Absolon Astucieux

Absolon Amauri Astucieux is Ottoline's paternal grandfather, husband of Donatienne Astucieux, and father of Milun Astucieux and Solange Astucieux. His birthday is October 24th, and he is currently 67 years old.

## Personality

Absolon is kind, relaxed, and clever. He believes very strongly in helping others, and founded his company, Fidelitas, on this principle. He tries to always do the right thing. He cares very deeply about his family and loved ones, and believes that he should always strive to protect and provide for them, and was taught to never show weakness, ask for help, or fail. He has come to realize that these ideals were toxic and held him back as a person. As an old man, he has become much more carefree than in his younger years. He was incredibly shy as a young man, but opened up due to the positive influence of his late wife Donatienne. He understands the importance of having fun, something which is reflected in his rearing of Ottoline.

## Backstory

Absolon Astucieux is born to parents Éloise Astucieux (née Chastain) and Louvel Astucieux when they are 43 and 46, respectively. He is their only child. His father Louvel is an emotionally distant man who only seems to pay attention to Absolon when he disappoints him. As a child Absolon would frequently act out and throw tantrums in an attempt to get his father's attention, which would cause his father to often use corporal punishment to discipline him. His mother Éloise is stern and principled, and although she ultimately cares for her son, she sees no issue in the way Louvel treats him and is complicit in Absolon's punishments. Absolon eventually gives up his approach to getting attention, and decides he will try to make his father proud instead, but this proves even more difficult. At some point in his childhood, Absolon learns how to shoot a bow, a skill which he continues to hone throughout the rest of his life.

At the age of 13, Absolon creates what will later become the company Fidelitas when he starts offering small loans to the members of his community and keeps track of these transactions in a ledger. He gradually builds the communities trust in him, and is able to turn a small profit at 14. He manages to convince his parents to provide him with a small loan to create a capital pool, which he then lends out to his clients, with the promise that he will eventually repay the money at interest, exactly the same as how he gives loans to his own clients. Although his business does not start to take proper shape until he is 18, he keeps dutiful records of all transactions which occur between him and the community.

Absolon has a very troubled love life throughout his late teenage years. At age 15, he dates a neighbor named Igerne Roussel, but their relationship lasts under a week, as she later pretends to not know him in an attempt to impress a more desirable suitor. At age 16, he dates Enide Pelletier, and the relationship lasts nearly for a year until he catches her cheating on him with a mutual friend. At 17, he meets Aline Romilly, who he courts for 6 months before proposing to her at age 18. She accepts, but a week later breaks off their engagement due to the fact that Absolon isn't "wealthy enough" for her. Distraught, Absolon nearly gives up his business, but his father Louvel has a change of heart and encourages him to not give up, pointing out how his business has grown from what it began as when he was only 13. The two slowly grow closer and mend their relationship. Absolon decides to swear off of women and focus exclusively on his company.

At age 18, Absolon's business becomes incredibly lucrative, giving him enough money to purchase a small cottage which he uses as a base of operations. His luck turns for the better shortly after his engagement is broken off. He names his company Fidelitas, as a statement that the only true fidelity between people is when money is at stake.

At age 19, Absolon's funds multiply exponentially, and he builds himself a manoir for him and his aging parents to live in. Fidelitas has grown so successful that he has been able to acquire an office within the Court of Fontaine to conduct business in.

When he is 21, Absolon starts to become lonely and feels that something is missing from his life. To cope, he starts smoking and doubles down on work to distract himself. Everything changes when one day, while grocery shopping at the village square, he passes by two women, one carrying a lace parasol. The woman holding the parasol is perhaps the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, but he tries to shake this feeling, holding true to his decision to avoid romance entirely. When he hears the woman laugh, however, he becomes compelled to introduce himself to her. This woman introduces herself as Donatienne Bissett, age 19, and the two immediately agree to meet again the following day. They begin courting, and Absolon visits her nearly every day.

