Horus von Hausen

Horus von Hausen

Born into a lesser noble family, Horus sought to serve his family and his liege lord by joining the army at a young age. After studying the art of war and becoming a junior officer, the kingdom went to war with a rival faction, allowing Horus to put his new knowledge and skills to the test. The army fought well during the next few bloody years, and the company which Horus belonged to became regarded as one of the finest in the army. Through treachery, the lord of the kingdom was assassinated and the kingdom usurped by his flawed son, who quickly demanded all remaining forces surrender and allowed the opposing faction to assume control of the region. The army disbanded and many of the soldiers were hunted as outlaws, or treated as traitors. Horus returned home to find his family missing or dead, and the estate in ruins. Fleeing towards the free city of Greyhawk, Horus found a small township where he attempted to settle down and live a normal life. He fell in love with the daughter of a local merchant, and soon after they were married. The marriage was ill-fated, and the young bride died in childbirth within a year after the ceremony. The townspeople blamed Horus for the ill luck, and demanded he leave, taking his newborn son with him. The weary warrior finished his journey to Greyhawk, where he reunited with a childhood friend named Kenneth Bones and his recently acquired wife, Gertrude. Ken and Gertrude were unable to have children, and agreed to take in Horus's son Meriwether as their own. Horus then joined a prominent mercenary company and rose through the ranks slowly and steadily. The other mercenaries came to respect the man, as his formal military training and stoic resolve made him a formidable man on the battlefield.

After nearly three decades of mercenary work, Horus had survived countless battles and garnered a wealth of experience. Most of his earnings/spoils were sent to his friends and estranged son in Greyhawk, although he rarely found time to visit the city in person. The boy Meriwether grew into a dashing young man, although he was led to believe that Horus was his uncle, as was agreed when the child was given up. Recently, the leader of the mercenary company to which Horus belonged retired after his successful career, leaving the company in the capable hands of a younger, more politically-minded man. Horus, finding himself out of place under the new leadership, quickly retired from the company to seek his own way as an independent agent. Having achieved something of a legendary status during his many years in the company, he retains a highly respectable status in the mercenary world. Horus now hires himself out as a bodyguard, bounty hunter, adviser and adventurer to pass the time, waiting for his inevitable death. The grizzled old warrior has few aspirations left, and only two wishes. First, that his son lives a long and good life, and second, that he himself dies on a battlefield, with his trusty halberd still grasped in his hands.