Kellach Woods

Kellach Woods
How to get to Kugane in the worst way possible
The Man Without A Plan
Gender	Male
Race	Hyur
Clan	Midlander
Citizenship	Limsa Lominsa

A recent immigrant to Limsa Lominsa from an unknown land, he was slated to join the Arcanists' Guild to learn mathematics and geometry at a rather high level, but a chance encounter with some pirates allowed marauders to see his prowess with the axe, and three ales later he was instead admitted to the Marauders' guild. An extremely curious kid seeking more experiences to truly know himself.

Appearance

While before, he was just a hunky, beefy farm boy fresh off the boat, it wasn't long before it dawned on him that on Eorzea, he could be anything he wanted.

And what he wanted to be was fabulous.

He discovered make-up and proper haircuts, rather than the bowl cuts his mother always gave him, as well as jewelry that, though it wasn't extremely rare and indicative of a social status, highlighted his other traits. Under the makeup and apparel, he remains the well-toned, if not muscular dark-skinned Midlander he was when still at his family's farmstead, but a lot more expressive about his inner self.

There are two scars across his face, one going down from right to left diagonally across his bridge, and the other on his left cheek. These appeared before his time in Eorzea, due to being chased by a wild dog while in the forest. He tripped and scarred his face twice going downhill on some particularly sharp rocks. Interestingly enough, he was luckier than the wild dog, who cut himself and bled to death on those rocks while chasing Kellach.

History

Born on a farm as the second son of a family of 4 and the third child overall. Little Kellach, however, always was weak of body and often bed-ridden early on, his family often wondering if he would survive the harsh winters of their locale. His mother, however, would never let him forget that he was once weak, and often pampered him, pleading with his father to not bring the youth on the more physical tasks. Kellach's father was a taciturn man who wouldn't listen. Boys were strong and that was the end of it.

His other son, though, never having lived through the hardships of sickness, took to the tasks quite easily, enough that it was decided that he would be the one to take over the farm. That left Kellach free of familial obligations but at the same time, without much of a future. However, Kellach remained on the farm and kept at the physical activities, even joining his father's logging operation in the winters, much against his mother's wishes. Each year he came back a much stronger boy, yet she would always refuse to acknowledge that his sickness was over.

Quite recently, he has learned that there were various facts about his upbringing that were kept from him. First, that the disease wasn't exactly all that strange in this land, just that most parents choose to sacrifice the child rather than have another mouth to feed that doesn't work. Of those that decide to keep the child, few of them recover. As such, that he was even able to live and recover is quite rare. The second is the amount of time he was forcefully kept inside. As it turns out, since he had no way of seeing outside in the winters, he could only partially witness the passage of time. His intelligence not being fully formed, nor did he had any experience of time passing, he did not realize that he spent 10 years bedridden or otherwise forbidden to leave his room, giving him new perspective on why he was not chosen to take over the farm.

Hearing that the Arcanists of Limsa Lominsa were accepting students eager to learn, his mother pushed hard that he aim towards becoming one. If nothing else, mathematics and geometry would be useful skills for farm planning. At this point, however, his father was starting to regret having given the farm to Kellach's brother. Was he a good worker? No doubt, but Kellach had surpassed him in various aspects of the job, including but not limited to the slaughter of cattle, whereas his brother was squeamish at the task.

When Kellach left for Eorzea, a collective sigh of relief was exhaled by all involved. Sure, his father would have loved to keep him around, and his mother would always worry, but now questions of renegotiating succession were all but solved. His mother was happy that her beloved son was going to become an Arcanist and his siblings wished him luck in his journey.

Of course, the Twelve had a much different design for him. As he was nearing Limsa Lominsa, a band of pirates seeking an easy mark soon attacked the transport ship. A few were competent but the rest were just hands that were press ganged or brought on with the promises of large riches. One of these fell, and Kellach grabbed an axe before helping the few Yellowjackets affixed to the ship fend off the threat. They noticed that while he was untrained, he'd clearly hefted an axe before and he should at least give them the honor of drinking with them once they hit port. Not wanting to insult people who kept the peace around Limsa, he accepted the invite. Several mugs of ale later, he was signing up at the marauder guild as opposed to the arcanists', taking his first step off the beaten path.

