Lolotaru Lalataru

Lolotaru Lala taru
Scholasticus inconcinnus in aeternum
Gender	Male
Race	Lalafell
Clan	Dunesfolk
Citizenship	None, at the moment
Age	Around 30
Height	2 fulms 10.2 ilms
Weight	35 ponz
Profession	Academic, adventurer, and former trader
Patron Deity	Thaliak (with special consideration for Oschon and Nald'Thal)
Server	Balmung

Lolotaru Lalataru (LOE-loe-tah-roo LAH-lah-tah-roo), is an aspiring scholar and professor and part-owner and proprietor of a small mercantile business, originally from Thanalan. He can currently be found predominately in Limsa Lominsa and La Noscea.

Appearance

Lolotaru stands at exactly 2 fulms and 10.2 ilms. His hair is brown with green highlights and, as a Dunesfolk, his birthstone is set in his forehead. His dress is eclectic and semi-utilitarian, following his mood and his work as a merchant and academic. He enjoys finery in a limited capacity, but is hardly in a position to splurge and doesn’t prioritize it overall. He not-so-secretly adores the prestige of classic academic dress and looks forward to the day when he can legitimately wear it. He is relatively free of major scarring or permanent markings. As he dedicates himself more and more to his books, he’s likely to develop a need for spectacles.

History

Judukodu Momokodu was a modestly successful Dunesfolk trader and itinerant merchant. As the founder and proprietor of Kodu Co. Travel & Trade, he made a relatively comfortable living traveling Thanalan and plying his wares. On a rare trip outside the region, he stopped at a small port town in Lower La Noscea where he met a beautiful, spunky young Plainsfolk girl named Lilala Lila. They married quickly and she returned with him to Thanalan where she soon gave birth to Lolotaru Lalataru, somewhere in the expanse of the desert along the caravan's route.

And that's how Lolotaru grew up: on the road, going back and forth from one end of Thanalan to the other. Always a curious child and an enthusiastic learner, his parents hired tutors for him as often as they were able, a practice which, for all of its blessings, left him with considerable gaps in his education. Nonetheless, he grew up an avid reader with an insatiable thirst for new sights and experiences.

While Lolotaru was yet a young Lalafell, Jujukodu fell ill and died. Despite the somewhat distant relationship between he and his father, Lolotaru inherited and assumed control of Kodu Co., which he ran successfully until only a short time ago. Following a brief period of hardship and struggling to make ends meet, unbeknownst to Lilala, the business became a front for certain trades of questionable legality. Then, the Calamity struck.

Disentangling Kodu Co. from the seedy characters with whom he had involved himself, Lolotaru and the company spent the next five years fulfilling a vital role in the more remote recesses of Thanalan and managed to drag itself back to profitability as the world worked to right itself. Exhausted by the work, but satisfied, Lolotaru was contacted by an old colleague of his father, a fellow trader and supplier, who offered him a trunk full of ancient looking books. The starved bibliophile that he was, Lolotaru carefully examined the trunk's contents, where he came across a small but thick tome, the cover all cracked and faded aquamarine, like the Rhotano, and pages a lovely, dirty shade of gold, like the sands of Thanalan. Despite not recognizing any of the characters or script, Lolotaru sold off most of Kodu Co.'s holdings for the trunk and its contents (and especially the aquamarine book) and, struck by a newly free sense of wonder, he delegated most of his responsibilities within the company, bought and installed his mother in a (literally) small inn for foreign Lalafell sojourning in Ul'dah, and traveled to Limsa Lominsa to begin his formal education history, languages, and arcanima (which he had up to then attempted to teach himself from books and scrolls acquired for his small personal library).

Personality

Lolotaru is an avid reader, enthusiastic learner, and ready autodidact. The variety and depth of the history and the world fascinates and excites him, but don't think him a stodgy traditionalist. While the academic tradition is to him an inspired edifice, he sees nothing greater than finding new opportunity for artistry within the sciences. His own amateur work with softened, fluid curves and flourishes in the otherwise rigid mystical geometries of arcanima have proven personally effective and he waits eagerly for the day when he can dedicate himself more fully to further developing his theories and designs.

