Back Story“Shh, my love,” my mother whispered as she curled around me on the bottom floor of our home. I didn’t know what was going on back then. Just that it was something bad. Our home had been littered with bad men, evil men.

A man, who I know know now is called Theodorac, declared himself the ruler of our home. I was very young when he arose to power, so all my memories of home and deeply rooted in secrecy and rebellion. I remember we had to worship in small groups in private, in underground venues. You see, they killed the people they found worshipping any other than the goddess Nymeia, who coincidentally is my namesake. I still don’t know how I feel about that. Should I revile her for all that happened?

My father was a monk of The Fist of Rhalgr as was my elder brother. They rebelled for as long as I can remember alongside the others. Family friends and men and women whom I never met would go out with my father and not return. I did not know of the torture and execution back then. All I remember was worrying if my father or brother would make it back or if they would disappear with the others.

It was getting worse with every day and I remember my mother wrapping her arms around me and looking as if she had seen the eyes of death. It was such a sudden shift that I could not help but feel uneasy. Up until then, my mother had remained confident that this man would not succeed in his tyranny. I couldn’t comprehend what would cause such a strong woman to cave in to fear. Until my brother, Hotch, came home…

“The temple…” he breathed out as he burst through the door. “The temple is lost. Father is dead.”

I remember the sinking feeling in my stomach as I looked at Hotch. He was covered in blood, his and his enemy’s. His dark hair was matted and clung to his face as the blood dried and caked within it. But what I remember most were his eyes. Dark, hopeless, helpless.

“We have to leave,” my mother said, and she meant it. We near left everything that was ours behind us, disguised ourselves, and continued our lives in secrecy hoping that Ala Mhigo would defeat this evil. Each day grew harder and harder. My brother was a target. They wanted every Fist of Rhalgr dead, and they were doing everything they could to ensure it.

It was strange. Even in the face of all that, my brother found time to smile. He even began to teach me some of his ways. I was a child, but he said they would not show me mercy. I would have to learn to defend myself. Looking back, what a laughable thing. Not that I’m not happy for what I learned from him.  It has shaped my life. But to think a tiny highlander child could ‘defend herself’ against any of that…

Eventually our people had enough and they stormed the palace in revolt of Theodorac and his atrocities. As if the gods themselves answered our prayers, we thought we had found salvation. The Garleans rode in and captured the city, and Theodorac, in all of his cowardice, took his own life. We thought this would be the start of the rebuilding of our culture. That all would be well. However, we were wrong. So very wrong.

My mother was no fool, though. She saw the evils in the Garleans and she immediately set out to have us escape. But we were under occupation. She tried to warn others that this meant nothing good, but the city was so overrun with chaos and lawlessness that very few even listened. A lot decided to remain in ignorance.

What my mother did rally was a small group. We would strike at the darkest hour. There was an out that was not well known and very lightly guarded. When we came to it, that was the first time I saw my brother fight. He and a couple others took out the guards to clear a path for the rest of us to escape. While the guards were distracted, we made a break for it. We came as twelve and left as eight. Not everyone who helped take out the guards survived.

Hotch was one of them.

I wanted to stay and wait for him on the off chance that he made it, but my mother refused. She said we had to keep moving and not stop. I owe my life to my brother and those that helped us escape. My mother started a life as a merchant and as I grew older, I continued to expand on what my bother taught me. It was hard considering most everything pertaining to the monk-hood was destroyed or locked away. To help bring in money, I took up freelance mercenary work. Everything was working out.

Until Dalamund. I lost my mother in the destruction those years brought. Her home, her shop. All was destroyed. Every day of it was a question of survival. Would I live to see the morrow? It was hell. 

However, we prevailed. The cities have been rebuilt and life is largely less of a question of making it another day. I’ve picked up my freelance work again. Though, something strange has happened. There are people appearing everywhere, claiming the come from the past — from the events at Dalamund. How privileged they are. They got to jump through the suffering, the destruction, and the rebuilding.


For now, though, all I am going to focus on is rebuilding my life. I will attain power in the honor of my family who sacrificed all that they were so that I may continue on. I will not let them down.

Brief Ala Mhigan HistoryTheodric was the King of Ala Mhigo long before he went crazy and killed the Monks. The quest text from the Monk Storyline suggests that Theodric grew jealous of the popularity of the Fists of Rhalgr and became paranoid that they were plotting to overthrow him. (Very Star Wars III) So he began imprisoning Monks and torturing them until they "confessed" that the Monks were in-fact trying to overthrow him. He decreed that the worship of Rhalgr was heresy and that he was the one true King, by divine will of Nymeia. This is when he gathered all of his mighty Lancer legions and surrounded the Temple of the Fists of Rhalgr. He burned the surrounding homes and villages and then slaughtered all within the temple, burning it to the ground too. 

This caused great civil unrest within the city-state. Many stood up to oppose Theodric, but he imprisoned, tortured, or killed any that were caught doing so. Monks and worshipers of Rhalgr were hunted down for the next five years. Using this civil unrest, the Garleans marched into Ala Mhigo and killed Theodric. It was a very short battle due to the Garleans being hailed as saviors. 

There were those who resisted though. The Resistance rose up and attempted to defend Ala Mhigo but failed miserably and the Garleans slayed any who fought against them and chased the Ala Mhigan refugees south into Eorzea.