Yunari Oerba
Yunari "Wind-Tide" Oerba | |
Gender | Female |
Race | Hyur |
Clan | Highlander |
Citizenship | Ul'dah |
Nameday | 3rd Sun of the 1st Umbral Moon |
Age | 25 |
Sexuality | Bisexual |
Romantic Status | Single |
Alignment | Neutral Good |
Patron Deity | Oschon, the Wanderer |
"To wander, guided by the gales at your heels, is the only way to truly follow your own two feet..." -Yunari Oerba
Appearance
- Height: 5 Fulm 7.36 Ilm
- Weight: 168.4 Ponze
- Body: Well-toned physique with notable musculature
- Hair: Deep Forest Green; Royal Purple streaks
- Eyes: Golden Amber
- Skin: Chocolate Brown
Personality
Disposition
Yunari was raised between two opposing natures, and from such exposure, she developed a very two-sided demeanor. It is most noticeable in moments of civil brutality, and her flip-switch temperament, capable of changing from calm to fired up with little to no warning. Her sociability is sometimes overbearing to strangers whose lives pique her interest, as she will not hesitate to "help" where she sees fit, blinded to personal boundaries. Generally speaking, however, this feisty Hyur is friendly, playful, and dedicated.
Likes & Interests
- Freedom
- Ruins
- Figs
- Woodlands
- Flirting
- Elbsts
- Astromancy
Dislikes & Fears
- Blind faith
- Nautical rope
- Cramped spaces
- Overly restrictive clothing or armour
- Ishgardians (As she's heard them told)
- Domans
- Frigid climates
- Travel by boat
Hobbies & Vices
- Brawling
- Cooking for comrades and loved ones
- Gambling
- Reading Tarot
Favourites
- Colours: Pure White; Millioncorn Yellow
- Drinks: Fig-infused water; Rum
- Foods: Roasted Nopales; Cawl Cennin; Meat Miq'abob; Old World Figs
- Scents: Fig; Cloves
History
Beyond the cut is detailed character history, which you may wish to discover ICly.
Birth & Childhood[edit]
Yunari was born as a single child to her father Volker, and her mother Anselma. The latter was a weaver by trade, and on a journey to an outpost in Coerthas, she happened to meet a Sharlayan Astrologian. The man was secretive but kind, the only person in the outpost not of Ishgard, and the only one to treat her civilly. Offering her food for the road and advice, he spent an evening speaking with her of local events and barest about his celestial arts. Before she left his tulpik, he gave her a warning. He informed her she was with child, when he believed her baby would enter the world, and warned that her husband's absence would spell trouble for the child, if it were to pass. She was skeptical of his words, but thankful for his genuine kindness, and was on her way. When she returned home to Volker, she explained what she had been told. Her husband, urging her it was nonsense, then informed her he had new mercenary work. With such handsome pay, he could not turn it down, and he set out within a week.
When it came time for her baby to be born, Anselma worried, as Volker had still not returned. Saddened he would not be present for the birth of their child, she had no choice but to be alone for the ordeal, though the healers caring for her sent word to his post by porter. It became clear when the baby came into the world utterly silent that something was wrong, and immediately the mages separated mother and child, labouring for days to keep both well, the stress having brought illness to the Hyur woman as well. As if by miracle, the day that Volker arrived, in several days' time, both mother and child recovered, and the man was reunited with his wife just in time to meet what he assumed was a fighter of a son. Instead he was greeted with a daughter, and, with some disappointment, he still happily welcomed his child into the world with his lover. Anselma on that day made him swear off his brutal mercenary job, urging him to find at least a marginally safer profession, and he promised her that he would. He instead spent a time as a gladiator at the Bloodsands, retiring from that sooner than later to once again ease the worry in his wife's heart, and from there, shifted his profession to that of a Guardsman around Ul'Dah. As Yunari grew, she was taught her mother's craft of weaving, but she kept a keen and constant interest in everything her father did and spoke of.
Teenage Years[edit]
Yunari aged with health and vigor, never again suffering major maladies despite her difficulties at birth. As time went on, she continued to try to master weaving, but she never grasped the craft. Her mother attempted to soothe her growing frustrations of each failure with kind words and exotic meals, and it was thought that was the only thing that urged Yunari to continue to try. One occasion came where she was to help her mother on a noble's gown, but instead ended up destroying it, and in a fit of anger, she left the shop, disappearing for two days before she returned. This became the first of many vanishing acts, and despite punishments, questionings, and worry, Yunari did not stop these occurrences, some lasting hours, some lasting days. Only when Anselma finally broke down over her daughter one night, begging her to either let her know what she'd been up to, or at least spend more of her free time at home. Broken by her mother's pain, the young Hyur agreed, and severely cut back her mysterious outings to no more than half a sun cycle at a time.
