Raul D’Bridge

 

History

Fourth Age

In 1150, amidst the worst thunderstorm in a century, Raul was born a child of entangled lineages. His paternal grandfather was an N-erectus Drakk Alfar, and his paternal grandmother was a human Ughuz. His mother was a tightly spun Jomzaar, a lineage that extended back as far as anyone could recall. Raul was as tangled as the lightning above, and just as the midwife placed him in his long-legged wooden cradle, lightning struck.

The midwife shrieked as she vaporised in a flaming burst; Raul’s father, sitting on the bed and caressing his fatigued wife, became the grounded conduit, engulfing both in searing streaks of power. Leaving nothing but smoking burnt corpses, the house went silent for a while. Then Raul gave a large sob, came back to life and cried out loud.

The Jomzaar side didn’t want the infant, nor did the distant Ughuz or the enigmatic Drakk Alfars. But the nearby Mermerant orphan home ensured he got a wet nurse and was cared for. Growing up as an orphan was challenging, but during that time, most poor people, workers, and slaves also faced difficult lives. So he merely adapted to mockery, beating, and hunger.

He quickly learned that he could easily lose the coins he earned, as he was attacked and robbed while working wherever he could. Sitting there, bruised and pummelled red and blue, he considered life. Realising some coins were earned through work, some through trade, some through robbing, and some through protection. So, he decided to learn to protect and began blade weaving with fake wooden swords at the marketplace.

“Bold as a thunderstorm and striking as a blitz” became the local jest. As his skills were inadequate for his training setup, people could pay 1 copper to fight him for the first hit, and if they won, they gained 5 back. Needless to say, he survived merely on alms bypassers dropped, although most went as payment for defeats.

But as weeks passed, his losses lessened. At times he scored a hit the same time he received one. Other times he outright won. So money began to stack up, and he began to spend a little on attire. In 1158 he had become so skilled that he rarely lost to bypassers and ragtags. And a few more skilled bladeweavers, at times of no hurry, paid the copper just to teach him a move or two.

Apprentice of a hundred masters, he knew a thousand tricks. But his skill lacked direction, and his moves were unplanned, as they were essentially learned from the joy of the marketplace.  Then in 1161, he met Terminuz. As the stranger passed by, he noticed Raul fighting, then stopped and dismounted. Studying the lad for a while, he decided to share a trick and give some advice.

Paying the copper, Terminuz stepped in and offered gold if the lad would be so kind as to show his best, most winning moves. Raul gladly obliged and lunged, slashed, poked, and struck as fiercely as he could. Finally, Terminuz made a Naldarian counterslide and, with his blade at Raul’s throat, said, “You’ve got guts, stamina, and talent. But your fight is a bridgeless path from start to end.”

Perplexed, Raul asked what it meant, and Terminuz spent time teaching him about the strategy of bladeweaving. From engaging in words to entering melee, drawing the blade, making a point to conclude the purpose of the engagement, and acting with an attitude that would serve the outcome the most. Raul stood, then said, “I was an orphan, without lines, but from now on I’m Raul d’Bridge.”

Then Raul bowed deep for the advice and training. Terminuz decided to aid this well-spoken lad some more. Together they went and bought Raul some fancy clothes, then visited a weaponsmith and bought Raul a sword, axe, and better shield. When Terminuz left, Raul had improved tenfold and now fought with the determination he had set when he first viewed his opponents.

Raul’s new style sent him surging through the duellist ranks, and in 1168 he bought his first warhorse and attended a jousting tournament. Eventually winning the lot, he became a sergeant of the mermerant militia and began a glorious career. He was promoted to lieutenant, then captain, and eventually major.

Then in 1189, as their mermerants were approached by the 1st alliance. He ended up in a confrontation with a foreign king and challenged him to a duel. Convinced that he could teach this braggart king some nifty tricks, he faced the king and unleashed his skills. But to his surprise, that stocky king was far too skilled, and with grins he avoided every wounding attempt and instead delivered dual enders of his own.

The king did, though, request several rounds, as he hadn’t had this good practice in years. After several hours of defeats, Raul had begun to notice a pattern in the king. And when he finally thought he had it figured out, he spun for a win—staring right into the eyes of the king, who was holding his sword’s blade in a firm grasp and the kings blade tip at Raul’s throat.

“So, it was the style of Terminuz I saw in you. My god, it’s buried deep, but it is. I wonder when he trained you, and your stamina is outstanding. But, tell me, didn’t Terminuz tell you to also adapt and see through false patterns?” Raul, taken totally aback, asked, “By the gods, you’re skilled; tell me who you are and from where you know my benefactor.

Black Oak then, at campfires that ended glowing in the morning light, told of who he was and the long story of Junnatu Weavers and Ye Olde Zephyrs. That night, Raul left the Mermerant army and, as a colonel, began to command a company of the 1st Alliance.

During his stay in the 1st alliance, he met many a hero: Zoe Egrn, Iaspa Roullo, Homed el Rial, Sang Marsol, Hebra Hargi, and Trikzy Kizvik, to name a few. But it was a place near his homelands that ended up catching his heart. Nagghathol, a mining town that was fast-growing due to an insanely large gold ore unearthed in 1246, needed a corps of protectors, which Raul joined.

Thus, he didn’t attend the final clash betweenthe realm and the torch, nor the high king's coronation. It wasn’t until 1258, at the 3rd grand fair, that he visited Grimsborg and saw a few old heroic friends again. He also met F.F. Jaeger and was invited to the Free City of Muldum. When they left Grimsborg, he accompanied them. There he met Elge a'Gintyr and became affiliated with the Bulls Order.

Back at Nagghathol, he went on with duties and became captain of the city guard. Then one day miners streamed in panic from the shafts and cave entries. Something foul had been uncovered in the belly of the mine. While everyone streamed out, Raul walked in, axe and shield ready. Deep within he faced a group of ogryl arisen, freed from a millennia-long burial; they savagely attacked.

Advice and training sessions from the best he ever faced floated through his mind, but nothing bite on these and all seemed to clatter into a twisting knot of red-threaded rage. Then he exploded in a fury none but a few wounded miners ever saw, and with axe and shield he slashed, hacked, bashed, and pummelled the stocky arisen as if he were a whirlwind. When they all lay in pieces, posing a threat no longer, he walked out.

As he emerged, covered in gore and dried blood, it was as if he glowed red due to leeching energy from the world. Waving to his comrades, he then collapsed. Later, before the arisen were properly destroyed, one of their severed heads proclaimed that Raul had drained energy from them as well. Raul slept for two days, and when he recovered, he could remember nothing about that fight.

His senses had sharpened, and his abilities improved. Seeking advice, he was informed that his actions had been a heroic ascension. This experience made him quit the protection guards and join the Gyron lords. Protecting the commoners against monsters was a more suitable task for someone with his abilities.

In 1277, as the invaders swarmed our lands, Raul went on a solo rampage through their ranks, slaying everything from groups of Sproblin to single Gaji-Kulat, and other invader notabilities.

“The red rager, the blood orb, and the husk drainer are just “a few of his folklore titles.”

~Skjald Valgrif

 

Organisation

He’s been with the 1st alliance, an officer in his country’s army, captain of the city guard, and a monster hunter of the Gyron Lords.

“When he gives his word or swears an oath, he holds it true to the very end.”

~Skjald Vinotis

 

Special

He can go berserk, draining those nearby of health.

“Flee, flee the draining blade-swinging mill, a warning often uttered by those already at a safe distance.

~Skjald Ulrich