Olethra MacLeod is Ally Beardsley's character in Cloudward, Ho!
Description[]
Olethra MacLeod is a 20-year-old girl. She's very, like, clear eyes, full heart, can't lose, corn-fed. She's extremely into the adventuring legacy of her family, but in this way where when you have a wild grandma, you have a really straight-laced dad. Like it skips a generation, so it's like my grandma was totally crazy, but my parents are all about safety, all about security, and I am just desperate for more little tidbits and I cannot believe that I got to live that life, but I was just a baby, so I don't have any of the memories.
Personality[]
On the farm, Olethra spends most of her time in her mech suit “treehouse”, a gift from Comfrey, as well as wrangling the guinea fowl, specifically the eight-foot-tall “alpha”. She spends a lot of time fiddling around with the mech suit trying to get it to work, but has never managed to figure out the symbols written on it. She's had a go-bag packed since middle school to leave the farm and start adventuring, which includes a shirt with different giant pictures of Marya Junková on it.
She's a fangirl at heart and has read every single one of Montgomery LaMontgommery's books (including the ones that have fallen off toward the end). While she knows a lot of details about the entire adventuring crew of the Zephyr, her favorites and the ones she knows the most about are Marya and Monty. She was unable to be cool upon meeting them both (advice she had received from Max and Daisuke) and even fainted when she met Monty for the first time.
Background[]
Olethra is Comfrey MacLeod’s granddaughter, who lives with Artemisia and Hutch in the MacLeod family farm. She desires to see life outside of the farm, which upsets her parents, but due to their strong belief in personal freedom, they would never stop her from leaving.
Sometime between the events of 1363 and 1382, she went on a roller coaster ride, where a group of men died around her. (This later turns out to be Daisuke Bucklesby’s doing – the men were assassins armed with knives who were planning to drop said knives on Olethra’s head on the loop-de-loop.)
History[]
Olethra first appears as the infant “Baby MacLeod” in the newsreel, pride and joy of her grandmother Comfrey, where she pisses in an arc across the deck of the ship. She is next mentioned in the Gotch family meeting, where her family is discussed – Longspot Gotch mentions Hutch MacLeod’s “wife and son”, and Codswallop corrects him: “Er, daughter … Comfrey’s granddaughter.”
When Maxwell Gotch arrives at the MacLeod family farm and provides the prototype radio frequency, Olethra is excited to speak with him in private. She takes him to the mech and they hear a message from Comfrey, who has found the continent of Zood. She realizes that this is the time for her to go on her adventure, and after a teary goodbye with her parents, she leaves in the Gotches’ car, taking the mech with her.
At the Gulch Canyon sky port, a car stops near Olethra, and three men exit. They make conversation with Olethra, which quickly veers into kidnapping territory. Daisuke Bucklesby intervenes and kills two of them, and the third runs. Olethra recognizes him and tells her of the message she received from Comfrey, which Daisuke initially doesn’t believe, but finally agrees to follow her and Maxwell to the Zephyr.
During their first encounter with Lord Kensington Mordecestershire, Olethra sneaks into the captain’s quarters and grabs the log and other various items (such as keys, a written message, some fruit snacks, and a sky sextant) from it. She then climbs into the mech, which activates, and Olethra gets rid of the last brute at the helm of the ship, where Van and Marya witness her inside the mech.
Later, Monty and Olethra have a moment to chat while fixing the balloons of the Zephyr, discussing some of Monty’s books and Olethra’s relationship with her grandmother. The logbook Olethra took from Comfrey’s cabin reminds Monty of a night where he drew some possible creatures residing in Zood, like the nocturnal zebra. When thinking of what other creatures might inhabit the continent, she thinks of a hairless polar bear that secretes sunscreen and adds an extremely graphic drawing into the book.
Olethra descends to the South Pole Station in her mech. She tries to make the mech climb a wall to a high window, but doesn’t have a manual of its features, so instead, the mech shoots off pyrotechnics.
After returning to the Zephyr, Olethra checks up on Marya and brings her some of her old stash of silkworms.
Relationships[]
Comfrey MacLeod[]
Olethra's grandmother is a big inspiration for her.
Hutch MacLeod[]
A man who sticks by his beliefs of personal freedom, loves Olethra dearly (as she loves him), and is sad to see her go but supportive of her dream of adventure.
Trivia[]
- Olethra is a trans woman.
- She is LaMontgommery Cog Scout number 01714.
- Six years before the start of Cloudward, Ho!, Olethra sent Montgomery LaMontgommery a Pilby mantis, which was a “near perfect specimen” and now resides in Monty’s collection.
- The MacLeods have huge, eight-feet-tall, ostrich-sized, fire-breathing guinea fowl that Olethra regularly corrals with a lasso.
- The name “Olethra” may be a reference to the Olethreutes genus of moth. Olethreutes is a “wastebin genus”, to which moths are assigned if they are too mysterious to be placed elsewhere.
- Before the season started, each player wrote rumors about their characters. Brennan shared some of these true rumors and his own false ones with the others. Rumors about Olethra include:
- The MacLeod family mech has a remote kill switch. (Marya Junková)
- Olethra is a little robot girl. (Vanellope Chapman)
| Cloudward, Ho! Characters | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player Characters |
Daisuke Bucklesby | Marya Junková | Maxwell Gotch | Montgomery LaMontgommery | Olethra MacLeod | Vanellope Chapman | ||
| NPCs | PC Families & Pets |
Comfrey MacLeod | Hutch MacLeod | Artemisia MacLeod | Cadswitch Gotch | Longspot Gotch | Samwell Gotch | Blanewell Gotch | Roywell Gotch | Hatwell Gotch | Wealwell Gotch | Johnwell Gotch | Bert Chapman | Zuzana Junková | Kočka the Rat | Ghost Dog | |
| Antagonists | Lord Kensington Cosgrove Mordecestershire | ||
| Misc. | Akabana DiMarco | Beckers Polaxmius | Harry Ergh | Haruki Norwich | Haunch Saxon | Jackway St. Niles | Lady Greypace | Ludmila Ryczanek | Ouroboros Codswallop | Ramona Diaz | ||