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Mali Bloodscythe

2013-08-04T03:44:43Z

Chaosmali: /* Appearance */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Deeper Scars
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Adventurer
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 6'0", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for one on her cheek. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is Known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went to the battle of Carteneau purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was nothing there save for a few remains of the building's structure that were still in the process of being taken over by nature. She asked around Limsa Lominsa, but very few people even knew of her family, and those that did had assumed that they had died during the chaos five years ago.

With her parents either dead or missing, Mali had nothing better to do than return to the healer who had helped her, who welcomed her back after a strict talking-to about how recuperation is necessary and she was lucky to be alive and this and that and whatever. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. After a week, despite the large amount of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. It had healed, but for whatever reason it hadn't healed ''properly''; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her right, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She took a new name again, "Bloodscythe." Her old names had outlived their usefulness, anyway. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...and this time she faced it head-on. She had nothing else to do, she might as well keep doing what she was good at, and enjoy it while she could.</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

'''Blue Skies Adventuring Company:''' Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Kadezan Kanazan

2013-07-10T09:21:08Z

Chaosmali: Created page with "{{Infobox-character | name = Kadezan Kanazan | image = | imagewidth = | caption = | title = | gender = Male | citizenship = Gridania | race = Lalafell | clan = Dunesfolk |..."

{{Infobox-character
| name = Kadezan Kanazan
| image =
| imagewidth =
| caption =
| title =
| gender = Male
| citizenship = Gridania
| race = Lalafell
| clan = Dunesfolk
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 33
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 32nd Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Azeyma, the Warden]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = Asexual
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Jack of all Trades
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Kadezan Kanazan

'''Pronunciation:''' (KAH-day-zan KAH-nah-zan)

'''Nicknames:''' Often writes his name as "Kade" and accepts both pronunciations (Kah-day and Kay-d).

'''Aliases:''' None.

'''Birthplace:''' Ul'dah

'''Current Residence:''' Gridania

'''Relationship Status:''' Single

'''Religion:''' Reverent but non-denominational.

'''Laterality:''' Ambidextrous, slightly prefers his right hand.

'''Other Notes:''' Kadezan is half Plainsfolk, on his mother's side. As such he's too adventurous for his father's liking, and too bookish for his mother's liking.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 2'9"

'''Weight:''' "W-why does that matter?"

'''Build:''' Thinner and smaller than his Lalafellan peers, but with a little bit more muscle definition. He looks much younger than he really is, as if that was even possible. He's very self-conscious of his size, even if his race isn't exactly known for tall bulky figures.

'''Skin Color:''' Pinkish-tan with a sprinkling of freckles.

'''Eye Color:''' Dark pink or light red, depending on who's looking.

'''Hair Color:''' Reddish brown with streaks of dirty blond.

'''Hair Style:''' Short and windswept, kept out of his face. It naturally spikes up on its own, even when he tries to keep it down for formal events.

'''General Clothing Style:''' He focuses on comfort and functionality more than anything. He likes color, but too much is too much!

'''Voice:''' Cheerful mid-tenor. He loves to laugh and his voice naturally carries a vibrant happy tone. When he's frustrated or sad, he starts to whine a little. Even when angry his voice remains vibrant and cheerful, which just sort of sounds weird.

'''Other Notes:''' Kadezan loves jewelry. Aside from the jewel on his head that he was assigned at birth, he also wears a plethora of earrings and rings, and at least one necklace. He has a little bit of peach fuzz on his chin, mostly because he doesn't shave very often. He almost always has a smile on his face. If he doesn't, there's definitely something going on.

==Personality==

Coming soon!

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===

Coming soon!

===Abilities in Daily Life===

Coming soon!

===Strengths===

Coming soon!

===Weaknesses===

Coming soon!

==History==

Coming soon!

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

Coming Soon!

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-10T08:27:35Z

Chaosmali:

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Deeper Scars
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Adventurer
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for one on her cheek. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is Known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went to the battle of Carteneau purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was nothing there save for a few remains of the building's structure that were still in the process of being taken over by nature. She asked around Limsa Lominsa, but very few people even knew of her family, and those that did had assumed that they had died during the chaos five years ago.

With her parents either dead or missing, Mali had nothing better to do than return to the healer who had helped her, who welcomed her back after a strict talking-to about how recuperation is necessary and she was lucky to be alive and this and that and whatever. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. After a week, despite the large amount of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. It had healed, but for whatever reason it hadn't healed ''properly''; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her right, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She took a new name again, "Bloodscythe." Her old names had outlived their usefulness, anyway. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...and this time she faced it head-on. She had nothing else to do, she might as well keep doing what she was good at, and enjoy it while she could.</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

'''Blue Skies Adventuring Company:''' Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-10T00:29:29Z

Chaosmali: /* Affiliations */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Deeper Scars
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Adventurer
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for one on her cheek. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is Known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went to the battle of Carteneau purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was nothing there save for a few remains of the building's structure that were still in the process of being taken over by nature. She asked around Limsa Lominsa, but very few people even knew of her family, and those that did had assumed that they had died during the chaos five years ago.

With her parents either dead or missing, Mali had nothing better to do than return to the healer who had helped her, who welcomed her back after a strict talking-to about how recuperation is necessary and she was lucky to be alive and this and that and whatever. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. After a week, despite the large amount of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. It had healed, but for whatever reason it hadn't healed ''properly''; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her right, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She took a new name again, "Bloodscythe." Her old names had outlived their usefulness, anyway. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...and this time she faced it head-on. She had nothing else to do, she might as well keep doing what she was good at, and enjoy it while she could.</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

'''Blue Skies Adventuring Company:''' Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-10T00:25:53Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Deeper Scars
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Adventurer
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for one on her cheek. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is Known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went to the battle of Carteneau purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was nothing there save for a few remains of the building's structure that were still in the process of being taken over by nature. She asked around Limsa Lominsa, but very few people even knew of her family, and those that did had assumed that they had died during the chaos five years ago.

With her parents either dead or missing, Mali had nothing better to do than return to the healer who had helped her, who welcomed her back after a strict talking-to about how recuperation is necessary and she was lucky to be alive and this and that and whatever. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. After a week, despite the large amount of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. It had healed, but for whatever reason it hadn't healed ''properly''; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her right, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She took a new name again, "Bloodscythe." Her old names had outlived their usefulness, anyway. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...and this time she faced it head-on. She had nothing else to do, she might as well keep doing what she was good at, and enjoy it while she could.</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-03T08:04:51Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Deeper Scars
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Adventurer
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for one on her cheek. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is Known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went to the battle of Carteneau purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was nothing there save for a few remains of the building's structure that were still in the process of being taken over by nature.

With no idea if her parents were alive or dead, and nowhere to begin looking, Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. After a week, despite the large amount of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. It had healed, but for whatever reason it hadn't healed ''properly''; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her right, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She took a new name again, "Bloodscythe," to match the new color of her eye. Her old names had outlived their usefulness, anyway. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...and this time she faced it head-on. She had nothing else to do, she might as well keep doing what she was good at, and enjoy it while she could.</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Tivahlt Grimmgeist

2013-07-03T05:32:52Z

Chaosmali: /* Abilities */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Tivahlt Grimmgeist
| image = Tiv_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I wander to stay free. To keep dreaming, to find hope, and, someday, to move on. I doubt I'll ever settle down...but I'll stay with you as long as you need me."
| title = The Gentile Wanderer
| gender = Male
| citizenship = Esil'Heihm
| race = Miqo'te
| clan = Keeper of the Moon
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 29
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 17th day of the 4th astral moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Menphina, the Lover]], though he doesn't know it.
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = Pansexual
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = None
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Tivahlt Grimmgeist

'''Pronunciation:''' TIV-alt GRIM-gaist (last syllable rhymes with "iced")

'''Nicknames:''' Tiv, more sure to come as he interacts with others.

'''Aliases:''' Formerly "Tiva," used briefly prior to Dalamud.

'''Birthplace:''' Esil'Heihm, an island nation in the middle of nowhere.

'''Current Residence:''' Any spare room he can find.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single, and does not use that to his advantage nearly as much as he used to.

'''Religion:''' Previously a lip-service follower of his nation's faith (see below), he has since become bitter and jaded towards the idea of "higher powers" at work. He lets others believe what they want, but if religion comes up in conversation he will politely take his leave.

'''Laterality:''' Ambidextrous, but favors his left hand.

'''Other Notes:''' Tiv hates his full name, for various reasons. He rarely lets someone know it, and he won't be happy if you say it.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'7"

'''Weight:''' 130 ponz

'''Build:''' Lithe, but with a little bit of muscle. It's clear that he has only recently been exercising the limits of his body. His skin is just a little bit too smooth to have seen any real work for most of his life.

'''Skin Color:''' Pale, and a little sickly. Clearly has not had an intimate relation with sunshine. Some small areas have a greenish tint, such as his fingertips.

'''Eye Color:''' Light green, with a faint glow.

'''Hair Color:''' Deep purple with tips of blue-ish white.

'''Hair Style:''' Generally unkempt. It looks less like an actual style, and more like someone took a knife to much longer hair and then tried to fix it haphazardly. The front hangs over his eyes, occasionally obscuring his vision enough that he needs to flick it away. He claims that it adds to his "mysterious wanderer" look.

'''General Clothing Style:''' Though as a self-expressed homeless wanderer his clothing is often reduced to "whatever he can get," he keeps whatever outfit he ''is'' wearing very clean and precisely fitted. He almost never has a button unbuttoned or a fold out of place. When he wears what he ''actually'' prefers to wear, it usually errs on the side of formal, but with enough comfort that he can (usually) fit in with the rest of the crowd.

'''Voice:''' Very smooth and just a little bit flirtatious. He is very well spoken and picks his words carefully, always trying his best to be cordial, even when he's excited or scared. He rarely ever raises his voice in anger, but when he ''is'' riled his voice becomes much rougher, almost like a primal growl.

'''Other Notes:''' He has very faint scars of all shapes and sizes across most of his body. Most notable are series of small hole-shaped scars that run in rows down his back, on the sides of his torso, and down his arms and legs. They have all healed to the point that they are difficult to see for most people unless they're looking for them, but a very sharp eye might be able to find a few.

==Personality==

Coming soon!

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===

Coming soon!

===Abilities in Daily Life===

Coming soon!

===Strengths===

Coming soon!

===Weaknesses===

Coming soon!

==Esil'Heihm==
'''''Note:''' This is for educational purposes only! The odds of any of this information being widely known are so low that calculating them would be pointless. The primary purpose for this information is to make Tiv's history easier to write, by putting the more wordy exposition in its own section.''

''It is also a testament to what happens when I go off on a tangent and no one stops me. The "Intricacies" section especially is full of information that no one will ever need.''
===The Basics===
<spoiler>Esil'Heihm, which translated means "holy island," is a tiny island nation far to the west and a little bit to the south from Eorzea, lying in the middle of the sea. Because of the stormy waters around it, coupled with the razor sharp rocks that threaten to destroy even the most deftly maneuvered of ships, those few who find it on their journeys are perfectly content to stay far away, and those that have tried to explore it have never lived to tell about it. While from most views it looks like nothing more than an uninhabited island made entirely of jagged cliffsides with dangerous rocks in the surrounding sea, its intimidating appearance hides the rich and fertile lands inside, populated by citizens with an intricate and unique culture based upon a religion entirely their own.

Though there are many secret entrances and exits that the native people know of underneath the high cliffs, they never leave the island, fearing both the terrors of the outside world and the wrath of their god. What little they know of the outside world is told to them by the few survivors of shipwrecks or pirate attacks that make their way by chance, dragged by the current through one of their secret caves. While the population is very xenophobic and are more likely to execute newcomers or put them to hard labor as slaves, those that can gain favor with the citizens are quickly assimilated into their culture.

The population of Esil'heihm consists almost entirely of both Miqo'te and Roegadyn. The two races have lived on the island for so many centuries that they do not remember where they came from. Miqo'te make up the majority of the population (about 60%) with Roegadyn as a rather large minority at 35%. The other 5% is made up of outsiders that were brought in by the tide, and the descendants thereof.

While the population has Miqo'te primarily as the more abundant and higher status citizens, their language is derived from both Miqo'te and Roegadyn language almost equally, and their alphabet is completely different from either. While the language can be understood eventually (and more quickly by those who know at least one of the root languages), the written word is almost entirely indecipherable without a native speaker to translate.</spoiler>
===Religion===
<spoiler>Quite unlike the Eorzean's faith in the twelve, the citizens of Esil'Heihm believe in a singular divine entity known as the "Godking." In their religious texts, the Godking was a divine being made flesh upon the earth to save his people from assured destruction--for the Miqo'te it was a rain of fire, and for the Roegadyn it was an endless flood--and bring them together in a holy land where they would never face those hardships again. After leading the "chosen" to Esil'Heihm, the Godking split his physical body into seven pieces and returned to the heavens, decreeing that he will again return whenever his Chosen are in danger. The seven pieces became "the First Sons," which the Ruling Families are descended from.

Because they were once part of the Godking, the First Sons could hear the Godking's voice and know his will, so they became the first rulers of Esil'Heim, each taking their turn as king. But their descendants, being the progeny of the first sons' mortal wives, could not hear the Godking speak, and only after many rituals where they "took the Godking's power on earth into themselves" could one of them become king. Since then the firstborn son of each family undergoes a myriad rituals from birth, with the strongest among them becoming king.

The rest of their holy text details a very strict social structure "as set by the Godking before his departure," including everything from when, how, and how often prayer should be made, to an intricate caste system that is followed to the letter. Those that are devout and follow the holy texts are assured to rest forever at the Godking's side when they pass on, their life in death being as it was in life but without mortal needs like food or sleep. Anyone who deviates from the holy texts is cast out from society and considered an "affront to the Godking," deemed to be tossed into hell in death by the Godking himself. Hell is only described as "the dark place from which all evil is born, and where all evil must be returned."</spoiler>
===Intricacies===
<spoiler>====Naming Conventions====
Aside from the Ruling Families, all citizens are named after their caste (or aspect of their caste, such as an item, a tool or one of their duties), and an adjective or item that is descriptive of what their parents hold dear, with their surname being their caste title. For instance, a crafter whose mother admires beauty may be named "Galeimbahyel," or "jewel crafter."

The Ruling Families, those that are believed to be the direct descendants of the Godking, all have surnames that reflect their relation to the Godking and his heavenly residence. Given names can be anything so long as they do not directly relate to another caste. Ruling Families often name their children after iconic people from the holy text, or great leaders of the past. For instance, "Tivahlt Grimmgeist" comes from the lowest of the ruling families, and was named after a character in the holy text who was described as "a soft-furred man of noble standing, who traveled across the dangerous seas and back to spread the will of the Godking."
====Names of the Ruling Families====
Ordered by their secondary status within the Caste, decided by the order in which the First Sons (see religion, above) ruled.

*Fatyrh'agoht - ''god is [our] father''

*Khoenmynah - ''love the king [grammar is similar to a command]''

*Hahl'litarh - ''hollow [waiting for a commander] knight''

*Hihmlhund - ''heaven's [implied loyal] hound''

*Dehmah'rhyl - ''soldier that defends against [lit. kills] hell''

*Toumezhahl - ''speakers of the prophecies [lit. dreaming people of high status]''

*Grimmgeist - ''the spirit of one who rules [lit. cruel/ruling ghost]''

====Caste System====
Ordered by level of "supremacy" within society.
=====Ruling Castes=====
*1. Rhassael Na'akhen Gohtkhoen Erhma'zhahl - The Vessel That Contains the Godking's Will
**The ruler of Esil'Heihm, considered to be a god on earth. When one is his close to death, another is chosen from the Ker'Goht (see below) and undergoes a secret ritual with the dying king on a designated "sacred day," emerging as the new ruler. When used as a surname it is shortened to Rhassael, "The Vessel."

*2. Zha'oreshnann Na'haelyn Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The High Council of the Godking's Disciples
**The collective second-in-command, a council of seventeen members chosen from the most devout of the Serha (see below, Noble Castes). They are rarely seen, and news of them only comes when one member has died and another is chosen to take their. Shortens to either "The High Council" (Zha'haelyn) or "The High Priests" (Zha'Oreshnann), though they are rarely ever called by name.

*3. Ker'Rhassael Na'Goht Erhma'zhahl - Vessels-In-Waiting of His Will
**Sons from each of the ruling families that undergo physically and mentally torturous "rituals" each year to "become ready to take on His will." If one dies (a more common occurrence than they let on) the next oldest son begins the rituals at a faster pace to catch up, sometimes as quickly as weeks or days apart. Though they continue to have their family's name unless they are chosen to be king, in casual conversation they're often collectively referred to as the Ker'Goht, "[one] waiting for Him/god."

*4. Khelindt Na Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The Descendants of the Godking
**All members of the Royal Families, excluding their vessel-in-waiting. They are referred to by their surnames rather than their title, but in conversation among other members of noble or ruling castes, their collective name is shortened to Khelindt, "the descendants."
=====Noble Castes=====
*5. Serha'Oreshnann Na Gohtkhoen'mera - Anointed Disciples of the Godking
**Devoted followers who go through years of extensive study and preaching throughout their life. They are given a "ritual of anointment" when they come of age, to symbolize their closeness to the Godking. Shortened to Serha, "anointed."

*6. Bergennah Na Hihmlnann'mera - Defenders of The Almighty Ones
**Armed forces whose duty is to protect the ruling classes and enforce their laws among the other high castes. They are also given ritual of anointment when they come of age. Shortens to Bergennah, "the defenders."

*7. Oreshnann Na Gohtkoen'mera - Devoted Followers of the Godking
**Secondary followers, their studies are less rigorous as they are not expected to preach outside of small towns that the Serha do not travel to. Their primary duties are as librarians and are the only caste below the ruling castes that may enter the sacred libraries, keeping them clean and organized for the Serha and ruling castes. Their work is constant and most of them live in the library or the immediate area, but they are given a few days off every month for travel. Shortens to Oreshnann, "priest."

*8. Skalen Na Khelindt'mera Those in Service of His Decendants
**Servants that reside with and take care of the ruling families. They take care of everything from cleaning and cooking to caring for their children, often with their own at the early ages so that the children are used to each other by the time they grow up and the relationship of servant and master continues. Shortens to Skalen, "servant."

*9. Litarh Na'Goht Skalerh'mera - The Knights of His Service
**The more commonplace armed forces. They are the police force, keeping those of middle castes safe, and lower castes in their place. They take orders from the Bergennah and in turn enforce the laws among the castes below them. Shortens to Litarh, "knight."
=====Middle Castes=====
*10. Zha'O Bahyelda'Nahnen - High Crafters
**Just as the name implies, these people make high quality stuff. They are trained from an early age to follow their parents' profession. If they cannot produce work of good quality, they are demoted to Korh'Bahyelda and cast out from their family. Shortens to Zha'Bahyel, "good craft."

*11. Zha'O Gyfhteda'Nahnen - High Merchants
**Merchants known for a long familial history of good business with buyers and crafters alike. The punishment for "dishonorable" conduct is very strict. If one is caught doing something such as price gouging, selling illegal goods, selling to Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed"), or selling items of poor quality, they are stripped of their title, and occasionally executed. Shortens to Zha'Gyfhte, "good gift/sale."

*12. Zha'O Werhkeda'Nahnen - High Workers
**Workers from the Khor'Werhke caste (see below, Lower Castes) that have shown passion for their assigned job, loyalty to the ruling classes, and follow orders from the Litarh. No one is born into this caste, they must be chosen for it. Children born from them are given the choice at five years old to become Korh'Werhke, Korh'Gyfhte, or Korh'Bahyel, and are given a mentor from their desired caste (often one without a child of their own to teach), but are allowed to stay with their family until they come of age. Shortens to Zha'Werhke, "good work."
=====Lower Castes=====
*13: Khor'O Bahyelda'Henen - Low Crafters
**Crafters that are new to the profession, have a family history of mediocre or bad work, or have been demoted from Zha'Bahyel. They can be promoted to Zha'Bahyel status if they show that they are of the same level of quality. Shortens to Khor'Bahyel, "lower work."

*14: Khor'O Gyfhteda'Henen - Low Merchants
**Merchants that are new to the profession or have a family history of acceptable, but not ideal, business practices. Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed") are allowed to purchase items from them, but they can only buy the bare essentials; food, clothing, and anything that has been broken or deemed of "unacceptable" quality. Even then, Khor'Gyfhte with hopes of becoming Zha'Gifhte will refuse service. Khor'Gyfhte can only become Zha'Gyfhte if they have a family history spanning 5 generations or more of only "honorable" practices. Shortens to "Khor'Gyfhte, "lower gift/sale."

*15: Khor'O Werhkeda'Henen - Low Workers
**The standard working class, they are given the odd jobs that do not fall under crafts, such as farming, fishing, mining, building, street cleaning, etc. The more essential the job, the higher they are perceived within their caste. Shortens to Khor'Werhke, "lower work."

*16: Unejhden - Outsiders
**Outsiders that have been brought to the island by accident, but have taken Esil'Heihm's ways as their own and are open to becoming full citizens. Based on their expertise and/or level of fealty to the Godking, they can be assigned to any caste from Noble to Lower that does not have a coming-of age ritual. It is not used as their surname (they are not given one until they become part of a caste) and it is not shortened in conversation.
====="The Unnamed"=====
*Aghev'Ubhyl - The Unnamed [lit. "born from evil"]
**These are the lowest of the low; thieves, beggars, and unruly outsiders that will not conform to Esil'Heihm's ways. Also includes people from other castes that have been forcibly removed for questioning the ruling castes, trying to do something outside their caste, disobeying the laws, or having illegal contact with an Aghev'Ubhyl. They are either left to rot on the streets, or sent to do grueling labor for no pay. There is no way out for an Aghev'Ubhyl. Even saying their name in normal conversation is considered dishonorable. They have no surname and are never referred to as their "caste," giving them the monicker of the Unnamed.</spoiler>

==History==
===TL;DR Version===
Tivahlt Grimmgeist was born into nobility on an island in the middle of nowhere. He was experimented on with involuntary infusions of raw aether to induce severe aether sickness, which was then mixed directly into his blood and very being using unknown technology, in an attempt to create a powerful, mindless entity for the High Priests to control as their puppet on the throne, a "tradition" that spanned centuries. The experiments made him into something that could hardly be called a person, a "thing" made of both mortal flesh and raw either, slowly losing everything that made him anything more. He was only saved from either certain death or endless servitude when his island was found and invaded by marauding pirates seeking a land full of riches, who had been led there by a group of traitors that wanted revenge against the unfair caste system. Tivahlt was saved during the chaos before the experiments could be completed, and from the slaughter of the entire ruling class, by his old servant and friend who ferried his half-alive, mostly unconscious body to a safe haven on a distant shore before returning to their home to try and salvage it.

After recovering enough from the experiments to regain his senses, "Tiv" (or "Tiva") sailed to Eorzea, a land he had heard of from a scarce few accounts, under a disguise in case the worst should happen. Because males were rarely seen he dressed and acted as a female, which was surprisingly easy because his princely features, coupled with years of brutal experimentation that left his body frail and under-grown, made him closer in size to a female Miqo'te of Eorzea than a male. He only ever let one person see his true self, and it was their love and acceptance, coupled with the dauntless courage and passion for life he experienced from other Eorzean adventurers, that made him realize that he couldn't keep running from his past. He was still needed elsewhere.

After only a few months he left Eorzea, shortly before Dalamud fell, and returned to his home With the help of his old friend he rallied those people that remained, regardless of their rank under the previous regime, and a long series of battles and sacrifices (including the death of the aforementioned friend) his people finally regained control of the island. Since he was the last remaining noble, and the people had hardly known anything else other than brutal massacre, he was essentially forced to be king. He lived out the role as best he could, but he was troubled. He was losing pieces of his mind, and losing control of the power inside him. When the calamity struck Eorzea he felt it in the depths of his very soul, and ever since then he had become more and more unstable. He began to lose track of the present, and forget pieces of the past. His childhood, his own family, the friend who sacrificed his life...the friends he made in Eorzea, and the people who had stood by him.

Eventually he discovered that, because the procedures on him were never fully completed (for better or worse), his "power" was becoming increasingly unstable, constantly on the verge of ripping his body, and his mind, to shreds. Whatever had happened in Eorzea, the reshaping of a continent and some great displacement of...''something'', had shifted the aether enough that his old scars were reawakened. Years of battle and living with the aether inside him had hardened his body against its worst effects, but the unnatural energy was still too powerful to fully control and by all rights should have killed him long ago. At his lowest point, the power overwhelmed him for only a few moments and the resulting burst of raw, unnaturally imbued aether killed many of his own subjects. Tiv was running on borrowed time and his people were demanding his head out of fear and sorrow. He left for the only place where he had any chance of finding an answer to both of his problems.

Now he's back in Eorzea, a new man with a slight glowing problem, hoping to restore the few memories he can and find a way to, if not cure himself of the unnatural energy inside him, then suppress it long enough for a few more years of life. So far the only way he has found to at least relieve the pressure a little is to "let it out" through feats of powerful magic, so that's what he does. He slings spells for hire, for fun, for what he believes is right and, occasionally, for revenge.

===Long Version===
'''WORK IN PROGRESS'''

<spoiler>====My Life as a Kid====

Tivahlt was born in the nation of Esil'Heihm, an island far out in the oceans unknown to and unknowing of the outside world (for more information, see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#The Basics|"The Basics"]] above). He was born as the first son to his parents Hana'yl and Eferhsin, and the second son of the Grimmgeist family, the seventh and last of the Ruling Families of Esil'Heim. As such, he was raised in the lap of luxury with everything provided for him and servants at his beck and call. Like most children of the Ruling Families, he spent most of his time with his caretaker and tutor, a kind old Roegadyn woman named Lidiehn, and her son Esmylacht (Esmyl for short), who had been chosen to be Tivahlt's personal attendant when the two came of age. It was fortunate, then, that Tivahlt and Esmyl found themselves to be good friends throughout their childhood.

Under Lidiehn's tutelage and a select number of books from the Sacred Libraries, Tivahlt was trained in everything from etiquette and "proper" actions, to science, mathematics, and the arts (little Tiv had a particular fascination with the fictional tales the library had for public use, and would often reread the same one for weeks). Of course, he also spent most of his time reading the Sacred Texts and learning all about their benevolent deity, the Godking (see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#Religion|"Religion"]] above), from whom his family line, as with that of the other Ruling Families, had originated. Although Tivahlt was a brilliant student in all of his studies, he saw the Sacred Texts as a chore at best, and a terrifying vision of the future at best; technically the Godking still ruled their country, by "imparting his will" into the chosen ruler...essentially making them a hollow shell for the Godking to speak through. Traditionally the first son of each family was chosen to undertake the "rituals" necessary to become the Godking's vessel, but should the First Son of the Grimmgeist family fail the tribulations necessary and perish...Tiv was next in line.

While the other members of the Ruling Families saw this as a great honor, Tiv saw it essentially as a long, prolonged death. Stripped of your personality and free will, unable to die, watching while your body is controlled by some unknown force until it finally wears out. Still, to question the Godking, regardless of rank, was an act worthy of being cast out, or even executed depending on just ''how'' terrible the heresy was. So Tivahlt continued to pray and worship, though most of his prayers were desperate pleas for the Godking to keep his cousin, the First Son of the Grimmgeist family, alive.

Aside from his existential quandaries, Tivahlt led a mostly carefree life through his childhood and teenage years. He was a bit of a troublemaker, flirting around with just about anyone and sneaking out into places he shouldn't be, but were it not for Esmyl being both his friend and his voice of reason, he might have been even worse. It probably helped that Esmyl was twice Tivahlt's size for most of their youth and could just carry the little noble away from the most tempting disasters-in-waiting. The few little "transgressions" of his that were discovered were solved either with Tiv's silver tongue, or a stern talking-to. For Tivahlt there were no limits, no repercussions. He was free, within reason anyway.

Of course, that wasn't going to last for long...

====The Last Day====

Tivahlt had never met his older cousin. When Tivahlt was born he had already been taken to begin the rituals, and he grew up knowing only the girls born before him, and the children born after. He hardly even know what the first son's name was. Tivahlt was fifteen when he finally saw his eldest cousin, when his body was delivered to the Grimmgeist estate on a traditional bed of flower petals to prepare for the funeral. His cousin looked sick, and frail, and even though his body was preserved for the moment his skin had an unnatural greenish hue. His hair was already going grey when he died at only the age of 20. Tiv wondered if he failed the rituals because he had always been like that, or if the trials had really done so much to him.

Every moment of every day leading up to the funeral was a nightmare for Tivahlt. His perfect world was falling apart all around him. The one thing that he feared most as a child, the one thing that he had hidden in the back of his mind, covering it up with mindless distractions and blind hope, was imminently approaching. He was next in line, after all. Each family had to have a vessel in preparation.His family mourned the loss of the first but praised the luck of the second, cursing the heavens for taking their First Son away so soon, and telling Tivahlt that he had a chance of receiving the greatest gift the Godking could give. Their unending praise and optimism in his presence almost gave him hope. Perhaps he had read the texts wrong. Perhaps this was a chance for a carefree layabout to do some real good for the world. For his people.

Perhaps he was fooling himself in the face of oblivion.

The funeral was an event unlike anything Tivahlt had seen. He had seen deaths, and seen the process from the first rites to the final burials, but the First Son's was the most grandiose of all, eclipsing even their annual holiday celebrations. The entire estate was lit up with colored lanterns, the trees were strung with decorations and glittering gems that sparkled in the lantern-light like stars. It was as if heaven itself had come down to earth for one day and night, to take one of its own up with it upon return. It was the first time that Tivahlt ever felt close to God. The new feeling made everything seem to shine brighter, the food taste better, and the old stories sound new. He even had a few drinks at the servants table, much to the chagrin of Esmyl (whose freshly poured mug Tiv stole ''five times''), not to mention the rest of his family for being so improper and "drinking with people barely of noble status." Even with five drinks in him and an earful from his father, Tiv would always remember the entire event clearly, as if he had lived it just yesterday. It was his last day of freedom.

His last day of being normal.

====Rituals in a Dark Room====

Coming Soon!

====Invasion and Escape====

Coming soon!

====Welcome to Eorzea====

Coming soon!

====Battles at Home====

Coming soon!

====My Life as a (Fake) King====

Coming soon!

====Run Away!/Back to Eorzea====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

Coming Soon!

Tivahlt Grimmgeist

2013-07-03T05:31:50Z

Chaosmali: /* Appearance */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Tivahlt Grimmgeist
| image = Tiv_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I wander to stay free. To keep dreaming, to find hope, and, someday, to move on. I doubt I'll ever settle down...but I'll stay with you as long as you need me."
| title = The Gentile Wanderer
| gender = Male
| citizenship = Esil'Heihm
| race = Miqo'te
| clan = Keeper of the Moon
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 29
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 17th day of the 4th astral moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Menphina, the Lover]], though he doesn't know it.
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = Pansexual
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = None
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Tivahlt Grimmgeist

'''Pronunciation:''' TIV-alt GRIM-gaist (last syllable rhymes with "iced")

'''Nicknames:''' Tiv, more sure to come as he interacts with others.

'''Aliases:''' Formerly "Tiva," used briefly prior to Dalamud.

'''Birthplace:''' Esil'Heihm, an island nation in the middle of nowhere.

'''Current Residence:''' Any spare room he can find.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single, and does not use that to his advantage nearly as much as he used to.

'''Religion:''' Previously a lip-service follower of his nation's faith (see below), he has since become bitter and jaded towards the idea of "higher powers" at work. He lets others believe what they want, but if religion comes up in conversation he will politely take his leave.

'''Laterality:''' Ambidextrous, but favors his left hand.

'''Other Notes:''' Tiv hates his full name, for various reasons. He rarely lets someone know it, and he won't be happy if you say it.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'7"

'''Weight:''' 130 ponz

'''Build:''' Lithe, but with a little bit of muscle. It's clear that he has only recently been exercising the limits of his body. His skin is just a little bit too smooth to have seen any real work for most of his life.

'''Skin Color:''' Pale, and a little sickly. Clearly has not had an intimate relation with sunshine. Some small areas have a greenish tint, such as his fingertips.

'''Eye Color:''' Light green, with a faint glow.

'''Hair Color:''' Deep purple with tips of blue-ish white.

'''Hair Style:''' Generally unkempt. It looks less like an actual style, and more like someone took a knife to much longer hair and then tried to fix it haphazardly. The front hangs over his eyes, occasionally obscuring his vision enough that he needs to flick it away. He claims that it adds to his "mysterious wanderer" look.

'''General Clothing Style:''' Though as a self-expressed homeless wanderer his clothing is often reduced to "whatever he can get," he keeps whatever outfit he ''is'' wearing very clean and precisely fitted. He almost never has a button unbuttoned or a fold out of place. When he wears what he ''actually'' prefers to wear, it usually errs on the side of formal, but with enough comfort that he can (usually) fit in with the rest of the crowd.

'''Voice:''' Very smooth and just a little bit flirtatious. He is very well spoken and picks his words carefully, always trying his best to be cordial, even when he's excited or scared. He rarely ever raises his voice in anger, but when he ''is'' riled his voice becomes much rougher, almost like a primal growl.

'''Other Notes:''' He has very faint scars of all shapes and sizes across most of his body. Most notable are series of small hole-shaped scars that run in rows down his back, on the sides of his torso, and down his arms and legs. They have all healed to the point that they are difficult to see for most people unless they're looking for them, but a very sharp eye might be able to find a few.

==Personality==

Coming soon!

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===

Coming soon!

===Abilities in Daily Life===

Coming soon!

==Esil'Heihm==
'''''Note:''' This is for educational purposes only! The odds of any of this information being widely known are so low that calculating them would be pointless. The primary purpose for this information is to make Tiv's history easier to write, by putting the more wordy exposition in its own section.''

''It is also a testament to what happens when I go off on a tangent and no one stops me. The "Intricacies" section especially is full of information that no one will ever need.''
===The Basics===
<spoiler>Esil'Heihm, which translated means "holy island," is a tiny island nation far to the west and a little bit to the south from Eorzea, lying in the middle of the sea. Because of the stormy waters around it, coupled with the razor sharp rocks that threaten to destroy even the most deftly maneuvered of ships, those few who find it on their journeys are perfectly content to stay far away, and those that have tried to explore it have never lived to tell about it. While from most views it looks like nothing more than an uninhabited island made entirely of jagged cliffsides with dangerous rocks in the surrounding sea, its intimidating appearance hides the rich and fertile lands inside, populated by citizens with an intricate and unique culture based upon a religion entirely their own.

Though there are many secret entrances and exits that the native people know of underneath the high cliffs, they never leave the island, fearing both the terrors of the outside world and the wrath of their god. What little they know of the outside world is told to them by the few survivors of shipwrecks or pirate attacks that make their way by chance, dragged by the current through one of their secret caves. While the population is very xenophobic and are more likely to execute newcomers or put them to hard labor as slaves, those that can gain favor with the citizens are quickly assimilated into their culture.

The population of Esil'heihm consists almost entirely of both Miqo'te and Roegadyn. The two races have lived on the island for so many centuries that they do not remember where they came from. Miqo'te make up the majority of the population (about 60%) with Roegadyn as a rather large minority at 35%. The other 5% is made up of outsiders that were brought in by the tide, and the descendants thereof.

While the population has Miqo'te primarily as the more abundant and higher status citizens, their language is derived from both Miqo'te and Roegadyn language almost equally, and their alphabet is completely different from either. While the language can be understood eventually (and more quickly by those who know at least one of the root languages), the written word is almost entirely indecipherable without a native speaker to translate.</spoiler>
===Religion===
<spoiler>Quite unlike the Eorzean's faith in the twelve, the citizens of Esil'Heihm believe in a singular divine entity known as the "Godking." In their religious texts, the Godking was a divine being made flesh upon the earth to save his people from assured destruction--for the Miqo'te it was a rain of fire, and for the Roegadyn it was an endless flood--and bring them together in a holy land where they would never face those hardships again. After leading the "chosen" to Esil'Heihm, the Godking split his physical body into seven pieces and returned to the heavens, decreeing that he will again return whenever his Chosen are in danger. The seven pieces became "the First Sons," which the Ruling Families are descended from.

