Chao Lingshen
 Chao Lingshen
| |
 "Gods and empires have sworn to break me. And yet, here I stand, unbroken." | |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Miqo'te |
| Clan | Seeker of the Sun |
| Citizenship | Ul'dah |
| Place of Birth | Doma region |
| Nameday | 1st Sun, 6th Umbral Moon (Age: ) |
| Guardian | Azeyma, the Warden |
| Profession | Garlond Ironworks mage |
| Orientation | Asexual/aromantic |
| Marital Status | Single |
Chao Lingshen is a female miqo'te Seeker of the Sun originally born in Doma. With the Garlean Empire's subjugation of that region, she was conscripted into their armed forces, where she applied her mechanical and magical genius to enhance the Empire's magitek arsenal. She eventually fled to Eorzea with the aid of personnel of the Garlond Ironworks, and has since taken up residence in Ul'dah, spending her days studying and improving her magical and physical capabilities in order to take the fight to the Empire.
Contents
Biography
Early Life
Born in the region of Doma, Chao has been well-acquainted with Garlean tyranny her entire life. Her parents trained her from the time she could stand in the Doman martial arts style, despite it being outlawed by Garlemald as seditious. Early in life, she demonstrated a marked proclivity for an inability to keep secrets, prompting her parents to keep her uninvolved with the resistance against the Garlean Empire. She also showed an amazing affinity for magitek and other mechanical devices.
As she grew older, the increasing activity of Garlean oppression saw Chao becoming aware of their atrocities throughout their claimed territory. Her discretion grew, and though she remained unaware of her parents' involvement in the resistance, she began to contribute to the resistance in her own way, notably by designing and providing specifications for cannon rounds that boasted a marked improvement rate in penetrating Garlean armor, among other defensive innovations. This enhanced ability on the Domans' part to fight them did not go unnoticed by Garlemald, and by the age of fifteen, they had determined that she was the one responsible for the technological improvements. One afternoon, a contingent of Garleans appeared at the Lingshen homestead, and a choice was offered: service in the Empire, or the deaths of herself and her family. Unwilling to be the cause of her parents' deaths, she agreed to join the Empire.
Imperial Service
Having been identified as a magitek prodigy, Chao avoided conscription into the generic rank and file of the Empire, instead placed in an institution that would teach her the intricacies of Garlean magitek as groundwork for creating next-generation weaponry. Recognizing the opportunity that had fallen into her lap, she played the part of the loyal Garlean engineer, all the while absorbing all the information she could and considering ways she could sabotage the Empire. It soon came to be discovered that she was especially adept at improving existing technology to perform better, seeing her placed in the Castrum Meridianum, where the foremost of Garlemald's technological terrors were constructed.
Initially, the projects she was allowed access to were small, improved arms and armor for the soldiers stationed in the castrum and the like. Eventually, as the successes of her work became apparent and allowed Garlemald to solidify its holdings in the regions of Eorzea they occupied, she was granted more and more access to Imperial workings. Soon, she began to discreetly sabotage the projects she was working with, an example being the technological inhibitors that the Garleans used to control their magitek colossi and other tamed beasts. Sure, the inhibitors did their job--better than to spec once she got her hands on them--but if they took too much damage and were destroyed, the frenzied beasts would focus all their aggression on their Imperial masters. She always took great care to ensure that the technology she sabotaged would fail as a result of field conditions or misuse, and that their effects would be just shy of so catastrophic that the Garleans deemed them too costly to use.
Her own research efforts were not the only Garlean projects that she was involved in. Owing to the Garleans' hatred of the primals, eventual conflict with the primals would be inevitable. Knowing of the primals' fondness for tempering, the Empire sought to devise a means to resist the tempering effect. Selecting from a pool of candidates with preexisting extremely strong willpower, Chao was selected to undergo numerous anti-tempering experiments. As tempering was reliant upon the primal surging their own aether to overpower the victim's mind and soul, the simplest method the Garleans saw to negate it was blocking one's aether. To this end, a series of sigils were inscribed across Chao's body, rendering her an aetherial void when active. A command code, painstakingly memorized by the magitek genius, deactivates the sigils and lets her act normally, though when it is active her aether is completely inactive, not even able to be detected by other mages, and she appears to be completely nonmagical. Though this system performs its intended purpose to lab specifications, it has yet to be tested against an actual primal.
It was two years into her work at Meridianum that she discovered the Ultima Weapon program, and at that point she realized that it would take more than minor acts of sabotage to halt the Garlean advance. At around the same time, she began to hear whispers of a revolt in Doma, instigated in the hopes that the Garlean succession crisis would have them too distracted to respond. Activity around the Ultima Weapon project intensified, with many predicting that the fearsome monstrosity would be put to use suppressing the rebellion. It was not to be, however, as the Weapon was still not fully prepared for combat, and the might of the Imperial legions were plenty sufficient to crush the uprising and begin a reckoning of the Doman civilization.
Suspecting deep in her heart that her parents had been killed in the rebellion, Chao devised her plan and made ready to depart the Empire forever.
Defection
For a long while, the Garlond Ironworks and its members had been a continual thorn in the side of the Imperial presence in Eorzea, raiding the castrums seemingly at random. Though she had not devoted a great deal of attention to it, she had a sense that there would soon be another such raid at Meridianum. Timing her actions carefully, she prepared another act of sabotage.
