Alphy
Alphy
Mental characteristics
Personal history
The limited knowledge from Alphy's backstory known is fragmented and vague. He was a field researcher from an underwater settlement called Cnidaria, and was engaged in an arranged marriage to a local bard. The relationship ended up falling through and he ended up marrying a women who may have been a bad influence and potentially malevolent. He would move to focus on researching monstrosities, establishing a bounty hunters guild for her, becoming a high ranking Project Leader and eventually catching a chimera. At one point, Alphy had a conflict with his best friend that left him shaken and terrified of Warlocks - he states that they tried to eat him, and no Warlock can be trusted as his friend was one of the nicest and smartest people he knew, and he went crazy from the magic.
Alphy would end up getting into a terrible accident late into his career, though he doesn't remember what happened and changes the subject whenever it comes up. It changed him - literally - and his physical form was reduced (Back to Level 1) and he ended up losing his intelligence, charm and several memories. His personality would drastically change - he has admitted prior to this event, he was awful, so it may have been for the best. He struggled with his new body and form, and ended up having a terrible feeling that something heinous happened, though he couldn't put a finger on why that was.
Alphy then ended up having conflicts with his wife over his changes, and she decides to divorce him suddenly after near 250 years of marriage, much to his distress. He ended up going off the rails shortly after and leaving his home city, refusing to talk to anyone before vanishing.
For 20 years, he ended up moving across the isles and the coasts of Ansalon, eventually leaving the continent. At some point during this time, he got engaged, however it didn't work out apparently. Due to his new physical form and hiding away, he didn't get up to too much, and instead focused on working on himself and managing his new situation. He'd also work out what his life goal was, and attempt to grow stronger so he could meet a monstrosity worth dying from. His ex-wife would reach out in this time and the two would remain friends.
Alphy would find himself doing bounty work on a new continent, where he would eventually head to the city that would be where he met the party and began his adventure with them.
Education
Alphy is well educated. Laurana has noted that when speaking and writing in elvish, he is very posh and sophisticated. His poor common and scrambled brain means he tends to to appear uneducated.
Employment
Alphy, prior to his position as a Hero of the Lance, was a member of the Guardian and Hull Clades. He started as a Technician and Field Researcher, eventually being promoted to a Researcher. After his Project Leader got into an unfortunate accident, he was bumped into their position and focusing on research around monstrosities. Alphy worked in this role until his accident. After recovering, he would go off the rails and run off, leaving one of his researchers in charge. He hasn't heard anything regarding this however, so assumes the researcher is doing well in the role.
Currently, Alphy acts as Luminary under the Clades and a Hero of the Lance. Additionally, he is a small business owner of an inn alongside with Suinnem.
Accomplishments & Achievements
Prior to the War of the Lance
I. His publication and distribution of his trilogy of books, centred around the monstrosities he found across Ansalon and beyond. The trilogy contained 3 books.
- The first, “Monstrosities in Depth. A deep dive into the ecology, biology, and physiology of these monsters.”
- The Second, “Monstrosities Expanded. Theories, Analysis, and Potentials.”
- The Third, “Our Creations are Monstrosities. An exploration about monsters created by unnatural means. Special focus on the Chimera."
- Outside of Cnidaria, there were 2 variants of this books author. One was his Dargonesti alter ego Elphaba Galeno (Common), and the other was under Alpheidae Galeno (Rare – exclusive to Cnidaria and the Vedalken Coastal settlement).
II. The integration of monstrosities into the Guardian Clades work. Several features previously impossible to integrate into Krasis and Cataclysmic Hybrids were found to be used by monstrosities. Using the technique of biomimicry, researchers and biomancers were able to integrate what the Monstrosity Gambit had found in their studies. This has led to some marvellous results.
III. The prevention of insanity in Cataclysmic Hybrids. Alphy raised concerns over the monstrous natures of hybrids putting them at higher risk of mental distress, and the erratic behaviour of Ahriman further enhanced these worries. After Ahriman snapped and went berserk, things changed. Losa and Bernadette began showing developing symptoms on this. Alphy himself was worried that his erratic anger issues could develop into this as well. Alphy titled the affliction, ‘Cataclysmic Psychosis’. He turned to developing a way to understand what caused this by looking at monstrosities who faced the same issues and running tests (seeing what happened to them, seeing what methods helped, seeing what didn’t, etc). This knowledge would then be passed on to the Guardian Clade who developed a range of ways to stop it, eventually removing it as a problem. Further details below:
- Categorised into 2 Categories. Afflicted, salvageable. OTE (Over the Edge), the point of no return. The main OTE case was Ahriman, but he died and was resurrected with a spell that brought him back to his form prior.
