( santiago cabrera, he/him, cis male ) HEAR YE, HEAR YE! Allow me to introduce NICOLAS TANQUEREL DE PORTAUX of FRANCE. The 33 year old MUSKETEER OF THE GUARD is known to be LOYAL and COMPASSIONATE, but rumors about court claim HE can be STUBBORN and VINDICTIVE when crossed. Only time will tell where their interests belong. Penned by cerise ( CST + 21 + he/him ).
Nicolas was born in Pau, a city in the Béarn province of France bordered by the Pyrenees mountains to the south, to a family of moderate wealth and status in the spring of 1622. He had three siblings - an older brother and both an older and younger sister - whom he loved dearly, and was always fiercely protective of. However, as he was the middle child of the family, he tended to be overlooked by his parents in favour of his brother, who would be inheriting their land, title, and trade, and to his older sister, who would strengthen their family's ties and prospects through marriage, which left him feeling jaded and wanting to prove himself to be something worthwhile.
When he turned 20, Nicolas set out to Paris to start anew, and enlisted to become a Musketeer of the Guard, a position he has now held for thirteen years. As a musketeer, he has gained the freedom of no longer being publicly tied to his family name, as those that join the regiment are made to leave such things behind; even in name, they become something new, taking on a nom ge guerre - a codename, of sorts - and leaving their given names behind. Upon joining the guard, he was given the nickname 'Cygne', or 'Swan', by some of the men he trained other, a teasing jest about how the young man seemed to do everything with a flourish - and how they so often caught him preening before any sort of reflective surface he came across. The flourish has stayed with him all his years, though he is hardly so concerned now about his looks.
He was a more serious man now than he was in his youth - never stern or unfriendly, just more serious. When the plague came, it took his father and mother both; worse so, it claimed his brother's life soon after. The sudden successive losses shattered him, and he was ever thankful that the disease never touched either of his sisters (nor his older sister's husband, a young Duke from a neighboring province), who all, soon enough, left their ancestral home to come to Paris, as well, hoping the capital would bring them safety. With the loss of his father and brother, Cygne now had the title of Lord, and was responsible for managing the family's estate. However, he dared not return to Pau after receiving word from his sisters about how fast the plague had spread there, and it was painfully obvious that he had far more important things to worry about than a plot of land and an old manor.
The plague soon worsened and Cygne, along with part of his regiment and their captain, working now as a permanent royal guard, were requested to follow their King and royal family to Sardinia to seek safety.
