Phoenix Aurelius
“Is there any better job, than to work with your own hands and make something new out of something old? In the old days, I was a soldier and a captain in the city guard, I was a Duke and a watchman. But most of all, back then and now, I was a Smith. A blacksmith really, and it was a trade that I loved then, and love now even if there isn’t much call for it anymore. At heart, I’ve always been a simple man, I ‘spose. I’ve never wanted power, never wanted to command men. I’ve always wanted something simpler: an anvil and hammer, a farm and fields, a horse to call my own, a house full of children and a woman to love and be loved by. Even during the wars I’ve fought in, drilling men during peacetime, or walking patrol, I always felt called back to the forge, to m’Lady Anvil, to making something with my hands and to build the world up, if only by a tiny item at a time.
It’s amazing to me how life can still surprise you, even after five hundred years. Take for instance, this move to Denver. A few short months ago I was in Chicago, somewhere between idle and occupied, at the beck and call of a bloodthirsty vampire, ironically named Mercy. We were there to work, and then we’re told we’re leaving to go to Denver, and that we’ll be there for a while. You know what that means? Roots. A chance for the dreams I’ve held all my long life. Pitter-patter of feet, a house, a field, and a farm. Farmer Phoenix.
Sure, go ahead and laugh its kind of funny right? I mean I’m married to one of the worlds leading manufacturers of weapons, she’s wealthy in the way that small countries are, but I want a farm. Honestly, she does too. But Eris is a topic for another time.
For five hundred years I’ve watched the world change. I’ve watched humanity surge against the darkness and then back towards the light. I’ve fought in six wars, including both world wars. I’ve watched the united states wither and bloom in cycles. I’ve watched humanity unlock more and more knowledge, uncovering the mysteries that God placed when he created the world. I’ve been privileged to have this time to learn more, to do more and make more. I’ve earned the equivalent of so many degrees in chemical and mechanical engineering that I can expertly discuss these things and countless others with anyone, at any level of knowledge. Yet still, I come back to the forge, the hammer and the anvil, because I still enjoy creating and it’s something I’m good at."
History
Phoenix has always been a simple man, the kind that Skynnard might have sung about. He was born to a farmer's family, and that was the first life he knew: hard labor under the summer sun, caring for beast and kin alike during cold winter months, the joy of spring's renewal and the slide in tranquility during autumn. When he was young, he took an interest in the work of the village blacksmith, and seemed to have an innate knowledge of the art, and an instinctive understanding of how it worked. Despite his father offering to pay for an apprenticeship, the village blacksmith didn't want an apprentice and young Phoenix was left to the farm and the farm's work. But his father was not a man who gave up easily, and he traveled for a day and a night to speak with the Lord whose lands he worked. Jarista lands were rich in ore and other raw goods, and his father was able to strike a bargain: Phoenix would be taken on as an apprentice by the smiths and craftwrights of House Jarista, in return for which Phoenix would be trained in the arts of command for and then serve in the House Jarista forces. This was beyond a good deal, with Phoenix coming out ahead in multiple ways. Little did Phoenix or his father know that the village Blacksmith knew the Jarista family, and was literate and dispatched a letter about the promise of young Phoenix as a smith.
So it was that Phoenix came to work for the Jarista, leaving his home until he had finished both his training and completed his apprenticeship. What he found was a world of dreams and searing heat. He was allowed to return home every summer, and each time he came home he had grown larger, harder, bulkier. His arms took on the muscled tones of a man who swung a hammer and who labored with his body. It was while he served this apprenticeship he first met a young Eris Jarista, and the two got on well enough, with Phoenix eventually serving under Eris' command during the wars which rocked their little country.
Phoenix completed his apprenticeship, his term of service in the Jarista forces, and then went to the capital in order to try and make his fortune. It was there that he enlisted with the City Watch, and it was there that his talents at leaqdership and command, honed by his time serving the Jarista, were tapped and he became a Captain of the Guard. But still, he was a smith, and spent the better part of his time at his forge, working to establish the name of Phoenix Aurelius as a master of the craft.
But all good things come to an end, and it is the nature of life to take after it has given, so it was with Phoenix. War loomed once more and Phoenix, along with his Duchess wife were ordered by the King to save what could be saved and then to abandon their duchy. It ran counter to Phoenix, and especially to Eris to do so, but the King was not only Eris' liegelord, but also her friend and for the sake of friendship, she adhered to his command, which meant Nix did to. They fled to England with what heirlooms they could bring with them, and their minds. Several years later, Isidore found them again and offered them a chance at eternity together. He had missed his friend and now as a member of the undead, was facing eternity without his friends.
Phoenix does not like the undead, he doesn't understand why God lets them remain, or how they came to be, but his wife was friends with one, so he dealt with his distaste. Phoenix himself, in order to be able to stabilize Isidore's psychotic bride, whom ironically Phoenix had crafted weapons for, Phoenix permitted himself to be infected with what is now called lycanthropy, and he and Eris were marked by Mercy to help stabilize her now refined and enhanced predatory instincts.
Eris Aurelius
"I've known Eris, almost my entire life literally, even discounting the last five centuries. We begun, as servant and mistress, though she didn't get too high and mighty on me that I can remember, but truth be told she was kind of a spoiled brat when she was young. The only child in the whole House courtesy of unfortunate accidents on the part of other heirs, she was guarded carefully and given every advantage money could buy and in her the Jarista streak of mad brilliance was an inferno. But even then, she captivated me.
Course, back then, I didn't know my ass from a hole in the ground and so I was pretty clueless. We were friends. Buddies. We survived canon fire, suicidal charges, catapults and trebuchets together and at her command I charged into a row of guns that should have killed me. We parted company for a while when I went to the capital to try my hand at the big city life. She came back into my life when she was raised a Duchess by her good buddy, the silver haired git Isidore. She waltzed into the forge and wanted some new materials, with specific requirements for their strength. I was able to give her what she needed, and when she started talking payment she said she was either going to marry me or buy me a goat.
I've never been a man with a lot to say, or who likes to hear the sound of his own voice. When when she said '...marry you...', I felt like lightning had just struck my head. It flashed through my mind, everything we had been through together, everything we had given to each other and in that moment of dumbfounded silence I realized that I loved her, always had and that I did in fact want to marry her.
There was nothing left to do..but woo and win fair maiden. Which I did, and even after five hundred years of marriage, she is still my best friend, my lover, and I wouldn't trade her for anything. I don't even mind that she's kind of a Godless heathen, and this guy is a good Catholic boy! Anywho, I digress. Eris and Me, against the world, for all eternity.