Discus Dancebright

Discus Dancebright is an Elturian gnome famous for his invention of the disco ball and disco music, both of which share his name.

History

"Following the birth of the Companion, which appeared over Elturel, saving its people from enslavement at the hands of vampires, the city's inhabitants rejoiced as they never had before. Instantly, the Companion became a new symbol for the city, representing new hopes, dreams, and aspirations. To commemorate their glowing saviour, Elturians began decorating their homes with replicas of the Companion.
These so-called "little companions" were often crude. While the richest could afford to magically enchant theirs to allows exude light, the rest of the city's denizens instead took to decorating their "little companions" with reflective mirrors. These replicas would then hang in the middle of Elturian living rooms, as the Companion hangs in the middle of the city.

It was a gnome resident of the Dock District, Discus Dancebright, that first thought of having the little companions spin. And of course, there was a new dancing style he was developing..."

-An excerpt from Disco Inferno: The Craze That Shook Avernus

Born in Hardbuckler in 1210, Discus Dancebright was also an odd one out from his gnomish peers. While he retained the very gnomish desire to tinker with mechanical objects, his true passion was tinkering with music and sound in new and unconventional ways. Throughout his youth, Discus created a variety of avant garde pieces of music that failed to gain any traction.
Having decided that what he needed was more wordly experience, Discus began traveling the Western Heartlands in the 15th century. By the 1470s, he ended up in Elturel, where he worked at the Dragoneye Docks while continuing his music tinkering hobby. There, he first encountered the "little companions," small, hanging balls covered in reflective mirrors designed to emmulate the Companion, the artifical sun that hung over Elturel. Inspired, Discus began tinkering with the little companions, producing a variant that could merchanically and indefinitely spin, producing stunning patterns of light. This invention, called originally Discus balls and then disco balls, became a craze and were purchased by enough Elturians that Discus could quit his day job.
Capatalizing on his success with the disco balls, Discus began sharing the newest genre of music he was working on, which required Thaumaturgy enhanced string, horn, and brass instruments to be played alongside a piano for a unique sounding style fit for dancing. This too caught on, and disco halls were set up across Elturel to let people dance and honor the Companion to their heart's content. These successes made Discus a very wealthy man, though money never changed him, as it was clear he was doing it for the love of the music.
However, disco was by all definitions just a craze, and its popularity waned in the 1480s and 1470s, kept aloft by just a few hardcore fans. This didn't phase Discus, who continued acting as cheerful and enthusiastic about disco as the day he invented it.
During the Damnation of Elturel from 1497 to 1498, Discus took refuge with other Elturians in High Hall. Despite the dire situation, Discus' cheerful attitude went a long way in calming and relaxing the refugees around him.
Following Elturel's salvation, disco was well and truly finished, as Elturians rejected anything that was remotely connected to the Companion now that its infernal origins were revealed. Despite this, Discus continued to truck along, continuing to rent bands to play disco for himself and a few others. His love of disco was infectious, and though disco was generally disavowed, its creator never was. Discus continued to live in Elturel, hoping one day to revive his craze, completely unaware that, as a result of Elturel's stint in Avernus, disco had been taken up by the devils of the Blood Legions.

Species

Gnome

Year of Birth

1210 CR 288 Years old

Birthplace

Hardbuckler

Sex

Male

Hair

White, bearded