Some people are born and their destiny is already known. Some are born and their lives are very much open. Jonathan would fit in the last group easily. Born as the son of a miller, he had a hard life as a young boy. He and his brothers worked hard in the mill, with his sisters helping out his mother at home. Every Friday John got a day off, and he would explore the city of Highland, just a small hour from his family mill. John had a knack for the city, as he loved the crowd, the people in beautiful outfits, and the merchants, almost everything there.
When John grew up and neared his teens, he was sent to militia training. He was very skillful and he did very well in this training. He got selected for the training of a Templar, which he gratefully accepted. His father and mother were ever so proud, and his brothers all wanted to be his “most liked” brother. But in his family there was only one person with who John shared almost everything, and that was Roderick, his little brother, 4 years younger than he was. But before he could become a legit Templar John had to go through the training of a Paladin.
The training of a paladin was very heavy. The first thing all the new paladins learned was to wield their weapons. For Jonathan, that was a great sword, a long and heavy sword which he used two-handed. All the paladins learned to keep their swords sharp and in very good shape, as the weapons costs lots of money. Jonathan was one of the few really fine paladins, and he soon became a special trainee, advancing faster than the others in his group.
After almost two years of hard training in the sword fighting, the time came for John to learn channel mystical powers. He gained the ability to reach deep inside himself, extracting every bit of power he had in him, and blow it out in one hard smash. Later he could even keep this up for a small time, something which was very uncommon even among the greatest paladins.
Again a year in his training passed and John got into his last stage of Paladin training, namely the horse-combat. As he would leave the city when he’d become a Templar, he had to call upon a special ally, one of which the power was superb to other creatures of its kind. John decided to call upon a horse named Hellenic, which is a fine black steed with even darker manes. Hellenic became the trusted warhorse of John and they trained for quite some years. In this stage Jonathan received the lance and shield, for mounted combat.
With completing this final stage of his Paladin-training, John became a Templar, guardian of many. He received his Great Sword, his Lance, his Shield and a Long Sword, which he used at his long years of training. It was time for him to leave his home for good, at least for a long time. He was allowed a squire, to maintain his equipment and his horse, as well as to have company during his long travels. So he chose his little brother Roderick, and they both left Highland together, looking for wherever John was needed.