Because they were once part of the Godking, the First Sons could hear the Godking's voice and know his will, so they became the first rulers of Esil'Heim, each taking their turn as king. But their descendants, being the progeny of the first sons' mortal wives, could not hear the Godking speak, and only after many rituals where they "took the Godking's power on earth into themselves" could one of them become king. Since then the firstborn son of each family undergoes a myriad rituals from birth, with the strongest among them becoming king.

The rest of their holy text details a very strict social structure "as set by the Godking before his departure," including everything from when, how, and how often prayer should be made, to an intricate caste system that is followed to the letter. Those that are devout and follow the holy texts are assured to rest forever at the Godking's side when they pass on, their life in death being as it was in life but without mortal needs like food or sleep. Anyone who deviates from the holy texts is cast out from society and considered an "affront to the Godking," deemed to be tossed into hell in death by the Godking himself. Hell is only described as "the dark place from which all evil is born, and where all evil must be returned."</spoiler>
===Intricacies===
<spoiler>====Naming Conventions====
Aside from the Ruling Families, all citizens are named after their caste (or aspect of their caste, such as an item, a tool or one of their duties), and an adjective or item that is descriptive of what their parents hold dear, with their surname being their caste title. For instance, a crafter whose mother admires beauty may be named "Galeimbahyel," or "jewel crafter."

The Ruling Families, those that are believed to be the direct descendants of the Godking, all have surnames that reflect their relation to the Godking and his heavenly residence. Given names can be anything so long as they do not directly relate to another caste. Ruling Families often name their children after iconic people from the holy text, or great leaders of the past. For instance, "Tivahlt Grimmgeist" comes from the lowest of the ruling families, and was named after a character in the holy text who was described as "a soft-furred man of noble standing, who traveled across the dangerous seas and back to spread the will of the Godking."
====Names of the Ruling Families====
Ordered by their secondary status within the Caste, decided by the order in which the First Sons (see religion, above) ruled.

*Fatyrh'agoht - ''god is [our] father''

*Khoenmynah - ''love the king [grammar is similar to a command]''

*Hahl'litarh - ''hollow [waiting for a commander] knight''

*Hihmlhund - ''heaven's [implied loyal] hound''

*Dehmah'rhyl - ''soldier that defends against [lit. kills] hell''

*Toumezhahl - ''speakers of the prophecies [lit. dreaming people of high status]''

*Grimmgeist - ''the spirit of one who rules [lit. cruel/ruling ghost]''

====Caste System====
Ordered by level of "supremacy" within society.
=====Ruling Castes=====
*1. Rhassael Na'akhen Gohtkhoen Erhma'zhahl - The Vessel That Contains the Godking's Will
**The ruler of Esil'Heihm, considered to be a god on earth. When one is his close to death, another is chosen from the Ker'Goht (see below) and undergoes a secret ritual with the dying king on a designated "sacred day," emerging as the new ruler. When used as a surname it is shortened to Rhassael, "The Vessel."

*2. Zha'oreshnann Na'haelyn Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The High Council of the Godking's Disciples
**The collective second-in-command, a council of seventeen members chosen from the most devout of the Serha (see below, Noble Castes). They are rarely seen, and news of them only comes when one member has died and another is chosen to take their. Shortens to either "The High Council" (Zha'haelyn) or "The High Priests" (Zha'Oreshnann), though they are rarely ever called by name.

*3. Ker'Rhassael Na'Goht Erhma'zhahl - Vessels-In-Waiting of His Will
**Sons from each of the ruling families that undergo physically and mentally torturous "rituals" each year to "become ready to take on His will." If one dies (a more common occurrence than they let on) the next oldest son begins the rituals at a faster pace to catch up, sometimes as quickly as weeks or days apart. Though they continue to have their family's name unless they are chosen to be king, in casual conversation they're often collectively referred to as the Ker'Goht, "[one] waiting for Him/god."

*4. Khelindt Na Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The Descendants of the Godking
**All members of the Royal Families, excluding their vessel-in-waiting. They are referred to by their surnames rather than their title, but in conversation among other members of noble or ruling castes, their collective name is shortened to Khelindt, "the descendants."
=====Noble Castes=====
*5. Serha'Oreshnann Na Gohtkhoen'mera - Anointed Disciples of the Godking
**Devoted followers who go through years of extensive study and preaching throughout their life. They are given a "ritual of anointment" when they come of age, to symbolize their closeness to the Godking. Shortened to Serha, "anointed."

*6. Bergennah Na Hihmlnann'mera - Defenders of The Almighty Ones
**Armed forces whose duty is to protect the ruling classes and enforce their laws among the other high castes. They are also given ritual of anointment when they come of age. Shortens to Bergennah, "the defenders."

*7. Oreshnann Na Gohtkoen'mera - Devoted Followers of the Godking
**Secondary followers, their studies are less rigorous as they are not expected to preach outside of small towns that the Serha do not travel to. Their primary duties are as librarians and are the only caste below the ruling castes that may enter the sacred libraries, keeping them clean and organized for the Serha and ruling castes. Their work is constant and most of them live in the library or the immediate area, but they are given a few days off every month for travel. Shortens to Oreshnann, "priest."

*8. Skalen Na Khelindt'mera Those in Service of His Decendants
**Servants that reside with and take care of the ruling families. They take care of everything from cleaning and cooking to caring for their children, often with their own at the early ages so that the children are used to each other by the time they grow up and the relationship of servant and master continues. Shortens to Skalen, "servant."

*9. Litarh Na'Goht Skalerh'mera - The Knights of His Service
**The more commonplace armed forces. They are the police force, keeping those of middle castes safe, and lower castes in their place. They take orders from the Bergennah and in turn enforce the laws among the castes below them. Shortens to Litarh, "knight."
=====Middle Castes=====
*10. Zha'O Bahyelda'Nahnen - High Crafters
**Just as the name implies, these people make high quality stuff. They are trained from an early age to follow their parents' profession. If they cannot produce work of good quality, they are demoted to Korh'Bahyelda and cast out from their family. Shortens to Zha'Bahyel, "good craft."

*11. Zha'O Gyfhteda'Nahnen - High Merchants
**Merchants known for a long familial history of good business with buyers and crafters alike. The punishment for "dishonorable" conduct is very strict. If one is caught doing something such as price gouging, selling illegal goods, selling to Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed"), or selling items of poor quality, they are stripped of their title, and occasionally executed. Shortens to Zha'Gyfhte, "good gift/sale."

*12. Zha'O Werhkeda'Nahnen - High Workers
**Workers from the Khor'Werhke caste (see below, Lower Castes) that have shown passion for their assigned job, loyalty to the ruling classes, and follow orders from the Litarh. No one is born into this caste, they must be chosen for it. Children born from them are given the choice at five years old to become Korh'Werhke, Korh'Gyfhte, or Korh'Bahyel, and are given a mentor from their desired caste (often one without a child of their own to teach), but are allowed to stay with their family until they come of age. Shortens to Zha'Werhke, "good work."
=====Lower Castes=====
*13: Khor'O Bahyelda'Henen - Low Crafters
**Crafters that are new to the profession, have a family history of mediocre or bad work, or have been demoted from Zha'Bahyel. They can be promoted to Zha'Bahyel status if they show that they are of the same level of quality. Shortens to Khor'Bahyel, "lower work."

*14: Khor'O Gyfhteda'Henen - Low Merchants
**Merchants that are new to the profession or have a family history of acceptable, but not ideal, business practices. Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed") are allowed to purchase items from them, but they can only buy the bare essentials; food, clothing, and anything that has been broken or deemed of "unacceptable" quality. Even then, Khor'Gyfhte with hopes of becoming Zha'Gifhte will refuse service. Khor'Gyfhte can only become Zha'Gyfhte if they have a family history spanning 5 generations or more of only "honorable" practices. Shortens to "Khor'Gyfhte, "lower gift/sale."

*15: Khor'O Werhkeda'Henen - Low Workers
**The standard working class, they are given the odd jobs that do not fall under crafts, such as farming, fishing, mining, building, street cleaning, etc. The more essential the job, the higher they are perceived within their caste. Shortens to Khor'Werhke, "lower work."

*16: Unejhden - Outsiders
**Outsiders that have been brought to the island by accident, but have taken Esil'Heihm's ways as their own and are open to becoming full citizens. Based on their expertise and/or level of fealty to the Godking, they can be assigned to any caste from Noble to Lower that does not have a coming-of age ritual. It is not used as their surname (they are not given one until they become part of a caste) and it is not shortened in conversation.
====="The Unnamed"=====
*Aghev'Ubhyl - The Unnamed [lit. "born from evil"]
**These are the lowest of the low; thieves, beggars, and unruly outsiders that will not conform to Esil'Heihm's ways. Also includes people from other castes that have been forcibly removed for questioning the ruling castes, trying to do something outside their caste, disobeying the laws, or having illegal contact with an Aghev'Ubhyl. They are either left to rot on the streets, or sent to do grueling labor for no pay. There is no way out for an Aghev'Ubhyl. Even saying their name in normal conversation is considered dishonorable. They have no surname and are never referred to as their "caste," giving them the monicker of the Unnamed.</spoiler>

==History==
===TL;DR Version===
Tivahlt Grimmgeist was born into nobility on an island in the middle of nowhere. He was experimented on with involuntary infusions of raw aether to induce severe aether sickness, which was then mixed directly into his blood and very being using unknown technology, in an attempt to create a powerful, mindless entity for the High Priests to control as their puppet on the throne, a "tradition" that spanned centuries. The experiments made him into something that could hardly be called a person, a "thing" made of both mortal flesh and raw either, slowly losing everything that made him anything more. He was only saved from either certain death or endless servitude when his island was found and invaded by marauding pirates seeking a land full of riches, who had been led there by a group of traitors that wanted revenge against the unfair caste system. Tivahlt was saved during the chaos before the experiments could be completed, and from the slaughter of the entire ruling class, by his old servant and friend who ferried his half-alive, mostly unconscious body to a safe haven on a distant shore before returning to their home to try and salvage it.

After recovering enough from the experiments to regain his senses, "Tiv" (or "Tiva") sailed to Eorzea, a land he had heard of from a scarce few accounts, under a disguise in case the worst should happen. Because males were rarely seen he dressed and acted as a female, which was surprisingly easy because his princely features, coupled with years of brutal experimentation that left his body frail and under-grown, made him closer in size to a female Miqo'te of Eorzea than a male. He only ever let one person see his true self, and it was their love and acceptance, coupled with the dauntless courage and passion for life he experienced from other Eorzean adventurers, that made him realize that he couldn't keep running from his past. He was still needed elsewhere.

After only a few months he left Eorzea, shortly before Dalamud fell, and returned to his home With the help of his old friend he rallied those people that remained, regardless of their rank under the previous regime, and a long series of battles and sacrifices (including the death of the aforementioned friend) his people finally regained control of the island. Since he was the last remaining noble, and the people had hardly known anything else other than brutal massacre, he was essentially forced to be king. He lived out the role as best he could, but he was troubled. He was losing pieces of his mind, and losing control of the power inside him. When the calamity struck Eorzea he felt it in the depths of his very soul, and ever since then he had become more and more unstable. He began to lose track of the present, and forget pieces of the past. His childhood, his own family, the friend who sacrificed his life...the friends he made in Eorzea, and the people who had stood by him.

Eventually he discovered that, because the procedures on him were never fully completed (for better or worse), his "power" was becoming increasingly unstable, constantly on the verge of ripping his body, and his mind, to shreds. Whatever had happened in Eorzea, the reshaping of a continent and some great displacement of...''something'', had shifted the aether enough that his old scars were reawakened. Years of battle and living with the aether inside him had hardened his body against its worst effects, but the unnatural energy was still too powerful to fully control and by all rights should have killed him long ago. At his lowest point, the power overwhelmed him for only a few moments and the resulting burst of raw, unnaturally imbued aether killed many of his own subjects. Tiv was running on borrowed time and his people were demanding his head out of fear and sorrow. He left for the only place where he had any chance of finding an answer to both of his problems.

Now he's back in Eorzea, a new man with a slight glowing problem, hoping to restore the few memories he can and find a way to, if not cure himself of the unnatural energy inside him, then suppress it long enough for a few more years of life. So far the only way he has found to at least relieve the pressure a little is to "let it out" through feats of powerful magic, so that's what he does. He slings spells for hire, for fun, for what he believes is right and, occasionally, for revenge.

===Long Version===
'''WORK IN PROGRESS'''

<spoiler>====My Life as a Kid====

Tivahlt was born in the nation of Esil'Heihm, an island far out in the oceans unknown to and unknowing of the outside world (for more information, see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#The Basics|"The Basics"]] above). He was born as the first son to his parents Hana'yl and Eferhsin, and the second son of the Grimmgeist family, the seventh and last of the Ruling Families of Esil'Heim. As such, he was raised in the lap of luxury with everything provided for him and servants at his beck and call. Like most children of the Ruling Families, he spent most of his time with his caretaker and tutor, a kind old Roegadyn woman named Lidiehn, and her son Esmylacht (Esmyl for short), who had been chosen to be Tivahlt's personal attendant when the two came of age. It was fortunate, then, that Tivahlt and Esmyl found themselves to be good friends throughout their childhood.

Under Lidiehn's tutelage and a select number of books from the Sacred Libraries, Tivahlt was trained in everything from etiquette and "proper" actions, to science, mathematics, and the arts (little Tiv had a particular fascination with the fictional tales the library had for public use, and would often reread the same one for weeks). Of course, he also spent most of his time reading the Sacred Texts and learning all about their benevolent deity, the Godking (see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#Religion|"Religion"]] above), from whom his family line, as with that of the other Ruling Families, had originated. Although Tivahlt was a brilliant student in all of his studies, he saw the Sacred Texts as a chore at best, and a terrifying vision of the future at best; technically the Godking still ruled their country, by "imparting his will" into the chosen ruler...essentially making them a hollow shell for the Godking to speak through. Traditionally the first son of each family was chosen to undertake the "rituals" necessary to become the Godking's vessel, but should the First Son of the Grimmgeist family fail the tribulations necessary and perish...Tiv was next in line.

While the other members of the Ruling Families saw this as a great honor, Tiv saw it essentially as a long, prolonged death. Stripped of your personality and free will, unable to die, watching while your body is controlled by some unknown force until it finally wears out. Still, to question the Godking, regardless of rank, was an act worthy of being cast out, or even executed depending on just ''how'' terrible the heresy was. So Tivahlt continued to pray and worship, though most of his prayers were desperate pleas for the Godking to keep his cousin, the First Son of the Grimmgeist family, alive.

Aside from his existential quandaries, Tivahlt led a mostly carefree life through his childhood and teenage years. He was a bit of a troublemaker, flirting around with just about anyone and sneaking out into places he shouldn't be, but were it not for Esmyl being both his friend and his voice of reason, he might have been even worse. It probably helped that Esmyl was twice Tivahlt's size for most of their youth and could just carry the little noble away from the most tempting disasters-in-waiting. The few little "transgressions" of his that were discovered were solved either with Tiv's silver tongue, or a stern talking-to. For Tivahlt there were no limits, no repercussions. He was free, within reason anyway.

Of course, that wasn't going to last for long...

====The Last Day====

Tivahlt had never met his older cousin. When Tivahlt was born he had already been taken to begin the rituals, and he grew up knowing only the girls born before him, and the children born after. He hardly even know what the first son's name was. Tivahlt was fifteen when he finally saw his eldest cousin, when his body was delivered to the Grimmgeist estate on a traditional bed of flower petals to prepare for the funeral. His cousin looked sick, and frail, and even though his body was preserved for the moment his skin had an unnatural greenish hue. His hair was already going grey when he died at only the age of 20. Tiv wondered if he failed the rituals because he had always been like that, or if the trials had really done so much to him.

Every moment of every day leading up to the funeral was a nightmare for Tivahlt. His perfect world was falling apart all around him. The one thing that he feared most as a child, the one thing that he had hidden in the back of his mind, covering it up with mindless distractions and blind hope, was imminently approaching. He was next in line, after all. Each family had to have a vessel in preparation.His family mourned the loss of the first but praised the luck of the second, cursing the heavens for taking their First Son away so soon, and telling Tivahlt that he had a chance of receiving the greatest gift the Godking could give. Their unending praise and optimism in his presence almost gave him hope. Perhaps he had read the texts wrong. Perhaps this was a chance for a carefree layabout to do some real good for the world. For his people.

Perhaps he was fooling himself in the face of oblivion.

The funeral was an event unlike anything Tivahlt had seen. He had seen deaths, and seen the process from the first rites to the final burials, but the First Son's was the most grandiose of all, eclipsing even their annual holiday celebrations. The entire estate was lit up with colored lanterns, the trees were strung with decorations and glittering gems that sparkled in the lantern-light like stars. It was as if heaven itself had come down to earth for one day and night, to take one of its own up with it upon return. It was the first time that Tivahlt ever felt close to God. The new feeling made everything seem to shine brighter, the food taste better, and the old stories sound new. He even had a few drinks at the servants table, much to the chagrin of Esmyl (whose freshly poured mug Tiv stole ''five times''), not to mention the rest of his family for being so improper and "drinking with people barely of noble status." Even with five drinks in him and an earful from his father, Tiv would always remember the entire event clearly, as if he had lived it just yesterday. It was his last day of freedom.

His last day of being normal.

====Rituals in a Dark Room====

Coming Soon!

====Invasion and Escape====

Coming soon!

====Welcome to Eorzea====

Coming soon!

====Battles at Home====

Coming soon!

====My Life as a (Fake) King====

Coming soon!

====Run Away!/Back to Eorzea====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

Coming Soon!

Tivahlt Grimmgeist

2013-07-03T05:31:10Z

Chaosmali: /* Appearance */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Tivahlt Grimmgeist
| image = Tiv_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I wander to stay free. To keep dreaming, to find hope, and, someday, to move on. I doubt I'll ever settle down...but I'll stay with you as long as you need me."
| title = The Gentile Wanderer
| gender = Male
| citizenship = Esil'Heihm
| race = Miqo'te
| clan = Keeper of the Moon
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 29
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 17th day of the 4th astral moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Menphina, the Lover]], though he doesn't know it.
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = Pansexual
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = None
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Tivahlt Grimmgeist

'''Pronunciation:''' TIV-alt GRIM-gaist (last syllable rhymes with "iced")

'''Nicknames:''' Tiv, more sure to come as he interacts with others.

'''Aliases:''' Formerly "Tiva," used briefly prior to Dalamud.

'''Birthplace:''' Esil'Heihm, an island nation in the middle of nowhere.

'''Current Residence:''' Any spare room he can find.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single, and does not use that to his advantage nearly as much as he used to.

'''Religion:''' Previously a lip-service follower of his nation's faith (see below), he has since become bitter and jaded towards the idea of "higher powers" at work. He lets others believe what they want, but if religion comes up in conversation he will politely take his leave.

'''Laterality:''' Ambidextrous, but favors his left hand.

'''Other Notes:''' Tiv hates his full name, for various reasons. He rarely lets someone know it, and he won't be happy if you say it.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'7"

'''Weight:''' 130 ponz

'''Build:''' Lithe, but with a little bit of muscle. It's clear that he has only recently been exercising the limits of his body. His skin is just a little bit too smooth to have seen any real work for most of his life.

'''Skin Color:''' Pale, but getting better. Clearly has not had an intimate relation with sunshine. Some small areas have a greenish tint, such as his fingertips.

'''Eye Color:''' Light green, with a faint glow.

'''Hair Color:''' Deep purple with tips of blue-ish white.

'''Hair Style:''' Generally unkempt. It looks less like an actual style, and more like someone took a knife to much longer hair and then tried to fix it haphazardly. The front hangs over his eyes, occasionally obscuring his vision enough that he needs to flick it away. He claims that it adds to his "mysterious wanderer" look.

'''General Clothing Style:''' Though as a self-expressed homeless wanderer his clothing is often reduced to "whatever he can get," he keeps whatever outfit he ''is'' wearing very clean and precisely fitted. He almost never has a button unbuttoned or a fold out of place. When he wears what he ''actually'' prefers to wear, it usually errs on the side of formal, but with enough comfort that he can (usually) fit in with the rest of the crowd.

'''Voice:''' Very smooth and just a little bit flirtatious. He is very well spoken and picks his words carefully, always trying his best to be cordial, even when he's excited or scared. He rarely ever raises his voice in anger, but when he ''is'' riled his voice becomes much rougher, almost like a primal growl.

'''Other Notes:''' He has very faint scars of all shapes and sizes across most of his body. Most notable are series of small hole-shaped scars that run in rows down his back, on the sides of his torso, and down his arms and legs. They have all healed to the point that they are difficult to see for most people unless they're looking for them, but a very sharp eye might be able to find a few.

==Personality==

Coming soon!

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===

Coming soon!

===Abilities in Daily Life===

Coming soon!

==Esil'Heihm==
'''''Note:''' This is for educational purposes only! The odds of any of this information being widely known are so low that calculating them would be pointless. The primary purpose for this information is to make Tiv's history easier to write, by putting the more wordy exposition in its own section.''

''It is also a testament to what happens when I go off on a tangent and no one stops me. The "Intricacies" section especially is full of information that no one will ever need.''
===The Basics===
<spoiler>Esil'Heihm, which translated means "holy island," is a tiny island nation far to the west and a little bit to the south from Eorzea, lying in the middle of the sea. Because of the stormy waters around it, coupled with the razor sharp rocks that threaten to destroy even the most deftly maneuvered of ships, those few who find it on their journeys are perfectly content to stay far away, and those that have tried to explore it have never lived to tell about it. While from most views it looks like nothing more than an uninhabited island made entirely of jagged cliffsides with dangerous rocks in the surrounding sea, its intimidating appearance hides the rich and fertile lands inside, populated by citizens with an intricate and unique culture based upon a religion entirely their own.

Though there are many secret entrances and exits that the native people know of underneath the high cliffs, they never leave the island, fearing both the terrors of the outside world and the wrath of their god. What little they know of the outside world is told to them by the few survivors of shipwrecks or pirate attacks that make their way by chance, dragged by the current through one of their secret caves. While the population is very xenophobic and are more likely to execute newcomers or put them to hard labor as slaves, those that can gain favor with the citizens are quickly assimilated into their culture.

The population of Esil'heihm consists almost entirely of both Miqo'te and Roegadyn. The two races have lived on the island for so many centuries that they do not remember where they came from. Miqo'te make up the majority of the population (about 60%) with Roegadyn as a rather large minority at 35%. The other 5% is made up of outsiders that were brought in by the tide, and the descendants thereof.

While the population has Miqo'te primarily as the more abundant and higher status citizens, their language is derived from both Miqo'te and Roegadyn language almost equally, and their alphabet is completely different from either. While the language can be understood eventually (and more quickly by those who know at least one of the root languages), the written word is almost entirely indecipherable without a native speaker to translate.</spoiler>
===Religion===
<spoiler>Quite unlike the Eorzean's faith in the twelve, the citizens of Esil'Heihm believe in a singular divine entity known as the "Godking." In their religious texts, the Godking was a divine being made flesh upon the earth to save his people from assured destruction--for the Miqo'te it was a rain of fire, and for the Roegadyn it was an endless flood--and bring them together in a holy land where they would never face those hardships again. After leading the "chosen" to Esil'Heihm, the Godking split his physical body into seven pieces and returned to the heavens, decreeing that he will again return whenever his Chosen are in danger. The seven pieces became "the First Sons," which the Ruling Families are descended from.

Because they were once part of the Godking, the First Sons could hear the Godking's voice and know his will, so they became the first rulers of Esil'Heim, each taking their turn as king. But their descendants, being the progeny of the first sons' mortal wives, could not hear the Godking speak, and only after many rituals where they "took the Godking's power on earth into themselves" could one of them become king. Since then the firstborn son of each family undergoes a myriad rituals from birth, with the strongest among them becoming king.

The rest of their holy text details a very strict social structure "as set by the Godking before his departure," including everything from when, how, and how often prayer should be made, to an intricate caste system that is followed to the letter. Those that are devout and follow the holy texts are assured to rest forever at the Godking's side when they pass on, their life in death being as it was in life but without mortal needs like food or sleep. Anyone who deviates from the holy texts is cast out from society and considered an "affront to the Godking," deemed to be tossed into hell in death by the Godking himself. Hell is only described as "the dark place from which all evil is born, and where all evil must be returned."</spoiler>
===Intricacies===
<spoiler>====Naming Conventions====
Aside from the Ruling Families, all citizens are named after their caste (or aspect of their caste, such as an item, a tool or one of their duties), and an adjective or item that is descriptive of what their parents hold dear, with their surname being their caste title. For instance, a crafter whose mother admires beauty may be named "Galeimbahyel," or "jewel crafter."

The Ruling Families, those that are believed to be the direct descendants of the Godking, all have surnames that reflect their relation to the Godking and his heavenly residence. Given names can be anything so long as they do not directly relate to another caste. Ruling Families often name their children after iconic people from the holy text, or great leaders of the past. For instance, "Tivahlt Grimmgeist" comes from the lowest of the ruling families, and was named after a character in the holy text who was described as "a soft-furred man of noble standing, who traveled across the dangerous seas and back to spread the will of the Godking."
====Names of the Ruling Families====
Ordered by their secondary status within the Caste, decided by the order in which the First Sons (see religion, above) ruled.

*Fatyrh'agoht - ''god is [our] father''

*Khoenmynah - ''love the king [grammar is similar to a command]''

*Hahl'litarh - ''hollow [waiting for a commander] knight''

*Hihmlhund - ''heaven's [implied loyal] hound''

*Dehmah'rhyl - ''soldier that defends against [lit. kills] hell''

*Toumezhahl - ''speakers of the prophecies [lit. dreaming people of high status]''

*Grimmgeist - ''the spirit of one who rules [lit. cruel/ruling ghost]''

====Caste System====
Ordered by level of "supremacy" within society.
=====Ruling Castes=====
*1. Rhassael Na'akhen Gohtkhoen Erhma'zhahl - The Vessel That Contains the Godking's Will
**The ruler of Esil'Heihm, considered to be a god on earth. When one is his close to death, another is chosen from the Ker'Goht (see below) and undergoes a secret ritual with the dying king on a designated "sacred day," emerging as the new ruler. When used as a surname it is shortened to Rhassael, "The Vessel."

*2. Zha'oreshnann Na'haelyn Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The High Council of the Godking's Disciples
**The collective second-in-command, a council of seventeen members chosen from the most devout of the Serha (see below, Noble Castes). They are rarely seen, and news of them only comes when one member has died and another is chosen to take their. Shortens to either "The High Council" (Zha'haelyn) or "The High Priests" (Zha'Oreshnann), though they are rarely ever called by name.

*3. Ker'Rhassael Na'Goht Erhma'zhahl - Vessels-In-Waiting of His Will
**Sons from each of the ruling families that undergo physically and mentally torturous "rituals" each year to "become ready to take on His will." If one dies (a more common occurrence than they let on) the next oldest son begins the rituals at a faster pace to catch up, sometimes as quickly as weeks or days apart. Though they continue to have their family's name unless they are chosen to be king, in casual conversation they're often collectively referred to as the Ker'Goht, "[one] waiting for Him/god."

*4. Khelindt Na Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The Descendants of the Godking
**All members of the Royal Families, excluding their vessel-in-waiting. They are referred to by their surnames rather than their title, but in conversation among other members of noble or ruling castes, their collective name is shortened to Khelindt, "the descendants."
=====Noble Castes=====
*5. Serha'Oreshnann Na Gohtkhoen'mera - Anointed Disciples of the Godking
**Devoted followers who go through years of extensive study and preaching throughout their life. They are given a "ritual of anointment" when they come of age, to symbolize their closeness to the Godking. Shortened to Serha, "anointed."

*6. Bergennah Na Hihmlnann'mera - Defenders of The Almighty Ones
**Armed forces whose duty is to protect the ruling classes and enforce their laws among the other high castes. They are also given ritual of anointment when they come of age. Shortens to Bergennah, "the defenders."

*7. Oreshnann Na Gohtkoen'mera - Devoted Followers of the Godking
**Secondary followers, their studies are less rigorous as they are not expected to preach outside of small towns that the Serha do not travel to. Their primary duties are as librarians and are the only caste below the ruling castes that may enter the sacred libraries, keeping them clean and organized for the Serha and ruling castes. Their work is constant and most of them live in the library or the immediate area, but they are given a few days off every month for travel. Shortens to Oreshnann, "priest."

*8. Skalen Na Khelindt'mera Those in Service of His Decendants
**Servants that reside with and take care of the ruling families. They take care of everything from cleaning and cooking to caring for their children, often with their own at the early ages so that the children are used to each other by the time they grow up and the relationship of servant and master continues. Shortens to Skalen, "servant."

*9. Litarh Na'Goht Skalerh'mera - The Knights of His Service
**The more commonplace armed forces. They are the police force, keeping those of middle castes safe, and lower castes in their place. They take orders from the Bergennah and in turn enforce the laws among the castes below them. Shortens to Litarh, "knight."
=====Middle Castes=====
*10. Zha'O Bahyelda'Nahnen - High Crafters
**Just as the name implies, these people make high quality stuff. They are trained from an early age to follow their parents' profession. If they cannot produce work of good quality, they are demoted to Korh'Bahyelda and cast out from their family. Shortens to Zha'Bahyel, "good craft."

*11. Zha'O Gyfhteda'Nahnen - High Merchants
**Merchants known for a long familial history of good business with buyers and crafters alike. The punishment for "dishonorable" conduct is very strict. If one is caught doing something such as price gouging, selling illegal goods, selling to Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed"), or selling items of poor quality, they are stripped of their title, and occasionally executed. Shortens to Zha'Gyfhte, "good gift/sale."

*12. Zha'O Werhkeda'Nahnen - High Workers
**Workers from the Khor'Werhke caste (see below, Lower Castes) that have shown passion for their assigned job, loyalty to the ruling classes, and follow orders from the Litarh. No one is born into this caste, they must be chosen for it. Children born from them are given the choice at five years old to become Korh'Werhke, Korh'Gyfhte, or Korh'Bahyel, and are given a mentor from their desired caste (often one without a child of their own to teach), but are allowed to stay with their family until they come of age. Shortens to Zha'Werhke, "good work."
=====Lower Castes=====
*13: Khor'O Bahyelda'Henen - Low Crafters
**Crafters that are new to the profession, have a family history of mediocre or bad work, or have been demoted from Zha'Bahyel. They can be promoted to Zha'Bahyel status if they show that they are of the same level of quality. Shortens to Khor'Bahyel, "lower work."

*14: Khor'O Gyfhteda'Henen - Low Merchants
**Merchants that are new to the profession or have a family history of acceptable, but not ideal, business practices. Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed") are allowed to purchase items from them, but they can only buy the bare essentials; food, clothing, and anything that has been broken or deemed of "unacceptable" quality. Even then, Khor'Gyfhte with hopes of becoming Zha'Gifhte will refuse service. Khor'Gyfhte can only become Zha'Gyfhte if they have a family history spanning 5 generations or more of only "honorable" practices. Shortens to "Khor'Gyfhte, "lower gift/sale."

*15: Khor'O Werhkeda'Henen - Low Workers
**The standard working class, they are given the odd jobs that do not fall under crafts, such as farming, fishing, mining, building, street cleaning, etc. The more essential the job, the higher they are perceived within their caste. Shortens to Khor'Werhke, "lower work."

*16: Unejhden - Outsiders
**Outsiders that have been brought to the island by accident, but have taken Esil'Heihm's ways as their own and are open to becoming full citizens. Based on their expertise and/or level of fealty to the Godking, they can be assigned to any caste from Noble to Lower that does not have a coming-of age ritual. It is not used as their surname (they are not given one until they become part of a caste) and it is not shortened in conversation.
====="The Unnamed"=====
*Aghev'Ubhyl - The Unnamed [lit. "born from evil"]
**These are the lowest of the low; thieves, beggars, and unruly outsiders that will not conform to Esil'Heihm's ways. Also includes people from other castes that have been forcibly removed for questioning the ruling castes, trying to do something outside their caste, disobeying the laws, or having illegal contact with an Aghev'Ubhyl. They are either left to rot on the streets, or sent to do grueling labor for no pay. There is no way out for an Aghev'Ubhyl. Even saying their name in normal conversation is considered dishonorable. They have no surname and are never referred to as their "caste," giving them the monicker of the Unnamed.</spoiler>

==History==
===TL;DR Version===
Tivahlt Grimmgeist was born into nobility on an island in the middle of nowhere. He was experimented on with involuntary infusions of raw aether to induce severe aether sickness, which was then mixed directly into his blood and very being using unknown technology, in an attempt to create a powerful, mindless entity for the High Priests to control as their puppet on the throne, a "tradition" that spanned centuries. The experiments made him into something that could hardly be called a person, a "thing" made of both mortal flesh and raw either, slowly losing everything that made him anything more. He was only saved from either certain death or endless servitude when his island was found and invaded by marauding pirates seeking a land full of riches, who had been led there by a group of traitors that wanted revenge against the unfair caste system. Tivahlt was saved during the chaos before the experiments could be completed, and from the slaughter of the entire ruling class, by his old servant and friend who ferried his half-alive, mostly unconscious body to a safe haven on a distant shore before returning to their home to try and salvage it.

After recovering enough from the experiments to regain his senses, "Tiv" (or "Tiva") sailed to Eorzea, a land he had heard of from a scarce few accounts, under a disguise in case the worst should happen. Because males were rarely seen he dressed and acted as a female, which was surprisingly easy because his princely features, coupled with years of brutal experimentation that left his body frail and under-grown, made him closer in size to a female Miqo'te of Eorzea than a male. He only ever let one person see his true self, and it was their love and acceptance, coupled with the dauntless courage and passion for life he experienced from other Eorzean adventurers, that made him realize that he couldn't keep running from his past. He was still needed elsewhere.

After only a few months he left Eorzea, shortly before Dalamud fell, and returned to his home With the help of his old friend he rallied those people that remained, regardless of their rank under the previous regime, and a long series of battles and sacrifices (including the death of the aforementioned friend) his people finally regained control of the island. Since he was the last remaining noble, and the people had hardly known anything else other than brutal massacre, he was essentially forced to be king. He lived out the role as best he could, but he was troubled. He was losing pieces of his mind, and losing control of the power inside him. When the calamity struck Eorzea he felt it in the depths of his very soul, and ever since then he had become more and more unstable. He began to lose track of the present, and forget pieces of the past. His childhood, his own family, the friend who sacrificed his life...the friends he made in Eorzea, and the people who had stood by him.

Eventually he discovered that, because the procedures on him were never fully completed (for better or worse), his "power" was becoming increasingly unstable, constantly on the verge of ripping his body, and his mind, to shreds. Whatever had happened in Eorzea, the reshaping of a continent and some great displacement of...''something'', had shifted the aether enough that his old scars were reawakened. Years of battle and living with the aether inside him had hardened his body against its worst effects, but the unnatural energy was still too powerful to fully control and by all rights should have killed him long ago. At his lowest point, the power overwhelmed him for only a few moments and the resulting burst of raw, unnaturally imbued aether killed many of his own subjects. Tiv was running on borrowed time and his people were demanding his head out of fear and sorrow. He left for the only place where he had any chance of finding an answer to both of his problems.

Now he's back in Eorzea, a new man with a slight glowing problem, hoping to restore the few memories he can and find a way to, if not cure himself of the unnatural energy inside him, then suppress it long enough for a few more years of life. So far the only way he has found to at least relieve the pressure a little is to "let it out" through feats of powerful magic, so that's what he does. He slings spells for hire, for fun, for what he believes is right and, occasionally, for revenge.

