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Mr. Brace


Lived in Era 44, got 1 heir(s) (Brace) and was a member of Mad Against Drugs

Brace spent the first 10 years of his life as an orphan running the streets of the Triberian city center. He survived by his wits, and the uncanny ability to charm people into doing his bidding. Although his life was difficult and wrought with the perils of the time, by assembling the other orphans he managed to make life more comfortable. He would give them assignments, and daily duties to help make all their lives just a little better. With rewards for outstanding performance and punishments for failure he ran a pretty smooth operation.
Even though he was comfortable, he was by no means content. He knew there was something better, and this was evidenced by the people he had seen moving through the gates of the inner walls. There were ladies in long flowing dresses and tall hats of all different bright colors made of silk, and velvet. The men had long coats made of the best wool in the land, and leather boots that extended above their knees. Many wore gold or silver inlayed brass breast plates, and spurs on their boots. Both the men and women were adorned with jewelry of silver, gold, and gems of all sorts. It was not these that he was interested in though, the men that caught his attention were the ones that wore the tunics of the Triberian Army that caught his attention.
He would lay and watch them train for hours through a small hole in the inner wall that only he knew about. Brace would envision himself in one of the tunics training in one of the many disciplines that were practiced in the large yard that was set aside for this purpose. There were poles, wooden dummies, targets, and many other pieces of equipment for them to practice on. The soldiers would form lines in order to practice ground combat, archery, or horsemanship. From his observations he had learned that the colors of their tunics were a designation of the division they belonged to. The red, yellow, and blue tunics made up the largest part of the Army. They consisted of archers, pikemen, macemen, cavalry and knights. They were the ones that were used for large scale assaults, raids, and sieges of towns. Brace dreamed of one day wearing either the gold or purple tunics of the Triberian special troops. Those in gold were the Triberian Elite guard. They were trained in specialized defense tactics, and were used in defending Triberia as well as keeping order in the city. The purple tunics were worn by the Imperial Guard, those that were hand chosen to guard the king and royal family. Although he would consider wearing the red, yellow or blue tunics as a path to wearing the colors of the special troops, he never even thought about putting on the dull greens, browns, and blacks of a group of soldiers that he had seen wandering the yard. He had never seen them training, but instead they would go to a large building to one side of the training yard. Although the kings’ castle was the largest building within the inner wall, this building was not far behind in size. It was obvious that this was where the catapults, trebuchets, and other such siege weapons were created and tested. Brace wanted no part of that type of unit, there was no glory in standing off and lobbing large rocks at the walls of the enemy. Instead battle needed to be up close, and personal. Besides, their clothing always looked tattered and worn, and they always had grease and paint on their faces and arms. Not the look of a true warrior in his book.
Sometimes after watching the soldiers train, Brace would throw an old piece of tarpon over his shoulders and using his imagination he would turn it into one of the bright colors of a tunic. Then he would pick up a stick or some other item his mind told him looked like a sword and begin to copy the moves that he had witnessed the soldiers performing. Unknown to him, Brace had been observed on many occasions during these times of playing soldier.
Palin, a captain in the Elite Guard had been brought up as a soldier since he was 12 years old but remembered his time running the streets what seemed like a lifetime ago. Since his conscription into the Army he had risen through the ranks quickly, first making it to lead his own unit in the regular Army, then being excepted in the special unit, and now a Commander of troops in the Elite Guard. During his first years in the Army he thought he had been abducted, but now as he looks back on his life, it was a rescue.
That was what he had in mind for this boy with the torn cloth around his shoulders, and stick in his hand. Palin knew the boy would have it harder than most of the others that came to the guild for training. First he was two years younger than was allowed in, and second he was a street urchin. The way he handled his make believe sword made Palin believe that this boy would be able to handle anything the other boys would throw at him. But it wasn’t the way he handled the stick that made Palin believe in him, it was the way he handled the other orphans, the group he had put together, his friends, his “Army”.
Palin even had a plan for the boy to gain access to the inner wall. The wheels had already been put into motion, and nobody else knew of any ulterior motives. The boy would be behind the walls tonight.
As the evening sun set, Brace went through the same motions he did every night before laying down for some much needed rest. All of his crews had come in to report their bounties, and mission results. All but one had made their quota for the day. That one was sent back out with instructions to not return until they had made their goal for the day. The others split the take for the day and returned to their respective post throughout the city for the night. As he lay down to sleep, Brace’s mind wandered to the soldiers training he had watched. He knew once his eyes closed, images of glorious battles, and the siege of large cities would fill his dreams.
He had been asleep what seemed like only moments when suddenly Brace was jerked to his feet with a sharp pain in both his shoulders. As he tried to shake the cob webs out of his head he heard, a loud angry voice say “that’s him, bagem and let’s go”. Just then someone cracked him in the head, stars filled his eyes, there was a flash of gold then the lights went out.
Brace wasn’t sure if it was the stench or the constant screaming and wails coming from somewhere nearby that woke him up. Either way he couldn’t open his eyes because of the intense throbbing pain in his skull. He knew he was in some kind of cell, and by the damp feeling and musty smell, probably underground somewhere. Other than that he had no clue where he was or how long he had been there. His hands were still tied behind his back, and both his ankles and knees were bound together as well. Realizing he was still tied up, he opened his eyes only to discover he was still wearing a hood. Resigning himself to just lay there he tried to figure out where he may have made a mistake and gotten caught. Ever since he had put the crews together and trained them, he hadn’t done any jobs himself. Instead he trained and managed the others. Statement “that’s him bagem” by his captures to him meant that someone had seen him do something, but what? He also knew that he had to be held somewhere near the Peoples Court, because a few years ago the king had declared that crimes against people outside the inner wall would be handled by the people of which were outside the walls. After all they were the victims of said crime, it cleared up the royal court for offenses against the Kingdom, and there were plenty of them. Since he had never been caught before the most likely punishment would be to return the stolen items and perform some work for the victim for a few months. Not bad considering that many who enter the royal court for crimes against the Kingdom never return. This is why Brace had a rule that no one from any of his crews were to break any laws of the state. If anyone should to do so, Brace himself would hand them over to the Elite Guard.
At first he dismissed the footsteps as being part of the pounding in his head, but they grew steadily louder and it was his guess someone was coming for him. By the sound there were at least two of them, and now they have stopped about two arms length away from him. Just as Brace was wondering what they were waiting on, an unexpected sound rang through the cell. After all the reason they leave people tied up in the peoples cells was because they had no real locks in them, just rope tied in a knot. As Brace contemplated what that sound could mean that searing pain came to his shoulders again as two sets of hands grasped him under the arms and jerked him to his feet. Before he could fully gain his footing he felt something slip between his legs, give a jerk, and had it not been for the hands under his arms he would have fallen when the ropes around his leg and ankles gave way under the blade of the knife.
Still hooded with hands bound at the wrist behind him, Brace was dragged through what he thought to be a hallway. He knew it was a small enclosure by the echoes that were produced by his captor’s boots on the stone floor.
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