Xerrus Riksilver

Sir Xerrus Cohd'yron [Zeh-russ Co-dee-ron] Riksilver, otherwise known as Rus or Cody was a covert ops strategist within The Ignasdiate, but most known for his former roles as Chaitaph of The Ditarch during Primonarch JaihkunII's reign, and psychologist following that. He also served as Sword of The Loft during RorymIII's reign for a short time before the fall of Erwood.

Born in the city of Starhalm, Fordachai in 1709, Xerrus was the younger twin brother of Yirris, coming after their older sister, Loyya and before their younger sister, Orra. Their father, Orron, was a close friend of Primonarch JaihkunII Amberfern, and quickly arranged to have their respective male children meet and grow together.

Xerrus was fluent in both Fordain and Yrdain, but spoke the latter due to his residence in Erwood. When home outside of Starhalm, he spoke to his family in the former. He claimed to understand and speak a little Venkish, but no-one can actually confirm if this is true.

He would have three children, Tarro, Kerrun and Orra, the latter being adopted at a young age. His eldest child, Tarro, was killed in a terrorist attack by the Jerisain Sun in Erwood during 1750 at age 16.

Appearance & Personality
Just like twin brother, Yirris, Xerrus was most recognised for his size, standing just shy of 7'0". He had crystal-blue eyes and dark brown hair. Severe discipline from his father in early life saw him become far stronger than others of his age, which translated to near body-builder levels of muscle in his 20's and onwards.

Up until the end of the Yrdai-Tokahni War, Xerrus was seen to be enormously arrogant and self-centred, but those he held close to him often commented on the fragility underneath it. Throughout adulthood he was jaded and ashamed of the man he used to be, frequently making a point of punishing those he trained for being cocky; his later strict personality was a product of the dangerously unstable life he lead after the War.

Early Life
Xerrus and his brother developed early on, becoming noticeably larger and taller than other children by the age of nine which proved useful in combat training. Originally appointed as a joke, Xerrus was named First-Guard to Ditarch-Prince Syndarus Amberfern, while his brother was initially appointed First-Guard to Rorym.

Jaihkun occasionally spoke out saying the twins were more favourable than his own children, who were more modestly built and shared his average height at the time. Xerrus explicitly mentioned his discomfort when Jaihkun once drunkenly told an entire court room that he would have been a better son than Wynsid, the Primonarch's disabled child.

The Yrdai-Tokahni War
Just days before the twins' 17th birthday, their younger sister, Orra, was found dead outside of Toka's border after stepping on a spring-explosive trap buried underground, while studying the geography of the nearby mountains with her cartography classmates. Being just a week after the Tokahni government requested independence from Fordachai, Jaihkun found more reason to be untrusting of their subterranean activities.

The Primonarch declared war on Tokah without second thought against the public's majority vote, which subsequently destroyed what little reputation he had left. Xerrus joined the cause as a field-lieutenant while still serving as First-Guard to Syndarus, who would also be a presence at Tokah, due to his friend's bereavement of his sister.

After some years of trying to locate the Tokahni strongpoint (as there were barely any above-ground structures), Jaihkun underestimated the need for long-range weapons in battle, marching an army of soldiers against a lone Tokahni structure with just sword and shield. Xerrus, motivated by grief joined the battle and lead one of the many companies involved against the waiting Tokahni, who had prepared far more advanced defence mechanisms.

During the charge across acres of open field, the Tokahni opened fire with a multitude of never-before-seen repeating cannons, decimating the approaching army. Mixed with the same traps that killed Xerrus' sister, Jaihkun's conscripted force retreated with a fraction of what went in; Xerrus suffered a hit on the ribs from a splintered ricochet, narrowly missing his lung.

Jaihkun ordered Xerrus upon his recovery to take part in a stealth mission to infiltrate the structure, to see if it had any connection to the underground country built beneath, and to steal any technology he could. Xerrus' rage saw him do so without question, and while successfully sneaking into the structure under cover of night, he was captured by the same Tokahni soldiers that butchered the army he helped lead. After being questioned and tortured for weeks (having been presumed dead by Jaihkun), Syndarus personally entered the structure in broad daylight against the Prince's Edict and his father's orders, promising the Tokahni his head in place of Xerrus' life. During the exchange, Syndarus single-handedly killed the nearby soldiers and fled with a mortally wounded Xerrus back to the Primonarch's tent a few miles away.

Post-War
Xerrus was 23 when the war ended, and had become one of the youngest surviving veterans of the Yrdai-Tokahni conflict. He continued to serve as First Guard to Ditarch-Prince Syndarus until the latter abdicated the Throne upon coronation a year later. He remained loyal to his best friend even after his denouncement, and sought a new line of work to distract him from his PTSD.

Fleeting from job to job, Xerrus never settled, and often wound up back home outside Starhalm where he'd stay with his parents between employment. Refusing to seek counselling for his severe anxiety, father Orron kicked him out of the family home in the hopes it'd motivate him to move on. Feeling as if he had no-one to turn to, Xerrus entered a year-long phase of self-harm and near attempts at suicide, in which he travelled to-and-from Erwood as he tried to make sense of himself.

