Irya Nineheart

Irya
"To do shite right, y'gotta do it yerself."
Nineheart
Gender	Female
Race	Miqo'te
Clan	Keeper of the Moon
Citizenship	Ul'dahn
Age	23
Height	5 fulm 3 ilm
Weight	135 Ponze
Profession	Oddsjobwoman / Void Hunter
Patron Deity	Nald'Thal, the Traders
Server	Balmung

A dry-humored, foul-mouthed Miqo'te lass of good temperament.

History

Irya's childhood is an incredibly typical one of Ul'dah - at least, with the influx of Ala Mihgan refugees. The lass is one from the city's cruel underbelly; A starved, half-blind little scrapper with only a name, clothes, and a bare few memories and survival skills to her. Hells if she knew what happened to any sort of parents or clan-members of hers, and hells if she knew she was part of the refugees or not. The little lass of four summers young was quick to figure out that these things wouldn't fill her belly (other than maybe the occasional rat or bird she might catch) - and tears hardly worked upon the Ul'dahns other than a few bleeding heart sympathizers.

So, quite simply, she learned to work. Not thievery, no; The lass took to labor as a fish to water, it seemed. She was quick to learn for most things, with good hands and a sharp mind to go alongside a tongue as silvered as the spoons she saw in the mouths of Ul'dah's elite. Eventually, her thirst for gil and almost ruthless nature of hounding people to "buy" or "sell" (depending on what place she found herself at) drew the attention of an old Sea Wolf.

Loramoera Jaegnbharsyn was in his years - even had his own grandchildren to call his. Honorably discharged from the Yellow Jackets on an injury, and stuck in Ul'dah to help his daughter with her failing business, he helped as he could... with smuggling and illegal trade. Irya's unquestioning loyalty to assist him, as a youth of five summers and a stomach ever needing to be filled, stuck to him. Well, that and how she so reminded him of his daughter in her own youth. In a way, she was adopted - with he and his widowed daughter granting her a safe bed, a full stomach, a place to bathe - and even using some spare gil to get the little miqo'te some glasses. Though he reasoned it was so she could be a spotter for their work, it was obvious he saw her as one of his own - taming her hair with delicate braids, teaching her the basics of reading, and recanting various stories of the gorgeous blue sea so far beyond the gold sea of sand.

Of course, all good things come to end eventually.

Mid-year of what she believed to be her seventh summer, the Brass Blades had caught wind of the illegal business, and had quickly began efforts to stop such - after all, alongside various untaxed goods, there were drugs; Somnus, opium, you name it. The raid happened in the middle of a trade, using a squealer they had paid to distract him. It was during all this the stock of drugs was set aflame, much to everyone's confusion, as Loramoera was taken away, his daughter having fled town. There was only one culprit to this, who was screaming and setting more things aflame even as the fire made the next few districts feel a contact-high: The little, glasses-clad, miqo'te lass.

Seeing as the child was but a child (after all), not to mention a recently-made-obvious and uncontrolled thaumaturge, she was sent to live at the Ossuary. It was certainly a strange change to the disciplined life they held, but one she eventually adapted to (though she did become a soap connoisseur, what with living with a Limsan so long). Irya was slow to make friends, however - becoming close to an Ala Mighan lad whom was also from the streets, alongside a Roegadyn whose family would have preferred he become a Sultansworn like they. Together, she and Aleric (the Ala Mighan) would become rather infamous for their various pranks - including using lubrication agent on the halls, and placing a foaming soap within the fountain for a few examples.

She ended up sometimes at odds with her mentor - Mother Mimiwa, an older Dunefolk woman who took it upon herself to mentor the youngest of the young who entered the halls of the Ossuary. She was a strange woman - with most of her training being upon aetheric reserves instead of technique, and an odd obsession with death and death rites (of which she taught the students, alongside embalming).

It's there that Irya goes quiet about what happened next. Apparently, in her words, it was a "philosophical disagreement" which lead her to leave the ossuary once she was 14 summers old.

