Equal parts butler and bodyguard, Barvey was born into a family of Galapa selectively bred for generations to serve the aristocracy and burghers of the Somaji kingdom. His lineage is renowned for their hardiness and dogged loyalty but also notorious for having various mental quirks due to instances of inbreeding. Barvey’s unique mental quirk is that he is unusually obsessed with colorful fabrics and fashion accessories, to the extent that he often appears as garish to various cultures. This quirk actually was an asset to him in the court of Somaji because his foppish and visually striking appearance caught the attention of certain listless noble families including the powerful house Bloatus, who controlled vast swaths of arable land. Barvey served House Bloatus for many years but when the kingdom began to suffer widespread failures due to some unknown reason, House Bloatus started to profiteer off of the crisis by hoarding vast quantities of grain in secret silos, which it would sell to the starving populace at exorbitant rates. Eventually, the king discovered what House Bloatus was doing and declared them traitors to the realm and confiscated all their property. Barvey was left jobless and ostracized due to his association with the family and left the Somaji kingdom. Now he roams the world looking for mercenary work to restore his reputation.

As a nod to his Somaji origins, Barvey wears a fake horsehair mustache on his upper lip, as it is tradition for servants of the Somaji nobility to have extravagant facial hair.