The Introduction of Sedrick Svaerde

This is Sedrick Svaerde's backstory. This will give readers the background information they need to know to have context for his motives and quest

Sedrick Svaerde is a human. Born to farmers, he is the eldest of two sons (five-year gap). He made it to the age of 8 on the farm when one night, their region of Dyrkning was attacked. A neighboring lord had decided to take the region's rich farmland by force, leading a military raid in the dead of night. Homes were destroyed, farms were looted, villages burned. The women were raped, the men were wasted, and children were victims of both if they couldn't hide. The Svaerde farm was one of the more remote ones, so when the raid came upon them, at first they didn't know what was going on. There was a knock at the door, they all awoke, and Sedrick's father, Halfdan, went, unarmed, to see who could be calling at that hour. A trusting man, he seemed to know no fear of strangers in the night. Sedrick's mother, Selianne, watched as they brought her husband further from the house with a growing sense of dread. She took Sedrick firmly by the hand and gave him his grandfather's dirk, telling him that no matter what happened that night, he must promise to protect his brother, Caspian. He did not understand, asking questions until she grabbed his chin and forcefully told him, "Promise me!" He promised, at which point Caspian appeared behind him, bleary-eyed from sleep. Caspian inquired what was going on before shivering. Selianne took the shawl from around her shoulders, wrapped it around Caspian, and told him, "Don't fret, my darling. Sedrick is going to keep you safe." Just as she finished her reassurance, there came a guttural scream from outside - Halfdan's dying cries. Before anyone inside could react, the front door was torn from its hinges with the force of the kick that broke it in. Sedrick's mother shoved him, hard, into his brother and toward the loose log at the back of the cabin. She shouted, "Keep him safe!" before two pairs of hands grabbed her and yanked her away from her boys and bent her over the kitchen table. The last glimpse Sedrick got of his mother was the fear in her eyes as her head was slammed into the table. He turned, grabbing his brother fiercely by the hand and tunneling both of them out of the house while the invaders were otherwise occupied. 

They made their way through the night to a nearby church, where the resident priest took pity on them. He took them in, had them fed, bathed, and put to bed. He took note of the dirk that Sedrick carried and decided the best place for the boys would be the knight's academy run by the king in Berilis. The priest arranged a wagon for the boys, and he saw that they were safely brought there. The two were accepted into the knight's academy, and there they remained, training to improve each day. Years passed, and while Caspian grew to be a sly and cunning tactician, Sedrick soon grew into the champion of Berilis. Dutiful, steadfast, and deeply loyal, these traits combined with his excellent strength saw him quickly gaining favor with the king. He earned his knighthood young, and his brother followed several years later. Together they made quite the formidable pair, complementing each other's strengths. Little to Sedrick's knowledge, however, was the sea of resentment that teemed under Caspian's carefully constructed facade. He'd spend his whole life in Sedrick's shadow and was deeply resentful of the way his brother had been able to rise so quickly up the ranks to full-fledged knighthood, jealous of the favor the king showed him, frustrated with his own inadequacy. 

One day while on patrol, Caspian encountered a notorious crime boss known colloquially as the Operator. Head of a smuggling syndicate with members across many countries, he was among the most wanted men in Berilis - the bounty on his head could feed a family of four for a year. Caspian was surprised to find him undisguised in broad daylight, but he quickly had the man cornered. He was about to apprehend him when the Operator asked him, "Come on, kid, you don't really want to turn me in, do you?" This question threw Caspian. He faltered - only for a moment, but it was enough. The crime boss continued, "You're Caspian, right? Second in command? I've got eyes all over this city, I know what you're doing - and chasing after your brother won't get you anywhere. You want your own notoriety? Join up with me and you'll be better off than you'd ever dreamed of being." 

Caspian pointed his sword more directly at the crime lord. "The bounty on your head would bring me prosperity for years - what could you possibly do for me that's worth leaving you alive?" The crime boss said, "It just so happens that I'm looking for a new business partner. You know that there's nothing - not goods, not people, nothing - I can't get my hands on in one way or another. With my contacts and your wits, we'd be unstoppable. Nothing would be out of the question." Slowly, Caspian lowered the end of his sword, and the Operator knew he'd won the day. 

Caspian remained a knight to keep up appearances, even requesting to the king that he be assigned as head of the detail tasked with quashing the Operator's operation. The operation was well-entrenched and prolific - liberating the city alone from his influence would be a lengthy task, let alone the region at large. Sedrick felt a surge of fraternal pride at his brother when he heard of his desires, and personally vouched for him to the king. 

"My brother is one of the most intelligent men under your command - there is no one fitter to the task of taking down this syndicate than he, Your Majesty." 

With Sedrick's glowing recommendation, Caspian was assigned to the task. It was a gradual process, but he was able to let the criminal operation flourish undetected for several years under the guise of the syndicate being crafty, its constituents loyal to the point of martyrdom. But as the years passed, he got cocky, taking it for granted that he would never be caught. The Operation's activities were being noticed and reported more often, their deeds more dastardly than they had been in previous years, producing more casualties. In light of this, the king asked Sedrick to join his brother in the fight for justice. Sedrick agreed, but Caspian flatly refused. Torn between respecting his brother's wishes and obeying the orders of his king, Sedrick decided to pursue the Operation in secret - but the evidence he found was unsettling. All the victims and relations thereof that he could speak to implied that it was Caspian who was running the syndicate, facilitating the atrocities against the citizens of Berilis. He refused to believe it, throwing himself further into his search until one day, the proof he found was undeniable. He caught Caspian in the act. 