In her part of the Ultima Weapon project, she was assigned to the conversion of the ancient Allagan power source to accept refined ceruleum as a fuel. While successful in this endeavor, she also weakened the structural integrity of the fueling lines and the storage tanks, forcing them to vent under strenuous operation lest they suffer a devastating case of overpressure. Under the guise of a 'stress test', she ordered one such storage tank filled to capacity and subjected to the sorts of stresses expected in lengthy combat.
Just as she had expected, another raid by the Ironworks occurred in the middle of the stress test. With the defense force of the castrum distracted by the ruckus, Chao moved all her research notes to within proximity of the storage tank, then increased the stress the device was under. To her surprise, the raiding team from the Ironworks soon broke their way into her research chamber, pulling her attention away from monitoring the tank for reaching its failure point. Now no longer needing to be concerned with her intent to betray the Empire, she alerted the raiders of the impending explosion and warned them to get away. Almost immediately thereafter, a castrum security force broke into the lab from another direction and opened fire. A stray round struck the storage tank, resulting in an immediate detonation. The explosion wiped out the Garlean security force and sprayed flaming ceruleum throughout the lab, resulting in gruesome burn scars to the back of Chao's legs.
Rendered unconscious by the explosion, Chao was recovered by the Ironworks raiding team, who fled as a chain reaction tore through the ceruleum storage facility, destroying a large number of the Ultima Weapon's spare tanks. Chao's act of sabotage resulted in the completion and battle readiness of the Ultima Weapon being delayed by nearly a full year.
The Ironworks
Chao awoke some weeks later in Gridania, finding herself under care of the conjurers treating her injuries from the ceruleum explosion. Informed of the massive damage done to her musculature and nervous system, she was relieved to learn that she would regain the ability to walk after a time, but that the corrosive nature of ceruleum meant that the scars would never fade. This did not trouble her, and as she recovered, she requested a tome in which she could write, beginning to transfer what of her research she could recall to a page, glad to have denied Garlemald her knowledge and leaving them with prone-to-failure, sabotaged equipment.
Soon thereafter, she was approached by a large roegadyn man who introduced himself as Biggs, naming himself as a member of the Garlond Ironworks and come to inquire what she had been up to when she had encountered the raid team. In no uncertain terms, she explained that she had been carefully sabotaging various Imperial projects over her years in their conscripted service, and had planned to take advantage of the confusion of the Ironworks raid to do one last grand act of sabotage and escape. Amused by her forthcoming explanation, Biggs offered for her to join the Ironworks, letting her turn her vast magitek talent to improving the lives of Eorzean citizens while continuing to stick it to the Empire. She readily accepted, and turned over her tome of notes for Biggs to copy in case any of it proved useful to any of the ongoing projects at the Ironworks. Once finished with the transcription, Biggs returned the book and suggested she get herself as far away from the Empire as possible.
Changing the Game
Unknown to either of them, she was in no danger of being hounded by the Empire, as they believed she had perished in the ceruleum explosions at the castrum. After regaining her ability to walk, she traveled to Ul'dah and took up residence there. To while away the time, she discovered that the jewel of the desert was home to the pugilist guild and the thaumaturge's guild, two combat schools that she had a keen interest in. Applying for training at both, she used their instruction to further her knowledge in both unarmed combat and the magical arts, but feared that what she could learn through the guilds would be insufficient to face the might of the Garlean Empire.
To that end, she sought to combine the training of both guilds into a new personal discipline she referred to--admittedly unoriginally--as 'combat mage'. To this end, she practiced the casting of spells until they became as muscle memory to her, able to cast on the move and with greater speed. While training herself in such a way, she discovered her stronger affinity for fire magic, that the more she trained, the greater the potency of those spells became and the less taxing they were upon her. Before long, she had become adept at weaving fire not only as spells in between strikes, but the very elemental aspect itself into her strikes. The result was a combat style that is frightfully effective, one that the pugilists' guild regarded as an amusing and effective curiosity, but that was reviled by the thaumaturges' guild. Needless to say, she hasn't showed her face there very often in recent times.
Even through her training time, one thing had weighed heavily on her mind at all times: the existence of the Ultima Weapon and what it could do to the people of Eorzea. Knowing of the Weapon's ability to absorb the essence of the primals and use their power for its own, she wondered if it was not possible for a man to do the same with magic. After all, the possibilities of magic were literally limitless. With that in mind, and keeping an open mind from which she could observe and calculate from all possible angles, Chao began to study arcanism and conjury as well.
Initially dismissing conjury, she focused her attention on arcanism, finding the applications there far more wide-ranging given the geometric and mathematical means of bending aether to one's whim, and as an engineer, geometry and math were something of strong suits for her. She quickly began to experiment with using aetheric circles not just in books, but using the environment herself as her medium. She found that in doing so, she could enhance the power of her spells and perform various other effects. She has established a theory of a magic contract between a magically-talented person and one who is not, mostly for the purpose of additional power to the--presumably physically-inclined--partner, but has yet to perform any actual experimenting on this concept.
