Erick A. Saint-Just

Full Name: Erick Arden Saint-Just

Age/Date of Birth: 46, II Sextidi Ventôse, 215 AU

Gender: Male

Race/Ethnicity: Durantian, Direct Murotian Descent

Appearance: It is unfair in extremes to identify Erick Saint-Just as handsome, pretty, or any conventional sort of positive aesthetic descriptor. On the same note, the negative are no more applicable. In short, Saint-Just is at once terrifying and tragic. There is something inhuman in those sharp grey eyes, the aspect of a bird of prey peering out from beneath lids weighted by exhaustion. A brow once regally raised has degraded into a permanent furrow, plucked perfectly in spite of his evident lack of time. Luxuriant hair of brown streaked with gold is at all times bound in a ponytail reaching his lower back, an impracticality permitted by his position. Thoroughly brushed bangs sweep across his forehead, descending on either side of his face to brush his ornate, raised collar. The peculiarly girlish effect of his styling is echoed in delicate, soft lips, rarely moving from their characteristic half-smirk. A firm, masculine chin and jaw reassure one as to the gender of the Archduke, which was never particularly in question to begin with. A well-structured physique, the result of long hours spent in rigorous exercise, in concealed by a truly inspired wardrobe worthy of a monarch.

Occupation(s): Archduke of Durant

Likes: Birds, Flowers, Snow, Writing, Philosophy, Clothing, Solitude

Dislikes: Money, Sand, High Places, Whispering, Regularity of Sound, Heat

Biography: Born to Benjamin Saint-Just, Baron of Medhmenham, Erick was from the outset considered something unique. Intelligence beyond the norm existed in those fierce eyes, which even as an infant possessed a singularity of purpose and probing curiosity that unsettled passersby. Doted upon by his mother Samantha, he was left at age eight to his own devices when tuberculosis at long last claimed her life. Benjamin was in no way the nurturing sort, preferring to leave the oversight of Erick’s development to private tutors plucked from the Ghalean universities. Regrettably for Benjamin, keeping such educators employed was exceedingly troublesome, his son having a tendency to drive them away with his incessant questioning and assurance of his own superiority in all matters. By the age of twelve Erick had requested that no more tutors be sought, preferring instead to peruse the great house’s library in an autodidactic reverie, absorbing the knowledge within at an enviable pace. Benjamin took interest in the boy at this juncture, recognizing him as not spoiled and lazy, but deliberately prone to underachieving in response to the perceived condescension of his tutors. Having been left to direct his own course of study, it became abundantly clear that the boy had infinite promise. Noting this, Benjamin resolved to realize a long-time aspiration: the circumnavigation of the globe. In the company of his scholarly associate Marlowe Dashwood and the man’s peculiar ward, Maximilien Hilbert, Benjamin and his eager son set out from the Durantian port of St. Legualt in a vessel constructed specifically for the purpose of their unprecedented journey. It is here that record of Erick Saint-Just’s life is for some time lost, as Dashwood alone wrote on the travels of the group, a record rendered incomplete by a parting of ways which occurred in Erick’s fifteenth year. Prior, there is some mention of swift learning at sea from the crew of the ship, a clear display of leadership, and a strong academic rivalry with Hilbert. Upon reaching the distant shores of Idrach there is further mention of startling violent tendencies in the boy, an entire party of nomadic warriors having been obliterated by his wrath after the ill-fated gypsy group made the mistake of attempting to rob the travelers. When Saint-Just at last returned from his travels, the first of the four to reappear, his years numbered at twenty-two. Quiet, detached, and vibrating with power, the young man quickly manipulated the Archduke Harrison into a duel, something unheard of, through a series of careful movements in the course of a year. Dispatching the aging monarch with relative ease, Saint-Just intimidated the intended heir into exile, seizing the throne in his stead. No one seemed interested in arguing. The ambitious young man seemed precisely what the country needed in the midst of a seemingly endless war with Godrin. Early in his reign, it is rumored that the Archduke met a young clerk by the name of Adelle Vance, though little is known about the affair beyond the conception of a son, and the woman’s disappearance. Almost two decades later the war came to a temporary halt, leaving the Archduke in a state of limbo along with the rest of the world. More than anything, he became painfully aware of just how alone he truly was.

Quote: “A burden, freely assumed, provides not sorrow but strength. We were built by Our station’s demands... we daresay that all men are.”

Weapons : Saint-Just is a talented duelist, favoring a colichemarde. He is also the proud owner of the Metatron, a state-of-the-art alchemical firearm.

Special Abilities/Skills: A master of magecraft, Saint-Just has taken the art of the Durantian Philosophy to new levels, and has thoroughly comprehended the rare Ghalean Forms.

Organizations: The Caelestis Nobilium, The Stewards

Mannerisms: Saint-Just is considered by some to be a touch mad, his affinity for clocks that do not tick quite right and fear of windows in high towers reflecting poorly upon his sanity. He is also quite certainly afflicted by hypomania is the extreme, which does not seem to bother him at all.

Relationship(s): A nebulous relationship with Atessa Morvyron, long since ended. He is aware of Celia Maxwell’s interest, but does not take it at all seriously.

Family: The Archduke is... at odds with his father, who may or may not even be amongst the living. It is simply known that they left on their voyage at little more than business partners, and returned pretending to be wholly unaware of the other’s existence. As to his son Arden, Saint-Just does everything in his power to support the boy from a distance, feigning disinterest to discourage enemy powers from using Arden as a tool.