Aelienor Estienie (FFXIV WoL OC) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bladesdarkandlight) wrote2032-07-14 09:24 pm
bladesdarkandlight) wrote2032-07-14 09:24 pm
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Gender: Female Age: 27 Race: Elezen (Duskwight) Main Job: Dark Knight Server: Aether (Sargatanas) A woman from Limsa Lominsa whose frequent silence belies a sharp mind and a sharper tongue. The weight of her failures and anger-driven mistakes sits heavy on her shoulders, but ever she carries on. For those she has lost, and for those she can yet save. Current thru 6.1 |
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History
Backstory+A Realm Reborn
Backstory and A Realm Reborn
Some fifty years before the Seventh Umbral Calamity, a community of Duskwight in the Black Shroud grew dissatisfied with their treatment by the city-state of Gridania. Interpreting the Seedseers' lack of intervention as a sign that the Elementals condoned their oppression, they chose to leave the Black Shroud entirely. After several moons of travel, they arrived on the isle of Vylbrand, then still a chaotic nest of pirates, brigands, and general vagrants. Reasoning that none there would bat an eye at immigrants of an uncommon race, they settled in a village on the cliffs just outside Limsa Lominsa. Among those immigrants were Aelienor's grandparents and her young parents.
Aelienor, thus, was born in La Noscea, hearing about the life and traditions of Gridania only as stories from her grandparents. Stories, then, became a source of fascination for her, crucial as they were to understanding her own community. From there, she took an interest in history in general, and ultimately moved into the city proper to study history at Mealvaan's Gate, where she also picked up Arcanima and stumbled into thwarting a notorious slaver. This, combined with her parents' warnings about fetching young adults being prime targets for slavers left an impression on her, planting seeds of cynicism in her otherwise idealistic mind.
Ultimately, her city education saved her life, as the cliff her village was built on crumbled into the sea when Bahamut's fury shook the realm. Her mother, visiting the city markets, also survived, but the rest of her family and many of her childhood friends perished, leaving her adrift with no home to return to. On learning the details of the Calamity, she doubled down on her studies of history, believing that the disaster would not have occurred if only the stories of the past were better known. And so, on completing her education, she set out with a cheap bow (unable to afford a grimoire of her own), bound for the home of the tales that had first piqued her interest in history...
Starting her adventures in Gridania's Archer's Guild, she quickly came to understand what it was her grandparents had disliked about the city. As a Duskwight and an outsider both, she struggled for respect despite the bow coming almost preternaturally easily to her, far more so than it ever had helping her parents hunt wild dodos.
Her initial struggles made it all the more baffling for her when the series of events surrounding Yda, Papalymo, and the then-mysterious Lahabrea led to her being given a role of honor in a Gridanian ceremony. Ultimately, leaving Gridania behind was a relief, and after a brief stay in Ul'dah, she chose to join her homeland's Grand Company, the Maelstrom. But while Vylbrand was her homeland, the closest she had come to finding a new home was the Waking Sands, a point of stability in her wanderings, where she could always be sure she could find a soft bed and cold drinks. Thus, returning from her fight with Titan to find every man and woman slaughtered, down to the innocent sylph who had only just arrived as an emissary, shook and angered her to her core. It was then that she discovered the darker side of herself, a furious craving for vengeance that drove her to kill anyone she met who wore Garlean colors, regardless of whether or not they were a threat, and even if they attempted to flee or surrender.
Her choice of Grand Company became somewhat awkward when her multiple successes against Leviathan and the recommendation of Yugiri earned her an invitation to the Rogues' Guild of Limsa, where she found herself on the wrong end of a Yellowjacket commander's ire. Once again, a weapon seemed to come strangely easily to her, daggers and misdirection feeling somehow familiar to her, evoking the same sense of distant nostalgia as that dream of a meteor shower. Yet where the familiarity of the bow had the explanation of having trained with it as a child, she had never once fought with a blade before.
Along the way, her background in both Arcanima and history led to her involvement in two separate investigations into the use of ancient job stones. Unlike the bow and knives, she found no sudden intense aptitude for arcane geometry, and so the magic of the Scholars of Nym and the Summoners of Allag remained largely as curiosities and personal projects, with her archery and daggerplay being what carved a bloody swathe through Castrum Meridianum and the Praetorium, and felled Livia.
