Delial Grimsong

Delial Grimsong
"Everyone dies, little dove. No one is ever truly free."
The Witch
Gender	Female
Race	Hyur
Clan	Highlander
Citizenship	Ala Mhigo
Nameday	6th Sun, Fourth Umbral Moon, 1542
Age	35
Guardian	Rhalgr

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Character

General Info

This woman carries herself with the air of a woman who knows her place in the world and has been convinced, reluctantly perhaps, that she floats somewhere above most of those around her. Proud to the point of arrogance, Delial Grimsong bows to no man and serves no one without cause.

NOTE: Delial Grimsong is not a Warrior of Light and does not possess the Echo, nor has she participated in any of the major events portrayed in-game or have any open affiliation with any relevant factions save for the Garlean Empire.

(( Still very much a WIP so please pardon strange parts. Trying to flesh this out, I promise!! ))

Appearance

Delial is slight for a Highlander: her stature is short in comparison and her frame meager and less robust than many of her sisters, a fact which does irk her somewhat. Yet she makes it up with sheer confidence, known to be not at all modest about showing off what the Gods did see fit to give her. Her skin is a dark caramel and her hair is dark with violet undertones, especially in the sunlight. One of her eyes is a sharp yellow while the other is scarred to a milky white, clearly blinded by some injury which had left its mark across her brow and cheekbone. While she has no tattoos, she seems to mark her face with ritualistic lines regularly enough for it to seem a permanent fixture on her skin. In a nod to Ala Mhigan tradition, she's had her upper and lower canines filed into points.

Her taste in clothing seems to vary between opulent robes and simple, if not somewhat revealing, blouses and camisoles. Her most prized possession may very well be her well-worn thigh boots, proud as she is of her shapely legs. She changes hairstyles fairly often but seems to favor tying it up and back or keeping it down about shoulder length with small beads and charms (bone perhaps?) woven into her locks.

When she speaks, her voice is fairly deep and has a touch of that breathy quality to it, a feature she tends to exaggerate when speaking with people she does not know very well. Despite being a Highlander, she does not speak with the expected Highlander dialect but with the sharper, clipped tones that speak to heavy exposure to Imperial influence. It can come off as forced, however, as she almost never slips into anything less than a formal, proper vocabulary, and does not speak with contractions or slang.

Personality & Philosophy

Proud, vain, cut-throat and unapologetically hedonistic. These are the qualities Delial embodies, living her life mostly at her own pace with mostly her own desires at heart. She prides herself on being a strong, independent woman with loyalties and a sense of honor very clear to herself even if not to the people with whom she interacts. Selfish and self-serving, she tends to have little reservation about using or harming others if doing so will get her closer to what she wants. Her moods are as fickle as the faces she wears: lies and falsehoods spoken through perfectly practiced smiles, plying flirtations and flattery or even bold-faced threats to bend people her way. Cruelty is not beyond her, nor is kindness should it suit her needs.

It could be said, however, that much of her behavior is as much a lie as the words she twists, for though she puts herself forward as a wicked creature (and sometimes even seems to delight in the image), those who are closer to her might come to find that she has a tendency to become very attached to those she finds interesting and may find herself conflicted between her desire to attain her goals and a need for acceptance and comraderie. She maintains a bitter stance towards romantic inclinations ('sentiment' she says as if it were a vulgar thing) and finds blatant heroism and self-sacrifice to be utterly repulsive and useless. For all her brazen ways, she is terribly afraid of dying though she is unafraid of pain. Proud as she is of her ability to manipulate others, she is nowhere near as clever as she thinks and is just as prone to manipulations to herself, having an impulsive need to protect her pride at nearly any cost.

Delial admires strength and conviction (even if it is misguided in her eyes) above all else, and spares little time or courtesy to those she feels are particularly weak-willed. Even if her morals are a little more on the grey side of things, she cannot abide actions such as rape or infanticide and is generally averse to the use of spells or drugs that can heavily impair or alter another's state of mind. Inhibiting a body is one thing, but she finds little sport in destroying minds.

She is not shy about her sexuality and sees little shame in indulgence. She does, however, act adversely towards concepts such as 'love' and has a difficult time reciprocating affectionate behavior with all but a very select few. Monogamy does not interest her, nor does marriage. If she has ever suffered a desire to have children, she has done well enough to resist it so far.

