Yeardley
 Yeardley Vaspaard
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Background
A former soldier who believed in Honor and Valoras inseparable from Service and Fealty to the King. He followed all tenets to the letter in hopes of becoming a virtuous hero of the land himself.
As a child his village was razed by lawless brigands. Those who survived, such as Yeardley, were captured to be sold into servitude. All looked bleak until an army of knights from a nearby human kingdom set upon the bandits’ stronghold. The knights utterly routed the bandits and freed the prisoners. Yeardley felt indebted as well as inspired — he devoted himself to one day joining the ranks of those shining heroes who rode in and smote evil. Years passed. Despite resistance to a halfling joining the kingdom’s army, he succeeded in proving himself able. He became a soldier, serving and eventually attaining the rank of standard bearer. He proudly marched unto battlefields with his fellow soldiers, bellowing vigorously, keeping them inspired and rallied around his banner. His booming battle cries became famous among those in his division, earning him the nickname “Battle Bard.” When the going got tough, he would never drop the banner and flee — he fought and scrapped with all who would break through the lines and seek to bring down the flag. The “Iron Grip,” the “Barbed Flagpole,” the “Banner Prince.” The nicknames and legends about the peculiar halfling soldier piled up over time.
Until one day, almost at the flip of a switch, he laid down the flag. A mounting dissatisfaction — a disillusionment — grew within him over time, so slowly he never even noticed. As if awakening from a dream, he suddenly looked up and regarded his army, freshly occupying an enemy city, and he saw a picture that suddenly looked to him no different than the memory in his mind of his childhood village. Torched and violated by lawless scum.
What was any of it for?
He laid down the flag and walked away, never looking back.
For a time he merely wandered, staying in inns, living off the land, traveling in no particular direction as he took stock of the world through the lens of his spontaneous new existentialism.
His roving ambled to halt in a certain unassuming hamlet. Yeardley planned to only stay a night or two until he researched the next road to travel, but a chance meeting with a certain peasant girl distracted him from his plans.
Long story short, he stopped in one place long enough to end up with a wife and two kiddos.
Family Man
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| Rivia | Tindopp | Arlafett |
| Yeardley's wife. A once-aspiring poet who makes ends meet through gardening projects. Famously soft-spoken, she lets the written word express the most complicated things for her.
Writes poems and parables as a hobby to this day — when she's lucky enough to have a moment. |
Yeardley's son. Takes after his mother in having human-style height, already towering over dear old daddy. Tindopp is a good-natured boy with a gentle and nurturing disposition.
Has a poor sense of direction and a fascination with herbology. He gets lost in the woods all too often. |
Yeardley's daughter, who takes after him in height. Older than Tindopp by a couple years and greatly resents the already-drastic height difference — seeing it as a threat to her sibling authority.
She compensates with a tough attitude and takes initiative when it comes to any strength checks around the house. Self-proclaimed "protector of the estate." |
Yeardley has new priorities now. He wasn’t doing anything with all that honor and loyalty, so he’s transferred it all to his growing family — for whom he would lay down his life and protect and serve until his final breath.
Keeping a family fed isn’t quite as straightforward as charging into a battlefield, however. Living day-to-day and scraping by for himself was one thing, but he wanted more for his wife and kids. He needed to secure a line of work to give his house a stable foundation. To escape the slums and give them opportunities in proper society. Trouble was, he didn’t have the kind of skill set that paid such dividends. The job market for a halfling war-deserter was a surprisingly shallow pool. He toyed with the idea of joining another army, but he was sure he wouldn’t be able to stomach it any longer — nor did he want his kids even adjacent to war if he could help it.
That was when rumors of the Tomb of the Serpent Kings reached his ears. Ancient ruins rife with opportunity and treasure — for those with bravery and martial prowess enough to seize them. Positioned near a pioneer town, to boot.
Yeardley and the family packed up their things, little as they were, and made way to Jokari.
