Rodric was born to Sara and Jasper (nee Tekar) Langer. When he was born he was a loud, large baby, and only the baby part has disappeared since then. His childhood was nothing horribly special, outside of always trying to spend time with his grandfather, Raymund. Rodric viewed Raymund as the best knight ever, and that he wanted to be just like him. This did not endear Rodric to his father the day when Rodric was four and said to him "Why aren't you as good of a knight as grampa?" While the wound healed over time, Rodric still stayed close to Raymund during the war, as he was assigned to squire for Sir Richard Garodan, a common-born knight in the House Guard that remained in Firen, who sadly died after the conclusion of the war during a celebration in which much wine was consumed.
It was during Rodric's tenure as a squire that he quickly took to a few of weapons with some success, namely the hammer, the halberd, and the lance. While the only real combat he saw was defending Firen against raiders from Whitehall, Parthia, and Thorns, who earned the ire of Rodric when the Thorns killed his mother in an attack. While his uncle did die fighting the Rose Queen, Rodric did not bear the Rose faction as much ill will, as it was in battle, not in the cowardly action of arson. Rodric increased his efforts to become the best knight in the realm to find justice for his mother.
After one particular raid on Firen, Rodric was only fifteen the walls with the House Guard, using a halberd to punish those Parthians who would dare try to scale them with ladders. Rodric and the men around him held their own for as long as they could, knocking down the ladders as quickly as they could be put up, but a siege tower was soon in place. The Langer squire and the guardsmen around him held the line long enough for reinforcements to arrive, buying enough time to save that portion of the wall. This was his first battle in which he killed a man, and Rodric learned that in battle it is killed or be killed.
It was not all bad living in Firen during the war, Rodric was fairly popular as his family was running the city and he had a streak of confidence bordering arrogance at his abilities. While not the best squire to ever grace the practice ground, he could hold his own among his peers and occasionally beat those older than him, though certainly not the majority of the time.
After the war, his knight died in the aforementioned accident in the festivities, Rodric was left without a knight, but was soon squiring for a member of the Royal Lancers, a step towards his dream position. This soon followed his spurs and knighthood at turning nineteen, the ceremony was performed by his grandfather, and Rodric then rejoined the House Guard, working to make a name for himself and continue his efforts to be the best knight in the history of the West.