===Long Version===
'''WORK IN PROGRESS'''

<spoiler>====My Life as a Kid====

Tivahlt was born in the nation of Esil'Heihm, an island far out in the oceans unknown to and unknowing of the outside world (for more information, see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#The Basics|"The Basics"]] above). He was born as the first son to his parents Hana'yl and Eferhsin, and the second son of the Grimmgeist family, the seventh and last of the Ruling Families of Esil'Heim. As such, he was raised in the lap of luxury with everything provided for him and servants at his beck and call. Like most children of the Ruling Families, he spent most of his time with his caretaker and tutor, a kind old Roegadyn woman named Lidiehn, and her son Esmylacht (Esmyl for short), who had been chosen to be Tivahlt's personal attendant when the two came of age. It was fortunate, then, that Tivahlt and Esmyl found themselves to be good friends throughout their childhood.

Under Lidiehn's tutelage and a select number of books from the Sacred Libraries, Tivahlt was trained in everything from etiquette and "proper" actions, to science, mathematics, and the arts (little Tiv had a particular fascination with the fictional tales the library had for public use, and would often reread the same one for weeks). Of course, he also spent most of his time reading the Sacred Texts and learning all about their benevolent deity, the Godking (see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#Religion|"Religion"]] above), from whom his family line, as with that of the other Ruling Families, had originated. Although Tivahlt was a brilliant student in all of his studies, he saw the Sacred Texts as a chore at best, and a terrifying vision of the future at best; technically the Godking still ruled their country, by "imparting his will" into the chosen ruler...essentially making them a hollow shell for the Godking to speak through. Traditionally the first son of each family was chosen to undertake the "rituals" necessary to become the Godking's vessel, but should the First Son of the Grimmgeist family fail the tribulations necessary and perish...Tiv was next in line.

While the other members of the Ruling Families saw this as a great honor, Tiv saw it essentially as a long, prolonged death. Stripped of your personality and free will, unable to die, watching while your body is controlled by some unknown force until it finally wears out. Still, to question the Godking, regardless of rank, was an act worthy of being cast out, or even executed depending on just ''how'' terrible the heresy was. So Tivahlt continued to pray and worship, though most of his prayers were desperate pleas for the Godking to keep his cousin, the First Son of the Grimmgeist family, alive.

Aside from his existential quandaries, Tivahlt led a mostly carefree life through his childhood and teenage years. He was a bit of a troublemaker, flirting around with just about anyone and sneaking out into places he shouldn't be, but were it not for Esmyl being both his friend and his voice of reason, he might have been even worse. It probably helped that Esmyl was twice Tivahlt's size for most of their youth and could just carry the little noble away from the most tempting disasters-in-waiting. The few little "transgressions" of his that were discovered were solved either with Tiv's silver tongue, or a stern talking-to. For Tivahlt there were no limits, no repercussions. He was free, within reason anyway.

Of course, that wasn't going to last for long...

====The Last Day====

Tivahlt had never met his older cousin. When Tivahlt was born he had already been taken to begin the rituals, and he grew up knowing only the girls born before him, and the children born after. He hardly even know what the first son's name was. Tivahlt was fifteen when he finally saw his eldest cousin, when his body was delivered to the Grimmgeist estate on a traditional bed of flower petals to prepare for the funeral. His cousin looked sick, and frail, and even though his body was preserved for the moment his skin had an unnatural greenish hue. His hair was already going grey when he died at only the age of 20. Tiv wondered if he failed the rituals because he had always been like that, or if the trials had really done so much to him.

Every moment of every day leading up to the funeral was a nightmare for Tivahlt. His perfect world was falling apart all around him. The one thing that he feared most as a child, the one thing that he had hidden in the back of his mind, covering it up with mindless distractions and blind hope, was imminently approaching. He was next in line, after all. Each family had to have a vessel in preparation.His family mourned the loss of the first but praised the luck of the second, cursing the heavens for taking their First Son away so soon, and telling Tivahlt that he had a chance of receiving the greatest gift the Godking could give. Their unending praise and optimism in his presence almost gave him hope. Perhaps he had read the texts wrong. Perhaps this was a chance for a carefree layabout to do some real good for the world. For his people.

Perhaps he was fooling himself in the face of oblivion.

The funeral was an event unlike anything Tivahlt had seen. He had seen deaths, and seen the process from the first rites to the final burials, but the First Son's was the most grandiose of all, eclipsing even their annual holiday celebrations. The entire estate was lit up with colored lanterns, the trees were strung with decorations and glittering gems that sparkled in the lantern-light like stars. It was as if heaven itself had come down to earth for one day and night, to take one of its own up with it upon return. It was the first time that Tivahlt ever felt close to God. The new feeling made everything seem to shine brighter, the food taste better, and the old stories sound new. He even had a few drinks at the servants table, much to the chagrin of Esmyl (whose freshly poured mug Tiv stole ''five times''), not to mention the rest of his family for being so improper and "drinking with people barely of noble status." Even with five drinks in him and an earful from his father, Tiv would always remember the entire event clearly, as if he had lived it just yesterday. It was his last day of freedom.

His last day of being normal.

====Rituals in a Dark Room====

Coming Soon!

====Invasion and Escape====

Coming soon!

====Welcome to Eorzea====

Coming soon!

====Battles at Home====

Coming soon!

====My Life as a (Fake) King====

Coming soon!

====Run Away!/Back to Eorzea====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

Coming Soon!

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-03T05:28:50Z

Chaosmali:

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Deeper Scars
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Adventurer
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for one on her cheek. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is Known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was nothing there save for a few remains of the building's structure that were still in the process of being taken over by nature.

With no idea if her parents were alive or dead, and nowhere to begin looking, Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. After a week, despite the large amount of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. It had healed, but for whatever reason it hadn't healed ''properly''; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her right, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She took a new name again, "Bloodscythe," to match the new color of her eye. Her old names had outlived their usefulness, anyway. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...and this time she faced it head-on. She had nothing else to do, she might as well keep doing what she was good at, and enjoy it while she could.</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-03T05:28:05Z

Chaosmali: /* Appearance */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Deeper Scars
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for one on her cheek. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is Known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was nothing there save for a few remains of the building's structure that were still in the process of being taken over by nature.

With no idea if her parents were alive or dead, and nowhere to begin looking, Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. After a week, despite the large amount of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. It had healed, but for whatever reason it hadn't healed ''properly''; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her right, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She took a new name again, "Bloodscythe," to match the new color of her eye. Her old names had outlived their usefulness, anyway. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...and this time she faced it head-on. She had nothing else to do, she might as well keep doing what she was good at, and enjoy it while she could.</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-03T05:27:00Z

Chaosmali:

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Deeper Scars
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is Known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was nothing there save for a few remains of the building's structure that were still in the process of being taken over by nature.

With no idea if her parents were alive or dead, and nowhere to begin looking, Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. After a week, despite the large amount of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. It had healed, but for whatever reason it hadn't healed ''properly''; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her right, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She took a new name again, "Bloodscythe," to match the new color of her eye. Her old names had outlived their usefulness, anyway. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...and this time she faced it head-on. She had nothing else to do, she might as well keep doing what she was good at, and enjoy it while she could.</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-03T05:24:06Z

Chaosmali: /* What is known */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is Known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was nothing there save for a few remains of the building's structure that were still in the process of being taken over by nature.

With no idea if her parents were alive or dead, and nowhere to begin looking, Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. After a week, despite the large amount of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. It had healed, but for whatever reason it hadn't healed ''properly''; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her right, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She took a new name again, "Bloodscythe," to match the new color of her eye. Her old names had outlived their usefulness, anyway. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...and this time she faced it head-on. She had nothing else to do, she might as well keep doing what she was good at, and enjoy it while she could.</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Tivahlt Grimmgeist

2013-07-03T05:18:05Z

Chaosmali: /* TL;DR Version */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Tivahlt Grimmgeist
| image = Tiv_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I wander to stay free. To keep dreaming, to find hope, and, someday, to move on. I doubt I'll ever settle down...but I'll stay with you as long as you need me."
| title = The Gentile Wanderer
| gender = Male
| citizenship = Esil'Heihm
| race = Miqo'te
| clan = Keeper of the Moon
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 29
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 17th day of the 4th astral moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Menphina, the Lover]], though he doesn't know it.
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = Pansexual
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = None
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Tivahlt Grimmgeist

'''Pronunciation:''' TIV-alt GRIM-gaist (last syllable rhymes with "iced")

'''Nicknames:''' Tiv, more sure to come as he interacts with others.

'''Aliases:''' Formerly "Tiva," used briefly prior to Dalamud.

'''Birthplace:''' Esil'Heihm, an island nation in the middle of nowhere.

'''Current Residence:''' Any spare room he can find.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single, and does not use that to his advantage nearly as much as he used to.

'''Religion:''' Previously a lip-service follower of his nation's faith (see below), he has since become bitter and jaded towards the idea of "higher powers" at work. He lets others believe what they want, but if religion comes up in conversation he will politely take his leave.

'''Laterality:''' Ambidextrous, but favors his left hand.

'''Other Notes:''' Tiv hates his full name, for various reasons. He rarely lets someone know it, and he won't be happy if you say it.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'7"

'''Weight:''' 130 ponz

'''Build:''' Lithe, but with a little bit of muscle. It's clear that he has only recently been exercising the limits of his body. His skin is just a little bit too smooth to have seen any real work for most of his life.

'''Skin Color:''' Pale with a blue tint. Clearly does not have an intimate relation with sunshine.

'''Eye Color:''' Light green, with a faint glow.

'''Hair Color:''' Deep purple with tips of blue-ish white.

'''Hair Style:''' Generally unkempt. It looks less like an actual style, and more like someone took a knife to much longer hair and then tried to fix it haphazardly. The front hangs over his eyes, occasionally obscuring his vision enough that he needs to flick it away. He claims that it adds to his "mysterious wanderer" look.

'''General Clothing Style:''' Though as a self-expressed homeless wanderer his clothing is often reduced to "whatever he can get," he keeps whatever outfit he ''is'' wearing very clean and precisely fitted. He almost never has a button unbuttoned or a fold out of place. When he wears what he ''actually'' prefers to wear, it usually errs on the side of formal, but with enough comfort that he can (usually) fit in with the rest of the crowd.

'''Voice:''' Very smooth and just a little bit flirtatious. He is very well spoken and picks his words carefully, always trying his best to be cordial, even when he's excited or scared. He rarely ever raises his voice in anger, but when he ''is'' riled his voice becomes much rougher, almost like a primal growl.

'''Other Notes:''' He has very faint scars of all shapes and sizes across most of his body. Most notable are series of small hole-shaped scars that run in rows down his back, on the sides of his torso, and down his arms and legs. They have all healed to the point that they are difficult to see for most people unless they're looking for them, but a very sharp eye might be able to find a few.

==Personality==

Coming soon!

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===

Coming soon!

===Abilities in Daily Life===

Coming soon!

==Esil'Heihm==
'''''Note:''' This is for educational purposes only! The odds of any of this information being widely known are so low that calculating them would be pointless. The primary purpose for this information is to make Tiv's history easier to write, by putting the more wordy exposition in its own section.''

''It is also a testament to what happens when I go off on a tangent and no one stops me. The "Intricacies" section especially is full of information that no one will ever need.''
===The Basics===
<spoiler>Esil'Heihm, which translated means "holy island," is a tiny island nation far to the west and a little bit to the south from Eorzea, lying in the middle of the sea. Because of the stormy waters around it, coupled with the razor sharp rocks that threaten to destroy even the most deftly maneuvered of ships, those few who find it on their journeys are perfectly content to stay far away, and those that have tried to explore it have never lived to tell about it. While from most views it looks like nothing more than an uninhabited island made entirely of jagged cliffsides with dangerous rocks in the surrounding sea, its intimidating appearance hides the rich and fertile lands inside, populated by citizens with an intricate and unique culture based upon a religion entirely their own.

Though there are many secret entrances and exits that the native people know of underneath the high cliffs, they never leave the island, fearing both the terrors of the outside world and the wrath of their god. What little they know of the outside world is told to them by the few survivors of shipwrecks or pirate attacks that make their way by chance, dragged by the current through one of their secret caves. While the population is very xenophobic and are more likely to execute newcomers or put them to hard labor as slaves, those that can gain favor with the citizens are quickly assimilated into their culture.

The population of Esil'heihm consists almost entirely of both Miqo'te and Roegadyn. The two races have lived on the island for so many centuries that they do not remember where they came from. Miqo'te make up the majority of the population (about 60%) with Roegadyn as a rather large minority at 35%. The other 5% is made up of outsiders that were brought in by the tide, and the descendants thereof.

While the population has Miqo'te primarily as the more abundant and higher status citizens, their language is derived from both Miqo'te and Roegadyn language almost equally, and their alphabet is completely different from either. While the language can be understood eventually (and more quickly by those who know at least one of the root languages), the written word is almost entirely indecipherable without a native speaker to translate.</spoiler>
===Religion===
<spoiler>Quite unlike the Eorzean's faith in the twelve, the citizens of Esil'Heihm believe in a singular divine entity known as the "Godking." In their religious texts, the Godking was a divine being made flesh upon the earth to save his people from assured destruction--for the Miqo'te it was a rain of fire, and for the Roegadyn it was an endless flood--and bring them together in a holy land where they would never face those hardships again. After leading the "chosen" to Esil'Heihm, the Godking split his physical body into seven pieces and returned to the heavens, decreeing that he will again return whenever his Chosen are in danger. The seven pieces became "the First Sons," which the Ruling Families are descended from.

Because they were once part of the Godking, the First Sons could hear the Godking's voice and know his will, so they became the first rulers of Esil'Heim, each taking their turn as king. But their descendants, being the progeny of the first sons' mortal wives, could not hear the Godking speak, and only after many rituals where they "took the Godking's power on earth into themselves" could one of them become king. Since then the firstborn son of each family undergoes a myriad rituals from birth, with the strongest among them becoming king.

The rest of their holy text details a very strict social structure "as set by the Godking before his departure," including everything from when, how, and how often prayer should be made, to an intricate caste system that is followed to the letter. Those that are devout and follow the holy texts are assured to rest forever at the Godking's side when they pass on, their life in death being as it was in life but without mortal needs like food or sleep. Anyone who deviates from the holy texts is cast out from society and considered an "affront to the Godking," deemed to be tossed into hell in death by the Godking himself. Hell is only described as "the dark place from which all evil is born, and where all evil must be returned."</spoiler>
===Intricacies===
<spoiler>====Naming Conventions====
Aside from the Ruling Families, all citizens are named after their caste (or aspect of their caste, such as an item, a tool or one of their duties), and an adjective or item that is descriptive of what their parents hold dear, with their surname being their caste title. For instance, a crafter whose mother admires beauty may be named "Galeimbahyel," or "jewel crafter."

The Ruling Families, those that are believed to be the direct descendants of the Godking, all have surnames that reflect their relation to the Godking and his heavenly residence. Given names can be anything so long as they do not directly relate to another caste. Ruling Families often name their children after iconic people from the holy text, or great leaders of the past. For instance, "Tivahlt Grimmgeist" comes from the lowest of the ruling families, and was named after a character in the holy text who was described as "a soft-furred man of noble standing, who traveled across the dangerous seas and back to spread the will of the Godking."
====Names of the Ruling Families====
Ordered by their secondary status within the Caste, decided by the order in which the First Sons (see religion, above) ruled.

*Fatyrh'agoht - ''god is [our] father''

*Khoenmynah - ''love the king [grammar is similar to a command]''

*Hahl'litarh - ''hollow [waiting for a commander] knight''

*Hihmlhund - ''heaven's [implied loyal] hound''

*Dehmah'rhyl - ''soldier that defends against [lit. kills] hell''

*Toumezhahl - ''speakers of the prophecies [lit. dreaming people of high status]''

*Grimmgeist - ''the spirit of one who rules [lit. cruel/ruling ghost]''

====Caste System====
Ordered by level of "supremacy" within society.
=====Ruling Castes=====
*1. Rhassael Na'akhen Gohtkhoen Erhma'zhahl - The Vessel That Contains the Godking's Will
**The ruler of Esil'Heihm, considered to be a god on earth. When one is his close to death, another is chosen from the Ker'Goht (see below) and undergoes a secret ritual with the dying king on a designated "sacred day," emerging as the new ruler. When used as a surname it is shortened to Rhassael, "The Vessel."

*2. Zha'oreshnann Na'haelyn Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The High Council of the Godking's Disciples
**The collective second-in-command, a council of seventeen members chosen from the most devout of the Serha (see below, Noble Castes). They are rarely seen, and news of them only comes when one member has died and another is chosen to take their. Shortens to either "The High Council" (Zha'haelyn) or "The High Priests" (Zha'Oreshnann), though they are rarely ever called by name.

*3. Ker'Rhassael Na'Goht Erhma'zhahl - Vessels-In-Waiting of His Will
**Sons from each of the ruling families that undergo physically and mentally torturous "rituals" each year to "become ready to take on His will." If one dies (a more common occurrence than they let on) the next oldest son begins the rituals at a faster pace to catch up, sometimes as quickly as weeks or days apart. Though they continue to have their family's name unless they are chosen to be king, in casual conversation they're often collectively referred to as the Ker'Goht, "[one] waiting for Him/god."

*4. Khelindt Na Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The Descendants of the Godking
**All members of the Royal Families, excluding their vessel-in-waiting. They are referred to by their surnames rather than their title, but in conversation among other members of noble or ruling castes, their collective name is shortened to Khelindt, "the descendants."
=====Noble Castes=====
*5. Serha'Oreshnann Na Gohtkhoen'mera - Anointed Disciples of the Godking
**Devoted followers who go through years of extensive study and preaching throughout their life. They are given a "ritual of anointment" when they come of age, to symbolize their closeness to the Godking. Shortened to Serha, "anointed."

*6. Bergennah Na Hihmlnann'mera - Defenders of The Almighty Ones
**Armed forces whose duty is to protect the ruling classes and enforce their laws among the other high castes. They are also given ritual of anointment when they come of age. Shortens to Bergennah, "the defenders."

*7. Oreshnann Na Gohtkoen'mera - Devoted Followers of the Godking
**Secondary followers, their studies are less rigorous as they are not expected to preach outside of small towns that the Serha do not travel to. Their primary duties are as librarians and are the only caste below the ruling castes that may enter the sacred libraries, keeping them clean and organized for the Serha and ruling castes. Their work is constant and most of them live in the library or the immediate area, but they are given a few days off every month for travel. Shortens to Oreshnann, "priest."

*8. Skalen Na Khelindt'mera Those in Service of His Decendants
**Servants that reside with and take care of the ruling families. They take care of everything from cleaning and cooking to caring for their children, often with their own at the early ages so that the children are used to each other by the time they grow up and the relationship of servant and master continues. Shortens to Skalen, "servant."

*9. Litarh Na'Goht Skalerh'mera - The Knights of His Service
**The more commonplace armed forces. They are the police force, keeping those of middle castes safe, and lower castes in their place. They take orders from the Bergennah and in turn enforce the laws among the castes below them. Shortens to Litarh, "knight."
=====Middle Castes=====
*10. Zha'O Bahyelda'Nahnen - High Crafters
**Just as the name implies, these people make high quality stuff. They are trained from an early age to follow their parents' profession. If they cannot produce work of good quality, they are demoted to Korh'Bahyelda and cast out from their family. Shortens to Zha'Bahyel, "good craft."

*11. Zha'O Gyfhteda'Nahnen - High Merchants
**Merchants known for a long familial history of good business with buyers and crafters alike. The punishment for "dishonorable" conduct is very strict. If one is caught doing something such as price gouging, selling illegal goods, selling to Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed"), or selling items of poor quality, they are stripped of their title, and occasionally executed. Shortens to Zha'Gyfhte, "good gift/sale."

*12. Zha'O Werhkeda'Nahnen - High Workers
**Workers from the Khor'Werhke caste (see below, Lower Castes) that have shown passion for their assigned job, loyalty to the ruling classes, and follow orders from the Litarh. No one is born into this caste, they must be chosen for it. Children born from them are given the choice at five years old to become Korh'Werhke, Korh'Gyfhte, or Korh'Bahyel, and are given a mentor from their desired caste (often one without a child of their own to teach), but are allowed to stay with their family until they come of age. Shortens to Zha'Werhke, "good work."
=====Lower Castes=====
*13: Khor'O Bahyelda'Henen - Low Crafters
**Crafters that are new to the profession, have a family history of mediocre or bad work, or have been demoted from Zha'Bahyel. They can be promoted to Zha'Bahyel status if they show that they are of the same level of quality. Shortens to Khor'Bahyel, "lower work."

*14: Khor'O Gyfhteda'Henen - Low Merchants
**Merchants that are new to the profession or have a family history of acceptable, but not ideal, business practices. Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed") are allowed to purchase items from them, but they can only buy the bare essentials; food, clothing, and anything that has been broken or deemed of "unacceptable" quality. Even then, Khor'Gyfhte with hopes of becoming Zha'Gifhte will refuse service. Khor'Gyfhte can only become Zha'Gyfhte if they have a family history spanning 5 generations or more of only "honorable" practices. Shortens to "Khor'Gyfhte, "lower gift/sale."

*15: Khor'O Werhkeda'Henen - Low Workers
**The standard working class, they are given the odd jobs that do not fall under crafts, such as farming, fishing, mining, building, street cleaning, etc. The more essential the job, the higher they are perceived within their caste. Shortens to Khor'Werhke, "lower work."

*16: Unejhden - Outsiders
**Outsiders that have been brought to the island by accident, but have taken Esil'Heihm's ways as their own and are open to becoming full citizens. Based on their expertise and/or level of fealty to the Godking, they can be assigned to any caste from Noble to Lower that does not have a coming-of age ritual. It is not used as their surname (they are not given one until they become part of a caste) and it is not shortened in conversation.
====="The Unnamed"=====
*Aghev'Ubhyl - The Unnamed [lit. "born from evil"]
**These are the lowest of the low; thieves, beggars, and unruly outsiders that will not conform to Esil'Heihm's ways. Also includes people from other castes that have been forcibly removed for questioning the ruling castes, trying to do something outside their caste, disobeying the laws, or having illegal contact with an Aghev'Ubhyl. They are either left to rot on the streets, or sent to do grueling labor for no pay. There is no way out for an Aghev'Ubhyl. Even saying their name in normal conversation is considered dishonorable. They have no surname and are never referred to as their "caste," giving them the monicker of the Unnamed.</spoiler>

==History==
===TL;DR Version===
Tivahlt Grimmgeist was born into nobility on an island in the middle of nowhere. He was experimented on with involuntary infusions of raw aether to induce severe aether sickness, which was then mixed directly into his blood and very being using unknown technology, in an attempt to create a powerful, mindless entity for the High Priests to control as their puppet on the throne, a "tradition" that spanned centuries. The experiments made him into something that could hardly be called a person, a "thing" made of both mortal flesh and raw either, slowly losing everything that made him anything more. He was only saved from either certain death or endless servitude when his island was found and invaded by marauding pirates seeking a land full of riches, who had been led there by a group of traitors that wanted revenge against the unfair caste system. Tivahlt was saved during the chaos before the experiments could be completed, and from the slaughter of the entire ruling class, by his old servant and friend who ferried his half-alive, mostly unconscious body to a safe haven on a distant shore before returning to their home to try and salvage it.

After recovering enough from the experiments to regain his senses, "Tiv" (or "Tiva") sailed to Eorzea, a land he had heard of from a scarce few accounts, under a disguise in case the worst should happen. Because males were rarely seen he dressed and acted as a female, which was surprisingly easy because his princely features, coupled with years of brutal experimentation that left his body frail and under-grown, made him closer in size to a female Miqo'te of Eorzea than a male. He only ever let one person see his true self, and it was their love and acceptance, coupled with the dauntless courage and passion for life he experienced from other Eorzean adventurers, that made him realize that he couldn't keep running from his past. He was still needed elsewhere.

After only a few months he left Eorzea, shortly before Dalamud fell, and returned to his home With the help of his old friend he rallied those people that remained, regardless of their rank under the previous regime, and a long series of battles and sacrifices (including the death of the aforementioned friend) his people finally regained control of the island. Since he was the last remaining noble, and the people had hardly known anything else other than brutal massacre, he was essentially forced to be king. He lived out the role as best he could, but he was troubled. He was losing pieces of his mind, and losing control of the power inside him. When the calamity struck Eorzea he felt it in the depths of his very soul, and ever since then he had become more and more unstable. He began to lose track of the present, and forget pieces of the past. His childhood, his own family, the friend who sacrificed his life...the friends he made in Eorzea, and the people who had stood by him.

Eventually he discovered that, because the procedures on him were never fully completed (for better or worse), his "power" was becoming increasingly unstable, constantly on the verge of ripping his body, and his mind, to shreds. Whatever had happened in Eorzea, the reshaping of a continent and some great displacement of...''something'', had shifted the aether enough that his old scars were reawakened. Years of battle and living with the aether inside him had hardened his body against its worst effects, but the unnatural energy was still too powerful to fully control and by all rights should have killed him long ago. At his lowest point, the power overwhelmed him for only a few moments and the resulting burst of raw, unnaturally imbued aether killed many of his own subjects. Tiv was running on borrowed time and his people were demanding his head out of fear and sorrow. He left for the only place where he had any chance of finding an answer to both of his problems.

Now he's back in Eorzea, a new man with a slight glowing problem, hoping to restore the few memories he can and find a way to, if not cure himself of the unnatural energy inside him, then suppress it long enough for a few more years of life. So far the only way he has found to at least relieve the pressure a little is to "let it out" through feats of powerful magic, so that's what he does. He slings spells for hire, for fun, for what he believes is right and, occasionally, for revenge.

===Long Version===
'''WORK IN PROGRESS'''

<spoiler>====My Life as a Kid====

Tivahlt was born in the nation of Esil'Heihm, an island far out in the oceans unknown to and unknowing of the outside world (for more information, see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#The Basics|"The Basics"]] above). He was born as the first son to his parents Hana'yl and Eferhsin, and the second son of the Grimmgeist family, the seventh and last of the Ruling Families of Esil'Heim. As such, he was raised in the lap of luxury with everything provided for him and servants at his beck and call. Like most children of the Ruling Families, he spent most of his time with his caretaker and tutor, a kind old Roegadyn woman named Lidiehn, and her son Esmylacht (Esmyl for short), who had been chosen to be Tivahlt's personal attendant when the two came of age. It was fortunate, then, that Tivahlt and Esmyl found themselves to be good friends throughout their childhood.

Under Lidiehn's tutelage and a select number of books from the Sacred Libraries, Tivahlt was trained in everything from etiquette and "proper" actions, to science, mathematics, and the arts (little Tiv had a particular fascination with the fictional tales the library had for public use, and would often reread the same one for weeks). Of course, he also spent most of his time reading the Sacred Texts and learning all about their benevolent deity, the Godking (see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#Religion|"Religion"]] above), from whom his family line, as with that of the other Ruling Families, had originated. Although Tivahlt was a brilliant student in all of his studies, he saw the Sacred Texts as a chore at best, and a terrifying vision of the future at best; technically the Godking still ruled their country, by "imparting his will" into the chosen ruler...essentially making them a hollow shell for the Godking to speak through. Traditionally the first son of each family was chosen to undertake the "rituals" necessary to become the Godking's vessel, but should the First Son of the Grimmgeist family fail the tribulations necessary and perish...Tiv was next in line.

While the other members of the Ruling Families saw this as a great honor, Tiv saw it essentially as a long, prolonged death. Stripped of your personality and free will, unable to die, watching while your body is controlled by some unknown force until it finally wears out. Still, to question the Godking, regardless of rank, was an act worthy of being cast out, or even executed depending on just ''how'' terrible the heresy was. So Tivahlt continued to pray and worship, though most of his prayers were desperate pleas for the Godking to keep his cousin, the First Son of the Grimmgeist family, alive.

Aside from his existential quandaries, Tivahlt led a mostly carefree life through his childhood and teenage years. He was a bit of a troublemaker, flirting around with just about anyone and sneaking out into places he shouldn't be, but were it not for Esmyl being both his friend and his voice of reason, he might have been even worse. It probably helped that Esmyl was twice Tivahlt's size for most of their youth and could just carry the little noble away from the most tempting disasters-in-waiting. The few little "transgressions" of his that were discovered were solved either with Tiv's silver tongue, or a stern talking-to. For Tivahlt there were no limits, no repercussions. He was free, within reason anyway.

Of course, that wasn't going to last for long...

====The Last Day====

Tivahlt had never met his older cousin. When Tivahlt was born he had already been taken to begin the rituals, and he grew up knowing only the girls born before him, and the children born after. He hardly even know what the first son's name was. Tivahlt was fifteen when he finally saw his eldest cousin, when his body was delivered to the Grimmgeist estate on a traditional bed of flower petals to prepare for the funeral. His cousin looked sick, and frail, and even though his body was preserved for the moment his skin had an unnatural greenish hue. His hair was already going grey when he died at only the age of 20. Tiv wondered if he failed the rituals because he had always been like that, or if the trials had really done so much to him.

Every moment of every day leading up to the funeral was a nightmare for Tivahlt. His perfect world was falling apart all around him. The one thing that he feared most as a child, the one thing that he had hidden in the back of his mind, covering it up with mindless distractions and blind hope, was imminently approaching. He was next in line, after all. Each family had to have a vessel in preparation.His family mourned the loss of the first but praised the luck of the second, cursing the heavens for taking their First Son away so soon, and telling Tivahlt that he had a chance of receiving the greatest gift the Godking could give. Their unending praise and optimism in his presence almost gave him hope. Perhaps he had read the texts wrong. Perhaps this was a chance for a carefree layabout to do some real good for the world. For his people.

Perhaps he was fooling himself in the face of oblivion.

The funeral was an event unlike anything Tivahlt had seen. He had seen deaths, and seen the process from the first rites to the final burials, but the First Son's was the most grandiose of all, eclipsing even their annual holiday celebrations. The entire estate was lit up with colored lanterns, the trees were strung with decorations and glittering gems that sparkled in the lantern-light like stars. It was as if heaven itself had come down to earth for one day and night, to take one of its own up with it upon return. It was the first time that Tivahlt ever felt close to God. The new feeling made everything seem to shine brighter, the food taste better, and the old stories sound new. He even had a few drinks at the servants table, much to the chagrin of Esmyl (whose freshly poured mug Tiv stole ''five times''), not to mention the rest of his family for being so improper and "drinking with people barely of noble status." Even with five drinks in him and an earful from his father, Tiv would always remember the entire event clearly, as if he had lived it just yesterday. It was his last day of freedom.

His last day of being normal.

====Rituals in a Dark Room====

Coming Soon!

====Invasion and Escape====

Coming soon!

====Welcome to Eorzea====

Coming soon!

====Battles at Home====

Coming soon!

====My Life as a (Fake) King====

Coming soon!

====Run Away!/Back to Eorzea====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

Coming Soon!

Tivahlt Grimmgeist

2013-07-03T05:09:22Z

Chaosmali: /* Long Version */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Tivahlt Grimmgeist
| image = Tiv_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I wander to stay free. To keep dreaming, to find hope, and, someday, to move on. I doubt I'll ever settle down...but I'll stay with you as long as you need me."
| title = The Gentile Wanderer
| gender = Male
| citizenship = Esil'Heihm
| race = Miqo'te
| clan = Keeper of the Moon
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 29
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 17th day of the 4th astral moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Menphina, the Lover]], though he doesn't know it.
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = Pansexual
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = None
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Tivahlt Grimmgeist

'''Pronunciation:''' TIV-alt GRIM-gaist (last syllable rhymes with "iced")

'''Nicknames:''' Tiv, more sure to come as he interacts with others.

'''Aliases:''' Formerly "Tiva," used briefly prior to Dalamud.

'''Birthplace:''' Esil'Heihm, an island nation in the middle of nowhere.

'''Current Residence:''' Any spare room he can find.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single, and does not use that to his advantage nearly as much as he used to.

'''Religion:''' Previously a lip-service follower of his nation's faith (see below), he has since become bitter and jaded towards the idea of "higher powers" at work. He lets others believe what they want, but if religion comes up in conversation he will politely take his leave.

'''Laterality:''' Ambidextrous, but favors his left hand.

'''Other Notes:''' Tiv hates his full name, for various reasons. He rarely lets someone know it, and he won't be happy if you say it.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'7"

'''Weight:''' 130 ponz

'''Build:''' Lithe, but with a little bit of muscle. It's clear that he has only recently been exercising the limits of his body. His skin is just a little bit too smooth to have seen any real work for most of his life.

'''Skin Color:''' Pale with a blue tint. Clearly does not have an intimate relation with sunshine.

'''Eye Color:''' Light green, with a faint glow.

'''Hair Color:''' Deep purple with tips of blue-ish white.

'''Hair Style:''' Generally unkempt. It looks less like an actual style, and more like someone took a knife to much longer hair and then tried to fix it haphazardly. The front hangs over his eyes, occasionally obscuring his vision enough that he needs to flick it away. He claims that it adds to his "mysterious wanderer" look.

'''General Clothing Style:''' Though as a self-expressed homeless wanderer his clothing is often reduced to "whatever he can get," he keeps whatever outfit he ''is'' wearing very clean and precisely fitted. He almost never has a button unbuttoned or a fold out of place. When he wears what he ''actually'' prefers to wear, it usually errs on the side of formal, but with enough comfort that he can (usually) fit in with the rest of the crowd.

'''Voice:''' Very smooth and just a little bit flirtatious. He is very well spoken and picks his words carefully, always trying his best to be cordial, even when he's excited or scared. He rarely ever raises his voice in anger, but when he ''is'' riled his voice becomes much rougher, almost like a primal growl.

'''Other Notes:''' He has very faint scars of all shapes and sizes across most of his body. Most notable are series of small hole-shaped scars that run in rows down his back, on the sides of his torso, and down his arms and legs. They have all healed to the point that they are difficult to see for most people unless they're looking for them, but a very sharp eye might be able to find a few.

==Personality==

Coming soon!

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===

Coming soon!

===Abilities in Daily Life===

Coming soon!

==Esil'Heihm==
'''''Note:''' This is for educational purposes only! The odds of any of this information being widely known are so low that calculating them would be pointless. The primary purpose for this information is to make Tiv's history easier to write, by putting the more wordy exposition in its own section.''

''It is also a testament to what happens when I go off on a tangent and no one stops me. The "Intricacies" section especially is full of information that no one will ever need.''
===The Basics===
<spoiler>Esil'Heihm, which translated means "holy island," is a tiny island nation far to the west and a little bit to the south from Eorzea, lying in the middle of the sea. Because of the stormy waters around it, coupled with the razor sharp rocks that threaten to destroy even the most deftly maneuvered of ships, those few who find it on their journeys are perfectly content to stay far away, and those that have tried to explore it have never lived to tell about it. While from most views it looks like nothing more than an uninhabited island made entirely of jagged cliffsides with dangerous rocks in the surrounding sea, its intimidating appearance hides the rich and fertile lands inside, populated by citizens with an intricate and unique culture based upon a religion entirely their own.

Though there are many secret entrances and exits that the native people know of underneath the high cliffs, they never leave the island, fearing both the terrors of the outside world and the wrath of their god. What little they know of the outside world is told to them by the few survivors of shipwrecks or pirate attacks that make their way by chance, dragged by the current through one of their secret caves. While the population is very xenophobic and are more likely to execute newcomers or put them to hard labor as slaves, those that can gain favor with the citizens are quickly assimilated into their culture.

The population of Esil'heihm consists almost entirely of both Miqo'te and Roegadyn. The two races have lived on the island for so many centuries that they do not remember where they came from. Miqo'te make up the majority of the population (about 60%) with Roegadyn as a rather large minority at 35%. The other 5% is made up of outsiders that were brought in by the tide, and the descendants thereof.

While the population has Miqo'te primarily as the more abundant and higher status citizens, their language is derived from both Miqo'te and Roegadyn language almost equally, and their alphabet is completely different from either. While the language can be understood eventually (and more quickly by those who know at least one of the root languages), the written word is almost entirely indecipherable without a native speaker to translate.</spoiler>
===Religion===
<spoiler>Quite unlike the Eorzean's faith in the twelve, the citizens of Esil'Heihm believe in a singular divine entity known as the "Godking." In their religious texts, the Godking was a divine being made flesh upon the earth to save his people from assured destruction--for the Miqo'te it was a rain of fire, and for the Roegadyn it was an endless flood--and bring them together in a holy land where they would never face those hardships again. After leading the "chosen" to Esil'Heihm, the Godking split his physical body into seven pieces and returned to the heavens, decreeing that he will again return whenever his Chosen are in danger. The seven pieces became "the First Sons," which the Ruling Families are descended from.