The Dark Magic
Through many a day spent sitting in a corner of the Quicksand pondering her magical theories while immersing herself in the lifeblood of the city, her thoughts traveled far and wide on the principles of magic and their relationship with man and the world. Such philosophical drivel aside, it occurred to her as she was watching a drinking contest that perhaps she was thinking too hard on a subject that was actually rather simple. The principle of the Ultima Weapon's most terrifying power was that it could absorb the power of the primals into itself and, so the theory went, use their powers as its own. As she had discovered through her arcane training, there already was a similar technique in play, the aetherflow. The problem was its limitations, and that it only drew upon ambient aether.
While stumped on how to get around this block, she diverted some attention to figuring out methods of rapidly-deploying aetheric circles in combat, given that most enemies would be disinclined to stand around letting her draw runes on the ground around them. Musing on the fragility of crystals, she discovered a method to 'pre-cast' partial aetheric circles by inscribing them into specifically-marked spell catalysts that, when shattered in specific sequence in a set pattern, would inscribe an invisible aetheric circle on whatever solid surface they were shattered against. She found that this was most useful when fighting unarmed, as many would assume she was a bog-standard pugilist and therefore wouldn't be suspicious of her moving around in a fight.
As the weeks passed and she wandered about the city, she chanced upon a handful of Sultansworn in a full-contact mock training exercise. Taking a moment to stop and observe their actions, she watched as a pre-cast protective spell flashed to life to ward off a harmful spell, but not fully mitigate its damage. That scene taking root in her mind, she returned to the Quicksand to ponder. The nature of protective spells were meant to turn away harmful effects, but using her aetheric circles, could she not invert its purpose, directing an opponent's magic or spirit energy into a user whose aetherflow was opened to draw in such energies?
With thorough studying in the matter, she discovered that her theory was spot-on, allowing her to absorb the energies of an opponent's attack into herself, giving her a limited-time increase to specific attributes depending on the nature of the absorbed energies. This method of using her developing theory of magic was impractical, as it required her drawing a spell circle to influence the absorption of the energy, and therefore was ill-suited for most combat scenarios. Further, the act of absorbing spells or spirit energy infused that energy to her very soul, an unnatural and corrosive effect that forced her to determine that this new magic she was inventing be reserved for the most emergency of uses.
Because of this, she has taken to calling her new magic system Magia Erebia.
New Eras, New Places, New Faces
Time waits for no man, and Chao was no exception. Word of a new terrifying superweapon in the hands of Garlemald spread through Eorzea like wildfire, and she knew that they had come with their Ultimate Weapon. To her surprise, however, the Eorzean leaders did not seem to fear the tremendous power of the weapon, instead were planning a preemptive strike to destroy the thing before it could be brought into play. Unknowing of what means the Eorzeans intended to fight it with, but well resolved in the knowledge that she would not suffer them to face that menace alone, she journeyed to the Hall of Flames to avail her burgeoning magical talent to the Alliance's efforts. And thus came to pass her involvement in Operation: Archon, a rather boring endeavor which saw her standing far from the front lines, raining concentrated blasts of fire down on far-away Garleans by way of indirect fire.
Returning to Ul'dah after the successful destruction of the Ultimate Weapon and the heralding of the Seventh Astral Era, Chao felt herself adrift. Her entire life since coming to Eorzea had been dedicated to empowering herself and devising technology to destroy the weapon, and yet now she found herself without that clear adversary to test herself against. Returning to her usual haunt in the Quicksand to consider her notes on varying magitek research projects, she found herself attracting some interesting characters. First came an elezen lady curious of what she was reading, prompting a rather fast-paced and aggressive conversation which has Chao convinced that she was being hit upon, ending with a promise by Aeliette to 'discover all her dark secrets.'
Several days later, she was approached by another elezen who offered thanks to her for the assistance she rendered in attempting to determine whether a wine bottle had been poisoned. Introducing himself as Isaudorel, their conversation was far more agreeable, despite the brief intrusion of a rather rude individual who accused Chao of being of purchaseable companionship. Electing to not dignify that with a response, the conversation soon found its way turning toward their preferred styles of combat, with Chao informing him of her creation of her 'combat mage' style of combat. Intrigued of a method by which one could combine hand-to-hand with magical combat, he requested a spar to allow her to demonstrate her style, to which she agreed, pleased to have the opportunity to test her style in 'real' combat.
Traveling just outside of Forgotten Springs in the Sagolii Desert, Chao and Isaudorel squared off, observed by a small crowd of interested individuals who either came along from the Quicksand or happened to be passing through. Initiating the duel, Chao used her shundo to cross the distance separating them before he could react, a rising crescent kick almost finishing the fight in a single blow. Recovering from it, he retaliated with a blizzard spell, which she dispersed with a Red Blaze fire spell before charging back in to rain strikes at him. With a quick thought, he cast a manawall charged with electricity in an attempt to paralyze her. Though the charged energy knocked her back, she managed to avoid a paralysis and unleashed seven Sagitta Magica arrows to divert his attention. He answered in kind with a wide-area blizzard spell to destroy them, then began another incantation. To break the barrier, Chao used a floating chunk of ice as a springboard by which to shundo at him and use the entire force of her body to try and break the barrier. Just as she hit, he completed his incantation, casting a Fire-III directly on himself to catch both of them at once, an effective suicide-bomb attack.
