Latest revision as of 20:25, 22 July 2013

History

In the city of Alexandria is a group of knights with the honor of being called the Royal Guard, the protectors of the Royal Family. They are the Knights of Pluto, men of pride, skill, and courage, who would rather die than let those whom they are charged with protecting be harmed. At least that's how it used to be.

The standing army of Alexandria is oddly composed of by women, a tradition brought upon by the strong Queens of Alexandria in the past, who held that the women should fight equally as the men did. The Knights of Pluto, however, are the remnants of a company of soldiers that were considered the Elite Guard. However, the heyday of the Pluto Knights are thought to have been long past, as there are currently only nine members of the company, of whom only one has any actual combat experience.

Adelbert Steiner is the present Captain of the Pluto Knights, the ranks of whom he joined at the age of sixteen after the death of his father, who died a hero's death following an attempt on the lives of the Royal family. Steiner spent much of his youth training and working up the ranks of the Pluto Knights, as it was his duty to carry on after his father. As such he was always a serious young man who grew into a very serious adult, with a deep sense of duty and loyalty.

While he never was the most sociable of people, Steiner did have a few friends when he was younger, most notably the young prodigy called Beatrix. Steiner always regarded Beatrix with respect, especially when one considered she had lost her eye, but she had nevertheless proven to be a most capable soldier. However, despite his respect for Beatrix, the two soldiers have had a fierce rivalry spawned from a sparring match in their younger days that Steiner won, apparently by sheer luck. There have always been rumors about why the rivalry is so fierce, though the two most common rumors cited are either that the two are romantically linked, or that Steiner himself was responsible for the loss of Beatrix's left eye.

When Steiner's father died, he took it upon himself to fulfill his duty, and rose into the ranks of the Knights of Pluto, with whom he fought during a brief conflict. Though he was a rookie, Steiner was quick to learn and gain experience on the fly, and was quite soon a battle hardened veteran. The senior Knights, some whom already fought for nearly twenty years, had chosen this time retire. Steiner was promoted to Captain of the Pluto Knights, a position he certainly earned for his accolades over the years, but more egregiously he got the position by default, being he was the ONLY knight with any experience.

With the Pluto Knights reduced to a number nine, eight of whom being inexperienced in the way of war, Queen Brahne decreed that they would remain in Alexandria as the Royal Palace Guard, vastly outnumbered by the female soldiers of Alexandria.

While Steiner was very grateful to have the Knights of Pluto remain intact, it wouldn't be very long before Steiner began to feel that his new duties weren't very fulfilling. Granted, he was more than willing to lay his life down for Queen Brahne or the beautiful Princess Garnet, it was his sworn duty, but Steiner was quickly overshadowed by the fastest rising general of the Alexandrian Army, Beatrix.

On top of lingering in the shadows of General Beatrix, the performance of the new Knights of Pluto under Steiner's command was much less than stellar, none of them taking the job seriously. It was getting increasingly apparent to the veteran captain that he would have had a much more fulfilling career with a desk job than this ceremonial position. His pay grade was pathetic enough that he couldn't maintain his suit of armor as much as he would have liked.

Regardless of his misgivings, Steiner stood resolute nonetheless, as he would protect the Royal Family until the day he died, and it seemed like that was going to be in an age. Well, at least if he kept the Princess safe, he would be content with that.

What could possibly go wrong?

Why, only the unexpected kidnapping of Princess Garnet from Castle Alexandria, during the performance of the theatrical masterpiece 'I Want to Be Your Canary', which was being performed by the Tantalus Theater Troupe, who turned out to in reality be a band of thieves based in Lindblum! The nerve of these scoundrels! Fortunately for Steiner, he ended up on the Tantalus airship as they tried to escape from Alexandria, and landed in the Evil Forest.

While they were stuck in the forest, Steiner got to know the thieves a little better, particularly Zidane Tribal, and the black mage Vivi, who accidentally stowed away on the ship during the escape. Despite Steiner's initial animosity to the group, he gave them his begrudging respect when they saved Princess Garnet from the monsters of the forest, at the loss of one of their own members.

However, Steiner remained resolute in the performance of his duties, and as such he was hell bent on guiding the group back to Alexandria. Such is his life that everybody was trying to make his life that much more difficult, as Zidane was determined to take the Princess to Lindblum as he was hired to do, and Garnet herself wanted to escape the palace in the first place!

Throughout the trek through the Mist Continent to get to Lindblum, despite Steiner's misgivings, the group discovered a secret factory under the town of Dali that manufactured Black Mages, and they later discovered that they were being hunted by creatures called the Black Waltzs, as well as sinister creatures known as the Heartless.

