Iris Blanchimont

QUICK FACTS
Iris Blanchimont

Pronounced	Eye-riss Blahn-shh-mohn or Blahn-chuh-mohnt
Meaning	Flower of the White Mountain
Born	Circa 6AE 1550
Nameday	10th Sun of the Second Umbral Moon
Race	Miqo'te
Clan	Keeper of the Moon
Alignment	True Neutral
Citizenship	Ishgard
Guardian	Llymlaen and Halone
APPEARANCE
Height	5 fulms 1 ilm.
Weight	112 ponze
Physique	Wet noodle
Hair	Ice blue, white and lilac
Eyes	Amethyst
Skin	Pale
PERSONALITY
Hobbies	Aetheric research, ruins exploration, and dancing
Greatest Accomplishment	Becoming a Royal Marine of Nym
Greatest Regret	Losing her first love in the Calamity
IC SKILLS
IC Profession	Minister of Parliament
IC Soulstone	Scholar and Summoner
Physical Advantages	Extraordinary intelligence, magic
Physical limitations	Weak, fragile
Non-combat	Encyclopedic knowledge, very clever, pretty good chef
EQUIPMENT
Primary Weapon	Grimoire of the Royal Nymian Marines
Armor	Amatsu armor
ABOUT THE PLAYER
Username	Andromeda
Time Zone	Eastern
Server	Lamia, Balmung
Adittional Characters	Izayoi Tokushi Illua Corcavo
Free Companies	Arche Koeln (Lamia) Equinox (Balmung)
Linkshells	Tantalus Theatre (Lamia) Ishgard IC (Balmung) Ishgard OOC (Balmung)
FOOTNOTES
Side bar template adapted from: Infobox-roe by [MoenMoen] "The TMI Character Template for the Hopelessly Detail Oriented" created by [MoenMoen]

Appearance

Iris used a Fantasia to attain her current appearance. Her tail has a darker tip and she sometimes wears flower petals in her ice-blue hair, which is typically style in an over-the-shoulder side or back ponytail. Iris' eyes are purple and she sometimes wears glasses, though she doesn't actually need them. Iris often wears either elegant clothes befitting her station as an Ishgardian noble or a gold-trimmed suit of Doman samurai's light armor. Iris is almost five fulms tall but, due to some good luck, has rather short friends.

Personality

Hobbies

Investigation of ancient ruins, especially Nymian.
Aetheric research.
Airship design and development
Dancing. Even the most hardened researcher needs to let some steam off.

Likes

Alchemy was going to be Iris' career before the Calamity, and still is what she practices in her spare time to unwind.
Airships are a fascination of Iris', and she has dedicated some time to studying the airship designs in Arche Koeln.
Science is, to Iris, the study of how aether works. She is absolutely in love with that approach to understanding the rational, fundamental nature of magic.
Tonberries and really all things Nymian. She has an immense respect for the Tonberies, especially those who resist the Rancor.

Dislikes

The Gridanian faith in 'the Elementals' is superstitious drivel she has no patience for. It is why she didn't want to become a White Mage, despite her aptitude for healing.
Flirtatious men are annoyances, partially because she has no interest in them but primarily because they tend to be more successful than Iris.
Alcohol usually ends badly for Iris.
Teaching at the Scholasticate annoys Iris. While she enjoys educating people in a mentor/apprentice relationship or as peers, her preferred method is one-on-one education. She was pressured into taking the position as part of her noble responsibilities.

Favorites

Color: Purple
Food: Rolanberry Cheesecake
Drinks: All kinds of lassi
Scent: Old books
Place: Nym
Festival: Starlight Celebration

Flaws

Socially Inept - Her emerging ability to reject really anything has left plain her total lack of social skills.
Misunderstanding - If the opportunity arises for Iris to take something in a way other than intended, she likely does.
Calculating - Iris plans things in such detail that it seems annoying to others, and it often causes problem as things rarely go to plan. She does not rush in.
Easily Wounded - Iris is likely to take failure too seriously and insult too personally. She often blames herself, especially when the loss of other's lives is concerned.

