RPC Library - User contributions [en]

Avis Ingram

2021-01-07T15:11:28Z

Elysia: Elysia moved page Avis Inkwood to Avis Ingram

<div style="font-family: Times New Roman">

{{Infobox-character
| name = Avis Ingram
| image = AvisInkwood.jpg
| imagewidth = 450
| caption = "Is it not lovely that we are so ''various''?"
| title = Avis Ingram
| gender = Female
| citizenship = Ul'dahn
| race = Hyur
| clan = Midlander
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 25
| stat_2 = Patron Deity
| stat_2_value = Azeyma
| stat_3 = Server
| stat_3_value = Balmung
| stat_4 =
| stat_4_value =
| stat_5 =
| stat_5_value =
| stat_6 =
| stat_6_value =
}}

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">BASIC INFO</div>===

Dedicated diarist and arcanist Avis I. is a curious, contemplative Midlander with a fondness for libraries, tavern storytelling and the sublime sea-winds of Limsa Lominsa.

An "adventurer" who enlists in a variety of odds-and-ends to earn her keep, (including freelance writing and ghostwriting of the purple prose variety), Avis seizes every opportunity to wander. She has even returned incognito to her native city of Ul'dah a few times since her self-imposed exile a year ago.

====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Recent Events</div>====

Avis is currently employed as a personal assistant to Professor Jigumundo Darkbore. Though he operates from the University of Aether in the Goblet, she avoids the area for personal reasons and organizes his research from her room in the Mizzenmast. She is mostly found wandering La Noscea (and recently, the Shroud as well), ready to chat up and (ask endless questions of) any stranger that catches her interest. The Eagle & Quill bookstore in the Mist has also become one of her favorite haunts, and it's there where she indulges a recent fascination with history, while working with others on translation of a certain Nymian tome.

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">CHARACTER (IN-DEPTH)</div>===

==== Personality ====

A great observer and lover of life, of sights, sounds, people and ''words'', Avis's keen interest in stories is telling in her conversations. The larger, the better. She tends to be candid in her remarks and sometimes relentless in her questionings once they begin; while insightful, these may border on intrusiveness and tactlessness. Calm and wry in demeanor, sometimes playful, Avis enjoys listening to others and participating in conversations of a rowdy or philosophical nature, but never actually reveals much that is important about herself.

Though perceptive, Avis lacks self-awareness - her pride being her one great blind spot. She is also capricious and somewhat commitment-phobic (again, she is likely to be unaware of either of these). She has a tendency to dive after the latest project of intrigue, but her level of investment in it largely depends on how interesting she eventually finds it. Also, while she can grow easily fond of people and indeed considers the making of new friendships an important priority, she rarely attaches herself intensely to anyone and requires much solitude at intervals. An introvert at heart, intensely private, Avis's free-spirited nature means that even close friends have found her strangely pensive and detached at times.

Conversely, as a romantic and idealist, Avis can be fully fixated on an ideal or cause or wildly devoted in love when it happens, and in fact quite enjoys the abandon of all this - but such situations tend to be exceedingly rare or, in the case of the former, short-lived.

The reason: Avis left Ul'dah with the understanding that it had grown too small and bitter for her, but having only half-seriously scraped her way through childhood and adolescence without any accomplishments to her name (other than a string of boyfriends and a gift for grammar), she now finds herself still bereft of any strong purpose or "calling". She has little actual ambition beyond seeing the world and recording it, and though there is joy in the variety of tasks she engages in from day to day, she is only just beginning to realize the hollowness of adventuring without a cause.

Generally, Avis has good intentions. She is highly accepting of, if not embracing, difference and ambiguity.

<table style="position:center;" width="100%">
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Times New Roman; Garamond;"><h3>
<div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #ECCA67;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Abilities''</center></div></h3>
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Avis is proficient enough in arcanima to experiment with runes. Perhaps she'll even write her own spells someday. ''If'' she ever works at it.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Storytelling and storycrafting.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> General 'scribery'. She's been noted to 'have a way with words', and is more than happy to lend her pen for any cause at any price. Usually.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Research - Avis can be ruthlessly thorough if she's invested enough in the topic.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Wandering. ...this means she has decent knowledge of many areas outside of cities, however, especially Lower and Middle La Noscea.

<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Times New Roman; Garamond;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #ECCA67;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Weaknesses''</center></div></span></h3>

: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Lacks ambition and discipline - at times a little too flighty for her own good.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Though light-footed and somewhat hardy from all the walking she tends to do, Avis is completely hopeless at physical combat.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Curiosity killed the cat.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Uh... books?
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> She seems to consistently have great trouble alighting chocobos gracefully...

<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Times New Roman; Garamond;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #DFD59E;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Likes''</center></div></span></h3>

: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Explorations and expeditions.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Books, libraries, words.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Philosophical conversations.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Wit and humour.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Learning. (Diligence is another matter.)
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Strong wines and teas.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ruins and old places of historical interest.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> The sea and areas of natural beauty.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Teasing socially awkward people, apparently.

<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Times New Roman; Garamond;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #DFD59E;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Dislikes''</center></div></span></h3>

: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Children. Why do they make such noises? Why do they ''demand''?
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah and members of the Ul'dahn elite.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Chauvinism.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Nagging.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Confinement - physical or otherwise.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Excessive or embarrassing displays of emotion.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Overdependence.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Criticism.

</tr></table>

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">HISTORY</div>===

The sickening sand storms that year had brought Avis to them, along with the plague – or so the Lady of the Ingram family delighted in proclaiming, draped out melodramatically along her favorite couch. This, however, never troubled the girl Avis, youngest of her siblings; on the contrary, she reveled in the extravagance of the myth-like retelling of her birth and in her burgeoning status as potential black sheep of one of the richest and most well-connected Hyur families in Ul’dah. She was reticent and rebellious from infancy, preferring the company of “flowery words” and her own imagination to numbers and lists, and, increasingly, the rowdy streets of the city to the carpeted corridors of her home.