- 5 Substages. Affliction > Symptomatic > Intermediate > Edge > OTE.
- Symptoms of Cataclysmic Psychosis only manifest after the individual has reached their final natural augmentation (Level 5). Once they do reach this point, it still takes several years for it to begin developing.
- The progression through stages is slow and gruelling, it is not fast.
- Hybrids with DNA of aggressive creatures were the most prone to developing it.
- Alphy used Chimera’s, a creature known for its instability and insanity, as the base for research.
- If a Hybrid does go OTE, Alphy’s team has proposed removing their augmentations as a potential cure, though the process would be gruelling and likely break the Hybrid.
IV. Understanding monstrosities and creating breeding programs that strive to domesticate and enhance monstrosities. Whilst this is still ongoing and no longer under Alphy’s control, its progress is steady. The Hull Clade is assisting with this, seeing it as a wonderful opportunity to use monstrosities in favour of Cnidaria.
V. Alphy took great interest in the concept of death and its finality. This expanded to him wanting to learn more about how certain monstrosities and their creations could defy the very laws of magic. Whilst magic wasn’t his expertise, he led a small sub project that attempted to disprove methods of monstrosity creations. It would also delve into ways to bypass the laws of magic through monstrosities. He would shut this down after he realised toying with the laws of magic was perhaps not the wisest, and recording his findings on it could be even more dangerous, as others could use what he found. He removed all records of these experiments and gave them to the Speaker, as he trusted he would never use them due to his position and intelligence.
VI. Krasis creation. Whilst more so the Guardian Clades business, they are monstrosities, and their creation isn’t an abomination like chimera’s and similar monstrosities, so its safer to do!
The War of the Lance
Alphy helped restore magic to Krynn and prove the existence of the gods, killed Highlord Verminaard, has been dubbed as the killer of Highlord Feal-Thas, was the killer of Feal-Thas' anicent dragon, has assisted in killing multiple other evil dragons, etc. He has been labelled as the hero of Ansalon, and the hero of the Sea. He has had ballads written of his feats, shows performed, etc. In truth, Alphy hates all this postive attention, but it does have its uses.
Failures & Embarrassments
Prior to becoming a Hero of the Lance, if you asked a Vedalken about Alphy, they'd groan and change the subject. He shares little about his past life, however, he has had multiple messy relationships, nearly been eaten by a Warlock and had a bard come for him in the form of a best-selling album that even he admits is enjoyable to listen to. These things, combined with Alphy's enjoyment of causing problems and upsetting people for his own amusements, means it's not suprising that he may have had multiple failures and embarrassments in his past he hasn't mentioned.
Mental Trauma
Maybe a little...
Morality & Philosophy
Morality
Alphy has the same alignement as most Vedalken's. They fall loosely on the lawful or chaotic alignment chart. The term loosely is used largely due to Vedalkens having a blue-and-orange morality, meaning:
“Blue-and-orange morality is characterised by an individual having a moral framework that is so utterly alien and foreign to human experience that we can’t determine whether they’re good or evil. The values of these individuals are so foreign, that these concepts can’t be applied. They may have these concepts, but apply them in vastly different ways, such as regarding motionless as the epitome of evil, or viewing exploration as an element of chaos.”
Individuals with this morality may seem to act terrifyingly random. Their understanding of "law" as a concept may not even be equivalent to ours. There is logic behind their actions, it's just that they operate with entirely different sets of values and premises from which to draw their conclusions. It's also worth noting that such cultures are just as likely to be something we'd find appalling as they are to be something we'd find benign and/or weird. They may also find us appalling, benign, or weird even if we don't see them that way, and although they are often likely to commit acts we would see as horrific, some are unusually benign. Either way they tend to act as if nothing were the matter. Because in their world/mind, that's just what they do. Vedalkens believe that any actions made out of passion and good intention for their side are good, and those that are made out of selfishness and laziness are evil. To outside societies, Vedalkens may appear as cold and callous, with stoic faces that lack true emotion and actions to match. This isn’t true, as Vedalkens feel just as deeply as others, expressing it differently, and their actions are perceived as good and true to them. Those who meet Vedalkens often describe talking to them as though they’re being monitored and examined, rather than talked to.Overall, whilst Vedalkens have a poor track record with morality, their hearts (or at least their missions statements) are in the right place.
Philosphy / Principle
Alphy carries the Vedalken belief that all is futile and imperfect. However, he rejoices in this fact as his people do (though he’s a bit more relaxed about it).
“Every imperfection is a chance for improvement, whether it’s in law or in science, and progress is an endless march toward a state perfection that might never be reached. This leads the Vedalken to pursue their work with delighted enthusiasm, never deterred by setbacks and excited by every opportunity for improvement.”