Fears

Loss of Control - Iris deeply fears not being in full control of her faculties, so rarely drinks and is deeply bothered by mind-affecting magic.
Marbols - Her disgust with Marbols had evolved into a fear of encountering them in the wild. She hates them and will either avoid them or melt their faces off in an attempt to be rid of them.
Loneliness - The most intangible fear Iris has is of being alone. She has a lot of experience feeling isolate and ears never finding someone to walk the path with.
Death - The abyss has claimed loved ones and friends in the past that the thought of death coming for her or others drives her into a panic, which is why her attention to the healing arts has intensified since the Calamity.

Talents

Alchemy - Iris was adopted by a family with a long history of alchemical talent, so she has worked with an alembic since she can remember. She is not the best in the world or anything, but is confident in her abilities.
Arcanima - Iris has a great aptitude for summoning creatures from the aether, be it carbuncles, egi or fairies. She has developed a deep bond with these aetheric entities and has used the knowledge she's gained from mastering them to become a master of disease as well, curing or inflicting plagues with the same science that summons her allies.
Research - Outside of her customs work, most of Iris' time consists of expeditions to ruins or reading books in libraries, and as such she is a blossoming expert in a variety of subjects. She has been working lately on researching the Gran Grimoire possessed by her company, Arche Koeln.

Abilities and Skills

Weapons

Wisdom - While Iris has passing familiarity with a number of weapons and combat styles, she prefers to outwit opponents and, if possible, avoid combat altogether.

Magic

Aetheric Manipulation - While the work of conjurers and thaumaturges seems too superstitious for her, the science of aetheric manipulation appeals to her.

Crafting

Alchemy - Iris' stock and trade is alchemy. It is the Blanchimont's family tradition as well as something she has studied in detail in Eorzea.

Cooking - "Cooking is a degenerate form of alchemy."

Goldsmithing - It started as a way to make gifts for her first girlfriend Eliza Scarlet. Though she stopped practicing it after Eliza's disappearance in the Calamity, she has recently renewed her efforts and mastered the trade.

Weaving - She has found sewing relaxing for some time and recently became one of the more skilled clothiers in Limsa.

Family and Relationships

Positive

Rexa Sahashin du Blanchimont is not technically Wu'rexa Norh's name, but it's what Iris considers her wife's name to be. She met Rex at the Colloquies of Ishgard and they engaged in a courtly romance, fitting a Lady and a Knight. They were engaged at Starlight, and intend to wed by Rising.
Shou Han reminded Iris of Eliza, her lost love. This led to a very one-sided and ill-advised crush which culminated in Iris coming to terms with Eliza's death more reasonably. Though she still thinks well of Shou, she hasn't seen her in over a year.
Taji Tribal and Iris began working together to study the Codex Grimoire. Despite how often she has to correct Taji, Iris is convinced the other arcanimist is fairly smart. They also worked together on the V188 project, which Taji insisted on calling 'petunia'.
Itsu Neir is fascinating to Iris, both as an example of someone able to balance being an adventurer and a wife at the same time and in the odd connection she has with winds. Iris admitted to Itsu that she counts her among her closest friends.
Yumi Hikaru is Itsu's wife, and one of the most energetic people Iris knows. Another of her closest friends, Yumi is someone Iris believes to be of excellent moral character and beyond reproach. She also credits Yumi with the survival of Arche Koeln during the absence of the company's leadership.
Andromeda Dulaque is Iris' perennial best friend, even if Taji gets the title fairly often as well. Iris kept her on retainer for years as a courtesan and has marveled at the way the woman has achieved more and more to her potential every moon.
Rheya Tayuun is Andromeda's girlfriend and a fan of Iris' work. She worked with Rheya on the Aetheric Cannon prototype and the situation with V188-02 and V188-03.
Rosaire Ledigne was the moderator of the Colloquies of Ishgard and a former Inquisitor. At first, Iris expected him to be a voice of traditionalism, but he has proven to be a staunch ally and advocate of Reformist political causes. It was Rosie that left Iris a politician, something she both thanks him for and deeply regrets letting happen, depending on the day.
Mizu (V188-01) is an atypical voidsent and the one Iris has been able to study most directly. Iris took to calling her V or V188. Taji took to calling her 'Petunia'. Apparently, everyone else settled on Mizu. Iris has quite a like of the creature, regardless of name.
Aymeric Borel is the leader of the House of Lords and a man which Iris admires a great deal. They worked together on the attempted coup shortly into the Republic's existence, and she looks forward to more direct work with him.

