Alva

Oh, oh, Alva. ohhhhhh Alva. Alva :)

MANIPULATE MANSPLAIN GATEKEEP GIRLBOSS BAYYYBEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a travelling bard of dwindling renown; having been born into a considerably wealthy family and studied poetry and music for most of their life, Alva's career was initially rather promising! Alas, over the years they became known less for their ability to recite at incredible length or their proficiency with stringed instruments, and more for *ahem*

their greed, their sly, manipulative nature, their penchant for cruel gossip, performing sonnets featuring bizarre, vulgar, and offensive lyrics, their general sleaze, their unprompted microtonality, refusing to stop said microtonality, their sharp tongue, their short temper, their unbearable pretentious musings, their frequent godless sexual escapades... the list goes on. 

Alva, finding themselves penniless and generally out of favour with their current patrons after another brief yet miserable performance and night of heavy drinking, sells their horse in a drunken stupor only to immediately spend the profits on... more ale... but not for themselves! delightful! hoping that charity might salvage their reputation enough to at least grant them another night's lodging without being beaten to death, gets everyone good and plastered with the last of their measly earnings. Alva then wakes, after a sleep like death, to news of their father's death and summons to the family estate to discuss and receive their inheritance. glory be! Their money problems had been resolved as soon as they had started! If it wasn't for the fact that they were currently months' travel away from their home or the fact that they had just sold their only means of transportation for a nights sleep in a filthy tavern bed.

They play their nicest tamest ayre, to no avail, then they try begging, also to no avail, by by the grace of god, before they could get to stealing or whoring, Callahan (Pre-Rolomag, accompanied only by Vaughn and Edith at this point) wander into the tavern that had briefly threatened to become Alva's tomb with perfect timing. Alva latches onto the travellers immediately and callahan, of course, gladly agrees to take Alva along with him, happy days!

a good couple of months pass without incident, and Callahan becomes quickly enamoured with Alva, who, being noncommital to a fault, has no problem feeding him white lies and leading him on; Callahan's painfully earnest, naive, trusting... fun to mess with! they kiss :) life is good! then boom. Rolomag be upon ye. ...things happen in the Rolomag era, Callahan has a prolonged normal one, then Edith dies of Rolomag mysterious circumstances and Alva decides the inheritance (if it's even still on offer at this point, it's been like 5 months) isn't worth it and jumps ship. Callahan takes this development very very well.

After leaving Callahan's party Alva manages to scrape together a pathetic living as a bard for about a year until, out of desperation, they become a court jester. Finds the housing and such comfortable but the work miserable. they're no stranger to humiliating themselves for money but life as a jester takes the cake. after a good few years or so they are taken into battle (jumpscare! Alva didn't realise this was part of the job either.) and is tasked with delivering a refusal of surrender to the opposing forces. the other side doesn't take too kindly to Alva's message and catapult their severed head back over. or maybe they don't, I haven't decided yet...

_{Alva has other stuff going on they have  things happening that. I cant get out I have tried but the words ohhh the words they do not come to me. some day maybe you can learn more interesting Alva facts}