**Grandmaster Arthur Lupous
[A.K.A. Sir Lupous]

Age: 53 [currently]

Personality: Wise, serene, focused, sometimes with a jovial side to him. Sees his fellow Templar knights as brothers, or even like his own sons with a few given his love of family. Determined to work through pain even at his own personal expense if it means that his comrades and students succeed. He pulls no punches with lessons as he believes in due diligence. His drive to avoid tragedy due to his rough past haunting him keep him from opening up about himself to most folk.

Appearance: Tall and muscular. Has dark grey fur and with some lighter grey shaded sections of fur, as well as having golden eyes. After being maimed by one of his students, he has lost one hand and has a fixable prosthesis of sorts in its place. Also, is half-blind now as another result of said maiming. Usually dons the red and white armor of the Templar Order.

Height: Nearly 7 feet.

Species: Anthro grey wolf.

Current Status: The Grandmaster of the Irish sect of The Order Of The Knights Templar.

Background:
Was born in the year 1220 and raised in a decently sized town in what is now Northern Ireland from a middle class family of the time with a guardsman for a father, and a mother who worked as a seamstress. He has one sister, Hallie, who is married to a sheriff currently who is now a mother.

Having grown up with a soldier for a father, the young Arthur felt immense pressure to do his hero proud from childhood. Arthur, like most wolves, came to see that family is everything and could not stand to see anything bad happen to any of them. He and Hallie were basically inseparable growing up. Being the older brother by about five years, he is staunchly protective of her and her wellbeing, something that never went away with time.

From his middle childhood through his adolescence, Arthur Lupous was modestly educated in what he needed to handle living in his town of residence, with the intent that he would carry on as an Irish guardsman when he was the right age. His eighteenth year was a turning point however, as the young grey wolf ended up falling into romance with the white wolfess daughter of a neighboring town’s noble who visited Arthur’s area to visit relatives, who was his age, and ended up getting her pregnant before marriage. She was found to be so over halfway into the pregnancy cycle, as she tried to hide it, unsure of what to do. Needless to say, his family, and that of the young lady, known as Genevieve, was not pleased. The former as they felt he was not ready for such a phase in life as Arthur was still establishing himself, and the latter for similar reasons of their daughter and because her family saw him as beneath them. This put a strain on the young wolf’s resolve, but he decided to stay with Genevieve to support her as she wanted him, which he reciprocated, and because he felt he had to share responsibility for the child. His parents, with reservations agreed feeling they could help him raise the child and get him settled in. Her parents agreed for similar reasons, though their trust in Arthur was not high.

The two were planned to be married when terms were reached and while the union was happy even in spite of how it complicated their lives in trying to find a balance between this and their other duties, it was short-lived. For when labor was due the session went terribly wrong and Genevieve ended up dying in childbirth as she bled out due to the complications. The child, a daughter, miraculously survived. However, the situation only got worse for those involved. Genevieve’s mother and father blamed Arthur for the loss of their daughter and forbade him to see his daughter, named Vivienne, as long as they lived. Arthur’s parents, feeling he had ruined his chance and life and likely his reputation as well, were quite saddened and disappointed in the affairs and their son. Arthur himself sank into depression seeing himself as responsible for the death of his love and the robbed chance of fatherhood and became very despondent for weeks. A month following the debacle, the strained relationship between Arthur and his family came to a head and his parents reached out to the local cathedral and had him enlist in the Templar Order as a means of finding a new life and absolution. The young wolf, who could not bear the pain agreed, seeing service to his country and people as a form of penance the only way forward, it became his drive, to seek absolution and redemption for his mistake and shame………

His town’s local bishop sent in a request to the Order compound in Dublin which was accepted a couple weeks later and within many days travel, Arthur made it to the city heart of Ireland. The farewell he shared with his parents and sister was tough, but he knew this was necessary for him to move forward at all. He wondered if he would see them again.

