Elwyn Faire

A boyish free spirit who enjoys the company of animals and other creatures more than ‘adults’. Though his skills as a bard and tamer have made him a boon to many towns, he’d much rather escape responsibility and coast on the bounty of nature itself.

He boasts greatness, but what does he really do besides play around?

• The Faire siblings never had a home growing up. Instead, they traveled, doing favors to make ends meet. The older Faire, Jenny, took care of both of them, encouraging him to enjoy being a child while he could.
  • Elwyn recounts their younger days with fond nostalgia. Even as Jenny found a role for herself in society, he never grew out of the lifestyle.
  • Jenny later admits that their living situation was quite fraught. She was constantly worried about running out of food and money, but she did her best to avoid Elwyn finding out.
• His memory is especially poor - as measured by his low ACUMEN - and thus he’s always learning new things about the world. For him, the ideal life is one where you experience that kind of innocent joy over and over again, even if the source of it doesn’t particularly change over time.
• Everywhere he goes, animals of all kinds tend to follow him. This was a recurring phenomenon that only exacerbated once his Value matured. He finds it more amusing than anything.
  • Children are also drawn to him. He only lets them travel with him if they have nowhere else to go. However, just as with the animals, he never lets a child stay with him for too long. He returns them to their rightful homes (or to places that can become their homes) so they grow up and find something important to do!
  • He doesn’t seem that torn up about saying goodbye, since he forgets and moves on quickly.
• Prior to his current fashion sense, all he wore growing up were Jenny’s hand-me-downs. He found ways to patch different materials together - including stuff he picked up, like leaves - to make a ‘new’ outfit.
• Understanding what animals say is not an automatic skill that comes with FAUNA - Elwyn had to actively study them in a similar manner one would with any foreign language. He still complains about getting dialects wrong (How should I know that the accent was at the end of the squeak and not the beginning?), or how certain animals will correct him (I’m never arguing with a horse again, they’re so obnoxious!)
  • He’s more prone to approximating what they say when he’s in front of other people, just so he looks more impressive. And both parties are none the wiser.
• Elwyn always finds an excuse to drop by the Blue Grotto Cathedral despite abstaining from religious practices. Cheng Zhou, priestess and close friend, insists that he has at least some interest in Synestheism, as there are times he has exhibited a strange familiarity to the gods.
• Reed pipes are his instrument of choice, as well as anything woodwind. You can usually hear him before you see him, as he plays his pipes as casually as one would whistle or sing.
  • His lute also makes an appearance whenever his speaking requires a musical accompaniment.
• A poet at heart, Elwyn likes to come up with all the songs he performs. They have a rustic, old-fashioned style, and some are said to be based off of old songs no one’s ever heard before. He doesn’t bother writing anything down, however, so many have been lost to time. But he believes that they feel more special that way - especially since some of them are about grief.
• Evergreens were a common sight growing up, as the Faires often slept underneath them during harsh winters. Once he took it on as his Color Code, he vowed to also thrive and live eternally.
• The bond between person and Specter is usually one that only severs when the human passes away, as they live much shorter lifespans. However, it is possible for a Specter to pass, and Elwyn is one of the few characters whose current Specter is actually their second one.
  • He seems unable to remember what kind of Specter his first one was; only describing it like a creature that resembled a bird.
• Romantic commitment is no exception when it comes to Elwyn’s avoidance towards long-term responsibility. However, he thinks about marriage now and then. It seems to thrill as much as it frightens him.
• No animal is beyond his care - except crocodiles. He has some unresolved tension with them.
• Unhealthy junk food is his guilty pleasure and frequent reason to return to civilization. He treats fast food places as if they are the peak of cuisine, and it isn’t unusual to find him traipsing through a city with a burger in his hand.
• Sheep seem particularly magnetized to him, making a frequent appearance in his herd.
  • The longest job he’s ever kept was as a shepherd. He spent his entire day relaxing at the pastures, only moving about to guide the animals or visit the nearby town. It seemed like the ever-flitting bard had finally settled down - only for the herd to suddenly disappear one day, along with Elwyn himself. He claims that he can never visit that town again, as they believe him to be a criminal.