Quentyn of Ridgedale

From RHJunior Comics Wiki

A questor and the founder of Freeman Downs, as well as one of Quentyn son of Quinn's heroes. His adventure at Grimspire is the subject of the questor novel that starts off Tales of the Questor.

One of his notable features was that he had a white forelock. It's said he used to joke that "It must be where the white stag licked me."

Legacy

The archivist's guild sought to employ Quentyn of Ridgedale to recover a shipment of rare, historically priceless artifacts as discreetly as possible. Rather than accept gold in payment, he asked for land. He asked for three sizable land claims along the Cripple Creek, next to a little township called Freeman Downs. The guild agreed, Quentyn took the land, moved his titular questorhood to the township, and left to retrieve the lost items, entrusting his land claims to his daughter.

After he was proclaimed missing and legally dead, his daughter parceled the property and sold it by lot to the people of the township. The township grew and thrived, and eventually became the seventh village.

Most of the families currently living in Freeman Downs moved there after Silver Springs collapsed. Were it not for O'Ridgedale, they would have had no place to go, but he had left instructions with his daughter, who sold the land to the evicted families for a pittance.

Letter

Before leaving on his quest, Quentyn O'Ridgedale left behind his journal and this letter: "From the questor of Freeman Downs, to the questor of Freeman Downs,

I struggled a long time to decide what the first, most crucial piece of advice would be that I could give to whoever followed in my footsteps. I would have to say it was this: Never forget why you are a questor.

You are a questor. A man or woman of action. A person set aside for people to turn to when swift action is needed and difficult deeds need done. To help them when the status quo cannot.

There's coming a time, maybe in my lifetime, maybe after yours, when people will forget. They'll forget there ever was a time when they didn't enjoy peace and prosperity and safety. They'll forget that calamity can befall anyone at any time, and that more often the powers that be will not be prepared. They'll forget that they'll face times when swift action, not debate, is needed. They'll forget that they owe that peace and freedom, not to some government bureaucrat, but to men and women of action, acting on their own behalf, asking permissions of noone, apologizing to noone.

That was why the founders started us. Why they took the rough and ready questors of that time and established the first village questors. They wanted to ensure that there would always be at least one 'man of action' in every community, one person who could be swift and decisive and act when others could not, who would be expected to act, alone if need be, against the tide of popular opinion if need be, even in error if need be...and apologize later, rather than wait for permission. To lead by example, to remind the Rac Cona Daimh that in the end, each of them alone was responsible for his or her own safety, his or her own wellbeing, his or her own freedom. To remind them of that first law: In the end, it's up to you.

There'll be people who'll want to turn your position into something empty and ceremonial. There'll be people who want to put you under some fool advisory board, 'for your own good.' There'll even be some fools who'll try to brush you aside, say you're not needed anymore, the world is too 'civilized.' Don't you dare let them. So long as this old world turns, I guarantee heroes like you will be needed. And so long as you're there at your post, the Rac Cona Daimh will know that they can be their own heroes, that they are and will be free.

Signed, Quentyn of Ridgedale--First Questor and Founder of Freeman Downs"