Manuel de Barcelona

Manuel is Shield Grog to the Magus Alcibiades

[ Background | Attributes | Equipment ]
Description
capital_m.gif (2589 bytes) anuel stands about 6'5" tall, and is reminiscent of a Spanish Hercules.  He shaves his head once a week which for some reason adds to his imposing presence.
He is most often seen in his bronze Corinthian helmet and bronze scale hauberk with fur leggings (or loin cloth when it is warmer... Alcibiades prefers the Hoplite look), carrying an enormous tower shield.   His dark brown eyes are always probing their target for weakness, as if he is a silent tiger estimating his prey.  Furthermore, the teeth missing in his smile add to the effect, conjuring an image of bared teeth rather than a friendly gesture.
Background
capital_m.gif (2589 bytes) anuel was a mercenary from Barcelona who was working for the Lombards when he angered some Faeries while on a firewood gathering detail.
Consequently he was turned into a tree and could only swear for two years. At first the Faeries were amused by his cursing, but after a few months it started to iritate them. (Of course they didn't think that if they released him from the curse he would probably go away and stop cursing.)  One day, while Alcibiades was solving a problem for Trevadacil (see Alcibiades' History), he encountered the faeries who had cursed Manuel.   They asked Alcibiades if there was anyway to make the tree stop cursing. Alcibiades made a deal with the Faeries and Manuel.  Alcibiades told the Faeries that he could only stop the Manuel-tree's cursing if they turned him back into a human so that his tongue could be removed. The Faeries agreed and Alcibiades removed Manuel's tongue and gave it to the Faeries. The Faeries were so pleased by the success that they forgot to change Manuel back into a tree.  Manuel was so grateful that he pledged his life to Alcibiades.  Alcibiades has told Manuel that there are still some residuals of the curse left in his body, and that to replace the tongue, which could possibly be done, might reactivate the curse.  So to that end Manuel agreed to remain mute.