Alphonse Zsoldos



Alphonse Tiberius Zsoldos, commonly known as Al, is a priest from Etruria, though he has no allegiance with any church or state. He currently lives in Ilia with a man named Fretheim.

Early life
Alphonse was born in a cabin up in the mountains near the Etrurian/Ilian border in Etruria along with his sister Trisha. Their father was a mercenary from Ilia and their mother was a cleric born and raised in Delfia. By the ages of 5 both Alphonse and Trisha were being taught the ways be their corresponding parents: Trisha was being taught the ways of the cleric by her mom and Alphonse that of the mercenary by his dad. After they started teaching Alphonse and Trisha they got farther apart, but as they were getting farther apart the opposite was happening to Alphonse and Trisha; they were getting closer. They didn’t have any neighbors or any other children around but they were still happy just with each other. They would talk through the nights with each other, telling stories, giving their opinions about their parents, and talking about the outside world. By the age of 10, Alphonse was tired of learning the way of the mercenary; he had no interest in swords or being a “killer for hire.” As he talked with sister that night, he found that his sister too had no interest in magic or being a cleric. As they talked on through that night hey both came up with a clever idea: after each of their training sessions they would teach each other what they had learned, Trisha would become a mercenary and Alphonse would become a priest.

By the age of 15, both Alphonse and Trisha were able to get away with teaching each other the way of their classes. Alphonse had become a rather decent priest, but still needed more training. Trisha had become an excellent mercenary, she was very good with a sword and when she fought she seemed to be the coldest person to Alphonse rather than the friendly way she usually is. Alphonse was pleased with his life, but felt that he needed to move on to other things, more specifically, more training. The night before he was going to leave he told his sister of his plans. She was devastated, she wanted him to stay with her until she left and then they could travel together. She pleaded, but Alphonse was set on going, saying that they should go their own ways. His sister slapped-or rather punched, very hard-his face and stormed off into their room and locked the door. Alphonse left the house and stood in front of it looking up into the dark and gloomy clouds above. Strings and light flashed in the clouds, great symphonies of darkness crackled each time the light flashed. Suddenly there was a great explosion behind him and he was thrown several feet. For how long he was lying in the dirt for. He finally lifted head to see his house consumed in flames. At the sight of such a thing he could only think of one person: his sister. Jumped up onto his feet and ran into the scorching flames. He could feel his clothing start to burn, his skin start to melt, but he continued on into the flames. He saw his sister lying just outside their room, knocked out cold. He called for her but she wouldn’t wake. As he was walking towards her a blistered support beam fell onto to his back. He tried to call out to Trisha, be he was out of breath. His head fell onto the burning rubble and waited to die.

The church and priesthood
After the fire he was picked up by a troubadour named Eleanor that had seen the smoke off the mainroad. Alphonse asked her of his sister and parents but she had not seen them. After some time traveling they arrived in Delfia where they talked of what happened and how he had been training to become a priest. Eleanor recommended going to a smaller church in Delfia, one that would accept with no formal training. The troubadour left after a few days heading south and left Alphonse at the church to be met by Bishop Himmel. For twelve years he lived in the church and trained to become a priest, Himmel was never very hard on him and always tried to give a positive attitude, which was something Alphonse needed then. By the end of the long years of training he had become a priest, and worked at he church for some time along side Bishop Himmel.

Not too long after finishing his training though the church in Delfia had changed and a great zealotry spread through Etruria. Bishop Himmel feared for his church and asked Alphonse to leave for his own safety. Though Alphonse feared for Himmel's safety too, he knew he could take care of himself and left eastward from Delfia, possibly to find out if his family was still alive.

Shadow the shaman
While traveling through a small town and stopping at a tavern he would meet Shadow, a wandering shaman who he would become close to. The two, after traveling for some time, came across a group of bandits. Shadow and Alphonse stood their ground and were able to kill all the bandits, though Alphonse felt he had gone against his ways willing to kill bandits, even in self defense. After crossing a river and getting near the border they ran into a small group of people, who would join them in the rest of his journey.

The group had made it to Ilia and stopped in a small tavern where they boarded up for the night and Alphonse got quite drunk, rambling to Shadow and sometimes other members of the group. He also met a quite cavalier, by the name of Rayl. He seemed to have been through a lot in his life though he was a nice quiet man and wished he could of joined him on his journey. After the night had passed he got a tip from the barkeeper that his father and sister had survived the fire and were living nearby. Alphonse was able to drag Shadow with him to see where they had lived, but it was not quite as the bartender had explained.

Living in Ilia
It seemed his sister had died about a year ago, and his father had left some years ago to Lycia to become a knight, though no one has heard from him since. After mourning his sister's death he took up residence with a man named Fretheim who had taken care of Trisha after his father Malachi had left. He currently lives with Fretheim helping him catch food and overall take care of the household while in his free time reading books Fretheim picks up while going into town.