Aldous Cadbury

[attr="class","appname"]

ALDOUS CADBURY, [break]
AKA SIR ALDOUS THE BOLD

[attr="class","appsubname"]a new path to be carved

[attr="class","appheading"]GENERAL INFORMATION

[attr="class","appcontainer"]

[attr="class","appheading"]PERSONALITY

[attr="class","appcontainer"]

• Brave: The lapine might not have the martial skill, impressive title, or renowned banner of other knights, but few can deny his bravery. Despite, or maybe because of, his simple background and general inexperience, Aldous has an impressive lack of fear in the face of hardship and danger. No enemy is unbeatable. No land inaccessible. No quest impossible. If faced with adversity the knight is more than willing to charge straight towards it, and very little will force him to turn away. Some might call it naivety. He calls it duty. But all in all, in Aldous’ mind there is nothing a knight cannot do. After all, every good story always ended with the hero winning, right?
• Honorable: Despite being little more than a simple farmer from an even simpler community only a year or so ago, since starting his “quest”, Aldous has attempted to emulate the knights of his favorite stories in every way he possibly can. Superficially this of course includes his armor, the device on his shield, and his self-adopted title, but even more so than that the lapine attempts to act like a knight. Chivalry, respect, and above all, honor, are tenets which Aldous has attempted to adopt in fantastical and sometimes even comical intensity. Challenging a drunk brigand to a duel on the fields of glory. Attempting to carry a fair maiden nearly twice his height across a muddy road. Swearing his undying gratitude and service to a farmer giving directions. But even if his ideals are not always taken seriously in an often bleak world, the knight has sworn to uphold them, and it was his friend Drest who ultimately noticed the good heart which backed the lapine’s over-the-top vows.
• Friendly: Even before he took his “vows” of honor and chivalry, Aldous was always a pleasant lapine to be around in general. Coming from a small and tightknit community and being raised by loving and respectable parents, the former farmer has always expressed a sense of generosity and kindness, and was considered a friend to many in Woodhurst before his supposed fall into madness. He’s chatty, easygoing, and slow to anger, and compounded with his curiosity of the wider world, exceptionally eager to meet new faces and maybe even make a friend or two along the way.
• Naïve: As mentioned already, Aldous is an incredibly brave lapine and one that is eager to delve deep into the unknown, but as much as he likes to talk of “duty” and “heroism”, it must be said that naivety does play a large part in this as well. The truth is the knight has spent most of his life in a small and isolated community living the life of a simple farmer. Most of what Aldous did learn of the outside world came from the occasional trader and, even more so, the lapine ballads he so adored, which are questionable at best in their portrayal of the reality of life in Fortuna. And the result? As far as Aldous is concerned Fortuna is just like the stories and legends he grew up on and now models himself after. This can often make the knight oblivious to the darker things going on around him, ignorant of the dangers that lurk in the world, and unprepared for the real consequences of some of his actions. All in all, the lapine is living a fantasy he created back when he was still barely able to walk and talk.
• Impulsive: Aldous is brave, stalwart, adventurous, and, often, troublingly impulsive. After all, what else do you call someone who drops their entire life to follow magic-induced visions of a mythical knight? But even from his childhood the lapine has tended to follow flights of fancy and to let his emotions, rather than planning, dictate his path in life. His love of lapine ballads and tales. His dream of becoming a heroic knight. His fear of harm coming to Woodhurst and his family. All forces of emotion which have helped guide Aldous to where he is now, and all in contrast to the practical words of his father Alban, the experience of his friend Drest, and his own common sense. Aldous has heart, a lot of heart, and that makes him a genuinely good person, but at the end of the day it also makes him increasingly reckless and unprepared in the face of the dangers on the very real journey he now walks.
• Unrefined: The knights of old in Fortuna are known for many things: chivalry, honor, feat of arms, and, from a more practical view, for being aristocrats from educated and well-off noble families. Aldous has strived to emulate all of this, but the last has especially been difficult given his background. After all, let’s face it – Aldous is a country bumpkin. Being from a small farming community and living a relatively simple and rustic life means that the lapine is very unfamiliar with aspects of cultures in the wider world, not least of which include etiquette, social class, and tradition. He can be obnoxious, intrusive, and overly friendly, committing enough faux pas to make a Rielcian noble faint in the process, and all the while blissfully unaware of the fact he insulted half the royal court and all but challenged the remainder to duels of honor.

