Lacey Orwell

Lacey is the classic anti-heroine, working to redeem herself from past wrongs she committed while in the service of the Garlean Empire in Doma.

Lacey Iskandi-Orwell
Gender	Female
Race	Hyur
Clan	Midlander
Citizenship	Garlean
Age	21
Height	5 fulms, 3 ilm (160 cm).
Weight	110 ponz (50 kg).
Profession	Bounty Hunter.

Appearance

Lacey is petite for a midlander hyur. Her frame is average for a woman her size, lithe but with enough curves to attract attention and not be described as boyish. On closer observation she is toned, mostly in the upper body from time spent practicing archery and ninjutsu. She has has a typical English Rose appearance with naturally ginger-red hair and green eyes and pale, porcelain coloured skin.

Lacey is vain about her appearance. She is rarely seen without make-up and dyes her hair on a regular basis, usually auburn or sometimes black depending on the flavour of the month. Her hairstyle also changes quite regularly, usually worn up with bangs or down with some of the hair pulled back into a loose braid. Her skin is nearly always pale despite spending a fair portion of her time in Ul'dah and free of any scars despite not being a stranger to close combat. After spending too much time in the sun her face will become freckles, an attribute she detests and vainly keeps an eye on.

History

OOC Disclaimer: Certain liberties with lore surrounding Doma and the Garlean Empire have been taken for Lacey's backstory. As more lore becomes available I hope to continue to ensure it remains within reasonable distance to established lore in the ffxiv universe while keeping my character interesting and fun to role play.

The early years: Zero to eight cycles old.

Lacey was born in an un-named country on the continent of Ilsabard. By the time she was born her country had already been part of the ever expending Garlean Empire for several years. Her father, Godwin Orwell, was a renowned writer, known for publishing several non-fictional works on social justice and democracy before the invasion of his homeland by nearby Garlemald. Godwin was forced for his own personal safety, and that of his wife’s, Rose Orwell, to stop his writings after the invasion. Lacey was born to Godwin and Rose after several years of marriage and was their only child. Lacey’s upbringing was fairly peaceful for the first five cycles. Her parents lived in a cottage in the countryside, her father working a typical middle class job in the nearby town and her mother practiced magic although what type is unknown to Lacey. Things changed after the death of her mother by the Garlean Empire and Godwin joined and eventually led an underground resistance, seeking to take back their homeland from the Garlean Nobles that tyrannically ruled their country. Lacey spent the next three cycles moving from location to location but was fairly oblivious to what work her Father did exactly. It wasn’t until her eighth cycle that Lacey saw her first skirmish between the underground resistance and the Garlean Empire. Her father and his men were captured and while the Garlean nobles in power quickly decided a public execution was in order to set an example to any further possible uprisings, they kept Lacey alive for political purposes. What happened next would be the first of many traumas’ Lacey would encounter at the hands of the Empire. The Garlean Nobles put her on display with them, forcing her to watch as her father and his fellow rebels were executed one by one. Afterwards she was coerced to admit her loyalty to the plebeian masses publically to the Empire and conscripted into their service.

In service to the Empire: Nine to twenty cycles old.

Lacey was shipped off to Doma shortly after her father’s death to a nameless academy for young recruits to train as a shinobi and possible future Frumentarii. What followed was several years of strict training by Doman ninja’s who were loyal to the Empire. A scientist at the academy by the name of Galifre Clauduet also took interest in her, conducting experiments on the girl to potentially bring about mutations in her. The result of the experiments on Lacey was the development of a healing factor with both benefits and flaws. While she could heal faster than the average person, she also had a limited lifespan and a reliance on a serum the scientist had developed to continue for her healing factor to work positively and not break down her body from the strain of the healing factor on it. At the age of sixteen, after several successful missions, she was recruited into the Doman branch of the Frumentarii. While this allowed her more freedom, she was still a subject of Galifre’s and his experiments continued. By the age of twenty she had worked through the ranks and was an Imperial Nightshadow, much of her work involving the spying and assassination of Domans that were possible threats to the Empire and their rule in Doma. However, the growing threat of rebellion of the Domans against the Empire proved too strong and an uprising occurred. Like most Garleans in Doma she helped with the razing, although how exactly is unknown at this point. Somehow she managed to be captured by fleeing Domans and taken aboard a refugee ship which set sail for Eorzea.

Recent Events

Arrival in Eorzea.

During the razing of Doma by the Garlean Empire Lacey was captured by Domans fleeing their homeland and taken aboard their ship that set sail for Eorzea. Kept in a box of silken handkerchief’s when her captors were not torturing her , she was provided with little food and water. When the Doman boat eventually arrived in Eorzea she was moved to Mor Dhona with the rest of the Doman refugee’s. Lacey’s captors intended to make her death long and painful, seeing her as a way to take out their frustrations at the loss of their country. She was soon discovered by Ren’li Nblu, an adventurer helping the Domans travel to Mor Dhona and freed. She stayed with his company while she recovered.

