Ghalleon Helseth
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Rendezvous of Stars | |
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Server: | Balmung |
Role-Play Style: | Family Friendly w/ some Mature Themes |
Contacts: | D'ranmaia Shenn |
Website: | Rendezvous of Stars |
Language: | English |
Time-Zone: | Primarily CST but EU friendly |
RP Element: | The Axis Star |
Headquarters: | Ward 8, the Goblet |
Contents
Character
- Ghalleon Helseth was born in Ishgard to a small family (the second child, the first son) in the Hyuran vassal house Helseth, retainers to Great House Haillenarte. His chrismation name is “Gamaliel,” but “Ghalleon” (a hypocorism) is his political and ordinary given name. Since the best prospect for his family’s social, economic, and political promotion wasthrough the marriage of his older sister (i.e. the hope that she would find a higher-class husband), Ghalleon’s parents enrolled him in the seminarium of the Ishgardian Orthodox Church as a young boy, and set him on the path of ministry. Seminary is an exceptionally common life choice for Ishgardian men with little prospects for social advancement and little prospects for valorous military service.
- Ghalleon, however, was genuinely pious, and enjoyed both his formation in the seminary and his periodic visits with his family. At 11, he and a few other neophytes travelled to Ul’dah with a few priests as part of a two-year program of study, prayer, and spiritual formation with the Order of Nald’thal. The year he and his delegation were meant to return, however, was the year in which Ishgard withdrew from the Eorzean Alliance and closed its borders to foreign nationals. Ghalleon and the delegation could have returned to Ishgard and pled for asylum as citizens; yet the political situation of the realm—the abiding threat of imminent invasion from Garlemald, and the whispered possibility of punitive military action by the Eorzean Alliance against Ishgard—led the delegation to decide quietly together that their best option for the present was to remain with the Order of Nald’thal as naturalized citizens.
- Ghalleon’s sudden alienation from his homeland and his family—even his letters were no longer being answered—was a period of intense spiritual crisis. However, through the advice of his mentors, prayer, and a particular spiritual experience, he accepted his current lot, and decided to enroll formally in the Order of Nald’thal as a postulant seeking ordination. The next fifteen years of his life would be spent in the pursuit and the realization of that goal; and in growing to consider Ul’dah, and specifically the Order of Nald’thal, his second home.
At-A-Glance
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Appearance, Personality, and Other Traits
- Ghalleon usually wears a long black cassock as a sign of his Order and vocation; but even when he’s not, he wears long sleeves and long pants. He dislikes exposing his skin, which is quite pale, other than his face and hands, and consequently he enjoys cold and windy weather, for which he is almost always well-dressed.
- He enjoys solitude, silence, prayer, and study; but he draws energy and strength equally from moments with close friends (not so much large gatherings or conversations with people who are strangers or merely acquaintances). He needs both elements in roughly equal doses, or he will begin to feel the lack of one or the other. Despite all this, his regency has greatly assisted his public speaking skills, and he has little trouble anymore speaking to groups, especially as a priest or teacher.
- He constantly thinks of qualifications or clarifications of even simple points he makes when he speaks, which frequently cause him to pause awkwardly mid-sentence in conversation in order to think. He is self-conscious about this verbal tic.
- He rarely speaks about his family to anyone, but this is mostly an attempt at self-discipline to endure a situation he believes is outside his control for the present. He loves his mother and father very much—he was a natural fit for the priesthood, and bears them no ill will at all for being sent to the seminary. He loves his older sister especially, however, and he thinks of her often and wonders if she has married. He keeps them all in his prayer rule.
- Ghalleon is completely orthodox in his theology, and his faith is mature and intellectual. He enjoys speaking to the faith of the simple, and his pastoral manner in addressing himself to them gets better each day. He also enjoys conversations with the heterodox, doubters, and apostate, so long as the discussion is in good faith. He dislikes the scornful, the passive-aggressive, and the dismissive, and will quickly fire back at them in a similar tone.
