BRIEF  STORY.

former french army turned mercenary for a criminal, militaristic cult known as "the dark covenant", édouard gets wrapped up in carnage and chaos in favour of feeling like he belongs. he goes on to develop feelings for his former army CO, cecilia perrin, who'd been dishonourably discharged and, after some years, reconnected with him and recruited him into the dark covenant. following these feelings, the two have a child together - sophia.

later on, he's recruited by terrorist and criminal organisation "the five knights", who seek the downfall of the government to occupy the power vacuum that presents itself, édouard follows his orders to ensure and oversee that operations carried out by the five knights go smoothly. however, as time passes, édouard seeks a better life for sophia, not wanting her to live the life that he had.

sophia ends up being used as a weapon against him, manipulating him into remaining with the dark covenant with even cecilia stating she belongs to the group and they intend for her to also become a mercenary. édouard turns on the dark covenant, a puppet freed of his strings, and goes on a series of adventures to get his daughter back from them - despite being hunted by a relentless, hostile and bitter group all the while who seek to wipe out all descendants of their former leader, including édouard and his daughter.

STORY.

édouard joined the french army at 17 years old, under the command of his CO - cecilia perrin, who he would go on to serve with for some years prior to her dishonourable discharge. he had struggled with feeling like an outcast his entire life, with the military only enhancing that - especially after cecilia was gone. his comrades would go on to label him sadistic and a 'psychopath', deeming his methods and behaviour inappropriate for their line of work, isolating him further.

six years after cecilia's discharge, she reconnected with him and introduced him to a group known as "the dark covenant." a criminal organisation, the dark covenant were a militaristic cult led and founded by stansfield who seeks to carry out terror and cause carnage. cecilia, now, went by "dame." édouard would agree to join them, training in tactics, stealth, infiltration, and hand-to-hand combat, taking on the alias of "the templar." he ended up developing feelings for his former CO, cecilia, and the two had a child together - sophia.

he adored his new daughter, coming to view her as his hope for the future and his reason for living, and because cecilia found herself unable to connect with her child, édouard took on many of the responsibilities and bonding, forming a close relationship with sophia. acting as a mercenaries on behalf of the dark covenant, édouard and cecilia were recruited into a terrorist / criminal organisation known as "the five knights."

the goal of the five knights was to ultimately secure the government's downfall, occupying the power vacuum under the lead of "the fifth knight." édouard's job varied under their command, with him hunting down those creating problems for the knights, providing an armed guard or escort, distracting advancing enemies etc. as time passed, he grew weary and reluctant of the dark covenant's actions and began forming a plan in order to remove himself and sophia from their grasp. however, the dark covenant stuck by the rule that no one could simply come and go and that once dark covenant, they would remain until death.

this eventually led to a confrontation between édouard and cecilia, where he'd expressed his dismay over his situation and sought to remove sophia from it. dame told him that he couldn't take sophia, that because she was born in the company of the dark covenant she was their property and belonged to them - with them intending to train her into a mercenary as she aged. horrified, wanting a better future for sophia than he'd had and wanting her to never have to do the things he'd had to, édouard felt his puppet strings get cut and sliced cecilia's throat open - taking on the rest of the dark covenant in turn.

he bested them, for the time being, and fled with the intention of tracking sophia down. with the help of former enemy simon "ghost" riley, he tracked down the remaining dark covenant and located his daughter, though became caught up in a betrayal and was shot in the face by ghost. édouard had recruited the help of an associate who took sophia back to europe, leaving him 'dead' on the ice. he was rescued by a local and treated, his recovery slow, but was eventually hunted down by a group known as the tontine.

an ancient group of zealots that used religion to amass immense wealth, they turned on their leader - gideon couteaux - and forced him to flee with his family. having obtained legendary armour, gideon took it with him and hid it. thus, the remaining tontine members had dedicated to hunting down every descendant of gideon to locate the armour - with édouard and sophia being descendants of gideon couteaux.

being hunted by the tontine, édouard is forced to seek the legendary armour out to make his final fight. cecilia survives her throat injury and, with the remaining dark covenant dead or disbanded, decides to join édouard and sophia on their journey.

VERSES.