Don Doessky

"Don Doessky, on Rance."

- Listen, a hero is someone who has a calm mind, who's modest, has a pure soul, loves people, and loves peace. However, a hero must also have the strength to be able to save those in need. Strength that comes from the will to protect, not from arrogance. There's no way you could be a hero.

About
Don Doessky is a universally-acclaimed and prolific author affiliated with New Hawk Publishing. He is most well-known for writing the series of adventure novels, which tell a fictionalized version of the exploits of Zanageth Helman, the founder of the Helman Empire. Released on a bimonthly basis, the Zanageth Saga has spanned across 80 years and 472 volumes, making it the single longest-running literary work in the history of The Continent.

A notorious recluse, Doessky lives in a small house deep within Eureka Maze, a labyrinth located somewhere in the Free Cities Alliance that is said to bring inspiration to anyone who ventures far enough into it. Because of the strange location of his home, it is very difficult for others to maintain contact with him, forcing his publishers to hire adventurers to venture into the cave to relay messages to and retrieve completed manuscripts from him. Additionally, he will occasionally demand to travel to other dangerous locations to search for inspiration for his writing, requiring his publishers to hire adventurers to safely escort him through them. Despite these requests being fairly outrageous, Doessky's reputation allows him to make them with impunity.

During the events of Rance Quest, Rance, along with his newly-acquired slave Sachiko Centers, traveled through Eureka Maze to collect Doessky's most recently-finished manuscript from him. Rance quickly angered the legendary author by ordering him to write a book about his adventures. This caused an argument to erupt between the two over whether or not Rance truly was a hero that resulted in Doessky hurriedly kicking the pair out of his house.

Later, Rance and Sachiko once again visited Doessky's home to investigate the disappearance of an editor who had gone missing after collecting his most recent manuscript. While Doessky had no information to provide them, Rance quickly became interested in the Suzuran Castella pastry that the editor had given him in exchange for his writing, and demanded the aging author to give it to him, which Doessky immediately refused to do. Though Rance begrudgingly halted his attempts to eat the cake, in his jealousy he sabotaged Doessky's meal by covering it in salt, rendering it inedible and causing him to get kicked out of the writer's home yet again.

Doessky encountered Rance and Sachiko for a third time after they accepted a request to escort him to Kawanakajima, the headquarters of the AL Church, to find a rare species of Insect known as the diligent firefly that is said to boost the concentration of anyone near them. During the trip, Doessky became impressed by Sachiko's bravery as well as her ability to sustain heavy damage, claiming that she was loved by God and given divine protection. When the trio finally discovered the location of the diligent fireflies, Doessky ordered Rance and Sachiko to leave him alone for two hours to concentrate on his writing, causing Rance to take advantage of the solitude and finally take Sachiko's virginity.

During the events of Rance X, Rance and his party were once again required to search for Doessky to gain his assistance in ambushing La Hawzel, one of the Dark Lords in charge of the Monster Army's invasion of the Kingdom of Leazas. Having learned that Hawzel was a devoted fan of Dragon Patch (ドラゴンパッチ, Doragon Pachi), another book series that Doessky had written, Rance planned to convince him to complete the series' much-anticipated seventh and final volume and hold a book signing in an enclosed area to draw the bookish Dark Lord towards a space that she would be unable to escape from. Through the assistance of Crane, Rance and his allies were able to track down the elusive writer, who had taken an extended trip to the Hyper Building, the tallest building on the Continent, for the sake of gaining inspiration for his writing.

Upon finally reaching Doessky's location, the party was shocked to learn that he had lost all interest in completing Dragon Patch, and was instead planning on beginning an entirely new science fiction series inspired by the inner workings of the high-tech tower. Outraged, Rance threatened Doessky at sword-point and demanded that he finish the series in three days in exchange for his life. With no alternative besides death available to him, Doessky was forced to comply with the demand, and hurriedly began writing the final installment of Dragon Patch, getting harangued all the while by Rance, who had chosen to appoint himself as the book's editor.

After two weeks of nonstop work, Doessky successfully completed the seventh volume of Dragon Patch, which was immediately published in a limited supply of 200 copies with the financial backing of the Leazas Government. Through Maris Amaryllis' vast web of connections, news of the book's release was quickly spread all across Leazas, with rumors circulating of it being the last book ever to be published causing public interest in it to quickly surge, leading to dozens of people flocking to the large cave where its release party was being held. While Doessky himself was ashamed of the book, which was written in haste over a scant few days and liberally butchered by Rance, it nonetheless succeeded in its intended purpose of attracting La Hawzel towards a restrictive location, allowing the Dark Lord Extermination Squad, the elite fighting unit led by Rance, to ambush and defeat her.

