Keak Vallian

Keak Vallian
"With open arms, the Lord accepts his soldiers. With sharpened blade, the Commander greets his foes. With softest prayer, the man grieves his fallen."

- Keak Vallian

Physical Description
The Margrave of Vallenhall has always been an unassuming man at a glance. Never blessed with a bulky frame or towering height, Keak Vallian would never be taken in a picture for a commander of men and conqueror of armies. He stands only five feet and nine inches, a little below many of his peers throughout his life; and considerably below his Elven allies of more recent years.

His facial features speak of nobility and rough command once inspected, a strong jawline and broad chin giving him an imposing enough resting expression. Additionally, the Lord's nose is bent ever-so-slightly to the right; likely a sign of an early breaking which set improperly. The Margrave's still-youthful chestnut hair has only recently begun to grey, becoming visible in a stripe underneath his beard and just above his temples.

While at a mere glance Sir Vallian would never be taken for much, his presence is unmistakable when he is spoken to or engaged. Everything from his posture to his mannerisms, his tone of voice and regal bearing mark him out as a man of importance and command. The same quality which inspires fanaticism in a dictator's soldiers can be found in spades around Keak; he has a charismatic presence fit to drive men to battle and win others to his side. He is a true-born leader of men.

Personality
Sir Vallian is a man of many layers, as most leaders are. One might find he speaks an entirely different language to his men, and wears an unrecognizable face before his enemies. At his deepest core, two things are essentially always true of the Margrave.

The first is that he holds a deep and abiding love for his people. Disregarding pretense or posturing, Keak will never miss a chance to interact with his soldiers in every way from gambling to drinking to singing. He revels in the sharing of tales and trading of friendly blows between brothers in arms, and will almost always prefer the role of father figure to that of the drill master. Throughout all that he does, this love and comradeship with his people is more or less half of Sir Vallian's motivation.

The second is a much lesser known trait of the Margrave's. Rarely known to outsiders but understood quite well by his men, Sir Vallian carries a burning love for war. To smell cannon smoke drifting over fields, feel the drum of a thousand feet rolling underneath him, hear the raising of the drums; these things are a pleasure which the Margrave cannot find in anything else. He does not have any particular love or distaste for the act of killing in and of itself, but the culmination of all the parts of war; of command, execution, and conquest. Brought together, these create war in Sir Vallian's mind. And no song is sweeter, no maiden more desirable to him than that cruel mistress of broken blades and bloody armor.