Ever still was she in awe of tales of her father's past and present, and her begging for stories eventually turned to begging for training. Her father, however, had growing disdain of the fact that he did not have a son. This caused a rift to develop between he and his daughter, as he was convinced truly strong warriors were rarely found in women, surely not his own little girl. Over the years this built tension, and the rift grew between the two, seeming to ever damage the relationship between them. Any attempts Anselma put forth to mend the ill feelings and pain were useless. In Yunari's thirteenth year, Volker picked up a job as a bodyguard to a member of the Sultanate. Disgusted by the corruption apparent in their ranks, Yunari confronted her father, claiming to him that he had sold out for sullied coin. This spurred an argument between father and daughter, escalating to physical violence when Volker exclaimed that she would never understand, never able to be a true warrior or half the person he was because she was borne to him a daughter, rather than a son. Blows exchanged, and Yunari holding her ground surprisingly well, the fight only ended when Anselma stepped in and stunned both with the a blinding, stunning light. Shocked, confused, and bloodied, Volker and his daughter turned their attentions to the confusing display from the mature woman.
As Anselma cared for the wounds on her most beloved family, she explained that ever since the words of the Sharlayan proved true, she no longer considered him mad, and her skepticism turned to interest. Scouring any sources of information that should could, she took whatever information about Astromancy that she could find, both of Sharlayan or Ishgardian teachings. She had already unlocked several of the mentioned Heavens' Gates, and had taught herself the most basic of healing magicks, drawing from the power of the stars. She wanted to spread the truth of Astromancy around Ul'Dah, once the family could function for a time without her, but the disagreements between her only child and beloved husband had made it virtually impossible.
Ridden with guilt, as well as the love they still had for each other despite their differences, Volker and Yunari apologized on vowing to control their tempers and try to pass their differences. Yunari posed the idea of the family traveling together across all of Eorzea over time, to assist both her mother and father. Anselma could learn and teach more of the lost Astrologian arts, and her father would find work that had not stagnated, as his positions in Ul'Dah seemed to have. She then made her own confession, admitting that her long journeys out were to watch fights at the Bloodsands or to cook for the fighters under the banner of The Immortal Flames. It was her way of trying to learn the arts of war that her father refused to teach, and was how she managed to hold her own at all against him in their fight. Volker and Anselma eventually agreed to her posed idea, deciding the change may be best for all of their goals, and so, tying up their work in the Rose of the Desert, and sealing any loose ends in the city-state, the family sold their home and set off together.
Nearly four years went by, during which time they traveled around the realm, doing the work that they had all set out to do. Anselma continued her weaving as a primary occupation, but spread the word of Sharlayan Astromancy whenever she felt it would not fall on deaf ears, in turn discovering more information of all types of the celestial arts, sometimes in the most surprising of places. Volker resumed his previous work as a mercenary, though, to ensure his daughter and wife would not worry much, only took jobs guarding people of less noteworthy backgrounds, posts in towns they would stop at, or bounties on beasts he could surely bring down. Yunari still assisted with non-weaving tasks to assist her mother, and as well would go out with Anselma to forage for herbs, fruits, and vegetables, or her father on occasional hunts, trapping meats and aquatic foods. Using these fresher ingredients she would often cook where she went, earning extra coin or at times information for her respective parents. If she was lucky, she would sometimes manage to convince a well-spirited soldier, gladiator, or warrior to impart upon her some knowledge of their art, though these occurrences were few and far between. All the while, they settled into a small home in La Noscea, only stopping there for a few weeks at a time between long journeys, thus becoming acquainted with Limsa Lominsa as their main source of trades, leads, and necessities. So it continued for those years until strange things began happening about the Realm. The second moon Dalamud seemed to grow bit by bit, taking more and more of the sky and blotting it out, Aetheryte crystals began morphing and spawning dangerous monsters unlike any that people had seen, and all manner of voidsent and beasts became wild, unruly, numerous, and incredibly dangerous. Perturbed as much as the next citizen of Eorzea, Anselma took to her readings furiously, an odd feeling never leaving her that the answers could lie in her most cherished work. So it was that she learned, one night, from an elusive sort of source, that there was a possibility of a yet unopened Heavens' Gate located in the skies over the distant land of Doma. Convinced as she had made herself that therein lay the key to answers surrounding the fell moon Dalamud and the rising crises across the lands, the bold Hyuran set off, with her family supporting in tow, from the ports of Limsa Lominsa. It was but one month later, when a trade ship bound for the lands finally arrived.
