Post by Al-Cid, Rakesh, Paloma, Mateo on Jul 6, 2012 13:31:14 GMT -5
Name: Rasmus-Vidar (Beloved-Forest Warrior)
Alias: Rakesh (lord of the full moon day)
Pen Name: Silasandros (man from the forest)
Epithet: Deoradhán (The Exiled)
FF: FF12
Age: 200(±) years old, although in appearance, he looks comparable to a hume in his prime, if not edging toward middle-age.
Height/build: 6'1" around 180 pounds. His frame holds a lean type of musculature, for agility.
DoB: Unknown
Race: Hybrid of Viera and ? ? ?
Weapon: Limited dual-wield and throw. Skilled predominantly with the use of smaller blades ranging from throwing knives to sabers and rapiers. Because his emphasis is on speed, rather than brute force, he does not favor larger swords. He tends to use a dagger in conjunction with a sword. He keeps a bowie knife hidden in his boot, which he uses for hunting and rendering loot from beasts. Ranged weaponry such as bows and bowguns are not his forte, but he is at least capable of using them. He can also utilize rods and staffs if he has to break out the old school casting. Books in a satchel are also good for smacking people, as wells as bags full of coins.
Level (Anywhere between 1-100): 62
Strength: 189
→ Physical: 41
→ Magical: 80
→ Agility: 68
Job Progression:
→ Main: White Mage → Black Mage → Time Mage → Arcanist
→ Sub: Fencer → Red Mage → Spellblade
Previously Mastered Jobs, Magicks, and Abilities:
→ White Mage: Cure, Cura, Curaga, Esuna, Raise, Arise, Reraise, Refresh, Turbo MP
→ Black Mage: Fire, Fira, Firaga, Thunder, Thundara, Thundaga, Blizzard, Blizzara, Blizzaga, Magic Counter, Geomancy
→ Time Mage: Haste, Hastega, Quicken, Slow, Reflect, Stop, Extend, Undo, Magick Evade
→ Fencer: Swarmstrike, Shadowstick, Checkmate, Featherblow, Swallowtail, Manastrike, Piercing Blow, Nighthawk, Reflex, Shieldbearer
→ Red Mage: Protect, Shell, Fire, Thunder, Blizzard, Cure, Silence, Doublecast, Sticky Fingers, Magick Up
Current Unmastered Job(s):
These days, Rakesh uses fighting in conjunction with casting. Along with sword skills, he often employs enfeebling magic to quickly weaken or disable his opponent. He is extremely resilient to magic when it is cast against him; however, this comes at the price of a low physical defense.
→ Spellblade: He is capable of infusing his blades with enfeebling status effects. These effects can include Poison, Oil, Sleep, Slow, Confuse, Immobilize, Disable, and Doom. He can also sacrifice his health to cast stronger magic, but this is a risky move because the casting cost is doubled HP than the normal MP amount.
→ Arcanist: Syphon (drains mp), Death, Gravity (1/4 hp damage), Drain (drain hp), Graviga (1/2 hp damage), Lv.3 Dark (multi-target), Lv.5 Haste (multi-target), Lv.?Shadow Flare (AoE dark-elemental damage to both allies and foes), MP Shield (convert hp to mp damage, will not work if there is no mp to spare, overflow is taken from hp), Pierce (spells ignore reflect)
Licences:
→ Technicks: First Aid, Libra, Steal, Poach, Charm, Charge, Sight Unseeing, Telekinesis, Gil Toss, Traveller, Numerology, Bonecrusher (consumes own hp for damage)
→ Magicks: Arcane Magic 1 (Dark, Berserk), Arcane Magick 2 (Confuse, Gravity), Arcane Magick 3 (Decoy, Drain), Arcane Magick 4 (Syphon, Vanish, Darkra), Arcane Magick 5 (Death, Bubble), Arcane Magick 6 (Vanishga, Reverse), Arcane Magick 7 (Graviga, Darkga), Black Magick
Special Skill(s):
→ Moderate in strength, he relies more so on speed, accuracy, and evasion. Critical strikes can be attained if he can sneak up on an enemy from behind. Due to his viera heritage, he is extremely flexible and acrobatic, and as quick on his feet as he is sticky with his fingers. When it comes to fighting, he tries to work smarter, not harder. This is because he has a low physical defense. When opportune, he will try striking vital points as soon as possible to disable the opponent(s). He is not above fighting dirty to win a fight, and will physically use the terrain or environment against an opponent--such as throwing dust in a person’s face to blind them, or smashing them against fixtures in a room. With his high stamina, his fighting style is more evasive than offensive, where he may try to wear out a stronger opponent with enfeebling or dark magick before moving in for the kill.
