In all seriousness:
1) the Theban Sacred Bander idea is good- having lost his partner would make him as close to a ronin as would be likely in that culture.
2) the spear- any spear- would be the weapon of choice, and there are many to choose from. I like the Greatspear, personally, but it IS 2handed, so wouldn't work with sword & board. OTOH, you could go with an oversized short-spear and still use a shield. It would be feat-intensive, though: 2WF, Imp. Shield bash. As I recall, there is even a tactical feat for warriors trained in shield-wall type tactics, if anyone feels like mirroring your PC. If you want nearly mundane classes, I'd probably go 2WF ranger mixed with Fighter until Rgr3, then pure Fighter. Rgr/Rog, Rgr/Duskblade, Rgr/BttlSorc and Rgr/Beg also have some possibilities for this build.