[attr="class","appheading"]APPEARANCE

[attr="class","appcontainer"]



Admittedly, Aldous is far from the most intimidating knight in Fortuna. Though an average height for his race, at 3’6” and being lithe of limb the lapine is dwarfed by nearly every other race around him. Like many of his kind, however, his body is more round and plump, making the knight short but somewhat stocky. As a beastfolk, and specifically as a lapine, Aldous appears akin to an anthropomorphic rabbit, in particular a European rabbit. His body is mostly covered in short solid grey-brown fur with the exception of small patches around his eyes and mouth, his hands and rabbit-like feet, and the underside of his short tail, which have white fur. The lapine’s eyes are brown in color and his body is so far free of any notable scars or otherwise distinguishable markings. [break][break]

As a traveler and a knight (and formerly of rather poor means) Aldous prefers simple yet durable clothing. Over his upper body the lapine wears a short-sleeved brown wool tunic which extends down to just below his waist, while over his legs he wears white wool pants. These are held up by a thin rope belt tied around his waist. Over his under-clothing Aldous also wears a tan, long-sleeved padded wool gambeson which extends from a high collar around his neck down to just above his knees, and wrapped around this is a brown leather sword belt closed with an iron clasp. Due to the unique structure of lapine feet Aldous does not wear conventional footwear such as boots, but does instead have thick leather pads secured to the tops and bottoms of his feet with leather chord for some added protection. [break][break]

While crossing from place to place or when going into danger the knight dons a full set of steel plate armor which sits over his gambeson and covers nearly his entire body. The armor is composed of segmented plates and brown leather straps and made for function over form, with a largely smooth finish and few ornate additions, those few being three small, raised ridges along the lengths of his pauldrons, greaves, and gauntlets, and a pentagonal shape to the tassets. Over his head Aldous also wears a bascinet style helmet with a visor. Altogether the armor itself is technically functional, but its second-hand nature means that the armor does appear to have seen better days. Several large dents and scratches are visible on multiple parts of the armor, one of the tassets is missing its end plate, and the lapine’s helmet is clearly a bit too big for his head. Despite this the armor remains well-polished and kept almost immaculately clean by the knight. Finally, over this armor Aldous wears a short red linen travelling cloak with a large cloth patch crudely stitched over a hole near the bottom right corner, and held at the lapine’s throat by an iron cloak chain clasp. [break][break]

Aldous’s main weapon is a simple steel arming sword. The blade of the weapon is double-edged with a thin groove down the middle on either side and a very shallow W-shaped crossguard, all which sits over a handle wrapped in black leather and a disc-shaped pommel. The sword is kept in a brown leather sheath attached to the left side of the lapine’s sword belt. Along with a sword the knight also carries with him a heater shield made of layered alder wood and brown leather, including a guige, which lets Aldous sling it across his back when not in use. The shield is overlaid with leather and cloth and painted dark blue with metal edging. Featured on the shield are six six-pointed white stars laid out in a hexagonal pattern with either pointed end near the top and bottom of the shield, and in the middle of the pattern is one larger six-pointed white star. The design is based off a dream experienced by Aldous and which formed the basis for his “knightly order”, the Order of the Seven Stars, and altogether both the sword and shield were gifted to the lapine by his friend and former travelling companion Drest. [break][break]

Finally, Aldous carries with him the artifact he discovered near Woodhurst and what has become the basis for his knightly quest. The artifact is a small, finger-length crystal prism that is almost entirely transparent. The end of the crystal appears broken off, however, leaving behind a jagged edge, and the inside of the stone is speckled with dark black and green flecks. The base of the crystal prism is affixed to and partially covered by a silver cap. The silver cap has faint but visible words of an unknown language etched along its surface as well as “tendrils” of silver which wrap their way around and partially up the crystal. The silver has the appearance of being almost blackened, however, and some of the tendrils seem to be broken or bent. The artifact is kept secured to a leather chord which the lapine keeps around his neck at almost all times.

