Adel Winterfes

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A popular Gnomish playwright. His works are the delight of the masses, and while most of the learned shun his craft, he has a small following in the aristocracy who insist that his ribaldry masks a deep, philosophical outlook on the civilized mindset.

Background

Adel, born Adel WinterFestivalAboutNoon was born in Fresia, but spent no more of his early childhood in Fresia than in any of the other major nations--he grew up, instead, moving from place to place with his parents and assorted other family members, who were the descendants of a group of itinerant tinkerers and performers formed after being peculiarly displaced after the creation of Hakan following the end of Gnomish Vassalage. Contrary to the generally urban nature of other Gnomes, this group believed that the only sure homeland exists within oneself, and so consigned themselves to wandering from place to place rather than constrain themselves to one area. Within this already whimsical group, Adel's parents were particularly notable for their caprice, and Adel's childhood was filled with uncertainty, excitement, and enormous freedom.

While growing up, Adel's family of wanderers was at a low ebb, having continually lost members to civilization since its peak a hundred or so years ago. His parents were the last stolid bastion against returning to the old ways, and their contrariness found them at odds with governments, church entities, and simple civilized people alike. This all came to a head when, in Odessa, Adel's mother and father were arrested, tried, convicted and executed for sedition and treasonous influence, following a string of embarrassing incidents involving the local nobility. Adel was consigned to a halfway house, and forgotten about.

Eventually, Adel reached the age at which he was determined fit to care for himself. He found work doing odd jobs, and moved from place to place, eventually finding himself in Cebridon. At some point, he began writing, starting small--he would write short, bawdy limericks, or he would fit ribald lyrics to traditional songs, which would consternate very traditional Odessan sensibilities and endlessly tickle the lower classes.

His first foray into the world of theater, The Green King and the Blue Flower, was unremarkable, featuring a few of his popular limericks and songs. It was performed with a small company, and earned little notice. It wasn't until a year later, with the first performance of At a Softer Time Was Found a Son, that Adel found his voice and began to attract attention. A biting satire of the aristocracy, featuring thinly veiled stand-ins for unpopular nobles, it struck a chord with a normally stolid populace, and Adel found commoners coming in droves to see its performance. By the time the play's subjects discovered their mocking representations, Adel had become too popular to be done away with--at one point he was arrested, only to have a large crowd of people spontaneously press against his captors, completely blocking their path, until they promised to let him go.

Adel continued his work, releasing further satires that were invariably popular, from Has Away and Gone to Omnity Praise All His Shoes. The themes in his work continued to be satirical, and while the plays contained all the raciness of their predecessors, some began to find deeper meanings in his work, even professing to find profound insights into the state of civilization, and the stagnation of culture.

His most recent work, Find a Hidden Path, deviates from satire into the dramatic, and has been met with high praise. In it is depicted a family with all the apparent virtues praised in Odessan culture--stoicism, traditionality, and obedience--who finds itself being slowly torn to pieces by outside forces as it struggles to retain its dignity. Far from alienating his fan base, the play has been his most popular to date, and has sold out performances for six full months after its debut, with countless derivative works and imitations popping up all over the city.