4/20/20 "Monday Character Spotlight" - Rregg

Rregg is a bit of an enigma. As best we can tell he is a sort of sidekick/best friend/aide to Met, but no one seems to really know his rank, role, or uses. We don't hear much from him, but the characters around him imply that they hear way too much from him. So what's his story? Well, I'm going to fill in a little about his background here, but I'm still going to leave some holes because Rregg and his mysterious backstory will continue to play a large role in Trials of Transcendence Volume II.

Rregg is originally of the servant class of Temparr. He grew up on the estate of a well-to-do nobleman where his mother worked as a maid. She passed away of illness when he was eight years old and Rregg was put to work as a stable boy to earn his keep. Several years later, a mysterious and unfortunate event revealed that he had quite a considerable talent in a specific area and his master, sensing an opportunity, decided to sponsor Rregg's education at Academy.

Rregg entered Academy just after Met and Korsing graduated. He didn't last long, however. His short temper led him into many fights and constant trouble, and his inability to focus on any one thing for long caused him to quickly fall behind in the work. He failed out within his first year and suddenly found himself with nowhere to go. Penniless and ashamed he enlisted in the Temparr army as it prepared for the first stage of Marryn's empirical ambitions—Korsing's campaign against the Loreshi.

For reasons of which I'm sure you're well aware (IF you've read Start of the Storm, and if you haven't, why not?), the day-to-day life of a soldier on campaign did not agree with Rregg. Once again his temper led to fights and his short attention span prevented him from performing his duties. He was bounced from command to command until he found himself tagging along with a group of misfit geniuses—Met's Company of CoEns.

It was here that he first acquired his signature leather goggles. Not having any particular genius of his own (that they knew of at least), the CoEns began using Rregg in their experiments. To them his short temper was nothing new (they dealt with Captain Met on a daily basis, after all) and his inability to focus for any amount of time simply meant they could bounce him from one experiment to another. Unfortunately, it was one such experiment that damaged Rregg's eyes and necessitated the creation of corrective eyewear that was hardy enough to withstand army life (as well as life as a rotating CoEn experimental dummy...) Thus, his goggles were born.

Knowing Met as well as they did after six months of training and marching on campaign, the CoEns of Met's Company did well in hiding their new test subject from him. But Rregg still heard plenty about the blustering yet permissive captain—enough to realize that he was a man worth following. So when the day came that Met was in trouble, naturally Rregg wanted to help.

In actuality, it was the mission that turned the Loreshi Campaign finally in Temparr's favor, however Met led it despite being given express orders not to by his commander. Met knew his boys could pull it off, opening Lore's walls and turning the battle, but their methods would be risky and highly unconventional. Korsing believed in his friend and classmate, but the High Commander had not yet won over the loyalty of his older, more conservative commanders, so he was not in a position to countermand the orders of Met's direct superior not to attempt it. And when Met disobeyed those orders, though the outcome was monumentally favorable for the Temparrs, Korsing was in no position to save him from his fate. Met's commander found him guilty of insubordination and endangering their campaign. And seeing a chance to weaken Korsing's leadership by removing his closest friend and greatest supporter, he sentenced Met to hang from the neck until dead.

Rregg, feeling like he'd finally found a place where he (kind of, sort of) fit in and not wanting to disappoint another man he deemed worthy of following, knew he had to step in and help. He called together the CoEns of Met's Company and hatched a plan to save their captain's life. Unfortunately, overestimating his own skills, Rregg set himself up to play the hero.

When the morning of Met's hanging came, the crowd was interspersed with CoEns, eagerly gripping the handles of the tools they intended to use as weapons beneath their cloaks. Rregg himself was perched in a nearby tree with a borrowed bow and a quiver of arrows. Just before the platform was dropped from beneath Met, Rregg drew a bead on the rope above Met's head and let fly his first arrow. It sailed so far wide of his mark, no one even seemed to notice. Hurriedly Rregg nocked a second arrow, took more careful aim, and loosed.

Met yowled in pain as the arrow struck home in his right shoulder. This was not at all what Rregg had planned, but (luckily for Met) before he could draw a third arrow, the crowd around the impromptu gallows burst into chaos. Some quick-thinking CoEn had the wherewithal to cry out that they were under attack from the Loreshi and the commander and his guards scattered to brace for said attack. In the confusion, several other CoEns cut down their captain and secreted him away to safety while others did what they did best and added to the general chaos. By the time the commander realized there was no imminent attack, Met was nowhere to be found.

The embarrassing ineptitude displayed in this situation gave Korsing the latitude he needed to step in. He berated the commander for his botched execution and informed him that if he couldn't handle discipline in his battalion, then Korsing himself would step in and handle it. And so he took tracking down Met into his own hands. In this way he was able to stall while the CoEns continued to hide their captain. Within a matter of days Korsing was able to exact Lore's surrender largely due to the audacious actions of Met and his company. And with the spirits of the army high and the loyalty of his commanders cemented, Korsing pardoned Met and reaffirm his captaincy.

This whole incident, of course, finally brought Rregg to Met's attention. After attempting to beat some sense into his men and forbidding them from experimenting on anyone other then themselves moving forward, Met thanked Rregg (despite his pathetic archery) by officially bringing him into his company. However it did not take long for him to realize that the safest thing he could do was to keep a tight leash on Rregg and not allow him to...well, do much of anything...

It was another incident altogether a few more years down the road, though, that really brought the two together and cemented their friendship and loyalty to one another. This time it was Rregg who was in trouble. For that story, however, you will have to wait for Trials of Transcendence Volume II as it will play an important part...