While prone to lecture, Lolotaru also enjoys smiles, laughter, and conviviality, as evidenced by his clumsy yet earnest attempts at prestidigitation and his propensity for distracted drinking during animated conversation. Nonetheless, he deeply regrets certain actions in his past and, owing to his nomadic upbringing, has difficulty forming and maintaining long-term relationships.

Affiliations

• Kodu Co. Travel & Trade in Thanalan and the Littlest Inn in Ul'dah - Business of which he is the majority owner.
• Jujukodu Momokodu (deceased) - His father and founder of Kodu Co.
• Lilala Lila - His mother and proprietor of the Littlest Inn.
• The Arcanists' Guild

Characteristics

• Nicknames: Lolo, Lolly, Ollie, Laru, Larry, or Roo (never Lala, Lola, or Tata)
• Age: Around 30
  • Nameday: 31st Sun of the 5 Umbral Moon
• Gender: Male
  • Sexuality: Heterosexual
  • Marital Status: Single
• Alignment: Chaotic Good, over all
• Height: 2 fulms, 10.2 ilms
• Weight: 35 ponz
• Body: Average
• Hair: A dark bown, green streaked mess, like wet sand on the beach
• Eyes: Green
• Skin: Olive, rosy-cheeked, dark around the nose and ears, with a stone set in the forehead
• Clothing: You'll find him in robes, more than anything.

Likes

• Books
• Travel, foreigners, and the unknown
• Magic
• Miqo'te
• Wine, ale, and spirits
• Conversations and laughter, joy (and puns; gods he loves puns)
• Nym and Sharlayan (of which he currently knows little to none)

Dislikes

• Ignorance
• Cruelty
• Oppression
• Greed
• Haughtiness
• Emphatically martial personalities
• Garlemald
• Endings

Areas of Expertise

• Entrepreneurship
• Arcanima (currently amateur)
• Prestigitation

Strengths

• Magic
• Is an autodidact
• Curious and open

Weaknesses

• Stubbornness
• Incomplete knowledge

Other Notes

Naming

While perfectly open to certain (read: not all) nicknames and shortenings of his name, Lolotaru Lalataru rather likes the whole thing. He won't go around referring to himself in the third person, but there's room in the world for respectful formality here and there (and who doesn't like to hear their name pronounced with such?).

Religion

Lolotaru is a lifelong devotee of Oschon, although he long held fast to Nald’Thal in his business and now, in his aspiring scholarship, adores Thaliak above all.

Quirks

Lolotaru becomes very invested in conversations concerning certain subjects to the point of becoming distracted from just about everything else. He will also read anywhere and at just about any time.

You'll often see him staring at or leafing through his little aquamarine tome, clearly enraptured, but frustrated at his inability to understand it.

He also becomes visibly uncomfortable when discussion turns to the years immediately prior to the Calamity, his father, or Miqo'te women.

Rumors

You might happen to hear the following concerning Lolotaru Lalataru; primarily in Limsa Lominsa, Ul'dah, and certain areas of Thanalan. (And if your character has an opinion on him, go ahead and add it, by all means)

Common rumors

• "What's the deal with that book of his? The little bluish green one?"
• "It's gibberish. He was conned, I tell you. Look at him: he can't read a word of it!"

Uncommon rumors

• "He's a loony sort, ain't he?"
• "I heard he's rich. Spent it all saving lives out in the desert during the Calamity."
• "Nah, he blew it all on that book."

Things whispered only in the darkest of alleys (rare rumors)

• "A crook! A cheat and a swindle! An old conman, I know it."
• "Shh! You heard of the Goodfellow? The old cartel boss? That's him!"

Known Haunts

You'll see Lolotaru around any of the following places, currently:

• The Bismarck or the Arcanists' Guild in Limsa Lominsa
• Out and about through La Noscea
• His mother's inn in Ul'dah
• Along the trade routes in Thanalan

Possible Connections

• You may have met him or his father, Jujukodu Momokodu, on a trade caravan in Thanalan.
• If you're a Lalafell, you may have stayed at his mother's inn in Ul'dah (Lilala Lila at the Littlest Inn).
• You could be one of his classmates.
• It's unlikely, but you might recognize Kodu Co. as a front for criminal activity back in the days before the Calamity.

References

A Big Thanks

To L'yhta Mahre for the wiki template. Thanks L'yhta!