The Commander was rural-born and given to the Chantry at a young age due to the family's inability to support another child. He was groomed to fit the role of a templar after showing promise with blades and an openness to the Chantry's teachings and wasted little time becoming fully knighted and assigned to the Starkhaven Tower of Magi. Being utterly devoted to the Maker and his duties as a templar, Nicol rose quickly through the ranks and was at the precipice of a stagnant career when he reached Knight-Captain. Subsequent events including the Starkhaven Circle fire and the implosion of inner-forces in Kirkwall aided in his rise to the current Knight-Commander of Kirkwall. The Chantry had viewed him as a prime candidate to coax the newly independant Templar Order and Circle back into Chantry influence--but they were wrong. Nicol and his templars quelled the hostilities, but did little else. He claimed Kirkwall's Circle a Free Circle and returned the templars into a prominent Order and power within Kirkwall once again while denying the Chantry their spoils.