Cyril Merritt

 For Death's Apprentices

PERSONALITY

[ POSITIVE ] affectionate | courteous | eloquent | perceptive
[ NEUTRAL ] ambitious | noncommittal
[ NEGATIVE ] calculating | fickle | insincere | neglectful

HISTORY

Cyril was born into nobility on May 12, 1581 as the second son of Henry Merritt, The Earl of March.  He was often treated as the first son due to the early death of his older brother, of which he has little to no recollection of. A year after his brother’s death, Cyril’s younger sister Alice was born. After that day, he learned he would share almost everything with that small, delicate ball of life flesh.

At five, Cyril began lessons with a variety of instructors to expand his skillset and knowledge base as a means to prepare him to succeed his father’s title. Over the years, he would learn to fence and play the viol, on top of public relations, debate, medicine, manners, and even combat strategy. Although it was never clear to him why his father was firm on having him learn such a range of topics, Cyril had a vague feeling it was due to the start of what history would later call the Nine Years’ War, as well as the messy governments that surrounded them.

As a child, he would frequently play games like chess, checkers, cards, or sports with his peers. While he was well-liked amongst kids his age and enjoyed spending time with others, he became incredibly self conscious of his different colored irises. It wasn’t like he was blind about the fact before, but adults -- both nobles and domestic servants -- never made explicit comments about it. Kids however, who were not old enough to filter out their language, often commented, and even joked about it. Cyril would learn to laugh along with them and bury these insecurities deep in his stomach.

Around his mid-teen years, Cyril grew to appreciate plays, and would regularly visit theatres with his family to watch them. On a particular visit to watch the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, he met a family friend around his age, a girl named Anne. The two chatted before the play began, and quickly clicked through common interest. He would find himself meeting up with her quite often after their first encounter, and his love and interest in her grew with each meeting. She was reserved, but had a sense of humor in the right situations. She was smart and compassionate. She did not care nor joke about his mismatched eyes.

Life was not an all riding high though. Two major things happened when Cyril was about eighteen years old. First, hearing became extremely difficult. He gradually lost his hearing in both his ears, something that began when he was just a kid. At his current level of hearing, he would no longer be able to enjoy plays or music as he used to. His viol would sit at the corner of his house and collect dust starting this year. Second, his father passed away due to natural causes, leaving Cyril to inherit his title as the next Earl of March. The only thing that made his father’s death somewhat bearable was the company of Alice and his mother, as well as the thought that his father was now in a better place. His family grew closer with the absence of his late father, and Cyril learned to cherish every moment he had, regardless if it was with sound or without sound. Assuming his lifespan was about the same as his father’s, Cyril realized he would be nearing the halfway mark of his own life. This realization gave him the courage to prepare for his proposal to Anne. Though left with a mass of work, (the work his father left behind, burial arrangements, and advising the Queen), in 1602, he would eventually give Anne the proper proposal that he wanted.

Unfortunately, nothing goes as planned, as Cyril would learn, and things only went downhill from there. There was the death of The Virgin Queen to deal with, as well as the quick succession of James I. The Nine Years’ War that had begun in his teenage years, although ended, had brought his country near bankruptcy. And finally, later that year, Cyril fell ill from a plague outbreak, and succumbed to it after losing too much blood.

That was not the end though. After death, Cyril woke up in a field of chrysanthemums and was greeted by Death herself. He found himself quickly adjusting to his new life as an apprentice, not out of choice, but out of necessity. Here, he was haunted by the constant feeling of leaving so much unfinished business and regrets in his past life, including his beloved Anne, who he, too, had left behind in death. A century of self-doubt, regrets, and discomfort following the reaping of his fiance followed, as Cyril continued to live his apprentice life in constant question -- where was this all heading? Still, keeping his doubts to himself, the Englishman carried on his duties, only to have the doubt build up over the century. Doubt regarding himself, his duties...doubt regarding the woman who had set them on this path to a never-ending cycle of duties and obligations that weren’t even supposed to be borne by them, mere humans deprived of the simple privilege of passing on after death.

The pent-up doubt in the man soon led to his eventual falling from Death’s plane and going into hiding. His first kill that led him down the path of a hunter was a complete accident; a solo apprentice had spotted him and recognized him, and was intent on bringing him back to HQ, the place he had sworn never to return to. A scuffle broke out, and the better swordsman emerged victorious. He never intended to kill, or murder. But … killing one such as himself didn’t count as killing, since they weren’t even human anymore … right? No, he was no murderer. He was paving the way for a brighter future -- one where people such as himself wouldn’t be chained to an eternal servitude to an ambiguous grim reaper. He had a bigger plan, a better plan. But getting there … if it meant dirtying his hands with the blood of those who would oppose him … that is a price he would be willing to pay.

At present, Cyril serves as a recruiter, persuading people to support his (and Clement’s) cause, having found due cause in the hunter leader’s grand plan for rebellion and overthrowing the system. Although he isn’t in full agreement of the man’s ruthless ways, their end goal overlapped enough for the ex-nobleman to side with his faction’s cause. For now. Preferring not to shed more blood unless absolutely necessary, Cyril handles the recruitment of hunters, giving those sitting on a fence a gentle shove into hunter-dom, thus putting his charm and charisma to good use as he deemed fit.