A highly talented wood carver, Geppetto has also had extensive training in magic over the years. He has had numerous enchantment placed on himself, making him virtually invulnerable to all forms of attack, surviving even a blow from the Vorpal Blade, although he was surprised that it survived the impact.

His main power, however, is in the vast empire at his command. He has infinite resources at his command, as well as armies of both soldiers and sorcerers.

Below - Geppetto’s wooden soldiers

His most loyal and trusted agents are his wooden soldiers, automatons created by him, and enchanted to be completely loyal to him. Their nature makes them tougher than normal humans, and virtually inexhaustible. They hold the most trusted positions within his armies. Some have undergone transformations into human flesh, although they retain their loyalty enchantments, for various reasons, including being his spies in the Mundy world.

The largest of his creations is the Emperor, the figurehead of his Empire, whom he crafted to be suitably imposing.

Like all Fables, Geppetto is extremely long-lived, and is difficult to kill, allegedly based on the popularity of their tales.

History

(A general history of the Fables can be found in the ’Fables in the Mundy World‘ section of the Snow White write-up)

Once upon a time a lonely woodcarver carved a ’son’, to keep him company. His ’son’, Pinocchio, was, however, created with a wanderlust, which kept him from staying with the old man. Even when he was turned into a human boy by the Blue Fairy, he still kept on going off on adventures.

So Geppetto created other children, older sons and daughters, less likely to stray, and enchanted to be loyal, and to have fealty to hearth and home. Occasionally the Blue Fairy would turn one of them into a human.

Below - Geppetto’s wooden soldiers

He continued his life, happily surrounded by his children, until approached by local elders. The local Count had become increasingly erratic, posing a danger to the community, so they petitioned Geppetto to create a double, who could replace him, providing stability in the region. Despite his misgivings at a plan that obviously required a murder, he eventually agreed, and, after waiting for the Blue Fairy to turn it human, the Count was killed, and his replacement ruled long and wisely, if favouring the elders in his decisions.

When the time came, the Count passed on, but the elders feared that his son would make an incompetent ruler, he too was replaced. And then a neighbouring ruler seemed likely to cause a problem, so better to deal with him sooner than later. And so on as this became the standard way of dealing with problematic official among the growing conspiracy, all the replacements them being enchanted with the same loyalty to Geppetto as his children.

The Blue Fairy, fickle at the best of times, grew bored of this, leaving Geppetto with a problem. He had the lords he controlled send him their court magicians to tutor him, and to offer services to him, and eventually he managed to trap the Blue Fairy, imprisoning her and using her as a power source.

Eventually Geppetto grew tired of his co-conspirators, who increasingly used the replacements to further their own interests rather than the common good, and so Geppetto replaced them, while still continuing to replace local government officials from neighbouring regions. The path to establishing his empire just presented itself without him fully noticing at first. When he did realise it, he created a figurehead Emperor, a giant whose intimidating presence would control such an Empire more than an old man could hope to.

The Empire continued expanding in fifty-year cycles of expansion and consolidation, and eventually he had taken most of the European Fable worlds, turning his attentions next to those of the Arabian Fables. He allowed his children to handle the day-to-day running of the Empire, choosing to remain in his cottage workshop most of the time.

Geppetto had little interest in conquering Fabletown yet, since that would mean invading the Mundane world, of which he had limited intelligence, and there were still so many other Fable lands to conquer. He did, however, realise that the Fables there could present a possible threat, however minor, which should be addressed, and a number of magical items which should be reclaimed. So he sent a small force, under the command of Baba Yaga, to subdue Fabletown. Neither Baba Yaga, nor any of his wooden soldiers returned from the mission.

Shortly after, the Empire was disrupted by the killing of several Imperial governors, culminating with the ’assassination’ of the Emperor. The assassin, Boy Blue, was captured by the Snow Queen and taken to Geppetto’s cottage, where the woodcarver began work on restoring the Emperor while they talked.

Below - The Emperor

In exchange for telling his tale and bringing Red Riding Hood to see him, Blue returned the remains of Pinocchio from within the Witching Cloak. Geppetto quickly repaired his son, returning him to life. It soon became apparent that Blue had allowed himself to be captured to get close to the Adversary, as he easily escaped, although he was unable to hurt Geppetto. Confused, Pinocchio chose to stay with his ’father‘ when Blue left. This incident stoked Geppetto’s rage against Fabletown.

This anger only intensified when Bigby Wolf appeared at his cottage one night, warned Geppetto that any harm inflicted on Fabletown would be visited on the Empire several times over, then triggered the explosives in the magical grove of trees used to create the wooden soldiers, destroying them all, the cottage also being destroyed in the conflagration.

Personality

Geppetto usually appears to be a calm, amiable old man, and will generally be pleasant to people as long as he has the upper hand. His true self, however, has been shaped by his disappointment and disgust of others, as he has become a bitter and ruthless old man, whose temper flares when crossed. He has become obsessed by his drive to conquer everything, and has developed a true hatred of Fabletown.

The wooden soldiers see ’meatheads’ (animal life), apart from Geppetto, as being inferior to them, expecting due obedience from them. They constantly remind the meatheads of this. They take particular offence at being mistaken for humans, often reacting violently to the insult.