→ Despite his being “dimmed” to the Wood, he senses are still very astute--to the point that he might give the impression that he has some capacity for extra-sensory perception beyond that of humes. He once told Paloma that while he could not hear the wood, he could sometimes understand the minds of men, but mostly it was their hearts to which he was attuned. This might imply that he possesses some form of empathic ability, or that he is simply very perceptive in his senses. That, or it was a reference to philosophy. Who knows what he means by anything he says when he is in those vague-talking moods of his.
→ He is a lore-hunter well studied in mythology and dark lore. He is also a collector of relics, artifacts, and grimoires. He is a scholar of arcane magick, and has been studying how spells can be cast through the use of geometric patterns. The tattoos he has on his arms are related to such arcanum. Silasandros is the pseudonym by which he is known in academia. To that end, Rakesh might be considered a something like a Sage, or is possessed of sagacious knowledge. At the least, he is a scholar and researcher with a few dry and very boring treatises that he had penned over the years.
→ Less affected by Mist, and thus less prone to berserker rages, than pure viera.
→ Can render himself invisible via the Vanish spell. This works quite well for eavesdropping and dramatic entrances.
Summon: ? ? ?
Appearance:
→ He is a beautiful man whose appearance holds an odd juxtaposition of both rugged and exotic. His dark skin is etched in pale tattoos. His grayish-brown hair is slightly curly, and carries a shaggy unkempt look. His hazel gaze often carries an amused twinkle, while the quirk of his grin seems to hold back a secret.
→ Rakesh tends to stick to lightweight armor, leather, or cloth for clothing. He often wears a hood, be it attached to his cloak or tunic. He can roughly pass for a hume when the hood is up, however there are characteristics to his appearance that give away his non-hume heritage. He is rather quite lanky and tall. When his hood is removed, his rabbit-like ears are revealed. They are also floppy and scraggly looking things, with scars that show the wear and tear of battle. The bone structure of his hands and feet are gangly looking and tipped by short, though clawed, nails. Another odd feature that he inherited (and one that does not seem consistent with normal vierian physiology) is that the tapetum lucidum of his eyes acts more like that of a beast than hume. Due to their reflectiveness, they almost seem to glow in dim lighting. Also, he has surpurb nightvision, although his vision during daylight may not be as keen. He sometimes needs reading glasses. When his hood is drawn up over his head, his eyes can seem emissive like those of a black mage. In normal lighting, his eyes will appear as a pale blue.
Personality:
→ Friendly, but Aloof: Is generally affable to those he meets.
→ Dry/Dark Sense of Humor: Someone as old a fart as he is doesn’t reach this age without developing some form of a twisted sense of humor.
→ Thirst for Knowledge and Truth (or Somewhat of an Arrogant Know-It-All): He’s been around, seen a bunch of stuff, but young ones don’t want to listen to the wisdom of an old cook.
→ Doting Father: Never having had a family of his own as a child, he ended up spoiling his own children. Now, they seem to barely tolerate his presence. Still, he’d go to great length for them, even if they might not appreciate all his efforts.
→ A Neutral Party: Rakesh holds no citizenship with any particular country, nor a sense of patriotism. He is pretty much a free agent. The closest he may feel to a home is the house in Rabanastre, because it is the home he shared with his wife and children. For the Kingdom of Dalmasca, itself, he holds no loyalty.
→ A Darker Side: The byproduct of his research into the arcanum, he can be as morally ambiguous as the next practitioner of the dark arts. Also, prolonged exposure to large amounts of mist whilst lost for several years within the labyrinths of Giruvegan might have had something to do with his creepy countenance.
Brief History as Told to Paloma Milagros:
He had been a priest of the church, long ago, before leaving the cloth when he found the machinations of religion wanting. He had turned to the life of a lore-hunter; sometimes a pirate or thief if it got him what he wanted (and he might have even raided a few tombs here and there, as well). While he said that his bouts of thieving had been done in search of rare tomes, he did not say why he had gone through the trouble of acquiring them in the first place. He revealed that he was not a full viera, but he did not know what his true heritage was outside of that. He admitted that he while he could not hear the wood, he could sometimes understand the minds of others, but mostly it was their hearts to which he was attuned (Paloma was unsure what he meant by those words). He probably was, indeed, one of those very “crotchety old scholars” she’d accused him of being back when they had first met--he had spent quite the insurmountable time holed away in libraries across Ivalice as he researched sorcery and the dark magick of the arcana (but she had already seen the books). He’d been a teacher before, and had even written a couple (very boring) treatises of his own (all of which are probably collecting dust somewhere in his attic). At her questioning look, he affirmed that, yes, he did own have a home. It was located in the Rabanastre (and was precisely how he escaped her pursuit when she had followed him there). He added that he had been married once and been a father thrice--his wife, he had lost to old age. His children were still alive, but long grown. His daughters had since moved abroad to live lives of their own. As for his son, he keeps the old home, now.
