Warriors of Light

• L'aiha (WIP)
• Nanamei (WIP)
• Aes'a (WIP)
• Aeric (WIP)

FFXIV CHARACTERS

• Chakra
• Eih'a
• Eir-A
• Esmerales
• Etoile (WIP)
• Io
• J'nako
• J'sera
• Kaito
• L'khilo
• L'rhen
• Mala
• Midori
• Nymjrh
• Raein
• Raih'li
• Sebi
• Valensia
• Valeré (WIP)
• Yll Rhei

NPC Alts & AUs

• Meteion
• Minfilia
• Strika (WIP)
• Y'shtola
• Zelda
• Zero (WIP)

L'aiha Kh
<•The Final Witness•>

• Traits
• Story

Art by cybercherub on Twitter

L'aiha is my Warrior of Light!

Nanamei Kazarishi
<•Shadowbringer•>

• Traits
• Story

Art by cybercherub on Twitter

[Nanamei is my friend Lukka's Warrior of Light!]

Aes'a Tayuun
<•The Song upon the Wind•>

• Traits
• Story

Art by cybercherub on Twitter

[Aes'a is my friend Lex's Warrior of Light!]

Aeric Tracke
<•The Fae-Touched•>

• Traits
• Story

Art by cybercherub on Twitter

[Aeric is my friend Lindsay's Warrior of Light!]

Io
<•Guiding Star•>

• Traits
• Story

Art via つつじ on Picrew

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A peculiar and unusually tall Keeper of the Moon, Io measures at nearly 7 feet tall, rivaling even most au ra. But that's hardly where their quirks end—Io harbors a wonder for the world as if they first stepped foot on Etheirys's green earth yesterday. They'll tell you they're from a faraway land, though that's as much as they'll say.They carry no weapons and display no particular combat prowess, but claim they're nevertheless an adventurer and explorer. They wear an assortment of baubles and ornaments, and should one catch them in a shady enough place, their skin is covered in markings that only seem to appear under shadow. Even their cheeks bear little glowing dots they insist are just freckles, despite behaving the same as the celestial-themed tattoos(?) on their arms and legs.While Io is certainly odd, they're very friendly and extroverted. They enjoy exchanging words and stories, and they don't appear to harbor any malicious intentions even despite the air of mystery that shrouds them. Maybe they really are just a weird foreigner.Hooks!

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Some, especially those gifted with the Echo, can sense an 'offness' about Io. While they appear miqo'te, there's something othering about them. It's hard to put a finger on, but some things that may stand out include...• Unnatural eyes. There's a glow to Io's eyes, and not the reflective sort typical of the nocturnal Keepers of the Moon. There's something otherworldly about it. Something old.
• Magicked tattoos? Though hard to get a glance at, Io's skin seems as if to twinkle with starlight whenever it touches shadows. It could be a particularly fancy tattoo, but something about it feels like more than ink or magic.
• From a faraway land. Io claims they are not from any of the Three Great Continents, and while their ignorance to the general way of the world supports this idea, they're never very specific about where they did come from. They seldom tell so much as stories or share customs from their homeland.
• Out of body experiences. It's hard to describe, but Io seems almost as if the ground doesn't suit them. They're bouncy, and even at moments seem as if they think they can fly. It reminds of forest Viera stepping on city streets for the first time; cobble, dirt, grass, sand, water... it all just seems unfamiliar to them.(Endwalker spoilers in the links below!)• If your character participated in the later half of Endwalker MSQ
• If your character has ever met the white-haired woman seen in said MSQ, prior to Endwalker's events
• If you want to play with my "Minfilia returns" and Path of the Twelve canon! :)

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If your character participated in the later half of Endwalker MSQ...

Io's true name is Atlas, and they are a familiar created by Venat during her time representing the Convocation of Fourteen as the Seat of Azem. Atlas was designed to be a guiding light, should Venat's hope or passion waver; a rare occurrence, but even Hydaelyn was fallible.While presently they try to blend in as a miqo'te, Atlas is a shapeshifter. In Elpis, they took the form of a smaller-than-average ancient with several mothlike characteristics, the latter being a homage to Venat's original design for them.Atlas was sent by Venat to pursue Meteion after she fled Ktisis Hyperboreia, and was next encountered in Ultima Thule as a fraction of their former self. Their power almost spent in a twelve-thousand-year stalemate with the Endsinger, they could be heard periodically calling out to those who'd come to Ultima Thule, trying to guide them—their purpose.They were saved with the Endsinger's defeat, and returned to Etheirys even knowing their beloved creator would not be there to greet them. Still, they cherish the same world Venat did, and are enthusiastic to learn about it after so many millenniums spent on the edge of the universe!

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If your character has ever met the white-haired woman seen in said MSQ, prior to Endwalker's events...

Io's true name is Atlas, and they are a familiar created by Venat during her time representing the Convocation of Fourteen as the Seat of Azem. Atlas was designed to be a guiding light, should Venat's hope or passion waver; a rare occurrence, but even Hydaelyn was fallible.While presently they try to blend in as a miqo'te, Atlas is a shapeshifter. In the world unsundered, they took a few different forms, though they preferred a smaller-than-average ancient with several mothlike characteristics, the latter being a homage to Venat's original design for them.Through means unknown, Atlas has appeared in modern Etheirys. The world seems new to them somehow, as if they've been away? But they're as eager as ever to explore it.

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Chakra Dotharl
<•of the New Leaf•>

• Traits
• Story

Art via baydews on Picrew

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Chakra was perhaps one of the Dotharl Tribe's most up and coming warriors. She has the prowess and the spirit; she craves the thrill of the fight, and it doesn't take much to make an enemy of her. Yet despite all this potential, Chakra left the Azim Steppe behind. Why? To pursue a single friend, one whom the Dotharl had little love for, for he was weak and compassionate.Though Mana'te has abandoned the very way of the Dotharl, Chakra holds their beliefs close, with one special addition: the fight must be just. Now, what 'just' means to Chakra is probably not what it means to nobler souls, but with her friend's guidance, she's... learning. Even if 'pissing her off' or 'looking at Mana'te funny' does still count in her mind.Chakra goes wherever she must to keep her soft-bellied friend safe, but there's plenty in it for her too. The chance to fight skilled combatants all over the world is hardly one to pass up. She still holds the Dotharl in high regard, and one day hopes to return to them, perhaps when Mana'te doesn't need her protection anymore. For now though, she's content to fight for the greater good. Or the lesser good. Or the marginally insignificant good. She likes to fight, okay?

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Eih'a Kiplhi
<•Sharlayan Prodigy•>

• Traits
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Art via MagicalPouchOfMagic on Picrew

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Eih'a Kiplhi is the only son of the Sharlayan esteemed Eih Kiplhi, a legendary scholar and former member of the Forum's ninety-nine. Eih'a, though surrounded by astoundingly successful sisters, nevertheless made a name for himself as an aetherologist, specializing in the confluences and intersections of aether around the world. For his Studium thesis, he had traveled to Mor Dhona to research the so-called 'converging point' of all the world's aether, and received high praises for it.He spent many years in Eorzea, mostly working from his home and office in the Dravanian settlement near Ishgard. Here, he met J'nako Rhaq, a Seeker immigrant who, along with her father and sisters, had fled the war-torn nation of Ala Mhigo and its Mad King. Eih'a was a little taken off guard by the Seekers' unsavory feelings about his Keeper lineage, learning this was a common dichotomy in Eorzea.Nevertheless, Eih'a won J'nako's heart, and through him, her family was able to cross the sea to live in the motherland of Old Sharlayan. Eih'a was horrified and sympathetic about J'nako's bloody past, all she had overcome, and all she wished to leave behind. He was determined to see through their rest of their lives in peace, growing their family all the while.But it was not meant to be. Of their two daughters, their eldest resented Sharlayan's decision to withdraw from Eorzea in the wake of the Empire's conquering of Ala Mhigo. She refused to leave, begging her family to understand that Eorzea had done too much for them to leave it to rot under imperial rule. Eih'a felt deeply for his daughter's anger, but he was terrified of Eorzea's wars.So when J'nako disowned their daughter before his eyes, he didn't stop her. He could not bring himself to allow that pain so close to her again. Undeterred, their daughter remained in Eorzea, and just four years later, the Calamity struck. Eih'a believes his eldest daughter is dead, and mourns her and all he should have done to stop or protect her.

