https://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=EruantienRPC Library - User contributions [en]2026-07-02T10:51:00ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.31.3https://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=268888Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-24T06:21:19Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru_RPC_3.jpg<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (Deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<i>"My place will always be on the battlefield, weapon in hand."</i><br />
<br />
Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Despite many hardships, Eruantien seems content for the time being to drift from conflict to conflict, a wandering warrior seeking new heights where he can keep honing his deadly craft.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face. Tiring of continuously wearing an eyepatch, he has since glamoured his socket.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of a curse placed upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now favors a sabre, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has seen or was part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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</table><br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267816Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-17T09:59:16Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru_RPC_3.jpg<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<i>"My place will always be on the battlefield, weapon in hand."</i><br />
<br />
Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Despite many hardships, Eruantien seems content for the time being to drift from conflict to conflict, a wandering warrior seeking new heights where he can keep honing his deadly craft.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face. Tiring of continuously wearing an eyepatch, he has since glamoured his socket.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of a curse placed upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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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"><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now favors a sabre, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
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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"><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has seen or was part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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</table><br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267403Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T18:16:59Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru_RPC_3.jpg<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<i>"My place will always be on the battlefield, weapon in hand."</i><br />
<br />
Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Despite many hardships, Eruantien seems content for the time being to drift from conflict to conflict, a wandering warrior seeking new heights where he can keep honing his deadly craft.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face. Tiring of continuously wearing an eyepatch, he has since glamoured his socket.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
<br />
:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of a curse placed upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
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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"><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><br />
<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has seen or was part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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</table><br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267402Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T18:13:10Z<p>Eruantien: /* Appearance */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru_RPC_3.jpg<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<i>"My place will always be on the battlefield, weapon in hand."</i><br />
<br />
Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Despite many hardships, Eruantien seems content for the time being to drift from conflict to conflict, a wandering warrior seeking new heights where he can keep honing his deadly craft.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face. Tiring of continuously wearing an eyepatch, he has since glamoured his socket.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of a curse placed upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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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"><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
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<table><br />
<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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</table><br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267401Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T18:08:33Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru_RPC_3.jpg<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<i>"My place will always be on the battlefield, weapon in hand."</i><br />
<br />
Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Despite many hardships, Eruantien seems content for the time being to drift from conflict to conflict, a wandering warrior seeking new heights where he can keep honing his deadly craft.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of a curse placed upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
<tr><br />
<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<table><br />
<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
</div><br />
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<table><br />
<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><br />
<tr><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><br />
<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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</table><br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267346Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T05:34:27Z<p>Eruantien: /* Heavensward */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru_RPC_3.jpg<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<i>"My place will always be on the battlefield, weapon in hand."</i><br />
<br />
Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Despite many hardships, Eruantien seems content for the time being to wander from conflict to conflict, a wandering warrior seeking new heights where he can keep honing his deadly craft.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
<tr><br />
====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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</tr></table><br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
<br />
:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of a curse placed upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
<br />
:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
<br />
:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
<tr><br />
<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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</table><br />
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<table><br />
<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><br />
<tr><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
</table><br />
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<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><br />
<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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</table><br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267345Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T05:23:30Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru_RPC_3.jpg<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<i>"My place will always be on the battlefield, weapon in hand."</i><br />
<br />
Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Despite many hardships, Eruantien seems content for the time being to wander from conflict to conflict, a wandering warrior seeking new heights where he can keep honing his deadly craft.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<table><br />
<td style="vertical-align: top;width:50%;padding-right:10px; font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><br />
<tr><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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</table><br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267344Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T05:22:51Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru_RPC_3.jpg<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
<br />
Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Despite many hardships, Eruantien seems content for the time being to wander from conflict to conflict, a wandering warrior seeking new heights where he can keep honing his deadly craft.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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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"><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267343Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T05:21:43Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru_RPC_3.jpg<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=File:Eru_RPC_3.jpg&diff=267342File:Eru RPC 3.jpg2017-09-14T05:21:01Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267340Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T05:06:20Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267339Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T05:05:56Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267338Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T05:04:55Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. <br />
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:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill." While Eru fights with the lance no longer, he is still incredibly dangerous with one in his hands, and he has reached an almost superhuman level of skill with the weapon. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also wields two-handed swords as well. Since his journeys towards Gyr Abania and Doma, Eru has focused more upon his swordwork, and has also taken the time to observe the weapon skills of the Hingan samurai. However, his fighting style revolves much more around Eorzean techniques blended with his own unique personal flair. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and dislikes wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru at first. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. For a while, usage had gone on for mostly hunting and gathering. But during his stay in the Steppe, he put his skills to more practice both for defense and hunting still. He is now far more familiar with the weapon, though he would still never use it overmuch in real battle. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font>Hand to hand - Eru studied the ins and outs of manipulating a person's body throughout his travels, and most of his hand to hand combat involves the disarming of an individual, rather than the prolonged striking and hand and foot forms of pugilists or monks. Eru isn't one to put his faith into empty hand combat, preferring a weapon of any kind.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267337Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T04:57:47Z<p>Eruantien: /* Appearance */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. An encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Another noticeable set of scars are splotchy marks on both his right and left collarbone from when he was hung and tortured by Garlean mercenaries. Eru also sports a gnarled scar against his abdomen, where an almost near fatal magical attack pierced him clean through. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267336Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T04:55:42Z<p>Eruantien: /* Heavensward */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may have been permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaela alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: A while after his departure from the ranks of the Dragoons, Eru managed to remove his glamour with the aid of others, and walked the world as an Elezen once more. Ironically, a series of events lead to his drinking of dragon blood to save a friend, and Eru began the long journey of taming the dragon within him, and learning to harness its power. <br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267335Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T04:52:48Z<p>Eruantien: /* Heavensward */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea. <br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Stormblood</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267334Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T04:51:56Z<p>Eruantien: /* Heavensward */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien served under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and departed to try and discover what it is that he lacks. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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:: Through the sorrow and bloodshed of the Dragonsong War Eru saw and experienced much and lost just as much. But he also gained a partner - Reinette Sompt, a companion and lover that weathered many trials with him. At the end of it all they bonded - not quite marriage, but an old ritual to the Twelve that was just as meaningful and for all intents and purposes the same. It is with both having lost much and gained much that Eru looked towards Gyr Abania and Hingashi, to the rallying horns of war, and a storm of blood that threatened to engulf Eorzea. <br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: In truth, the war for Ala Mhigan independence was not Eru's primary goal. He was far more interested in the plight of Doma, and the rumoured lands that lay beyond: The Azim Steppe, home to the Xaela tribes. So with Reinette in tow he journeyed across the sea to Kugane, and from there to Doma and by land the Steppe. Along the way he had taken up the sword, deciding that new beginnings warranted a new yet familiar weapon to master. Though his fighting style was ill-suited to the ways and strange swords of the Hingans, he nonetheless spent much time observing their traditions and ways of combat. And he put this knowledge and his own fighting skill to use in the Steppe, challenging their warriors and dancing like thunder across the rolling green grass of their lands.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267333Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T04:45:08Z<p>Eruantien: /* Looks and Mannerisms */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting a friend against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. A scar now runs down that side of his face.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he began to reach out to those around him. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his weapons for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He struggled to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: Lately Eru has changed but little. Outwardly he appears gregarious and charming, always ready with a pleasant smile or an easy laugh or something to say. It is the front with which he faces the world, a mask to put people at ease. Underneath he is still rather cold and calculating, always ready and willing to manipulate people for his goals or to advance those of his friends. Killing is a solution he will not hesitate to employ, no matter what sort of moral or legal problem someone may have with it. But to his friends Eru continues to be warm, loyal, and ever willing to provide council or a sharp blade to deal with whatever life throws at them.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267332Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T04:38:24Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Elezen<br />
