Profile -
Name: James Calan Age: 60 (looks to be mid-20's) Height: varies, 6' when in Homid form, 9'6" when in Crinos form Build: Athletic when in Homid, Muscular when in Crinos form Race: Silver Fang Garou Hair: Silver, short-medium lengthed Eyes: Red
History- James was born into an age of feudal lords and warring states that he never knew. During this time, a Duke by the name of Corino Milano had waged war on his neighboring states in order to expand his territory. Due to the Duke's military being minuscule, Corino relied heavily on his wealth to attract warriors to his cause. Of these warriors was Willem Calan, head of a tribe of excommunicated Silver Fang Garou that lived on the Corino's land. However, it wasn't the Duke's wealth that Willem coveted. The Duke's daughter, Cora Milano , was said to be the most beautiful woman in the Duke's land, and it was the love of Cora that drew Willem to aid Corino. For years, Willem and Cora had shared a love that the Duke forbid. In an effort to stymie their relationship, the Duke had assigned one of his personal guard, Alistar Calysto, as Cora's personal bodyguard, hoping that she would fall for the handsome soldier. What Corino didn't know was that Alistar was a close friend to Willem, and it was through Alistar's efforts that they were able to maintain their relationship in secret.
After several years of fighting, an end to the war was in sight. Corino's mercenaries fell one by one until finally, Willem's tribe was overrun and the Duke's Keep was in danger of falling. In an effort to save Cora and her unborn child, Alistar disappeared with her in the dead of night, taking her deep into the surrounding forest to the hut that he grew up in. A few short months later, James was born in the relative serenity of the woods. Two years later, Cora died after giving birth to her second child, Donovan.
Alistar raised James and Donovan as his own two children and, being a highly skilled soldier himself, began to teach the two of them the path of the warrior and survival when they came of age. With a strict daily regimine, James and Donovan trained and studied up until James reached the age of twelve. Shortly after James' twelfth birthday. A group of knights tasked by Corino had arrived on a stormy night, to bring home his daughter, Alistar, and the child that was supposed to be with them. After explaining to Alistar that a rebel faction led by Corino had overthrown the current ruler of the land and restored Corino's status as a noble. Corino wanted all of them to return. Having enjoyed the last decade in peaceful bliss, Alistar refused to give the boys up, sparking a confrontation between Alistar and the knights. Taking up arms along their mentor and father, James and Donovan attempted to repel the knights' assault, but their efforts proved fruitless as Donovan was kidnapped and Alistar was killed. The emotion of losing both his brother and his father figure was too much for James to handle, and he blacked out, falling into his first bloodlust rampage. When he awoke the next morning, he found several of the knights' bodies to be mangled by an unknown beast, unaware of what happened after he blacked out.
James survived on his own for the next five years before being taken into a band of vagabonds and mercenaries where he was accepted as one of their own and quickly became one of their strongest arms due to his training and his family bloodline. It was with this group of Vagabonds that James met his first love, Yvonne. Yvonne was a young warrior about two years younger than James. When James came into the group at seventeen, the two of them took an instant liking to each other and were practically inseparable for the next four years. When James was reaching his twenty-second birthday, a catastrophic massacre, masterminded by an angered nobleman that had be on the receiving of the vagabonds assaults, left most of the mercenaries dead and James running Yvonne off to safety before making his first conscience transformation into his crinos form. After the last assassin was slaughtered, James found himself alone again and unable to find Yvonne. Depressed, James found himself searching for a new home once again.
After a year had passed, James had found himself in the lands of Scotland, where he quickly became accepted by the Clan MacGregor, the current ruling family of the lands of Scotland and headed by King Michael and his twin sister, Eden. Due to his experience, James was accepted as one of the knights, and became part of a trifecta of military leadership along with the head knights and his sworn brothers Tristan and Cecil. During his initial time in Scotland, James grew close to Eden, eventually wedding the King's Sister. The marriage was short-lived, however, and James left the lands of Scotland for a brief period of time.
During his absence from Scotland, James was welcomed with open arms into the Solamniac Order of Knights and was awarded a position in the Knights of the Rose, the highest order of knights, by Ethan Bedwyr, the Lord of the Order of the Rose. He enjoyed his time among the knights, and became close friends with Lord Bedwyr. Much to James' distaste, however, the Solamniac Knights grew corrupt overtime and knowing that a cleansing by Lord Bedwyr would be in order, James began to distance himself from the knights. Eventually he would leave his post with Lord Bedwyr's blessing, being drawn back to Scotland after a talk with his friend and comrade, Crysta Hawk.
James returned to Scotland, and once again served as a knight under King Michael, this time serving loyally for many years, eventually becoming one of his two most trusted advisers along with King Michael's Paladin, Duran. However, disaster was soon to be afoot for Scotland, after a rather peaceful two decades.
After nearly twenty years as ruler and after losing many lives repelling off Viking Hordes, King Michael was assassinated by Cecil, one of his own knights. Disappointed in his inability to protect his lord, James set out to capture Cecil and bring him to justice for his crimes. Accompanied only by his faithful steed Cassius and Crysta, James spent the next few months tracking Cecil's trail through the harsh, frozen climates of the northern mountains before finally finding the man's body, having succumbed to the elements.
Upon returning to Scotland with Cecil's body, James found that Duran had assumed kingship through his recent marriage to Scotland's new ruler, Queen Eden. Having been a long-time friend and confident to Duran, James accepted him as the new king, retiring as a knight to work as Scotland's military strategist on a full-time basis. At the age of 40, James would meet Genna Silverwind, one of Eden's daughters from her second marriage. Genna and James took an instant liking to each other, and they were wed a few short months after meeting and the two of them bore a son, Ethan Alexander Darlantan Calan.
Shortly after Ethan's birth, things turned downhill for Scotland. Random attacks from hell spawn enemies ravaged the lands. Unable to effectively defend and attack this new menace, James and Duran agreed to start moving the civilians and families out as soon as possible. Quickly shuttling Genna and Ethan to her father, Darlantan Silverwind, to escort them to the frozen northlands, he exchanged a final farewell with the three of them, and has yet to see them again.
The ensuing battle was short and vicious, leveling most of the lands of Scotland, but ended in a bittersweet victory for King Duran. Despite being able to drive away the hell spawn, Scotland was unable to fully recover from the assault, and James stood by King Duran's side until the King died from despair. Declining the recommendation from the rest of the remaining knights to assume kingship, James recommended to all of them to find their families and live out their lives in any peaceable manner, before disappearing from the ruins of Edinburgh Castle.
The next fifteen years weren't kind to James. Though he was able to find places to call home for small amounts of time, it seemed that destruction always followed him. James witnessed the decimation of the Knights of Solamnia and the death of his friend, Lord Bedwyr, suffered through the annihilation of the Rising Sands Mercenary Desert Fort as a diplomat and adviser to it's master, and the destruction of Castle Reiven in the mountains of Romania while serving as a blacksmith.
Seeing the events as a sign of his cursed existence bringing misfortune to those around him, James finally decided to live his life in solitude, hoping to live out his days in peace, without affecting anyone else. His solitude was short-lived, however, when he was abruptly found, once again, by Crysta. Once again getting roped into action by Crysta, he spends a majority of his time traveling around the world with her.
James is a strictly medieval and fantasy character. He is one of my two pride and joys and is my longest running active character, having been my first character created for Yahoo! RPing back in 1997.
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