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Name: Robert Laurel
Age: 39
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 220
Hair: Black with slight grey streaks. Short
Eyes: Grey.
Favorite Weapons: Longsword and mounted lance
He is tall, well-muscled, and has dangerous eyes that have seen far too much...
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Robert Laurel was born to minor nobility, the son of Alain Laurel of Cairhien and Rachelle Lahaye of Tear. The fourth son, he knew that he would never inherit, but his father gave him the best education he could, instilling in his son the love of books that lasts to this day, and the best training in arms and the arts of war that could be provided. A former mercenary turned scholar himself, Alain taught his son that the mind is the most dangerous weapon of all.
When Robert turned 16, Alain sent his son to make his way in the world, fully equipped as a young noble warrior. He also sent with him a letter of recommendation to an old friend, Paolo Daeshar, asking him to give Robert a place in his Gold Eagle Company.
Robert survived where many didn't. He not only survived, he prospered. Over the years he rose in the ranks, finally to the position of second-in-command of the Gold Eagles, answering only to Paolo himself. Along the way, he learned to use just about every weapon there was, but he favored the longsword above all. He came to love Paolo like a second father, and Paolo treated him as a son.
Paolo also taught him the value of information. Robert learned that one of the biggest factors in Paolo's success was the large network of informants that he had developed over all the nations. It had helped him find and get lucrative mercenary contracts. It had also helped keep him alive. Paolo taught Robert how to use this network to best advantage. He also introduced Robert to the arts of grand tactics and strategy, and gave him texts on the art of warfare that supposedly dated back to the time of Artur Hawkwing himself.
Robert campaigned all over the land, from Tear and Illian to the Blight and back. He became well respected and well-off. He also acquired a wife, Sharra Prydain from Ghealdan, who accompanied him on all his adventures. When Paolo retired, he gave command of the Gold Eagles to Robert.
It all came to an end on the plains of Tarabon. Hired to help in a war against Arad Doman, the Gold Eagles were destroyed by treachery, as they were attacked by their supposed comrades. Paolo Daeshar and Robert Laurel had made many friends, during the years. They had also made many enemies, and goaded on by Darkfriends, they made common cause that day to destroy them...
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Robert surveyed the carnage from the hilltop. Barely half the company had survived to make it there after the initial treacherous attack. One moment, a parley, the next, sheer butchery.
Paolo was dead, a crossbow bolt in his throat.
The survivors had formed a shieldwall, and thrown back three assaults as the wall of bodies in front bore witness. But the company had taken heavy losses itself, and it looked as if the next attack would roll over them. He ached to go back to his wife, but knew that if he did that panic would start and the enemy would be all them in an instant, showing them no mercy.
As if they intended any mercy to begin with.
He saw the Taraboner lancers forming up again for a final charge. The company was out of arrows and crossbow bolts, so they had nothing to blunt the attack's momentum.
The lancers hit. The line held, just for a second, and then collapsed inward. Robert and his bodyguard charged forward, trying to close the breach.
"Rally! Rally! Rally to the Gold Eagle! Rally you sons-of-bitches! Rally!"
Fighting like a demon, it was death to even come close to him to his front and sides. But he couldn't cover his own back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a brief flicker of movement, and he saw that he could not bring his shield up in time to block the blow of the mace. There was a bright flash of llight, and then darkness...
Waking in the cold dawn, Robert staggered to his feet, his head throbbing from the blow. Luckily for him, his helm had taken most of the force, or else he would have been a dead man. Survivors were wandering around in a daze, attempting to help the many wounded. Struggling to his feet, Robert made his way to the top of the hill, where the families and other non-combatants of the company had been sheltering from the fight.
Searching through the wrack, Robert came upon what he feared most. Sharra, recognizable only by her red hair, because her face wa
s battered almost beyond recognition. She was naked upon the hilltop. To add to the horror, her belly was ripped open, and he could see the body of a male child, almost ready to be born, inside her womb.
He heard screaming in the distance, and somehow knew that it was coming from his mouth. He yanked his dagger out of his belt and made to stab himself with it, but strong arms wrapped themselves around him and prevented him from ending his own life.
He buried them there, his wife and unborn child there on the crest. As he knelt before their graves, he swore upon the Light that he would dedicate the rest of his life towards fighting the Darkfriends and all their works.
He knew he couldn't do it alone.
