Aleryn Vadorath (Tropes)

"'I am Aleryn Vadorath, Seeker of the Salathan Dominion.'"

A triton monk born and raised on the ocean floor, Aleryn was trained to be a soldier from the day she was born, meant to fight the monsters of the deep for the rest of her life. This changed when she was named a Seeker, and commanded to investigate the Elemental Cults rising to power on the Sword Coast. While Aleryn is well-trained in combat and military theory, her own insecurities and her difficulties in utilizing her elemental powers make it hard for her to keep up with her newfound teammates. Despite this, Aleryn is eager to prove her worth to those around her, and discover just what happened to her closest friend in the process...

This is a collection of tropes related to Aleryn's character, her narrative, and the various drabbles that she's a part of. For Aleryn's character, go here.


 * Always Someone Better: Pretty much every named character is this to Aleryn, at least in her eyes. Fenlyn, Daslyn, Hercan, and the entire PotA party seem to be examples of what she wishes she could be, for better or for worse.
 * Bad Liar: It's been shown that Aleryn's a terrible liar, to the point where the general rule among the party is that Aleryn will never roll Deception (and by extension, other players never need to roll Insight) when she lies, simply because she's so bad at it. In most situations, these tend to come in the form of stoic and plain lies that are easily transparent, such as claiming she never did something that she was just seen doing. Her most common tells tend to be hesitation when she's speaking.
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: When she's not using her spear, of course.
 * Because You Were Nice To Me: Aleryn's friendship with Daslyn started with the latter saving Aleryn's life when they were both five-years-old, and continued for years afterwards.
 * Beneath the Mask: Aleryn is shown to act vastly different in public than in private. At first glance, Aleryn seems to be rather detached, formal, certain of her convictions, and a steadfast supporter of the Salathan Dominion and everything it does. It's only in the drabbles that this revealed to be a mask, and that in reality she's clingy, informal (to a degree), uncertain of her beliefs and abilities, and struggling to reconcile her faith in the Dominion with the actual things they do. The result is a very conflicting person who has trouble balancing who she is and who she thinks she should be.
 * Cast From Hit Points / Cast From Stamina: Due to Aleryn's unusual way of channeling her ki powers (see Magic Gesture below), her non-physical abilities take a lot out of her. Specifically, she has a chance to suffer levels of exhaustion when she uses her magical abilities. This means that she primarily focuses on using her martial training to defeat foes, and will only use her ki powers if a situation grows desperate.
 * Can't Catch Up: Aleryn feels this way about the other monks she trained with, as well as her friend Daslyn. As of Burning the Midnight Oil, it seems she has a similar feeling regarding the rest of the party.
 * Catchphrase: "I am Aleryn Vadorath, Seeker of the Salathan Dominion." This is how Aleryn greets every person she hasn't met. Word of God claims that she says this because it's easier for her to use a pre-made phrase than to introduce herself on the spot. This hasn't stopped several members of the party from lampshaping how often she says it.
 * Contrasting Sequel Main Character: While Opal was a plucky child who always saw the bright side of a situation, served a job of vital importance to her small community, was loved by everyone in her clan, and had a rivalry with her ever-distant mother after her father's death until they eventually came to an understanding. Meanwhile, Aleryn is a much more grounded adult who views her adventures as part of her job, served a dead-end role as a minor soldier in a huge underwater kingdom, was disliked by most people in her old life, and has an extremely clingy mother who she resents because of said clingy behavior.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Seems to have a fondness for this in Gathering Storm and Burning the Midnight Oil.
 * Disorder By Any Other Name: Aleryn is canonically autistic, something that the triton call "Imitation Disorder". While she could technically abstain from military service on account of being "sick", she'd rather serve her kingdom in battle than spending her life at the aquatic equivalent of a desk job or being pampered.
 * Doorstopper: As of The Selkie's Student, Aleryn's combined drabbles add up to 179 pages worth of story. (Gathering Storm, the first drabble about Aleryn, is 72 pages alone, and technically qualifies as a novella with a total of 31,591 words.) As her story isn't even complete, and who knows how many drabbles might be written in the future, this can make Aleryn's stories intimidating to approach, causing Continuity Lock-Out.
 * Elemental Powers: As a Way of the Four Elements Monk, Aleryn can control water, fire, earth, and air as she pleases, though she has some mental roadblocks to get past first.
 * Expy: While Aleryn has several, the most notable character (and the one that drew out most of her current characterization) is Catra from She-Ra: Princesses of Power. The two of them have a number of similarities, such as:
 * Both are races that resemble animals (fish, cat) in a cast primarily of humanoids.
 * Both grew up in a heavily militarized society (the Salathan Dominion, the Horde) that has an emphasis solely on fighting their enemies above all else.
 * Both were disliked or even hated by their peers as they grew up, save for a single friend (Daslyn, Adora) that they clung to and developed romantic tension with as they got older.
