Alyssa Bolton

Sara Bolton

Alaric Bolton

Alyssa Bolton is the younger sister to the Lord of the Dreadfort, Jon Bolton, and the eldest daughter of the late-Lord Belthasar Bolton.

## Appearance

The maiden of the Dreadfort stands tall with radiant presence at the height of 5’9. Her features are soft and feminine, framed by haunting blue eyes. Alyssa’s hair is raven in colour, reaching down past her elbows. A stark contrast to her milk-white skin, which in the past has led others to mistake her for being ill. However, this only adds to the uniqueness of her strange beauty.

Alyssa most oft chooses to adorn with soft black furs to warm her shoulders and elegant gowns of midnight and crimson, cinched tightly at the waist. However, she also occasionally dons in white. Alyssa favours tying a scarlet ribbon around her pale throat into a choker. She is most always seen adorning her finger with a silver ring featuring a large red ruby, shaped to resemble a droplet of blood.

## Personality and Character

Aged 19, Alyssa is just shy of a score of years. She is fair, gentle, and courteous, despite carrying the heavy history of her family's name. She displays resourcefulness and is a quick learner, always eager to learn more. When not in the company of books, she can oft be spied roaming the nearby forests, foraging for herbs, which she makes use of when creating poultices and treating the sick and wounded.

Rumour has it that Alyssa is gifted with Greensight.

## Biography

Despite the unnerving reputation of the Dreadfort, with its dim and smoky halls, to Alyssa it has always been home.

Alyssa Bolton was born in 79 A.C to Lord Belthasar Bolton and Raya Karstark. She has one older brother, Jon, who is the Lord of the Dreadfort, and one dead older brother, Ramsay. Alyssa also has two younger siblings, a sister named Sara and a brother named Alaric. Whilst Ramsay was trained in the ways of Lordship, Alyssa grew closer to her other siblings, barely forming any relationship with her father and his heir. Alyssa especially admired her brother Jon, looking up to him for both advice and protection, him serving as a main male-figure in her life.

From a young age, Alyssa was educated by private tutors, as well as her mother, and encouraged to follow crafts suitable for young noblewomen. This included song, dance, and embroidery, skills which Alyssa seemed to naturally excel at. Additionally, she received training in etiquette. This was in hopes for her to one day be married off to a powerful lord and help solidify a strong alliance for house Bolton.

As Lady Bolton was a religious woman, this had quite an effect on her young daughter and Alyssa was raised with strong reverence to the Old Gods. For as a child, there was no place Alyssa loved more than the Godswood. Such an appreciation for these sacred grounds would stay with the little black-haired girl for life. Almost daily, when Alyssa was done with her tutor's lessons, she would look forward to a visit to the Godswood with her mother. In the company of the ancient forest, Lady Bolton would teach her daughter all she knew about plants - how to use them to heal, brew poultices and tonics, how and when to harvest. As her studies were well-rounded, Alyssa of course would not only learn of their beneficial properties but also which plants could be harmful.

Alyssa’s first 9 years had been pleasant enough, enjoying the company of her family, However, in the year 89 A.C., tragedy would befall the Dreadfort as the Curse once more ravaged through the North. Word had it that it struck White Harbor first and descended the rest of the lands through there. And soon enough, it even creeped through the formidable Dreadfort. The Curse entered without any warning, undaunted even by the banners of flayed men. Soon enough, the young Alyssa was stricken. For weeks, she slipped in and out of consciousness as the fever took its course, her life hanging by a thread. It was at time that she had her first experiences with Greensight, as she dreamed things that she later found out had passed. Without being aware of her surroundings, she foresaw the death of her grandmother, mother, eldest brother, and several cousins - a dreamscape which they made way into the Godswood, but would not allow for Alyssa to follow. Shortly after, Alyssa's fever would miraculously begin to break, only to find out about the passing of her loved ones. Alyssa would be the only *cursed* one to survive in the Dreadfort.

In the aftermath of the Curse, Alyssa would be left that more lonely, with her mother now gone. It seemed that the drift between her and her father had grown that more distant, barely ever seeing him now. She refused to speak to anyone for an entire moon as she mourned her mother, keeping to herself as she still visited the Heart Tree daily. At this time, Alyssa's greendreams would continue, growing ever-cryptic and forbidding. She would see different things, oft unsure of their ominous meaning. In one dream, she would recall bodies piled up, crows circling, as rose petals fell from the sky. Short time after, Alyssa decided to continue her studies, first as a way of coping with the loss of her mother, but eventually turned into wishing to live up to her name. She immersed herself, gaining knowledge in herbalism and read every book that she could get her hands on. Grateful to have survived the Curse, Alyssa felt the gods had blessed her with another purpose. Deciding to make use of her herbalist knowledge, she began tending to small injured animals which she would stumble across in the forest. However, as her knowledge and experience progressed, she eventually worked up her skills even more-so, honing them to assist the Maester with sick and injured people. Word quickly traveled through the North, of the Bolton girl gifted in healing and many across the land would come to seek her treatment.

As the years passed, Alyssa would come of age. She began to possess poise and a still-calmness, just as her late-lady mother once had. The strange little girl would blossom into a beautiful woman, tall with haunting blue eyes and long raven hair, with skin pale as the moon's milk. The maiden of the Dreadfort would attract the attention of many suitors through the years. Though all would be denied by Lord Bolton, not believing for any to be good enough.

With Alyssa's gift of healing renowned, in the year 97 A.C. she would be summoned to Winterfell after the Stark retinue returned from ranging with the Night's watch. She would assist those who had been wounded upon the mission. Those nursed by her included the Prince Theodan and his cousin Brandon. Under her care, both men recovered swiftly and Alyssa felt the honour of helping the Royal family. In short time, she would return back home to the Dreadfort. But only another moon would pass before death once more stalked her family. There was a belief in the North, that the Dreadfort was ill-omened. Superstition mayhaps... The tales of old women... But with such loss experienced within her short years, Alyssa was beginning to believe there may have been some truth in fiction. Upon her brother Jon’s nameday, he would join his their father in a hunting trip. However, Lord Bolton would never return home. She had been expecting such, foreseeing it in a greendream two nights that they had left. It had already been too late to stop them. Though Alyssa's feelings were mixed with the departure of her father, she hated to admit, but she mostly felt nothing. Word had it that they had been attacked by bandits, but other whispers spoke of Jon's involvement. As Jon went under scrutiny, Alyssa stood by his side, loyally defending him until his name was at last cleared and he assumed his rightful lordship.

Now aged 19, Alyssa's loyalties remain to her brother and supporting his claim as the Lord of the Dreadfort. However, the Bolton family once more is faced with tragedy, as Lord Jon and Aleric Bolton have recently fallen ill with fever, her younger brother tragically claimed but only short time ago. Alyssa questions why the gods have befallen her with such fate, feeling guilt in being unable to save her younger brother. However, she is determined to not let Jon follow in suit. She seeks solace by prayer in the Godswood. Her greendreams continue, growing that more frequent and disturbing with the passing of the moon.

## Additional Notes

* The ruby ring which Alyssa dons daily once belonged to her late-mother.
* Alyssa suffers from sleep disorders - namely nightmares and sleep paralysis. Due to these afflictions, she often succumbs to episodes of insomnia and is afraid to go to sleep.
* Alyssa is both haunted and fascinated by her family's history. This leads her to spend much time down in the Dreadfort's crypts, among her ancestors.
* Alyssa adores flowers.