Charles Sworddance is the fellow warrior and twin brother of Daniel Halftail, Knights Commander of the Peacekeeper—and there the similarity ends. The twins are as different as night and day in most respects, save their love for each other...and even that love is strained by the very different paths their lives have taken.

     Charles’s early surname, Bunnybolt, was fitting. The young Rat would take any opportunity to flee the boring confines of the Library and enjoy the outside world for as long as his provisions would allow. Charles proved a quick study in the arts of woodcraft and wilderness survival, and in his adolescence he would vanish from the Library for weeks at a time.

     He also revealed a genuine talent for the fighting arts; starting with daggers and working up to swords, Charles would take instruction from any and all who would teach him. Yet his most precious memories today of his early life were the frequent sparring with his twin brother, and the hours they spent with their sickly cousin, Cherlyndria Snowdrift.

     By the time he came of age, it was plain that Charles had become a self-reliant and highly competent adventurer. Though his loyalty to the Rats was unquestioned, his freewheeling ways and fascination with other races made his remaining at the Library an impossibility.

     Charles is one of the few Rats who have no strong religious affiliation. His sense of morality is instead based upon a personal code of honor and behavior. While heartfelt and true, his prayers are often given in less than formal circumstances, and his observances of holy days are sporadic at best. But no matter...his generosity, good humor, and courage more than make up for the Rat’s lighthearted irreverence.

     Charles has the rare gift of making friends quickly, and instinctively knows what it takes to keep them. He has made fond acquaintances with beings of many different races, and in return many of them have gone out of their way for the Rat, even after years of separation. He has also had a handful of truly deep intimates among his traveling companions, and has in fact buried a number of them over the decades.

     This natural charm is augmented by the Rat’s linguistic skills. Charles can speak the elven, dwarven, and gnomish tongues with confidence, if not grace. Laced with rustic phrases and occasionally coarse vocabulary, his speech has the same blunt manner of the common folk who taught him.

     The Rat has a sense of humor which is famous (or notorious, depending on your attitude). Charles is able to devise and execute the most intricate of practical jokes with ridiculous ease. His pranks are usually intended to deflate egos, relieve tensions, or test the reactions of a potential comrade. His open, honest generosity is equally known, for when he has it to spare, Charles lives high and tips big.

    Charles also has something of a reputation as a "ladies man" (or whatever). To the utter bewilderment of many a soul, Charles has a strong affinity for attractive and spirited females, whatever their race. His playful gallantry and lighthearted charm has "conquered" many a lady, but it's all in good fun. After all, everybody just knows that Charles is madly, hopelessly in love with his stunning wife, Alorra Sunstroke, Grace of the Sun.

     Unfortunately, not all of Charles' relationships are so rosy. His carefree lifestyle has brought about a certain estrangement from his twin, a distancing that grieves both more than either will care to admit. Charles is saddened by what he sees as Daniel’s spartan lifestyle and oppressive, incessant duties, and he fears that his twin will die without ever having "lived", even once. For his part, Daniel is annoyed by his brother’s lack of piety and meandering approach to life. Charles, he feels, has no idea what it means to devote oneself to a higher cause.

     This being said, the Knights Commander nonetheless admires the ease with which his brother makes friends and keeps them, as well as his toughness, warmth, and charity. So great is his twin’s skills with the sword that Daniel wishes that someday Charles would deign to join Daniel’s own adventuring group and unofficial escort, "the Ratpack". Charles harbors similar feelings: he is very proud of Daniel’s rank and achievements, and wishes he had half his brother’s capacity to lead. On the rare occasions they are alone together, the two will inevitably draw their weapons, and spar as they did in their youth. Their emotional defenses falling away with each cut and parry, the Rats will mend, at least for the moment, the fabric of their filial ties.

     Charles lives for adventure, and just about anything can send him off on one. Past springboards have included a nonsense rhyme sung by children, the pursuit of a runaway horse, and some peculiar debris washed ashore after a storm. One bizarre quest began with the discovery of a coral sculpture, packed in seaweed inside a chest of walrus ivory—sitting at the bottom of a dry well deep in the Hallaj desert!

     But his greatest adventure was the voyage he and Alorra took aboard the fabled Hunter’s Moon to the distant continent of Dass. The two arrived just in time to participate in the war to resurrect the ancient Dassian Empire, dead for over 700 years. The Rats made sure they fought on the "right" side of this conflict, and lived through a series of adventures from the perilous to the absurd. (Hoping to keep their sentient nature a secret for as long as possible, the Rats became the stars of a traveling show, posing as trained animals!)

     The War of Restoration was the supreme moment of his life, a fact that has left its mark upon both Charles and his marriage. As they travel the world, not always seeking but usually finding adventure, it is Alorra who gives direction and meaning to their wanderings. Charles has no problems with this, and is quite content to act as companion and bodyguard for his beloved wife. Charles delights in Alorra’s calling as a servant of the Healer, and helps her however he can.

     The Rending was a devastating blow to Charles, all the more so since it was his own father, Richard Spatterpelt, who was responsible for the disaster that nearly befell the entire Rattish race. When Richard was exiled to distant Dass, Charles had no choice but to follow—would the "prophecy" of his father dying at sea come to pass? When it did, Charles channeled his grief into ensuring that the remaining exiles find a true home in Dass.

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