In her adolescence and early adulthood, Avis took to mingling and developing close relationships with people from less privileged classes, more for a misguided taste of danger and a different world than any strong sense of empathy or social justice. In considering herself above her family’s elitism and narrow-mindedness, Avis, too, became arrogant. She was a constant source of exasperation to the rest of her family, the Ingrams, willfully displaying disinterest in trade and business, negligent as an accounts scribe, even failing abysmally during a brief stint as their shop manager when she wrote love poems to her new Highlander lover behind the counter while a thief, pockets full, whistled her way out.

Jasper was his name; he was resourceful, daring and in equal measure ardent and ironic in his affection for Avis, who was the same, matching him in thought for thought, word for word in the dissonance of their accents and speech. The Calamity hit Ul'dah hard, but Jasper saw it as his opportunity to finally ascend the social ladder and make a place for himself on the battleground of the vicious Ul’dahn marketplace, and was, occasionally, not above disreputable means to achieve his aims. He would have succeeded had he not begun playing for the wrong side, becoming entangled in the years-old rivalry between the Ingrams and another trading giant; when things came to a head, the Ingrams and their partners sent men to crush the competition. Literally. Jasper was found among the remains of his stall, quite broken in back and spirit, while his wealthy bosses reconvened with their enemies and brokered another deal in the coolness of their halls. Jasper's companions understood the nature of the resistance they faced and bowed out quietly, packing themselves and Jasper back home – if a refugee camp could be considered home. Some months later, Avis received word of Jasper's death in Little Ala Mhigo, and folded her returned, unopened letters away.

Only belatedly aware of the connection between their youngest daughter and the latest casualty in affairs of trade, and more annoyed than surprised by this, the Ingrams prayed that the youngest daughter’s self-confinement mean that she knew her place at last. Of course, this ‘peace’ was short-lived. Within weeks Avis was back to roaming the streets of Ul’dah blithely, almost like her old self, but not quite - while a scathing allegorical polemic against the upper class began circulation among literate members of society. It was dismissed by some, critiqued for its clumsy flamboyance by others, and would not have made waves had its clearly caricaturized characters not borne a hilariously punishing resemblance to the members of the Ingram family. Admittedly, Avis enjoyed the attention for a short while – in particular the sweet howls of mortification from her family members – but it eventually grew intolerable. At 24, Avis finally felt compelled to quit Ul’dah, and set off for Limsa Lominsa to forge a different life under a different name - Inkwood.

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">MISCELLANEOUS</div>===
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<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Times New Roman; Garamond;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Rumours''</center></div></span></h3>
''Some of these rumors are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b>
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b>
: ■ "Yeah, she's comes by t' mix around w' us lowborn. Nice girl. Strange ideas. - ''a Pearl Lane squatter''
: ■ "Oh, she always liked her men. I think her taste extends to Lalafells." - ''a snooty card-player at Ul'dah's airship landing''
: ■ "Weird chick, always with pen and paper, and a damned big laugh if y' ask me." - ''a Drowning Wench regular''
: ■ "I... I hear she's been going around asking people if they need letters written for them in exchange for stripteases on the street!" ''- a deeply-offended missionary to Limsa Lominsa ''

<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Rarer Rumors (Difficult to overhear)</div></b>
: ■ "She wrote some pretentious allegorical garbage condemning her parents. What was the title again? The Pusillanimity of Puks. Or something to that effect."- ''a bespectacled thaumaturge at the Ossuary''
: ■ "Ah, the Ingram ingrate. For all 'er moony talk, she's just a spoilt brat if y' ask me. Rotten, the whole lot of 'em." - ''an Ul'dahn merchant''

<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from the character's of other players)</div></b>
: ■ "Great Assistant. Well organised and hungry for knowledge. She would make a great pupil and powerful mage. Little too curious about details though..." - [[Jigumundo Darkbore]]
: ■ "Don't push it, Inkwood! You are my close friend and a personal Assistant, but that DOESN'T mean you can do what you want with me... You big tease..." *blush* - [[Jigumundo Darkbore]]
: ■ ''*the temperature becomes rather warm with a growing wry grin*'' "Oh - oh, you would ask me about '''her''', hm~? She.. is Many Things, but Free, like the breezes by the sea, is an apt way to see her~ And, well, if you '''do''' chance to meet her, be not without a tale, or any stories you may avail, hm~? And perhaps answers to '''numerous''' questions that may thusly hale~" ''*the grin has definitely become a dorky one by the end, and not without some snickering*'' - [[Xavarian Mystrife]]
</div></td>

<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Times New Roman; Garamond;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Relationships''</center></div></span></h3>
: <center><font style="color:#F02311;" size="3">♥</font> Romantic Interest    <font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Platonic Love     <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing     <font style="color:#808080;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing     <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center>

: <font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> '''[[Kokoniku Papaniku]]:''' “The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.” Mark Twain's maxim, however, doesn't seem to apply to Kokoniku and Avis's longstanding best-friendship. The generous, good-hearted Lalafell's a rare entrepreneurial success of the bourgeoisie in Ul'dah, and he has been responsible for topping up his fledgling adventurer friend's money pouch when she only has enough gil left for that one emergency letter. (Rumour has it that Sir Fabuli, her chocobo, was partly funded by him as well.) They still meet up once every few months, and reunions consist of reclining atop walls for lengthy bitching sessions about the elite of Ul'dah, just like in the good old days. [NPC]

: <b>?</b> <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> '''[[Ja'rhem Khalaa]]:''' Going by the name of 'Kingsley', this miqo'te rogue charmed his way into Avis's, well, <I>good books</i> with his way with words and literary inclinations. Then he made off with her money pouch and journal. Understandably, Avis's crossed, to say the least. Her list of colorful descriptions and insults for him, however, betrays fascination with 'poorboy cat' - something she'd probably freely admit to if she weren't distraught about someone else being privy to her penned secrets.

: <font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> '''[[Jigumundo Darkbore]]:''' Avis has recently become a part-time research assistant to this grim Professor, whose incomprehensible dislike of Miqo'tes and general grumpiness have sufficiently amused and intrigued her. She works in short-lived spurts, however, always too restless to linger for long; despite the sporadic nature of her appearances, Jig (as she calls him) still seems to regard her highly. After Jigumundo reveals his past to her, she avoids him for a time, but has since overcome her emotional struggles on this matter and cemented their friendship. She's terribly fond of him, of teasing him, and of teasing out his nicer side. (She's also vouched to be a more reliable secretary, though whether she'll make good on that remains to be seen.)