Religious Views

Outwardly she may not seem a pious woman but Delial considers herself to be fairly devout. Like many Ala Mhigans, she worships Rhalgr the Destoyer chief among the Twelve. In her youth, however, she and her mother both fell under the sway of a different sort of god: the lesser moon Dalamud, the crimson meteor, which they took to believe was an avatar of Rhalgr's fury made manifest. Even after the Calamity and its subsequent destruction, Delial still pays regular homage to the fallen moon. Much of what she knows with regards to magick came from a hedge-witch under whom her mother and, by extension, Delial herself learned and worshipped.

If she maintains an affiliation with the Lambs in the present day, she does well enough to hide it.

Combat

Delial is very comfortable with small swords and blades though she seems to prefer spell casting over any actual physical combat, possibly because of the obvious disadvantage being half-blind might bring about. Her proficiencies seem to be with arcanima, albeit with a slightly bastardized form than what is taught in the Arcanist's Guild: more primitive and vulgar with techniques and sigils long designed to manipulate life-energies provided by the caster in the form of various bodily humours moreso than mere aetheric manipulation. As such, her abilities are handicapped somewhat and while she remains a capable damage dealer with her unorthodox spellwork, her ability to heal with said spells is considerably less effective than those of one taught the "pure" geometries.

NOTE: Delial's in-game class does not necessarily reflect what she can do ICly. Despite having Summoner at 50, I tend to view her as a potent Arcanist and a passable Scholar and that's really about it. Red Mage would probably be the best approximation to a classic FF class, so fingers crossed!!

Tendencies

Likes ■ Philosophy ■ Sex ■ Trashy romance novellas ■ Terrible wine ■ Flattery ■ Pet names (for others)

Dislikes ■ Gil ■ Small, enclosed spaces ■ Archers ■ Weakness (in herself or in others) ■ 'Easy' people ■ Chains

Hobbies/Talents ■ Haruspicy (supposedly!) ■ Lying ■ Melodramatics ■ Withstanding pain ■ Angering others ■ Arcanistry

Other ■ Favourite Food: Aldgoat steak ■ Favourite Color: Green ■ If she could be an animal, she would be a: Dragon ■ Biggest Fear: Enslavement ■ Hero: Gaius van Baelsar

Other Notes

• She is completely blind on her left side and as such she has a tendency to scan her surroundings quite often. As a rule she dislikes having others standing to her left and so she is careful about positioning herself near or around other people.
• Those especially observant might note that her face paint is, in fact, made at least in part with blood. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it isn't, but always it smells just enough of blood.
• While it is not common knowledge (yet), Delial was fairly heavily involved on the Garlean side of the conflicts in Ala Mhigo. Since the Imperials took over, Delial made it a mission of hers to help quell dissidents and the threat of rebellion and has had a hand in the kidnappings and murders of many suspected Resistance members.

Relationships

Family

Delial rarely, if ever, speaks of her family and has taken great care to try and sever her ties to them. Attempts to track down her relatives may be made all the more difficult by the fact that she does not go by her maiden name of Blackstone. Feeling that the name was tainted by her family's chosen alleigances, she discarded it not long after the events of the Calamity.

• Garren Blackstone: Father, formerly a priest of Rhalgr. He was killed fairly early on in the upheaval of Ala Mhigo but was survived by his wife and children.
• Lyra Blackstone: Mother, midwife and self-appointed witch. Skilled with all manner of hedge-magics, it was through her that Delial learned much of what she knows and still practices. She commited suicide days after the Calamity.
• Westor Blackstone: Elder brother by two years, formerly a disciple of Rhalgr and secretly a member of the Fists of Rhalgr. Killed during a skirmish between Garlean forces and Resistance fighters.
• Harvard Blackstone: Younger brother, formerly a stablehand. The only other surviving member of Delial's immediate family, unknown how he was able to flee the violence in Ala Mhigo. Currently lives in works in Ul'dah as an errand boy and a retainer. He and his sister are not on speaking terms, but she remains fiercely protective of him.

Player Standing

♥ Romantic Interest    ♥ Sexual Desire    ♥ ???     ● Good Standing    ● Neutral Standing    ● Poor Standing

♥♥● Orpheus Arkouda - If there is anyone in Eorzea she actually trusts completely, it would be this man. Despite a rocky reunion long after a single violent encounter years prior, the two have welcomed peculiar friendship of sorts. In her hour of greatest need, he answered her summons and may very well have saved her life; a fact for which, though it irritates her to consider too deeply, she remains thankful. Recent conversations have all but secured her loyalty to the man and she looks forward to working with him in the near future.

