History

The third son of an old Vidame family, Alvreise was marked from birth to join an abbey the family had long ties to. He was an obedient child and accepted his role without hassle - even enjoying the monastic life and the navel-gazing religious studies. Things were nice this way; everything was safe and made sense.

Like many of the abbey children, he developed an interest in missionary work in his 50s and volunteered to venture into the human realms to spread the faith. And like many others, he wound up at Cantor Abbey - the easy choice. But unlike most others who came through, he found he liked the simple rural life and chose to stay. It was only when his parents began to press him on advancement that he committed any real thought to it. They wanted him to return to their Delvan abbey and rise within the church ranks. He however was quite happy where he was - though in respect to their wishes he put his name up for higher positions within Cantor Abbey. Luckily he was well-liked by the Abbot, so those positions fell into his lap - and before his mind caught up, the Abbot had grown old and he was chosen to take over. Though it wasn't their first preference, the Luven family took full advantage of their son's new status - and thus began a time of closer relations with Delverne. He governed without trouble for a while, not doing much wrong but ultimately not doing much at all, which was mostly fine to the farmers. It was enough that he was a nice guy who let them live their lives - or so he thought.

All that changed a mere two decades later. To his surprise, he heard the stirrings of civil unrest in western Cantor. He voiced some weak criticisms but, reluctant to engage in conflict, did nothing else about it. Year after year he trusted that peoples' inherent goodness would overcome the discord - until it arrived at his doorstep with a lynching of his own extended family. For two decades his family had been using their connection to him to buy up land and create an informal elvish domain in west Cantor. This was fine for the many elvish expatriots there, but the displaced human Cantish had become irate enough to take matters into their own hands. With the help of some forgotten records describing former kingdoms and their wars in Cantor, they had taken up arms - and were even reportedly looking for forbidden weapons of war from the evil kingdom which once stood here, Telurea. Now he had to act. Before it could escalate, he requested the help of the Templars and Mirian army to apprehend the insurgents. He had houses raided and anything remotely dangerous they found destroyed. He turned out all known book collections, including Cantor Abbey's own library, and began a campaign of book-burning to eradicate warlike ideas. But he was also shamed and dismayed that he'd let this happen in the first place - he immediately froze Delvan land ownership, and then stepped down. His family, who believed themselves the real victims, were furious about the implied blame and cut ties with him. His final decree, upheld by his successor and friend, was that nobody should speak of his reign or this time - and so it was duly forgotten with the passing of human generations. Instead he remained as a simple monk, just there in the background waiting for some kind of absolution.

By the time Karmenie became Abbess, he was known to most simply as the abbey grandfather - practically a piece of the furniture. Without intending to be, he was swept up by the force of her personality and even agreed to accept the post of Prior. It was new and refreshing after so many years in directionless repentence, and on the back of those feelings, he decided that maybe his absolution had arrived. She had all the brash sharpness he lacked, and he had all the patient wisdom she lacked. This was his sign, it had to be. He re-entered the public life of the abbey as Karmenie's aide and was at last exactly where he should be. 

But all too soon, Karmenie's human years caught up to her and worry crept into his mind again. He didn't want to lose this arrangement and was reluctant to take over again as she wanted. Then came what he could only see as another heavenly sign - the arrival of Triss, a doppelganger of young Karmenie and the exact chance he wanted to redo his time with her. His conviction that she was a divine gift only strengthened as Triss began to work miracles and proclaim prophecies, disappeared into a mysterious fire and reappeared as a White Oracle. Though he kept his post as Prior in waiting for her, he came to believe that she was meant for something far bigger than Cantor. When Delverne began to move on Aurea's will, it felt only right take her there to Her true people.

His return to Delverne felt jarring after so long among humans, but he was welcomed as Triss' aide and ultimately satisfied as long as he could fulfil his destiny with her. When Dominus Salvai passed on the leadership of Delverne to her, she appointed him a Cardinal and he accepted to stay by her side as he had for Karmenie.