Joliver Barleywood is a Halfling Bard of the Aevalorn Parishes. I picture him as middle-aged, fit, dressed always in a waistcoat and smoking a pipe.

Like Bartram Humblefoot, I picture this character rarely returning to the Parishes, preferring instead to be abroad and amongst Man in Gaelwyn.

This is a character who is interested in stories. I’m trying to make it a point where he’s always asking, “Tell me your tale”, or “Tell me about this or that”. He is a curator of stories; a collector of people’s experiences and dreams.

I want to write Joliver so that he exists somewhere legend and reality. He’s a wandering type, magical; he shows up in time to hear the last words of a dying man, witness an important event, or tell a story when it needs to be heard.

He’s jovial (“Joliver”), playful, teasing, and maybe a little bit snarky when he’s not performing. In D&D terms, he’s a Bard of the College of Lore, a jack of all trades, and a storyteller that holds his audience spellbound.

When I first introduced this character, he was retelling The Ballad of Skyer Dannon; Love’s Repast was his first stand-alone story.