He'd been following a lead that indicated a knight in the city had been torturing citizens that refused to pay the public safety tax - a precautionary tax that had been imposed shortly after Caspian's appointment to the search committee. One such family who could not pay had their patriarch run through in front of them by a hooded figure armed with a sword - a figure that carelessly dropped the Sigil of Berilis on a chain behind himself after he departed. Sedrick held the lost sigil in his hand the night he decided to pay the victimized family a visit - the sigil that matched the one he and all the other knights wore round their necks. He arrived that evening with a pair of his men to inquire about it, but before he'd even had a chance to knock, he heard a bloodcurdling screech from inside the house. He barged in to find a woman bound to a chair with her bodice torn open and a man standing over her with the point of a knife pressed to her throat, her three small children huddled and crying in a corner. 
"What is the meaning of this?" he shouted upon his entrance. He was quicker than the man, disarming him and putting a knee to his back almost instantly. "Show yourself, coward!" Sedrick shouted as he reached for the hood. But as he took hold of it, he faltered. He knew this fabric - the hood was the same material as his mother's shawl. He knew the identity of the criminal before the makeshift hood even came off, but he yanked it off all the same so his men could bear witness. His countenance fell when his worst fears were confirmed. It was Caspian, come to silence the woman for going to the knights for help. 

Sedrick asked again, defeated this time. "What is the meaning of this?" Even from beneath his brother's knee, Caspian chuckled. "So you've finally figured it out. I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever notice what was right beneath your nose. Then again, you always have been something of a dunce." 

Sedrick used his free hand to slam Caspian's head into the floor, pinning it there. "Why? Why have you given yourself over to crime? What of our duty? We swore fealty to Berilis! We promised to protect the kingdom!"

Caspian snarled. "Why? You, of all people, ask me why? It is I who must ask you 'why', surely." With a brutal shove, he managed to unseat Sedrick, quickly standing and pinning him to the wall with his boot. "Why is it that you've always thought yourself so much better than me? Why was it you who was always given the golden opportunities? Why was it always you who got just what you wanted? Well, no more. I will remain in your shadow no more. All the morals they forced down our throats all our lives, all those count for naught. All that matters is power - and I finally have power!" Caspian drew his sword. "There is only one who sees the worth in me, only one who deserves my fealty. I will not let you take this away from me!" He took a swing at Sedrick, but was parried by one of the entourage before his blade could strike true. Sedrick righted himself as Caspian knocked the other knight away, and the two locked swords. It was a battle of strength, so although there was a struggle, Sedrick won. He had his brother disarmed and at swordpoint. 

"Caspian, you are a traitor to your kingdom, a servant of evil, and a threat to the realm! I sentence you to death!"

At this, Caspian only laughed. "Spare me your theatrics, brother. End this farce, or I shall - " Caspian's eyes widened in both shock and betrayal as Sedrick plunged his sword through his brother's unarmored chest. 

"What have I done..." Sedrick pulled his sword from his brother's chest as Caspian collapsed, bleeding. As best he could amidst his shock, Sedrick commanded his men to tend to the frightened family in the home while he dealt with Caspian. When that was done, he went immediately to the king to confess. 

"My liege, I must confess to you a great crime," he said when the king allowed him an audience. He regaled the monarch with the events of the evening, but much to his confusion, the king reacted with relief. "Ah, Sedrick, you've done it! You've brought down the kingpin of the whole Operation! The kingdom will be in your debt, and I know that I cannot thank you enough for your great service to this city." Sedrick expressed his confusion. "But Sire, I have just confessed to you that I have committed a murder."

"You have done no such thing, my good man! You have done the realm a great service; our citizens may walk freely once more knowing that Caspian is dead!" 

Hearing his liege praise him for having slain his brother made Sedrick ambivalent. He'd objectively done his duty as a knight, but he realized as soon as he'd done the deed that he'd broken the promise he'd made to his mother thirty years before. He knew in his heart that the absolution he so desperately craved lay not with his monarch, but with his mother. He swallowed his pride and asked the king for a dismissal to search for her. The king did not strip him of his title as General of Berilis, but he did grant him permission to take leave and seek her out. "Do not fret for the kingdom in your absence - you've trained a legion of excellent men as your subordinates; I shall select one of them to mind your post while you are away. And whenever you decide to return, know that you will return and be reinstated to your position posthaste. Good luck and Godspeed, Sedrick."

With the king's blessing, he left for Dyrkning to find his mother, venturing to the farm of his childhood. But when he arrived, he was greeted with a barren field. No home or barn stood, no crops grew - the wilds had taken over the land. 

At that point, he made it his mission to find his mother. Searching far and wide, he made a vow that he will not stop until he finds her - dead or alive - and confesses to his crime. He carries his grandfather's dirk at his side and wears his mother's shawl as a raiment to remind him to never stop searching.