Winston Nimbus, "The Thunderer"
Grand Master of The Knights Of The Tempest. Winston Nimbus (a.k.a. "The Thunderer")
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Winston was well known to be a very tall, muscular, and imposing figure. Great endurance and superb health also came with his strong and athletic frame. Usually those of this stature have slow reactions, but it was not so with Winston. His quick reflexes and subtle agility have caught many opponents off guard. Much to their final surprise, this rare combination of strength, endurance, speed, agility, and accuracy have led many adversaries to succumb to him on the battlefield.
Identifying Characteristics
Despite years of combat service in several knightly orders, Winston has no unique or distinguishable scars or tattoos above and beyond those common for someone in his profession.
Apparel & Accessories
Winston often goes into battle wearing his time honored, polished, bright silver, steel plate mail with steel blue highlights and flowing blue cape. He regularly brings his silver and blue war lance, shield, and large bastard sword on patrol and into battle.
Specialized Equipment
Winston has named his magical shield “Thunder” and his sword “Lightning”.
“Thunder” is a large triangular and concave shield that grants the owner strong protection from metallic weapons and can generate a small amount of heat upon command.
“Lightning” is a large, magical, hand and a half bastard sword with a brilliant blue sapphire in its pommel. Enchanted to be magically sharp and incredibly durable, it also has the ability to send forth a bolt of crackling lightning twice per day.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Winston Nimbus was born in 271 B.S. in the new kingdom of Artha, to mother Tarima and father Felho Nimbus, a member of the Knights Of Castell. He lived here with them until they were killed in an ambush by an outlaw group of renegade knights, The Knights Of The Skull and the Druids Of The Forest Claw, while on their way to help defend the territory of Lamorak. Winston was taken in and raised by his aunt and uncle until the age of 7 when he was enrolled as a page in the Knights Of The Rook in 264 B.S.
Here he was trained in the ways of the knightly order and studied their philosophies and high chivalric ideals. In 259 B.S, at the age of 12, he became a squire to Varick Castell, the founder of The Knights Of The Rook. Under his tutelage, Winston learned the intricacies and finer points of being a knight. From fighting skills to battle tactics, horsemanship to courtship, bravery, valor, and chivalry, were all ingrained in him as he traveled the lands, engaging in real life experiences, battles, and various societal principles.
In 254 B.S., during a patrol through the Valley Of Sorrow just outside the Svek Forest, Winston and the Knights Of The Rook were attacked by the Druids Of The Forest Claw. Although the battle was relatively short, it was extremely violent and ferocious. Although the knights prevailed, it was not without cost, as the patrol lost twenty knights including their leader Varick Castell. Although he couldn’t prevent Varick’s death, Winston fought valiantly by his side and continued to protect the body throughout the battle, killing many druids and their beasts. After returning to the knight’s stronghold, Winston and several other squires where promoted to full knighthood for their bravery in battle. At 17, Winston became the youngest to ever become a Knight Of The Rook.
From 254 B.S. through 250 B.S. the knights dedicated themselves to finding and eliminating the druids. Although still young, Winston had unparalleled success winning battle after battle in the war against the druids, earning him several accolades and promotions. By 21, Winston’s leadership, bravery, skill, and military mind had earned him a leadership position as Battalion Commander, in charge of several platoons of knights.
In 249 B.S., Winston had convinced the elder leaders of the knightly order to focus their attention on finding and defeating The Knights Of The Skull, who had been responsible for the deaths of his parents and several other members of the knights all those years ago. The Knights Of The Skull had seemingly disappeared shortly after their attack on The Knights Of Castell and were nowhere to be found. The leadership assigned Winston this task under Field Commander Whit Parma.
From 249 B.S. through 247 B.S., Whit Parma and Winston followed rumor after rumor and lead after lead, exhaustively searching for the whereabouts of the enemy knights. News of their determination and search spread far and wide, until in 247 B.S., a tip from one of the Kaylian Knights led to the location of the renegades. Winston and the Knights Of The Rook set out to search the ancient and now wild lands of Morgannia, closing in on their target.
From 247 B.S. through 244 B.S., Winston and the knights battled their way through the wild lands, winning battle after battle bringing them to the enemy’s doorstep and last stronghold. During this time Winston was again promoted several times, gaining more notoriety and more knights under his command. It was during this time that Winston became known as “The Thunderer”, for his ferocious fighting skills and booming voice.
From 244 B.S. through 243 B.S., Winston, now a Field commander himself and the Knights Of The Rook lay siege to the Knights Of The Skull’s stronghold, beating back several counter attacks and assassination attempts.
Then during a particular stormy night in 242 B.S., seeing defeat inevitably approaching, the Knights Of The Skull’s warlock leader summoned a hellish demon and unleashed the remainder of his knights onto the Knights Of The Rook. A nonstop battle raged for days as knight after knight was slaughtered until Winston and Whit Parma were able to slay the demon with the help of the magic enhanced Alynore Knight branch of their field command. Despite the great losses to their own knightly order, once the demon was slain the Knights Of The Skull were quickly defeated.