Once at the Temple compound, Arthur was given quarters with other recruits whom he saw as his age and older. Over the first two years of his time in training his teachers, including the Grandmaster at the time, a white wolf known as Oliver Kanis, while noting that while the young grey wolf was observant and during his studies [due to his decent education as far as learning was concerned], he seemed disconnected from his fellow recruit brethren. Well, this would not do if he got into combat situations. The middle aged Grandmaster noticed that something clearly is driving the young lupine, as he did not seem to react much to difficulty or pain, of which there was plenty in the grueling physical training. So, they decided to put him in more collaborative-oriented training, from team combat to scaling. This soon led to Arthur meeting his first friend in the Templar Order, a grizzly bear known as Doron Kullens who was half-Irish and half-Israeli, the son of a former crusader soldier and an Israeli Catholic convert. Doron, while four years younger than Arthur who was nearing 21 at the time, was bigger and more physically imposing than the wolf even though he himself had put on some more muscle by this time. It was during their first days in physical combat training, both with weapons and without, Lupous had his first crushing loss. He had been bested in combat training before, but outside of instructors, nothing like this. Doron had a ferocity, but most of all, he loved physical combat, especially when it was with hand to hand combat and later with heavy weapons. This was the point Arthur Lupous’ life started to turn around. It was during his first wrestling session did he really get a sense of it. Doron excelled at, having gained some training from his father before joining the Templar Order. He would almost always win with most of the students, including Arthur, his favorite move being a devastating bear hug. Out of all the students, he had the most fun with Arthur. There was something about the wolf that fascinated him, likely his drive. Arthur at times did not want to give up, even when pinned down. After their first lesson, Doron went to him after-hours and spoke with him to get to know him. He was reluctant at first, but a dialogue began mostly casual about their time in training. The young grizzly bear challenged him to a wrestling match while no-one else was around in the store-room nearby. Arthur, never to turn down a challenge accepted. While he ended up losing, it was after a struggle, and the wolf realized he needed this thrill, to vent and motivate.

Over the following weeks, Doron continued to grow closer to him with more dialogue and even more personal spars. The wolf was interested, as it was the first time in a while someone actually reached out to understand him outside of the teachers. Arthur had mostly kept to himself when he began, feeling he alone must bear the burden of his sins, but that had proved unsustainable as time went on as he had to perform more collaborative training and learning. He learned that Doron, being the son of an Irish crusader from another knight order had grown up on stories told to him about his father’s exploits in the Holy Land including meeting his Israeli Jewish mother, the daughter of a Rabbi whom he rescued, fell in love with, and eventually married after she converted to the Catholic Christian faith, making Doron culturally Christian, but ethnically Jewish. He joined the Templar Order to do his father proud. Arthur opened up to Doron about his background, the only other time he had done this was with the Grandmaster, being a concerned older lupine, able to gain his trust. The two reached understanding seeing they both had strong drives, one for redemption, the other to make family proud. Both related to family in different ways.

It was from here on in, Arthur Lupous would begin to be more open and also begin making friends and true comrades in the Order. The young man continued to hone his skills via continued with studies from learning Latin, to Hebrew, to serious theology, as well as refining his own knowledge of his land’s history, and also combat training. With his friend, more like a brother, Doron, by his side, through any difficulty he faced. It seemed like he was finding a new lease on life with the Templar Order, slowly but surely.

At the age of 28, Arthur became a knight of the Templar Order and was dubbed Sir Arthur Lupous. His fellow Templar recruit brother Doron became Sir Doron at the age of 24. It was a milestone for the two in their lives. By this point, Arthur had become a different man with a different outlook on the world than the young inexperienced teenager who had no idea what he had gotten into. The two were to be deployed to the Holy Land immediately placed at the Templar outpost in Acre.

The travel to the Israeli lands was tough, but the two, who were now like brothers, made it through together. Along the way through land and waterway the two continued to hone their skills in armed combat such as with swords, maces, axes, etc., and unarmed combat through means such as wrestling and boxing with each. This also included doing so with their fellow Templar knights and with knights from the other traveling Orders such as the Hospitallers. At times, it became even fun for the two trying to outdo each other. Usually it was Arthur who won or tied at armed combat, particularly swordplay. It was the other way around with Doron and unarmed combat with the grizzly triumphing or tying, especially with wrestling. These often ended with the two on the ground and laughing.