Neutral

Menoly Fiore isn't someone Iris actually dislikes but someone she enjoys playing word games with and mocking. She actually, secretly, enjoys the verbal sparring with Menoly and looks forward to it.
Zinot Risus is an idiot. But he's gone from being a moody, irreverent, arrogant idiot to a mostly harmless idiot. Iris can deal with that.

Negative

J'yhun Arun is a con artist who attempted to take advantage of the desire of Itsu and Yumi to procreate, and this made Iris dislike him. Then he dated her best friend. Now she wants to cook him from the inside out.
Eliane Dufresne is a fellow noblewoman Iris once saw as a friend, though has met her with increasing caution both due to percieved disapproval of her engagement and, more pointedly, unsubstantiated rumors of collaboration with the Garlean Empire.
Anthony Vieri has needlessly positioned himself as a political adversary of Iris', a point which she remains puzzled by. He questioned her loyalty to Ishgard, which she decided was either his own racism, or more likely and cravenly, appealing to popular racism to fan disapproval of her political career.
Beatrix du Blanchimont is Iris' aunt and rival for control of House Blanchimont. Beatrix considers a non-blood relative and unbeliever being Matriarch to be inappropriate.
Paracelsus du Blanchimont is Iris' great-uncle, younger brother of her deceased grandfather Arstide. Paracelsus is an exceptionally gifted alchemist and siege engineer, and he hates Iris with a passion. He believes that unbelievers have no place in Ishgard, let alone in a Noble House, and has attempted to get the Inquisition to confront Iris to no avail. He now supports Beatrix as Matriarch, following his own failed bid at the position.

Affiliations

House Blanhimont: Iris is Matriarch of a house of lesser nobility in Ishgard.
Arche Koeln: Iris is no longer an active member of the company, but is retained on contract as their aetheric scientist and researcher.
Mealvaan's Gate: Iris spent years working as an Assessor.
Ishgardian House of Lords: Iris is a Minister of Parliament by virtue of her station in society and her contributions to the formation of the Republic.
Equinox Genetic Engineering: Similar to her arrangement with Arche Koeln, Iris is retained as an expert in the field of aetheric sciences.

Rumors

Note: This section is editable by anyone. Just keep in mind that the rumors here may be both true or false.

General Rumors

"Iris Blanchimont... is that the girl who keeps hittin' on the female employees?" - Gold Saucer Patron
"Do not, under any circumstances, let her drink alcohol." - Quicksand Waitress
"Why does that name sound familiar? Did she cure the Choco Plague a few years back?" Tailfeather Hunter
"Some minor noble house won't shut up about Iris du Blanchimont, like she's some salacious scandal. If she was, I'm sure I'd have heard of it." Forgotten Knight Rumormonger
"I hear tell that she's the gal went and got herself locked up in the Great Lib'ary for a spell a few moons back." - Idyllshire Adventurer
"She's teaching arcanima at the Scholasticate in Ishgard, right? Not sure how I feel about that, but we're allies again, right?" - Mealvaan's Gate Assessor
"Lady Blanchimont? She is a curse, I tell you. A Voidsent swathed in shadows here to destroy our society. Lady Iceheart herself could not tear Ishgard apart as effectively as this monster." - Lesser Noble of Ishgard

First-Hand Accounts

"I remember her when she was blue! Ahahahaha! Crazy cat took a Fantasia when her pallies in the Risin' Stones was chased out from Ul'dah. Liked her cute li'l tail better then but the paleness is kin'a cute too." - Maelstrom Lieutenant
"Blanchimont? I remember she was a passable Alchemist before learning all those Radz-at-Han tricks. Now her approach to the craft is utter nonsense." - Ul'dahn Alchemist
"NE❄GIGIGI★❄... HeR WoRk Is BaReLy BeTtEr ThAn SpIt-ShInInG a BiG rOcK." - Goldsmith Guild Mammet
"She got lost in a Castrum during Operation Archon and accidentally stole a Reaper. I've never seen someone be less help during an operation of greater magnitude." - Scion of the Seventh Dawn
"Ah, the young mistress? She is an exceptional scholar and leader of our little family. She will be reading this, yes?" - House Blanchimont Attendant.

