King Alister Hardin of Sliabh
{ "It gives me strength to have somebody to fight for; I can never fight for myself, but, for others, I can kill." }
| Name |Alister Cailin Hardin
| Nickname |Close companions have called him "Ster" (pronounced like "stare" or, less commonly "stir") for most of his life. Only his wife tends to call him "Ali".
| Age |Thirty-six
| Gender |Male
| Sexuality |Bisexual - deep down, he has a preference for men, but he refuses to acknowledge it as the king of a nation.
| Kingdom |Sliabh
| Alliance |His loyalty is to Sliabh but, more importantly, his family.
| In Depth Appearance |Alister is a tall man with little substance besides that. He towers at six feet, three inches, but he lacks the body mass to appear intimidating. He has a lean, wiry muscle about him, but it is nothing that would allow him to hold his own in one-on-one combat. In fact, Alister has a slight emaciated look about him. He has a shock of hair, deep brown in color. It is often a tangled mess, giving him a slightly windblown appearance. Alister's beard comes in a vibrant shade of ginger, adding a splash of color between his pale skin and dark hair. His eyes are a light hazel.
Alister bears the scars of a man who has led his own men into battle. It has been years since he has seen the front, what with the treaty, but he still bears the marks of his first few campaigns alongside his father. His choice of outfits consists mostly of rich, earthy tones mixed with reds and greens. He often wears rings and pendants that bear the riches that lie beneath Sliabh's great mountain, on which his castle stands.
| Habits |Fidgets|| The rings on his fingers serve more than to be just decoration. Alister often turns them about on his fingers, toying with them in the midst of conversation. Further, he often toys at the hair of his beard when in deep thought with himself.
Humming || Often, when by himself, Alister will hum to himself either to pass the time or to fill the silence. He does not often do so when in company, as he is quite aware of the look that such behavior receives.
| Hobbies |Art || Alister appreciates art in all of its forms, but his preferred means of artistic expression is painting or sketching. His fingers are often stained with charcoal or paint of a myriad of colors. His chambers in the palace serve mostly as his studio - the walls have long since been covered in his canvases and parchments.
Music || While his counterpart in Abhainn may appreciate the beauty of music, Alister has embraced it. As a boy, he insisted upon learning as many instruments as he could - especially the lute, which he still brings with him on travels. He has a rich, sonorous singing voice that he often uses to accompany songs.
Riding || Often, to escape the constraints of court, he will leave on day-long rides through the forests of Sliabh.
| Likes |Horses || Al has always had a soft spot for horses, and he is often found spending days with some of his favorite, riding through the forests of Sliabh.
Family || Family is the most important to Alister. His wife, sister, and children mean the world to him, and he would do anything to keep them safe.
Rain || Alister generally likes large storms, but the rain is his favorite. The sound of the rain is soothing to him.
Reading || The adventures and exploits of the nation's leaders and heroes are some of his favorite reads. He's a bit of a romantic in that sense with a love for grand things.
Wine || Alister has a refined taste in wine. He enjoys a goblet or two with each meal, but he has learned how to pace himself and often refrains from drinking too much at once. In his younger years, he did not have so much control over himself.
| Dislikes |Shoddy Conditions || Despite his often messy and disheveled appearance, Alister despises when things become disorganized or, forbid, dirty and shoddy. He's a bit of a germaphobe in that sense.
Ineptness || Alister believes everyone has a potential, and it annoys him greatly when he believes people do not live up to those. He loves his children, but he worries that they have not made the most of the resources he has given them throughout their lives.
War || He is quite eager to have this war over. He has seen the front line, and it is horrific. The sooner it ends, the better.
Sweets || Alister has never had a sweet tooth, and he often avoids candies and sweet desserts.
Crowds || Alister understands that he has a duty to his people, and so he puts on a front for the court. In truth, he would much rather keep to himself and his family than spend his days surrounded by the men and women who have deemed themselves important enough to surround him.
| Fears |End of His Bloodline || Alister's greatest fear is the loss of his family. On another level, perhaps, he greatly fears the end of the current line of Sliabh kings, which predates the schism of the two families. His immediate family trumps this grandiose fear - he constantly worries for his wife, sister, and children - especially in this foreign land.
