For the lalafell, option B all the way. 
The facial expression really gets that across.
For the character background, it looks good. I'd consider a couple of things, though.
First, it seems to revolve a lot around Tomas's family. We don't get to see a lot of his perspective on things -- what does he want to do? Did it bother him being put in the position of taking over the family business? Why didn't he start a family -- did his mother oppose it, or was the work too occupying for him? I think the backstory would be more powerful if we could see more of what was going on in Tomas's head.
Second, from a lore perspective, one thing I'd consider is that the Black Shroud was exceedingly dangerous to outsiders before the Calamity; it was extremely easy to anger the elementals as non-Gridanian, resulting in the accumulation of "woodsin" and ultimately the forest itself attempting to kill you. Since the Calamity, however, this effect seems to have been largely written out of the plot (the why is still undisclosed). So, you might want to consider how your character got around that. The easiest approach is that you were traveling to Gridania when Bahamut attacked, which neatly solves the issue and would put you in Gridania for 5 years prior to the start of the game. However, there's other alternatives: Tomas's family knew a Gridanian of the guild, and they were able to guide you into the city; Tomas has an affinity for the elementals (perhaps a talent for Conjury?); Tomas sneaked into Gridania with some less-than-legal assistance that knew a secret path or other means through the Shroud; Tomas fell victim to the forest, but a kindly Gridanian took pity on him and saved him; as above, but moogles saved him (mirroring the 1.0 Gridania intro sequence); etc. I'm not saying you have to change your background, just that you need to have an explanation for why the usual "outsiders get killed by the forest due to woodwrath" element of Gridania pre-Calamity didn't apply in his case.
The facial expression really gets that across.For the character background, it looks good. I'd consider a couple of things, though.
First, it seems to revolve a lot around Tomas's family. We don't get to see a lot of his perspective on things -- what does he want to do? Did it bother him being put in the position of taking over the family business? Why didn't he start a family -- did his mother oppose it, or was the work too occupying for him? I think the backstory would be more powerful if we could see more of what was going on in Tomas's head.
Second, from a lore perspective, one thing I'd consider is that the Black Shroud was exceedingly dangerous to outsiders before the Calamity; it was extremely easy to anger the elementals as non-Gridanian, resulting in the accumulation of "woodsin" and ultimately the forest itself attempting to kill you. Since the Calamity, however, this effect seems to have been largely written out of the plot (the why is still undisclosed). So, you might want to consider how your character got around that. The easiest approach is that you were traveling to Gridania when Bahamut attacked, which neatly solves the issue and would put you in Gridania for 5 years prior to the start of the game. However, there's other alternatives: Tomas's family knew a Gridanian of the guild, and they were able to guide you into the city; Tomas has an affinity for the elementals (perhaps a talent for Conjury?); Tomas sneaked into Gridania with some less-than-legal assistance that knew a secret path or other means through the Shroud; Tomas fell victim to the forest, but a kindly Gridanian took pity on him and saved him; as above, but moogles saved him (mirroring the 1.0 Gridania intro sequence); etc. I'm not saying you have to change your background, just that you need to have an explanation for why the usual "outsiders get killed by the forest due to woodwrath" element of Gridania pre-Calamity didn't apply in his case.
The Freelance Wizard
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