 * Both of their childhood friends became the Ace and left them after becoming a Defector from Decadence. This friend then becomes their enemy as a result.
 * Both of them got a promotion to a higher rank (Seeker, Force Captain) as a direct result of their childhood friend leaving.
 * Both recognize the inherent flaws in their society, but choose to stay because they believe they can climb the ranks and improve their lot in life.
 * Both have a signature catchphrase that they use to greet people ("I am Aleryn Vadorath...", "Hey, Adora.").
 * Oddly enough, Aleryn's direct personality was based off Adora's early characterization, namely her difficulty in adjusting to life as a hero. In this way, she can also be seen as an expy of Adora.
 * Her Bad Liar qualities were directly inspired by Platinum from the Pokémon Adventures manga.
 * Glass Cannon / Fragile Speedster: Aleryn has the least health out of the entire party so far, at a measly 28 HP as of Session 0, with the only people coming close to her being Fie at 33 HP. (Though, with the release of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and her being allowed to change her racial stats, she's now equal to Fie as of Session 16.) Despite that, Aleryn also has some of the highest possible damage output in a single turn (capable of dealing a minimum of 16 damage and a maximum of 36), can stun enemies with a single strike, can manipulate the battlefield through elemental moves like Water Whip, and can run across the battlefield at 40 feet per turn, all at level five. This is without Haste being cast on her, which increases her AC, grants her advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and gives her an additional attack. All in all, she may be easy to hurt, but she dishes out far more than she'll probably receive.
 * Help Mistaken for Attack: In Session 0, Aleryn was mistaken by the townsfolk of Leilon Point for a Sahuagin, due to them both being aquatic humanoids. This leads to the townsfolk distrusting Aleryn and expecting her to kill them. Considering the appearances of the rest of the party (a moth-headed half-orc, a dangerous-looking robot, and a man in intimidating armor), they had good reason to distrust her.
 * Ice Queen: While not nearly to the extent of Mountain Jewel, Aleryn seems to have a rather cold personality. That's not to say she doesn't have her moments of levity, but she generally seems rather detached from most people.
 * I Do Not Speak Nonverbal: Aleryn seems to have trouble reading people (which is strange, considering her high Wisdom stat), something that's enforced by how often she rolls low on Insight checks. As a result, recent sessions have had Aleryn simply ignore Insight checks altogether because she's simply bad with it, and she often goes with her gut feelings on people.
 * Inexperienced Killer: Despite being a soldier trained to kill (usually) sentient monsters, Aleryn actually hasn't killed anyone before the campaign starts. This changes with the Bringers of Woe, and is eventually followed with the Cultists of the Eternal Flame at Scarlet Moon Hall. Interestingly, despite being trained for such things, Aleryn responds to this very negatively. As of Session 16, she starts vehemently avoiding killing herself, striking to disable instead of kill. Unfortunately for her, the others have no such problems.
 * Ki Manipulation: As a monk, Aleryn is capable of using ki (which she calls Positive Energy) in a number of ways, with limitations (see Magic Gesture below). However, she's still able to use some ki-based abilities such as Flurry of Blows, Stunning Strike, Deflect Missiles, and more, as these abilities are stated to be the result of her martial training (with moves like Stunning Strike being the result of hitting pressure points on the body, like Ty Lee from Avatar). It's only the more supernatural abilities that she has trouble with.
 * Magically Inept Fighter: Due to the above Cast From Hitpoints/Stamina, she qualifies as this until she masters her abilities.
 * Magic Gesture: Aleryn has difficulty channeling her ki-based powers in normal circumstances (ki being the magical energy flowing through all life). While most monks can easily control ki, Aleryn has a mental roadblock that stops her from being able to do so, severely diminishing her monkly powers (primarily her elemental abilities). Eventually, her mentor Hercan taught her to overcome this roadblock by using swimming as a way to guide her mind towards her goal, effectively fixing this problem. Unfortunately, she can't do this on land, meaning that she's essentially back to square one unless she finds an appropriate substitute for her problem.
 * My Beloved Smother: While this applies to both of her parents to a degree, her mother shows the worst of it. Gathering Storm shows that Aleryn's mom and dad view her as a child, despite being twenty years old (tritons mature at fifteen, meaning that legally speaking she's been an adult for five years). Gathering Storm states that Aleryn's parents tried to make her a permanent dependent when she was fifteen, which would have made it impossible for her to live an independent lifestyle. This has led to a rather cold relationship between the three of them where her parents try taking care of her a little too much, and she pushes them away. Their reasoning is that her "condition" (see Disorder by Any Other Name above) makes her unfit to be a true adult, and that she needs to be coddled. Aleryn is not happy with this idea.
