Angus Haraldsson

For his age, Angus is in prime physical shape. He retains the flexibility and strength of youth, although he does not move as fast as before. He is rarely sick, although he does suffer some infirmities associated with aging. His vision is not as good as it once was, although still good enough to be a skilled slinger.

His beard is neatly trimmed and remains mostly red with some streaks of grey. The red is a bit brighter than his auburn hair, which also is beginning to grey. He has deep wrinkles around his eyes from years of squinting against the sun, and a faint scar mostly hidden by the beard. His nose is straight and medium-sized. His skin is weathered with ruddy cheeks and freckles that have swallowed most of the free skin.

Angus has walked strangely since his stint as a horse, moving with a bouncing gait that resembles a canter.

Preferring the traditional clothes of his home, he generally wears loose-fitting trousers and tunics made from linen or cotton. Black leather boots or shoes over wool socks round out his daily wear.

He wears a charm carved by his wife on his left wrist. The charm is supposed to protect the wearer from harm, although he wears it in remembrance of his wife rather than for any protection.

Angus wears plate armor he earned through his service to the Army of Faith. It is functional armor with little decoration, with just the shield of Quentis engraved on the breastplate.

His glaive is made from a special metal designed by the artificer Durdeg Harkonnen. The metal dampens vibrations making it easier to hold when standing up to a cavalry charge.

He has two slings that he keeps with him. His primary sling is a Blackstone war sling, a design similar to the war slings of the Scopulae. It is six feet long, made from braided horse hair, and uses half-pound stones which he can accurately throw over 50 yards.

His second sling is a final safety weapon, disguised as underwear. In need, he can tear the stitches off the clothing, revealing a short sling that can be used in extreme need as both a sling or a sap.

Angus was born in Dobrek to a miller and a seamstress. When he was two, his parents were killed in a fire and he and his sister were left orphans. They were both taken in by the Church of Quentis and raised by the monks and nuns of Abeldyne Abbey. Their guardians indulged them both and they benefitted from a full religious education at an early age.

While Angus believed in the tenets of the faith, he did not experience the calling necessary to become a cleric of Quentis. As a boy, he preferred fighting and sports to studying, so he left the seminary and moved on to becoming a soldier. He met his future wife, Sylva, during his basic training in the Army of Light, and his son Conner was born shortly after he graduated from the elite training academy and joined the 1st Battalion.

With the constant wars between Blackstone and the Empire of the Storm, Sulae, and the Children, Angus was deployed with the 1st for a large part of his time in service. Campaign deployments varied between six months to two years, before rotating home for defense duty. During one of his times in home defense, his wife suffered a massive stroke and passed away. This resulted in his longest stay at home during his career as he ensured his son could enter the Church education system. With his son taken care of, he redeployed and continued to serve his full 20-year commitment.

When he finished his service, he was lost for a brief time. With his son dedicated to the church and his friends all military members, he could not fully adjust to civilian life. He returned to the army as an instructor while attempting to find more purpose. He explored the city more than he had ever been able to before, learning things about his home he never knew. After exploring every nook and cranny of Dobrek, he discovered an urge to learn more about distant places.

When the region entered an unprecedented lull in the wars, he set out to see the world he fought over. He supplemented his pension with caravan guard work, choosing his jobs by how far they could take him. He traveled across the continent, from Blackstone to Corellum and back. On a trip leaving the Corellum capitol, the caravan passed by the Torbrek Tower. An unknown member of the caravan offended the witch Ereldia in some manner, and every member of the caravan was cursed in some way.

Angus' curse was to be permanently polymorphed into a heavy draft horse. He retained his mental facilities but had no way to tell anyone and no one to tell. He wandered the plains for a few months before being rounded up by a local rancher. He attempted to show his new master what he was, but nothing got through, and he was ridden while the rancher drove his cattle to market. There, he was sold to a trader where he ended up pulling a cart to Londe.

He always tried to show what he was but failed regularly. However, he was different enough from a regular horse that he made his owners uncomfortable and he was sold repeatedly. After two years as a horse, he ended up in a stable in the Grey Citadel. While there he encountered the Shenanigans, and finally found someone to end his curse.

Sif Tannen realized what he was and struck down the horse form, reverting him to his original body. He swore himself in service to the Shenanigans in general and Sif in particular for two years in repayment. For several months, he helped protect the group until they left him behind in Rah'ghul to protect the mine. Sif fell to darkness while he was there and he has blamed himself ever since.

Angus was educated by the priests in the Church of Quentis until his 12th year. He initially trained to be a priest but never truly had a calling as was redirected to martial training. He learned to read and write Human, Dwarvish, and Orcish, basic arithmetic, and the fundamental teachings of Quentis.

When he changed to the martial training track, he focused on the glaive and a defensive fighting style, intending to join the army of Quentis. For a ranged weapon, he specialized in war sling.

After finishing his education from the Church, Angus enlisted with the Army of Faith. As an expert in the glaive, he was a member of the armored infantry. He served for 20 years in the 1st Battalion, the front-line unit of the army. He was awarded 22 medals over his career, making him one of the most decorated members of the Army. He received the Golden Cross for single-handedly holding off a platoon of Vicien Marauders from a group of refugees sheltering in a church.

After retiring from active duty, he became an instructor in glaives and slings at the academy in Dorbrek. When his son left Dobrek to matriculate into the College of Theology, he decided to see the world. He began working as a caravan guard, hiring on to whatever caravan was traveling to a place he'd never been.

Angus was a decorated hero during his time in the Army of Light. He was awarded the highest honors the Army granted, demonstrating unsurpassed bravery on several occasions. In addition, he has awards for achievements with both the glaive and sling.

His first medal was the Copper Crescent, given for detecting the Wesleyn pirate fleet invading under cover of fog and sounding the alarm. He was awarded a total of eight Copper Crescents throughout his career.

He earned his first Silver Star when he was guarding a munitions caravan traveling near the Empire of the Storm. When raiders hit, he successfully defended his section of the caravan, driving off the attackers. With his fellow troops mopping up the last of the attackers, he noticed the trailing wagons moving away from the caravan and the few remaining defenders making a final stand. He immediately threw himself towards them, launching sling stones and knocking the one driving the wagons from his seat. When the other raiders turned on him, he held them off with his glaive and succeeded in pulling the leader from the saddle and revealing him as a captain in the Sulaen military, He earned five other Silver Stars in his career.

His Golden Cross was earned when he was returning from the front and passed through a small town turned refugee camp eight miles back from the lines. The lines broke and a platoon of Sulaen skirmishers hit the camp. Angus blocked the door of the church where the refugees were sheltered, holding off the entire platoon. He killed the platoon to the last man shortly before reinforcements arrived.

Angus was considered for command and allowed to test his abilities at the Officer College. He washed out in the second week, demonstrating no skill for tactical thinking and limited ability to lead others.

Angus is a very straightforward thinker with little creativity. He is very good at following orders but not skilled at crafting them. In mental endeavors he tends to have tunnel vision, and has a hard time adapting when plans go awry.

The greatest good for Angus is protecting others. He is quite willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good - he has a savior complex and a lack of self-preservation.

Angus has a deep desire to protect those he cares about. His faith in Quentis drives him to be the shield for his loved ones, and he is possibly too willing to die in place of others. His experience being raised and protected by the priests and nuns after his parents deaths gave him a fundamental desire to do the same for others.