Tu Shanshu Application

[reliabletraitor]

Player Information:
Name: Akima
Age: old enough :V
Contact: Plurk: IsaacClarke/AIM: Frenzied Nerves
Game Cast: Balthazar knewtoomuch / Recent Activity Check c:

**Major spoilers for Tales of Xillia from here on out as Alvin is from post game. You have been warned.**

Character Information:
Name: Alvin
Canon: Tales of Xillia
Canon Point: Sitting in a bar post game
Age: 26
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_Xillia
http://aselia.wikia.com/wiki/Alvin
http://tales.neoseeker.com/wiki/Alvin (past before the game)
http://reliabletraitor.dreamwidth.org/650.html (Long ongoing transcript I wrote for the entirety of Milla's side of the story with some areas of Jude thrown in.)

Setting:
The story of this particular world for the events that transpire began twenty years ago with a spirit by the name of Maxwell, or in this case Milla Maxwell, the Lord of Spirits, takes human form in the world of Rieze Maxia. Her task is to protect both spirits and humans alike. Her sole purpose is that. Together with the Four Great Spirits(Ifreet, Sylph, Gnome, and Undine), she exists in the world to protect the world she has dedicated herself to protect.

Rieze Maxia is a land where humans and spirits are living together in harmony thanks to the wonderful engineering, or development, of mana lobes in the brain. In order to understand what is at stake, it is crucial to understand how this partnership works. Spirits provide for humans all around them, be it through the use of spirit artes to call on their power or simply the world around them flourishing, and humans provide the spirits with mana. Different people have different capacities for mana, but all of them are able to be a part of the how this particular synergy works. Nature flourishes in the presence of lesser and great spirits. It is the equivalent to how nature would work in most other worlds...except with spirits.

Examples of just what this partnership can produce is simply putting wind through wind mills. A person can cast a spirit arte by calling on spirits to provide the wind they need to make the object move. This in turn produces energy. People of this particular world even light lamps with spirit artes, mentioned to be something so simple a child could perform it. This is daily life for the people of Rieze Maxia. It means their survival and that partnership with spirits is what it is all about. Some people are born with a higher capacity for mana than others. Those such people are able to perform higher forms of artes.

Rieze Maxia is split up between two factions that are very different and very much on the brink of war: Rashugal where the story begins and Auj Oule. Rashugal is composed of leaders born from privilege and Auj Oule of leaders that earn their keep no matter what they have to do. They are made up of different tribes. They are not yet at war in the beginning. It is clear early on that there is a weapon that will turn the tide of battle and potentially threaten the very lives of the people of Reize Maxia.

A little device that becomes the main focal point of the story is referred to as a spyrix. A spyrix is a device that allows the wielder to perform whatever task they like without having to have been born with a specific mana capacity in their mana lobes. This would sound like a dream to anybody, but every use of one of these weapons destroys a spirit. With spirits dying one by one, the more that balance between spirits and humans. This is the basis for what Milla sets out to do. She has been fighting this for as long as she has been in human form, turning herself into a target for those that oppose her going around and destroying spyrixes. It is apparent why she intends on destroying them as the beginning of the journey exposes Jude to the Lance of Kresnik, a large spyrix that is a weapon that takes in an amazing amount of mana in order to fire the gun off. This mana is also taken from the mana lobes of people which often leads to their deaths. Their encounter with a crazed young girl that activates the weapon leads to Milla losing the Four Great Spirits who are then trapped within that weapon. Milla and Jude are forced to retreat. With their faces on wanted posters for what happened at the laboratory, the pair join together to eventually have that unified goal of ending what Milla started.

Along the way, they run into a man named Alvin who wields an unusual gun that fires actual gunpowder. In Rieze Maxia, this would be unneeded as mana lobes allow people to use spirit artes. He will play the part of a man that is at constant odds when it comes to loyalty, something that means a great deal to the theme of this journey which is the ability to choose what one must do, There is Elize, the shy girl with the unusual doll named Teepo that talks enough for the both of them. Rowen, the butler of a well to-do family in Sharilton that holds his own secrets, and Leia, an often excitable fan of martial artes that learns the value of hard work.

Through their intentions of returning to Fennmont to destroy the Lance of Kresnik, they find themselves being hunted down by the organized forces of Rashugal, discovering in the part of the area of Auj Oule the experiments done on orphans to create more powerful weapons that threaten the freedoms of people, The King of Auj Oule is a man that feels he is doing what he must do to protect his people, willing to make a sacrifice to achieve such a goal. The inhumanities of each side make this journey a lot bigger and more important than ever before. Milla's goal of protection expands into understanding of humans beyond what she had known before.

The realization that Rieze Maxia is not the only world out there, but something that was split into another by the name of Elympios presents the origins of Exodus and their creation of the very devices that Milla has gone out of her way to eradicate: Spyrix. Elympios does not have the luxury of simply giving up what has been sustaining them for two millenia. With medical spyrix devices in effect, eradicating them completely would end up murdering many. It is their life and it changes the focus of what theyshould do to meet the immovable goal of protecting humans and spirits in any way they can. This conviction would be tested when Milla comes to her own decision of what she must do in making the ultimate sacrifice for the humans and spirits that she loves.

