Alistair

"It's easy, in this world of Queens, to forget the Kings. It doesn't bother me. It isn't wise, but it doesn't bother me."
Alistair is the second White King, of the fae White Court. Husband of Larissa, father of Odette, and a soldier from the Great War, he is nonetheless an understated presence in matters of the Court's politics. For the last fifty years, he has been largely absent, his time spent away from the Court in search of his daughter.
== History ==
=== Growing up on the Hunt ===
Like many of the earliest Fae, Alistair was brought into the world alone, without purpose or direction. He was found and taken in by a powerful fae that fancied himself King of the wilds - Autumn, who would later become known as the Horned King. Alistair was raised by this King and his band of hunters and monsters, becoming one of the most skilled and dangerous hunters in the world. As he trained however, overconfident in his skills and unusual power, he challenged the King for leadership of the Hunt. He failed, and was cast out to find his own way in the world. He would return stronger, or not at all.
=== A Friend and a Soldier ===
Exiled from the hunt, Alistair eventually found himself in the city, where he joined the army to learn and support himself. It was there that he befriended a slightly older warrior by the name of Staunton, and the two became fast friends. He would be there later, when Staunton married Larissa, and met her friends Delyth and Maddox. Alistair and Staunton fought side by side in the great war through its duration, and occasionally with the other three. Alistair's skill as a tracker and his ability to launch attacks behind enemy lines was decisive in dozens of battles, and this coupled with Staunton's natural leadership made their forces some of the most successful in the war - though, like everything else the fae did to win the war, it would prove not to be enough. They would live through the war all the same, defeated, but not broken.
=== The Early Days of Allutheria ===
Alistair was among the fae who came to accept the exile the gods imposed upon them without a great deal of turmoil. The new world meant vast landscapes to shape and to explore, and for a time he returned to his life as a hunter and a scout, charting the new world as the fae forged it in their image. He was pulled from this task by Staunton's death at Delyth's hands, the victim of a failed attempt to breach the barrier the gods had placed between Allutheria and their worlds. Alistair found a new place protecting Larissa, and the two would eventually marry, with the hunter taking the place of his onetime best friend.
=== The White King ===
As a King, Alistair took on the role of military leader and emissary to the remote regions of Allutheria, keeping in frequent contact with the wild fae and other creatures of the world, among whom he would always be more comfortable than among the cosmopolitan fae of the courts. He would curtail his journeys sharply though when he and Larissa were blessed with their daughter, Odette. The days that followed would be the best of his life, and a time of prosperity for the White Court, though it would remain firmly at odds with the Red.
== The Hunt for Odette ==
The golden days would end with Odette's kidnapping. No magic the White Court has been able to conjure would find her, and Alistair's search has covered all of Allutheria, with incursions even into Red Court controlled territory, though to this point they have not been caught. The rumors tell of an increasingly ragged and desperate White King, consumed with the need to find his daughter; that the White King may no longer be the benevolent force he once was, helping lost fae and even humans in the wilds and working for justice among his kind.
The years have caused many to forget the fearsome reputation he once held, but there are those who wonder just how long that will remain the case. Though he has been content in years past to leave the perception of the Queens (White and Red) as the true powers in the fae Courts, those in the White Court who remember the days of the war are left to wonder how much of that Alistair the world will be seeing again. His reputation in those days was far more ruthless than it was honorable - hardly the proper course for a King of the White, but for a desperate father, a course that grew more appealing each day Odette remains missing. In the quest for his daughter, Alistair traversed all of Allutheria, approaching the Amazons, the Fae of Death, even the Red Queen herself in hopes of gleaning some bit of information.
Finally, Alistair and Larissa decided that the only course left to them was to leave Allutheria and search Ga'leah, in the hopes that despite all their attempts at search by magic and other methods, Odette might somehow have ended up there. Once on the world they had been exiled from so long ago however, they found it in turmoil, hit far worse than Allutheria by the Walking Starvation. Alistair feared for Odette's safety even more, but he struck out into the heart of the Blight in the Yarrow, where he encountered countless monsters, a young shadow fae, and even the Goddess of War herself, who he had once held closest amongst the gods, before the war.
Eventually, whether by chance or by some last strings of connection that even the kidnapper's magic was unable to block, Alistair and Larissa found their beloved Odette deep within the Yarrow, pursued and nearly killed by blighted monsters. They were able to dispatch the monsters, but the reunion was not what they had hoped. Odette was bitter after the long years, having spent five decades hoping in vain for her parents to come, and she had fallen for a human prince, Damien Vauclain, with whom she was now closer than to either of them. The reaction of their daughter nearly broke Larissa, and for Alistair (who had blamed himself since the start), it was the twisting of a knife long buried in his chest, but Odette's strength in the face of her pain brought him pride that was at least some measure of salve. They would bring their daughter home safely... the rest they could deal with later. The longest hunt of Alistair's life had come to an end.
The hunt for her kidnapper, however... That was just beginning.
== Personality ==
At heart, despite his wild upbringing, the White King is mostly a gentle sort with people, and he typically extends that to any race. He is often quiet and reserved, trying to choose his words carefully rather than speaking without thought, which makes him even more quiet during court affairs. Of course, since he is generally content to just support Larissa's moves in such matters, this can make it seem as though he takes little responsibility on himself. In truth, he feels a great sense of duty to his people, owing not just to his current position, but his role in the war that led to their being trapped in Allutheria. As such, when he has taken charge of matters of state, he has a reputation as a fair but often uncompromising ruler.
Alistair sees the world through the lens of his upbringing as a hunter - there are predators and there are prey. He doesn't see that as meaning that the world must be a needlessly harsh place, however. After all, there are many pack creatures who defend one another, just as fae sometimes do. But nor does he have much interest in defending those unable to contribute to their own defense, or saving anyone from themselves. In battle, he is a cunning and ruthless opponent, especially skilled in the use of terrain and other environmental factors against his foes.
As for his family, Alistair is devoted, and a doting father to Odette, though the fact that the two of them share little in common has always been a difficult thing. Larissa and Odette are everything to him - which is why Odette's disappearance has hit the White King hard. Since then, his demeanor has been increasingly withdrawn, and he is quicker to his quiet sort of anger, if not always to violence. Increasingly, he has become desperate, and desperation has always made for a dangerous and unpredictable predator.
== Abilities and Magic ==
=== [pending] === 
== Ongoing Threads ==
Mushrooms and Ink - Alistair has an awkward encounter in the woods with a certain hatmaker
If Anything I'm Restless - Knox seeks a bit of help with his personal trauma from the King
Count Your Blessings - Alistair and Larissa relax a bit after bringing their daughter home, and make plans for what is to come next
Not Daddy's Little Princess Any Longer - A heart to heart with his daughter - their first after her return from Ga'leah, even though Odette remains cursed and in pain. WARNING: Feels.
Let's Get Down To Business - Young Prince Damien comes to the King with a request... and Alistair offers some advice as a much older ruler.
Category:Characters
Category:Original Characters
Category:Allutherians