Gustav

Gustav
Character Summary
Gender	Male
Species	Owl
Calls Stella	Skipper
Spirit Information
Location Found	Furogawa
Spirit Color	Red
Spirit House	Gustav's Gallery
Skills	Gifts valuables Making Sushi
Mini-game	Fireflies
Spirit Flower	Poppy
Food Preferences
Favourite Food	Surstromming
Likes	Acquired Taste, Exotic food
Dislikes	Fried foods, Sweet foods
Mood Perks
	Plays sad music
	Gives you valuable items
	Plays happy music
	Makes  Sushi

Gustav is a spirit character in Spiritfarer.

Description

Gustav is a tall, dark brown owl with red highlights. His Spirit Flower is positioned in the center of his chest.

About

In life, Gustav was an event organizer. He is somewhat snooty.

When happy, Gustav will occasionally play the violin or give Stella expensive Tchotchkes that can be sold. When ecstatic, Gustav will occasionally make Sushi.

He considers Stella his assistant as he begins to organize the exhibition.

Life

As Stella travelled through Japan as a young adult, emancipated and in control of her life for the first time, she met Gustav. A German art curator who spent time teaching Stella nuances and invited her to his art gallery in Shirakawa-gō, Gustav had a brilliant career that lead him to travel the world, curating exhibitions for a multitude of museums and galleries. His extensive knowledge of art, history, and architecture sometimes makes him come across as a smug intellectual.

At a relatively young age, Gustav developed multiple sclerosis. His condition physically paralyzed him, but left him with a clear mind. He continued working as much as he could, but his condition stifled his career, soured his mood, and forced his mind towards more contemplative subjects.

It can be assumed that this disease was what ultimately killed Gustav.

Influences

• Enjoyed listening to Atul's flute. (+3)
• Has eaten his favourite meal. (+2)
• Is hungry. (-2)
• Has a nice house. (+2)
• Was recently hugged. (+2)
• Feels bullied by Mickey. (-1)

Quests

• Five Views of Mount Furogawa: "Some person in Furogawa has enthusiastically asked for my help in completing a collection of traditional woodprints. I didn't recognize them, but they seemed to know me very well."
  1. Talk to Theodore Raccoon.
  2. Report back to the art collector.
  3. Travel to Susan's Museum at coordinates -150, 150.
  4. Get the missing woodprint from the Collector.
     1. Woodblock Print (0/1)
  5. Give the woodprint to the art collector in Furogawa.
• Taillé dans l'Or Massif: "Gustav, upon joining the crew, commented on the "drabness" of the boat's prow. He would enjoy a figurehead very much."
  1. Upgrade the boat with a figurehead at Albert's Shipyard.
• The House of Bau: "What's a multipurpose area? And why does Gustav need one? This seems like a lot of work for one person! I do hope it will liven the mood on the boat."
  1. Build Gustav's gallery.
• The Master Forger: "Gustav suggested adding a Smithy to the boat, hinting that we might need it later."
  1. Build a Smithy.
  2. Talk to Gustav.
  3. Use the Smithy. 
• The Search for Erich Deskmann: "Gustav needs a desk in his office. He has heard of a master woodworker living in Oxbury, but couldn't get in touch with him. Perhaps his partner, working in a café there, could help us out?"
  1. Find the woodworker's partner in a cafe in Oxbury.
  2. Find the woodworker in Ambertown Park.
  3. Bring a Surf 'n Turf to the woodworker. The worker can be haggled down by continuing to talk to him, and will ultimately settle for a Grilled Fish.
  4. The woodworker demands 450,000 Glim for the desk, "non-negotiable." Talking to his partner at the cafe in Oxbury reveals that the apartment next to hers is for sale. She will agree to take him back.
  5. Return to the woodworker in Ambertown Park and tell him what his partner said. He will provide the desk for free.
• Fully Loaded: "With Gustav's Gallery fully functional, Gustav is ready to start filling it with pieces. While he should be able to do everything by himself, he asked me to stay ready for any of the bigger pieces that might need to be produced on site."
  1. Improve Gustav's home with a desk.
  2. Improve Gustav's home with the Neoclassical Nording Fireplace. Requires 7 Slate, 1 Steel Sheet, 10 Zinc Ingot, 6 Marble, 1000 Glim
  3. Improve Gustav's home with the Maximinimalist clock. Requires 2 Marble, 4 Gold Ingot, 1 Crystal Glass Sheet, 1 Rose Gold Sheet, 1300 Glim
• The Old Violinist: "With his exhibition finished, Gustav says he's ready to move on, and asked me to bring him to the Everdoor."
  1. Bring Gustav to the Everdoor.