: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> '''[[Khyran Oisin]]''': Avis rescued this hollowed-out hyur from rain and near-death with water, a bag of rolanberries and chocobo rides atop a fussing Sir Fabuli. At a shelter, one curious question led to another, and in an afternoon Avis found herself compelled enough by his abilities and character to promise a solution to a certain problem of his. She isn't sure if she likes him or pities him more - one thing's for sure, though, she trusts him to tell hard truths, and is intent on looking him up again.

: <font style="color:#808080;" size="3">●</font> '''[[Kurt Steel]]''': A perplexing young man. Their second encounter is a prime example of Avis's curiosity and penchant for, well, euphemism getting the better of her. His difference in personality between their two meetings unsettles her - not least because it annoys her, somewhat, that she's not ''read'' him accurately. She has found herself attempting to salvage what's left of Mr. Nice Guy by offering herself as a drinking buddy... that invitation, however, hasn't worked out quite as elegantly as she has hoped.

: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font>'''[[Melody Adagio]]''': Avis has met Melody, Jigumundo's lover, on a few occasions, and she appreciates the spunky and industrious Lalafell's company. While she senses that their worldviews may differ, the fact that they can exchange friendly banter and semi-snarky sidestepping remarks is assurance that they should become more than acquaintances. (They're likely to be, if Jig's word is anything to go on...)

: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font>'''[[Ramona Spencer]]''': The Little Ram is... a recent acquisition, having pledged her fighting and book-lifting abilities to the thoroughly amused scribe for a free ride to Limsa Lominsa. Curiously enough, Avis feels a vague, 'big-sister' sense of responsibility towards the driven, yet troubled young woman. Still, she rarely acts on her worry, and accepts that Ramona ''will'' insist on being everywhere doing everything - which also makes it difficult, fortunately enough for her, for Avis to hold her to the terms of their contract. Avis does want to take a less distanced interest in her minion's affairs, however, especially where her love life and growing powers are concerned.

: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font>'''[[Vetiver Kaji]]''': A Doman, chanced upon at Memeroon's trading post during an impending (and subsequently ignored) thunderstorm. Avis finds her interesting company and has only barely managed to restrain herself from asking one too many questions about the woman's Othard origins and personal life - especially after Vetiver reveals herself to be an Au Ra. Avis is both flattered and amused by Vetiver's open flirtation, though slightly wary of her loneliness and genuine concern; her request for a particular type of ''story'' from Avis is an intriguing challenge, however.

: <font style="color:#F02311;" size="3">♥</font> '''[[Xavarian Mystrife]]:''' Fellow scribe and student of Jigumundo Darkbore, who seems uncannily similar to her in independence and interests. Avis's initial curiosity and light-hearted teasing of the duskwight's awkward, bookish personality has led to the development of Something completely unprecedented - a series of enigmatic letter exchanges that is a whole new realm of thought and experience for Avis. She is now in love with him, young and odd as he is, and what they share is no longer something Avis is very much interested in defining. Most waking moments (or, well, ''slumbering'', too, given their fondness for sleep in open spaces) spent in Xavarian's company is still rich, surprising, and intellectually satisfying, and so she's only intent on continuing their Mess.

: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font>'''[[Y'shenn Tia]]:''' An old friend from Ul'dah. They reconnected recently when Y'shenn initiated a letter exchange in a bid to learn to write better. Avis is grateful for his letters, for their (often amusing) simplicity and optimism, and for the bittersweet memories of an Ul'dahn childhood that they inevitably bring. At least ''some'' things don't change. (Perhaps Y'shenn's handwriting and spelling will, for she always corrects his mistakes.)

===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Links & Footnotes</div>===

* [http://strangeandspare.tumblr.com/ Character tumblr] - inspiration & [http://strangeandspare.tumblr.com/tagged/rp-journal journal entries]<br>
* Music: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mGn6Qf5dEM Paper Forest] (Emmy the Great), [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbAyUjclZgc Deep Wide Ocean] (The Jezabels), [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flK-ZbqRNk4 Wild] (Beach House)
* This poetic hobo is always looking forward to meeting new people. You can contact me [http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/private.php?action=send&uid=4737 via PM on the RPC] or [http://strangeandspare.tumblr.com/ask on tumblr].
* Layout courtesy of [[Bancroft Gairn]].

Avis Inkwood

2021-01-07T15:11:28Z

Elysia: Elysia moved page Avis Inkwood to Avis Ingram

#REDIRECT [[Avis Ingram]]

Qara Qalli

2015-06-28T15:49:30Z

Elysia: /* Gallery */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Qara Qalli
| image = QaraQalli4.png
| imagewidth = 450
| gender = Female
| citizenship = N.A. (native of Othard)
| race = Au Ra
| clan = Xaela
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 29
| stat_2 = Marital Status
| stat_2_value = Single
| stat_3 = Occupation
| stat_3_value = Witch doctor & zither player
| stat_4 = Server
| stat_4_value = Balmung
}}

''"We are often two, and they make war in us."'' '''[WIP]'''

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">BASIC INFO</div>===

Qara Qalli is an Au Ra recently arrived in Eorzea. The self-proclaimed healer is almost never seen without a large, casket-like object in tow, and is quite happy to reveal its contents upon request - 'Chora', her zither (a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yatga yatga]). This she plays on and sings to more than willingly to anyone who would lend his ears. Typically, the subject matter covered is grimmer or more morbid than would have been expected of the sweet, smiling (if overly garrulous) Xaela, who is likely afterwards to hand a perplexed listener 'dreamweed' from Othard. Visions are her mission - let her put you to sleep, set your bones, read your dreams and reveal your fate.

====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Recent Events</div>====

She is mostly found wandering in areas in the Twelveswood and Thanalan, and might have been spotted mixing with inhabitants of a refugee camp in the desert.