With naught but her belongings and a stolen, flighty young chocobo, she made her way to the grand blue sea of her dreams. Stowing herself away on the ship, alongside the bird (dubbed 'Ascora' by her), the trip was absolute hells. Other than having to silence a "kweh" every other minute, the hiding of her and the small bird was troublesome with the crew about; And, then there was the seasickness, which meant more sneaking about for food. In a way, she wondered if the vessel had ill will towards her the whole while.

-to be continued-

Personality

A woman of vim and vigor, Irya is good company - for the most part. Though constantly busy, she makes time for socializing whilst/between working, as well as any other time she feels free to do it. However, at heart, she is a woman who does not feel too much socializing to be worth it, and can often instead be found with her nose in a book. Keeps other people at a distance - anything beyond small-talk is something she balks at. Always has a smile plastered on her face, and laughs easily - though neither seem that genuine. She seems confused about any sort of intimate relationship - between friends, lovers, etc., and shies away from them and conversations about them. In a way, many facets of her personality seem false.

Her atmosphere is something a little... odd. Though a single look-over can give off the impression that she's a relaxed, open sort of folk (her stance and her accent especially), anyone with a trained eye can tell she's more of akin to a spring under fullest tension, ready to strike at any time. She can always be seen coldly observing and watching others, which becomes even more frustrating to deal with when alone with her. To counter this, she usually wears visors and eye-coverings.

Though outwardly friendly, anyone who gets past her smiling, cheery, relaxed outer shell can find she is actually a very prickly, numb, and serious person who does not show (or seem to feel) much emotion. Empathy is something she finds hard to understand at times, as she feels very disconnected from people - putting herself above almost all others. She avoids showing any semblance of vulnerability and attachment to others, trying to hide these feelings with a cold, tough, unfriendly exterior, whom will push people away the second it begins to show.

Alongside that, her reason for so many jobs for Anemos is hardly out of the goodness of her heart - it is so others owe her. The entirety of life is but various transactions upon transactions of interactions, gil, work, objects, and so on.

Affiliations and Known Associates

Longstanding member of Anemos Company - A Free Company of Maelstrom's interests, mainly within Limsa Lominsa.

Characteristics

• Nicknames: Nineheart, Ears
• Age: 23~
  • Nameday: 12th Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon
• Gender: Female
  • Sexuality: Pansexual
  • Marital Status: Single
• Alignment: True Neutral
• Height: 5 fulm 3 ilm
• Weight: 135 ponze
• Body: Scrawny yet muscular build. Very little fat to her.
• Hair: Thick, curly/wavy, and voluminous. The color of bleached sand.
• Eyes: Heterochromia - Left eye pale green, right pale purple. Her pupils are mildly reflective, and her eyes are sensitive. Usually covers them with glasses or visors.
• Skin: A slightly blue-tinted, light silver. Dusted with white freckles, and has white facial markings.
• Clothing: Though she shows a preference for armor, Irya's clothing otherwise makes use of a great deal of green, red, white, and/or black - all of which are very modest. She favors skirts and shorts over pants, and is rarely seen without long, armored boots.

Likes

• Ishgardian Whiskey (Alcohol in general, though she hates mulled wine)
• Quiet, reading time.
• Mammets.
• Fresh air, new experiences, and the outdoors.
• Very rarely, company.
• Studying thaumaturgy and aetheric intrigues, as well as Allagan technology.
• Tavern music.
• Taking things apart.

Dislikes

• Voidsent - She'd sooner trust a dragon than a denizen of the void.
• Gridania.
• Lalafell and Elezen (Lalafell creep her out for some reason - and most "knife-ears" are pompous arsehats.)
• Sleep (though, this is more of a joke than anything of hers)
• The smell of ash in the air.
• Her constant nosebleeds.
• Slavery
• The homeless (she believes they need to carve out a life for themselves, as she did)

Areas of Expertise

• Martial:
• Crafting: Though quite off-handedly talented in a few odd areas, alongside able to do minor work with most fields of crafting (due to the variety of jobs she has had to learn), Irya has a degree of talent with cooking - using her sense of smell as well as Loramoera's teachings, she has learned to make most trail rations and most food she hunts taste quite better than norm.
• Other:

Strengths

• Physically, Irya is incredibly able-bodied. Her time outside of work is spent honing her mind, body, and skills. She is of sharp wit of the world-wisened and experienced sort, quite strong, and very nimble - after all, a dragoon needs to land properly.
• Though no longer a practicing thaumaturge, Irya is well-studied on magic as a whole - as well as the Black. She also holds almost encyclopedic knowledge of Voidsent.
• She herself is hard to read - and, can be very deceitful. She also finds it hard to pity others, leaving her out of risk of various little scams and schemes - but leaving her coming off as impersonal and almost cruel.