Because they were once part of the Godking, the First Sons could hear the Godking's voice and know his will, so they became the first rulers of Esil'Heim, each taking their turn as king. But their descendants, being the progeny of the first sons' mortal wives, could not hear the Godking speak, and only after many rituals where they "took the Godking's power on earth into themselves" could one of them become king. Since then the firstborn son of each family undergoes a myriad rituals from birth, with the strongest among them becoming king.

The rest of their holy text details a very strict social structure "as set by the Godking before his departure," including everything from when, how, and how often prayer should be made, to an intricate caste system that is followed to the letter. Those that are devout and follow the holy texts are assured to rest forever at the Godking's side when they pass on, their life in death being as it was in life but without mortal needs like food or sleep. Anyone who deviates from the holy texts is cast out from society and considered an "affront to the Godking," deemed to be tossed into hell in death by the Godking himself. Hell is only described as "the dark place from which all evil is born, and where all evil must be returned."</spoiler>
===Intricacies===
<spoiler>====Naming Conventions====
Aside from the Ruling Families, all citizens are named after their caste (or aspect of their caste, such as an item, a tool or one of their duties), and an adjective or item that is descriptive of what their parents hold dear, with their surname being their caste title. For instance, a crafter whose mother admires beauty may be named "Galeimbahyel," or "jewel crafter."

The Ruling Families, those that are believed to be the direct descendants of the Godking, all have surnames that reflect their relation to the Godking and his heavenly residence. Given names can be anything so long as they do not directly relate to another caste. Ruling Families often name their children after iconic people from the holy text, or great leaders of the past. For instance, "Tivahlt Grimmgeist" comes from the lowest of the ruling families, and was named after a character in the holy text who was described as "a soft-furred man of noble standing, who traveled across the dangerous seas and back to spread the will of the Godking."
====Names of the Ruling Families====
Ordered by their secondary status within the Caste, decided by the order in which the First Sons (see religion, above) ruled.

*Fatyrh'agoht - ''god is [our] father''

*Khoenmynah - ''love the king [grammar is similar to a command]''

*Hahl'litarh - ''hollow [waiting for a commander] knight''

*Hihmlhund - ''heaven's [implied loyal] hound''

*Dehmah'rhyl - ''soldier that defends against [lit. kills] hell''

*Toumezhahl - ''speakers of the prophecies [lit. dreaming people of high status]''

*Grimmgeist - ''the spirit of one who rules [lit. cruel/ruling ghost]''

====Caste System====
Ordered by level of "supremacy" within society.
=====Ruling Castes=====
*1. Rhassael Na'akhen Gohtkhoen Erhma'zhahl - The Vessel That Contains the Godking's Will
**The ruler of Esil'Heihm, considered to be a god on earth. When one is his close to death, another is chosen from the Ker'Goht (see below) and undergoes a secret ritual with the dying king on a designated "sacred day," emerging as the new ruler. When used as a surname it is shortened to Rhassael, "The Vessel."

*2. Zha'oreshnann Na'haelyn Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The High Council of the Godking's Disciples
**The collective second-in-command, a council of seventeen members chosen from the most devout of the Serha (see below, Noble Castes). They are rarely seen, and news of them only comes when one member has died and another is chosen to take their. Shortens to either "The High Council" (Zha'haelyn) or "The High Priests" (Zha'Oreshnann), though they are rarely ever called by name.

*3. Ker'Rhassael Na'Goht Erhma'zhahl - Vessels-In-Waiting of His Will
**Sons from each of the ruling families that undergo physically and mentally torturous "rituals" each year to "become ready to take on His will." If one dies (a more common occurrence than they let on) the next oldest son begins the rituals at a faster pace to catch up, sometimes as quickly as weeks or days apart. Though they continue to have their family's name unless they are chosen to be king, in casual conversation they're often collectively referred to as the Ker'Goht, "[one] waiting for Him/god."

*4. Khelindt Na Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The Descendants of the Godking
**All members of the Royal Families, excluding their vessel-in-waiting. They are referred to by their surnames rather than their title, but in conversation among other members of noble or ruling castes, their collective name is shortened to Khelindt, "the descendants."
=====Noble Castes=====
*5. Serha'Oreshnann Na Gohtkhoen'mera - Anointed Disciples of the Godking
**Devoted followers who go through years of extensive study and preaching throughout their life. They are given a "ritual of anointment" when they come of age, to symbolize their closeness to the Godking. Shortened to Serha, "anointed."

*6. Bergennah Na Hihmlnann'mera - Defenders of The Almighty Ones
**Armed forces whose duty is to protect the ruling classes and enforce their laws among the other high castes. They are also given ritual of anointment when they come of age. Shortens to Bergennah, "the defenders."

*7. Oreshnann Na Gohtkoen'mera - Devoted Followers of the Godking
**Secondary followers, their studies are less rigorous as they are not expected to preach outside of small towns that the Serha do not travel to. Their primary duties are as librarians and are the only caste below the ruling castes that may enter the sacred libraries, keeping them clean and organized for the Serha and ruling castes. Their work is constant and most of them live in the library or the immediate area, but they are given a few days off every month for travel. Shortens to Oreshnann, "priest."

*8. Skalen Na Khelindt'mera Those in Service of His Decendants
**Servants that reside with and take care of the ruling families. They take care of everything from cleaning and cooking to caring for their children, often with their own at the early ages so that the children are used to each other by the time they grow up and the relationship of servant and master continues. Shortens to Skalen, "servant."

*9. Litarh Na'Goht Skalerh'mera - The Knights of His Service
**The more commonplace armed forces. They are the police force, keeping those of middle castes safe, and lower castes in their place. They take orders from the Bergennah and in turn enforce the laws among the castes below them. Shortens to Litarh, "knight."
=====Middle Castes=====
*10. Zha'O Bahyelda'Nahnen - High Crafters
**Just as the name implies, these people make high quality stuff. They are trained from an early age to follow their parents' profession. If they cannot produce work of good quality, they are demoted to Korh'Bahyelda and cast out from their family. Shortens to Zha'Bahyel, "good craft."

*11. Zha'O Gyfhteda'Nahnen - High Merchants
**Merchants known for a long familial history of good business with buyers and crafters alike. The punishment for "dishonorable" conduct is very strict. If one is caught doing something such as price gouging, selling illegal goods, selling to Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed"), or selling items of poor quality, they are stripped of their title, and occasionally executed. Shortens to Zha'Gyfhte, "good gift/sale."

*12. Zha'O Werhkeda'Nahnen - High Workers
**Workers from the Khor'Werhke caste (see below, Lower Castes) that have shown passion for their assigned job, loyalty to the ruling classes, and follow orders from the Litarh. No one is born into this caste, they must be chosen for it. Children born from them are given the choice at five years old to become Korh'Werhke, Korh'Gyfhte, or Korh'Bahyel, and are given a mentor from their desired caste (often one without a child of their own to teach), but are allowed to stay with their family until they come of age. Shortens to Zha'Werhke, "good work."
=====Lower Castes=====
*13: Khor'O Bahyelda'Henen - Low Crafters
**Crafters that are new to the profession, have a family history of mediocre or bad work, or have been demoted from Zha'Bahyel. They can be promoted to Zha'Bahyel status if they show that they are of the same level of quality. Shortens to Khor'Bahyel, "lower work."

*14: Khor'O Gyfhteda'Henen - Low Merchants
**Merchants that are new to the profession or have a family history of acceptable, but not ideal, business practices. Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed") are allowed to purchase items from them, but they can only buy the bare essentials; food, clothing, and anything that has been broken or deemed of "unacceptable" quality. Even then, Khor'Gyfhte with hopes of becoming Zha'Gifhte will refuse service. Khor'Gyfhte can only become Zha'Gyfhte if they have a family history spanning 5 generations or more of only "honorable" practices. Shortens to "Khor'Gyfhte, "lower gift/sale."

*15: Khor'O Werhkeda'Henen - Low Workers
**The standard working class, they are given the odd jobs that do not fall under crafts, such as farming, fishing, mining, building, street cleaning, etc. The more essential the job, the higher they are perceived within their caste. Shortens to Khor'Werhke, "lower work."

*16: Unejhden - Outsiders
**Outsiders that have been brought to the island by accident, but have taken Esil'Heihm's ways as their own and are open to becoming full citizens. Based on their expertise and/or level of fealty to the Godking, they can be assigned to any caste from Noble to Lower that does not have a coming-of age ritual. It is not used as their surname (they are not given one until they become part of a caste) and it is not shortened in conversation.
====="The Unnamed"=====
*Aghev'Ubhyl - The Unnamed [lit. "born from evil"]
**These are the lowest of the low; thieves, beggars, and unruly outsiders that will not conform to Esil'Heihm's ways. Also includes people from other castes that have been forcibly removed for questioning the ruling castes, trying to do something outside their caste, disobeying the laws, or having illegal contact with an Aghev'Ubhyl. They are either left to rot on the streets, or sent to do grueling labor for no pay. There is no way out for an Aghev'Ubhyl. Even saying their name in normal conversation is considered dishonorable. They have no surname and are never referred to as their "caste," giving them the monicker of the Unnamed.</spoiler>

==History==
===TL;DR Version===
Tivahlt Grimmgeist was born into nobility on an island in the middle of nowhere. He was experimented on with involuntary infusions of raw aether, ancient technology that mixed it with his own blood from the inside to make something darker, like aether sickness but twisted and corrupted into something worse, in an attempt to create a powerful, mindless entity for the High Priests to control as their puppet on the throne, a "tradition" that spanned centuries. The experiments made him into something that could hardly be called a person, a "thing" with raw aether fused with their blood, their very being, slowly losing everything that made him anything more. He was only saved from either certain death or endless servitude when his island was found and invaded by marauding pirates seeking a land full of riches, who had been led by a group of traitors that wanted revenge against the unfair caste system. During the chaos, Tivahlt was saved before the process could be completed, and from the slaughter of the entire ruling class, by his old servant and friend, who ferried his half-alive, mostly unconscious body to a safe haven on a distant shore before returning to their home to try and salvage it.

After recovering enough from the experiments to regain his senses, "Tiv" (or "Tiva") sailed to Eorzea, a land he had heard of from a scarce few accounts, under a disguise in case the worst should happen. Because males were rarely seen he dressed and acted as a female, which was surprisingly easy because his princely features, coupled with years of brutal experimentation that left his body frail and under-grown, made him closer in size to a female Miqo'te of Eorzea than a male. He only ever let one person see his true self, and it was their love and acceptance, coupled with the dauntless courage and passion for life he experienced from other Eorzeans, that made him realize that he couldn't keep running from his past. He was still needed elsewhere.

He left Eorzea shortly before Dalamud fell, returned to his home, and with the help of his friend (who had been tortured and mutilated by the marauders, but lived to tell the tale) he rallied those people that remained, regardless of their rank under the previous regime, and after years of battle and sacrifice (including the death of his lifelong friend) he finally regained control of the island. Since he was the last remaining noble, and the people had hardly known anything else other than brutal massacre, he was essentially forced to be king. He lived out the role as best he could, but he was troubled. He was losing memories, losing control, and losing time. When calamity struck Eorzea he felt it in the depths of his very soul, and ever since then he had been having trouble controlling the power inside him. He began to lose track of the present, and forget pieces of the past. His childhood, his own family, the friend who sacrificed his life...the friends he made in Eorzea, and the one who had accepted him as the strange creature he was turned into.

Eventually he discovered that, because the procedures on him were never fully completed (for better or worse), his "power" was becoming increasingly unstable, constantly on the verge of ripping his body, and his mind, to shreds. Whatever had happened in Eorzea, the reshaping of a continent and some great displacement of...''something'', had shifted the aether enough that his old scars were reawakened. Years of battle and living with the aether inside him had hardened his body against its worst effects, but the unnatural energy was still too powerful to fully control and by all rights should have killed him long ago. At his lowest point, the power overwhelmed him for only a few moments and the resulting burst of raw, unnaturally imbued aether killed nearly everyone attending a festival in his honor. Tiv was running on borrowed time and his people were demanding his head out of fear and sorrow. He left for the only place where he had any chance of finding an answer to both of his problems.

Now he's back in Eorzea, a new man with a slight glowing problem, hoping to restore the few memories he can and find a way to, if not cure himself of the unnatural energy inside him, then suppress it long enough for a few more years of life. So far the only way he has found to at least relieve the pressure a little is to keep casting spells, so that's what he does. He slings spells for hire, for fun, for what he believes is right and, occasionally, for revenge.

===Long Version===
'''WORK IN PROGRESS'''

<spoiler>====My Life as a Kid====

Tivahlt was born in the nation of Esil'Heihm, an island far out in the oceans unknown to and unknowing of the outside world (for more information, see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#The Basics|"The Basics"]] above). He was born as the first son to his parents Hana'yl and Eferhsin, and the second son of the Grimmgeist family, the seventh and last of the Ruling Families of Esil'Heim. As such, he was raised in the lap of luxury with everything provided for him and servants at his beck and call. Like most children of the Ruling Families, he spent most of his time with his caretaker and tutor, a kind old Roegadyn woman named Lidiehn, and her son Esmylacht (Esmyl for short), who had been chosen to be Tivahlt's personal attendant when the two came of age. It was fortunate, then, that Tivahlt and Esmyl found themselves to be good friends throughout their childhood.

Under Lidiehn's tutelage and a select number of books from the Sacred Libraries, Tivahlt was trained in everything from etiquette and "proper" actions, to science, mathematics, and the arts (little Tiv had a particular fascination with the fictional tales the library had for public use, and would often reread the same one for weeks). Of course, he also spent most of his time reading the Sacred Texts and learning all about their benevolent deity, the Godking (see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#Religion|"Religion"]] above), from whom his family line, as with that of the other Ruling Families, had originated. Although Tivahlt was a brilliant student in all of his studies, he saw the Sacred Texts as a chore at best, and a terrifying vision of the future at best; technically the Godking still ruled their country, by "imparting his will" into the chosen ruler...essentially making them a hollow shell for the Godking to speak through. Traditionally the first son of each family was chosen to undertake the "rituals" necessary to become the Godking's vessel, but should the First Son of the Grimmgeist family fail the tribulations necessary and perish...Tiv was next in line.

While the other members of the Ruling Families saw this as a great honor, Tiv saw it essentially as a long, prolonged death. Stripped of your personality and free will, unable to die, watching while your body is controlled by some unknown force until it finally wears out. Still, to question the Godking, regardless of rank, was an act worthy of being cast out, or even executed depending on just ''how'' terrible the heresy was. So Tivahlt continued to pray and worship, though most of his prayers were desperate pleas for the Godking to keep his cousin, the First Son of the Grimmgeist family, alive.

Aside from his existential quandaries, Tivahlt led a mostly carefree life through his childhood and teenage years. He was a bit of a troublemaker, flirting around with just about anyone and sneaking out into places he shouldn't be, but were it not for Esmyl being both his friend and his voice of reason, he might have been even worse. It probably helped that Esmyl was twice Tivahlt's size for most of their youth and could just carry the little noble away from the most tempting disasters-in-waiting. The few little "transgressions" of his that were discovered were solved either with Tiv's silver tongue, or a stern talking-to. For Tivahlt there were no limits, no repercussions. He was free, within reason anyway.

Of course, that wasn't going to last for long...

====The Last Day====

Tivahlt had never met his older cousin. When Tivahlt was born he had already been taken to begin the rituals, and he grew up knowing only the girls born before him, and the children born after. He hardly even know what the first son's name was. Tivahlt was fifteen when he finally saw his eldest cousin, when his body was delivered to the Grimmgeist estate on a traditional bed of flower petals to prepare for the funeral. His cousin looked sick, and frail, and even though his body was preserved for the moment his skin had an unnatural greenish hue. His hair was already going grey when he died at only the age of 20. Tiv wondered if he failed the rituals because he had always been like that, or if the trials had really done so much to him.

Every moment of every day leading up to the funeral was a nightmare for Tivahlt. His perfect world was falling apart all around him. The one thing that he feared most as a child, the one thing that he had hidden in the back of his mind, covering it up with mindless distractions and blind hope, was imminently approaching. He was next in line, after all. Each family had to have a vessel in preparation.His family mourned the loss of the first but praised the luck of the second, cursing the heavens for taking their First Son away so soon, and telling Tivahlt that he had a chance of receiving the greatest gift the Godking could give. Their unending praise and optimism in his presence almost gave him hope. Perhaps he had read the texts wrong. Perhaps this was a chance for a carefree layabout to do some real good for the world. For his people.

Perhaps he was fooling himself in the face of oblivion.

The funeral was an event unlike anything Tivahlt had seen. He had seen deaths, and seen the process from the first rites to the final burials, but the First Son's was the most grandiose of all, eclipsing even their annual holiday celebrations. The entire estate was lit up with colored lanterns, the trees were strung with decorations and glittering gems that sparkled in the lantern-light like stars. It was as if heaven itself had come down to earth for one day and night, to take one of its own up with it upon return. It was the first time that Tivahlt ever felt close to God. The new feeling made everything seem to shine brighter, the food taste better, and the old stories sound new. He even had a few drinks at the servants table, much to the chagrin of Esmyl (whose freshly poured mug Tiv stole ''five times''), not to mention the rest of his family for being so improper and "drinking with people barely of noble status." Even with five drinks in him and an earful from his father, Tiv would always remember the entire event clearly, as if he had lived it just yesterday. It was his last day of freedom.

His last day of being normal.

====Rituals in a Dark Room====

Coming Soon!

====Invasion and Escape====

Coming soon!

====Welcome to Eorzea====

Coming soon!

====Battles at Home====

Coming soon!

====My Life as a (Fake) King====

Coming soon!

====Run Away!/Back to Eorzea====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

Coming Soon!

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-03T05:07:28Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was nothing there save for a few remains of the building's structure that were still in the process of being taken over by nature.

With no idea if her parents were alive or dead, and nowhere to begin looking, Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. After a week, despite the large amount of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. It had healed, but for whatever reason it hadn't healed ''properly''; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her right, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She took a new name again, "Bloodscythe," to match the new color of her eye. Her old names had outlived their usefulness, anyway. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...and this time she faced it head-on. She had nothing else to do, she might as well keep doing what she was good at, and enjoy it while she could.</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Tivahlt Grimmgeist

2013-07-03T05:01:42Z

Chaosmali: /* Miscellanea */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Tivahlt Grimmgeist
| image = Tiv_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I wander to stay free. To keep dreaming, to find hope, and, someday, to move on. I doubt I'll ever settle down...but I'll stay with you as long as you need me."
| title = The Gentile Wanderer
| gender = Male
| citizenship = Esil'Heihm
| race = Miqo'te
| clan = Keeper of the Moon
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 29
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 17th day of the 4th astral moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Menphina, the Lover]], though he doesn't know it.
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = Pansexual
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = None
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Tivahlt Grimmgeist

'''Pronunciation:''' TIV-alt GRIM-gaist (last syllable rhymes with "iced")

'''Nicknames:''' Tiv, more sure to come as he interacts with others.

'''Aliases:''' Formerly "Tiva," used briefly prior to Dalamud.

'''Birthplace:''' Esil'Heihm, an island nation in the middle of nowhere.

'''Current Residence:''' Any spare room he can find.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single, and does not use that to his advantage nearly as much as he used to.

'''Religion:''' Previously a lip-service follower of his nation's faith (see below), he has since become bitter and jaded towards the idea of "higher powers" at work. He lets others believe what they want, but if religion comes up in conversation he will politely take his leave.

'''Laterality:''' Ambidextrous, but favors his left hand.

'''Other Notes:''' Tiv hates his full name, for various reasons. He rarely lets someone know it, and he won't be happy if you say it.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'7"

'''Weight:''' 130 ponz

'''Build:''' Lithe, but with a little bit of muscle. It's clear that he has only recently been exercising the limits of his body. His skin is just a little bit too smooth to have seen any real work for most of his life.

'''Skin Color:''' Pale with a blue tint. Clearly does not have an intimate relation with sunshine.

'''Eye Color:''' Light green, with a faint glow.

'''Hair Color:''' Deep purple with tips of blue-ish white.

'''Hair Style:''' Generally unkempt. It looks less like an actual style, and more like someone took a knife to much longer hair and then tried to fix it haphazardly. The front hangs over his eyes, occasionally obscuring his vision enough that he needs to flick it away. He claims that it adds to his "mysterious wanderer" look.

'''General Clothing Style:''' Though as a self-expressed homeless wanderer his clothing is often reduced to "whatever he can get," he keeps whatever outfit he ''is'' wearing very clean and precisely fitted. He almost never has a button unbuttoned or a fold out of place. When he wears what he ''actually'' prefers to wear, it usually errs on the side of formal, but with enough comfort that he can (usually) fit in with the rest of the crowd.

'''Voice:''' Very smooth and just a little bit flirtatious. He is very well spoken and picks his words carefully, always trying his best to be cordial, even when he's excited or scared. He rarely ever raises his voice in anger, but when he ''is'' riled his voice becomes much rougher, almost like a primal growl.

'''Other Notes:''' He has very faint scars of all shapes and sizes across most of his body. Most notable are series of small hole-shaped scars that run in rows down his back, on the sides of his torso, and down his arms and legs. They have all healed to the point that they are difficult to see for most people unless they're looking for them, but a very sharp eye might be able to find a few.

==Personality==

Coming soon!

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===

Coming soon!

===Abilities in Daily Life===

Coming soon!

==Esil'Heihm==
'''''Note:''' This is for educational purposes only! The odds of any of this information being widely known are so low that calculating them would be pointless. The primary purpose for this information is to make Tiv's history easier to write, by putting the more wordy exposition in its own section.''

''It is also a testament to what happens when I go off on a tangent and no one stops me. The "Intricacies" section especially is full of information that no one will ever need.''
===The Basics===
<spoiler>Esil'Heihm, which translated means "holy island," is a tiny island nation far to the west and a little bit to the south from Eorzea, lying in the middle of the sea. Because of the stormy waters around it, coupled with the razor sharp rocks that threaten to destroy even the most deftly maneuvered of ships, those few who find it on their journeys are perfectly content to stay far away, and those that have tried to explore it have never lived to tell about it. While from most views it looks like nothing more than an uninhabited island made entirely of jagged cliffsides with dangerous rocks in the surrounding sea, its intimidating appearance hides the rich and fertile lands inside, populated by citizens with an intricate and unique culture based upon a religion entirely their own.

Though there are many secret entrances and exits that the native people know of underneath the high cliffs, they never leave the island, fearing both the terrors of the outside world and the wrath of their god. What little they know of the outside world is told to them by the few survivors of shipwrecks or pirate attacks that make their way by chance, dragged by the current through one of their secret caves. While the population is very xenophobic and are more likely to execute newcomers or put them to hard labor as slaves, those that can gain favor with the citizens are quickly assimilated into their culture.

The population of Esil'heihm consists almost entirely of both Miqo'te and Roegadyn. The two races have lived on the island for so many centuries that they do not remember where they came from. Miqo'te make up the majority of the population (about 60%) with Roegadyn as a rather large minority at 35%. The other 5% is made up of outsiders that were brought in by the tide, and the descendants thereof.

While the population has Miqo'te primarily as the more abundant and higher status citizens, their language is derived from both Miqo'te and Roegadyn language almost equally, and their alphabet is completely different from either. While the language can be understood eventually (and more quickly by those who know at least one of the root languages), the written word is almost entirely indecipherable without a native speaker to translate.</spoiler>
===Religion===
<spoiler>Quite unlike the Eorzean's faith in the twelve, the citizens of Esil'Heihm believe in a singular divine entity known as the "Godking." In their religious texts, the Godking was a divine being made flesh upon the earth to save his people from assured destruction--for the Miqo'te it was a rain of fire, and for the Roegadyn it was an endless flood--and bring them together in a holy land where they would never face those hardships again. After leading the "chosen" to Esil'Heihm, the Godking split his physical body into seven pieces and returned to the heavens, decreeing that he will again return whenever his Chosen are in danger. The seven pieces became "the First Sons," which the Ruling Families are descended from.

Because they were once part of the Godking, the First Sons could hear the Godking's voice and know his will, so they became the first rulers of Esil'Heim, each taking their turn as king. But their descendants, being the progeny of the first sons' mortal wives, could not hear the Godking speak, and only after many rituals where they "took the Godking's power on earth into themselves" could one of them become king. Since then the firstborn son of each family undergoes a myriad rituals from birth, with the strongest among them becoming king.

The rest of their holy text details a very strict social structure "as set by the Godking before his departure," including everything from when, how, and how often prayer should be made, to an intricate caste system that is followed to the letter. Those that are devout and follow the holy texts are assured to rest forever at the Godking's side when they pass on, their life in death being as it was in life but without mortal needs like food or sleep. Anyone who deviates from the holy texts is cast out from society and considered an "affront to the Godking," deemed to be tossed into hell in death by the Godking himself. Hell is only described as "the dark place from which all evil is born, and where all evil must be returned."</spoiler>
===Intricacies===
<spoiler>====Naming Conventions====
Aside from the Ruling Families, all citizens are named after their caste (or aspect of their caste, such as an item, a tool or one of their duties), and an adjective or item that is descriptive of what their parents hold dear, with their surname being their caste title. For instance, a crafter whose mother admires beauty may be named "Galeimbahyel," or "jewel crafter."

The Ruling Families, those that are believed to be the direct descendants of the Godking, all have surnames that reflect their relation to the Godking and his heavenly residence. Given names can be anything so long as they do not directly relate to another caste. Ruling Families often name their children after iconic people from the holy text, or great leaders of the past. For instance, "Tivahlt Grimmgeist" comes from the lowest of the ruling families, and was named after a character in the holy text who was described as "a soft-furred man of noble standing, who traveled across the dangerous seas and back to spread the will of the Godking."
====Names of the Ruling Families====
Ordered by their secondary status within the Caste, decided by the order in which the First Sons (see religion, above) ruled.

*Fatyrh'agoht - ''god is [our] father''

*Khoenmynah - ''love the king [grammar is similar to a command]''

*Hahl'litarh - ''hollow [waiting for a commander] knight''

*Hihmlhund - ''heaven's [implied loyal] hound''

*Dehmah'rhyl - ''soldier that defends against [lit. kills] hell''

*Toumezhahl - ''speakers of the prophecies [lit. dreaming people of high status]''

*Grimmgeist - ''the spirit of one who rules [lit. cruel/ruling ghost]''

====Caste System====
Ordered by level of "supremacy" within society.
=====Ruling Castes=====
*1. Rhassael Na'akhen Gohtkhoen Erhma'zhahl - The Vessel That Contains the Godking's Will
**The ruler of Esil'Heihm, considered to be a god on earth. When one is his close to death, another is chosen from the Ker'Goht (see below) and undergoes a secret ritual with the dying king on a designated "sacred day," emerging as the new ruler. When used as a surname it is shortened to Rhassael, "The Vessel."

*2. Zha'oreshnann Na'haelyn Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The High Council of the Godking's Disciples
**The collective second-in-command, a council of seventeen members chosen from the most devout of the Serha (see below, Noble Castes). They are rarely seen, and news of them only comes when one member has died and another is chosen to take their. Shortens to either "The High Council" (Zha'haelyn) or "The High Priests" (Zha'Oreshnann), though they are rarely ever called by name.

*3. Ker'Rhassael Na'Goht Erhma'zhahl - Vessels-In-Waiting of His Will
**Sons from each of the ruling families that undergo physically and mentally torturous "rituals" each year to "become ready to take on His will." If one dies (a more common occurrence than they let on) the next oldest son begins the rituals at a faster pace to catch up, sometimes as quickly as weeks or days apart. Though they continue to have their family's name unless they are chosen to be king, in casual conversation they're often collectively referred to as the Ker'Goht, "[one] waiting for Him/god."

*4. Khelindt Na Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The Descendants of the Godking
**All members of the Royal Families, excluding their vessel-in-waiting. They are referred to by their surnames rather than their title, but in conversation among other members of noble or ruling castes, their collective name is shortened to Khelindt, "the descendants."
=====Noble Castes=====
*5. Serha'Oreshnann Na Gohtkhoen'mera - Anointed Disciples of the Godking
**Devoted followers who go through years of extensive study and preaching throughout their life. They are given a "ritual of anointment" when they come of age, to symbolize their closeness to the Godking. Shortened to Serha, "anointed."

*6. Bergennah Na Hihmlnann'mera - Defenders of The Almighty Ones
**Armed forces whose duty is to protect the ruling classes and enforce their laws among the other high castes. They are also given ritual of anointment when they come of age. Shortens to Bergennah, "the defenders."

*7. Oreshnann Na Gohtkoen'mera - Devoted Followers of the Godking
**Secondary followers, their studies are less rigorous as they are not expected to preach outside of small towns that the Serha do not travel to. Their primary duties are as librarians and are the only caste below the ruling castes that may enter the sacred libraries, keeping them clean and organized for the Serha and ruling castes. Their work is constant and most of them live in the library or the immediate area, but they are given a few days off every month for travel. Shortens to Oreshnann, "priest."

*8. Skalen Na Khelindt'mera Those in Service of His Decendants
**Servants that reside with and take care of the ruling families. They take care of everything from cleaning and cooking to caring for their children, often with their own at the early ages so that the children are used to each other by the time they grow up and the relationship of servant and master continues. Shortens to Skalen, "servant."

*9. Litarh Na'Goht Skalerh'mera - The Knights of His Service
**The more commonplace armed forces. They are the police force, keeping those of middle castes safe, and lower castes in their place. They take orders from the Bergennah and in turn enforce the laws among the castes below them. Shortens to Litarh, "knight."
=====Middle Castes=====
*10. Zha'O Bahyelda'Nahnen - High Crafters
**Just as the name implies, these people make high quality stuff. They are trained from an early age to follow their parents' profession. If they cannot produce work of good quality, they are demoted to Korh'Bahyelda and cast out from their family. Shortens to Zha'Bahyel, "good craft."

*11. Zha'O Gyfhteda'Nahnen - High Merchants
**Merchants known for a long familial history of good business with buyers and crafters alike. The punishment for "dishonorable" conduct is very strict. If one is caught doing something such as price gouging, selling illegal goods, selling to Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed"), or selling items of poor quality, they are stripped of their title, and occasionally executed. Shortens to Zha'Gyfhte, "good gift/sale."

*12. Zha'O Werhkeda'Nahnen - High Workers
**Workers from the Khor'Werhke caste (see below, Lower Castes) that have shown passion for their assigned job, loyalty to the ruling classes, and follow orders from the Litarh. No one is born into this caste, they must be chosen for it. Children born from them are given the choice at five years old to become Korh'Werhke, Korh'Gyfhte, or Korh'Bahyel, and are given a mentor from their desired caste (often one without a child of their own to teach), but are allowed to stay with their family until they come of age. Shortens to Zha'Werhke, "good work."
=====Lower Castes=====
*13: Khor'O Bahyelda'Henen - Low Crafters
**Crafters that are new to the profession, have a family history of mediocre or bad work, or have been demoted from Zha'Bahyel. They can be promoted to Zha'Bahyel status if they show that they are of the same level of quality. Shortens to Khor'Bahyel, "lower work."

*14: Khor'O Gyfhteda'Henen - Low Merchants
**Merchants that are new to the profession or have a family history of acceptable, but not ideal, business practices. Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed") are allowed to purchase items from them, but they can only buy the bare essentials; food, clothing, and anything that has been broken or deemed of "unacceptable" quality. Even then, Khor'Gyfhte with hopes of becoming Zha'Gifhte will refuse service. Khor'Gyfhte can only become Zha'Gyfhte if they have a family history spanning 5 generations or more of only "honorable" practices. Shortens to "Khor'Gyfhte, "lower gift/sale."

*15: Khor'O Werhkeda'Henen - Low Workers
**The standard working class, they are given the odd jobs that do not fall under crafts, such as farming, fishing, mining, building, street cleaning, etc. The more essential the job, the higher they are perceived within their caste. Shortens to Khor'Werhke, "lower work."

*16: Unejhden - Outsiders
**Outsiders that have been brought to the island by accident, but have taken Esil'Heihm's ways as their own and are open to becoming full citizens. Based on their expertise and/or level of fealty to the Godking, they can be assigned to any caste from Noble to Lower that does not have a coming-of age ritual. It is not used as their surname (they are not given one until they become part of a caste) and it is not shortened in conversation.
====="The Unnamed"=====
*Aghev'Ubhyl - The Unnamed [lit. "born from evil"]
**These are the lowest of the low; thieves, beggars, and unruly outsiders that will not conform to Esil'Heihm's ways. Also includes people from other castes that have been forcibly removed for questioning the ruling castes, trying to do something outside their caste, disobeying the laws, or having illegal contact with an Aghev'Ubhyl. They are either left to rot on the streets, or sent to do grueling labor for no pay. There is no way out for an Aghev'Ubhyl. Even saying their name in normal conversation is considered dishonorable. They have no surname and are never referred to as their "caste," giving them the monicker of the Unnamed.</spoiler>

==History==
===TL;DR Version===
Tivahlt Grimmgeist was born into nobility on an island in the middle of nowhere. He was experimented on with involuntary infusions of raw aether, ancient technology that mixed it with his own blood from the inside to make something darker, like aether sickness but twisted and corrupted into something worse, in an attempt to create a powerful, mindless entity for the High Priests to control as their puppet on the throne, a "tradition" that spanned centuries. The experiments made him into something that could hardly be called a person, a "thing" with raw aether fused with their blood, their very being, slowly losing everything that made him anything more. He was only saved from either certain death or endless servitude when his island was found and invaded by marauding pirates seeking a land full of riches, who had been led by a group of traitors that wanted revenge against the unfair caste system. During the chaos, Tivahlt was saved before the process could be completed, and from the slaughter of the entire ruling class, by his old servant and friend, who ferried his half-alive, mostly unconscious body to a safe haven on a distant shore before returning to their home to try and salvage it.

After recovering enough from the experiments to regain his senses, "Tiv" (or "Tiva") sailed to Eorzea, a land he had heard of from a scarce few accounts, under a disguise in case the worst should happen. Because males were rarely seen he dressed and acted as a female, which was surprisingly easy because his princely features, coupled with years of brutal experimentation that left his body frail and under-grown, made him closer in size to a female Miqo'te of Eorzea than a male. He only ever let one person see his true self, and it was their love and acceptance, coupled with the dauntless courage and passion for life he experienced from other Eorzeans, that made him realize that he couldn't keep running from his past. He was still needed elsewhere.

He left Eorzea shortly before Dalamud fell, returned to his home, and with the help of his friend (who had been tortured and mutilated by the marauders, but lived to tell the tale) he rallied those people that remained, regardless of their rank under the previous regime, and after years of battle and sacrifice (including the death of his lifelong friend) he finally regained control of the island. Since he was the last remaining noble, and the people had hardly known anything else other than brutal massacre, he was essentially forced to be king. He lived out the role as best he could, but he was troubled. He was losing memories, losing control, and losing time. When calamity struck Eorzea he felt it in the depths of his very soul, and ever since then he had been having trouble controlling the power inside him. He began to lose track of the present, and forget pieces of the past. His childhood, his own family, the friend who sacrificed his life...the friends he made in Eorzea, and the one who had accepted him as the strange creature he was turned into.

Eventually he discovered that, because the procedures on him were never fully completed (for better or worse), his "power" was becoming increasingly unstable, constantly on the verge of ripping his body, and his mind, to shreds. Whatever had happened in Eorzea, the reshaping of a continent and some great displacement of...''something'', had shifted the aether enough that his old scars were reawakened. Years of battle and living with the aether inside him had hardened his body against its worst effects, but the unnatural energy was still too powerful to fully control and by all rights should have killed him long ago. At his lowest point, the power overwhelmed him for only a few moments and the resulting burst of raw, unnaturally imbued aether killed nearly everyone attending a festival in his honor. Tiv was running on borrowed time and his people were demanding his head out of fear and sorrow. He left for the only place where he had any chance of finding an answer to both of his problems.

