The group of people that I'm playing D&D with has a tradition of mini-arcs in a campaign where they switch to alternate characters, presumably so no one gets bored playing a particular race or class or personality type for too long. As someone who is both, generally, a novelist rather than short story writer and who is in it for the roleplay and not the mechanics, I was initially very dubious about this approach. Like, haven't we all just finally learned each other's character names and are starting to form relationships? But, after playing a session (I missed the first one being on the road,) I kind of get why people enjoy this. With a whole new cast of characters, the entire vibe of the party shifted.
We went from fairly somber and serious to giggly and frivolous.
And I'm honestly here for it.
I'm now playing Ave, Idyril's younger sister. Like him she is a high elf, but unlike him, she's not a racist. She has no preconceptions that elves are any better than humans or tieflings or what have you. She also has zero sense of chivalry or honor. She is, in fact, attempting to live a life FULLY bereft of responsibilities. Ave's dream job is no job at all. She is a wild child, in every sense of the word.
Because, I based her character entirely on a throwaway line in the description of elves in the 5e Player's Handbook. It said in the handbook that elves declare, for themselves when they are adults. Their names when they are children are shorter, cuter, like Ave, and when they are adults their names sound more like elven names with too many 'y's and consonants, like, say, Idyril. Ave has decided that one way to live her dream is simply to never agree to growing up. Just full stop. No adulting. It's not for her. She's 125 year old and has said no to adulthood FOREVER. Her adult name would be something akin to Averylia but she's Ave and will, if she has a say in the matter (and, as it happens, she does), always will be Ave. (Just as a sidenote, I decided Idyril's childhood name was Rei. Despite how I spell it, I pronounce Idyril's name: ID-ray-el, so this make more sense when you're dyslexic, trust me. I could figure out how to better spell his name, but I have decided that Elvish is like Welsh or Irish, it's spelled Idyril and is simply said ID-ray-el.)
So, that's her in a nutshell. Also, if by chance, you have been following along you also know from the one mini adventure I played as her previously, that her backstory is simple. When Idyril was disgraced, the pressure was on to turn the spare into the heir. (Harry has to become William and no one likes it, particularly not the spare!) Ave continued to resist the whole grown-up responsibly thing and so Mother Dearest sent her off to a monastery to learn discipline, and, hopefully, in the Travorian family matriarchal tradition, adopt the Way of the Shadow and become an assassin. Ave hated every minute of it, and if she learned any lessons at all from the ninja goon squad it was when she attempted to escape and was hauled back, over and over again. One time, however, she finally made it over the wall without the ninjas noticing. She then ran straight into the arms of a Drunken Master, whose ability to evade the ninja squads while also partying like a boss aligned perfectly with Ave's lifestyle. She considers this woman to be her true teacher. And now is actually actively learning to be a monk.
That's far more than you need to know to appreciate what comes next. I will note that I'm NOT trying to make these letters self-contained, so if this is your first one, you might just want to skip, anyway. There's probably too much backstory to ever hope to make sense of it. It's cool. I'm posting these for fun, anyway.
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