Andre Castemieres
Details
Full Name: Andre Adélard Castemieres
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Age: 44
Height: 6'3
Weight: 210lbs
Birthdate: 14th of Glade-4578
Birthplace: Daravin Empire, The city of Genteven
Profession: Valran within the Halamire
Housing:
Partners: N/A
Titles: Beast of Genteven (Moniker/Nickname)
Factions: Halamire
Fluencies: Common, Gentevarese
Conversationals: None
Ineptitudes: None
Appearance
Andre is a handsome man with a fair-complexion. He sports a closely-shaven and well kept beard. Andre typically keeps his hair short and neatly trimmed due to a belief that long hair causes problems in combat. He bares piercing blue-grey eyes with a large jagged and uneven scar running the length of his cheek starting just below his left-eye. A combat wound sustained during an extended and particularly grisly campaign. His physique is somewhat intimidating and imposing. He's muscular visibly so and quite tall at that, often becoming even more imposing and dread-inspiring within armor. Running the length of his spine vertically and something rarely seen is the mark of Resonance.
Personality
Andre is remarkably open and humble for a Valran if not downright charming and personable. Having been born of common standing, He ambitiously ascended through the rank and file to his position solely through hard work and merit alone rather than birthright. He has a notable soft spot for the common folk of the empire as a result of this. The resulting upbringing through the military also gave Andre a tenacious and stubborn streak. He's very stuck in his ways and unwilling to budge on his viewpoints. On the battlefield he's known as a ruthless and brutal tactician willing to take many calculated risks to secure victory, having even garnered somewhat of a dreadful reputation that strikes fear in the hearts of his enemies from the stories of things he's willing to do. An intelligent man, Andre prefers the finer things in life feeling he's earned his right to indulge in a little opulence from time to time lending to more hedonistic traits rearing their ugly heads, mainly in the form of women and drink.
History
Andre was born the son of a commoner. His father was a relative nobody, a rank and file foot soldier within the empires army that was happy to do his part and come home to his wife in one-piece. Andre was born during unfavorable times right at the tail end of a particularly nasty dust storm. Thankfully his birth was not a difficult one and Andre was uncharacteristically healthy compared to most infants born at the time. Out of a total of about 367 that were born that day, Andre was part of the 10% that actually remained alive after birth. Most were born sickly or stillborn. Andres first few years were spent learning life-skills with his father teaching him to swing a sword and endure pain the moment he had grown enough to have the strength to pick up a blade. His father chose to do what might be seen as absurd by others and train Andre in such things so early because he'd made a powerful connection shortly before Andres birth with a somewhat notable Valran. His father had foiled an assassination plot against the man during his service alongside him, saving his life and earning his favor. As such seeing a selfish means to increase his own standing and the standing of Andre himself he'd decided to take the first few years of Andres life training him with a blade and to endure pain so that he might stand a chance at receiving military training, and a better shot at surviving an initiation from the Valran. At the age of ten Andres father deemed the training he'd started when Andre was only six suitable enough, thus he sent him off to his Valran contact who promptly collected him.
Andre received a lavish meal upon his arrival at the mans estate, presumably under the assumption it would likely be the last thing the boy ever ate. After the meal he was placed within a modestly furnished room and instructed to rest and gather his strength for the coming trial. He was awoken promptly the following morning and the initiation began with little ceremony. Andre was stripped and the mark was inscribed upon the young boys back running the entire length of his spine. Then began the attuning a grueling process that resulted in Andre very nearly and predictably coming exceedingly close to death. Several of the boys bones shattered during the process with some resulting in internal bleeding, by some miracle though all of them missed rupturing any internal organs. After his recovery Andre was shipped off with little fanfare to spend the rest of his formative years within a Military Academy where he learned to read and write, he also received further instruction upon combat, the finer points of swordsmanship, advanced battlefield tactics. The knowledge and skills gained within the Academy were a privilege and reward afforded to Andre for being one of the few to survive an Initiation.
Shortly after his eventual graduation from the Academy, Andre would go on to join the Military and steadily rise through the ranks. It is within the early years of his service that he received his second mark of control after rescuing a senior-officer from an attempt at his life during a particularly long, brutal and grueling campaign also earning himself a nasty scar in the process. He was initiated shortly after the campaign ended by the officer he'd rescued into the discipline of Mentalism. Andre served faithfully throughout several campaigns within his youth as a mere rank and file foot soldier much like his father, having to claw his way up the ladder and grasping stubbornly for purchase at every opportunity. Andre began to carve out both a name and an exceedingly ruthless reputation for himself within the ranks. Something that made him stand out and become noticed, his tactical knowhow began to be widely admired within the ranks, as did his cunning sense of diplomacy and the brutal victories won out over the many campaigns he participated in. Andre had finally begun to stand out and as such climbed higher and higher with every campaign until eventually the grizzled veteran secured a position won through his devotion displayed to the Montese, exemplary service, and skills. He became a Valran elevating his status within society to something beyond a mere rank and file soldier.