Dialogue

Food

• Favourite dish: "Oh! My! Goodness!! I... I never would have thought it possible to sink my teeth in... In this EXTRAORDINARY delight again. Stella, you outdid yourself. Simple brilliant! Surstromming is not for the weak willed. Not for the faint-hearted. But for me, it definitely is! I could eat two buckets of it...
• Likes: "You know, some people just don't get it. Oh, don't get me started on taste... There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. This is... exactly that. A taste so unique, so special... I don't even get why some people would call this an Acquired Taste. Neophytes, assuredly. This is wonderful, Skipper, thank you."
• Neutral: "Thank you Skipper, this is ... nourishing.
• Dislikes:
  • "No. Nope. I'm sorry, Skipper, I won't eat anything fried. I might be vain, but I have standards."
  • "Oh, darling. This is a kind-hearted try, but no, I cannot let myself be tempted. Eating anything sugary would be against my principles. I don't have many. But I have at least this one."
• Same item: "I've already had this recently. Do you have anything else?
• Inedible:
• Not hungry: "I'm not hungry."
• Hungry:
  • "I'm sure you could find something nutritious for me."
  • "The lack of food on the vessel is quite depressing."
• Starving:

Favours

• Giving valuables: I found something you might like, perhaps. Here's a gift from my collection. I hope you appreciate the value of such oddities."
• Made sushi: "I've made a delicacy. Have some sushi! Feed it to the others; they'll love it."

Hugs

• Hugging:
  • "Well, good. Let's not make this a habit!"
  • "I do not mind a caring moment now and then."
  • "Good. Good."
• Second hug:
  • "That is close enough!"
  • "I'm afraid that will do."
  • "I'm not in the mood."

At The Everdoor

Potential spoilers ahead!

On the boat: "Let's go. I gather you're ready to take me away?" (player says yes) "Very well! Onwards!" Stella rowing towards the Everdoor: "It seems to me you were quite surprised by my request to leave. And it seems to me you still are. But you have to understand, Stella. That everything is but a meaningless arrangement of atoms. Everything you've ever known, seen, or experienced. Fortuitous circumstances. In the universal chaos, humanity emerged. Not a tiny bit more purposeful than the rest. But with an incredible faculty: That of creating meaning, however fleeting it might be." ... "I have no inherent meaning. Neither do you. But we can create, organize, put in order. And thus create purpose and meaning. Transcend the primordial chaos. All of humankind does so. We create machines that are useful. To take control. Machines like the dreaded chair. The one that subsumed me, made of me an object. But maybe, also, made me truly realize what impermanence means. For our numerous creations only have meaning for as long as they are useful. My chair, when it finally became unneeded, became once again a heap of metal. Melted back into the universal chaos. Lost its inherent humanity." ... "Usefulness is an easy way to meaningfulness. But not a trustworthy one. It vanishes as quickly as we do. And so it seems the only hope humanity has for transcendence is through art. Meaningfulness pulled from our chaotic minds. Not for utility. But for its own sake. And after the artist has been long gone, turned to dust, the art remains. And even after the last one of all humans will have returned to the primordial chaos, provided that we have protected it, art will remain." Just before the Everdoor: "And so it is that art alone is left in our wake. The only veritable form of transcendence to have ever been in our grasp. Proof of our existence, and of our pitiful efforts to raise from the chaos, as would some unknown script from a long-gone power." At the Everdoor: "Oh, we're here! Well, well, now, Stella. Ozymandias beckons. Let's go."

Trivia

• Gustav was based on the great-grandmother of one of the game's developers.
• Gustav quotes the film the Grand Budapest Hotel by using the line "There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in the barbaric slaughterhouse known as humanity." Stated by a character of the same name.
• Gustav tells a little about the history of the German school of arts, architecture and design Bauhaus when he meets Stella.  His admiration for this school made him name his home Bau House.