I'm performing thread necromancy to inquire after opinions on an element of my character's backstory.
In my initial concept, I'd wanted to play a character who was a sheltered child of nobility. Not a literal prince/princess, but someone of that type- wealthy and influential parents, hasn't traveled much beyond his home due to strict/overprotective upbringing. But I ultimately went with making a Duskwight over making a Wildwood, which sort of threw a wrench in Aumeric being actually nobility.
There's a little loophole in the line in the lore about "nobility endorsed by the Wildwoods" implying that there are those who are not endorsed, but I didn't leap on that. In my case, I ended up operating on the assumption that the wealthy, powerful family he was born to wasn't nobility at all, but rather a crime family. Mafia, yakuza, you get the idea. They put on the affectations of a Wildwood noble family, present themselves as such, but make their fortune off the misfortunes of others, and live a bit more out of the way.
I imagine they've got fairly extensive holdings in the Black Shroud, it being unlikely that Gridania proper would smile upon the presence of a moneyed, dangerous, and possibly politically influential Duskwight family of organized criminals. It's also worth observing that Aumeric doesn't particularly look like the common perception of a duskwight- he's got silver hair (and is obviously not elderly), but his skin color is one that can be just as easily found in the Wildwood population. More likely than not that he and his family were at least partially able to operate more openly in society due to the fact that they can "pass" as Wildwoods- at least to those Eorzeans who aren't Elezen, and who therefore aren't likely to pay attention to the appearance of them beyond "are they grey/blue?" Like a lot of Wildwood/Duskwight societal stuff, it's pretty messed up, and having the privilege of appearing Wildwood in a society that values them over Duskwights hasn't really endeared Aumeric's family to their kin. Nor has their collective decision to scorn their kind's cultural disdain for cities and "civilized" living- they're seen as aspirants to Wildwood culture, and even likely as traitorous.
So they're criminal, and not popular among other Elezen. But thanks to the whole caves thing, they had a major advantage in terms of surviving the Calamity. While some Duskwights found their homes collapsing, and while surface-dwellers had to fend off the impending chaos of the aftermath of that disaster, his family (which, I suppose it's worth saying, aren't actually the Chassebels- I don't want to step on the toes of anybody else who's picked that surname by deciding their family for them, and I've ruled that in Aumeric's case it's an assumed false name. The "Dagger" to his Garnet, if you will) was sitting pretty thanks to their stable and subterranean dwellings. A lot of their competition died or were ruined by the fall of Dalamud.
So I guess what I'm asking is "Does this make sense with established Duskwight lore?" I've tried to tailor Aumeric's family background to reflect the position his kind holds in Eorzean society while holding onto his core concept of a sheltered, naive heir, and I hope it all holds together...
In my initial concept, I'd wanted to play a character who was a sheltered child of nobility. Not a literal prince/princess, but someone of that type- wealthy and influential parents, hasn't traveled much beyond his home due to strict/overprotective upbringing. But I ultimately went with making a Duskwight over making a Wildwood, which sort of threw a wrench in Aumeric being actually nobility.
There's a little loophole in the line in the lore about "nobility endorsed by the Wildwoods" implying that there are those who are not endorsed, but I didn't leap on that. In my case, I ended up operating on the assumption that the wealthy, powerful family he was born to wasn't nobility at all, but rather a crime family. Mafia, yakuza, you get the idea. They put on the affectations of a Wildwood noble family, present themselves as such, but make their fortune off the misfortunes of others, and live a bit more out of the way.
I imagine they've got fairly extensive holdings in the Black Shroud, it being unlikely that Gridania proper would smile upon the presence of a moneyed, dangerous, and possibly politically influential Duskwight family of organized criminals. It's also worth observing that Aumeric doesn't particularly look like the common perception of a duskwight- he's got silver hair (and is obviously not elderly), but his skin color is one that can be just as easily found in the Wildwood population. More likely than not that he and his family were at least partially able to operate more openly in society due to the fact that they can "pass" as Wildwoods- at least to those Eorzeans who aren't Elezen, and who therefore aren't likely to pay attention to the appearance of them beyond "are they grey/blue?" Like a lot of Wildwood/Duskwight societal stuff, it's pretty messed up, and having the privilege of appearing Wildwood in a society that values them over Duskwights hasn't really endeared Aumeric's family to their kin. Nor has their collective decision to scorn their kind's cultural disdain for cities and "civilized" living- they're seen as aspirants to Wildwood culture, and even likely as traitorous.
So they're criminal, and not popular among other Elezen. But thanks to the whole caves thing, they had a major advantage in terms of surviving the Calamity. While some Duskwights found their homes collapsing, and while surface-dwellers had to fend off the impending chaos of the aftermath of that disaster, his family (which, I suppose it's worth saying, aren't actually the Chassebels- I don't want to step on the toes of anybody else who's picked that surname by deciding their family for them, and I've ruled that in Aumeric's case it's an assumed false name. The "Dagger" to his Garnet, if you will) was sitting pretty thanks to their stable and subterranean dwellings. A lot of their competition died or were ruined by the fall of Dalamud.
So I guess what I'm asking is "Does this make sense with established Duskwight lore?" I've tried to tailor Aumeric's family background to reflect the position his kind holds in Eorzean society while holding onto his core concept of a sheltered, naive heir, and I hope it all holds together...