To get to this realization, the group must sift through the secrets around them and the reality of just who those closest to them really are and what they are capable of. It is a story of friendship and deceit within the main group itself and the world around them. It is a world built on essentially lies meant to keep one world safe and another on the brink of imminent death over a decision their society made two millenia ago. Milla and Jude's journey to save the world becomes a journey of saving both worlds. They end up crossing paths with those that would oppose them, mainly from Gaius(king of Auj Oule) and his personal group he keeps at his side: The Chimeriad. Gaius' desire for a world of the strong protecting the weak may sound like a great idea, but the way in which he intends to make himself the protector of the people of Rieze Maxia soon looms over them.

In the place that Alvin comes from, their initial journey to save the world of Rieze Maxia and then Elympios has only just begun. By conveying to Gaius what Jude wanted for both worlds by eliminating spyrixes and replacing all of it with spyrites, they bought themselves time. The world of Elympios has been using spyrixes for two millenia. They have to convince both worlds to work together to save a dying one. Jude is mentioned to be in the process of speaking up in favor of the use of spyrites while Milla takes on her role as the new Maxwell. Gaius finally unites Rieze Maxia as one country, eliminating the walls between Auj Oule and Rashugal and removing the threat of war.

So how does a guy from Elympios fit into this entire journey? He came along early in the story, making himself useful to them as much as he could while simultaneously feeding information to Exodus, the group created by his own twisted uncle, and for Gaius. The difficulty in figuring out the man's loyalty takes on a bigger and bigger part of the journey the closer that the group gets to each other. He would feed the group information where he felt it was required, displaying an awful lot of knowledge for a simple self-proclaimed mercenary. The fact that he was from Elympios meant his being able to expose the existence of the Otherworld Reactor Plan to the main party and to Gaius and the Chimeriad, eventually leading to the death of Gilland and Celsius as well as the supposed death of Milla.

By the end of the game, he is conversing with the rest of the party by letter and stating that he was asked by somebody(Yurgen from Xian Du) to form a partnership of finding ways to connect Rieze Maxia and Elympios. He even states that this is against what he would normally do. Everybody by the end of the game is able to find their place in the world. The story is about discovering oneself and how they fit into the world. Even somebody as backstabbing as Alvin figures something out.

Rieze Maxia- This is where the story begins. It is a world full of lush landscapes and various spirit climes(the equivalent to weather/climates) affected by spirits themselves of various elements. Humans and spirits here co-exist to the point of being symbiotic with each other. They keep each other alive. Humans have mana lobes that allow them to cast spirit artes. Spirits keep nature around them and humans provide the mana for them. It is a world that is powered by magic. From lighting the street lamps to being able to cast massive spirit artes to keep large pieces of machinery up and running. It is used in the field of medicine, something that Dr. Mathis and his son Jude are known for and studying in the latter's case. Rieze Maxia is broken up into two separate factions: Rashugal and Auj Oule, two factions that are on the brink of war at the beginning of the journey. Travel here is by boat, the air(monsters/wyverns), and by carriage. Communication is made by sylphjays(these look like pigeons) to deliver and receive mail.

It is discovered later on in the story when Jude and the group confront the real Maxwell that the world of Rieze Maxia was created two millenia when he took all of the animals and spirits that he could along with all of the mana lobe gifted people from Elympios. This world is hidden behind the schism to protect it from the spyrixes. It was basically meant to continue to thrive as the people of Elympios and their spyrixes destroyed themselves.

Auj Oule- The northern area that can be reached by ship and vice versa with Rashugal in the south. One of two of the major warring nations on Rieze Maxia. They are composed of tribes and they have a king that fought his way to the top as opposed to being of royal blood to obtain the throne. Many people here, mostly in Xian Du, are able to use beastcraft which allows them to speak with monsters and train them for uses such as transportation and battle. This is the place that the main party goes to in order to get wyverns to fly close to Fennmont to be able to get to the laboratory and the Lance of Kresnik. The king of Auj Oule is Gaius who has a strong conviction that the strong must uphold the weak. He cares deeply for his people. He keeps a group of gifted fighters at his side: The Chimeriad. They are composed of Wingul the Nova, Jiao the Immovable, Agria the Shadowless, and Presa of the Hundred Spells. They are all extremely loyal to Gaius as he was the one that took them in and gave them a purpose. They end up literally fighting to the death with the main party over Gaius' ideals.

Rashugal- The other nation warring with Auj Oule. They are made up of the wealthy as opposed to Auj Oule. They are the ones that are after Milla and Jude for breaking into the laboratory where the Lance of Kresnik was. They are generally very aggressive with their methods and often cutting off where the main group cannot go. They were lead by King Nachtigal, a man that was ruthless in his efforts towards being the most powerful over Auj Oule. He is the reason that the soldiers were as aggressive as they were. With the Lance of Kresnik, he had hoped to make an easy victory of Auj Oule though those dreams of his would not come to fruitation. The capital of Rashugal is Fennmont. Once Nachtigal was defeated, the army was temporarily without leadership that would late become united with Gaius and the Auj Oule army.

Spirits- According to Ivar, handmaid to Milla, spirits are beings that are undead and they live in the spirit world. Lesser spirits become fossils as do Great Spirits when they pass on. The power from 'deceased' Great Spirits are transferred to the next Great Spirit, so they never really die as Ivar claims. Spirits in general co-exist in Rieze Maxia with the mana lobes of all of the people of Rieze Maxia. There are Four Great Spirits that Milla can summon which are Ifreet, Sylph, Gnome, and Undine. Spirits are how people cast spirit artes. There are many different types like earth spirits, fire spirits, and many more.