Entomophobia || Alister has a deep set fear of bugs, especially spiders. This stems from a general dislike of dirty conditions.
| Personality |Alister is soft spoken - often terse in his statements to those he does not know. Even to his children, he can often come off as emotionally detached and harsh. His flamboyant style of dress contradicts the fact that Alister gives off a very cold vibe to those around him. He comes off as emotionally detached and a bit blase. Certainly, he has lived a life of luxury for years as the King of Sliabh, but it is misguided to imagine he does not feel, for he certainly does. Instead, his tendency to appear detached from those around him stems from a sheer hatred for large crowds of people. He has never taken to life in court and prefers to hide away in his chambers or wander the gardens than hold court.
This preference has never stopped him from conducting business, however. Alister prides himself in his dedication to his job, often placing himself in uncomfortable scenarios for the good of the kingdom. He is hardly a warrior, but he has led charges on the field numerous times in the name of his nation. And while he takes great pride in Sliabh, Alister's true loyalties lie with his family.
There is no limit to what he would commit in the name of family. Each grand action he takes is taken with consideration for the impact on those he loves. It sways him greatly and means that he is not always looking for the good of the nation but for the good of his blood line, but up until now, those two have always overlapped.
Deep down, Alister is an old soul, and he is known best by his wife and his sister. He has a love for the arts and has passed these loves on to his children. What he never managed to pass on, however, was his dedication and diligence. He worries that his children are not prepared for their roles in this ever-tumultuous world, and it is a worry that has kept him up many nights.
| Background |Alister is the elder of two children born to King George of Sliabh and his queen. As the first child of the couple, and a male child for that matter, Alister's birth was celebrated throughout the kingdom. His mother and father fawned over him, giving him whatever he desired for. He was their pride and joy. And so, when he was old enough to begin his training. He was learning to read from a young age, though those were fairy tales and tales of valor rather than the histories of the land. Meanwhile, his mother trained him as a musician and fostered a love for music deep within him.
He was just about ten years old when his sister was born, and she filled the void that Alister had left as a quickly maturing child. He was never resentful of this, however, and recognized that she was younger than him and simply needed the attention of their parents moreso than he did. His father took him under his wing and trained the young boy in the ways of campaigning and diplomacy. He was very quiet in those years, preferring simply to watch and listen.
Alister was merely a teenager when he was told he would marry Mira, his childhood companion and the woman who had been promised to him since his birth. The two were wed in a grand ceremony, and the entire kingdom rejoiced. It was their wedding night that Alister first became aware of his sexual preference for men. Intoxicated, he made a pass at a servant before realizing the implications of his actions. Since then, he has remained closeted, worried that the truth would fracture the peace he has created in the kingdom.
Soon, Mira expected the couple's first child, and he awaited the birth of his child eagerly, doting on Mira throughout the pregnancy. But the child was lost to complications, followed soon by Mira's own father. The couple mourned for some time, and rumors swirled about the kingdom as to why they were unable to have a child.
The birth of the couple's first child, Jaxon, managed to bring joy back to the couple. Alister was only nineteen at the time, but he was present for his wife once more throughout the pregnancy. It was around this time that he began to accompany his father and his father's generals on the front, learning the art of war firsthand.
They were lessons he would have preferred to have never had, and they taught him the severity of war. He and Mira conceived the couple's second child, Elaisse, during one of his breaks from the front. Shortly after her birth, he made the decision to remain in the palace, leading the war effort from a table rather than a camp.
He fell into a very regular pattern, assisting his father in ruling the kingdom throughout the day and spending his evenings with his family or in his own chambers. It wasn't until King George's death that Alister finally took the throne, bringing all of the skills he had learned as a boy into play.
Alister has ruled Sliabh for some years now, and he has pushed for the treaty that would unite the two kingdoms in peace and by blood once more. Only now is the treaty in its final stages as they journey to Abhainn to solidify the marriage and put an end to the war once and for all.
| Extra |Same as before - I'm a sucker for a good dystopian/science fiction roleplay
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Silent Whispers
