Preserved Sheet Garrick Wernher

[evilyami]

(art commission done by fkopko)

〘▶spirit〙〘▶judgement〙〘▶fate〙〘▶melancholy〙〘▶cacophony〙〘▶concord〙〘▶commitment〙〘▶lost〙〘▶duty〙

◈══ Character Information ══◈

◊ | Full Name: Garrick Mannes Wernher
♦ | Anglicised: Gary Warner
♦ | Titles, Occupations, and Epithets:
→ Sera Wernher/Warner, Ward-Knight of the Aelrrigan Order
◊ | Age: 32 (September 4th, 277 a.c.)
◊ | Gender: Male
◊ | Race: Ailor, Leutz-Vixe
→ Osteiermark Leutz-Ithanian lower-middle commoner
◊ | Eye Colour: Dark brown

Core - Garrick is a kindhearted gunslinger-knight struggling with guilt, grief, and his own mind. Offering peace and comfort for those around him, he still desperately wishes one day to find his own. The tragedies he has lived through have strengthened his Breizh Unionist faith, and his duty to Aloria at large keeps him steadfast and always looking towards hope on the distant shore.​

◈══ Proficiencies ══◈

◊ | Strength: 2
→ Blades Pack
→ Improvised Weapon Pack
◊ | Constitution: 0
◊ | Wisdom: 4
→ Affliction Wisdom Pack
→ Dimenthist Wisdom Pack
→ Common Alchemy Pack
→ Healing Alchemy Pack
◊ | Dexterity: 8
→ Cover Pack
→ Trailing Pack
→ Parkour Pack
→ Pistol Pack
→ Donderbus Pack
→ Longneck Pack
→ Puretek Pack
→ Thunderlance Pack
◊ | Magic: 0
◊ | Charisma: 0

░Languages░
◊ | Common | He had a commoner-level education until his squiredom, after which he was taught to speak it proper.
◊ | Lëtz | His native tongue, which he generally prefers. Reminds him of home.

░Abilities░
◊ | This man mundane as hell.

◈══ Appearance Information ══◈

​

◊ | Hair Colour: Dirty blond.
◊ | Hair Style: Medium length and intended to look softer. Somewhat well presented, with a chin-strap stubble.
◊ | Skin Colour: Fair, almost medium-skin.
◊ | Clothing: Despite his duty as a knight, he is not regularly in uniform, as much of what he offers is peace of mind, rather than sole protection. He is often seen in varying dress shirts, and a stylistic black tailcoat vest, with a faint trim. He usually dons a pair of ankle-high workboots, and a pair of beige-grey trousers held up by a brown leather belt with a brass buckle. He's often is seen wearing a gold-and-pearl beaded rosary, with an small, stylistic eye embossed as a centerpiece.
◊ | Height: 6'1" | 185 cm.

Additional information - Garrick is unmutated and entirely mundane. They made a guy with no magic a ward-knight.

◈══ Story Information ══◈

Life Story Summary​

• Garrick was born into the Hinterkarnte town of Siegerberg in the early autumn of 277, to a Leutzman regiment training officer, and a Leutz-Ithanian beautician. Ironically, the couple met at her first husband's funeral pyre.
• Garrick loved his family dearly, but after she didn't return home from her business one day, it was confirmed privately by guard investigations that she was drained of all blood, likely by a feral sanguine. Financial hardship fell upon his father having to care for three children, and so Garrick, the youngest, had to go.
• His father was bitter and hateful, but he wished for his son to not grow up to be the same way - a protector of the realm, without harming those around him, and so he turned to the sepulchre in Osteiermark.
• Garrick grew up from squiredom to knighthood among the Aelrrigan, taking a pilgrimage from temple-to-temple, but while he was learning much of magic, he was seemingly too incompetent to properly utilize it - something Garrick rationalised as divine intent to keep him that way. As a knight, he eventually was given charge of a squire, Fritz, who he grew to bond very closely with, like his own family.
• Years later, Fritz was well through his squireship, only a year away from becoming a full knight of his own respect. After a heated argument over their duty to act quickly, Fritz vanished and was later found dead. Haunted by his failure, Garrick finished his pilgrimage early and returned to the heart of the empire, to defend it against threats to precious life.

