Jean-Luc Dufort

### Aliases

Grand Druid, Great Druid of the Forest of Belanore Circle, Patriarch of the Dufort Family

### Relatives

Millicent Abel Hawkins (wife), Hugues Dufort (father), Hugo Hawkins (father-in-law), Carine Dufort (sister), Flavie Dufort (sister), Lucas Patenaude (brother-in-law)

## Physical description

### Eye color

Green

*"Anger is justified, only when it seeks to prevent the repetition of an injustice. It is not the emotion that is ever wrong, but only how we express it."*

-Jean-Luc Dufort

## History

A druid, and one-time confidant and right-hand man to Bastian Sauvage. A friendly man and a moderating influence, Jean-Luc is grief-stricken over his failure to save Bastian and Elouise Sauvage, and feels personally responsible. He is one of the four captains of the Gypsy Army, and his squad - composed of Bastian Sauvage's former compatriots - is the most ruthless, the most vicious, the most unwilling to take prisoners. Town guardsmen are more willing to surrender to the wrathful Patenaude brothers than they are to the merciless, grieving Jean-Luc Dufort.

## Personality

Jean-Luc Dufort saw friends and family perished tragically before his eyes. He hopes never to undergo that again. Making the right choicea in life is important to him, because the choices he makes might save not just life, but the lives of others as well. He believes that his wits are his most valuable resource in troubled times. He will never let his fellow Gypsy rebels down, for they are his only remaining friends. Being a member of the Gypsy Army means doing things that aren't always ethical, and he is still learning to live with that.

Jean-Luc Dufort originally joined Sauvage's gang out of a commitment to protect the natural world from the encroaching industrialization of New Arendur.

## War of the Philosopher-Kings

Jean-Luc Dufort was a child during the War of the Philosopher-Kings, and he grew up amid conflict and existential fear, which left its mark upon him.

## The Great Awakening

*"In dreams the mind beholds its own immensity. What has been seen is seen again, and what has been heard is heard again. What has been felt in different places or faraway regions returns to the mind again. Seen and unseen, heard and unheard, felt and not felt, the mind sees all, since the mind is all."*

-Jean-Luc Dufort

Jean-Luc Dufort, having heard of Millicent Hawkins’ death, sees no reason to stay in Forester’s Town. He leaves his money to his sisters and undertakes a pilgrimage into the Land of the Fey.

Though he did not join the Godhunter's Army, Jean-Luc Dufort fought for King Odilon Roy to defend Saa Belanore from Ghatanathoa and the Rootlings. He re-encountered the Godhunter later in the war and was part of his retinue in the "Burning of the Feywild," a traumatic battle in which the Great Old One and its followers were smoked out, and the corrupted Feywild purged of the Rootlings. Though he recognized the necessity of the Godhunter's plan, the destruction of the natural world tore at his conscience, and he chose to remain behind to plant anew when the Godhunter went on to confront Nyogtha in Caprakan.

When King Roy was betrayed by Isaac Icarus, Jean-Luc Dufort vowed never to return to Arendur. By then, he had come to hate the Godhunter, who he saw as: leading his wife to her death and horrific rebirth, plunging the world into an apocalypse born of his own hubris, and betraying the commitment of the Gypsies to mother earth in return for cruel engines of war.

Jean-Luc Dufort rose high in the ranks of the Druid Society, but clashed with the Great Druid of Saa Belanore, the former Arendurian Lord Alpha. Alpha - Tolumvire's devious Foreign Minister and architect of the downfall of the Gypsies - who he hated *almost* as much as the Godhunter. When Ashes Andlyre stepped down as Grand Druid, Jean-Luc Dufort strenuously opposed Alpha's ascension to Grand Druid, but was unsuccessful. To his surprise, Alpha appointed him to take his place as Great Druid of Saa Belanore, magnanimously stating that Dufort's hatred of him did not diminish his otherwise thoughtful and wise commitment to neutrality. When Alpha himself stepped down, Jean-Luc Dufort was the leader of the faction opposed to Alpha's chosen heir, the Arendurian Prince Veridis Mov, nephew of Tolumvire himself. Dufort's faction lost, and Veridis Mov became Grand Druid, prompting Dufort to almost step down from his position. Nonetheless he stayed on for what turned out to be one of the most disastrous Grand Druidships, second in infamy only to that of Romilly Mag Raith. Once Veridis Mov was defeated and forced to resign in disgrace, his stalwart foe Jean-Luc Dufort was the unquestioned choice for his successor.