As far as her true identity, well... I've come up with two ideas that both might be kind of do-able, but again, I'd love some feedback on both to see how viable they might be. I kicked these around for a number of hours, and out of the bunch I came up with, they're the two that sound the most plausible. I couldn't exactly use Gridania- after so many years there, somebody would have recognized her by now. Limsa was a distant third, and Ishgard fourth- given that I don't think Ishgard had forces committed to the battle at the Calamity. I could be dead wrong, though...
A) The smell of the pipira triggered her memory because of scavenging through an Ul'dah alleyway behind a restaurant for food- a small place that had the pipira as its specialty- leading on a merry way through more memories and false starts and dead ends that eventually leads her back to the land of sand and gold to find she really was nothing but a street rat- before this whole mess, she'd been nothing more than a homeless girl, scrabbling for a bit of gil, enough to eat, and a warm place to sleep for the night. When the Calamity came calling and every single force was needed, she threw her lot in with the Immortal Flames, and ended up doing her best to fight the Garleans- only to cut and run as everything went to blazes. Shucking her given armor as she ran, she only paused long enough to grab a set of discarded Twin Adder armor and a spear that happened to be buried in a dead Garlean in case she had to fight her way out- and that was when everything went boom thanks to Louisoux and the intense amount of magic and power flying around. Magic blasted her back, she landed hard enough to hit her head, and the overall experience contributed to a serious case of trauma-induced amnesia. Her real name? Unknown, but known to some of the other homeless as "Scratch".
I feel this one could lead to her developing as a character by realizing that even though she started out as nothing, look at what she'd been able to accomplish by her pushing herself in looking for her identity- she'd become a skilled lancer, as well as picked up a lot of other life experience in the hunt- raising herself out of the gutter and standing on her own feet.
B) It wasn't so much the fish as it was the garlic that was added to it. It was strong, Garlean garlic- a smell that stirs memories that she might not want stirred up after all. Mostly because it would reveal that hiding beneath the surface is a story that began years ago on a continent a long, long way away- under the name of Marsaili aan Aconia. Born to garlic farmers in a country long conquered by the Empire, she was put through the same thing as other conscripts- taken at a young age, worked through the military complex until she was just another soldier seeking a higher societial rank by putting in her years. She was attached as a spearman (I forget what the term is for the spear units) to the ill-fated Seventh, and when things started going all topsy-turvy at the end of the Calamity- the clashing of the magical energy against the incoming primal energy of Bahamut did a lot of things- but the one thing it did was disrupt the magic that kept her loyal to the Empire- right before everything went to blazes and most of the Seventh was wiped out in the resulting blast. Marsaili was blasted away, her armor torn from her body, and her unconscious body found among the remains of a supply wagon, slumped over an iron spear that was assumed to be hers.
What would happen if her memories as Caleria were to suddenly intersect with her memories as Marsaili? How loyal to the Empire is Marsaili still (kind of, but...), and just would it do to her to know what she'd done beforehand? The struggle to connect everything would be enjoyable to write- just how much of her actions as Marsaili could be balanced out as Caleria, and while others may forgive her, the question becomes if she could ever forgive herself...
I could see this line going as finding out that maybe some memories are meant to stay buried, but then rising above her deeds of the past through her actions in the present- hopefully with the help of those close to her, if she finds any friends.Â
There's always the potential of those born in darkness to blossom in the light.
You'll notice that neither ending has her really as important as she is now- she's not the long-lost daughter of anybody important, rich, or powerful. She's not anything more or less than what she started as- the only real things she would gain out of it are a deeper appreciation for what she has and a newfound purpose to keep going on to bigger and better things.
As for the original Caleria? A Hume spearwoman from a smaller town in Ul'dah- all her family knows is that she's missing and presumed dead after the Calamity, not knowing their daughter's spear ended up in the hands of an amnesiac Miqo'te. Maybe someday she'll return the spear to them... it could make for a bit of roleplaying, I guess.