| clan = Duskwight<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267331Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T04:36:03Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - Deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - Deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. After many years they reunited, only for their time to still be cut short. She was eventually kidnapped and murdered, although she did not go down without a fight. And eventually, was avenged by her son.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. He has since been murdered by Eru.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267330Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T04:33:23Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. While after many events, the two have fully reconciled, and despite Eru becoming exceedingly close to Tiergan, he has begun to have doubts. These doubts finally formed into action, and Eru has taken his leave of Tiergan, severing their relationship. The lovers separated, though the breaking left Eru none the worse off.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Jancis Milburga|Jancis Milburga]] - Eru and Jancis first met briefly by chance at the Rose, when Tiergan was suffering from effects of the Lotus. Since then, the two have had infrequent meetings, usually during times when Eru is under extreme duress. He is fond of her, and her quiet, unassuming demeanor can usually wring most answers from him, even if he'd rather not tell. The pair communicate mostly by letter, but despite their distance, Eru views Jancis as a dear friend, and important ally.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267319Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T01:32:35Z<p>Eruantien: Slowly editing and updating page</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=267317Eruantien Valandiel2017-09-14T01:04:11Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently outdated and needs updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. While after many events, the two have fully reconciled, and despite Eru becoming exceedingly close to Tiergan, he has begun to have doubts. These doubts finally formed into action, and Eru has taken his leave of Tiergan, severing their relationship. The lovers separated, though the breaking left Eru none the worse off.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Jancis Milburga|Jancis Milburga]] - Eru and Jancis first met briefly by chance at the Rose, when Tiergan was suffering from effects of the Lotus. Since then, the two have had infrequent meetings, usually during times when Eru is under extreme duress. He is fond of her, and her quiet, unassuming demeanor can usually wring most answers from him, even if he'd rather not tell. The pair communicate mostly by letter, but despite their distance, Eru views Jancis as a dear friend, and important ally.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=137491Eruantien Valandiel2015-11-21T19:45:42Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. While after many events, the two have fully reconciled, and despite Eru becoming exceedingly close to Tiergan, he has begun to have doubts. These doubts finally formed into action, and Eru has taken his leave of Tiergan, severing their relationship. The lovers separated, though the breaking left Eru none the worse off.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Jancis Milburga|Jancis Milburga]] - Eru and Jancis first met briefly by chance at the Rose, when Tiergan was suffering from effects of the Lotus. Since then, the two have had infrequent meetings, usually during times when Eru is under extreme duress. He is fond of her, and her quiet, unassuming demeanor can usually wring most answers from him, even if he'd rather not tell. The pair communicate mostly by letter, but despite their distance, Eru views Jancis as a dear friend, and important ally.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=137489Eruantien Valandiel2015-11-21T19:42:25Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. While after many events, the two have fully reconciled, and despite Eru becoming exceedingly close to Tiergan, he has begun to have doubts. He is worried that Tiergan places too much value in their relationship - should Eru fall, what would become of his friend and lover? Plagued by these doubts, the Au Ra has begun to quietly place some distance between himself and the man he has sworn to protect, no matter the cost.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Jancis Milburga|Jancis Milburga]] - Eru and Jancis first met briefly by chance at the Rose, when Tiergan was suffering from effects of the Lotus. Since then, the two have had infrequent meetings, usually during times when Eru is under extreme duress. He is fond of her, and her quiet, unassuming demeanor can usually wring most answers from him, even if he'd rather not tell. The pair communicate mostly by letter, but despite their distance, Eru views Jancis as a dear friend, and important ally.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=125255Eruantien Valandiel2015-09-30T17:30:26Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. In addition, Eru has spent a considerable amount of time during his tenure with the Knights Dragoon improving his hand to hand and dagger skills. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. While after many events, the two have fully reconciled, and despite Eru becoming exceedingly close to Tiergan, he has begun to have doubts. He is worried that Tiergan places too much value in their relationship - should Eru fall, what would become of his friend and lover? Plagued by these doubts, the Au Ra has begun to quietly place some distance between himself and the man he has sworn to protect, no matter the cost.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Jancis Milburga|Jancis Milburga]] - Eru and Jancis first met briefly by chance at the Rose, when Tiergan was suffering from effects of the Lotus. Since then, the two have had infrequent meetings, usually during times when Eru is under extreme duress. He is fond of her, and her quiet, unassuming demeanor can usually wring most answers from him, even if he'd rather not tell. The pair communicate mostly by letter, but despite their distance, Eru views Jancis as a dear friend, and important ally.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=125254Eruantien Valandiel2015-09-30T17:28:54Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. While after many events, the two have fully reconciled, and despite Eru becoming exceedingly close to Tiergan, he has begun to have doubts. He is worried that Tiergan places too much value in their relationship - should Eru fall, what would become of his friend and lover? Plagued by these doubts, the Au Ra has begun to quietly place some distance between himself and the man he has sworn to protect, no matter the cost.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Jancis Milburga|Jancis Milburga]] - Eru and Jancis first met briefly by chance at the Rose, when Tiergan was suffering from effects of the Lotus. Since then, the two have had infrequent meetings, usually during times when Eru is under extreme duress. He is fond of her, and her quiet, unassuming demeanor can usually wring most answers from him, even if he'd rather not tell. The pair communicate mostly by letter, but despite their distance, Eru views Jancis as a dear friend, and important ally.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=125252Eruantien Valandiel2015-09-30T17:25:34Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Blades - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. While after many events, the two have fully reconciled, and despite Eru becoming exceedingly close to Tiergan, he has begun to have doubts. He is worried that Tiergan places too much value in their relationship - should Eru fall, what would become of his friend and lover? Plagued by these doubts, the Au Ra has begun to quietly place some distance between himself and the man he has sworn to protect, no matter the cost.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Jancis Milburga|Jancis Milburga]] - Eru and Jancis first met briefly by chance at the Rose, when Tiergan was suffering from effects of the Lotus. Since then, the two have had infrequent meetings, usually during times when Eru is under extreme duress. He is fond of her, and her quiet, unassuming demeanor can usually wring most answers from him, even if he'd rather not tell. The pair communicate mostly by letter, but despite their distance, Eru views Jancis as a dear friend, and important ally.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=125247Eruantien Valandiel2015-09-30T17:18:15Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"No price is too great, no sin too heavy to bear. It's all means to an end."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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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"><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=125245Eruantien Valandiel2015-09-30T17:06:55Z<p>Eruantien: /* Heavensward */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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:: Having sealed his doubts and completed his Oath Quest, Eru has since taken leave of the Knights Dragoon, with nary an explanation. He now instead hones his skills with an almost manic zeal, all the while hunting down the cultists that threaten those closest to him. His resolve almost borders upon obsession, and while Eru knows not when it will end, he is certain of one thing - there will be no solace, only blood and fire.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=125244Eruantien Valandiel2015-09-30T17:04:23Z<p>Eruantien: /* Personality */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted and cracked - a viper in every sense of the word. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=125243Eruantien Valandiel2015-09-30T17:03:54Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and ex-Dragoon, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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:: After a tumultuous (and ongoing) relationship with Kianousha Mol, all who are close to Eru would be able to tell that the Au Ra has changed. Once noble, recovering, and a pristine example of knighthood, Eru has become twisted. While still willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves and committed to protecting his loved ones from all threats, he has become but a shadow of what he once strived to be. Torture, murder, blackmail - anything and everything is a valid means to his ends, no matter the cost. If he must wade in the blood of innocents to protect those closest to him - Eru would do it without question. What was once a noble knight is now a relentless sword, one that cares not who - or what - wields him. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=123424Eruantien Valandiel2015-09-23T21:44:14Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance/The Shrike<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
<br />
:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
<br />
:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><br />
<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Angora_Khilo&diff=123423Angora Khilo2015-09-23T21:42:09Z<p>Eruantien: /* PC Rumors (Feel free to add what you'd like~) */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Angora Khilo<br />
| image = Angora-Mask.jpg<br />
| imagewidth = <br />
| caption = <br />
| title = <br />
| gender = Female<br />
| citizenship = None<br />
| race = Miqo'te<br />
| clan = Seekers of the Sun<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 26<br />
| stat_2 = Sexuality<br />
| stat_2_value = Pansexual<br />
| stat_3 = Nameday<br />
| stat_3_value = 24th Sun of the 3rd Umbral Moon<br />
| stat_4 = Guardian<br />
| stat_4_value = Oschon, the Wanderer<br />
| stat_5 = Grand Company<br />
| stat_5_value = Twin Adders<br />
| stat_6 = Relationship Status<br />
| stat_6_value = Taken<br />
}}<br />
{{Character-stub}}<br />
<br />
==Character==<br />
[[File:Angora-Tyanu.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Angora without her mask]]<br />
'''Angora Khilo''' is a tiny and curious Miqo'te who is just in search of a place to finally be safe and be herself. Until then, she'll continue to be on the run and put up a stone wall to anyone she meets. Be wary when sneaking up on her though, because it might just end with one of her freshly sharpened dagger between your ribs. She is also lovingly called a "magnet for danger/trouble" by one of her bosses, Vaughn. And many others at this point. <br />
===General=== <br />
'''Current name:''' Angora Khilo<br />
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'''Past name:''' Aa’gnayak Tykha <br />
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'''Nicknames:''' Ang, Angie, Angi, Tinycat (Only Cilia is allowed to say this one)<br />
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'''Server:''' Balmung<br />
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'''Classes/Jobs:''' Blackmage, Bard, Summoner, Rogue<br />
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'''Current Occupation:''' Gardener/General Staff at The Rose. She also does various jobs for a group of people she is in contract with.<br />
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===Appearance===<br />
'''Height''' 4 fulmes 11 ilms ((found through [http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/62834-Race-Heights this]))<br />
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'''Eyes:''' Bright yellow<br />