PC Rumors

"An excellent example of a Scholar. Intelligent and willing to consider solutions beyond 'swing a sword at it until it goes away'. I can respect that." -J'yhun Arun
"Oh, she's easily one of the smartest people I know! If you're writing a thesis, definitely get her to check your work. She'll keep you honest. ...Not much use as a wingman or a sidekick, though, she tends to strike out spectacularly in subjects not involving books..." -Taji Tribal
"She holds a compassion for others that easily outshines mine. Her care for her Garuda is respectable. I hope we can become good friends." - Itsu Neir
"My mate, the love of my heart. The smartest woman I know, with a level head and a heart well in the right place. She'd never shirk the opportunity to help someone in need, and never backs down from doing the right thing- neither danger nor fear stops her. The brightest scholar of her age, the bravest and truest politician, and my best friend. She's the guiding star in my peaceful night and I'd dance with her forever, if I could. I have no idea how I managed to convince her that marrying me is a sensible idea- but I've never been more glad to have someone in my life. And if you ever need to get on her good side? Bring codpuffs." - Rex

History

Name and Lifestyle

Iris Blanchimont, originally named Ahnci Strahl (though is unaware of this name). Iris is a scholar in everything she does and can often be found in the Gubal Library in the Sharlayan ruins, House Blanchimont in the Pillars of Ishgard or the Arche Koeln library in Mist.

Her full title is The Honourable Lady Iris Lilith Blanchimont, Vidame of the House Haillenarte and Baroness of Coldwind, Envoy of Nym, Minister of Parliament and Servant of the Republic

Nicknames and Aliases

"Lily of Limsa Lominsa" and "Alchemist of Arche Koeln", though those are titles. She briefly went by the pseudonym "Flameu Vhisnato" when concealing her true identity and though she does not know it, her birth name is "Ahnci Strahl".

Current Residence

House Blanchimont in Ishgard, located below the airship dock in the Pillars. She also maintains an office, Atelier Iris, in the Arche Koeln estate in Mist.

Pets

Sachie is her carbuncle, who maintains a persistent memory and accounting of the world through very advanced self-evolving geometries.

Dour is Iris' faithful Pumpkin Butler, who she rescued from Voidsent during All Saint's Wake. Dour usually fetches Iris things she needs while working at her Atelier, and loves the smell of citrus. He is loyal and distrusts members of the Spoken Races other than Iris.

Odelia was originally am Allagan datastore node from Azys Lla that Iris, with the help of Garlond Ironworks, repurposed into a lab assistant. Wedge insisted she give the node a name, and she decided Odelia was suitable. Odelia expresses a curiosity for more information, which makes sense given her function.

Ivy is Iris' fairy, a creature of Nymian geometries that she reverse-engineered to improve Sachie's magical framework. Ivy has a more developed identity and is capable of complex thought and speech, however, and is anchored by a Soulstone Iris possesses.

Elusmus and Palaxius are her Ishgardian chocobos. Both are named for legendary alchemists of bygone eras. While she has had Elsumus for most of her life, Palaxius was her father's Black Chocobo she was given as a gift when she became Matriarch. As such, Elusmus is rather friendly while Palaxius has an aloof and disinterested personality.

Birth and Childhood

Iris was born as Ahnci Strahl to parents in Garlean-occupied lands. She was being smuggled to Sharlayan when her ship was blown off-course and crashed into an island off the coast of Cedarwood. She was found among barrels adrift in the sea by the Elezen trader Felt Blanchimont, owner and captain of the Lominsian trade ship Yuveria. Felt worked at length with Mealvaan's Gate assessors and the Baracudas to find the parents of the abandoned kitten, but no indication of the ship's name or manifest was ever found and its arrival at Limsa was not expected.

