Don Doessky

"Don Dossky, 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 Dossky is a universally-acclaimed and prolific author affiliated with New Hawk Publishing. He is most well known for writing the Zanageth Chronicles 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 Chronicles have spanned across 80 years and 472 volumes, making them the single longest-running literary work in the history of The Continent.

A notorious recluse, Dossky 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 in order to relay messages to and retrieve completed manuscripts from him. Additionally, Dossky will occasionally demand to travel to other dangerous locations in order 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, Dossky'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 in order to collect Dossky'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 Dossky hurriedly kicking the pair out of his house.

Later, Rance and Sachiko once again visited Dossky's home in order to investigate the disappearance of an editor who had gone missing after collecting his most recent manuscript. While Dossky 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 Dossky immediately refused to do. Though Rance begrudgingly halted his attempts to eat the cake, in his jealousy he sabotaged Dossky's meal by covering it in salt, rendering it inedible and causing him to get kicked out of the writer's home yet again.

Dossky encountered Rance and Sachiko for a third time after they accepted a request to escort him to Kawanakajima, the headquarters of the AL Church, in order 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, Dossky 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, Dossky 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.

In both the second and third encounter with him, Rance is capable of getting Dossky killed, either by throwing him against a wall in order to take his pastry from him or by allowing him to be killed by monsters while escorting him to Kawanakajima. Canonically, however, Dossky survived all three of his encounters with Rance and continues to tirelessly produce his writing.

Personality and Appearance
Dossky 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. His 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. He is noted to possess extremely poor hygiene, and is said by Rance to smell very bad.

An incredibly cantankerous and antisocial man who is deeply dedicated to his work, Dossky prefers living a life of solitude deep 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. In addition, Dossky 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 in order to accommodate him.

Dossky 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, Dossky'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, Dossky possesses a rather romantic spirit. He is deeply 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. Dossky firmly believes in the classical definition of a hero as 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.

Dossky has maintained a very negative opinion of Rance ever since he first encountered him. Due to his staunch beliefs in traditional heroism, Dossky is incapable of even considering the selfish and mean-spirited Rance to be a hero. This causes him to immediately deem Rance's claims to have saved the world countless times to be heresy, and has led to the two entering into arguments with each other about their truthfulness every time they interact.

Powers and Abilities
Nicknamed "the literary genius", Dossky is regarded as the single greatest writer currently operating on the Continent. He possesses a Writing Lv2 Skill Level that grants him an ingenious understanding of written language and has allowed him to craft countless beautifully-written and immensely gripping stories across his lengthy career. While the actual written contents of Dossky'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.

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

Outside of his extraordinary writing ability, Dossky is an entirely ordinary human. He possesses an average Level Cap of 10 and no notable fighting abilities. 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

 * Dossky 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 Dossky's own stated desire to alleviate his readers from the chaotic times in which they live through his writing.