Nathan Laidn

“Someday, my star, like your brother before you, you will hold the greatest honour of all; to be a gallant knight serving this fair kingdom we call home.”

A repeated narrative turned a fact of life, Nathan had been conditioned from a young age into holding his eventual duty with the highest of priority and pride. Anticipating such a future ahead, Nathan came to love stories about brave knights and their charges, and chose to spend little and less time with his peers or play, willingly but contentedly isolating himself. He couldn’t wait until this destiny would finally be within his grasp once he became a Page at 7 years old.

As his mother met with the Queen on this fateful day, Nathan wandered the castle grounds, excited to see the place he had been anticipating he would spend the majority of his life thereafter. It was during this that the page encountered a well-dressed young boy around his own age who had immediately seized his complete attention. He had never felt captivated by someone like this before, and so Nathan bounded over, excitedly introducing himself as asking for his name is turn. The blonde appeared to feel quite taken aback by Nathan’s blunt, casual attitude, and was especially puzzled by his ignorance as to his identity. Seeing this rare opportunity, however, the boy choose to introduce himself as simply “Eric.” They exchanged words for a time before Nathan’s mother called for him, promising to meet up again should the chance arise.

Upon learning that Eric was, in fact, the Crown Prince, Nathan felt an unexpected, inexplicable delight-. It was almost as though being drawn to his eventual charge without even knowing who he had been was a sign of fate, reaffirming his excitement. Between his young age, his fascination with stories about royalty and their knights and his immediate attachment to Eric, Nathan’s sense of duty changed from “serving the kingdom” to “serving the King”(…although in Nathan’s case, the king to-be.)

Several years later, in his early days as a Squire, discussions and gossip arose between Nathan’s fellow adolescent peers regarding the topic of romance. For a time, he couldn’t care less about these idle conversations until his friend, Reuben, brought it up with him directly. He admitted that he did not know what it felt like to have a crush, and had honestly never given the idea of courting a lady any thought, being too focused on his training. After having the sensation described to him, Nathan suddenly felt quite anxious- a rare emotion for the normally steadfast trainee knight. He realized he had experienced these exact feelings before, word for word and at times with more intensity than what was described. He was filled with a sense of dread and disbelief as the target of those emotions was not a lady, but for his closest friend, Eric.

For a time, he had attempted to deny these emotions, and even made up a person to claim he liked for the sake of pulling more information from Reuben. Eventually, he could deny it no longer: he was truly in love with the Prince. For some time after this realization, Nathan struggled to keep his emotions in check, unable to pry his eyes away from Eric, becoming a klutz when he happened to pass by, laughing nervously, and even addressing His Highness more formally from time to time in an attempt to distance himself from the emotions he was feeling. Eventually, he came to accept these feelings would never fade, but swore to keep it to himself as his most closely guarded secret, fearing Eric would possibly come to hate him should he learn the truth. Instead of despairing at what may never be, he felt an increased sense of commitment to his duty- Eric had always meant the world to him, but now he had a name for the ever growing emotion and resolve beating within his core.

A mere two years later, the Kingdom would be thrown into a state of despair. Although Nathan, as well as many of his peers and seniors, did all that they could to fight back the invaders, King Wilfred Ignatius was assassinated during a raid on the castle. The knights and squires suffered a number of casualties, while injuries and scars marked those who still drew breath. Though they had been trained, in theory, to handle such significant losses should they occur, none could truly comprehend it. Failing to protect the King from his fate only added insult to injury.

Following these events, the Crown Prince, alongside his mother, the Queen, made the decision to promote all current squires into knights in an attempt to replenish their ranks. In addition to this, Eric requested that Nathan become his personal attendant- a role he, realistically, already held unofficially. With the Trial of Providence now looming over Eric, Nathan accepted his knighting with zero hesitation. For the sake of his charge, for the one he loves, he would do anything; even drag Providence straight into Hell if he had to for daring to put such an impossible situation on the Prince’s shoulders.

Nathan is a hardworking, amiable, and exceptionally devoted young knight who strives to carry out his duty above and beyond the best of his ability. A seemingly tireless individual, his ambition and dedication is plain for all to see, as he's never too far from the training field. Nathan is intelligent and observant, which allows for him to pick up on his surroundings with ease and adapt to new skills quite quickly. His peers and juniors around him find him approachable, witty, and easy to talk to, and he, himself, will frequently approach others if he thinks they are struggling in some way, be it with training or something more emotional. He wishes for everyone to be the best version of themselves they can be, and will help however he can to achieve such a thing.

Despite this, however, many note that they don't know much about him on a personal level. Unbeknownst to them, Nathan intentionally keeps his distance and dislikes opening up about himself. In contrast to his friendly exterior, he is actually highly skeptical of others' true intentions. This is both due to his own habit of keeping his true emotions a secret to remain a pillar of strength for Eric, as well as beliveing it's his duty to always be on guard. This can also result in him completely overanalyzing those around him and getting trapped in his own thoughts.

These habits stem from his loyalty and love for the Prince which, while it is the thing that fuels his ambition the most, borders on obsession. Nathan will always prioritize Eric's happiness and safety above all else to such a degree he can become unpredictable, uncooperative and, ironically, selfish; he will even go against direct orders from Eric himself if he thought he knew better. His attachment is incredibly unhealthy and dependant, despite how capable he seems, as he defines his very self worth by Eric's opinion of him.

On a lighter note, Nathan's crush on Eric turns the usually unflappable and confident knight into a hopeless, flustered young man who would be likened to a "lovestricken maiden" by his peers (if they paid attention long enough to notice is Not Straight), despite holding this affection for years. He is endlessly endeared to the Prince and falls more in love with him with each passing day- if such a thing was possible. It shows a side of him not seen in any other context.

The axe injury to Nathan's shoulder almost caused him to lose his ability to use his right arm entirely if not for extensive physiotherapy following the event. It was during this time he trained himself to use his left hand more. Because of this, when it comes to things like fighting and writing, he is able to use his left hand with an equal level of skill to his right.

Nathan knows sign language, though some of the symbols he uses seem unfamiliar. It was his mother, Allina, and older brother, Raven, that taught him.

Most of Nathan's physical contact growing up was in relation to training, first aid, or on the battlefield. Because of this, Nathan is both touch starved and a stranger to physical affection and gets uncomfortable with casual displays of it as he never knows how to respond. The most comfortable way for him to show affection, currently, is a pat on the back or ruffling someone's hair/having his own hair ruffled, briefly. If Nathan attempted to hug someone, it would feel very stiff and awkward. All this being said, he does, of course, fantasize about the person he loves holding him close- and would likely melt into such a touch...as well as start to crave it more, given his lack of physical affection for the majority of his life.

Despite his love for them, Nathan is bad with horses/pegasi/unicorns as they seem to naturally dislike him. In fact, most creatures tend to be at least slightly unnerved by his presense, even fish and birds. At least Pyre seems to like him...?

Nathan actually has a high affinity for academicacs and would have thrived in them. If he had not become a knight, would be among those innovating and leading new technological developments in their world. In modern settings, he's a computer scientist with a specialty in programming.