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Eir-A-Yan
<•Hearer of Little Solace•>

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• Story

Art via 희귤 on Picrew

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[Eir-A's lore features a favored headcanon/theory of mine: that the Elementals are actually voidsent. This won't ever come up in RP unless your character knows and mentions something about it—so even if we don't share this particular headcanon, RP should be unaffected. However, feel free to move along if this isn't to your liking. Thanks! ♥]Like most padjal before them, Eir-A is a white mage of the Stillglade Fane and ranking member of the Twin Adders of Gridania—but that may as well be where similarities end. Eir-A, despite a propensity for ailment unusual in their kind, aspires quite passionately to spread the gift of white magic upon nature even far beyond the Twelveswood. It's easier said than done though, with an entire government designed to protect—and isolate—the padjal.Eir-A bears a secret though—one kept from and long forgotten by all in Gridania except for their brother, E-Sumi-Yan. It is the Yan bloodline's burden to bear the true identity of the Twelveswood's Elementals: they are voidsent, who struck a deal with the Gelmorrans of eld that they may roam the surface of the forest if they protect its aether-rich bounty from those that would bleed it dry. Mediating with the Elementals fell to the Yan family, and while most of Eir-A's predecessors only did what was required of them, Eir-A has long since taken a deeper interest.The nature of voidsent's hyperactive aether is that, to them, Eir-A's magic is almost like a sedative. To indulge in it brings the voidsent a sense of ease and relaxation largely forgotten to their kind, and despite that giving so much of their power makes them ill, Eir-A gives anyway. To them, they understand that the voidsent's bottomless hunger is a symptom of the greater curse they bear. Such is part of why Eir-A seeks to travel, in hopes of finding a more sustainable solution for the unlikely guardians of the Twelveswood.Small freedoms they do have include their guardian and chaperone, Raih'li, and Eir-A's role as Gridanian ambassador of the Sylphs of Little Solace. With the help of their consultant, Dyslexia, Eir-A has been nurturing the alliance between Sylph and Gridanian for over two-hundred years. Despite this, Eir-A can and does take any opportunity to venture beyond the Twelveswood, usually against the Twin Adders' wishes.

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Dyslexia

A chatty sylvan consultant, Dyslexia—who has the misfortune of sharing a name with the reading comprehension disorder—is curious and a bit too adventurous for her own good. Wont to get herself into trouble, she and Eir-A, her Gridanian counterpart, make a harmonized team. Between the two of them, they handle all matters regarding the ongoing peace between sylph and Gridanian.Shortly after the lesser moon Dalamud fell from the sky, Dyslexia was believed to have harmed Eir-A, leading to a coma they would not wake from for five years. Dyslexia was innocent, but the Gridanians' mistrust led to tensions one could cut with a knife. It was only upon Eir-A's awakening that they could clear Dyslexia's name, instead placing the blame on a hooded, masked stranger...

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Esmerales
<•Seat of Espionage•>

• Traits
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Art via Hera_ on Picrew

*traits as they apply under her favorite alias.

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A woman who has walked the star for eras uncounted, Esmerales—as she is known among the Paragons—is an ascian, and the fourteenth leader among them. Ten thousand years ago, she was but a shard of Azem struggling in vain to save her star, the 13th, from destruction. She failed, but her world's harbinger, Igeyorhm, recognized her for who she was, and brought her before the unsundered of the Paragons. Here, the defeated Warrior of Light was granted a new title: the Seat of Esmerales, and came with it a new purpose: to travel the shards, learn of their peoples and their troubles, and exploit them for the benefit of the Rejoinings.Esmerales was given back what she, at the time, believed to be all of her memories as Azem. She carried out her duties faithfully, even teaming up with the unsundered Emet-Selch for the purposes of usurping the pitiful nation of Garlemald, together becoming its Emperor and Empress and forging the Garlean Empire that would terrorize the world for over fifty summbers. This role, in particular, was Esmerales' favorite, and she would resume her visage of Rinae yae Galvus whensoever she had the opportunity.However, the Paragons' reign of chaos would be brought to an end by the very Warriors of Light Esmerales once, under a now dead name, counted herself amongst. And in their demise, the truth would reveal itself: that the Paragons had lied to Esmerales, manipulating her with incomplete and carefully-chosen memories so that she would fall faithfully in line with their cause. It shattered Esmerales; having lost the people she trusted and betrayed the star she loved, she had no desire to continue living. Rather than try and make right her millennia of wrongs, she wasted away, withering into death only wishing she could forget again, that she could love and serve her masters without the burden of the truth.She drifts purposeless in the aetherial sea, longing for the day that her last memories leave her.[For lore regarding Esmerales' various identities, click here!]

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AOIFE NIAMH . . .
Esmerales' first and 'dead' name. Once an inhabitant of the 13th, known today as the Void, Aoife was the knight captain of Queen Scathach, and served her loyally both as a soldier and a lover. Aoife was ruthless and cunning, trained in numerous martial arts, and was the proud mother of her teenage son, Connla.Yet the 13th was doomed, by ascian machinations, to fail. Both Scathach and Connla perished in the apocalypse of darkness Igeyorhm created, and Aoife lost herself in the grief, unable to fight any longer. Rather than let her die, however, Igeyorhm saw in her a fragment of the lost Seat of Azem, and took Aoife to the Paragons. The rest is history, as they say.RINAE yae GALVUS . . .
Esmerales' most famous identity was the now late Empress of Garlemald, once a noblewoman belonging to House Reidus. Esmerales murdered the original Rinae Reidus and possessed her corpse, puppeteering it around for the next fifty years alongside Emet-Selch and his own visage of Solus zos Galvus. Together, they created the deplorable Garlean Empire, and waged war across the star, sowing the seeds of chaos that would usher in the Seventh Umbral Calamity.Rinae was beloved by the people of Garlemald, a beacon of light and known even among the poor as the 'Mother of Reapers', for it was she who first taught the Garleans how to summon and form pacts with the voidsent. She used this power to earn the impoverished favor, a loyalty that persisted until her untimely—and strategically planned—death.Esmerales forfeited her role as Rinae directly after the events of Silvertear Lake, in the distant land of Eorzea. The Garleans' pride and joy, a magitek battleship like no other, was torn down by the dragons that made their home in the great lake of Mor Dhona. The Garlean casualities were insurmountable, and the tragedy crippled their army's push to colonize the remainder of Eorzea, forcing the Garleans to take refuge in their only won territory, Ala Mhigo.The story goes: Rinae was so shocked and devastated by the loss of life that her heart of sixty-five summers could not bear the pain. She perished the night after news reached Garlemald, and her loss shook the nation. Emperor Solus used her death to rally and radicalize Garlemald; Eorzea had stolen their Empress, their guiding light from them, and the savages must be punished.L'ANHKA VHANAN . . .
A warrioress of Seekers of the Sun situated in the Lochs of Gyr Abania, L'anhka was a woman of shrewd prowess but lacking in conviction. Esmerales murdered and possessed the Seeker in order to keep tabs on a person of interest to the Paragons, the amnesiac L'aiha Kh, who had been 'rescued' by the clan.L'anhka had been the first to propose to L'vhanan Nunh that L'aiha be deceived about belonging to the clan and trained as a soldier to be given to the Garlemald Empire in exchange for continued peace in L'vhanan's territory. L'vhanan agreed to the scheme, as he had many before it—sacrificing bodies to Garlemald was, in his mind, a small price to pay for the safety of his mates and blood daughters.But L'anhka was not trusted only by L'vhanan. Having earned the favor of a closeted Tia named L'khilo, he let her in on his plan to revolutionize the women of L'vhanan's clan and overthrow him. L'anhka played along with this plan for a time, until she revealed to L'vhanan the Tia's plan, prompting him to attempt to kill L'khilo. He was saved by L'aiha, but at the cost of the Nunh's life, and both Seekers became wanted criminals by the L Tribe, forced to flee.While it had been Esmerales' hope to disenfranchise and even kill L'aiha, the woman survived her long, perilous journey to becoming a refugee in Ul'dah. Further, L'aiha's Echo had nearly revealed L'anhka's true identity and intentions, and Esmerales would need to keep her distance if she was to remain undiscovered.VALTROIS LACROIX . . .
Rather than continue to pursue L'aiha directly, Esmerales took a new identity in the Wood Wailer Valtrois. Killed and possessed, Valtrois traveled to Vesper Bay and joined the Scions of the Seventh Dawn under the guise of being one blessed by the Echo. Here Esmerales remained for years, keeping tabs on both the Scions and L'aiha, and eventually assisting Lahabrea, who had possessed Thancred Waters, in sparking the Garlean ambush on the Waking Sands that would, once and for all, do away with the Scions and L'aiha.Alas, not only was L'aiha not there when the Garleans attacked, but upon returning, her Echo revealed an unusual energy about Valtrois, exposing her as an ascian. No longer able to get close to L'aiha without being exposed, Esmerales would become more forthright in her identity hereafter, pursuing L'aiha time and again in an effort to destroy her.