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">CHARACTER (IN-DEPTH)</div>===

==== Appearance ====

Qara is tall (and awkwardly so) for a female Au Ra. She has waist-length red hair of a vivid hue, mostly worn loose. Her pale green eyes are large and staring, which tends to lend others the impression that she is much younger than she actually is - her dark skin also helps to mask the dark eye rings she possesses from regular sleep deprivation. (“Sleep is a sacred space," or so she claims; she both fears and yearns for the visions in her dreams.) A number of jewelry and charms adorn her wrists and ankles, for she enjoys ornamentation and pattern; she also applies blue face paint (signifying wisdom) regularly.

==== Personality ====

The musician is usually smiling and cheery, and always in earnest, though those who interact with her for some time may realize that she’s actually often nervous when interacting with people. She gets by on pure will. When speaking, Qara has a tendency to ramble and reveal a little too much about herself - details that most people might consider private or better kept secret. The common assumption is that this is innocence and naivety, but the real truth of the matter is that Qara doesn’t see herself as having anything to lose.

This, along with what Qara sees as a gods-given vision, makes her all too willing to put herself in danger for others without actually investing in or depending on them emotionally.

In fact, she doesn’t actually trust anyone with the ''important'' things. Those who are in closer contact with Qara may begin to realize that she hardly ever asks for personal favors. When someone gets a little too close emotionally, Qara may become curt and distant, wanting to spare herself inevitable hurt.

While Qara is mostly calm, she can lunge into violent rages if aggravated enough. Qara's religiosity and music serve to contain an erratic personality and what she considers her inherent ‘unruliness’. If deprived of these, one might observe a significantly crankier, bitterer Qara.

==== Beliefs / Values ====

Life is an ongoing battle against oneself, which is essentially a microcosm of what happens on a larger scale between clans, lands, polities. Qara does not believe in self-abnegation, rather, in balance, in harmony. She 'preaches', then, the necessity of both the monster and the leash. She is herself an often clumsy specimen of that ideal. She believes in the redemption of all living things, and that death can also be a sort of redemption. All lives and deaths have their purposes in the achievement of the will of the gods; she is but a servant of theirs sent to reveal the destinies of others.

Thus, while as a healer Qara is committed to alleviating pain, she can just as likely believe in the purpose or necessity of suffering, death, or even cruelty, and even deliver these things herself.

<table style="position:center;" width="100%">
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<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3>
<div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #ECCA67;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Abilities''</center></div></h3>
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> General musical proficiency - especially skillful at the use of drums, percussion instruments, and zithers.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Has knowledge of herbs, psychoactive plants and the making of traditional medicines and poisons, and is also an adept bonesetter.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Decent at the use of knives in battle by Eorzean standards, though in her tribe she'd be considered mediocre. All members of her tribe undergo basic training in this.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Qara also specializes in dream interpretation.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> She feels a spiritual connection with 'nature', and is most at home in open spaces, also possessing a keen understanding of the land.

<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #DFD59E;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Weaknesses''</center></div></span></h3>

: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Qara can be quite the Luddite. Only semi-literate - knows her alphabet, but her reading is limited to simple signs. Distrusts technology and those who appear too ‘well-read’.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Lacks confidence and is easily hurt, but also tends to nurse her wounds in tears and quiet without retaliating or standing up for herself - unless provoked to fury
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Sarcasm and humour may sometimes elude her, as she tends to take people’s words as earnestly as she gives hers.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Sometimes socially awkward and has a tendency to commit social blunders because of cultural differences. Is terribly out-of-place indoors as well.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Her complete lack of self-preservation - in various aspects - lands herself, and perhaps even others, in trouble more often than she expects.

<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #CACFA5;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Other Traits''</center></div></span></h3>

: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Exhibits some childlike mannerisms - habits such as biting her nails, twirling her hair, picking at scabs, nervous girlish giggles, etc. It’s almost as if she’s making up for lost youth. Also tears up easily when agitated or over-glad.
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Speaks a ''lot'', in a half-excited, breathless manner, as if she’s been holding words back for too long. Her years as a member of the Qalli tribe have introduced a distinct, uneven lilt to her voice.
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Qara's singing voice is airy, breathy, high-pitched - a little too sharp at times - people who actually appreciate her singing would consider it an 'acquired taste', really. (She might sound like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtH68PJIQLE this] or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiwqxACX2MY this].)
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Hoards. She collects everything and anything, and is known to casually pocket little items that belong to others without quite registering what she’s doing. Strangely enough, on the other hand, she is also fond of sharing everything and anything she possesses.
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Seldom sleeps - is known to go for 2 days straight without slumber and then crash for another forty-eight bells after.

</tr></table>

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">HISTORY</div>===

''(The following is likely to be common knowledge or hearsay for Tumet-related families.)''

Some of the older ones still remember this: Qara (as she was known as after) was born slow. 'Slow' for what it meant to the Tumet, at any rate, and of course such an unfortunate distinction caused the girl more than her fair share of problems from young. At ten, she was the last of the children to free herself, and the last of them to reach the camp before it moved... she'd barely passed the test. She'd barely survived at all, and divine intervention alone, or so it seemed, ensured her survival. It was a better year by all accounts, and she alone did poorly.

Deemed 'unfit' for most direct battle, yet possessing a substantial amount of Aether, ‘Qara’ was taken under the wing of a prominent ‘Seer', or diviner, of their sub-clan. She taught her the ways of medicines, poisons, and dreaming; they took turns to play the war drums, and sometimes the Seer would let her sing the dirge, the only song they had. It is said that after Qara's first bleeding, victory always went to the clan whenever she was behind a drum. There was considerable frenzy generated about this, and they called her 'walking death', 'singing death', then.

Not all of this attention was undesirable. Qara became the object of quasi-religious fascination for the angry and equally isolated Sarnai, a cloak-and-dagger assassin of the sub-clan. Qara returned Sarnai's worship with a passion she hadn't known she possessed, and slowly, quietly, they amassed a list of strange crimes. The older ones aren't certain about the specifics anymore, and debating the facts through the years has become a favorite past-time - had the two mangled a couple of horses? meddled with their enemies' corpses once? - or tortured a captive indiscriminately when it came to their turn to watch the night? People observed, too, a notable rift growing between Qara and her mentor. The younger one had begun to question, challenge and ''make song'', breaking her characteristic meekness in a manner undesirable to Tumet stoicism.

