragon Knights (Dragon: Jedae'ko)
Gender: Male
Age: Mid-thirties (has stopped aging)
Race: Human
Nationality: Rugney
Played by: Ani Medley
Characteristics: Cracking six and a half feet, Aersho's presence would be noticeable in a crowd, regardless of any evidence of his status. That is further impressed by his broad, muscular frame, evidently used to physical rigor, with darkly tanned skin as an example of his frequent outdoor ventures. His dark brown mullet frames a sharply defined face with piercing brown eyes, grim-set mouth, and partially obscures the emerald True Dragon Rune on his forehead.
Aersho, finding that the suit of armour that is the staple of any Dragon Knight soldier is rather inconvenient in the Captain's seat, opted for a long-sleeved maroon tunic with the captain's stripes on the collar, loose black breeches, high leather boots, completed with a red headband obscuring his True Rune. In the rare affairs where he has to expose himself to the public, he dresses in his now-ceremonial Dragon Knight armour, burnished gold trim the only new indication of his status, much to the consternation of the conservative Rugney people.
"Frankly," he had said bluntly, "I don't care."
His dragon, Jedae'ko, stands at about twenty feet in height, a black specimen with wide silver stripes all along its head and dorsal edge, talons tipped with silver claws. Being about thirty feet in length and about the same with wings extended, its frame lean, the dragon doesn't seem big for its age nor as dangerous, and only several scars on its underbelly and a slight limp betray its experience in battles.
Personality: Aersho is serious, determined, and loyal to his duty, the last characteristic enhanced since he attained the Dragon Rune. His opinions tend to be blunt at times, even rude, but are usually important enough to warrant noting--thus, he rarely speaks since he finds that the majority are observant enough to notice most things without his meddling. Being the possessor of a True Rune and all, Aersho prefers to keep to himself, since extended company with people who know his status (other than his men) makes him nervous. Thus, unless of absolute importance, dragons are involved, or being bullied by Aunikos into it, he doesn't usually attend such company.
And if that doesn't work, he calls Jedae'ko over. Regardless of whether the dragon answers or not, the results were the same. It wasn't quite a mad scramble in the literal sense of the word, but it sufficed.
Background: Aersho was born in Melphy to the Dreshcars--a rather obscure noble family who were one of the very few to ascend from peasantry. The shock waves from that haven't quite receded yet, so the family was left in more or less a state of enforced seclusion.
As a child, Aersho was taught to value hard work and responsibility, to hold himself in true pride ("Not that 'nose-up' attitude those other bureaucrats do," his father had scoffed). Since hard work was rather uncommon in the gentry, his parents made him do lots of things--scullery, sweeping, gardening, whatever, leaving no time for his hands to go idle. The boy naturally complained, but it didn't take long for him to realize that no matter how he argued, he ended up doing the dishes anyway, and a bit out of breath to boot.
Thus, knowing the futility of it, he shut up. Besides, the frequent festivals helped keep his spirits up and willing to work after the euphoria, so he kept his grumblings to a minimum.
Aersho had passed his sixth winter when his sister, Aunikos, came into their family, and suddenly the messes seem to quadruple in volume. In a nutshell, during the next year or so, it can be rather blandly said that Aersho disliked his baby sister, his six-year-old mind irrationally blaming her for the constant drudgery. Even when she grew old enough to pick up her share of the duty (and complaining exponentially more than Aersho ever did), there was that little fissure between them born of jealousy and simple year difference.
It was almost a relief when the boy, now passing his tenth winter, was transferred to Melphy to train among the Dragon Knights.
Too bad that relief was short-lived.
Aersho honestly thought that he was going to die of neglect during the five years of torture that constituted a Trainee's life. Despite being fairly educated, he was imposed with piles of homework huge enough to actually find himself waking up from the table he worked, ate, and slept on, the ink of math equations emblazoned all over his face. Coupled with his rather stern teachers penalizing his unavoidable dereliction with more homework, it became a rather vicious cycle that gave rise to a bleary-eyed fatigue, too knocked out to consider running. And that's not counting the physical part--learning how to wield and use various weapons, wearing armour, practicing defensive techniques...so on top of a face full of math equations, the boy had a body full of old and new bruises from the constant smacking.