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'''Skin:''' Very pale and fair, used to be much tanner. The skin on her hands and feet is very tough and scarred. <br />
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'''Hair:''' Used to be short, but has since grown out and is a bit messy since she has problems keeping up with it. It is snow white with a darker grey mixed in. <br />
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'''Tattoos:''' Traditional red Seeker of the Sun markings, More recent yellow markings added in to the traditional ones. <br />
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'''Scars:''' Various scars on her wrists and ankles from shackles, scars on her hands and feet from old calluses, one smaller scar on the bridge of her nose, a Garlean branding on her left shoulder blade, A long, bright scar on her scalp that runs along her left ear from towards the front of the ear to around the middle of the back of her head (seems to have been caused by the same thing that gave her similar huge scars on her back),A strange rune/branding on the underside of her left forearm.<br />
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'''Noticeable Features:''' Angora wears a mask most of the time to hide her face out of old habit, she wears a (weak) glamour to hide certain features that were caused by an accident with an old relic (That are still causing her issues), and there is a small chunk missing from the edge of her right ear from where her Linkpearl earring had gotten ripped out once<br />
[[File:AngoraMask.jpg|thumbnail|right|Her mask looks a bit creepy in some lighting.]]<br />
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===Personality===<br />
Despite her past, Angora has kept her very friendly and bouncy personality, but only with those she trusts. Her trust is hard to earn now a days and she will refuse to give much up about her past, even to those she trusts the most. She is a good and loyal fighter, going to hell and back to defend her friends and what she fights for. While in the cities, she will be silent, finishing anything she needed to get done before quickly leaving again. Angora will be very polite and and to the point when she speaks to vendors and others in the city. She always feels a little sad when she sees people shy away from her or completely avoid her because of her mask, but she knows it's for the best. <br />
[[File:Angoramustashe.png|200px|thumbnail|left|She's can pretty much be a huge goofball sometimes when she's comfortable around someone. Art by Rohn Starbreaker]]<br />
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==Combat==<br />
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'''Melee:''' Angora prefers to fight at a long distance if possible, but if she does have to get up close, she uses her knives. She's very quick and light on her feet so the fighting style is almost fun for her at times. Her past has given her a very strong back and arms, so she is both powerful and skilled in her throwing and slashing. <br />
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'''Ranged:''' Bow hunting was taught to Angora by her father at a very young age and is a very strong skill of hers. She learned even more under the instruction of Pawah Mujuuk, but it's also for that reason that she kept her archery skills hidden for some time. It didn't feel right to her to use them openly, not wanting to give any credit to the woman. Now she has gotten back into using archery. <br />
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'''Magic:''' Angora had heard about the various ways of using magic and aether to fight, but it wasn't until she was in Ul’dah and found the Thaumaturge guild that she decided to give it a shot. She studied at the guild for about 2-3 years and became skilled in the art of using/reading/sensing aether. For a short time, she also learned the basics of aetherical healing and field medicine to be of more use to the residents and staff of the Rose.<br />
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==Tendencies==<br />
===Likes===<br />
::* Food of any kind<br />
::* Hunting<br />
::* Riding with her Chocobo<br />
::* Making things from wood and/or leather<br />
::* The Shroud<br />
::* Sleeping in a safe place<br />
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===Dislikes===<br />
::* All of the oversized creatures that inhabit Eorzea (a.k.a the toads, ants, giant spider-like creatures, etc.)<br />
::* Surprises<br />
::* Dark caves<br />
::* Anything to do with mining or metal working<br />
::* Anything Garlean <br />
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===Hobbies/Talents===<br />
::* Angora likes to show off sometimes by arm wrestling with guys who are 3 times bigger then her. <br />
::* She is very light and quick on her feet, making her good at sneaking up on her targets and also dodging their attacks. <br />
::* Angora works hard to keep all of her gear and weapons in top shape.<br />
::* When she has nothing else to do or is stressed, she'll take Aster out for a ride through The Shroud.<br />
::* Angora has become a rat of sorts when it comes to gathering information, able to get in and out of places without a trace. She was forced to work for a secret group during her time alone where she had to sneak into various camps and fortresses to get the information that she was ordered to find.<br />
<br />
===Fears===<br />
::* That she is constantly being followed by the Garleans and always must keep hiding and running to keep from getting caught.<br />
<br />
::* That the people after will not only hunt her down and kill her, but that they will harm her loved ones as well.<br />
<br />
::* That those she trusts will eventually turn on her and stab her in the back.<br />
<br />
::* That one day she'll mess up bad enough that Jaques and Vaughn will kick her out of The Rose.<br />
<br />
===Flaws===<br />
::* Because of her traumatic past, Angora's memory of her past isn't very detailed. She can't remember the names of her parents, her village, or most of the people she met. Hearing their names will spark something in her memory though. <br />
::* Hoards any food or equipment she can get her hands on (sometimes even pick pocketing residents of the cities), selling anything she can't use to help get more gil for necessities. <br />
::* Can be a compulsive liar<br />
::* Seems to always get herself into some kind of trouble, especially when she sneaks out of the house when she's not supposed to.<br />
[[File:Angorachibi.jpg|250px|thumbnail|right|Art by N'aviea Alysta]]<br />
<br />
==Relationships==<br />
===Family===<br />
'''Mother:''' A’sumbla Khen<br />
<br />
'''Father:''' A’tykha Nuhn<br />
<br />
'''Siblings:''' None<br />
<br />
===Friends===<br />
'''Aster:''' Her Chocobo. He's been with her through hell and back in the 5 years she's had him and at this point he's the only one she feels she can rely on all the time.<br />
<br />
===Enemies===<br />
'''The Garlean Empire:''' Angora loathes the whole lot of them and anyone/anything that has to do with them. <br />
<br />
'''Pawah Mujuuk:''' Her old teacher and who she thought of as a friend until their rather violent falling out. If they met again they'd probably try to kill each other. <br />
===Player Character Standing (Slowly being updated)===<br />
<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
<tr><br />
<center><br />
<br />
:<br />
: <font style="color:#F02311;" size="3">♥</font> Romantic Interest&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#000000;" size="3">♥</font> Sexual Desire&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Platonic Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#8f8377;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
<br />
<font style="color:#F02311;" size="3">♥</font><font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> '''Tsukabi Kha:''' Tsubaki is very special to Angora and she is very much in love with her. They have only been together for a short time so far, but she has made Angora feel the happiest she has been since she can remember. Angora met Tsubaki, who was using the name Cilia at the time and was hidden under the glamour of a Hyur, when she found a flier in the the Goblet about how she specialized in massages and such. Tsubaki was the first person outside the Rose to see Angora's "scars" from her incident with Dravanian aether. They immediately bonded over these "scars" since Tsubaki herself is an Au Ra who had her own scales hidden in fear of the Ishgardians. Now Tsubaki helps her take care of her own "scars" along with using massage and acupuncture to help with Angora's stress and various injuries she keeps getting.<br />
<br />
<font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font><font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> [[Vaughn Antain]]: Angora grew very close to Vaughn over her time at the Rose and sees her as the parent she never got to have as a child. She was the first one to (almost literally) drag her into the Rose when she arrived. She has started to go to her for advise more and more now that she has grown so comfortable with her, though she still has a very high level of respect for her as her boss. Now a days, she is completely content with just curling up on a couch with her and chatting about things. Be it about relationships, any issues she's having, gardening, or even fashion advise. Angora also believe that Vaughn hugs are some of the best hugs out there (behind Tsubaki's of course).<br />
<br />
<font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font><font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> [[Jaques Guillaume]]: Yet another person Angora has grown close to. While their relationship is not completely the same as the relationship she has with Vaughn. She sees Jaques not only as a parental figure but also a boss/captain she can completely trust and rely on. She still gets a bit nervous if she has to speak to him in private, but it's more from her seeing him as a stricter "fatherly" figure then actually being scared of him. Angora was a bit wary of Jaques when she first met him (he is a giant compared to her after all), but she has long since gotten used to him (and constantly having a sore neck while trying to look up at him). Angora has even told him that she trusts him with her life and trusts his judgements. It's always a small victory for her if she gets praise or even the tiniest bit of affection from him.<br />
<br />
<font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font><font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> [[Eruantien Valandiel]]: <br />
<br />
<font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan Vashir]]: <br />
<br />
<font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font><font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> [[Lyria Stormdancer]] (Deceased) : Lyria was one of the closest friends Angora has at the Rose. She saw her as a the little sister she never had. Angora tried her best to help and protect Lyria with everything she could, though it always seemed to end up with Lyria having to help Angora. It made Angora feel guilty and she worked hard to try and make it up to her when she can. The younger Miqo'te had also grown very protective of Angora, to the point that it went a little too far at times. Angora worked to help her learn boundaries with such things while also helping her with her anger. When Lyria died right in front of Angora's eyes, it crushed her. Had she not had the support of her loved ones at the Rose, it is possible that she could have sunk into a very dark place that she wouldn't have been able to ever claw herself out of. She blames herself for Lyria's death despite what everyone keeps telling her otherwise. Angora has vowed to get revenge in Lyria's name and will continue to stay strong and keep fighting in hopes of making Lyria proud and helping keep the memories of their time together alive. <br />
<br />
<font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> [[Evangeline Primrose]]: Angora's relationship with Evangeline is a complicated one at times. Sometimes they get along really well and look out for each other...other times Eva drives Angora up a wall. They grew closer during an incident involving a Dravanian artifact that Eva had brought into the house. Eva loves to mess with Angora just because she thinks her reactions are hilarious. Angora really does care about Evangeline though and would do anything to help her. She even made Eva a bunch of underwear at one point because the woman had been wearing underwear made of hides and fur in the desert. <br />
<br />
<font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font><font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> '''Elsabethe Aesidhe:''' Elsa was the first person to really learn about a lot of the details of Angora's past. This was mostly because the first day they met ended with Angora trying to kill her after waking up from a nightmare and being under the influence of voidal corruption. Elsa was very patient and just listened to Angora talk on and on about everything that'd been weighing on her until she eventually fell asleep again. It's very rare for Angora to trust and bond with someone so quickly, but something about Elsa made her feel safe and at ease. Angora was crushed when Elsa suddenly left the Rose without telling her, but she has since returned and they are working on catching up on things.<br />
<br />
===PC Rumors (Feel free to add what you'd like~)===<br />
<br />
::*"I know Angora's tough, and can take care of herself. She just has such rotten luck. Everything bad always seems to happen to her. Guess that's why I worry so much." - [[Lyria Stormdancer]]<br />
::*"Lady Angora is kind and strong. We met through Lord Jaques' work. I was honored to be there to give my best for Lyria and Ser'ai. She has a kind face and a brave face, like a Wood Wailer, though her kindness always comes through. Like her strength." - [[Jancis Milburga]]<br />
::*"Angora...Yes, I know her. I made a promise I couldn't keep." - [[Eruantien Valandiel]]<br />
::*"My sister is a strong, willful woman. I am proud to be related to her, though not by blood. Now why do you ask?" - [[Eruantien Valandiel]]<br />
::*"Angora is stronger than she herself might realise and kinder than she should be considering what she's endured. I'll think of her every time I run a Garlean through." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
<br />
==History/Timeline (Still very much a WIP)==<br />
===Childhood before slavery===<br />
<br />
Angora was born in a small, quiet settlement on top of fertile land that was near Ala Mhigo. She was one of the youngest of the tribe at the time. Her father and mother were both very loving and made sure to teach her everything they could to make sure she had the skills to survive on her own if anything happened to them. Their life was a simple one that they enjoyed to the fullest. <br />