Still, Qara was ''useful''. Until, for reasons still largely incomprehensible to all, she turned upon the Seer at Sarnai’s urging, and the spiritual mother of the tribe was slain.

Much of the whole affair remains an enigma. Whatever the pair’s motivations had been, the elders knew they could no longer turn a blind eye to their misdeeds. Their names were stripped from them, and, as per custom, they were speared through the leg and left separately to certain death in highly perilous territory.

It's unclear whether Sarnai-who-once-was lived. Unlikely. Qara did, though, and has held on defiantly to her first name to this day. Those who return in this way are chosen, and the Xaela are not wont to question the will of the gods, who had stayed death’s hand for Qara a second time. Qara drifted among various tribes for years, bearing a vision from the Dusk Mother, only settling with the Qalli a long time after. There she learnt and grew, in music and in her strange arts and philosophies - but remained, as always, the ‘odd’ one. It came as no surprise to anyone when she finally left the Qalli, and Othard, too, singing of blood, redemption, fate, and of herself... guiding those who care or ''dare'' to listen dream their own destiny into being.

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">MISCELLANEOUS</div>===
<table style="position:center;" width="100%">
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Rumours''</center></div></span></h3>
''Some of these rumors are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b>
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b>
: ■ "'Er voice's as coeurl's claws draggin' themself across ma axes 'ere, and it's them blades' ringin' that loses. Pit-fully. Don't get 'er started!" - ''A bounty hunter based in Gridania''
: ■ "The horned girl pilfers a couple of faerie apples from my stall, right, and so we chase her, and ''down'' she goes, juice down her chin, brow to ground. ''She forgot''! she says, and turns goddamn baby's eyes on me, 'sorrys' all over the sky, talks like a snake at its own tail... and thrusts the half-eaten fruits back at us! Then spills her pouch and gives us this - this ''thing'' - for my daughter, as if I had one - and, I don't know, nutritious Othardian centipede dust as recompense? All this while fiddling with the hilt of those daggers, goddammit, and you wonder why we just let her go? Do ''you'' want this doll?" - ''an agitated merchant from the Golden Bazaar''
: ■ "She is terribly good with her hands." - ''a coy Miqo'te street dancer''
: ■ "Look here - for all our sakes, you've to stop tossing her name all over the place like that. She's a gift, godsent or voidsent, parts with those 'happy herbs' for almost nothing at all." ''- a dubious, well-dressed, pipe-smoking Ul-dahn''

<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Rarer Rumors (Difficult to overhear)</div></b>
: ■ "Believe what you must of her, but do not think her gentle." - ''An Au Ra Xaela from an unidentified tribe''
: ■ "Some would call her a kinslayer. I have seen one or two reasons not to think otherwise." - ''a venturing Elezen retainer''

<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from the character's of other players)</div></b>
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■ </font> ''None yet.''
</div></td>

<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Relationships''</center></div></span></h3>
: <center><font style="color:#F02311;" size="3">♥</font> Romantic Interest    <font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Platonic Love     <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing     <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center>

: <font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">●</font> -WIP-

<gallery>

</gallery>

===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Gallery</div>===
<center>
<gallery>
Ffxiv 06192015 183926 edit.png
Ffxiv 06212015 093640 edit.png
Ffxiv 06202015 192207 edit.png
Ffxiv 06202015 003726 edit.png
</gallery>
</center>

===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Links & Footnotes</div>===

IC / inspiration tumblr: http://monstressmarvel.tumblr.com
Layout courtesy of [[Bancroft Gairn]].

Qara Qalli

2015-06-28T15:49:09Z

Elysia: /* Gallery */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Qara Qalli
| image = QaraQalli4.png
| imagewidth = 450
| gender = Female
| citizenship = N.A. (native of Othard)
| race = Au Ra
| clan = Xaela
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 29
| stat_2 = Marital Status
| stat_2_value = Single
| stat_3 = Occupation
| stat_3_value = Witch doctor & zither player
| stat_4 = Server
| stat_4_value = Balmung
}}

''"We are often two, and they make war in us."'' '''[WIP]'''

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">BASIC INFO</div>===

Qara Qalli is an Au Ra recently arrived in Eorzea. The self-proclaimed healer is almost never seen without a large, casket-like object in tow, and is quite happy to reveal its contents upon request - 'Chora', her zither (a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yatga yatga]). This she plays on and sings to more than willingly to anyone who would lend his ears. Typically, the subject matter covered is grimmer or more morbid than would have been expected of the sweet, smiling (if overly garrulous) Xaela, who is likely afterwards to hand a perplexed listener 'dreamweed' from Othard. Visions are her mission - let her put you to sleep, set your bones, read your dreams and reveal your fate.

====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Recent Events</div>====

She is mostly found wandering in areas in the Twelveswood and Thanalan, and might have been spotted mixing with inhabitants of a refugee camp in the desert.

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">CHARACTER (IN-DEPTH)</div>===

==== Appearance ====

Qara is tall (and awkwardly so) for a female Au Ra. She has waist-length red hair of a vivid hue, mostly worn loose. Her pale green eyes are large and staring, which tends to lend others the impression that she is much younger than she actually is - her dark skin also helps to mask the dark eye rings she possesses from regular sleep deprivation. (“Sleep is a sacred space," or so she claims; she both fears and yearns for the visions in her dreams.) A number of jewelry and charms adorn her wrists and ankles, for she enjoys ornamentation and pattern; she also applies blue face paint (signifying wisdom) regularly.

==== Personality ====

The musician is usually smiling and cheery, and always in earnest, though those who interact with her for some time may realize that she’s actually often nervous when interacting with people. She gets by on pure will. When speaking, Qara has a tendency to ramble and reveal a little too much about herself - details that most people might consider private or better kept secret. The common assumption is that this is innocence and naivety, but the real truth of the matter is that Qara doesn’t see herself as having anything to lose.

This, along with what Qara sees as a gods-given vision, makes her all too willing to put herself in danger for others without actually investing in or depending on them emotionally.

