| − | Raised in the Brume of Ishgard as the bastard of some random highborn lordling, raised at the local tavern as a busboy by a compassionate Highlander by the name of Amoux, who'd taken in the boy as a mercy for looking like his own son, naming the nameless child Artouix. Quickly learning speech craft and the appeal of music to gain a few extra coins to feed himself and his father, Precis/Artouix excelled in those methods to pinch what he could for his savior. His childhood from age four to twelve passed uneventfully, as he developed as a kind and caring boy with the employees of the tavern becoming his close-knit family unit. As his ten-and-second Nameday came around, himself and his adoptive father traveled to the markets, wherein an attack by some spares of Nidhogg's Brood saw his father sacrifice himself, burned to ashes before Precis'/Artouix's eyes, sheltering him under a turned-over cart. At age 16, Precis/Artouix was still working in the tavern now as a chef, busboy, and icon of the Pillar's brought into the Brume with his handsome developing features. Precis/Artouix was out purchasing some whetsones for the kitchen when he spotted his estranged progenitor on a far catwalk with his supposed wife and two children. Overcome with fury at the man who'd left him to freeze on the streets of the Brume, he stalked them for about an hour in a haze of pure revenge before mercilessly slaughtering them all in a back alley shortcut back to their estate, getting caught nigh-instantly with the sound of grief at his acts racking him. Three guardsmen of the Holy See found him over the corpses of four people, two adults, a child, and an infant, each one rich with wealth in jewelry and gil. Deciding they'd put it to better use, they administered their own form of justice, flogging him with twenty lashes of a barbed whip, fifty lacerations from the cut of a longsword, and an axe cleave across his lower spine, each wound meticulously placed to form the head of a dragon, the heretic icon of Ishgard. After doing so, they grasped an iron brand, heated it in the flame of their torch, and scarred the left side of his face with the Brand of Heresy, proceeding to carry his half-dead body to the wastes of the Coerthas Western Highlands, tossing him asunder as a corpse, and leaving him to die. Artouix/Precis, however, half-dead and running off of the last dregs of his own life, crawled his way towards the wind-whipped branches of a tree, and into a nearby cave. He'd manage to start a small fire, in which he cauterized each wound shut painfully, passing out roughly five times in the entire life-saving process. Two weeks would pass, in where the gods graced him with the dragon-claw torn near-dead corpse of a polar bear, which he brought himself to end with the smallest knife in his boot, eating the flesh raw out of starvation. He then forced himself to journey south to the forests of the Black Shroud while half-crippled and severely injured. Through strength of will, and no lack of pain, he hobbled and crawled his way to the Divide, where in he was found covered by skin of bear by a Dravanian scout, with lesser drake in tow, passing out shortly thereafter, only able to mutter the words "Please", and point feebly across The Divide. He awoke later, the warm, moist ground of the forest kissing his face, and a small package of food hidden under his body. It did not take long of his crawling before he happened upon some Sylphs, who took him under their wing with concern for what could harm such a young boy. He recuperated for three months, and worked his way towards hobbling, walking, jogging, and eventually sprinting, and rebuilding himself to the point of being able to do basic farm labor. The sylphs deemed him ready for the world and allowed him to leave and wander about their lands with their blessing, to explore the Shroud. It did not take long before misfortune struck again, as a rampaging wild boar charged him into a tree. It took all of his willpower and strength to drive the knife, of which he'd killed the Polar Bear with, to pierce the brain of the pig. He managed to gut the thing, taking a strong tendon and a nearby branch to form a makeshift bow, with arrows of rock, twig, and tree sap. He used this weapon, later refining it, to survive, hunting for survival, growing, adapting, and strengthening himself to be a primal warrior. One day, he awoke to hear a faint, ethereal humming in his ears, which he quickly assumed to be insanity, but it later came to his attention that the humming- the song- changed depending on the situation, and was -speaking- to him of the nature of the forest around him, speaking to him of the beasts, the trees, the wind, and all that surrounded