Spoiler: Additional Information Section

Spoiler: Personal Stances

Likes
∙ Drawing
∙ Dream cataloguing
∙ Socialising
∙ Enthusiasm
∙ Gentle breezes
∙ Baking and recipes
∙ Scented oils
∙ Tasteful drinks
∙ Innocence
∙ Alms

Dislikes
∙ Abuse of power
∙ Emotional suppression
∙ Hedonistic/sacrificial religions
∙ His condition
∙ Unnecessary pain
∙ Disrespect
∙ Wilful ignorance and injustice
∙ Citrus
∙ Tasteless vanity

Spoiler: The Full Backstory

Prologue, Tragedy in Hinterkarnte

• Act 1, Yet Another Babe
  • Garrick was born in the Hinterkarnte town of Siegerberg on September 4th, 277 AC as the third child to the Leutzman Sergeant Wulfgang Tomas Wernher and his Leutz-Ithanian spouse, Theophania Ailaise-Illumin Prairie Coeur Duranné-Wernher. Wulfgang was Theophania's second husband and a close friend of her first, and it comes to great irony and cruelty that the two met during the funeral pyre of her former husband, who had perished from sudden-onset illness. Garrick is welcomed into the world by his three year older brother Dieter Wernher, and his four years elder sister, Louise Wernher.

• Act 2, Runt of the Litter
  • Being the youngest in the family, he was expected to have little to no inheritance. His sister was expected to inherit her mother's oil and beauty business, and his brother was the estate heir. Being the babe, however, was not so bad. This left him with a lot more leniency towards how he was able to act, and while his family was both supportive and disciplinary of him finding his own calling in his youth, his siblings were of special fondness to him. He idolised his brother and sister, in many ways. He tailed his sister's studies, finding himself enraptured by the lessons parted onto her by his mother.

• Act 3, Death of a Saleswoman
  • Late during an evening, it was reported that a lady by the address of 'Gerhilda' had arrived for a scheduled appointment for the discussion of fragrant tinctures. His mother, however, never returned home that night. She was killed and completely drained of all blood in her body, with deep claw marks cut all over her body, and a roughly deep pair of puncture holes located by the arteries on her neck. After an investigation by region authorities due the superstitious and silent matter of her death, she was confirmed to have been killed by a feral sanguine, and most likely a recently infected one with little control of their body. The representatives reported the news and their findings to the family, once their investigation was concluded.

• Act 4, Mourn by Morning
  • The Wernher family fell to weary silence, at the lost of the family's maternal guide. Wulfgang was angered and distraught, demanding that the region guard find the culprit of Theophania's murder, not only for the sake of sating his vengeance, but to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. His prayers and demands ultimately went unanswered, and he was left to care for a six, nine, and ten year old on his own. By the end of 284, Wulfgang was in financial danger, and his heart was bitter and unable to mend. He was forced to make a difficult decision, and so he turned to his youngest.

• Act 5, Sharing the Burden
  • The youngest of the family and yet-to-be-proven, Wulfgang spoke to his son. Unsure of how to explain the situation well to somebody so young, he deliberated what to tell the boy until he came to one firm speech. The family needed somebody to grow strong and protect them, and protect the world from the very things that took their mother away. Arranging temporary care of his other children, Wulfgang lead a young Garrick down winding roads upon a cart, until they reached a towering stone structure, a temple within Osteiermark dedicated to the Aelrrigan order.
    
    Patting his child on the head, Wulfgang said goodbye and well wishes to his child. Unable to comprehend the full weight of the situation yet, Garrick approached the temple with remorse and uncertainty.

Chapter 1, Stoking Embers

• Act 6, Playing Fetch
  • It wasn't before long that Garrick started his life on the sanctuary grounds, living his young life as a fresh Page. He did as he was told, followed tasks, polished equipment, cleaned the floors, and began to learn how to cook with the help of the chefs. While too young to fully grasp magic or be taught much of it yet, he did catch the occasional word and use of it, mesmerized by the awe of the unnatural, like any boy would be. As time went by, he gained a better understanding of Unionism and of its many deities, religious heroes, and historical events. Yet, for everything he learned, he missed his family earnestly and always found himself wondering about them when he was alone.

