User:I'zimzizi Yarhuh
"If those of us who desire peace wish to prevail, we must be every bit as strong as those who desire violence."
 I'zimzizi Yarhuh (typically just known as 'Zi' to those close to her), is a recently commissioned Captain of the Yellow Adders adventurers brigade and head of the Vagrant's Vow free company. Though small of stature and unassuming in appearance, she carries herself with a quiet confidence that hints at the depth of passion and intensity that lies beneath the calm surface.
Story Hooks:
Behind her quiet and kind demeanor there lies a tragic past that Zi rarely speaks of. Many decades ago, Zi was born as a runty and scrawny boy named ‘Efrikh’ to a mating pair of exiled miqo’te, who had fled from their tribe to Ala Mhigo in order to escape an abusive nunh. Overtime, her parents became successful merchants and respected citizens within the city, and their status earned them the ire of the jealous Mad King Theodoric, who executed them on trumped up charges and repossessed their wealth. The young Zi (still known as ‘Efrikh’) was spared the carnage, but was forced into the street in the direst of poverty-- in order to survive, he was forced to join a gang of other street urchins and orphans known as ‘The Magpies’, who haunted the streets as tiny pickpockets and ne’er do wells. As one of the smallest among them, he was also among the most unassuming-- he was both bullied by his peers, but also one of their more successful thieves due to his innocent and unthreatening appearance. One day, he was caught stealing from a man who, rather than turning Efrikh into the authorities, took pity on him and adopted the young delinquent as his own ward. This man was I’yarhuh Tia, a Red Mage of the Crimson Duelists and influential member of the resistance against the Mad King. Over time, he became the father figure that the young child had been missing and craving for so many years on the streets, and it was through the encouragement and social daring of I’yarhuh (himself both openly gay and a known political dissident) that the young Efrikh began to acknowledge their true self as a girl instead of a boy. Once I’yarhuh took his own ward as his apprentice in the art of Red Magic, Efrikh became I’zimzizi Yarhuh, adopting the name of her own adoptive father as her birth parent. For several years, she lived happily with her adoptive father-- quick of mind and eager to learn, Zi progressed quickly in the art of Red Magic, and she put her many years as an unassuming street urchin to good use serving as both a spy and messenger for the resistance. Such happy times were to be short lived, however. After the resistance successfully overthrew the Mad King Theodoric, the Garleans swooped in and took over the weakened city. Her mentor and the other Duelists intended to resist the empire as they had their evil king, but they were betrayed by one of their own and massacred mercilessly. Zi herself was spared the persecution– by fate, she was not home when her master was assassinated and, as a fledgling apprentice of only 14, she was not considered worth the effort of finding. Her wise teacher had prepared for such a contingency, knowing full well that the danger of his work might prevent him from completing his ward’s training in the event of an untimely death, and he left a soulstone with a trusted friend and resistance member who tracked down Zi after the carnage. Upon bestowing her with the soulstone, the friend passed on her mentors last instruction: Flee the city. Zi reluctantly and sorrowfully obeyed this parting command, carrying little more than the clothes on her back, a sword, and her master’s soul stone as she fled to the border and into Gridania, hoping to find refuge within the lush, beautiful greenery of the twelveswood-- unfortunately, she was soundly rejected with the other refugees by the guiding spirits of the Shroud, who still remembered the lingering scars of the war between Ala Mhigo and Gridania many generations ago. Homeless and aimless, she sold her sword and skills wherever she could find work as a mercenary and, over time, she earned quite the reputation for herself as a brilliant tactician and capable fighter. By the age of 18, she was leading small missions of her own and quietly amassed a small fortune by taking risky, dangerous contracts that most others dared not touch. After a decade of such work, she saved up enough gil to purchase her own ship-- the mighty Estoc-- and founded her own mercenary company, the Vagrant’s Vow. For many years, she travelled the globe and earned a reputation as a competent and honorable mercenary captain, fighting for causes she deemed just and getting paid handsomely in the process. This path eventually lead her to lend her strength to the Doman Revolution, where her company smuggled weapons to the resistance, skirmished with Imperial vessels in the Ruby Sea, and even joined the Confederate Fleet in the final battle for Doma Castle, where her ship took a shell from an imperial vessel and sunk into the bay. Though the battle was won, it was at great personal cost to the Little Captain, who lost her most valuable possession and most of her crew. The devastating loss nearly put an end to her career as a captain, but her reputation had reached the ears of the Twin Adders back in Eorzea, who offered her company a contract in their adventurer’s brigade. Even though the memory of being rejected from the Twelveswood as a child refugee still burned with anger in her soul, she could not deny that the opportunity meant a chance to join the Grand Companies in their campaign to liberate her homeland, Ala Mhigo. Reluctantly, and with a heavy heart, she accepted. Nowadays, she serves as a Captain with the Yellow Adders and struggles to adjust to her new home within the Shroud, her new responsibilities, and with being landlocked for the first time in nearly a decade. As difficult as these hardships and adjustments may be, the thought of liberating her homeland as just beyond the horizon keeps her pushing ever forward, ever onward-- a dream she never thought she would live to see, now just beyond her reach.
Zi can come across as a mix of both aloof and intense to new acquaintances, but beneath this cold and piercing exterior is a woman of great warmth and kindness. Wise in both experience and temperament, she slips easily into a mentor role and is mothering (sometimes smotheringly so) with her close friends, and is known to both be helpful and supportive at her best, and meddling and bossy at her worst. In both her work and personal habits, Zi is organized, assertive, and a bit of a perfectionist, but she has a tendency to overbook herself. As a result, she has a difficult time balancing both her professional responsibilities and social obligations, and leans hard on creature comforts (such as fine wines, luxurious chocolates, and indulgent shopping sprees) to cope with stress. In the social sphere, Zi is a notorious aesthete and fashionista, and takes great pains to keep up with and maintain her appearance. This is largely motivated by the fact that she associates uncleanliness with her time in abject poverty as a street urchin, and dressing to the nines is a source of both comfort and confidence. Though her responsibilities don't enable her to get out much and she can be an infamous hermit when under emotional duress, she can occasionally be found at cafes, higher class taverns, libraries, and artistic functions.
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Weapons of Choice
PLACEHOLDER.
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