Lord Liam Riven
Prayers will come to nothing without action from brave men.
Description: A curly mop of unruly black hair sits atop his head -- a gift he inherited from his mother, and it's a good thing that he did. It helps mitigate what would otherwise be a too-severe face made of hard lines, sharp angles, and a layer of stubble thick enough to be called 'not-quite-a-beard' by the day's end regardless of whether or not he was clean-shaven that morning. The harsh demands of a knight's training carried that same hardness through his frame, which is all taut muscle and tanned skin marred by telling scars. If there is any softness to be found in him at all, it's in his eyes. A vibrant shade of green the exact color of a spring leaf, they hold more warmth than his general bearing might suggest at first glance.
Personality: At first meeting, it would be easy to take Liam Riven for a wide-eyed idealist. After all, he's a man that not only believes in knightly virtues, but follows them as the guiding principles of his life. Honor, duty, sacrifice. That initial judgment would be a mistake. He's seen enough darkness in life to know that regardless of how he thinks the world *should* be, that's not how it actually *is*. That fact is a source of both consistent disappointment and constant frustration to the man -- and one he's passionately committed to changing, no matter what it might take. The question is whether he -- or anyone -- can actually succeed. Whatever the answer is, he'll never stop trying.
Background: Liam had what might be considered an idyllic childhood -- the operative word there being 'had'. Born as the eldest child of a cadet branch of the Riven family, his life should have been one of privilege without the pressure, of leisure without any demand that he truly lead. For the first decade of his life, it was.
But all of that came crashing down when he became an orphan at the tender age of twelve. Worst of all, his tragedy was not unique. No, Liam lost his parents on the same day that nearly an entire generation of Riven children did -- the day that a tribe of Abandoned put them and the Deepwoods to the sword, leaving the county in the hands of a girl who was only seventeen. Naturally, chaos ensued.
Suddenly several ranks higher in the House's succession, he was one of several swept up to the Twainfort proper and it was not an easy transition. It wasn't that he was unwelcome in his cousin's keep. On the contrary, he was given comfortable rooms and good tutors. He was shown kindness and warmth -- whenever she, or any of the adults, had the time. The trouble was that with all the energy being spent on averting the threat of disaster that loomed for those first few years, there was rarely any left for (yet another) broken-hearted boy underfoot. So it became a duty that Liam took on himself. He would act as guardian and protector of the small pack of orphans that roamed their halls. He would be their comforter and their guide.
It was a role he took very seriously.
So seriously, in fact, that he found his way to the path of a warrior -- and to the discipleship of Gild. Though their House remains too small for him to become fully godsworn, he serves among the Knights of Solace as duty allows. He will protect his family, and his House, and the people on the roads of Arvum. And he will do everything he can to ensure that no one suffers the pain that he did ever, ever again.
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