When the group finally reached Lindblum, they were invited to the Regant's castle, where it was revealed by Regant Cid Fabool IX that he was the one who hired out Tantalus to kidnap Garnet and bring her to Lindblum. It was there that the group also met Freya, the soldier from Burmecia, who takes part in the Festival of the hunt along with Vivi and Zidane.

The group decides to head out to Burmecia, due to Freya's worries about her country, and so Princess Garnet tailed them in secret, with Steiner at her side trying ever so hard to just guide her back to Alexandria as they should have gone. Reaching Burmecia was a success, but it was there that the group was halted by General Beatrix after they, (with the possible exception of Garnet and Steiner), but still sighting in the city Queen Brahne and Kuja, the man behind everything.

The group ends up in Treno, and it is here that everything went to hell. Though the group finds the SuperSoft needed to save Blank back in the Evil Forest, darkness covers the sky of Treno, and the rest of the world along with it, and thus the world falls into darkness, and scatters the heroes!

Alone and lost in a strange new land, Captain Adelbert Steiner doesn't rest. Clad in his rusted armor and weilding his sword, the captain of the Pluto Knights clanks his way through the world, seeking out Princess Garnet, to protect her as he was sworn to do, and bring her back home to safety once and for all.

Personality

Steiner is not a difficult person to figure out, most of the time, so what one saw is what one got. His greatest virtues are his sense of duty and loyalty above all else, this much is evident in the fact that he continues to lead the Pluto Knights despite their fall in status, and his readiness to follow the commands of the Queen and the Princess of Alexandria to whatever end it leads, though perhaps the Queen more so.

It's not that he would disobey Princess Garnet out of hand, but the Queen was the Queen and one didn't ignore her orders, no matter if the Princess was against them. On top of that, Steiner is incredibly stubborn, which is as much a benefit as a flaw for him. Should the princess be kidnapped, for instance, Steiner would go through hell and high water to bring her home safely, and on the other side of the coin, he would drag her kicking and screaming in a sack of pickles if he must.

Steiner also has a difficult time adjusting to change, especially where improvisation is concerned (that's just an exercise in futility), but it has never been more evident than at the time of the drastic restructuring of the Knights of Pluto. He went from a soldier fighting in a war under the command of heroes in an elite group of knights, to being the commander of a bunch of inexperienced, untested, and uninterested men that one has ever seen with no real purpose, and this bothers Steiner to no end. It's taken him several years to get used to his lot in life, but at least now he was marginally comfortable, if still feeling unfulfilled.

The lack of fulfillment is made even worse for Steiner by Queen Brahne's continued favor of General Beatrix and Alexandria's women army, not that there was anything wrong with this, but Beatrix was getting all the important duties. Not that there was anything wrong with protecting the Royal Family, it was his sworn duty after all! It's everything Steiner could do to get the Queen to so much as remember his name anymore, much less give him an important task for the Pluto Knights to accomplish.

Because of this, Steiner has a beef with Beatrix with regards to her overshadowing him so much. While he respects her prodigal skill as a soldier and a general, the fact that he can never catch a break with regards to getting tasks of importance is something he chalks up to Beatrix still being bitter over his lucky win against her ten years prior. Surely he was just as qualified as Beatrix to handle such things! He wasn't about to let Beatrix overshadow him through his whole career, even if she was an incredibly attractive woman… Er… Ahem.

Steiner is very adherent to the law, something that can be seen as the result of the combination of his loyalty and duty to the Queen and all around stubbornness, and he's more than willing to chew anyone out for not abiding by the law as readily as he does. He is understandably very distrustful of criminals, no matter what their reasonings, and would most definitely shun their presence as much as he could help it. Only the Queen or the Princess could command him to so much as tolerate them for at least a little while.

But for all of his faults, for all of his stubbornness and misgivings, Steiner is a good person at heart who believes that he's doing the right thing, and he believes that the knowledge of what is right and wrong is inherent to everyone. It's just that he may do the right thing for the wrong reasons without knowing it, especially if it's a command by the Queen, something that he is far from realizing yet.

There are those whom can earn Steiner's trust, even among the likes of criminals, so long as they prove they are decent people in the end (it'll still be a while before he accepts them though). He is especially respectful of mages of all sorts, as they are quite powerful and it's always a good idea to make friends with one if you can help it. Likewise, those who earn Steiner's respect and trust will find themselves with the most loyal of friends in him.

Abilities

Allies and Enemies

Allies

Princess Garnet til Alexandros XVII

Zidane Tribal:

Vivi Orunitia:

Freya Crescent:

Quina Quen:

General Beatrix:

Queen Brahne:

Enemies

Kuja:

Aquantances

David Xanatos:

Deidra:

Logs

Cutscenes