Once at the Holy Land, Lupous would get his first taste of real warfare in defending against Islamist rogues, especially Seljuk jihadis. It would take him about a year to get settled into this place far away from Ireland, but he was not alone. Arthur had his new family with Doron and his fellow Templar brothers by his side he had found a new life and purpose. The grey wolf never ceased to write letters home when he could. Arthur and Doron would spend ten years in the Holy Land. The two would lose many brothers in arms there, while gaining new ones along the way, and many lives would be saved in their Order’s campaign and duties. There were as many victories as there were losses. Arthur ended up with multiple scars on his form that could often be covered with new armor and sometimes his thick fur. The knight eventually rose in position as a commander of his division in the later years of his service. Arthur did not mind the pain or the scars, seeing it as part of his path to redemption for his younger self’s mistakes. He became battle hardened both on the inside and out, the same with his closest partner. The two never lost their competitive spirit with each other though, something that would never go away. It was one of the things that kept them going through the hard times. The same could be said of the written correspondence with his father, mother, and sister. The last of which had gotten married to a lawman two years after he left Ireland and Arthur learned was going to be an uncle. This gave him hope for his family.

After ten years, Arthur Lupous, at the age of 38 was called back to the Dublin Temple. The Irish Grandmaster Oliver Kanis, who was past 60 at that point had been wounded by an assassination attempt and was in critical condition and dying. He had chosen Arthur to be his successor as leader of the Dublin Temple. Aside from being one of his best students, he had seen how the grey wolf’s temperament had developed into leader material. His growing selflessness to where he simply accepted any comeuppance delivered to him. To also the declining personal isolation the grey wolf showed as he progressed. Said progress, once in the Holy Land, did not go unnoticed by the Grandmaster via written communication with the commander of the Acre Temple. As he got older, the white wolf knew that the subject of succession had to be considered. With each year as he read more reports from Acre, Oliver came more to the realization that Arthur Lupous, whom he had begun to view like a son in their time training together years prior, was who he wanted to take over should something happen. During what a meeting with the Irish Lordship, Oliver’s transport was attacked by zealots who were against the current rulers and the white wolf ended up taking a blow. The stab wound ended up getting an infection and now he had no chance of surviving the coming months.

Arthur, receiving the news was both saddened and startled. He was being discharged from his duties in Israel and was being called home. He also learned that Sir Doron was also being called home to steel up the defenses at the Temple and had been selected to be Arthur’s right hand. Thus began the long trip back to Dublin, Ireland. It felt longer coming back home because he was a changed man. No longer the dreaming and naïve teenage wolf he once was or even the solemn almost-individualistic isolated one during early training, but now a wiser, more open, and yet professional warrior. Scarred by both battle, loss [including even being a brief prisoner by the Islamist forces one time which he escaped from with help], and leadership through war and defense of the residents of the Holy Land, and with the specter of the loss of his fiancé and separation from his daughter always lingering in the back of his conscience. Though a sense of optimism never left him, and neither did his brotherhood with others, especially with Doron.

The grey wolf and his grizzly bear brother returned home as hardened veteran leaders. Once in Dublin they went straight to the Temple and reunited with the Grandmaster, who was on his deathbed. The two wolves had a deep reunion, talking briefly about how far they had come up to this point, but then the Grandmaster turned the subject to succession and why he wanted Arthur to be the one to lead the Irish Templars. Arthur was extremely reluctant to take the position, feeling he was not sure he was ready. Oliver Kanis said that was one of the reasons, being that the fact Arthur did not desire the position, even after how much of a leader figure he had become in the Holy Land makes him more fit, being that he would lead them more justly than one who strived for such a position his whole life. Also, remembering all Arthur had told him when he was still an initiate about his background, he sees this as a way for the grey wolf to do find redemptive light, by leading others on the right road to help them to find the same and to find the best path. Arthur agrees, though his reluctance at being a leader remains. The Grandmaster dies in his arms, with Doron and the rest of the order standing behind him.

This marked the beginning of a new phase for the grey wolf. He had gone from a knight, to commander, to now Grandmaster. He would no longer be just called Sir Lupous or Commander Lupous, but Grandmaster Arthur Lupous of the Templar Order of Ireland. The whole thing was dizzying as a concept to him at first, but reluctance aside, he accepted this and the mantle of teacher, determined to lead others out of where he had been and to serve as an example of great change.