For Donatienne's 20th birthday, he attempts to surprise her with a romantic picnic in the Fontaine countryside. They are interrupted by a group of rogue bandits. Absolon tries to fight them off with his bow, but one of them grievously injures his lower left leg, rendering him immobile. Donatienne manages to chase the bandits off, carries Absolon to safety at the manoir, and summons a doctor before fainting in the doorway. Absolon realizes immediately that this is the woman he wants to marry.

The bandits shattered both bones in Absolon's lower leg, and the damage severed his nerves and affected his muscles. The doctor informs him that he will most likely never be able to walk without a permanent limp without a corrective leg brace and cane. Worried that his acquired disability will cause Donatienne to have second thoughts, Absolon has a heart-to-heart with her in which he tells her that he won't blame her for ending their relationship. Donatienne reaffirms her love for him and promises to help him learn how to walk again as he recovers. She holds true to her promise, and gifts him a special, custom cane with a bronze swan as the handle as a reference to the nickname he had given her, "mon cygne," or "my swan." Absolon is unable to walk without using either his cane or a corrective leg brace, although he has a visible limp when using just one or the other. Using both combined allows him to have a nearly normal gait.

At age 24, he proposes to Donatienne, who happily accepts, and the two are married shortly thereafter. It is a small and intimate ceremony compared to Absolon's wealth. Donatienne moves in with him and his parents to his manoir.

Donatienne becomes pregnant 2 years after their marriage, and upon hearing the news, Absolon quits smoking. When he is 26, Donatienne gives birth to the couple's first child, Milun Astucieux. They plan to have a large family together with several children. Two years later, at age 28, the pair is ecstatic to discover that Donatienne is pregnant, but not long into the pregnancy, she suffers a miscarriage which weakens her. Her doctors advise her to not have anymore children for her own health.

As Milun grows, he is tempermental and petulant, constantly picking fights with both of his parents. Donatienne and Absolon try to gently discipline him and respond to his outbursts with love and kindness, but he rejects them.

When he is 29, his father Louvel dies at age 75. On his deathbed, he apologizes to his son and tells him for the first time that he is proud of him.

At age 31, he and Donatienne discover that she is pregnant once more. Absolon, understanding the risks that would come with this pregnancy, assures her that he would support her in her decision to terminate the pregnancy, but she is determined to carry the child to term. The following year, at age 32, their daughter Solange is born. At his sister's birth, Milun undergoes a major personality shift, where he becomes more obedient and calm, being especially caring towards Solange. Their family grows closer together. Solange, however, is born weak and is often sick. Donatienne and Absolon care for her as best as they can and frequently spend large amounts of money to pay for the best doctors to cure her. In spite of this, Solange grows up a happy and fun loving child, although she cannot do the same things most other children can. Absolon affectionately calls her "mon chou," meaning "my sweetie."

When he is 35, his mother Éloise dies at age 78.

The following year, when Absolon is 36, Solange develops a fever which weakens her body to the point where she cannot get out of bed. One night, when she seems to be recovering somewhat, she asks Absolon to sleep in her bed with her. He accepts without hesitation. The next morning, he finds his four year old daughter dead in his arms. The death devastates the family, with Milun being particularly affected. He reverts to his old ways, picking fights with his parents often and blaming Donatienne for Solange's death.

The next year, Donatienne dies. Her death is most likely due to a form of cancer called choriocarcinoma, which developed during her second pregnancy. The placenta developed into cancerous cells, causing her miscarriage. This cancer may have also resulted in Solange's congenital weakness. Although she passed the cysts during her miscarriage, the cancer had already spread, and was exacerbated by her following pregnancy and Solange's birth. The stress and emotional trauma from Solange's death likely amplified the disease, killing her less than a year after her daughter's death. Milun turns his ire to Absolon, blaming him for both Donatienne and Solange's deaths. Absolon attempts to connect with his son through their grief, but Milun refuses and distances himself from his father, doing everything short of disowning him. Absolon continuously tries to reach out to Milun, but his attempts grow fewer and fewer as Milun rejects him constantly.

