Para Roanik

Knight-Commander of the Mounted Borderers, Anshan Post

Snapshot

• Role: Commanding officer of the Anshan outpost and rising watch-tower; reports to Sir Goodwyn; supplied and audited through Sir Simon Milinous’s network; the site stands on House Asbury’s marches.
• Reputation: Calm, exacting, “names first, business second.” Decorated at Emridy Meadows seven years ago; brevet to captain on the field.
• Headcount: Post built for 20; usually 10–12 in the district, with 4–6 out on the trail and a few rotated to Verbobonc City for remounts and paperwork.
• Primary Worries:
• Pirates & road brigands running untaxed eel-oil and trading steel to lizardfolk.
• Remnant elemental cultists (Temple leftovers) probing the marches.
• Keeping the bridge and boardwalks open under thin manpower.

Look & Presence

Short-cropped dark hair, weathered skin, rider’s build; clean kit, light chain under a borderer’s half-cloak. Voice measured; eyes always on corners—gate, hoist, horizons. Para writes left-handed with neat block letters. Horses adore him; drunks do not.

Instant read at the table: professional, contained, not unkind—like a well-made scabbard.

How Para Works

• Doctrine: “Small teams, clear orders, ride light, return with proof.”
• Habit: Logs two facts and one question from every report; stamps a receipt; sends a copy north by rider at dusk.
• Lines you can use:
• “Names first. Business second.”
• “Ink is cheap. Mistakes aren’t.”
• “If you’re headed east, you’ll report back what you see.”
• “If you’re not on business, say so and I’ll sleep easier.”

Background beats

• Emridy Meadows (7 years ago): Held a crumbling ditch line long enough for a counter-charge to swing; took the brevet and never talked about it again.
• Posting in the marches: Chose the edges over a city desk. Claims the fen teaches honest habits: clean tack, short words, no promises you can’t ride through.

Relationships

• Sir Goodwyn (direct superior): Respect without flattery; Para forwards clean, conservative requests—no drama.
• Sir Simon Milinous (supply/oversight): Grateful for stone, nails, remounts; refuses political favors. “Keep my yard out of your hall.”
• House Asbury (landholder): Courteous; expects Asbury folk to honor patrol rules and bridge bonds.
• Curate Waldere: Uses him for oaths and sanctification; worries about the bottle but never says it aloud.
• 2. Alston’s Mill: Relies on Praen and Sherina for boards, quiet intelligence, and fast runners.

Current Intelligence Picture

• Steel to the Reeds: Two seized javelin heads marked with upland maker’s marks; suspects pirate waystations along the stream.
• Culvert Traffic: Night scuffs near the tavern outflow; eel-oil moving without tithe stamps.
• Elemental Remnants: Small signs—beacon stones defaced with triangle and wave glyphs; one “pilgrim” with sand-heavy boots. “Someone’s testing our attention span.”

What Para Wants from PCs

1. Map marks and a token (fetish, arrowhead, culvert scrap) for each claim.
2. Escort & plank work when the bridge dips or boardwalk fails.
3. Proof of steel trade to the lizardfolk (a maker’s stamp, a confessing runner).
4. Eyes on cult symbols; do not raid alone at night—track, mark, return.

What Para offers (on trust): at-cost kit (oil, twine, torches), stamped receipts, a favor with the Longriders dispatch, and her signature on a Writ of Custody for Mirewatch once they’re useful to patrols.

Roleplaying Para (quick cues)

• Voice: Even, clipped, courteous without warmth.
• Stance: Squared shoulders; one hand resting on a tower shield rack or saddle.
• Tell: Repeats your last claim back as a question to check it. Writes while you speak.
• Soft spot: Good horses; people who keep their word; children who know how to coil a rope.

Hooks & Scenes

• Bridge at Dusk: “Ten planks to lay before moonrise. Stirges over the herd—drive, don’t slaughter.”
• Steel Chain: “Bring me one upland maker’s mark off a lizardman spear. I’ll trade you a message-run and a quiet corner to plan.”
• False Lights: “Three nights running—steady lights across the flats. Lanterns don’t hold that steady. Confirm and come back.”
• Quiet Night: If the yard goes silent (storm or sabotage), Para orders a noise ward—kettle line on the tower, rattle-strings on the rail—then walks it herself.

Secrets (GM)

• Field Letter: Keeps a folded letter from Emridy in the inside pocket; the name on it is crossed out twice.
• Political line: Will not let Milinous quarter city troops in the yard; will bend for Asbury peasants in a flood.
• Contingency: Has a sealed fire-pot to light the tower beacon visible to two distant posts; will burn it rather than lose a patrol in fog.

"I am Captain Para Roanik knight commander of the Mounted Borderers safety and defense of this remote area of the Viscounty. I serve under Sir Goodwyn. This outpost is part of Sir Simon Milinous holdings and is under expansion to help accommodate the increased numbers of borderers being posted here. Sir Goodwyn is in Verbobonc on viscounty business. I am under orders to expand this outpost and patrol the Fens. It is unfortunate that the vermin escaped our notice. Many such creatures lair in the Etters. It seems this is the first time they braved raiding the main merchant road. "

"Sergent Brennard, take a squad to Smills farm and investigate. Check the other farms in the area and report to me." By order of Sir Goodwyn in the name of House Milinous and the Viscounty, bounties are paid for humonoids and monstrous creatures raiding into the viscounty."

"The people of the Viscounty, Sir Goodwyn and myself thank you for your services. If you could but answer a few questions. What exactly brings you to the Anshan? The only this in this region of the viscounty is the fens. Only few dare make the journey. I would like to know what business you have here."