While back, he also paid a visit to his now older parents who were almost 60 themselves about the news, as well as to meet with his sister and also meet his brother-in-law along with his niece and nephew. Seeing his sister happy and with her lawman husband Darien Curtis and with two cubs was uplifting. Said niece and nephew reminded himself of he and Hallie when they were young. From his parents he learned that his daughter is still with her grandparents who still kept the call of separation in effect as long as they lived, though Arthur’s parents had no idea how longer the girl’s grandparents on that side will last and the family had even moved to another town in the countryside. Aside from this sad disappointing news, his reception home was good and welcomed as a hero. Arthur’s family was pleased and overjoyed with his success. After a few days, he had to return to Dublin and begin leading and teaching. He promised to stay in touch though.

Arthur returned to Dublin and took on duties as Grandmaster with Sir Doron retiring temporarily after a couple years to take care of personal business in his home town.

Four years of successful leadership into his tenure, as the new Grandmaster continued the progress of his predecessor he came across a student who would change his life again, this would be the fox cub Connor Vulpes from the southern Irish countryside after a notice and request from the boy’s uncle, the monk Iain. The request intrigued him reading about the young potential recruit’s background, including what the monk Iain had described as divine intervention to the fact this could be the first fox from this village to become a Templar Knight, though it could have also been a fatherly instinct, given his canine nature that might have had a part in his decision to accept the request.

The lad also had to adapt to life in the city compared to living in the country. He had never been in such a large and populated place before. It was quite the change of scenery for him, but he would have help blending in from the Order. Once at the Dublin Temple compound it took a few days for him to get situated into his new living quarters. Interacting with other students from other parts of the country and many of differing species from cats, to other canines, to even avians was quite new to him, but he would get used to it in time, and it would take a few years to build up close comradeship, but it would be worth it in time. Like back at the monastery, Connor was a largely attentive student and did his best to follow every instruction implicitly, from continued and even deeper education than what he got previously, from history to combat training. Said combat training included learning real swordsman skills, to archery proficiency, and to other hand-to-hand fighting as there would be moments where a sword could not be reached and more, though there were some instances he felt unable to perform certain tasks, but this would only strengthen the vulpine lad’s resolve. When it came to physical combat, it even included from grappling to engaging in wrestling [a combat style with roots back to the ancient Greeks and Jews], the latter of which was one of the more rougher combat sessions for Connor in which he and some other initiates were trained by Sir Doron, whom Arthur had invited out of retirement as the call for new students increased to teach them the students the ropes and had off-the-record tournaments and tryouts to test the mettle of the Templars in training., which Doron [who had married and had a family at this point agreed to do. Though he could not go into war duty, he could still do local defense and training. To put it simply, all took a beating, including the new young vulpine, but he persevered through all of it.

Through all of this, he would grow close to the grandmaster himself, Sir Arthur Lupous. The middle aged gray wolf had an innate skill to sense the potential and need for support via his wolven parental instincts in this young vulpine and sense his major potential that he had been informed of by the boy’s uncle, brother Iain beforehand. The Grandmaster Lupous could foresee him becoming something great. The two were akin to a father and son with Grandmaster Lupous becoming a second father to the growing cub and Connor Vulpes becoming like the son the man always wanted. He saw this as a way to be a father figure, the way his predecessor Oliver Kanis had been with him, and because the now middle aged grey wolf saw this as the final redemption in the path of parenting which he did not get with his daughter.

Along the way, another initiate caught his attention. This would be the French silver fox Edmund Reynalt who was ten years older than Connor Vulpes. He had lost his family while moving to the British Isles years earlier to escape the upheavals at the time to highwaymen scarring him with tragedy before being be adopted by the Templar Order in England, but due to the ranks there being filled at the time and due to his major impulsiveness, Edmund was transferred from London to Dublin for disciplinary training where he would eventually be put under Arthur’s tutelage and thereby meet Connor Vulpes. The two seemed to befriend well with the former impressing the vulpine with his own charisma and bombastic persona and the latter impressing the silver vulpine with his knowledge and skill. Through his training and his own education from learning the language and ways of the land of Ireland to Latin and more, he became more and more more unruly in the field of duty, albeit restrained in some other instances, showing the desire to become grandmaster, which began to trouble the older wolf as much as the young Connor.