Job History Summary:
In his youth, he had functioned similarly to a White Mage as he studied under the Light of Kiltia. After he became a priest, he started studying the dark arts of Black Magick. His research into Lore drove him to start seeing the church as a falsehood. He stopped believing their god, and resigned as a priest. Seeking truth, and moving across Ivalice as a Lore-Hunter, he continued his studies in Back Magick, and then Time. He eventually married a woman who was quite capable with blades. She taught him how to handle a sword, after which, he started combining what he learned of sword skills with his knowledge of Magick, therefore functioning as a Red Mage. After the death of his wife, he returned to Lore Hunting, this time collecting what he could find of Arcane Magick. He also became more offensive with his magic used, fusing magick with weaponry to develop his spellblade skills.
Extended History:
As far as Rakesh can estimate, he was born well over two centuries ago. His early childhood lays under a hazy veil. He remembers little about his parents or home. However, what he does remember can be described as vividly detailed snippets stolen away from their context: how his mother smelled like mint and he felt safe when she held him; or that when his father spoke he could feel the deep voice right down into the center of his chest. Though try as he might, he cannot recall their names or faces. It was during the earlier of his tender years that he was separated from his parents. The how or why either rests beyond his memory, or is one long since repressed. What he does know is what he's been told by those who hand a hand in his upbringing--that he was dropped at an orphanage whose children were cared for by the members of a temple.
Outside those distant recollections about his parents, his early memories consist of growing up in the orphanage. Therein, he was sheltered and educated in both academics and doctrine. As a young boy, he showed a great talent for magic that thrived under the tutelage of is Nu Mou instructor. His talent allowed him to become an acolyte at very young age, and had even undergone a pilgrimage to Mt. Bur-Omisace. By the time he was a man, he was a Kiltia priest. He had mastered White Magick.
However, finding himself bored, he learned that he could not be satisfied with this single mastery. So, he took to studying it’s opposite--Black Magick. Coincidentally, if not consequently, it was around this same time that doubt started to rise in Rakesh’s mind about the validity of the church. He dove deeper into his research, and started to notice varying incongruencies. He came to see the Light of Kiltia as falsehood, and started to have doubt whether Faram really existed, or if he was a god made up by man. Finding that he could not abide by a religion in which he no longer believed, he left the Light of Kiltia.
After leaving the church, he became an explorer and lore-hunter. He started studying Time Magick during these days, and then later, Arcane Magick. Traveling Ivalice, he visited many a libraires in his quest for knowledge and truth. However, since some relics were in rather hard-to-get places, there were times when he would team up with expeditions (or pirates) to get that which he sought. He started using the name Silasandros when conducting his research and penning his treatises, and gained a reputation within small scholarly circles as a vieran philosopher of the arcana.
However, he had taken a thirty-year hiatus from active wandering after he had met the woman who would eventually become his wife. She was a member of Rabanastre’s order of knights, whom he had first spotted at the Sandsea, drinking amongst other soldiers as though she were just one of the guys. He had mistaken her for a boy, at first, for she had been clad in men’s clothing. While she wasn’t particularly a woman who could be considered beautiful, dainty, or lady-like, there was a certain handsomeness to her shortly-cropped hair and eagle-like nose that caught his attention. The second time he’d met her, had been when she’d detained him for suspiciously skulking about in the middle of the night like some thief.
Her manner of speech was quite direct, if not brutally blunt. With a wit that was quite possibly sharper than her sword, she proved immune to both guile and flirtation. And yet, Rakesh soon found himself smitten. Perhaps it was the part of him that was a thief--wanting of that which he did not have--that made him pursue her all the more. Thus, what followed was a rather pathetic attempt at wooing, to which she was not, in the least bit, impressed nor interested. Eventually, though, she must have taken pity on him, for she finally deigned to give him a chance. Eventually, a few years later, she agreed to marry him. She had been in her early thirties by then, and they were together for over another thirty years of her life before she died at sixty-seven. It would be many years before they manage to have any children of their own--there were a couple miscarriages. At some point, they had taken in an orphan to raise as their own. His wife was in her early forties when their daughters were born. By then, she had long since retired from active duty, and had been working as an instructor in swordsmanship.
