R'elyn Tia

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Primal | Leviathan

Company custodian, courier, and reconnoiter

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About

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A dedicated maintenance custodian and retainer for a company estate, where he tends gardens, adjust boilers, runs errands, and enjoys reading books and practicing music in the custodial closet/boiler room (surreptitiously converted into a studio with a bed and an Ironworks hot plate)."Employee of the Moon" for the past three months; the antelope is parked in the best spot in the company stable.A Matter of Character
R'elyn is lawful neutral, particular, and strives to be kind, but is non-confrontational and will quickly look the other way when it comes to moral ambiguity if it keeps him out of trouble. Self-preservation is his drive for important decisions, and while not brave, he is more pragmatic than craven. Among trusted companions, he may be playful, curious, and flirtatious.Lessons Learned the Hard Way
Suspicious of being taken advantage of by those more sophisticated than himself, he took his mother's warnings seriously when she explained the dangers of Eorzea — monsters were the least worrisome threat among thieves, slavers, and charlatans.While he does his best to navigate the darker parts of company business, he is not completely naive in urban matters. He is proficient in outdoor and survival situations and can hold his own in a fight, but is very much a "low-power" character in a dangerous world.

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...he was no solider or combatant, hardened assassin or brutal tactician, he was a boy from the forest, he adjusted boilers with temperamental thermostats and tended gardens and accepted packages and sent letters with silly stories about rabbits to his young pen pal — it was as his mother had warned him, "you are gentle, and this world is not."

• Reference Gallery

• Alt Characters

• System of Three

• Eclipse Trading Company ➳

Rachel Moon

Proprietress, eccentric gillionaire, and CEO of Eclipse Trading Company

NPCs

Savjevo Auraleus
Rosalind Yera
Janremet HanrieauxR'thaelen Nunh
V'laankyo Eran
R’leila, R’eini, R’shiki, R’shta Thaelen

Background

R’elyn grew up in the forests between the Black Shroud and northern Thanalan in a small hunting camp found on no common map and known by no common name. He was the only son born to an aging nunh from a Raptor tribe; his mother was a restless adventurer who had left her home in Vulture tribe territory. The camp hunting grounds were uncontested, though they were prowled by predators and particularly cunning coeurls. R’elyn’s mother insisted he should be able to defend himself and his young sisters when the huntresses were away. She taught him how to handle a spear, string a bow, and set snares and traps. Her decision was met with displeasure from his aunts, a few who saw R’elyn’s enthusiasm for hunting as unbecoming, but his father, not threatened by his son being martially capable, made no effort to intervene.As a child, R’elyn roamed the forest, bringing his sisters with to show them his finds — skulls and nests and spawning pools of fry. R’elyn’s father watched the youngest children and attended to typical domestic duties and taught R’elyn the same.During R’elyn’s fifteenth summer, following his father's death, R'elyn's mother decided she and her son would leave to avoid conflict. While she could return to her birth tribe, she would not be able to bring an adolescent son, so she brought R'elyn instead to the Twelveswood where a friend from her time as an adventurer agreed to host R’elyn in exchange for his help maintaining her garden and stable once he completed the trial for residence.R’elyn kept mostly to himself, socializing when appropriate to practice speaking Eorzean, and occasionally entertained his neighbors with the songs his father had shared with him, stories of Miqo’te huntresses and heroines, near the evening cooking fires.

Gridania
R’elyn eventually left for Gridania, and to work as a huntress he registered with the lancers’ and archers’ guilds (though his name was incorrectly registered as Reylen Var). He made his way cautiously hunting noxious fauna in the more dangerous areas of the Black Shroud until he took a challenging contract from the archers’ guild to disrupt a band of poachers. With his expertise with traps and snares and following the movement of animals, he began to make a modest reputation for himself.The poachers, however, were less than pleased with the new push to disrupt their hunt, and the Keepers among them especially did not appreciate a male going beyond his station. After months of successful work, R'elyn nearly lost his life in a harrowing ambush — and did lose all of his savings convalescing — prompting him to discontinue the contract and look for a means to leave Gridania.(As R'elyn is certainly not the Warrior of Light, he survived without the Blessing of Light by instead dropping to 7/9 lives, and went on to live a perfectly ordinary life doing perfectly ordinary things while Meteor derplanded across Eorzea)

Coerthas
While he recuperated, R’elyn learned through the lancers’ guild of a call for contracted infantry in Coerthas. Though the winds were apparently cold and brutal, the sentry posts were said to be fairly uneventful (should one never actually encounter a real dragon). R’elyn worked as a hired sentry, freeing Ishgardian forces from mundane guard roles manning frozen stone parapets and refueling fires. R’elyn’s keen senses and his proficiency with tracking eventually caught the (unwanted) attention of his superiors, and due to the toll of attrition on Coerthan forces by the end of the War, he was reassigned to patrols and scouting parties. (Faced with fog, wind, and snow, down-wind positioning was demonstrably a very effective strategy for tracking sour Dravanians). His service in Coerthas took a toll; R'elyn saw lives lost at the command of lords who gained commission through birthright, not merit. He survived with slight frostbite and a profound dislike of scalekin and aristocrats.R'elyn's contract ended as Ishgard rejoined the Alliance; after, he moved with a fellow contractor to Ul'dah, intentionally trading the cold and snow for heat and sand, and took a job inventorying freight in their family's shipping warehouse.

