AvAlan Bates
Human Ranger-Marauder (Arc 1)/ Fighter (Arc 2)
History
Bates was born from a mercantile family from the city of Overwatch. His mother passed away during his childbirth, leaving him an only child with his father, Leon who constantly blamed AvAlan for the death of his wife. Stricken by unshakable grief and misplaced resentment, AvAlan's father spent most of his days ensuring his wife's death was not in vain.
Leon isolated AvAlan from other children at a very early age. He tried to teach him of the world through his own misguided opinions and forced him to accomplish difficult tasks at his own whim or satisfaction. His father would give him physically or mentally exhausting tasks on a daily basis and gave no gratitude or positive attention to him whatsoever. After a few years, AvAlan grew tired of his relationship with his father, and started becoming gradually more unruly as the years went on.
Eventually, AvAlan managed to escape his father's unloving grasp and ran away from the city of Overwatch. During his travels he struggled heavily with socially interaction. He managed to survive by guarding traveling merchants on reasonably safe roads. He realized that he enjoyed the freedom of travel and decided to stick to that when he was finally capable of feeding himself properly. AvAlan's strong curiosity and natural optimism carried him through the cold nights and lonely travels.
AvAlan eventually wandered his way to the city of Esterholt, completely ignorant to the city's notorious crime rate. He almost immediately fell victim to a scam upon entering the city, being convinced to walk into a shady, undisclosed location and was knocked out by two unsavory humans who masqueraded themselves as honest merchants. When AvAlan awoke, he was lying in an unknown forest completely stripped of all his prior belongings.
After the initial panic of waking up in the wilderness, AvAlan quickly realized the natural beauty of the forest. He was isolated from society, just like he had always been. He felt no fear of being stranded in a thick, unfamiliar forest, essentially abandoned. In fact, he felt more at peace, away from the judgmental pressure of society. This serene experience led to a life changing epiphany. AvAlan came to the conclusion that there is no right and wrong in nature, but there is in society. He realized that the world does not punish any creature and most things that happen naturally are a vital part of existence. He viewed the only anomaly to nature was society itself. He started to view society as a detrimental scourge that couldn't be controlled, and AvAlan decided he did not want to contribute to the reckless destruction of nature anymore. Against all odds, he managed to survive a day and half before being discovered by a particular group of drow.
These drow were a local hunting party that traded animal skins and raw meat to merchants, traders, or tanners from either Fairbay or Esterholt. They informed AvAlan that he was currently at the edge of the High Mantle Forest and civilization was not far. Originally, the group of drow hunters planned on escorting him back to the nearest city and leaving him there because the drow usually prefer keeping to their own race. However, the leader of the drow hunting party was a young female drow named Kayden, who took an immediate liking to AvAlan. Mainly because after a single conversation with him, it was very clear that he had no intention of returning back to civilization and equally shared her distaste for society. Drow have a negative stereotype eclipsing their whole race, however AvAlan's oblivious attitude towards them seemed disturbingly genuine. As a matter of fact, AvAlan had no sense of culture at all. Kayden realized that this was a very rare opportunity to teach a human about drow ways and beliefs, without their own human culture coloring his opinion of it. Kayden herself was a young girl by drow standards, however she was still very wise for her age and eagerly wanted to spread the love and knowledge of her woefully misinterpreted race in any way she possibly could. She was a druid who greatly revered the aspect of hunting and the natural food chain of the wilderness. She did not want to kill animals to sell to others, however her friends and family still had to eat, so she created the hunting party in an attempt to support everyone she cared for and stayed close to Mantle Forest. The reason she came to live on the surface was to see how beautiful the sky is for herself, and she became quickly infatuated with the moon. She named her hunting party "The Moon-flower Hunting Company".