It was said that during this battle, that Winston had come face to face with the warlock and fought him in single combat. The exact details are unknown as Winston has refused to talk about it, only saying that he had no tongue to describe the magics and sorcery that he fought that night. Only, that during a final sacrificing attack, a blinding light and strong tingling feeling came over him as he lost consciousness and had a vision of Procella, Goddess Of Storms. He briefly described it as just a wordless yet emotional connection between them, where he realized that his destiny and path forward was to go forth and bring justice to the land in her name. He soon awoke to the nuzzling of a large grey-black war horse and saw the warlock’s headless corpse laying on the ground. Winston would take this war horse as his new fighting companion, naming him "Storm". With the battle over and the Knight Of The Skull finally brought to justice, the few surviving knights all returned to their homelands.
From 242 B.S. through 237 B.S. Winston and the Knights Of The Rook healed their wounds and enjoyed a short time of peace with few battles. Tales of their military prowess and valor spread far and wide. Although unable to replenish their numbers significantly, they spent much of their time as envoys to other kingdoms and engaged in many tournaments and sporting events. Many free-knights began flocking to Winston’s banner during this time, where he began to train them into an elite fighting force.
In 237 B.S., an urgent request came to the Knights Of The Rook for immediate assistance against a force of powerful knights attacking Lamorak. As an important ally in their knightly order, they immediately set out to secure the territory. Half way to the city, the knights were ambushed by a mysterious order of knights called The Knights Of The Wyvern. Despite being surprised and the mass casualties, the Knights Of The Rook fought valiantly, when suddenly The Knights Of The Shield branch of their order betrayed and turned against them joining with Wyverns. Now calling themselves The Knights Of The Sword, they viciously attacked their former allies. The order to retreat was given and the knights managed to escape to Brumear. The Brumearians customarily hosted them for a day before turning them back, fearing reprisal or an attack against them from the Knights Of The Wyvern or the Knights Of The Sword. At this time all of the branches of the order returned to their own lands to warn and fortify against similar assaults like the one that had befallen Lamorak. The only group remaining was the small, Knights Of Castell and those free-knights that Winston had been training. After many storied years, the acclaimed Knights Of The Rook had been destroyed.
Winston and the knights returned home, only to learn that his sister and aunt and uncle that had taken him in, had been killed by the Knights Of The Sword when they had previously attacked the town. Winston promptly adopted his niece Mixa Segud and spent several weeks in the temple of Procella communing with his deity. Here he gained clarity of purpose, deciding to rebuild the knighthood in his image and search out and destroy those who had ambushed and betrayed him. With the end of the Knights of The Rook and no obligations to any order, he declared himself a Free Imperial Knight and began to gather knights to his cause under the new banner of the Knights Of The Tempest. With the destruction that the Knights Of The Sword and Wyverns had caused, many justice seeking survivors from numerous lands quickly sought out the new order and leadership of Winston Nimbus, The Thunderer.
In 232 B.S., after five years of searching, training knights, gathering supplies, and fortifying their base, the Knights Of The Tempest were ready to strike. Obtaining an old Knights Of The Shield tax roster from The Kaylian Knights, Winston had a list of names and locations ready to be struck down.
From 232 B.S. until 220 B.S., the knights Of The Tempest sought out and hunted down the renegade Knights Of The Sword and tried to right their wrongs, all the while still searching for the Knights Of The Wyvern. Only whispers, rumors, and questionable sights and stories could be found of them, but Winston could feel that they were getting very close to discovering their secret. Small pieces of evidence pointed to the Knight Of The Wyvern as being a covert, elite unit of The Knights Of Mordrede.
In 219 B.S. a kind, old woman, dressed in red and black, gave a magical crystal to Mada, the daughter of Winston’s niece. The old woman said that anyone who held it would be magically protected from all harm forever. Fearing for her great uncles safety in his quest to find the wyverns, Mada gave it to Winston just before his travel to Mordrede. As Winston stared deeply into the crystal, a brilliant white light flashed from it, encasing him in an impenetrable crystalline material. Try as anyone might, no one could break the enchantment, Winston has been trapped there ever since, in suspended animation. Shortly thereafter, the Knights Of The Wyvern attacked and destroyed the town before being driven off by the remaining Knights Of The Tempest. In her grief for what she had done, Mada ran off into the forest never to be heard from again. The location of the crystal and body of Winston Nimbus is currently unknown, lost to time, and neither has been seen since those days long ago.
Education
Winston was home schooled up until age five when his parents were killed. At age six he was sent by his aunt and uncle to the local chapter of knights, where he was schooled and trained by the knightly order called The Knights Of The Rook. Throughout his entire life he has maintained their teachings, wisdom, and ideology, which he eventually used to create his new order of knights.
Employment
Serving first as a page, then squire, and knight in the order called The Knights Of The Rook. Together they served in an alliance of several martial powers in the region, up until their betrayal and final destruction. Shortly thereafter he founded his own order of knights known as The Knights Of The Tempest, in which he remained for the rest of his days.