Mana Lobes- This exists in a person's head. It allows them to channel spirit artes. Like a person with a cold, mana lobes can cause illness and even death when something is wrong with them. Doctors like Jude Mathis are able to nurse people back to health when something goes wrong with these lobes in order to keep everything in peaceful harmony. Spirits and humans have a coexistence where people need spirits to live and spirits need the mana from a human's mana lobe. It keeps them both healthy.

Maxwell- The Lord of Spirits. Maxwell is considered a deity that is highly revered by all, none perhaps more than those in Nia Khera where Maxwell supposedly took a human form by the name of Milla Maxwell. It is discovered during the course of the game(or rather closer to the end) that Milla is not Maxwell at all. Maxwell is in the spirit realm and has the appearance of an elderly man in some sort of metal apparatus. Maxwell created Milla in order to be the bait for the Exodus members that slipped through twenty years ago. As they believed that she was the true Lord of Spirits, his plan worked liked a charm.

Schism- This was created by the real Maxwell to separate Elympios from the new world of Rieze Maxia that he created to protect from the appearance of spyrixes that threatened all spirits. It is an enormous spirit arte that takes a tremendous amount of mana to sustain and Maxwell has been doing so for all these two millenia. This is what separates the Elympions from obtaining the mana they need after having essentially dried up all of their resources. It took a great deal of mana for Maxwell to keep the schism up and working. In order to allow Elympios the chance to figure out what it must to save its people and with Milla's new conviction to become the new Maxwell, the true Maxwell dispelled the schism and it dispersed enough mana to Elympios that they might last another couple of decades at best. In the end, a single plant grew right through the hard ground of a city in Elympios.

Elympios- A city that has tall buildings where people do not have the mana lobes that they have in Rieze Maxia The world is devoid of nature given their usage of spyrixes. It is mentioned in wikis that the people of Elympios have mana lobes, but they tend to have no use as they are not nearly as developed as those from Rieze Maxia. According to Maxwell, two millenia ago was the start of the Elympions use of spyrix. As they are unaware of what a spirit is or that they would even be alive in the first place, they do not question what sort of effect that the use of spyrix would have on their world. Think of it as natural gas or something akin to any other precious resource other worlds have that their civilization needs to survive. Spirit fossils, the part that is left behind with the dormant spirit inside, is just like any resource that they have been accustomed to using for two millenia. As the Elympions know that their world is running out of time, they turn to the idea of somehow getting through the schism into Rieze Maxia to siphon the mana they so desperately need. Twenty years before the start of the game is when they successfully ripped through the schism once and a ship know as the Zenethra went through to Rieze Maxia.

Somewhere in there, Dr. Mathis ended up over there as well. This is Jude's father who was originally an Elympion. He is mentioned by Elympions as having developed medical spyrix that changed their lives for the better. Alvin, real name being Alfred Vint Svent, also ended up in Rieze Maxia those years ago along with his uncle Gilland and his mother Leticia. See below for a further description.

E.S.S. Zenethra- Twenty years prior to the events of the main journey, a cruise ship was accidentally sucked through the hole made in the schism during an experiment conducted in Elympios. This cruise ship included Alvin, his father, his mother Leticia, his uncle Gilland, and Jude's father Dr. Mathis. This is where the grou Exodus was formed. The ship remained under the group's control and that of their leader Gilland until it was destroyed when Milla activated the Lance to attempt to tear down the schism.

Exodus- This group was created by Gilland when the Zenethra ended up in Rieze Maxia. A terrorist group from Elympios that was one of the main antagonists. They successfully broke through the schism once twenty years ago and have been attempting to kill Milla ever since as that would mean the destruction of the schism. One must destroy the creator in order to dispel the spirit arte used. They were the only group to somehow sneak behind Maxwell's back to manage to break through. All others have been stopped.

Otherworld Reactor Plan- It is also known as the Spirit-fuel Plan. It was about capturing spirits to fuel the spyrixes in Elympios. This was obviously created by the Elympions when they discovered the schism and imagined a world beyond that. Their intention was to use Rieze Maxia as a giant reactor. There was a man that the party spoke to that was part of the group supporting this plan. According to those that support this, they did not consider what might happen to the Rieze Maxians.

Spyrix- Spyrixes were invented by the Elympions two millenia ago. Their development was the sole reason for Maxwell creating the schism as it threatened spirits and humans alike. The Lance of Kresnik is powered by a spyrix. The issue with a spyrix is that it destroys spirits with each use and is the reason that nature has dried up on Elympios: Their dependence on that technology is leading to their inevitable extinction. It was the catalyst for Maxwell putting up the schism and creating Rieze Maxia. It is difficult to get rid of these devices as the Elympions depend on them for many medical breakthroughs.

Spyrite- They do not harm people nor spirits. They are considered lesser spirits. The ones that show up are Volt and Celsius. they are created by taking a spirit fossil and recreating the essence of the spirit lying dorment within. Their first use to the party is through Gilland and his use of Celsius. Though his methods were highly unorthodox, in the end his intentions were to replace spyrix with spyrites. The spyrite was able to be created when Rashugal got their hands on Teepo, Elize's talking doll, to research. A spyrite is created with a booster and a Rieze Maxian pouring in mana into a spirit fossil. It basically recreates the spirit within: Lesser or Great Spirits respectively.

