Viggo Rivada served as the personal enforcer of King Lucano of Athica for close to twenty years. He was a decorated knight who found himself playing the role of bodyguard, assassin, and executioner for the most corrupt despot in his nation's history. The terrified populace saw his brutality and skill and dubbed him "The Blackguard". For years, parents whispered that name to their children to keep them in line. It was a dark time in Athica's history, but it was not to last forever.

At the end of a long and bloody revolution, rebels stormed the royal palace. Viggo met the leaders of the rebellion in the throne room, presenting to them his former master's head and his sword. His soul had twisted over the decades at his betrayal of his knight's vows. The shift in power gave him the opportunity to soothe his guilty conscience... while still keeping himself alive, of course.

Now he serves as a protector of the New Athican Republic. The fledgling republic has plenty of enemies of its own, and Viggo's talents may be needed to keep it from being torn apart itself.