Ekyl

Sir Ekyl is a knight of Plort.

The Tale of Sir Ekyl
The coming of Sir Ekyl to the lands of Konti-Nyuum is not one tale but two or perhaps three, and many details of his earliest ventures have been lost to even his own memory, though he estimates that his first journey to these shores came before the fracturing of the Protectorate of Plort but after the departure of Jay and Acacia.

The Protectorate first came to Sir Ekyl's attention years ago, when he made his residence in the then-fertile lands of Gaf and El-Jhey, where he and many others made war of their own against Fanvik-Neht and the Marizu. He fought well in those days, and when traders from Plort met with him he was enthralled by tales of Jay and Acacia, the Tungsten Monk, early reports from the future Baron Huinesoron and many other tales of snark and heroism. So intrigued, he convinced these traders to take him to their own lands, where he settled for a time.

Unfortunately, this was a time of idleness for the people of the Protectorate, and their customs rang strangely in his ears. When he returned to Gaf, the people of Plort faded from his memory and were seldom thought about, for not long after his time spent among them the island of Gaf was laid low by a great earthquake, his holdings in El-Jhey besieged by trolls, and concerns in the lands beyond Weab occupied his attention further still. He joined with the survivors of Gaf in their diaspora, and when the troll-queen Lolita was revealed to have taken power over them he was in the van of the great battles fought against her forces, where he rode under the banner of the newly-proclaimed Gaf king Nihilo and fought alongside paladins from the empire of Somath-Aful, a mighty realm to the east that is largely unaware of Plort and its successor nations, which observes and fights against the worst excesses of the lands of Weab.

Many survivors of Old Gaf fell, heroes from the golden days distinguishing themselves once more or meeting their end on both sides of the conflict, but finally Lolita fell in single combat against King Nihilo. The new king pardoned those survivors of Gaf who had been deluded into fighting under her banner, but ordered her capital razed and formed the islands of the diaspora into a new kingdom, which he called Wugwha. There Sir Ekyl, who at the time was named Kaygee, lived and made his trade for quite some time, continuing his battles against the forces of Marizu under the banner of the grimacing sun.

It was in these days that he became aware of the realm of Tivit. Enamoured with what he found, he travelled often to the demesne of King Edward the Swift, where he became aware once more of the island of Konti-Nyuum (he would, in fact, briefly encounter Acacia herself in Tivit, but there is sadly not much of a tale to be told about it). Remembering at last how fond he had been of the Protectorate, and intrigued by the records of all that had changed in the years he had been gone, he moved from Wugwha to what was now the country of Borrd and attempted to reintegrate himself into the society he had once thought abandoned.

There, he was met by Baron Huinesoron, who told him quite frankly that nobody on the island remembered his past visit and he would thus be treated as a newcomer. It was suggested that rather than throw himself immediately into the fray, he spend a time acclimating himself to their lands, get to know the kingdoms' residents and prepare himself for the traditional pilgrimage to the mountains of Purmeshun. This he did, getting to know citizens like future baroness Cassie, current barons Dann and Neshomeh, and Lady Sara, whom he romanced for a time but now does not speak of. When the day came for his pilgrimage, he threw himself into the task with great vigour, making the traditional offerings at the temples of Kanun and Spelin. When he arrived at Purmeshun, he again encountered Huinesoron, who confessed he was amused by the tales Ekyl (or then still Kaygee) had spun on the way and granted him a knighthood, though not without one reservation: the target of Sir Ekyl's first planned campaign was none other than the Marizu warlord King Sciurus, who had once faced the great knight known only as PA and been defeated, and who was suspected by many in the courts of Borrd to be a troll in disguise. He warned the young knight of this fact, but gave him leave to do as he would.

Undaunted, the knight led a force into Fanvik-Neht and met the host of King Sciurus in the expansive Halo Valley, where his troops broke the powerful but ill-disciplined Marizu warband. Seeking to restore the morale of his men, Sciurus challenged the knight to personal combat, but was swiftly unhorsed, and where he fell the grass turned red from the grave wounds dealt him. While Sciurus was not dead for good, and in fact many years later would confess to have been a troll from Somath-Aful before leaving the lands of Fanvik-Neht for ever, his army was smashed and Ekyl returned to Konti-Nyuum victorious. In other sorties, Ekyl would defeat Marizu and Fanvik-Neht leaders such as the Hammerspace Knight, who conjured weapons from nowhere, and the Pirate of Storms who conjured clouds of urple to confuse and dismay his enemies, and on several occasions lent his strength to the forces of Cassie in battles and raids.

