Played by: Aaron Olson;
Name: Mordecai von Hertz
Gender: Male
Age: 21 years old
Race: Human
Hair: Dark brown/Black
Eyes: Hazel
Occupation: Noble warrior (fighter)
Known Skills (35 exp. Currently): Shield fighting, Toughness, Toughness level 2, Toughness level 3, Dual Wielding
Birthplace: Von Hertz estate
Appearance: Tall, skinny
Notable Traits: Semi-blind, very respectful, kind
Relationships: None
Rumors: None (so far)
Bio: Mordecai von Hertz, the only child of Margaret and Grigori von Hertz, was born on the continent of Faedrun on his family’s estate. It was soon discovered after Mordecai’s birth that he was born with a vision defect that made him half-blind. Regardless of Mordecai’s defect, his parents thought it necessary to train him how to fight and defend himself if he should ever find himself in trouble. So at the ripe young age of 5, the von Hertz’s paid tutors a considerable sum of coin to try and train Mordecai. But it appeared that their attempts would be in vain as Mordecai struggled time and time again to learn to fight with no success. It saddened the von Hertz’s greatly to see their young boy try so hard only to meet with no success. This did not hinder the von Hertz’s from making sure that Mordecai was properly educated though. They taught him politics, economy, battle tactics, and more. It seemed that Mordecai was living the dream life of luxury and safety inside his family’s estate.
But that all changed on Mordecai’s 11th birthday. Early in the morning hours of the day, an Undead horde launched an attack on the von Hertz estate. The Undead were merciless as they slaughtered every servant and guard in their way. It seemed like nothing would be able to stop the devastation that was being wreaked upon Mordecai’s home. In an effort to protect his beloved family, Grigori grabbed the family’s ancestoral sword and shield and went out to meet the vile scum that was the Undead. It was the last time Mordecai would ever see his father alive again. Finally realizing that the estate was soon to be totally lost, Margaret ordered Mordecai escorted away from the estate with two guards through a secret underground tunnel leading out the back of the doomed home while she would remain behind to find her husband. The guards and Mordecai pleaded Margaret to go with them and after a few minutes, convinced her to abandon the house. But fate was not done being cruel to Mordecai on this day. As they finally reached the entrance of the tunnel, a lone Undead had broken off from its pack and impaled Margaret straight through her chest. Mordecai watched as two more Undead appeared and began to mutilate his mother’s body right before his eyes. Even to this day, he can remember the sheer agony in his mother’s voice as her final breathes of air left her body. Finally snapping back into reality, Mordecai ran down the tunnel as the two guards who were accompanying him stayed behind to buy him time to escape. As Mordecai reached the end of the tunnel, he turned to see his once glorious home engulfed in flames. Not knowing what to do next, Mordecai turned around and started to walk away from everything he held close and dear to his heart. After walking for a couple hours, Mordecai stumbled across a boat that was taking people to new lands. Upon seeing this, Mordecai ran to the boat to see if someone would answer his call for help. As he neared the boat, Mordecai breathed a sigh of relief for the first time that day as there on the boat was the ship’s captain and a small amount of people preparing to set sail for Mardrun. They quickly invited Mordecai onboard and offered the battered young boy some food. He quickly devoured it and then proceeded to tell them of everything that had happened that morning leading up to his arrival at the boat. Taking pity on the young lad, the captain decided to let Mordecai stay the night with them.
The very next day, the captain and Mordecai set back out towards the von Hertz estate to see if there were any survivors and see what became of Mordecai’s father. As they approached the smoldering estate, they advanced with extreme caution for fear of any Undead that may still be lingering nearby. After finally feeling that there were no Undead still remaining around, they began to look for any signs that may help them ascertain the fate of Grigori. After an hour of digging through the rubble and ashes, they found what they were looking for. It was the charred corpse of Grigori as it was made apparent by the ancestral sword and shield of the family that were still clasped in his hands. Apparently, as Grigori went out to protect his family, a beam of the house weakened by the fires fell onto him and crushed him where he stood. Mordecai’s worst fear had finally come to pass: his entire family was dead and gone.
There was now nothing left for Mordecai here except memories that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Before leaving though, Mordecai decided to take the family’s ancestral sword and shield from his father’s corpse. As he picked up the sword and shield, Mordecai realized that the fire had charred the blade and shield pure black. Mordecai decided at that moment that he would use his family’s ancestral weapons to fight and protect all the good in the world from evil so that no one else would experience the pain he had felt. Mordecai gave his last respects to his family and vowed to one day restore the house of von Hertz back to its former glory. Upon returning to the boat, the captain feeling sympathy for the now orphaned boy decided to take Mordecai with them to Mardrun. After arriving in the new lands of Mardrun, Mordecai spent the next 3 years of his life learning the virtues of a noble gentleman like honor, respect, and how to judge what is good and righteous that aught be protected from the evil injustice that aught be destroyed. Mordecai also recalled the lessons of his fighting tutors had taught him and trained vigorously night and day to master what he could not 6 years ago. After spending the 3 years with the captain aboard his ship, he finally decided it was time to set out and try to keep the oaths that he had made years ago on the graves of his family. Before Mordecai left the boat, the captain gave Mordecai a gift to help him on his noble trek and give him luck as it had done for the captain: the captain’s swords.
Mordecai spent the next 7 years wandering the country side fighting any evil that he came across, living off what small amount of money he had received from the captain and dead corpses he looted. In these 7 years of traveling that he had done, Mordecai heard rumors of an army that helped the good people of Mardrun and killed the wicked. This army went by the name of Vandregon. Mordecai had heard that they supposedly had a headquarters in the colony of New Hope and was led by a man named William. Deciding to see for himself if the Vandregon army did exist, Mordecai set out for New Hope in the hopes of finding William. He had decided that if the rumors were true, he must join this righteous army and aid them however he could. And in the process, maybe, just maybe, Mordecai could become just that much closer to restoring his family name and home. But that remains to be seen…