Nerev wasn't always called Kell. He was given the nickname after being taken in by a small group of raiders and mercenaries, when they thought he acted and looked like the large, shelled mammal. He was with them for one reason; his family had been killed in a dispute. Not a border dispute; they had lived nowhere near the border. No, internal disputes between lords were common in the violent nation of Kiltrar, territory constanty shifting from bribes, deals, backstabbing, blackmail, and most often, simple conquest. His family had been in a struggle with the Jutins lineage for several decades, gaining ground slowly. But Yisiv Jutins, after a windfall from a dead, more notable uncle, managed to obtain four other noble families' allegiance, for the time being, and in one stroke, attacked. Now, normally when one destroyed a noble house, you left them a few acres of land as a token, to keep from killing them completely. But Jutins, caught in the battle rage, ordered his men upon the manor. Nuviv Kelarn, Nerev's father, took his retainers and Nerev's older brother Mivik to defend the house. Though they fought valiantly, as any Knight would, they were slaughtered in the end, and Nerev, left to safeguard the house directly, was forced to flee with his mother, aunt, and grandfather, to escape Yisiv's thirst. This destruction of a noble house was not permitted by the higher lords, and he had his own struggles trying to find a way to avoid being executed for his crimes. You see, in Kiltrar, it was technically illegal to fight one another, but with how violent and low in resources the country was, not to mention how it trained the men for war in times of peace, as they always stood together(more or less) against the surrounding countries, it was unofficially permitted. But there were also unofficial rules, ones you didn't break if you didn't want to be 'caught'. Jutins broke one. So Nerev was free to flee, and as only a teen, though freshly knighted, he found some friends of the family, who agreed to take care of Nerev and his relatives. But Nerev had met up with a group of mercenaries, a small band of the Gray Blades who called themselves the Gray Clubs(an in-joke, though Nerev never understood), and didn't want to show himself in Kiltrar anymore; he felt a bit ashamed, and sicked at the bloodshed. So he joined them, and the rest, as they say, is history.
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Topic: True Knights: A Suggestion Game for All (Read 28851 times)