Erasmus Tyde

Erasmus Tyde
Social Rank	4
Fealty	Thrax
House	Tyde
Gender	Male
Age	42
Religion	Pantheon
Vocation	Sea Captain
Height	tall
Hair Color	Salt And Pepper
Eye Color	Blue
Skintone	Light
Family
Parents	Borislav Tyde
Siblings	Victor Tyde
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Description

Erasmus is a tall man with an expressive, lived in face and longish pepper hair salted with age. Not that he's old, by any means - his blue eyes are vigorous bright and his carriage still straight and snapping when he's about his business (though he tends more to lanky lounging than looming when he is not).

Personality

Despite his storied reputation as sailor and soldier, Erasmus' greatest trait - or curse, depending on how you see it - was an inability to let somebody down. Family, House, comrades in arms, it didn't matter. The needs of the many always far eclipsed anything personal Erasmus might have wished for. Some referred to him, jokingly, as the fish out of water - how could a man so caring and devoted to others have been born to Thrax? He would take others burdens as his own, and keep the faith when everything seemed dark.

But there's dark, then there's Darkwater deeps. After interminable years lost and suddenly returned to light, he truly is adrift, seeking familiarity in a strange city, his old comrades and family long departed. The best of Erasmus may have been left behind under the surface. Plagued by nightmares, half-remembered shadows, Erasmus is encumbered by the gnawing knowledge that all the intrigues of Arx pale against what lies beyond. Nevertheless has a House to serve again, and perhaps that sense of duty will serve as the guiding star to bring him back to the man he once was - before he is dragged under forever.

Background

Lord Erasmus Tyde was a legend. In his youth, the dashing captain and brother of Duke Victor Tyde was as respected through the Mourning Isles for his great talent as a sailor as he was for his honorable devotion to his family. Hardened in a decade of battles, he became most famous for bravely leading Tyde and Thrax forces into battle against the Pirate King Cordereon, serving as the overall commander for highlord Drake Thrax and Duke Victor Tyde at the Battle of Gray Ice Point. He distinguished himself well enough, but it was his actions after that made many of the hardened reavers take notice. It is said that Erasmus personally met with every family of every fallen Islander to relay his condolences privately, all because of a casual, offhand promise he made to deliver news to families if the worst should happen, and he was a man of his word. From then and half a hundred times since then, he showed his devotion to those that served under him. A devotee of Limerance, when he gave his word, it was certain.

Well regarded throughout the Isles, he helped teach the young heir to Maelstrom, Prince Donrai Thrax, how to sail, though the lessons came to an end after Lord Erasmus respectfully disagreed with Donrai's callous treatment of commoners serving under them. "Nobles have their ranks and privileges due to our duty to serve our people," Erasmus had said to the young prince, and an argument with the heir apparent of the Mourning Isles left the two not on speaking terms. Not long after their quarrel, Lord Erasmus Tyde volunteered to lead an expedition into the Darkwater Deeps to attempt to rescue a galley of Tyde commoners who were blown off course by a storm and thought to have ventured into it by accident. He promised he would return, and the devotee of Limerance always had kept his word.

Decades later, sailing out of the Darkwater Deeps, a man claiming to be the same legend has returned. While almost no one from his time period still lives, some of the oldest claim he does resemble Lord Erasmus Tyde, the great uncle of the current Duchess of Tydehall, Duchess Margot. While most think the story preposterous and he's clearly an imposter, the man has no claim to the duchy nor has he made any attempt at one- he promised always to serve the rightful head of house, which Margot clearly is, and the man keeps his promises.