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Etoile Valchenault
<•Ghost of Gelmorra•>

• Traits
• Story

Art via malachitinous on Picrew

J'sera Eiha
<•Sharlayan Secretary•>

• Traits
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Art via ShirazuYomi on Picrew

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J'sera was but ten summers when the Sharlayan Exodus from Eorzea was well underway, where most of her family withdrew to the motherland—save for her older sister, who chose to remain in Eorzea. As J'sera grew older, she was made to believe her sister was a traitorous renegade, like all of Louisoix's disciples—but J'sera isn't sure she believes it.After nearly drowning in the stormy seas of the Northern Empty, J'sera was rescued by her mentor and one of her curious familiars, a serpentine entity she called Leviathan-Egi. In order to save J'sera from the damage to her body from the frigid water, her mentor imbued J'sera with the egi's essence, granting the young miqo'te peculiar abilities like underwater breathing and an affinity with water-aspected aether. Though this was over a decade ago, J'sera still struggles to master these abilities with 'Levi', as she calls the egi, and prefers her intentionally learned skills as a sage.Today, she works for the Forum in Old Sharlayan. She dreams of taking office as one of its official 99 leaders. She also dreams of being bestowed the title of Archon and receiving the tattoos that come with the honor. She is a graduate of the Studium, and prior to the Scions' actions in Sharlayan, she worked as a secretary in the Rostra.For a time, she was secretly assisting Krile Baldesion in trying to gain entry for the Scions of the Seventh Dawn; J'sera, like most Sharlayan citizens, didn't know what the Forum's secrets were, but she believed the Final Days had to be addressed. Fortunately, she now gets to work much more openly with Krile and the Students of Baldesion, following the averted calamity, as an official member of their organization. Between god-beings and void worlds, it's a lot more daunting than desk work!

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Leviathan-Egi

Art via serpentan on Picrew

Leviathan-Egi was first created by Mala Pahara, a Sharlayan summoner of particular renown for her research into Eorzea's primals and beast tribes, back in the days of the Sharlayan colony in Dravania. Mala had slain several primals in her journey to study them, including the great sea serpent of the Sahagin, Leviathan—thus was Leviathan-Egi manifested.To Mala, it was a loyal if formidable servant. So when she ordered it to go after a student of hers that had tried and failed to stow away on a supply ship outbound to sea, Leviathan-Egi dove into the cold waters of the Northern Empty and set out. As it came upon the ship, however, a terrible storm was rocking the waves, and J'sera was cast overboard. Leviathan-Egi dove down to rescue her, using its aquatic magicks to ferry her back to Old Sharlayan.J'sera was in bad shape though. Unlikely to survive the damage to her lungs from the experience of near-drowning without intervention, Mala infused J'sera's aether with that of her own, specifically all that was tied up with Leviathan-Egi's. Thus was the egi rebound to J'sera—though its personality has somewhat changed as a result.It is disobedient and unruly with its new master, often snapping its sharp teeth at J'sera or simply refusing to obey instruction. Whether this is its way of protesting its new arrangement, or some flaw in the process that bound it and J'sera together, remains to be seen.

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J'nako Rhaq
<•Red Lynx of Ala Mhigo•>

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Art via MagicalPouchOfMagic on Picrew

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Born and raised in a reclusive clan of the J Tribe in Gyr Abania, J'nako was sired by her father and Nunh of the clan, J'rhaq. She was his first daughter, one of twelve, and she was his strongest, smartest, brashest daughter, at that. J'nako hunted and defended their territory with pride, a shining example of a Seeker of the Sun that all J'rhaq's daughters, blood or not, looked up to.Her dedication didn't stop there either. She rose up against Mad King Theodoric as a Crimson Duelist, scaling the ranks to be one of the most notorious, the 'Red Lynx' of Ala Mhigo, named for her severed, permanently short tail. Though J'nako alone was his enemy, the Mad King believed her whole clan a threat, and slaughtered them.Only J'nako, J'rhaq Nunh, and seven of her twelve blood sisters survived. Father and eldest daughter had protected them fiercely, as they were too young to join the fray. Alas, these nine would be the only lives left.J'nako was devastated. She forsook Red magic at once, swearing never to raise a blade against an enemy again unless they raised theirs first, for they would not fight fairly. She had always desired to study in the distant nation of Sharlayan, and after the massacre, it was not hard to appeal to her remaining family the merits of a nation steadfast in neutrality and pacifism.In the Dravanian settlement of the same name, J'nako and her family started over. She earned her place among the scholars and nobles as a gleaner, and a talented one at that. She also met her husband, a Keeper of the Moon named Eih'a, here, and would ultimately move with her family back to the motherland of Old Sharlayan, where she hoped never to suffer the grief of war again.But of J'nako and Eiha's two daughters, their eldest sought to fight back against the Empire in Ala Mhigo, the very nation J'nako had fled. The fact upset her so that, when her daughter could not be persuaded out of it, J'nako disowned her. Four years later, the Calamity struck Eorzea, and J'nako was forced to live with the fact her daughter was killed by another war.

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Kaito Tatsurugi
<•Half of the Whole•>

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Art via hellosunnycore on Picrew

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Rare was it for the people of Sui-no-Sato to allow an outsider into their village, and the case was no different for a xaela man of the Ejinn tribe. Dying at the bottom of the Ruby Sea, he was discovered by a raen woman, who nursed him back to health. The pair fell in love, and bore two children in secret: twins, Kaito and Kairi.Their father left them when they were in infancy, for while both he and their mother were more fish-like than lizard-like, Kaito's peculiar blue scales drew suspicion from the elders of Sui-no-Sato. Their father believed he could only protect them by leaving, and so the twins were raised by their mother alone.Kaito and his sister would have spent their entire lives in Sui-no-Sato, content to stay away from the rest of the world, if not for a fateful and tragic incident. Out hunting, the pair were caught in fishing nets, and hoisted into a pirate's ship. Not recognizing the two aquatic-featured au ra for what they were, the pirates thought they might sell them as 'pets' to some particularly soulless lout in Ul'dah, and set sail for the west.The twins managed to escape before they could be sold off, however, and fled into the green wilds of the Black Shroud. There they stayed, knowing their unwilling departure from home meant they could not return to Sui-no-Sato, until they began experiencing strange visions...

