Autun

Backstory

Autun was born in Cantos Wood to a woeful omen. Over thirty years ago, the humans who lived in the village where the Wood meets the lake and the inhabitants of the greater Ardeep Forest (Elves and Firbolg and more) had quite some issues. Baron Roche, a human noble who collected taxes from the village, sent additional guards to protect the villagers, which caused the tensions to grow worse as these guards were perhaps little more than brigands with a letter from a baron. The details of the battle which erupted are disputed, but the actions of some were reportedly nearly unthinkable. What is certain is that the conflict smoldered on over course of several years with regular flare-ups. Baron Roache sent more reinforcements and with a final push, victory was complete. Humans and elves took heavy losses, the remaining Elves had fled, the entire Firbolg tribe was no more -- save one crawling child, found on the edge of the battlefield, wearing nothing but a linen diaper, pinned together with a large brooch etched with glyphs. No matter how monstrous the deeds of the previous hours, some human gently scooped up this over-sized baby and turned it (and the large skin of probably sheep milk) over to a humble and kind priest name Chirac.

The exact age of the Firbolg child was unknown. He could barely stand without help, seemed to have a vocabulary consisting of a dozen or so words, including what Chirac worked out to mean “no”, “here” (or perhaps “this”), “milk” (or perhaps “hungry” or “waterskin”) and importantly, that child’s name was “Autun”. Chirac cared for Autun as if it were his own baby.

As the boy had grown, Chirac (while personally serving a different deity in the same faith), made extra effort to introduce Autun to the ways of Mielikki, goddess of the forest, as this seemed to be the most fitting for the over-sized lad.

Growing up, Autun learned that some (especially older) villagers didn't like the Firbolg. And Autun didn't always get on well with other kids -- they grew up faster than he, and some thought Autun was slow. Yet it seemed that there were always at least one or two people Autun was very good friends with. Chirac, the priest, kept the other kids (and some adults) polite without Autun always knowing. Autun developed a reputation as kind, gentle, good with children, brilliant in sport with impeccable sportsmanship and in defeat only every showing sincere happiness for the winner. Even those who would say out-loud that they didn't like Firbolgs, would generally think Autun was an exception. Yet this did not blind Autun to the fact that there were some people who would always view him coldly. It just didn't bother him very much.

What sometimes made Autun sad was that while he grew large physically, he didn't quite understand that his friends tended to out-grow him emotionally. It puzzled him that they would go off to do things like start families. And he really didn't understand when one of his friends seemed very focused on the topic of whether or not they could have children together. And shortly thereafter he wasn't even allowed to be her friend anymore.

After some years, the priest knew there was little more he could offer the child. And, frankly, Chirac was worried that as Autun hit puberty it would be progressively harder to navigate the sentiments in the village. As keeping the peace became harder to orchestrate, Chirac looked for a way to give Autun a future which would be less prone to difficult, awkward, or incendiary situations.

Chirac learned that a man named Roncal had been appointed Warden of Cantos Wood, and as fate would have it, Roncal was known to be devoted to Mielikki. After many long conversations between Chirac and Rontal, the priest arranged for the warden to look after the giant-boy as an apprentice. Autun was sad at first, but soon Autun took to the Roncal and his lessons like a fish to water.

Neither Chirac nor Roncal taught Autun specific religious rituals. They taught to value mercy, kindness, and forgiveness. To value life flourishing. To delight in laughter. And to wish to be the best version of one's self that one can be. Thus, Autun relocates bugs rather than crush them. And unless there is a cause -- a celebration perhaps -- he seldom wastes by building a fire bigger than is needed to cook the food and just enough to warm you if you huddle close. But should there be a reason, Auntun knows it is worth it to indulge in a great fire to glorious set all the smiling faces alight with warmth and love.

Especially when he first joined Roncal, Autun spent a lot of time playing in the forest on his own (with his imagination running). And throughout Autun's adolescence, he discovered far more than how to chop wood, carry water, and mend trails and paths -- he discovered that the forest was full of life that he could understand if he was patient, and this life -- be it beast or tree -- could understand him if he was really patient. In this way, his connection to Mielikki deepened. Yes, there were long periods of quietness and lots of very work as a warden's apprentice, but he never thought of himself as alone, for the forest was full of life, and he felt even the trees were listening to him. He felt that if he watched and listened he could truly read Mielikki's signs. More surprisingly, he found that with care, he could encourage the very vibrance of life which she bestows.

Of course, people always travel through the forest, and the travelers were always greeted by (and often helped by) the Warden and his "charming gentle giant" apprentice. Yes, Autun is a giant-born, yet human raised. And with experience, he has learned that he can be seen as a bit of an oaf with humans and elves, thus he's not too loud before people are warmed up, and he stands un-threateningly and smiles with invitation. Perhaps this is part of why people almost always seem to take a liking to him. Autun is enchanted with the sounds of nature and will encourage those he's comfortable with and warm with to come to a glade and listen to the natural symphony that is produced.

Travelers mostly found Autun's enthusiasm to be infectious. And if something needed a strong back to fix, Autun would always amaze with whatever feats of strength were required. Of course sometimes things did not go well, but even as a youth Autun was bigger and stronger than any human man that crossed his path, and he was perceptive enough with reading people to usually find a way out of potentially tense situations.

Unfortunately, Roncal knew of no Firbolg to teach the boy, but he did know an elf or two whom he encouraged to come by. From these elves stories of Autun's people were learned and also the tongue of some of elves. For Autun, the elves were always fast friends; he liked them, they liked him, even if only for the brief times they crossed paths -- encouraging them to sit and and listen to the sounds of the forest and gaze up at the stars between the tree-tops with a great-and-growing smile on his boyish-face.

Of course, as there are no more Firbolg in the Wood, Autun only knows about them from what people have said. From the elves, Autun learned that elves were old friends of the firbolgs and in times of need, Firbolgs and Elves were natural allies. Autun does not understand why the humans didn't get on with the Firbolgs, and sometimes he ponders over the stories he heard of humans (including certainly the villagers with whom he was raised) and the horrific slaughtering of the Firbolgs from which he came. Autun also sees that some of the humans don't get on with the Elves either -- and it always seems to be for stupid reasons, which are probably not the real reasons.

While Autun is culturally is that of the human villagers with whom he was raised, he also doesn't always fit in -- literally at times, since the houses sometimes only have have two meter ceilings. Of course Autun sensed that many people didn't like him because of his race, even though most people tried to hide that fact from him. He, however, is not obsessed with being disliked by some/many humans, nor is he deeply drawn to quest for his people -- he was raised human, and genuinely loved by the adoptive parent figures who have been in his life. He does hope that one day he will meet more of his kind, just to see what they are really like. Will they be as contradictory as the people in his village? Will they be beautiful beings of love and grace who are also capable of being monstrous? And what do women his age really look like?

Naturally, a warden's duty includes protecting travelers crossing the Wood. Roncal spent long hard hours practicing with Autun. By the time the giant-boy was equal in height to Roncal, he already was clearly stronger. Autun seemed a natural with any weapon, but clearly favored axes and bows, as those are the tools of the woodsmen and hunters.

Roncal now quite an old man, had watched the boy as he had slowly grown over the past dozen-or-so years and was in apprehensive awe.

On several occasions travelers were stalked by highwaymen, and Roncal would swear that Autun had developed an uncanny knack for intercepting them. Mostly Autun's sudden appearance would frighten the blackguards away. On a few occasions, Roncal watched as Autun talked bandits into returning stolen goods then running away. Once Roncal and Autun were faced with an unreasonable number of murderous thugs (all set on killing the warden to cover their tracks), yet Autun hewed through his opponents with such force and terror that all were dropped in moments -- except the few who wisely bolted. Perhaps word spread, but in time, Canton Wood became a place so safe that hardly anyone ever sees a pick-pocket, much less a highwayman.

Additionally, Roncal observed Autun was gifted with hurt animals, being able to approach them slowly, remove an obstruction or splint them with hardly a flinch, and then watch the creature sprint away with more vigor than Roncal imagined possible. Truly Mielikki was working through the hands of this unusual young man.

To Autun, Roncal is a good warden of the forest, ensuring healthy life and indeed ensuring only sustainable resource extraction -- be that lumber or game. But Autun sees himself as being more in-tune with the forest and the needs of the forest and knows that he will be a better warden one day. Autun sees Roncal's stewardship of the forest as honest, well meaning, mostly quite well done, but a bit narrow, like Roncal didn't listen enough to what the passing Elves were saying.

On what was celebrated as Autun's 29th birthday, while Autun prepared the dinner, Roncal asked Autun if he could describe the Pilgrimage Rite of Mielikki. Autun did, explaining in the tone of a slightly distracted student, that the Pilgrimage Rite is where a devotee seeks a true unicorn and attempts to offer it a gift -- perhaps a gem -- in hopes of gaining favor with the goddess. Roncal spoke slowly with both hope and perhaps a touch of sadness, and told Autun that there was little more to be learned at Roncal's side; thus now is the time for Autun to embark upon the Pilgrimage Rite of Mielikki.

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Cheesy references, having nothing to do with Bree:

• https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autun_(fromage)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochebaron
• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chirac_cheese.jpg
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roncal_cheese

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Character building history:

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After Session 30, level up to 6:

• Aura of Protection
• HP: 46

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After Session 15, level up to 5:

• Proficiency Bonus: +3
• Extra Attack
• HP: 39
• Access to 2nd level spells

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After Session 8, level up to 4:

• Ability Score improvement: +1 STR, +1 CHA
  • STR: 20 (18 +1 Firbolg +1 lvl4)
  • CHA: 16 (15 +1 lvl4)
• HP: 32
• Spell Save DC: 13 (8 + 3 + 2)

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After Session 4, level up to 3:

• Sacred Oath: Oath of the Ancients
• HP: 25

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After Session 1, level up to 2:

• Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting
• HP: 18

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After Session 0, level up to 1:

• Race: Firbolg
• Class: Paladin
• Background: Acolyte
• Alignment: Neutral Good

• STR: 19 (18 +1 Firbolg)
• DEX: 12
• CON: 13
• INT: 10
• WIS: 14 (12 +2 Firbolg)
• CHA: 15

• HP: 11 (10+1)

• Trait: I see omens in every event and action. The gods try to speak to us, we just need to listen.
• Ideal: I always try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost.
• Bond: I will do anything to protect the forests.
• Flaw: My piety sometimes leads me to blindly trust those that profess faith in my god.

• Languages: Common, Elvish (not Giant due to Backstory)

• Age: 29 (adolescent adult)
• Height: 221 cm (7' 3")
• Weight: 88 kg (195 lb)
• Eyes: green-brown
• Skin: blue-green
• Hair: brown

• Proficiency Bonus: +2
• Spell Save DC: 12 (8 + 2 + 2)

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The original D&D character generation (dyslexic spellings included):