A part of the company had survived the treachery due to the timely intervention of nearby mercenary companies that had been outraged by the treachery. The survivors then swore personal fealty to him and pledged to follow his lead in his efforts to find who had wrought this vile and bloody deed.
After taking counsel with others, Robert decided at the last to take the Gold Eagles to Tar Valon and put himself and his company at the disposal of the Amyrlin Seat and the Towers in their fight against the dark.
Traveling ahead of his company, he returned home to Cairhien and the family estates, now run by his sister, Erin, and her son. There, he fell into a deep depression and sought solace in a bottle. Due to the love of his sister, he finally came out again, and put himself back together and journeyed to Tar Valon.
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Robert Laurel is first and foremost a professional soldier. He has been that all of his life. For many years he looked upon it as just a business, but lately, since the murder of his wife and unborn son, it has become personal. He burns for revenge against the Dark and especially against those who engineered the massacre.
His aim is to build an army which is the best in the world, equivalent to that of the Seanchan, if not better, and one capable of defeating any two or three countries combined on this continent. He feels that a major war against the Dark will be coming soon, and he has become ruthless in achieving his goal, and will brook no opposition, however well intentioned.
He is also a scholar as his father was after he retired from adventuring. He actively seeks out knowledge and he treasures books. He will react very violently if he finds anyone suppressing knowledge and/or destroying books. He is particularly interested in new devices that make life easier, especially for the commons on the family estates. He follows the example of his father by frequently visiting the Academy that was established in Cairhien by The Dragon, and talking with the scholars there. He has adopted many of the devices they have designed to aid in farming and herding, and the family estates, though small compared to those of the great nobility, are some of the most productive in the land.
The family is one of the richest in Cairhien. Unlike most noble families, instead of wasting money on frivolities, most of the money has gone back into the estate. The Laurel family also has wide trade and commercial interests all over the Westlands, with factors residing in all the major cities.
He does not like religious fanaticism. He particularly despises the Children of the Light, and feels that the world was done a great disservice when they were not disbanded after the War of the Dragon. He especially does not like their ways of finding Darkfriends everywhere, and of judging without evidence or trial. He really does not like them because of their habit of burning books.
In his politics he is considered extremely radical for the time. He believes that the nobility and rulers have too much power, and that the commons should have a say in how the nations are run. One of his core beliefs is that is the duty of a noble to do all he can to make his people more prosperous, and to that end, he has established schools on his family estates, as knowledge is the key to prosperity. There are no serfs on the estates, just free yeomen farmers, who pay a small rent and a share of the crops. He also does his best to ensure that his people are healthy, with clean water and Healers and Wisewomen in the local populace. The productiveness of the family estates astonishes the Cairhien nobility, who generally think that the only way to treat the farmers is to squeeze as much out of them as they can.
He has a hatred of injustice. He has big problems with a superior whom he sees acting in that way, and will try to prevent it if he can.
He does like good food and drink, but since his one binge is careful about how much he drinks. He exercises daily to avoid putting on weight from his love of good food. He likes to go about to different inns and such in the City to sample their wares and to listen to the people.
He loves his sister Erin dearly. Anyone threatening her in the slightest way will find his or her life span extremely short.
Robert kept the spy network from the Gold Eagles. His spymaster is Elaine Treherne, and she is very good at ferreting out secrets, although lately she has found that she is not the best at it, as she had believed.
Robert has gathered the survivors of the Gold Eagles around him, and they now serve as servants and bodyguards on the estate in Cairhien and the townhouse in Tar Valon. Joachim is their head. They are loyal to Robert, as he has been to them, and they all live for the day when the ones who ordered the massacre of the company are finally held to account.
Robert is on the verge of a blood feud with the King of Cairhien. The King wishes Robert's sister, Erin, for a mistress, both to add to his own prestige in the Game of Houses and to bring down the House of Laurel. Erin despises the man, and wishes to have nothing to do with him. So far it has been only words, but actual deeds may force Robert to raise the banner of rebellion and claim the throne himself.
Erin Laurel is a 42-year-old redhead who looks much younger than her age and does not at all look like someone who has been four children. She is the titular head of the family, but her and Robert make most decisions together. Being a soldier's daughter, she's also trained to arms, and after the death of her husband several years ago had to defend her estate from those who would have taken it from her because of her being a woman.
Elaine Treherne is 35-year-old and is of average looks and appearance. She finds this to be a great advantage in her chosen profession.
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