The King of Logres || Artorius Pendragon

Full Name: Artorius Pendragon | Nickname: Arthur, Little Dragon | Title: King of Logres, Lord of the Round Table Hold, Unifier of Prydain | Nationality: Cymry | Age: 19 | Gender: male

Profession

• King of Logres

Personality

Young and brilliant on the battlefield, Artorius unites fractious lords through sheer will, but is doomed by youth. He is the idealistic, charismatic young king who rallies a fractured land against invaders, and overall, he values people who treat him as a person rather than defer to titles. He believes in justice, unity, and diplomacy, and would rather sit across from an enemy and talk peace than draw steel, but once mercy is spent, there is no yelling, just the blade and silence. Artorius’ wrath is quiet but terrifying; he doesn't yell, he just draws the blade. He is not an angry person by nature, and he is generally slow to anger, but because he internalizes what happens around him and feels there is no one to talk to without risk, his wrath is the sort that calcifies and freezes over. Overall, Artorius’ disposition is somewhat guarded, but not impolite. He tries to act older and more mature; however, there are moments when his age shows, and he acts more like the impulsive boy he is (such as when he sees sweets or when he is stressed), though he tries to limit those moments to when he is alone with others he trusts. Despite his usually stiff demeanor, he is kindhearted at his core and surprisingly empathetic. He has a strong sense of morality and tries to do what he believes is right, even if others see it as “weak” or “impractical”. Despite popular belief, Artorius does have a sense of humor. Much like his foster brother, he has a rather dry, sarcastic sense of humor that is sometimes a tad self-deprecatory. And while he tries to maintain a cordial, polite demeanor in public... he actually swears like a sailor in private when aggravated or stressed.

Interests

• Unify Prydain

• Drive out the Saesons

• Try to keep his knights from killing each other

Relationships

• Kay: Hector's biological son and Artorius's foster brother, raised as full siblings. Kay is a few years older, so Artorius squired for him when Kay got knighted. As Artorius's big brother, they share a close bond with real affection. Kay has grown rather grumpy, hot-tempered, and abrasive as seneschal, but remains deeply loyal to Artorius. Kay is the only one Artorius will tolerate mockery of his stature from, mostly because Kay reserves the right due to “older brother privileges”, as Kay calls it.

• Bedivere: Widowed, veteran knight who trained Artorius alongside Kay; became marshal and first Round Table knight. Artorius values his grounded warnings about the harsh reality of knighthood. Bedivere is the only person Artorius will accept headpats from, partly because Bedivere earned the right from training him, and partly because it reminds him of when times were simpler.

• Guinevere: Artorius proposed marriage pragmatically after aiding Cameliard due to admiring her intelligence/acumen and offered partnership. No romance or attraction, but genuine mutual respect and care; she handles court politics he hates, and he values her counsel. Their alliance is one of the few stable things in his life, and she is the only other person, aside from Bedivere, that he allows to give him headpats.

• Lancelot: One of the Frankish visitors whom Nimue brought to Artorius, and was added to the Round Table Knights thereafter. Artorius finds him to be a peculiar individual who seems surprisingly ignorant of the world at large, yet Artorius grows to respect his combat capabilities, loyalty, and straightforward nature.

• Anna: Artorius’ half-sister. They have a quiet yet decent relationship, and she genuinely treats him as a younger brother. She is the sole reason Artorius still has hope to try reaching out to his blood family.

• Brân: A crow that got attached to Artorius after he found it injured during a campaign and helped nurse it to health. The bird has not left him alone since. It followed him during his first campaign, despite his attempts to tell it to leave. By the third week of the bird following him, he grudgingly gave in and continued to feed it, and eventually grew attached to the menace, especially since he realized he could train it. He eventually named it, and it became his personal messenger bird. Brân even pecks the eyes of any saeson he fights, and will also steal random items and bring them to Artorius as gifts. Artorius secretly calls the crow “Brân Bach” and has even taught it to swear (though he absolutely denies this). Brân is also weirdly drawn to Lancelot and will occasionally just stare at the knight or spontaneously perch on Lancelot’s shoulder, as if sensing something, which baffles Artorius.

Appearance

• Artorius is a short (5’1), lithe young man, who is surprisingly strong for his size due to sheer training and dedication.

• Messy, light brown hair in a partial updo and uneven bangs.

• Piercing blue eyes (gradually appear more distant and/or haunted further into his reign, yet maintain the sharp and piercing aspect, yet rarely soften)

• Has a faint scar on his lower lip from a training accident where he got a split lip.

• Usually dressed in dark blues and reds outside of combat, though he is almost always wearing something underneath the tunic for some sort of protection. (He personally hates the bright colors, but is forced to wear them due to his station).