♥● Edgar Von Gandervalt - A boy who loves a woman he shouldn't. Their relationship, if one can call it that, is complicated indeed, even more so after Delial confessed to having a played a critical part in the murders of his parents. Given the abrupt turn her life has recently taken, she has seen fit to try and make sure the boy is not given the opportunity to continue his pursuit of her. She warned him that she was 'in far too deep' to be the thing he wants her to be, and threatened to kill him should she ever find that he had been speaking of her to anyone.

● Raelisanne Banurein - Delial's employer and quite possibly the only person in Eorzea who she actually fears. The midlander is deceptively delicate looking with a deadly cold streak to her, manipulative and cunning to a near inhuman degree. It was she who set Delial on the hunt for the Resistance effort in Ul'dah and through her that she came to hunt Gharen Wolfsong, son of a clan she failed to end in the dying days of old Ala Mhigo. Delial is intensely uncomfortable with the woman's methods but, knowing well the power and information Banurein and her superiors hold, is at a loss to do anything but her bidding, especially knowing full well that Raelisanne knows far, far more about her and her family than anyone. Delial has been tasked with once more resuming the hunt for Gharen Wolfsong so that she may continue and possibly even complete her "experiment".

♥● A'rytiss Edar - A cheerful miqo'te conjurer with a knack for getting himself lost. Delial has incredibly mixed feelings about the boy she found nearly wandering blindly into an Imperial Castrum. She has since taken him on as her go-to healer, trusting few others to attend to her wounds and her troubles with so open and clear a mind as him, even if he is possibly the most naive person in Eorzea. This does not come without guilt, however, as healing leaves him drained and exhausted. He is one of the few people to which her attachment is almost purely emotional, though she is uncertain if her fondness for him is purely platonic or something more. Regardless, she has found herself in a position where wooing the boy would only put him in danger, and even the barest nontion of romance leaves the boy incredibly uncomfortable. It has been some time since she has seen him, likely thanks managing to avoid grievous injury even in her dealings with Ul'dahn authority and bomb threats.

● Itarliht Syhrkoensyn - A powerful Roegadyn bruiser. Their encounters had been brief throughout the ordeal involving Askier and his magitek bomb, and so Delial was quite surprised to learn that the man had wanted words with her. They share disdain for Natalie Mcbeef and the way with which she has used the Sultansworn to cover for her own agenda and they both share an appreciation for brutal honesty. A meeting has brought to her a new potential ally and, strangely, a potential friendship beyond that. Though yet uncertain of the man's intentions, if he has any at all, she has found him to be trustworthy thus far and may call upon him soon to aid in her own endeavors.

● Chokho Viqqoh - A delightfully shameless flirt. Their first encounter was completely random: a discussion with Miss Deneith was briefly interrupted by the grey-skinned miqo'te delivering to her a flower. Delial, ever keen on flattery, delights in how the woman praises her for her confidence and beauty. A random meeting outside the Quicksand led her to divulge a little of her intentions in Ul'dah, and she may have recruited the sly miqo'te in an information-hunting campaign. Delial doesn't expect much to come of it but it gives her an excuse to keep in touch with this most intriguing woman so it's a win either way. Chokho agreed to assist in Harvard Blackstone's retrieval, agreeing to pick up her brother at an undisclosed location after Roen was satisfied with Gharen Wolfsong's release. Delial has become wary of the woman, wondering if she had perhaps put too much faith in the girl for the girl has shown herself to be much more sly, much more clever than Delial had previously suspected.

● Askier Mergrey - A somewhat naive miqo'te who is apparently Garlean born. She met the man while searching for her brother and agreed to help him with a package in exchange for information as to Harvard's whereabouts. She would later learn that his mission was not quite as he explained it, and that his origins and goals were far beyond the mask of 'innocent merchant' that he wore. Delial does not approve of it but she has agreed to help him if only to get back at the Sultansworn. She dispises the odd, heavy coat he loves to wear about Ul'dah and is not shy about teasing him for it or his other questionable fashion choices. As of the trial, Delial believes the man to be dead.

