Ishani Aryn

Ishani Aryn

Ishani Aryn
"We cannot chose how we come into this world, but we can chose how we live in it."
Gender	Female
Race	Miqo'te
Clan	Keeper of the Moon
Citizenship	Ul'dah (Temporarily)
Age	20
Weapon	Does not use one
Height	5'7"
Hair Color	Night-Sky Amaranthine
Eye Color	Pale Gold
Notable Markings	White stripes on either side of her cheeks and star white skin that never tans or burns.

Ishani is a young Miqo'te white mage who spends most of her time wandering with her Free Company, Order of the Cetra. Lately she has been seen wandering the streets of Ul'dah or lingering outside the Thaumaturge Guild. When not in Ul'dah she often wanders through the forests of the Shroud or visits the Shores of the Mist residential areas.

Appearance

Ishani.

Her appearance could be summed up into two simple words; "Classic Beauty”. She is, by no means, breathtaking nor unsightly; there is only a simple grace, which seems to radiate from her subtly. Silky tresses cascade about her being in a wavy curtain that falls just short of her lower back, encasing her face in a halo of rich pale night-sky amaranthine colored hair. Its texture is soft and smooth, giving her a sort of lighthearted appearance and adds to the natural beauty of her figure. Hidden beneath long, lush lashes and thin yet expressive eyebrows, are eyes of pale gold. Though fairly uncommon amongst the Keeper's heritage, the hue is believed to come from her mysterious father. Around the center of the eye is a silver ring, which gradually melts into the surrounding color, creating an almost minute glimmering effect.

Her face is oval in shape, with a gentle point for her chin and a nose of a similar composition, matching the petite nature of her features. Her skin holds an almost ethereal star-white color with a flushed undertone, giving a pinkish hue to her delicate complexion. The surface of her skin is smooth, nearly perfect to the naked eye; and it is soft, like that of the finest crafted silk. Composed of a color modestly lighter than that of coral, her lips have a subtle plump cupids bow shape. Soft in texture, they blend well with her other features, neither standing out nor drawing attention to themselves with artificial paints. When standing upright with her shoulders back, her height reaches a mere five feet two inches. Her figure is slender and lean, with an ample chest and slender shoulders that flow into equally slim arms tipped with small hands. The rest of her figure cuts smoothly with the womanly curves of her gender, sloping hips flow down to long slender legs and petite feet which are properly symmetrical to the rest of her fragile silhouette.

Personality

Ishani when she was in the Coeurlclaw Clan.

Emotional, curious, adventurous, even tempered, and extroverted; Ishani is an open-hearted soul who finds passion in everything she does. The many events of her life have sculpted her into an enlightened and worldly woman who attempts to find the good in all things that come across her path. Her love of healing and music help keep her focused, while those she travels with help keep her grounded to the world around her. She treats every new situation with an open mind and a good sense of optimism. Sometimes she may come across as too positive or overly enthusiastic, but in reality she is just harder to phase than most people. Only those closest to her know of a darker side, a side she rarely shows the world and is kept closely guarded.

Background

Ishani was born into the Coeurlclaw Clan deep within the Black Shroud. From a young age her mother knew she was different. While most of the clan's children would take interest in weapons and hunting, Ishani would lay upon the grass and daydream or would be seen speaking as if to another, yet there would be no one there. Even though her behavior was thought of as odd she was still held in high reverie by the elders of the Clan. Her skills in healing far surpassed any of those in the Clan and while most held her in high regard for this, others felt a keen jealousy that often had glowers of hatred or malice directed her way. It was not until she reached 12 summers that the younglings of the Clan were sent on their first mission. They were to raid the small settlement of Quarrymill and bring back at least one ponze of supplies. If they accomplished this they would be recognized as full fledged hunters among the Clan sisters. Ishani and four others; Dasha, Kendra, Nittea, and Sonyah set off to fulfill their task.