him. Fast-forwarding, the progression of his ability with bow, song, and athletics increasing greatly, now age 18, he was found and apprehended by the Wood Wailers of Gridania for poaching their wilds. Taking note of his primal appearance, with toned skin, dirt-covered form, and ragged hair, they escorted him into the city proper to clean and care for him, so they could properly question him without wincing at his smell. After extracting what information he would give them, including his fake name of Precis, now his usual alias, they handed him a proper bow with real arrows, not sharpened wooden ones, and he proceeded to split his own shot down the middle three times over in a display of uncanny marksman ship (He was certain the Archer's guildmaster creamed in her pants). They instantly conscripted him to the adventurer's guild as the condition for his pardon, and made off to Ul'dah to assist and quell the rising levels of crime and monster activity in that area as one of many who went in pursuit of wealth. There he regained his civility, found his path in music and speech-work for years on end, refining his dead-eye aim and survival work, and becoming a hit with the local ladies with his prince-like visage. He then met a Qestir and fell in love with her over the course of a month, in which it was a mutually returned feeling, and they became official. Shortly thereafter, around two months so, he joined her on a job to eliminate some voidsent occupying some ruins, and was possessed without the knowledge of those around him, leaving him trapped to suffer in his own mind-scape for six months, in which the voidsent made his life a living hell, destroying his friendships, relationship and everything he held dear was lost, even stressing out his now-fiancee to the point of miscarriage , eventually making his body attempt suicide, but failing due to the efforts of a friend.
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| − | Post-Possession, he'd take a few weeks to regather himself, before leaving his fiancee behind after realizing nothing could reconsile them truly, as she'd faded from the woman he once loved into something his considered depraved. She'd already chosen another man who'd previously blown his leg off of Precis' own body while possessed, which was later regenerated by a blessed Xaela of Azim, the Sun God of The Steppe. During these harsh weeks, where he pushed himself to his limit over and over again to cope with the mental pain, he meets with a Roegadyn called Ardent Tempest, a man with a talent similar to his own song, a slab of steel as his weapon, and a body covered in only the toughest metals. Over the course of weeks, they become close enough to call each other brother, and eventually, in search of wealth and a bit of glory, set off on a job together one day to clear off something blocking a trade route. Lo and behold, it's a large Wyrm, reanimated by otherworldy forces which they barely manage to kill and exorcise, nearly dying themselves in the process of fighting such a being. Precis/Artouix in a sparing thought, harvests the eye of the wyrm, and after cleaning it of voidal energies with the assistance of Tempest, is struck by the consciousness of the great beast. It seems that the strength of dragons was not to be underestimated, as the wyrm introduced herself as Yrventh the Kind, and later, offered Precis/Artouix herself as a being to fuse with, in hopes of reuniting Man and Dragon like days of eld. He accepted unconditionally, and the fusion nearly ended his life, if not for the wisdom of his partner in assisting him in withstanding the transformative properties of dragon-aether on Ishgardians. Weeks later, on Precis/Artouix's twenty-fourth nameday, he'd attempt to celebrate for the first time since his father's death, which sends him into a terrible mood, only resuscitated by his brother-in-arms Tempest, and his lover, Nanama Kha, a local detective whom he'd unwittingly fallen for, and she him, in a matter of circumstance, luck, and both of them being in a terrible spot in life. Tempest, dragging Precis/Artouix to the Sea of Clouds, unknowingly awoke something in the Bardic Warrior, as his dragon companion blessed him with her grace and power, bestowing upon him blue-steel and platinum colored scales, and befitting wings to match, as they slowly fused into a single mind, the Dragon Mother becoming his guardian of spirit, and Precis/Artouix himself becoming embodiment. He now works today as a simple beast hunter and part time inspector with his loved and loving partner Nanama in the city of Ul'dah, awaiting the next curveball of fate as he enjoys what he's regained.
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