[attr="class","appheading"]HISTORY

[attr="class","appcontainer"]



Sir Aldous the Bold, then known simply as Aldous Cadbury, was born 35 years ago in a humble burrow in the lapine commot of Woodhurst, a smaller lapine community located within a large forested hill on the border of Niseca. He was the son and a middle child to two lapine parents. His father Alban Cadbury worked as a dirt farmer, the lapine name for a worker responsible for gathering dirt, mud, and rocks for use in building the commot, while his mother Mollie Cadbury largely stayed at the burrow to care for her large family. This was because, by the time he grew older, Aldous would have nine other siblings, five brothers and four sisters, named Alban, Emerson, Estelle, Bishop, Madeline, Jeana, Gwen, Tobin, and Davin, from eldest to youngest and with Aldous himself being between Estelle and Bishop in age. With so many mouths to feed and holding a rather poor position in lapine society, Alban and his family largely lived a simple life in a modest two chamber burrow. But it was also a content one. The Cadbury’s were a respected family in the local community and both Alban and Mollie were honest and hardworking folk. To this end they gave their children a loving upbringing, and though higher education and opportunities eluded the Cadbury children, most of them would go on to be raised as upstanding members of Woodhurst.[break][break]

Aldous, though, had always distinguished himself as a child as being “a bit of a strange one” when compared to his brothers and sisters. While his siblings were content enough to help their Pa on the farm, play hide and burrow in the marketplace, or enjoy a refreshing jar of root juice from Ol’ Lady Belmont, from a young age Aldous had always been filled with a vivid imagination and a touch of wanderlust. This was no more readily apparent than through his love of lapine song. The lapine were known for their epic and extensive ballads of the past, and it was specifically the tales of old lapine knights and heroes that truly enticed a young Aldous. Stories of dark times and insurmountable odds, of a hero, both strong and brave, who seeks to overcome them with an honest heart, and of the ultimate victory of all that is good and beautiful brought so much wonder to the young lapine, and when not helping Alban and his siblings on the farm Aldous could be found ceaselessly bothering the local storyteller or trying to sneak his way into the tavern to hear the minstrels play. Shortly after entering his early teens the lapine even stumbled across a small set of old ruins in the forests around Woodhurst, and would often sneak out alone to play among them in secret and pretend to be like one of the knights he so adored. A frequent favorite would come to be Sir Korbin, the Mushroom Knight, who despite being born a simple farmer rose up in a time of great need to become the protector of an isolated lapine community, and who was ultimately knighted by the great King Harland the Fleet for his deeds. [break][break]

And a lapine whose footsteps Aldous dreamed of following. [break][break]

But despite his frequent excursions to the ruins, the way he stared longingly at the knights of Woodhurst as they went by, and his own wild imaginations, a young Aldous never managed to set foot out of the life he was born into. As he grew older Aldous began to spend more and more time helping his father on the farm, and with greater responsibilities the young lapine found less and less time to play his games or listen to his favorite bards. Alban himself even began to actively discourage his son’s imagination. A hardworking and practical lapine, Alban saw nothing but trouble coming from Aldous’s fanciful dreams of becoming a knight, and the farmer tried his hardest to convince his son that being a dirt farmer was not only a fulfilling life, but one that was as important to the good of the commot as the knights were. And, ultimately, Alban succeeded. As the years wore on Aldous did indeed grow out of his childhood dreams and began to face the reality of his life in the small commot. Through the support of his father and the love of his siblings he did find a sense of peace and accomplishment in following the simple but honest legacy of his family, and so by the time he reached his late twenties, any hint of leaving Woodhurst had long since left Aldous. In fact, after saving up enough money doing odd jobs here and there, the now adult lapine purchased his own burrow and portion of the commot to become a dirt farmer himself, and even became engaged to his childhood sweetheart Magnolia Belmont by the time he turned thirty. [break][break]

But even then, not everything from his old childhood had quite gone away. While he no longer ran around them while swinging a wooden sword, the old ruins outside Woodhurst remained a place Aldous often visited, and the secluded spot became a source of relaxation away from the daily worries of his life. They would also soon become a place that would ultimately change his life forever. It was one evening near to his thirty-first birthday when the lapine would again visit the ruins. However, feeling the slightest spark of his old adventurousness that day, rather than simply sitting in a shaded spot like usual, the lapine would instead decide to explore a portion of the ruins he had never visited before. In the end Aldous would get far more adventure than he had set out for. It was after jumping off a portion of collapsed wall that a surprised Aldous found himself not landing on the grassy patch he had aimed for, but rather crashing through a hidden and crumbling roof that led into a section of deeper chambers. Dazed but luckily uninjured, it was at that point that most in Woodhurst would have simply scampered out of the tunnel or fetched the local knights to investigate, and an older and more practical Aldous even began to do so.[break][break]