Freelance mercenary work in Ul’dah.

After Lacey recovered physically and somewhat psychologically from her experience aboard the Doman ship she left Ren’li’s company, seeking work as a freelance mercenary in Ul’dah. Her first client, Varus Rosenthal, hired her for various tasks. While working for him she met Zaku Paku, an officer in the Immortal Flames, and began investigating him, seeing him as a means to gather important intel about the Flames and other significant events in Ul’dah. Eventually she began to grow attached to the man and told him about Varus. The two quickly became closer and began dating until he revealed his heart belonged to another. Devastated, she decided to leave Varus’ service. Varus was enraged when he learnt of Lacey’s allegiance to Zaku and he magically ripped all memories of himself from her mind, resulting in significant psychological and physical damage to her brain. He also implanted in her mind a list of targets, including Zaku, to kill. She slowly recovered with the help of her friends and had the list of targets locked away in the recesses of her mind.

Aeon

Lacey’s briefly joined the secretive free company Aeon. As the tension between Zaku and Lacey grew worse she decided it was best to move on with her life without him in it. Lacey left the company without a word in the middle of the night. She still remains friends with some members and ex members.

Past experimentation and side effects.

Lacey was experimented on as a child a by Garlean Empire scientist named Galifre. While the experimentation resulted in a moderate healing factor she also discovered recently it is slowly killing her due to increased physical strain on her body functions, especially on her heart. Lacey tracked down a serum used on other subjects of Galifre’s experimentation that she noted has been used on her moons prior to leaving the Garlean Empire’s service. The remaining vials, left behind accidentally by the Garlean Empire when one of their airships was destroyed during the Calamity, were spread out across Eorzea. After consulting with the records at the Observatorium of Aetherial and Astrological Phenomena, Lacey and a few select friends set out to retrieve them, hoping they would restart her healing factor. After arriving at the final location, Lacey and her friends encountered one of the lead Garlean scientists, Galifre Clauduet along with a few Garlean soldiers and a Samurai from Lacey’s past who had become a biomechatronic experiment of Galifre’s. Galifre gave the group an ultimatum, fight his latest experiment and he would hand over the last box of serum or be wiped out by nearby Garlean forces. Lacey and her friends defeated the Samurai and Galifre and his remaining forces fled, his supporting squadron having been defeated earlier by Draco Nobis. The serum did have positive effects on her mutation but Lacey needed ongoing supplies. What happened next was a cat and mouse game around Eorzea between Juno (and friends) and Galifre as the man searched for more vials of the serum along with the scientist himself. After the death of a dear friend in another unrelated Garlean incident Lacey decided to turn herself into Galifre rather then have anymore of her friends die or be hurt un-necessarily due to her past involvement with the Empire. Juno with the help of a few friends found and rescued Lacey in a hidden Garlean laboratory in Coerthas where Galifre had finally finished his life work on Lacey. His last experiment in Lacey was successful, stabilising her healing factor and providing a new potential resource for the Empire to exploit. However, Galifre's over-confidence proved to be his fault when he ignored Juno, Archemides and Triss who managed to find a way to break through his shield protecting the laboratory and rescue Lacey.

Personality

When Lacey meets new people she is usually either quiet or can be found testing new individuals with teasing, flirting or similar techniques for both fun and to assess the type of person they are. Amongst friends she would be described as quiet, preferring to listen rather than talk. While she attempts at most times to keep an emotional distance from others, either with humour, playfulness or remaining quiet she can become over emotional about issues close to her like the Garlean Empire or pertaining to the safety of her friends. Nevertheless she has recently grown warmer, especially towards those she considers friends, offering to help selflessly rather than for reward like she did previously. She is fiercely protective of those who she cares for and will happily join any fray if it means defending them. She is often prone to using sarcasm and humour, especially to deflect talk of more emotional issues. Despite this she is slowly opening to others.

Likes

• Studying human behaviour
• Sex
• Winning
• Doman food and culture
• Fighting
• Cute things- i.e Moogle Plushies, lalafells.
• Hunting, be it animal or human prey.

Dislikes

• The Garlean Empire
• Discussing her past
• Warm weather
• Losing any sort of battle, be it verbal or physical
• Misogynistic behaviour
• Eikons (primals) and their miniature versions (egi's).

Strengths

• Manipulative, observant and often logical thinker. Lacey often see's the world in a cold, unemotional manner unless it involves her friends or loved ones.
• Loyal to those she loves and calls friends.
• Good at flirting with males (if she has reason). Females put her on edge as they somewhat unfamiliar to her and she is still uncomfortable with her bisexuality.
• Trained assassin and spy whose proficient in several martial forms.
• Healing Factor.