Blown to the side by the power of the strike, Chao was the first to her feet, laughing at the cleverness of the attack and commending him for its execution. Isaudorel, however, having exhausted his mana to pull that stunt and doing no small amount of harm to himself, ceded the spar at that point. Expressing his wish for a future re-engagement, he returned to Ul'dah--or so she presumed--to get himself some rest and recovery. Afterwards, she was approached by one of the observers, one Gunnbjorn Darkblade who was very impressed with her style and wished to challenge her himself at some point in the future. With a smirk, she stated that she would always be ready to test her skills out once more.
A few days beyond that, she found herself approached once more at the Quicksand, this time by a man answering to the name of Lucian Malloy. Speaking at length of idle topics, he soon invited her to a place he liked wherein she could think free of distractions, citing the noise of the Quicksand being a cause of headaches for him. Initially concerned that it may be an ill-fated kidnapping attempt, given the nature of Ul'dah, she felt confident that she would be more than any would-be kidnappers were prepared for, and agreed to accompany him. Following along with his teleport to Costa del Sol, she soon discovered that his motives were no more ill than that of any red-blooded male attempting to woo a female. In further efforts to impress her, he cast a healing circle spell, the radius of which grew with every passing moment. It soon became clear that this spell was too powerful for him to sustain, causing him to become as though intoxicated, making ever more and more ridiculous statements as time went on. He soon passed unconscious from the effects of the significant drain on his aether, but not before he managed to activate a failsafe teleport of some sort that returned the two of them to his free company's homestead in the Goblet.
At the mansion of the Reclaimers, Chao brought him to rest in an infirmary bed, then wandered the halls to find one of his free company mates to assist him. Atticus Buffalobane and Lena Ulionov appeared from their room, in a particular state that left no doubt in Chao's mind what they had been up to, but she politely refrained from saying anything on the matter. It was swiftly determined that he suffered from aetheric depletion, prompting Lena to head off to procure some ethers to solve the matter. After a few moments, she returned with Rinh Amariyo in tow, while Chao stood to the back of the room and let them see to their comrade. After some good-natured ribbing on their part once Lucian came around, Lena inquired as to Chao's occupation. When the combat mage informed them of her specialty in Garlean magitek, suddenly both Lena and Rinh became very interested in her, the former requesting that she return the next day to look at a piece of Garlean technology that the Reclaimers had "acquired."
Coming the next day as promised, she was introduced to another associate of the Reclaimers, Popato Tomato, who presented a large Garlean orb and explained that it was an aetheric suppressor and that they wished to find a way to make it smaller and allow it to only suppress aether of unwanted intruders rather than the rightful occupants of the manor. Explaining that miniaturization was her specialty, Chao poked around in the device's innards and, following a demonstration of its effects during which she decided to see what would happen if the aether-absorbing field came into contact with her when her aether was sealed--the device short-circuited--she determined that she could meet all their specifications as long as they procured her a pair of Garlean magitek cores--one in case she made a mistake--with which to install in the machine; the rest she had the tools to do herself. They stated that it would be easy for them to acquire the cores, leaving her time to sketch out her redesign of the smaller device and acquire the parts she would need from the Ironworks.
It took less than a day for her to complete her sketched redesign and even prototype a few replicas in the Ironworks of the modified device. Waiting to be contacted by the Reclaimers to complete her work for them, she resumed her habit of occupying the Quicksand, spending her time going over her design in exacting detail and ensuring everything would function as she expected it to. As she waited and tinkered with converting one of the miniature prototypes into a working autonomous device, she felt an intense gaze on her, and looked around to find a hyuran woman staring at her. The woman approached, stating aloud that Chao looked familiar to her, which became a shared sensation when the woman drew near enough to get a good look at in the dim lighting of the tavern. When Chao pointed out that she was only commonly found at the Quicksand or in the Ironworks, the woman seated herself and proclaimed that it was from the Ironworks that they were familiar with one another. The woman introduced herself as Satomi Hakase, primarily employed by the airship operations division. Though this introduction was to be brief, as an acquaintance of Satomi soon arrived portending a situation which required the hyur's attention, Chao was left with the feeling that she might begin to work with the Ironworks airship sector a bit more often.
Even with that chance encounter with a fellow in the spirit of science, she continued to feel further and further adrift and separated from the currents of the realm, left as she was with no strong source of opposition to test herself against. The influx of refugees from Doma, the tension from Ul'dah's rejection of sanctuary of them, and the riots that ensued were not something that she, a purveyor of weapons and therefore a 'merchant of death', cared to involve herself in, as she would neither see her people oppressed nor would she hand out her developing forms of advanced weaponry a nation so rife with corruption. So she continued to spend her days in the city idle, chatting at random with whatever passers-by expressed interest in her, spending fewer and fewer hours contemplating new advancements of magitek or Magia Erebia. One conversation ended with a suggestion that she turn her attention to the Ishgardian war with the dravanian hordes and supply weapons for that battle, but she thought little of the backwards, dogmatic ways of the Holy See and did not see the dravanians as a threat to the other city-states should Ishgard fall. She did, at the least, state that she would give it her consideration, and if nothing else it would be an exercise in retrograding her inventions to withstand both the cold of Coerthas and the searing flames of a dragon's breath.