In fact, she doesn’t actually trust anyone with the ''important'' things. Those who are in closer contact with Qara may begin to realize that she hardly ever asks for personal favors. When someone gets a little too close emotionally, Qara may become curt and distant, wanting to spare herself inevitable hurt.

While Qara is mostly calm, she can lunge into violent rages if aggravated enough. Qara's religiosity and music serve to contain an erratic personality and what she considers her inherent ‘unruliness’. If deprived of these, one might observe a significantly crankier, bitterer Qara.

==== Beliefs / Values ====

Life is an ongoing battle against oneself, which is essentially a microcosm of what happens on a larger scale between clans, lands, polities. Qara does not believe in self-abnegation, rather, in balance, in harmony. She 'preaches', then, the necessity of both the monster and the leash. She is herself an often clumsy specimen of that ideal. She believes in the redemption of all living things, and that death can also be a sort of redemption. All lives and deaths have their purposes in the achievement of the will of the gods; she is but a servant of theirs sent to reveal the destinies of others.

Thus, while as a healer Qara is committed to alleviating pain, she can just as likely believe in the purpose or necessity of suffering, death, or even cruelty, and even deliver these things herself.

<table style="position:center;" width="100%">
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3>
<div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #ECCA67;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Abilities''</center></div></h3>
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> General musical proficiency - especially skillful at the use of drums, percussion instruments, and zithers.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Has knowledge of herbs, psychoactive plants and the making of traditional medicines and poisons, and is also an adept bonesetter.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Decent at the use of knives in battle by Eorzean standards, though in her tribe she'd be considered mediocre. All members of her tribe undergo basic training in this.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Qara also specializes in dream interpretation.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> She feels a spiritual connection with 'nature', and is most at home in open spaces, also possessing a keen understanding of the land.

<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #DFD59E;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Weaknesses''</center></div></span></h3>

: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Qara can be quite the Luddite. Only semi-literate - knows her alphabet, but her reading is limited to simple signs. Distrusts technology and those who appear too ‘well-read’.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Lacks confidence and is easily hurt, but also tends to nurse her wounds in tears and quiet without retaliating or standing up for herself - unless provoked to fury
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Sarcasm and humour may sometimes elude her, as she tends to take people’s words as earnestly as she gives hers.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Sometimes socially awkward and has a tendency to commit social blunders because of cultural differences. Is terribly out-of-place indoors as well.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Her complete lack of self-preservation - in various aspects - lands herself, and perhaps even others, in trouble more often than she expects.

<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #CACFA5;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Other Traits''</center></div></span></h3>

: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Exhibits some childlike mannerisms - habits such as biting her nails, twirling her hair, picking at scabs, nervous girlish giggles, etc. It’s almost as if she’s making up for lost youth. Also tears up easily when agitated or over-glad.
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Speaks a ''lot'', in a half-excited, breathless manner, as if she’s been holding words back for too long. Her years as a member of the Qalli tribe have introduced a distinct, uneven lilt to her voice.
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Qara's singing voice is airy, breathy, high-pitched - a little too sharp at times - people who actually appreciate her singing would consider it an 'acquired taste', really. (She might sound like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtH68PJIQLE this] or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiwqxACX2MY this].)
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Hoards. She collects everything and anything, and is known to casually pocket little items that belong to others without quite registering what she’s doing. Strangely enough, on the other hand, she is also fond of sharing everything and anything she possesses.
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Seldom sleeps - is known to go for 2 days straight without slumber and then crash for another forty-eight bells after.

</tr></table>

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">HISTORY</div>===

''(The following is likely to be common knowledge or hearsay for Tumet-related families.)''

Some of the older ones still remember this: Qara (as she was known as after) was born slow. 'Slow' for what it meant to the Tumet, at any rate, and of course such an unfortunate distinction caused the girl more than her fair share of problems from young. At ten, she was the last of the children to free herself, and the last of them to reach the camp before it moved... she'd barely passed the test. She'd barely survived at all, and divine intervention alone, or so it seemed, ensured her survival. It was a better year by all accounts, and she alone did poorly.

Deemed 'unfit' for most direct battle, yet possessing a substantial amount of Aether, ‘Qara’ was taken under the wing of a prominent ‘Seer', or diviner, of their sub-clan. She taught her the ways of medicines, poisons, and dreaming; they took turns to play the war drums, and sometimes the Seer would let her sing the dirge, the only song they had. It is said that after Qara's first bleeding, victory always went to the clan whenever she was behind a drum. There was considerable frenzy generated about this, and they called her 'walking death', 'singing death', then.

Not all of this attention was undesirable. Qara became the object of quasi-religious fascination for the angry and equally isolated Sarnai, a cloak-and-dagger assassin of the sub-clan. Qara returned Sarnai's worship with a passion she hadn't known she possessed, and slowly, quietly, they amassed a list of strange crimes. The older ones aren't certain about the specifics anymore, and debating the facts through the years has become a favorite past-time - had the two mangled a couple of horses? meddled with their enemies' corpses once? - or tortured a captive indiscriminately when it came to their turn to watch the night? People observed, too, a notable rift growing between Qara and her mentor. The younger one had begun to question, challenge and ''make song'', breaking her characteristic meekness in a manner undesirable to Tumet stoicism.

Still, Qara was ''useful''. Until, for reasons still largely incomprehensible to all, she turned upon the Seer at Sarnai’s urging, and the spiritual mother of the tribe was slain.

Much of the whole affair remains an enigma. Whatever the pair’s motivations had been, the elders knew they could no longer turn a blind eye to their misdeeds. Their names were stripped from them, and, as per custom, they were speared through the leg and left separately to certain death in highly perilous territory.

It's unclear whether Sarnai-who-once-was lived. Unlikely. Qara did, though, and has held on defiantly to her first name to this day. Those who return in this way are chosen, and the Xaela are not wont to question the will of the gods, who had stayed death’s hand for Qara a second time. Qara drifted among various tribes for years, bearing a vision from the Dusk Mother, only settling with the Qalli a long time after. There she learnt and grew, in music and in her strange arts and philosophies - but remained, as always, the ‘odd’ one. It came as no surprise to anyone when she finally left the Qalli, and Othard, too, singing of blood, redemption, fate, and of herself... guiding those who care or ''dare'' to listen dream their own destiny into being.

