Alyssa Arryn

Alyssa Arryn is the sixth and final child born of Osric Arryn and his wife, Princess Saera Targaryen. She is younger than her twin Jon Arryn by mere minutes.

Appearance and Character
Crafty and owing to a difficult temperament, the youngest of the Vale brood is best known as the stark contrast to her twin. Where he is jovial and good natured, Alyssa is endlessly droll and prone to judgemental mannerisms.

Black-haired and blue-eyed, the twins share full and rounded features, yet Alyssa is noted to look more similar to their father Godric in her brand of beauty; one that is notably soft, compared to the barbed personality it comes with.

Long has her reputation preceded her in the Eyrie, infamous as a troublemaker and perhaps even more so for her flighty temper. Alyssa is often brash, and has no talent for making friends. She is disobedient and wilful to most, taken to doing as she pleases with little regard for consequence. Despite this wider belligerence, keenly does she obey her eldest brother when so forced, and will often heed the advice of Jon begrudgingly.

To some, her quick wit and pretty face are enough to make her tolerable, but in truth Alyssa has maintained no particularly meaningful relationships outside her own family as a result of her trickster tendencies. Eventually she manages to drive any and all away, for at her core she remains bitter and spiteful over her family's tragic past.

Childhood
Primarily raised by Princess Saera Targaryen, a woman famed for a silver tongue and diplomatic grace, these traits took no root in her youngest daughter. She was a child of the mountain through and through, but in her younger years Alyssa could be as sweet and tender as any little girl.

When Osric Arryn returned from the War in the Mountains that the twins had been born into, he was a foreign figure. By such a time Jon and Alyssa had grown into bold children, and in the latter's case defiant.

Physical pursuits always held far more appeal than the intellectual, and Alyssa took longer than most to study her letters and numbers. Her speech however developed at a faster rate, owing to the influence of her elder siblings since birth. Before she could read or write, Alyssa had already mastered bickering.

Storm's End
When the Blue Winter receded in 428 A.C, under the blanket of a new Spring the Arryn twins were for the time separated. Jon was to be fostered in Winterfell, and Alyssa in Storm's End.

Even by eleven, Alyssa had formed with her brother a deep dependence. Once they were parted did the younger sibling become truly troublesome. She had always been a rambunctious child, but with Jon to keep her entertained she was always reasonably well in check. Alone, and owing to the emotional distress and confusion in her young age, she was no easy charge to House Baratheon at Storm's End. For company she had only her Winged Knight, Ser Horton Redfort, as a constant reminder of home. Dutiful and loyal, he endured the worst of Alyssa's poor behaviour - a fact she never forgot as she grew and matured. The Knight carved his own place, for what it was worth, in her esteem.

Lord Gwayne Baratheon, however, proved himself an ill chosen adversary for Alyssa. He in fact indulged the interests she had been ushered away from at the Eyrie, and saw to finding a teacher to nurture her interest in archery. The activity was enough to tire her out daily and was combined with horse riding, climbing and other physical pursuits. She proved to have a preternatural talent for coordination, and hitting marks was an easy feat. Her life at Storm's End was wholly one of honing her martial inclinations, but undeniably were they a lonely few years.

When Alyssa returned home in 432 A.C at age fifteen, from beneath the martial tutoring of the Stormlanders she had come well on her way to mastering the bow and arrow. Though she was not built to wield a sword or bear the weight of armour - and it was clear she never would be - a deft and nimble stature lent Alyssa well to more agile pursuits. Denying her continued training would have been folly, and so beneath the watchful eye of Ser Ulric Templeton she expanded upon and honed her skills.

The Gulltown Massacre
In 435 A.C, the first true tragedy of Alyssa's life would forever change the course of the Arryn family. The death of Saera Targaryen and her dragon, Blue, in the Gulltown Massacre irrevocably changed her daughter. A woman whose influence was all that shaped the kind and empathetic facet of Alyssa's personality was ripped too soon from the world, and too soon from a child who needed further guidance. In quick succession did Osric Arryn succumb to suicide, and the damage done was sealed with his blood.