Ul'dah
R'elyn noticed unusual activity occurring in the five-warehouse complex where he worked, traced to one particular trading syndicate. And he wasn't the only interested party; competitors were also investigating the syndicate's unscrupulous procurement and production practices. R'elyn was surreptitiously hired by honest gillionaire Rachel Moon — in exchange for an apartment down-payment, R'elyn provided Rachel inside information on shipping schedules and manifests.What they uncovered was a clandestine operation, and though his assistance helped Rachel in her quest to take down her rival syndicate, R'elyn's involvement was discovered. Magnanimously, Rachel used her connections to rescue R'elyn and she hired him formally through the Eclipse Trading Company to be groundskeeper for the company headquarters in Gridania. He was present during the relocation to Ishgard, where he currently lives and works.

"This one time, in the middle of nowhere..."

Custodian and Retainer

R'elyn's company role spans custodian and courier, reconnoiter and retainer, taking him across EorzeaWhy spend a premium on rare materials when you can send the retainer for (practically) free? R'elyn is sometimes tasked with procuring rare flora and fauna, his skills as a hunt(ress) put to use, and will accompany goods in transit, traveling with caravans, eccentric traders, pilgrims, and adventurers — and encounter the occasional highwayman.The errands he runs for the company, usually between Ul'dah and Ishgard where one can find him angling to see over market counters or using his company meal reimbursement, are mostly benign. Though the company's business dealings are completely legit and above-board (...right?), he's been in a few hand-offs in rather suspect places — it's never a great day when one finds themselves in a shady underground syndicate office.When he expects trouble, he has the discretion to hire guards; when injured, he's not too proud to search for help (and, when it comes to payment, he's good for it).R'elyn's services are also on-hire by contract through negotiation with the company (to maintain health benefits for on-the-job accidents) — he has experience with building methods and mechanicals used during the Restoration, along with numerous home and garden repairs.

Connections from Coerthas

Past or present, others who fought and survived scalekin and aristocratic whimsR’elyn was in Haldrath’s March as a contractor towards the end of the Dragonsong War. While in Coerthas, he met high and lowborn alike — in the dark and the cold, when fighting freezing wind, patrician politics, and taloned monsters, the most noble lord and common man suddenly seem quite equal in the eyes of Halone.R'elyn does not leave the estate grounds for Ishgard proper often, preferring to shop the Empyreum markets, but will visit the main city on errands for the company or when traveling to the plaza and airship docks. He's encountered citizenry opinions on outsiders residing in the Empyreum, from curiosity or indifference to open hostility.

"It's not the cold, it's the -wind-."

"Qar yʌl æs’mi’tia, tiase vaaq tekhʌr tej."

Pride in the Sun

Despite adopting a typical Eorzean way of life, R'elyn still fondly retains the traditions of his family.R’elyn carries his family’s songs and stories, some dating back to the Wandering Age, and inherited a decent singing voice and aptitude with traditional instruments from his father. Though reluctant to sing in front of anyone he does not know well, he is usually eager, despite his general social anxiety, to share Miqo’te poetry and mythical tales, the fox-fables of the Great Huntress R’ahazyma of a Thousand Songs, the wisdom and advice from his mother, or play his lastam, the seven-stringed harp crafted by his father’s tribe. He is also desperately curious when it comes to learning stories and experiencing the culture of other tribes, clans, and Seeker diaspora, comfortable and familiar even with their differences when compared to the often baffling nature of Eorzeans and other dominating cultures of the star.R'elyn's upbringing informs much of his identity and prejudices and often puts him at confusing odds with Eorzean gender roles and expectations. Following the social norms he was raised with, he has a difficult time communicating directly with Miqo’te women due to necessary deference, and may find itinerant males suspect if their attitude suggests they’re angling for an excuse to fight, but he otherwise holds his conspecifics in high regard, as well as others raised in unindustrialized cultures.

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Information

Interested in
» Discord RP CST/GMT-5
» 18+ I'm a dusty 30yo+ player
» OOC I’m a huge introvert, will send memes outside of RP
» rphub.co/ch/4283» Lore-friendly low-to-mid fantasy stories
» Themes of finding trouble and finding a way out of it, supporting allies, trust, self-worth, balancing expectations of disparate cultures and traditions, gender expression
» Comfortable with sensitive topics and darker situations when handled with maturity, combat and injury, light romance, and ERP
» Writes in past tense/paragraphs» Stories from the Dragonsong War: HW and Coerthas were some of my favorite parts of the game. R'elyn's involvement is intended to be grounded and unusual but not unique and is based off lore from jobquests, levequests, FATEs, and the HW miner questline, where House Fortemps hired Eorzean miners and mercenaries for leverage over the Horde and the other High Houses — a cunning segment of the aristocracy willing to compromise the ideals of isolationism when confronted with the dire realities of war and attrition. (This, his singing, and inferences about Miqo'te language and culture are about as self-indulgent and gratuitous with lore as he gets).Not interested in sadism or overly cruel, chaotic, and callous situations/characters, unless it’s discussed first OOC. R'elyn can be a grounding foil for stronger characters, but also avoids capricious, powerful, unpredictable people for his own safety.
» If I'm not feeling something, I'll try to make a quick apology and excuse myself, and I'd want anyone I'm talking with to feel comfortable doing the same. A quick farewell is appreciated but I'm fine being left on read and I won't demand an explanation.