After years of naturally gaining their trust and respect, AvAlan was finally allowed to go on hunts with the elite members of the group. He learned how to track animals, how to hunt as a cohesive team within the party, and most importantly, he learned how to fight a creature to the death. He realized that while the drow moved gracefully and with much precision, his fighting style was more direct. He was faster in a footrace than any of his hunting mates, and had an explosive fighting style. His fighting style impressed the drow because they knew the differences between power and deftness. More years of very successful hunting went by and many solo hunters in the area were enraged by the group of elitist drow literally running them out of their respective businesses. They just could not compete with the efficiency of a hunting group. A lot of the local hunters eventually ran out of clients and territory all together and some started turning towards deadly crime to feed themselves and properly sate their hatred. Some of the ex-hunters started to rely on stealing kills around the forest, because they knew the area well. Eventually, some of the bandits came together seemingly out of pure racism and spite for the drow. They concocted a scheme, involving a shameless merchant, who persuaded Kayden to lead the entirety of the Moon-flower Company into a vicious ambush.
This was the first time in his life AvAlan felt like he had lost someone precious to him and could not move on. Most of the Hunting party was massacred without hesitation right in front of him. Some were enslaved, however Kayden was the only drow that managed to escape the vicious trap. AvAlan was captured by the bandits and tortured until a small group of Paladins came from Esterholt to deal with the bandits. After saving him, they informed AvAlan that they only knew where to come because an extremely disheveled young drow woman begged them for help after disappearing into the night. AvAlan spent the next two years looking for Kayden. He searched Esterholt, the High Mantle Forest, and even Fairbay. She was nowhere to be found and no one had even heard of her before, almost like she never existed in the first place. Around the age of 24, he realized that if he successfully revitalized his old hunting company, Kayden just might be drawn to him on her own whim, if she was still alive somewhere. AvAlan had the skills to be a successful hunter, however his extreme lack of interpersonal skills held him back from pursuing that goal on his own. AvAlan decided to expand the hunting party to be open to more professions in the future with hopes to one day transform the now dead hunting party into a real guild. At first, he started in the town of Fairbay, earning small amounts of currency to fund his new-found dream. After much rejection, AvAlan finally managed to get his first member, a gnome bard named Ephany (at the cost of all his earned gold). She had a way with words that greatly impressed AvAlan, so eventually he started to rely on her much more to help accomplish his goals. Ephany informed him about the current happenings of the world, especially about how Overwatch recently lost their war. AvAlan was naturally curious about the new change in leadership in his hometown (and maybe even his father Leon, who he hadn't seen since he ran away about a decade ago), decided to set off for Overwatch to learn more about the happenings in region and attempt to expand the renown of their small guild in the process.
Arc 1Show Spoiler
While on their way to Overwatch, AvAlan and Ephany were attacked by a dire bear and fled for their lives. A group of adventurers intervened and helped kill the beast and the pair joined the party who were also traveling to Overwatch.
After they arrived, they met Queen Liara, were given a house (complete with dog) and AvAlan was introduced to pancakes by one Peepos Quinton.
Arc 2
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AvAlan has spent the last 2 years with Ephany and is working on his social skills. More recently, they teamed back up with Eliwrath and new friends Calluna, Klara, and Marrek to return to the road.
Shortly after leaving Fairbay, Eliwrath contracted a life threatening disease causing the group to travel east through The Wastes and into Onak-Al.
Arc 3
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Appearance and Personality
Standing around 5' 9'', with a body that seems on the slender side, his skin is a darker hue, almost a golden-bronze type color. With dark brown eyes, and hair, which is naturally curly and unkempt, he has no visible scars or malformations. He typically has some light stubble across his jawline, and bushy eyebrows.
AvAlan's eyes usually look glossed over, as if he was absolutely lost, no matter where he goes or who he interacts with. He is left-handed, and keeps a bastard sword without a sheath. He normally holds a short spear in his right hand, and uses it as a walking stick.
He wears hide armor that fits rather loosely, and usually wears a weather worn black cloak under his backpack.
Important Dates and Achievements
Show SpoilerNotable Moments
- Arc 2, Episode 68 AvAlan is misdirected by a researcher in Uman' Yiro. AvAlan defends himself and kills the researcher in a debated act of self defense.
- Arc 3, Episode 19: AvAlan is killed by a blue dragon in the desert of Co'dai.
Arc 1, Episode 166
