Konstantin Praetorius

Background
THIS ARTICLE IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS, I DID NOT YET HAVE THE TIME TO FINISH IT...

For Centuries, ever since the great Cataclysm destroyed the old empire, forcing its soldiers to pacify the land of Ashfeld and settle there, the family of Praetorius lived in Whiterock, located on the Iron Slopes in the south of Ashfeld.

Born under the name Aurelius Constantinus Praetoris, Son of Flavius Praetorius IV, 16th lord of Whiterock, Konstantin grew up trained to become a knight and later the lord of his families lands. Learning the code of Chivalry and the usage of the longsword by his father, aswell as the being teached in the art of siege warfare and law enforcement by the castles lawbrinder, Dante. He had previously served a different lord in the north of Ashfeld and had fled the lands after they were raided by Vikings.

When he was 11 years old, Konstantin was visiting some of the farms and villages of his lands with Dante and his father, when they were ambushed by mercenaries who slaughtered their escort which only consisted of a few soldiers. Dante was wounded by a young female warrior and taken prisoner. Despite the hopeless situation, the lord of whiterock refused to give up, slaying many of the mercenaries before being hit by multiple arrows and collapsing, unable to continue fighting. The foes stripped Dante of his armor and tied him up while the female warrior slowly raised her sword, ready to strike him down once and for all. Flavius blocked the deadly strike with his iron bracer on the last possible opportunity, before once again falling down because of his wounds. The woman had him tied up aswell and the mercenairies then left the site of battle, taking their wounded prisoners with them. The young boy was left behind, still standing on the exact same spot where he was when the battle started, unable to help anyone, useless... alone.

He reached the next village in the late evening of the next day, having to see that Dantes lifeless and mutiliated body hanging down from a tree which took every bit of hope of ever seeing his father again from him.

The Iron Legion
After being left alone without guidance and purpose, Konstantin spent the next few years training with the sword every day in order to take revenge, but with the passing of each day, he realized more and more that he would probably never find the criminal that murdered his father.

When scouts of the Iron Legion crossed the land five years later in hope of finding new recruits, Konstantin did not hesitate to leave the castle and the lands which had fallen into disrepair under his inactive rule in order to join them. Hoping to finally bring honor to his name, he ordered every able man to follow him to a crusade in order to retake Mount Ignis, far away from his home.

The years passed and Konstantin, who had been rising up in the ranks of the Iron Legion started to realize the price that every victory had. With each battle fought, more and more of the men who started fighting with him were gone, replaced by new and unfamiliar recruits who started fighting with the same wish for honor and glory that he once had.

He fought on for the next twelve years until he had reached the rank of Tribunus Militum, commanding officer of a group of 400 men, none of which he once set out onto his quest with. The times had become worse, viking hordes now raided all of Ashfeld -or so he had heard- as he hadn´t visited any other part of the land besides the north-eastern mountains in which him and his men bitterly fought both Vikings and Samurai alike.

The great war between the factions had entered the ninth season and as the knights had finally retaken the volcano once again after months of siege, Konstantin received news that their rear guard had been overrun and that Samurai forces had surrounded them completely. When informing the other officers about the situation, the commanding officer of his division claimed that all was lost and that god had abandoned them. In the following night, the commander escaped on his horse, many of the men and other officers deserted in the days to come.

Siege of Mount Ignis
The remaining force consisted of around 600 men, 200 of which were his own. When realizing that he had no chance to win the battle, Konstantin took off his Iron Legion coat of arms and tossed it into the flames of the mountain. Knowing that the Knigts of the Blackstone Legion had lost their faith in god, their faith in the knighthood, the remaining defenders took off their Green Cloth, washed and scraped the green color off their armor and made ready for one final battle against their foes.

The battle itself took less then an hour, the defenders were completely anihilated and the Samurai didn´t even take the time too finish the wounded or take prisoners before redeploying to one of the fronts of their ever expanding empire.

The Warden was left for dead, without his legion, without his alliies, without any goal, without hope -once again-