After several moons with no word o the kitten's parents, Felt and his sister Visse elected to adopt the kitten, naming her Iris Blanchimont (dropping the Ishgardian 'du' particle as they had done in their own names) and electing to raise her as if she was their blood. Visse taught Iris the basics of alchemy and medicine as well as the importance of taking care of others. Felt, when he wasn't making trade runs, taught Iris about commerce and the great big world off the shores of La Noscea and inspiring in her a love of travel.

As she grew up, she heard little from the rest of her adoptive family. She came to realize that it was because Felt and Visse were estranged from their estate in Ishgard. Simultaneously, the young Iris was enamored and afraid of the Holy See after learning this, and she began to read about her family's homeland. When she learned the history of the Starlight Festival - a festival for Ishgardian orphans - it immediately became her favorite time of year. She would decorate the Blanchimont home in Limsa, or her father's ship, and run around in red giving gifts to other children, simple alchemical creations she made with her mother.

She was a curious, but happy, child.

Teen Years

Iris thinks of 6AE 1564 as the year her childhood ended. When the Amalj'aa summoned Ifrit in the Mythril Pit, Visse was contacted by the Alchemist's Guild in Ul'dah. She took a teleport to the nearest aetheryte and began to treat wounded survivors of the incident. When she joined a team of Brass Blades to look for more survivors. They never returned from the Pit. Along with the Blades, Visse Blanchimont was declared missing, presumed dead.

Iris met many of the other Blanchimonts for the first time when they traveled to Ul'dah for funerary rites. Her 'grandfather', Lord Arstide du Blanchimont, was exceptionally kind (especially compared to most other Blanchimonts) and bonded with her over the loss of Visse. His wife, Lady Jeanne, was emotionally cold from losing her oldest daughter.

It took some time for Iris to find a suitable way to honor her mother. Eventually, a correspondence from Jeanne du Blanchimont suggested Iris travel with Felt to Ul'dah to learn alchemy from the masters at Frondale's Phrontistery. She studied alchemy in the city and traveled on the Yuveria with Felt, reading books in her father's library. Studying went from a way to sate her curiosity to her all-consuming devotion for Iris. She learned more about alchemy, Ishgard, her family and everything else she could get a book on.

In Thanalan, Iris met a young hyur named Nox Lemouri. Nox was a scrappy swordfighter and slightly skillful conjurer that was a year or so Iris' elder. The two wanted to grow up to be famous; The Alchemist of Eorzea and the Sand Rat. They bonded over everything from those grand dreams, to losing their mothers, to the what girls caught their eyes on any given day.

Her practice with arcanima began in her teens as well, as it was the preferred approach to magic that Visse had used. While Visse did little more than summon a simple carbuncle, Iris still thought it was worth learning.

Before the Calamity

In the years leading up to the Seventh Umbral Era, Iris took up odd jobs with Azeyma's Shields and, eventually, the Maelstrom. This lead her to team up with members of a few different companies. Misfits, a group based out of the Black Shroud, were the team of her friend Nox and a few dedicated friends of hers. The other 'shell she had a pearl for was a band called Restoring Honour. Both groups helped her in different ways, expanding knowledge and allowing her to travel through the eerie ruins of Mor Dhona to her father's homeland, Coerthas.

Iris was recruited as a promising alchemist by Restoring Honour by a man named Dracorian Silverblade. He was something of a mentor in the ways of combat, a field that she did not successfully study in her youth. He also introduced her to another member of the company, Eliza Scarlet. Iris and Eliza became fast friends, and soon something far greater.

She also worked with Jeanne du Blanchimont, though mostly by correspondence, on Jeanne's attempt to combat the plague affecting Ishgard's chocobo stocks. While Iris was not exceptionally gifted, she was traubed by Visse well enough to provide some useful insights. And where Jeanne was either in Ishgard or Tailfeather, Iris ha the resources of Frondale's Phrontistery. Admittedly she was little more than a sounding board and research assistant, but it was still thrilling to work with her grandmother.

As the conflict with the Garlean Empire heated up, the Maelstrom asked Iris and Felt to travel to Radz-at-Han in an attempt to preserve supply lines should all-out war become inevitable. Iris left Eliza and her companies to deal with what would become the Battle of Carteneau and went overseas with her father and the crew of the Yuveria.

