Wilhelm Holzknecht

Wilhelm Holzknecht is a Human Paladin of Asfrid, long-time friend and confidant of Thava Beltrent, and secret protector of Iljia.

Appearance
Wilhelm is an extremely large human. Standing over seven feet tall and weighing nearly 400 pounds (all of it muscle), he is an incredibly intimidating specimen. What was once fair skin has darkened from years in the dirt of the arena and the harsh sun above. His right eye is a bright blue, and his hair -- locks flowing back wildly to the top of his neck -- and well-trimmed beard (and bushy eyebrows) are very nearly a perfect white. He has a scar that runs nearly six inches through his left eye -- perfectly centered and perfectly vertical -- and that eye is a milky white. He speaks with a thick German accent.

On top of this prodigious form is a set of plate armor adorned with lions and crowns that is now nearly 30 years old. Once, it was a beautiful (and meticulously maintained) glossy white and red painted plate. However, in the years since Wilhelm had workers to keep it maintained, the paint has chipped and flaked so the dark silver plate below shows through. On his back is a heater shield that he very rarely removes; once the same white as his armor, it also had a beautiful blood red lion head painted on it -- though this paint is also chipped and faded. In his hand is a seven-foot-tall warhammer that matches his armor. Between the shield and his back is a small spear, old but still extremely sharp, with crimson leather around its pole. Wilhelm does not wear a helm.

Personality
Wilhelm is rather jolly, but can become very serious and very intimidating when needed. He hates slavery, believing it a moral imperative that no living being should be held in bondage by another. A convert late in life, Wilhelm worships Asfrid.

Biography
Wilhelm was born in a small, unimportant town in the foothills of the Nachtwald to Dalvin (a lumberjack) and Teshira (a homemaker). His childhood was quiet and easy: he spent his days helping his father in the forest, his afternoons learning letters from his mother, and his nights devouring any and every book he could get his hands on. By age six he was larger than his father, and by eight he was larger than any of the men in the town. Always a bright and perceptive boy, Wilhelm recognized quickly that his parents were nearly starving themselves to make sure he remained healthy. When he was 12, a traveling caravan offered to pay his family well if joined their arena fighting group; he accepted without question.

For the next two decades, Wilhelm made a name for himself in the arena circuit in the “employ” of Orion Ellsworth, a shifty blue Tiefling with one eye and a clockwork leg. At one point, in the glow of victory, Wilhelm plunged his hand into the chest of a slain lion and ate the heart raw right there on the arena floor, earning himself the moniker of “Wilhelm the Lionheart”. Despite the state of his living standards (squalor) and autonomy over his life (he had none), Wilhelm never thought of himself as a “slave.” But, twenty years on, Wilhelm could do nothing but watch as the men and women he fought with were sent to the slaughter by Orion -- all for a bit of coin. When Wilhelm eventually confronted his “employer”, Orion laughed in the burly human’s face. Five minutes (and many punishing blows) later, Wilhelm was free of Orion’s control; he set out to enact punishment on any and all who wished to keep lives in bondage, and to free those who lived in it.

However, there is no money in freeing slaves. Wilhelm spent the next ten years living from meal to meal, often sleeping in alleys and under awnings, and slowly working his way back toward home. Eventually, he found himself in Vaesghaar. Without any marketable skills, Wilhelm found himself unable to find work and (due to his size) starving. Taking pity on him, a cleric brought him to the Temple of Asfrid. There he was washed, fed, and taught about Asfrid - the God of Life & Death. Overcome with a sense of divine purpose, Wilhelm pledged his life to her and was sent on his way (now well supplied and even better prepared) to dole out the justice he set out to enforce a decade earlier.

It was during this time that he gained favor with Thava Beltrent and joined her entourage, eventually learning they shared a hatred of slavery and human trafficking and becoming a close friend of the gentlelady. Through Wilhelm, Thava was introduced to her Warforged paramour, Zayon Shin, and his brother Cayde.

During his travels with Thava, they took in a show from a Krassek Kantrip's Karnival of Kuriousities at a fairground on the shores of the great lake Rukato. After some conversation with a few members of the carnival, including a Gnome named Viktoria Darkfoot, Wil realized just how little control the performers had over their own lives (and recognized the similarities to his own previous situation with Orion). Wil incapacitated the muscle that kept the performers in check, allowing them to confront Krassek without interference. Feeling a kinship to the much larger Wil, Vik would join him and Thava on their travels.

Years later, when Thava was gifted her children by her Xymor, she entrusted Wilhelm with the care of Iljia in Vaesghaar. He has remained there (with Vik by his side) in the decade and a half since.