"To quest and risk we must, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The knight who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing."
- —The motto of the Mortais Amulet.[1]
Gaston Rossereux was a heroic Knight of Bretonnia who later became the first Lord of Christofains.[1]
History[]
Growing up as a lowly Peasant, Gaston served Sir Guillame d'Abois as his Squire, yet dreamed of earning the right to become a Knight Errant. It was a wish fulled by his desire to marry the fair Mirabelle, Sir Guillame's beautiful daughter.[1]
Providence soon played its part. Assessing the forest of Morlaix for an upcoming hunt, Gaston stumbled accross the infamous bandit "Grim" Gaspard. The foul brigand sprung up from where he had been crouched, skinning a poached deer. Wielding his lowly quarterstaff, Gaston's succession of fierce blows knocked him down. As the staff plunged forward, the brigand's broadsword parry sliced through the hard wood, but, unswerving, the shattered point point stuck deep. For this heroic act, Gaston was given the extremely rare boon of nobility, and thus earned his title as a Knight Errant.[1]
His lord's lands lay in Montfort, where the Grey Mountains' steep flanks penetrated into that dukedom. Spilling forth from these rocky crags, Orc Warlord Ormscar Windhowl had seized the Domain of Christofain. He held court within the smoke-blackened, bloodstained, ruined shell of the castle. Gaston swore he would recapture these lands for Bretonnia. Twisting Mirabelle's silk scarf around his helm, he rode forth. The fetid greenskins were celebrating their great battle by consuming the contents of the castle's looted wine cellars, whilst feasting on the flesh of slaughtered livestock. The young knight's bright sword cut a murderous swathe through the startled rabble, until only Ormscar stood against him. The fearsome Warlord raised his serrated sword on high...[1]
The figure which rode back into the d'Abois' courtyard was barely recognisable. Only force of will held him erect in his saddle, yet proudly aloft a lance was held. A lance whose point was adorned with the dismembered, gruesome head of Ormscar Windhowl.[1]
Thus it was that Gaston established the Rossereux family seat at Christofains, with the beautiful Mirabelle at his side. Still, Gaston's vaunting ambition could not be repressed. When his firstborn, Edouard reached his tenth year, he left on a quest. His object was to find the fabled artifact worn by the heroic Grail Knight, Sir Algernon de Mortaise. It had been dipped in the magical waters of the Grail, and was buried with its master in the tombs of his ancestors in the mysterious hills of the Pale Sisters - a resting place from which it had been cruelly ripped by greedy and thieving hands. Gaston pledged to recover it so that it might rest upon an honorable Bretonnian's chest.[1]
Years later, Gaston returned without the Mortaise Amulet, but mortally wounded. He was buried in a sealed casket within the family vaults, leaving only his final words to haunt future generations. he told of how the one true inheritance to his son was his quest. That Edouard had to continue his path, and if he failed, his firstborn would continue in turn. The quest for the amulet would make the Rossereux family virtuous and honorable...[1]
In truth, Gaston had recovered the Mortaise Amulet. He ordered that he be buried with it so that his family's quest would be neverending. This, he believed, would ensure that each of his successors was as valiant and heroic as he, forever travelling the land and performing great deeds in the name of the amulet and the Rossereux line.[1]
Sources[]
- 1: Inferno! Magazine #12 - The Questing Rossereux