Upon this ship happened many occurrences that Yunari would carry with her for the rest of her life. Among them, and most important, was her requainting of Geisswolk Rhotgeimwyn. The woman was a Roegadyn, opinionated and a bit of a zealot, whom Yunari had once encountered in The Drowning Wench. That night, Geisswolk had been denouncing the names of the Sharlyan Astromancers, apparently having caught whispers of Anselma's words in the towns. Openly, she claimed them heretics to Ishgard, and lunatics following a dangerous path. Yunari, defending her mother's honour, asked that she stand down until she know more of what she spoke, but rather than acquiesce, the Roegadyn furiously proclaimed that it was the untrained, uneducated, and classless folk like the Oerbas that were bound to doom Eorzea to being beneath the attentions of the Holy See in the grand city of Ishgard. Snapping instantaneously, the Hyur flew at the Roegadyn, and they fought until The Yellow Jackets ripped them apart from one another, beaten, bruised and bloodied, spitting on the ground while cursing each others' names. The memory of this still fresh in their minds when they met again on the vessel meant that the only reason either held their cool were still further the remembrance of the night they spent across from each other in a dank cell-system beneath the rocky outcrops upon which the City-State rested. This occurred many a night over the course of the prior two years, often due to similar types of arguments and speeches at once another when they happened to cross paths for more than a quick passing. Thus, for the nights spent traveling, they observed each other with a silent ferocity, only speaking to hiss one another's name in feigned greeting as they passed when under watchful eyes of compatriots.
Besides the appearance of this violent figure from her days, Volker one night pulled Yunari aside as she was assisting the chef on the vessel with meals for the crew, attempting to learn the dishes they usually ate while bound by the tides and seawater. Upon the deck with soldiers hired to guard the crew and vessel in case of piracy, he proclaimed that he felt it was time he began to teach his daughter what he knew. At seventeen years of age, with nearly fourteen of that filled with relentless attempts to learn her father's skillset, and having seen both first and second hand what his untrained daughter could do in a fight, he could no longer deny that it was possible she make a good warrior of sorts. The least he could do if he could not sway her away from the dangerous path was to at least give her an advantage should she need it. Beyond exhilarated, the young woman threw her arms about her father, silently crying and thanking him, and for the first time in nearly a decade they embraced, a moment Anselma stayed out of, but looked upon with happiness shining in her eyes. At long last, it seemed the family could be truly whole again. Unfortunately, this heal in the rift was cut short.
The time in Doma, once they arrived, was short, as the unnerving occurrences across Eorzea were soon made apparent to not be localized to that Realm; rather, it seemed no area was left untouched, some having claimed, in their travels, seeing even Garlean forces arming troops and gathering defenses. A handful of nights were afforded as those upon the vessel departed for lands beyond after making their trades, and less than a fortnight went by before the Oerba family was on their return trip to Limsa Lominsa. Anselma, having been unnervingly quiet since finding and opening the Heavens' Gate over Doma, did not share what she found, even with her beloved husband and daughter. All they could move her to speak of was the fact that she had discerned the location of the gate through an unusual meeting with a Doman Priestess, trained in what she described as a very different, yet spiritually similar, atherically-tuned art. Clutching in her hand a tightly wrapped scroll, she insisted the family return to the shorebound city-state, and set out at once to attempt to contact the reclusive Sharlayans, and perhaps even, to Yunari's disdain, the Astrologians affiliated with their counters in Ishgard. But less than two suns from leaving the humble docks of the port nearest Doma, in the dead of night, every plan was forced to a grinding halt.