- He believes not only in the importance of the true faith, but of tradition in general, and the pastoral ideals of stability, family and community bonds, marital fidelity, and the rearing of pious children. He is especially hostile to sexual promiscuity. Ghalleon—even as a priest—knows the pull of desire as much as anyone; but he believes that indulgence here attacks the very root of the family and the very root of the virtue of faith/fidelity itself.
- Ghalleon’s chief approach to any problem or confrontation is his intellect combined with his oratory. Any need, problem, or potential conflict he has is an occasion in which he attempts to reason out a favorable conclusion. It is not at all a self-conscious “bartering” or “persuasion”: his instinct that any problem can be talked through by rational people lies very deep in him, and he does not consciously realize that he always goes to this path.
- Ghalleon’s sister Phaedra is a Wildwood Elezen. The two are not related by blood; she became an infant ward of Absalom before Ghalleon was born. However, the two are very intimate and have always spoken and acted as if they were natural kin.
- He honors and serves the entire pantheon of the Twelve, but has a special devotion for four in particular: Nald’thal, the patronus of his priestly Order and Ul’dah (his second home); Halone, the patrona of Ishgard (his first home and his people); Nymeia, the patrona of his birth; and Thaliak, the patronus of his chrismation in the Ishgardian Orthodox Church.
Relationships and Miscellany
- ♥ Romantic Interest ♣ Family member ♦ Friend ● Acquaintance ♠ Enemy ☠ Deceased ○ NPC
Family & Friends
- ♥ Flora Valerian : "Flora is... she's very dear to me. ...How did you say you know her, again?"
- ○♣ Absalom Helseth : "Father... He was always so excessively generous with us. Phaedra and I were fighting, once, and she tore my grimoire out of spite. I was furious... and he went out, that day, and bought me a new one, brand new. I... it wasn't even a big tear, it was nothing. 'Now you can have that one for using, and this one for keeping nice,' he said. I'll never forget it..."
- ○♣ Cornelia Helseth : "Mother would take us to the cathedral choir and orchestra sometimes. She always sent me care packages while I was in seminary too... She bought me a fountain pen with sterling appointments before I left for Ul'dah: I still have it."
- ○♣ Phaedra Helseth : "Oh, Phaedra. Bless her. ... I know she's doing well, wherever she is. I sometimes try to imagine the woman she's become, and whether we would recognize each other, were we suddenly to meet in a crowd. ...Halone bless and defend her."
- ♦ Evangeline Kavanagh : "Eva and I are neighbors, you know. She introduced me to the couple that owned my house when they were ready to move out. She's very sweet. ..And, moody. Be... careful, you know? But she's wonderful. She's... well, there's... well, she's certainly very unique."
- ♦ D'ranmaia Shenn : "Miss Maia... she is a wonderful woman. She is utterly guileless. She.. the beauty of her virtue--her kindness and sweetness, and her inner strength. Meeting her, becoming friends with her, has been a blessing for me."
- ♦ Lucky Mewrilah : "I've known him for a bit of time, now. A fine, fine man. He has virtue. I actually noticed, he has quite a gift with children, too."
- ♦ Momone Mone : "Momone is a lovely woman! She cooks wonderfully, you know? She, well, we've gotten to know each other better over the last moons. She is so virtuous, and loyal, I'm so glad to know her."
TVtropes
- Warrior Monk crossed with Non-Action Guy
- Good Shepherd
- Intrinsic Vow
- Bishōnen (downplayed...)
- Simple Yet Opulent
- The Strategist (half of the time) and The Philosopher (half of the time)
- Too Clever By Half
- Paralysis By Analysis
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Gallery
Colophon
- OOC Inspirations:
- This page would be incomplete without mentioning Ghaleon of Lunar: The Silver Star. I did not fashion Ghalleon as a direct or indirect copy of Ghaleon, other than the oblique reference to his name. It is, however, interesting to note Ghaleon's theological commitments, since the comparison has been made.
- Theme Music:
- I have a playlist for Ghalleon here!
- Page Credits:
- I am warmly grateful to Deirdre Ta'ea for the original page template; to Flora Valerian for the base page design; and to Little Ria for the complementary accents.