User blog:Leolab/Ancient User Tourney, Round 3: Gaius Leopold (Skully) v Jacob Bauer (BG)

NO title cards because I'm lazy.

Gaius "The Salt Eagle" Leopold: The MOTHERFUCKIN' PIRATE MERC KING

versus

Jacob Bauer: A Landsknecht known as Spada il Fuoco

Bio
Born as the bastard son of a King Marcus Leopold and one of his servants, ruler of the Kingdom Of Illiyac, Gaius inherited the surname of all bastards in these lands, that name being Salts. As a child, Gaius was left to his own devices around the castle and often spent his days trying to earn his father's graces by studying, training in combat and understanding the functions of court. This continued until he was 10 years old, where the young Gaius would give up upon the dreams of being legitimized. Upon giving up, Gaius took to combat training, spending his time at the docks and adventuring with the garrisons of the city.

As he grew older, Gaius would often take his anger on others in drunken bar fights, training and generally having alot of anger. He'd also spend days with his half-brother, Magnus, as both trained alongside each other and confided their personal motivations. Gaius and Magnus would often take these sparring sessions as methods to improve the others skill in combat. It is also during this time that Gaius expressed genuine interest with mercenary work and exploring the world, which Magnus often encouraged in hopes that Gaius would find some kind of joy in a land beyond his. And at the age of 16, Gaius would indulge upon these fantasies and signed up with a band mercenaries loyal to his father and the crown as they set sail to serve him in attacking his foes and obtaining wealth and glory for the kingdom.

And so for the next few years, Gaius would work as mercenary, garnering a reputation and gathering enough coin to obtain his own ship and crew at the age of 25. He would continue to serve his kingdom as a mercenary, but also worked on the side as him as his crew attacked and raided the coastal towns of the kingdom's enemies. This is where he'd gain his title of "The Salt Eagle" for the banner he flew containing the old emblem of his Kingdom, with the eagle perched upon the salt rock. During one of these raids against garrisons of a rival kingdom, Gaius slew their champion, but losing his eye in the process due to his own arrogance, an event that would humble him greatly. Still, as the years passed, his reputation, wealth and experience allowed him to amass a large fleet. One that would rival that of a small kingdom as he began dabbling in trade.

His ultimate test would come as the Kingdom Of Illiyac was invaded, rival kingdoms growing tired of the privateers and mercenaries sent to attack their lands, their coasts and soldiers. Gaius set his sails once more and with his fleet seeked to destroy the menace that threatened his homeland. He would prove instrumental as he organized the naval fleets of his kingdom, organized ground forces and fought alongside Magnus, now King, in attempt to drive back the invaders. The final blow would come in a massive naval battle as his fleet of pirates, mercenaries and vikings boarded dozens of ships and captured and destroyed in name of his homeland. And upon securing the security of his homeland, Gaius would kneel before his brother and for his service, loyalty and dedication to his lands was legitimized as Gaius "The Salt Eagle" Leopold.

Initial Weaponset (Special)


Salt- Gaius' personal weapon that never leaves his side, Salt, is a sword of his own making and design and forged during his career. Salt is a bastard sword, making it roughly 48 inches long, the material being something similar to Damascus Steel as in was made centuries ago in real life as high quality method of making swords, and with a weight of 8 pounds. Can be held with one hand, but preferred with two hands.

Other Weapons & Armor

 * -| Short Range =



War Axe & Viking Shield- The axe is shortened and with weight reduced in order to be held with one hand to work in conjunction with his shield, while having a small spike on the other side, think 13th century German war axe, but without holes in the axe head. The shield is the typical Viking shield with a spiked steel boss in the center for use as a defensive and offensive tool. The combination is roughly 16 pounds,


 * -| Mid Range =



Halberd- The entirely of the spear is roughly six feet tall with its blade at the top of the weapon. The weapon is a classic using the spike, axe head and spear head for a variety of tasks that the weapon is required for. Weighs around around 7lbs and the axe head is made of steel


 * -| Long Range =



Composite Bow- Think your typical Mongol Composite Bow with the weapon weighing roughly 2.5 pounds. Carrying around 20 arrows in his quiver, consisting of broad head arrows made with steel material arrow heads. The arrows heads also have small 'claws' to them making the ripping out process all the more painful.