A few months ago, a postmoogle brought him some fairly bad news - his home had been taken over by Garlemald peacefully. His brother took it upon himself to preserve the traditions of their people through a journal that Kellach is eagerly awaiting the delivery from. Due to this, the trade route that passed through his home is now closed to Eorzean traffic.

From bad to worse, his lack of judgement led him right into the willing arms of a voidsent without him knowing. Though he has traces of taint in his aether patterns, they seem to have overall vanished. More importantly, it was discovered that his elemental aether patterns were erratic, not unlike waves.

He successfully helmed an expedition in some Nymean ruins with the help of L'yhta Mahre, Eamont Desormaux and K'hane Tariq, helping to record some of their architecture and offering more insights on the Tonberries themselves as a race. However, he was unsuccessful in obtaining a Chef's Knife for actual cooking purposes.

Postmoogle delivery is hard enough for the moogles, but for the spoken races, it's a nightmare. Granted a package that had no name and looked quite old, Kellach is tasked to deliver it, with few people understanding what exactly is going on. Scouring the land and finding no hints to the package, he asked the Postmoogles if he could open the package to hopefully get a hint that would allow him to find who he was supposed to deliver it. The package was revealed to be an ornate sword that looked outright ancient, a Wootz Scimitar of the ancient allagans, dripping with aether energies. It is currently in the safekeeping of Mysterium as they study it while he searches for the person who's supposed to receive the package... if they still live.

Meanwhile, a much more strange thing was happening. As he was testing out the sword at Eamont Desormaux's request, he accidentally injured the Elezen, who promptly cast Cure to take care of the wound... as Kellach fell unconscious for a short moment, casting the same spell. More importantly, he did not seem to remember that he actually did. Others saw him do it, and many are starting to figure out his special skill in Mimicry... and how it does not actually use the land's aether regardless of the spell used. It seems like his aether pattern has also changed - from a stormy sea of elements to a quilt-like pattern of the six elements as well as astral and umbral aether that rearranges itself as needs must. With great worry, he begins to investigate this skill, needing to ask his brother about very personal things that may be a side effect of that great illness of ten years and Toegisil's history...

A fortunate call to raid the Great Gubal Library came upon Mysterium's Linkpearl, as Rosamund Cartwright asked if any brave souls would come with her to the library, and brave its traps. Naturally, L'yhta Mahre and Kellach answered, with Clalaris Sil Laris joining them. While their trip was somewhat successful, there are two things of note that happened to Kellach during that voyage. The first is encountering a Demon Tome, it raised wards that separated Kellach from the rest of the team. With nothing but previously cast protection spells on his body, he had to cut the giant book down to size. Matching it blow for blow, and avoiding the brunt of its attacks, dancing an elegant waltz of destruction with his axe, the book was vanquished, and the wards lifted. The party could continue its search, but Kellach was both physically and mentally drained from such an encounter, and soon found himself a frustration-induced hatred for Sharlayans.

The second, and much more important part is the discovery of a book documenting a Sharlayan visit to his homeland of Toegisil. Nothing interesting came from this encounter, but where the book was found is most peculiar. In the final chamber of the Library, where the forbidden tomes and imprisoned Voidsent lie...

With further experiment, they soon found that his aether mimicry did not draw upon the land's aether regardless of magic - it drew upon his own, strangely assembled aether pattern. While unaspected spells such as Cure and Protect were easy to replicate, a spell drawing on the Earth like Stoneskin almost knocked him out. More determined than ever to get to the bottom of this, Kellach will join some representatives of Mysterium in an expedition on the long thought mythical floating island of Azys Lla, as it is believed the abilities only grew stronger from the moment he picked up the Allagan Wootz Sword.