But something stopped him.[break][break]

Whether it was catching the glint of something in the dark, curiosity at what lay deeper within, or even just an inexplicable feeling in the pit of his stomach, Aldous could never quite say what led him to enter the ruins, but he did just that. Cautiously slipping down to the ruined floor, the lapine would venture into a dim and narrow passage until he found himself entering a small but ornate chamber lit by a crack in the ruined ceiling. And what he saw there was almost like something straight out of one of his old and beloved lapine tales. The thin shaft of light from the ceiling fell directly onto a weathered pedestal upon which sat a gleaming item wrought of crystal and blackened silver, and with irresistible curiosity and awe pushing away any sense of caution, Aldous approached. The artifact was unlike anything the farmer had ever seen, and far above the simple crafts and ores produced by Woodhurst and the surrounding area. It was in that moment that the slightest spark of his old desire to become a knight was rekindled in Aldous. Stumbling upon an ancient ruin, delving deep within its halls, and recovering a gem of such beauty was just the kind of thing Sir Korbin and the other legendary knights would have done, and truth be told the lapine held his head just that much higher as he grabbed the artifact and left the chamber, all but imagining a king’s welcome upon his return.[break][break]

Not that that happened, of course. In fact, Aldous kept the entire episode a secret for a short while after. Indeed, he would keep the object hidden in his home and cherish it as the fruit of his one and only “knightly quest”, but at the same time knew the skepticism his family would show, and even feared they might push him to sell it. But that would all change when the nightmares began. They started as only the occasional strange image here and there as he slept, but as the days wore on the lapine began to suffer increasingly intense episodes of dreams filled with puzzling and oftentimes horrifying visions. The forests of Niseca burning under a blood red sky. A great snowcapped mountain shattering in two. A black pit alight with thousands of leering eyes. A white tower made of halls of bone and canals of blood. Even the bodies of his friends and family from Woodhurst, contorted in agony and coated in soot and ash. But spread among them were also images of a more hopeful nature. A pair of dazzling dragons dancing through old and weathered trees. An obsidian tower set against the backdrop of a glittering desert oasis. A woman robed in colorful fabrics rowing across a dark lake. Most prominent among them all, however, was the image of seven stars, sometimes motionless and sometimes swirling in a halo of starlight, sometimes alone in the dark night sky and sometimes in the background of another vision, but almost always seemingly present. But what it all meant, Aldous had not the faintest of ideas.[break][break]

What the lapine did know, however, was that he could no longer imagine that the frequent and repeating nightmares were just a coincidence. They had to be related to the ruins and the artifact he had grabbed. Both no longer able to hide the reason for his growing lack of sleep and paranoia and wanting to seek help in understanding just what was going on, the farmer thus finally told his family about everything that had happened. The ruins. The mysterious object. The dreams. Rather than share in his concern, however, the rest of the Cadbury’s brushed aside the lapine’s dreams, calling them nothing but a product of stress, wild imagination, and a head that was “always too full of those darned stories”. A nice lie down and a bit of honest farming were all they thought were needed for Aldous to get over his affliction. But the nightmares continued. In fact, as days turned to weeks Aldous became more and more obsessed and frantic over his dreams, increasingly convinced that they were real and meant something important. Meant something that was crucial to the survival of Woodhurst. For weeks the lapine would document his visions after every night through crude sketches, ask passing travelers and knights if they knew of anything like the places he had seen, and even sought the aid of the local healers and sages in deciphering the cryptic visions. But it got him nowhere. In the end, all it led to was Aldous being seen as the eccentric, possibly even insane lapine the Woodhurst community had always feared the son of Alban and Mollie might become after a childhood filled with such ludicrous fantasies, and most showed pity and disappointment rather than real concern. [break][break]