Almost before he knew it, he was promoted to Lance-Corporal, and finally able to raise a dragon of his own. His daily duties eased slightly, but the free time got sucked into caring for the hatchling, who appeared to have the appetite and demands of three men. To make matters worse, because of his top status when he was a Trainee, the hatchling he was caring for was one of the more irascible dragons, and bite marks were added to his list of injuries acquired in a typical day.
And that was how Aersho got acquainted with his dragon, Jedae'ko. It took a while--meaning years--for the animosity (and the injuries) to fade, but eventually, they became close friends.
It was rather convenient to have the support of a friend, since at his eighteenth year, the young Lance-Corporal got the shock of his life.
See, he had found out that his younger sister, Aunikos, had managed to steal herself into the Dragon Knights, her short hair and indeterminate features allowing her to pass off as any other boy. After a legendary spat regarding that between the two siblings--in private, of course--Aersho thought it over, and grudgingly opted to support her. It was rather nightmarish--overseeing both girl and dragon, patiently enduring her blisteringly vocal opinions, and supplying lists to meet her growing body's demands--but it was satisfying to see her promote to Lance-Corporal and get her own dragon, a while after he had been promoted himself.
Jedae'ko, upon hearing of the convoluted deception--it's nearly impossible to hide things from a dragon--nearly broke his ribs laughing. Well, one can surmise that a dragon's sense of humour might be a bit different from a human's.
Years dragged on, and Aunikos finally promoted to Corporal, much to Aersho's relief, since he could now oversee his sister without being too suspicious about it, but privately suspected that sooner or later, their big secret was going to come out.
As if jinxed, Aunikos' secret was indeed revealed--but at a rather inconvenient time during a fight with a notorious gang of rogue dragons terrorizing one of the villages in Rugney. The shock factor from the discovery was severe enough for the rogues to tear through the defenses and make for the Captain, who was commanding his own dragon in the battle, well away from the conflict itself to ease worried minds. Not far enough, apparently, and only Aersho's frantic interception saved the Captain from instant death then and there. It was a close call, and Aersho, the Captain, and their dragons were badly injured by the time reinforcements arrived, but two rogues were slain, forcing the rest to flee.
The battle left several Dragon Knights dead--including one Sergeant--and more wounded. The Captain was barely pulled from death, and remained in critical condition for about three months before finally succumbing to his wounds and leaving the Dragon Knights in a state of shock--though in more ways than one...
Records of what happened in the seconds afterwards were rather sketchy--some declared that all the dragons in the world died, others said they all shrieked as if wracked with agony, and yet more saying they all seemed on the verge of vanishing into their home world. Regardless of which, one thing all the rumours agreed on was that Aersho, in one of his frequent visits to ease his impatience, was touching the Dragon Rune on the Captain's hand as if he could transfer his strength through the Rune to empower his role model.
The moment the life left the Captain's body, the Rune, as if sensing Aersho's potential through his fingers, transferred itself into the unwitting Knight. Aersho's reaction, to put it in the words of a very laconic witness, "was quite spectacular".
Needless to say, the rest is history.
Weapons: Aersho still keeps his weapons despite his new status as an MVP. Among them is a six-foot black iron glaive with a red-stained hilt (though whether the red was caused by paint or blood remains a mystery). The person who had made the glaive had inscribed a dragon's eye in gold on the blade, and serrated the edges, to give the most impression of a real dragon glaring at them. The very tip of the hilt used to be iron-capped to serve as a rather awkward quarterstaff at close range, but Aersho discarded that to ease weight.
For close-ranged attacks on foot, Aersho uses a baselard--a sort of durable double-edged sword with a distinctive crescent pommel and crossguard, designed for piercing armour. He also has a large shield strapped to his back when not in use, and his red leather headband doubles as a sling to assail ranged attackers. He doesn't keep sling ammunition, since he found that dragon scales, if a bit on the flat side, actually make decent projectiles when slung properly. That and the fact his accuracy with a sling is...iffy.
Runes:
Forehead - Dragon Rune
Left Hand - N/A
Right Hand - N/A