Aspyrixis- This was developed by Dr. Mathis. This is the device that Milla had to use early on when she lost the use of her legs. This device is much like a spyrix, but it does not kill spirits like those do. Instead it utilizes the mana lobes of the person that the device is attached to. The price is that it is extremely painful to endure.

Boosters- This is a device that is used to amplify a person's mana lobes to make them stronger. It originated in Auj Oule and is used prevalently by the Chimeriad Wingul. It was implanted in his brain. When activated, his hair would go straight up and turn white and he would suddenly begin to speak Long Dau, the language of the tribe he came from. Elize's doll Teepo is also a booster. The problem that Rowen discovers from a Rashugal soldier is that they have a side effect: The more that one uses the booster, the more it chips away at the user's life. Boosters do have their advantages as they are used in the harsh climes of Fezebel Marsh to boost spirits artes to produce a more suitable clime over a generalized area.

Lilium Orb- An item that individuals can carry that allows them to level up in strength and various other parameters in order to become...well...stronger and be able to fight more powerful enemies. It allows the person to achieve new artes and skills that they otherwise could not use. Though there are many standard abilities on these orbs, there are some things learned on them that are unique to the person. It is how two individuals can perform Linked Artes as explained by Alvin near the beginning of the game. Lilium Orbs allow humans to fight monster and create artes. In an optional dungeon called Magnus Zero, the group meets a being called Golden Mage Knight is the true creator of the Lilium Orbs. He created them in order to see how humans fight. He created them thousands of years ago. It is how the Golden Mage Knight has sustained himself.

Jude Mathis- The poor sap/kid studying medicine when he happens upon Milla busting her way into the laboratory to attempt to destroy the Lance of Kresnik. He started out as a kid with no direction, allowing himself to be lead by Milla wherever she went. Develops a sense of self even through the original conviction of another, in this case Milla. It was not so much his inability to let go of his own dreams that changed Alvin. It was that Jude had finally reached a point where he did not take more of Alvin's shit like everybody else seemed to understand before him.

Milla Maxwell- The so-called Lord of Spirits in the flesh. She was born into a human body 20 years ago and had come to Fennmont to destroy the Lance. She had been destroying spyrixes in order to protect both humans and spirits alike. She has a strong conviction for that purpose that she never wavers from. Talk about obsessed. As it turns out though, she was able to fulfill what she always wanted and became the new Maxwell, able to protect humans and spirits alike. Like Jude, she accomplished her goal that she always had from the very beginning.

Leia Rolando- Jude's childhood friend. She was involved in an incident with an exploding spyrix when she was young and went through a lot of physical therapy to become the type of person that believes hard work can fix anything. She has a lot of spunk. She was studying to become a nurse in order to be closer to Jude. Centered her life around the idea that hard work will always pay off in the end no matter what. She was one of the reasons that Jude came back to the land of the living when Milla was originally supposed to be dead. Alvin...kind of shot her...accidentally!

Elize- A young girl with a puppet named Teepo that does most of the talking for her, including her deepest thoughts that she herself might not be able to speak aloud. Pretty sharp kid with a tragic backstory. Her doll Teepo is much more than it seems. In its case, it just so happens to be the main reason why her artes are so powerful. When she was younger, her parents were killed and she was taken to Royal Hunting Grounds where booster technology was being studied by Auj Oule.

Rowen- aka Ilbert the Conductor. This old man has seen his fair share of battle. He was once in the service of King Nachtigal. Due to an incident in the Fezebel Marsh war twenty years ago, he had moved into the butler services for Lord Cline and Driselle. The guy says a lot of wise things and was the final one that convinced him to step over to their side to defeat Presa and Agria once and for all. Rowen was once conflicted over an incident twenty years ago at the site of a famous battle in Fezebel Marsh and the unfortunate tsunami that wiped out the army he served. After the journey, he regained his confidence and stood at Gaius' side to assist him in achieving his goals.

Personality:

"I won't betray you anymore, I promise... If I do betray you again, then you're welcome to strike me down by your own sword. That's why, please let me come with you."
Okay. To do this right we have to start from the beginning for Alvin. This will, no doubt, contain spoilers since this information is figured out a little later in the game as he is a secretive man. First off, Alvin is not his real name. He was born in Elympios and would not arrive in Rieze Maxia until he was six years old. He was very much different then as he is now. This also includes the only thing that never changed for him which is that he loves his mother a great deal. He never stopped appreciating her. He was a shy boy that cried at the drop of a hat. Balan even relates an embarrassing story about Alvin when he was younger where he painted normal clover that are made into a crown to look like the more elusive Light-Leaf Clover that he could not get. Needless to say, his mother Leticia's hair is covered with paint and Alvin cries about by burying his face into hair to get paint on his own face. It is well known that he also favored his mother's peach pies.

