Alexis

Eponym: Alexis (Ilysian for ‘Helper'). Patronym: Argennonides (Son of Argennon). Demonym: Ardacius (of Ardacia town). Race: Sylvanis Ilysianos (Ilysian sylvan). Gender: Male sylvan, therefore called a faun. Age: Eighteen; on the cusp of adulthood. Vocation: Acolyte of the Ardacian Oracle. Religion: Worships the Great Mother Tellura. Sexuality: Uncertain, inexperienced.

Height: 5 podes, 15 dactyli (5'9", 175 cm). Weight: 115 mina (110 lb, 52 kg). Build: Soft, slender, willowy, lissom, spry. Skin: Pale, covered in a flaxen fur pelt. Hair: Moon-white to ivory, in broken curls. Eyes: Large, soulful, deep and dark. Voice: Light, pleasant, silvery, melodious. Dexterity: Right-hand-dominant. Bearing: Demure, docile, curious, skittish.

Appearance: Alexis is a rather diminutive sylvan specimen. His moon-white fur was inherited from his father Argennon, but as the runt of the litter he lacks the rugged masculinity of his other brothers; being smaller and more delicate than a typical faun. His features are youthful, with large dark eyes and a soft muzzle with a pinkish snout, as well as tawny horns and hooves. A short tasselled tail swings from his rump, and the flaxen fur of his flanks is wavy and luxuriant like his head-hair. Possessions: Alexis dresses in a modest linen perizoma, walnut-dyed with a plain border. He also owns a voluminous cotton himation; white with a brown meander fringe. He will typically wear this latter garment as a more formal temple vestment, or for protection from the elements. Alexis often carries his wooden lyre-harp with him, strapped to a leather baldric. The baldric also has a sheath for a small bronze dagger, which he keeps in the interest of self-defence. Personality: Alexis is fairly sheltered, having spent most of his childhood within the sanctuary of Ardacia. As a consequence, he is both very naïve and very curious about the outside world. He has a gentle spirit and a shy yet inquisitive nature. Although his life experience is limited, he is literate in Ilysian and Ledic, fairly well-read and decently educated in matters of history, religion, philosophy and rhetoric. He is a talented singer, a nimble dancer and can play the lyre-harp and the aulos-flute. Likes: Music, song and dance. Theatre, poetry and storytelling. Herding. Magic. Hates: Studying dry academic texts. Learning the oracular rites. Being a runt. Fears: Being confined to the temple for all his days. Being a disgrace to his family.

Alexis was begotten on the nymph Oenoe by the faun Argennon. He was the runt of the litter; the youngest of nine siblings named Adrastus, Melampus, Harpalus, Oeroe, Sophion, Meleta, Nestor and Xanthe. Alexis inherited his father's ashen-white pelt, but he did not inherit his father's mettle and virility, as he was a small child, prone to frailty and bullied by his older siblings. Oenoe knew that her son would never grow up to be a great hunter like Argennon, so he was given over at the age of twelve to the sanctuary of Ardacia where his mother served as a Dryad priestess. There he would be educated and trained as an acolyte under the auspices of the Oracle Erato, high priestess and prophetess of the great Earth-Mother goddess Tellura.

Though he loathed to be cooped up within the suffocating confines of Ardacia's temple precinct, young Alexis took begrudgingly well to his studies as an acolyte. He became learned in the literary arts, as well as the chthonic mysteries of the old Ilysian gods. But most keenly of all he took to the musical and theatrical arts. He mastered the lyre and the aulos, memorising all the lyric poetry, sacred hymns and choral chants that were available to him. He devoured plays and ballads and historical epics, spending much of his free time in the small amphitheatre that lay adjacent to the Temple of Tellura. Artistic expression became a bastion of freedom for Alexis, and the only taste he could have of the adventures that awaited outside his cloistered little life.

However, as he grew into his own, Alexis soon learned, to his despair, that he had little reason to hope he would ever be able to leave the safety of Ardacia and experience the wider world. And he also learned that there was one area of study that he was forbidden from learning. Despite being indoctrinated into the cult of the Great Mother, Alexis was male, and therefore not eligible to become a Dryad and learn the mystical arts of Dryadic magic his like mother had. This was a dreadful prospect for Alexis, who privately yearned for a life of adventure and romance, rather than a stuffy existence of religious asceticism in a temple where he would never ascend beyond the lowly rank of acolyte. But it was not his place to question the wisdom of Tellura. He would do as he was bidden. Even if it killed him inside.