Alfonse Srenhyuldsson

*"He was never one to quit, not when he knew that if he put in the work, he could create something beautiful."*

- Kida

Alfonse is historically known as 'The Mad King' as a result of his development of psychosis in his late years, which significantly worsened after the death of his wife in 1117. The degeneration of his mental state occurred gradually as a result of his extended use of The Divine No. 2 Pencil, which he wielded as the Monarch of Bepis for 40 years, twice as long as the traditional term length for a monarch. This illness nearly resulted in the destruction of the kingdom, and is the impetus for the events of deltagroundbeef (EST 1132) and Bepis' civil war.

## Profile

### Appearance

Alfonse hides his tall, lanky, body beneath a thick cloak. His muzzle is long, and his ear point upward. His rusty-maroon makeup highlights the tips of his ears, the corners of his eyes, and the steep slope of his muzzle. Toward the end of his term, his body begins to visibly deteriorate: the fur at the edges of his ears, the corners of his eyes, and the top of his muzzle is gone completely, meanwhile his cheeks sink and his coat becomes thin and wiry.

### Personality

While he was a demure and patient father to Kida, a devoted husband to his wife, and a soft-spoken and reassuring King to his subjects, he has since become paranoid and irritable. His voice is hoarse, and his words are biting. He has lost most of his close relationships with others.

### Capabilities

Despite his physical decline, Alfonse was a formidable fighter on his own. His possession of The Divine No. 2 Pencil, combined with his misunderstanding of reality made him a brutal and deadly combatant to go up against. For the first time in years, the wielder of the Divine Pencil truly did not hold back when exerting its power.

## Biography

### The Rising Leader

Alfonse married Zita and inherited a relatively stable Bepis from his mother, Syrenhuld. However, 5 years after he stepped up to the throne, the capital of Bepis was invaded by southern humans who sought to take over it. The invasion which took place in 1087, was short lived. The humans sacked minor villages on the way to Volunder, but when they arrived, Alfonse surrendered the walled city in exchange for safe retreat. The people of Bepis were confused, but trusted their King. When winter arrived, the humans who took over Volunder nearly froze to death, enabling an easy re-acquisition of the capital with minimal casualties. The kingdom applauded Alfonse's patient strategy and his successful restoration of the Kingdom, to which he devoted the remainder of his first 20-year term.

### The Absent Father

In the process of restoring the kingdom to glory, Alfonse neglected his son, leaving Zita to raise him. Zita and the child grew very close, but the child could not accept his father's role as a monarch, which had consumed his time entirely. The child, one day, attempted to reach the peak of Mount Zedimir to wield the Divine Pencil and prove to Alfonse his significance and win his respect, but the act resulted in the child's death. The body was not found. The entire kingdom weeped for their beloved child and heir to the throne; he was like son to everyone.

### Penance

After years of chastity and self-reflection, the King had another child. He made two major sacrifices in the process. Firstly, the Divine Pencil would never leave his sight. He guarded the Instrument by keeping it either in his chambers or on his person, despite the great injury that would surely result from keeping something so powerful at his side for an extended period of time. Secondly, out of grief and great shame, he hid Kida's face away from the public eye such that they would never mourn another of his children so profoundly. Even so, he cherished Kida to the ends of the earth. He devoted countless hours to the craft of glassmaking in order to produce beautiful gifts, toys, and jewelry for her. Alfonse was predominantly responsible for raising Kida, because Zita's heart was broken beyond the point where she could fully attach herself to the new child. As a result, Alfonse's royal duties were intermittently neglected. The kingdom's economy suffered from this, somewhat.

### The Mad King

When Zita was assassinated 1117, 5 years prior to the present, Alfonse's resolve weakened, and the impact of the Divine Pencil's radiation on his mind became symptomatic. He developed a medically unknown brain tumor, and his kind personality transformed into a nostalgic, paranoid, and irritable wolf. Reality and memory began to blur in the light of the Divine Pencil, and Alfonse became altogether confused. The kingdom has suffered greatly from this deterioration, and support for the king is at an all time low. Meanwhile, unemployment, poverty, and crime are skyrocketing. The incidents involving duplicate Divine Pencils threatens to collapse the power structure of the Kingdom entirely.

## Trivia

* Alfonse was given a human name at birth by his mother, who made great efforts to make peace with human civilization
* Alfonse has a special fondness of glassmaking