Following Hawzel's defeat, Doessky was inexplicably recruited to serve as a member of the Dark Lord Extermination Squad to assist in fighting against the forces of the Monster Army. Doessky, a frail noncombatant, was initially confused and terrified by his involvement with the war, but quickly became excited at the prospect of working closely together with some of the world's most legendary warriors during what was quite possibly the most important war in the history of the Continent. Doessky approached several other members of the squad with the hope of gaining their approval for writing a series inspired by their exploits, noting in particular that he desired to do a sequel series to the Zanageth Saga inspired by Patton Helman, Zanageth's direct descendant, but was refused each time.

Eventually, Rance, annoyed that Doessky had been ignoring him, demanded that the author write a series based on his life, and threatened to have him executed if he did not. Unable to perceive Rance as the hero of a fantasy epic, Doessky instead chose to write a four panel gag manga starring a caricature of the brutal warrior. To his surprise, Doessky found himself to enjoy writing a cartoon comedy much more than he expected, considering it to be a relaxing alternative to his usual content, and produced several other comic strips based around the concept in a short amount of time. Doessky later presented a compilation of these strips, entitled Rance-kun (ランスクン, Ransu-kun), to Rance, who, while initially put off by the unexpected format, was amused enough to allow Doessky to continue writing them.

Rance is capable of killing Doessky during both his second and third encounters with him by either throwing the aging novelist against a wall to take his pastry from him or by allowing him to be killed by monsters while escorting him to Kawanakajima. As Doessky later appears in Rance X, neither of these events is considered to be canon.

Personality and Appearance
Doessky is an elderly man with short white hair and a generally disheveled appearance. He possesses a face with harsh-looking features that is almost always contorted into a dour expression, with dark circles around his eyes and a long and fairly unkempt beard that is split down the center. He is noted to possess extremely poor hygiene, with Rance claiming that he smells very bad. Doessky's clothing consists of a stained and tattered dark gray trench coat and a matching fedora with a strange yellow smiley face bauble attached to it.

An incredibly cantankerous and antisocial individual who is deeply dedicated to his work, Doessky prefers living a life of solitude within monster-infested caverns over interacting with other people. He is easily agitated by the behaviors of others, and is unafraid to angrily vent his frustrations at them when they provoke him. Doessky also maintains a very high opinion of himself, which causes him to frequently make unreasonable demands without a second thought due to his belief that all other people are indebted to him and his writing. Because of these qualities, he is notoriously difficult to work with, forcing his publishing company to go to rather extreme lengths to accommodate him. Beneath this outer harshness, however, Doessky is genuinely appreciative of his readers, and shows great disgust in himself when he believes that he has released a book that is beneath their standards.

Doessky infamously possesses a rather large sweet tooth, to the point where he is willing to accept a freshly made Suzuran Castella cake as payment for his work over money. When eating sweets, Doessky's mood instantly lightens and he begins happily waxing about his love for them. Similarly, he becomes even more irritable than he normally is whenever he is deprived of his favorite food.

In spite of his unpleasant personality, Doessky has a rather romantic spirit. He is very fascinated by tales of heroes, and believes them to be a universal source of inspiration and hope to all those who hear them. This causes him to view his work as an important part of the current era of Humanity, as it allows its readers to find comfort and solace from the chaotic reality of their lives. Doessky firmly believes in the classical definition of a hero being a courageous-yet-courteous person who utilizes their great strength to assist others rather than themselves, and is quick to argue against anyone who claims that a hero can come in any other form. Similarly, Doessky is also enamored by the classical image of Dragons being the ultimate enemy of humankind, causing him to be instantly fascinated by Cantel, a dragon who has devoted his life to assisting humans.

Doessky has maintained a very negative opinion of Rance ever since he first encountered him. Due to his staunch beliefs in traditional heroism, Doessky is incapable of viewing the selfish and mean-spirited Rance as a hero and refuses to accept his claims of having saved the world countless times as being truthful. This dismissal irritates Rance, leading almost all interactions between the two to erupt into rancorous arguments over his qualifications as a hero. Even after learning that Rance had been placed in charge of leading humanity in war against the Monster Realm, Doessky showed no interest in re-evaluating his opinion of him, and continued to disparagingly refer to him as a "delinquent" throughout the duration of the conflict. When forced to create a story that featured Rance as the star, Doessky rejected any attempts at making a fantasy epic in the vein of his usual writing, noting that a character like Rance would only work in such a story as either a minor antagonist who betrays the hero or secondary comic relief. After some deliberation, however, he grew to enjoy utilizing Rance as a comedic lead, causing him to write several comic strips starring him which even Rance himself finds entertaining to read.