As he deals with his grief, the next few years of his life are uneventful. He offers to train Milun in his trade so that he may one day take over Fidelitas from him, hoping that this will give him a chance to connect with his son and help him grow as a person. Milun accepts, under the condition that their relationship from this point forward be strictly professional.

At age 49, Absolon sends Milun on a business trip to Mondstadt to scout out potential business opportunities in other nations. Milun is in Mondstadt for 2 weeks. At the end of his trip, Milun returns and informs Absolon that there is great opportunity for business, but when Absolon offers to make Milun the head of the potential new Mondstadt branch of Fidelitas, he refuses, expressing his desire to stay in Fontaine. With no one else to head the Mondstadt branch, Absolon scraps the idea.

A few months after Milun returns home, Absolon mistakenly opens a letter meant for Milun and discovers that while in Mondstadt, Milun had a casual dalliance with a local woman named Conradine Regensturm, who became pregnant. Homeless and with no personal funds of her own, Conradine has been begging Milun to send her some form of financial assistance for their child for months. Absolon soon discovers a stack of unopened letters from Conradine in Milun's study. Although he is deeply disappointed in his son, he decides not to confront him about this, knowing that Milun would react poorly to this perceived invasion of privacy. Absolon hatches a plan: he names Milun the new chief executive of Fidelitas and decides he will travel to Mondstadt to open the new branch himself as a form of early retirement. Absolon informs Milun of his plan, and Milun is very pleased to take over control of Fidelitas. Absolon does not disclose his true motive: to find Conradine Regensturm.

He does just this, and finds Conradine several months pregnant. She has no money to her name, and recently had to sell her home, and currently sleeps on a friend's couch. Absolon introduces himself and explains the situation, offering to support her as she awaits the birth of her child. Feeling responsible for his son's actions, Absolon takes Conradine in and allows her to live with him in the building he has bought for Fidelitas. He helps her manage her sewing business, and gives her the building's bottom floor to use as a storefront. Absolon quickly takes on a paternal role in Conradine's life, as she is the type of person he would have hoped his daughter would have grown up to be.

Conradine gives birth to a baby girl whom she names Ottoline, when she is 19 and Absolon is 50. He is overjoyed to have a grandchild and adores Ottoline immediately, nicknaming her "chouchou." He helps Conradine reconcile with her brothers, from whom she had become recently estranged. Absolon and Conradine agree that the best thing to do for Ottoline's sake would be to hide the truth about her father from her.

This hodgepodge of a family is quite a happy one as Ottoline grows up. As a child, he teaches Ottoline how to do algebra so that she can check his work when he calculates loan payments. He has a special chair put in his office for her, and she frequently sits with him during his work day to keep him company. When Ottoline turns 7, Absolon has a bow custom made for her and passes on his archery knowledge, teaching her how to shoot a bow. She latches onto this hobby and quickly outpaces him in skill.

At 57, he is approached by Gautier Alarie, who has moved to Mondstadt with his young son Alpheus following the death of his wife Mireille in a flood. Gautier offers him a very large, high-stakes loan, which he promises to repay tenfold. Recognizing Gautier as an alchemist of moderate notability from Fontaine who worked with Milun on occasion, Absolon takes the offer, although it will drain most of his capital pool.

When Ottoline is 15 and Absolon is 65, she disappears on a "hunting trip" and returns with documents stating that Milun has renounced his position as Fidelitas' chief executive, and that managerial responsibilities have been returned to Absolon. He begins training Ottoline to take over Fidelitas as his successor when she is 20, but through her skill, competence, and the pace at which she learns everything Absolon has to teach her, he bequeaths leadership of Fidelitas to her the following year when she turns 16 and retires.

Absolon lives a long and happy life, living long enough to witness Ottoline's marriage to Alpheus and the birth of his only great-grandchild, Friederike "Fritzi" Regensturm-Dubois. He passes away peacefully in his sleep at age 92, and at long last, is finally reunited with his beloved wife and daughter.