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L'khilo Tia
<•Founder of the Advent Coalition•>

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Art via edhelsen on Picrew

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L'khilo was born and raised in a since defunct Seeker branch of the M Tribe. As a daughter, and prior to his clan's dismantlement, he and his 11 sisters were traded to an L Tribe clan that lived high in the mountains of Gyr Abania, and lived with the Seekers of the Lion's Den since a young age.But when Garlemald came to occupy Ala Mhigo, the L clan's nunh, L'vhanan, struck a deal with the Empire: conscripts for protection. To this end, all 11 of L'khilo's sisters were eventually sent to the Empire's military over the years; he only escaped the same fate by being too unfit to make a valuable conscript to the Garleans.L'khilo Tia ultimately fled the Lion's Den with his friend L'aiha, after she unintentionally murdered L'vhanan Nunh in an effort to save L'khilo's life. Since then, L'khilo has put his smarts to good use, establishing a free company called the Advent Coalition, which he uses to repossess excess and ill-gotten wealth from the corrupt Monetarists in Ul'dah, and redistribute it to charities and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn.Ala Mhigo's liberation was the beginning of L'khilo's stumbling journey into becoming a better fighter. He's still far more resourceful as brain than brawn, but the ability to help in more ways than monetarily had lit a fire in him. He would go on to be a prevalent member of the Garlemald Contingent, and works to create a brighter future for the north's refuges and, most importantly, everyone Garlemald has harmed.

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L'rhen Vhanan
<•The Lioness Nunh•>

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Art via つつじ on Picrew

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Once a middle child, L'rhen's life was violently turned on its head when the Garleans razed Gyr Abania and conquered Ala Mhigo. Her mother, three older sisters and two younger sisters were killed in the resistance, leaving only L'rhen, her father L'vhanan Nunh, and the remnants of the clan's non-blood daughters. Desperate to stop the bloodshed, L'vhanan Nunh struck a deal with the Garleans: he would give them five of his best huntresses, and in return, they would leave the clan in peace. Garlemald agreed, and took the conscripts—what would become of them, no one knew.L'rhen was thirteen summers when this fateful exchange occurred. She believed the Garleans would keep their word then, but in only six turns of the moon, the imperials returned and demanded more conscripts, or they would raze the clan's home and take what they wanted by force. L'vhanan complied, and when a few of his huntresses protested, he named them the ones that Garlemald would take. So began a vicious cycle, where L'vhanan would train up his non-blood daughters and give them to the Garleans whenever the Empire came calling. He would go so far as to order his huntresses to conquer neighboring territories, taking their remaining daughters hostage, then sending them to Ala Mhigo. L'rhen came to believe this was a terrible necessity; the only way to protect the clan as a whole.L'vhanan would continue this trend, with increasing callousness, for over fifteen summers, until it all came unraveled by two thorns in his side, taken into the clan by his own order: the first, an M Tribe girl who had grown up into a Tia, and a clanless woman L'vhanan had intended to ship off to Garlemald in just a few moons. In the chaos that ensued, L'rhen's father and the Nunh of the Lion's Den was murdered, and his killer, the clanless woman, would flee into the night with the Tia.L'rhen rose to the occasion at once, rallying the remaining daughters of the clan. The women begged L'rhen to end the cycle, to not send anymore huntresses to Ala Mhigo, but L'rhen knew if she didn't, the Garleans would come and take them all. So she devised a plan: she, and any huntress willing to protect the Lion's Den, would go to Ala Mhigo and serve Garlemald, and so long as they lived and fought for the Empire, the rest of the clan would remain in hiding, their secret protected with the lives of the huntresses in Ala Mhigo.To her gratitude, all of the Lion's Den's current huntresses, six in total, volunteered to go with her. Where L'vhanan Nunh had been feared, L'rhen was respected, and these seven L daughters would join a band of Garlean mercenaries known as the Skulls. L'rhen in particular would rise among the Skulls' ranks, and whensoever she was able, she would send the other huntresses back to the clan with supplies, which was comprised only of children, elders, and women unfit to be huntresses. These daughters could not fend for themselves, and relied on L'rhen's continued support for survival. It was her dedication to this role that earned her the title of Nunh among the clan—though whether or not such a title could hold legitimacy outside of the clan, L'rhen didn't know or care. All that mattered was tending to those still alive and under her protection.For eight years L'rhen served the Skulls, becoming something of a lieutenant to the notorious Fordola rem Lupis, and a close friend of hers besides. At least, until the fateful night when Fordola ordered the Garleans to open fire on Specula Imperatorius. The resulting carnage would kill nearly all of her Skulls, including L'rhen's six huntresses; only L'rhen herself would survive, saved by none other than healers from the Ala Mhigan Resistance. Her friendship with Fordola, too, would die in the massacre, tentatively rekindled in the years following, as both Fordola and L'rhen were ultimately spared by the Resistance upon their victory in retaking Ala Mhigo.L'rhen's activity since then has been comparatively quiet. The Lion's Den now lives openly and peacefully, and to this day considers L'rhen their Nunh, accepting no other in her stead. L'rhen begrudgingly—though less so than she lets on—serves the Ala Mhigan government, alongside individuals such as Lyse Hext and, much more to her chagrin, Fordola.

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Mala Pahara
<•The Sharlayan Caller•>

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Art via brightgoat on Picrew

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Easily over a hundred and fifty summers, Mala was a well-known source of Sharlayan teachings up to the Dravanian Exodus. She was compelled by Eorzea's manifesting of gods as phantoms that drained the aether of the lands from which they were summoned, and in her youth embarked on multiple expeditions to fell incarnations of these Primals, including Ifrit, Titan and Garuda. Studying deeper into the Summoners of eld, she too learned how to wield the lesser incarnations known as egis, and continues to study the nature of Primals to this day.Her work would lead to her status as Archon, and later a seat on the Forum. She was known for taking on many an Eorzean student, and her choices were often peculiar to her peers. She was less interested in conventional promise than pure potential, and admittedly, she wanted to see how much the ability to wield and manipulate aether resembled the practice of Summoning. Could one's faith or ambition exceed their genes? Was aether perhaps swayed by the will of its caster? Little did she know, she'd stumbled onto the very edge of Thavnair's akasha, or dynamis.Though vehemently against the Exodus, Mala ultimately returned to the motherland with the majority of Sharlayans. But she was a vocal sympathizer of Louisoix Leveilleur and the Circle of Knowing; it's said that before she left Eorzea, she gathered all of her studies on Primals and Summoning in her estate in Dravania, then sealed the property up in advanced arcane locks, to which only Leveilleur could access. Her hope was that her research could aid the Circle of Knowing in their fight against Louisoix's prophecized Calamity.In the years following the Exodus, Mala has achieved one of the 99 seats on the Forum. Many have noticed her change in tune from the moment of her promotion; how she's much more restrained in her praise for Louisouix, and speaks nary a word of Eorzea.Many suspect this change reveals a selfish side of her, a willingness to stay silent if it benefits her station—but, in the coming of the Final Days, it would become clear her silence was of magical enforcement, as are all Forum members'.Since the Exodus, Mala has only taken on two students: one she had prior to the Exodus, the half-Garlean Leih'to, and one she took years after, a Keeper of the Moon named J'sera.

