Milo

"No one's going to take me alive...
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive." 
- Muse, Knights of Cydonia

Early Life

Milo, born as Silan, was born to King Valder and Queen Merraine on October 27. He is second in line to the Arribean throne, after his older brother, Tyriad. 

Despite being raised as royalty, Silan's life early life was filled with struggles. His father was a tyrant who believed that Arribea to be superior to the other 4 kingdoms in the area. As a child, Silan's father forced his radical ideals onto him. Because he was young at the time, Silan didn't question his father's beliefs. By age 10, Silan had begun combat training with hopes to one day become the general and lead the Arribean army to victory.

However, as Silan grew older he developed a dreaming ability that allowed him to interact with other people in his dreams. It was through these interactions that Silan realized that his father's ideals were harming a lot of people. He realized that his father was not a good person, and Silan became determined to bring him down. 

Silan began rebelling against his father, which caused his father to become angry towards him. While Valder had always been hard on Silan, his treatment only worsened. Silan was tortured mercilessly by his father, but he never gave into his father's demands. He pretended that his father's treatment didn't bother him, but after a point it became unbearable. When Silan had finally had enough, he faked his death and ran away from his home in Valdemar with nothing but his horse, his sword, and the clothes on his back.

Silan travelled throughout his home country, looking for a new opportunity to start over and begin a new life. It was at this point that he began using the pseudonym Milo. Wandered from town to town looking for work or a place to stay, but nothing was permanent. Eventually, he found himself out of money and was struggling to survive. It was the middle of a cold and bitter winter, and he had no access to food or shelter. Milo became weak, and after a while began to succumb to the cold and developed hypothermia. 

Milo was eventually found by a Camarian blacksmith named Selwyn who happened to be passing by. Selwyn brought Milo back to his hometown in Mappins where he helped nurse Milo back to health. Selwyn told Milo that he could stay with him for as long as he wanted. Initially, he only planned to stay for a little while, but Selwyn needed an extra hand to help out with his business and Milo needed a place to stay. 

Once he fully recovered, Milo continued to side with the Stahlvenians. When the Arribeans waged war on Stahlvenia, Milo fought on the Stahlvenian side as a general. During this battle, Milo was finally able to get revenge on his father. He killed his father, and while he was hailed as a hero by the other countries, it was not well received by the Arribeans. He was put on trial where he was found guilty of treason. However, with the help of his friends he made an escape moments before he was scheduled for execution. He returned back to Mappins, where he continued working alongside Selwyn. 

Relationships with other characters

Garzlan: Milo met Garzlan through their shared dreaming ability. Milo was quick to befriend him, but decided to keep his true identity a secret from him. Milo also quickly realized that Garzlan was quite easy to manipulate. He often used the death of Garzlan's parents to guilt Garzlan into helping him with things. For the most part, Garzlan didn't seem to mind, nor did Milo really feel like he was doing anything wrong. However, once Garzlan discovered that Milo was actually the son of Valder (who killed his mother), he was extremely upset with Milo and tried to sever all his ties with him. Garzlan still reluctantly decided to help him one final time, but their relationship is still fairly tense. 

Personality

Milo is very confident. He rarely second guesses himself and always plans things very carefully. He can also be quite arrogant due to his noble background he tends to think way to highly of himself. He cares a lot about his appearance, and less so about what others think of him. Milo also has a reputation for being very cunning and calculating. He has been known to manipulate people, often to benefit nobody but himself. Despite his bad reputation, Milo is very charismatic and can talk his way out of almost everything. Even people who have been warned about his tendency to act with ulterior motives tend to find themselves fooled into thinking that he is a trustworthy individual. 

Random Facts

• He is left handed
• He has training with other weapons (throwing knives, bow and arrow, spears, among many others) but his skills with these weapons are only average at best so he prefers not to tell people the full extent of his training. 
• In addition to his horse, Dawn, he also owns a cat named Pebbles who was a stray that he rescued. 
• He's one of my oldest OCs. I made the first version of his character in 2007.
• The necklace that he wears is part of a tradition in his home country. Each bead represents a different positive personality trait. Milo's doesn't have many beads because he ran away from home at a young age but also because he is not a great person.