Academic Pursuits
As she took a meal one evening, the tavern as noisy as ever, her ears picked out of the din a small but overbearing voice aimed in her direction. Turning to see a lalafell staring down her nose at her--an act she'd hitherto thought lalafells physically incapable of--she found herself subjected to a barrage of queries regarding a male miqo'te she had never even heard of. When she said as much, the lalafell half-ranted out a slew of other names, only one of which caught her attention: Satomi Hakase.
With that mentioned, the short one seemed to take a moment to reevaluate Chao, apparently considering there was more to her than met the eye to be an associate of Satomi's, and thereby deeming her 'worthy' by some arbitrary benchmark. Speaking more at length of this 'Sypher Corinth' she was after, she explained that he owed a not-inconsiderable debt to her, promising an unspecified percentage of it for delivering him or information on his whereabouts. Chao accepted, but money had little to do with it; in truth, she was far more interested in having something to do that would take her out of the city.
The lalafell, who left only her given name Zoey, informed Chao that Sypher had ties with Vylbrand Academy, which sent the miqo'te to Ul'dah's airship landing for a journey to the island city-state. Some hours were spent querying practically every soul in Limsa Lominsa as to the location of the Academy, but perseverance eventually paid off. Upon entering the nondescript building, which initially appeared to be empty, she followed the sound of voices to a lower level that seemed to house a bar, where she queried if any present knew of Sypher.
After a brief discussion, she was requested to speak of the matter privately with a miqo'te woman she presumed to be the Academy's master, accompanied by an elezen whose role was not explained but Chao presumed to be the master's second. Once in Kyra's office, she explained the situation as it had transpired in the Quicksand, swiftly becoming confused with the way they seemed to become very tense at someone pursuing this 'Sypher' for a substantial debt. It was now clear to her that she was being manipulated as a pawn in the schemes of the lalafell, a sensation she was none too pleased with. When the elezen asked her to convey to the lalafell a request to come to the Academy and 'discuss' the matter, she readily agreed to do so.
The following afternoon, Chao returned to the Academy, having been informed by Ser Chevalier that a weapon class was to be given that day. As it turned out, she had mistakenly-assumed that it would be more of a showcase of varying weapons from which she might be able to draw inspiration for her projects, but as it turned out, it was an actual instructional class on the varieties of a specific weapon type, in this case axes. Unwilling to be rude by getting up and walking out in the middle of it, she decided to wait it out and observe. This turned out to be possibly one of her best decisions to date.
In the midst of the class, who should appear out of the blue but Satomi herself. As it turned out, Vylbrand Academy was the fellow researcher's home away from the Ironworks. After politely waiting out the duration of the class and then exchanging a few words with the Academy master and Ser Chevalier, Satomi invited Chao to her laboratory-cum-room to catch up, along with a lalafell that quickly became apparent to be of significant emotional interest to Satomi. After he left on business, Satomi expressed her concern over the appearances inherent in that relationship, but Chao assured her that she would not judge, with the statement that one will find love wherever their heart desires, and that was all there was to that.
With that fear settled, the pair discussed the situation involving Sypher and the debt, Satomi expressing her concern that he did not seem to be in that high an amount of debt, and Chao herself finding suspicion that so many at the Academy seemed to have their hackles raised by the entire affair. When Satomi remarked that she would gladly pay off the debt and needed to find the woman, Chao stated that she would be glad to accompany Satomi, both to get her own answers on what the hell she'd been dragged into and to provide martial help should it become necessary, promising her fellow Ironworks researcher that she was not as fragile as she looked.
Turning their conversation to lighter topics, Satomi eventually discerned that, aside from the Ironworks, Chao had no place to call home other than the Hourglass inn attached to the Quicksand, and near of mandated that Chao avail herself of Satomi's lab as often as she deemed necessary. Though not necessarily wanting to take overmuch advantage of Satomi's hospitality--and that of the Academy, which she was sure did not think too highly of her--the truth was simple in that she was adrift in Ul'dah, and a newer locale nearer to where Satomi hung her proverbial hat would not only allow easier collaboration but might also provide some desperately-needed inspiration.
And so, returning to Ul'dah, she gathered her meager belongings from the Hourglass and took a day or so to finish up all her activities in the jewel of the desert. Traveling by airship to Limsa, she procured a room at the Mizzenmast for a few days so as not to just show up out of the blue at the Academy like an unwanted relative. On the eve before she decided to make her trip to the Academy, she was met in the Drowning Wench by her erstwhile lalafell 'employer', who explained the actual purpose of the search for Sypher, that being a murder investigation that was now being considered a self-defense act.
Chao was willing to let bygones be on the matter for a twofold reason: first, it was a bit of a mercy on Zoey's part to have him investigated for a debt rather than murder, and secondly, Chao's journey to the Academy enabled her to reconnect with Satomi, an all-around net gain for her. Any ire she may have had about Zoey leading her about in the dark was defused by the lalafellin investigator's sincere apologies. Further, Zoey seemed to sense an utmost trustworthiness in Chao, which took the Doman by surprise, and prompted a departure on good terms, with a note that Zoey might seek her out again for further--and much more transparent, as promised--ventures in the future.