If the Calamity had never happened, Iris would likely have gotten Eternally Bonded with Eliza and moved to a small house in central Coerthas. But, alas, while she was overseas the godsdamned moon fell out of the sky.

Seventh Umbral Era

The first full year after Carteneau, Iris was stuck in Radz-at-Han with the Yuveria. She heard nothing from the friends she left behind in Eorzea, and instead turned her attention to the locals. While on the island, she studied the foreign alchemy practiced there as her father worked with the local shipping fleets. It was during this time that Iris developed a love for lassi.

After some time, an order to return home finally came from Limsa Lominsa. When Iris arrived she was greeted with a litany of bad news. Eliza was missing. Iris always hoped that her love had been one of the Warriors of Light. Her homeland was blanketed in snow and her grandmother, Jeanne, died shortly after the chill swept the land. Worse still, the Gates of the Fury were closed so she could not return the kindness her grandfather had shown after Visse's death. Both her bands of friends and companions had disbanded, having lost leaders in the Battle of Carteneau. Even the Shirlds weren't an active force in Eorzea anymore.

Nox, by the grace of the Navigator, had survived. She was helping build up a trade port at Vesper Bay so supplies for the reconstruction could easily travel. It was her suggestion that convinced Iris to take a position at Mealvaan's Gate as an Assessor. The two coordinated many shipments of raw supplies for the reconstruction of Eorzea, with the assistance of Felt and the Yuveria.

As 7UE 5 began, Nox extended another interesting proposal. The Path of the Twelve - a group Iris thought of as 'that cult Nox is in' - had rebranded itself as the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and were in need of someone with Iris' keen understanding of aetheric studies. Iris consulted with some of the Sharlayan experts in the organization and helped develop some of the more bold strategies they embarked upon. When Nox was crippled in her service as one of the adventurers in the orginzation, Iris offered to take her place in the field.

And that's how Iris, who was not an experienced fighter, wound up invading Castrum Centri with the Scions during Operation Archon. Iris had not the first clue what in Llymlaen's name she was doing, which lead to her getting horribly lost and barely escaping the Castrum alive. She managed her escape by stealing a Magitek Reaper and literally rocketing to safety, leaving the team snt to stop the Ultima Wepon to whatever fate awaited them. Thankfully, they didn't really need her.

Seventh Astral Era

Iris found herself drifting from Company to Company. A small but loyal band called Warpath lost their way and disbanded shortly after the success of Operation Archon, from there she tried to help manage a small Coerthas-based company called the White North to no avail, and eventually she sided with a group called the Knights of the Rose. She did not feel at home with them, but liked them and they did seem more stable than the other companies she had found since the end of the Umbral Era.

Everything was going pretty well: she was helping train the new Crystal Braves, she was operation her own Atelier at her Company's estate and she was working with several High Houses in Ishgard. And then, once again, things came crashing down. She was cooking a meal for the Sultana when the Crystal Braves knocked down her door and she, like every other Scion, was forced to flee Ul'dah.

At least she had somewhere to go. Days after her exile, her grandfather died. She and Felt traveled to Ishgard to attend the memorial for Arstide du Blanchimont, who died defending the city from an attack by dragons. While in Ishgard, Iris had one of her old Scion contacts bring her a Fantasia. She also had her friends in the Dutiful Sisters of the Edelweiss furnish her with a false identity so she could return to Eorzea as Flameu Vhisnato.

This false identity didn't last overly long, but her new appearance stuck.

Matriarch of House Blanchimont

With Arstide's death, House Blanchimont was thrown into chaos. A large faction of the family found Felt, with his disinterest in Ishgardian affairs, Miqo'te daughter and his apathy toward the Halonic faith, unfit to be the new Patriarch. Some supported Felt's youngest sister, Beatrix, while still others flocked around a deeply conservative and xenophobic uncle Paracelsus. House Blanchimont's patrons, Durendaire, seized on the opportunity presented them by a leaderless House Blanchimont to quietly shuffle them off their titles and holdings despite the heroic death of the last Patriarch and spare themselves the burden of the vassal house so plagued by scandal and uncertainty.

