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Like every scion of House Valardin, Alis was weaned on the stories of high chivalry and heroism that have been core to the identity of the great house since time immemorial. There have been great heroic female warriors of House Valardin from history, such as the famed heroine Dame Sugan who saved the West during the Reckoning, but yet there was still a continued pervasive discouragement from young women pursuing martial careers and being expected to serve the House as diplomats or priestesses. Alis, born of short stature and a slight frame that her lord father found extremely ill-suited for the rigors of the field, found far more discouragement than most from her dreams of knighthood. But she would not be dissuaded. As a teenager, she was the most willful of all her siblings, rebelling constantly against the lessons and continually demanding to be given the same training as a squire. Of all her siblings, she was the only one that dared to get into screaming matches with her lord father, and he once declared in exasperation that she was the most willful person in the entire Oathlands for him to deal with. Her father became resigned to her determination and gave her his extremely reluctant blessing to train as a knight. It still felt something like a punishment to be sent to Arx to do so, an exile away from her home, even if she could hardly complain about training under Dayne Valardin, the Lord Commander of the King's Own and best knight of the realm. The training made her keenly aware of her shortcomings, but ferociously determined to make up for them. Though she'd never admit outwardly that maybe her parents had a point about her physically being better suited to non-martial service for the family, she is all-too-aware of how hard she's had to train to compensate. As she neared the end of her training and wrote to her lord father in the hope he would visit Arx and personally attend her being dubbed a knight, she read the reply in disbelief: her parents and all of her siblings save Edain had been slain fighting a barbaric tribe of Shavs. She returned home a knight, and knows it is irrational to feel guilty that she wasn't there when her family was attacked, knows it is foolish to think one extremely young newly minted knight would have made any difference when hundreds of soldiers did not, but she can't quite help it. The deaths might have aged her in many ways, but she is still young enough where she thinks in bold absolutes. She is a princess of House Valardin, and a knight. She will protect what remains of her family and her people. That's what knights are for.

Shorter than most, with a compact and curvy frame, Alis is not an intimidating figure at first glance save for the boundless determination often set on her still-young countenance. Her once soft features have matured into a more athletic mien, but the remnants of less stressful times still make her look younger than she is. Her white hair of the most noble bloodlines of House Valardin is usually held up by some type of hair piece, or twisted into an informal top knot to keep out of the way. And despite her frequent boldly determined visage, her youth and appearance still make it all too easy for many to dismiss her at a glance. At least, until she turns the vivid green of her eyes onto someone who has caused her displeasure.

When she first arrived in Arx, Alis had the fervent determination of the very young, seeing matters in clear cut moral absolutes and one who holds chivalric ideals above all else. And while the now older and more experienced woman that she's grown into still holds fast to chavalric ideas, honor, duty, and faith... time, battle, betrayal, and further loss have both tempered her expectations of others and made her even more determined to uphold Oathlands ideals as a good example. That she is over-protective of her family and those under her care is well known, as is the chill of her temper when she's truly risen to anger. But, otherwise, she handles her responsibilities with an even keel, a slightly wry humor, and an eye towards preserving the traditions of her home. If she is a even more somber now than she has been in years past, it is no doubt the weight of duty that she finds herself bearing.