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Meteion
<•Starbird•>

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Art via hellosunnycore on Picrew

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[A canon divergent AU Meteion alt intended to explore the potential of her character after Endwalker, especially in conjunction with my AU Minfilia alt. :) Major Endwalker spoilers ahead, please proceed with caution!]Meteion, a name she shares with the eleven sisters who came before her, is a familiar created by the Seat of Fandaniel, named Hermes, over twelve-thousand years ago, before the world was sundered. She is specifically an entelechy, a creature that subsists off of the energy of akasha—or dynamis, as it was known in the world unsundered—instead of aether.Meteion and her sisters, collectively called the Meteia, had a task bestowed upon them by Hermes: Answer the question, 'what is the meaning of life?'. While all of Meteion's sisters were sent into the stars in search of this answer, Meteion remained on Etheirys, as the sisters all shared a telepathic connection. This way, Meteion could receive news from her sisters, and report it to Hermes.Little did Hermes know the toll this would take on the Meteia, as Meteion's sisters found star after star either devoid of life, or overwhelmed with suffering. Due to the Meteia's deep connection with dynamis, and thus the feelings and emotions of others, this constant anguish and loneliness drove each of Meteion's sisters mad, and when at last they contacted her, they drove her mad too.Engulfed in the unbearable grief, the Meteia congregated at the edge of the universe and created the Song of Oblivion. This was their answer to Hermes' question, that to live was to suffer, and thus the Meteia believed the only way to make Hermes, and indeed any living thing happy was to kill them. Only death had released the miserable peoples of the stars they'd found, and so death must have been salvation.For twelve-thousand years they sung, spreading death across the universe. While Meteion—that is, the youngest of the sisters—was ultimately saved by the Warriors of Light, her sisters were not so lucky. Most of the Meteia had joined forces to create the Endsinger, and it was this culmination of their anguish the Warriors of Light had to strike down for the salvation of all worlds.Meteion was allowed to return to Etheirys after twelve-thousand long years, and though Hermes was long gone, she wanted to protect it. The trouble was, her extreme sensitivity to the suffering of others left her afraid she would be corrupted by it again. The Warriors of Light brought her to Minfilia Warde, who through her Echo, saw Meteion's tumultuous past and felt a kinship with the entelechy, agreeing to take Meteion under her wing in the Path of Venat.Meteion tends to stay away from people, save for Minfilia, for fear of hurting them. She often remains in her starbird form to prevent others from realizing she's an intelligent being, and keeps her distance whenever Minfilia is working with students. Even so, Meteion loves the people of Hydaelyn, and she finds small ways to contribute to their happiness. One notable result of this is her learning to cook and make food—she'd struggled at times to find glazed apples for Hermes, but now she can make them for everyone. These sorts of small gifts make her extremely happy, and she likes to watch the students eat her treats from a safe, hidden distance.

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Midori Asada
<•Wilting Shadow•>

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Art via おさむくん on Picrew

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Born to hyuran parents in the Othardian village of Kusakari, Midori was a startling sight from the moment she was placed into her mother's arms. Where hyur have round ears, Midori had small, pointed ones, and nubs in her scalp that would grow into slender horns, not unlike a goat's.Unbeknownst to her, her parents, or anyone they asked, Midori was a padjal, born of the last lingering vestiges of her family's long-forgotten Gridanian origins. Those answers unavailable to them though, Midori was not received as a blessed child of the forest, but a bane upon her family. Her father believed Midori's mother had lain with an au ra and left her; her mother simply believed the kami had cursed her.Life would not become easier for Midori. Shunned by their village for her odd features, and ultimately forced to flee it when the Garleans razed it, Midori would, by age 10, find herself haunted by voidsent that sought to devour her and her 'potent' aether. She and her mother would flee from them, until the voidsent managed to slay the latter, leaving Midori to her own devices.However, the murder of her last remaining family did not sadden Midori, young though she was. Her mother was resentful of her daughter's 'curse', and Midori quickly realized she was free of her cruelty. In a way, the voidsent had saved her. Even so, they still sought to devour her, so Midori, callused as she was by 13 years old, chose to strike a bargain. She would allow the voidsent to feed upon her aether, in increments that would not kill her, and in return, they would protect her, help her find food, and so on.This only worked for so long though. As Midori grew weakened by the voidsent's insatiable hunger, the creatures became ever more aware they could overpower her and feast to their hearts' content. When at last they acted against her, she was saved by an unexpected sight: a raen woman, dressed in shinobi garb, who slew the voidsent and, for a short time, bought Midori safety. But Midori knew more would come, as they always had.The raen shinobi insisted on taking the girl, now 15, back to her home, but Midori resisted. Though still a teenager, Midori's features had stopped aging somewhere around age 12, and she appeared much younger than she was. Despite this, Midori insisted she was a grown woman cable of taking care of herself, and she wouldn't accept any charity that looked too much like an adult trying to treat her like a child.The raen then made her a different offer: if voidsent were doomed to keep returning for Midori's aether, then she would need to be able to defend herself. So the shinobi would train her.Midori was skeptical, but she agreed to stay with the woman for as long as she was training her. Thus, Midori returned to the House of the Fierce with none other than Yugiri the Mistwalker.And as Yugiri promised, she trained Midori in the arts of the shinobi. The strength and discipline Midori learned from Yugiri allowed her to again bargain with the voidsent ever haunting her, except this time, she would only give them scraps of her aether—enough to persuade them to honor their deals, but not so much that she would grow defenseless against them. This left her with some peculiar abilities, as she learned more and more of Black magic and how to wield it and the camaraderie of the voidsent.Five years after joining Yugiri and the Doman Liberation Front, the pair and others would be forced to flee Yanxia completely, across the sea to the continent of Aldenard. Midori would, for the first time in a decade, hide her odd features, in order to protect herself and the other refugees from being ostracized by the Eorzeans.And while the true nature of her birth was revealed to her by the padjali Hearer Eir-A-Yan, Midori has no love for nature. In fact, most plantlike things tend to recede from the deeply darkened magic that suffuses her soul. She's fine with this—she is no padjal, no 'Hearer', but a young woman following her own path. To her aggravation, Eir-A accepts this, even as their fellow padjal struggle to let Midori go.While Midori has since spent most of her time back in Othard after the Garleans were expelled from Doma, she's known to travel, often at the behest of her master, Yugiri. The girl craves independence and autonomy, and with how far she's come in controlling the very creatures that hunt her, she can finally depend on herself alone, and often makes use of Yugiri's newfound leniency.

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Minfilia Warde
<•The Wild Rose•>

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Art via 2MGlitters on Picrew

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"If there is meaning in two people meeting,
then maybe we're doing this right."

[NOTE: This is an AU Minfilia, because I like her and I want to continue her story. There will be spoilers from throughout the MSQ, including Endwalker! There will also be some canon divergence.]Minfilia Warde, born Ascilia, was awakened to the gift of the Echo at an age earlier than most. Unsure of what it meant, after learning more of its nature from the Sharlayan Archon, Louisoix Leveilleur, Minfilia took it upon herself to create the Path of the Twelve, a sanctuary for those with the Echo where they might understand and accept their gift together.Over the years, she would welcome the disparate remains of the late Archon Leveilleur's Circle of Knowing, and together would found the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. When Minfilia began her research into the Echo, she hadn't imagined how far it would take her. Yet, through calamity and rebirth, she stands ready to face the next threat the best way she knows how: her words, her wits, and her drive towards a new dawn.Mercifully given new life in Hydaelyn's last moments, Minfilia is something akin in power a sundered Ascian, apparent by the crystal embedded into her head. Still retaining her dagger lessons from Thancred and Yugiri prior to the alleged murder of Nanamo Ul Namo, with a few extra tricks inherited from Hydaelyn, Minfilia still fights best in rooms of debate, negotiation and compassion, but when push comes to shove, she is wont to let something like the Bloody Banquet befall her and her friends again.Presently, she has pray returned to the Waking Sands and resumed her place as Antecedent of the Path of the Twelve, fondly renamed 'the Path of Venat'. Here, she continues to welcome and teach those about the Echo, happy that her work not need be so hidden now that the gift is seen in a far more positive light. When asked after the Scions, Minfilia has little to tell on the subject. They disbanded recently, did they not? She is sure each and every one of her friends, especially those dear Warriors of Light, yet have their own paths to walk.Though infrequent, she can sometimes be seen with a bluebird companion. The creature seems shy though.AU Bullet Points, for those interested in the details! :3c