===The Garlean Attack===<br />
<br />
The Garleans attacked when she was 5 cycles old. They came completely armed with all force that was far larger then what they needed for the small tribe. The peaceful tribe tried to surrender in hopes of keeping their homes. Instead the invaders killed the Nuhn, Angora’s father, along with any high-ranking Tia's. The place was completely burned to the ground before the soldiers rounded up any of the tribe that had survived. Everyone who was caught was shipped off to Garlemald to be slaves in the mines and factories. Angora’s mother tried to stay with her for as long as possible, but they were soon separated, branded, and Angora was sent to the mines. It what then where her name was also changed from A’gnayak Tykha to Angora Khilo. Her first name was changed to one that was easier for her Garlean masters to remember and pronounce while her last name was changed to one that belonged to a random Miqo'te who was also there in order to cut her family ties. To this day Angora doesn't know what became of her mother.<br />
<br />
===Childhood and Teen Years in Salvery===<br />
Angora was kept in the mines for most of her life as a child and teen. There were hundreds of other child slaves in the same situation that she worked beside but never really got the chance to know. Her time there caused her to become sensitive to light and to lose her tanned skin that Seekers of the Sun are known for. It didn't take long for her to learn that even if you worked at the right pace and did what you needed to that her masters were still very keen on giving out all forms of punishments. Angora work until her hands were bloody and sore and still end up at the end of a whip. Through all of this, Angora tried her best to remain positive in the awful place. There was a point where she forgot what the sun looked like since they rarely left the mines and when they did, it was usually night time. <br />
<br />
Angora remained in the mines until the Meteor Project began where she was randomly chosen to go along on the ships to serve the higher-ranking officers. She remained in the storage area and mostly did grunt work. It would be rare that they would make her serve meals to the officers or do other maid duties. While she was still miserable, anything was better then being in the mines. Things got worse for her when her strength was noticed. In the upcoming battle against the Eorzean Alliance they gave her some (useless) armor and shoved a weapon in her hands before tossing her out with hundreds of others like her in the front line to act as a human barriers. She'd made a few connection with the other slaves while aboard the ships, so watching them all die around her was almost more painful then watching her home burn to the ground. <br />
<br />
===Escape===<br />
Her chance to escape came with the Calamity. She was on the edges of the battle field getting ready to rush in to what would most likely be their death when they saw Bahamut emerge and begin to destroy everything in sight. Instead of charging in, everyone began to panic and run back towards what ships were left, many not even making it halfway back. Angora knew well that running off the battlefield was practically high treason to the Empire. If they ever found her it would most likely mean death or worse. She took the chance though and took off running in the opposite direction of the ships, getting heavily wounded from flying rocks and shrapnel as the elder primal devastated everything. Angora stripped off everything Garlean as she ran, blending into the retreating Eorzean forces and never looked back.<br />
<br />
===Life After===<br />
Angora eventually ended up stumbling into The Shroud after all the chaos. A local Gridanian found her slowly limping on the verge of collapsing where she stood and quickly took her in. While Angora can't remember the woman's face, she does remember her voice as being calm and motherly. The woman gave her shelter while she recovered from the wounds she'd gotten while also working on helping Angora fit in a little better. They cut her hair and got her yellow markings added to her face. Angora marked this as the beginning of her new life as a free woman and soon set off on her own to explore Eorzea. <br />
<br />
====The Poachers====<br />
During her exploration of Gridania, she found '''Pawah Mujuuk''' and her group of Miqo’te hunters. Seeing as they were the first of her kinds she’d seen in so long, it wasn’t hard for the cunning leader to convince her to join them. Angora was eager to learn what they taught her and happy to feel like she was part of a family. At first the group kept a close eye on her and rarely let her go out with them on their hunts, giving her the excuse that she wasn't ready for the real trips out. Angora was stubborn though and quickly got tired with getting left to watch the camp. When the group set out on what looked like to be a large hunt, Angora managed to sneak out and follow them. It was then that she saw what the group really did, watching as they killed any creatures in sight before attacking small camps to kill everyone inside and making off with their belongings. This horrifying discovery caused her to go straight to the nearest Twin Adder group she could find to report them. She had no regrets in doing this as the groups acts had made them on the same level as Garleans in her mind. Angora returned to the camp with the Gridanians in tow, setting the trap for Pawah and her group. An all out battle broke out between the two groups once the hunters returned and Angora took the chance to run, though Pawah did manage to block her and get a few good hits in before she was overpowered by the Adders. In the end of it all, Angora was once again on the run. <br />
====The Rouges Guild and On Her Own====<br />
While she did love Gridanina, Angora knew it'd be best to leave the area. Her next stop was Thanalan, more specifically Vesper Bay. She eventually ended up in Limsa Lominsa where she joined the rouges guild for a short amount of time. Not many exciting things happened there, which Angora was thankful for, and she spent most of her time training with the guild. Angora enjoyed her time there even if it was short. The guild soon found out about her past through one of their background searches on her and they asked her to leave quietly. While the poachers weren't pirates, they were close enough that Angora could end up in serious trouble in the city if that information was made public. <br />
<br />
With that, she left the city and began her years of wandering and hiding. Angora had a mask made to hide her face and she still wears it to this day as much as possible. She took this chance to try and just explore Eorzea, but she never felt relaxed or completely safe with her past weighting on her mind (especially with the growing Garlean presence). Being in the cities and smaller settlements were the most stressful times for her so she entered them as a little as possible. Living out in the wilds wasn't as miserable as she'd thought it would be with the help of the skills she'd learned and a young, energetic chocobo she'd found that she'd named Aster. She'd found the poor creature alone and injured in what looked to be the remains of a beastman attack on a caravan. He'd somehow managed to get free from the wagon and was hiding in the bushes. Angora slowly earned his trust with food and helped nurse him back to health. They developed a strong bond and have been together ever since. The bad parts were only the fact that she was almost constantly covered in some form of dirt or grime and the rumors that started to spread about her. While she was used to being grimy and dirty all the time, the rumors did not help with keeping hidden. If she even caught wind of a person or two starting to talk about her, she'd pack up and move on to the next area. On rare occasions when she felt particularly lonely (or possibly drunk), she'd take her mask off and wander into the Adventure's Guild or a local pub to just talk to people and enjoy herself.<br />
[[File:Lavi0623 monochrome commission.png|250px|thumbnail|right|Art by Yourou]]<br />
<br />
===Present (WIP)===<br />
Angora used to live in the outskirts of Ul'dah in Fesca's Wash. There was plenty of shade and water there to keep her comfortable (along with being conveniently close to the Royal Plantations that she paid a visit to from time to time when hunting wasn't working out). She was practicing her magic to the best of her abilities and only going into the city for supplies and to speak with her teachers. <br />
====The Rose====<br />
While in the markets she'd heard whispers of a group called the Phoenix Rose that helped free slaves. Angora wasn't sure if she fell into that category or if the group was even real, so she went to Momodi, who she'd met back when she first came to Thanalan, and asked her about them. Momodi confirmed that the group existed and that they could help her. Angora felt hopeful for the first time in years, but she is wary about trying to settle down again after what happened with her past attempts. After attending a Heavensturn dinner held by the group, Angora hung around for a while and eventually moved in. She was a full time resident and staff member of The Rose until events forced her to move on. <br />
<br />
====The 81st Foreign Levy====<br />
<br />
===Various Plots===<br />
<br />
=====The Red Lotus=====<br />
<br />
=====The Wyrm Tears=====<br />
<br />
=====Clandestine=====<br />
<br />
==Pictures==<br />
<gallery><br />
File:AngoraMother1.PNG|Aa’sumbla Khen, Angora's mother<br />
File:AngoraFather1.PNG|Aa’tykha Nuhn, Angora's father<br />
File:Angoraandaster.jpeg|Angora and Aster<br />
File:Youngangora.PNG|What Angora looked like when she was younger/before she escaped.<br />
File:Long hair BLM.jpeg|Angora with her current/longer hair<br />
File:Angora Khilo 06 21 2015 01 15 13 copy 2.jpg<br />
File:Angora doodle.png|Art by Sparceinspace<br />
File:Angora sketch Val.png|Art by Valthedragoon<br />
File:Angora traditional sketch.png|Art by Noisyghost<br />
File:Fat Cat angora.jpg|Art by Justjaquesffxiv<br />
File:Angora Headshot.png|Art by Luua-mhin<br />
File:Angora-Dogbombercomm.jpeg|Art by Dogbomber<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
==Annotations==<br />
<br />
This Template was created by [[Deirdre Ta'ea]]</div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=107420Eruantien Valandiel2015-07-29T07:50:13Z<p>Eruantien: /* Miscellaneous */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance<br />
}}<br />
<br />
<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
<br />
<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
<br />
Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
<br />
<br />
===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
<tr><br />
====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
<br />
====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
<br />
<br />
====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
<br />
<br />
</tr></table><br />
<br />
===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
<br />
====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
<br />
:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
<br />
:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
<br />
====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
<br />
<br />
:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
<br />
:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
<br />
===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
<br />
====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
<br />
:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
<br />
:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
<br />
:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=107418Eruantien Valandiel2015-07-29T07:49:14Z<p>Eruantien: /* Miscellaneous */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. Tiergan is the only one so far who knows that Eru has changed his form, appearance, and name.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Angora_Khilo|Angora Khilo]] - Eruantien first met Angora at the Rose, and ever since, he has ever been her guardian, her friend, and someone she could depend on in times of need. He grew very fond of the young Miqo'te lady, and admired her staunchness and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Eru desires very much to protect Angora from the dangers she faces, although he knows there is little to keep her from journeying forth on the path she has chosen. More recently they have accepted each other as brother and sister, if not by blood, than by the bonds they have forged in battle, hearth, and home. This has made Eru all the more determined to help Angora when she requires it. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=107410Eruantien Valandiel2015-07-29T07:42:23Z<p>Eruantien: /* Appearance */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry. <br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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:: Due to an injury while protecting his apprentice Eir'a Holmen against a cultist attack, Eru had his right eye removed. He now keeps the grisly wound covered with a crimson eyepatch.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. Tiergan is the only one so far who knows that Eru has changed his form, appearance, and name.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=107408Eruantien Valandiel2015-07-29T07:40:57Z<p>Eruantien: /* Heavensward */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry.<br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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:: Eru has served with distinction amongst his Order, but still has misgivings about his direction in life. He has since taken a temporary leave of his brothers and sisters in the Order, and taken up an ancient Ishgardian ritual: the Oath-Quest. Swearing victory or death, Eru resolves to search for an answer to his troubled thoughts, and takes up the greatsword in lieu of his lance to once again wander Eorzea to find the solace that has eluded him for so long.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. Tiergan is the only one so far who knows that Eru has changed his form, appearance, and name.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=107406Eruantien Valandiel2015-07-29T07:38:32Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel <br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
| stat_5 = Alias<br />
| stat_5_value = Ochir Shrikelance<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry.<br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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<br />
:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. Tiergan is the only one so far who knows that Eru has changed his form, appearance, and name.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=104223Eruantien Valandiel2015-07-16T21:55:02Z<p>Eruantien: /* Personality */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel (Alias: Ochir Shrikelance)<br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry.<br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be.<br />