Now Rakesh’s hiatus wasn’t a complete one. There were times when he could not deny his thirst for knowledge and adventuring. So, he would periodically go on expeditions to uncover relics, or to remote libraries to copy and translate old books. When safe to do so, he would take his adopted son along with him (in which the poor boy would find himself loaded with homework if he were to complain of boredom). Sometimes, Rakesh would bring his daughters too, on the rare occasion they decided to take any interest in their old man’s studies (but usually, his girls just thought their old dad was terribly weird and boring). After his wife’s death, Rakesh returned to his travels abroad. He kept in contact with his children through letters, and would sometimes visit between expeditions.
Many years passed before Rakesh met Paloma Milagros. He had been in Rabanastre at the time, to retrieve a book from the library of his old home--now his son’s. Paloma was a reckless hume teenager, seeking to get herself into an adventure sky-piracy that would sooner have her killed than anything else. That she was a runaway, though one from a home of wealth, was fairly obvious. The girl had no clue what she was doing--how long would it be before a con-man found her out, and set to take advantage? Perhaps, out of pity, he kept an eye on her. Then, before he knew, it, they somehow ended up as partners in taking down hunts. It was a partnership that would last for a total of two years.
A Decade in Limbo:
By the time in his life that Rakesh started traveling with Paloma, he had been thoroughly steeped in his research of the arcanum--particularly on mythology concerning the theoretical location of the Ancient City of Giruvegan and the secrets locked within.
"Ancient city said to lie deep within the Jagd Difohr. A dense mist conceals its actual location. There are some who claim that it holds the secrets of a legendary civilization that flourished before men knew the workings of the world, but none remain who know the truth. Many are the expeditions sent to find this place and record its knowledge, but most have disappeared in the Feywood, or despaired while attempting to understand what artifacts have been found. To this day, we are no closer to discovering Giruvegan, or illuminating its mysteries."
—Sage Knowledge 75, Giruvegan
A few of his treatises (which Rakesh had penned under the name Silasandros) had managed to show up in Archades. It was not long before he was contacted by someone from the Draklor Laboratory who was seeking information through correspondence. Eventually, an expedition team was sent to the Jagd Difohr with the goal of confirming the existence of the city of myth. Rakesh was hired as a vieran guide through the wood--being the only viera they could find willing to even go near such a place so densely consumed by mist.
Due to the dangers of such a mission, Rakesh had left Paloma behind--it was no place for a woman in her condition. He had noticed that she was with child (although it seemed she had yet to fully realize). He did not bring it up with her, for he felt guilty about his own indiscretions with the girl--he should have known better, did know better. Yet, what’s done is done; therefore, he decided that upon return from the expedition, he do the responsible thing and put an end this game of hunters they played. It was time she took leave of this life, and went home. Whether that home was to hers in Rozarria, or to his in Rabanastre, he’d let her decide.
Unfortunately, as is often fated to happen during dangerous expeditions, half the party died in monster attacks, a few simply wound up missing, and at least one was cursed. Rakesh was among the men lost to the dense mists and mazes of Giruvegan.
Ten years after the expedition, he’d awoken to find himself tucked away in a bed within a room he did not recognize, and with fuzzy memories and a splitting headache.
“Ah... sorry about that, kupo... Had to give you quite the nock to the noggin to settle you down--you had been very feral when we finally found you. Worst case of Mist Frenzy I’d ever seen, kupo! But, it looks like you’re on to making a full recovery.”
He soon found himself in the presence of an vaguely familiar Archadian moogle--one he would later learn to be a moggle-scientist from Draklor, named Almog. He’d been recovered from the Golmore Jungle, where due to his madness, had become marked as an Elite Hunt, himself. He had been described as a monster that looked like a male viera, and which had been given the epithet of Deoradhán (a name meaning "the exiled one"). Suspecting that the monster was really the lost vieran scholar, Silasandros, who had gone missing during Doctor Cid’s expedition, Almog organized a small hunting team to retrieve him. Once he was subdued by Almog's brilliant idea of bashing him over the head with something hard (like a frying pan), she brought him back to Archades for treatment.
Post Merge: (Currently plotting this out for thread. Below are options under consideration.)
→ May be working for Almog, in a continuance of the “crystal stealing” plot. If Almog stil works for Draklor, might be a consulting archologist or lore expert.
→ If he found Mateo, he may be in Rabanastre, consulting his tomes and working toward finding a cure for the boy’s condition/curse/possession/parasistic state.
→ The house once owned by his son might now be in the care of his grandson, if his son died during Arcadian occupation. Might be estranged from his descendants due to his past association with Archades and Draklore.
→ Might be a curator for some library/museum somewhere.
→ Might be tomb raiding...