The Departed
Chao had always considered herself intelligent, and whenever first approached by a new person, especially someone with a thuggish demeanor or appearance, always reminded herself that Eorzea was a realm full of malcontents and kept ready in the back of her mind the fact that the very next person to approach her may subject her to some ill-fated kidnapping attempt, assault, or issue of the like. Heretofore, that had never become an issue, but on the day that she prepared to finally make the sojourn to Vylbrand Academy, it turned out that she was properly paranoid after all.
The lalafell that approached her side may well have succeeded in the assassination attempt had she not stooped to pick up a dropped utensil at the exact moment the would-be assassin moved to draw his blade. A commendably-strengthed kick, given her less-than-stellar positioning seated on a barstool, launched the smallfolk into a pillar, where he was promptly joined by the stool she had just vacated. With the ambush attempt failed, a roegadyn, a hyur, and a miqo'te joined the fray. It was clear they lacked up-to-date knowledge on her skillset, as defeating them proved to be a far simpler endeavor than she had expected.
Rifling through their pockets made it clear they were a Garlean hit squad, as if their banter during the unrepentant mugging they suffered had not already made that point. Troubling was that they'd come specifically for her, and that meant she was on Garlemald's radar again. Whether they sought blood for her sabotage of the Ultima Weapon or a return of her knowledge to their fold was unknown, and frankly irrelevant. What mattered was that they would stop at nothing to achieve their goal, and that endangered everyone she associated with.
Knowing that, she knew that she could not, in good conscience, let the Academy and its occupants be brought to harm because of her, and so decided to instead go into hiding.
Steeling her resolve, and feeling herself to be facing one of the greatest trials she ever had, she covered herself in a linen cloak and walked the rainy streets of Limsa, heading down to the ferry. She found bitter amusement that it would rain on this day, of all days. The ferry passed uneventfully, dropping Chao off near the Vylbrand Academy. The weather had long since broke, leaving it a cool, slightly clouded night. Keeping her eyes sharp for any signs of pursuit, she made her way toward the Academy, each step feeling heavier than the one before it.
As she expected, the Academy itself was not vacant. As she neared, she espied Ser Chevallier conversing in one corner of the yard, and fully expected to be stopped as to her business. But, to her surprise, she was allowed to pass into the building without a word, and found no other souls as she made her way to Satomi's lab. Once inside, she located her tome that she had left previously within a few minutes, replacing it with a letter that explained her entire history, that she was now being hunted, and that she was choosing to disappear rather than endanger any others.
With that heavy task complete, she lamented a moment on what may have been had they had the opportunity to combine their knowledge and skills, then turned and left the Academy, as silent and unremarkable as she had arrived. Tome in hand, she had only to pay a visit to the Ironworks to ensure they were properly warned and destroy her research data before she could complete her disappearing act.
Upon arrival, she found herself trailed by a particular pair of a roegadyn and a lalafell as she moved about destroying her research data, the two attempting to talk her out of her chosen path. She would have none of it, however, remaining adamant about preventing the Empire from having any extra reasons to express their ire with the Ironworks due to her presence. Eventually relenting, Biggs and Wedge decided to, at the very least, do what they could to help her survival, handing her a completed prototype of one of her very own designs: a powered assault armor. With thanks and a promise to continue moving ever onward, Chao clothed herself in the prototype battlesuit and departed from the Ironworks, closing that chapter of her life as well.
Traveling to the cliff edge of Silvertear Lake, Chao gazed upon the shattered wreck of the Agrius, musing on whether she would require a power equal to that of the Guardian of the Lake in order to turn back the Empire. As she considered this, she engulfed her tome in flames to forever deny its contents to the Empire. The scuffle of approaching persons drew her attention, but kept her back to them, knowing she could easily beat any Garlean to the draw who had hubris enough to make their approach known.
To her surprise, it was the voice of Satomi who called out to her, demanding her purpose and threatening violence should she have been responsible for harm to....herself. Clearly, Satomi had mistaken her cloaked form for that of a Garlean assassin. She turned to identify herself properly, bracing for what was surely to be a lengthy attempt to convince her to not fleet into hiding. The sight of Chao unharmed brought the hyuran scientist great relief, and she launched quickly into a narrative of how hectic the last several days had been, in-between dodging Garlean assassins and interrogating captured spies.
Confused by the explanation, Satomi continued that she had discovered a list of targets that the Garleans were going after, including both of the two researchers. That Satomi herself was targeted explained her being in the company of Kyrrae--beyond the obvious reasons therefore--but the knowledge that the Empire was doing more than just coming after her for revenge changed things. She couldn't very well run away and hide while others were being hunted and killed by the Garleans. Stating as much, she cast aside her cloak, revealing her newly-acquired armor to Kyrrae and Satomi in the process, and swore upon the wreckage of the Agrius that she would never stop fighting against the Empire.
With all thoughts of flight now permanently out of the magitek prodigy's mind, Satomi bid they leave the far-too-open expanses of Mor Dhona for a more secure location. Utilizing a quick manipulation of aether, the trio teleported to Kyrrae's personal residence in the Lavender Beds, taking the extra opportunity to speak of the situation before bedding down for the evening.
