Pierrot
-------

To understand Pierrot, one must first begin by describing him.

He is a man taller than most, with broad shoulders and a massive chest
which narrows to a trim waist. He moves with the grace of a dancer,
and this, combined with the top-heavy incongruity of his build, makes
him continuously appear to be a man whom someone has managed to stuff
into clothing too small for him. His gestures, too, are oddly effete,
and his diction and vocabulary carefully free of lower-class dialect,
given the presence which suggests, "musclebound thug with a small
brain".

His hair is jet black and curly, trimmed in the latest fashions, and
he sports a small, neatly clipped mustache; his eyes are deep blue and
when he smiles, his teeth are white and even, nearly obsessively cared
for.

One catches the whiff of expensive perfume emanating from his clothing,
which is usually bedecked in ribbons and lace, following the most 
elaborately excessive trends.

Women find him vain and pretentious, or devastatingly attractive, in
inverse proportion to his interest in their attentions. Most men simply
find him to be effete.

It is difficult to tell, when he is dressed in these latest fashions,
just what his profession is. He appears to be an overly dandified fop,
but that musclebound build suggests otherwise. The pattern of calluses
on his hands, too, is a puzzle -- sword calluses, acid burns, and
other oddities.

* * * * *

Pierrot was the son of a maidservant in one of the wealthier
aristocratic households in Paris. He was always a strong, large,
healthy child; though in his very earliest years he was trained to run
household errands like any future servant, he was later apprenticed to
a battlefield chirurgeon.

He spent the next decade and a half travelling with an army. He
learned to assist his master at simple tasks, and when he grew older
and stronger, he learned to fight, doubling as the chirurgeon's
bodyguard. He had some talent for it, but the grimness of those years,
and the dour disposition of his master, have left him a man without a
sense of humor, prone to taking jokes literally and easily offended by
jests he finds in poor taste.

Yet, he never lost the memories of his early years in the aristocratic
household, surrounded by wealth beyond imagining. It was his desire to
return to a life of similar luxury, yet, as both a chirurgeon and a
soldier, his entrance into the life of the upper-class seemed forever
blocked.

It was then that he encountered the newly-Gauntleted Tyrolian, in the
shop of a particularly prosperous Parisian cloth merchant (Pierrot was
spending well beyond his means, of course). The magus was looking for
something quite unusual -- a combination of bodyguard, manservant,
and scribe, someone that he could take with him into a variety of
environments, from the court to the faerie forests.

The two struck a deal, over a large meal and a carafe of fine wine;
neither man retains a clear enough recollection of the evening to
recall exactly what this bargain was, but it resulted in Pierrot
becoming Tyrolian's personal butler, so to speak. The magus (with some
amusement) financed Pierrot's entrance into at least the outer
trappings of wealth. Tyrolian also arranged for Pierrot to receive
training in medicine, and the basics of an education, so he would
have someone who could take dictated letters and other notes (or
forge documents). Having his own personal physician was just an
added bonus.

Pierrot is probably best described as a manservant, superficially.  He
only wears armor in situations where he expects there will be a
physical threat to his master. He is deferential and polite without
being obsequious; he's still painfully aware of his true social
class. He is no longer disturbed by Tyrolian's pursuit of magic, due
to their few years of association. 

Tyrolian has Pierrot pose as different things, depending on the
situation. Most conveniently, he is simply a personal asssistant (but
obvious muscleman); in other situations, he is a personal physician.
Least often, Pierrot is obviously a bodyguard. Tyrolian's past tasks
as a Quaesitor have been primarily in civilized areas, and thus his
need of a bodyguard who needs to do more than look threatening has
been quite low.

Pierrot is not at all happy about the expedition to Iceland, but he
is following Tyrolian out of personal loyalty and friendship. The 
magus has assured him that they will not need to stay for more than
a few years, and that the rewards for success will be great. 
Nonetheless, when Pierrot shows up on the docks, one can expect
that most of his personal possessions will consist of a lot of
clothing and a few bottles of fine wine.