Unfortunately, not all was well. In those days Ekyl, while brave and skilled in the ways of war, was bellicose, opinionated and often vulgar. He would argue with or alienate many of his fellows, and while his later apologies and attempts to redeem himself were sincere, it was not always enough; there was never peace between himself and Baroness July, for example, and these were already days of much conflict due to trolls, rebels, clashes between Borrd and Iric and immigrants from Tivit who cared nothing for the workings of the realm. The problem there was eventually deduced to be flaws in the records in Tivit which gave its residents improper ideas of what the Union of Plort stood for, and Sir Ekyl (among others, such as Baron Dann) was part of a delegation sent to the court of King Edward the Swift to correct the matter; unfortunately, King Edward and his men refused to do this and even barred the delegation from doing it themselves, stating that the flawed records being about the knights themselves was not relevant and that they were mere invaders.

Hearing this, the delegation was forced to take the matter in their own hands, and when they next returned to Tivit they did so wearing arms and armour, and leading soldiers. The aim was not to destroy Tivit or harm its people, but to make the required changes themselves and engage King Edward's forces in self-defence if need be. Despite these nonviolent aims, battles were fought and the army of Tivit driven back again and again as the delegation forced its way into the city of Weabwork to make the changes they had peacefully requested before. The attempt was mostly successful, but King Edward had sent troops led by his own personal guard to prevent them from returning to their ships. Sir Ekyl slew many knights of Tivit (or in their dialect, tropadours) in these battles, but was himself wounded, and a spell cast by the Tivit mage Fighteer drove him from the field and barred him from ever returning to Tivit. The delegation and their troops were able to safely retreat, however, and while many of the things they changed were reverted the mission was largely a success; Sir Ekyl would later counter Fighteer's spell with rites from the ancient school of magic known as Eyepi, but had no interest in returning anyway, for he had by then learned that Tivit was a corrupt realm led by hedonistic and tyrannical lords.

Soon the tensions among the lands of Konti-Nyuum died down, and Sir Ekyl would go on a number of adventures and (at least begin to) write many stories, though few have been released to the people of Borrd so far. He continued his correspondence with many other great lords and knights and tried to make peace with those he'd wronged, something that was more often than not successful; it was also through this correspondence that he developed many ideas and theories for the Union, and would end up collaborating with Baron Huinesoron in the latest part of his historical research. Unfortunately, when the beginning of this project was released to the people of Borrd they responded with great outrage, and while they did not actively drive Sir Ekyl from the land he was left humiliated; soon afterwards, he would embark on an important quest to lands far from Weab, to the Federation of Academia and mythical Arell, and while this was no intentional exile he would not return for many a year, and many important things would happen in his absence, such as the departure of July and destruction of her baronial seat. Baron Huinesoron would complete their project without him, though when they spoke on the matter he invited Sir Ekyl to continue the work he had started on his own time, for the baron had been pleased by it.

When Sir Ekyl did return, no longer going by the name Kaygee, he was wiser and more mature for the experiences he had in those far off lands, and felt struck by guilt for what he saw as abandoning his duties. His friend Cassie, now a baroness, granted him a fief and castle, and he proceeded to do his best to continue warring against the Marizu and contribute to the affairs of Borrd and Wechi. Recently, when pirates raided Wechi by night, having come to Plort with claims of friendship only to turn their cloaks and plunder the land before fleeing to the islands of Fafka and Plopos, it was Sir Ekyl that Baroness Neshomeh called upon, and he sailed with his retinue to present the pirate lords with offers of peace and friendship. When he arrived at the two islands, however, he found the halls deserted save a handful of servants who still remained, maintaining the grounds as if unaware the masters had left. He left the same message to servants on both isles, an offer of friendship and request for Plort's former friends to explain themselves, and reclaimed what had been stolen, but had to return otherwise empty-handed, and the islands and those servants still on them were later washed away by the intercession of the gods of Wechi-Ah, called upon by Baroness Neshomeh when the pirate lords failed to respond in the time Sir Ekyl had given them.

Since then, Sir Ekyl has quietly conducted his affairs in his keep, the imposing castle of Godreve, where he watches over the small fief granted him and pores over innumerable dusty tomes - some his work, which he scrawls at by the day, and some that of others which he reads - in the great library; a town has formed around the castle as well, but aside from overseeing various civic projects or defending it from the occasional troll raiders who penetrate that far into the Union of Plort's territory Sir Ekyl is not often seen there. His keep is in the middle of Cassie's baronial lands, and lies equidistant from Wechi, Iric and the rest of Borrd, between which he travels frequently to interact with the people there and assist wherever he may. He has still not released many stories, and many of the ones he has done are said to have been written purely in personal correspondence between himself and the oft-absent baroness, but he claims to still be working on them, as well as attempts at gaining a foothold in the land of Autor, and that he will put out his reports and stories when they are "ready". Until then they are jealously guarded by his retinue of men-at-arms, though he sometimes invites other knights or even barons to come read some of the tomes. Some say he himself harbours ambitions of one day rising to a baronial seat...

Weapons
Notable weapons include the longsword Zod's Fang, a trophy from his first battle against the Marizu, the war lance Einarr, and the war hammer Kyran; when he rides into battle or tournament, he does so astride the destrier Valec or the courser Marcus.