Alviss

When most meet Alviss, they quickly dismiss him as an arrogant, pompous airhead.

Well, he might be arrogant and pompous and even frustratingly condescending, but "airheaded"?

No.

He is simply very bad at listening to anyone whom he deems "inferior" to his own magnificent self, thus appearing absent-minded.

Truth is that Alvisspossesses one of the sharpest minds in the entire Outpost Clan. It's half the reason he is as annoying as many percieve him, actually, since his enormous intellect in comparison to most others gives him justification for his superiority complex.

The other half of him being as annoying as he is is due to upbringing, honestly. The Outpost as a whole swears that he came to them as-is and that they cannot be held responsible for his behaviour.

One cannot collar a Hainu, and one cannot make a Lightgem humble. Two basic facts of the universe.

It's made all the worse by the facts that Alviss is:

1. A True Lightgem.
2. A Pearlcatcher.
3. The son of the original Lightgems.

In Alviss' mind this means that he is:

1. Of superiour breeding and blood.
2. Of the superior breed created by the superior diety.
3. Even better than others who might otherwise start to approach his levels of brilliance.

Honestly, the only reason that he hasn't provoked anyone (except perhaps for Bergljot, whom he considers to be "a dumb, unthinking, badly trained pet" and who considers him to be "an arrogant, puffed-up *** of a heathen") into a full-scale vendetta is that most of the time, he's smart enough to know when to stop, and that "morons and plebians are easily provoked and do not like to be confronted with their own idiocy."

Most of the time.

The other times he thankfully usually has either Egil, Fritha, Frigga, Asfrithur or Regin nearby, all of whom he recognises and respects in some manner, and they can usually rein him in from the worst of his verbal transgressions and/or smooth them over and distract him.

Anyway, for all his attitude, he gets along surprisingly well with Imperials. Better than with other Pearlcatchers, actually, weird as it is. Fritha holds that it's because he has lower expectations on them than on all other dragon breeds, especially Pearlcatchers, whom he holds to ridiculously high standards.

As a consequence of that, he prefers the company of Imperials, as they don't let him down as much as other breeds (and even manage to impress him every now and again).

The Imperials of the Clan themselves prefer to avoid thinking about the fact that the only reason his attitude towards them is somewhat bearable is because he regards their general mental capabilities to be on par with familiars and small hatchlings.

Instead, they just sit back and enjoy the perks that come with it, often relaxing nearby and throwing "helpful" comments at the poor dragon(s) whom Alviss have coerced into doing his bidding (to his standards) this time. Aghi, Anu and Regin are the most common offenders; the latter much to the surprise of many, as it takes a while to realise that Regin does have humour... it's just extremely dry and deadpan, to the point that no-one is ever quite sure when they should and shouldn't laugh.

...and since Alviss actually respects (to the point of idolising) the elder Imperial due to his extremely sharp and strategical mind, he often sets dragons to doing ridiculous (but said to be "very important") tasks around the Advisor to cheer him up.

It's quite sweet of him, really, if one discounts the sheer amount of mental stress he puts other dragons through in order to accomplish this.

Which Alviss does.

They aren't important, after all, and should be honoured to serve such great minds as himself and Regin.

• Alviss' name means "all wise" or "all knowing".