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:: In recent times, Eru has grown much since his early days as a mercenary and a wanderer. While still slow to trust others, he is gradually beginning to reach out to those around him, especially his friends Tiergan Vashir and Angora Khilo. His journeys and trials have given him a thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and while he is still quick to raise his lance for battle, he now has the judgment and foresight to see when it would be valuable to keep his weapons sheathed. He still retains much of his bad habits though, usually preferring to leap headlong into danger by himself before involving others. In addition, when it comes to his companions' wellbeing, Eru is fiery and passionate, always ready to strike for his friends first and ask questions later. He is struggling to see that his life too has value, and each loss in the fight against the Horde and his friends' enemies cuts deep.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. Tiergan is the only one so far who knows that Eru has changed his form, appearance, and name.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=100641Eruantien Valandiel2015-07-03T04:55:54Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel (Alias: Ochir Shrikelance)<br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 8 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
<br />
Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry.<br />
<br />
:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
<br />
<br />
:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
<br />
:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
<br />
:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
<br />
:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
<br />
:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
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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"><br />
<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><b><br />
<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
</table><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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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"><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<div style="border:0px solid; padding:8px;"><br />
<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. Tiergan is the only one so far who knows that Eru has changed his form, appearance, and name.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=100352Eruantien Valandiel2015-07-01T21:51:01Z<p>Eruantien: /* Heavensward */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel (Alias: Ochir Shrikelance)<br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 6 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry.<br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons. While initially he had misgivings about returning to a country that had shunned him in the past, he found that he could not turn his back on a place that served as the closest thing to a home.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Yes, I knew a man by that name. He was a good man despite all he would say when going on and on about broken promises. I considered him a good friend. Now...who are you and why the hells are you askin' about him?" - [[Angora Khilo]]<br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Eruantien was a good man, fierce and terrifying in combat - honest and forthright outside of it. He's also dead. If you were a friend of his, you have my deepest and most sincere condolences. If not, ''get out of my face.''" - [[Tiergan Vashir]] <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> "Ochir? That bastard keeps making me train shirtless in Coerthas to 'get used to the cold'. I think he's actually playing some kind of prank so his brothers-in-arms can get a good laugh at the desert cat shivering in the snow. Otherwise... He's a good friend. Intelligent, calm, focused. He's endured the kind of horrors that could have easily broken lesser men or turned them into monsters. Yet despite what he often says, he's not as broken as he seems to think." - [[Tiergan Vashir]]<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. Tiergan is the only one so far who knows that Eru has changed his form, appearance, and name.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=100240Eruantien Valandiel2015-07-01T03:31:13Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel (Alias: Ochir Shrikelance)<br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 6 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry.<br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. Tiergan is the only one so far who knows that Eru has changed his form, appearance, and name.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Angora_Khilo&diff=100239Angora Khilo2015-07-01T03:27:09Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Angora Khilo<br />
| image = Angora-Mask.jpg<br />
| imagewidth = <br />
| caption = <br />
| title = <br />
| gender = Female<br />
| citizenship = None<br />
| race = Miqo'te<br />
| clan = Seekers of the Sun<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 25<br />
| stat_2 = Sexuality<br />
| stat_2_value = Pansexual<br />
| stat_3 = Nameday<br />
| stat_3_value = 24th Sun of the 3rd Umbral Moon<br />
| stat_4 = Guardian<br />
| stat_4_value = Oschon, the Wanderer<br />
| stat_5 = Grand Company<br />
| stat_5_value = Twin Adders<br />
| stat_6 = Relationship Status<br />
| stat_6_value = Taken<br />
}}<br />
{{Character-stub}}<br />
<br />
==Character==<br />
[[File:Angora-Tyanu.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Angora without her mask]]<br />
'''Angora Khilo''' is a tiny and curious Miqo'te who is just in search of a place to finally be safe and be herself. Until then, she'll continue to be on the run and put up a stone wall to anyone she meets. Be wary when sneaking up on her though, because it might just end with one of her freshly sharpened dagger between your ribs. She is also lovingly called a "magnet for danger/trouble" by one of her bosses, Vaughn. And many others at this point. <br />
===General=== <br />
'''Current name:''' Angora Khilo<br />
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'''Past name:''' Aa’gnayak Tykha <br />
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'''Nicknames:''' Ang, Angie, Angi, Tinycat (Only Cilia is allowed to say this one)<br />
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'''Server:''' Balmung<br />
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'''Classes/Jobs:''' Blackmage, Bard, Summoner, Rogue<br />
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'''Current Occupation:''' Gardener/General Staff at The Rose. She also does various jobs for a group of people she is in contract with.<br />
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===Appearance===<br />
'''Height''' 4 fulmes 11 ilms ((found through [http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/62834-Race-Heights this]))<br />
<br />
'''Eyes:''' Bright yellow<br />
<br />
'''Skin:''' Very pale and fair, used to be much tanner. The skin on her hands and feet is very tough and scarred. <br />
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'''Hair:''' Short, snow white with a darker grey mixed in. It was much longer when she was a child. <br />
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'''Tattoos:''' Traditional red Seeker of the Sun markings, More recent yellow markings added in to the traditional ones. <br />
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'''Scars:''' Various scars on her wrists and ankles from shackles, scars on her hands and feet from old calluses, one smaller scar on the bridge of her nose, a Garlean branding on her left shoulder blade. <br />
<br />
'''Noticeable Features:''' Angora has grown patches of scales on her face and body in reaction to an accident at The Rose. She keeps them hidden with clothes and her mask. She is also missing a small chunk he edge from her right ear from where her Linkpearl earring was ripped out once.<br />
[[File:AngoraMask.jpg|thumbnail|right|Her mask looks a bit creepy in some lighting.]]<br />
<br />
===Personality===<br />
Despite her past, Angora has kept her very friendly and bouncy personality, but only with those she trusts. Her trust is hard to earn now a days and she will refuse to give much up about her past, even to those she trusts the most. She is a good and loyal fighter, going to hell and back to defend her friends and what she fights for. While in the cities, she will be silent, finishing anything she needed to get done before quickly leaving again. Angora will be very polite and and to the point when she speaks to vendors and others in the city. She always feels a little sad when she sees people shy away from her or completely avoid her because of her mask, but she knows it's for the best. <br />
[[File:Angoramustashe.png|200px|thumbnail|left|She's can pretty much be a huge goofball sometimes when she's comfortable around someone. Art by Rohn Starbreaker]]<br />
<br />
==Combat==<br />
<br />
'''Melee:''' Angora prefers to fight at a long distance if possible, but if she does have to get up close, she uses her knives. She's very quick and light on her feet so the fighting style is almost fun for her at times. Her past has given her a very strong back and arms, so she is both powerful and skilled in her throwing and slashing. <br />
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'''Ranged:''' Bow hunting was taught to Angora by her father at a very young age and is a very strong skill of hers. She learned even more under the instruction of Pawah Mujuuk, but it's also for that reason that now a days she'd much rather keep her archery skills hidden. It doesn't feel right to her to use them openly, not wanting to give any credit to the woman. She still uses her bow to hunt when necessary.<br />
<br />
'''Magic:''' Angora had heard about the various ways of using magic and aether to fight, but it wasn't until she was in Ul’dah and found the Thaumaturge guild that she decided to give it a shot. Her masters say she has a lot potential, but still has a lot to learn. She also is starting to learn healing magic from the conjurers in Gridania.<br />
<br />
==Tendencies==<br />
===Likes===<br />
::* Food of any kind<br />
::* Hunting<br />
::* Riding with her Chocobo<br />
::* Making things from wood and/or leather<br />
::* The Shroud<br />
::* Sleeping in a safe place<br />
<br />
===Dislikes===<br />
::* All of the oversized creatures that inhabit Eorzea (a.k.a the toads, ants, giant spider-like creatures, etc.)<br />
::* Surprises<br />
::* Dark caves<br />
::* Anything to do with mining or metal working<br />
::* Anything Garlean <br />
<br />
===Hobbies/Talents===<br />
::* Angora likes to show off sometimes by arm wrestling with guys who are 3 times bigger then her. <br />
::* She is very light and quick on her feet, making her good at sneaking up on her targets and also dodging their attacks. <br />
::* Angora works hard to keep all of her gear and weapons in top shape.<br />
::* When she has nothing else to do or is stressed, she'll take Aster out for a ride through The Shroud. <br />
<br />
===Fears===<br />
::* That she is constantly being followed by the Garleans and always must keep hiding and running to keep from getting caught.<br />
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::* That the people after will not only hunt her down and kill her, but that they will harm her loved ones as well.<br />
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::* That those she trusts will eventually turn on her and stab her in the back.<br />
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::* That one day she'll mess up bad enough that Jaques and Vaughn will kick her out of The Rose.<br />
<br />
===Flaws===<br />
::* Because of her traumatic past, Angora's memory of her past isn't very detailed. She can't remember the names of her parents, her village, or most of the people she met. Hearing their names will spark something in her memory though. <br />
::* Hoards any food or equipment she can get her hands on (sometimes even pick pocketing residents of the cities), selling anything she can't use to help get more gil for necessities. <br />
::* Can be a compulsive liar<br />
::* Seems to always get herself into some kind of trouble, especially when she sneaks out of the house when she's not supposed to.<br />
[[File:Angorachibi.jpg|250px|thumbnail|right|Art by N'aviea Alysta]]<br />
<br />
==Relationships==<br />
===Family===<br />
'''Mother:''' A’sumbla Khen<br />
<br />
'''Father:''' A’tykha Nuhn<br />
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'''Siblings:''' None<br />
===Friends===<br />
'''Aster:''' Her Chocobo. He's been with her through hell and back in the 5 years she's had him and at this point he's the only one she feels she can rely on all the time.<br />
<br />
===Enemies===<br />
'''The Garlean Empire:''' Angora loathes the whole lot of them and anyone/anything that has to do with them. <br />
<br />
'''Pawah Mujuuk:''' Her old teacher and who she thought of as a friend until their rather violent falling out. If they met again they'd probably try to kill each other. <br />
===Player Character Standing (Slowly being updated)===<br />
<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="100%"><br />
<tr><br />
<center><br />
<br />
:<br />
: <font style="color:#F02311;" size="3">♥</font> Romantic Interest&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#000000;" size="3">♥</font> Sexual Desire&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Platonic Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#8f8377;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
<br />
<font style="color:#F02311;" size="3">♥</font><font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> '''Cilia Lovelace:''' Cilia is very special to Angora and she is very much in love with her. They have only been together for a short time so far, but she has made Angora feel the happiest she has been since she can remember. Angora met Cilia when she found a flier in the the Goblet about how she specialized in massages and such. Cilia was the first person outside the Rose to see Angora's "scars" from her incident with Dravanian aether. They immediately bonded over these "scars" since Cilia herself is an Au Ra who has her own scales hidden in fear of the Ishgardians. Now Cilia helps her take care of her own scales along with using massage and acupuncture to help with Angora's stress and various injuries she keeps getting.<br />
<br />