The sister's plan was to sneak within the settlement at night and gather the supplies by breaking into the storerooms. Initially they had decided to knock out the guards, however Nittea lost her footing and alerted the nightwatch to their presence. Faced with a fight the Sisters began to defend themselves against the Wood Wailer lancers alerted to their presence. Sonyah perished during the skirmish from a lance blade through her stomach. Dasha and Nittea managed to escape, however Kendra became injured from a lance glancing off her ribs and fell behind. Unable to leave her fellow Clans sister behind Ishani called to the other two, however her calls went unheeded and the two were captured by the Wood Wailers. Ishani thought for sure her and Kendra would be tortured for information or face the same fate as Sonyah, however to her pure astonishment the Wood Wailers actually showed remorse for the death of their clan-sister. They took Kendra to the small infirmary and locked Ishani up in a small room. She was questioned by the Wood Wailer captain, however her treatment was courteous and hospitable. This brought into question all the beliefs she was told as a child about the Gridanian people.

Ishani discussing strategy with the twins, Dasha and Kendra.

When she was no longer perceived as a threat, Ishani was granted some freedoms around the settlement. She checked often on Kendra and watched as the healer of the settlement tended to the wounded young Coeurlclaw. The healer began showing Ishani some of her techniques and in the process discovered Ishani's natural talent to harness nature and manipulate it into curative magics. The kind elven healer told Ishani of the Conjurer's guild and of the raw potential the young Miqo'te had that could be further cultivated under the guidance of the guildmaster, E-Sumi-Yan. Ishani considered the offer however she politely declined, not wanting to abandon her Clan. It was not until the next night that her life changed...dramatically.

Kendra was on the mend. Yet she feigned still being gravely ill in order to keep the healer off guard. In the dead of night Kendra stole away from her recovery bed and found Ishani asleep in the next cottage. Kendra told Ishani she was escaping and that this would be their only chance to get away from the Gridanians. Ishani felt a pang of guilt, the Gridanians had been kind to them and to slip away into the night in such a way seemed wrong. She also felt the sway of the healer's kind offer to study conjury and the grips of a dream that left her in the wake of a troubled heart. Kendra, annoyed with Ishani's hesitation to leave, knocked her fellow sister out and carried her body from the settlement deep into the Shroud. They were found a day later by Coeurlclaw scouts and returned back to their camp.

Though the sisters of the Coeurlclaw were happy to have them back, Ishani still felt troubled. Her dreams became more and more vivid. Waking her in a cold sweat and often leaving the camp to wander closer and closer to the settlement. It was not until one afternoon several days after their escape, that Ishani came across the healer once more. Ishani feared the woman would be angry with the method of escape and lack of courtesy that the sister's had shown the settlement, however to her complete surprise the healer simply smiled and offered to continue the lessons she had been teaching Ishani before they left. Unable to hide her eagerness she happily agreed and continued to meet with the healer for several weeks after.

Ishani's consistent disappearances were starting to become noticeable and one evening Dasha followed Ishani when she saw her hated rival veering from the hunting paths. She discovered Ishani was still meeting with the Gridanian healer and was staying close to the settlement for days at a time when she should have been on hunting excursions. Seeing this as a means to take control of the Clan as well as permanently remove Ishani from the Coeurlclaws, Dasha left to meet with the leader of the Redbelly poachers who lived in the far northern reaches of the South Shroud. A deal was struck and Dasha returned to her hunting.

The next evening when Ishani was nearing the Coeurlclaw's campground, a keen sense of dread pierced her. The wind carried upon it the distinct and stomach churning metallic tang of blood. Abandoning the small bunch of fowl that she had caught as proof of her hunting she raced over the crest of the hill to look upon a scene of pure abstract horror. Black smoke billowed up from still burning huts, while those not caught in the flame were shredded and strewn across the ground. Tatters of fabric fluttered in the smokey breeze from wooden half hewn skeletons. Across the ground lay the bodies of the Coeurlclaw. The faces frozen in death from an attack that could only have taken the skilled and cautious warriors and huntresses by surprise. As she neared the ghastly encampment she struggled to keep her breath within her lungs. Her stomach rebelled and it was all she could do to keep walking forward, searching for survivors. Everywhere the thick stench of death assaulted her nose. Smoke choked her throat and lashed at her eyes, causing the tears she tried to keep from shedding to break free of their bonds and slip down her cheeks. When she neared the cavern that housed the eldest of the Clan, she lost herself. They lay upon the ground in the darkness of the cave. The smell of blood and smoke intolerable to go more than a few feet past the mouth of the cave. She stood in numb disbelief. Her mother, sisters, all she knew was now laying in strewn and broken masses upon the ground. Dropping to her knees she cried out in anguish and grief. Tears streaming freely from her golden eyes. Her body trembled and all strength left her as she fell to her hands and let her head fall in abstract sorrow and loss.

