The Blog of Roon

I found this snippet in my email. It represents my attempt to define the character of the von Adler majordomo Godfrey Cuyler (played, of course, by the GM) from the point of view of sixteen-year-old Renate.

His name is Godfrey Cuyler, and he runs the baronial staff as well as performing personal services for members of the baron’s family.

Renate can’t remember the house without him. Whenever she needed a toy or a ’cube or something to eat as a child, Godfrey obliged. When she cut her arm badly playing in the armory she was forbidden to enter, Godfrey found her crying, bandaged her, cleaned up the mess, and didn’t tell her parents, earning the closest thing to undying loyalty that Renate possessed.

Even in the worst spasms of the teenage craze for privacy, Godfrey is permitted entry to her room. After all, he’s only Godfrey. As well refuse to open the door for the cat.

Besides, she likes Godfrey, when she remembers to. He’s so funny, always so proper and prim! (He’s probably gay, Renate thinks. That would explain why she never feels like flirting with him, the way she does with Aaron.) And he never laughs at her the way Emil does, or scolds like Mama, or brushes her tiredly off like Aaron. Godfrey’s all right. You can’t talk to him, really—pointless; he doesn’t think about anything but the household—but there are lots of people you can’t talk to.

Needless to say, sixteen-year-old Renate was wrong about Godfrey’s character on almost every count. I am delighted to see how much their relationship has changed, how much Renate has learned from him (now and then, she even sounds like him), and how much he’s helped her grow.

She owes him, and I suspect—no, I know—she knows it. Helping find the Reichert murderer was something, but it’s not nearly enough. (Plus, putting her on that job turns out to have been a plot hatched up by Godfrey, Aaron, and Renate’s father the baron—and when Renate next goes home there is going to be A Serious Discussion about that, among other things.) I hope she gets a chance at some point during the campaign to prove how much she respects and cares for Godfrey.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 15th, 2004 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Dragonhunt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.