Weaknesses

• Irya can become incredibly obsessive over both large and small things - vengeance, finding answers, Twelve name it.
• She is slow to act upon injustices (other than slavery - something she will subtly assist against), due to not wanting to get involved - and, generally, only getting involved if the possibility of "pay" or someone owing her is high.
• Though slow to anger, upon having her anger fully realized it is very hard to stop the ensuing fury that she becomes. This puts her (and any trying to prevent it) at large personal risk, as her only line of thought is violence to whomever/whatever spurned her temper.
• Her obliviousness to emotions leads her to be very detached to most folk - as a result, she becomes very paranoid of everyone. She never can place any trust in those who do breach it.
• Her curiosity. If there's one way to make her take risks, it's to sate her curiosity.

Other Notes

Religion

Though not a woman of extremely devout faith, Irya does pass a word to the Twelve occasionally - and use them in a variety of creative curses.

Quirks

Irya is known to rub/cover her neck when nervous or otherwise negatively impacted emotionally. She also, less obviously, licks her lips when lying, or flicks through pages within a book. Making eye-contact with her also ends up odd, as she has something of a predatory look.

Rumours

The following rumours can be heard about Irya, predominantly in the Ul'dahn and Limsan areas. (If your character has an opinion about her, feel free to add it here.)

Common rumours

• She can be seen frequenting The Quicksand, as well as The Drowning Wench; usually ordering something strong, a hunk of whatever meat suits her fancy, and either reading or chatting.
• The lass is never seen without being fully-covered - and, likely for good reason. A few wandering eyes have seen scars on her here and there - though, it can be startling to see that such a gaunt-looking lass is built like a highlander.
• She used to be a thaumaturge - something that comes up with the knowledge she has on the topic.

Uncommon rumours

• Some say she's much less personable than she makes herself out to be, quickly becoming prickly anytime someone tries to dig deeper.
• Word has gone about that she has something of a sixth sense - though, it seems to be more hyperbolic, as anyone who has worked with her on any void hunting can tell she is an excellent tracker of the bastards, mentioning she can "smell" them. Word has it that this might be the cause of her nosebleeds, though.
• Apparently, the origin of her nickname "Nineheart" comes from an incident in her lancer-training days. Apparently, she and another fellow took to a duel to the death - and, when the fellow skewered her, she broke his spear in half (with her hands) and swiftly beat him to death with it before passing out. Irya herself neither denies nor confirms the tale.
• Also apparently, she has no fashion sense.
• Any who have worked with her note she doesn't sleep on the job - only passes out. Though some say she has terrible night terrors...

Rare rumours

• A rumor lasting a good ten years, meanwhile, is one that few Ul'dahns wish to speak of: she (and three other youths) were the only survivors of an incident wherein her small class of fellow thaumaturgists were slaughtered by the amal'jaa - this happened when she was around 14, and the fact that almost twenty other younglings died the same night makes many question the training the Ossuary provided them.
• Even stranger than that rumor is the other, more hushed words that it's a cover-up for something else.

Known Haunts

You might have run into or otherwise know Irya from:

• As a former student of the Ossuary (and otherwise rambunctious urchin in Ul'dah), someone from her youth might recognize her.
• She frequents bars and taverns, for light company, drinks, and trying to find work.
• Otherwise, Irya is a well-traveled oddsjobwoman who never stays in one place at a time. Perhaps she might've gotten involved in something odd.
• A "bug hunt" (as she calls pursuing voidsent) might also be a means of coming into association with her.
• She also has made a few enemies in Gridania from her time of learning lancework.

References

• 

  In-Game

• 

  The Various Faces of Irya