Recent News

Toegisil, and the community that inhabits it, is no more. Thanks to a clever investigation by Garlemald, an Allagan artifact required for the continued survival of the Toegisil people was uncovered and then stolen. The community descended into madness, and what could only be described as a genocidal suicide occurred, as the Surge of Aether overtook the inhabitants - The only survivor being Kellach's brother, saved from the insanity by a mysterious power...

Personality

He's a farm boy that's been thrust in a strange land with stranger people and found that he did not belong there far more than he was willing to admit at first. He'd often looked at himself and found that he looked extremely plain in the single mirror of the house, and now he was as fabulous as can be with makeup, earrings and highlights in his hair. While many would look at him now and believe this was a phase, it actually isn't, and is more of a symptom of an exhibitionist streak in Kellach. He was cooped up in a room without seeing much of the world, and the world seeing him, for years, and non-stop work in various fields, turned him into a quite well-toned, if not straight up muscular, boy. He wants to show himself off, and the outrageous clothing as well as the exaggerated manners are part of that.

Often eager to help and more importantly to learn, his experience on the farm allowed him a good foundation of life skills, but not really anything combat related. Fortunately for him, he's not the kind of guy to get involved in a fight without good reasons. His upbringing gave him a quite simple but effective moral compass : Do Good.

Lately, he has been forced to question his morals and how he interacted with others due to very bad interactions with a group of people. To say he has found an answer would be fallacious but as he grows as a person, it is apparent that this answer will be the second part of a foundation upon which a more mature personality will be built. He's slowly learning how to belong while staying true to himself.

Affiliations and Known Associates

L'yhta Mahre - While they do not often see each other, he certainly respects her opinion on the magical arts, and always enjoys her company.

Eamont Desormaux - An older elezen man who's healed Kell several times of wounds from self-inflicted stupidity and currently Kell's fiancé. Or is it the other way around? While very separable, encountering one often means encountering the other.

Characteristics

• Nicknames: Kell
• Age: 20
  • Nameday: 8th Sun of the 2nd Umbral Moon
• Gender: Male
  • Sexuality: Pansexual
  • Marital Status: Promised
• Alignment: Lawful Good
• Height: Approximately 72 ilms
• Weight: Around 189 pounds
• Body: Well toned, muscular for a Midlander.
• Hair: Black, with ever-changing highlights
• Eyes: Golden
• Skin: Black
• Clothing: Typically revealing... even in armor.

Likes

• Cosmetics, clothes and other fancy things!
• Rum
• Learning and discovery
• His pets

Dislikes

• Close-mindedness
• Wine
• Being stuck in one area
• Anyone trying to eat his pets

Areas of Expertise¹

• Martial: No expertise in martial disciplines, but has passing knowledge in several disciplines. His main tool of destruction is the greatax.
• Crafting: No expertise in crafting disciplines, but has passing knowledge in several disciplines due to his upbringing.
• Gathering: Botany. Passing expertise in Mining and Fishing.

¹ - Bear in mind that this is strictly expertise. Any feat resulting of his latent mimetic abilities is not counted as any part of expertise.

Strengths

• Places great trust in others
• Far stronger than his face and mannerisms belies
• Mime Skill

Weaknesses

• Has no real internal filter
• Drops his clothes at the drop of a hat
• Completely ignores own knowledge and logic for the sake of others

Other Notes

Religion

Though he has an affinity towards Althyk, he has no preference towards worship of him or any of the other gods. They are alien to him, as they are the primal deities of Eorzea and thus not his. His family had a far more basic level of worship where they worship the elements themselves, often wishing that they would bless the harvest, the woodcutting, or any other activity.

When in Eorzea, do as the Eorzeans do, and he has started to adopt Althyk as his deity of choice.

Mimic

While the specifics are extremely difficult to understand, Mimicry relies on the body's ability to read lingering aether use and replicate them using the user's own aether. The lingering aether most often dissipates after a few seconds at best. Naturally, this would mean the most powerful spells would be impossible to cast in this way. After all, any user that does not possess sufficient aether would simply burn out. Unfortunately, that was not the concern of whoever came up with the ability. Its use was strictly for duplicating extremely strong spells at the cost of the user's life, which was artificially generated from the bio-weapon vats of the Allagan empire.