● Val Nunh - A sandy-haired miqo'te who is not shy about speaking his mind. Her meeting with him was strained: while being healed by A'rytiss, Val and a small pack of noisy miqo'te somehow managed to locate them in the caves behind Lost Hope under the impression that their company member was under attack. He was quick to realize that such was not the case and, after a bit of bickering back and forth between Delial and his subordinates, agreed to allow her to stay in the company clinic while A'rytiss was tended to. While she does not know him very well, she respects his brazen manner and obvious lack of concern with sugar-coating his opinions and his orders.

● Mimiko Miyuki - A flirtatious miqo'te bard and a friend of Edgar's. They met while Delial and Edgar were taking some time away in Bronze Lake and it was eventually revealed that Mimiko and Edgar had shared some intimacy together. Later she would arrive with Val Nunh and his crew to interrupt a healing session with A'rytiss. Delial does not trust the woman and holds a fairly low opinion of her... but she cannot begrudge the woman for attending to Edgar in a way she could not.

♥● Reverend Hakuga - A representative of the elusive Reverends, under whom Delial served briefly. While she once felt she owed them (and perhaps him in particular) for her freedom from imprisonment and potential execution in Coerthas, she has found working for them to be stifling. After a bloody confrontation with other unnamed agents, Delial has severed her ties and has not had any contact with Hakuga nor his peers ever since.

Enemies

● Roen Deneith - A woman targeted by her employer. Their meeting in Little Ala Mhigo turned into what had seemed like a friendship, but Delial used Roen's trusting, good-hearted nature to pry information about the Resistance from her. While she intends no harm to the woman, she fully intends to use Gharen Wolfsong's well-being as leverage to have her destroy what remains of the Resistance for her. That plan backfired when it was made known that Roen had found and captured Delial's brother. An exchange was arranged but the terms were against Roen, and there was a time when Delial felt compelled to correct that. Since her Sultansworn friends took it upon themselves to capture, interrogate, and torture her, however, Delial has felt that compassion drain. It has been some time since Delial has seen or heard from the woman, and she dreads the thought of what Banurein may have in store for the Sultansworn girl.

● Gharen Wolfsong - The son of an old clan and a man who appears to be a key figure in a small but resilient group of Resistance fighters in Ul'dah. With a bit of careful planning and a handful of sheer luck, Delial was able to subdue and capture Wolfsong for use by Miss Banurein. She revealed to him a secret involving the day his family was torn apart and would likely have been torn apart herself were the man not bound. It would seem that Banirein's experiment did not have its intended results and so Delial has been tasked with finding Wolfsong once more, though she has little enough idea of where to start.

● Qaeli Varily - An acquaintance of Gharen's, and to some degree of Roen's. The silver haired woman was everything Delial did not expect of Roen's allies: bold, bloodthirsty, sharp as any blade and just as dangerous. Their encounter was brief but Delial left it broiling over her words. There are not many people who get under her skin, after all. Qaeli was hidden but present at the exchange for Wolfsong and ended up shooting Delial through her shoulder with an arrow while trying to get some answers with regards to the control mechanism that Delial activated and then destroyed. If she can keep out of the white-haired woman's way then Delial will be thankful.

● Natalie Mcbeef - An important figure in the Sultansworn of Ul'dah. To Delial, the woman is a brainless thug and she cannot understand how the few other Sultansworn she has spoken to can stand to follow the woman. She is transparent in her obliviousness, her lack of understanding, and in her clumsy way of insult. As far as Delial is concerned, the woman is a walking corpse. She has since learned of C'kayah Tia, a self-named "crime lord" to whom she is attached, as well as the abuses of power that has kept the man out of sight of the law. Intent on harming one or both to satisfy her grudge, Delial has since made inquiries after the man.

● Kage Kiryuu - A lalafellin goon of the Sultansworn. His protective attitudes towards Roen were obvious, as were his lack of understanding of the situation at hand. Delial watched him squirm while his superior instigated an interrogation. "It must be nice being a slave," he said, failing to recognize the irony in his own words. She thinks little of the man, a fool following a fool, and should he become a further nuisance she will not hesitate to end him. He has been linked as another one of Mcbeef's weaknesses.

