I recently posted a line up of all my characters, one of which was actually a DnD character that I wanted to develop even further after the campaign fizzled.
Okay so, for his lore, the Goldengraine name is extremely important. It is well known that Goldengraines are legendary cooks and expert food scientists; they are culinary masters.
This all comes from their ancestral deal with their gods. Basically, their lineage is gifted with very specific food talents and they must follow very specific rules as to not be punished by the gods who gifted them that talent.
This gift is usually represented by a food-shaped birthmark on their body.
Andreas has cousins named Octavia and Cephela. One had an octopus-shaped mark and the other has a squid-shaped mark. Any dish Octavia makes with octopus will be amazing without even her trying, and the case is the same with Cephela.
If either of them waste food in anyway, they’ll be cursed and will need to journey to the house of the Goldengraines to speak with their gods and appease them with a dish.
The curse varies case by case. Often times causing the bearer to gorge or starve themselves, sometimes they become forgetful and even start to lose their mind. But across the board, the curse removes their cooking talent. They only gain back their cooking abilities when their gods have been appeased.
Andreas is a unique case. He was cursed at birth. His father hunted monsters as a job, usually cutting out a prize piece and bringing it back. His mother was a Goldengraine, Honico Goldengraine (specializing in honey). When he was born, the gods marked him with a curse as a sort of “sins of the father” type deal.
Yes this does mean that from the beginning, Andreas is the only member of his highly respected family to not have a cooking talent from the get go.
He’s considered someone to be shunned by most Goldengraines other than a select few who don’t really subscribe to the “bring respect to your family name by any means necessary” belief.
Octavia’s family is one of those non-subscribers because their father and Octavia have never really felt a passion for cooking but rather inventing and mechanics.
I like Andreas’ backstory a lot because it lets him sympathize and empathize with other black sheep characters who don’t fit the mold their families want to cast them in.
He befriends outcasts a lot easier than he does befriend those who believe strongly in tradition. Not only that but he’s incredibly open minded.
Despite not being born with any cooking talent what so ever, he’s managed to gain Goldengraine level talent through sheer will alone.
Edit: Yes it is canon that all Goldengraine hair is thematically styled after what talented they are gifted. It is all unconscious, they do not purposefully do this, they just do what feels right/looks good and it ends up being on theme.
That’s why Octavia’s hair looks like an octopus, her sister’s is styled after a squid and Andrea’s is supposed to be a monster tail.