Weaknesses

• Lacey is prone to being self-destructive, introverted and often internalises most negative emotions and trauma.
• Suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due her past with the Garlean Empire.
• She is at uneducated on the basics of magic and aether use.

Combat

Lacey began her training at the age of nine at an academy for young recruits to train as a shinobi and possible future Frumentarii in Doma. She is proficient in several Othard martial arts forms and can slip into the shadows to stealth with ease. Her usual weapon of choice is usually some sort of Doman dagger. Lacey is also highly proficient at archery, a skill she learnt during her training at the academy and learnt in Eorzea how to use her voice and ability to play the harp to enhance her own or other abilities in combat. She also has been trained by her partner how to use the sword but is unable to fight effectively in heavy armour due to her petite frame.

Equipment

Blades: Lacey favours Doman daggers over Eorzean daggers. She generally fights with her Yoshimitsu, a gift form her old Master in the service of the Empire, who trained her at the academy, or with her vajras, which she fights with like Sais.

Bows: While Lacey was trained how use shortbows in Doma she has recently switched to longbows since her Eorzea due to a lack of decent shortbows in the land. Her favourite bow is longbow composed of left over remains of the primal Gaurda, a wedding gift from her husband.

Poisons: Lacey usually coats her blades or carries poisoned arrows with her when heading into serious combat.

Hidden Blades: Lacey usually has an assortment of small blades hidden on her in case of any emergencies.

Relationships

♥ Romantic Interest ♥ Platonic Love ● Good Standing ● Neutral Standing ● Poor Standing

♥ Juno Iskandi : Lacey's wife. While she was recovering from Varus' attack the two became close and had been dating for several moons before Juno proposed to her. They have been married for several moons now.

● Portia Bartel : A friend she met through Aeon. She stayed with Portia for a short while before being attacked by Varus. She has a soft spot for the woman and her child which she helped deliver.

● Dartanon Nobis : Dartanon, whose actual name is Draco, first met Lacey when she worked for Varus. After she joined Aeon the two became friends and Draco defended her on several occasions when some of the other members of Aeon had conflict with her. Draco and Lacey are still on good terms despite her leaving the Free Company. Recently he followed her on her mission to retrieve the medication needed to re-activate her healing factor and defeated a Garlean squad that sent to kill her and her friends.

● Granis Klensbane  : Lacey met Granis during her time at Aeon. The two bonded over both being outsiders in the company and their "grey" morale. Despite his grumpy demeanor Lacey is quite fond of the man and perceives him as a big brother figure.

● Archemides Fontaine : While Archemides, or Archie, as Lacey calls him, only became friends with Lacey a few moons ago, the two have became close friends. She recently joined his company. The two have a playful, complex relationship, somewhere between sibling love and rivalry with romantic undertones.

● Hotaru Gin : Hotaru's brother attempted to hire Lacey to spy on the girl but she refused due to his misogynistic nature. While they were friends at first the two now have a tense relationship due to Lacey's relationship with Juno.

● Varus Adelric Rosenthal : Lacey's former employer and enemy of the free company Aeon. After learning of her alliance to Aeon and Zaku he removed all memories of himself from her mind resulting in significant psychological and physical damage to her mind. He recently returned and after confronting him the man confirmed he has no further interest in her.

Rumours

Some of these rumours are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumours under PC!

◢ Common Rumours (Easily overheard)

● "Have you seen her and her husband, Juno? Everytime I see them here in the Quicksand or walking around Ul'dah they're always holding hands or have their hands all over each other. They've been like that for moons now. Didn't surprise me when I saw the Eternal Bond Rings on their fingers last moon. Wish me and my misses were like those two". - Patron of the Quicksand.

● "I hear she hangs out with those Wolves a lot. You know, the Hungry Wolves, ran by Rhea Zaheela. Doesn't surprise me, way she looks at people when they piss off her, she looks like a wolf herself." - Merchant in Gridania.

◢ Moderate Rumours (Moderately difficult to overhear)

● "Tried to mug her several moons ago when she first started hanging about Ul'dah. She flipped me over, held me down and broke four of the fingers on my left hand. Said to pass on a warning to all the other thieves in the city to not to bother mugging her or she wouldn't be so kind to them" - Pathetic Thief in Pearl Lane.

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◢ Rare Rumours (Rarely heard)

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◢ PC Rumours (Rumours from the character's of other players)

● "She may had been one of... -them-, bu' I say give 'er a chance. Who knows, she may surprise us." Chiyo_Hoshi

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References

TV Tropes

Broken Bird

Anti Hero

Shefu

WaifFu

SuperSolider

My God what have I done?

Deadpan Snarker