• Act 7, Play the Hero
  • As Garrick grew older and more separated from his family, he made closer friendships with his peers at the sanctuary, and eventually gained the conviction that his father placed his faith in: Garrick wished to become a hero, somebody the Regalian people could rely on. That way, nobody would have to be hurt like his mother was, ever again. He eagerly awaited squiredom, learning more of faith and magic as he progressed through his mentorship. Throughout the years, he came to rely on Sera Gottfried Pendalhard, who offered him plentiful advice on faith and on ways to properly combat and protect the innocent from corrupted forces.

• Act 8, Evercreeping
  • As he grew into his Squiredom and began to grow his own sense of self and worth, he found himself plagued by the burden of thought. In the corners of his eyes he would spot various figures or shapes, only to turn and see nothing there. His dreams were lucid and wild, and he was always able to vividly recall any dream he had the moment he roused. Sometimes they were fantastical self-contained stories, but at other times they were very real nightmares, twisted by his deepest fears. The worst, was then both factors combined, creating a constant realm of uncertainty where even he couldn't enjoy the fantasies of his mind. On a rare occasion, he would awaken shivering or screaming, which made him an annoyance to sleep in the same room with to the other Pages and Squires.

• Act 9, Master and Mentor
  • Having proved his worth to him over the years Gottfried Pendalhard took Garrick in as his squire. He taught Garrick in ways of the blade and of crossbow, but more importantly, of ways in properly dealing with others. The world is a cruel place, as Pendalhard spoke, and those within it must be met with kindness, to make life have meaning. To him, Sera Pendalhard was a hero - but Garrick would never tell him that. Gottfried said that there are no mortal heroes in life; only folks who choose to do the right thing.

• Act 10, Practised and Imperfect
  • As Garrick continued his studies under his knightly mentor, he began to learn more and more about magic, and the responsibility of using it. While his mentor was a highly capable magical healer, calling religious rites as he sealed the wounds of the maimed, Garrick found himself unable to learn or replicate any of this magic taught to him.
    
    For the longest time, members of the Chapter scratched their heads, pondering how it could be that the squire was unable to fully grasp the nature of the magic he was taught, but when offered with different, more offensive forms of magic, Garrick refused. He was stubborn to learn the healing magic of his mentor. With repeated failures, Garrick determined that this was a fate set in motion by the Great Way, so that he may protect and educate others without ever exposing himself to the same danger.
    
    While worried of his eagerness to accept failure, magic was one of the last hurdles Garrick needed to overcome before he could become a Ward-Knight. Instead, Garrick was determined to learn all there was about magic, so he could expand his knowledge of it in full, without ever being tempted to use it for himself and become biased with any particular field.

• Act 11, the Final Test
  • Having proved himself as a highly effective sharpshooter, ablehanded with sword, and a compassionate man of faith over the years, Garrick had finally reached his coming of age. In his final mission before his graduation, he and his mentor had been sent to locate missing persons in a local swampland, said to have been abducted by Cahal. The pair had found their quarry, feasting and supping upon the life energy of two chained up men and a teenage woman. With immediate precision, the pair engaged in a fight, resulting in the death of one Cahal, the capture of another, and another who had fled for its life. Their lantern had been knocked away and extinguished in the swamp water, and their fight left them disoriented and unsure of where the way out of the swamp truly was.
    
    Gottfried picked up one man and dragged the unconscious Cahal, while Garrick carried the last two over his shoulders. In fervent prayer, Garrick had faith through his own mind that he could find the way home. Be it a good memory, a good omen, or perhaps something else, he was able to route the way back to the Aelrrigan sanctuary.
    
    For his bravery and cunning to return everyone home safely and to help in the curing of the infected Cahal, Garrick had graduated from his squiredom and had become a fully-fledged Ward-Knight. An aged Sera Pendalhard patted his shoulder, grinning with pride, marking a new era for Garrick.

