Aubert (Chibiloft)

First introduced in Quoth the Raven Issue 28 as a character in the Chibiloft comics. Aubert is a Souragnien Voodan of Mistress Lethede and a Cleric of Ezra, exiled from his island home.

Souragne

Aubert was born to a family of natives in Port d'Elhour, and displayed great wanderlust even as a child. He gravitated naturally to his people's worship of the Loa and became a Voodan of Lethede at an early age, as she watches over travellers. Aubert would spend a considerable part of his life travelling the settlements and swamps of his beautiful, but often deadly homeland, and the power of his patron both sustained him and made him welcome wherever he went: he was a travelling healer, a spiritual guide, a bringer of news and deliverer of messages.

Aubert's life would take a turn for the tumultuous after a chance meeting with Etienne Lefebvre, head of the Souragnien Church of Ezra. To his own surprise, the Voodan found the soft-spoken Anchorite to be persuasive, his rhetoric inspirational. After much soul-searching, Aubert joined the Church as a Cleric of Ezra, but in keeping with the message of Etienne's predecessor, he maintained his faith in the Loa and incorporated it into his new spiritual convictions.

Such friends as Aubert had cultivated during his years as a travelling priest, as well as his surviving relatives, joked about his conversion - but not in a mean-spirited way. As far as anyone could see, Aubert was not very different from how he had always been. Perhaps he was a bit more passionate now about travelling to every community and isolated hermit in Souragne, offering the healing of the Loa and the protection of Ezra to those who were willing to embrace them. He preached passionately and well in Low Église about how the goddess sheltered all the Loa as well as the people under her cloak, and how the Loa worked towards the goals of the goddess.

A sharp turning point came when Aubert, inflamed with liturgical zeal and considering it his mission to continue the work of Manon 'Ti-Maman' Larouche, tried to preach in High Église in the Port d'Elhour church. The aristocratic attendants rose up in fury, as did several of the more reactionary Anchorites in attendance, and Aubert was driven out of the sacred building. Worse, an assassin was paid to deal with the 'uppity savage'. The first attempt on Aubert's life was botched, and he managed to escape onto an outgoing ship with a knife stuck in a non-vital part of his back. Unfortunately for the priest, this ship was headed all the way to the distant Core... and Souragne has only one port.

Aubert knew - knows - that if he were ever to return, there would be assassins waiting for him, still.

The Core

Aubert became a wandering Anchorite of Ezra, preaching her word and doing her work in the strange lands in which he found himself exiled, while keeping his faith in the Loa in general and Mistress Lethede specifically strictly private to avoid being accused of witchcraft or blasphemy.

This would change in the autumn of 765 BC, when Aubert decided to challenge his convictions by travelling to and preaching in dreary Sithicus. The Land of Specters nauseated Aubert, and he felt both spiritually and physically lost there, until by chance he met two adventurers: Wick and Slap. The two mercenaries were chasing Ogres that had snuck in out of Invidia, and could use some priestly support. Aubert signed on with them for an increased feeling of security, and developed a romantic attraction to Wick. When the Wizard extended an invitation for Aubert to join his group, the Chibiloft Crew, Aubert was happy to accept.

As the 'Crew's 'chaplain' and spiritual expert, Aubert is free to express all aspects of his faith to his teammates. Those members who share his faith in Ezra are respectively openminded enough to simply accept him (Dr. Julio Huevo), or too humble to question how he chooses to worship Ezra (Ooglie). The other members of the team are either disinterested in his faith so long as he is an asset to the group, or else accept him because they consider his religious practices to be no stranger than their own. As to the latter, Aubert is frequently horrified when teammate Slap engages him in surprisingly erudite conversations that suggest their respective paths run parallel, with both of them having chosen a path to walk to give them spiritual comfort in a dangerous world.

Combat

In battle, Aubert's first reflex is to call upon the Mount of the Loa-power granted by his patron Loa Mistress Lethede, and the Shield of Ezra granted by his goddess Ezra. Even with these protections in place, he prefers to remain at a safe distance from melée, pelting enemies with the spells granted by both of his patrons. If battle does draw near, he prefers to rely on the simple weapons of a Voodan, rather than the silver longsword he is entitled to carry as an Anchorite; his skills with the blade are mediocre at best, and he prefers to rely on mobility and protective spells, rather than heavy armor.

Secret

While his faith appears to be strong and his powers are intact, Aubert is prey to considerable spiritual turmoil. He has come to feel a strong rapport with the Home Faith of the Church of Ezra, but feels that he should be allying himself more with the Mordentish sect due to the message of Sentire Franklin Tennyson and Ti-Maman and his self-imposed mission.

Exposure to the various other faiths of the Core has further confused Aubert. He feels he should be finding ways to incorporate the other gods under Ezra's protective cloak, like the Loa of Souragne are sheltered by Notre Dame des Brumes, who has been absorbed into Ezra, but he worries that this might be seen as heresy - or invite conflict between the very gods themselves. In his darkest moments, Aubert fears the various gods of the Core might simply be Loa, misinterpreted by the locals to be gods, and worries it might be his duty as a Voodan to enlighten them and learn to channel the spirits of the lands to which he has been exiled. However, if he starts down this path, where will that leave his own faith in Ezra? Can he really assail the position of such entities as the Lawgiver or the Morninglord and not cast a critical eye on his Lady in the Mists?

While Aubert takes his position as the Chibiloft Crew's spiritual guide very seriously, he is disturbed by the very different interpretations of Ezra's credo given by his 'parishioners', Dr. Huevo and Ooglie, not to mention those of the people of the Core at large. He feels there should be greater clarity as to what the will of Ezra is, and worries it might be his duty to find or create such clarity - a task for which he does not feel at all equipped with the necessary willpower or intellect.

Finally, Aubert worries that he should also preach the word of the Loa while away from Souragne. His power as a Voodan is undiminished, so either the spirits of his youth are still with him or the local spirits have taken up the slack, and they require his veneration regardless. But proper Voodan rituals require a community. How would the Anchorites of the Core react if they catch Aubert at such worship? And would any of the locals be at all drawn to it? What if he dares preach as a Voodan only to fail, or to be branded as a witch?

Statistics

Lawful Neutral Souragnien male human Voodan (Mistress Lethede) / Cleric (Ezra)