Regarding an Ala Mhigan

[Soleil]

Howdy, folks! I joined this site a few days ago and have been lurking ever since (trying to figure out how everything works, still.) I'm relatively new to MMO roleplay, but not new to FFXIV - I've been playing since 2.0, on and off. I currently play on Excalibur, but if I can get a taste of what Balmung RP is like beforehand, I might transfer to Balmung. Anyways, I've got a few questions on my newly revamped character, Soleil Vahllen.

 

I've read up on lore and scrounged some old content, but I'm not entirely sure my character would be 1) lore-friendly, and 2) interesting to roleplay with. This is gonna be...pretty long? I dunno.

 

So here's what I have:

 

1. Appearance:
   Standing at 6'5, Soleil makes an imposing figure. She is tanned and lean, well-muscled. She is broad-shouldered and has dark brown eyes as well as raven-black hair, often tied in a stiff ponytail or single braid down her back. She appears almost Doman in ancestry, but retains the build of a healthy Highlander. As a roaming scholar-merchant, she wears simple garments, unless she feels something different - like feathered overcoats, or anything fancy. As of the moment, she doesn't have any particular tastes.
    
   As a rogue (Level 60 NIN), she imitates Ifrit. She wears Ifrit's Mask, then a crimson, open vest and sash/trousers with intricate golden patterns. She wears open-toed black sandals reaching up to her knees. Soleil wears black-armored armguards with orange palms and red coloring. (My current NIN glamor!!)
    
   
   
2. Age: ~29
    
   
   
3. Guardian Deity: Rhalgr
    
   
   
4. Personality:
   More extroverted than anything else, Soleil thrives in social situations. She might not be particularly talkative, but she can easily keep up with the flow of conversation and generally enjoys speaking with others about anything - though she likes gossip the best.
    
   She's easily excitable and often adorably cheeky when around friends and allies, but puts up a calm, kind, friendly front around strangers. Knowledgeable in the arcana after throwing years into the study, she doesn't appreciate others downgrading her effort, though she doesn't mind constructive criticism or input.
    
   She has a soft spot for refugees and the poor. When she can, she is seen aiding those in need, having once been in their situation.
    
   Though she says otherwise, Soleil has a very strong desire to become a hero like the Warriors of Light. This is a problem when her heists go awry, and lives are endangered. She's almost been caught many times due to her compassionate nature, and fear of pain and uselessness.
    
   She has the weirdest fixation on chocobos. Her personal steed, Queen, is testament to that. It appears there is a special reason behind her affection for the choboco, as well as the name she gave it.
    
   Soleil dislikes any talk of Rhalgr. She gets politely irritated at the god's mention, especially if it involves asking said deity to aid them in battle.
    
   Finally, she has a sort of minor interest in Ifrit. Soleil is particularly drawn toward fire, for unknown reasons. She tends to lie about it when asked, just like how she lies about where she learned to wield dual daggers with great skill.
    
   
   
5. Background:
   Soleil is an Ala Mhigan Highlander, daughter to a now-incapacitated former Fist of Rhalgr (light-sect) monk and also a semi-wealthy merchant. She spent the majority of her childhood learning self-defense from her mother and politics from her merchant father. She primarily excelled in her academic studies, forging on ahead of others her age, and was aware of the concept of chakra early on. (Soleil wasn't entirely sure how to use it, and never planned to. Her mother had spent decades training before her birth, and still hadn't mastered it.)
    
   When she was 9 summers old, the Garleans invaded Ala Mhigo. Her mother had already been driven into hiding and severely injured due to King Theodoric's destruction of the main temples. Her father, however, was trading in Ul'dah during this time of crisis, and would never be able to step foot in Ala Mhigo ever again.
    
   Soleil and her mother, through their few connections, barely avoided capture and joined the Ala Mhigan Resistance. As a child, Soleil was not expected to fight out in the front, but rather deliver messages and errands around the area.
    
   Because of her mother's endurance training and her father's insistence on learning tactical command, Soleil was able to navigate Ala Mhigo and deliver smuggled goods and secrets to the populace without much fear of capture. This led to her rise in the resistance, never fighting, but always moving through the battlefields as a messenger. She only did so a few times, though, knowing that chances of capture rose every time she did a mission. However, she was witness to an insurmountable number of crimes, both by the hands of the Garleans and her own fellows.
    
   One event that remained in her memory began simply. Three years into her service, it was - she was twelve, now. She was to bring an encrypted message both on paper and verbally to one of the Resistance captains camped in one of the underground bases in a poorer sector of the country. Another young messenger would follow her in case either died before the message was delivered. When she arrived, the captain was waiting - and so she gave her message appropriately. It was then that the Garleans struck.
    
