a DISGRUNTLED LAD
Name: Merrik Eade Lemaire
Alias/Nicknames: Young Master, Master Merrik, little rabbit (and any variant thereof)
Status: Upperclass/Noble
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: May 24th 1779
Region: East Palisade
Occupation: Unemployed (though seeking under the table work) [he will be employed at Frederike Tate's tavern The Black Hart in the future]
Appearance: What set Merrik apart even from a young age and even now earns his contempt is his own fair features. The lad has soft, light skin, broken only by faint scars of general living in the wilderness -- not trophies and no true mar to his fairness. Many times Merrik has thought about chopping off all of his blond locks, knowing it would help him appear more masculine than wearing it in a lengthy braid, but his father and the closest thing he had to a brother both wore their hair long and his current caretaker wears it short. Perhaps his childish spite is stronger than his determination to stand out. Merrik is long limbed and tightly muscled, looking wispy when wearing tight clothing. Consciously Merrik often keeps his face straight or holding some level of annoyance, though it is against his wishes his blue eyes show a particular disenchantment and deadness at times, revealing how bitter he truly is. One would not be able to see his muscle definition without looking upon his bare skin, which makes it easier for him to appear weak or frail. It often catches people off guard how hard working he can be, when he chooses to do physical labor rather than allow it to be done for him. They have people for that, after all. Merrik tends to dress simply and prefers clothes that would be useful in hunts or in travel to any fineries. Cravats, in particular, make him feel as though he is being choked by a pair of feeble child's hands so why does he keep having to wear them?!
Personality: Merrik is a highly volatile young man with a lot of confusion in his life, most of it out of his own hands. He has never properly understood social interaction except for its barest terms; signs of affection go right over his head, intimate discussions leave him feeling uncomfortable and most physical contact is undesirable. He relies heavily on reading body language and minute social cues to assess people's true meanings, because words and voices can lie so easily and he doesn't trust anything from anyone's mouth. He keeps firm eye contact in any conversation, sometimes to the point of intimidation though often this is unintentional. Because he doesn't have much practice with in depth socialization, Merrik can be rather gullible. Sarcasm is something he doesn't understand yet and he tends to take most everything at face value, however he will generally question with a simple "really?" instead of seeming impressed or surprised. For his entire life he has had practically zero contact with females and so he doesn't understand how he should speak or act around them. Manners and etiquette are entirely new concepts to him, things he finds rather uninteresting and overly complicated. Social classes also confuse him, since everyone was on the same level except for his father while they were traveling but he figured this was merely due to his father being just that -- the father.
As it stands, he thinks of most things in an animalistic sense which makes it difficult for him to humanize others and himself. Males are hunter-gatherers and protectors, women are there to raise the young. He still hasn't gotten the whole birds and bees discussion and he's very much a virgin, making him exceptionally naive and, in some ways, innocent. Merrik has a lot of mixed feelings in regards to the world, society, and himself. He is very much a try-hard who overcompensates for his own perceived misgivings. A particularly sore point is his feminine features and he takes great offense to being mistaken for someone of the opposite sex. This isn't intended so much as an insult to women as it is that he wishes he were more manly so he could be taken more seriously. This will often lead to him trying to show others up or present his skills to others, making him a bit of a braggart and a blow hard. Without the desire to do it himself, one of his wishes is to gain some scars on his face so he isn't as pretty.
Likes: raw carrots, the scent of burning wood, that warm feeling when drinking alcohol, wilderness
Dislikes: cooked carrots ugh they're slimy and gross stop it, over cooked meat, slimy textures like mucus uughghghghgh, closed in spaces like the stupid city and buildings
Hopes: To reach a feeling of contentment, closure with his ridiculous family issues (not a hope he will admit to), FRIENDS maybe because he has exactly 0 that aren't out of necessity
Fears: Wolves (oh my god wolves please no, scariest thing in the world), living (truly living confuses him at this point and he doesn't understand his purpose in the world, let alone anyone else's), meaningful social interaction (not a crippling fear but he has a great deal of difficulty and it makes him anxious)
Virtues: Diligence, Charity, Temperance
Sins: Pride, Envy, Wrath
Hobbies: Hunting, preparing his own meat, crossbow practice, wandering around Palisade aimlessly (much to Deimos' reluctance)
Skills: Tracking, navigating the Wardwood (he's not an expert by any means but his knowledge of the wood is far above average in terms of geography), being a huge grumble grump, looking like a girl from behind or at first glance haha whoops
Father: Lord Eathanos Lemaire (deceased)
Mother: Lady Labinya Remedi-Lemaire (missing/deceased)
Siblings: None
Other: Lord Felix Deveroux (guardian/caretaker & hedgewitch ) [not yet accepted]
History: Eathanos and Deveroux were very good friends; He keeps Dev's hedgecraft a secret 'cause he doesn't want it to throw off his socialite game. Eventually he becomes infatuated with a beautiful foreign woman Labinya Remedi and the two sort of start a thing. Dev and other nobles not too keen on it but Eathanos don't give a crap, he gonna tap dat. After a bit of flirting fun the two find they actually enjoy each other and Eathanos decides it's time to settle on down. Marriage happens, they expect a child, Dev gives a mega shrug. Have a baby boy, Labinya names him Merrik and Eathanos doesn't mind. First couple years of his life are pretty cool as far as baby years go I mean whatever really until Labinya goes missing. Eathanos flips his s**t and sends a search party, including himself, to try and track her down. Signs point to an animal attack -- the Lord's mind jumps to wolves. His associates attempt to dissuade him but Eathanos is convinced. Whether his wife is still alive out there somewhere or if he can just get revenge on whatever did it, Eathanos takes his young son and a few of his most loyal men and together they leave the noble Palisade lifestyle.