 * Orphaned Reference: Combined with Never Live it Down. Session 0.1 had Aleryn make a reference to the Dominion's cruel tendencies, claiming that they beat unwanted behaviors out of people. This was meant to be a rare instance of Aleryn both joking and being self-aware of the Dominion's worse problems, but the other characters took it seriously. What makes it this trope is the fact that Session 0.1 is considered non-canon (it was a test session to help the players learn their characters, hence Aleryn's attitude at the time), but Novak references this line several times from Session 1 onward. Considering that Aleryn has acknowledged him saying this, it's possible that she's made a similar comment off-screen.
 * Pals with Jesus: Pals may be too strong of a word, but Aleryn seems to have a surprisingly casual relationship with her preferred god, Surminare. Burning the Midnight Oil is all about Surminare disguising herself as Daslyn and talking to Aleryn about her fears and insecurities, all the while Aleryn thinks that Surminare (under the fake name Sathryn) is just a persona created by her dreams. Interestingly, Surminare is both the casual party in this relationship as well as its instigator, as Aleryn would rather have nothing to do with it.
 * It should be noted that while it's stated that Sathryn is Surminare, the exact truth is left uncertain in case things change down the line. However, Word of God claims that Sathryn/Surminare will appear in future drabbles. Whether or not she'll appear during the campaign is a different question entirely. (While Surminare has interacted with Aleryn indirectly, she has yet to appear on-screen.)
 * Sensory Overload: Aleryn suffers from this from time-to-time. Namely, the lack of water pressure on her skin makes her extremely uncomfortable, so she takes to wearing cloaks to cover herself to make her more comfortable.
 * Spock Speak: Aleryn tends to speak very formally, a result of both her social maladjustment and her difficulty in speaking Common. The result is someone who avoids slang, rarely uses contractions, and takes part in a fair bit of Expospeak. In addition, Aleryn's tone sounds very monotonous; it's often noted that she typically sounds very dispassionate when talking.
 * This overlaps with Eloquent in My Native Tongue. When Aleryn's talking to the rest of the party (which almost exclusively happens in Common), she uses the Spock Speak above. When she's talking to her friends and family (this time, usually in Aquan), Aleryn speaks much more casually. This can also be explained by how how comfortable she feels around others (see Beneath the Mask above).
 * The Stoic: It's mentioned a lot how Aleryn's is constantly wearing a neutral, stoic expression, to the point where it's often said how strange it is when she shows anything else. She's stated to have a stilted form of speech, almost monotonous, and has trouble forming connections with others.
 * This Looks Like A Job For Aquaman: Aleryn's entire character was designed to allow her to have a strong connection to the Cult of the Crushing Wave. Being a triton, being a Way of the Four Elements monk, and having a former friend in the cult's ranks all give her a strong connection to the cult and a good reason to want to fight it and an advantage against their tricks. Unfortunately, these things also work against her, because the other four cults are neutral with towards the water cult at best and fierce rivals at worst. This makes it difficult for Aleryn--a water-dwelling triton who can solely control water--to speak to them or blend in with them.
 * Values Dissonance: An in-universe and out-of-universe example: Aleryn blindly follows the dogma of the Salathan Dominion, which includes all of their beliefs that are considered cruel or strange to other members of the party. This includes training children to be soldiers, defending the use of state-owned slaves, and even believing that her own terrible treatment by her people was justified. While she feels uneasy about some of the Dominion's values, she refuses to turn against them.
 * Weak, by Skilled: To a degree. While Aleryn's difficulties with her elemental powers give her a significant drawback, her military training and her intelligence make up for it enough that she can still help the party.
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: Aleryn has a significant knowledge of triton history, religion, the structure of her government, undersea creatures, and all sorts of information that would be incredibly useful to someone in the ocean. Only problem? She's on the surface, with the entirety of the campaign's plot occurring in a landlocked area, dealing with culture's she only barely understands. As such, much of Aleryn's knowledge is rendered useless and she's forced to play catch-up to characters who innately know this information already.
 * Wrong Line of Work: Despite Aleryn training all her life to be a soldier and a spiritweaver/stormcaller, Aleryn is astonishingly bad at it. She has trouble using abilities she spent the last ten years trying to master, she's incredibly frail, she has trouble communicating or even making allies with the poeple she's supposed to work with, and her superiors hate her. Even as a Seeker, this isn't better, as she has no leads on her target and no information about the surface, meaning that if it wasn't for Hercan and Novak's help, she wouldn't have been able to even join the campaign to begin with. Which was the whole point.
 * However, Aleryn has a number of other skills that could be useful in other professions. She's shown to be an impressive cartographer, she has a vast knowledge of triton culture/history/government/religion, she's displayed an interest in a number of hobbies (reading, dancing, singing, researching), and her role as Ms. Exposition shows that she's at the very least not adverse to teaching. Aleryn clearly has the potential to try out a number of other career paths, but she doesn't. Justified, since she seems to have her reasons.