Laying on her back, staring at the stars on deck, and contemplating going within the cabins for warmth on the unusually cold eve, Yunari heard a strange series of sounds near the port side of the vessel. Alerted and used to piracy in the waters near Merlwyb's home, those meant to guard the boat, Volker included among their number, immediately set to investigate, spreading out along the side of the large ship to see what they could spy. Seeing nothing, though they checked for a time, they were just turning to give up when several pitched backwards, clutching at their eyes, black ooze blinding them as they scrabbled to free their vision. A moment later, tridents pierced the torsos of several other guards, and at the other side of the boat, nets landed over tops of some passengers who hadd also been perusing the deck in the night for air. Chaos broke loose as the attackers jumped on board, but before Yunari could even see the faces of them, a sharp pain overtook her, her back beaten and her shoulders and face slammed into the deck from her standing position, enough to shatter the wood board beneath into splinters. Numbed to the pain of it by her shock, she forced her head to side, seeing a shining, colourful, fleshy foot land besides her head, only in time to see in the distance her Roegadyn antagonist brandishing the lance of a downed solider against a humanoid with the characteristics of a fish. Turning and seeing Yunari at the ground and underfoot of one of these beastmen, Geisswolk yelled to Yunari to "make yourself useful, don't just die like the dog you are and let everyone fall with you!" as she skewered the body above her, forcing it off and kicking a shield across the deck. Blinding groping, the Hyur picked it up and, despite her confusion and what felt like a concussion, began to attempt to fend off the attackers. Only managing to pick herself off the floor and take a few steps forward, she shouted in vain to warn the white-haired Sea Wolf of a sharpened weapon hurled at her from overboard. Too late, it pierced the fighting arm of the Lancer, but no sooner had she dropped, writhing in agony, Yunari running to her side to at least try to deflect any further attacks with the shield, but a bright glow lit the darkened deck in the small space around her wound. Two lightly tanned hands wrapped around the wounds and lips murmured incantations forgotten to many as Anselma rapidly prevented the worst of the damage from cementing, despite bone exposed and bright in the night. Glaring to the Roegadyn, despite her mother's tendings, Yunari reminded her, "Remember this day that the 'ravings of a heretic' and the mother of 'no more than a street dog' were what prevented the loss of your precious fighting arm, Lone Wolf." Offering her a hand to attempt to take her below deck to safety with the assistance of her mother, and hearing Volker shouting to flee below the topside, she suddenly found her face against the now blood-stained wood of the ship, her vision blurring and darkening rapidly as a far sharper pain than before spreads at the back of her head. She faintly hears the cries of her mother and the yells of her father, drowned out by guttural roads and screams of the injured and dying, everything fading to nothingness as her vision slips to black.
When she finally came to, Yunari became very aware of the pains in her body, beaten as she had been in the attack. In a short time, she realized several pieces of information. The raiders were no pirates as all had initially presumed, but Sahagin, the aquatic Beast Tribe known to terrorize any who crossed the seas from time to time. Full raids like this were rare, but not entirely unheard of, save for the fact that the tradeship was of such an unusually large size for them to attack. Over months, spending day in and out in what could almost have been called a paddock enclosure made entirely of jagged rocks and corals higher than any one person could climb with ease, she also became aware that she was one of many who had been captured, and were being kept alive, or as much as one could call it such. Some were used for gruntwork day by day, forced to scrape barnacles and sea life from above-water corals in dangerous shoals, or carry various materials or catches that the fishmen gathered themselves, as though they were pack animals. The captives were all kept in a perpetually weakened state whether they were ones forced to work or not, over a dozen being in the webbed grasp of their attackers. Often, they were fed utterly unrecognizable slop that may not have even been food so much as refuse, and despite deaths slowly tolling, the prisoners were kept in a state of dehydration that often led to delirium under the burning rays of the sun. If not injured by the poor conditions, they were beaten for any sign of rebellion or unease, one such brazen individual, having been a solider on the ship, taking such blows that he was left bloody to die in the sands of the shore. Though she saw faces she did not recognize among her prisonmates, Yunari could not count the faces of her mother and father among them, and as many suns came and went, she began to lose her will, knowing in her heart that her family was dead and she would likely never see her friends again. Just as she was ready to give up hope, the wind gave her a gift.
While under the reins of the Sahagin, she came to understand their fractured version of common tongue, and, carried by strong winds one day, she heard a Sahagin threatening one of the few remaining boisterous captives, a solider. The latter threatened that the Lominsan Naval forces would be on their way to search for him, as he was of a decently ranked station. The fishman spat back that even should they believe him alive, and narrow down which group of Sahagin held him, this particular clutch was leading an example, and planned to let the military unit close enough just to see the captives openly executed.
Her resolve strengthened, she set out to be more useful to the Sahagin, hoping to garner their favour even if only as a slave. Unfortunately this did nothing for her, until one day, out with her particular handler, a different tribe of Sahagin attacked. And to her surprise, it attacked her captor, binding him at ankles and wrists and kicking him off of the Elbst they rode. Unable to swim, Sahagin will drown, and thus, believing it's victim dead and it's victim's slave doomed, the attacker retreated. Rather than watch it drown, Yunari mustered the last of her strength despite sun sickness and slight delirium, and dove in, using her own bindings and strength to pull her handler from the depths. Returned to the clutchsite, her captor from then on began to treat her better over time, giving her better rations and more water than other captives, and she began to recover her strength, and gain respect of the Beastmen.