   Three platoons of Garlean soldiers then bore into the small squad of Ala Mhigan fighters, guns flashing with each shot and flames bursting across the browning sky. Camped out near civilians, the Resistance fighters had little choice but to retreat as their numbers dwindled.
    
   Soleil was caught in the crossfire. She didn't remain to retaliate; she bolted immediately. One of the Resistance officers caught her by the wrist, forced her to face the ongoing battle. When she struggled, the man leaned over, blade hovering inches from her throat.
    
   "Abandoning your comrades now, of all times? Are you not Ala Mhigan? Did you not accept our oath, our promise to devote our lives to the cause till the last man falls?"
    
   Soleil never had the chance to answer, ducking her head in her attempt to escape. A swift cauterizing shot from the Garleans blasted the officer's face into a mess of blood, the flesh hot and gooey and dripping into Soleil's hair.
    
   She took the man's sword and threw him over her, playing dead. The mass of clotted blood and chunks of meat made playing dead much easier, though her heart skipped a beat when she heard her fellow messenger's scream for Rhalgr's retribution. It was cut off by the swish and splatter of a mallet.
    
   Garleans did not leave the dead on the field. They immediately took to inspecting and removing the bodies (for disposal, Soleil assumed). As she was near the edge of the battlefield, they arrived at her location hours into the cleanup, with only two soldiers checking on the area.
    
   When one reached down to examine her body, throwing the man's off her own, she leapt into action. She swung the sword, embedding it deep in the man's neck, hearing the cry die in his throat. The other Garlean was taken by surprise, giving Soleil a chance to kick out and knock him off his feet. She removed the sword and killed the other man, but not as efficiently as she could. It took her several swings to silence his whimpers.
    
   Soleil grabbed her officer's sword, then the Garlean's pair of daggers, and ran. She saw, some yalms away, the decapitated head of her fellow messenger. The girl's head had been smashed in, mouth open in what seemed to be a final prayer.
    
   It was not until later that she learned a civilian had given away the Resistance squad's position. (She could not find it in her heart to blame them.)
    
   Soleil Vahllen, on that very day, absolved to never pray to Rhalgr - not until she was worthy of saying his name again. Not until she escaped that shadow of cowardice she'd created for herself.
    
   Two years later, after five years serving in the Resistance, Soleil escaped the country with her mother and five others in tow. Only she and her mother made it out alive.
    
   They went to Ul'dah to find her father, who had fallen into debt due to the Ala Mhigan controversy / influx of Ala Mhigan refugees. Racism, really, and lack of opportunity. He was serving at the Platinum Mirage, to be pitted against other debtors for the fun of the rich.
    
   Soleil took his place in the game so he could find other opportunities to help pay off the debt. She spent the next three years of her life pitted against others desperate to survive - another three years of a miniature war, until their family's debt was paid and finished.
    
   She knew that the owners of Platinum Mirage would not let them go so easily. But, in those three years, Soleil had met and befriended a wealthy heir to a vibrant merchant company - a dunesfolk by the name of Fufuyan Fuyan. Fufuyan made a few backup plans to keep the Vahllens from falling back into debt, reassuring Soleil that she'd help look after her family. Soleil's father already had his hands full taking care of his ailing wife, so Soleil saved up her gil and bought a boat to Limsa Lominsa, bringing with her some clothes, a few scraps of food, the Garlean's old daggers, and the memory of her mother's dimming smile.
    
   I want you to keep our cause alive, her mother had whispered. But do not forget your own purpose. Your own desire.
    
   Soleil arrived in Limsa and immediately found herself surrounded by Ala Mhigan refugees. She was not alone in her plight, but found herself alienated anyways. These people had already accepted their fate, yet still fought on with hopes of change.
    
   She went to the Arcanists' Guild in order to learn their ways. At 17 years old, Soleil was broad-shouldered and exceptionally tall. She was refused on the grounds that she hadn't had prior experience in the arcane, and was therefore not suited to the guild.
    
   (It was because she was an Ala Mhigan with no credentials. She didn't say that to their faces, however.)
    
   Her life went on through taking odd jobs as a bodyguard, a bouncer, a stablehand. She took any job people were willing to offer. One year later, she had had enough, and made that quite known to those around her.
    
   Limsa Lominsa would experience a string of "disconnected heists" for the next two years. She was not the culprit, but evidence pointed toward her.
    
   The heists had caught the attention of both the Yellowjackets, Maelstrom Command, and the rumored Rogues' Guild. It would only be a matter of time before she was caught and blamed - so Soleil hurriedly removed herself from any criminal activity she'd done, lest things go too awry. She went back to honest work, for the sake of gil.
    
   A Yellowjacket by the name of Kevano Luvano, a scoundrel and informant of the Rogues' Guild, often came by to help her in exchange for information. She was wary of his ministrations, but after some time, opened up. She had to repeatedly tell him to lay off whenever he tried to get her to confess to whatever crimes the heistmaster had done. (She, for the last time, wasn't responsible.)
    