<font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font><font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> [[Vaughn Antain]]: Angora has grown very close to Vaughn over her time at the Rose and sees him as the parent she never got to have as a child. He was the first one to (almost literally) drag her into the Rose when she arrived. She has started to go to him for advise more and more now that she has grown so comfortable with him, though she still has a very high level of respect for him as her boss. Now a days, she is completely content with just curling up on a couch with him and chatting about things. Be it about relationships, any issues she's having, gardening, or even fashion advise. Angora also believe that Vaughn hugs are some of the best hugs out there (behind Cilia's of course).<br />
<br />
<font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font><font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> [[Jaques Guillaume]]: Yet another person Angora has grown close to. While their relationship is not completely the same as the relationship she has with Vaughn. She sees Jaques not only as a parental figure but also a boss/captain she can completely trust and rely on. She still gets a bit nervous if she has to speak to him in private, but it's more from her seeing him as a stricter "fatherly" figure then actually being scared of him. Angora was a bit wary of Jaques when she first met him (he is a giant compared to her after all), but she has long since gotten used to him (and constantly having a sore neck while trying to look up at him). Angora has even told him that she trusts him with her life and trusts his judgements. It's always a small victory for her if she gets praise or even the tiniest bit of affection from him.<br />
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<font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font><font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> [[Lyria Stormdancer]] (Deceased) : Lyria was one of the closest friends Angora has at the Rose. She saw her as a the little sister she never had. Angora tried her best to help and protect Lyria with everything she could, though it always seemed to end up with Lyria having to help Angora. It made Angora feel guilty and she worked hard to try and make it up to her when she can. The younger Miqo'te had also grown very protective of Angora, to the point that it went a little too far at times. Angora worked to help her learn boundaries with such things while also helping her with her anger. When Lyria died right in front of Angora's eyes, it crushed her. Had she not had the support of her loved ones at the Rose, it is possible that she could have sunk into a very dark place that she wouldn't have been able to ever claw herself out of. She blames herself for Lyria's death despite what everyone keeps telling her otherwise. Angora has vowed to get revenge in Lyria's name and will continue to stay strong and keep fighting in hopes of making Lyria proud and helping keep the memories of their time together alive. <br />
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<font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> [[Evangeline Primrose]]: Angora's relationship with Evangeline is a complicated one at times. Sometimes they get along really well and look out for each other...other times Eva drives Angora up a wall. They grew closer during an incident involving a Dravanian artifact that Eva had brought into the house. Eva loves to mess with Angora just because she thinks her reactions are hilarious. Angora really does care about Evangeline though and would do anything to help her. She even made Eva a bunch of underwear at one point because the woman had been wearing underwear made of hides and fur in the desert. <br />
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<font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font><font style="color:#4e9362;" size="3">●</font> '''Elsabethe Aesidhe:''' Elsa was the first person to really learn about a lot of the details of Angora's past. This was mostly because the first day they met ended with Angora trying to kill her after waking up from a nightmare and being under the influence of voidal corruption. Elsa was very patient and just listened to Angora talk on and on about everything that'd been weighing on her until she eventually fell asleep again. It's very rare for Angora to trust and bond with someone so quickly, but something about Elsa made her feel safe and at ease. Angora was crushed when Elsa suddenly left the Rose without telling her, but she has since returned and they are working on catching up on things.<br />
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===PC Rumors (Feel free to add what you'd like~)===<br />
<br />
::*"I know Angora's tough, and can take care of herself. She just has such rotten luck. Everything bad always seems to happen to her. Guess that's why I worry so much." - [[Lyria Stormdancer]]<br />
::*"Angora may be small in stature, though she possesses a heart much larger than appearances may perceive. I am delighted to have met this Miqo'te and have her in my life." - [[Syrress Detilderan]]<br />
::*"Lady Angora is kind and strong. We met through Lord Jaques' work. I was honored to be there to give my best for Lyria and Ser'ai. She has a kind face and a brave face, like a Wood Wailer, though her kindness always comes through. Like her strength." - [[Jancis Milburga]]<br />
::*"Angora...Yes, I know her. I made a promise I couldn't keep." - [[Eruantien Valandiel]]<br />
<br />
==History/Timeline (Still very much a WIP)==<br />
===Childhood before slavery===<br />
<br />
Angora was born in a small, quiet settlement on top of fertile land that was near Ala Mhigo. She was one of the youngest of the tribe at the time. Her father and mother were both very loving and made sure to teach her everything they could to make sure she had the skills to survive on her own if anything happened to them. Their life was a simple one that they enjoyed to the fullest. <br />
===The Garlean Attack===<br />
<br />
The Garleans attacked when she was 5 cycles old. They came completely armed with all force that was far larger then what they needed for the small tribe. The peaceful tribe tried to surrender in hopes of keeping their homes. Instead the invaders killed the Nuhn, Angora’s father, along with any high-ranking Tia's. The place was completely burned to the ground before the soldiers rounded up any of the tribe that had survived. Everyone who was caught was shipped off to Garlemald to be slaves in the mines and factories. Angora’s mother tried to stay with her for as long as possible, but they were soon separated, branded, and Angora was sent to the mines. It what then where her name was also changed from A’gnayak Tykha to Angora Khilo. Her first name was changed to one that was easier for her Garlean masters to remember and pronounce while her last name was changed to one that belonged to a random Miqo'te who was also there in order to cut her family ties. To this day Angora doesn't know what became of her mother.<br />
<br />
===Childhood and Teen Years in Salvery===<br />
Angora was kept in the mines for most of her life as a child and teen. There were hundreds of other child slaves in the same situation that she worked beside but never really got the chance to know. Her time there caused her to become sensitive to light and to lose her tanned skin that Seekers of the Sun are known for. It didn't take long for her to learn that even if you worked at the right pace and did what you needed to that her masters were still very keen on giving out all forms of punishments. Angora work until her hands were bloody and sore and still end up at the end of a whip. Through all of this, Angora tried her best to remain positive in the awful place. There was a point where she forgot what the sun looked like since they rarely left the mines and when they did, it was usually night time. <br />
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Angora remained in the mines until the Meteor Project began where she was randomly chosen to go along on the ships to serve the higher-ranking officers. She remained in the storage area and mostly did grunt work. It would be rare that they would make her serve meals to the officers or do other maid duties. While she was still miserable, anything was better then being in the mines. Things got worse for her when her strength was noticed. In the upcoming battle against the Eorzean Alliance they gave her some (useless) armor and shoved a weapon in her hands before tossing her out with hundreds of others like her in the front line to act as a human barriers. She'd made a few connection with the other slaves while aboard the ships, so watching them all die around her was almost more painful then watching her home burn to the ground. <br />
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===Escape===<br />
Her chance to escape came with the Calamity. She was on the edges of the battle field getting ready to rush in to what would most likely be their death when they saw Bahamut emerge and begin to destroy everything in sight. Instead of charging in, everyone began to panic and run back towards what ships were left, many not even making it halfway back. Angora knew well that running off the battlefield was practically high treason to the Empire. If they ever found her it would most likely mean death or worse. She took the chance though and took off running in the opposite direction of the ships, getting heavily wounded from flying rocks and shrapnel as the elder primal devastated everything. Angora stripped off everything Garlean as she ran, blending into the retreating Eorzean forces and never looked back.<br />
<br />
===Life After===<br />
Angora eventually ended up stumbling into The Shroud after all the chaos. A local Gridanian found her slowly limping on the verge of collapsing where she stood and quickly took her in. While Angora can't remember the woman's face, she does remember her voice as being calm and motherly. The woman gave her shelter while she recovered from the wounds she'd gotten while also working on helping Angora fit in a little better. They cut her hair and got her yellow markings added to her face. Angora marked this as the beginning of her new life as a free woman and soon set off on her own to explore Eorzea. <br />
<br />
====The Poachers====<br />
During her exploration of Gridania, she found '''Pawah Mujuuk''' and her group of Miqo’te hunters. Seeing as they were the first of her kinds she’d seen in so long, it wasn’t hard for the cunning leader to convince her to join them. Angora was eager to learn what they taught her and happy to feel like she was part of a family. At first the group kept a close eye on her and rarely let her go out with them on their hunts, giving her the excuse that she wasn't ready for the real trips out. Angora was stubborn though and quickly got tired with getting left to watch the camp. When the group set out on what looked like to be a large hunt, Angora managed to sneak out and follow them. It was then that she saw what the group really did, watching as they killed any creatures in sight before attacking small camps to kill everyone inside and making off with their belongings. This horrifying discovery caused her to go straight to the nearest Twin Adder group she could find to report them. She had no regrets in doing this as the groups acts had made them on the same level as Garleans in her mind. Angora returned to the camp with the Gridanians in tow, setting the trap for Pawah and her group. An all out battle broke out between the two groups once the hunters returned and Angora took the chance to run, though Pawah did manage to block her and get a few good hits in before she was overpowered by the Adders. In the end of it all, Angora was once again on the run. <br />
====The Rouges Guild and On Her Own====<br />
While she did love Gridanina, Angora knew it'd be best to leave the area. Her next stop was Thanalan, more specifically Vesper Bay. She eventually ended up in Limsa Lominsa where she joined the rouges guild for a short amount of time. Not many exciting things happened there, which Angora was thankful for, and she spent most of her time training with the guild. Angora enjoyed her time there even if it was short. The guild soon found out about her past through one of their background searches on her and they asked her to leave quietly. While the poachers weren't pirates, they were close enough that Angora could end up in serious trouble in the city if that information was made public. <br />
<br />
With that, she left the city and began her years of wandering and hiding. Angora had a mask made to hide her face and she still wears it to this day as much as possible. She took this chance to try and just explore Eorzea, but she never felt relaxed or completely safe with her past weighting on her mind (especially with the growing Garlean presence). Being in the cities and smaller settlements were the most stressful times for her so she entered them as a little as possible. Living out in the wilds wasn't as miserable as she'd thought it would be with the help of the skills she'd learned and a young, energetic chocobo she'd found that she'd named Aster. She'd found the poor creature alone and injured in what looked to be the remains of a beastman attack on a caravan. He'd somehow managed to get free from the wagon and was hiding in the bushes. Angora slowly earned his trust with food and helped nurse him back to health. They developed a strong bond and have been together ever since. The bad parts were only the fact that she was almost constantly covered in some form of dirt or grime and the rumors that started to spread about her. While she was used to being grimy and dirty all the time, the rumors did not help with keeping hidden. If she even caught wind of a person or two starting to talk about her, she'd pack up and move on to the next area. On rare occasions when she felt particularly lonely (or possibly drunk), she'd take her mask off and wander into the Adventure's Guild or a local pub to just talk to people and enjoy herself.<br />
[[File:Lavi0623 monochrome commission.png|250px|thumbnail|right|Art by Yourou]]<br />
<br />
===Present===<br />
Angora used to live in the outskirts of Ul'dah in Fesca's Wash. There was plenty of shade and water there to keep her comfortable (along with being conveniently close to the Royal Plantations that she paid a visit to from time to time when hunting wasn't working out). She is practicing her magic to the best of her abilities and only going into the city for supplies and to speak with her teachers. While in the markets she'd heard whispers of a group called the Phoenix Rose that helped free slaves. Angora wasn't sure if she fell into that category or if the group was even real, so she went to Momodi, who she'd met back when she first came to Thanalan, and asked her about them. Momodi confirmed that the group existed and that they could help her. Angora felt hopeful for the first time in years, but she is wary about trying to settle down again after what happened with her past attempts. After attending a Heavensturn dinner held by the group, Angora hung around for a while and eventually moved in. She is now a full time resident and staff member of The Rose.<br />