Vedalken researchers tend to have 2 principles they follow to base their work off of. The Holdfast Principle and the Upwelling Principle. The Holdfast Principle advises members to never stray so far from nature that they become adrift. It espouses the idea that nature left undisturbed will evolve to toward adaptive traits and increased strength. Nature will flourish and grow, and every creature will find its proper niche in the ecosystem where it can thrive. The Upwelling Principle l advocates that the new and enlivened should replace the old and depleted in an unending cycle, bringing constant refreshment and renewal. It accounts for the Clade’s analytical bent and its emphasis on knowledge as a means of transformation. In summary, the Holdfast Principle encourages Vedalkens to promote nature, the Upwelling Principle urges them to perfect nature. Alphy sits in the middle, wanting to take disruptions that are found in nature and perfect them. These disruptions are monstrosities.
Alphy also tends to be a philosophical shit stirrer, causing problems and living off the motto that just like monstrosities, he should cause the disruptions around him.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Alphy wants to die - he hates his life and believes he has done all he should. Originally, he joined the party because he saw more weird monsters encountering them in a short burst then the last 20 years. He wants to die, but runs into the issue where he's fussy about it - he wants to go out by the claws of an awesome monstrosity. However, everytime he encounters one, he tries to fight it and ends up beating it! This means he hasn't been able to achieve his goal yet.
Alphy has decided recently to expand his goals - he'd like to retire, however first he'd like to find love again so he isn't alone. He nearly died to a scorpion sting, and whilst he's been fully prepared to die alone by a monstrosity, Cinder staying with him and talking whilst it was happening made him realise he'd prefer to not be alone. Once this is done, he'll also make ammends with those he's wronged. The other alternative is to die, which he is fine with.
He has also been exploring how to resolve conflicts with neighbouring species in Ansalon and has some interest in resolving conflict with the other elven races and establishing trade, however that is something he's largely thinking about, not doing.
Likes & Dislikes
Alphy dislikes bards, warlocks and mages. He tends to have one bad experience with things then hold a grudge.
Alphy likes monstrosities, his ex-wife and curry. He also loves a good chat about his interests.
Virtues & Personality perks
Alphy, for all his flaws, is versatile, passionate and loyal. Whilst his loyalty can be questioned in certain aspects of his life, for those he cares about, he would do anything. He's extremely passionate about his interests and his loved ones, ensuring to do all he can to foster them. Alphy's versatility in combat, research and magic is also handy.
Whilst Alphy's brain is scrambled now, his wisdom and knowledge is sometimes able to filter through and be useful. His experiences and know-how about Ansalon has proved helpful on many occasions. He's always happy to share and teach, at one point showing Laurana how to throw punches and box if so that she wouldn't be so easily kidnapped again.
Vices & Personality flaws
Alphy tends to be petty and hold grudges. He is also self serving and hyperfixates on his interests. His stubborn nature also causes issues. The fact he also tries to tank his own reputation and cause problems to ruin his public image is also a bit of a flaw.
Alphy has a bad habbit of letting his relationships cause issues. These are all relationships, not just romantic. He tends to run away, rather then fix the mistakes he makes. Alphy refuses to look back at these issues, however, if he did, he would be able to admit that he was wrong.
Additionally, Alphy is terrified of having no control of his life. Since he was young he's felt he's had no control and his destiny was predetermined. He attempts to do things to give himself the illusion of having control, or he will surrender it to feel like it's his choice to have none. This mentality is slowly driving him insane, and his headspace has worsened since he had the label of 'Hero' slapped on to him against his will. Alphy does find comfort in the fact death is permenant, and his sanity hangs on the thread of him believing that his death is the one part of his existence he has control over.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Alphy has not stated much regarding his personal life but has a few known contacts and relations.
Memphis is Alphy's first fiancée and first love. He has stated it was arranged and ended ugly, but the two did make ammends for a short period of the time. However, after he became a legendary hero, she turned against him once again and took him to court, wasting his time and antagonising him. Alphy see's this as an annoyance, but can't do anything about her grudge because, 'what she says can't be defamation if it's true'. Alphy hopes that her stirring up his past wrongdoings will erase his newly found heroic title, however, it's unlikely much to his disappointment.
Alphy's dad is an enchanter, though he hasn't said much else about him. He did reach out to Alphy requesting he wear the necklace so he could be monitored, and Alphy did see him at his court case against Memphis. Alphy confided in Cinder that his dad was strange, and that the whole enchantment thing freaks him out.