While in the clutches of the Sea Devil's spawn, she bore witness to The Calamity. Already having witnessed the fell events, rampant monsters, and voidsent invasion, she had a front-row seat to the fall of the moon, seeing firsthand the primal Bahamut break free, flying by and, as far as she or the Sahagin could see, utterly destroying the region of La Noscea where Limsa Lominsa rested. Devastated, the captives lamented the loss of the city-state, and much of the rest of Eorzea, having seen the rampant destruction the fell Dragon seemed to have wreaked.
Some time after The Calamity, the clutch, having struggled since the event to keep even themselves fed, began to act very differently. More harsh in their usual treatment of all, even Yunari, who they had come to treat with basic civility, it was clear that they were on edge. within a moon's cycle, it became clear what had them on edge, as their father, the purported Scarlet Sea Devil himself arrived. He met with his most honoured children, among them, Yunari's handler, who among other things, spoke to Novv of her saving his life. Novv personally thanked her, and, knowing that now it was likely all she knew were dead, she questioned Novv's decision over the execution. Instead of the response she expected, Novv explained to her his story, and how his children knew not of the sacrifices of his prior clutch. He regaled her how he retired as the Scarlet Sea Devil, but his sole surviving son took the mantle, and that the raids were taking place on his clutches in a bid for territory and vengeance. The attack on the vessel she had traveled on with her family was an attempt of his own clutch to make him proud by forcing the hand of Lominsans as the Sahagin pushed for territory, as the slew of monsters and voidsents was costing them their usual homes. Thanking her for her service to his kin, he asked why she saved him, and she admitted that she was not sure if it was out of pity, or the knowledge that she needed her captor to survive. Thankful despite, Novv respected the Hyur, and vowed that his clutch would now keep the remaining captives alive and give them the option of freedom.
Adulthood[edit]
Present Day[edit]
In current days in the realm of Eorzea, Yunari has devoted much of her time to rediscovering her place in the world. She seeks any traces she can of The Twelve, eager to have aide in her discovery through the guidance of her chosen deity, Oschon. This has led her to reside temporarily at Camp Bronze Lake, the nearest settlement to the infamous Wanderer's Palace, branded with the symbol of her God quite clearly. Between her introspective musings and assistance of the locals, she has begun to occasionally practice the arts of Astromancy, though the loss of her mother has made it difficult for her to even look at Anselma's cards. She never ceases to keep her culinary skills or her physical form sharp, however, cooking for travelers that come from distant lands, and training herself at the shores of the great lake, shadowed by the derelict temple. Aside from this, she has never forgotten her experiences with the beast tribes, nor the years of her life that she was, for all intents and purposes, lost to her own society, the thoughts produced by the events never leaving her mind.
Relationships
Beyond the cut is detailed relationship information, which you may wish to discover ICly.
Family[edit]
- Anselma Oerba: (Mother; Presumed dead) Studied Astromancy with a passion, and was a weaver by trade prior to her introduction to the Heavens' Arts.
- Volker Oerba: (Father; Presumed dead) Spent his youth as a mercenary and gladiator on the Bloodsands, and his adulthood as a bodyguard.
Positive Standing[edit]
- Geisswolk Rhotgeimwyn (Closest friend)
- Asitania Kynarum (Recent acquaintance)
- Clutchfather Novv (IG NPC)
Neutral Standing[edit]
- Rivienne Delacroux (Met as wife of Yvelont)
- Yvelont Navarre (Met in her travels)
Negative Standing[edit]
- Coral Trident Sahagin (IG NPCs)
Known Affiliations
- N/A as of yet
Areas of Expertise
Martial Training
- Pugilistic Arts
- Gladiatorial Arts
Craftsmanship
- Culinary
Other
- Tarot
- Sahagin behaviour and culture
Other Notes
Nicknames
- 'Nari
- Yuna
- Wind-Tide
Pronunciation
You-Nah-Ree Air-Buh
Religion
Yunari staunchly adheres to her personal faith in Oschon, the Wanderer, choosing to worship and revere him in her own ways. She firmly believes that he guides her feet as is needed, despite the long absence of The Twelve.
Quirks & Miscellany
- Yunari is ambidextrous.
- Has a definitive PTSD.
- Will sporadically disappear to unknown locations for various periods of time, with no warning to those who associate with her.
- Despite a disdain for racism, castes, and similar categorizations of beings, she has a hypocritical bias against Ishgardians and Domans.
Rumours
- N/A as of yet
Habitual Haunts
- Camp Bronze Lake (Upper La Noscea)
- Raincatcher Gully (Eastern La Noscea)
- The Black Shroud
- The Bismarck (Limsa Lominsa)