<br />
==Pictures==<br />
[[File:AngoraMother1.PNG|200px|thumbnail|left|A’sumbla Khen, Angora's mother]]<br />
[[File:Angoraandaster.jpeg|200px|thumbnail|left|Angora and Aster]]<br />
[[File:AngoraFather1.PNG|200px|thumbnail|center|A’tykha Nuhn, Angora's father]] <br />
[[File:Youngangora.PNG|200px|thumbnail|center|What Angora looked like when she was younger/before she escaped.]]<br />
<br />
==Annotations==<br />
<br />
This Template was created by [[Deirdre Ta'ea]]</div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=File:Eru-Portrait2.png&diff=100229File:Eru-Portrait2.png2015-07-01T01:34:20Z<p>Eruantien: Eruantien uploaded a new version of &quot;File:Eru-Portrait2.png&quot;</p>
<hr />
<div></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=100207Eruantien Valandiel2015-06-30T22:55:09Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel (Alias: Ochir Shrikelance)<br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 6 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
}}<br />
<br />
<b>NOTE:</b> Currently needs updating!<br />
<br />
<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
<br />
Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
<br />
<br />
===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
<table style="position:center;" width="75%"><br />
<tr><br />
====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
<br />
====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
<br />
<br />
====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
<br />
<br />
</tr></table><br />
<br />
===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
<br />
====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry.<br />
<br />
:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
<br />
====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
<br />
<br />
:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be. <br />
<br />
===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
<br />
====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. Tiergan is the only one so far who knows that Eru has changed his form, appearance, and name.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=100206Eruantien Valandiel2015-06-30T22:50:12Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel (Alias: Ochir Shrikelance)<br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 6 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently needs updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry.<br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Heavensward</div>====<br />
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:: After destroying the band of slavers that had captured him all those years ago, Eru glamoured his appearance, though with the side effects of the Lotus upon him when the spell was cast, the change may be permanent. Taking on the form of an Auri warrior, he headed north, to the Holy See of Ishgard. Though initially there were suspicions about him, Eru forged onward regardless, proving his worth by skill and by deed. And with already some knowledge of the fighting skills of Dragoons, after some time he was accepted into their Order so that he could finish his training. Despite their confusion and wonder at how he had acquired the skills in the first place, they could not deny his skill nor his loyalty to the Holy See, despite being an outsider. And with the Dragonsong War reaching a crescendo in violence and intensity, they saw no reason to turn away another lance that could be turned towards the Dravanian threat. Eruantien serves to this day under his Xaelas alias of Ochir Shrikelance, taking a stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sister dragoons.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:##9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. Tiergan is the only one so far who knows that Eru has changed his form, appearance, and name.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=100205Eruantien Valandiel2015-06-30T22:44:12Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel (Alias: Ochir Shrikelance)<br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 6 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently needs updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry.<br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:##9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. Tiergan is the only one so far who knows that Eru has changed his form, appearance, and name.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=100204Eruantien Valandiel2015-06-30T22:43:16Z<p>Eruantien: </p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel<br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 6 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently needs updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry.<br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
: <font style="color:#aac5b4;" size="3">■</font> <br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:##9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance. Since then, their paths have crossed frequently. Eru did much to aid Tiergan with the cult of the Red Lotus, though he ran himself into exhaustion and collapse in doing so. For a while, Eru believed that Tiergan tried to murder him, and he broke with the man, wounding him in his efforts to distance himself and escape. They have since reconciled, though Eru is consumed with guilt over the affair. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantienhttps://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/index.php?title=Eruantien_Valandiel&diff=100203Eruantien Valandiel2015-06-30T22:40:38Z<p>Eruantien: /* Appearance */</p>
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<div>{{Infobox-character<br />
| name = Eruantien Valandiel<br />
| image = Eru-Portrait2.png<br />
| imagewidth = 300x450<br />
| gender = Male<br />
| citizenship = Ishgard<br />
| race = Au Ra<br />
| clan = Xaela<br />
| stat_1 = Age<br />
| stat_1_value = 28<br />
| stat_2 = Nameday<br />
| stat_2_value = Fifth Sun of the Ninth Astral Moon<br />
| stat_3 = Height<br />
| stat_3_value = 6 fulms, 6 ilms<br />
| stat_4 = Family<br />
| stat_4_value = None (thought deceased)<br />
}}<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> Currently needs updating!<br />
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<i>"Neither man nor beast shall bind me again."</i><br />
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Former slave, Ishgardian warrior, Wood Wailer, wandering mercenary, and now once again in service to the Holy See, Eruantien is a lost son of the Twelveswood that has finally found his way home only to leave again. He bears scars that belie his life of fighting - first in illegal pits in Ul'dah, and then from his wanderings as a mercenary and monster hunter. Eruantien wanders no longer though, and is sworn once again to the service of the Holy See, albeit in a new form and appearance. However, not all is as it seems with the Au Ra - those who dig deeper will find a cracked interior, and a man who seeks solace in the blood of his foes. He struggles daily to reach a balance, and tips precariously upon the precipice of disaster.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Basic Info</div>===<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><div style="padding:10px 35px;background: #00CC66;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Likes</center></div></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Books<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Sparring<br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Learning <br />
: <font style="color:#ECCA67;" size="3">■</font> Vanity items (clothes, jewelry, etc.)<br />
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====<td style="vertical-align: top;font-size:9pt;font-family:Helvetica;"><h3><span class="mw-headline"><div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #FF9966;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Dislikes</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Ul'dah<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Slavery<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Dragons<br />
: <font style="color:#DFD59E;" size="3">■</font> Shrewd Merchants<br />
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====<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>Misc. Info</center></div></span></h3>====<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Alignment: N/A<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Locale: The Ninth Vare, Coerthas Western Highlands<br />
: <font style="color:#CACFA5;" size="3">■</font> Favorite Color: Black<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Looks and Mannerisms</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Appearance</div>====<br />
:: Eruantien is on the taller side of average for an Elezen, with dark grey skin that belies his Duskwight heritage. He enjoys wearing his hair long and styled, typically indulging in a few highlights of blue here or there in his dark purple locks. Recently however, he has cut his hair in remembrance of his past. A tiny scar adorns his cheek while a more noticeable and longer one stretches across his face - courtesy of a narrowly avoided sword blow. Underneath his armor Eruantien is built to endure, with wiry muscle covered in scars from his time in captivity. His back bears the worst of it - with scars from both claw, whip, and steel alike. Recently, an encounter with a fell Dravanian has left him with a massive scar that stretches from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. Eruantien enjoys dressing in dark blues, purples, greys, and black, and has a taste for finer pieces of jewelry.<br />
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:: After his change in appearance to an Au Ra, Eru is on the shorter side of the race, having retained his Elezen height. His hair is still long and styled, though it is now a coal black.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Personality</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien is mostly a no-nonsense individual. Years of serving in militaristic organizations has given him a brusque demeanor, although he has developed over his travels and dealings a sort of dry wit to temper it (or worsen it, depending on who you speak to). His enslavement has taught him much about the darker natures of people, and it takes time for him to warm up to anyone. While he has read as much as he could manage after learning how, he is certainly not as knowledgeable as he would like to be. <br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Biography</div>===<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Before the Calamity</div>====<br />
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:: Eruantien was born to Thermidor and Umiel Valandiel under the boughs of the Twelveswood, in the cavernous regions the Duskwights called home. A pair of former sellswords, his parents had eventually settled down to start a family, intending to leave their life of bloodshed behind them. Their idyllic life did not last long, however. A life of fighting inevitably leaves behind bitter enemies. So it was that Eruantien's parents were eventually tracked down by rival mercenaries from Ul'dah that had lost companions to their blades in the past. They were faced with an ultimatum: sell their son to slavers, or he would face certain death at their hands. Cornered, caught off guard, and with the life of their son threatened, the couple agreed to their terms, desperately hoping that slavery with the chance for escape would be a better choice than certain death. Thus Eruantien was kidnapped by the Ul'dahns, taken while he was out playing near the caves. Sold then into slavery in his fifth year of age, Eruantien was carted away from his homeland of Gridania to fighting pits in Ul'dah, where he grew up, learning quickly when he came of age to fight that he must kill or be killed. It was there that he earned his nickname of the "Lightning Prince," after his preference to silence his foes in a single, swift blow after patiently waiting for them to exhaust themselves. It was a name he heard often, and came to curse the utterance of it. Yet, beholden to his captors, Eruantien could do little but accept the epithet and continue fighting. Though scars piled upon him and others fell before him, he continued to dimly cling to the hope of eventual escape in a dim corner of his mind.<br />
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:: Finally one day, the young Elezen saw a chance for escape and took it, fleeing due to a lax in security before a fight - such was his obedience to his captors that they had taken to leaving him unchained before a match, believing him to be too broken to try anything. Lost, but desperate to leave behind the wretched chains of bondage that had held him since childhood, Eruantien wandered far in Thanalan, past Mor Dhona, into the unforgiving snows of Ishgard. There, bleeding, broken, and half dead from starvation, he was found by patrolling soldiers and brought to Whitebrim, the nearest Ishgardian outpost. <br />
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:: After being nursed back to health, he pleaded to become an Ishgardian soldier in service to the Holy See and Halone. The Ishgardians laughed at the idea - a Duskwight, not of Ishgard, in service to the Holy See? But as time went by, and Eruantien became more insistent, the officers' scoffs turned to shrugs, and they acquiesced. Coerthas was tightly pressed by the Dravanian menace - what was one more soldier that would soon become fodder for a hungry dragon? And so Eruantien became a son of Ishgard, albeit in name only. While they accepted him into their ranks and taught him the ways of the Ishgardian lancer - even some skills in the way of the dragon-hunting dragoons, Eruantien was never truly accepted as a comrade-in-arms. Distrustful of his Duskwight heritage, the Coerthas soldiery shunned him, and command would place him in the most miserable posts. Though he felt gratitude to the nation that saved his life, Eruantien eventually grew weary of their treatment of him. It was not long until he resigned his post before his commanding officer, turning his back on Ishgard. Former slave and now oathbreaker, Eruantien left Coerthas with his failures heavy in his heart. <br />
