Leander Le Blanc

[Leander]

Basic Stats
Full Name: Leander Le Blanc
Hair: Hay blond
Eyes: Blue-green hazel
Age: 29
Height: Six feet
Weight: Ten stone two
Religion: Avatarian
Nationality: Covian (First Generation)
Current Rank: Regular Guardsman

Appearance
Higher Being was kind to Leander. He is not terribly unfortunate looking for a rough army man who, quite literally, plays with fire. Growing up as a peasant boy who bathed semi-annually he somehow managed to dodge rashes, boils, and plague that regularly affect the lower classes of Britannia. The extent of his imperfections are dints, scars, and small wounds where swords and penetrated his leather armor and left their marks all over his upper body and thighs. His most gruesome scar is, of course, a mangled “A” branded deeply into his arm. From intense militant training his build has become larger and more athletic, but remains smaller than that of the weapon wielding Covian guardsman.

Leander's History
Leander Le Blanc grew up in poor lodgings to parents of menial means in Skara Brae, though, after bribing and forging signatures and seals on a document or two, he now fancies himself to be a first generation Covian. Before life in Cove Leander was a commoner in every sense of the word. Having no great abilities or anything particularly notable in his life he was surely doomed to mediocrity. In his fourteenth year his mother died of a strange plague that struck the passenger vessel she was traveling on. His father is a tallow candle maker and tried to pass the profession onto his son. However, Leander was hardly skilled at harvesting animal fat, let alone pouring the hot wax into molds. So instead he opted to take an apprenticeship in a magic shop as an indentured servant to a wytch. It was in that little store, between all the floor sweeping and shelf stocking, that he had his humble beginnings as an Arcanist. The wytch also polished Leander’s weak reading and writing skills.

Self Education and Literacy
Since childhood, Leander consciously and deliberately set out to be a self educated poet. Needless to say, it did not work out. Writing usually went hand in hand with something else -- advancement at court, diplomacy, statecraft, or the church, things Leander knew very little about, and things a peasant could never be. Part self taught, and part formally educated by his apprenticeship, his writing on paper is archaic and grammatical. However his speech is considerably more crass and unrefined, accented, and lacking the air of refinement nobility and formally educated individuals are afforded.

Portrait of Leander. "Shipwrecked and Unshaven" Oil on canvas.

Allegiances and Devotions
Politically Leander has no voice of his own, firmly believing that people are born into their positions in Sosaria and never questioning authority. Fiercly loyal to the Covian army and to his liege, if the Baron asked him to jump off the barracks roof, he surely would.

Leander is also a religious man and his use of majick creates an interesting paradox because the two can never fully coexist or be reconciled. He is terrified of church officials, and yet as a devout Avatarian, he often seeks their council to ease the tremendous guilt he feels as an arcanist.

Service in the Covian Army
Leander came to the army in a time of turmoil, Cove’s coffers were empty and The Company had just been formed. As Leander passed through Cove one day, Torrak Keres insisted he enlist. Before Leander could properly respond Keres had already filled out half his paperwork and was tossing bloodstained black leather armor at him. Leander had never used Arcane majick offensively before, but upon calling the lightning down and smiting his first orc to the earth, he was hooked. Leander continued to proudly serve in the Covian Army once it was reformed.

Leander recently returned to the Baronship Houshold after a long stint of being stationed in Altmere and then  sent on a diplomatic mission on a remote Isle - one of the most smallest and unsettled of the Covian colonies, which resulted in a shipwreck. He 'successfully concluded' the task by cleansing several savages of a local tribe by fire.

Recently Leander has gotten back into the habit of daily army life and has built a small house on the edge of the Covianshire. There he practices the lute and increases his 'knowlege' (read: tolerance) for various single malt spirits.

Accolades Held
The Richer Crest
The Baron’s Golden Quill

Service Record
The Vesper Campaign
"This was a bloody civil war and Cove had few Arcanists then. I don't know how I would have survived without Kas, Reno, and Mercy!"