The turning point in all of it would come many nights later when the farmer received a new, unique dream. In it he was transported back to the ornate chamber of the sunken ruins, and there, for the first time, directly confronted and spoken to by a figure in his vision. A lapine. The lapine was dressed from head to foot in gilded armor and stood near to the pedestal on which the artifact had once sat. Leaning against the base of the pedestal was also a shield, its device that of a golden mushroom outlined in a haze of light, and before the knight even began to speak Aldous knew from the memory of his favorite ballad who he was. Sir Korbin the Mushroom Knight. The legendary knight would explain to Aldous that it was by no accident that he stumbled across the ruins as a child, and that his fall into the deeper chamber and his discovery of the artifact within was just the start of the farmer’s destiny. A destiny, Sir Korbin stated, which foretold that Aldous would use the artifact to stop a growing evil that threatened not only Woodhurst, but possibly the entirety of Fortuna, much in the same way that Korbin himself once rose up from his life as a farmer to become the famed knight he was. Reaching into a pouch on his belt, Korbin then pulled out the very artifact Aldous had found and placed it in the farmer’s hands. Now, it was Aldous’ turn to do the same. To do so, Korbin continued, the farmer would need to follow his visions to undertake a perilous quest and find the source of the great evil where it for now lay dormant. Only there could it truly be defeated. From this a myriad of questions filled the lapine’s head, but before he could find his voice to ask even one of them, the image of Sir Korbin and the chamber began to fade away. All he was left with were the final words spoken by his childhood hero. [break][break]

Only when you have reached the valley which has no sound and found the story of the seven sisters will you know that your path lays true. [break][break]

Waking up that morning, Aldous would discover the artifact clutched tightly in his hand, and in that moment the spark of adventurousness, bravery, and passion for knighthood which so characterized his youth would come roaring back greater than ever. He was just given a real quest by a legendary knight himself, and he would not fail his hero. He would not fail Woodhurst. By darn, he would not fail Fortuna! And so, he set out on his great journey. It was thus with shock and horror that the other Cadbury’s learned soon after that night that Aldous had suddenly and inexplicably sold off his farm and most of his belongings, and even broke off his engagement to Magnolia Belmont with little more than a rushed excuse. News which quickly spread like wildfire throughout the quaint community. Friends and neighbors watched with concern as the lapine would use the rest of his money to purchase clothing and supplies, a pack animal from one of the local farmers, and, most importantly for him, a second-hand suit of armor which he had convinced one of the Woodhurst knights to part with. And then, with little more than an excited goodbye, the simple farmer who had lived most of his life gathering dirt plunged out of the Woodhurst gates and disappeared into the Niseca wilds, leaving behind a community who pitied the Cadbury son who had rushed off to his own foolish death. But Aldous could have hardly cared.[break][break]

For he had finally become the knight he had always dreamed of becoming.[break][break]

For the next few months Aldous would manage to not only not die, but also travel across a great deal of Niseca and even some of neighboring Submiere, though at first much of his travelling was done without any real direction or guidance. The dreams he had experienced in Woodhurst continued like Sir Korbin had said they would, but they remained cryptic and difficult to decipher for the former farmer. Instead, it was during this time that Aldous would start to fall into his new role as a knight…or at least, sort of. For along with his quest the lapine began to model himself after the ballads of Sir Korbin and the other heroic knights he adored. He tried to carry himself with chivalry, show compassion and generosity to those he encountered, and even protect the weak and downtrodden. To this end, the new knight underwent several of his own minor adventures while seeking out the “seven sisters and the valley of no sound”. To Aldous these “adventures” were filled with heroic deeds and remarkable bravery, but in truth they were mostly composed of minor errand running and even stupendous feats of luck on the lapine’s part when he did come across real danger. But minor or not the adventures were successful and did instill in Aldous even more bravery and steadfastness on his quest. In fact, it was after one such adventure, wherein the knight “saved” a bemused hunter from his own pack of dogs, that the man sarcastically called the lapine “Sir Aldous the Bold”, a title which Aldous afterwards graciously took on as his own knightly name. [break][break]

