Beat-Pot Aelwrin is one of my favorite capital “H” Heroes, and IMO the most interesting Lunar Hero (as opposed to Heroine). Here’s WBRM:
Beat-Pot Aelwrin was born in the Redlands, a desert noted for revolting against the empire. As a boy, Aelwrin was captured during one such rebellion and made into a kitchen slave in the Imperial Train. Far from defeated, he organized and led the slaves in a successful revolt, where he earned his name by using only the tools of his enforced trade. Aelwrin’s plunder of the holy Frantic Ground and the rape of the dowager Priest-Mother brought Jar-eel into combat, followed swiftly by the defeat of the rebels. Captured again, Aelwrin tried to kill himself rather than peel another potato for the empire. Jar-eel saved him, and took it upon herself to teach the boy right. He recanted after long, private hours of persuasive argument. Now a man, he is High Priest of the Moonsword Cult, and nearly inseparable from the cult Saint.
Beat-Pot anticipates Danfive Xaron – the redemptive power of the Red Goddess. Aelwrin committed terrible crimes in the name of a slave rebellion, he recanted thanks to Jar-eel’s special “persuasiveness”.
The sexual dynamic between Beat-Pot and Jar-eel is present in most versions of the story. He’s Jar-eel’s Patroclus, Angela diGriz, David Addison, Hephastion, Antinous, or Wertham’s Robin. Despite how I depicted him in the web-comic or the comic depiction of him wearing a pot on his head, I think Beat-Pot is a beautiful, clean-shaven young man more than capable of capturing Jar-eel’s fancy.
And again, like all of the Gloranthan Heroes, there’s plenty of room for different interpretations of Beat-Pot. Maybe he is the comic figure of the board game chit. Maybe he is a dangerous fanatic, Jar-eel’s personal Luca Brasi – bodyguard, enforcer, and killer. Maybe he is a soul truly at peace with himself and the cosmos through the grace of Jar-eel, a Sugar/Rild to Jar-eel’s Sam. Perhaps he and Jar-eel are soulmates. Perhaps he is Jar-eel’s regularly cuckolded lover. Perhaps the relationship is chaste love, not polluted by any material lust. I’ve seen all of these and more.
Your Beat-Pot Will Vary!