While Edmund would maintained that his methods of proto-iron-fisted dominance was necessary to protect the people. With some seeming toning down of the rhetoric he becomes a secondary instructor for Connor outside of the Grandmaster. Though as Connor gets older and Edmund becomes more active in the field of duty, his ideology returned openly informs the grandmaster about his doubts on the moral problems with Edmund’s direction. Grandmaster Lupous, seeing that this has to stop seriously reprimands the silver fox. Edmund is thoroughly incensed by this and this triggers to a confrontation and Edmund Reynalt deciding then to slaughter the Grandmaster seeing him now as a threat to his ambitions. Connor Vulpes heads to Arthur’s chambers to talk with him on proceeding with the Reynalt matter and to his shock and horror, he walks in on their raging duel and quickly intervenes just in time as the silver-fox is using disgustingly underhanded assassination-style attempt to kill the grandmaster. Said intervention climaxes with Arthur Lupous losing his left hand/paw as well as his right eye being blinded, and Connor takes his grandmaster’s sword and gashes Edmund’s face. Leaving him scarred and half-blinded, but a couple follow him leaving the Order compound in what is now Dublin to join him feeling he was in the right. Immediately after the silver fox escapes through a window seconds after vowing revenge with his loss, Connor drops the sword to the ground and goes to his master as the other Templar knights arrive having heard the commotion. Vulpes, shedding tears, helps his father figure in the order up while asking if he was alright. The middle-aged wolf knight supports him, with the grandmaster embracing him in return, as he directs the other knights to arrest Edmund.

The Irish Templars sent a search party over the course of three days, yielding no results as the order-apostate silver vulpine had concealed his path and doings effectively. Having and stockpiled a portion of the Irish Temple’s riches and even a suit of armor which he would modify for himself. He also took a small contingent of Templar recruits who aligned ideologically with himself and leave Ireland and into the British Isles, crossing the English Channel, the same path he had taken with his late parents as a young kit back to his native France where he and his forming order would begin. Sure to become a problem for the Templars and other knight orders in his drive for societal power, recognition, and vengeance.

The confrontation with his other star student changed him more. Having lost an eye and a hand to Reynalt before getting saved by his tearful apprentice, Vulpes, Arthur is now moving forward, half-blind and having a custom-made gauntlet over his stump, that he can fix into various gestures such as a fist or open. The process was grueling having his wounds cauterized and then having said gauntlet constructed and used.

His connection to his students, especially to Connor Vulpes motivated him to get up. He turned to his old friend and war-partner, Sir Doron Kullens to prepare. Aside from helping him get used to his changed physical appearance, through his vigorous training with the grizzly bear, was able to focus with half-sight and to wield a sword or other weapons about as effectively as before, as well as unarmed combat. It was this brotherly competition training they had developed as recruits that enabled him to keep leading and teaching, determined to keep the Templar Order of Ireland a bastion of justice in the land.

In a few years since the climactic turn of events, in the most proudest moments for both Arthur and for his young vulpine student, Connor Vulpes, the growing kit was knighted and re-swearing his vows as a knight of the Templar Order at the age of 18. Two years following, Grandmaster Arthur Lupous after witnessing the knight’s progress in defense of the nation declared the young man the finest student he had ever had the privilege of overseeing and that he was ready to be deployed in the current Crusade should the call from the Templar Headquarters in France and the high grandmaster of the Templar Order be issued, and even outside of that, to defend the land from any and all threats with his fellow knight brothers.

Arthur Lupous himself swore inwardly that he would always stand by his surrogate son’s side and that one day he would reunite with his daughter………

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Well here it is, the background of my character Sir Vulpes mentor.

Same applies as before.

Keep in mind this is just the general outline. Future projects expanding on this could be well down the line so any of this could change at a given time, just so you know……

It is worth noting that various knight orders did practice many forms of physical combat including wrestling in the Middle Ages and onward [https://www.thearma.org/essays/G&WinRF.htm#.YjK1LurMK3B, http://www.lordsandladies.org/knighthood-training.htm, & https://www.freelanceacademypress.com/medievalwrestling.aspx] though there is nothing on the Templars, from recorded incidents to even opinions on wrestling from them, so I had to embellish here a little bit, and besides, this is a world of Anthro animals anyway so an inch of artistic license is to be expected. ;)

On a side note, major inspirations for my character include the films Kingdom Of Heaven (2005), Arn-The Knight Templar (2007-2008), and History Channel’s series Knightfall (2017-2019), which I have talked about in various uploads throughout my gallery and page.

I hope you enjoyed this and other character backgrounds in the pipeline for when the time is right.

Also, hoping you are having a good day on your end and never forget, DEUS VULT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC8uoGW2ptc