Lord Quintin Ashford
History is the story of ghosts -- the ones forgotten and the ones we have to live with.
Description: Quintin is a tall, lean young man with an athletic build and a solemn air about him. His angular features, dark brows, and slate gray eyes contribute to a brooding demeanour. All that seriousness is dispelled, however, the moment he smiles. It's a wide, amiable smile, enthusiastic and infectious, and he smiles often. There's a faint spattering of freckles scattered across the bridge of his nose. He wears his white-blonde hair swept back from his face and to the side. It's usually tousled. Quintin often seems a bit rumpled, like he's just come back from climbing something or exploring somewhere.
Personality: Eager. Affable. Earnest. Curious. Quintin grew up on tales of dashing Ashford explorers and he wants to find the forgotten, understand the reasons behind things. Uncovering and understanding history is his greatest motivation. He's also compassionate; the unkind might say 'soft-hearted', maybe even too soft-hearted to make the hard decisions a ruler must make. He's generally good-natured and confident enough in his intelligence to be unafraid of asking questions.
Background: Despite being the only child Quintin somehow managed to be a kid brother tagalong, always getting underfoot. He accomplished this by pestering his cousins, whom he admired greatly, for stories. As a child, he had a wooden sword that he took everywhere, even to bed, and dreamed of becoming a master swordsman - House Sword, in fact. Stories of battles were his bread and butter, and he was always interested in tales of trickier swordsmen who used their brains to gain advantage over their opponents. It turned out he had a head for tactics and strategy, and one of the few things that could get him to sit still were strategy games.
Otherwise always moving, Quintin had a habit of poking about and climbing around places he really shouldn't; a trip to one of Ashford's manned watch stations up in the trees resulted in a tumble when climbing and a very hard landing. He broke his leg. Badly. And then he was bedridden for a time, a young, restless boy just barely into his teenage years.
He thought he would die of boredom. It slowed him down a lot, but in some ways, it was a blessing. It meant he finally spent enough time in one spot to pay more attention to lessons and reading, to the delight of his rather scholarly father. It turned out he had to be a captive audience to become interested in practical things like economics and diplomacy. A scholarly acquaintance snuck him some tales of adventure, which he eagerly read, and soon enough, he was devouring the written word. He maintained this love of reading even after he recovered; he also gained a new understanding of the importance of a bit of caution. Just a bit. He's still happy to climb just about anything.
When he was seventeen or so, his interest in tactics and swordsmanship abruptly declined. He still enjoyed swordplay, but only with the aim of sparring. It seemed his interest in becoming House Sword had also waned; he turned more toward scholarly pursuits, becoming interested in history. History was a series of adventures, he thought, and he wanted to know about those adventures, about the people involved in them.
And so he neglected his familial duties for a time, opting to travel down south instead, poking about ruins and exploring. As of late Autumn 1010 AR, he returned to the fold and took up residence with the rest of his family in Arx.
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