'til sea swallows all

name Aisanka Tylwin age Mid-20s sexuality Pansexual class Arcanist ➔ Scholar ➔ Sage race Sea Wolf Roegadyn

first impressions / sensory

Aisanka is slightly above-average height even for Roegadyn standards, at a little over 7'; she has pale green skin, grey-blue eyes, and short red hair with a typically low hairline. She has a scar over the bridge of her nose, just below a small arrow-shaped tattoo between her eyes, and wears glasses most of the time.

She favours jewel tones - rolanberry red, rhotano blue, regal purple - and occasionally wears a smidge of purple eye makeup if recent chaos allows. As a keen crafter and gatherer, she often smells of local herbs and her hands are callused - but always flawlessly clean. (Have you ever been doing high-level alchemy and had some mystery substance fall into the alembic? No? Neither has she, and she's keen to keep it that way.)

Her accent is typically Lominsan, which is to say 'somewhere between stereotypical pirate and stereotypical Cockney'.

Whereas the Roegadyn as a people have a reputation for being boisterous, competitive grog-swillers, Aisanka is none of the above - she tends to be on the periphery of most social events. She's much more forthcoming if you have some dented gear or broken bones in need of mending.

history

Aisanka was born at sea, during an ocean voyage that had been delayed by unseasonably cold weather - hence her name, 'ice anchor' in the Roegadyn language. It was the start of a childhood spent mostly on the water, on board a ship captained by her father and navigated by her mother. The crew of the merchant ship were as much a family to her as her own parents. Although her contact with children her own age was restricted to winters and shore leave in Limsa Lominsa and a handful of other port cities, it was a good upbringing.

Aisanka grew up to be quiet and bookish, keenly interested in the cultures, languages and crafts of the other nations they traded with. However, she wasn't allowed to pursue these interests exclusively, and a life spent among rigging and cargo crates made her strong and resilient.

Trading on the high seas, unfortunately, is not a safe occupation. In the wake of the Seventh Umbral Calamity, during a time of trauma and upheaval that swept the star, pirates attacked the ship. The mercenaries hired to protect the cargo and crew were overcome, and there were several casualties. Among them was Aisanka's father, who was killed outright, while her mother was badly wounded. While the crew rallied and managed to drive the attackers from the ship, they had taken or destroyed almost everything of value.

Aisanka's mother died of her wounds before the break of day.

The ship, damaged and barely seaworthy, limped on to Aleport. The first mate learned that the pirates had dropped anchor not far down the coast, and with the rest of the crew planned to take revenge. Aisanka - barely an adult, grieving and furious - would not be dissuaded from taking up arms to join a small party of crewmen and mercenaries.

The nighttime raid was brief and bloody. The pirates had been drinking all evening and were caught unawares. In the darkness and confusion, Aisanka could barely tell friend from foe, and in the end took only one life - belatedly realising her victim was no more than a boy, younger than her and likely with very little choice in his life on the pirates' crew.

Although the raid was 'successful' in that the score had been settled, Aisanka was wracked with guilt. There was blood on her hands and her parents were no better for it. Although the ship's owners promised there would be a place for her on a new captain's crew, the idea of staying was unbearable.

For a few years that followed, she wandered La Noscea aimlessly, taking work where she could get it - mostly farm labour or construction, although occasionally employers would use her keen intellect for bookkeeping or secretarial duties. She had no ambition, and viewed the adventurers who travelled the island with a certain degree of suspicion. Were they driven by noble urges or simple avarice? Did they really understand the battles they were fighting?

It took another misfortune to change her mind. While travelling from place to place, she was attacked by bandits camping nearby - and although she carried a weapon for self-defence she froze up, unable to use it. A passing adventurer came to her aid despite being outnumbered, and managed to see them off. He was badly injured in the attempt, and Aisanka - who had gathered a little understanding of the healing arts over the previous few years - tended his wounds. While nursing him back to health, she finally began to see a way forward for herself: she would never be a fighter in the way a marauder or pugilist would be, but she could make a difference for those fighting for worthy causes.

Gathering the few possessions she had, she took a ferry to Limsa Lominsa to begin her journey as an Arcanist and adventurer.

(Then a huge crystal started talking to her and shit got weird.)

personality

While Aisanka possesses the resilience and compassion often ascribed to her people, she's much more reserved. With relative strangers, she leans into a 'gentle giant' archetype, preferring to be thought of as too passive than too threatening. She'll offer help without much thought to reward, and has developed her skills in the crafting and gathering disciplines to save - and make - enough gil to get by.

(This can sometimes lead to problems when she gets sidetracked mid-adventure to go picking rare herbs or tracking down an unusual mineral. She has a bit of an 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' attitude which can lead to moments of near-deadly inattention at vital moments, usually at her own expense.)

As she gets to know people better, a sharp wit and a few personal boundaries finally emerge. If Aisanka had a personal motto, it would be 'Do no harm, but take no shit'. She also starts cursing a lot more, but she was raised by sailors so what do you really expect.

Over time, it'll become clear that guilt has left indelible marks on her personality. She was unable to either heal or defend her parents, and her attempt at avenging them misfired terribly. Her decision to become an adventurer and healer was intended as a way of contributing, if only a little, to preventing other such tragedies - but there's no means of rewriting the past. Friendships and romance are difficult for Aisanka, because letting people get close means that they might come to rely on her, and surely she'll let them down? There comes a point where she starts holding others at arm's length, if not actively pushing them away, for what she sees as their benefit.

Her Warrior of Light status, and the gift granted by Hydaelyn, is something she sees as a colossal fuck-up on Hydaelyn's part - but she was never going to run from the responsibilities and opportunities presented to her by the Scions. While other people's faith in her tends to act as a stand-in for genuine faith in herself, she's come to recognise the symbolic value she holds to the people of Eorzea and beyond.

Over the years, the line between playing the role of a vaunted champion and actually being that person has started to blur, but she feels the losses of those who have died for the cause along the way far more than she feels any hand in the lives she's saved. She has also, once or twice, finally been driven to the point where committing acts of violence with her own two hands feels necessary rather than unimaginable.

rp/ooc information

I've played up to the end of 6.0 so any spoilers up to and including the quest 'Endwalker' are all good by me - that being said, I skipped a lot of sidequests and non-MSQ dungeons so some of those I don't consider 'canon' for Aisanka.

I'm equally happy playing her as the Warrior of Light, as Just Some Adventurer who's become one of the WoL's fellow dungeongoers, or some kind of parallel universe arrangement.

I'm still voicetesting so all of the above is subject to alteration. Come @ me with gen, shipping, smut, whatever - 21+ for the latter two, please. PM this journal or my Plurk if you want to chat!

'But Naomi, why would Ais start off as an arcanist and not a conjurer if she wanted to be a healer ultimately?' Because Gridania is a long way away and Limsa Lominsa was right there. One major upheaval at a time!

player Naomi ✜ timezone UST ✜ plurk metonumia ✜ code by transilience