Silvio Romano
(facial ref only)
APPEARANCE
Silvio Romano stands at 175 cm (5'10") and has a fairly athletic build with broad shoulders. His brown hair has a natural wavy curl and his blue eyes look out at the world with energy and zest beneath thick brows. Even with his beard and moustache, he often comes across in his mid 20s rather than his actual age of 29, due to his ruddy skin tones.
When not on the field, Silvio usually wears a light brown shirt, a black doublet and a brown or black hose. This makes him appear slightly taller and slimmer than he actually is, and helps focus the attention on the better dressed others he accompanies. His clothes are usually simple and functional, with few trappings, though his doubloon bears the Knights Cross when occasion calls for it. His inner linen shirt, when visible (almost never due to the doubloon), has a more regular cross pattern at the top near his neck. Most of these patterns appear to be handsewn on rather than originally on the garment.
BACKGROUND
Silvio Romano was born Silvio Attendolo in 1371, in the region of Romagno. Following his brothers' examples, he found himself in company of Venetian mercenaries, but soon after found it unpalatable. Certainly he took well to fighting his fellow men, but bearing witness to some (relatively minor, admittedly) atrocities involving civilians left him wondering about the purpose and meaning in the slaughter. When he was 17 he helped a band of civilians escape torment by the soldiers of his employer, and thus parted ways with his company, changing his name soon after.
Silvio travelled to Vienna, Austria in company of merchants and came into contact with more Christian ideals in form of the Knights Hospitallers, and joined them, giving most of his accrued earnings - "blood money" as he saw it - as contribution. The Order initially accepted him as a lowly squire, since he was neither native nor noble, and though he found himself in menial service to less battle-tested men, he did so to the best of his ability with the zeal of one who was rediscovering his faith.
After one of his Confessions about his past experiences, the Order tested his mettle and found him suitable for more fieldwork, especially in bolstering their ranks in Italy where he would be more at home. In preparation of the Mahdian Crusade of 1390, they sent him to Italy to accompany the forces of Genoa across the sea. While he is referred to as a knight by those not of the Order, Silvio was a sergeant who mostly wore heavy armor while on foot, though if called for, he was trained as light cavalry as well.
Silvio was one of the few knights accompanying the Genoese, which mostly comprised footmen and archers. While the French knights led the siege, Silvio watched the battle more distantly, firing on the enemy lines while in his relatively heavy armor. The Mahdian Crusade was a glorious success that Christendom celebrated, but he once more felt himself questioning the zealous absurdity of a siege conducted with no siege weapons, and even the canons on the Genoese ships were left largely unemployed. Casualties were relatively few, but he still wondered what these young knights and squires, killed in a foreign land across the sea, had accomplished. A treaty with tribute? For God or for man?
After Milan was elevated to a duchy, the Knight Hospitallers from nearby city states of Genoa and Venice consolidated most of their strength to Milan, in support of the only italian city state that was officially part of the Holy Roman Empire. The constant tension with the other Italian cities led the Hospitallers there to sit out the disastrous Nicopolis Crusade of 1396.
For his part, Silvio welcomed this time of relative peace, taking opportunity to write to and occasionally visit his ageing parents in the south. The lack of italian nobility within the Knight Hospitaller coupled with his relatively advanced age within the Order meant he was often sent as to accompany dignitaries from the Order on "diplomatic" visits to the nobility and the church.
The arrival of the Inquisition in early 1399, apparently at behest of the Emperor and the Church (though Silvio had no such inkling from his contacts there), and certainly supported by the Duke of Milan, gave him some cause for concern. This was not least concern for himself, for despite his religious fervour, Silvio was rather reserved about engaging in hostilities for God's sake or at the churchs behest, and saw taking arms more for pragmatic reasons, and hopefully to protect the civilians in times of conflict.
The recent arrival of the Sforza condottiero family from Perugia came as a shock for Silvio. The Sforzas were known for their mercenary attitudes and ruthless efficacy on the field, as well as using pillaging and using scorched earth tactics outside of major cities, an act that Silvio met with chagrin in earlier engagements with them. While this was not uncommon, Silvio was dismayed to find the Sforza family head none other than his older brother Muzio, who had long been assumed dead by his parents. For his part as a largely secular warlord who had broken ties with his family, Muzio Sforza had little interest in associating with his lessers, and appeared to look upon Silvio with disdain.
MORTAL TIES
Since joining the Knight Hospitallers, Silvio has kept in touch with his ageing parents by writing intermittently. After the Mahdian Crusade, while in Genoa and following the move to Milan, he visits them about once or twice a year. He has given instructions to his Swordbrethren in the Order to deliver to them his sword if he were to fall in battle.
His closest friend is Brother Alfeo Cufario, 27 years old, a footman who he had first met during the Mahdian Crusade, and who subsequently joined the Order in capacity of a sergeant. They have fought side by side for almost 10 years and share very similar views and values. Of late, Alfeo has been more attentive in his religious duties due to the ongoing activities of Inquisitors, while Silvio prefers to carry on as usual.
Another friend is Sir Ettore Savoy, 22 years old and of noble birth. He is one of the more experienced "temporary" knights in the Order, who are nobility "sent" to the Order for training and exposure. Ostensibly Silvio's superior, Sir Ettore often defers to Silvio's experience, for the man had saved him in battle more than once, both from tactical blunders and by sheer valour. Silvio's access to visits to nobility have also been in capacity as Ettore's aide. Though he does not openly admit it, Ettore views Silvio as a benefactor, confidante and mentor, and tells him about the mounting family pressure to leave the Order and return south to get married etc.
