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About Martin Fournier

The Fournier Family has ruled over the nation of Patriam for centuries since the end of the Patriam Civil War by cultivating a tradition of law and order that has made the nation extremely prosperous. Martin, as the son of King Alexander Fournier, has tried to live his life in accordance to these traditions in order to ensure that his family and his nation continue to prosper.

However King Alexander had two children and Martin is the youngest of those two children. His older brother, Gabriel, didn't have the same reverence for the Fournier tradition as Martin preferring to remain in a constant state of teenage rebellion well into his 30's. This angered a lot of members of his family since he was the heir to the throne. The king however managed to calm their nerves by assuring them that he would eventually grow into a proper heir and king.

Gabriel however had different ideas when he announced his marriage to a lowly elven Shelynite monk that didn't have enough decency to wear shoes that had no noble pedigree whatsoever. Some members of the family begged King Alexander to make Martin the heir to the throne to which there was no precedence and the king wasn't interested in bucking centuries of tradition for the sake of a rebellious son. Martin agreed with that decision since he didn't want to risk another civil war although he was very sympathetic to their complaints as he didn't think that Gabriel had it in him to be a king.

He also didn't want to think about his wife Joni. She was a clueless airhead that didn't get the hint when he tried to make it clear to her that he didn't think much of her. Joni kept on pestering him since he was her "new little brother" which made his skin crawl whenever she uttered those words. The rest of the family wasn't much better as a lot of them refused to even attend the wedding. He didn't want to go to the wedding either but he wanted to squash the dangerous rumors that were floating around of him planning to usurp Gabriel's title as heir. He theorized that any sort of uprising would be worse than a few decades of 'King' Gabriel and 'Queen' Joni. That didn't mean that he wasn't worried about those two on the throne as he prayed to every deity that he knew of in order to turn Gabriel into a competent king.

A year later King Alexander succumbed to illness paving the way for Gabriel to rule over Patriam. Unfortunately no god or goddess paid attention to his prayers as the new monarch made sweeping changes that touched a nerve with some of the important players in the country. He angered the nobles by banning arranged marriages at the request of Joni who didn't agree with them a worshiper of Shelyn. He angered the generals by telling them to not answer provocations for neighboring nations who were trying to take advantage of Gabriel's weakness. He angered clerics of other religions by favoring Shelynites in his royal council when previous rulers tried to mix faiths in order to appease a spiritually diverse population.

This caused some members of this family to run to Martin begging him to lead an uprising against Gabriel. He immediately refused the offer, although he understood their frustration, and volunteered to become the captain of Gabriel's personal guard in order to permanently end any speculation of him leading a coup against his brother.
Unfortunately the idea of a coup didn't die down as a few of the generals attempted to overthrow the government. Martin was able to fight them off but not before they managed to kill Gabriel. As the head of the royal guard Martin failed in his only duty which was to protect the king's life at all costs.

He figured the only thing that he could do was to give up his life as penance for failing to protect the king. There was a precedent for this as a few of his ancestors did the same thing after dishonoring themselves the way Martin did. However Joni, the new ruler of Patriam, got wind of this and attempted to stop it. They passionately argued the matter as he never seen Joni show any kind of anger. Eventually they agreed to a duel to settle the matter. If Martin won he would go through the deed without any objection from her (if she lived). If Joni won Martin would abandon the idea.

Martin figured that his tutelage under his father and the nation's top generals plus his experience in battle would give him every advantage over a naive elf that couldn't bring herself to kill her opponent. His belittling of Joni's fighting ability would bruise his ego further along with the rest of his body as Joni made light work of Martin. Before he knew it he was in a hospital ward being treated by a number of clerics with Joni standing before him.

She handed him a map and told him to go to the city of Beacon Falls in the other side of the continent that hosts the largest temple to Shelyn on the continent. She said that the temple elders can give him what he needs in order to improve himself. He didn't know what she meant by that but he didn't really care. He just wanted to be anywhere else but Patriam as his embarrassing performance at the duel and letting his brother die made him want to go into a hole and never come out. Now he ventures outside of his homeland for the first searching for whatever salvation Joni thinks he will obtain as he tries to rebuild his broken ego.