Alyssa Blackthorne

Alyssa in 1036AE, credit to dillydallyings.tumblr.com

The People's Princess

Theodor Blackthorne (brother)

**Alyssa Blackthorne** was the eldest child of Queen Talia I Blackthorne by her husband Kavin Falmar. She was the heir apparent to the Blackthorne Royal Family & the Aradian Throne. She held the title of Alyssa, Princess of Stormrise Isle, from her birth to her death in 1036AE. As an infant, she was a cheerful, ordinary child; at the age of 4, she was kidnapped by Axl Waynrite and Rafe Spinner, held in a dungeon and physically abused. This childhood trauma changed her demeanour and gave her symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder and depression as she grew. As she neared adulthood, a combined number of factors caused her to commit suicide, dying at the age of only 16 years. Her death sent shockwaves through both her family and the realm itself. The Monarch never truly recovered pyschologically from the death of their eldest (and favorite) child, while her highly protective younger sister Valoria underwent a substantial character change as a result of it.

## Appearance & Character

Alyssa was said to greatly resemble her mother, to the extent that she was called "The Queen's in Miniature." She was almost physically identical to Talia; they had the same sapphire-colored eyes, the same heart-shaped face, the same waist-length crimson hair and the same build. The main difference between the two was in their manner. Talia was straight-backed and ladylike, forthright, whereas Alys had far more withdrawn demeanour. She often would not meet the eyes of those she spoke to, gazing down instead with her hair covering her face, and her complexion seemed pale even for a stormborn. Due to her immense beauty and courtesy, people found this shy melancholy to be endearing, as opposed to a sign of something darker. Alyssa wore her hair long and loose in contrast to her sister Valoria's warrior-braid; as befitted her station as Crown-Princess, she dressed in expensive dresses and fabrics that were muted or darker in color, favoring the blues and blacks of her House's banners.

Alyssa was prone to flights of melancholy that ranged from listless depression to fits of manic self-hatred. She was also introverted and kept few close friends save her little sister Valoria. She despised the details and pressures brought on her by her office as Princess, and though she often bore them in silence, she was on at least one occasion capable of lashing out at those around her when she felt overwhelmed by her surroundings. She would speak very quietly, keeping her eyes downcast, and smiling rarely. Despite this, she was known to be immensely compassionate, gentle, and kind to those around her. Her physical beauty and shy melancholy manner endeared her to many who met her, and she was beloved by the Aradian populace, called the "People's Princess."

## Skills & Abilities

Alyssa had few pleasures but she was musically talented. She played the Oud, and composed several songs on the instrument as a teenager; at least one of these instrumental pieces, based on this real life song, has become a posthumous standard in her honor. While she did not have Valoria's interest in physical training & knighthood, she showed skill at her studies and was as least as powerful a spellcaster as her brother Theodor.

As she was traumatized, Alyssa did not sleep easily, but it is possible she may have inherited her great-grandmother Isabella's ability to have prophetic dreams, and may have understood a great deal more than her siblings about the true nature of House Blackthorne and what the future held for them.

## History

Alyssa was a mirror of the queen herself; physically identical, equally intelligent, talented, and charming. The people adored their Princess and Talia fed into it; she had Alyssa perform royal processions and visits with her, endearing the girl to the populace all the more. She spent long hours tutoring Alys in statecraft, rhetoric, economics and languages, ordering the finest tutors in the realm to oversee the girl's schooling. She wanted to create the perfect heir to her legacy, in order to ensure continuing peace and prosperity in the event of her demise. And through it all, Alyssa was miserable.

The girl never fully showed her temperament as her brother Gordon did, but signs were there; she kept few friends outside her sister Val, and had almost no hobbies, taking pleasure only from the music she composed. She would at times softly object to her duties, but upon a light chiding from the Queen as to their necessity, would immediately subside, bowing her head and falling into obedient silence. As time went on she would occasionally have lapses of hysteria, flights of high anger or misery, that many around her dismissed as mere adolescence. But on one occasion, during the demon's moon of 1036AE, the 16-year-old Princess strode out into the courtyard of the Royal Palace and called for her mother. The words that passed between them have been struck from any record, save to say they were hostile, and there was mention of demons; at the end of it, Alyssa cast a terramantic spell--not offensively, for the target was herself. She self-immolated in a column of white fire, ten stories high and visible from miles around.  it left no body behind, only ash.

## Legacy

Alyssa's death, and Talia's response to it, damaged the Blackthorne Royal Family's legacy irreparably. It caused a rift between the Queen and her liviing children; it made Valoria unstable and violent, made Gordon all the more bitter and made Theo retreat from any semblance of royal life. Talia herself was never the same after Alyssa's death. it was said a light went out in the Queen the day her favorite child died. She blamed herself for the death of Alys completely and never properly groomed a successor to follow in her footsteps, terrified it might cause a repeat of the prior incident. The public also mourned the girl greatly and projected it as hostility onto Talia's remaining children. If Alyssa had lived to succeed her mother, it is very likely that the 1077 Revolution never would have happened.

A blackwood tree was planted in the courtyard of the royal palace on the spot Alyssa died. Even after the storming of the Royal Palace, the tree was preserved in the name of the Old Queen, and as of 1086AE it grows there still, tall now, its branches reaching up to the sky above in memory of the long-dead People's Princess.