● Osric Melkire - A hyur with a knack for fisticuffs. He came to her with Jameson Taeros to ask her questions regarding Sultansworn involvement in the incident at the Nanawa Mines so many weeks ago. Much to her surprise, she saw the man again at the lichyard north of Camp Drybone, working against herself and the team assigned to retrieve the last of three packages Askier Mergrey wished to secure. While she has no conflict with the man directly, she knows that she is known to him, and has little reason to believe future encounters with the man will be pleasant. They have run into one another a few times recently though they parted with little more than idle threats and poisoned banter. What the man has planned for her she does not know, but with the weight of Banurein's orders hovering over her, she cannot be bothered to care.

● Kahn'a Od'hilkas - A miqo'te archer. He has an active role working against Askier and is not shy about proclaiming it. Delial finds his arrogance grating, and found herself thoroughly humiliated during a scuffle between sides. The man has spilled her blood, and Delial will make it her duty to repay that in the future. Her distaste for the man has since deepened as it was he who shot Askier Mergrey dead at his own trial.

Rumors

Common Rumors

• "Unsettlin' is what I'd call 'er. She seems ta like that, though, gettin' a rise outta' people."
• "Woman hardly goes anywhere without those boots. Practically lives in them, but... Honestly, can you blame her?"
• "Talks a big game. All talk, that one. I'm a nice guy. Why wouldn't she want to have dinner with me?"

Moderate Rumors

• "Dark times for me, for a lot of people who weren't quite in their right minds. But I swear, I've seen her before... We'd meet, you see, and pray together. I think I've seen her."
• "It's a damned shame. Sometimes I see her squinting real hard at the market boards... Maybe her eyesight is worse than it looks?"
• "No, I ain't dealin'. But I know someone who does. She gives him business now and again - maybe once a moon or so, sometimes twice, never buys too much. But repeats are repeats, you know what I'm sayin'?"

Rare Rumors

• "There was to be a trial, and a hanging. She only attended one. It was another woman who hung that day, I swear on my mother's grave. That woman should be dead."
• "Sinner! A sinner and nothing more! Grimsong is hardly a fitting name. Kinslayer ought do it."
• "She'll come and stare at that boy - over there, him, do you see? She'll stare and never say a word. Whenever he leaves, she'll leave, too. Never together. She don't look the type to be intimidated by men."

PC Rumors

• (( If you know Delial ICly, please feel free to toss some rumors up here! ))
• "She is very much a bearer of many a great burden. Hells, you're looking at one of them, now." - Edgar Von Gandervalt
• "She has a way of weaving lies and truths seamlessly. It makes her more dangerous. I do not intend on doing much listening next time we cross paths." - Roen Deneith
• "Just LOOK at her! What's not to love?! Still, I can't help but to wonder what she's hiding... My heart's not so far aflutter that I don't know better." - Chokho Viqqoh
• "Grace incarnate and viper personified, that's Delial for you." - Osric Melkire
• "Turning at her friend's trial, did she seek to bring comfort, or see him meet his end? She had some nerve to come regardless, but she wasn't the one to cause trouble that night, I'll give her that." - Kahn'a Od'hilkas
• "If it weren't for the fact that she mocks my coat, I'd say she was just as clever and ruthless as myself. She's willing to set the world on fire for her kin, and that is a trait she and I share." - Askier Mergrey
• "Her words so sly, her actions so devious. Aye, I'd rather not listen to her dangerous words. She best leave Roen and Ul'dah be or I won't be able to hold back my tongue or hand any longer." - Kage Kiryuu
• "Every word out o' tha' woman's mouth is laced with poison, every action serves her own ends. Think'n next we meet she needs te be reminded I made her a promise, an' tha' I have nae forgotten it." - Gharen Wolfsong

History/Timeline

(( In progress! ))

Potential Relationships

• Ala Mhigans, particularly those who were already young adults during the fall, could have known/remembered her.
• Likewise, Garlean characters who might have helped conquer or maintain Garlean rule after might know of her.
• Current or former resistance characters may know her as a criminal.
• Characters who have had involvement with the Lambs of Dalamud might know her.

Additional/OOC

• I am a huge nerd and here are some theme songs.
  • Walk on Vanity Ruins - Silent Hill 3 OST, Akira Yamaoka - Mary Elizabeth McGlynn is totally Delial's voice.
  • You Know You Like It - AlunaGeorge
  • How To Be A Heartbreaker - Marina and the Diamonds
  • Mono - Silicone
  • The Crow - Dessa
  • The Rifle's Spiral - The Shins
• Delial was my main throughout my time in WoW and she's being reincarnated here in a sense. So if you know me from Feathermoon, please feel free to say hello!

Annotations

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