Recently, his mother reached out however he sensed ulterior motives and was weirded out so ignored her attempt.He expressed his confusion about it to Kai, giving him the bookshe sent as an attempt to communicate. Previously, she was present for his court case alongside with his father.
Alphy's ex-wife has not made any attempts to communicate with him since the start of their adventure. Apparently, she is preoccupied with pirates.
Alphy has been in contact with his goddaughter Tempest, sending her a box of monster and dragon teeth whilst in Palanthas.
Alphy has a pair of bards from the mage towers who trail him and occasionally pop into say hello. He tends to relay important info to them as whilst he doesn't like bards, they are good at sharing news.
Religious Views
Alphy was agnostic and still is, however he follows Zeboim. He views her as more of a force and energy, rather then an individual.
Social Aptitude
Alphy's social skills are not great. Prior to his accident, Alphy was smarter and charming, allowing him to disguise his poor social skills through other means. However, after his accident, he just comes across as anti-social and blunt.
Mannerisms
Hobbies & Pets
Chompy was Alphy's first pet - a mimic that ate several of his fingers and was eventually adopted by his ex-wife. Whilst he claims losing his fingers was an accident, the bites are a little too clean and people suspect he deliberately let the mimic eat them. He's weird enough he'd do it too.
Alphy loves writing and drawing. Whilst he doesn't look it, he does write academically and has published several books. His art skills are also fairly impressive, with him having a sophisticated and clean lining style.
He did musical theatre in his youth (largely against his will) however he's a bit of a nerd for it. He frequently enjoys a good song and use to write songs for his ex-wife.
Alphy likes cooking. When he wasn't working, he'd pretty much do all the domestic things in the house as his ex-wife left a path of destruction wherever she went. Her cooking offended him, so he learnt to cook as it was either that, get poisoned by her food or starve. He is excellent at making curries.
Speech
Alphy often pauses mid-sentence, as if searching for the perfect word. His speech is frequently punctuated by stammering and drawn-out vowels - this is largely due to how fast he thinks and his struggle with the common language. He tends to have a sarcastic tone to his words as well.
Relationships
History
Memphis and Alphy were arranged to be married after his father believed the two to compliment one another and balance each other's flaws. Things went south when Alphy took interest in his near-killer and Memphis' best friend, Losa, and the two had an affair, devestating and humilating Memphis. Alphy would introduce her to his best friend at the time as an attempt to make peace, and Memphis would eventually wed him instead - Alphy and Memphis decided to set their differences aside and live civil. Eventually, things took a turn when Alphy got into a fight with her husband and ended up mortally wounding him. Things would further esculate in the aftermath and their relationship would reach a point of no return, with the two despising one another.
History
Alphy, Losa, Sirelle, her first husband and infant kids where friends and would do work together. As Alphy specialised in research on monstrosities, he would assist the Kyrie on Mithas with their Minotaur problem and coming up with ways to stop their invasions. Sirelle's husband would be slaughter in a conflict with Minotaurs, and shortly after, Alphy had his accident then was divorced by Losa. Alphy would run off from Cnidaria and hide away on the blood isles, eventually visiting Mithas where he ran into Sirelle.
The two would get along, and Sirelle would request that Alphy stick around and help with her kids, as they had lost their dad as infants, and needed someone familiar around - She didn't want them to grow up without a dad. She explained that Kyrie age fast, whereas Alphy aged slow as an elf, so sticking around for the duration of their childhood would be a blink of an eye for him and give him something to do whilst he processed his grief. Additionally, Sirelle expressed concern with his mental state, believing that the relatively peaceful lifestyle of the Kyrie could be good for him, and potentially give him some time to heal away from Cnidaria. Alphy agreed, and eventually the two would grow to like one another over time, leading to Sirelle proposing. Things went relatively well until the their wedding, where Alphy would panic and and break things off with her. He'd run off for a few months with no contact before returning to apologise.
Sirelle would forgive Alphy, and he'd agree to stick around and help her out as a friend, but refused to revisit the relationship. Sirelle's kids, by this point young adults, no longer need Alphy, and he would decide to leave to sort himself out, as he felt terrible about the whole ordeal. As of now, he still sends gifts to Sirelle and her kids, remaining on relatively good terms with the pair, though they weren't impressed with him running off.
Wealth & Financial state
Alphy, after traveling, is obscenely wealthy, however he keeps on forgetting this and doesn't act it.
Some party members in the past have questioned his background prior to coming to the coast, suspecting he may not be as much of a hobo as he lets on.
His Dargonesti alter ego is Elphaba Galeno (Common), and the other is Alpheidae Galeno (Rare – exclusive to Cnidaria and the Vedalken Coastal settlements).
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