Pepin Franciscus was the son of Carolus Franciscus, a Great Knight who was famed for his axe throwing abilities, which he subsequently passed onto his son. From a young age, Carolus taught Pepin as a squire, setting him for a military career. Yet, when he was 22, his father joined the expedition of Astrius Tianius into the north, as he had previously known him, and upon their return a year later, it was revealed that he had died along with much of the expedition. The loss of his father severely affected Pepin, and he strove to investigate his death, developing an interest in the politics, culture and military of the nations to their west, where Astrius had gone.
Regardless, Pepin rose through the Great Knight ranks rapidly, although this may have been due to his father's position, as Pepin felt that he was inadequate for many of his posts. At the age of 30, he was selected to lead the Great Knight expedition to aid Rovaltinny due to his knowledge of the northern and western realms, with Tangeldis Nessconui as his second-in-command. However, before they reached Rovaltinny, Pepin discovered that they were late, and subsequently had to fight his way through multitudes of mutated Rovalians and other beasts. Upon rescuing some survivors, he realised he was fighting Chaos, which was partly responsible for his father's death, and that the expedition was too small to save the Rovalians from the devastation of Chaos. Consequently, he destroyed numerous Chaos fortifications to meet up with the Havik fleet sent to retrieve them.
Unfortunately for Pepin, his command was replaced by General Kirev Firiskiy, a Great Knight renowned for his brutality and authoritarian nature. Kirev had once been Pepin's best friend, being an orphan taken by the state and indoctrinated into a perfect warrior, but only a few years ago had changed significantly after an expedition to the west, becoming more cruel and loyal to the Great Knights. Now the two were arch rivals.
Kirev's command disrupted many of Pepin's plans and led to many Great Knights dying, while Kirev always claimed that it was the will of the Great Knights. Casualties had become so heavy that only half the expedition was still alive after returning to Rovaltinny and fighting a losing war, causing many Knights to desert. Eventually, Pepin was prompted by Vince to confront Kirev and his loyal minions with a contingent of his own. There, he found that Kirev was in fact Lord Verick, a Great Knight who had been jailed for his hatred of authority, mass killings and murder of several high-ranking Great Knight leaders, but had escaped his execution and joined Medusa in fighting for Chaos, being made immortal for doing so. He was the one responsible for stirring up trouble in the northern kingdoms and killing Carolus Franciscus. When the real Kirev was killed in battle against Chaos, his dead body was recovered and reanimated by Medusa, who allowed Verick to possess it and wreak havoc among the Great Knights before they invaded.
Enraged, Pepin attacked Verick, but stopped when Verick used Kirev's memories to coax him into thinking that Kirev was still somehow alive in that body. Doing so distracted Pepin and caught him off guard when Verick lashed out again. Vince managed to intervene and stabbed Verick, who reverted back to Kirev's memories to taunt Pepin. This left Pepin distraught at the presumed return and death of his best friend, and left him unable to think properly when his contingent was retreating to warn the other Great Knights, allowing him to sustain multiple injuries. The extend of his emotional instability was shown when they encountered Grifo while escaping, who began taunting Pepin after refusing to give up any more information unless paid. The latter was unable to keep calm for very long and hurled an axe directly into Grifo's face, before pulling it out and decapitating the soldier.
Emotionally and physically crippled, Pepin persuaded Vince to leave him behind, but promise to reform the Great Knights to prepare for Chaos. Vince eventually complied and Pepin made his last stand fighting the new body of Verick, who struck him down as he had done so to Carolus.
Trivia
- Pepin is named after Pepin the Short, or King Pepin III, a real Frankish King who ruled from 751-768. The king had a half-brother named Grifo (see Trivia for Grifo) and a father named Charles Martel, sometimes Latinised as "Carolus". hence the name of the character Pepin's father.
- Therefore, Delphius' nickname for him places some more contextual guidance in.