This family crisis caused Iris to turn her attention to the Scions' voyage into Dravanian lands, in an effort to find a cause just and true enough to restore her family's honor. She helped Garlond Ironworks design the Manacutter class of airship (which made her fascinated with shipwrights) and joined the Templars in fortifying the city during the Siege of Ishgard. After Nidhogg's defeat, Iris was one of the only Scions on hand to help rescue Ser Aymeric from the Vault.

A small team of Scions, who were happy to see Iris had trained some since Operation Archon, breached the Vault along with some aide from House Foretmps. As the strike team gave chase to the Archbishop, one of the more prominent members of Fortemps was fatally wounded. Iris did her best to heal him with Nymian arts but she was unable to save him.

House Fortemps, thankful for assistance Iris provided their favorite foreigner in helping develop the Manacutter and her efforts to save the lives of their bastard son, and mindful of the House's contributions to Ishgard in recent years, restored the titles and holdings of House Blanchimont as a vassal of House Fortemps. This proved a tense arrangement at times, and a short-lived one, but one that granted Fortemps some more diversified business holdings and granted Iris the role of Vidame.

In recognition of the fact that their status was restored because of Iris, enough members of the family supported her as the new Matriarch that Paracelsus and his hard-line supporters accepted her ascension. Her public policy of agnosticism toward the Halonic faith was tolerated and even accepted as it enabled her versitility in service to the Faith. Moreover, Iris' faith was far from her most scandalous quality. Though even her race and progressive views were seen as less important than her nobility of action. Before leaving for southern Eorzea again, Iris appointed Felt's wife, Audrey, to be her proxy in family affairs.

Arche Koeln

Iris joined the Company Arche Koeln after the Scions were granted amnesty. She moved her Atelier to their estate and met several members of the company. She had dinner with Shou Han and developed a really poorly executed crush on her and she shared some of her central interests with the Company's master Ariyon. She spent a lot of her time studying in the Arche Koeln library in her early moons with the Company.

She took a sabbatical from her work with Mealvaan's Gate to help track down a missing member of the company. The sabbatical was significantly extended when the keeper of a sacred book in the company died and left the book behaving strangely. Iris vowed to work with Taji Tribal to research the book and try to restore it to functional order. She suspected the book left behind by Crysola Tsara was a neophyte Gran Grimoire which would develop one day into one of the most powerful books in Eorzean history.

A break in the study of the Codex came when one of Iris' fellows from Radz-at-Han turned up in Dravania. An aetheric researcher named Ardashir came to seek insight from the Sharlayans regarding his Anima project, an attempt to create an artificial pseudo-soul. Iris offered to help him find a way to stabilize his faux-soul in the hopes that the finished result could be used to restore some semblance of proper function to the Codex and free Taji from being it's keeper.

Shortly before her twenty-eighth nameday, Iris destroyed her lab at Arche Koeln, and opted instead to set up in a remote and mostly-abandoned facility in the outskirts of the Black Shroud called the Safety Station, once intended to be a waystation for a train line from Ul'dah to Gridania that was abandoned due to a lack of political will. She officially left work with Arche Koeln at this time.

Although, with the company's expansion Yumi Hikaru strongly suggested Iris' return to membership in the company, situations in Ishgard had taken a decisive turn and demanded ever greater attention. Plus, she did blow up their house. Part of it. As a compromise, Iris opened a branch office of her business Atelier Iris in space rented from the company and became a 'consulting researcher' for the company's affairs and endeavors, in an advisory and contractual role.

The New Republic of Ishgard

Spoiler notice: The following contains spoiler information about the latter stretch of the 3.x series.. Proceed at your own risk.

As the Dragonsong war drew to a close, Iris took a more active role in negotiating Ishgard's future. She enlisted the assistance of Andromeda Dulaque in promoting Ishgardian reforms through popular opinion and set to attend the Second Colloquy of Ishgard where she spoke about the need for the Holy See to turn its attention to helping its people in the new era of peace. Her speech at the Colloquy was her most visible act as a noble and was extremely well-received from the moderate and progressive factions of Ishgardian society. It was also where she met Wu'rexa Norh.

She became a vocal feature of the Colloquies, pressing for racial integration and a turn toward peace and mercy rather than an attempt to find the next war. As the work of both the Colloquies and the other machinations of government rolled on, Iris became a part of the Reformist political faction, and an outspoken element of it.