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This is a heavily AU Minfilia Warde, and as such, a lot of details about her story ARR-EdW has changed to some degree. Below is a non-exhaustive list of major changes, for those interested; Minfilia always operates under this canon!A REALM REBORN
• Minfilia accompanied the Warriors of Light during the investigation of Ascian activity between the Sylph and Titan questlines. Though not much of a combatant, she offered her existing insight as well as her wits for finding and following leads. She, when cornered, did have a dagger given to her by Thancred, which she could use in a pinch.
• She survived and escaped the Bloody Banquet with the Warriors of Light. During the escape, she prayed repeatedly to Hydaelyn to protect the Warriors and Scions; when Minfilia was shot with an arrow, Hydaelyn revealed herself to her, and the power she had been amassing in hopes to save the Warriors of Light in time. Hydaelyn asked Minfilia if she would allow Her to release the power through her, and Minfilia agreed. Briefly, Minfilia was possessed by Hydaelyn, and raised a wall of crystal in the tunnels, barring the Braves' chase.
• Injured but alive, Minfilia successfully fled to Camp Dragonhead with the Warriors of Light. There, she and her friends were refuged for a time by Haurchefant Greystone.HEAVENSWARD
• Haurchefant was able to get Minfilia, Alphinaud, Tataru and the Warriors of Light into Ishgard as wards of House Fortemps. Since her escape from Ul'dah, Minfilia's eyes were changed, glowing a crystal-like blue. Her magic potential was also vastly increased, and though she didn't know the details yet, she understood that by accepting her position as 'Word of the Mother', Minfilia would soon be called to act as Hydaelyn's emissary for issues the weakened Mothercrystal was unable to reach Herself.
• Minfilia sought additional dagger training from Yugiri, learning a few ninja techniques on top of the basic rogue skills Thancred had taught her. She was never one to fight first and ask questions later, but she was loath to let something like the Bloody Banquet happen again, and wanted to be able to defend her friends should she have to.
• Minfilia's ambiguous role in Hydaelyn's plan was finally revealed to her with the appearance of the Warriors of Darkness. She used her power to take herself and the Warriors back to their world to try and save it from the disaster consuming it, leaving her friends on the Source to worry what would become of her.SHADOWBRINGERS
• Minfilia's fate played out as normal here. With the Warriors of Darkness' help, she stopped the Flood of Light and spared Norvrandt, at the cost of her life. For the next one-hundred years, Minfilia would reincarnate on the First time and again, each time as a crystal-eyed, fair-haired child with the power to fell sin eaters. Until at last, her friends from the Source arrived to save the First for good, and Minfilia's soul was at last allowed to rest.
• Hydaelyn was able to bring Minfilia's spirit back to the Source, so that she could remain in the afterlife of her own star.ENDWALKER
• Yet, Minfilia couldn't truly rest in peace. Something nagged at the back of her mind, the hum of work left unfinished—until a day came where that hum grew into a cacophony of despair.
• When she sensed her friends enter the realm of the aetherial sea in search of Hydaelyn's audience, Minfilia was drawn to their side at once. She aided them however she could, mere spirit that she was. And even though they succeeded in finding Hydaelyn and passing her trial, Minfilia pleaded with the Mothercrystal to restore her to life so that she might aid her friends to the very end.
• Hydaelyn, guilty for stealing Minfilia's life, needed though her sacrifice was, gave her former Word of the Mother a fraction of her power. It was enough not only to resurrect Minfilia, but imbue her with abilities not unlike a partially awakened Ancient, or a sundered Ascian. Most notably, she gained the ability to use the Echo at will, though refrains from doing so in most circumstances. The crystal now embedded in Minfilia's forehead acts as a heart to her newfound life, a place her soul retreats to until she can materialize anew.
• Minfilia remained on Etheirys as the Scions and Warriors of Light set out for Ultima Thule, using her skill in words and guidance to help keep the masses calm until their heroes' return. With the star saved and Scions allegedly disbanded, Minfilia chose to return to the Waking Sands and begin her work with the Path of the Twelve anew, though under a new name—"the Path of Venat".
• Now, Minfilia guides and comforts those awakened to the Echo in light of the Final Days, but she is ever ready to respond to the call of Scions and Warriors alike, should they have need of her.
• When the Warriors of Light returned from Ultima Thule with a strange new friend, Minfilia was asked if she might take the bluebird in. With Meteion's permission, Minfilia used her Echo to understand the entelechy's checkered past, and agreed to look after her. Meteion is reluctant to be near most people, but has taken a liking to Minfilia, who in turn feels relieved to be a positive force in a young girl's life for the first time in a hundred years.

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The Path of Venat

A reformed Path of the Twelve, led by Minfilia Warde upon her return to Etheirys. Alongside its new name, the Path has a new goal: to seek out those recently awakened to the Echo in the aftermath of the Final Days, and help them navigate their new abilities.This organization is canon to Minfilia's verse, and optionally canon to Io's verse. From 6.1 to 6.55, the Path has been operating in Old Sharlayan and mainly in Thavnair, helping survivors of the Final Days adjust to the presence of the Echo. From 7.0 onward, they will be based in Tural, investigating what is known about the Echo there and whether they can be of assistance.It is not nearly as secretive as it once was; on the contrary, Minfilia wants people to know about it, so that if they need guidance, they know who to call upon.

Nymjrh "Snowshoe" Arda
<•The Hare•>

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Art via ぼわず on Picrew

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Nymjrh has spent the majority of his life walking a tightrope. Just 5 summers old when he and his family fled their Veenan home of Skatay Range, lest they face the encroaching Garlean Empire face-to-face, not everyone made it out. He was raised by two mothers for as long as he could remember, and one such mother, a Garlean deserter, stood and fought the Empire so that Nym and his Veenan mother Tharja could escape. They've not heard from Freda since, but Nym has faith she might yet live.Nym and Tharja lived in Doma to the north for a handful of years, where Tharja was taught their ninja arts while serving their resistance for a time. But when it became clear the Garleans would not be stopped from conquering all of Othard, again the pair fled the coming tyranny alongside other would-be refugees, and came upon the shores of Thanalan.Still, the viera did not dwell after the city of Ul'dah refused to shelter the refugees. They traveled north alone, eventually coming to settle near the Twelveswood-Coerthas border. Tharja, having sustained a debilitating injury in the escape from the invading Garleans, spends most of her time tucked deep into the little home they've made for themselves, hidden beyond the reach of even the most cunning of hunters.As for Nymjrh, he is more often away from home than not, keeping to his people's traditions of spending most of his time away; he only returns to bring his mother supplies. While he rarely enters any settlements, he can be known to appear every few moons, selling his game for medicine. To most, he's only known as "Snowshoe", keeping to the vieran tradition of taking a new name when one chooses to leave (or is chased from) home. Once in a while, he seems almost to have a habit for talking to himself...

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Raein Dawndwelling
<•Ash of Embereye•>

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Art by jambandit on Tumblr

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Raein Embereye was born into a subset of Veena that had forsook their ancestral home, his mother and most of his predecessors believing the future of the viera laid with the Garleans and the certainty that they would succeed in conquering Othard. While Raein was able to spend most of his youth within a village in Skatay Range, it would end suddenly when Garlemald razed the village and nearly killed him in the process. His mother, long since a conscript for Garlemald, would seize the boy of fifteen summers and keep him within the Empire's forces, believing she could do what his father had failed to in the siege of their home: protect him.Raein was useless as a soldier, and while her superiors found him to be a waste of space and food, his mother preferred he be kept at her side at all times, safe from the ongoing warfare. Unfortunately, the Empire wasn't so content with the arrangement, and when they found out he had an interest and knack for alchemy and even used to dabble in healing magicks, they foisted him into the front line as a medic for their soldiers, much to his mother's wrath.Raein would serve in this position until his early twenties, and while he never regrasped healing magic under Garlemald's thumb, he nevertheless proved to be valuable in this line of work. Yet he could not ignore the death and carnage Garlemald wrought across the Far East, and in a moment of fleeting courage, Raein deserted the Empire during the attempted and failed siege of Silvertear Lake.Taking the new name of Dawndwelling, he fled south, into the deep forests of the Twelveswood, where the Elementals were swift to attack what, to them, stunk of metal and gunpowder. In a desperate effort to save himself, Raein did what he hadn't since before his village was razed: he called upon his healing magic, and upon seeing him wield it, the Elementals relented. Raein was able to make his way to Gridania, where he learned the Stillglade Fane was a guild of conjurers who sought to protect the Twelveswood and all of nature. Raein wanted desperately to do good in the world, and he believed here would be where he might at last accomplish it.He is no one of particular importance—certainly no Warrior of Light—though he's hard to miss with his long, fluffy ears and generally antisocial demeanor. He comes off to most as rude, standoffish and distrustful, though in truth, he merely lacks in social skills. He is good at heart, and while he may not appear friendly, he believes everyone is deserving of healing—even when the Fane and Elementals disagree.