Perhaps most important during these early travels, however, was the encounter Aldous had with a wood elf sellsword by the name of Drest. It was while travelling between the same towns that the pair encountered one another and decided to share a camp for the night. There they swapped tales, and while Drest’s were far more drastic and based more on experience than legend, the wood elf became somewhat endeared with the lapine’s knightly antics and recognized, despite his lack of experience, the good heart which Aldous carried himself with. And so, the pair would end up becoming travelling companions for some time. As they crossed the breadth of Niseca together the two would even grow into a close friendship, and Drest would become the first individual Aldous would truly share his dreams and quest with. A quest which did concern the wood elf greatly. With his firsthand experience of magic and enchantments in the wider world, the sellsword at first cautioned and even attempted to persuade his new friend against following his nightmares into danger and possible death. But the more it became clear how strongly Aldous felt about his quest and protecting his home the more Drest sought to aid him, though perhaps less to fulfill his “destiny” than to see his friend reach the end safely. For this reason, the experienced sellsword would begin to train the lapine in what he knew. Basic survival techniques, what to look out for in the wilds and towns, and even simple sword fighting were given to Aldous as the pair would talk and spar in the evenings after a good day’s journey. Drest would even attempt to help the knight translate some of the more common visions he had, but even the well-travelled sellsword had little luck in that endeavor.[break][break]

What Drest did above anything else, though, was turn Aldous into more of a true semblance of a knight. By that point Aldous had the armor and even some skill with the sword, but the wood elf eventually pointed out two very important things which the lapine had never really considered. For one, the legendary knights of old were based on oaths to a certain cause, and secondly, all knights needed a heraldic device. Aldous in his excitement…had neither. But before the knight could even start to panic about this oversight to his new life, Drest would reveal to the lapine that he had prepared a special surprise for his close friend, and something which the sellsword hoped would aid Aldous on his own heroic quest. To the knight Drest gifted the simple but sturdy sword which the lapine had been using to train with, but more importantly he also gifted Aldous a shield he had commissioned in one of the towns they had recently passed through. The shield was made for the knight’s small size and was painted dark blue with the image of seven white stars on its surface. The same seven white stars which occurred so frequently in Aldous’ dreams and which he had told of to his friend, and the seven white stars against a night sky would become not only the lapine’s new heraldic device, but also the cause which he could swear by.[break][break]

And thus, the Order of the Seven Stars was born. [break][break]

It was in a mud field on the edge of a rustic hamlet that Drest “knighted” Aldous with his sword. There the lapine swore upon the knights of legend that his purpose in life was to be the “starlight in the dark” and protect Fortuna against all that was evil, starting with, but hardly least of all, the great evil which his dreams spoke of. The ceremony was nothing more than symbolic and even Drest did it more for his friend’s sake than out of a sense of duty to some “higher cause”, but it was by far the proudest moment in the lapine’s life thus far. He now had the means, the title, and even the oath to become the knight who would save Woodhurst, and perhaps even all of Fortuna. It was with renewed purpose that Aldous would set out that following morning alongside Drest, and the friends would remain together still for some months more, sharing their own set of adventures throughout Niseca. [break][break]

Eventually, however, the pair would end up splitting ways. It was some time after turning thirty-two that Aldous would finally come across some semblance of a lead in his quest. Aldous and Drest would encounter a travelling bard one day and the three would share the road for a little while, during which the knight would ask his usual set of questions toward travelers pertaining to his dreams. However, for the first time, he received an actual answer. The bard had no notion of any “seven sisters”, but had heard of a valley far to the north whose legend sounded like the valley in the lapine’s dreams. News of which excited Aldous greatly. After months of crisscrossing Niseca he had finally come across something which could lead him to the “true path”, but it also was a path which led him far to the north. A path which Drest would not follow. With his own life and duties in Niseca the wood elf was unable to go along with his knight friend, and the pair realized that it was finally time to go their separate ways. With the hope of perhaps finding one another again in the future the sellsword thus bid the knight good luck on his journey even as Aldous wished him well on his own travels, and soon the lapine watched as his friend disappeared across the horizon, turning toward the north soon after and heading down his own uncertain road. But Drest had given the lapine a chance on the open road with his experience and aid, and it was with a steadfast heart that Aldous pressed on. He would find the valley, learn of the seven sisters, and find the evil which threatened the very world, and in his heart Aldous had all the confidence that he would stop it.[break][break]

For that was just what a knight was meant to do.

