Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim
Imperial Physician
Theo, Solemn Student
The Hohenheim Duchy, a small, mountainous territory, never had the best of fortunes. Its soil was barren, unsuited for growing most food crops or allowing livestock to graze. Its ruling house had never been the most affluent in the empire. Traders rarely passed through, save for the caravans carrying their own exports and returning with food. Bandits easily hid out of sight of militia troops among the mountains, and pursuing them was often a treacherous affair that incurred more injuries from terrain than from battle.
Yet the duchy had always scraped by. Though food crops seldom flourished, many medicinal plants grew wild in the mountain soil, some unable to be found elsewhere in Fódlan. The noble family themselves, with a reputation for being a studious bunch and consistent access to excellent education, used these supplies to carve out a niche as doctors and men and women of science.
Medicine alone was never enough to keep the duchy out of financial trouble. For centuries, they had fallen in and out of debt, never managing to claw their way out of economic despair for long before some environmental disaster ruined the year's crop once more. Mud and rockslides were common, as were floods when mountain glaciers began to melt in the hotter months. Bitter snowfall choked the life from more temperate plants, and, in times of drought, wildfires could spring up with little warning.
But that all changed, and quite suddenly at that. In Imperial Year 1176, when Theo was 13, the winds of fortune changed for House Hoenheim. Gold was discovered under the mountains they called home, and riches began pouring in for nobles and commonfolk alike in the territory. Bizarrely, the Duchess began restricting immigrants to the territory, not permitting any who sought to work as miners into her land. None of the peasantry currently residing there took up the mining occupation either, and all residing in the territory refused to reveal the location of the mines they relied so heavily upon out of fear that their gold may be pillaged.
It was this unexpected windfall that allowed Theo to attend school at Garreg Mach Monastery. Often chided for his bizarre behavior around his peers, Theo rarely seems to be having the same conversation as whoever is speaking to him. His suggestions are outlandish, his remarks non-sequitur, and his eyes, when visible at all, stare off into space beyond whoever he is speaking to. He quickly forgets appointments he made, and struggles to remember dates, including his own parents' birthday. Most of the time, he dons a black leather mask in the vague shape of a bird's hooked beak, eyes hidden behind tinted goggles. The mask emits a faint fragrance, as Theo constantly stuffs the "beak" with aromatic herbs or flowers that soothe his nerves. His moony persona belies remarkable intelligence and a sharp wit, though how much of his spaciness is an act, if any, is hard to determine.
A Continent Divided
Though he is a noble of the Adrestian Empire, Theo holds little allegiance to his nation. He has never placed much importance on the place of one's birth, in part due to the stigma surrounding his own family and their reclusiveness. He always desired to see the world, though seeing it embroiled in the flames of war was not how he imagined it.
Further polarizing him from his country was Edelgard's rise to emperor. In her purge of corrupt nobility, both Theo's mother and father were stricken of their titles, and all funding gained from the mysterious gold mines audited. Unlike Dukes Aegir and Varley, Theo's parents did not receive a sentence of exile or house arrest. Theirs was a sentence of death, as Edelgard condemned them for not serving as doctors, but as butchers; it was they, she claimed, who had conducted the horrific experiments on her and many others that granted the power of two crests.
Theo wholeheartedly believes his parents innocent, though all evidence points to the contrary. He holds documents (primarily research notes) from Celsus, the original bearer of his family's crest. Their insight into the process by which Celsus obtained his crest and the experiments he performed have allowed Theo to make vast strides in medical research. These notes, however, were decried as falsehoods and forgeries, their contents being deemed heretical to the Seiros faith.
Though Theo remains blissfully unaware, the documents are indeed forgeries. He is not wrong about his mother's innocence, though not for the reason Theo suspects. Duchess Bombaste von Hoenheim was already dead by time that the crest experiments began. An agarthan replacement exploiting the title of Royal Physician had been the one to perform the horrific experiments. It was that same agarthan that planted the documents from Celsus, a mix of true writings from Theo's ancestor, exaggerations presented as fact, and outright falsehoods.
With nowhere else to turn, Theo ultimately found himself back in Edelgard's service. Though he makes his disdain for the Emperor no secret, Theo's service is exemplary. He is, after all, a doctor. His only aim is to heal those in need of his aid, and with the flames of war blazing across the continent, Theo has no shortage of patients.
Theophrastus
Name: Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (usually written as Theophrastus von Hohenheim, goes by Theo)
Age: 16, 21 post-skip
Height: 4'11"/150 cm (pre-skip), 5'3"/160 cm (post-skip)
Crest: minor crest of Celsus (see above image; may occasionally cast healing magic a second time if target is not already fully healed)
Class: Noble --> Monk --> Dark Mage --> Dark Bishop --> Dark Knight
Strengths: Faith, Reason, Riding
Weaknesses: Lances, Bows, Brawling, Flying
Trivia:
· Theo is homosexual, though he doesn't display much interest in anyone
· Theo has a deep fear of illness
· Theo dislikes dealing with children for extended periods of time
· Theo is talented at sewing and leatherworking. He made all of his garments entirely by hand.
· Theo's outfit was designed to resemble the clothes that doctors wore when Theo was a young child. His fear of illness stems from his experiences during that same period of time.