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:: After his time in Ishgard, Eruantien finally returned to the Twelveswood, walking yet again beneath the boughs that he scarce remembered. While he was accepted with open (albeit wary) arms to the Lancer's Guild and proved his worth in martial skill and deeds, he could not help but feel a sense of mis-belonging. While service to the Wood Wailers was enough for Eruantien, it was nothing more than his life in Ishgard, albeit his companions treated him with a bit more respect. However, a Duskwight Wailer still bore the problems of being a Duskwight Wailer. While he cherished his connection with his Gridanian companions, Eruantien knew that he would never be able to truly belong there like he wished. And so it was with a pained heart that he took his leave of the Wailers, and set his feet upon the traveling path once more. Now Eruantien wanders Eorzea, selling his services to those that have the gil, searching for a time and place that he can call home.<br />
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====<div style="padding:0px 30px; font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">After the Fall</div>====<br />
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:: Dalamud's fall has had little effect on Eruantien's day to day. Arguably, it has increased his business dramatically; since the Grand Companies have had to divert their resources and stretch themselves thin, services of capable mercenaries such as he have been in demand. However, the Duskwight engages in recovery efforts from time to time, contributing some of his profits and abilities to refugee camps throughout Eorzea. He particularly spends much of his time in Ul'dahn refugee camps, ensuring that families do not fall prey to enterprising merchants and ne’er-do-wells.<br />
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:: In addition, the specter of his enslavement has begun to weigh again on Eruantien's mind. Before, during his time in Ishgard, he had tried to remember or find clues as to who had sold him or taken him, but to little success. But the recent events and refugees have caused him to look back again, and he has begun taking a deeper interest in the comings and goings of suspicious Ul'dahns. He can often now be seen asking travelers or citizens from Gridania about his parents, usually to little success.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 15px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Miscellaneous</div>===<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Rumors</center></div></span></h3><br />
<center>''Behind every rumor is a grain of truth. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!''</center><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #90AB76;">◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Fellow turned down a ten thousand gil contract! Can you believe it? Said he didn't trust 'A snake oil Ul'dahn merchant deal'! The nerve, really…" - Rejected Ul'dahn Merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "He came back with the beast's skull on one shoulder and his lance on the other. Surprisingly reliable, for a Grey." - Summerford Farmer<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "Don't try to stiff his pay. I heard he cut off a finger of the last person that did!" - Drowning Wench Patron<br />
: <font style="color:#90AB76;" size="3">■</font> "I see him pretty often at the Carline Canopy, but he never seems to speak to anyone or order anything. Why bother showing up? Then again, who knows why Greys do anything…" - Gridanian Worker<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #F37E1D;">◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "I was told by my cousin he used to be in the Wood Wailers! Why they would accept a Duskwight into their ranks is beyond me. What was the guildmaster thinking? He probably tried to steal money and that's why they kicked him out." - Lancer's Guild Trainee<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> “We contracted him for a job and he fell in ranks just like a soldier. He's got military training that one, mark my words." - Immortal Flames Lieutenant<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "He came into our camp clad all in steel, with an axe over his shoulder and a sword on his belt! I thought that Grey was a lance wielder! How many gods-damned weapons does he know how to use?" - Former Pirate<br />
: <font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">■</font> "You know, I've never seen him buy anything outside of necessities. Why do you suppose he charges such high fees?" - Isla del Sol merchant<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #D83018;">◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "The Lightning Prince! Do you think that's him? He was popular in the fighting pits for a time…" - Shady Ul'dahn Citizen<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "I thought I saw him in Coerthas years ago, when I made a supply delivery…what's he doing here?" - Revenant's Toll merchant<br />
: <font style="color:#D83018;" size="3">■</font> "Have you ever seen anyone jump around with a lance like that? I thought only dragoons from Ishgard could do that." - Maelstrom Sergeant on leave<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #aac5b4;">◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from another player's character)</div></b><br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Abilities</center></div></span></h3><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Skill at Arms</div></b><br />
: Eruantien is skilled at all manner of arms, though at different levels for each. Since his departure for Ishgard, he has focused more upon his lancework, though he still practices forms with longsword and greatsword alike. He has abandoned the battleaxe and bow, although he shows a keen interest in the guns of machinists.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Lance - Eruantien's primary weapon of choice, and the one he is most skilled with. It is the weapon that earned him the nickname of "Lightning Prince," and he is familiar with both defending against attacks with the shaft as well as flicking the deadly tip quick as a viper towards his enemies. It is his most developed weapon form, and as of late he has been working tirelessly to adapt his precise, quick attacks to the heavy Behemoth lance he now wields. Having since lost his Behemoth Lance, Eru favors the standard lance of Dragoons: spears made in the image of the legendary relic Gae Bolg. Though certainly containing none of the power of the legendary weapon on which its design is based, the lance serves Eru's fighting style well - "One strike, one kill."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Sword - Eruantien is relatively familiar with all manner of one-handed blades, having spent some time with them during his days in the fighting pits. He wields a sword much the same way it wields a lance - defensively until he can drive its point into the heart of his enemy. Eru prefers a sword when in the confines of a city. While Eru now typically sports a straight sword, he commonly used curved blades during his time as a gladiator. He now also practices learning the forms of two-handed swords as well.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Battleaxe - Eru's choice when having to crack the shell or score the hide of a particularly tough monster. He picked up mastery of the weapon after adding monster hunting to his catalogue of services, realizing quickly that there were moments that a sword or lance just would not do. He hates to admit it, but wielding an axe feels primal and fierce, and it reminds him of the bloody days of gladiator combat. For this reason he both enjoys and fears wielding one in battle, though he continues to do so when necessity requires. Less refined than his lance form, Eru wields his axe with reckless abandon, fighting with a ferocity that leaves little room for defense.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Bow - A relatively new venture for Eru. There was never much opportunity to wield a bow in the fighting pits, where Eruantien gained most of his fighting skill. Recently however, he has taken an interest in the practice, for practical and meditative reasons. He has since received lessons for the appropriate usage of the weapon, and is keen on improving his abilities with it. However, while he is competent enough to hunt, etc. he has abandoned the weapon in favor of guns.<br />
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<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;"><center>Relations</center></div></span></h3><br />
: <center><font style="color:#FA70BC;" size="3">♥</font> Love &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Good Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Neutral Standing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <font style="color:#C24640;" size="3">●</font> Poor Standing</center><br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Family</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Thermidor Valandiel (Father - thought deceased) - Eruantien's father treated him well, regaling him with stories of his former sellsword days, and promising to teach the young Elezen boy the ways of the sword and lance. Eruantien scarce remembers him, but cherishes the memories of his father's stories - especially now as a mercenary. <br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Umiel Valandiel (Mother - thought deceased) - Eruantien remembers the small amount of time he has spent with his mother with a certain sense of longing - it was plain for all to see during his scant days with his family that while the young Duskwight loved his father dearly, it was his mother that he truly bonded with. His memories of her are bittersweet - filled with warmth yet marred with the pain of their separation. Some say that on occasion, the Duskwight mercenary will ask after a certain purple-haired Elezen woman around Gridania - and will leave with pained eyes and stiff shoulders when inevitably, it is reported that she has not been seen for many years.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> Julien Valandiel (Uncle - Whereabouts unknown) - Julien is Eruantien's uncle on his father's side, a duskwight Elezen that often lived up to his kind's unfair reputation. Scheming, petty, and vainglorious, he was bitterly envious of Thermidor's skill at arms and the respect he commanded among his fellow sellswords. Unbeknownst to either Eruantien or his parents, it was Julien that revealed their home to the Ul'dahn mercenaries, in return for a sizable amount of coin. <br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Others</div></b><br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Pennana Nordal - Eruantien encountered Penn at the Archer's Guild in Gridania, offering lessons to those who came by. He took her up on the offer, meeting Danon Nahzla in the process. He has promised her a favor, since she provided her knowledge of the bow at no charge.<br />
: <font style="color:#9EC60B;" size="3">●</font> Danon Nahzla - Also encountering Danon at the Archer's Guild in Gridania, Eru and Danon were Penn's archery students for the day. They emerged from the experience (relatively) unscathed, and with some better shooting skills to boot. Eruantien considered Danon rather pleasant company, and looks forward to another chance encounter. The man owes him a tale about the Autumn War.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Tiergan_Vashir|Tiergan Vashir]] - Eruantien met Tiergan briefly in a coordinated hunt against a raging Behemoth plaguing the northern snows of Coerthas. Though Eru does not remember the mi'qote by name, nor did they converse, the Elezen does remember that it was Tiergan that helped cleave the mighty creature's horn - the same horn that Eru used to fashion his fearsome new lance.<br />
: <font style="color:#888888;" size="3">●</font> [[Reretha_Retha|Reretha Retha]] - Seeking shelter from the pouring rain in Camp Drybone, Eruantien met a very interesting individual. Identifying herself as Reretha Retha, the lalafell more or less thrust herself upon the Elezen, cryptically observing that he had pleasant "singing." Curious about the lalafell's odd observation, Eruantien conversed with her for a time, eventually parting ways with her. Despite the fact that he likely ought to be wary, Eruantien found his interaction with Reretha to be pleasant, though very strange. Despite the danger it may pose from associating with such an eccentric individual that seemed so sensitive to aether, Eruantien hopes that in his travels, he will be able to meet Reretha again.<br />
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<b><div style="padding:10px 25px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Possible Character Relations</div></b><br />
: You may know or know of Eruantien if your character has links or knowledge of the following:<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to the Ul'dahn criminal underworld - you may know that Eruantien was an illegal fighter in his youth, with the moniker "The Lightning Prince."<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has gone to seen or has been part of illegal fights in Ul'dah about 10-18 years ago - you may have seen him fight or have fought against him (although most of his fights have been to the death, he has at times participated in matches to submission).<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Duskwight criminal connections - you may know that Eruantien was kidnapped or that his uncle sold his family out. You may also know, if your character is well-connected, that his father was killed but his mother yet lives, albeit in hiding.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character is a mercenary - you may know that Eruantien takes jobs primarily in monster hunting, bounties, and caravan protection. You may also have worked with him in the past. You may also know that he usually refuses contracts from wealthy or suspicious Ul'dahns, but frequently spends time in Ul'dah in refugee camps.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Wood Wailers - you may know that Eruantien was a Wood Wailer for a time, before resigning.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character has ties to Ishgard - you may know that Eruantien was stationed at Whitebrim for two years before resigning. <br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character engages in recovery efforts - you may know that Eruantien donates money and occasionally time helping refugees, especially in Ul'dah.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character lives in, or has ties to Gridania - Eruantien is often seen asking for details about his family.<br />
:: <font style="color:#5F5F5F;" size="2">■</font> Your character travels frequently - you may have encountered Eruantien on the road to his next job, or simply wandering. Your character may have been stopped if they were traveling from Gridania by Eruantien asking questions about his family.<br />
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===<div style="padding:10px 35px; background: #BEC3BC;font-size:14px;color:#5F5F5F;">Footnotes</div>===<br />
<font style="color:#F37E1D;" size="3">'''★''' The template for this profile was made by [[Bancroft Gairn]] and kindly provided for use by everyone.</font></div>Eruantien