It is possible to teach the ability, but for now, since even Kellach himself doesn't understand how it works, it's impossible to teach.

Quirks

• Scratching the back of his head looking confused being 80% of his state of existence.
• He has difficulty understanding certain social cues, such as when his presence isn't desired. He's liable to stay until it is, and follow if they try to get away from him. Sadly, this is often done to friends, leading them to not regard him fondly.
• His thought patterns are erratic and can shift gears from serious to maddening in what seems like the matter of seconds. Unlike what many may think, this has brought him serious consequences. He has only recently attempted to curb the erratic nature of these patterns.

Equipment

Book of Rites

His place of birth do not follow the word of the Twelve, and in fact, had not really heard of Eorzea's deities. Their understanding of the world lies more in humanizing the elements and honoring them as it is their due. The Book of Rites are the collective knowledge gathered by their people in order to best honor the elements and be rewarded for it with either a bountiful harvest or protection from the elements' wrath. It also details their beliefs and rituals not related to the honoring of the elements, such as funeral rites.

The rites contained within are a mixture of Feng Shui, Shamanism and a Farmer's Almanac.

The Mask

Kell’s mask is actually functional. It’s based off an Allagan monstrosity that was described from excursions into the Crystal Tower of a magical augmented allagan swordsman. Kell has never, to this day, stepped inside the actual Labyrinth of the Ancients himself.

From the description, he found a designer that drew a diagram with the lines similar to the description the Sons of Saint Coinach gave him when he was in Mor Dhona one time. From there, he thought of the materials that could render this mask more functional rather than a simple ornament.

The mask itself is enchanted with aether to stay on without straps. There is a pressure point on the front of the mask that removes the enchantment and enables it.

The materials within this mask are fairly valuable. Carefully hammered Darksteel form the base of the mask, and is extremely resistant to most weapons. From the artisan that crafted it, the mask itself would refuse to yield before Kell’s skull would cave from the successive blows.

The inside is lined with Vanya silk, prized for its comfort and aetheric properties. The silk has been dyed black to hide Kellach’s eyes from the world through one side - he can still see, but none can see his eyes. The silk itself has a double function. First, it makes wearing darksteel a lot more palatable and second there is a triple lining on the sides that can be deployed in moments where the aether is too intense or the air is tainted. It allows for breathing in bad situations.

The covering is actually made from carefully cured and dyed hippogryph skin hunted down by Kellach himself in various areas of the world, bringing those to an independent leatherworker so they can cut it according to the designs. It allows for the grooves to feel quite nice and gives it this skin-like texture that matches the rest of his outfit.

It is also incredibly sturdy and would sooner have his skull cave in than the mask itself from powerful blows.

Weaponized Allagan Outfit

As so lovingly described by L'yhta Mahre, this copy of the ancient Allagan known only to us as Amon's outfit was used as a practical joke the moogles played on Kellach, as he had to deliver a package to one of their kind who somehow lived far away from the Shroud. Upon the reveal that said moogle's name translated into Red Herring in Eorzean, he decided to keep the outfit.

Unlike what the mage claims, the outfit is not actually weaponized. It is, however, the culmination of Allagan haute couture and the height of fashion. Which obviously clashes with the modern sensibilities of the more down to earth Eorzeans. Kellach, who's not exactly afraid to look ridiculous and often finds beauty in outlandish outfits, kept the thing. He usually keeps the visor on as it reminds him of his regular outfit's mask, which, coincidentally, resembles another Allagan historical figure...

Rumours

The following rumours can be heard about Kellach Woods. Naturally, the rarer the rumor, the rarer the situation in which it can be overheard. The examples for uncommon and rare are simply provided as a possible hook.

