Answers to: Lady Grey, Lady Alyssana. Informally, she is Alyssana, and a few people can get away with calling her simply Alys. /Don't/ call her Alyssa. She will be very cross.
Gender: female
Age: late 30s / early 40s, but due to the way time and death function in the Neath her appearance is closer to early/mid 30s
Appearance: While Alys is not unpleasant to look at, she is no great beauty either. Yes, her skin is naturally pale where other ladies but go to efforts to appear so, but her thin lips are likewise lacking in any significant color. Her features are refined, but they are too sharp to be properly pretty. She is lean, but she is solid, where most ladies would prefer to be dainty. Naturally her clothing is not so tight-fitting as to emphasize it, but she is a very active woman and has the musculature to match. And while her waist is narrow, so too are her hips. As for her bosom, she does have one but it would hardly earn compliments without considerable assistance from corsets or padding. Her eyes are her best feature, a stormy grey with more or less blue depending on the day and the lighting. Her hair is a light brown that is closer to sandy or ash than it is to dirty blonde, with a bit of wave and not particularly long. She generally wears it pulled back from her face, pinned securely into some half-up style. She might wear it all up, but never all down.
Alyssana is clearly a lady of breeding, unless she's taking efforts not to appear so. She carries herself with the expected poise, and her posture is perfectly straight. But where other women might mince, Alys strides. Her step is firm, her stance confident. Even leaping between buildings in the Flit, or tangling with Rattus Faber brigands, she moves with easy grace.
If she draws the eye, it is more likely to be because of the force of her personality, or her presence, than anything else. There has always been an intensity about Alys, particularly in her eyes, where the reserved lady shows most of her emotions.
Bio: Alyssana's life started in a peculiar fashion. She and her twin brother were born to a completely amoral man, as part of an experiment dealing with souls. With the proper techniques, it is possible to change a person's nature. Christopher, Alyssana's brother, was to be the researcher and carry on his father's work; Alyssana was to be Chris's protector. They were raised in a remote part of Britain's countryside, with little human contact outside of Gerald, their master and teacher, as well as his servant Lani, a pale woman with very little in the way of personality. There were visits from Gerald's brother, as well as the occasional trip into town (more often for Alys than for Chris), but no one outside of that. Neither of the twins was aware they were experimental, nor that the man raising them was in fact their father -- until their eleventh year, when Alys learned Gerald's endgame: further modification so she would be unable to leave her brother, and unable to disobey him. By then a very independent child, what with mostly looking after herself and helping to raise her brother, Alys rebelled. She and Chris fled, and they made it quite a distance across the English countryside before a chance encounter resulted in them finding lodgings with the couple who eventually became their adopted parents.
Lord and Lady Grey were quite familiar with the shadowy world that lay underneath the skin of Victorian England. They were anomalies: members of the nobility but with strong ties to various groups lacking such pedigree, including in the shadows. Tutors were found to continue the twins' education in all areas, even the ones most would not discuss with the uninitiated.
Alys was never particularly close to her adopted parents, nor did she have much interest in the social circles of Britain's elite. She avoided parties and galas whenever she could, preferring instead the company of books, or various tutors. The friends she did make tended to be those with significant knowledge or skill in a particular area. Of particular note were Susan Therust, a monster hunter of some renown, and Lord Agimund, an occultist (and in fact a benevolent devil -- quite the rarity!) and eventually her mentor in a great many things.
At eighteen she was accepted into a women's college at Cambridge, and her future was bright. All this changed following the murder of her brother three years later. Even though she knew the identities of her biological parents, by then deceased, Lani had been a pale shadow of the woman she might have been before Gerald and his brother got hold of her, and Gerald himself was despicable. Her adopted parents were kind, but the connection was always somewhat impersonal. Her brother was her only real family, and she'd always been willing to do anything for him. When the law was unable to properly discipline those responsible, Alyssana took matters into her own hands.
She killed the one man that had been acquitted of her brother's murder due to strings pulled behind the scenes, after extracting from him all worthwhile information. Over the next several years, she transformed from a woman who might change the world to one who might gladly destroy it. Unwavering morals and compassion tempered by pragmatism became ruthless determination to progress no matter the cost, with ethics and kindness discarded as obstacles. This is not to say she changed her beliefs about what was right and wrong, for Alys had done no such thing. She knew very well that she was breaking rules and destroying her future, and she accepted her eventual imprisonment or execution as a foregone conclusion -- so long as she had vengeance first. Everyone was a tool to reach her goal, but none so much as she. By the time she followed the trail into the Neath she was a woman that however cheerful or charming she might appear, was in truth cold, calculating, and implacable. Her former nature only manifested in small acts with little bearing on anything else.
London had been stolen by the Bazaar and taken belowground a little over three decades before, and the fallen city was very different from the surface. Here devils walked freely, the cats knew secrets and might sometimes share them, death was a mere inconvenience, and there were even men with the faces of squid. Here too was where she first met Maxwell Bradford, a former soldier on a mission of his own. The lady did warn him of what would inevitably happen, and she did try to avoid treating him overly harshly -- for a person is hardly useful if they will have nothing to do with you, in most situations. But eventually the hopeless and rather foolish love he'd come to feel for her resulted in his heart being utterly crushed, and he left London altogether, so as not to chance meeting her again.