Now he's back in Eorzea, a new man with a slight glowing problem, hoping to restore the few memories he can and find a way to, if not cure himself of the unnatural energy inside him, then suppress it long enough for a few more years of life. So far the only way he has found to at least relieve the pressure a little is to keep casting spells, so that's what he does. He slings spells for hire, for fun, for what he believes is right and, occasionally, for revenge.

===Long Version===
'''WORK IN PROGRESS'''

<spoiler>====My Life as a Kid====

Tivahlt was born in the nation of Esil'Heihm, an island far out in the oceans unknown to and unknowing of the outside world (for more information, see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#The Basics|"The Basics"]] above). He was born as the first son to his parents Hana'yl and Eferhsin, and the second son of the Grimmgeist family, the seventh and last of the Ruling Families of Esil'Heim. As such, he was raised in the lap of luxury with everything provided for him and servants at his beck and call. Like most children of the Ruling Families, he spent most of his time with his caretaker and tutor, a kind old Roegadyn woman named Lidiehn, and her son Esmylacht (Esmyl for short), who had been chosen to be Tivahlt's personal attendant when the two came of age. It was fortunate, then, that Tivahlt and Esmyl found themselves to be good friends throughout their childhood.

Under Lidiehn's tutelage and a select number of books from the Sacred Libraries, Tivahlt was trained in everything from etiquette and "proper" actions, to science, mathematics, and the arts (little Tiv had a particular fascination with the fictional tales the library had for public use, and would often reread the same one for weeks). Of course, he also spent most of his time reading the Sacred Texts and learning all about their benevolent deity, the Godking (see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#Religion|"Religion"]] above), from whom his family line, as with that of the other Ruling Families, had originated. Although Tivahlt was a brilliant student in all of his studies, he saw the Sacred Texts as a chore at best, and a terrifying vision of the future at best; technically the Godking still ruled their country, by "imparting his will" into the chosen ruler...essentially making them a hollow shell for the Godking to speak through. Traditionally the first son of each family was chosen to undertake the "rituals" necessary to become the Godking's vessel, but should the First Son of the Grimmgeist family fail the tribulations necessary and perish...Tiv was next in line.

While the other members of the Ruling Families saw this as a great honor, Tiv saw it essentially as a long, prolonged death. Stripped of your personality and free will, unable to die, watching while your body is controlled by some unknown force until it finally wears out. Still, to question the Godking, regardless of rank, was an act worthy of being cast out, or even executed depending on just ''how'' terrible the heresy was. So Tivahlt continued to pray and worship, though most of his prayers were desperate pleas for the Godking to keep his cousin, the First Son of the Grimmgeist family, alive.

Aside from his existential quandaries, Tivahlt led a mostly carefree life through his childhood and teenage years. He was a bit of a troublemaker, flirting around with just about anyone and sneaking out into places he shouldn't be, but were it not for Esmyl being both his friend and his voice of reason, he might have been even worse. It probably helped that Esmyl was twice Tivahlt's size for most of their youth and could just carry the little noble away from the most tempting disasters-in-waiting. The few little "transgressions" of his that were discovered were solved either with Tiv's silver tongue, or a stern talking-to. For Tivahlt there were no limits, no repercussions. He was free, within reason anyway.

Of course, that wasn't going to last for long...

====The Last Day====

Tivahlt had never met his older cousin. When Tivahlt was born he had already been taken to begin the rituals, and he grew up knowing only the girls born before him, and the children born after. He hardly even know what the first son's name was. Tivahlt was fifteen when he finally saw his eldest cousin, when his body was delivered to the Grimmgeist estate on a traditional bed of flower petals to prepare for the funeral. His cousin looked sick, and frail, and even though his body was preserved for the moment his skin had an unnatural greenish hue. His hair was already going grey when he died at only the age of 20. Tiv wondered if he failed the rituals because he had always been like that, or if the trials had really done so much to him.

Every moment of every day leading up to the funeral was a nightmare for Tivahlt. His perfect world was falling apart all around him. The one thing that he feared most as a child, the one thing that he had hidden in the back of his mind, covering it up with mindless distractions and blind hope, was imminently approaching. He was next in line, after all. Each family had to have a vessel in preparation.His family mourned the loss of the first but praised the luck of the second, cursing the heavens for taking their First Son away so soon, and telling Tivahlt that he had a chance of receiving the greatest gift the Godking could give. Their unending praise and optimism in his presence almost gave him hope. Perhaps he had read the texts wrong. Perhaps this was a chance for a carefree layabout to do some real good for the world. For his people.

Perhaps he was fooling himself in the face of oblivion.

The funeral was an event unlike anything Tivahlt had seen. He had seen deaths, and seen the process from the first rites to the final burials, but the First Son's was the most grandiose of all, eclipsing even their annual holiday celebrations. The entire estate was lit up with colored lanterns, the trees were strung with decorations and glittering gems that sparkled in the lantern-light like stars. It was as if heaven itself had come down to earth for one day and night, to take one of its own up with it upon return. It was the first time that Tivahlt ever felt close to God. The new feeling made everything seem to shine brighter, the food taste better, and the old stories sound new. He even had a few drinks at the servants table, much to the chagrin of Esmyl (whose freshly poured mug Tiv stole ''five times''), not to mention the rest of his family for being so improper and "drinking with people barely of noble status." Even with five drinks in him and an earful from his father, Tiv would always remember the entire event clearly, as if he had lived it just yesterday. It was his last day of freedom. His last day of being normal.

It was the last day of Tivahlt Grimmgeist.

====Rituals in a Dark Room====

Coming Soon!

====Invasion and Escape====

Coming soon!

====Welcome to Eorzea====

Coming soon!

====Battles at Home====

Coming soon!

====My Life as a (Fake) King====

Coming soon!

====Run Away!/Back to Eorzea====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

Coming Soon!

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T12:00:37Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was still the basic structure there, but most of it was still in the process of being rebuilt. Mali approached her father...who could not recognize her. She tried to explain, thinking that perhaps he just couldn't recognize her under the bandages, but she was turned away...rather violently when she tried to convince him that she was his dead daughter. Once again, fate had conspired to deny her the simple life she wanted.

Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper, where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. Despite the large amounts of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. For whatever reason it hadn't healed properly; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her left, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She took a new name again, "Bloodscythe," to match the new color of her eye. Her old names had outlived their usefulness, anyway. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...and this time she faced it head-on. She had nothing else to do, she might as well keep doing what she was good at, and enjoy it while she could.</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T11:56:08Z

Chaosmali: /* What is known */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a hardened adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was still the basic structure there, but most of it was still in the process of being rebuilt. Mali approached her father...who could not recognize her. She tried to explain, thinking that perhaps he just couldn't recognize her under the bandages, but she was turned away...rather violently when she tried to convince him that she was his dead daughter. Once again, fate had conspired to deny her the simple life she wanted.

Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper, where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. Despite the large amounts of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. For whatever reason it hadn't healed properly; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her left, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T11:55:50Z

Chaosmali: /* What is known */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was still the basic structure there, but most of it was still in the process of being rebuilt. Mali approached her father...who could not recognize her. She tried to explain, thinking that perhaps he just couldn't recognize her under the bandages, but she was turned away...rather violently when she tried to convince him that she was his dead daughter. Once again, fate had conspired to deny her the simple life she wanted.

Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper, where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. Despite the large amounts of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. For whatever reason it hadn't healed properly; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her left, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T11:54:49Z

Chaosmali: /* Miscellanea */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was still the basic structure there, but most of it was still in the process of being rebuilt. Mali approached her father...who could not recognize her. She tried to explain, thinking that perhaps he just couldn't recognize her under the bandages, but she was turned away...rather violently when she tried to convince him that she was his dead daughter. Once again, fate had conspired to deny her the simple life she wanted.

Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper, where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. Despite the large amounts of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. For whatever reason it hadn't healed properly; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her left, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because I'm lazy. If you would like to be a friend from Mali's past, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T11:54:16Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, began painting her face with "war paint" to disguise herself, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was still the basic structure there, but most of it was still in the process of being rebuilt. Mali approached her father...who could not recognize her. She tried to explain, thinking that perhaps he just couldn't recognize her under the bandages, but she was turned away...rather violently when she tried to convince him that she was his dead daughter. Once again, fate had conspired to deny her the simple life she wanted.

Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper, where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. Despite the large amounts of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. For whatever reason it hadn't healed properly; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her left, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T11:51:00Z

Chaosmali: /* Basic Info */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets. Due to a healing anomaly her right eye now sees better than her left, but her color vision is worse.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was still the basic structure there, but most of it was still in the process of being rebuilt. Mali approached her father...who could not recognize her. She tried to explain, thinking that perhaps he just couldn't recognize her under the bandages, but she was turned away...rather violently when she tried to convince him that she was his dead daughter. Once again, fate had conspired to deny her the simple life she wanted.

Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper, where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. Despite the large amounts of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. For whatever reason it hadn't healed properly; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her left, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T11:49:11Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand the words of anyone she spoke to. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this. Bright flames shot across the sky, and everything around her was covered in a blinding light...

====A New Point of View====

Mali awoke in a bed with her wounds healed and bandaged. From the smell of the sea she knew she was in Limsa Lominsa again. She briefly wondered if that was what being dead was like, until she tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a plethora of wounds that even the strongest white magic couldn't heal all at once. Her healer, who had been sleeping peacefully in a chair at her bedside until she started wincing in pain, insisted that she lie back down despite her protests (and vulgar insults). Mali asked about the outcome of the battle that she swore she should have died in, and after a long and awkward conversation about how hard she had hit her head she was finally informed that the battle had ended five years ago.

Mali's first reaction was to punch him in the face. She didn't quite know why.

After both parties were healed again (he from his broken nose, and her from her reopened wounds) Mali's second reaction was to see her family. Despite the very likely threat of more harm, the healer insisted she rest for a while longer, as even with conjury her wounds were going to take a while to heal. They met halfway at Mali sneaking out the next night. She only had one good eye and she had to hobble around more than walk, but by midday she made it to where her home...would have been. There was still the basic structure there, but most of it was still in the process of being rebuilt. Mali approached her father...who could not recognize her. She tried to explain, thinking that perhaps he just couldn't recognize her under the bandages, but she was turned away...rather violently when she tried to convince him that she was his dead daughter. Once again, fate had conspired to deny her the simple life she wanted.

Mali returned to Limnsa Lominsa proper, where the healer was patiently waiting. She spent the next few days resting like she had been told, not knowing what else to do with herself. Despite the large amounts of magic the healer used, her eye still felt wrong. She worried that perhaps it had been too badly damaged to heal. Eventually there was simply nothing left to be done. She would just have to take off the bandage and live with her eye as it was.

It still worked, which was about as much as Mali could hope for. For whatever reason it hadn't healed properly; it had taken on a blood red color and remained slightly more dilated than her good eye. If she closed her good eye and saw only with her left, the colors were slightly off and muted but her clarity of vision had actually gotten ''better''. Both she and the healer were at a loss as to what happened, but at the very least she still had a functioning eye.

For a while Mali took on odd jobs for enough coin to eat and lived in whatever spare room she could find, as she tried to figure out what left there was to do with her life. She soon began to feel the tug of adventure in the back of her mind once again...</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T10:20:01Z

Chaosmali: /* Affiliations */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand all languages. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this.

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Blue Skies Adventuring Company: Mali joined the Blue Skies Adventuring Company on a whim after a very...''interesting'' event in the desert.

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T10:17:19Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments. If you aren't familiar with 1.0's plot line, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site. [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1615 HERE] is a good place to start!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand all languages. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another wound or two to her growing collection. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this.

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T10:13:41Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many re-modellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

While her parents were merely happy to have their daughter (and heiress) back, Skaenwyda was having trouble adjusting. Ever since she had stepped foot on Eorzean soil again she had begun having strange visions, visions of other people in other places at other times. She was seeing things in other peoples' pasts that rightfully shouldn't have been known by anyone. It did not help that she was already having troubles coping with the quiet life. Years full of nothing but violence and thoughts of revenge had made its mark on her, leaving her with very little in the way of social graces or ways to control her emotions. She was often prone to violent outbursts and frequent mood swings, neither of which were very becoming in a young lady. Her family was often unsure of what to do with her, though they tried their best to work around her problems.

Through it all, Skaenwyda tried her best to at least ''pretend'' like everything was fine, and for a while it even worked. She learned to hide her troubles under a facade of confidence. She tried her best not to hit people who made her angry, and re-learn the basics of etiquette that she had long forgotten, but behind closed doors her troubles were getting worse. The visions she had been having were driving her crazy, and there was a constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be the proper lady her parents wanted, to have the family life that ''she'' wanted. When she tried to express her worries with her parents they fell on deaf ears. They said she was simply having trouble adjusting, and while they weren't wrong, they weren't right either.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

''((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments, so this section will not be as expansive. If you aren't familiar with it, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums or the official site!))''

After a year of trying to be something she was not, Skaenwyda could no longer take it. She could only try to find what was missing. She left a note full of goodbyes and promises to return. She went back to using the name "Mali Reaper," and changed her appearance as best she could. She dyed and cut her hair, she kept her head down and out of the public eye. The life of an adventurer was not one she would have picked, even when she was a little tomboy running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa, but she soon learned that she had a knack for getting into bad situations and coming back out alive, which was as great a skill as an adventurer could have. She even started to do great things, or at least reasonably good things. Unfortunately, reasonably good things meant fame, which meant the possibility of being found. She made it a habit to never be ''too'' good, and when she started to become a known name she would change it to whatever suited her fancy. "Mali Reaper" became "Mali Blanaren" became "Mali Darksidhe" over the years, often switching between the three interchangeably. She kept the first name "Mali" on the off chance that she would meet her old sailing friends, and perhaps because she missed having some sort of stability to fall back on.

Of course, adventuring had more perks than a bit of coin and an experience you could embellish over a few drinks. Her knack for being in bad situations led her to others who shared her "problem," the power to experience others' memories and, as she found out after a chance meeting with a moogle in Gridania, the ability to understand all languages. They called it the "Echo," and it was with the others who shared this power and worked in tandem with them that she found some form of solace, as she now understood why she had been called away from the life she had worked so hard to return to. She may not have been all that ''happy'' that some unknown force had chosen her to go out into the world, but at least now she knew why it happened.

Were the world a simpler place she would have simply returned home with this new knowledge. She had thought her journeys would take a few years at most. Instead, she spent nearly nine years trying her damnedest to keep everything in one piece as the world around her just kept going from bad to worse. Nine years of killing monsters, of beating back the beastmen tribes, of defending the entire damned land from whatever darkness was creeping over it, and every time she thought that they had ''finally'' done their duty something even worse came to light.

By the time the Garleans began their invasion once more, Mali had given up on being frightened or surprised by any new developments. Now she was just angry.

She went into the march on Castrum Novum purely to crack some Garlean skulls. There was no desire to do something heroic, no feeling of sacrifice in the name of the greater good. She wanted to make them pay, pure and simple. Her part in the skirmish was, of course, brutal and unforgiving. But anger made her sloppy, and being sloppy on a battlefield can get you killed. She always managed to get the last hit in, but not before adding another cut to the growing collection on her body. One soldier managed to take out her eye with a strong blow, fist and metal making contact with flesh and skull. Concussed, bleeding, and suddenly lacking depth perception, Mali figured she probably wasn't going to be coming back from this. Then the key fell. All eyes turned upward, and Mali ''knew'' she wasn't going to be coming back from this.

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T08:33:51Z

Chaosmali: /* Personality */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try different things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments, so this section will be super short. If you aren't familiar with it, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums!))

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T08:33:30Z

Chaosmali: /* Personality */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.
*New Experiences - Anything new and exciting has Mali's full attention. She always want to know more and try more things.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments, so this section will be super short. If you aren't familiar with it, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums!))

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T08:32:37Z

Chaosmali: /* Personality */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments, so this section will be super short. If you aren't familiar with it, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums!))

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-02T08:32:02Z

Chaosmali: /* Abilities */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she were really desperate and focused on it she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first day on the "job."

===Strengths===
*Strong Willed and Passionate - She always puts her full heart and soul into whatever she does, whether it's swinging her axe or simply enjoying the company of friends. Her dedication rarely ever falters, which makes her a strong and confident woman both on and off the battlefield.
*Loyal - Once you are on Mali's good graces she will always be by your side. She stands by her friends and allies to the death.
*Master Warrior - She will never claim that she is the best at anything ("it's too boring if there's nothing left to challenge you!"), but she is ''very'' skilled with a weapon in her hand and rarely outmatched with an axe.
*Quick Learner - Mali may act like your average brute but she's actually quite intelligent and picks up new things easily. She can figure out an enemy's weaknesses and adjust her technique accordingly...as long as she doesn't get distracted.

===Weaknesses===
*Severely Mentally Unstable - It's no secret that Mali is highly chaotic at best and seriously mentally ill at worst. She can be very unpredictable, which often leads to schisms between herself and others if they catch her at a bad time. She is loyal to her friends, but she has trouble keeping them for very long.
*Quick Tempered - It is very easy to get her riled up and she doesn't think clearly when she is angry, often lashing out wildly (either figuratively or literally) at whatever is nearby.
*Emotionally Distant - While Mali may not be a wallflower, she rarely lets people in. Even her closest of friends are kept at arm's reach. She is stoic to a fault and will often pretend that she is fine even when seriously injured, refusing help simply to keep up her "tough girl" appearance.
*Lacks Foresight - Mali often runs into situations without thinking them through. She relies more on brute strength and quick wit rather than careful planning and thought-out tactics.
*Easily Distracted - Mali puts her heart and soul into everything, which means that when she gets sidetracked she gets ''really'' sidetracked. A good distraction can easily make her lose focus on more important matters, even ones that are crucial to survival.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments, so this section will be super short. If you aren't familiar with it, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums!))

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Tivahlt Grimmgeist

2013-07-01T10:45:31Z

Chaosmali: /* TL;DR Version */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Tivahlt Grimmgeist
| image = Tiv_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I wander to stay free. To keep dreaming, to find hope, and, someday, to move on. I doubt I'll ever settle down...but I'll stay with you as long as you need me."
| title = The Gentile Wanderer
| gender = Male
| citizenship = Esil'Heihm
| race = Miqo'te
| clan = Keeper of the Moon
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 29
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 17th day of the 4th astral moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Menphina, the Lover]], though he doesn't know it.
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = Pansexual
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = None
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Tivahlt Grimmgeist

'''Pronunciation:''' TIV-alt GRIM-gaist (last syllable rhymes with "iced")

'''Nicknames:''' Tiv, more sure to come as he interacts with others.

'''Aliases:''' Formerly "Tiva," used briefly prior to Dalamud.

'''Birthplace:''' Esil'Heihm, an island nation in the middle of nowhere.

'''Current Residence:''' Any spare room he can find.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single, and does not use that to his advantage nearly as much as he used to.

'''Religion:''' Previously a lip-service follower of his nation's faith (see below), he has since become bitter and jaded towards the idea of "higher powers" at work. He lets others believe what they want, but if religion comes up in conversation he will politely take his leave.

'''Laterality:''' Ambidextrous, but favors his left hand.

'''Other Notes:''' Tiv hates his full name, for various reasons. He rarely lets someone know it, and he won't be happy if you say it.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'7"

'''Weight:''' 130 ponz

'''Build:''' Lithe, but with a little bit of muscle. It's clear that he has only recently been exercising the limits of his body. His skin is just a little bit too smooth to have seen any real work for most of his life.

'''Skin Color:''' Pale with a blue tint. Clearly does not have an intimate relation with sunshine.

'''Eye Color:''' Light green, with a faint glow.

'''Hair Color:''' Deep purple with tips of blue-ish white.

'''Hair Style:''' Generally unkempt. It looks less like an actual style, and more like someone took a knife to much longer hair and then tried to fix it haphazardly. The front hangs over his eyes, occasionally obscuring his vision enough that he needs to flick it away. He claims that it adds to his "mysterious wanderer" look.

'''General Clothing Style:''' Though as a self-expressed homeless wanderer his clothing is often reduced to "whatever he can get," he keeps whatever outfit he ''is'' wearing very clean and precisely fitted. He almost never has a button unbuttoned or a fold out of place. When he wears what he ''actually'' prefers to wear, it usually errs on the side of formal, but with enough comfort that he can (usually) fit in with the rest of the crowd.

'''Voice:''' Very smooth and just a little bit flirtatious. He is very well spoken and picks his words carefully, always trying his best to be cordial, even when he's excited or scared. He rarely ever raises his voice in anger, but when he ''is'' riled his voice becomes much rougher, almost like a primal growl.

'''Other Notes:''' He has very faint scars of all shapes and sizes across most of his body. Most notable are series of small hole-shaped scars that run in rows down his back, on the sides of his torso, and down his arms and legs. They have all healed to the point that they are difficult to see for most people unless they're looking for them, but a very sharp eye might be able to find a few.

==Personality==

Coming soon!

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===

Coming soon!

===Abilities in Daily Life===

Coming soon!

==Esil'Heihm==
'''''Note:''' This is for educational purposes only! The odds of any of this information being widely known are so low that calculating them would be pointless. The primary purpose for this information is to make Tiv's history easier to write, by putting the more wordy exposition in its own section.''

''It is also a testament to what happens when I go off on a tangent and no one stops me. The "Intricacies" section especially is full of information that no one will ever need.''
===The Basics===
<spoiler>Esil'Heihm, which translated means "holy island," is a tiny island nation far to the west and a little bit to the south from Eorzea, lying in the middle of the sea. Because of the stormy waters around it, coupled with the razor sharp rocks that threaten to destroy even the most deftly maneuvered of ships, those few who find it on their journeys are perfectly content to stay far away, and those that have tried to explore it have never lived to tell about it. While from most views it looks like nothing more than an uninhabited island made entirely of jagged cliffsides with dangerous rocks in the surrounding sea, its intimidating appearance hides the rich and fertile lands inside, populated by citizens with an intricate and unique culture based upon a religion entirely their own.

Though there are many secret entrances and exits that the native people know of underneath the high cliffs, they never leave the island, fearing both the terrors of the outside world and the wrath of their god. What little they know of the outside world is told to them by the few survivors of shipwrecks or pirate attacks that make their way by chance, dragged by the current through one of their secret caves. While the population is very xenophobic and are more likely to execute newcomers or put them to hard labor as slaves, those that can gain favor with the citizens are quickly assimilated into their culture.

The population of Esil'heihm consists almost entirely of both Miqo'te and Roegadyn. The two races have lived on the island for so many centuries that they do not remember where they came from. Miqo'te make up the majority of the population (about 60%) with Roegadyn as a rather large minority at 35%. The other 5% is made up of outsiders that were brought in by the tide, and the descendants thereof.

While the population has Miqo'te primarily as the more abundant and higher status citizens, their language is derived from both Miqo'te and Roegadyn language almost equally, and their alphabet is completely different from either. While the language can be understood eventually (and more quickly by those who know at least one of the root languages), the written word is almost entirely indecipherable without a native speaker to translate.</spoiler>
===Religion===
<spoiler>Quite unlike the Eorzean's faith in the twelve, the citizens of Esil'Heihm believe in a singular divine entity known as the "Godking." In their religious texts, the Godking was a divine being made flesh upon the earth to save his people from assured destruction--for the Miqo'te it was a rain of fire, and for the Roegadyn it was an endless flood--and bring them together in a holy land where they would never face those hardships again. After leading the "chosen" to Esil'Heihm, the Godking split his physical body into seven pieces and returned to the heavens, decreeing that he will again return whenever his Chosen are in danger. The seven pieces became "the First Sons," which the Ruling Families are descended from.

Because they were once part of the Godking, the First Sons could hear the Godking's voice and know his will, so they became the first rulers of Esil'Heim, each taking their turn as king. But their descendants, being the progeny of the first sons' mortal wives, could not hear the Godking speak, and only after many rituals where they "took the Godking's power on earth into themselves" could one of them become king. Since then the firstborn son of each family undergoes a myriad rituals from birth, with the strongest among them becoming king.

The rest of their holy text details a very strict social structure "as set by the Godking before his departure," including everything from when, how, and how often prayer should be made, to an intricate caste system that is followed to the letter. Those that are devout and follow the holy texts are assured to rest forever at the Godking's side when they pass on, their life in death being as it was in life but without mortal needs like food or sleep. Anyone who deviates from the holy texts is cast out from society and considered an "affront to the Godking," deemed to be tossed into hell in death by the Godking himself. Hell is only described as "the dark place from which all evil is born, and where all evil must be returned."</spoiler>
===Intricacies===
<spoiler>====Naming Conventions====
Aside from the Ruling Families, all citizens are named after their caste (or aspect of their caste, such as an item, a tool or one of their duties), and an adjective or item that is descriptive of what their parents hold dear, with their surname being their caste title. For instance, a crafter whose mother admires beauty may be named "Galeimbahyel," or "jewel crafter."

The Ruling Families, those that are believed to be the direct descendants of the Godking, all have surnames that reflect their relation to the Godking and his heavenly residence. Given names can be anything so long as they do not directly relate to another caste. Ruling Families often name their children after iconic people from the holy text, or great leaders of the past. For instance, "Tivahlt Grimmgeist" comes from the lowest of the ruling families, and was named after a character in the holy text who was described as "a soft-furred man of noble standing, who traveled across the dangerous seas and back to spread the will of the Godking."
====Names of the Ruling Families====
Ordered by their secondary status within the Caste, decided by the order in which the First Sons (see religion, above) ruled.

*Fatyrh'agoht - ''god is [our] father''

*Khoenmynah - ''love the king [grammar is similar to a command]''

*Hahl'litarh - ''hollow [waiting for a commander] knight''

*Hihmlhund - ''heaven's [implied loyal] hound''

*Dehmah'rhyl - ''soldier that defends against [lit. kills] hell''

*Toumezhahl - ''speakers of the prophecies [lit. dreaming people of high status]''

*Grimmgeist - ''the spirit of one who rules [lit. cruel/ruling ghost]''

====Caste System====
Ordered by level of "supremacy" within society.
=====Ruling Castes=====
*1. Rhassael Na'akhen Gohtkhoen Erhma'zhahl - The Vessel That Contains the Godking's Will
**The ruler of Esil'Heihm, considered to be a god on earth. When one is his close to death, another is chosen from the Ker'Goht (see below) and undergoes a secret ritual with the dying king on a designated "sacred day," emerging as the new ruler. When used as a surname it is shortened to Rhassael, "The Vessel."

*2. Zha'oreshnann Na'haelyn Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The High Council of the Godking's Disciples
**The collective second-in-command, a council of seventeen members chosen from the most devout of the Serha (see below, Noble Castes). They are rarely seen, and news of them only comes when one member has died and another is chosen to take their. Shortens to either "The High Council" (Zha'haelyn) or "The High Priests" (Zha'Oreshnann), though they are rarely ever called by name.

*3. Ker'Rhassael Na'Goht Erhma'zhahl - Vessels-In-Waiting of His Will
**Sons from each of the ruling families that undergo physically and mentally torturous "rituals" each year to "become ready to take on His will." If one dies (a more common occurrence than they let on) the next oldest son begins the rituals at a faster pace to catch up, sometimes as quickly as weeks or days apart. Though they continue to have their family's name unless they are chosen to be king, in casual conversation they're often collectively referred to as the Ker'Goht, "[one] waiting for Him/god."

*4. Khelindt Na Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The Descendants of the Godking
**All members of the Royal Families, excluding their vessel-in-waiting. They are referred to by their surnames rather than their title, but in conversation among other members of noble or ruling castes, their collective name is shortened to Khelindt, "the descendants."
=====Noble Castes=====
*5. Serha'Oreshnann Na Gohtkhoen'mera - Anointed Disciples of the Godking
**Devoted followers who go through years of extensive study and preaching throughout their life. They are given a "ritual of anointment" when they come of age, to symbolize their closeness to the Godking. Shortened to Serha, "anointed."

*6. Bergennah Na Hihmlnann'mera - Defenders of The Almighty Ones
**Armed forces whose duty is to protect the ruling classes and enforce their laws among the other high castes. They are also given ritual of anointment when they come of age. Shortens to Bergennah, "the defenders."

*7. Oreshnann Na Gohtkoen'mera - Devoted Followers of the Godking
**Secondary followers, their studies are less rigorous as they are not expected to preach outside of small towns that the Serha do not travel to. Their primary duties are as librarians and are the only caste below the ruling castes that may enter the sacred libraries, keeping them clean and organized for the Serha and ruling castes. Their work is constant and most of them live in the library or the immediate area, but they are given a few days off every month for travel. Shortens to Oreshnann, "priest."

*8. Skalen Na Khelindt'mera Those in Service of His Decendants
**Servants that reside with and take care of the ruling families. They take care of everything from cleaning and cooking to caring for their children, often with their own at the early ages so that the children are used to each other by the time they grow up and the relationship of servant and master continues. Shortens to Skalen, "servant."

*9. Litarh Na'Goht Skalerh'mera - The Knights of His Service
**The more commonplace armed forces. They are the police force, keeping those of middle castes safe, and lower castes in their place. They take orders from the Bergennah and in turn enforce the laws among the castes below them. Shortens to Litarh, "knight."
=====Middle Castes=====
*10. Zha'O Bahyelda'Nahnen - High Crafters
**Just as the name implies, these people make high quality stuff. They are trained from an early age to follow their parents' profession. If they cannot produce work of good quality, they are demoted to Korh'Bahyelda and cast out from their family. Shortens to Zha'Bahyel, "good craft."

*11. Zha'O Gyfhteda'Nahnen - High Merchants
**Merchants known for a long familial history of good business with buyers and crafters alike. The punishment for "dishonorable" conduct is very strict. If one is caught doing something such as price gouging, selling illegal goods, selling to Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed"), or selling items of poor quality, they are stripped of their title, and occasionally executed. Shortens to Zha'Gyfhte, "good gift/sale."

*12. Zha'O Werhkeda'Nahnen - High Workers
**Workers from the Khor'Werhke caste (see below, Lower Castes) that have shown passion for their assigned job, loyalty to the ruling classes, and follow orders from the Litarh. No one is born into this caste, they must be chosen for it. Children born from them are given the choice at five years old to become Korh'Werhke, Korh'Gyfhte, or Korh'Bahyel, and are given a mentor from their desired caste (often one without a child of their own to teach), but are allowed to stay with their family until they come of age. Shortens to Zha'Werhke, "good work."
=====Lower Castes=====
*13: Khor'O Bahyelda'Henen - Low Crafters
**Crafters that are new to the profession, have a family history of mediocre or bad work, or have been demoted from Zha'Bahyel. They can be promoted to Zha'Bahyel status if they show that they are of the same level of quality. Shortens to Khor'Bahyel, "lower work."

*14: Khor'O Gyfhteda'Henen - Low Merchants
**Merchants that are new to the profession or have a family history of acceptable, but not ideal, business practices. Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed") are allowed to purchase items from them, but they can only buy the bare essentials; food, clothing, and anything that has been broken or deemed of "unacceptable" quality. Even then, Khor'Gyfhte with hopes of becoming Zha'Gifhte will refuse service. Khor'Gyfhte can only become Zha'Gyfhte if they have a family history spanning 5 generations or more of only "honorable" practices. Shortens to "Khor'Gyfhte, "lower gift/sale."

*15: Khor'O Werhkeda'Henen - Low Workers
**The standard working class, they are given the odd jobs that do not fall under crafts, such as farming, fishing, mining, building, street cleaning, etc. The more essential the job, the higher they are perceived within their caste. Shortens to Khor'Werhke, "lower work."

*16: Unejhden - Outsiders
**Outsiders that have been brought to the island by accident, but have taken Esil'Heihm's ways as their own and are open to becoming full citizens. Based on their expertise and/or level of fealty to the Godking, they can be assigned to any caste from Noble to Lower that does not have a coming-of age ritual. It is not used as their surname (they are not given one until they become part of a caste) and it is not shortened in conversation.
====="The Unnamed"=====
*Aghev'Ubhyl - The Unnamed [lit. "born from evil"]
**These are the lowest of the low; thieves, beggars, and unruly outsiders that will not conform to Esil'Heihm's ways. Also includes people from other castes that have been forcibly removed for questioning the ruling castes, trying to do something outside their caste, disobeying the laws, or having illegal contact with an Aghev'Ubhyl. They are either left to rot on the streets, or sent to do grueling labor for no pay. There is no way out for an Aghev'Ubhyl. Even saying their name in normal conversation is considered dishonorable. They have no surname and are never referred to as their "caste," giving them the monicker of the Unnamed.</spoiler>

==History==
===TL;DR Version===
Tivahlt Grimmgeist was born into nobility on an island in the middle of nowhere. He was experimented on with involuntary infusions of raw aether, ancient technology that mixed it with his own blood from the inside to make something darker, like aether sickness but twisted and corrupted into something worse, in an attempt to create a powerful, mindless entity for the High Priests to control as their puppet on the throne, a "tradition" that spanned centuries. The experiments made him into something that could hardly be called a person, a "thing" with raw aether fused with their blood, their very being, slowly losing everything that made him anything more. He was only saved from either certain death or endless servitude when his island was found and invaded by marauding pirates seeking a land full of riches, who had been led by a group of traitors that wanted revenge against the unfair caste system. During the chaos, Tivahlt was saved before the process could be completed, and from the slaughter of the entire ruling class, by his old servant and friend, who ferried his half-alive, mostly unconscious body to a safe haven on a distant shore before returning to their home to try and salvage it.

After recovering enough from the experiments to regain his senses, "Tiv" (or "Tiva") sailed to Eorzea, a land he had heard of from a scarce few accounts, under a disguise in case the worst should happen. Because males were rarely seen he dressed and acted as a female, which was surprisingly easy because his princely features, coupled with years of brutal experimentation that left his body frail and under-grown, made him closer in size to a female Miqo'te of Eorzea than a male. He only ever let one person see his true self, and it was their love and acceptance, coupled with the dauntless courage and passion for life he experienced from other Eorzeans, that made him realize that he couldn't keep running from his past. He was still needed elsewhere.

He left Eorzea shortly before Dalamud fell, returned to his home, and with the help of his friend (who had been tortured and mutilated by the marauders, but lived to tell the tale) he rallied those people that remained, regardless of their rank under the previous regime, and after years of battle and sacrifice (including the death of his lifelong friend) he finally regained control of the island. Since he was the last remaining noble, and the people had hardly known anything else other than brutal massacre, he was essentially forced to be king. He lived out the role as best he could, but he was troubled. He was losing memories, losing control, and losing time. When calamity struck Eorzea he felt it in the depths of his very soul, and ever since then he had been having trouble controlling the power inside him. He began to lose track of the present, and forget pieces of the past. His childhood, his own family, the friend who sacrificed his life...the friends he made in Eorzea, and the one who had accepted him as the strange creature he was turned into.

Eventually he discovered that, because the procedures on him were never fully completed (for better or worse), his "power" was becoming increasingly unstable, constantly on the verge of ripping his body, and his mind, to shreds. Whatever had happened in Eorzea, the reshaping of a continent and some great displacement of...''something'', had shifted the aether enough that his old scars were reawakened. Years of battle and living with the aether inside him had hardened his body against its worst effects, but the unnatural energy was still too powerful to fully control and by all rights should have killed him long ago. At his lowest point, the power overwhelmed him for only a few moments and the resulting burst of raw, unnaturally imbued aether killed nearly everyone attending a festival in his honor. Tiv was running on borrowed time and his people were demanding his head out of fear and sorrow. He left for the only place where he had any chance of finding an answer to both of his problems.

Now he's back in Eorzea, a new man with a slight glowing problem, hoping to restore the few memories he can and find a way to, if not cure himself of the unnatural energy inside him, then suppress it long enough for a few more years of life. So far the only way he has found to at least relieve the pressure a little is to keep casting spells, so that's what he does. He slings spells for hire, for fun, for what he believes is right and, occasionally, for revenge.

