General Kants

“General Kants. Your form is a bit raw but you fought well. Portaland needs fighters like you. I can help you with your form and potentially you earn a noble title if you're willing to continue fighting for this city.”

• Formal: Uses titles, salutes, and never speaks without purpose.
• Militaristic: Sees the world through formations, tactics, and supply lines.
• Honorable: Will not lie, cheat, or betray — even if it costs him.
• Loyal: To the city, its people, and the concept of civic duty.

General Kants isn’t seeking glory. He is motivated by duty and service.

• He believes the city is worth protecting — not for politics, but for order, peace and honor.
• The Riftguard must stand as a shield. He was there when they were deployed last and he knows that they are Portaland’s only hope this time.

• Loyalist
• Code of Honor

Kants is a loyalist through and through. He firmly believes in the crown and the chain of command. The only thing he will ever allow to supersede those loyalties is his own Code of Honor he follows after years as a soldier and general in the Royal’s bloody “Weekend Wars”.

• Bad Leg - Kants was wounded in one of his first battles as a soldier in a weekend war long forgotten by most. It was broken and healed without being set properly. He has walked with a limp ever since. To this day he is too proud to use a cane or walking stick. However, people have noticed him casually walking with a spear more often in his old age.
• Tinnitus - Exposure to the sounds of battle over many years have given Kants a persistent ringing in his ears. Because of this, he quickly becomes uncomfortable in quiet spaces and is constantly seeking places with lots of noise or commotion.

• Grants access to the Training Yard
• • May provide extra XP between encounters.
  • Players might spar, study tactics, or train new maneuvers here.
  • Possibly offers advanced drills to sharpen defenses, initiative, or hit chance before battles.

• Acting General for Portaland’s army; or what’s left of it. The constant wars have put a strain on resources and there is little more than a militia left to protect the city and maintain law and order.

• He’s not warm, but he is fair.
• • Pay Respect and get respect.
  • Display Competence and you will receive recognition.
  • Display Cowardice, or promote Crime or Chaos and you will be condemned.
• Ideal mentor figure for Soldiers, Scouts, or Warrior Monks.
• Could have a past rivalry or uneasy truce with other Lords/Ladies (e.g., mistrusts Belena Silvertine’s ambitions or detests Red Rivers' recklessness).

General Kants is built like a fortress: square-jawed, thick-necked, and weathered by a hundred battlefields. His posture is permanently rigid, like someone who stopped resting years ago and never got around to starting again. His skin is sun-aged and wind-worn, with visible scarring along his left cheek and neck.

His short-cropped iron-gray hair is always clean, if not stylish. His deep-set eyes are flint-colored, calm and measuring; The eyes of a man who has weighed the cost of every sword drawn under his command.

His voice is low, sharp, and commanding. Every word has weight. Every syllable is enunciated.

General Kants wears his armor constantly. He does not dress to impress, but to signal exactly what he is: a man with no time for vanity.

• Uniform: Always seen in his personal set of campaign armor — breastplate polished but unadorned, lined with leather and reinforced with old military insignias. His left pauldron bears the faint remnants of a faded standard — a phoenix in flight, now barely visible.
• Cape: A functional, tattered gray cloak bearing a sewn-in map pouch and a place for dispatch scrolls. Lined with fire-resistant canvas.
• Boots: Hardened, knee-high military boots — worn smooth at the sole from countless drills. Steel-toed, scuffed at the instep from breaking shields.
• Gauntlets: Fingerless in winter, full in war — always kept close at hand. One ring is worn on a leather loop, not the hand — a token from a fallen comrade.
• Sash: Wears a deep red sash across his midsection — a quiet symbol of his rank, but never commented on.
• Weapons: Carries a standard-issue longsword and a decorated officer’s dagger. Neither is ornamental. Both have been used.

Standing in the same room as General Kants feels like standing in formation — spines straighten, throats clear, and excuses dissipate.

He does not inspire through bullying or charisma, but through presence and a disdainful stare that can be felt. He is rigid, duty-bound honor given form, and his quiet disapproval cuts deeper than most men’s rage.

But for those who earn his trust, especially those with honor, he is capable of immense kindness. And though he rarely says it, he believes in the Riftguard. They are the sword he can no longer swing himself.

He Executed a Loyal Officer to Protect the City’s Reputation

During the last Melding, a decorated officer under Kants’ command panicked and abandoned their post, leading to dozens of civilian deaths. The officer later returned, confessed, and begged for mercy.

Rather than allow a public scandal, Kants had the officer quietly executed, then fabricated a heroic death and used their name as a rallying cry.

Kants believes it was necessary — but he visits their grave every year, and has never told a soul, not even the city’s ruling council.

He Once Worked with the Cult to Prevent a Greater Loss

Years ago, when the Cult of the Pinnacle was still underground, Kants Negotiated with the cult to prevent them from destroying Portaland’s granaries in a act of Terrorism. In exchange, he gave into their ransom demands, several hundred pounds of silver from the Royal Treasury.

Kants views this as a tactical error, not a betrayal, but he knows if it’s ever uncovered, his authority would dissolve instantly. Several cult leaders still refer to him as “the General who knows when to stay quiet.”

He Keeps a Lockbox of Kill Orders

In his private quarters is a sealed iron lockbox. Inside are three orders, all written by Kants himself, each legally ordering the execution of a high-ranking city figure. Each of these orders has strict instructions to be carried out only in the event of a coup.

The names in the box include:

• Belena Silvertine
• Red Rivers
• A Riftguard Member (Narrator’s choice)

Kants views these not as betrayals, but as contingencies; an unpleasant but necessary safeguard. To prevent the city from falling into the wrong hands, he is willing to do anything.

He’s Dying — and He Knows It

A deep, untreated wound from the last Melding festered with dimensional taint. He had it bound, cleansed, and sealed magically… but the spell is wearing off. His left side sometimes numbs. He loses feeling in his sword hand during cold nights.

He refuses magical healing, not from pride, but because he sees his death as overdue.

He has written his last orders. He hopes the Riftguard will succeed before he succumbs to his injury.

If the Riftguard fails in their duty, he is prepared to die buying time for the inhabitants of the city.