Despite her best efforts, and even though she was hardly in a position where she could acknowledge or act on it, Alys did care for Max in her own rather twisted way, but she would not spare the time to chase him and attempt to repair the relationship. She'd warned him. She'd known from the beginning what would happen, it was why she'd cut ties with anyone she cared for at the beginning of her quest. Not because she went out of her way give injury, but because if it came to sparing someone hurt or moving forward, the latter would be her choice, every time.
It was several more years before Alys finally sent the mastermind she sought on a trip down the silent river from which he would not return. Then she quietly went and turned herself in to the constables. It wasn't happiness, nor contentment, nor even lack of purpose. But she'd turned the world from something inherently wrong to something she could accept, and that was sufficient. Given her rather extensive list of crimes, the lady was surprised when she was merely imprisoned in New Newgate, even if it was in solitary and under increased guard. Still, she'd resolved to accept the consequences imposed, whatever they were.
Of course she'd never even considered the possibility that she might be set free /without/ further consequences, beyond those she'd created for herself among acquaintances. In fact, this might be worse than execution, for in a way Alyssana was the sort that thought her misdeeds should come with a price. She'd done them knowing they were wrong, and that accounts would need settling. How then was she released after less than a year?
It took a concerted effort from those that cared about her to bring her out of the depression that followed. They were those that had seen the tiny glimmers of an older light she'd been unable to completely smother, those that had benefited from her plausibly deniable kindnesses, her abrasive concern and didn't mind the rest. Progress was slow, but eventually the she was able to reassemble enough of herself that she could live as a person again. She would never get rid of the ruthless streak she'd cultivated, of course, nor would she be able to escape her regrets. But Lady Alyssana Grey was able to focus on something other than her vendetta, for the first time in a very long time.
She isn't entirely certain who is responsible for her freedom, but she suspects that the Masters had a role. As the Duchess has said, "In the deepest matters of the Bazaar, always look to love." And perhaps they had a hand in Maxwell's return to London. He too was changed, and a far less trusting fellow. Darker, less focused on the good, and not particularly caring who might get caught up in the crossfire. They were reacquainted when someone hired him to kill Alys for good. He'd not thought of her in years, had left his love for her far behind -- or so he thought. Face to face it was another matter, and he was quite unable to end her life.
Of course he holds no hope of her returning his affection -- she'd made /that/ quite clear. And Alys herself knows she has no right to ask. Additionally, however open Max's relationship with the lady he's currently seeing, she is not going to meddle in that. Particularly since she's rather old-fashioned about relationships. No, Alys had her chance, and she turned it down. The question, of course, is how does she reconcile a Maxwell that cannot hide his feelings particularly well, and who has no wish to stop spending time in her company, with another woman hopelessly in love with him, and jealous of his feelings for Alys?
Abilities / Type of Abilities: Aside from the fact that her soul has been altered, Alys does not possess any abilities beyond what it would be possible for a normal human to achieve. There is evidence to support some of her talents being due to Gerald's experimentation, but she is still well within the range of human possibility.
Equipment / Clothing: Alyssana dresses as would be expected of a Victorian lady. Tightly laced boots peek out from underneath a floor length skirt, for it would be scandalous to show a hint of ankle (not that she /hasn't/, when necessary, but it's not her preference). She prefers smaller bustles, and while she does wear a corset she sees no need to lace it as tightly as many try to. Her blouses are frequently high-collared and longsleeved, and she wears very little in the way of jewelry. The lady prefers simple elegance to ornate frippery, and her day-to-day outfits reflect that. Subtle embroidery is, in her opinion, far superior to excessive lace or flashy embellishment. Her favored colors are navy blue and dark grey.
Alys is an excellent fighter. She is also proficient with knives, and while she does prefer a sword carrying one around is really not feasible much of the time. Instead, she has several blades concealed on her person, including one in the sole of her boot.
What she was doing before she came: Alys had just been confronted by a rather angry Sophia (Max's current significant other, though it's an open relationship). She assured the woman she has no intention of getting between the two of them -- and now she has to figure out just how she's going to handle the situation. She suspects it may be necessary to stop associating with Maxwell, a thought she does not enjoy entertaining.
Other:She currently works as a professor of anthropology at Benthic College, though she does take various other short-term jobs on occasion, including monster hunting and detective or police work.
Alys is staunch Naytheist. She likes the Church about as much as she likes the devils.
She moves in unusual circles, to put it delicately. Her friends include such people as the Honey-Addled Detective, the Barbed Wit, the Duchess, the Raggedy King (more rags than king), the Jovial Contrarian (a revolutionary), Feducci (tomb-colony prince and expert duelist possessing a certain fascination with death), various Clay Men and Rubberies (both among the dregs of society, the latter moreso than the former -- at least the Clay Men are good labor!), most of the urchins that live in the Flit, a number of Rattus Faber, and possibly the Boatman himself. Certainly they play chess on a semiregular basis.
Alys is from the
Fallen London game setting, as created by Failbetter Games. Think Victorian London taken underground with devils and Cthulhu mythos and a touch of steampunk, and a whole lot of awesome lore. <3
Maxwell Bradford belongs to my good friend Slyblue, and the two have had a significant role in shaping Alys's path since her arrival in the Neath.
Chris, Gerald, Susan, and Agimund are based on characters belonging to my favorite DM, Sandy. The original characters have similar relationships to the character that Alys is based on (one of mine).
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