Character
Appearance
Chao is tall for miqo'te, standing at five fulms and nearly four ilms tall, weighing no more than a hundred ponzes. She wears her hair cropped close in a somewhat-boyish style, with two forelocks hanging down just past her chin, secured in place with bronze bangles. Her hair is black, with faint auburn highlights best seen at the back of her head. Afflicted with the normal miqo'te tendency toward heterochromia, her left eye is a dark brown and her right a dark crimson, the two shades close enough together that she could easily be mistaken for having one eye color at a distance or in poor lighting. The tribal markings on her face are slightly more vibrant than normal, this due to the effect of the Garlean anti-aether sigils on her body. When activated, the markings glow bright red. A faint scar on her left cheek, not normally visible due to her tribal markings, is the only visible reminder of the ceruleum explosion at Castrum Meridianum.
The clothing she wears varies, but she has a marked tendency to prefer more subdued colors such as black, white, and dark browns. Typically she can be found wearing a black and white yukata she picked up from the most recent Moonfire Faire, as it reminds her of her lost home in Doma. She's not big on accessories or jewelry, but usually wears a pair of peach blossom earrings, again as a reminder of Doma. She is not often found without her journal, in which she keeps her notes on her magic and technological research, most of it seeming to be gibberish to anyone who would look at it. She also always wears either tall boots, dark-colored leggings, or some combination of the two to hide the ceruleum burns on the backs of her legs from sight.
Personality
As any who would have even taken notice of her at the Quicksand would be quick to point out that she very easily disappears in the background of much more colorful and varied individuals, often preferring to mind her own business and just listen to the goings-on around her, as they have occasionally helped provide some insight into a problem she had been working on. When approached, she is polite and well-spoken, demonstrating an amiable personality with a tendency to make jokes and tease. A favorite thing to do is begin an ominous-sounding statement, then laughing it off instead of finishing the threat. On romance and sexuality, however, Chao can be considered completely asexual, having no consideration of romantic emotions at all. She does recognize romantic advance, but is unresponsive to it.
Beneath that playful exterior, she is singularly-focused on the downfall of the Garlean Empire and the salvation not just of Eorzea, but of all lands that have suffered under Garlemald's iron fist. This desire drives every action she takes, from her research into greater and more powerful magitek to her quest for greater personal power. The lack of any sort of unity or cohesion amongst the city-states of Eorzea greatly distresses her, and she has considered several times a gambit wherein she presents herself as a great existential threat to the realm, thereby forcing them to unify or face destruction, but has so far held back because the clear and present threat presented by Garlemald sure hasn't done it so far. If the situation demands it, however, she is still more than willing to become a martyr and take on the role of a villain to ensure that the realm is saved.
Powers and Abilities
- Magical Prowess: A budding mage in her own right, Chao is talented in the arts of thaumaturgy, with a far greater affinity for magic of the fire element than other types. This affinity allows her mana to regenerate normally at all times; as such, she is not affected by the astral fire/umbral ice duology many thaumaturges are shackled by. Because of this trait, she is seeking to develop her own, personal style of magic outside the existing systems. Aside from this, she also has some light training in conjury.
- Magia Erebia: Translating to 'Dark Magic', Magia Erebia is the result of Chao's experimentation in magic circles, aetherflow, and how magic and spirit energy can be made to interact with the body. By creating a magic circle, she is able to then absorb a directed energy attack that comes in contact with her, fusing it with her soul and imbuing her with enhanced statistics, depending on the type of energy, for a limited period of time. As a drawback, the unnatural interaction between the soul and aetheric energies causes a corrosive effect, relegating the use of Magia Erebia to emergencies only.
- Magic Seal: As a result of the experimentation to resist tempering (see below), when her sigils are activated, she is a complete aetherial void, unable to access her latent magical talents or be affected by anything that would relate to a mana pool. This is mostly used to allow her to pass off as having no magic talent whatsoever, as her mana is not detectible when in this state.
- Martial Arts: Trained from a young age in the Doman style, unarmed combat is one of the most dangerous places to face her. Her style is visually similar to that of the Fist of Rhalgr, but structurally different. Whereas the monks favor strikes and work best from the flanks or rear of a foe, Chao's style favors kicks and is equally-dangerous from any direction. However, she has taken aspects of the Ala Mhigan style into her own, giving her a much wider array of abilities and actions in combat.
- Shundo: A ki-based technique of Doman origin, also known by its translated names of ' Ground Contractor ' or ' Instant Movement. ' By focusing ki or magic energy to the bottom of her feet, she is able to 'grip' the ground and propel herself forward at immense speed, traversing up to sixty fulms in less time than it takes to register movement in the brain. She is only capable of traveling in a straight line across relatively even terrain, and cannot pass obstacles. Individuals with high martial training are able to sense her movement to a degree.
- Spell List: Chao has developed a list of spells that she prefers to use in combat, primarily based around fire magic and other aetheric uses. All of them are incanted in Garlean (Latin). Additionally, she has her own incantation phrase, which is used to unlock the aetherflow in her body and allow her to channel more powerful magic spells. Said incantation phrase is "Rasteil mai magicscir magister." It should also be noted that all of Chao's fire-based spells are aetheric and therefore do not require oxygen to continue burning, and some can even continue to burn when fully immersed in water.
