Family

hello yes i’m mad hyperfixating on terraria rn and i’m neck deep in The Lore. i’ve fallen in love with purity town in the process and i just vibe so much with the idea of the guide’s character in general anyway this is me requesting as much Andrew lore as you’d be willing to type up because your worldbuilding is so good-

gfjdkslkdlmf Hi I would absolutely love to go off about him but I collapse in an unstructured environment so! I’m gonna toss some random stuff under the cut! I know this took a while to post anon, but I hope you enjoy!

Family

He was raised in a small village. If you can picture the in-game purity backgrounds, the area he's from is based off of the background with the grasslands and plateaus. It's part of a larger swath of grasslands to the east that borders part of the same mountain range that the comic takes place in!

He lived with his single mother and older brother.

His mother was born shortly after the war ended, when the world was at its most vulnerable, before the Wall of Flesh locked away the worst of the monsters and the most unstable magics. She knew how it was to grow up in a village where the bell rang every night to signal sundown, when everyone was to shutter their windows and barricade their doors.

His mother and brother both had black hair -- Andrew was the only one in town with orange hair, which was endlessly confusing and annoying for him. Andrew never learned who his (and presumably also his brother’s) biological father was, and doesn't really care.

Andrew’s hair color is natural in the sense that it technically grows that color, but if it weren’t for the whole “link to the WoF” thing, his hair would have been brown or black like the rest of his family. Likewise, his eyes would have just been brown.

His closest father figure was a man named James who was one of the original people made into Guides -- that is, the first group of folks who started out as community leaders, researchers, etc. helping to rebuild post-war that Terraria first gave her blessing to and made into the first Guides. James was a trans man and Andrew’s mother’s best friend, so he was around their house a lot. For simplicity and lack of a better word, on the rare occasions he mentions James, Andrew refers to James as his step-father or mentor.

His village didn’t have a school, so James was likewise the one to handle his education, and encouraged him often to go out and talk with people to learn more about the world (especially since Andrew never knew the world pre-WoF, when it was far more dangerous and monstrous).

Andrew’s brother, Nathan, didn’t get along with James whatsoever.

Andrew met the Dryad once as a child when she visited his hometown. She didn’t like him much, sensing what he was, but she adored his brother who had gotten a reputation as a local hero. Andrew was jealous for the longest time over this.

Andrew’s whole family was able to ride horseback, mostly out of necessity. Andrew’s horse was a deep red gelding named Chessie, James’ horse was a golden-brown mare named Peanut, and Nathan’s horse was a black mare named Flora. When his mother rode with them, she’d usually go on Abby, a speckled white and black gelding, and there was another mare, Tango, used for teaching kids to ride. (These horses were all shared among the village, but this was usually the selection they rode with.)

Andrew and Nathan did a lot of adventuring together once Andrew was strong enough to use a bow with a heavy enough draw weight to do some real damage. Nathan had more of a tendency to jump into danger, though, being a melee user, and this eventually led to his death.

Nathan had always wanted to “get out” of their hometown. He and Andrew had their arguments growing up, but they both loved learning about the world beyond the plains and mountain ranges where they had grown up, and searching for ruins and artefacts from before the war.

Because of where Andrew grew up, he’s more inclined to live in smaller communities, even if they fall prey to the small town rumor mill aspect of things. Big cities (not that there are many of them, and even then they’re not that big) are a bit overwhelming and disconnected from nature, though he appreciates being more anonymous in them. He wouldn’t mind someplace like where Chris grew up -- big enough to have better infrastructure and public services and slightly less of a small town culture, while still being small enough that it’s a part of the landscape rather than replacing it.

The Order

All Guides have a symbol they use for publishing in place of their names. This is because it’s fairly common practice to change your name after being resurrected, and Guides are resurrected more often than most folks are due to their importance to helping communities flourish. So, they use marks, which are made with specialized stamps for wax and ink and are carved into a particular symbol with some meaning to them. It’s pretty common to also get this symbol as a tattoo, though Andrew's never bothered, especially since tattoos and piercing and the likes disappear every time he dies.

Andrew’s mark is a phoenix head with a stylized eye, and is the same mark he’s used since he became a Guide (they usually go through an apprenticeship/training period after it’s discovered that they possess the Gift of Knowledge/Terraria's Blessing/whatever you'd care to call it.)