Chapter 2, Pyrrhic Winds

• Act 12, Life-Long Learning
  • Having become a full-fledged Ward-Knight, Garrick wished to continue learning as much as he could of magic. With his lack of ability to perform it, to master the knowledge of the dimensions and magic would help him devise better ways to deal with the threats and renegades that worship and come from it. He left Osteiermark and began a pilgrimage to journey around all of the archipelago, to learn from every unionist sect, and be informed by every branch of the occult observed by the Aelrrigans.

• Act 13, the Next Generation
  • His first stop in his pilgrimage was the City of Calemburg. While learning of its highly organized religious network and expansion theology, he came to meet an orphan by the name of Fritz Kirchplatz. During his time at one of the Celeries, Fritz was a servant who cleaned the grounds in exchange for shelter and food. The boy explained to Garrick when he asked about why he was alone, and Fritz explained that he was forced to leave his family due to lack of financial support to care for him.
    
    Naturally empathetic to sharing a similar situation, Garrick was quick to offer squiredom to the boy, and to teach him to become a Knight - a hero to the people. Faced with an opportunity hard to refuse, the boy accepted. Over time, through the teachings of the Marvdeiz Diougan, respect, courtesy, and kindness, Garrick officially returned to his original temple near Hinterkarnte to introduce Fritz to the fold as his squire. While taking in a non-Page as squire was not so common, Garrick assured his peers that Fritz was extremely capable, and already a boy of the faith. He would take full responsibility for his integration as a Knight. Tentative, his elders agreed, and Fritz began a (rather rushed) integration into the ways of Aelrrigan.
    
    To others, their bond as Knight and Squire seemed to be closer to that of father and son. Garrick guided Fritz through the years, and knew that he was going to be able to turn him into a fine example of justice, just as his mentor did for him.

• Act 14, Return to the East
  • With his squire in tow, Garrick continued his pilgrimage across the archipelago, meeting new friends and acquaintances along the way as he visited each town, city, and temple grounds. The lessons he learned along his pilgrimage were extended to his squire, as Garrick continued to teach him of the ways of magic. Unlike himself, Fritz was magically gifted, and quickly learned to harness the power of pyre, both to cauterize and heal as well as destroy from the chapter houses. Happy for his squire's developments, he helped his squire master and restrict his magic, so that he may only use it for the sake of life, liberty, and protection of the archipelago.
    
    Together, the duo moved and learned together until they eventually reached Garrick's neighbouring region of Tirgunn. They crossed the north-western border and arrived at a small town on their map by cart. Upon exiting, they noticed a recently collapsed building. Curiosity led to inquiry, and they found it was an abandoned building that had collapsed in the night. To Garrick abandoned buildings were rarely abandoned, and home to the needy, so he and his squire investigated.
    
    After a ten minute search, they found a pair of lacerated legs, and proceeded to fervently dig out the person. A horribly injured and disfigured feminine figure laid crushed and impaled by the rubble, and so the pair carefully removed them and proceeded to find a safer and more sterile environment to treat her. With Garrick's medicinal poultices and Fritz healing cautiziations, the stranger was in better shape and left with the town's churugeon, paid by the duo. They asked in town if anyone knew the stranger, and after finding no satisfactory answer, they decided to stay the night.

• Act 15, Friends Along the Way
  • After an overnight stay at the inn and an herbal teal prescribed to fight off potential infections by the churugeon, the stranger was awake. The Knight and Squire introduced themselves, and learned of her name: Lina. Asking if she had any place to go, she had no answer to provide other than 'nowhere', a familiar word. He offered for her to join himself and Fritz to the city of Vieux-Provence. Perhaps with nothing else waiting for her, she agreed.
    
    Upon arriving to a city so close to his home for the first time in a long time, Garrick wished to enrich himself in the doctrines and beliefs of his people, and what little magic there was to be gleaned, as well as their very own defences against magic. While he learned much, it was also in this place where he learned much of firearms and its Puretek equivalent, sharing what he learned with Fritz, and even Lina, hoping for her to better defend herself from the dangers of this region in particular if she was going to be alone. Having helped as much as he possibly could to get her back to her feet, he eventually had to depart from Tirgunn, and went northbound to finally greet his family again as a grown adult.