 * -| Armor =



Steel Armor (Chest Piece & Gauntlets & Boots)- If you want a basic idea of appearance the Steel Plate Armor in Skyrim should give you a good idea. As mentioned the armor is steel plates meant to offer strong protection from attacks, preferring to only wear the chest piece and gauntlets and boots to avoid having too much weight. Wears a black gambeson underneath the armor for a bit of added protection. The combination is roughly 45 pounds combined.

Bio
Born as the only child of a Tyrolean knight and his mistress from the Rhineland in the 1480s, Bauer was a person who grew up during a time of nobility supplemented by the passions of war. Not much is known of his early childhood but all we know of his military experience started when he joined his father as a squire during the HRE Invasion of Italy in 1496 and the Swabian War of 1499 (where his father was killed).

After the Swabian War, Bauer trained under Georg von Frundsberg and saw combat with him and the landsknecht regime overall during the subsequent War of the League of Cambrai - where he got his facial burn scar owing to a gunpowder mine explosion in the ill-fated Siege of Padua as well as the honorific nickname "Spada il Fuoco" (Sword of Fire) for his illustrious strength and prowess with his zweihander.

After his skirmishes in Italy and a break back in his Rhenish estates building up his intellect, martial prowess and Christian spirituality, he fought in most of the conflicts that the Holy Roman Empire were tangled up in - especially in Eastern Europe where his "Spada il Fuoco" nickname was used as patriotic propaganda for the Hasburgs (even during the battles that the Ottomans won).

The only defining characteristics of Bauer that have been persistent throughout his whole career is his dedication to the art of war which he sees as a continuation of his father's martial legacy; and his sometimes uncontrollable urge for cash - especially considering that when the Polish were unable to pay him back for his services, he subsequently began looting dead French soldiers and abandoned Italian abodes during the 1521-1526 conflict as compensation (racking up a total of $1.25million before remanding it to the Emperor personally and atoning for his sins in jail for several weeks).

Inital Weaponset (Mid Range)


Zweihander. Standard sword of the Landsknecht Doppelsodners and a weapon that Bauer has had extensive training with to the point that it is one of his favourite weapons to use in combat. Weighs 6lb and is 5.5ft long.

Other Weapons & Armor

 * -| Short Range =



War hammer. Standard medieval war hammer with a clawed spike opposite the hammer head. About 2ft long. Light enough to be carried around with one hand but heavy enough to still pack one heck of a punch.


 * -| Long Range =



Recurve Crossbow. Although Bauer had the option of using the steel arbalest as a ranged weapon when he entered into the Landsknecht, he opted instead to use the crossbow for its lighter weight. Bauer later had the weapon fashioned so it has a recurved head for a greater draw length and thus more power when it fired its round. The crossbow bolts fired by this weapon are your typical steel bolts.


 * -| Special =



Katzbalger. Although it is the signature blade of the Landsknecht, Bauer likes to use this sword as a last resort. It weighs about 0.8kg and is 70cm long.


 * -| Armor =



Steel-made munition half-armour as worn by the Landsknecht of the 16th century that covered his chest and the upper portions of his arms and legs.

Battle Notes

 * Arena is a 20m diameter circle, grassy soil footing, no cover
 * All warriors will start out with their Initial Weaponset equipped, along with their armor.
 * Their other weapons are placed sheathed/unloaded/unset/etc. next to their point of entry into the arena.
 * The match is to the death.
 * Brackets and other tourney information may be found here.
 * Note that vote scores are doubled, since Challnonge doesn't accept half-points.

Voting Notes

 * Votes with good edges or at least 10 relevant sentences count as a full vote
 * Votes with meh edges or at least 5 relevant sentences count as a half vote
 * All others count as no vote
 * Well-reasoned rebuttals can lower the count of a vote by half.
 * Well-reasoned counter-rebuttals can restore the half-point.
 * The users whose characters are fighting may not vote for or against themselves, but may defend their warriors by giving rebuttals and counter-rebuttals
 * I have the final say in how much a vote counts for. If I feel a vote merits counting differently than these guidelines, I will do so.
 * Voting ends at some point on 6/6/2016