Alodia of Rohan

Character Name: Alodia

Name Meaning: “Other wealth”.

Age: 20.

Date of Birth: October 15th.

Race: Man

Residence: Rohan, on the plain about two day’s trek from Edoras on a goat farm.

Profession: Goatherd, cheesemaker, and soap maker.

Appearance: Alodia is average in height, and slender in build, with long, straight blonde hair and wide blue eyes above full cheeks. Most of her clothing is in green and brown, and she is almost always covered in goat hair.

Personality: Alodia is shy and reserved, though a hard worker. Her parents are slightly eccentric, finding raising goats to be far more profitable in Rohan than raising horses. She too has a keen fancy for the creatures, and Bui and Jolly, her prize goats, are both her best friends and confidants. It is easier for her to speak to bleating, hooved creatures than sell the cheese and soaps she makes. While she has no disdain for horses, she does think Rohan would be far richer a place if it was the realm of the Goatlords instead.



Parents:

Williric, father. 45. He is a kind man, if not eccentric. Where many of the farmers took to horse breeding to keep their families fed, Williric turned instead to goatherding. He loves his goats, and the life they provide. He ran a relatively healthy business selling both the goats for meat or other such use, their milk, the cheese the family makes from the milk, and the soaps that can be made from the goats’ milk as well until he was paralyzed after a fall. His temperament has improved since it first happened three years ago, though he still seems but a shade of the man he was, and Alodia worries for him. 

Goda, mother. 43. She is a gentle woman of song, and the parent that Alodia takes after by temperament. She is timid, mild, and sweet, keen eyed and gentle. Goda was one of many siblings, and often felt as a ghost amongst the other, more high-strung siblings. She has enjoyed her life with her husband, despite the strange looks some give them for putting so much effort and love into their goats, and lately, for devoting her time to care for a lame husband.

Sibling(s):

Kunibert, brother. 19. Kuni is a bit resentful of the life they lead upon the plain. He wishes for more wealth, often wanting to make himself appear as if he is a powerful man. He has little patience for his sister, and while perhaps he does not go out of his way to make her uncomfortable he will never pass up the opportunity to do so. He enjoys a secret rendezvous with a girl every month when their parents think he is helping Alodia get to Edoras. While Alodia has not met this girl, she is fairly certain the rendezvous is not the sort that would make their parents proud. 

Spouse: None.

Children: None, though many would argue Bui and Jolly are her children, to which she thinks it’s funny to correct them to “kids”. It is, perhaps, the only joke she understands, as she is not an overtly humorous person.

History:

Alodia was the first born to her little family, and she grew up with goats wandering freely over their property and in her home. She learned quickly not to leave dolls upon the floor, particularly during the cold winter months, for it was not long before one goat or another would chew it up.

Still, she grew to love the little things and in turn needed no dolls. There were baby goats that she could put in little bonnets for tea, and big goats that she could run around the fields with. Her father’s goats were, even from a very young age, her closest friends. The children thought her strange, for she was shy and more likely to speak to the hooved creatures upon their farmland than be able to make eye contact with someone her own species.

She took to the craft of goatherding easily; her father and mother set aside small goats for her to tend on her own starting when she was five, slowly increasing the number under her charge as she aged. Alodia, despite her loneliness, was a bright child and was often one who sang when she thought none were about to hear.

Alodia was never a loud child, though such could not be said for Kunibert the moment he was born. All of Rohan knew of his arrival, her parents often jested; and his arrival made Alodia’s little world a bit more uncomfortable.

At first, having a brother was wonderful, and Alodia helped her mother care for him alongside her four-legged charges. As he grew, though, it became clear that Williric and Goda were not blessed with two mild, loving children. Their son was both a bully and self-centered, something that they did not know how to contain.

Kuni hated the farm, hated tending the goats, and often ran away to avoid his work. A few times, he made a break for the city itself, though Williric was always quick enough to catch him before he got too far.

Alodia could not understand her brother’s discontent, and continued to enjoy and relish her work on their small farm, milking the goats and creating cheeses and soaps to sell on the monthly trips to Edoras. Selling things, though, was harder for her than any of the manual labor at home. Alodia had trouble making eye contact, was fearful of the forceful personalities, and was often looked upon as a waif of sorts for her goat-fur spotted dresses of browns and greens, and her wispy braids.

Her father, when she was seventeen, fell from the roof attempting to fix the thatching and though everyone sought to help, Alodia herself being sent for the nearest healer, there was very little that could be done. Her father lost feeling in his legs and was unable to walk. A fate, perhaps, that was worse than death for a man who loved to wander the fields and tend his herd.

Everything began to change.

The family needed the goods sold at the market now more than ever, though Williric was the most outgoing of the family. He could no longer make the treks to the city, and Goda needed stay behind to help care for him and the farmstead.

Kuni was told he would lead his sister to and from the city for the long walks, not wishing their daughter to need make the travels alone. It was true that the days were growing dark, and they feared for Alodia taking to the roads with naught but Bui and Jolly for company. Much to Alodia’s surprise, her brother agreed.

It was not, however, quite what it seemed. Kuni left with her, and walked alongside her until he was certain they were out of sight of their own home and that of the neighbors’ before taking off in the opposite direction. There was a girl he wished to see instead, and he said Alodia should meet him at that house when she was on her way back.

Alodia was furious, though had no choice but to carry on. Going back to the house simply meant nobody was going to get to see their wares, for it was not as if Father was going to be able to track him down and order him to behave. Kuni was pigheaded, and perhaps of the ilk of mother’s seven siblings that still lived out in Grimslade.

And so it has been ever since. Alodia and Kuni make for the city together, before Kuni breaks away to spend time with a girl at a house along the way. Singlehandedly, it feels, Alodia is making the living for her family and keeping the roof over their heads. Even for Kuni, who rarely returns words of thanks for her trouble.

Often she can be heard talking to Bui and Jolly when she thinks none are around.