It should be noted that he also cares a great deal about his cousin Balan. They share witty banter back and forth when Alvin does make it back to Elympios, even blowing off the whole gambling thing that he hates when Balan made a bet with the group to obtain a Light-Leaf Clover to get a story about Alvin. He does a poor job of hiding how much he cares about his family in general. For all of them save for Gilland, he wears his heart on his sleeve. For somebody that becomes such a talented liar, it conveys that family is indeed a part of him hidden beneath layer upon layer of self-preservation. It is the cornerstone of his true purpose during this journey that started before Jude and Milla met along with his intense desire to return home. It was noted in an earlier cutscene called Gambling Troubles in Xian Du that Alvin does not like gambling because it is something of a pastime in his hometown and he has seen it go wrong many times. As he states: "It's the first rule of betting. If you're just goofing around, don't gamble. If you wanna gamble, don't goof around." He will only ever take a gamble on something if he is willing to put everything into it.

Twenty years ago, he, his father, his mother, and his uncle Gilland were on the E.S.S. Zenethra when it ended up in Rieze Maxia. It was at that point that he would start making that shift in how attitude and what would ultimately lead him into the deceit he would become known for. His father was part of the upper echelon of the Svent family and Gilland was of a lesser nobility. When Alvin's father died during this event, Gilland took advantage of Alvin's mother in ways one can just imagine. He started the terrorist group Exodus using the Svent name. The success he intended on getting from using their name as well as keeping Alvin's father's gun(a gold gun Alvin does get back later). His treatment of Alvin's mother was probably what affected him the most. His uncle wishing to return home a hero just to get a leg up in his nobility never sat right with him. He despised him and still does later on despite him working on the side of Exodus for at least half of the game.

He mentioned to the party that arriving in Rieze Maxia those twenty years ago left him believing that the Rieze Maxians were monsters given that he came from Elympios where everybody used spyrixes. Casting spirit artes without a device would be akin to witchcraft in a way of comparing it to modern times. Nowadays he has become accustomed to people being able to cast without that. He no longer holds any fear over what he sees anybody casting. In fact, he was the one that taught Jude and Milla about the Lilium Orbs and being able to perform Linked Artes. Knowing more about the towns and the politics gave him a leg up over the party when it came to firsthand information.

It should be noted here that this was also the point at which he considered himself to no longer be a nobleman. He mentioned it during a scene with three gossiping women in Elympios that he never planned on going back to that. After all he had been through, he grew away from that. The women stated as much since most believe him to be dead anyways. He has a focus on money as a mercenary. For him, he was doing more of that due to his work to follow this group around in order to get the information that he needs. In the end is when he finally has some direction when Yurgen asks him to go into business with him. Even he admits that this is against what most would expect of him. This one could say is him turning over a new leaf as somebody that intends to never betray his friends again and become a better person.

He spends the years after that going from odd job to odd job, a lot of that likely being work for Exodus. Somewhere during this time, he meets Presa(knowing her as another name over that one). She was an Auj Oule spy and the two of them genuinely cared about each other. Despite that, he had the opportunity to sell the information he got from her to the Rashugal army. He did this without batting an eye and he would continue to make himself notorious for doing that with anybody that he gets close to for work. Gaius and the rest of the Chimeriad even mock the group a few times for trusting the guy, pointedly when Alvin just casually gives they information about the location of the key to the Lance of Kresnik. There is a scene with Presa on Milla's side of the story where he talks about working together with her again and perhaps adding a little suggestion in there given their past. Presa was unimpressed, stating that she had her own place with the Chimeriad and how she really could not trust him anymore after what happened. At that point, he was still playing the game of letting anything from the past roll right off of him like it was over and done with, something to be forgotten.

He would not learn his lesson until he hit rock bottom. As will be illustrated further down, the meal ticket he had with Milla was all that he had. Whenever she was gone, his desperation came through and the emotions he never allowed himself to have. He allowed that desperation to once again assist him in betraying those around him. He would once again return to Presa and Auj Oule only to finally realize what he really wanted when Rowen made a pointed comment to him every person being able to change. It was as if he needed somebody to point out what he was doing wrong all along. Even Presa knew where Alvin belonged no matter how much she wanted him to stay with her and those she served.

On that note, he is definitely not above blackmail. The reason that his mother was being cared for in Xian Du by Isla was because he knew about her own shady past. He used the fact that he knew she was supposed to be getting married to Yurgen and had played a large hand in gathering up orphans for booster testing. Alvin likely discovered this when he had been on his own mission to steal data and a prototype when that booster testing was going on. When she begged to him to let her out of caring for Leticia during one of Alvin's side quests, he threatened that he would air out all of her dirty laundry to Yurgen. When he wanted information from Dr. Mathis, Jude's father and a former member of Exodus, about if he got information about the key's location and he was met with some hostility, he would remind him that he was just the messenger and push him to spill the information which he does actually get out of him.

Throughout the time the time that he is with the party, he kept information from them like his knowledge of who Presa and Elize are. He knew where Dr. Mathis really came from, in this case Elympios from the Zenethra like himself and having possession of spyrixes, and never said a word to any of them. According to him, that is need-to-know information on a case-by-case basis. He convinces them that he has to give a little if they want to get the answers they are looking for. In some respects, he was not too far off the mark. He informed Lord Cline of what Milla and Jude did when they broke into the laboratory in Fennmont and, in return, they got Cline to get into action when they gave him the information of what they found. It was not even that he missed the point of what he was doing as being wrong. He was legitimately under the impression that betraying to get information was how he should go about it no matter if it was under the noses of whatever group he happens to be working for at that time. Often it was difficult during this journey to figure out who had his true loyalty.