Abilities
Nicknamed "The Literary Genius", Doessky is regarded as the single greatest writer currently operating on the Continent. He possesses a Writing Lv2 Skill Level, granting him an ingenious understanding of written language that has allowed him to craft countless beautifully-written and immensely gripping stories across his lengthy career. While the actual contents of Doessky's books have yet to be shown, he has nonetheless routinely showcased his linguistic excellence during his impassioned speeches about the value of heroes in the current era. Doessky's talent extends across all written mediums, as he is able to write a simplistic comic strip with the same level of quality as his dramatic novels.

Along with being gifted at constructing stories, Doessky is also capable of producing new writing in very short amounts of time. This has allowed him to consistently release each lengthy installment of the Zanageth Saga every two months for over 80 years, with only a handful of delays occurring throughout them. Doessky requires absolute concentration when performing his writing, however, causing him to spend extended amounts of time isolated in dangerous locations to sufficiently spark his creative ability.

Outside of his extraordinary writing talent, Doessky is an entirely ordinary human. He possesses an average Level Cap of 10 and no notable fighting ability, giving him minimal utility in combat. In addition, his advanced age makes him very frail, to the point where a strong shove against a wall is enough to be a lethal blow for him. This weakness requires him to take special precaution when traveling through monster-infested areas.

Trivia

 * The book series that Doessky is currently known to have written include:
 * Zanageth Saga: Doessky's masterwork. A war drama inspired by the life of Helman's first emperor Zanageth Helman. At nearly 500 volumes, it holds the record for the longest-running piece of writing in the history of the Continent. While critically lauded, it is infamous for being incredibly dense, making it difficult for new readers to get into.
 * Dragon Patch: A fantasy series set in a world torn apart by a war between humans and dragons that tells the story of the budding romance between a young human man and the princess of the dragons. Written with a younger audience in mind than the Zanageth Saga, its straightforward story gradually becomes more complex with each consecutive installment. Currently six of a planned total of seven volumes have been released, all of which have become best sellers. Both Sachiko Centers and La Hawzel are very outspoken fans.
 * Dragon Patch Vol. 7: The final installment of the Dragon Patch series written over a period of two weeks during the 2nd Dark Lord War while under the threat of execution. Edited by Rance, it is little more than hastily-written smut that mostly disregards the setting and characters established in the previous books. Unlike its predecessors, it was independently published by Doessky with funding from the Kingdom of Leazas' government, making its canonicity debatable. While Doessky considers it to be a disgrace to both his career and his readers, it is nonetheless considered to be a collector's item due to only 200 copies of it existing.
 * Rance-kun: A four panel gag comic inspired by the life of the warrior Rance. Initially written under the threat of execution, Doessky unexpectedly enjoyed writing it as a break from his usual work, prompting him to make several strips. Despite consisting entirely of jokes at his expense, Rance is a big fan of it.
 * A copy of the first volume of Zanageth Saga appears in the Alicesoft game Evenicle 2 as an equippable weapon for the character Charlotte Bronte. It is described as "A record of the exploits of the founder of the fictional nation of Helman", suggesting that an alternate universe version of the series is published in the setting, but as a work of total fiction rather than as a fictionalized retelling of historical events as it is on the Continent.
 * Doessky came in 23rd place in the "Males" category of the Rance Quest Popularity Poll.
 * Doessky is heavily modeled after 19th century Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky in name, appearance and personality. Dostoevsky focused mainly on analyzing the tense social and political atmosphere of Russia in his writing through a combination of philosophy, allegory and humor. This parallels Doessky's own stated desire to alleviate his readers from the chaotic times in which they live through his writing.
 * Doessky's flagship Zanageth Saga  novels are likely inspired by the similarly-titled heroic fantasy series Guin Saga, which holds the record for longest-running single-writer's work and is credited as codifying the western fantasy genre in Japanese media. Likewise, Doessky's Rance-kun comic is likely inspired by the similarly-titled comedy manga Osomatsu-kun.