Jean-Babtiste Gauthier
Court Knight Jean-Babtiste Gauthier (a.k.a. The Queen's Sword)
Jean-Babtiste Gauthier was a French scientist, a member of The French Academy of Sciences, which was a predecessor to the current WMO-led Institut de France, but he is also famous by being one of the first recorded travelers by technological means!- in the Feywild and a welcomed visitor in The Summer Court.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Jean-Babtiste Gauthier was born as a son of a wealthy fabric merchant in the city of Lyon. He got the best education his father could provide him with, but instead of continuing the family fabric business, he was more interested on 'things abnormal', like magic and certain creatures, but also science. He was especially interested in magnetism and electricity.
As a youngster he loved to roam around the countryside and on one of those trips he saw an injured small snake. After he helped the grass snake who had been injured and tended to its wounds and made sure it would be healthy again, the snake turned into a young fairy girl, who introduced herself as Phloxia. She had been trapped in that form and wished to pay back for all the trouble. Jean-Babtiste said he didn't need any payment, but the fairy girl gave him one favor, which he could decide on whenever. Then she disappeared and Jean-Babtiste forget about the favor for years.
Years passed and Jean-Babtiste had really sunk into his studies. Reading works from Thales of Miletus and William Gilbert he began slightly obsessed. He had become to know about the Feywild; the realm of fairies, a parallel world to our own, and he wanted to find a way to it, but by means of technology, not by magic. He began to build things, his peers thought him insane, his fiancée broke up with him and eventually his father disowned him, but he didn't care. He built a machine -or at least tried- to harvest the electricity of electrical eels, catfish, and rays. He almost worshiped the thunderstorms and tried to understand how it worked. He made 'infused water' with means of alchemy, and he thought he was very close of breakthrough when on one stormy night he brought his contraception near a local lake. What happened after that is not well documented; was it an accident, a lightning strike, or a stroke of luck, he disappeared and his contraception of metal and tanks of water was left behind; or what remained of it were the molten metallic beams and fried up eels.
Jean-Babtiste woke up in a completely different place. A beautiful, vividly colorful forest was all around him. The grass was red and yellow, the trees deep auburn. The sun was shining and it was warm and nice. Before he could do anything but to stare in amazement, he encountered a group of armored soldiees. They were the Queen's guards and they brought him to their mistress, to be sentenced accordingly on trespassing the Queen's private garden. The Queen of The Summer Court did not like the fact that odd human males were messing with her carefully arranged flowerbeds and was ready to sentence him to death, but a lady-in-waiting stepped in and gave such a heart-wrenching plea in behest of poor Jean-Babtiste that the Queen's anger melted away and he was allowed to stay within the court.
The Lady-in-waiting who had saved Jean-Babtiste's life was revealed to be no one else than Phloxia, the fairy girl from years ago. They got married, even when some people were slightly against it and they lived happily and had kids, until during the years Jean-Babtiste's homesickness became too unbearable. He also had began to show tiny signs of mental degeneration -mainly memory issues- , which was not unusual as The Feywild can be a difficult place for mortal mind to comprehend. Teary eyes goodbyes ensued and Jean-Babtiste was returned to his original world. Phloxia, as she could not be away from the Feywild for too long herself due to her duties, got a special gift from the Queen of Summer Court; Phloxia was allowed to visit Jean-Babtiste every night, from dusk till dawn, but every day she would need to return.
When Jean-Babtiste died the garden of his fairly modest country house burst into life for one day: beautiful phlox flowers of red, yellow and orange filled the whole garden, the flowers spreading like a wildfire throughout the whole village. Until the night came and the flowers withered away in an instant, like they would have never even been there.
As a youngster he loved to roam around the countryside and on one of those trips he saw an injured small snake. After he helped the grass snake who had been injured and tended to its wounds and made sure it would be healthy again, the snake turned into a young fairy girl, who introduced herself as Phloxia. She had been trapped in that form and wished to pay back for all the trouble. Jean-Babtiste said he didn't need any payment, but the fairy girl gave him one favor, which he could decide on whenever. Then she disappeared and Jean-Babtiste forget about the favor for years.
Years passed and Jean-Babtiste had really sunk into his studies. Reading works from Thales of Miletus and William Gilbert he began slightly obsessed. He had become to know about the Feywild; the realm of fairies, a parallel world to our own, and he wanted to find a way to it, but by means of technology, not by magic. He began to build things, his peers thought him insane, his fiancée broke up with him and eventually his father disowned him, but he didn't care. He built a machine -or at least tried- to harvest the electricity of electrical eels, catfish, and rays. He almost worshiped the thunderstorms and tried to understand how it worked. He made 'infused water' with means of alchemy, and he thought he was very close of breakthrough when on one stormy night he brought his contraception near a local lake. What happened after that is not well documented; was it an accident, a lightning strike, or a stroke of luck, he disappeared and his contraception of metal and tanks of water was left behind; or what remained of it were the molten metallic beams and fried up eels.
Jean-Babtiste woke up in a completely different place. A beautiful, vividly colorful forest was all around him. The grass was red and yellow, the trees deep auburn. The sun was shining and it was warm and nice. Before he could do anything but to stare in amazement, he encountered a group of armored soldiees. They were the Queen's guards and they brought him to their mistress, to be sentenced accordingly on trespassing the Queen's private garden. The Queen of The Summer Court did not like the fact that odd human males were messing with her carefully arranged flowerbeds and was ready to sentence him to death, but a lady-in-waiting stepped in and gave such a heart-wrenching plea in behest of poor Jean-Babtiste that the Queen's anger melted away and he was allowed to stay within the court.
The Lady-in-waiting who had saved Jean-Babtiste's life was revealed to be no one else than Phloxia, the fairy girl from years ago. They got married, even when some people were slightly against it and they lived happily and had kids, until during the years Jean-Babtiste's homesickness became too unbearable. He also had began to show tiny signs of mental degeneration -mainly memory issues- , which was not unusual as The Feywild can be a difficult place for mortal mind to comprehend. Teary eyes goodbyes ensued and Jean-Babtiste was returned to his original world. Phloxia, as she could not be away from the Feywild for too long herself due to her duties, got a special gift from the Queen of Summer Court; Phloxia was allowed to visit Jean-Babtiste every night, from dusk till dawn, but every day she would need to return.
When Jean-Babtiste died the garden of his fairly modest country house burst into life for one day: beautiful phlox flowers of red, yellow and orange filled the whole garden, the flowers spreading like a wildfire throughout the whole village. Until the night came and the flowers withered away in an instant, like they would have never even been there.
This is a really good story, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I like stories about the Fey, and their comings and goings. I'm impressed that Jean-Babtiste was allowed to leave the Feywild, and it was nice that the Summer Queen let Phloxia see him again. Just as well it wasn't the Winter Queen!