===Long Version===
'''WORK IN PROGRESS'''

<spoiler>====My Life as a Kid====

Tivahlt was born in the nation of Esil'Heihm, an island far out in the oceans unknown to and unknowing of the outside world (for more information, see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#The Basics|"The Basics"]] above). He was born as the first son to his parents Hana'yl and Eferhsin, and the second son of the Grimmgeist family, the seventh and last of the Ruling Families of Esil'Heim. As such, he was raised in the lap of luxury with everything provided for him and servants at his beck and call. Like most children of the Ruling Families, he spent most of his time with his caretaker and tutor, a kind old Roegadyn woman named Lidiehn, and her son Esmylacht (Esmyl for short), who had been chosen to be Tivahlt's personal attendant when the two came of age. It was fortunate, then, that Tivahlt and Esmyl found themselves to be good friends throughout their childhood.

Under Lidiehn's tutelage and a select number of books from the Sacred Libraries, Tivahlt was trained in everything from etiquette and "proper" actions, to science, mathematics, and the arts (little Tiv had a particular fascination with the fictional tales the library had for public use, and would often reread the same one for weeks). Of course, he also spent most of his time reading the Sacred Texts and learning all about their benevolent deity, the Godking (see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#Religion|"Religion"]] above), from whom his family line, as with that of the other Ruling Families, had originated. Although Tivahlt was a brilliant student in all of his studies, he saw the Sacred Texts as a chore at best, and a terrifying vision of the future at best; technically the Godking still ruled their country, by "imparting his will" into the chosen ruler...essentially making them a hollow shell for the Godking to speak through. Traditionally the first son of each family was chosen to undertake the "rituals" necessary to become the Godking's vessel, but should the First Son of the Grimmgeist family fail the tribulations necessary and perish...Tiv was next in line.

While the other members of the Ruling Families saw this as a great honor, Tiv saw it essentially as a long, prolonged death. Stripped of your personality and free will, unable to die, watching while your body is controlled by some unknown force until it finally wears out. Still, to question the Godking, regardless of rank, was an act worthy of being cast out, or even executed depending on just ''how'' terrible the heresy was. So Tivahlt continued to pray and worship, though most of his prayers were desperate pleas for the Godking to keep his cousin, the First Son of the Grimmgeist family, alive.

Aside from his existential quandaries, Tivahlt led a mostly carefree life through his childhood and teenage years. He was a bit of a troublemaker, flirting around with just about anyone and sneaking out into places he shouldn't be, but were it not for Esmyl being both his friend and his voice of reason, he might have been even worse. It probably helped that Esmyl was twice Tivahlt's size for most of their youth and could just carry the little noble away from the most tempting disasters-in-waiting. The few little "transgressions" of his that were discovered were solved either with Tiv's silver tongue, or a stern talking-to. For Tivahlt there were no limits, no repercussions. He was free, within reason anyway.

Of course, that wasn't going to last for long...

====The Last Day====

Tivahlt had never met his older cousin. When Tivahlt was born he had already been taken to begin the rituals, and he grew up knowing only the girls born before him, and the children born after. He hardly even know what the first son's name was. Tivahlt was fifteen when he finally saw his eldest cousin, when his body was delivered to the Grimmgeist estate on a traditional bed of flower petals to prepare for the funeral. His cousin looked sick, and frail, and even though his body was preserved for the moment his skin had an unnatural greenish hue. His hair was already going grey when he died at only the age of 20. Tiv wondered if he failed the rituals because he had always been like that, or if the trials had really done so much to him.

Every moment of every day leading up to the funeral was a nightmare for Tivahlt. His perfect world was falling apart all around him. The one thing that he feared most as a child, the one thing that he had hidden in the back of his mind, covering it up with mindless distractions and blind hope, was imminently approaching. He was next in line, after all. Each family had to have a vessel in preparation.His family mourned the loss of the first but praised the luck of the second, cursing the heavens for taking their First Son away so soon, and telling Tivahlt that he had a chance of receiving the greatest gift the Godking could give. Their unending praise and optimism in his presence almost gave him hope. Perhaps he had read the texts wrong. Perhaps this was a chance for a carefree layabout to do some real good for the world. For his people.

Perhaps he was fooling himself in the face of oblivion.

The funeral was an event unlike anything Tivahlt had seen. He had seen deaths, and seen the process from the first rites to the final burials, but the First Son's was the most grandiose of all, eclipsing even their annual holiday celebrations. The entire estate was lit up with colored lanterns, the trees were strung with decorations and glittering gems that sparkled in the lantern-light like stars. It was as if heaven itself had come down to earth for one day and night, to take one of its own up with it upon return. It was the first time that Tivahlt ever felt close to God. The new feeling made everything seem to shine brighter, the food taste better, and the old stories sound new. He even had a few drinks at the servants table, much to the chagrin of Esmyl (whose freshly poured mug Tiv stole ''five times''), not to mention the rest of his family for being so improper and "drinking with people barely of noble status." Even with five drinks in him and an earful from his father, Tiv would always remember the entire event clearly, as if he had lived it just yesterday. It was his last day of freedom. His last day of being normal.

It was the last day of Tivahlt Grimmgeist.

====Rituals in a Dark Room====

Coming Soon!

====Invasion and Escape====

Coming soon!

====Welcome to Eorzea====

Coming soon!

====Battles at Home====

Coming soon!

====My Life as a (Fake) King====

Coming soon!

====Run Away!/Back to Eorzea====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

'''TV Tropes:''' (list is a W.I.P. because I don't want to spend my entire life looking up tropes)
*Rebel Prince
*Reluctant Ruler
*The Wise Prince (after 1st visit to Eorzea)
*Chivalrous Pervert
*Warrior Prince (briefly)
*Power Degeneration (ironically, ''using'' his magic is just about the only thing keeping him alive.)

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-01T10:45:25Z

Chaosmali:

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' Mali is a little nearsighted, which might be why she prefers fighting up close and personal with her targets.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she was really desperate and focused on it, she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first "day" on the job.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

((Note: At this point Mali's story basically follows the story of FFXIV 1.0, with minor adjustments, so this section will be super short. If you aren't familiar with it, there are plenty of places to acquaint yourself on the forums!))

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-01T09:26:08Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' None yet.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she was really desperate and focused on it, she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first "day" on the job.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her, and leave them stranded out in the open sea. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-01T09:23:59Z

Chaosmali:

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' None yet.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she was really desperate and focused on it, she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first "day" on the job.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-01T08:46:55Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' None yet.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she was really desperate and focused on it, she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first "day" on the job.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th name day no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th name day (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th name day, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew traded with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-01T08:36:18Z

Chaosmali:

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1546)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' None yet.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she was really desperate and focused on it, she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first "day" on the job.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th birthday no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th birthday (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th birthday, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew was trading with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-01T08:26:37Z

Chaosmali:

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 26 (Technically 31, born in 1549)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' None yet.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she was really desperate and focused on it, she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first "day" on the job.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th birthday no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th birthday (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th birthday, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew was trading with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Tivahlt Grimmgeist

2013-07-01T08:26:32Z

Chaosmali:

{{Infobox-character
| name = Tivahlt Grimmgeist
| image = Tiv_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I wander to stay free. To keep dreaming, to find hope, and, someday, to move on. I doubt I'll ever settle down...but I'll stay with you as long as you need me."
| title = The Gentile Wanderer
| gender = Male
| citizenship = Esil'Heihm
| race = Miqo'te
| clan = Keeper of the Moon
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 29
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 17th day of the 4th astral moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Menphina, the Lover]], though he doesn't know it.
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = Pansexual
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = None
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Tivahlt Grimmgeist

'''Pronunciation:''' TIV-alt GRIM-gaist (last syllable rhymes with "iced")

'''Nicknames:''' Tiv, more sure to come as he interacts with others.

'''Aliases:''' Formerly "Tiva," used briefly prior to Dalamud.

'''Birthplace:''' Esil'Heihm, an island nation in the middle of nowhere.

'''Current Residence:''' Any spare room he can find.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single, and does not use that to his advantage nearly as much as he used to.

'''Religion:''' Previously a lip-service follower of his nation's faith (see below), he has since become bitter and jaded towards the idea of "higher powers" at work. He lets others believe what they want, but if religion comes up in conversation he will politely take his leave.

'''Laterality:''' Ambidextrous, but favors his left hand.

'''Other Notes:''' Tiv hates his full name, for various reasons. He rarely lets someone know it, and he won't be happy if you say it.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'7"

'''Weight:''' 130 ponz

'''Build:''' Lithe, but with a little bit of muscle. It's clear that he has only recently been exercising the limits of his body. His skin is just a little bit too smooth to have seen any real work for most of his life.

'''Skin Color:''' Pale with a blue tint. Clearly does not have an intimate relation with sunshine.

'''Eye Color:''' Light green, with a faint glow.

'''Hair Color:''' Deep purple with tips of blue-ish white.

'''Hair Style:''' Generally unkempt. It looks less like an actual style, and more like someone took a knife to much longer hair and then tried to fix it haphazardly. The front hangs over his eyes, occasionally obscuring his vision enough that he needs to flick it away. He claims that it adds to his "mysterious wanderer" look.

'''General Clothing Style:''' Though as a self-expressed homeless wanderer his clothing is often reduced to "whatever he can get," he keeps whatever outfit he ''is'' wearing very clean and precisely fitted. He almost never has a button unbuttoned or a fold out of place. When he wears what he ''actually'' prefers to wear, it usually errs on the side of formal, but with enough comfort that he can (usually) fit in with the rest of the crowd.

'''Voice:''' Very smooth and just a little bit flirtatious. He is very well spoken and picks his words carefully, always trying his best to be cordial, even when he's excited or scared. He rarely ever raises his voice in anger, but when he ''is'' riled his voice becomes much rougher, almost like a primal growl.

'''Other Notes:''' He has very faint scars of all shapes and sizes across most of his body. Most notable are series of small hole-shaped scars that run in rows down his back, on the sides of his torso, and down his arms and legs. They have all healed to the point that they are difficult to see for most people unless they're looking for them, but a very sharp eye might be able to find a few.

==Personality==

Coming soon!

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===

Coming soon!

===Abilities in Daily Life===

Coming soon!

==Esil'Heihm==
'''''Note:''' This is for educational purposes only! The odds of any of this information being widely known are so low that calculating them would be pointless. The primary purpose for this information is to make Tiv's history easier to write, by putting the more wordy exposition in its own section.''

''It is also a testament to what happens when I go off on a tangent and no one stops me. The "Intricacies" section especially is full of information that no one will ever need.''
===The Basics===
<spoiler>Esil'Heihm, which translated means "holy island," is a tiny island nation far to the west and a little bit to the south from Eorzea, lying in the middle of the sea. Because of the stormy waters around it, coupled with the razor sharp rocks that threaten to destroy even the most deftly maneuvered of ships, those few who find it on their journeys are perfectly content to stay far away, and those that have tried to explore it have never lived to tell about it. While from most views it looks like nothing more than an uninhabited island made entirely of jagged cliffsides with dangerous rocks in the surrounding sea, its intimidating appearance hides the rich and fertile lands inside, populated by citizens with an intricate and unique culture based upon a religion entirely their own.

Though there are many secret entrances and exits that the native people know of underneath the high cliffs, they never leave the island, fearing both the terrors of the outside world and the wrath of their god. What little they know of the outside world is told to them by the few survivors of shipwrecks or pirate attacks that make their way by chance, dragged by the current through one of their secret caves. While the population is very xenophobic and are more likely to execute newcomers or put them to hard labor as slaves, those that can gain favor with the citizens are quickly assimilated into their culture.

The population of Esil'heihm consists almost entirely of both Miqo'te and Roegadyn. The two races have lived on the island for so many centuries that they do not remember where they came from. Miqo'te make up the majority of the population (about 60%) with Roegadyn as a rather large minority at 35%. The other 5% is made up of outsiders that were brought in by the tide, and the descendants thereof.

While the population has Miqo'te primarily as the more abundant and higher status citizens, their language is derived from both Miqo'te and Roegadyn language almost equally, and their alphabet is completely different from either. While the language can be understood eventually (and more quickly by those who know at least one of the root languages), the written word is almost entirely indecipherable without a native speaker to translate.</spoiler>
===Religion===
<spoiler>Quite unlike the Eorzean's faith in the twelve, the citizens of Esil'Heihm believe in a singular divine entity known as the "Godking." In their religious texts, the Godking was a divine being made flesh upon the earth to save his people from assured destruction--for the Miqo'te it was a rain of fire, and for the Roegadyn it was an endless flood--and bring them together in a holy land where they would never face those hardships again. After leading the "chosen" to Esil'Heihm, the Godking split his physical body into seven pieces and returned to the heavens, decreeing that he will again return whenever his Chosen are in danger. The seven pieces became "the First Sons," which the Ruling Families are descended from.

Because they were once part of the Godking, the First Sons could hear the Godking's voice and know his will, so they became the first rulers of Esil'Heim, each taking their turn as king. But their descendants, being the progeny of the first sons' mortal wives, could not hear the Godking speak, and only after many rituals where they "took the Godking's power on earth into themselves" could one of them become king. Since then the firstborn son of each family undergoes a myriad rituals from birth, with the strongest among them becoming king.

The rest of their holy text details a very strict social structure "as set by the Godking before his departure," including everything from when, how, and how often prayer should be made, to an intricate caste system that is followed to the letter. Those that are devout and follow the holy texts are assured to rest forever at the Godking's side when they pass on, their life in death being as it was in life but without mortal needs like food or sleep. Anyone who deviates from the holy texts is cast out from society and considered an "affront to the Godking," deemed to be tossed into hell in death by the Godking himself. Hell is only described as "the dark place from which all evil is born, and where all evil must be returned."</spoiler>
===Intricacies===
<spoiler>====Naming Conventions====
Aside from the Ruling Families, all citizens are named after their caste (or aspect of their caste, such as an item, a tool or one of their duties), and an adjective or item that is descriptive of what their parents hold dear, with their surname being their caste title. For instance, a crafter whose mother admires beauty may be named "Galeimbahyel," or "jewel crafter."

The Ruling Families, those that are believed to be the direct descendants of the Godking, all have surnames that reflect their relation to the Godking and his heavenly residence. Given names can be anything so long as they do not directly relate to another caste. Ruling Families often name their children after iconic people from the holy text, or great leaders of the past. For instance, "Tivahlt Grimmgeist" comes from the lowest of the ruling families, and was named after a character in the holy text who was described as "a soft-furred man of noble standing, who traveled across the dangerous seas and back to spread the will of the Godking."
====Names of the Ruling Families====
Ordered by their secondary status within the Caste, decided by the order in which the First Sons (see religion, above) ruled.

*Fatyrh'agoht - ''god is [our] father''

*Khoenmynah - ''love the king [grammar is similar to a command]''

*Hahl'litarh - ''hollow [waiting for a commander] knight''

*Hihmlhund - ''heaven's [implied loyal] hound''

*Dehmah'rhyl - ''soldier that defends against [lit. kills] hell''

*Toumezhahl - ''speakers of the prophecies [lit. dreaming people of high status]''

*Grimmgeist - ''the spirit of one who rules [lit. cruel/ruling ghost]''

====Caste System====
Ordered by level of "supremacy" within society.
=====Ruling Castes=====
*1. Rhassael Na'akhen Gohtkhoen Erhma'zhahl - The Vessel That Contains the Godking's Will
**The ruler of Esil'Heihm, considered to be a god on earth. When one is his close to death, another is chosen from the Ker'Goht (see below) and undergoes a secret ritual with the dying king on a designated "sacred day," emerging as the new ruler. When used as a surname it is shortened to Rhassael, "The Vessel."

*2. Zha'oreshnann Na'haelyn Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The High Council of the Godking's Disciples
**The collective second-in-command, a council of seventeen members chosen from the most devout of the Serha (see below, Noble Castes). They are rarely seen, and news of them only comes when one member has died and another is chosen to take their. Shortens to either "The High Council" (Zha'haelyn) or "The High Priests" (Zha'Oreshnann), though they are rarely ever called by name.

*3. Ker'Rhassael Na'Goht Erhma'zhahl - Vessels-In-Waiting of His Will
**Sons from each of the ruling families that undergo physically and mentally torturous "rituals" each year to "become ready to take on His will." If one dies (a more common occurrence than they let on) the next oldest son begins the rituals at a faster pace to catch up, sometimes as quickly as weeks or days apart. Though they continue to have their family's name unless they are chosen to be king, in casual conversation they're often collectively referred to as the Ker'Goht, "[one] waiting for Him/god."

*4. Khelindt Na Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The Descendants of the Godking
**All members of the Royal Families, excluding their vessel-in-waiting. They are referred to by their surnames rather than their title, but in conversation among other members of noble or ruling castes, their collective name is shortened to Khelindt, "the descendants."
=====Noble Castes=====
*5. Serha'Oreshnann Na Gohtkhoen'mera - Anointed Disciples of the Godking
**Devoted followers who go through years of extensive study and preaching throughout their life. They are given a "ritual of anointment" when they come of age, to symbolize their closeness to the Godking. Shortened to Serha, "anointed."

*6. Bergennah Na Hihmlnann'mera - Defenders of The Almighty Ones
**Armed forces whose duty is to protect the ruling classes and enforce their laws among the other high castes. They are also given ritual of anointment when they come of age. Shortens to Bergennah, "the defenders."

*7. Oreshnann Na Gohtkoen'mera - Devoted Followers of the Godking
**Secondary followers, their studies are less rigorous as they are not expected to preach outside of small towns that the Serha do not travel to. Their primary duties are as librarians and are the only caste below the ruling castes that may enter the sacred libraries, keeping them clean and organized for the Serha and ruling castes. Their work is constant and most of them live in the library or the immediate area, but they are given a few days off every month for travel. Shortens to Oreshnann, "priest."

*8. Skalen Na Khelindt'mera Those in Service of His Decendants
**Servants that reside with and take care of the ruling families. They take care of everything from cleaning and cooking to caring for their children, often with their own at the early ages so that the children are used to each other by the time they grow up and the relationship of servant and master continues. Shortens to Skalen, "servant."

*9. Litarh Na'Goht Skalerh'mera - The Knights of His Service
**The more commonplace armed forces. They are the police force, keeping those of middle castes safe, and lower castes in their place. They take orders from the Bergennah and in turn enforce the laws among the castes below them. Shortens to Litarh, "knight."
=====Middle Castes=====
*10. Zha'O Bahyelda'Nahnen - High Crafters
**Just as the name implies, these people make high quality stuff. They are trained from an early age to follow their parents' profession. If they cannot produce work of good quality, they are demoted to Korh'Bahyelda and cast out from their family. Shortens to Zha'Bahyel, "good craft."

*11. Zha'O Gyfhteda'Nahnen - High Merchants
**Merchants known for a long familial history of good business with buyers and crafters alike. The punishment for "dishonorable" conduct is very strict. If one is caught doing something such as price gouging, selling illegal goods, selling to Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed"), or selling items of poor quality, they are stripped of their title, and occasionally executed. Shortens to Zha'Gyfhte, "good gift/sale."

*12. Zha'O Werhkeda'Nahnen - High Workers
**Workers from the Khor'Werhke caste (see below, Lower Castes) that have shown passion for their assigned job, loyalty to the ruling classes, and follow orders from the Litarh. No one is born into this caste, they must be chosen for it. Children born from them are given the choice at five years old to become Korh'Werhke, Korh'Gyfhte, or Korh'Bahyel, and are given a mentor from their desired caste (often one without a child of their own to teach), but are allowed to stay with their family until they come of age. Shortens to Zha'Werhke, "good work."
=====Lower Castes=====
*13: Khor'O Bahyelda'Henen - Low Crafters
**Crafters that are new to the profession, have a family history of mediocre or bad work, or have been demoted from Zha'Bahyel. They can be promoted to Zha'Bahyel status if they show that they are of the same level of quality. Shortens to Khor'Bahyel, "lower work."

*14: Khor'O Gyfhteda'Henen - Low Merchants
**Merchants that are new to the profession or have a family history of acceptable, but not ideal, business practices. Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed") are allowed to purchase items from them, but they can only buy the bare essentials; food, clothing, and anything that has been broken or deemed of "unacceptable" quality. Even then, Khor'Gyfhte with hopes of becoming Zha'Gifhte will refuse service. Khor'Gyfhte can only become Zha'Gyfhte if they have a family history spanning 5 generations or more of only "honorable" practices. Shortens to "Khor'Gyfhte, "lower gift/sale."

*15: Khor'O Werhkeda'Henen - Low Workers
**The standard working class, they are given the odd jobs that do not fall under crafts, such as farming, fishing, mining, building, street cleaning, etc. The more essential the job, the higher they are perceived within their caste. Shortens to Khor'Werhke, "lower work."

*16: Unejhden - Outsiders
**Outsiders that have been brought to the island by accident, but have taken Esil'Heihm's ways as their own and are open to becoming full citizens. Based on their expertise and/or level of fealty to the Godking, they can be assigned to any caste from Noble to Lower that does not have a coming-of age ritual. It is not used as their surname (they are not given one until they become part of a caste) and it is not shortened in conversation.
====="The Unnamed"=====
*Aghev'Ubhyl - The Unnamed [lit. "born from evil"]
**These are the lowest of the low; thieves, beggars, and unruly outsiders that will not conform to Esil'Heihm's ways. Also includes people from other castes that have been forcibly removed for questioning the ruling castes, trying to do something outside their caste, disobeying the laws, or having illegal contact with an Aghev'Ubhyl. They are either left to rot on the streets, or sent to do grueling labor for no pay. There is no way out for an Aghev'Ubhyl. Even saying their name in normal conversation is considered dishonorable. They have no surname and are never referred to as their "caste," giving them the monicker of the Unnamed.</spoiler>

==History==
===TL;DR Version===
Tivahlt Grimmgeist was born into nobility on an island in the middle of nowhere. He was experimented on with involuntary infusions of raw aether, ancient technology that mixed it with his own blood from the inside to make something darker, like aether sickness but twisted and corrupted into something worse, in an attempt to create a powerful, mindless entity for the High Priests to control as their puppet on the throne, a "tradition" that spanned centuries. The experiments made him into something that could hardly be called a person, a "thing" with raw aether fused with their blood, their very being, slowly losing everything that made him anything more. He was only saved from either certain death or endless servitude when his island was found and invaded by marauding pirates seeking a land full of riches, who had been led by a group of traitors that wanted revenge against the unfair caste system. During the chaos, Tivahlt was saved before the process could be completed, and from the slaughter of the entire ruling class, by his old servant and friend, who ferried his half-alive, mostly unconscious body to a safe haven on a distant shore before returning to their home to try and salvage it.

After recovering enough from the experiments to regain his senses, "Tiv" (or "Tiva") sailed to Eorzea, a land he had heard of from a scarce few accounts, under a disguise in case the worst should happen. Because males were rarely seen, he dressed as a female, which was surprisingly easy because his princely features, coupled with years of brutal experimentation that left his body frail and under-grown, made him closer in size to a female Miqo'te of Eorzea than a male. He only ever let one person see his true self, and it was their love and acceptance, coupled with the dauntless courage and passion for life he experienced from other Eorzeans, that made him realize that he couldn't keep running from his past. He was still needed elsewhere.

He left Eorzea shortly before Dalamud fell, returned to his home, and with the help of his friend (who had been tortured and mutilated by the marauders, but lived to tell the tale) he rallied those people that remained, regardless of their rank under the previous regime, and after years of battle and sacrifice (including the death of his lifelong friend) he finally regained control of the island. Since he was the last remaining noble, and the people had hardly known anything else other than brutal massacre, he was essentially forced to be king. He lived out the role as best he could, but he was troubled. He was losing memories, and losing time. When calamity struck Eorzea he felt it in the depths of his very soul, and ever since then he had been having trouble controlling the power inside him. He began to lose track of the present, and forget pieces of the past. His childhood, his own family, the friend who sacrificed his life...the friends he made in Eorzea, and the one who had accepted him as the strange creature he was turned into.

Eventually he discovered that, because the procedures on him were never fully completed (for better or worse), his "power" was becoming increasingly unstable, constantly on the verge of ripping his body, and his mind, to shreds. Whatever had happened in Eorzea, the reshaping of a continent and some great displacement of...''something'', had shifted the aether enough that his old scars were reawakened. Years of battle and living with the aether inside him had hardened his body against its worst effects, but the unnatural energy was still too powerful to fully control and by all rights should have killed him long ago. At his lowest point, the power overwhelmed him for only a few moments and the resulting burst of raw, unnaturally imbued aether killed nearly everyone attending a festival in his honor. Tiv was running on borrowed time and his people were demanding his head out of fear and sorrow. He left for the only place where he had any chance of finding an answer to both of his problems.

Now he's back in Eorzea, a new man with a slight glowing problem, hoping to restore the few memories he can and find a way to, if not cure himself of the unnatural energy inside him, then suppress it long enough for a few more years of life. So far the only way he has found to at least relieve the pressure a little is to keep casting spells, so that's what he does. He slings spells for hire, for fun, for what he believes is right and, occasionally, for revenge.

===Long Version===
'''WORK IN PROGRESS'''

<spoiler>====My Life as a Kid====

Tivahlt was born in the nation of Esil'Heihm, an island far out in the oceans unknown to and unknowing of the outside world (for more information, see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#The Basics|"The Basics"]] above). He was born as the first son to his parents Hana'yl and Eferhsin, and the second son of the Grimmgeist family, the seventh and last of the Ruling Families of Esil'Heim. As such, he was raised in the lap of luxury with everything provided for him and servants at his beck and call. Like most children of the Ruling Families, he spent most of his time with his caretaker and tutor, a kind old Roegadyn woman named Lidiehn, and her son Esmylacht (Esmyl for short), who had been chosen to be Tivahlt's personal attendant when the two came of age. It was fortunate, then, that Tivahlt and Esmyl found themselves to be good friends throughout their childhood.

Under Lidiehn's tutelage and a select number of books from the Sacred Libraries, Tivahlt was trained in everything from etiquette and "proper" actions, to science, mathematics, and the arts (little Tiv had a particular fascination with the fictional tales the library had for public use, and would often reread the same one for weeks). Of course, he also spent most of his time reading the Sacred Texts and learning all about their benevolent deity, the Godking (see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#Religion|"Religion"]] above), from whom his family line, as with that of the other Ruling Families, had originated. Although Tivahlt was a brilliant student in all of his studies, he saw the Sacred Texts as a chore at best, and a terrifying vision of the future at best; technically the Godking still ruled their country, by "imparting his will" into the chosen ruler...essentially making them a hollow shell for the Godking to speak through. Traditionally the first son of each family was chosen to undertake the "rituals" necessary to become the Godking's vessel, but should the First Son of the Grimmgeist family fail the tribulations necessary and perish...Tiv was next in line.

While the other members of the Ruling Families saw this as a great honor, Tiv saw it essentially as a long, prolonged death. Stripped of your personality and free will, unable to die, watching while your body is controlled by some unknown force until it finally wears out. Still, to question the Godking, regardless of rank, was an act worthy of being cast out, or even executed depending on just ''how'' terrible the heresy was. So Tivahlt continued to pray and worship, though most of his prayers were desperate pleas for the Godking to keep his cousin, the First Son of the Grimmgeist family, alive.

Aside from his existential quandaries, Tivahlt led a mostly carefree life through his childhood and teenage years. He was a bit of a troublemaker, flirting around with just about anyone and sneaking out into places he shouldn't be, but were it not for Esmyl being both his friend and his voice of reason, he might have been even worse. It probably helped that Esmyl was twice Tivahlt's size for most of their youth and could just carry the little noble away from the most tempting disasters-in-waiting. The few little "transgressions" of his that were discovered were solved either with Tiv's silver tongue, or a stern talking-to. For Tivahlt there were no limits, no repercussions. He was free, within reason anyway.

Of course, that wasn't going to last for long...

====The Last Day====

Tivahlt had never met his older cousin. When Tivahlt was born he had already been taken to begin the rituals, and he grew up knowing only the girls born before him, and the children born after. He hardly even know what the first son's name was. Tivahlt was fifteen when he finally saw his eldest cousin, when his body was delivered to the Grimmgeist estate on a traditional bed of flower petals to prepare for the funeral. His cousin looked sick, and frail, and even though his body was preserved for the moment his skin had an unnatural greenish hue. His hair was already going grey when he died at only the age of 20. Tiv wondered if he failed the rituals because he had always been like that, or if the trials had really done so much to him.

Every moment of every day leading up to the funeral was a nightmare for Tivahlt. His perfect world was falling apart all around him. The one thing that he feared most as a child, the one thing that he had hidden in the back of his mind, covering it up with mindless distractions and blind hope, was imminently approaching. He was next in line, after all. Each family had to have a vessel in preparation.His family mourned the loss of the first but praised the luck of the second, cursing the heavens for taking their First Son away so soon, and telling Tivahlt that he had a chance of receiving the greatest gift the Godking could give. Their unending praise and optimism in his presence almost gave him hope. Perhaps he had read the texts wrong. Perhaps this was a chance for a carefree layabout to do some real good for the world. For his people.

Perhaps he was fooling himself in the face of oblivion.

The funeral was an event unlike anything Tivahlt had seen. He had seen deaths, and seen the process from the first rites to the final burials, but the First Son's was the most grandiose of all, eclipsing even their annual holiday celebrations. The entire estate was lit up with colored lanterns, the trees were strung with decorations and glittering gems that sparkled in the lantern-light like stars. It was as if heaven itself had come down to earth for one day and night, to take one of its own up with it upon return. It was the first time that Tivahlt ever felt close to God. The new feeling made everything seem to shine brighter, the food taste better, and the old stories sound new. He even had a few drinks at the servants table, much to the chagrin of Esmyl (whose freshly poured mug Tiv stole ''five times''), not to mention the rest of his family for being so improper and "drinking with people barely of noble status." Even with five drinks in him and an earful from his father, Tiv would always remember the entire event clearly, as if he had lived it just yesterday. It was his last day of freedom. His last day of being normal.

It was the last day of Tivahlt Grimmgeist.

====Rituals in a Dark Room====

Coming Soon!

====Invasion and Escape====

Coming soon!

====Welcome to Eorzea====

Coming soon!

====Battles at Home====

Coming soon!

====My Life as a (Fake) King====

Coming soon!

====Run Away!/Back to Eorzea====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

'''TV Tropes:''' (list is a W.I.P. because I don't want to spend my entire life looking up tropes)
*Rebel Prince
*Reluctant Ruler
*The Wise Prince (after 1st visit to Eorzea)
*Chivalrous Pervert
*Warrior Prince (briefly)
*Power Degeneration (ironically, ''using'' his magic is just about the only thing keeping him alive.)

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-07-01T08:25:44Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 23 (Technically 28, born in 1549)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' None yet.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she was really desperate and focused on it, she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first "day" on the job.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th birthday no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

====Home is Where the Heart is====

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th birthday (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th birthday, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

She waited four days in the freezing winter sea before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from the cold and lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like a near-death experience stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when she discovered that the ship was heading ''away'' from Eorzea and was only halfway through a voyage that would last for at least a few moons, if not until the end of summer. Skaenwyda could do nothing but wait, so she offered herself as an extra hand on the ship. The captain, a Hyur who looked too young to be commanding a ship but too intimidating for anyone to actually say anything about it, was skeptical of letting a mysterious girl they'd found in the middle of the sea do anything other than sit in the brig.

Luckily for Skaenwyda (and unluckily for everyone else), pirates were a common affliction on the seas and it wasn't very long before the ship was boarded by murderous villains looking for a big break. Mali was let out from the brig to help and showed her prowess with an axe (and her intimate knowledge of how to mess with pirates) by defending the ship that had been her temporary prison, and the captain suddenly remembered that he could use an extra pair of hands on deck. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare the merchants the crew was trading with, spent the next four moons doing essentially the same things she had done as a pirate slave, but this time her reward for a job well done and an axe well used was a good meal and even better company. They even paid her, which was a new experience in and of itself. She almost didn't want to leave when the ship when they finally returned to Eorzean waters. Goodbyes were had, and promises were made to meet again whenever the crew next made port.

A lot of things can happen in eight years and change. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a mostly grown, dirty, battleworn young woman with a large axe. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-06-30T08:43:26Z

Chaosmali: /* Basic Info */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 23 (Technically 28, born in 1549)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Not for you to know.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym. Previous surname aliases have included: "Reaper," "Blanaren," "Darksidhe"

'''Nicknames:''' Just Mali.

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single.

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' None yet.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she was really desperate and focused on it, she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first "day" on the job.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th birthday no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

====My First Adventure====

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th birthday (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th birthday, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

She waited four days before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like dehydration stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when the ship took her to the nearest port and gave her to the least altruistic doctor in the entirety of Hydaelyn. When she had recovered he handed her a bill for 10,000 gil for his troubles, and promised that she wouldn't have passage off the island until it was paid. She tried to explain that she was the long-lost daughter of a Limsa Lominsan merchant who would gladly pay the bill if he knew she was alive, but that went over about as well as anyone could expect. She was left in a strange land with a debt she couldn't pay, with nothing but the axe she carried on her back.

Then a self-proclaimed adventurer strolled into town, looking for his next step to fame and fortune. All she had to hear was the "fortune" part to convince her of doing odd jobs and visiting odd places for a few coins. The adventurer was wary of bringing a young mystery girl from the middle of the sea with him. She followed him anyway, out of pure stubbornness. He was in the area trying to find an old ruin, one that supposedly had great treasure inside. He found it soon enough, and discovered that it certainly had great swarms of monsters inside. Skaenwyda, not one to back down, tested her training against her first real targets. The battle was quick and brutal with her axe by his side, and the adventurer suddenly remembered that he had been looking for a partner and had conveniently forgotten until that very moment. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare potential customers, spent the next four years trying to get enough gil from odd jobs, mysterious treasure troves, and a goblin raid or two, to pay off her debt and ''finally'' get back home. While it started as just a way to get paid, "Mali" found that she had a real talent for going head-first into bad situations and making some coin off of it. It was the first time she had had anything that could even be called "fun" at all since she was a small child living with frilly dresses and unwanted tea parties. She even had a friend. After eight years of living in the bowels of hell, it was nice to be back out in the light.

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She almost didn't want to leave when she had finally gotten enough money to pay her debt (which had taken longer than expected thanks to basic needs like eating and finding an axe that wasn't breaking from rust). She said her goodbyes to the first friend she had ever made (and made him swear under pain of death that they would meet again, somehow) and, after so many years, so many trials, boarded a ship bound for Eorzea and took the last step towards home.

A lot of things can happen in twelve years. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a grown, dirty, battleworn adventurer. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

Coming Soon!

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Tivahlt Grimmgeist

2013-06-30T08:40:57Z

Chaosmali: /* Long Version */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Tivahlt Grimmgeist
| image = Tiv_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I wander to stay free. To keep dreaming, to find hope, and, someday, to move on. I doubt I'll ever settle down...but I'll stay with you as long as you need me."
| title = The Gentile Wanderer
| gender = Male
| citizenship = Esil'Heihm
| race = Miqo'te
| clan = Keeper of the Moon
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 27
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 17th day of the 4th astral moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Menphina, the Lover]], though he doesn't know it.
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = Pansexual
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = None
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Tivahlt Grimmgeist

'''Pronunciation:''' TIV-alt GRIM-gaist (last syllable rhymes with "iced")

'''Nicknames:''' Tiv, more sure to come as he interacts with others.

'''Aliases:''' Formerly "Tiva," used briefly prior to Dalamud.

'''Birthplace:''' Esil'Heihm, an island nation in the middle of nowhere.

'''Current Residence:''' Any spare room he can find.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single, and does not use that to his advantage nearly as much as he used to.

'''Religion:''' Previously a lip-service follower of his nation's faith (see below), he has since become bitter and jaded towards the idea of "higher powers" at work. He lets others believe what they want, but if religion comes up in conversation he will politely take his leave.

'''Laterality:''' Ambidextrous, but favors his left hand.