   Finally, after witnessing enough evidence of Soleil's innocence, Kevano stopped bothering her.
    
   One day, Limsa experienced a day of heavy rain and high tides. A Miqo'te child that had been playing near the dock edge fell in, swept up in the tides. Soleil, being nearby, dove in after the child.
    
   When she dragged the half-drowned Miqo'te back to safety, she was met with no resistance. The child, safe, went back to his family. Kevano extended an invitation to the Rogues' Guild.
    
   Soleil, having nothing to lose, accepted. She ran with the guild for a time, proving a competent member and scout.
    
   The moment she felt unsafe in Limsa - mainly due to the adventures she'd undertaken with the rogues - she returned to Ul'dah to apply to the Immortal Flames Grand Company.
    
   The trials Ul'dah faced, the plight of her fellows, she could not ignore. So, even as she traveled back and forth under the guise of a merchant, she asked what she could do to aid her people.
    
   The Rogues' Guild, ever one to play pranks, proposed she wear Ifrit's Mask, and become a vigilante, targeting very peculiar individuals for the Rogues' Guild throughout Eorzea. Soleil, being Soleil, went along with it.
    
   People wondered what this vigilante wanted. In the end, Soleil wanted two things: the recovery of Ala Mhigo, and for people to stop thinking she was the perpetrator of the Lominsan heists.
    
   She had learned, through the Resistance, that Ala Mhigans fought with fear. Terror defeated their enemies. She knew Ul'dah, her primary target, feared the beast tribes - feared the reign of Ifrit. So, for the fun of it, she heckled law-breaking Ul'dahns with the image of Ifrit.
    
   Meanwhile, the Rogues' Guild, even after Maelstrom Command had abandoned the search for the Lomisan heistmaster, continued their inquiries. Soleil assisted when she could.
    
   Soleil came into contact with a lone Gridanian poacher-turned-adventurer, Miah'to Epocan. Fufuyan Fuyan supported their endeavors with little things, trying to help clear her friend's name. An adventurer from Ishgard, one who lived in Tailfeather but made a new home in Idyllshire even before the gobbies had come, also provided assistance. Her name was Estelle Greystone, an unknown bastard child.
    
   These four vigilantes banded together to create a "coalition" of criminals. Of course, criminals with good intentions - but still criminals, in the end, Soleil reasoned. All working for the Rogues' Guild.
    
   Kevano Luvano, having risen in the Maelstrom ranks, now helps steer any prospective inspectors on the right path to find and detain the Fortuitous Four, or so they are called. Those four, after all, did nothing but gather intel of suspicious activities and occasionally carried out assigned missions. Kevano was just doing his job.
    
   (Or Thieving Three - at times, Fufuyan was omitted, much to her annoyance.)
    
   The effects of their acts were far-reaching. They were not grand. They were not particularly amazing, even, just a few strikes and a few investigations. But rumors spread quickly.
    
   When, or where, will they strike next, the people wonder? - first Ul'dah, then Limsa...perhaps, Kevano reasons, now Ishgard.
    
   "You're sending me where?" Soleil shouts, Jacke's smile far too smug for her liking.
    
   "Ishgard, of course," Kevano replies. "I'm sure you want to help your fellow Ala Mhigans, but it might be best to direct your efforts toward the Ishgardian clergy and the dispossessed."
    
   Well. That was that.
    
   
   
6. Fighting Style:
   IC: As a rogue, she uses dual daggers, similar to the styles of a monk but with daggers. She is extremely flexible and lithe, more into dodging and hit-and-runs rather than exchanging blows.
    
   OOC: In-game, as a vigilante, she's a rogue.
   --
   
   

EDIT**

Changed a bunch of stuff!

 

There we have it!

 

Gonna make an RPC page for her once I get everything clear. Thank you for the help, I hope Soleil is alright and intriguing!! Forgive my typos, sorry if there are any!

[Virella]

Heya there! Good to see you rolled an Ala Mhigan, currently I'm stuck in Roleplay, so my reply isn't as well written as it should be.

 

But I once more wish to point out, unless her mother trained her all those years, it is unlikely she has Chakra knowledge. It takes years and years to master it, and some might not ever master it to begin with. All children in Ala Mhigo learn how to fight after all. You can't be opening chakras if you don't know the basics. And hate it or love it, but little kids can't practice beyond just stances, especially at the age she was before the Fists got purged... by all means, if her mother gone in hiding, she was about 4, given the temples fell 25 years ago. Surely she could have still met up with her daughter, but yeah, I don't see a 9 year old opening a chakra either, or gaining the proper knowledge to do such.