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">MISCELLANEOUS</div>===
<table style="position:center;" width="100%">
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Rumours''</center></div></span></h3>
''Some of these rumors are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b>
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b>
: ■ "'Er voice's as coeurl's claws draggin' themself across ma axes 'ere, and it's them blades' ringin' that loses. Pit-fully. Don't get 'er started!" - ''A bounty hunter based in Gridania''
: ■ "The horned girl pilfers a couple of faerie apples from my stall, right, and so we chase her, and ''down'' she goes, juice down her chin, brow to ground. ''She forgot''! she says, and turns goddamn baby's eyes on me, 'sorrys' all over the sky, talks like a snake at its own tail... and thrusts the half-eaten fruits back at us! Then spills her pouch and gives us this - this ''thing'' - for my daughter, as if I had one - and, I don't know, nutritious Othardian centipede dust as recompense? All this while fiddling with the hilt of those daggers, goddammit, and you wonder why we just let her go? Do ''you'' want this doll?" - ''an agitated merchant from the Golden Bazaar''
: ■ "She is terribly good with her hands." - ''a coy Miqo'te street dancer''
: ■ "Look here - for all our sakes, you've to stop tossing her name all over the place like that. She's a gift, godsent or voidsent, parts with those 'happy herbs' for almost nothing at all." ''- a dubious, well-dressed, pipe-smoking Ul-dahn''

<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Rarer Rumors (Difficult to overhear)</div></b>
: ■ "Believe what you must of her, but do not think her gentle." - ''An Au Ra Xaela from an unidentified tribe''
: ■ "Some would call her a kinslayer. I have seen one or two reasons not to think otherwise." - ''a venturing Elezen retainer''

<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from the character's of other players)</div></b>
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■ </font> ''None yet.''
</div></td>

<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Relationships''</center></div></span></h3>
: <center><font style="color:#F02311;" size="3">♥</font> Romantic Interest    <font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Platonic Love     <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing     <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center>

: <font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">●</font> -WIP-

<gallery>

</gallery>

===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Gallery</div>===
<center>
<gallery>
Ffxiv 06192015 183926 edit.png
Ffxiv 06212015 093640 edit.png
Ffxiv 06202015 192207 edit.png
Ffxiv 06202015 192207 edit.png
</gallery>
</center>

===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Links & Footnotes</div>===

IC / inspiration tumblr: http://monstressmarvel.tumblr.com
Layout courtesy of [[Bancroft Gairn]].

File:Ffxiv 06202015 003726 edit.png

2015-06-28T15:48:53Z

Elysia:

2015-06-25T12:45:25Z

Elysia: /* BASIC INFO */

{{Infobox-character
| name = Qara Qalli
| image = QaraQalli4.png
| imagewidth = 450
| gender = Female
| citizenship = N.A. (native of Othard)
| race = Au Ra
| clan = Xaela
| stat_1 = Age
| stat_1_value = 29
| stat_2 = Marital Status
| stat_2_value = Single
| stat_3 = Occupation
| stat_3_value = Witch doctor & zither player
| stat_4 = Server
| stat_4_value = Balmung
}}

''"We are often two, and they make war in us."'' '''[WIP]'''

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">BASIC INFO</div>===

Qara Qalli is an Au Ra recently arrived in Eorzea. The self-proclaimed healer is almost never seen without a large, casket-like object in tow, and is quite happy to reveal its contents upon request - 'Chora', her zither (a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yatga yatga]). This she plays on and sings to more than willingly to anyone who would lend his ears. Typically, the subject matter covered is grimmer or more morbid than would have been expected of the sweet, smiling (if overly garrulous) Xaela, who is likely afterwards to hand a perplexed listener 'dreamweed' from Othard. Visions are her mission - let her put you to sleep, set your bones, read your dreams and reveal your fate.

====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Recent Events</div>====

-WIP-

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">CHARACTER (IN-DEPTH)</div>===

==== Appearance ====

Qara is tall (and awkwardly so) for a female Au Ra. She has waist-length red hair of a vivid hue, mostly worn loose. Her pale green eyes are large and staring, which tends to lend others the impression that she is much younger than she actually is - her dark skin also helps to mask the dark eye rings she possesses from regular sleep deprivation. (“Sleep is a sacred space," or so she claims; she both fears and yearns for the visions in her dreams.) A number of jewelry and charms adorn her wrists and ankles, for she enjoys ornamentation and pattern; she also applies blue face paint (signifying wisdom) regularly.

==== Personality ====

The musician is usually smiling and cheery, and always in earnest, though those who interact with her for some time may realize that she’s actually often nervous when interacting with people. She gets by on pure will. When speaking, Qara has a tendency to ramble and reveal a little too much about herself - details that most people might consider private or better kept secret. The common assumption is that this is innocence and naivety, but the real truth of the matter is that Qara doesn’t see herself as having anything to lose.

This, along with what Qara sees as a gods-given vision, makes her all too willing to put herself in danger for others without actually investing in or depending on them emotionally.

In fact, she doesn’t actually trust anyone with the ''important'' things. Those who are in closer contact with Qara may begin to realize that she hardly ever asks for personal favors. When someone gets a little too close emotionally, Qara may become curt and distant, wanting to spare herself inevitable hurt.

While Qara is mostly calm, she can lunge into violent rages if aggravated enough. Qara's religiosity and music serve to contain an erratic personality and what she considers her inherent ‘unruliness’. If deprived of these, one might observe a significantly crankier, bitterer Qara.

==== Beliefs / Values ====

Life is an ongoing battle against oneself, which is essentially a microcosm of what happens on a larger scale between clans, lands, polities. Qara does not believe in self-abnegation, rather, in balance, in harmony. She 'preaches', then, the necessity of both the monster and the leash. She is herself an often clumsy specimen of that ideal. She believes in the redemption of all living things, and that death can also be a sort of redemption. All lives and deaths have their purposes in the achievement of the will of the gods; she is but a servant of theirs sent to reveal the destinies of others.