In the wake of her success, word spread that she was the new Warrior of Light, and it seemed everywhere she turned, she was greeted with admirers who adored her based only on what they had read in a newspaper or heard at a tavern. Everywhere, that was, except Camp Dragonhead. Though initially wary of Haurchefant due to his aggressive flirting and intensely sexual interest in her, she had quickly warmed to him after he was the first to ask for her help and then fight alongside her, and she welcomed his earnest advances and adoration after the surge of 'admirers' seeking only the prestige of the Warrior of Light's company. By the time of Ilberd's betrayal and the Bloody Banquet forcing her to flee to Ishgard, she had already begun to fall in love with the boisterous knight.
Heavensward+Stormblood
Heavensward and Stormblood
Learning the truth of the Dragonsong War was a wakeup call for her. Having very little prior knowledge of the conflict, she saw things with the clarity that comes from a lack of pre-existing biases. What she saw was a thousand year long tragedy born of a bloodthirsty vengeance not unlike the one she continued to take on Garleans even after the death of the woman ultimately responsible for her pain. Her resolution to be more forgiving encountered a stumbling block, however, in the form of her lover's death, and she took up his sword for the sake of enacting bloody vengeance against Thordan and the Heaven's Ward, despite the struggle of adapting to heavy armor when she was used to leathers at the most cumbersome.
With Thordan dead and Ishgard rebuilding, Aelienor decided that the best way to honor Haurchefant's memory would be to contribute to the restoration efforts. Thus, she put her natural dexterity to work, weaving work clothes, tarps, and furniture coverings. Her childhood angling lessons also found use, putting food in the distressingly not-picky bellies of the Ishgardian people.
All was not fully quiet during the restoration, however. The corruption in the ranks of the Temple Knights went further than the Heaven's Ward, and taking the job stone from the corpse of a Dark Knight slain in a sham trial by combat under accusations of heresy led to her learning to channel her rage into protecting the helpless, rather than lashing out in blind aggression. While the path of the Paladin had proven to be a poor fit for her, drawing on the Abyss came naturally in a way entirely separate from her quick skill in archery and skuldiggery.
Despite her overall distrust of the Temple Knights, she had developed a fondness for Aymeric from when Haurchefant had introduced them. She gladly accepted his invitation to dinner, and even dressed up for once for the occasion, though she found herself tensing as a servant handled drinks, painful memories of Nanamo's assassination and her own recent experience with drugged ale leaving her distrustful. Though it was something wholly unrelated that interrupted the otherwise pleasant meal, she remained uncomfortable accepting drinks other than water from a source she didn't completely trust.
When the conflict between Ala Mhigo and Garlemald resurged with a horrific vengeance, she was perhaps a little two quick to agree to intervene. Having now lost Ysayle and Minfilia, on top of Haurchefant, she began throwing herself bodily into her work as a Scion, determined to both carry forward the hopes and dreams of the lost and to escape her own pain by moving constantly forward. Proving powerless to stop Papalymo's sacrifice, followed by a humiliating defeat and acquisition of multiple scars at the hands of Zenos exacerbated her growing recklessness, culminating in her going along with Yugiri's ill-planned assassination scheme in Doma.
By the time she confronted the Garlean prince in Ala Mhigo, her hatred had reached a boiling point, only worsened by his shallow understanding of her and inability to grasp what made them different. She stubbornly rejected his overtures of friendship, and found herself unable to enjoy her victory, as it only gave him what he wanted. Ultimately, she took satisfaction in the fact that it was over, and that Zenos would never cause problems for anyone again.
When Scions started passing out one by one, their souls apparently ripped from their bodies, she was understandably scared, particularly as she didn't have the first clue how to help them. Alisaie's fear mirrored her own, and the two attempted to reassure each other, having grown close during their adventures in the Far East. When the twins also succumbed to the strange affliction, she was at a loss…particularly as she considered the reappearance of Gaius Baelsar to be yet another cause for concern.
Elidibus taking Zenos' corpse for a vessel and using it to manipulate Garlean politics was definitely a cause for concern, but not being politically minded, there wasn't much she could do about it until the peace conference. Though she disliked Varis, she advocated for listening to his side of the story, adamant that fighting without understanding their enemy would just lead to unnecessary bloodshed. What she wasn't prepared for was finding out that Varis already knew about Ascian involvement in Garlemald, and meant to beat them at their own game.