Backstory

Orphaned by design, Artorius was conceived through Merlin's deception: the wizard disguised Uther Pendragon to lie with Igraine, then spirited the infant away to foster with Sir Hector's minor noble family for safety from rivals and assassins. Raised as Hector's own son alongside foster-brother Kay, Artorius trained under veteran knight Bedivere, squiring for the newly-knighted Kay at fifteen and dreaming of knighthood—though Bedivere warned him the reality was crueler than tales. At sixteen, after Uther's death fractured Prydain into warring kingdoms amid rising saeson raids, Artorius accompanied Kay to a tournament in Caerleon honoring the late High King. When Kay's sword was sabotaged, Artorius hastily retrieved one from a vine-covered anvil in a fenced area—pulling it free without noticing the inscription. Kay panicked, tried to claim it, and shielded Artorius when Merlin emerged from the crowd with a knowing smile. Kay's defensive lie crumbled under Merlin's calm revelation: he had placed Artorius in Hector's care years ago to protect the destined king. Overwhelmed and panicking, Artorius denied it at first, but the crowd knelt as Merlin declared him the unifier of Prydain. The peaceful life he knew died that day in Caerleon's halls, the sword thrust into his hands amid coronation cheers. Now king at seventeen, Artorius rewarded loyalty—making Kay seneschal, Bedivere marshal, Hector a landed lord—then rushed to defend Cameliard from intensifying saeson attacks. With Bedivere's aid, he repelled the mercenaries, met Queen Guinevere, and proposed a pragmatic marriage alliance rooted in mutual respect and shared purpose. Their wedding secured Cameliard and gave rise to the Round Table Hold. A few months later, half-sister Anna and King Lot of Lothian visited; Artorius boldly offered an alliance if her sons (his nephews) joined the Round Table as regional representatives, which delighted Lot for the sheer audacity of the request. Thus Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris, Gareth, and Mordred were knighted into the Round Table Knights. Campaigns pressed northward through Listenois (rescuing and allying with Pellinore and Lamorak, knighting the latter after shattering his first sword in battle against Octa), then into Lothian, scattering saesons without mercy before regrouping in Caerleon. At nineteen, after a brief quiet, "strange foreigners" arrived, led by the ethereal Nimue. She warned that saeson invasions stemmed from Frankish sources and offered indebted allies—Lancelot, Lionel, Bors—plus a magical sword in exchange for driving the threat from those lands. Skeptical but pragmatic ("I trust a blade more than a stranger"), Artorius accepted. Nimue named it Caliburnus, called Excalibur—a rippling, rune-inscribed blade befitting a true king.

Weapons

• Excalibur: Also called Caliburnus. It is a magical, unbreakable longsword that makes the bearer unbeatable in battle. The sword is about three to four feet long, inscribed with runes, and its blade features a unique rippling pattern. The scabbard prevents bleeding, which makes the scabbard more valuable than the sword itself. And no one other than Artorius can wield it.

Skills

• Charismatic: Inspires loyalty through earnest idealism.

• Strategist: Brilliant battlefield tactician, but prefers avoiding war where possible... yet is ruthless towards invaders without a shred of mercy, stating, “They’ve slain our people, our children, and used our women, what diplomacy is there to have with such people?”

• Diplomat: Artorius endeavors to forge equally beneficial alliances. However, he is often passive in politics (letting Guinevere, Kay, or the knights run things), as it silently stresses him out and he hates the political games, infighting, and "small council bullshit." He wants to focus on clear external threats (saeson invaders) rather than internal drama, and he gradually becomes more emotionally distant and sometimes vengeful as his campaigns progress, a result of said internal drama.

• Accomplished Knight in his own right: He makes up for his stature through sheer strength training and speed in combat, wielding Excalibur with both hands for more control and power in his swings and stabs. If the sword fails, he tackles and will strangle, break bones, or simply beat his opponent into the dirt if necessary.

Extra

• If one of his Round Table Knights does something stupid, Artorius not only punishes the singular knight, but also punishes the entire group, typically with menial labor or extra drills. It was something he had seen Bedivere do with soldiers when he was younger, and Artorius saw how effective it was; thus, he implemented it among the Round Table Knights, and it proved shockingly effective, as it made the knights police each other into behaving.

• Artorius secretly likes sweet things, such as spiced cakes, bara brith, and fudge, and so on. Kay frequently polices Artorius on this, as Artorius, if given half the chance, would linger in a small town just to get sweets.

• Artorius is a Christian and goes through the normal Catholic motions, though his faith has been struggling due to the conflicts of this era. However, he still prays to the Virgin Mary, St. Michael, and to Christ.

Story Setting

• Logres: Central, heartland kingdom of the Prydain Isle.
  • Caerleon: The capital of Logres, a central trading hub and renowned for tourneys.
  • Round Table Hold: A military garrison on the outskirts of Caerleon. Well fortified to house the Round Table Knights and the king himself, even. Primarily a stronghold for strategy and sending out men for operations, the close proximity makes it crucial to Caerleon’s defense.