Considering Andrew is the most well-read and published Guide as a result of being immortal, his mark is very well known among academics, but it’s typically assumed by scholars not associated with the Order that that particular mark is being passed down from one Guide to his trainee and so on.

Andrew being immortal is an open-secret among the order. The ones who have been in the order for longer love to spook trainees with crazy stories about him (he's a half-demon demigod who can smite people!!! :0), but he actually meets up with others so rarely that he’s often not recognized outside of the more senior members. He finds it pretty funny though when he’s assumed to be a new Guide and tossed in with the other trainees and all, though he does try to gently correct said crazy stories when they get out of hand.

Likewise, whenever he introduces himself as "Andrew, y'know, the immortal guy who writes all the textbooks?" the reaction he usually gets is "huh, I thought you'd look older." He did get stuck with eternal youth and is forever in his 20s, so that reaction does at least make a little sense.

Outside of the Order, some academics who have gone digging are aware of the rumor that there's a man who's immortal, but it's hardly ever documented or acknowledged -- after all, magic exists and Terraria's lone remaining Dryad is immortal herself, so it's not a crazy jump to imagine she also randomly blessed some guy. For all they know there are dozens of immortals in society, and none of them are selling some snake oil immortality potion, so why care?

Andrew's main reasoning for hiding his immortality in the first place is 1. People already think suspiciously of him and he just wants to disappear and 2. It can make it even harder to fit in, and would just be weird to be famous for. So, he’d rather it didn’t make its way to the general public, though he wouldn’t really care if it became more known so long as it didn’t affect his daily life personally.

Guides usually don’t go for a proper degree at one of the few major universities (outside of getting an honorary degree), but they’re always allowed to sit in on classes as an observer. Likewise, Andrew would really love for one day to be able to lecture in history or linguistics at a university like that -- he thinks it’d be grand to show up to a class and say “today I’m giving a guest lecture on history and the reason you should pay attention to me is that I’ve actually lived through because I’m 463 years old.” But he’s never done it.

Andrew-Specific Quirks

He has a habit of pulling at his hair right behind his ears where it grows longer/curls over by his jaw whenever he’s thinking hard or getting nervous, but also tends to just generally play with his hair as a fidget thing. It used to be long enough to pull back, but he changes his hairstyle every few years. Right now it’s short and clean shaven, but he’s messed with it plenty before.

His favorite fruit by merit of utility is apples, because many of their varieties are quite sturdy as far as plants grow, and you can make tons of things out of them. However, his *real* favorite fruit is strawberries, particularly the variety that’s very small and super juicy/sweet.

He’s not even usually a fan of sweet things, in contrast to Chris who has a crazy sweet tooth. He likewise doesn’t often get into arguments, but it was pretty funny to get into it with Chris over whether strawberries are naturally meant to be eaten with or without sugar. (Andrew is adamant that strawberries should be eaten raw. Chris says they need at least a little sugar, maybe cream and vanilla.)

He’s not a fan of alcohol, and doesn’t really *get* it. Like, you drink a gross tasting thing that makes you lose control? No thanks. If offered something that doesn’t taste alcoholic his reaction is more “why would you give me this? I’d prefer a glass of just the mixer.”

When sleeping somewhere unfamiliar to him he’s a very quiet sleeper, but when at home he’s very restless. He goes to bed every night with a pillow under his head and blanket pulled over him like a normal person and by morning has thrown one pillow to the floor, has the other clutched to his chest/stomach, is sleeping with his head on his folded elbow, and has mostly lost his blanket to the clutches of gravity off the side of his bed.

Continuing on this vein, he tends to wake up just before sunrise every day. To keep with his sleep schedule he usually gets up after he naturally wakes up, though if he didn’t force himself out of bed he’d probably be able to get back to sleep.

He doesn’t tend to nap either, though he will if he’s gotten a headache from staring too long at a paper or something.

He’s a bit of a snob about fountain pens and their ~superior smoothness~ on the paper, but in all actuality, it does help that he can keep his hand relaxed while writing, which eases the tension in it. All injuries are reverted upon resurrection (RIP the earrings he wore as a teenager) so it wouldn't matter *that* much, but he does at least attempt to stay healthy.