Where Sharra and Godric became withdrawn, even despondent in the latter's case, the scions of the Vale were sure Alyssa had been imbued with Baratheon fury from her many years in their care. With her brother Jon she took to setting rights in the Eyrie, and in time, the Vale. By his side she toured the holdings, stopping at every hold and keep required. Though she had no talent with people, Alyssa was appreciated for her cold logic and decisive decision-making. In war, and in its aftermath, there was little room for sentimentality. Despite her sardonic nature, Alyssa took to helping the small-folk where she could, picking up an affinity for botany as they traversed the Vale.

Having never been well-suited to traditional academia, she took well to the practical exercises of learning plants as she went, making her own compendiums and concoctions. Much of what she learned came from the small-folk themselves who she helped, happy to lend her arrows to assist foraging and hunting parties.

Learning to brew up winter remedies quickly lead into learning poisons, an art that served all well when finally Alyssa's arrows could be coated in deadly venom, providing more utility than ever before from the back lines. Since 435, at age eighteen, Alyssa has been an active combatant in skirmishes across the Vale.

Though it took time, she found her place amidst the warriors of the mountains. Many were front-line brutes, the Winged Knights amongst the finest examples of sword-and-board fighters in the Realm. This was not to Alyssa's tastes. With her slight frame, quick footing and affinity for climbing, she became a natural shadow in the forest. Years passed before her footfalls were truly silent, but with experience, few could perceive her comings or goings.

The Long Winter
When given time not allocated to duty, Alyssa's adventurous nature would not be denied. Many of her excursions into the mountains had been in pursuit of justice; hunting parties and raids, and at times tracking or scouting missions. Yet some were simply born of the pleasure of outdoor pursuits, a hobby that saw Alyssa entangled in the closest she would ever come to a circle of friends.

Jocelyn Arryn had been on the periphery of Alyssa's life since childhood. As a small girl Jocelyn was often sickly and bed-bound, a fact that, accompanied with Alyssa's fostering in Storm's End, gave little room for them to develop a rapport. Come adolescence however and Jocelyn was well recovered, now able to partake in all manners of mischief. It was more than her mere willingness to do so that endeared her to a self-involved Alyssa. Theirs was a relationship characterised by the subservience of one side, and though always subject to barbs and pranks, Jocelyn became the first to be asked when Alyssa decided to go on a venture. While her physical endurance was lacking, it was her mental fortitude in the face of dealing with Alyssa's troublesome habits that secured a lasting, if dysfunctional, bond. Jocelyn's brother, Robert Arryn, was eight years her senior. He was entirely overlooked by Alyssa until the onset of the Four Year Winter, the beginning of which called for her family's descent to the Gates of the Moon. Despite the disparity in age, their souls proved to be moulded from the same clay; bold, adventurous spirits that would not be suffocated by the ties of duty. Robert, much like Alyssa, had worked hard to find harmony between personal desire and the expectations placed upon them by Arryn blood. Both were confident and impulsive, and easily did this serve Alyssa in leading Robert into assisting with her various 'adventures'. Despite hearkening him upon the path of mischief, equally did Alyssa rely upon his prestigious military background for more serious matters. When addressing martial dilemmas, often did Robert's presence bring credibility to her proposals. His distinguished service as a knight brought the legitimacy of experience, and with his help Alyssa went from an upstart with a knack for sharpshooting to a respected tactician and combatant.

Recent Events
As her brother Godric stirs in his ancestral seat, Alyssa remains at large in the Vale proper. In recent years she has found an appreciation for the simpler things on her tours, and is often seen milking goats or skinning her catch. Inseparable from her brother as when they were children, she has grown fiercely protective of Jon, perhaps owing to the many losses House Arryn has already suffered. To those with a keener eye, however, it is also simple favouritism; detachment and even resentment is often shown for many of her own kin, with preference given to her cousins Robert and Jocelyn over some siblings.

Yet times of peace have drawn forth aspects of her personality that grew reticent, and once more has the young falcon become a troublesome thorn; while she does her duty, ever does she do it in her own way. Bitter towards many parties - even those who are indeed innocent - for the Gulltown Massacre, her guileful nature already begins to prove itself a catalyst for trouble in adulthood.