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Raih'li Tayuun
<•Hand of the Hearer•>

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Art via baydews on Picrew

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The third-born of four brothers and no sisters, Raih'li lived an interesting life growing up in a Keeper colony. His mother was branded cursed by the Elementals due her glaring lack of daughters, and in his teens, Raih'li and his brothers made the decision to leave their mother so that she might find solace in a new home, unburdened by her past.Though she protested, the boys set out still, and have lived around Coerthas and the Black Shroud since, rarely meeting these days. For Raih'li, his journey took him to an unlikely turn when he found a padjal wounded in the wilderness. He saved them, not realizing what they were, and was accused by the Wood Wailers of having been the one to attack them.Fortunately for Raih'li, Eir-A-Yan was quick to clear up the confusion. Eir-A took an immediate interest in Raih'li and asked him to become their personal guard, an honor Raih'li accepted easily, when the alternative was to remain a homeless Keeper who'd be shot for scavenging or hunting on someone else's territory. Since then, Raih'li has risen in the ranks of the Twin Adders, tolerated as Eir-A's favorite and, though good at keeping his mouth shut, Gridania's hostility toward outsiders sits poorly with him.More recently, however, an uninvited guest has made itself at home—within Raih'li's soul. After a small mishap during an excursion related to voidsent, he was possessed as a vessel for one such creature. Thanks to Eir-A and another friend of theirs, Raih'li has yet to lose his mind to the voidsent presently lurking about in his soul, but the arrangement isn't exactly cooperative for either of them. Still, one thing's for sure: voidsent like aether. So, as long as Raih'li can provide this 'thing' with it, things seem to be... stable, for the time being.

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Sebi Ehlnofey
<•Witch of the East Shroud•>

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Art via 离堂风 on Neka

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"Deep in the brume of juniper and fern,
a moon overhead and stones at my feet."

Sebi herself is an unassuming character, aside from her peculiar, eccentric personality. Her clan, however, holds quite the reputation among Shroud natives, especially Gridanians: the Ehlnofey Keepers are burdened with many stories and rumors, none confirmed by them, yet believed with all the fervor of local superstition. Accusations of anything from poaching to ritualistic sacrifice to—cannibalism?—shadow every Ehlnofey, and Sebi is no different.Yet not only does she seem a little ill-fitting for a kidnapping, man-eating, Elemental-worshipping madwoman; she seems completely unbothered by the assumptions. She's laid back, a bit eloquent, and most notably, friendly. She currently is responsible for weekly visits to Buscarron's Duthers to deliver medicine on behalf of her clan, most often in exchange for timber. Little else is known about her—or any Ehlnofey—but that which can be gleaned with passing sightings or conversations hardly suggests anything so diabolical as the rumors haunting her clan.

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Strika Truiceaux
<•Wolfbolt•>

• Traits
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Art via MaeEllen on Picrew

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[wip]

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Valensia eir Reidus
<•The White Possum•>

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Art via Edhelsen on Picrew

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"Harvest of Sorrow, your seed has grown."

It was after Varis zos Galvus's assassination, during the Garlean Civil War that swiftly followed, that Valensia was found dead in the streets of the Capitol. A descendant of a former empress's sister, she was not an unknown name to those piqued by Garlemald's history, which is perhaps why an Ascian would lay claim on her corpse and her identity.During the burning skies of the Final Days, Valensia's body was piloted by this Ascian as a means of rallying the disparate Garleans to a trustworthy face of the decimated Empire. For reasons Valensia cannot recall, however, the Ascian eventually surrendered control of her body, leaving her with just enough aether to remain alive even without the Paragon's presence.Now living on a second chance, Valensia, somewhat changed by the Ascian's powers and what aether remains within her, has embraced her newfound talents for the glory of Garlemald—a better, truer glory, one that need not guard its every turn with the blood of friend nor foe.She has amassed a small following of Garleans, recognizing her weak link to the dismantled royal family of perceived better days. Among them, they've taken to calling her 'the White Possum', referencing her supposedly false death.

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Vriska binh Alzadaal
<•Thavnairian Jyotiṣa•>

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Art via Edhelsen on Picrew

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Art via raincoatt on Picrew

[Vriska's lore features a bit of canon divergence, wherein the Satrap of Radz-at-Han, Ahewann, survived his encounter with the blasphemy. He was however grievously wounded, and during the time his fate was uncertain, Vrtra revealed himself to the people of Thavnair. Seeing they had accepted the dragon, Ahewann felt content to retire from his role as satrap, though remains an advisor and beloved friend to Vrtra.This doesn't have to come up in RP at any point, since Vrtra is still satrap and Ahewann's death, frankly, has had no other narrative impacts to the MSQ. But if the bit of divergence isn't to your liking, you're welcome to move on to other RP. Thanks! ♥]Prior to the tragedy of the Final Days, Vriska lived a simple enough life in Thavnair as an astrologian and court wizard to the satrap of Radz-at-Han. She was known informally as a 'dragon mage', whose responsibilities were largely in reading and interpreting the stars for the betterment of the satrap's alliance with dragonkind.Unbeknownst to the people, Vriska was the illegitimate daughter of Satrap Ahewann bin Alzadaal, who sired her more than twenty summers ago, when he was young and a bit less mature. Despite the illegitimacy of her birth, Ahewann made certain that Vriska and her mother were taken care of. When Vriska's mother passed away some years later, Ahewann would hire Vriska into the Meghaduta as one of his astrologians to secure her financial and housing stability.It was only after a near-mortal injury Ahewann sustained during the rise of the Final Days that the truth of Vriska's heritage would come to light. Thavnair had been governed by the great wyrm Vrtra all along, and the satrap was a valued friend, but, also an easier face to address the public with. As Ahewann's fate remained uncertain, Vrtra legitimized Vriska as the heir apparent of the satrap, allowing her to act in his stead as the crisis of the Final Days carried on.Though Ahewann would survive his gruesome encounter with the blasphemy that nearly felled him, he would be left unable to walk, and he was content to leave the business of governing Thavnair to his dearest friend Vrtra and his daughter Vriska. Ultimately, Vriska's role in Thavnair's leadership did not change much; she remained an astrologian of the satrap, now Vrtra, but the true nature of her work was revealed, in that rather that interpreting the stars for political insight, she and the other dragon mages did so as a means of keeping tabs on Vrtra's disparate siblings across the star.However, Vriska is not bound to the Meghaduta; she can often be seen beyond Radz-at-Han's walls, overseeing (and participating in) the rebuilding efforts across the country. Should any more trouble arise in Thavnair, Vriska is quick to the scene, most recently frequenting the Great Work, where she spends her visits assisting the alchemists there on whatever projects need handling.Strangely, Vriska is ever accompanied by a small dragonet. The creature can usually be found sleeping around her shoulders, and rarely wakes. Vriska cites the little one as a friend of hers, Yll Rhei, who assists her with the reading of stars.

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Yll Rhei

Art via shirounagi on Picrew

A dragonet swept away from the distant lands of Coerthas by Ishgardian black marketeers set on selling her off to the highest bidder in the island nation of Thavnair. Unfortunately for them, they didn't anticipate the Thavnairians' very different feelings about dragons, and after their arrest, the young, sickly dragon was taken to the Satrap at once.It isn't a secret that one of the Satrap's astrologians has since taken the dragon into her care. Though Yll Rhei remains quite sick—even missing one of her precious eyes—and spends most of her time asleep on Vriska's shoulders, the young dragonet appears to be well taken care of. Vriska even claims she helps her with her astronomy! Though the 'how' remains more or less a mystery.

