Maximilian – Le Morte Kahn

Max was born in 5916 AF, in the village of Falmount. This is a small settlement in the foothills of the Perpetual Mountains, north of the Saar valley. Max was the youngest of five children, with three brothers and a sister. His father was the village smith, a large, powerful man. There were complications during Max’s birth, which left him a frail child, often confined to bed. No one expected him to live for long. His parents thought him special, and doted on him. His father even made him a pair of swords, tailored to his weakness and small size. All the extra attention made his brothers and sisters jealous, and they avoided his company. Max was often alone.
Max surprised everyone, and seemingly by sheer force of will, lived and grew stronger, although he was still small. When he was a young boy, his father’s kiln-forge blew up and his father was seriously injured. He never recovered. Max watched his father dwindle from a powerful blacksmith to a wasted shell. Max took his father’s accident badly, and stayed by his side until the end, which took years.
After his father finally died Max began training with weapons. An old hermit named Cynar lived near the village. He made some money by teaching the boys to use weapons. For some reason, he took a real interest in Max and Morgan, and spent hours training them, but never asked for any payment. Max practically lived with the man, and worked harder than anyone. He was determined to overcome his childhood weakness. He always used the swords his father had made him. In the meantime, Max’s mother died, mainly from grief at her husband’s misfortune.
A head shorter than Morgan, lean and supple, Max has black hair and a closely trimmed goatee that contrasts sharply with his pale skin. Handsome in a classical sense, his eyes lend a coldness to his face---dead eyes, like pale blue holes in a mask. The most striking thing about Max is the way he moves. Inhumanly graceful and fluid in his actions, incredibly fast, his lean muscles deceptively powerful, he resembles a mountain panther stalking its prey. Max wears dark clothing and carries two short swords made of ebonite. Max has a long recurve bow, made of layers of dark, lacquered wood. He calls the bow Stryker and is an excellent archer. Max also has a small dagger, with a black blade and a crystal sphere that adorns the hilt. The blade is ebonite, worked at the smithys of Khulankor and the globe is a form of Luminarae.
Morgan and Max left Falmount as young men and petitioned to join the Raavs, a mercenary company. They fought many battles and worked their way up the ranks, until Max became Commander of the Eighth Legion. Max is probably the deadliest swordsman in the Raavs.
Max is very quick-witted, cynical and sarcastic. He hides his feelings and no one except Morgan has ever gotten very close to him. Even Morgan does not know him that well, in spite of all their time together. Max prefers shallow, short-term relationships with women. Due to imprisonment in a small, dark cell, Max has developed claustrophobia, but fears nothing else on the planet.