Reference

For commissions» Black hair with braids and beads, 170cm, medium skintone, self-consciously stocky build
» Green eyes (Seeker/slit pupil) and normal teeth (no Keeper fangs)
» Any outfit is fine, simplified
» Scar on his chin, across chest, left thigh, and various others from run-ins with construction materials and angry critters
» Sprinkle on some freckles/age spots/signs of general middle-aged exhaustion; he's just a little guy, friendly and very tired

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System of Three

CHARACTER INFO
Name: R’elyn Tia
Age: Early 30s
Species: Miqo’te, Seeker of the Sun
Job Description: Contractor
Favourite Food: Fried fish and popotos, apple and walnut porridge, aldgoat miq’abobsSTATS
STR: 10 +3 (LNC)
DEX: 10 +2 (BRD)
INT: 10
CHR: 10 +1 (BRD)
WILL: 10HP: 40SKILLS
Racial bonuses: Miqo’te, Seeker
Sharp vision +1, Low light vision +0, Keen sense of smell +1
Umbral aspected: Cold resistance +1Positives
Son of the Sun +3: Raised in a traditional camp with his father, sisters, mother, and aunts, R'elyn can reliably set up shelter, care for children, trap and forage for subsistence, and is proficient with a short bow, spear, and wrestling. The highlands and temperate forests are his most familiar types of terrain.Coerthan Infantryman +2: In looking for a way to leave Gridania after running afoul of poachers as a young man, R'elyn took a contract through the Lancers' Guild for infantry reinforcements in Coerthas. He served for over two years towards the end of the Dragonsong War as a guardsman, and was pulled from refueling fires as attrition took a toll and assigned to patrols and tracking heretics and scalekin. R'elyn practiced Coerthan drills, rudimentary military science and tactics, and methods for identifying and fighting scalekin.Of the Song and Sand +1: R'elyn learned the skills and habits of a troubadour from his father, who had wandered Eorzea before he had become nunh. He can play traditional and Eorzean instruments, recite and translate poetry, and follows folklore from across the star. Unlike his father, however, R'elyn's temperament is reluctant and his tenor is high and sinal, leading him to be unlikely to sing around others.Negatives
Coerthan Survivor -3: The Dragonsong War was never his, and though his experiences during the war were relatively brief compared to a lifetime under duress, R'elyn remains wary of nobility, catatonically terrified of imprisonment, inquisitors, and dragons, and carries the weight of guilt for lives lost and grief for supporting the oppressors in an ancient conflict for coin.Pragmatic Pessimist -2: Deferential to his own detriment and not terribly strong of will, prone to bouts of melancholy, plagued by insecurity, and underestimates the hold of old voices reminding him he will never be good enough—and naive over how easy those weaknesses are to exploit. He has a low tolerance for urban intoxicants and is distrustful of the motives of others, though it isn't often he is able to turn down a strong drink or suggestions from a handsome man.Seeker Traditionalist -1: Despite living among Eorzeans for over a decade, he still lacks common knowledge—systems of magic, history, social norms, idioms, rumors of the esoteric and forbidden, and those benign, unspoken rules most take for granted. He is painfully aware of prejudices against himself, and far less aware of those he holds for others, informed by his upbringing and life as a rarity and outsider, even among his own people.Other Information
» Fluent in Huntspeak, speaks Eorzean with an accent, can translate spoken Huntspeak into phonic Eorzean
» Enjoys Eorzean literature, especially folklore and fiction from the Twelveswood and Ishgard
» Currently works as a custodian, courier, and retainer for a trading company and his wealthy proprietress; handy with facility repairs, Restoration construction methods, and domestic duties
» Avid angler
» Fastidious, avoids undercooked food and poor sanitation
» His father, great aunt, and closest sister were Seers in their tribe, however R'elyn is not able to "see" or properly manipulate aetherCombat Information
» Huntress and Comrade: R'elyn is at his most martially capable when taking orders and cooperating alongside others, either as a pack or in formation.
» Desperation: When there is no other option, R'elyn will attempt to crudely use his own aether to stabilize a mortally wounded ally, leaving himself incapacitated.
» Compassionate: Abhors cruelty and torture, and being party to acts of deliberate sadism will leave R'elyn deeply disturbed. Conversely, he will fight with indignant determination against brutal and inhumane foes. He has never mortally wounded another Spoken.