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(This article is presently hiding in a world not its own with a misleading title to conceal it from players -- it will be completed and linked appropriately when it is moved to its final home.)
Most people know him as "Tory," a elfin bard with a lot to say but little known background. His real name, unknown to any in his current life, is Vendrothi Torivangian Balsandoral.
Tory carries a Lyre of Cli, taken with permission from the hoard of the dragon Fred. (No, that is not the dragon's real name, but dragon names can be difficult for many and "Fred" is how he was introduced.)
Observers have noticed a tenderness toward Mercy, pastel-colored tiefling cleric of Lathander. Mercy is clearly besotted with the bard and crushing hard, but no one is quite certain if Tory is merely being kind in the face of this emotional effusion or if he harbors an affection for Mercy as well. What is certain is that Tory does not tolerate rudeness to her, as a shopkeeper learned when pranking the cleric in offering not religious texts but porn of her god.
Tory has released two albums while working at The Pickled Pig in [town], and also has a small line of t-shirts, hoodies, and other swag. Mercy works the merch table. However, Tory is not out to build a primary career as a professional musician; music is just his way of helping to change the world. He spends more time with his adventuring party than performing publicly.
Despite his youth, especially for an elf, Tory is one of the older members of his party and is the de facto paternal figure, though he has never been a parent. His face seems stuck in a perpetual eye roll at the unsteady plans and weak choices of his colleagues, who have done everything from joining necromantic cults to sampling wizard foods and changing their colors to attempting to capture a wizard on his own teleportation circle without bothering to ask the bard who uses teleportation circles how they work.
Tory is normally restrained and well-behaved, but he did indulge the worst side of his paternal role while launching a dad-joke assault against a temple secretary he wished to get past. It was unsuccessful, and the secretary turned out to be terrifying.

Beliefs

Tory is an acolyte, giving him something in common with Mercy. His friends do not know which god he serves, as he has argued that faith is a private matter, but he is sincere in his devotion. He privately believes the elf god Corellon has blessed his interests in music.

Sekkrit Background

Tory was not encouraged into the adventuring life by his family. His parents are high elves of some standing, not nobility but respected. They do not disapprove of adventuring themselves (as a paladin and a wizard, they could hardly do so without some hypocrisy) but were concerned for the safety of their only child if he went out into what they knew was a hazardous profession. It is possibly to avoid confirming this worry that Tory never mentioned the new manor house he and his party purchased, or its extensive basement which connects to the Underdark and in which they were lost for several months, encountering cultists and drow.
It's probably also the reason Tory has not mentioned some conflict within his adventuring party and that their rogue has attempted to kill him. More than once.
In fact, Tory really hasn't told them much of anything. He hasn't written a lot of letters.
But despite his parents' initial opposition, he did finally talk them into letting him take a gap decade to try adventuring as they had once done themselves before settling into upper middle class high elf life. He pointed out that their adventuring had made this upper middle class possible and that he should have the same opportunities for personal growth and improvement.

Show spoiler

In the end, his parents agreed, though his paladin mother insisted on a tracking charm to alert them should he die (completely). This charm will also provide his location, so that they might retrieve his body, invest in a Resurrection, and ground him for the next century.

Age

27

Gender

male

Height

5'10"

Belief/Deity

Corellon Larethian