Mental Trauma
The death of his parents has weighed heavily on his spirit and belief system. He has always believed that their deaths could have been prevented if those in charge had been better prepared, or focused more on warfare than on politics, or had been more aggressive in taking the fight to the enemy instead of holding back and allowing the enemy to build up troops and attack first. Winston refuses to allow these mistakes to occur under his watch.
Intellectual Characteristics
Winston’s formal knightly training began at a young age and has resulted in an extremely intelligent, shrewd, wise, clever, and crafty warrior mindset. He easily learns not only from his own mistakes but also the mistakes of others. He remembers all of the lessons learned in battle and rarely repeats an error. His numerous battles and experiences over the years has led him to be one of the greatest military minds of his time.
Morality & Philosophy
Winston believes that “Might” does not make “Right”, and that those who have the opportunity to make the world a better place have a moral obligation to do so, unlike so many in the surrounding lands.
Winston follows the chivalric and knightly code taught to him by The Knights Of The Rook. The code encompasses the virtues of high chivalry, honor, loyalty, courage, nobility, justice, mercy, generosity, humility, and prowess.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Winston is motivated by a strong sense of duty and obligation to not only his parents, who died defending the realm, but also to the knightly order that raised and trained him. Later he would be inspired by Procella, Goddess Of Storms, who enlightened and encouraged him to go forth as a knight and eventually create a new order of knights in her honor, The Knights Of The Tempest.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Although he is smart, strong, and athletic, he has never become a good swimmer. Encumbered with heavy armor, he believes that knights and bodies of water are not a good survival combination.
Through his knightly training he has become a skillful wilderness survivalist, expert horseman, jousting champion, master swordsman, and keen strategist.
Likes & Dislikes
His feelings on dry desert environments is well known and he avoids them whenever possible. The forested hills of the west are where he plans to retire once his knightly obligations are fulfilled.
Virtues & Personality perks
Winston is not only extremely brave and self-sacrificing in battle but also exhibits all of the best qualities hoped for in a leader of knights.
Vices & Personality flaws
On occasion Winston can sometimes become singly focused on a task. High stress and high risk may cause him to throw everything at his disposal into that task at the expense of other lesser missions.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Winston has close ties and friendships with all of the knights in his order. He see them as younger siblings that he is responsible for teaching, training, and overseeing their wellbeing. He has also developed friendships with a few other knights from other orders. In particular, Keir Norwood of The Knights Of The Oak, Columba Morner from The Order Of The Dove, Whit Parma of The Knights Of The Shield, Gideon Gatter of The Knights Of Malina, and Bryce Hart from The Order Of The Stagg are some of them, with Marrok The Howler of The Knights Of The Argent Order, as his closest ally.
Family Ties
Winston came from a small family, descended from knights. His parents were killed when he was very young and afterwards he and his sister went to live with his aunt and uncle before being sent to the Knights Of The Rook training school.
Religious Views
Winston is a devote follower of Procella, Goddess Of Storms and a champion of her temple.
Social Aptitude
Winston is extremely chivalric, honorable, loyal, brave, charismatic, social, outgoing, generous, clever, methodical, and faithful.
Hobbies & Pets
Considered by many, as more of a partner in battle than even a trusted steed or pet, is Winston’s war horse known as “Storm”. Supposedly blessed by the goddess Procella, this long lived equine has been with his companion from the early days and has helped turn the tide in many battles.
Being a full time knight has left little time for hobbies, but Winston does enjoy all manner of combat sports, from wrestling, to sword fighting, to jousting. He also enjoys fishing, hunting, reading, and whittling when time allows.
Speech
Winston has a medium low, baritone voice that seems to be powered by the wind itself, that can carry long distances over the most riotous battlefields. His troops and fellow knight have no issue hearing even his quietus commands.
Wealth & Financial state
His exact wealth is unknown, but his generosity was great, as he would often give much of his earnings away to his niece, the men under his command, his church, and the town where he was staying.
“Before they even hear the thunder of our hooves we will strike upon them as quickly and powerfully as a bolt of lightning itself.”
by me using Hero Forge
Alignment
Lawful Good
Species
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Free Imperial Knight.
Grand Master Of The Knights Of The Tempest.
Professions
Date of Birth
271 B.S.
Circumstances of Death
219 B.S., Technically, Winston Nimbus is in suspended animation and not deceased.
Children
Gender
Male
Eyes
Storm grey eyes with a distant troubled look.
Hair
Salt and pepper streaked hair.
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale skin with a light tanning during the summer.
Height
6' 4"
Weight
260 pounds
by me using Hero Forge
“Never seen anything like it in all my life. One second four of them were coming at me, then all I could hear was a loud rumble, then boom! A silver streak rushes past me and the next I know they were all on the ground dead, and then I see him on his horse charging into the another group of them in the distance.”
by me using Hero Forge
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