Chani Kahkol

Chani Kahkol is a young Xaela scavenger hailing from the Far East. Displaced in the razing of Doma, Chani now wanders the realm of Eorzea as a hermit with little more than herself to call her own.

Originally of the shamanistic Mol tribe, she was absorbed by the Kahkol in her younger years, and considered them her home until her abduction and forced servitude to a house in Doma.

Now she can be found in the unlikeliest of places, doing the unlikeliest of things. She has no job, but many, and is always searching for a purpose in this strange and foreign land.

⋆ You may have heard of a Xaela girl willing to port passengers and/or their goods at half the price of regular chocobo porter fare, anywhere. (Look her up, she's like the uber of chocobo taxis!)

⋆ Chani owns a draught chocobo, but is also willing to escort clients or their cargo by foot to their destination.

Chani
Gender	Female.
Race	Au'Ra.
Clan	Xaela.
Citizenship	Nomadic.
Age	Unknown to her; Fifteen at A Realm Reborn.
Guardian	Goddess of Inquiry.
Sexuality	Curious.
Education	Tribal; Street; Some formal.
Occupation	Here-and-there, odd-job hireling; People-and-parcel porter.
Marital Status	Single.

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Appearance

Hair: Dark brown. Eyes: Dark brown. Skin: Pale for her race. Quirk: Quick to smile, be it gentle or impish. Voice: Sweet-sounding and disarming; kittenish.

Height: 4 fulms 7½ ilms. Weight: 70 ponze. Body: Wispy yet shapely. Bearing: Graceful, alluring and cat-like. Attire: Well-worn and make-shift; waifish gypsy.

A fairly plain girl, yet so plain she is fair. There is not much to Chani if glanced upon in a crowd; her hair is very dark, her skin slightly pale; she is short and slender, and by the show of black about her body, she is clearly one of the Xaela tribes. Yet, it is in the finer details beheld that ordinary changes to exquisite, almost ethereal beauty. Her hair is not simply dark, but sleek and shadowy, flitting and gliding about her shoulders and waist with even the minutest movements. It pools about her, long but not heavy, framing a skin so beautiful it appears flawless, even with cuts and nicks assailing every inch of her. Her arms and legs are thin as paper, yet taut as wood, and bend and flow into a svelte, supple form with soft curves indicative of early womanhood. Youth is transparent in the features of her face, with deep, doey-eyes both innocently curious and timidly reluctant; yet maturity can be valued in the refinement of her cheeks and jaw, which are thin and elfin in expression when viewing her along the side or by her profile. By her outwardly appearance, she seems somehow caught between the exotic wildness of her Xaela brethren and the reserved elegance of her Raen kindred.

History

Childhood

• Born on the 9th Sun of the 4th Astral Moon, 1562 to the God-fearing Mol tribe in the western steppe of Othard. Highly devout and extremely traditional, Chani's particular sect participated little in the tribal wars and more in its own spiritual awakening and strengthening. Although exposed since birth to religious ecstasy and fervor, Chani understood little of worship beyond its traditional complement; "This is how it always has been" and "Always should be".
• By the age of five or six, Chani was displaying an affinity for communing and conjury, an obviously favoured ability among her tribesmen and women. She was removed from her parent's care to be raised alongside the other gifted Mol children and developed further in shamanism. This isolation was considered a great honour among the Mol, as any way to lessen the barrier between heaven and earth was sought without protest, even if the price of the exchange was man.
• Four years past. Shamans-to-be in Mol culture were initiated through the conquering of an illness, normally physical but sometimes psychological, where the initiate would cross the planes of life and death and return from crisis with new-found clarity and wisdom. Chani had survived her own rite of passage, but not every child was as gifted. She was an onlooker for another undertaking the trial and watched as her companion faltered and succumbed to the sickness of their mentor's design. Compelled beyond her control and the counsel of her teachers, Chani intervened in the final moments and attempted to delve into the girl's body and retrieve her soul from the clutches of death. She returned from the journey empty-handed, though a shadow of doom haunted her thereafter like an incessant shiver. "Dreams" began to plague her. Visions of a falling moon, a thousand swords, and a beast of fire. Great behemoths of the air igniting the earth in hell-fire. She saw her home, the desert-steppe, crumble and drift away like ash in the wind. She saw the world's end.
• Suspicion that an evil spirit had attached itself to her quickly gained traction in the tribe. Chani managed to escape her exorcisms during the night of the Calamity and fled with her life. She was about ten.

Adolescence

• By some queer chance, her memories faded. Whether it was her wanderings under the hot desert sun for time unknown, burning away an already struggling mind, or Dalamud's fall and the subsequent aether disturbance which she was particularly sensitive to, Chani's previous life became very distant. By another stroke of her luck her visions, too, weakened and then receded, though reoccurring nightmares plagued her for many years later. Both bewildered and humbled by her aloneness in the vast dunes of the steppe, Chani experienced the death of her ego in the months that followed. Her consciousness reverted back to a feral state, devoid of thought and reacting only to instinct. That was how she was found.
• She became absorbed by the Kahkol tribe; a ragtag band of orphans and refugees with no other place but themselves to call home. Chani does not recall how she became a part of this family, but instead affirms that she must have always been there. Her personality was slowly reconstructed in the months to follow, her blank slate impressed upon by the fiery and free individuals that she would later pledge her devotion to as brothers and sisters in blood. As they did, she did, and in time Chani was, without question, one of the Kahkol.
• This particular band did not fight - but it did defend. Constantly under threat of being absorbed by other tribes, such as the Adarkim or the Kharlu, the Kahkol trained themselves to never be caught. Their battle techniques were simply evasive tactics, which actively denied ever being on the offensive. This was because their...colourful backgrounds made it difficult for the tribe to achieve military discipline and, coupled with their relatively smaller numbers, made achieving victory in war impossible. This is not to say the Kahkol did not benefit from war. Like many other tribes, it was their chief profit; they simply used a different avenue. Scavenging and looting was the forefront of their survival, not unusual for orphans of any locale; of course so was stealing, though this was not exclusive to simple, petty pilfering, but also encompassed the "Kahkol art-form" of raiding. Much of their trade was done with the peaceful Kha tribe, as a reputation for being vultures, vermin and swindlers preceded over most of their dealings with other tribes.

Teenage

• Her uncertain origins, like many others, became points of musing on quiet nights; but regardless of what she was or where she came from she was a Kahkol first, and her station by the age of thirteen was resident healer and conjurer for the tribe. While she provided a practical service to her clan-mates, her abilities also served a recreational purpose in Kahkol celebrations and festivities.
• With age and maturity came further responsibilities, and Chani was trained to participate in Kahkol "excavations" and escapades. She became particularly proficient at stealing discretely and foraging for prizes, developing a fine eye for value otherwise neglected by others as worthless.
• Time between chores and duties allowed Chani to pursue her hobby of "treasure-hunting", which included searching the steppe's sands for mechanical doodads and debris abandoned during Imperial campaigns long ago. Each year her hoard swelled, an extensive collection of metal trinkets and baubles tucked away in a desert nook which she visited bi-monthly. She would stash a few (or several) on her person, attempting to puzzle out the contraptions and their functions while on the road.
• Just before her seventeenth winter Chani and a group of others splintered from the tribe and decided to travel to Doma, for they were restless with routine and seeking adventure. The family-parting was not bitter, simply temporary, as self-exploration was not unusual for Kahkol youths on the cusp of adulthood.
• ... ... ...

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Player: Kitty Wizard

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Code-and-layout-steals from Brynhilde Wulf!