Name: Caradin Ironspike
Gender: Male
Age: 42
Race: Nord
Born: 4E 158

Appearance: 6’3 and solidly built with scars on his arms and chest. He has black hair that is long and thick, kept from his face with two braids, and a short beard. His eyes are deep blue. He has heavy brows and a largish nose. He has the noble look about him, but also weary.

Personality: Caradin is occasionally hot-headed, with a dead hatred for the Thalmor and the Dominion. At the same time, he bares ill will towards the Reachmen of High Rock, and the Stormcloaks; the former for how they treated the local Nords in their uprising, and the latter for causing disunity within the Empire. He is wary of outsiders, but incredibly loyal to those who he calls friend. He is not easily impressed. Most of all however, his attitude is dour and grim. Having seen so many die fighting the Dominion, for seemingly no cause, has made him bitter towards the Empire. That said, he still remains loyal in the hopes that one day the Empire will regroup and renew the fight against the Dominion.

Skills:

- battle strategy (especially guerrilla warfare)
- One handed (mainly swords, but also handy with an axe)
- block (shield)
- hunting and tracking
- smithing
- Wilderness survival
- heavy armour
- speech
- endurance

Weapons, Armour and Other gear:
- elven broadsword
- steel axe
- octagonal shield (made of steel and wood)
- steel Nordic bracers and cuffed boots, a sleeveless shirt of chainmail and plate cuirass worn under a blue fur-trimmed surcoat, scale pauldrons/sleeves, a black cloak with wolf pelt hood
- a silver chain with the point of an iron fire poker
- a small pack of supplies, such as a few poultices, rope, bandages, a few days worth of food, flint, and a waterskin

History:
Caradin’s father, Haedrian, was a mighty Nordic warrior who lived in County Skingrad, but originally lived in Eastmarch. He met a woman one night named Ayla and bedded her. When she fell pregnant, Haedrian asked her father for her hand, so that her honour may yet remain intact. But her father refused, and would not give his consent. So Haedrian and Ayla eloped and moved as far away as possible, settling in a small village in County Skingrad. Caradin was the result of their union. He learned to become a smith, like his father, also learning the basics of combat. However, things took a turn for the worst with the invasion of the Aldmeri Dominion and the outbreak of the Great War.

Skingrad soon fell to invaders, and from there the army continued a devastating rampage of destruction, with many raiding parties sent ahead of the army to torch the countryside. Caradin’s village was one of the last to fall. A small detachment of Nordic legionnaires (including one Aerys Borne) had been despatched in the area to halt, or at least delay the advance of the Aldmeri troops to allow more time for reinforcements to arrive. The aid of the legionnaires however did little to prevent Haedrian dying while defending his family. Despite being only fifteen years old Caradin joined the fight, half act of wild vengeance, half out of survival, and managed to survive the battle, committing a great act of valour that is seldom spoken of, involving the defeat of a mighty Aldmeri warlock. The legionnaires were able to defeat the Dominion raid, but the village was destroyed and their numbers were reduced to a pitiful count. The body of Caradin’s mother was never found.

From that day on, Caradin served the legion as a smith until the Great War ended. He left the legion’s service, and returned to Skyrim, needing a change of scene from the horrors of his youth. He made a living by offering his skills as a trapper and hunter. This soon expanded into mercenary work. It is for this reason that he finds himself leader of the rag-tag group of warriors, legionnaires and others, as he knows Skyrim’s landscape and people better than any other.