Bertelis d'Garamont



Bertelis of Garamont was a the younger brother of the famed Grail Knight, Calard and the Damsel, Anara. A skilled swordsman with a reputation for womanising and recklessness, Bertelis ultimately fell from grace, becoming a fearsome Blood Knight.

History
Bertelis was born into the Garamont family of Bastonne. His father, Lutheure held the title of Castellan of Bastonne, and as such was one of the most powerful nobles in the land.

Bertelis grew up as his father’s favoured son. His older brother Calard and sister Anara had been born from a previous marriage, one that saw their mother die after a miscarriage. Bertelis’ mother always ensured that her husband was cold and distant towards Calard, a sentiment that Bertelis despised. He never knew his sister, as Anara had been taken as a child by the Fay Enchantress herself.

Bertelis and his brother spent their childhood training under Bastonne’s greatest swordsman. Of the two, Bertelis showed the most natural talent, whereas Calard was the most studious of the two, rising early every morning to train his battle skills. As such, the two brothers were always evenly matched, neither able to overcome the other during their sparring sessions. By the time Bertelis reached manhood his skin was a healthy bronze from the sun, his body tall and strong from years of weapons practice and riding. His eyes were dark, his face lean and handsome, and his hair the colour of the sand that was said to lie upon the beaches on the coast. He looked every inch the epitome of Bretonnian knighthood.

Knight Errant
Bertilis’ first true task of knighthood was to take part in the cleansing of a Greenskin horde that had been terrorising the lands of Bretonnia. He and his brother had never fought in a battle before, let alone against Orcs, but they were nonetheless excited and confident in their abilities. The ensuing charge against the Greenskin horde saw Bertelis plunge his lance deep into a massive Orc’s throat, ripping its jugular free in a spurt of blood, his first kill in battle. The melee that followed saw the Orcs and Goblins defeated, fleeing into the forests as they were hunted down by the enthusiastic Knights Errant.

This victory was short lived however. Bertelis and his fellow knights soon discovered that the Greenskins had not been rampaging across the land without direction. Instead they had been fleeing from a far larger and more organised army, an army of fell Beastmen. Soon, knights from across the realm were riding forth to face this new threat. Bertelis found himself awestruck by the arrival of the Grail Knight, Reolus, who had come to lend his might against the children of Chaos, but he was even more shocked to discover that his sister was present at the warcamp. In the many years since she had been taken from Garamont, Anara had risen to become a powerful Grail Damsel.

When battle came, Bertelis charged into the fray alongside his brother. The fighting was fierce, with the Beastmen cutting through the peasant infantry with relative ease, slaying thousands of Bretonnia's lowborn. More horrific still was the fact that many of the dead or dying peasants were then dragged by the Beastmen into the forest opposite, to meet a no doubt horrific fate. Bertelis and his brother charged the beastmen as they poured through the gaps in the infantry lines, they fought bravely, slaying many of the foul Beastmen. In the end, the bloodied knights wheeled around to view the battlefield once more, Bertelis was there at his brother's side, his armour was splattered with blood and he had a savage grin on his face. Bertelis and the knights had barely even dented the Beastmen's ranks however, so heavily outnumbered were they. For every wave of Beastmen slain, hundreds more would pour out of the forests and onto the battlefield...

Slowly but surely the Bretonnian forces were whittled down by the sheer number of beasts they fought. Even with a mighty Grail Knight leading them, they could not stem this tide of evil. When a final, heroic charge was declared, Bertelis clasped Calard's forearm. It was clear then that Bertelis had changed. He looked older, and his eyes were haunted by the atrocities he had witnessed. Gone were the last vestiges of boyhood. All that remained was a young knight, hard and tempered in battle.

The charge hit home, and many of the foul beats were slain under a furious stampede of steel. Soon however the formation faltered, the enemy began to swarm around them, fighting with a savage fury, and increasing numbers of men were dragged down with every passing moment. Bertelis was one of those men. He had been desperately fighting to reach his brother, and fell heavily when his steed was cut from beneath him. As he struggled to rise, an axe smashed into his helmet, wrenching it out of shape and cutting deep into his scalp.

Beastmen swarmed around the fallen Knight Errant, intent on killing him. A blade stabbed towards Bertelis as he groggily struggled to rise, and another flashed out to meet it, deflecting the Beastman's blow. Gunthar, Bertilis' old weaponmaster, was standing over him, protecting his pupil from an onslaught of bestial warriors. Bertelis desperately tried to rise, he ripped his helmet away, and blood was was streaming from his scalp. He flopped back onto the ground, crying out Gunthar's name as the old knight fought, and finally died to protect his Lord's son.

The battle finally ended in a Bretonnian victory, albeit a hollow one. The Beastmen had fled back into the forest without warning, having found whatever they had been fighting so desperately to claim. The death toll had been high for the Bretonnians. Barely a hundred knights had survived the night of blood and dozens more would go on to die from their injuries. Bertelis' head was wrapped in bandages, and his right arm was strapped and held immobile in a splint. He was told that he would not be able to wield a sword or a lance for months, and the death of his old weaponmaster haunted him.

The purpose of the Beastmen's attack was soon revealed by Anara. The Beastmen's leader, the Gave, planned on locating and slaying Bertelis' father. For the Gave was none other than Luethere's own child, born a hideous mutant. Instead of slaying the creature, Leuthere had left the child on the edges of the forest, to either die naturally or be claimed by the beasts within. Now the Gave had returned to seek its revenge. The injured Bertelis was forced to remain with the majority of the surviving knights, whilst Calard, Anara and Reolus rode forth to stop the beast's plan.

Bertelis was hundreds of miles away when the Gave murdered his father, only to be slain by Calard in turn.

Knight of the Realm
With the death of their father, Bertelis' brother inherited the lands of Garamont, a heavy responsibilty that the young noble was not prepared for. Whilst his brother turned to drink and women, Bertelis instead focused on his swordsmanship as a means to combat his grief.