Rashard Andires
Oligarch Rashard Andires
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Despite his depression, Rashard has maintained his physical condition, and has even taken on bulk. He is a large man, built like a bear with hands as large enough to grip most fully by the face. His skin seems a bit paler, a bit yellower than its previous healthy tan, and he is marred by several scars, but Rashard is healthy enough to function without issue.
Special abilities
Rashard is probably the island's best warrior, trained in several styles with several weapons by several masters. He is also an excellent sailor and battlefield commander. On top of these skills, Doxa granted him powers for his dominance in the war games: control over ice, water, and wind - the waves rise with his allies, the winds take his enemies astray.
Recently, Rashard's malaise has led him to rely more and more on his ice powers more and more.
Apparel & Accessories
Rashard doesn't bother with fashion trends. He wears the same old sailor's garb, done in black and gold, with several earrings, a crown set low behind his head and over his ears, and some piercings through his nose. As far as the Reishi go, he is quite muted.
Specialized Equipment
Rashard is bearer of a sword known as Arctic Circle, a finely made dueling sword capable of sheathing itself in an icy wind. Arctic Circle complements Rashard's fighting style, both magical and martial, remarkably well.
Defensively, Rashard also wears a a cloak of resistance and a powerful (and expensive) amulet of bullet protection, in the hopes that they will protect him from his "curse."
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Rashard was never interested in being an Oligarch. He was excited when his family won the games during his early twenties, of course, but he knew that his still quite spry father would hold the title - or his mother if not him, or his brother if not her. He never could have predicted the disaster that would befall his family, ultimately shoving Rashard into a position that he was neither prepared nor longing for in the middle of what should have been his father's term. He did his best, but Rashard was more of a salt-of-the earth type, not suited to politics or management of anything greater than a single business.
Education
Rashard was instructed like any young nobleman, but he was inattentive during his instruction. His dream was to become a soldier - a commander of his own fleet - not a stuffy nobleman who could only sit at desks, read boring reports, and do math. So, he skipped many lessons to practice the blade, or to sneak onto a ship and help the sailors through their patrols. He got good at that - the practical things - and he had a solid head for directing a battle, but he never gained the knowledge he needed to lead a nation. He never thought he'd need it.
Accomplishments & Achievements
Rashard personally captained his family's ship during the war game that earned them a position as a ruling family, deftly outmaneuvering several other families with larger, better equipped ships and even managing to nearly bring down the Meretincelle vessel before the games were declared over. Doxa himself acknowledged that, had the battle carried through to a single ship remaining, Rashard would have remained above the water.
Failures & Embarrassments
After her was thrust into the position of Oligarch, Rashard made a number of mistakes. He delayed managing the craftsmen of the city so that he could grieve his family properly, then delegated work he did not understand out to bureaucrats beneath him, then stumbled into trap after trap set up by the other families. He lost Steelfoam Smithy to the Broverons, Sunbleached and Silverlace to the Vernilets, Bubbling Seawater and Wavebreakers to the Meretincelles, Firewater Brewery and Seagrape Winery to the Razes, and Seagleam to the Abithers. In the space of two short years, the Andires went from owning eleven prominent businesses, to only three.
Mental Trauma
The deaths of his family members happening in such quick succession, followed by his failure to maintain what they had built has left Rashard with lasting guilt and self-loathing. He knows that he should have taken a wife to help him bear the weight of the Oligarch title, but he could not bring himself to take his "curse" upon anyone else. Rashard sees himself as a failure in every sense; before his family, before himself, and before Doxa.
Morality & Philosophy
Rashard is locked in a cycle of negative emotions that make it difficult for him to see things from anything but his own bleak perspective, and so much of the suave charm and confidence he once had has crumbled under the weight of ceaseless depression and a somewhat short, cold temper. He sees himself as a failure for losing the competition laid out before him, but that does not mean he forgives the other competitors for playing dirty and ruining his life. Rashard has a lot of wrath, smothered beneath a blanket of uncaring duty.
Taboos
Because several of his family members were taken to Noz'thanor by the business end of a gun's barrel, Rashard despises guns. He refuses to personally fire anything smaller than a cannon, and he has a vicious vendetta against opponents that use firearms against him. He has taken measures to ensure his own protection against firearms, and if he sees an enemy use one he will hunt them down the moment he has an opening.
Social
Family Ties
Rashard is the son of Daevin and Eleasha Andires, and brother to Liam and Amarika Andires. All now deceased.
Religious Views
Rashard is a Doxian, a follower of Doxa, God of Competition. He isn't particularly devout, mainly because he sees himself as on something of a terrible losing streak, and wouldn't dare show his face to Doxa because of it.
Alignment
True Neutral
Current Status
Managing Clarenrock Masonry
Current Location
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Oligarch Rashard, Highlord Rashard
Age
32
Date of Birth
8th of Magen, 3437
Birthplace
Korosa
Children
Current Residence
Citadel Armarantha
Gender
Male
Eyes
Dull, deep gray, sunken
Hair
Medium-length black, slicked back
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Tanned, yet pallid, marred by scars
Height
6'1"
Weight
200 lbs
Belief/Deity
Doxian
