Jarvice has lived in the Sutherland all of his life. Born to a father who bred horses and a mother who trained them, he was never a stranger to the animals. He was taught to ride and control horses from a young age, but while he enjoyed working with them, neither breeding nor training intrigued him. His young years were spent in games with the other local children: Races (which he never won), word games (which were fun, until the headaches started), and war games. Jarvice enjoyed these immensely, but found that he was far and away the worst at them. When he couldn't give orders, he argued and went off on his own, and was inevitably "killed" as a result. When he could, he over thought, planned too far ahead, and was outfoxed by his foes' headlong advances. Nevertheless, he held out hope that his next plan or attempt would win him the day, and always cheerfully participated.
When he was three, his younger sister was born. Jarvice grew up keeping an eye out for Arliss, who enjoyed his games as much as he did—and, to his slight horror, was better at them. Always more of a team player, Arliss fit in well with the children and life in the town, and took to breaking and training horses like a duck to water. By the time he was nine and she was six, she was just fine on her own, and even trying to teach him new tricks in the supercilious way of all young children everywhere.
Jarvice continued to help his parents with the horses for the next two years, the children's' war games turning into playful brawls in the street until they were called apart by frustrated parents. Jarvice began to understand what worked with his friends and what didn't, win fights, and realize that staying on top of the heap meant always adapting to the people on the bottom or they would overtake you one day. At ten, he was sent away for training to become a squire.
During this time, and during the squire period which followed, his theory was solidified. He took to swordsmanship easily and was one of the top pupils when it came to horse-riding. Never a fast runner, Jarvice's strengths lay in footwork and speed in close combat, and swords and ranged weapons became his favourite. He always enjoyed watching other pupils being taught a skill he had just learned, in case he gleaned any new information or tips from the new angle, and would often stay in the practice yards late watching sparring partners dance their dance.
Jarvice made friends easily during his training through an equal combination of honest curiosity and good, if not witty, humour. Academics had always been harder for him than physical activity, and he realised the necessity of asking for help from others of his age who had keener minds. He was also, others noted, a good one to have on your side if you happened to find yourself in an illicit brawl, because thought and careful observation had given him a keen eye for the movements of his opponent.
He was a good student, did his work, practiced hard and never stopped improving, which eventually drew the eye of a knight who took him as a squire. During this period the pair of them often worked solo or with one or two other knight/squire pairs, going wherever they were bid by House Crawford. In that close post-war period there was still work to do, and Jarvice saw his first battles as a squire of seventeen. They were small, but they taught him more about the use of his weapons and the control necessary to survive than he had learned in his last two years as a page. Always on the move, Jarvice had little time to get to know people other than his knight master and the teams they worked with on occasion, but this has never bothered him much. He enjoys the company of others, but lets them come and go as they will and accepts the welcom while they're there.
Jarvice tends to associate mainly with people of his own age group or higher, especially as he ages and finds himself watching younger warriors as a nebulous sort of future rather than as individuals struggling their way up like he has, is and will always be. He is a hard mentor for any younger person who asks his advice, and often snappish. It gets even worse if they point out to him that he doesn't always practice what he preaches. Nevertheless, he knows his duty to pass on his knowledge, protect House Crawford and the kingdom and will abide by all three until his last breath with a bullheaded resolve.