Common rumours

• "Saw him vandalizin' one of the public service announcement posters. Gonna have to do a lot more than that to gain our trust." - Pearl Lane Gang Member
• "He ain't been around here much lately - Sticks to Mist if he is." - Limsa Merchant
• "Can he please not come by here anymore? His outfit makes the chocobos think that he skinned some of them." - Bentbranch Meadows Chocobo Rancher
• "Aye? The mail carrier? That chocobo he rides around would fetch a good price, but it's too stubborn to tame. It'd kill itself and take a few hunters with it. Best leave it wild and helping the mail get where it needs to be." - Chocobo Hunter, Tailfeather

Uncommon rumours

• "I can heal all sorts of ailments, but not the one where he wants a servant maid's outfit." - Camp Bronze Lake Therapist
• "Halone take me if I am lying, but I swear I saw it as clear as you are seeing me right now! A barely-clothed brown Hyur in yellow, in Coerthas! And he walked through the rivers carrying another person on their back! How did he not catch the frozen death!?" - Gridanian Botanist who recently visited Coerthas
• "I heard he started wearin' a mask 'cause of a big scar on his face! Never met a soldier that ain't proud of their battle scars! So if that tale's true, then what's he hidin'?" - Brass Blade Soldier around Ul'dah
• "Masked uplander is gobbiefriend forever! Gives warm smiles and upholds Idyllshire ideals! However, gobbie doesn't know why gobbiefriend goes out of his way to look like ancient warrior." - Idyllshire "guard" going about his patrol

Rare rumours

• "Aye, I remember him. Deliv'red a coupl'a crates fer us. Good hustle, but couldn't smith a weapon unless we directly supervised him. When we did, was an eerie exact copy of that weapon, swear on my mother's sea-rotting grave. We just gave 'im the deliveries and stopped having him learn anythin'." - Brithael, when actually working instead of drinking
• "I am quite interested with this book he carries around - Whenever he reads it, I hear him talk of Elements and Rituals, yet none I ask at the Conjurers' guild have any idea what this could be about, while openly worrying that we are welcoming the devil with open arms. When I ask the Twelveswood, I hear naught but indifference about this man. Just... who is he, and what is this book?" - Gridanian Hearer, while Kellach is in town
• "The man over there? You say he's an axe-wielder, but I have a Brass Blade telling me he saw him lodge an arrow in an Ahriman's eye, a wandering adventurer tell me he used that Book of Rituals for more than just show, tales of the Silver Bazaar mention he beat on some Ziz with glaive and hoplon, that he rent a Death Gaze with his own hands, that voidsent burned in his fire, that he carefully banished a corrupted sprite and some wood wailers mention how his spear stopped a wild hog cold in its tracks. You wanna know what he is, you better ask him directly 'cause I'm hearin' all sorts of nonsense." - Garruleous Gossiper, when not talking about how an important figure disrupted the Sultana's celebration
• "...I thought only dragoons could jump that high? Is he a dragoon?" - Bewildered Child of the Brume

What PCs are saying

• "I don't get to see him as much as I'd like to, but he's so sweet and caring. I'm proud to call him a friend, even if I wish he'd be more confident in himself!" -- L'yhta Mahre
• "I don't know him that well, but he had a failed relationship with our Voice at the Tower! Which totally wasn't my fault." -- Karaki Crystalis
• " I, like, saw him once...! At this party? In Gridania! He was wearing his yellow armor and everything. He had this serious air about him." -- Aya Foxheart

Known Haunts

You might have run into or otherwise know Kellach Woods from:

• Seeing him wander around literally everywhere around Eorzea

OOC Inspirations

The inspiration of making a fabulous character with the muscle tone slider up to 100 is definitely inspired by Hirohiko Araki's work on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Playing a bumbling country boy introduced to a new world is a trope often seen in storytelling, however the most recent portrayal that inspired me is Donnel from Fire Emblem : Awakening.

I also really, REALLY love the Mime class and since we'll never get it, I may have fudged a few things here and there.

References

Character Music Themes

Character's Views on Love