Gareth Evershield

Gareth Evershield
"We cannot change the past, only fight for a better future."
Gender	Male
Race	Hyur
Clan	Midlander/Highlander
Citizenship	Ul'dahn
Age	20
Height & Weight	6 fulms & 203 ponz
Affiliations	Immortal Flames, Red Wings
Occupation	Flame Corporal
Guardian	Rhalgr, the Destroyer

General

Gareth Evershield is an Ul'dahn hailing from Vesper Bay. A kind-hearted man, his joking nature is only overshadowed by his will to seek the betterment of others, working tirelessly to serve Eorzea and it's people through his enlistment as an Immortal Flames soldier. Now a Corporal of the Red Wings, a division of the Immortal Flames under the command of Erik Mynhier, he strives endlessly continue learning and growing stronger.

Appearance

'Old' Look

Gareth's face is not an outstanding feature, no cut or handsome embellishments making women swoon at the sight of him. His eyes, however, are an unusual hue of red, though even this is not a trait too rare. His hair is a dark brown, often loosely hanging from his head without any styling. Into his later years, Gareth grew a small beard on his chin, though he began questioning it's appeal after having it called "Gunpowder on his chin." Gareth's left cheek holds a scar, a deep cut the spans roughly an inch across his face.

Gareth, growing up, always stood head to head with most Hyur females, dwarfed by anything else that wasn't a Lalafell. Only reaching 5 fulms and 8 ilms by the time he was 20, his height would rarely match others of kind. He was never particularity built, but was never considered scrawny. His toned arms showed the results of physical labor and bar fights, his two main source of activity, at the time. Upon his body, his left shoulder holds a bite mark scar, the span of the teeth marks going from the top of his shoulder to halfway down his forearm. His right shoulder has a deep cut slightly above the armpit, reach all the way up and arcing across to the back of his shoulder.

At the time, Gareth wore loose tunics and pants, servants' clothing, as he never had the gil, nor the need, for new clothing. As he joined the Immortal Flames, he bore a small outfit of bronze armor, as well as the Immortal Flames cloth uniform. However, after recieving a punishing cut across his chest, the cloth shirt doing little to stop it, he sacrificed his open, airy uniform for his stuffy, protective bronze armor. He would also receive a gladiator trainee outfit, a mail shirt, much too big for him, a brown tunic, gauntlets, and cloth pants and boots denoted him as a novice fighter with the sword and shield.

'New' Look

Shortly after Gareth had joined the Red Wings, he was given the opportunity to work under the tutelage of Master Gladiator trainer Raging Behemoth, who agreed to train the small, inexperienced Hyur to use the sword and shield. Not only did he train him in combat, but also endurance, strength, and ideology. The ensuing trials pushed Gareth to his limits, but he pushed back and grew stronger from it. After a roughly a month and a half, he'd already undergone severe change. His body grew larger overall, his height reaching 6 fulms, still short by Highlander standards, but he was no longer shorter than majority of his own race. His face chiseled down, he became almost under recognizable to those who had not seen him since his training began. His scars have expanded to several healed cuts and holes in his back, his upper chest area, and a scar that stretches across his nose.

He still bears his original regalia of bronze armor, his soldier's pay, and station, keeping him from buying anything more regal. He filled out Gladiator novice gear, wearing it still for his training, as he strives to become a fully fledged fighter in his master's eyes. During Company meetings and debriefs, he wears the Immortal flames dress uniform, the buttoned down dark blue and green trench coat, matching gloves and boots.

Demeanor

Gareth is a carefree man who will rarely let a situation sour his mood. Rarely will he speak without a grin following his statement, always speaking with a lightened tone to most people as he aims to establish a friendly foundation with them. He compliments often, sometimes in way that comes off as unintentional flirtatious. When on the receiving of such compliments, his cool and collected demeanor will easily break down, and his face will erupt in blush. in such a situation, he will stutter his way through sentence and try to push the subject aside, shyness and inexperience overwhelming his senses. As he also speaks without thinking, he will generally make innuendos and become misinterpreted, only digging his hole deeper.

Gareth's luck is rarely on his side. His encounters with women, strangers, and sometimes the timing of his own misfortunes and blunders will easily cause him to become a laughing stock. As he will shrug away the laughter, he's always internally grateful to bring a good laugh to a person, despite it being at his own expense. Though bringing up the list of his misadventures will generally cause him to stutter through excuses and explanations.

When on duty, however, Gareth's joking demeanor is all but erased, as he solely focuses on the mission and the well being of his comrades. When wearing his dress uniform, he is tact, dutiful, and prepared for orders, as he is generally not the one giving them, in such cases. As he goes into the field, he reads each situation carefully, and if the atmosphere, or the timing calls for it, he will usually slide in a joke and a grin before continuing with his seriousness. During combat, his collected thoughts calculate without emotions raging, through he will often grunt and shout with each swing and exerted effort.

Combat

Gareth's fighting experience is only two fold. He knows has to fist fight, and he knows the sword and shield. His hand to hand combat experience stems from his times spent in Vesper Bay's bar, watching and partaking in fights as he intervenes on bad situations. He has, from time to time, received tips and quick lessons from the adventurers and travelers stopping through the merchant. Though he could not amount to the expertise of a trained pugilist, he could brawl his way through most fights, even those where he is outnumbered 3 to 1.