Ultimately ending up as a trainee healer, helped by his experience and status as former Heirtaph, Xerrus found some stability and room for recovery. After having broken contact with almost everyone he knew for nearly 2 years, he was devastated to hear that both Syndarus and Yirris had been banished from Yrdachai without his knowledge. He would find no answer for Syndarus' banishment, but he learned by rumour that his brother was charged with treason by conspiring to dethrone Jaihkun during the war. Since the aforementioned Primonarch was now deceased, Yirris' sentence was lessened from life imprisonment.

The news lead to Xerrus abandoning his fledgling career in search of answers, starting with the Royal Palace. Hopeful for an explanation, Xerrus demanded an audience with Jaihkun, only to be told he too had died some time ago. Knowing this meant that Rorym was on the Throne, Xerrus lost all confidence in ever being told where Yirris had been sent. He took it upon himself to leave Erwood and search for his brother himself, employing the help of his estranged elder sister, Loyya, to find him. Months of chasing dead ends gave the Riksilver siblings no joy, and left them without hope, especially after hearing multiple rumours of Yirris' death.

Smallhill Detention Centre
Utterly bewildered and disoriented from the last few years of his life, Xerrus became fragile and once again succumbed to his PTSD. One drunken altercation landed him in a holding cell in the Smallhill Detention Centre, just south of the North Hills on the River Ford. The guards took notice of him during his week-long stay, and offered him a chance to work there, on the promise that he'd redeem himself and out of respect for his service.

He would be 27 when he became the most feared but respected prison guard there, loved by the inmates and admired by his colleagues. During this time, he used his rarely matched physique to his advantage, and the prisoners', by personally taking leadership of PT sessions and personal fitness for specific inmates. This would not settle his mind entirely, however, until he began talking to one prisoner who had also been in the war. Over time, Xerrus opened up about his troubles and allowed the inmates to do the same.

A New Purpose
This progress caused the prison's infamous mortality rate to plummet, and saw Xerrus promoted to Captain by 29. During a night of celebration in downtown Greater Erwood, he met L'rea Sindill, a nurse. After spending most of the night with her, Xerrus was infatuated and spent the great majority of his time off travelling to Erwood to visit her. Their hours coincided perfectly, and it seemed the perfect close to a dark chapter of his life.

Within a year, the two were married and already expecting a child in their new apartment in Erwood. Xerrus ultimately resigned from the Detention Centre with fantastic references to land him a job at the Erwood Rehabilitation Complex. He became a therapist for war veterans, many of them he remembered and served with, many of them unrecognisable in body or in mind.

Despite having finally found peace and stability, he was troubled to hear that his old friend and crush, Kayyn Iyra (Syndarus' wife) had stayed at the Complex in the past after a devastating mental breakdown some years ago. His curiosity in her case would become an obsessive hobby over the next few years, even when his son, Kerrun, was a toddler. He was once again desperate to find any link to Darhvus, and his brother if he could, therefore he made a point in finding the missing Kadyyn. L'rea grew frustrated and jealous, often claiming Xerrus to be ignoring and abandoning his family for a 'crazy' woman he once loved. He would take time off in order to track her past movements, but as he had no familial ties to her, he was rejected by every agency.

This was detrimental to his marriage with L'rea, and resulted in providing an uncomfortable and sometimes hostile environment for Kerrun to grow up in. 7 years into their relationship, the two separated, divorced and shared custody of Kerrun. L'rea came out of it bitter and venomous towards Xerrus at any given chance, where the latter would be disinterested and stoic, lost for emotion. Kerrun's upbringing was a mix of strict discipline from his father and overbearing mollycoddling from his mother. He grew up to be physically tough but highly sensitive and shy.

The Orphan
At some point in his and L'rea's relationship turmoil, Xerrus furthermore bewildered his then-wife by returning home carrying a toddler in his arms, claiming to have found her in a building fire where her parents had been killed. It would come to fruition upon his death that, the girl was the illegitimate child of Kadyyn and was fathered by a rogue hawker who'd raped her. The building fire he discovered was actually caused by him when he murdered the hawker.

Xerrus named the girl 'Orra' after his late sister, also continuing the Riksilver tradition of the double-r spelling in the name despite her detachment from the family. Though furious, L'rea took to Orra and eventually shared custody of her too.

The Primonarch's Call, Erwood's Fall
In 1752, Xerrus would find himself greeting the Primonarch and Ditarch at his doorstep without prior warning, followed by a host of Royal Guard. After a fairly lengthy exchange, he was 'forced' into employment as Sword of the Loft under the threat of being imprisoned; both he and Kerrun would end up as servants to the High Royals, the latter being enlisted as the Ditarch-Prince Devyntias' equerry, while Xerrus was to lead an investigation into the disappearance of a Palace minister. Under the pretence that his employment would terminate once the investigation was closed, Xerrus soon discovered that it would be the end of life as he knew it, when just a couple of weeks in, the Third Emergence happened.

Come the Fall of Erwood, Xerrus fled the city with Kerrun and Devyntias, the latter being disguised against all orders. From that point forward, he didn't see Orra again for nearly 20 years and as a result, never saw L'rea. During the mass-panic of evacuation amidst the genocide by The Afterkind, Xerrus was pursued by Verdisian Duster, his childhood rival, having been seen taking Devyntias from the Palace. The two came to fists and beat each other senseless, until Xerrus slashed Verdisian's throat with a knife.