Bordeaux's page

About Bordeaux

Of average stature and appearance, but smells of alcohol, and sometimes of whatever was in the alley he slept in. He tries to keep clean shaven, but usually fails at that.

Bordeaux's most striking features are his long hooked nose and his crazy red hair that sticks out in every direction. His blue eyes will smile at you, as long has he finds you interesting.

Personality:
Likes wine, and hanging around in taverns. But he's observant, and takes his duties seriously when he has them. Perhaps he just needs some direction.

He has no purpose in life other that to pursue beauty in all its forms, and things that spark his interest and curiosity.

Bordeaux's Story

I was brought up in the Galtan town of Litran. My family was poor, with nine mouths to feed including my parents, my older brother, my two older sisters and three younger sisters. Even with that many children, my parents were very strict, especially my mother. It seemed we never had time to play; it was always work, work, work.

It was with some relief that I was accepted into the local monastery, three months after I turned twelve. But life in the monastery was even tougher. There was a bit more free time, but very little personal freedom there. There were no girls, and that was probably a good thing for my training, but I ended up getting into the wine a little too often for the brothers' liking. It did not end well, for I was caught stealing wine, not once but twice, from the kitchens late at night. I knew I was going to be sent home, as they were not forgiving of thievery; so instead, I simply ran away.

I started out living in the reeds and bushes just north of Litran, but in a short time I had built a raft and set on down the river. The rivers in that part of the world are long and complex, and I started heading northeast. But soon that direction changed to northwest, and I was in the River Kingdoms. I had no desire to stay there, though the reeds and marshes were beautiful and the stars at night looked amazing from there. I kept moving, heading west now, until I reached a large lake. Eventually, by going around the lake on my raft, I found the point where the water flowed out of it. This time it was southward.

I continued thus for some time, and my recollection of it is now sketchy, as I think I talked to no-one, and lived partially like an animal. I ate fish, and berries I found on the way. I learned to survive. Eventually I reached the large city of Cassomir, in Taldor.

In Taldor I thought I would try civilized life again, so I joined a monastery there. But again, it was not to be. They were even more strict than my first monastery, and I only lasted four months before I left that place.

The adventure continued after that, as I signed on as the cook's boy of a trading vessel. After five months of that I found a tropical home in the Mwangi Expanse, or rather, on the edge of it. I lived with those people, those crazy and beautiful people, for over two years, and learned to speak their tongue and cook their food. I have never eaten something so succulent as Mwangi water viper, stewed in their spicy soup! I had also sampled other pleasures - the Mwangi women are so incredibly beautiful. But my time there made me miss the trappings of a stable home, and strangely, I missed the monasteries too.

So I left there, still only seventeen, and stopped in Azir, in tha nation of Rahadoum, to see if they would accept me into their House of Perfection. Alas, I was too far from their ideal, and, lacking in good wine to calm me, I failed the entrance test. Meditation! That's all it was, a test of Meditation, and I failed it! But I didn't give up.

I kept to the coast of northern Garund and stopped in Aspenthar, Thuvia, to join a monastery there (my fourth!). Again, the restrictions choked my spirit, and I really wondered if becoming a monk was really my calling. But I stayed on, pushing myself, and limiting my wine intake, until I had had enough. After nine months I again left, and ended up in Katapesh.

Katapesh is a dangerous place, and to survive one must use one's wits. I survived by joining up with some street criminals. But still the monastery called to me. The peace and tranquility I had discovered in them were statements of organized beauty, and I missed that, especially while in a place as crazy as Katapesh.

And of course I knew about Jalmeray. It was a place of monasteries, the pinnacle of studying the duality of body and mind. And it was not far from Katapesh. It was in Jalmeray that I finally found some measure of peace. I spent almost four years there, and only after that did I feel almost ready to face the world on my own terms. It was a wonderful feeling, leaving that place instead of escaping it. Absalom called me, for I remembered when I had first seen its spires, its beauty, from the ship. I was on a quest for beauty, both natural and man-made, and it was in Absalom that I would start this quest.