Learning from one of the Master Gladiator trainer, Raging Behemoth, Gareth was given a shortblade to begin with, learning to combat while staying in range of his opponent's reach. Mixing offensive and defensive together, especially given his brawling experience, he chains his sword swings with shield bashes to attempt to throw off his opponent, rarely attacking with a single strike. When the time calls for it, he will also dish out heel kicks and leg sweeps to gain the advantage. As he progressed with the shortblade, numerous bad encounters taught him that the spatha would not last long in actual combat. He picked up a longsword and developed a style of shortblade brawling tactics, mixed with the longsword's own slashing and stabbing techniques.

History

Pre-Calamity

Gareth was born in the year 1557 on the twenty-sixth day of the second Umbral Moon, birth by his mother Christiana Ardual, though his surname was given to him from his father, a man shrouded in mystery who he would never meet throughout his early life. Homeless and alone, the pair had to live hand to mouth, yet despite their hardships, he could not complain about the lifestyle. The pair lived in and around the Footfalls, constantly wandering between Vesper Bay and Cresent Cove, performing odd jobs and scavenging to ensure the day's meal. His life continued as such, learning to speak from his mother, a well-spoken individual with a strange use of vocabulary, though never having a strong education beyond that. A solitary life, he never spoke with many other people, his mother talking the majority of the time. This lifestyle continued well into the first half of his life. Shortly after his tenth summer, his mother and he would be given the opprotunity to work as servant's to a newly risen noble, who built his house on the outskirts of Vesper Bay.

Jaric Blanegarde, alongside his wife Lydia, welcomed the pair with open arms. Jaric spoke with much familiarity to his mother, though such a fact skipped Gareth's mind as he exalted the man. A real bed, a solid roof, and though he would walk the halls of the small noble house in service to it's owners, it was a place he could call home. Alongside he and his mother, there were only a handful more of servants, and a knighted guard, Sir Bezathor Pendergrast, that attended the House. He never once questioned the Blanegarde's requests and orders, fulfilling them with the utmost effort and zeal. Alongside his duties as a servant, his mother, who had taken a role as the botanist and cook of the house, would drill more lessons into his head, teaching him to read and write, and learn much about the history of Eorzea.

As he worked, he made something of an allowance, though he would more than likely spend it on a "fancy" meal in Vesper bay's inn. As he spent more time in the inn's bar, he learned more the merchants and, more interestingly, the well traveled adventurers that came through, listening intently to their stories and their exploits, dreaming himself of reaching their heights. His dreams would reach a starting point, as he watched the honorable knight Bezathor defend a woman under duress from a drunken patron. This was a common sight, women being troubled by men, but one Gareth had often shrugged away with awkwardness. He watched as the knight beat the drunken man away, and earned praise and appreciation from the regulars and other travelers.

Gareth attempted many times to do such a thing himself, though with little experience fighting, he would often return from the bar with a beaten face, or worse, cuts from a weapon. Fortunately, at the time he began developing this dangerous habit, a new House ward arrived. Alaric Whiteseer was a young man, well knowledged in the ways of conjury. Instantly, he grew a bond with Gareth, and Gareth himself found a liking to the man's witty, yet caring nature. Alaric always had a way of finding Gareth when he needed him most, which held it's irony, as Alaric was physically blind. Gareth attempted numerous times to understand how Alaric got around and "saw" as he did, but the conjurer was just as mysterious as his mother, who rarely revealed her own past as well.

Post-Calamity

As the Garleans marched on Eorzea and the Batte at Cartnaeu would play out, the Blanegarde's house would provide life saving protection from the destruction wrought by Bahamut. Gareth's appreciation of the man only grew, as he knew full well his mother and he would've perished in the Calamity, had they not been sheltered in his household. The ensuing turmoil in the Eorzean countries stemmed the flow of travelers between Vesper Bay and Limsa Lominsa, turning life rather dull for Gareth as the bar and inn saw less traffic. Though the land was wounded, life continued normally for the young man and his simplistic life style as Eorzea recovered from the devastating lost.

As the Primal Crisis arose and adventurers and heroes began anew, Gareth saw many times the influx of interesting characters in his hometown. More than happy to welcome these new-found heroes and travelers, he once again set to learning their stories, experiences, and fantasized one day getting there. Stuck in service to his lord, though, he rarely found the opportunity to train in weapons properly. Not even the knight Bezathor would train him, his sworn duty preventing him from doing such. The knight himself had began take long sojourns from the house, no doubt to aid the outside lands, though if that was the truth, Gareth would never know.

When the troubles surrounding the Garleans and the Primals were quelled, and the focus slowly shifted back to Ishgard, Gareth believed that the troubles to the lands of Thanalan had ceased.

((Work in Progress))

Relationships

((WIP))

Rumors

These are the words you may hear from the people of Eorzea, regarding Gareth.

((For PC's, feel free to edit the page and add your own entries!))

Quotes

((WIP))

Media

((WIP))