• Act 16, Family Reunion
  • Spending time with the family after so long, to him, was heartwarming. His aging father wasn't doing very well, and after many injuries, finally enjoyed retirement, taken care of by his working children. Garrick's sister had taken over the tincture business and was bringing in plenty financially, while Garrick's brother Dieter was a successful Field Commander. He promised to help financially support them, and left feeling more uplifted, though Fritz was not, and perhaps even envious.

• Act 17, Worry
  • It was late 308. The duo had travelled to Treppewiss. Fritz was eager to prove himself, as it was his final year of Squiredom. While Garrick did his best to support his student, Fritz was self-assured and confident. Reports came in of a dangerous renegade mage in the region, who was seen slaughtering Unionists and destroying temples in the region. The mage was by all accounts, incredibly dangerous, and Garrick wished to write for an investigation and backup to his fellow Ward-Knights across the archipelago. After a heated disagreement, Fritz demanded to solve this problem now before it got worse, and left supervision against direct orders to search and deal with the vampire himself.
    
    Months had passed, and Fritz was only safely assumed either dead or a deserter. Garrick was haunted by this, knowing that his hesitance to be stern to his student led to this, and that he should have known this could have happened and been more prepared. Garrick remained hopeful for Fritz' fate. He always kept the pearlescent pendant he meant to give his student for graduating on his person, should he ever cross ways with the young adult again.

• Act 18, Desperate Search
  • The only option that assured Fritz was alive is the theory of desertion. Determined to find his Squire, Garrick retraced his steps back where he came, through both Calemburg and Osteiermark. His inquiries and search led to no sign of the teenager in either. Still unfettered, Garrick continued his search, until he once again reached the city of Vieux-Provence. He searched for Lina once more, hoping that she would have seen his squire, but instead of finding her, he was instead met with a missive delivered from his fellow Aelrrigans, bearing ill tidings.

Chapter 3, Open Flames

• Act 19, Silent Sorrow
  • He re-read the letter every day, clinging painfully to the rosaries around his neck. Fritz was found dead, drained of all of his blood by his Aelrrigan peers - the very same backup he wrote for when he found the reports of the renegade mage. While the mage was apprehended, Garrick was left with nothing but melancholy.
    
    He couldn't bring himself to return to the sanctuary, to seek a new Squire among the Pages. He only wished to wash away the pain of losing Fritz. His occasional drinking became chronic, and his appearance became ragged and disheveled. A poor excuse for a knight, he was overwhelmed by grief for losing his hope, and the closest thing he ever had to a son.
    
    As time passed after the disappearance of his squire, his hallucinations had grown more active. He did well staving off the visions and distinguishing reality from fiction, but it was tiring upon the weight of his soul. His dreamscape was volatile, with nearly every night resulting in waking in cold sweat to sleep paralysis. Rarely, he instead would dream of divine visions for him - reassurance from the emperors, his missing student, and his mentor whom had since left the castle. Always unsure of what to make of his thoughts, he could only find himself returning to blinding it all away in drunken stupor, running away from lucidity.

• Act 20, Faint Light
  • Laying outside of a tavern in mid-day, shitfaced drunk and unresponsive, did a familiar face spot him. Lina greeted him, to which he was too depressed and drunk to be coherent in reply. This time, it appears she had returned the favour, and helped him clean up and detox over the day. Garrick revealed Fritz' death and his guilt over his part in it.
    
    Months of mourning pass by, and while he seemed to outwardly improve, his mind remained turbulent and his heart was just as shattered. He still could not bear the weight of replacing Fritz after all of the years the two had spent together, but was more determined than ever to protect the world himself from the dangers that dwell in it, and to stoke the fires of compassion and kindness in as many as he could meet, so that people abandoned could be given a chance at life.
    
    He was never quite the same, since. Garrick relied on his new friend Lina far more than he was comfortable with, hoping her support could help him in his recovery, and offering as much as he could in return back to Lina with wisdom. His resolve grew stronger by day, and by the year 310, he felt ready to move on. Stowing his weapons, the Ward-Knight and Lina chartered to the City of Light, hoping to make a difference.

 

[Caelamus]

Approved.