Mostly due to his connection with the WoF, he can do a tiny bit of magic, but has never pursued it. In Purity Town, falling stars are essentially loose magic, so only a mage can hold them -- he can just barely contain one in the way that one would cup sand in their fingers. (Chris, by contrast, started catching falling stars mid-air for fun because he heard as a child they'd give you wishes and thought that was a cute idea.)

The bow he usually uses is just a basic wooden recurve bow mainly used for small game (and basic protection, like against slimes). He still hunts sometimes, but less so now that he lives in town vs. being outside of a town’s borders as he’s lived for some time. He does own a heavier draw weight bow that he practices with sometimes, but it’s mainly reserved for blood moons. Being an archer for so many years, and learning to shoot while on horseback, has given him a sharp aim. His first bow was just your typical simple survival bow, but while he’s learned to make his own, nicer ones over the years, he still tends towards simplicity.

He commits to using no “trendy slang” because he’s awful at accidentally using slang from 60 years ago interspersed with slang from 10 years ago and he just can’t keep that all straight. He has a tendency to use outdated phrases, though.

But outside of that he’s very good at picking up new languages! It’s a Guide thing. His native language is Old Terrarian, he’s obviously fluent in Common, and he learned the Lihzahrd language ages ago when he, his queerplatonic partner at the time, and a Lihzahrd friend would go out adventuring together.

His personal involvement in adventuring really died after said partner was killed, though he's still remained very close to the whole "hero" situation. He's still capable of accompanying someone without getting himself immediately killed, and at the least he isn't grossed out by mud or blood or anything.

His moving to Purity Town in general was a *mess*. The Arms Dealer nearly gutted him for "skulking around" and was terribly displeased when all Andrew had to do was introduce himself and the town's Guide at the time was plenty happy to welcome Andrew in for a chat despite his aura.

He’s a huge nerd when it comes to being able to identify things. He’s not as good at any one subject as any of the other townsfolk with specializations are, because he’s done a lot of book learning vs. actual practice, but he’s gotten good at telling gemstones apart, determining the properties of soil, testing cloth materials, and so on. It helps when he’s having to identify stones and minerals!

He’s also something of a potion-maker. It sort of ties back into having James, a trans man, as his parental figure -- learning to make a potion to literally change yourself into a better expression of your gender identity. It’s instilled a strong value into his mind of “it’s not as hard as you think it is. We’ll figure out how to make this potion for you so that you can be the best you you can be.” This is especailly because so many people don't know how versatile gender change potions can be, even for people who don't have dysphoria, only have dysphoria in certain parts of their bodies, or are agender/nonbinary (or physically intersex or just generally not doing a flat mtf or ftm transition).

But also, potion making is like cooking and baking! Just gotta follow the instructions.

Speaking of baking, as a Guide he’s got a perfect recollection of facts he’s read, so he doesn’t own any cookbooks that aren’t gifts. He can just commit the recipes to memory, after all. This fact drives Chris absolutely nuts, because while Chris is very much a “I don’t technically know how much spice to add, you just shake it in based on the whims of your soul and you'll just kinda feel it” sort of cook, it’d still be nice to have easier access to learn new recipes to try.

Andrew counts on his fingers and writes tally marks differently than the accepted modern-Terrarian way! Most folks count pointer finder, middle finger, ring finger, pinkie, and thumb, while he starts with his thumb and then counts the other four fingers. Likewise, most folks do the four |||| with a line across making five, while he was always taught to start with a ( symbol, do three dashes across the center starting from the top, and then close it to make a backwards D. This goes back to how his first language is written, where ( and ) are used for sentence punctuation an are mirrored at the start and end of a sentence, so tally marks start like a sentence does and then are closed “flat” to allow you to continue to add more tallies beyond just the first five.

And one last bit, he’s not a huge fan of fiction! He doesn’t hate poetry conceptually but he’s not super into it, or anything else that’s more about symbolism/feeling/interpretation. It’s funny, because he actually quite enjoys listening to people tell stories, and music, but he’s just never been that into sitting down with a story book. He’s got hit little subset of fiction books he owns, and an even smaller subset of fiction books he inexplicably likes, and that is all.

OKAY I wrote all 2k words of that in a haze and a flurry of typing, but if you’ve made it this far I hope you found at least some of this interesting!