Jude-a-Jumping

[Jude-a-Jumping]

Jude-A-Jumping

Age  130

Gender  Male

Origin  Elven orphan from Silmorael

Occupation  Jester/lore-keeper

Hey nonny
Say nonny
Stay nonny, no
Speak not of things of which none should know

​

Sunset turns a pastoral sky velveteen purple. Jude-a-Jumping pulls coins from the ears of giggling children and flowers from his nose. Later, when everything else is silent, he sits in rapt attention as their grandmother tells him stories of the world she knew as a girl. In a dusty temple amidst Cindersend's ramshackle tenements, adherents of a dwindling religion welcome a child with their ancient rite. His fingers trace the music of their holy songs, committing them to memory. Tensions rise among landborn as the Warlord of a High House prepares harsh judgement for a minor crime. A fool seizes command of the hall. He acts out the story of a tyrant. He breaks tensions with his jokes. The sentence is softened, the rabble pacified.

Once a half-feral orphan scampering through the forests of Silmorael, Jude-a-Jumping's fast feet and wits earned him the attention of Tatterdown Dill, a jester who trained the boy to follow in her oversized footsteps. After years as her assistant, apprentice and sometime accomplice, Jude-a-Jumping was inducted into The Motley. This loose and secret network of clowns serves a twofold purpose. They are performers, entertainers and storytellers. Yet they also serve as oral historians and lore-keepers, gathering obscure histories and overlooked wisdom on their travels.

For more than a century, Jude-a-Jumping has travelled Suldaza with only the clothes on his back, jingle-belled hat on his head and no weapon more dangerous than his slapstick and sharp tongue. He takes payment from those who can afford it, food from those who can spare it, and tidbits of wisdom and learning from those who are lucky enough to have it. Ever the trickster, he conceals counsel in bawdy jokes, messages in raucous ballads. He knows secrets deemed too unimportant for others to remember. He remembers history no one thought to write down. But first, and more importantly: Why is a dragon like an old dwarf when his bar tab comes due?

Spoiler

Both are hot-headed, long in the tooth and unlikely to be seen around here any time soon.