The short answer would be that nobody did. Sure he worked for Exodus first and did all the way up until his mother passed away. Betrayal was something he learned. He grew up with it. He grew up realizing that he had to do what he could to get his mother and himself. If he hide his emotions, effectively keeping them below the facade of being somebody that just let everything wash over him like it was nothing, then he could not be hurt. Nothing would affect him. If he did not care about another soul but himself then he would be okay. He would scrape by. He would make it. He had no mission, but his own. The missions of others never really mattered to him unless the information could be used, exploited for his own gain. It would be the relationships he started with the main group that would change him though even then he nearly screws it up completely. The first time that he ran into Jude and Milla was at their first encounter with Agria and the Lance of Kresnik. He was gathering information for Exodus over whether or not Milla really was THE Maxwell, the one that he was supposed to kill. This meeting would end up changing him more than he would ever know.

His relationship with Jude and the rest of the party is what ultimately changes him in the end and very nearly at a point where it could have been too late for him. The first time he met Jude, he read him for exactly what he needed to: Jude was not confident and was easily manipulated. Alvin could tell him whatever he wanted and Jude would believe it. Whenever Alvin would disappear and come back, he would walk over to him and throw his arm around his shoulders all buddy like and talk his way out of being questioned over what he was doing. Alvin gets away with that until he ends up shooting Leia, something he claimed to have been an accident. Given his state of mind at the time, he likely meant to scare them more than anything. He had enough difficulty trying to psyche himself up to shoot Jude in the first place. He never did get to shoot him and Jude, being Jude, allows him back into the group.

His relationship with Milla is an interesting one. He never goes into it until later, but Exodus is on a mission to destroy the schism. To destroy the schism, they have to kill Maxwell to dispel it. As Alvin was part of Exodus, he had his orders. He knew what he had to do and he spent at least half of the game catching her alone. In Xian Du, she cornered him against a wall and demanded to know what his intentions are with being around them. He brushes that off as well. Milla knows that he wants to kill her. She apparently has quite the influence on him when she tells him that she has her mission to complete and even him trying to kill her will not stop her. She told him that he could stay with all of them in Rieze Maxia. That was literally the first time that he has ever had anybody say something like that before to him. He came to believe in her, that she would be able to dispel the schism herself and that she would actually protect all of them. When she essentially died after the incident with the Lance and the death of Gilland, he sort of snapped.

It was in snapping that nearly ruined any chance he had to stay with the group. It was never shown, but he said that he made a deal with her. He was willing to kill Jude and the rest of them if it meant he could go home. His mother was dead. She was poisoned. His mother was the main reason he did a lot of the terrible things he did just to get her back to Elympios where she wanted so desperately to return back to. Milla was his ticket back and she was gone. If it meant he could go home then he was once again going to betray the group he swore up and down could kill if he turned on them again. He does the whole thing with getting in by way of Jude who still can never say no to the guy. When Milla was, he took the first offer that came his way to get back to Elympios. He went to kill Jude, but his conscience seemed to pull at him there though Leia did get in the way several times. In the end, he ends up accidentally shooting Leia and, assuming that Jude actually wins the battle, he gets his face clocked a few times. Jude was still willing to take him with them into the fight.

It was during that confrontation where he admitted that he had no real direction to go to. Jude told him that nobody would be there to hold their hands anymore. As mentioned previously, Alvin seemed to really gravitate towards Milla for her conviction of what she could do. Since he wanted the schism gone and she was making these promises, why not latch onto that? For a person that had no aim and just going along with whatever he needed or wanted, this was almost perfect. Losing that was too much. It took Jude reminding him of that and for Rowen to put in his own words on the matter of being able to change no matter what that got him to realize where he belonged. Even then he ended up essentially betraying the woman he still cared for one last time. He found out later in a side quest to Nia Khera that there was a note left for him stating that she already knew what side he would turn to. It left him pretty broken up. It also showed how much he really cared for, saying that Jill was his favorite name of hers. Her being a spy, she had many.

It was easier in the beginning for him when all he had to do was put on that carefree front where he did not have to get to know anybody enough to care. Even the person he cared about could not get past the point where she would end up being betrayed. It was obvious that he did not want anybody to know who he was. Whenever somebody would ask questions about him, he deflected it by teasing the other person. He asked questions of others to find out information he could use later on if the information was worth selling off. He even admits to Elize, whom absolutely hated him after he ended up shooting Leia, that he was always lonely and that he wants to really be friends with them. He was legitimately afraid that they do not want to be friends with him after all that happened and what he did to them.

It was Elize who officially became his first friend after he shot Leia, whom he apologized to and received initially mixed results over if all would be forgiven. The others all had him at a certain distance. It was the night before they were to go on to try and defeat Gaius that he opened up about being lonely and how he thought tricking people was how it had to be. Things go sours meant that he high-tailed it out of there.

"I'd take the path of least resistance. I pretty much did whatever didn't hurt me, that's all."