It is said this is when the darkness first touched her. A being who embraced the light could never walk unscathed without the shadows lurking at their back. Silently waiting in silhouetted shrouds for even the briefest of opportunities to reach in and snake a thin tendril of doubt around one's heart. Ishani felt it then, a thread of sorrow and pain that wrapped around her chest and squeezed. She nearly succumbed to it when movement caught her eye and several of her fellow sisters appeared over the crest of a small hill overlooking the encampment. Many were injured and only a small few were unscathed. Huntresses returning from their hunts. Joy filled her and pushed the darkness back so the band of sorrow lessened around her chest. Leaping to her feet with new found strength she raced to the survivors to embrace them. However as she neared the band suddenly tightened with renewed strength to the point she stopped short with a gasp.

The look upon her sister's faces. Malice and hatred unlike anything she had ever seen greeted her joy and caused the swelling tide to shrivel before the dark gazes. Confused she looked from one face to the next until her golden gaze came to rest upon Dasha. The only daughter of the Coeurlclaw's leader, Dasha now had the authority to lead the tattered clan, and she did so with her first official decree. Dasha told Ishani that the Wood Wailers descended upon them with all the wrath of a slighted host. Saying that not only had her and Kendra slipped away in the dead of night, but had the nerve to steal a valuable treasure from them like the bandits they so rightly were. They tore the camp apart, killing heedlessly of those in their way. While most of the Coeurlclaw fought bravely, most were hewn regardless of their status within the clan as fighters or not. Ishani could not believe this news. She new it could not be true as she had spent the night close to the settlement and had not seen any of the Wood Wailers leave their post. She spoke against Dasha, saying another group had to have committed such an atrocity against them. This only caused the ire of the others to flare into a frenzy. They called Ishani a traitor. Saying they saw the uniforms themselves. Watched as those most dear were cut down right in front of them. In a frenzied wrath the remaining clan sisters descended upon Ishani with every intent to kill her. Believing Dasha's claims that since she had seen Ishani venturing to Quarrymill frequently, that she had to have been giving them information on the clan and told them when the best time to strike would be.

Ishani felt death looming over her as the ones she use to call sisters attacked and beat her to within an inch of her life. It wasn't until she stopped moving that they ceased their attack and left to join a sister Clan within the Northern Shroud. Ishani was not sure how long she had been there or how long she had been unconscious. She believed herself dead until she woke in a softly lit room upon a feather bed and the smell of wood and incense greeted her. She had been found by a scouting party that had seen the smoke from the smoldering huts. The healer had recognized her broken body and sent her to Gridania to be healed by one of the skilled white mages who resided within the city. It took almost a moon for Ishani to recover fully, but her heart felt shriveled and a keen sense of loss had her moving about each day as if in a trance. Often she would stare off at the gates of the City, her thoughts and mind vacant from her body. The shard of darkness had firmly lodged itself within her and day by day the wound festered and grew. E-Sumi-Yan, leader of the conjurer's guild, realized if something was not done soon, the young Miqo'te would be consumed by her grief. He began teaching her the ways of healing and white magic. Taking into mind what the healer from Quarrymill had told him of her talent, he taught her day by day how to cultivate her skill and gave her assignments to occupy her mind and refocus her thoughts.

E-Sumi-Yan attempting to distract Ishani with a task in the Bramble.

At first Ishani seemed to reject the idea of dabbling in her talents again. After all that had been what had caused her to lose her Clan. Yet the more she learned and the more she helped others, the more the pain ebbed and the wound in her heart seemed to ease. The pain finally passed the day she met a young Seeker of the Sun paladin named Zarek. The paladin had come to the guild to be trained in the art of healing magic in order to enhance his skills within the Sultansworn. Seeing this as an opportunity to aid Ishani, E-Sumi-Yan asked her to train Zarek. The two became fast friends and before she knew it Ishani found herself enchanted with the quirky and witty paladin.

Their time together was short as Zarek was only given leave to train for two moons. He asked Ishani to come back to Ul'dah with him and told her of the others who resided there and were also training. The group was planning to travel all of Eorzea once they had mastered their abilities and help right the wrongs of the world that had been left in the wake of the Calamity. Ishani refused, still afraid to venture past the woods of the Shroud, and the two promised to meet each other as often as they could.

Zarek, Seeker of the Sun Paladin of the Sultansworn.