Thus, while as a healer Qara is committed to alleviating pain, she can just as likely believe in the purpose or necessity of suffering, or of death, or of cruelty, and even deliver these things herself.

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<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3>
<div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #ECCA67;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Abilities''</center></div></h3>
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> General musical proficiency - especially skillful at the use of drums, percussion instruments, and zithers.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Has knowledge of herbs, psychoactive plants and the making of traditional medicines and poisons, and is also an adept bonesetter.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Decent at the use of knives in battle by Eorzean standards, though in her tribe she'd be considered mediocre. All members of her tribe undergo basic training in this.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Qara also specializes in dream interpretation.
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> She feels a spiritual connection with 'nature', and is most at home in open spaces, also possessing a keen understanding of the land.

<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #DFD59E;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Weaknesses''</center></div></span></h3>

: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Qara can be quite the Luddite. Only semi-literate - knows her alphabet, but her reading is limited to simple signs. Distrusts technology and those who appear too ‘well-read’.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Lacks confidence and is easily hurt, but also tends to nurse her wounds in tears and quiet without retaliating or standing up for herself - unless provoked to fury
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Sarcasm and humour may sometimes elude her, as she tends to take people’s words as earnestly as she gives hers.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Sometimes socially awkward and has a tendency to commit social blunders because of cultural differences. Is terribly out-of-place indoors as well, especially in a place that clearly belongs to the wealthy - may fidget even more than usual if not feeling up ''every damn thing'' in the place.
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Her complete lack of self-preservation - in various aspects - lands herself, and perhaps even others, in trouble more often than she expects.

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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #CACFA5;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Other Traits''</center></div></span></h3>

: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Exhibits some childlike mannerisms - habits such as biting her nails, twirling her hair, picking at scabs, nervous girlish giggles, etc. It’s almost as if she’s making up for lost youth. Also tears up easily when agitated or over-glad.
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Speaks a ''lot'', in a half-excited, breathless manner, as if she’s been holding words back for too long. Her years as a member of the Qalli tribe have introduced a distinct, uneven lilt to her voice.
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Qara's singing voice is airy, breathy, high-pitched - a little too sharp at times - people who actually appreciate her singing would consider it an 'acquired taste', really. (She might sound like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtH68PJIQLE this] or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiwqxACX2MY this].)
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Hoards. She collects everything and anything, and is known to casually pocket little items that belong to others without quite registering what she’s doing. When caught, she’s likely to thrust the object in question back at its owner and burst into a flood of sincere apologies.
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Strangely enough, on the other hand, she is also fond of sharing everything and anything she possesses.
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Seldom sleeps - is known to go for 2 days straight without slumber and then crash for another forty-eight bells after.

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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">HISTORY</div>===

''(The following is likely to be common knowledge or hearsay for Tumet-related families.)''

Some of the older ones still remember this: Qara (as she was known as after) was born slow. 'Slow' for what it meant to the Tumet, at any rate, and of course such an unfortunate distinction caused the girl more than her fair share of problems from young. At ten, she was the last of the children to free herself, and the last of them to reach the camp before it moved... she'd barely passed the test. She'd barely survived at all, and divine intervention alone, or so it seemed, ensured her survival. It was a better year by all accounts, and she alone did poorly.

Deemed 'unfit' for most direct battle, yet possessing a substantial amount of Aether, ‘Qara’ was taken under the wing of a prominent ‘Seer', or diviner, of their sub-clan. She taught her the ways of medicines, poisons, and dreaming; they took turns to play the war drums, and sometimes the Seer would let her sing the dirge, the only song they had. It is said that after Qara's first bleeding, victory always went to the clan whenever she was behind a drum. There was considerable frenzy generated about this, and they called her 'walking death', 'singing death', then.

Not all of this attention was undesirable. Qara became the object of quasi-religious fascination for the angry and equally isolated Sarnai, a cloak-and-dagger assassin of the sub-clan. Qara returned Sarnai's worship with a passion she hadn't known she possessed, and slowly, quietly, they amassed a list of strange crimes. The older ones aren't certain about the specifics anymore, and debating the facts through the years has become a favorite past-time - had the two mangled a couple of horses? meddled with their enemies' corpses once? - or tortured a captive indiscriminately when it came to their turn to watch the night? People observed, too, a notable rift growing between Qara and her mentor. The younger one had begun to question, challenge and ''make song'', breaking her characteristic meekness in a manner undesirable to Tumet stoicism.

Still, Qara was ''useful''. Until, for reasons still largely incomprehensible to all, she turned upon the Seer at Sarnai’s urging, and the spiritual mother of the tribe was slain.

Much of the whole affair remains an enigma. Whatever the pair’s motivations had been, the elders knew they could no longer turn a blind eye to their misdeeds. Their names were stripped from them, and, as per custom, they were speared through the leg and left separately to certain death in highly perilous territory.

It's unclear whether Sarnai-who-once-was lived. Unlikely. Qara did, though, and has held on defiantly to her first name to this day. Those who return in this way are chosen, and the Xaela are not wont to question the will of the gods, who had stayed death’s hand for Qara a second time. Qara drifted among various tribes for years, bearing a vision from the Dusk Mother, only settling with the Qalli a long time after. There she learnt and grew, in music and in her strange arts and philosophies - but remained, as always, the ‘odd’ one. It came as no surprise to anyone when she finally left the Qalli, and Othard, too, singing of blood, redemption, fate, and of herself... guiding those who care or ''dare'' to listen dream their own destiny into being.

===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">MISCELLANEOUS</div>===
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<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Rumours''</center></div></span></h3>
''Some of these rumors are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b>
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b>
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font>
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font>
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font>

<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b>
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font>
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font>

<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b>
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font>

<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from the character's of other players)</div></b>
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> ''None yet.''
</div></td>

<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline">
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>''Relationships''</center></div></span></h3>
: <center><font style="color:#F02311;" size="3">♥</font> Romantic Interest    <font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Platonic Love     <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing     <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center>

: <font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">●</font> -WIP-

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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Gallery</div>===
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Links & Footnotes</div>===

Layout courtesy of [[Bancroft Gairn]].