Jude opened his eyes and he was surprised at how mature they all were in how they hid their emotions about him. It was obvious here that realizing how they really felt had finally gotten to him. He could never explain his true feelings like they could. That was evidence enough during the journey when he would change the subject to somebody or something else. It was almost seamless save for moments where he would be thanked for something such as when he went after Elize and Teepo when she was taken at the Coliseum. It was just a skit, but the range of his facial expressions displayed just how surprised and speechless he was to hear that kind of gratitude. The illustration of that coming full circle for him was admitting his loneliness to Elize and her saying that from then on she would he his friend. After telling her that forming trust as an adult was hard for him and accepting of the fact that he had to be the one to take the initiative, she really gave him a place to start changing for the better.

Something he did not do exceptionally well with at first, and something he just has trouble with in general, was best outlined with Alvin's Apology where he apologizes to Leia for shooting her. He started out trying to come off as smooth and cool as he had become known for. Whenever she reacted with a less than thrilled response, he dropped his guard and quietly apologized. There was real hope in there that she had forgiven him and he was saddened that she could not do that yet. If anything, this proves his desire to repent and his accepting that it will not be so easy no matter how much he would like it to. By the end of the journey, he seems to be on the verge of rebuilding his friendships with the rest of the group. He will likely still be pursuing that should he run into the others here.

He had the resolve to follow through with something despite the outcome being potentially far worse than disappearing. He is resolved to the fact now that he has to be the one that takes the initiative to build trust with others. He would rather do that than be on his own. It was pointed out by Teepo, and by extension Elize, that Alvin was lonely. Given the way that Alvin kept everybody at arm's length for 3/4ths of the journey, this was unsurprising. There was a definite genuine desire that he wished for and that was to attempt to build that trust he pushed away with literally everybody around him save for his mother. Family, aside from Gilland, was definitely his exception.

Some things never change for him. He will question the party, or anybody he happens to be hanging around at the time, if they plan on jumping into something if there happens to be a factor that could be a problem for not only himself, but for the others. He is a bit of a realist considering how much he wants to keep his own hide safe. This definitely extends to the rest of the party he is attempting to redeem himself with. Self-preservation is definitely still there, but who wants to keel over and die for doing something stupid? That is as bad as gambling! He has a particularly high sense of his physical appearance...might as well call that a healthy dose of ego that he never really lets go of. That's part of his charm though or so he says. The party still made sure to remind him of how annoying his 'charms' are.

He also, as a last side note, says he likes cats for their independence and that dog owners are just needy when it comes to attention. He has a fondness for his late mother's cooking(he will not say no to peach pie). He is ambidextrous though he started out simply left handed. He has a preference for the simple things, much like how he just wants to take the easy way out himself, and it comes down to even the food he eats. He references the fact that he would prefer something simple and not weird(weird being creamy beef stew...which actually might be pretty weird). He has a skit dedicated to how proud he is of his scarf, so he has a definite enjoyment of the finer things...especially for himself.

He will stick to his guns with sarcasm and his general nature of reading somebody instinctively and turning questions about himself into questions about the other one is speaking with. It would be a little difficult to drop something that he instinctively falls back on in order to protect himself. He can still be friendly and wisecracking. He is as protective of the rest of the party as he was in the beginning, obviously even more after he joined them. The whole traitor thing is something of the past with them...but that is definitely not to say that he is not capable of playing that hand if he needed to get some important information. He might go rusty if he goes on completely the straight and narrow.

In a place like Tu Shanshu, he will keep that cool demeanor he kept up until the end of the game. At the point he is from, he has gone through the stage of beginning to redeem himself to the main group. His resolve being shaken by arriving in yet another world might be shaky, but it will not be easily seen. He is very practiced at putting up a front of a little arrogance and a bravado of confidence. The sarcasm flows with this one. He will brush off this place bothering him, trying to go with the flow while he suppresses the confusion and a little bit of fear he has over ending up somewhere else.

If we factor in the whole deal about being between life and death, he will definitely react with something akin to 'Well...I guess my number was up after all.' Whether or not he will actually believe that for a while is another thing entirely. Fighting in the spiritual realm itself back in his world should ease a little of that. He will ultimately have to deal with the hand he has been dealt. Technology wise he will be golden. The people of Rieze Maxia had never seen a walkie talkie before. He has. That and in Elympios it showed him to be quite at home on a computer system of some kind and typing away.

As previously mentioned, the fact that he has been desensitized to people casting spirit artes pretty much assures that he will not react with surprise to any abilities like that. He will...side-eye the non-human looking people here though.

Appearance: Here is an Alvin/And another/And then another

Abilities: As he is an Elympion, he does not possess developed mana lobes to be able to channel spirit artes like the rest of the party does(though Balan mentions it is more ot say that they HAVE them, but they are underdeveloped and useless). Every one of his skills is pure martial arts and just....badassery. He duel wields with a sword and a gun that can actually be combined together. He generally used them apart from each other. The gun actually uses real bullets and gunpowder, something that they never see around in Rieze Maxia.

He can use abilities that allow him to sail pretty high into the air. He hits like a tank for somebody that does not actually use spirit artes. The appearance of something akin to spirit artes in his abilities such as with Guardian Field, an ability that forms a magic circle on the ground to heal him as well as doing harm to the enemy, and where some of his bullets appear to fire something elemental are explained in Tales of Xillia 2 where he infuses basically an illusion of creating spirit artes.