 

Mind you, the King of Ruin tried to root them out, so most of their knowledge is lost. Including near most of their teachings on papers. I'd hardly imagine there are Monk scrolls laying around for the grabbing.

 

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/39515-Want-Lore-History-Here-you-go!-(Possible-Spoilers) - Scroll down to the section of The Fate of The Fist of Rhalgr for information on that.

 

As well, I did some extra translation from the German questline (it is still canon, despite the English version leaving it out), where it gets pointed out that their knowledge was thought to be lost.

 

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=16454&pid=259589#pid259589

 

Someone else brought the topic up, and well, have a link to my reasoning why Chakra spellcasting is probably a big nope, beyond the few meagre skills we have.

 

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=17026&pid=265426#pid265426

 

And as far as we know, we have Mantra, and Second Wind, but beyond that, Monks are severely lacking in healing skills. I do love the idea of a healing Monk, but I'd wager that healing with chakras, especially others, is probably something what requires a lot of training and the like, and probably is reserved for the older, and experienced Fists.

 

As well, being a Fist comes with indoctrination, especially if she has been taught by her mother. I'm not saying it is impossible, but they are highly religious. As well, how are you going to have a Rhalgr hating chakra wielding person in the open? Ala Mhigans, and Fists, would probably both come for her. Not that I say it is impossible, but how logical would it be? Fist see a lot of things as heresy, including wearing cyclas as a non-Fist, and I'd imagine denouncing Rhalgr openly would get you killed as well. Especially if she has knowledge of chakras somehow. Mind you, the King of Ruin forbade and spat on Rhalgr, and see where that got the Ala Mhigans in the end. Worshipping other Gods is fine, but I'd still not openly screech over the city's patron God. Ala Mhigans, and especially Fists, are crazy. It be like putting a "I'm a heretic" sign over her head, especially with chakra knowledge.

 

Also, why the Arcanist guild? If you want to be a stabby stab, wouldn't it make more sense for her to mingle with the Rogues of Limsa instead ? As well, as explained in the thread above, chakra magic is used for chakra things, not other things. Kilieit gave a good example of that in the thread as well.

 

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=17026&pid=265419#pid265419

 

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=17026&pid=265429#pid265429

 

I'm in no way discouraging you, but your character seems to be all over the place currently. Whereas multiclassing is... well a thing you can do, but if this is your first FFXIV RP char, I'd strongly suggest just focusing on one thing. Especially with a thing thrown as Fists in the mix, what is considered a mostly lost art, and hard to train into.

 

In any case, good look with whatever you decide!

[Graves]

Some simple things to note or perhaps think about or notes:

 

1) Why does she not worship Rhalgr? Her mother was a fist ( Light or Shadow sect?). She is also an Ala Mhigan. It points so many ways for this so I was bit surprised to see that she didn't.

 

2) The Garlemald is always fighting the resistance and it can get bloody. It is full of people who want their home back even though the Garlemald was more or less invited by most of the Ala Mhigans in to their town to save them from the insane king they had and the civil war that was going on. Some of the resistance may even run in to Homegrown Ala Mhigans who happily accepted their new rule.

 

3) A child sneaking around the city does have a chance of working. Being able to run notes to those within the city and out. She would have to be very good though as the Garlemald no matter how stupid they appear are a conquering people. They didn't gain their land and technology just by letting simple things slide.

 

4) Chakra Spellcasting; As Vi stated, it would be very hard for the woman to have it. Chakra is opened up through combat and intense training and takes years upon years to unlock. Even then, Monks had to fight eachother to the death to open up their final Chakra to achieve their abilities (This is where the Sects would fight to the death).

 

That is about all I got. Again, I do agree plenty with Virella in the idea of Chakra spellcasting and I'll also agree with her on sitting on one character. For the past you came up with I think a Rogue/Nin would fit her well. You don't even need to ICly call her a ninja just as many Ala Mhigan players leveled Dragoons but call themselves Lancers.

[Soleil]

Heya!! Thank you for the quick replies. I went back and looked at the monk lore and got rid of the unnecessary stuff I had (i.e. spellcasting chakra, Arcanists' Guild, etc) and made her mother from the light-sect. Her mother would have just taught her what the monk forms were like, but nothing on chakra.

 

I'm still thinking about what to write for her time in the Resistance, as I want to keep her a messenger but can probably dumb down what she's done. She'd probably only delivered a few messages, then, so she doesn't appear totally integrated into the Resistance.

 

Or I could rewrite her whole story. The whole heistmaster thing, after reading it again, didn't sit well with me, so I kinda...ripped her out of it and just made her have a lot of bad luck.

 

Thank you!

[Graves]

I say stick with her being a messenger. Like I said, The Garlemald may not be stupid to just let a child in and out but items can be forged to show citizenship and more. Items can be smuggled just like they are today. She would just need to be creative!