Anyways, as always, I'm open to suggestions and criticism on either of these- if you see something that might not work, please speak up and let me know!
Thanks for the help, no matter how badly you rip it apart!
A) The smell of the pipira triggered her memory because of scavenging through an Ul'dah alleyway behind a restaurant for food- a small place that had the pipira as its specialty- leading on a merry way through more memories and false starts and dead ends that eventually leads her back to the land of sand and gold to find she really was nothing but a street rat- before this whole mess, she'd been nothing more than a homeless girl, scrabbling for a bit of gil, enough to eat, and a warm place to sleep for the night. When the Calamity came calling and every single force was needed, she threw her lot in with the Immortal Flames, and ended up doing her best to fight the Garleans- only to cut and run as everything went to blazes. Shucking her given armor as she ran, she only paused long enough to grab a set of discarded Twin Adder armor and a spear that happened to be buried in a dead Garlean in case she had to fight her way out- and that was when everything went boom thanks to Louisoux and the intense amount of magic and power flying around. Magic blasted her back, she landed hard enough to hit her head, and the overall experience contributed to a serious case of trauma-induced amnesia. Her real name? Unknown, but known to some of the other homeless as "Scratch".
I feel this one could lead to her developing as a character by realizing that even though she started out as nothing, look at what she'd been able to accomplish by her pushing herself in looking for her identity- she'd become a skilled lancer, as well as picked up a lot of other life experience in the hunt- raising herself out of the gutter and standing on her own feet.
B) It wasn't so much the fish as it was the garlic that was added to it. It was strong, Garlean garlic- a smell that stirs memories that she might not want stirred up after all. Mostly because it would reveal that hiding beneath the surface is a story that began years ago on a continent a long, long way away- under the name of Marsaili aan Aconia. Born to garlic farmers in a country long conquered by the Empire, she was put through the same thing as other conscripts- taken at a young age, worked through the military complex until she was just another soldier seeking a higher societial rank by putting in her years. She was attached as a spearman (I forget what the term is for the spear units) to the ill-fated Seventh, and when things started going all topsy-turvy at the end of the Calamity- the clashing of the magical energy against the incoming primal energy of Bahamut did a lot of things- but the one thing it did was disrupt the magic that kept her loyal to the Empire- right before everything went to blazes and most of the Seventh was wiped out in the resulting blast. Marsaili was blasted away, her armor torn from her body, and her unconscious body found among the remains of a supply wagon, slumped over an iron spear that was assumed to be hers.
What would happen if her memories as Caleria were to suddenly intersect with her memories as Marsaili? How loyal to the Empire is Marsaili still (kind of, but...), and just would it do to her to know what she'd done beforehand? The struggle to connect everything would be enjoyable to write- just how much of her actions as Marsaili could be balanced out as Caleria, and while others may forgive her, the question becomes if she could ever forgive herself...
I could see this line going as finding out that maybe some memories are meant to stay buried, but then rising above her deeds of the past through her actions in the present- hopefully with the help of those close to her, if she finds any friends.Â
There's always the potential of those born in darkness to blossom in the light.
You'll notice that neither ending has her really as important as she is now- she's not the long-lost daughter of anybody important, rich, or powerful. She's not anything more or less than what she started as- the only real things she would gain out of it are a deeper appreciation for what she has and a newfound purpose to keep going on to bigger and better things.
As for the original Caleria? A Hume spearwoman from a smaller town in Ul'dah- all her family knows is that she's missing and presumed dead after the Calamity, not knowing their daughter's spear ended up in the hands of an amnesiac Miqo'te. Maybe someday she'll return the spear to them... it could make for a bit of roleplaying, I guess.
Anyways, as always, I'm open to suggestions and criticism on either of these- if you see something that might not work, please speak up and let me know!
Thanks for the help, no matter how badly you rip it apart!
Character Wiki: Caleria Amih (Work in progress!)