Shadowbringers+Endwalker
Shadowbringers and Endwalker
Norvrandt was a shock, Kholusia and Amh Araeng each horrifying in their own way. With this world clearly in danger, she took up the mantle of the Warrior of Darkness without hesitation, privately appreciating the anonymity she was to maintain. Her second shock came when an Ascian appeared with intent to negotiate, and though she didn't trust this Emet-Selch at first, she had to concede his point about understanding one's enemy. It was, after all, the same point she herself had made about Varis.
Overhearng Y'shtola talk about the strain the Light was putting on her left her conflicted. To some extent, she was relieved to hear someone expressing concern about her safety. Still, It was frustrating that they were still only talking about it behind her back, still making decisions for her and expecting her to shoulder the burden. However, that frustration wasn't enough to curb her distress over Y'shtola's apparent demise, nor her genuine gratitude for Emet-Selch's intervention.
Though she couldn't understand why at the time, as she interacted with the Ascian, she found herself with an unsettling sense of familiarity and comfort with him. Learning the truth of her world's origin, she couldn't help but feel sympathetic, even as she resolved that she couldn't allow the Reflections to be destroyed for a world that was already gone. When it came down to a confrontation between her and the Ascian, she was disappointed, but not surprised.
There were plenty of surprises to come after. Gaius requesting her aid on the Source, coupled with Elidibus using Ardbert's body to solve problems and inspire people to stand up in defense of their own world, left her confused on multiple fronts. While the other Scions puzzled over Elidibus' motivations, she chose to hear Gaius out and, ultimately, accept his request to stop a Weapons project that was a threat to all of Eorzea. Scarcely letting herself rest, she was also helping with Ryne's ambition to restore life to the Empty.
When Elidibus finally put his true plan into action, she was furious at his assumption that she had killed Emet-Selch without hesitation or remorse, even more so when he started digging up older pains she had never fully healed from. At the same time, she was honestly moved as the citizens of Norvrandt rallied to her defense, something the people of Eorzea would never have even considered she might need.
Coming to fully understand Elidibus' situation and how he had come to that point was a second wakeup call, a reminder that dedicating one's time exclusively to one's responsibilities isn't sustainable. Unfortunately, she had no chance to rest as she returned to the Source to find the Telopheroi wreaking havoc. Even her home city-state's truce with the kobolds and sahagin was a hollow victory, in the face of Fandaniel's threat against the star itself.
While waiting for Krile to arrange entry to Sharlayan, Aelienor encountered the Lemures, and wound up making a likely ill-advised pact with a Voidsent in order to help track down the possessed corpse of a fallen Reaper…only to learn, much to her chagrin, that Zenos had also taken up the scythe. Even worse was the abduction. Though she did her best to ignore Zenos and focus her ire on Fandaniel, having her body stolen and used against her friends while she struggled desperately to reach and stop Zenos left her feeling helpless and violated in a way she has yet to fully recover from.
Elpis was emotionally difficult for her, as she weighed her reasons to not try to change history against the gnawing feeling that she'd be no better than the Ascians if she abandoned this world to its fate to save her own. On top of that, she found herself growing ever more fond of Hades, with this chance to see what he was like without Zodiark's influence. It was both relieving and heartbreaking when she turned out to be there too late to make any difference, and the time came to return to her own era.
Ultima Thule was even more difficult. Already sick of watching people die so she could succeed, watching the Scions sacrifice themselves in ones and twos so she could proceed was devastating. Only the memory of those she fought for kept her moving forward, until finally she was able to use Hydaelyn's gift to reclaim the lost. Though she wished Hades and Hythlodaeus would stay as well, she couldn't find the words to express it with those who disliked the former Ascian standing right there.
In the end, she chose to indulge Zenos as a show of acknowledgement for the fact that he'd made some progress on understanding why she'd been avoiding him. The trip back to Sharlayan was an awkward one, as she parsed the adult Scions worrying about her to her face for the first time. Unsure what to do with it, she decided to focus on her recovery, finally making good on her promise to herself to pace herself better.