Merrick Montiero

Merrick Caine Montiero was born to a sorceress named Syrita Montiero in the Riel Desert.
Growing up with no father and unknowing of who sired him, Merrick spent his early years at his mother's side among gypsies and practitioners of the dark arts. In his youth, he studied the arts of necromancy and magic.
He developed an affinity to the elements of ice and water. Moreover, his life among the unscrupulous in life grew him into a shrewd, cunning and streetsmart business man, frequently swindling his way in and out of ventures.

When Merrick was 16, he fell asleep in his mother's tent one night only to wake up in a cave on a cliff overlooking their camp. He found his mother's tent burned to the ground and no sight of her. Distraught, he searched for her for years to no avail. Two years later, he met a strange demonic looking man shrouded in robes who claimed his mother was dead, but Merrick had a half-brother somewhere in the kingdom of Sylvaria. Unable to question the man before he vanished, Merrick set off with the only lead he had.

Years later, after finding and being taken in by the Silver Kingdom, Merrick met his long lost half-brother, Seifer Swordshadow - revealed only to him after the mysterious man returned and revealed himself as both men's father, Niklaus. Nikolaus confessed to having raped both of their mothers, resulting in each of their respective births. Much to Merrick's rage, he also confessed to assassinating Syrita. After escaping his furious offspring, Niklaus escaped once more.

Now a young adult, Merrick was taken in by the kingdom of Silvaria and became part of the kingdom's guard alongside his brother. Despite their stark difference in personalities, with Merrick's shrewdness and Seifer's stalwart discipline, the two remained close and loyal to one another.

As time went by, Merrick invested any and all financial earnings into business ventures and eventually was able to construct an estate on a delta isle in the southern part of the continent of Etla. He named this estate Lemuria, after the famed lost continent. For a time, Merrick split his focus between maintaining Lemuria, his duties to Silvaria and his alliance with the kingdom of Eileadora.

Lemuria stood tall as Merrick's main base of operations until Niklaus reared his head once more, invading the property with demonic forces while Merrick was away and killing all of his guards, servants and other inhabitants of the island manor. Upon Merrick's return, the two fought to a stalemate before Niklaus detonated gravity magic explosives, creating an implosion that sucked the majestic estate to the ocean floor. Merrick barely escaped with his own life, managing to reach a nearby shore.

Merrick was discovered washed up on a beach by the hermit Yukikage, with Niklaus in hot pursuit. With the hermit's reluctant help, Merrick was able to fight off his father. As Merrick made his way north, he was intercepted by Seifer, who had come searching for him to help with a similar demonic attack on his own kingdom of Silvaria. Alongside a kunoichi name Minako from Yukikage's village, the four were confronted by Niklaus - eventually defeating him but not before Yukikage sacrificed himself to save Merrick. Seifer and Merrick managed to temporarily banish their demonically resurrected father back to the underworld. Seifer re-claimed Silvaria and Merrick worked his swindling skills to strike an alliance with a nearby village in the Riel Desert, allowing him to build a new estate that would function as a defense outpost for the village - Arano Fortress.

Merrick became romantically involved with the village's chief, Sierra Ahmar. The two were paramours for many years, eventually giving birth to a son, Marlon, outside of wedlock. Merrick asked for the village chief's hand in marriage and she acquiesced. However, before the two could be wed, a great disturbance erupted throughout the land with the underworld threatening to break through the dimensional wall separating it from the world of the living. Both Cierra and Merrick responded to help with the pending danger, but mysteriously vanished before the conflict was resolved.

Merrick's whereabouts are currently unknown, and his son Marlon grew up never knowing his father or mother.