[attr="class","appheading"]ABILITIES

[attr="class","appcontainer"]



[attr="class","appability"]➢ BEASTFOLK[break]
Like all beastfolk Aldous can communicate and somewhat influence his feral animal “cousins”, which in his case are specifically rabbits, hares, and similar creatures. It’s not a skill he has made use of frequently, however, and with rabbits not exactly swarming the hills of Fortuna, it’s not something he’s capable of using readily outside the typical lapine commot anyway.
[break][break]

[attr="class","appability"]➢ SPEED[break]
The lapine are known for the power of their unique legs, and Aldous is no exception to this. Despite being rather small and plump the knight is surprisingly fast on his feet, and though not the strongest or most durable of knights in Fortuna, even while in his armor the lapine can jump to impressive heights and distances and oftentimes dodge or otherwise avoid undue harm.
[break][break]

[attr="class","appability"]➢ LAPINE LUCK[break]
Perhaps even more useful than their leg power, however, is the almost miraculous luck that lapine have, and this luck is something that has influenced Aldous’ travels immensely. While the knight would claim all his adventures were seen through with chivalrous courage and knightly feats of arms, in truth most were simply the result of unbelievable luck. Stumbling across the bandit camp after a heated drinking contest, accidently dislodging a rock that cascades into a boulder hitting the tree of a waiting nisequois python, and even finding a desperate farmer’s lost family coin two miles prior in a muddy ditch. Really, it’s that amazing lapine luck that has kept the knight going more so than anything in his quest.
[break][break]

[attr="class","appability"]➢ BASIC SWORDPLAY[break]
As a simple farmer in an even simpler isolated community, the closest Aldous ever got to martial training was swinging a wooden sword at some ruined stone walls as a kid. So…none. However, after meeting the elven sellsword Drest, the lapine was tutored to a certain extent in swordplay by his soon-to-be close friend while they travelled together. Now, the knight not only knows which end of the sword to hold, but he can even stand his ground against the occasional wild beast and untrained peasant bandit, though he’s still far from being on the same level as any kind of professional soldier.
[break][break]

[attr="class","appability"]➢ ANIMAL COMPANION[break]
Along with supplies and his armor, Aldous did leave Woodhurst with one other thing: a large female badger by the name of Echo. With badgers frequently used by farmers in lapine commots to help dig out the earth the knight was able to purchase Echo from one of his old neighbors, and since then the badger has traveled alongside Aldous, acting as a pack animal to help carry his supplies and equipment. The badger has also been an oftentimes welcome source of company for the former farmer before, and now after leaving, the company of Drest, and the two have grown to trust and rely on one another.
[break][break]

[attr="class","appability"]➢ DREAMS[break]
Though one could argue it’s less of an ability than an affliction, since coming into possession of his strange artifact near Woodhurst the knight has suffered almost nonstop nightmares. While these vivid and frequently horrific dreams often show Aldous images of places he has never seen or events that he has never heard of, on occasion they do take on an almost prophetic nature, hinting at the lapine’s next step or warning of dangers ahead. In fact, it was these same visions which told Aldous of the danger to Fortuna and which prompted him to take on his knightly quest in the first place. Not that he has had much luck deciphering anything else. A former farmer living in a small and isolated community, Aldous has had great difficulty in interpreting most of the nightmares he has seen, and his quest so far has been as much an effort to save his home as it has been to understand what exactly he’s stumbled across.
[break][break]

[attr="class","appability"]➢ KNOWLEDGE OF THE EARTH[break]
Truth be told…Aldous has barely passable sword skills, a simple mind that has trouble interpreting his nightly visions, and an innate luck that is really about the only reason he’s gotten as far as he has. So, what can he do? Like, really do? Well, he could tell you the one hundred and six lapine uses for mole manure, the kind of dirt that works best when cultivating subterranean mushrooms, and whether you’re digging straight for an underground reservoir or not. Whether or not the knight is truly a knight is something some might argue, but what none can argue is the fact that he was a damn good lapine dirt farmer in Woodhurst. From his childhood helping his father Alban to working his own plot of land, the former farmer has learned a great deal about life underground, and especially of the dirt and stone that always surrounded him. He can “read” a cave, tell poisonous mushrooms from edible ones, and knows the telltale sounds of underground creatures, and even outside Woodhurst they are skills that have on occasion proven useful for the questing knight.
[break][break]

[attr="class","appheading"]Fortuna-RPG