They live as hunters, trackers, back to their wild roots before complacent civilization took hold. They journeyed Northward, toward the barren mountains. Weeks became months and months became years. Merrik was taught the ways of nature, tracking, survival. He learned how to string a bow, to skin and clean what he killed, and to use as much of his kills as possible. Most everyone but Eathanos himself lost sight of their true purpose and just lived day to day. Even Merrik, who fully embraced the lifestyle, had a bitterness festering within him in the absence of his mother despite it being out of her hands. The situation seemed to be slowly driving his father mad and they all knew it.
Though they could sometimes hear the distant howls, not a single one of them ever set their eyes on a wolf for sure. The snowy landscape could easily mislead anyone's gaze, especially their lord who was plagued by wolf ridden nightmares. As they traveled higher and further over the years, any hope of returning to Palisade or quelling his thirst for vengeance faded. Some of his men drifted, making their pilgrimage back toward home. What started as a group weakened to a mere trio when Merrik was in the midway of his teen years. Only himself, Eathanos and their last lingering associate, Lycull. The next few months were spent in a daze and they seemed to constantly be circling back upon themselves. In this time, their path had become so convoluted that they journeyed into the Wardwood without realizing it. One night, Merrik felt an uncontrollable urge to venture into the dark wood. It took hours, maybe even a whole day, before he reached a peculiar tree with a fantastic offering. The dark totem was taken and carefully cradled all the way back to camp.
As he approached, the sound of men shouting first stuck out to Merrik and he returned to find his father and Lycull bickering. His name was thrown around but, tired, he just walked near them to announce his presence and then sat down to rest. The two were relieved and their squabbling ceased almost instantly. When his father spotted the totem nestled in his arms, something sparked and caught both his son and friend off guard. Eathanos began mumbling about the old stories of the Wardens and the wolves. Merrik didn't understand any of it, never hearing these tales before and Lycull merely tried to calm the lord down. There had been lingering doubts that the wolves even existed, let alone if they were truly a threat, but with the presence of the totem guardian he was convinced "their" mission was a holy one. With something like this, there was no doubt in his mind they would be able to find and kill the wolves. In these days, Lycull was more of a brother to Merrik than a mere comrade. He looked after the boy, made sure he and the totem were well cared for and not poisoned by his father's lust for vengeance.
Patience was wearing thin for all of them as the totem made no noticeable progress and was still a mere trinket. Eathanos and Lycull continue to bicker with increasing ferocity. Lycull's attempts to convince Eathanos to give up the search and take Merrik back home fell on deaf ears as Eathanos was beyond reason. He claimed Lycull was turning against him. The only reason he would suggest to give up now was because they were closing in and had a totem to stand against the wolves with. Lycull must have been an agent of the wolves! He took Lycull's life in front of his son and the anguish and fear Merrik felt triggered something in the totem. Eathanos takes Deimos' emergence from the totem as a sign that he was right, Lycull was working for the wolves after all, and he'd done a good thing -- he'd protected his son and their only hope of standing against the wolves. Deimos tried to stay as far from Eathanos as possible and nuzzled closely with Merrik as a small shivering fawn. Merrik carried baby Deimos around for about another week before Eathanos' starts health declines. He pushed himself to exhaustion and had hardly been eating any food to conserve as much as possible for Merrik and the Warden. He told Merrik that he has a duty as a chosen one to kill the wolves, avenge his mother, and carry on his spirit before Eathanos succumbed.
Without this man standing in their way, Deimos refuses Merrik time to grieve for or bury his father. He leads his chosen back down the mountains and through the Wood. This journey takes a month or so but Deimos takes care of Merrik and he grows into a yearling during this time. With his deer's help, Merrik is able to not become lost in the Wardwood but he does have very vivid nightmares, heightened paranoia and is completely all over the place with his emotions.
After nearly half a year of only the two of them wandering the wilderness and Wood, they reach civilization. It doesn't take long for word to spread of another chosen entering Palisade from the Wardwood and when Merrik mentions he is Eathanos' son, Deveroux catches wind of it and he rushes to snatch Merrik and Deimos up. Lord Deveroux had taken over the Lemaire estate in Eathanos' absence and been up to his eyeballs in both politics and frivolity for several years. Deveroux has taken it upon himself to care for Merrik and attempt to reintroduce him to civilized life but this has proven extremely difficult and Merrik isn't helping; he doesn't know what to do with himself or his life now and everything's so confusing. Things were so simple for him in the mountains, before the totem, and now everything's gone to Hell in a hand basket. Merrik has developed a strange resentment for Deimos, which the stag is keenly aware of, At the same time, he's one of the only remaining "people" Merrik has been able to develop a strong bond with from their time alone and he doesn't want to lose Deimos' companionship.
Theme Song: Puscifer - Undertaker (aka the song that keeps getting stuck in my head while writing this profile but also is ridiculously fitting)