Every character in the party has a unique skill they are able to use and his is Charge. In the middle of an arte he is using, he can charge up energy with his sword until the sword glows. If he happens to use an arte while his sword is charged then the arte will change into a more impressive and more powerful version. We call these Charge Artes.It also allows him to briefly be more powerful in general before that energy is expended. This is a temporary skill obviously.

He can partner up with another person that has a Lilium Orb and cast Linked artes where he and the other person he has linked with perform a joined offensive or defensive maneuver. In a place like Tu Shanshu though, most people are not going to have a Lilium Orb and thus it will be more like....just teamwork in general.

List of his artes are right here. As for the Linked Artes section, that will only come into play if anybody from the main party are here to use them with.

Lilium Orb skills are here. In terms of where he is pulled from, it is safe to say that he is pretty damn sturdy. Listing out what everything means would take a while. It is being placed here to at least shows the sorts of things that appear in the Lilium Orb.

Inventory: The clothes on his back, his lilium orb, his gun/sword combo that can come apart or be used together, and a golden gun of his father's that he never uses(just a memento)

Suite: We can say metal. That would be closest to what Elympios is. There is absolutely no preference as to who lives next to him or how big the building is.

In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
So working was going to be work out pretty well. Not so bad here. Not bad at all. Alvin snorted. He almost believed that. He was already pathetically talking to himself on the inside. Before long, he'd be making up the invisible friend he had in his brain and get so obsessed that he would actually believe it. He could see it now: Raving out loud while rumors starting spreading around about the crazy new guy. Pretty soon nobody would want anything to do with him. He might be contagious. Maybe that wasn't so bad though. That might even be a little bit better than the reputation he got. He was kinda notorious before the whole saving the world thing...well...two world thing. This was almost deja vu with the whole thing twenty years ago except this wasn't Rieze Maxia or Elympios.

Considering the idea of yet another world was a little exhausting. He'd rather be back where he was. It seemed like a slap in the face to suddenly be here after everything started working out. It was like somebody out there has a sense of humor. Normally he'd be all for laughing about irony. After all, he used to have at things a lot worse than this before he wised up. When he said wised up, he meant had the rest of those kids and the old man telling him what a big fat liar he was. He could practically hear Teepo now bestowing that glorious title on him once again while Elize stared at him with that bitter look. He was...just glad that it turned out that she could forgive him. She even said she would be his friend.

He missed that kid already. He missed all of them. It was a strange feeling. It was still kinda new to him to be honest. Being honest with himself was also..yeah. Maybe he should just quite trying to get all philosophical with himself and just be on his way. In a place like this, did how he was before really matter enough to still way on him? He knew the answer to that though and it was really frustrating to say the least. He almost wished he could still play the game like he did before: The game of doing for himself and not letting his emotions get in the way. That was much easier than trying to form bonds with anybody...especially the ones that he had gotten to know. Forgiveness was not something he should expect overnight.

Couldn't hurt. He had one person for sure that was willing to be friends with his sorry ass. He could count on that. He didn't know about going into this place with the clean slate attitude though. Seeing all of these different people and not really people was more than he could handle in one day. The concept of mana lobes, no mana lobes, no spirits, no spyrixes...just a whole lot of things he didn't recognize was pretty overwhelming. If anybody could get himself through yet another trapped in another world scenario, it would be him. First things first though. He needed a job of some kind because there was no way he was walking around with a dime to his name...

Or just...whatever the currency was. He needed a lot of that. A lot of that and a nice bar to kick back and relax in. Who knew that the back of a giant turtle could have so much he needed?

Network:
[So this is definitely...almost close to home with what already happened to him. It sort of figures that it would be somewhere like the back of some kinda creature. He'd minutely worry about where the others were, but he has this little issue of figuring out where he is first. He's not really a native here obviously, but he does not want to come off as the local idiot here by showing some vulnerability. The last thing he wants is to get pegged as the guy that asked all the dumb questions or the one that gets picked on for being new.

It...almost sounds like he's talking about local bullies. He stifles some laughter on that. Didn't Jude mention that he got picked in or something when he was younger? He shakes his head as he taps the device on his leg. At least he has the advantage of being familiar with technology similar to this. He could come off as being a fast learner or just that smart. He finally switches on the video function and gives the screen a playful smirk.]

So...I guess this is the part where I play the same game other people have that I noticed and ask where the hell I am. The turtle thing...kinda new for me. A lot more exciting than the typical place to crash at.

[He is not above exploring on his own, but he wants the basics first. He'd be a fool not to do that. Traveling around Rieze Maxia for twenty years gave him the ol' adventurer's desire. Or maybe he just wanted to get the lay of the land and figure out who he needs to be talking to for the real juicy stuff.]

I can accept the turtle. I can even accept those things that dropped me off at my new home. I don't really get the purpose of being brought here.

[Not to mention the ticket out of here because there is no way this is gonna be a one way ticket. He couldn't accept that, not after all he had been through before right this moment. It is difficult to keep his face from going through the range of emotions it often did when he was being...well...he usually had every reason in the world to make those faces.]

If I can't get out of here then I could use some work. I like to keep myself busy. I'm kind of a jack-of-all-trades. If there is some currency to be made here then I'd like to hear about it. The name's Alvin.

[Part of him wants to push to ask about certain people being here. The other part of him wonders how crazy he has to be to want to locate people that might still have a little problem with him...not that he could blame them.]

Just...don't even waste my time if there's nothing in it for me.