Three moons later Ishani started to feel strange. Her sleep was fitful at best and often at times she would collapse for no reason. Her unconscious state unnatural when examined by E-Sumi-Yan. Unable to find a reason for the strange visions and the sudden bouts of unconsciousness, E-Sumi told Ishani she would have to venture past the Shroud to the other cities of Ul'dah and Limsa Lominsa to be examined by the practitioners of the Arcane and Black Magics. Still fearing the outside world Ishani refused to leave. Believing she could handle the 'Fits' as she came to call them. It wasn't until a skirmish had broken out between the Wood Wailers who guarded the gates of Gridania and the Ixial clans who had strayed too near the city that Ishani knew she would have to overcome her fears. One of the Wailers arrived grievously injured and just as Ishani started to heal him, one of the more vicious of the 'Fits' gripped her. She dropped to the ground and if it was not for the quick action of her fellow conjurers, the Wailer would have perished. When Ishani came to three days later and realized her debilitation would cost others their lives, she agreed to leave Gridania and travel to the other Cities.

Limsa was her first stop. To her complete surprise she reunited with Zarek during her training under the watchful gaze of the Archanist. He had left the Sultansworn and taken up with the Rogues of Limsa. The others of his company had joined him and it was then that she met the crafty little Lalafell Melchiah, a stalwart Highlander warrior named Andras, and the gentle Keeper Miqo'te scholar Shana. She became fast friends with all of them and agreed to join them in their travels once her studies with the Arcanist had completed.

The rest of the Company. Shana (left), Andras (center), and Melchiah (right).

The 'Fits' had waned some, but her visions still viciously plagued her sleep. She spoke of this one night to Zarek when lack of sleep caused her to lose control of her Carbuncle. The creature, sensing it's summoner mistress was barely strong enough to keep an open connection with it, turned on her and attacked. If not for the swift actions of Zarek, Ishani knew her injuries would have been severe. It was then she confessed to Zarek of her visions and the strange bouts of unconsciousness that haunted her steps. Zarek suggested she meet with the Lalafells of the Thaumaturge's guild. Their skill with the void magics and Black Magic could possibly be a way to find out what was causing the strange seizures.

She met with the Lalafell of the Thaumaturge Guild and after extensive tests they found a strange gathering of void magic deep within Ishani. She was told this magic was tainting her ties to the arcane and white magics and when it reverberated within her it caused her to contract and pass out. She was also told this was the cause of her visions as well, though they were unable to locate the source or what was causing the magic to grow and react as it did within her body. The Lalafells taught her the arts of Black Magic in order for some of the Void darkness to be expelled or suppressed. It worked for a time and her visions and seizures passed. She continued to grow in the arts of Summoning, Healing, and Black Magics exercising her talents to aid her fellow companions as they traveled over all of Eorzea. Her Company assisted the Scions of the Seventh Dawn as well as the allied Grand Companies. For the first time since her Clan's destruction Ishani felt like she was home once more. Her and Zarek married in secret, not wanting a big wedding and keeping the intimate affair between themselves.

Ishani caught in a vision.

All seemed well until Ishani felt a pull on her darkness once more. To this day she still does not realize what triggered it, but the darkness reverberated within her with all the force of a pent up earthquake. She collapsed upon the streets of Limsa, gripped in the unrelenting throes of a vision. It would be almost a week before she roused from her tremor and when she did she found herself within the dormitory of the Thaumaturge guild once more. The black mages of the guild were attempting to draw the Void reserves from her body and informed her that even though she had been using her Black Magics on a regular basis, it had not been regulating the darkness within her as they thought it had. The dark magic had to be drawn physically from her body and even then the black mages had a rough time containing the power they drew from her. The procedure left Ishani weak and sick for several weeks as for nearly a moon the void magic was harvested from her body until she was able to manage it and keep the visions from grasping her consciousness from her once more.

She now ventures to the guild every other moon in order to have the energy drawn from her body and prevent the seizures as best she can. However, before her current procedure she was cast into the depths of another vision. One that left her blood cold within her veins and sent her searching to the stars for an answer. With the war of Ishgard on the horizon and the threat of the Dragons ever growing she searches for a way to prevent another disastrous fate from befalling her beloved companions. For if she fails...she doubts she would be able to keep the darkness from claiming her body and soul.

Ishani called back from her vision within the darkness.