Marcel Corbin

Marcel Corbin
Title	Lord
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Rank	Commander
Location	Edgehall
Appearances	Dragon Age (tabletop RPG)

Marcel Corbin is a disgraced Orlesian noble and Chevalier, and commander of a large band of mercenaries.

Background

Despite his youthful appearance, Marcel Corbin' is an experienced chevalier and keen commander with a flair for the draconian politics of Orlais.

Unfortunately, he also has a tendency to overreach and a misstep in the Imperial court has led to his dismissal, a situation that now finds him in command of an army of mercenaries made up mostly of former Orlesian military. Working for someone as arrogant as arl Gell Lendon and the problems surrounding Gell’s powergrab have left Corbin ill-tempered.

Corbin is a handsome Orlesian with fine features and an undeniable air of superiority and aristocratic detachment. He has no particular love of violence or battle, but recognizes them as tools of unquestionable utility. His disdain for a “backwater” nation like Ferelden is largely subtle. Coming as he does from a storied and wealthy family of noble birth, Corbin’s arms and armor are of the finest quality and are crafted with the style and symbols of his house.

Marcel Corbin is also not above deception.

Followers and Forces

Corbin's forces are composed of roughly 1250 men, including mercenary men-at-arms, scouts, heavy infantry and chevaliers. Corbin is also served by numerous lesser knights and officers, but he relies primarily on two chief lieutenants; Brigitte, a battle-thirsty warrior who serves him because her house is sworn to his own, and Julien, a dashing Orlesian mage prone to complaining about anything and everything.

The mercenary forces under Corbin are experienced, well equipped, and all too happy to battle any Fereldans who seek to remove them. They are in fact mostly Orlesian by birth, professional former soldiers in Orlais’ army, including many chevaliers who served under Corbin. They are loyal, brave, and proud of their commander and whoever is paying them.

Involvement

At the onset of the Fifth Blight, Marcel assists Gell Lendon in an attempted coup of the Arling of Edgehall, providing Gell with the full might of Marcel's mercenary company. Marcel's temper begins to fray and his dislike for Ferleden begins coming out more lately since he’s been stuck dealing with “Arl” Lendon.

Perhaps because of this, many are unhappy with technically serving under Gell, whom they feel is a trumped-up, self-important fool. Nevertheless, they will do their duty and obey their superiors.

Marcel puts his troops to work repairing Edgehall keep, specifically trying to repair the collapsed segment of the western wall which was destroyed by withdrawing Orlesian forces at the end of the occupation.

If Arl Gell Lendon is killed prior to the battle:

Marcel and his men are paid for their service, Marcel will produce Gell Lendon's "son" (in truth a five-year old orphan with a passing resemblance to Gell). He would then use Gell's "son" as a pretext for continuing the pillaging and subjugation of Edgehall in order to turn the situation profitable again.

Despite their attempt to consolidate control of the Arling, the discrete agents of the Fereldan monarchy successfully rally the local nobility and Marcel soon finds himself and his soldiers facing the combined forces of Bann Bryton, Bann Lanya, Bann Kail, Bann Parth and the mercenary companies led by Alora and Fallon.

As the alliance marches on Edgehall keep, Marcel leads his forces against them directly clashing directly with the opposing force. While Marcel leads his troops into the forward fray, a second force takes advantage of this opportunity and storms through the broken segment of wall in the west of the keep and seizes control of the western half of Edgehall keep.

Surrounded by enemies behind and in front, Marcel withdraws his forces temporarily to regroup. However a wounded scout arrives and brings news that a horde of Darkspawn has erupted from the Deep Roads to the north of the Arling and are swarming towards Edgehall, before expiring from his wounds. Realizing they lack the numbers to fight each other and the darkspawn, Marcel and the local Nobles broker a truce, agreeing to put aside their differences for the best chance of surviving against the darkspawn assault. Only Gell Lendon protests, claiming this is all a trick to rob him of his rightful title.

If no other actions are taken:

Marcel has Gell thrown in a prison cell, announcing he has had enough of the delusional fereldan fool.

Marcel joins the allied nobles and their combined forces in the battle against the darkspawn swarm. Marcel unintentionally leads his chevalier guards too deep into enemy ranks and soon finds himself surrounded and cut off by darkspawn.

If no action is taken:

Marcel and his guard fall in battle against the darkspawn, dying in defense of a land he never particularly cared for.

If Marcel is saved:

Marcel narrowly survives and regroups with his troops before continuing the fight. Eventually, the darkspawn swarm is defeated. Marcel elects to take his surviving forces and return to Orlais, having had enough of Gell Lendon and Edgehall.

Upon his return, Marcel alerts the authorities of the darkspawn force at Edgehall and the Orlesians deploy their troops to guard against any darkspawn incursions along the border. For his actions in alerting Orlais of how far north the darkspawn had spread and risking his life to keep darkspawn outside Orlais' boarders, Marcel is able to regain favour with the Orlesian court. Marcel even develops a working relationship with his one-time Fereldan allies who were inadvertently responsible for his return to grace.