'''Other Notes:''' Tiv hates his full name, for various reasons. He rarely lets someone know it, and he won't be happy if you say it.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'7"

'''Weight:''' 130 ponz

'''Build:''' Lithe, but with a little bit of muscle. It's clear that he has only recently been exercising the limits of his body. His skin is just a little bit too smooth to have seen any real work for most of his life.

'''Skin Color:''' Pale with a blue tint. Clearly does not have an intimate relation with sunshine.

'''Eye Color:''' Light green, with a faint glow.

'''Hair Color:''' Deep purple with tips of blue-ish white.

'''Hair Style:''' Generally unkempt. It looks less like an actual style, and more like someone took a knife to much longer hair and then tried to fix it haphazardly. The front hangs over his eyes, occasionally obscuring his vision enough that he needs to flick it away. He claims that it adds to his "mysterious wanderer" look.

'''General Clothing Style:''' Though as a self-expressed homeless wanderer his clothing is often reduced to "whatever he can get," he keeps whatever outfit he ''is'' wearing very clean and precisely fitted. He almost never has a button unbuttoned or a fold out of place. When he wears what he ''actually'' prefers to wear, it usually errs on the side of formal, but with enough comfort that he can (usually) fit in with the rest of the crowd.

'''Voice:''' Very smooth and just a little bit flirtatious. He is very well spoken and picks his words carefully, always trying his best to be cordial, even when he's excited or scared. He rarely ever raises his voice in anger, but when he ''is'' riled his voice becomes much rougher, almost like a primal growl.

'''Other Notes:''' He has very faint scars of all shapes and sizes across most of his body. Most notable are series of small hole-shaped scars that run in rows down his back, on the sides of his torso, and down his arms and legs. They have all healed to the point that they are difficult to see for most people unless they're looking for them, but a very sharp eye might be able to find a few.

==Personality==

Coming soon!

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===

Coming soon!

===Abilities in Daily Life===

Coming soon!

==Esil'Heihm==
'''''Note:''' This is for educational purposes only! The odds of any of this information being widely known are so low that calculating them would be pointless. The primary purpose for this information is to make Tiv's history easier to write, by putting the more wordy exposition in its own section.''

''It is also a testament to what happens when I go off on a tangent and no one stops me. The "Intricacies" section especially is full of information that no one will ever need.''
===The Basics===
<spoiler>Esil'Heihm, which translated means "holy island," is a tiny island nation far to the west and a little bit to the south from Eorzea, lying in the middle of the sea. Because of the stormy waters around it, coupled with the razor sharp rocks that threaten to destroy even the most deftly maneuvered of ships, those few who find it on their journeys are perfectly content to stay far away, and those that have tried to explore it have never lived to tell about it. While from most views it looks like nothing more than an uninhabited island made entirely of jagged cliffsides with dangerous rocks in the surrounding sea, its intimidating appearance hides the rich and fertile lands inside, populated by citizens with an intricate and unique culture based upon a religion entirely their own.

Though there are many secret entrances and exits that the native people know of underneath the high cliffs, they never leave the island, fearing both the terrors of the outside world and the wrath of their god. What little they know of the outside world is told to them by the few survivors of shipwrecks or pirate attacks that make their way by chance, dragged by the current through one of their secret caves. While the population is very xenophobic and are more likely to execute newcomers or put them to hard labor as slaves, those that can gain favor with the citizens are quickly assimilated into their culture.

The population of Esil'heihm consists almost entirely of both Miqo'te and Roegadyn. The two races have lived on the island for so many centuries that they do not remember where they came from. Miqo'te make up the majority of the population (about 60%) with Roegadyn as a rather large minority at 35%. The other 5% is made up of outsiders that were brought in by the tide, and the descendants thereof.

While the population has Miqo'te primarily as the more abundant and higher status citizens, their language is derived from both Miqo'te and Roegadyn language almost equally, and their alphabet is completely different from either. While the language can be understood eventually (and more quickly by those who know at least one of the root languages), the written word is almost entirely indecipherable without a native speaker to translate.</spoiler>
===Religion===
<spoiler>Quite unlike the Eorzean's faith in the twelve, the citizens of Esil'Heihm believe in a singular divine entity known as the "Godking." In their religious texts, the Godking was a divine being made flesh upon the earth to save his people from assured destruction--for the Miqo'te it was a rain of fire, and for the Roegadyn it was an endless flood--and bring them together in a holy land where they would never face those hardships again. After leading the "chosen" to Esil'Heihm, the Godking split his physical body into seven pieces and returned to the heavens, decreeing that he will again return whenever his Chosen are in danger. The seven pieces became "the First Sons," which the Ruling Families are descended from.

Because they were once part of the Godking, the First Sons could hear the Godking's voice and know his will, so they became the first rulers of Esil'Heim, each taking their turn as king. But their descendants, being the progeny of the first sons' mortal wives, could not hear the Godking speak, and only after many rituals where they "took the Godking's power on earth into themselves" could one of them become king. Since then the firstborn son of each family undergoes a myriad rituals from birth, with the strongest among them becoming king.

The rest of their holy text details a very strict social structure "as set by the Godking before his departure," including everything from when, how, and how often prayer should be made, to an intricate caste system that is followed to the letter. Those that are devout and follow the holy texts are assured to rest forever at the Godking's side when they pass on, their life in death being as it was in life but without mortal needs like food or sleep. Anyone who deviates from the holy texts is cast out from society and considered an "affront to the Godking," deemed to be tossed into hell in death by the Godking himself. Hell is only described as "the dark place from which all evil is born, and where all evil must be returned."</spoiler>
===Intricacies===
<spoiler>====Naming Conventions====
Aside from the Ruling Families, all citizens are named after their caste (or aspect of their caste, such as an item, a tool or one of their duties), and an adjective or item that is descriptive of what their parents hold dear, with their surname being their caste title. For instance, a crafter whose mother admires beauty may be named "Galeimbahyel," or "jewel crafter."

The Ruling Families, those that are believed to be the direct descendants of the Godking, all have surnames that reflect their relation to the Godking and his heavenly residence. Given names can be anything so long as they do not directly relate to another caste. Ruling Families often name their children after iconic people from the holy text, or great leaders of the past. For instance, "Tivahlt Grimmgeist" comes from the lowest of the ruling families, and was named after a character in the holy text who was described as "a soft-furred man of noble standing, who traveled across the dangerous seas and back to spread the will of the Godking."
====Names of the Ruling Families====
Ordered by their secondary status within the Caste, decided by the order in which the First Sons (see religion, above) ruled.

*Fatyrh'agoht - ''god is [our] father''

*Khoenmynah - ''love the king [grammar is similar to a command]''

*Hahl'litarh - ''hollow [waiting for a commander] knight''

*Hihmlhund - ''heaven's [implied loyal] hound''

*Dehmah'rhyl - ''soldier that defends against [lit. kills] hell''

*Toumezhahl - ''speakers of the prophecies [lit. dreaming people of high status]''

*Grimmgeist - ''the spirit of one who rules [lit. cruel/ruling ghost]''

====Caste System====
Ordered by level of "supremacy" within society.
=====Ruling Castes=====
*1. Rhassael Na'akhen Gohtkhoen Erhma'zhahl - The Vessel That Contains the Godking's Will
**The ruler of Esil'Heihm, considered to be a god on earth. When one is his close to death, another is chosen from the Ker'Goht (see below) and undergoes a secret ritual with the dying king on a designated "sacred day," emerging as the new ruler. When used as a surname it is shortened to Rhassael, "The Vessel."

*2. Zha'oreshnann Na'haelyn Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The High Council of the Godking's Disciples
**The collective second-in-command, a council of seventeen members chosen from the most devout of the Serha (see below, Noble Castes). They are rarely seen, and news of them only comes when one member has died and another is chosen to take their. Shortens to either "The High Council" (Zha'haelyn) or "The High Priests" (Zha'Oreshnann), though they are rarely ever called by name.

*3. Ker'Rhassael Na'Goht Erhma'zhahl - Vessels-In-Waiting of His Will
**Sons from each of the ruling families that undergo physically and mentally torturous "rituals" each year to "become ready to take on His will." If one dies (a more common occurrence than they let on) the next oldest son begins the rituals at a faster pace to catch up, sometimes as quickly as weeks or days apart. Though they continue to have their family's name unless they are chosen to be king, in casual conversation they're often collectively referred to as the Ker'Goht, "[one] waiting for Him/god."

*4. Khelindt Na Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The Descendants of the Godking
**All members of the Royal Families, excluding their vessel-in-waiting. They are referred to by their surnames rather than their title, but in conversation among other members of noble or ruling castes, their collective name is shortened to Khelindt, "the descendants."
=====Noble Castes=====
*5. Serha'Oreshnann Na Gohtkhoen'mera - Anointed Disciples of the Godking
**Devoted followers who go through years of extensive study and preaching throughout their life. They are given a "ritual of anointment" when they come of age, to symbolize their closeness to the Godking. Shortened to Serha, "anointed."

*6. Bergennah Na Hihmlnann'mera - Defenders of The Almighty Ones
**Armed forces whose duty is to protect the ruling classes and enforce their laws among the other high castes. They are also given ritual of anointment when they come of age. Shortens to Bergennah, "the defenders."

*7. Oreshnann Na Gohtkoen'mera - Devoted Followers of the Godking
**Secondary followers, their studies are less rigorous as they are not expected to preach outside of small towns that the Serha do not travel to. Their primary duties are as librarians and are the only caste below the ruling castes that may enter the sacred libraries, keeping them clean and organized for the Serha and ruling castes. Their work is constant and most of them live in the library or the immediate area, but they are given a few days off every month for travel. Shortens to Oreshnann, "priest."

*8. Skalen Na Khelindt'mera Those in Service of His Decendants
**Servants that reside with and take care of the ruling families. They take care of everything from cleaning and cooking to caring for their children, often with their own at the early ages so that the children are used to each other by the time they grow up and the relationship of servant and master continues. Shortens to Skalen, "servant."

*9. Litarh Na'Goht Skalerh'mera - The Knights of His Service
**The more commonplace armed forces. They are the police force, keeping those of middle castes safe, and lower castes in their place. They take orders from the Bergennah and in turn enforce the laws among the castes below them. Shortens to Litarh, "knight."
=====Middle Castes=====
*10. Zha'O Bahyelda'Nahnen - High Crafters
**Just as the name implies, these people make high quality stuff. They are trained from an early age to follow their parents' profession. If they cannot produce work of good quality, they are demoted to Korh'Bahyelda and cast out from their family. Shortens to Zha'Bahyel, "good craft."

*11. Zha'O Gyfhteda'Nahnen - High Merchants
**Merchants known for a long familial history of good business with buyers and crafters alike. The punishment for "dishonorable" conduct is very strict. If one is caught doing something such as price gouging, selling illegal goods, selling to Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed"), or selling items of poor quality, they are stripped of their title, and occasionally executed. Shortens to Zha'Gyfhte, "good gift/sale."

*12. Zha'O Werhkeda'Nahnen - High Workers
**Workers from the Khor'Werhke caste (see below, Lower Castes) that have shown passion for their assigned job, loyalty to the ruling classes, and follow orders from the Litarh. No one is born into this caste, they must be chosen for it. Children born from them are given the choice at five years old to become Korh'Werhke, Korh'Gyfhte, or Korh'Bahyel, and are given a mentor from their desired caste (often one without a child of their own to teach), but are allowed to stay with their family until they come of age. Shortens to Zha'Werhke, "good work."
=====Lower Castes=====
*13: Khor'O Bahyelda'Henen - Low Crafters
**Crafters that are new to the profession, have a family history of mediocre or bad work, or have been demoted from Zha'Bahyel. They can be promoted to Zha'Bahyel status if they show that they are of the same level of quality. Shortens to Khor'Bahyel, "lower work."

*14: Khor'O Gyfhteda'Henen - Low Merchants
**Merchants that are new to the profession or have a family history of acceptable, but not ideal, business practices. Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed") are allowed to purchase items from them, but they can only buy the bare essentials; food, clothing, and anything that has been broken or deemed of "unacceptable" quality. Even then, Khor'Gyfhte with hopes of becoming Zha'Gifhte will refuse service. Khor'Gyfhte can only become Zha'Gyfhte if they have a family history spanning 5 generations or more of only "honorable" practices. Shortens to "Khor'Gyfhte, "lower gift/sale."

*15: Khor'O Werhkeda'Henen - Low Workers
**The standard working class, they are given the odd jobs that do not fall under crafts, such as farming, fishing, mining, building, street cleaning, etc. The more essential the job, the higher they are perceived within their caste. Shortens to Khor'Werhke, "lower work."

*16: Unejhden - Outsiders
**Outsiders that have been brought to the island by accident, but have taken Esil'Heihm's ways as their own and are open to becoming full citizens. Based on their expertise and/or level of fealty to the Godking, they can be assigned to any caste from Noble to Lower that does not have a coming-of age ritual. It is not used as their surname (they are not given one until they become part of a caste) and it is not shortened in conversation.
====="The Unnamed"=====
*Aghev'Ubhyl - The Unnamed [lit. "born from evil"]
**These are the lowest of the low; thieves, beggars, and unruly outsiders that will not conform to Esil'Heihm's ways. Also includes people from other castes that have been forcibly removed for questioning the ruling castes, trying to do something outside their caste, disobeying the laws, or having illegal contact with an Aghev'Ubhyl. They are either left to rot on the streets, or sent to do grueling labor for no pay. There is no way out for an Aghev'Ubhyl. Even saying their name in normal conversation is considered dishonorable. They have no surname and are never referred to as their "caste," giving them the monicker of the Unnamed.</spoiler>

==History==
===TL;DR Version===
Tivahlt Grimmgeist was born into nobility on an island in the middle of nowhere. He was experimented on with involuntary infusions of raw aether, ancient technology that mixed it with his own blood from the inside to make something darker, like aether sickness but twisted and corrupted into something worse, in an attempt to create a powerful, mindless entity for the High Priests to control as their puppet on the throne, a "tradition" that spanned centuries. The experiments made him into something that could hardly be called a person, a "thing" with raw aether fused with their blood, their very being, slowly losing everything that made him anything more. He was only saved from either certain death or endless servitude when his island was found and invaded by marauding pirates seeking a land full of riches, who had been led by a group of traitors that wanted revenge against the unfair caste system. During the chaos, Tivahlt was saved before the process could be completed, and from the slaughter of the entire ruling class, by his old servant and friend, who ferried his half-alive, mostly unconscious body to a safe haven on a distant shore before returning to their home to try and salvage it.

After recovering enough from the experiments to regain his senses, "Tiv" (or "Tiva") sailed to Eorzea, a land he had heard of from a scarce few accounts, under a disguise in case the worst should happen. Because males were rarely seen, he dressed as a female, which was surprisingly easy because his princely features, coupled with years of brutal experimentation that left his body frail and under-grown, made him closer in size to a female Miqo'te of Eorzea than a male. He only ever let one person see his true self, and it was their love and acceptance, coupled with the dauntless courage and passion for life he experienced from other Eorzeans, that made him realize that he couldn't keep running from his past. He was still needed elsewhere.

He left Eorzea shortly before Dalamud fell, returned to his home, and with the help of his friend (who had been tortured and mutilated by the marauders, but lived to tell the tale) he rallied those people that remained, regardless of their rank under the previous regime, and after years of battle and sacrifice (including the death of his lifelong friend) he finally regained control of the island. Since he was the last remaining noble, and the people had hardly known anything else other than brutal massacre, he was essentially forced to be king. He lived out the role as best he could, but he was troubled. He was losing memories, and losing time. When calamity struck Eorzea he felt it in the depths of his very soul, and ever since then he had been having trouble controlling the power inside him. He began to lose track of the present, and forget pieces of the past. His childhood, his own family, the friend who sacrificed his life...the friends he made in Eorzea, and the one who had accepted him as the strange creature he was turned into.

Eventually he discovered that, because the procedures on him were never fully completed (for better or worse), his "power" was becoming increasingly unstable, constantly on the verge of ripping his body, and his mind, to shreds. Whatever had happened in Eorzea, the reshaping of a continent and some great displacement of...''something'', had shifted the aether enough that his old scars were reawakened. Years of battle and living with the aether inside him had hardened his body against its worst effects, but the unnatural energy was still too powerful to fully control and by all rights should have killed him long ago. At his lowest point, the power overwhelmed him for only a few moments and the resulting burst of raw, unnaturally imbued aether killed nearly everyone attending a festival in his honor. Tiv was running on borrowed time and his people were demanding his head out of fear and sorrow. He left for the only place where he had any chance of finding an answer to both of his problems.

Now he's back in Eorzea, a new man with a slight glowing problem, hoping to restore the few memories he can and find a way to, if not cure himself of the unnatural energy inside him, then suppress it long enough for a few more years of life. So far the only way he has found to at least relieve the pressure a little is to keep casting spells, so that's what he does. He slings spells for hire, for fun, for what he believes is right and, occasionally, for revenge.

===Long Version===
'''WORK IN PROGRESS'''

<spoiler>====My Life as a Kid====

Tivahlt was born in the nation of Esil'Heihm, an island far out in the oceans unknown to and unknowing of the outside world (for more information, see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#The Basics|"The Basics"]] above). He was born as the first son to his parents Hana'yl and Eferhsin, and the second son of the Grimmgeist family, the seventh and last of the Ruling Families of Esil'Heim. As such, he was raised in the lap of luxury with everything provided for him and servants at his beck and call. Like most children of the Ruling Families, he spent most of his time with his caretaker and tutor, a kind old Roegadyn woman named Lidiehn, and her son Esmylacht (Esmyl for short), who had been chosen to be Tivahlt's personal attendant when the two came of age. It was fortunate, then, that Tivahlt and Esmyl found themselves to be good friends throughout their childhood.

Under Lidiehn's tutelage and a select number of books from the Sacred Libraries, Tivahlt was trained in everything from etiquette and "proper" actions, to science, mathematics, and the arts (little Tiv had a particular fascination with the fictional tales the library had for public use, and would often reread the same one for weeks). Of course, he also spent most of his time reading the Sacred Texts and learning all about their benevolent deity, the Godking (see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#Religion|"Religion"]] above), from whom his family line, as with that of the other Ruling Families, had originated. Although Tivahlt was a brilliant student in all of his studies, he saw the Sacred Texts as a chore at best, and a terrifying vision of the future at best; technically the Godking still ruled their country, by "imparting his will" into the chosen ruler...essentially making them a hollow shell for the Godking to speak through. Traditionally the first son of each family was chosen to undertake the "rituals" necessary to become the Godking's vessel, but should the First Son of the Grimmgeist family fail the tribulations necessary and perish...Tiv was next in line.

While the other members of the Ruling Families saw this as a great honor, Tiv saw it essentially as a long, prolonged death. Stripped of your personality and free will, unable to die, watching while your body is controlled by some unknown force until it finally wears out. Still, to question the Godking, regardless of rank, was an act worthy of being cast out, or even executed depending on just ''how'' terrible the heresy was. So Tivahlt continued to pray and worship, though most of his prayers were desperate pleas for the Godking to keep his cousin, the First Son of the Grimmgeist family, alive.

Aside from his existential quandaries, Tivahlt led a mostly carefree life through his childhood and teenage years. He was a bit of a troublemaker, flirting around with just about anyone and sneaking out into places he shouldn't be, but were it not for Esmyl being both his friend and his voice of reason, he might have been even worse. It probably helped that Esmyl was twice Tivahlt's size for most of their youth and could just carry the little noble away from the most tempting disasters-in-waiting. The few little "transgressions" of his that were discovered were solved either with Tiv's silver tongue, or a stern talking-to. For Tivahlt there were no limits, no repercussions. He was free, within reason anyway.

Of course, that wasn't going to last for long...

====The Last Day====

Tivahlt had never met his older cousin. When Tivahlt was born he had already been taken to begin the rituals, and he grew up knowing only the girls born before him, and the children born after. He hardly even know what the first son's name was. Tivahlt was fifteen when he finally saw his eldest cousin, when his body was delivered to the Grimmgeist estate on a traditional bed of flower petals to prepare for the funeral. His cousin looked sick, and frail, and even though his body was preserved for the moment his skin had an unnatural greenish hue. His hair was already going grey when he died at only the age of 20. Tiv wondered if he failed the rituals because he had always been like that, or if the trials had really done so much to him.

Every moment of every day leading up to the funeral was a nightmare for Tivahlt. His perfect world was falling apart all around him. The one thing that he feared most as a child, the one thing that he had hidden in the back of his mind, covering it up with mindless distractions and blind hope, was imminently approaching. He was next in line, after all. Each family had to have a vessel in preparation.His family mourned the loss of the first but praised the luck of the second, cursing the heavens for taking their First Son away so soon, and telling Tivahlt that he had a chance of receiving the greatest gift the Godking could give. Their unending praise and optimism in his presence almost gave him hope. Perhaps he had read the texts wrong. Perhaps this was a chance for a carefree layabout to do some real good for the world. For his people.

Perhaps he was fooling himself in the face of oblivion.

The funeral was an event unlike anything Tivahlt had seen. He had seen deaths, and seen the process from the first rites to the final burials, but the First Son's was the most grandiose of all, eclipsing even their annual holiday celebrations. The entire estate was lit up with colored lanterns, the trees were strung with decorations and glittering gems that sparkled in the lantern-light like stars. It was as if heaven itself had come down to earth for one day and night, to take one of its own up with it upon return. It was the first time that Tivahlt ever felt close to God. The new feeling made everything seem to shine brighter, the food taste better, and the old stories sound new. He even had a few drinks at the servants table, much to the chagrin of Esmyl (whose freshly poured mug Tiv stole ''five times''), not to mention the rest of his family for being so improper and "drinking with people barely of noble status." Even with five drinks in him and an earful from his father, Tiv would always remember the entire event clearly, as if he had lived it just yesterday. It was his last day of freedom. His last day of being normal.

It was the last day of Tivahlt Grimmgeist.

====Rituals in a Dark Room====

Coming Soon!

====Invasion and Escape====

Coming soon!

====Welcome to Eorzea====

Coming soon!

====Battles at Home====

Coming soon!

====My Life as a (Fake) King====

Coming soon!

====Run Away!/Back to Eorzea====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

'''TV Tropes:''' (list is a W.I.P. because I don't want to spend my entire life looking up tropes)
*Rebel Prince
*Reluctant Ruler
*The Wise Prince (after 1st visit to Eorzea)
*Chivalrous Pervert
*Warrior Prince (briefly)
*Power Degeneration (ironically, ''using'' his magic is just about the only thing keeping him alive.)

Tivahlt Grimmgeist

2013-06-30T08:40:40Z

Chaosmali:

{{Infobox-character
| name = Tivahlt Grimmgeist
| image = Tiv_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I wander to stay free. To keep dreaming, to find hope, and, someday, to move on. I doubt I'll ever settle down...but I'll stay with you as long as you need me."
| title = The Gentile Wanderer
| gender = Male
| citizenship = Esil'Heihm
| race = Miqo'te
| clan = Keeper of the Moon
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 27
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 17th day of the 4th astral moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Menphina, the Lover]], though he doesn't know it.
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = Pansexual
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = None
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Tivahlt Grimmgeist

'''Pronunciation:''' TIV-alt GRIM-gaist (last syllable rhymes with "iced")

'''Nicknames:''' Tiv, more sure to come as he interacts with others.

'''Aliases:''' Formerly "Tiva," used briefly prior to Dalamud.

'''Birthplace:''' Esil'Heihm, an island nation in the middle of nowhere.

'''Current Residence:''' Any spare room he can find.

'''Relationship Status:''' Single, and does not use that to his advantage nearly as much as he used to.

'''Religion:''' Previously a lip-service follower of his nation's faith (see below), he has since become bitter and jaded towards the idea of "higher powers" at work. He lets others believe what they want, but if religion comes up in conversation he will politely take his leave.

'''Laterality:''' Ambidextrous, but favors his left hand.

'''Other Notes:''' Tiv hates his full name, for various reasons. He rarely lets someone know it, and he won't be happy if you say it.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'7"

'''Weight:''' 130 ponz

'''Build:''' Lithe, but with a little bit of muscle. It's clear that he has only recently been exercising the limits of his body. His skin is just a little bit too smooth to have seen any real work for most of his life.

'''Skin Color:''' Pale with a blue tint. Clearly does not have an intimate relation with sunshine.

'''Eye Color:''' Light green, with a faint glow.

'''Hair Color:''' Deep purple with tips of blue-ish white.

'''Hair Style:''' Generally unkempt. It looks less like an actual style, and more like someone took a knife to much longer hair and then tried to fix it haphazardly. The front hangs over his eyes, occasionally obscuring his vision enough that he needs to flick it away. He claims that it adds to his "mysterious wanderer" look.

'''General Clothing Style:''' Though as a self-expressed homeless wanderer his clothing is often reduced to "whatever he can get," he keeps whatever outfit he ''is'' wearing very clean and precisely fitted. He almost never has a button unbuttoned or a fold out of place. When he wears what he ''actually'' prefers to wear, it usually errs on the side of formal, but with enough comfort that he can (usually) fit in with the rest of the crowd.

'''Voice:''' Very smooth and just a little bit flirtatious. He is very well spoken and picks his words carefully, always trying his best to be cordial, even when he's excited or scared. He rarely ever raises his voice in anger, but when he ''is'' riled his voice becomes much rougher, almost like a primal growl.

'''Other Notes:''' He has very faint scars of all shapes and sizes across most of his body. Most notable are series of small hole-shaped scars that run in rows down his back, on the sides of his torso, and down his arms and legs. They have all healed to the point that they are difficult to see for most people unless they're looking for them, but a very sharp eye might be able to find a few.

==Personality==

Coming soon!

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===

Coming soon!

===Abilities in Daily Life===

Coming soon!

==Esil'Heihm==
'''''Note:''' This is for educational purposes only! The odds of any of this information being widely known are so low that calculating them would be pointless. The primary purpose for this information is to make Tiv's history easier to write, by putting the more wordy exposition in its own section.''

''It is also a testament to what happens when I go off on a tangent and no one stops me. The "Intricacies" section especially is full of information that no one will ever need.''
===The Basics===
<spoiler>Esil'Heihm, which translated means "holy island," is a tiny island nation far to the west and a little bit to the south from Eorzea, lying in the middle of the sea. Because of the stormy waters around it, coupled with the razor sharp rocks that threaten to destroy even the most deftly maneuvered of ships, those few who find it on their journeys are perfectly content to stay far away, and those that have tried to explore it have never lived to tell about it. While from most views it looks like nothing more than an uninhabited island made entirely of jagged cliffsides with dangerous rocks in the surrounding sea, its intimidating appearance hides the rich and fertile lands inside, populated by citizens with an intricate and unique culture based upon a religion entirely their own.

Though there are many secret entrances and exits that the native people know of underneath the high cliffs, they never leave the island, fearing both the terrors of the outside world and the wrath of their god. What little they know of the outside world is told to them by the few survivors of shipwrecks or pirate attacks that make their way by chance, dragged by the current through one of their secret caves. While the population is very xenophobic and are more likely to execute newcomers or put them to hard labor as slaves, those that can gain favor with the citizens are quickly assimilated into their culture.

The population of Esil'heihm consists almost entirely of both Miqo'te and Roegadyn. The two races have lived on the island for so many centuries that they do not remember where they came from. Miqo'te make up the majority of the population (about 60%) with Roegadyn as a rather large minority at 35%. The other 5% is made up of outsiders that were brought in by the tide, and the descendants thereof.

While the population has Miqo'te primarily as the more abundant and higher status citizens, their language is derived from both Miqo'te and Roegadyn language almost equally, and their alphabet is completely different from either. While the language can be understood eventually (and more quickly by those who know at least one of the root languages), the written word is almost entirely indecipherable without a native speaker to translate.</spoiler>
===Religion===
<spoiler>Quite unlike the Eorzean's faith in the twelve, the citizens of Esil'Heihm believe in a singular divine entity known as the "Godking." In their religious texts, the Godking was a divine being made flesh upon the earth to save his people from assured destruction--for the Miqo'te it was a rain of fire, and for the Roegadyn it was an endless flood--and bring them together in a holy land where they would never face those hardships again. After leading the "chosen" to Esil'Heihm, the Godking split his physical body into seven pieces and returned to the heavens, decreeing that he will again return whenever his Chosen are in danger. The seven pieces became "the First Sons," which the Ruling Families are descended from.

Because they were once part of the Godking, the First Sons could hear the Godking's voice and know his will, so they became the first rulers of Esil'Heim, each taking their turn as king. But their descendants, being the progeny of the first sons' mortal wives, could not hear the Godking speak, and only after many rituals where they "took the Godking's power on earth into themselves" could one of them become king. Since then the firstborn son of each family undergoes a myriad rituals from birth, with the strongest among them becoming king.

The rest of their holy text details a very strict social structure "as set by the Godking before his departure," including everything from when, how, and how often prayer should be made, to an intricate caste system that is followed to the letter. Those that are devout and follow the holy texts are assured to rest forever at the Godking's side when they pass on, their life in death being as it was in life but without mortal needs like food or sleep. Anyone who deviates from the holy texts is cast out from society and considered an "affront to the Godking," deemed to be tossed into hell in death by the Godking himself. Hell is only described as "the dark place from which all evil is born, and where all evil must be returned."</spoiler>
===Intricacies===
<spoiler>====Naming Conventions====
Aside from the Ruling Families, all citizens are named after their caste (or aspect of their caste, such as an item, a tool or one of their duties), and an adjective or item that is descriptive of what their parents hold dear, with their surname being their caste title. For instance, a crafter whose mother admires beauty may be named "Galeimbahyel," or "jewel crafter."

The Ruling Families, those that are believed to be the direct descendants of the Godking, all have surnames that reflect their relation to the Godking and his heavenly residence. Given names can be anything so long as they do not directly relate to another caste. Ruling Families often name their children after iconic people from the holy text, or great leaders of the past. For instance, "Tivahlt Grimmgeist" comes from the lowest of the ruling families, and was named after a character in the holy text who was described as "a soft-furred man of noble standing, who traveled across the dangerous seas and back to spread the will of the Godking."
====Names of the Ruling Families====
Ordered by their secondary status within the Caste, decided by the order in which the First Sons (see religion, above) ruled.

*Fatyrh'agoht - ''god is [our] father''

*Khoenmynah - ''love the king [grammar is similar to a command]''

*Hahl'litarh - ''hollow [waiting for a commander] knight''

*Hihmlhund - ''heaven's [implied loyal] hound''

*Dehmah'rhyl - ''soldier that defends against [lit. kills] hell''

*Toumezhahl - ''speakers of the prophecies [lit. dreaming people of high status]''

*Grimmgeist - ''the spirit of one who rules [lit. cruel/ruling ghost]''

====Caste System====
Ordered by level of "supremacy" within society.
=====Ruling Castes=====
*1. Rhassael Na'akhen Gohtkhoen Erhma'zhahl - The Vessel That Contains the Godking's Will
**The ruler of Esil'Heihm, considered to be a god on earth. When one is his close to death, another is chosen from the Ker'Goht (see below) and undergoes a secret ritual with the dying king on a designated "sacred day," emerging as the new ruler. When used as a surname it is shortened to Rhassael, "The Vessel."

*2. Zha'oreshnann Na'haelyn Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The High Council of the Godking's Disciples
**The collective second-in-command, a council of seventeen members chosen from the most devout of the Serha (see below, Noble Castes). They are rarely seen, and news of them only comes when one member has died and another is chosen to take their. Shortens to either "The High Council" (Zha'haelyn) or "The High Priests" (Zha'Oreshnann), though they are rarely ever called by name.

*3. Ker'Rhassael Na'Goht Erhma'zhahl - Vessels-In-Waiting of His Will
**Sons from each of the ruling families that undergo physically and mentally torturous "rituals" each year to "become ready to take on His will." If one dies (a more common occurrence than they let on) the next oldest son begins the rituals at a faster pace to catch up, sometimes as quickly as weeks or days apart. Though they continue to have their family's name unless they are chosen to be king, in casual conversation they're often collectively referred to as the Ker'Goht, "[one] waiting for Him/god."

*4. Khelindt Na Gohtkhoen'zhahl - The Descendants of the Godking
**All members of the Royal Families, excluding their vessel-in-waiting. They are referred to by their surnames rather than their title, but in conversation among other members of noble or ruling castes, their collective name is shortened to Khelindt, "the descendants."
=====Noble Castes=====
*5. Serha'Oreshnann Na Gohtkhoen'mera - Anointed Disciples of the Godking
**Devoted followers who go through years of extensive study and preaching throughout their life. They are given a "ritual of anointment" when they come of age, to symbolize their closeness to the Godking. Shortened to Serha, "anointed."

*6. Bergennah Na Hihmlnann'mera - Defenders of The Almighty Ones
**Armed forces whose duty is to protect the ruling classes and enforce their laws among the other high castes. They are also given ritual of anointment when they come of age. Shortens to Bergennah, "the defenders."

*7. Oreshnann Na Gohtkoen'mera - Devoted Followers of the Godking
**Secondary followers, their studies are less rigorous as they are not expected to preach outside of small towns that the Serha do not travel to. Their primary duties are as librarians and are the only caste below the ruling castes that may enter the sacred libraries, keeping them clean and organized for the Serha and ruling castes. Their work is constant and most of them live in the library or the immediate area, but they are given a few days off every month for travel. Shortens to Oreshnann, "priest."

*8. Skalen Na Khelindt'mera Those in Service of His Decendants
**Servants that reside with and take care of the ruling families. They take care of everything from cleaning and cooking to caring for their children, often with their own at the early ages so that the children are used to each other by the time they grow up and the relationship of servant and master continues. Shortens to Skalen, "servant."

*9. Litarh Na'Goht Skalerh'mera - The Knights of His Service
**The more commonplace armed forces. They are the police force, keeping those of middle castes safe, and lower castes in their place. They take orders from the Bergennah and in turn enforce the laws among the castes below them. Shortens to Litarh, "knight."
=====Middle Castes=====
*10. Zha'O Bahyelda'Nahnen - High Crafters
**Just as the name implies, these people make high quality stuff. They are trained from an early age to follow their parents' profession. If they cannot produce work of good quality, they are demoted to Korh'Bahyelda and cast out from their family. Shortens to Zha'Bahyel, "good craft."

*11. Zha'O Gyfhteda'Nahnen - High Merchants
**Merchants known for a long familial history of good business with buyers and crafters alike. The punishment for "dishonorable" conduct is very strict. If one is caught doing something such as price gouging, selling illegal goods, selling to Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed"), or selling items of poor quality, they are stripped of their title, and occasionally executed. Shortens to Zha'Gyfhte, "good gift/sale."

*12. Zha'O Werhkeda'Nahnen - High Workers
**Workers from the Khor'Werhke caste (see below, Lower Castes) that have shown passion for their assigned job, loyalty to the ruling classes, and follow orders from the Litarh. No one is born into this caste, they must be chosen for it. Children born from them are given the choice at five years old to become Korh'Werhke, Korh'Gyfhte, or Korh'Bahyel, and are given a mentor from their desired caste (often one without a child of their own to teach), but are allowed to stay with their family until they come of age. Shortens to Zha'Werhke, "good work."
=====Lower Castes=====
*13: Khor'O Bahyelda'Henen - Low Crafters
**Crafters that are new to the profession, have a family history of mediocre or bad work, or have been demoted from Zha'Bahyel. They can be promoted to Zha'Bahyel status if they show that they are of the same level of quality. Shortens to Khor'Bahyel, "lower work."

*14: Khor'O Gyfhteda'Henen - Low Merchants
**Merchants that are new to the profession or have a family history of acceptable, but not ideal, business practices. Aghev'Ubhyl (see below, "The Unnamed") are allowed to purchase items from them, but they can only buy the bare essentials; food, clothing, and anything that has been broken or deemed of "unacceptable" quality. Even then, Khor'Gyfhte with hopes of becoming Zha'Gifhte will refuse service. Khor'Gyfhte can only become Zha'Gyfhte if they have a family history spanning 5 generations or more of only "honorable" practices. Shortens to "Khor'Gyfhte, "lower gift/sale."