When the transition was made from a theocratic to a democratic system and a Parliament established, Iris took the duty of representing her family. She abandoned both her teaching position and a sizable portion of her research portfolio in so doing, and occasionally regrets the decision to seek public office, but has continued to advance policies that drive for social progress in the deeply regressive former-See.

During this transition, her connections with a lot of Ishgard's community began to cement, most especially her burgeoning relationship with the squire Rex, in service of House Durfesne. The house's de facto leader, Eliane Dufresne, seemed to disapprove of this relationship and questioned Rex's loyalties, something Iris took as a personal offense.

Her tenure as a Minister of Parliament was noted especially in light of her role in defending against the attempted coup in early 7AE4 at the hands of violent remnants of Nidhogg's horde. While the coup was easily put down, Iris seems to look back on the event with a cold distance, the reason for which is not publicly known.

However, she was also the representative of Parliament to give the formal accounting of the events to the media, via the Crystal Chronicle newspaper. This openness with the press was met with some hostility from a regime used to operating in absolute secrecy, but Iris characterized it as important to democracy.

When tensions began to rise with Garlemald, Iris supported, albeit hesitantly, the deployment of troops in the Shroud to support the borders of Gridania, and called on Ishgardians to consider support of the Empire an act of treason against the Republic, in something of an about-face from her earlier anti-war rhetoric.

A combination of House Blanchimont being both a source of great merit in the early days of the Republic and the amount of scandal and political complication brought by it's matriarch caused the small house to be brought into realignment again, this time as a 'gift' to Fortemps' ally House Haillenarte. Given Blanchimont's business interest in both airships and the Sea of Clouds, it was a match made in one of the lesser heavens, as Haillenarte both operated the Skysteel Manufactury and desperately wanted someone else to deal with the Sea of Clouds. Count Haillenarte promptly reissued Iris' status as a Vidame and quickly added barony over the Isle of Coldwind as well, so it could no longer be his problem.

Spoilers end here.

Plot Hooks

General Hooks

Iris is an expert in aetheric science, particularly arcanima. She has authored several books on the subject and is constantly undertaking new research projects. She's often available at her atelier for consultation or just general geeking out about magic.
Iris is the titular head of House Blanchimont and a Minister of Parliament, being one of the most progressive voices in the Reformist Party.
Iris has a love of history and enjoys traveling to ruins around Eorzea. She sometimes contracts research assistants for more expansive (and dangerous) ruins.
When not spending time at The Pillars in Ishgard, a lot of Iris' time is spent in Limsa Lominsa or at her atelier in the West Shroud. She likes to drop by Mealvaan's Gate and the Wench on her trips into Limsa.

Current Projects

Though it's become something of a back-burner project for Iris, she has been studying the Rancor, part of the illness affecting the Tonberry population.
Iris is working on a research project on Gran Grimoires and their interactions with humaniod hosts. The knowledge about such books being as esoteric and scattered as it is, Iris has spent a lot of time looking for any scraps of knowledge on the subject that she can find.
Iris is studying the design specifications for a 'Void Ark' and believes them to be a series of Mhachi airships designed to conduct clandestine void magic research. She is exceedingly interested in Void Arks for this reason.

Gallery

A painting of Iris that hangs in the Blanchimont estate.
Iris as she appeared before her use of Fantasia.
Iris and her lost lover Eliza Scarlet, before the Calamity.
Iris and her bodyguards investigating Azys Lla.
Iris scolding Taji Tribal.
Arche Koeln rescues a group of Tonberries from would-be attackers.
Iris in her noble attire.
Yumi, Itsu and Iris after Yumi's brother's escape.
Celebrating Iris' twenty-eighth Nameday.
Iris speaking at the Second Colloquy of Ishgard.
Rex proposes to Iris.
Iris dressed as Sophia the Goddess

OOC Notes

I am game for pretty much anything in terms of RP. I don't use Skype too often, but I am willing to upon request. I write paragraph responses, though due to the nature of in-game RP these often lean on the short side in the interest of time. Feel free to ask me for pick-up scenes or the like any time. The template used here is of my own design, borrowing elements from several other formats and adding a few of my own.