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Y'shtola Rhul
<•Cultured Conjurer•>

• Traits
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Art via kureihii on Picrew

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[NOTE: This is a slightly AU Y'shtola, mainly to account for my headcanons. There will be spoilers from throughout the MSQ, including Endwalker! There will also be some canon divergence.]Born in the Dravanian Hinterlands as the fifth of twelve daughters to Y'rhul Nunh, Y'shtola was unique from the start. Despite a weak constitution that barely saw her through infancy, she yearned to join many of her peers in the Y clan and become a scholar in Sharlayan, a colony settled in the northmost reaches of the Hinterlands by its mother nation across the sea, Old Sharlayan.Yet despite her conviction, Y'shtola's mother worried ceaselessly for her daughter's health. At the girl's stubborn behest, they made the journey to the motherland, and Y'shtola was enrolled in a remarkably good school that, fortuitously, saw Y'shtola's potential and granted her scholarships. Y'shtola worked tirelessly to earn her place, most notably at the cost of friendships. In fact, Y'shtola was markedly weird according to her peers.But her hard work would pay off when she was noticed by a reclusive, crotchety Archon known as Master Matoya. Y'shtola had read up much on the woman and many other potential mentors, settling for no less than the best—and Matoya, with her pungent disregard for what was 'proper' in research and magic both, was the perfect candidate. Of course, Master Matoya starkly disagreed, and it was only after repeated letters and, finally, Y'shtola showing up at her infamous cave that Matoya accepted her as a student.Under Master Matoya's tutelage, Y'shtola flourished into a brilliant young scholar and conjurer. Her talent for healing magicks was hard-earned, a goal of hers so that she might combat her weak constitution and excel at whatever she so wished. Matoya was ruthless, and Y'shtola rose to every occasion, defiant and passionate.It was this ceaseless conviction of hers that, after seven years studying under her Master, she was noticed by none other than Louisoix Leveilleur. Now seventeen summers old, Louisoix saw in Y'shtola a woman who would not lie down and accept defeat, nor would she run with her tail between her legs. As the Sharlayans of Dravania ever prepared to withdraw from Eorzea and leave it to its fate with the invading Garleans, Louisoix needed like-minded individuals if he was to prevent the coming Calamity he prophesied. Y'shtola was exactly that.The Circle of Knowing worked in secret for six years following the Forum's decision to withdraw the Dravania colony. In that time, Y'shtola made multiple trips to the Eorzean city-state of Limsa Lominsa, working tirelessly to appeal to the seaside state's leaders in preparation for the part they would play in stopping the Calamity. She would also obtain the prestigious title of Archon back in Old Sharlayan, her peers and observers none the wiser to her greater intentions.Then, on that sixth year, just four summers before Sharlayan would withdraw to the motherland, the Circle of Knowing could keep their secret no longer. Every member was exiled, even the esteemed Louisoix Leveilleur himself. Y'shtola was not cowed; she went on to dedicate her full attention to befriending Limsa Lominsa's leadership, investigating impossible mysteries on their behalf—and solving them too. When the time came, and Dalamud descended like a burning star from the sky, Y'shtola and her comrades stood ready to defy it.What the Circle lost for that defiance was great, greater than even Y'shtola could have predicted. But they succeeded. Eorzea was, though plunged into the Seventh Umbral Era, saved from total annihilation.Y'shtola's history is well-known from thereon. The Circle joined Minfilia Warde's Path of the Twelve, and continued their work in defending Eorzea with the knowledge and magic Old Sharlayan had chosen to deny them. Slaying primals, and to that end, investigating ways to absolve the beast tribes of their reliance on such beings. She would be framed as an accomplice to regicide, and risk her life to save herself and Thancred from the traitorous Crystal Braves. She would unlock the key to opening Azys Lla, be cut down by the blade of Zenos yae Galvus, rise again as the matriarch of the Night's Blessed, and offer up her very being at the edge of the universe so that her home might live on.A staggering list of achievements for anyone, let alone the woman who barely survived her own infancy. But Y'shtola Rhul is never sated: now she searches for a means to connect the disparate Reflections of Hydaelyn to the Source, reuniting the Sundered star and all its peoples once and for all. Whether she will succeed has yet to be seen, but one thing is certain: not even death will deter her.

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Valeré Lynoir
<•Lumière des Étoiles•>

• Traits
• Story

Art via あきやま on Neka

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Yll Rhei
<•Rose-Tinted•>

• Traits
• Story

Art via 失声陨梦 on Neka

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A peculiar young woman who appears to be mixed au ra-elezen, "Elren" doesn't typically divulge her past for the very simple reason that she shouldn't be alive.Her true name is Yll Rhei, a young dragon belonging to Nidhogg's brood. Her life ended at the hands of an elezen man in the reaches of western Coerthas; he slew her and her mother, then stole Yll Rhei's eyes.But that was not the end of the dragonet's story. Suddenly, she awoke in a house, with a body she did not understand. She saw the man standing over her, and swiftly attacked, gouging out his throat with her teeth.Once she got her bearings, Yll Rhei pieced the story together: her mind and soul now occupied the dead body of an elezen girl, though it was changed by her draconic aether. She saw her own eyes placed in the girl's head. Had the man believed she would be revived, and not the dragon to whom they belonged?Regardless, there was a dead man on the floor, and a dead girl covered in his blood. Yll Rhei fled the home, and disappeared into the night. Her strange appearance was a constant disadvantage; every time she was seen by Ishgardians, they would attempt to kill her. An ashkin dragon was probably the worst thing she could be in Coerthas.To most people, anyway. But as a descendant of Nidhogg, Yll Rhei knew there was some she could go to: the maddened men who served the dragons. Joining a group of such men, Yll Rhei was regarded as something of a messiah to them. And through them, Yll Rhei responded to Nidhogg's song, commandeering forces and slaughtering Ishgardians. She hated them for what they'd done to her mother, to herself, and her broodfather's bloodlust tinged her mind.It wasn't until her reign came to an end at the hands of foreign heroes that Yll Rhei, eventually, fled Coerthas for good. Even with the Dragonsong War ended, she resents Ishgard, and has no desire to return to the blood-soaked lands they occupy. Instead, she travels, paying forward the kindness those heroes showed her when they could have killed her.

Art via shirounagi on Picrew

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Zelda Layru Sonicia Hyrule
<•Lost between Worlds•>

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Art via Ravenstone.3 on Picrew

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[Not too serious; just a little lore to accompany a fun alt. :)]Rent from her world, a young Zelda found herself deep in the forests of the Black Shroud. Taken in by an elezen woman and viera man, Zelda was able to come to understand what had happened to her: that she had been teleported, somehow, from her world to another. In this new, unfamiliar land called Eorzea, she had but one clue: the technology, called "Allag," that accompanied her arrival.So began the quest of a girl just seven and ten summers old to unravel the mysteries surrounding her appearance in Eorzea, and moreover, how to get home. Her first order of business: to find and explore the ruins of the 'Red Moon', a massive Allagan machine that had fallen from the sky five summers prior. Here, Zelda hoped to find answers, though the longer she searches, the more questions she has.For simplicity's sake, and at the counsel of her 'mother Sonia and father Rauru', Zelda describes herself as half-hyur, half-elezen, and that she originates from a distant nation of close-held knowledge called Old Sharlayan. It was this cover story that first led her to the Sons of Saint Coinach, who quickly unwound her story for the fiction that it was. Nevertheless, the Sons wish to help her return home, and Zelda would be remiss to deny she wants to help Eorzea too.

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Zero
<•Dark-robed Voidsent•>

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Art via MaeEllen on Picrew