*15: Khor'O Werhkeda'Henen - Low Workers
**The standard working class, they are given the odd jobs that do not fall under crafts, such as farming, fishing, mining, building, street cleaning, etc. The more essential the job, the higher they are perceived within their caste. Shortens to Khor'Werhke, "lower work."

*16: Unejhden - Outsiders
**Outsiders that have been brought to the island by accident, but have taken Esil'Heihm's ways as their own and are open to becoming full citizens. Based on their expertise and/or level of fealty to the Godking, they can be assigned to any caste from Noble to Lower that does not have a coming-of age ritual. It is not used as their surname (they are not given one until they become part of a caste) and it is not shortened in conversation.
====="The Unnamed"=====
*Aghev'Ubhyl - The Unnamed [lit. "born from evil"]
**These are the lowest of the low; thieves, beggars, and unruly outsiders that will not conform to Esil'Heihm's ways. Also includes people from other castes that have been forcibly removed for questioning the ruling castes, trying to do something outside their caste, disobeying the laws, or having illegal contact with an Aghev'Ubhyl. They are either left to rot on the streets, or sent to do grueling labor for no pay. There is no way out for an Aghev'Ubhyl. Even saying their name in normal conversation is considered dishonorable. They have no surname and are never referred to as their "caste," giving them the monicker of the Unnamed.</spoiler>

==History==
===TL;DR Version===
Tivahlt Grimmgeist was born into nobility on an island in the middle of nowhere. He was experimented on with involuntary infusions of raw aether, ancient technology that mixed it with his own blood from the inside to make something darker, like aether sickness but twisted and corrupted into something worse, in an attempt to create a powerful, mindless entity for the High Priests to control as their puppet on the throne, a "tradition" that spanned centuries. The experiments made him into something that could hardly be called a person, a "thing" with raw aether fused with their blood, their very being, slowly losing everything that made him anything more. He was only saved from either certain death or endless servitude when his island was found and invaded by marauding pirates seeking a land full of riches, who had been led by a group of traitors that wanted revenge against the unfair caste system. During the chaos, Tivahlt was saved before the process could be completed, and from the slaughter of the entire ruling class, by his old servant and friend, who ferried his half-alive, mostly unconscious body to a safe haven on a distant shore before returning to their home to try and salvage it.

After recovering enough from the experiments to regain his senses, "Tiv" (or "Tiva") sailed to Eorzea, a land he had heard of from a scarce few accounts, under a disguise in case the worst should happen. Because males were rarely seen, he dressed as a female, which was surprisingly easy because his princely features, coupled with years of brutal experimentation that left his body frail and under-grown, made him closer in size to a female Miqo'te of Eorzea than a male. He only ever let one person see his true self, and it was their love and acceptance, coupled with the dauntless courage and passion for life he experienced from other Eorzeans, that made him realize that he couldn't keep running from his past. He was still needed elsewhere.

He left Eorzea shortly before Dalamud fell, returned to his home, and with the help of his friend (who had been tortured and mutilated by the marauders, but lived to tell the tale) he rallied those people that remained, regardless of their rank under the previous regime, and after years of battle and sacrifice (including the death of his lifelong friend) he finally regained control of the island. Since he was the last remaining noble, and the people had hardly known anything else other than brutal massacre, he was essentially forced to be king. He lived out the role as best he could, but he was troubled. He was losing memories, and losing time. When calamity struck Eorzea he felt it in the depths of his very soul, and ever since then he had been having trouble controlling the power inside him. He began to lose track of the present, and forget pieces of the past. His childhood, his own family, the friend who sacrificed his life...the friends he made in Eorzea, and the one who had accepted him as the strange creature he was turned into.

Eventually he discovered that, because the procedures on him were never fully completed (for better or worse), his "power" was becoming increasingly unstable, constantly on the verge of ripping his body, and his mind, to shreds. Whatever had happened in Eorzea, the reshaping of a continent and some great displacement of...''something'', had shifted the aether enough that his old scars were reawakened. Years of battle and living with the aether inside him had hardened his body against its worst effects, but the unnatural energy was still too powerful to fully control and by all rights should have killed him long ago. At his lowest point, the power overwhelmed him for only a few moments and the resulting burst of raw, unnaturally imbued aether killed nearly everyone attending a festival in his honor. Tiv was running on borrowed time and his people were demanding his head out of fear and sorrow. He left for the only place where he had any chance of finding an answer to both of his problems.

Now he's back in Eorzea, a new man with a slight glowing problem, hoping to restore the few memories he can and find a way to, if not cure himself of the unnatural energy inside him, then suppress it long enough for a few more years of life. So far the only way he has found to at least relieve the pressure a little is to keep casting spells, so that's what he does. He slings spells for hire, for fun, for what he believes is right and, occasionally, for revenge.

===Long Version===
'''WORK IN PROGRESS'''
<spoiler>====My Life as a Kid====

Tivahlt was born in the nation of Esil'Heihm, an island far out in the oceans unknown to and unknowing of the outside world (for more information, see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#The Basics|"The Basics"]] above). He was born as the first son to his parents Hana'yl and Eferhsin, and the second son of the Grimmgeist family, the seventh and last of the Ruling Families of Esil'Heim. As such, he was raised in the lap of luxury with everything provided for him and servants at his beck and call. Like most children of the Ruling Families, he spent most of his time with his caretaker and tutor, a kind old Roegadyn woman named Lidiehn, and her son Esmylacht (Esmyl for short), who had been chosen to be Tivahlt's personal attendant when the two came of age. It was fortunate, then, that Tivahlt and Esmyl found themselves to be good friends throughout their childhood.

Under Lidiehn's tutelage and a select number of books from the Sacred Libraries, Tivahlt was trained in everything from etiquette and "proper" actions, to science, mathematics, and the arts (little Tiv had a particular fascination with the fictional tales the library had for public use, and would often reread the same one for weeks). Of course, he also spent most of his time reading the Sacred Texts and learning all about their benevolent deity, the Godking (see [[Tivahlt Grimmgeist#Religion|"Religion"]] above), from whom his family line, as with that of the other Ruling Families, had originated. Although Tivahlt was a brilliant student in all of his studies, he saw the Sacred Texts as a chore at best, and a terrifying vision of the future at best; technically the Godking still ruled their country, by "imparting his will" into the chosen ruler...essentially making them a hollow shell for the Godking to speak through. Traditionally the first son of each family was chosen to undertake the "rituals" necessary to become the Godking's vessel, but should the First Son of the Grimmgeist family fail the tribulations necessary and perish...Tiv was next in line.

While the other members of the Ruling Families saw this as a great honor, Tiv saw it essentially as a long, prolonged death. Stripped of your personality and free will, unable to die, watching while your body is controlled by some unknown force until it finally wears out. Still, to question the Godking, regardless of rank, was an act worthy of being cast out, or even executed depending on just ''how'' terrible the heresy was. So Tivahlt continued to pray and worship, though most of his prayers were desperate pleas for the Godking to keep his cousin, the First Son of the Grimmgeist family, alive.

Aside from his existential quandaries, Tivahlt led a mostly carefree life through his childhood and teenage years. He was a bit of a troublemaker, flirting around with just about anyone and sneaking out into places he shouldn't be, but were it not for Esmyl being both his friend and his voice of reason, he might have been even worse. It probably helped that Esmyl was twice Tivahlt's size for most of their youth and could just carry the little noble away from the most tempting disasters-in-waiting. The few little "transgressions" of his that were discovered were solved either with Tiv's silver tongue, or a stern talking-to. For Tivahlt there were no limits, no repercussions. He was free, within reason anyway.

Of course, that wasn't going to last for long...

====The Last Day====

Tivahlt had never met his older cousin. When Tivahlt was born he had already been taken to begin the rituals, and he grew up knowing only the girls born before him, and the children born after. He hardly even know what the first son's name was. Tivahlt was fifteen when he finally saw his eldest cousin, when his body was delivered to the Grimmgeist estate on a traditional bed of flower petals to prepare for the funeral. His cousin looked sick, and frail, and even though his body was preserved for the moment his skin had an unnatural greenish hue. His hair was already going grey when he died at only the age of 20. Tiv wondered if he failed the rituals because he had always been like that, or if the trials had really done so much to him.

Every moment of every day leading up to the funeral was a nightmare for Tivahlt. His perfect world was falling apart all around him. The one thing that he feared most as a child, the one thing that he had hidden in the back of his mind, covering it up with mindless distractions and blind hope, was imminently approaching. He was next in line, after all. Each family had to have a vessel in preparation.His family mourned the loss of the first but praised the luck of the second, cursing the heavens for taking their First Son away so soon, and telling Tivahlt that he had a chance of receiving the greatest gift the Godking could give. Their unending praise and optimism in his presence almost gave him hope. Perhaps he had read the texts wrong. Perhaps this was a chance for a carefree layabout to do some real good for the world. For his people.

Perhaps he was fooling himself in the face of oblivion.

The funeral was an event unlike anything Tivahlt had seen. He had seen deaths, and seen the process from the first rites to the final burials, but the First Son's was the most grandiose of all, eclipsing even their annual holiday celebrations. The entire estate was lit up with colored lanterns, the trees were strung with decorations and glittering gems that sparkled in the lantern-light like stars. It was as if heaven itself had come down to earth for one day and night, to take one of its own up with it upon return. It was the first time that Tivahlt ever felt close to God. The new feeling made everything seem to shine brighter, the food taste better, and the old stories sound new. He even had a few drinks at the servants table, much to the chagrin of Esmyl (whose freshly poured mug Tiv stole ''five times''), not to mention the rest of his family for being so improper and "drinking with people barely of noble status." Even with five drinks in him and an earful from his father, Tiv would always remember the entire event clearly, as if he had lived it just yesterday. It was his last day of freedom. His last day of being normal.

It was the last day of Tivahlt Grimmgeist.

====Rituals in a Dark Room====

Coming Soon!

====Invasion and Escape====

Coming soon!

====Welcome to Eorzea====

Coming soon!

====Battles at Home====

Coming soon!

====My Life as a (Fake) King====

Coming soon!

====Run Away!/Back to Eorzea====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

'''TV Tropes:''' (list is a W.I.P. because I don't want to spend my entire life looking up tropes)
*Rebel Prince
*Reluctant Ruler
*The Wise Prince (after 1st visit to Eorzea)
*Chivalrous Pervert
*Warrior Prince (briefly)
*Power Degeneration (ironically, ''using'' his magic is just about the only thing keeping him alive.)

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-06-30T07:44:48Z

Chaosmali: /* Miscellanea */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 23 (Technically 28, born in 1549)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Unknown.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym.

'''Nicknames:''' Mali, Malice, Mal

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa

'''Relationship Status:''' Single

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' None yet.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she was really desperate and focused on it, she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first "day" on the job.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th birthday no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

====My First Adventure====

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th birthday (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th birthday, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

She waited four days before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like dehydration stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when the ship took her to the nearest port and gave her to the least altruistic doctor in the entirety of Hydaelyn. When she had recovered he handed her a bill for 10,000 gil for his troubles, and promised that she wouldn't have passage off the island until it was paid. She tried to explain that she was the long-lost daughter of a Limsa Lominsan merchant who would gladly pay the bill if he knew she was alive, but that went over about as well as anyone could expect. She was left in a strange land with a debt she couldn't pay, with nothing but the axe she carried on her back.

Then a self-proclaimed adventurer strolled into town, looking for his next step to fame and fortune. All she had to hear was the "fortune" part to convince her of doing odd jobs and visiting odd places for a few coins. The adventurer was wary of bringing a young mystery girl from the middle of the sea with him. She followed him anyway, out of pure stubbornness. He was in the area trying to find an old ruin, one that supposedly had great treasure inside. He found it soon enough, and discovered that it certainly had great swarms of monsters inside. Skaenwyda, not one to back down, tested her training against her first real targets. The battle was quick and brutal with her axe by his side, and the adventurer suddenly remembered that he had been looking for a partner and had conveniently forgotten until that very moment. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare potential customers, spent the next four years trying to get enough gil from odd jobs, mysterious treasure troves, and a goblin raid or two, to pay off her debt and ''finally'' get back home. While it started as just a way to get paid, "Mali" found that she had a real talent for going head-first into bad situations and making some coin off of it. It was the first time she had had anything that could even be called "fun" at all since she was a small child living with frilly dresses and unwanted tea parties. She even had a friend. After eight years of living in the bowels of hell, it was nice to be back out in the light.

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She almost didn't want to leave when she had finally gotten enough money to pay her debt (which had taken longer than expected thanks to basic needs like eating and finding an axe that wasn't breaking from rust). She said her goodbyes to the first friend she had ever made (and made him swear under pain of death that they would meet again, somehow) and, after so many years, so many trials, boarded a ship bound for Eorzea and took the last step towards home.

A lot of things can happen in twelve years. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a grown, dirty, battleworn adventurer. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

Coming Soon!

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

*There are a lot of placeholder characters in Mali's backstory because a) I'm lazy, and b) I like leaving things open for future developments. So, if you ever just love Mali that much (hah!) that you want to be someone she knew, I'm all for it.
*More to come! This whole thing is a work in progress.

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-06-30T07:42:40Z

Chaosmali: /* Abilities in Daily Life */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 23 (Technically 28, born in 1549)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Unknown.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym.

'''Nicknames:''' Mali, Malice, Mal

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa

'''Relationship Status:''' Single

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' None yet.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or pen and paper. If she was really desperate and focused on it, she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first "day" on the job.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th birthday no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

====My First Adventure====

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th birthday (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th birthday, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

She waited four days before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like dehydration stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when the ship took her to the nearest port and gave her to the least altruistic doctor in the entirety of Hydaelyn. When she had recovered he handed her a bill for 10,000 gil for his troubles, and promised that she wouldn't have passage off the island until it was paid. She tried to explain that she was the long-lost daughter of a Limsa Lominsan merchant who would gladly pay the bill if he knew she was alive, but that went over about as well as anyone could expect. She was left in a strange land with a debt she couldn't pay, with nothing but the axe she carried on her back.

Then a self-proclaimed adventurer strolled into town, looking for his next step to fame and fortune. All she had to hear was the "fortune" part to convince her of doing odd jobs and visiting odd places for a few coins. The adventurer was wary of bringing a young mystery girl from the middle of the sea with him. She followed him anyway, out of pure stubbornness. He was in the area trying to find an old ruin, one that supposedly had great treasure inside. He found it soon enough, and discovered that it certainly had great swarms of monsters inside. Skaenwyda, not one to back down, tested her training against her first real targets. The battle was quick and brutal with her axe by his side, and the adventurer suddenly remembered that he had been looking for a partner and had conveniently forgotten until that very moment. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare potential customers, spent the next four years trying to get enough gil from odd jobs, mysterious treasure troves, and a goblin raid or two, to pay off her debt and ''finally'' get back home. While it started as just a way to get paid, "Mali" found that she had a real talent for going head-first into bad situations and making some coin off of it. It was the first time she had had anything that could even be called "fun" at all since she was a small child living with frilly dresses and unwanted tea parties. She even had a friend. After eight years of living in the bowels of hell, it was nice to be back out in the light.

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She almost didn't want to leave when she had finally gotten enough money to pay her debt (which had taken longer than expected thanks to basic needs like eating and finding an axe that wasn't breaking from rust). She said her goodbyes to the first friend she had ever made (and made him swear under pain of death that they would meet again, somehow) and, after so many years, so many trials, boarded a ship bound for Eorzea and took the last step towards home.

A lot of things can happen in twelve years. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a grown, dirty, battleworn adventurer. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

Coming Soon!

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

Coming soon!

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-06-30T07:21:07Z

Chaosmali: /* The Real Story */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Mali Bloodscythe
| image = Mali_01.jpg
| imagewidth =
| caption = "I get I'm not the sanest of folks, but there's two things you can count on: I'll protect my friends, and I'll destroy my enemies. Now which side a' that do you wanna be on?"
| title = A Chaotic Adventurer With Loyalties Unknown
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Unaffiliated
| race = Roegadyn
| clan = Sea Wolf
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 23 (Technically 28, born in 1549)
| stat_2 = Nameday
| stat_2_value = 28th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon
| stat_3 = Guardian
| stat_3_value = [[Rhalgr, the Destroyer]]
| stat_4 = Orientation
| stat_4_value = ???
| stat_5 = Occupation
| stat_5_value = Mercenary
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}
{{Character-stub}}

==Basic Info==
'''Full Name:''' Unknown.

'''Aliases:''' Goes by Mali Bloodscythe as her pseudonym.

'''Nicknames:''' Mali, Malice, Mal

'''Pronunciation:''' MAL-ee

'''Birthplace:''' Unknown.

'''Current Residence:''' Limsa Lominsa

'''Relationship Status:''' Single

'''Religion:''' "Pfff, religion? Feck that noise. If the gods want to come down and do shite ''right'' for a change, maybe I'll start believin'."

'''Laterality:''' Left handed.

'''Other Notes:''' None yet.

==Appearance==
'''Height:''' 5'9", and if you comment on her (relatively) short stature you'll have to deal with an axe in your skull.

'''Weight:''' 135 ponz

'''Build:''' She has muscle, but her body is just a little bit smaller compared to other Roegadyn. She has a bit of an hourglass figure, but with broader shoulders.

'''Skin Color:''' As pink and healthy as a race of green-skinned people can look.

'''Eye Color:''' Heterochromatic; Left eye is a light grey-blue, right eye is blood red and slightly more dilated.

'''Hair Color:''' Light purple with red highlights. It's hard to tell if the red is natural, or it was somehow dyed that way.

'''Hair Style:''' Windswept and easy to manage. It's clear she spends minimal time managing her hair, but she was lucky enough to be born with follicles that didn't care either way. She has a constant look of "obvious, but stylish bed-head."

'''General Clothing Style:''' Usually a mismatch of armor and casual dress, depending on her mood. The armor is likely to be dirty and covered in bloodstains ("tokens of battle," she calls them), but her clothes are at least kept clean, though not exactly pristine. You will probably never see her in a skirt, but if you do you might not live to tell the tale.

'''Voice:''' Unusually high-pitched for a Roegadyn, if she ever did "pansy shit" like sing she would probably be a soprano. She has a gruff, somewhat intimidating tone most of the time, which shows especially when she's calling out in excitement during battle. If you manage to catch her off-guard, though, her voice can be much different, smoother and more dexterous at displaying emotions other than "I love killing things." She ''usually'' has a slight Limsa Lominsan accent, but it changes in severity (or disappears entirely) based on her mood.

'''Other Notes:''' She has a few cuts and scratches here and there, but nothing that strikes as obvious save for a more noticeable one on her face. Her most noticeable trait is the red war paint she has on her face. She is rarely ever seen without it, which makes some people think it might be a tattoo. When asked about it, her answer changes every time. They include, but are not limited to: family tradition, used to scare her enemies, "it makes me feel pretty," "how about I paint YOUR face motherf--"

==Personality==

Mali can be almost perfectly described in one word; chaotic. To say that she suffers from mood swings would be both an understatement and a misnomer, as she seems to kind of enjoy it. At times she is perfectly nice and exuberant, albeit with a dark sense of humor and a violent streak. Other times she is a brooding, antisocial pessimist with a chip on her shoulder and an axe with your name on it. Still ''other'' times she is an angry, violent demon of a woman who just wants to see the world burn. Once or twice she even shows a softer side, though she's too headstrong to admit it. Throughout all of her various "personalities" there are a few connecting themes: she likes a good laugh, she's loyal to whomever she decides is her friend that day, and she keeps a tough persona on at all times. In spite of (or perhaps to compensate for) her very "masculine" behavior, she never misses an opportunity to remind her companions that she is very much a woman...unless it involves dressing up.

When around company she isn't used to, Mali's personality shifts are less extreme, mostly because she is very uncomfortable in new or large crowds (though she would never show it, most of the time) and doesn't really know ''how'' to act around new people. She tends to stay away from making big decisions or standing out in the crowd, and the few things she does say usually come off as gruff, rude, or uncaring. While that might actually be the case sometimes, most of the time she is merely putting on her "extra tough" facade to either impress, or scare, new people. Get to know her a little, though, and she lets go of the extra tough guy attitude (thought she has a lot left to spare) and becomes her more extreme self.

Being socially awkward to an extreme, she has trouble understanding romantic relationships, or even noticing when someone is flirting with her (or setting her up with someone else, for that matter). She also has trouble understanding simple things like filtering what she says, and why people get angry when she speaks her mind. Granted, when she speaks her mind it's usually a sarcastic remark at the expense of someone else. She has trouble not looking like she's about to kill something (even when being as cordial as possible), and tends to be intimidating to the average person without making a conscious effort (or specifically trying ''not'' to be), which gives her a reputation as a bit of a bully, or even a bogeyman for merchants and peddlers ("don't look at her directly! That crazy grin is enough to make your hair stand on end!" "If you see her coming, just give her whatever she wants and hope she leaves."). Despite it all she means well...most of the time.

'''Likes'''
*Men - She gets along with men better than women, mostly. Not to say that she dislikes women, she just doesn't know how to be...feminine.
*Fights - Not necessarily with others, just in general. The thrill of battle is something she enjoys, perhaps a little too much.
*Stories - Except for her own. She likes to hear about other peoples' experiences, unless she gets bored of it.
*Winning - Post-battle celebrations are common. They usually involve drinking.
*Food - And drinks, of course. She hardly ever turns down a meal, unless it's dodo.
*Laughing - Often for no reason. She's very jovial when she isn't being antisocial.
*Allies - If you get on her good side she's a fiercely loyal friend...just don't ask too many questions.
*Challenges - She's always looking to get better. If you defeat her, she'll probably want to be your friend/rival until she can defeat you back.

'''Dislikes'''
*Self-centered people - People who are full of themselves get on her nerves. Whether they think they're the best at something or they simply don't think about others as much, or even if they are so focused on their own problems that they run in "depressed mode" all the time.
*Losing - She will rarely ever admit defeat, even when she's lying half-dead on the ground.
*Emotional attachments - She doesn't open up to people, and she doesn't know how to respond when people become close to her.
*Tedium - She hates doing the same thing over and over, and gets bored easily.
*Dodos - Alive, dead, cooked, anything. She simply cannot stand dodos.

'''Alignment:''' Chaotic...something. The closest D&D equivalent would be chaotic neutral, but given the extremes of her personality she can be anything from truly good to pure evil at any given time.

==Abilities==

===Abilities in Battle===
Mali knows just about everything there is to know about the fine art of killing things with axes. She spent most of her known life with an axe in her hands, which may or may not have led to her almost homicidal glee for battle. As a side effect of her violent upbringing, she knows probably more than she should about the intricacies of marauding and piracy, but also knows what happens to people who go too far with their power ("getting too cozy with ill-gotten power never ends well, unless you think it's good to lie face down in the dirt with a blade in your back and a pile of corpses beneath you."). Given that she easily falls prey to boredom though, she recently has started to put down the axe more often and branch out into, as she puts it, "different ways of hurting things in extreme fashions." She has at least some demonstrative skill in other forms of combat, most notably with lances and swords. Nothing that rivals her power with an axe of course, but given her tenacity that might change.

While Mali has enough skill for magic, her life has never focused on it nor really allowed time to study the intricacies of bending the aether to one's will. She sees it as something strange and alien that she might someday grow more accustomed to, and has even dabbled with it in the past, but never for very long. Of course, as unpredictable as she is, the next time you meet her she might be aspiring to be a grandmaster of the aetherial arts.

===Abilities in Daily Life===
To say that Mali lacks the skills to function as a regular person would be both accurate and a little depressing. She has focused so much of her life on the way of a warrior that she doesn't really know how to act outside of the battlefield, either alone or with others. She can cook enough to stay alive (but prefers other peoples' cooking to her own, as hers tends to be as chaotic as she is), and she knows enough of the basics of living to keep a reasonable life in her small abode in Limsa Lominsa, but she could never settle down and start a life that didn't involve death and destruction as a primary source of income.

As an off hobby she occasionally tries to make things. Nothing big and fancy, but little things that don't take very long and may or may not be useful (somewhere, somehow, she has a closet full of origami cranes and simple woodcarvings, all made out of boredom). She has nothing but the highest respect for people that can actually sit down and make something of actual use (especially those who make things ''she'' can use in battle) but her best way to show respect is mild curiosity and fewer insults.

Despite her exterior dislike for sitting in one place for too long, she is actually very well read and smarter than she lets on, and even has a bit of an artistic streak, for all the good it does her (the height of which are a few doodles and the aforementioned closet of random crafts). When she isn't out making coin from a dangerous life of adventuring, she actually prefers staying at home with a good book or a pen and paper. If she was really desperate and focused on it, she could probably make a decent living from her artistic tendencies, though the very thought of it would make her go crazy within her first "day" on the job.

==History==

===What is known===

Mali keeps her past close to her chest. The most people can usually get are rumors and vague descriptions. Those familiar with her would know that she had a rough upbringing full of training and battle, but very little else. She never talks about family, if she ever even had one. Where ever she came from is a mystery, as she seemed to just appear in Limsa Lominsa as a fledgling adventurer years ago, and she has yet to divulge where she was before that. She is an enigma, with no past and no visible goals for the future. She is simply here to lay waste to those who stand against her, and she'll likely keep doing that until the day she dies.

===The Real Story===

<spoiler>====All That Glitters====

"Mali Bloodscythe" was born as Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn on a merchant ship owned and operated by her parents, originally hailing from Limsa Lominsa. They were not the most well off merchants of Eorzea, but they had enough affluence to have a bit of land in La Noscea and enough wealth to live comfortably when they weren't overseeing their ships. They were a family built on generations of perseverance, from humble sailors to decorated sea captains, and it was tradition for them to often captain the ships themselves. While this meant that "Skaenwyda" spent her first few years going on cruises all across Hydaelyn, it also meant that when she reached proper schooling age, and needed to spend time studying rather than sailing, she was left alone at home with their small collection of servants and bodyguards as her only company. She was a rebellious child from the start, as unpredictable as the seas she was born upon, and rather than spend her time studying economics and history and other things she would need to know to one day take over the family business, she would often sneak out and get into trouble. She was one of very few well-to-do kids that were actually impetuous enough to sneak out, and she had a bad habit of starting fights with the other, less well off kids her age, who wouldn't play with her because she was "a pampered pretty princess," as one little Lalafell once remarked.

While her parents wanted her to grow up into a respectable young lady, Skaenwyda was growing up to be a rough-and-tumble tomboy. By the time she was 6 her behavior was so uncontrollable that servants were starting to resign rather than put up with the rambunctious child, so her mother elected to stay home instead of go with her husband on their usual voyages, so as to better train her young daughter in the "proper" manners of a young lady in her position (and to find new hired help that was less likely to quit). For two years little Skaenwyda was tortured with frilly dresses, etiquette lessons, tea parties, and enough classic literature and practical tutoring to fill a small room (which it did, coincidentally). Were it not for a series of very unfortunate events, Skaenwyda might have actually grown up to be a proper lady with a fleet of merchant ships at her disposal. Instead, on Skaenwyda's 8th birthday no less, their private seaside villa was ransacked by a somewhat reckless crew of amateur pirates. The pirates took all the wealth they could carry, and kidnapped Skaenwyda for good measure, thinking she would make a good bargaining chip for even more riches. Instead, their heist of a high profile merchant's abode and the capture of their daughter brought the full fury of Limsa Lominsa's navy down on them. The pirates cut their losses and fled for far-off shores, with poor little Skaenwyda in tow.

====I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning====

The pirates eventually made their hideout in a cave of some distant land that Skaenwyda couldn't pronounce or remember, and put the little child to work as their "scullery-slave," forced to do whatever duty the rest of the crew didn't want to deal with. Of course, Skaenwyda wasn't going to take this sort of thing lying down. She fought back constantly, as well as an eight-year-old in a frilly dress could fight back anyway. It mostly equated to shouting and kicking shins, both of which she did every waking moment. Even when beaten, thrown into a cage, abused, and forced into hard labor, Skaenwyda would keep on shouting at her captors; "you just wait! I'm going to kill every single one of you! You're gonna be sorry!"

After a while even the hardiest of crew members began to get annoyed at the child's constant tantums, and there was talk of using some very...''brutal'' methods of silencing her. The captain, however, saw Skaenwyda's tenacity as the chance for a little bit of fun. He gave the little girl her first marauding axe and said, "if you ''can'' kill me, you're free to go. Until then, you're ours."

Of course, Skaenwyda could barely hold the axe at that age, let alone do damage with it (to anyone but herself, anyway), so her first attempt at the captain's life ended with Skaenwyda doing more damage to herself than her opponent, cutting her cheek so deep that the scar still remains to this day. The crew all had a good laugh as they watched the poor girl fumble around with an axe almost as big as she was, but the captain let her keep it and said, "you keep that axe until one of us is dead, girl. We'll see how long you last."

The next eight years were as far from her old life as Skaenwyda could have imagined. She worked all day, always reminding the crew that she was going to kill them, and at night she trained constantly for the chance to be free. While the pirates were "home" she cleaned the ship and served the crew their cups of grog (that she always spit in, whenever they weren't looking), and while the pirates were out pillaging she was left to clean the mess that was their hideout after a few nights of rowdy celebrations. Using her various escape techniques, she would sneak past the guard and lay a clever but ultimately ineffectual trap for the captain's return...or occasionally just replace their grog supplies with seawater.

The first year of her shenanigans she had to defend herself from near daily attempts on her life (though whether the crew was actually trying to kill her or merely pulling pranks, she never knew). The second year, the crew started calling her their "Little Reaper," with her constant cries of their inevitable demise and the axe she had become strong enough to carry with her, though she was still ineffectual. By the third year she could swing it with enough force to made a few small dents in the floor (she was, of course, beaten for every new dent she made while she was "training"). The fourth year, she could chop a log...if she aimed long enough. The fifth year, she began sparring with the pirate crew...although as far as she was concerned, "sparring" meant "sneaking up from behind and aiming for the head," though she still lacked the dexterity to be effective at all. The sixth and seventh year, she had become strong enough that the real sparring began. The name Little Reaper began to stick the more vicious and relentless her combat style became. They were even beginning to talk about making her a full-fledged pirate...

====My First Adventure====

In the eighth year, a week before her 16th birthday (which she only knew because she had been counting) the crew set off once more. Two weeks after her 16th birthday, they were still gone. Her guard had taken to pacing nervously each day that the crew did not return. Skaenwyda, on the other hand, was confident they would not be back for quite a while longer. The last time they had docked, she had used her trusty, now slightly rusted axe to break their rudder. Not enough that they couldn't steer as they left, but enough that strong seas (or a barrage of cannon fire) would do the rest of the damage for her. She used the spare time and the guard's distracted temperament to build a raft out of spare lumber. It was a terrible piece of work, but it was enough to get her out of the cove as the guard slept. Now she only had to find another ship to pick her up...

She waited four days before a passing ship picked her up. She was half-dead from lack of food and water, but she wasn't going to let something silly like dehydration stop her plan. She was, however, slightly delayed when the ship took her to the nearest port and gave her to the least altruistic doctor in the entirety of Hydaelyn. When she had recovered he handed her a bill for 10,000 gil for his troubles, and promised that she wouldn't have passage off the island until it was paid. She tried to explain that she was the long-lost daughter of a Limsa Lominsan merchant who would gladly pay the bill if he knew she was alive, but that went over about as well as anyone could expect. She was left in a strange land with a debt she couldn't pay, with nothing but the axe she carried on her back.

Then a self-proclaimed adventurer strolled into town, looking for his next step to fame and fortune. All she had to hear was the "fortune" part to convince her of doing odd jobs and visiting odd places for a few coins. The adventurer was wary of bringing a young mystery girl from the middle of the sea with him. She followed him anyway, out of pure stubbornness. He was in the area trying to find an old ruin, one that supposedly had great treasure inside. He found it soon enough, and discovered that it certainly had great swarms of monsters inside. Skaenwyda, not one to back down, tested her training against her first real targets. The battle was quick and brutal with her axe by his side, and the adventurer suddenly remembered that he had been looking for a partner and had conveniently forgotten until that very moment. Pleasantries were exchanged, Skaenwyda's name was nigh unpronounceable for him, and he added the nickname "Malice" to her previous title for her exuberant axe handling. She wasn't very happy with the string of violent nicknames she had been acquiring, but at least he could pronounce it.

"Malice the Little Reaper," later shortened to "Mali Reaper" as the full name was starting to scare potential customers, spent the next four years trying to get enough gil from odd jobs, mysterious treasure troves, and a goblin raid or two, to pay off her debt and ''finally'' get back home. While it started as just a way to get paid, "Mali" found that she had a real talent for going head-first into bad situations and making some coin off of it. It was the first time she had had anything that could even be called "fun" at all since she was a small child living with frilly dresses and unwanted tea parties. She even had a friend. After eight years of living in the bowels of hell, it was nice to be back out in the light.

====Home is Where the Heart is====

She almost didn't want to leave when she had finally gotten enough money to pay her debt (which had taken longer than expected thanks to basic needs like eating and finding an axe that wasn't breaking from rust). She said her goodbyes to the first friend she had ever made (and made him swear under pain of death that they would meet again, somehow) and, after so many years, so many trials, boarded a ship bound for Eorzea and took the last step towards home.

A lot of things can happen in twelve years. A lot of memories can be rewritten, things that once seemed set in stone can seem fuzzy. Mali stepped onto the docks of Limsa Lominsa and every fuzzy memory came back to life in all of their splendor. She remembered every shop her mother had walked her through, every corner of every street, every alleyway where she had beaten up that Lalafell boy for calling her names (she made a mental note to apologize to him, if she ever remembered his name). She was moved to tears just to be back in Eorzea. She didn't even know how she would handle seeing her family again.

The seaside villa had undergone so many remodellings that it was hardly recognizable at all. If she didn't remember the exact twists and turns of the roads she once traveled on, she might never have found it. She almost didn't know what to do. She had spent so much time waiting for this day, but had never figured out what to do when it happened. After spending too much time staring from a distance, she braced herself and walked up to the door.

At first, her parents didn't recognize her. Of course they wouldn't, she was an eight-year-old in frilly dresses when last they saw her, and now she was a grown, dirty, battleworn adventurer. Once it was clear, though, there was a long reunion full of tears and hugs and "oh my gods what happened" and "we thought we'd lost you." Mali was cleaned up, went back to her old name of Skaenwyda Ganzsaldwyn, and tried to pick up where she had left off. Frilly dresses and all.

Of course, years of abuse at the hands of murderous pirates wasn't the best thing to happen to a growing woman's psyche, and her social skills were lacking even for a normal person, let alone a lady of high social standing. She followed along with her parents' instructions and did her best to act normal, but she had hardly anything to base the idea of "normal" on. Her mental stability, already less than ideal, was constantly wavering back and forth, and her moods were becoming more extreme and, in some cases, violent. On the one hand, years of abuse had left her cold and uncaring. On the other hand, she had finally gotten the one thing she wanted more than anything, and it was like she was living in one of her daydreams.

Despite her best efforts, there was only so much that could be done for her. Her parents were just happy to have their daughter back, but it wasn't the daughter they had remembered. This one was different, foreign and strange, and she could see their disappointment. Home, like much of life, was never perfect. The relationship between the physically and mentally scarred adventurer and her prim and proper parents was a strained one at best. While they all knew, somewhere in their hearts, that the would always be family, Mali could no longer be the Skaenwyda she once was. Proper goodbyes were said this time, as they parted ways once again. Skaenwyda had died a long time ago. Mali was all that was left, and she couldn't fit that role. She had another one to fill.

====Dark Days in Eorzea====

Coming Soon!

====A New Point of View====

Coming soon!</spoiler>

==Contacts==

===Friends===

Coming soon!

===Enemies===

Coming soon!

===Frenemies===

Just a joke!

===Affiliations===

Coming soon!

==Other Notes==

===Rumors===

Coming soon!

===Miscellanea===

Coming soon!

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-06-30T03:26:13Z

Chaosmali:

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-06-30T03:23:44Z

Chaosmali: /* History */

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-06-30T03:17:02Z

Chaosmali: /* Appearance */

Mali Bloodscythe

2013-06-30T03:13:30Z

Chaosmali: