Basic Information
Full Name
Dontaru
Nickname
None
Race (Grade)
Human (F)
Class
Expert
Height
5'9"
Birthday
Frostmoon 1, 1284
Age
Loading...
Birthsign
Bloodline Ability
Unknown
This Bloodline ability has not yet been unveiled to you.
Physical Description
Dontaru, Author of Xeres-A-Pedia
Appearance
Dontaru favors deep purple velvet worked with gold embroidery and a jeweled ring he's fond of gesturing with mid-correction, dark curling hair worn long and loose past his shoulders, and the permanently pleased expression of a man who is quite sure the conversation was going his way. He's built solidly rather than sharply, and carries himself with a relaxed, leaning-against-the-nearest-tree confidence that reads as ease right up until he opens his mouth.
Unique Characteristics
He carries a battered notebook everywhere, pages of half-finished Xeres-A-Pedia entries, and will stop mid-conversation, sometimes mid-sentence of someone else's, to jot something down before it "escapes him." He corrects people reflexively, often before he's actually sure he's right, and has never once let that stop him.
Personality & Temperament
Positive Traits
- Genuinely, stubbornly loyal to his friends
- Endless, enthusiastic curiosity about everything
- Never gives up trying to help, even unwanted
- Tries to be nice to most people
Challenging Traits
- Interrupts and "corrects" people, often wrongly
- Haughty, assumes he already has the answer
- Gives confident advice that's usually terrible
- Picks arguments with friends more than he should
Actually, and I say this with love, that's not quite right. Let me correct you before you embarrass yourself further.
I have advice for that. I have advice for most things, actually.
I moved here for a man named Hotaru. He is now called Lucerion. I have decided to be supportive about this, mostly.
Likes
- Being asked his opinion, whether earned or not
- A blank page waiting for a new entry
- Any excuse to be near Duke Lucerion
- Winning an argument, even one he started
Dislikes
- Being told he's wrong
- Being interrupted mid-correction of someone else
- People who don't want his advice
- The name "Lucerion," some days, if he's honest
Background & History
From Donald to Dontaru
He was born Donald, a name he abandoned entirely, surname included, the moment he became old enough to make the change stick. Hearing the story of Hotaru, the legendary figure who would go on to become Duke of Silmarithil, reshaped how he saw his own life so thoroughly that he refashioned his own name after his hero's, becoming Dontaru. He does not go by Donald under any circumstances, and the only people who still occasionally slip and call him that are the three friends who knew him before the change, entirely on purpose, because they know exactly how much it bothers him.
Four Friends, One Road, Then a Detour
Dontaru left home alongside Hibo, Mikel, and Jessifer, the four of them chasing new lives together rather than apart. But where the other three settled in Goodberry and opened businesses on Market Street, Dontaru kept moving, all the way to Silmarithil, close enough to finally be near the man whose name he'd taken as his own. His friends still argue with him constantly, in letters as often as in person, and none of it has ever come close to costing him the friendship.
The Man Who Became Lucerion
Dontaru arrived in Silmarithil prepared to finally meet his hero, Hotaru, only to learn the Duke had recently cast that very name aside and taken a new one: Lucerion. The disappointment lasted about a day. Dontaru decided, with characteristic stubbornness, that supporting a man through reinventing himself was an even better use of a devoted admirer than simply idolizing his old name would have been, and has spent his time in Silmarithil since trying, uninvited and mostly unsuccessfully, to make himself useful to the Duke.
Xeres-A-Pedia
Dontaru is several volumes into a sprawling, self-published book he calls Xeres-A-Pedia, a record of everything he's personally learned, written with the flat, matter-of-fact confidence of an actual encyclopedia. Entries range wildly: "Things Not to Say at a Dinner Party," "Dress Code for Dog Owners," "The Flying Spaghetti Monster." Most are less fact than half-remembered life advice or short story dressed up as reference material, and almost none of them have been fact-checked by anyone but Dontaru himself.
Goals & Aspirations
Official Aide to the Duke
Dontaru wants, more than almost anything, to be formally recognized as an aide to Duke Lucerion, not just a devoted hanger-on who shows up with opinions. He has not been offered the position. This has not stopped him from acting as though he already holds it.
A Finished Volume
He wants to see a complete volume of Xeres-A-Pedia bound and shelved somewhere respectable, ideally Silmarithil's own archives, and has started (and abandoned) an index three separate times trying to make the entries feel less scattered than they actually are.
Proving Them Wrong, Eventually
Quietly, underneath the bluster, Dontaru wants Hibo, Mikel, and Jessifer to see him do something that actually works, just once, without an argument attached to it. He'd never admit that's what he's after. He just keeps trying.
Current Status & Relationships
Residence
Role
Author
Relationships
Duke Lucerion
His Hero, Formerly Known as Hotaru
Hibo Robaga
Old Friend, Frequent Argument Partner
Mikel Nelch
Old Friend, Frequent Argument Partner
Jessifer Kettlewick Fairweather Crowe
Old Friend, Frequent Argument Partner
ATTENTION!
Dontaru will correct you, interrupt you, and hand you confident advice you did not ask for and almost certainly should not follow. He is also, underneath all of it, genuinely trying to be a good friend, and the three people who've known him longest will tell you, usually while arguing with him about something else entirely, that it's worked. Don't mistake the haughtiness for malice, and don't expect him to admit when he's wrong.