[Medium Sized Model - 25mm Base]
[Presupported with LYS files in 32mm & 75mm Scale]
Hailing from a long line of Baldurian military officers, Karthis was poised to follow in the footsteps of his forefathers, having spent most of his early career in the army stationed along the Sudd Tohst border, repelling bands of brigands and smugglers. One encounter with a small family trying to flee Baldur changed his perspective on his homeland. He was summarily dishonourably discharged, stripped of his rank and ordered back to his home in Grimhelm in shame. Yet soon after his arrival, the whisperings of rebellion began and Karthis found himself conflicted to which side he would find himself fighting for.
The youngest son of the prodigal Elrite family, Karthis was born among a household of four older brothers and an eldest sister. Much of his early life was spent walking in their shadows, for each was brawnier, tougher and more charismatic than him, each of them natural leaders in their own right, born to follow in their forefather’s footsteps as exemplifiers of excellence among the realm’s military officers. Karthis’ own father was a Lieutenant Colonel, commander of the 23rd Battalion of Grimhelm, while his brothers were already in military academy, on track to becoming commissioned officers in the navy and army. Karthis was still barely talking those days, thought to be slow of mind by his family’s physician, though the truth was more likely he was neglected as the runt of the family, an unplanned addition conceived in the twilight years of his mother’s fertility. His father had little love or time for him, and his mother saw him as a nuisance more than anything, hoping to have left her years of child rearing behind.
By the time Karthis had entered the military academy himself, his siblings had already served for years, and his parents were enjoying their retirement. His performance in the school was not remarkable, and he ultimately earned himself a position in the border force as a lowly 2nd Lieutenant, overseeing a small platoon stationed at the Sudd Tohst border. There they typically engaged small bands of smugglers, trying to illegally bring slaves or narcotic substances across the border, or the occasional wanted criminals trying to flee Baldur over into Sudd Tohst. It was one such occasion after Karthis had been posted there for two years that challenged his loyalty to the kingdom he served so dearly, so valiantly in hopes his brothers might not cast such a dire shadow over him.
A small group of smugglers had been caught trying to cross into Sudd Tohst, his cart loaded with his wife and two children. Karthis recognised them from reports, the wife had been trialled as a practitioner of dark magic, and was scheduled for execution before she mysteriously disappeared from her prison cell, her husband and children disappearing soon after. This was undoubtedly them, yet he saw no practitioner of dark magic, but instead a woman frightened for her life, cowering under a wicker lid with her two children at her side, all of them dripping in sweat from the unrelenting Sudd Tohst sun. Against the protest of his men, he ordered them be let go, after searching the cart and finding nothing else of note save for some scraps of rations and clothes.
When the higher ups learned of his decision, he was declared a traitor to the realm, stripped of his rank and forced to return to Grimhelm. Though he accepted the decision, he refused the call to his home, instead walking on into Sudd Tohst, where he lived a nomadic life as a wandering sellsword for hire, aiming to help those in need in the savage land for little pay other than food, water and a place to stay. He kept to this tradition for years, and began to master Sudd Tohsti polearm arts in this time, becoming a proficient wielder after his time spent among a small order of travelling monks who escorted pilgrims to the holy city of Alnardu, a holy place of worship for Glanion, the Great Sun. It was one of these visits to Alnardu that a seer beseeched him: return hence to Grimhelm and face the past he had been running from, for though his family might not forgive him, the people will see him as a hero after his return.
Thus he returned, garbed in traditional Sudd Tohsti clothes with skin bronzed by years of walking the dunes and savannah. He was unrecognisable to his parent’s, who thought him to have run into the lawless land to die in shame, than choose to return. Their disappointment in him was immeasurable, and even his elder brother challenged him to a duel for his honour, citing that Karthis was a blight on the family’s prestige since he fled like a coward. Karthis swiftly put him down, the years in the dunes and regular fights for life and death had seasoned him into a powerful force, whereas his brother had spent his years ordering troops from behind a desk or a upon a horse’s saddle.
Winning the duel earned him no favours however, he was outcast from his family home, finding refuge in a local inn as he tried to piece together what to do. Feeling as though the seer had lied to him, or instead just been an old man with a withered mind, he prepared to exile himself from Baldur once and for all. Two days before he planned to leave, however, Martial Law was declared, following the attempted assassination of Field Marshal Kurt Williams. The city was on lockdown, with none permitted to leave without authority of the Field Marshal himself: and he knew his parents would ensure no such authority could be granted. Karthis soon found himself privy to prying questions of the Inquisitors for his long absence in Sudd Tohst, and became a target for arrest. Having narrowly escaped their clutches, he found refuge in the company of Madame Octavia and her host of rebels. Now he is forced to decide whether he would turn his back further on his family in a fight against the realm that pursues him, or try to regain their favour by giving up those that gave him refuge in his time of need.