- Calefaciens Exarmatio: Translating to Heatwave Disarmament, this is a spell used to disarm a foe. It is specially-tuned fire magic that destroys equipment, weapons, and clothing, but leaves the person themselves unharmed.
- Cantus Bellax: Lit. Battle Song, this is a simple self-buffing spell that reinforces her body with aether. Aside from providing a long-lasting anti-physical shield, this magic also exponentially increases muscle tension, allowing greater power, speed and endurance; it also increases the flexibility of muscles and tendons to prevent Chao from damaging herself from overexertion. In addition, her reflexes are enhanced by a moderate increase in the stimulation of the nervous system.
- Captus Flammeus: A binding spell, Fiery Captor summons ropes of fire magic that bind a target in place. Though not intended to cause harm to the bound target, Chao can cause them to do so at will.
- Flagrantia Rubicans: A moderately-powerful fire spell, about on par with Fire II, Red Blaze is Chao's mainstay offensive spell.
- Ignis Deflexio: A fire-based anti-physical protective shield. Its defensive effects are small
- Sagitta Magica Series Ignis: Chao can summon a number of magic missiles of fire, always a prime number, which will independently track and pursue their target with no input from her. Their tracking method can be defeated if faced cleverly, and one could simply knock the magic missile away when it reaches them. Their damage is limited individually, but she can also cast this spell as a massive, single magic missile comprised of the energy of all the individual ones. While this is more powerful, it is also easier to avoid or counter.
- Technological Genius: From her youth, she has had a disturbing knack for understanding and knowledge of magitek devices. This ingenuity saw her placed in the Garlean Empire's research division once she was conscripted, where she enhanced and streamlined numerous Garlean weaponry and drive systems. Though more than capable of creating new devices from her own mind, her skills are strongest at refining and adapting existing technology to perform even better. She is responsible for the technological control devices that the Garleans use on their colossi to prevent them from rampaging in battle. Since coming to Eorzea, she is in the process of developing a powered assault armor.
- Temper Resistance: As a result of Garlean experimentation, Chao possesses a set of sigils inscribed on her body that allows her to seal her aether. The theory is that this will protect her from the primals' method of tempering individuals by way of overloading their aether with the primal's own, due to their aether being unable to interact with her. This has not been tested, and is not known if it actually functions as intended.
- Weapon Proficiency (Firearm): As with all Garlean soldiers, she was trained to use their advanced firearms technology. Though she prefers magic and unarmed combat, she does keep a concealable pistol loaded with large-caliber, high-explosive ammunition on her person. Just in case.
- Weapon Proficiency (Gunblade): As a conscript of the Garlean army, and valued slightly above the rank-and-file for her technical genius, she was trained in how to use a gunblade. Though she does not favor the weapon herself, she is capable of picking up and easily-using any of the non-specialized types of gun-weapons.
Trivia
Likes
- Developing magitek
- Increasing her own combat ability
- Recovering advanced technology from ancient civilizations, even better when she can improve it and make it work again
Dislikes
- The Garlean Empire.
- Those who advance personal profit at the expense of others, especially in the face of a grave existential threat.
- Tribal miqo'te, considering them primitive.
Hobbies/Talents
- Developing and enhancing magitek
- Light culinarian skill
- A decent head for business
- Improvisation and customization of existing schools of talent
Other
- Occasionally refers to the Allagan Empire as Forerunners.
- She goes through a lot of gear and clothes (read: destroyed) in the process of testing and experimenting with her magic and magitek.
Rumors and Relationships
Some of these rumors are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC! ◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)
◢ Uncommon Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)
◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)
◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from the character's of other players)
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Gallery
Chao in traditional Doman martial art garb, which she began wearing in honor of her fallen cousin, Ku Fei.
Chao and Satomi, science bros! (Non-canon instance)
Chao in the Quicksand, her usual haunt.
Chao, Satomi, and their party face down the Ultimate Weapon (Non-canon instance).
By might and by right, Team Science defeats the menace (Non-canon instance).
And on that day, the heavens trembled, as though the realm looked outward to see what awaited it, and found only terror.
Reclaiming the personal tome she had left with Satomi, Chao leaves a letter of explanation in its place. (It's unlikely to be found for weeks)
Chao looks back upon Vylbrand Academy, likely the last time she'll ever see it.
On a clear Mor Dhona night, Chao contemplates the Keeper of the Lake on her way to the Garlond Ironworks.
Confronted by a strange duo on the cliffs of Silvertear Lake.
Chao and Satomi discussing the current situation, as Kyrrae keeps watch for any interlopers. (Scene directed by JJ Abrams)
Armed with a new resolve, Chao swears her defiance to the corpse of the Agrius.
Satomi is overcome with emotion at Chao's safety and change of heart.
As Satomi and Kyrrae confer, Chao looks toward the crystalline structure piercing the sky in Mor Dhona. "Soon..." the magitek genius thinks to herself.
Music
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Annotations
24-Sept-14: Page created, a few quotes. More to come.
