Tal Raith

Tal Raith
"How strong is your will to live?"
Gender	Male
Race	Roegadyn
Clan	Seawolf
Citizenship	Limsa Lominsa
Age	40-ish
Marital Status	Engaged to Ardent Dawn
Occupation	Maelstrom Crisis Officer
Height/Weight	7'7" 550 Ponze
Orientation	Kinsey 1
Relatives	None known

Basic Info

Tal Raith is a man marked by shadows. Nothing more than a few years back is certain of him, and even now his work often sends him down routes where prying eyes are far from welcome. Questions about his family or his home are met with jokes or ridiculous tales, sometimes with a hidden edge for those too curious. Despite all this, Tal has managed to earn a fair bit of renown during his time in the light. Prolific adventurer and bare knuckled do-gooder, merciless drill sergeant and noisy tavern regular, the soot-skinned roe has come to play a great many parts in a short time.

LIKES ■ Good Booze ■ Laughing ■ Simple Company ■ Staying Sharp ■ Healers ■ Animals (Especially chocobos)

DISLIKES ■ People who are too nosy ■ Preying on the weak ■ Paperwork ■ Sleeping

OTHER ■ Vice(s): Tells stories of how he used to be weak for strong drink and soft women, but age has tempered these. ■ Favorite Food: Suffers partial anosmia and a similarly diminished sense of taste. ■ Favorite Drink: Numerous, though partial to qiqirn firewater. ■ Dependencies: Magical healing. The intensity of Tal's physical training puts such stress on his system that without regular attention from a magical healer of some sort, he would quickly destroy his own body.

Personality

Tal's personality ranges from gruff and shifty eyed to back slaps and belly laughs, depending on his company, resulting in some vary discrepant opinions of him floating around. His most jovial moods can generally be found in the company of good liquor and friends. Although Tal himself takes extensive measures to keep himself from actually getting drunk, the mere presence of alcohol seems to raise his spirits. More than a few taverns have seen a haggard figure of a road worn Roe melt into a raucous storm of laughter and decidedly sailorly vocabulary. This attitude is also responsible for more than a few rumors floating around about Tal, since the mixture of taverns and good humor generally mean that any questions about his past are met with an elaborate tall tale. Most who know the man well enough just laugh the stories off, but a few naive recruits have wandered into the world, half drunk and wondering over how a long lost prince could end up as their drill sergeant.

In the middle spectrum is his attitude when acting in his capacity as a Maelstrom officer. Generally formal and upright when meeting new officers, he tends to quickly pick up on casual attitudes and can be depended on to quickly ease into a more rough and sergeant-like attitude. In contrast to this is his behavior when dealing with fresh recruits. Tal frequently volunteers for training duty, and seems to take a an almost worrying amount of glee in breaking in new troops. More than a few privates have gone to sleep with Tal's voice ringing in their ears and his inscrutable gaze burned into the back of their eyes. Terror though he is to some of the troops, even the most sore among them don't dare to accuse him of abusing his authority. For every back-breaking task he sets to them, the roe takes on two himself, all but taunting his charges every step of the way.

Gruff as his persona drilling would be soldiers into shape is, it's a far cry from his most grim. For that, one would need to find Tal on the job as an adventurer. While some of the tasks he takes up may call for more levity, the darker and colder among them bring out a stony, inhuman side to the roe. This side of Tal is rarely witnessed by those who know him in other walks, which has led to a sort of duality among rumors about him. So strikingly different is his character when in this mode that those who come across him while on the hunt would likely swear him a completely different person from the officer in Limsa.

Though less common, a few other faces of his pop up from time to time. Among the Maelstrom's headquarters for instance, Tal has a reputation for ingratiating himself to medics that make their way to the higher ranks. More than a few jokes have been passed around about his "courting" habits while Tal tracked down a newly promoted conjurer, often with a few choice bits of personal information and a favored vintage in hand. Another rarely seen side is the gentle, almost paternal personality he shows to those who are genuinely scared. Typically a fresh faced recruit, preparing for his first real foray onto the fields of death, shaken and numb, can expect an unexpectedly personal anecdote from the grey behemoth; A coarsely phrased story about some past battlefield or some other venue for worldly wisdom meant to inspire them enough to not trip over their own spears. These little breakthroughs are fairly rare, however, and typically denied in more public setting by Tal, giving them an almost mythical status among those serving under him. Finally, Tal displays a surprisingly bright and gentle side when it comes to children and animals.

Appearance

Although perceptions of him as a person may vary, his appearance is unmistakable. Tal is a veritable golem. Large, even for a Roegadyn, every inch of his smoke shaded physique seems to have been carved from granite, into layers upon layers of compact muscle. Despite his often rough behavior, Tal is quite fastidious about personal hygiene, taking care to make full use of whatever tools he finds available to keep himself clean and well groomed. In particular, he shaves his head religiously. If he didn't, one could expect a head of thick, black hair, streaked with early traces of grey, just like in his well trimmed beard.

Beyond his looming build and gleaming cranium, Tal has several notable physical traits in the form of several significant scars. The first that one would likely notice, is the network of varied cuts that surround his eyes. Dense and numerous in bands reaching just out to his eyebrows, these scars vanish abruptly, giving way to largely unmarked skin on the rest of his head. The next most noticeable would be over his right shoulder. A long, starburst gash, centered on a patch of burned skin. Finally, a pale, dendritic pattern runs down the back of his left calf, converging into a frozen lightning burst of raised skin on the back of his left heel. These last two are fairly treasured by Tal, the marks left from battle with primals, and though he rarely has the opportunity to show them off, he revels in every chance he gets to tell their stories.

Miscellaneous

RUMORS Some of these rumors are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC! ◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard) ■ What, sarge? He's a mean bastard, sure, but I'm glad he's on our side. - Maelstrom Soldier ■ Tal Raith, he's one of those primal bashers, right? Some kinda warrior of light or something. - Limsa Citizen ■ Oh! I know! He's some kinda retired pirate! Or was it a prince... No... -Tipsy Bar Patron ◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear) ■ Hmm... He's probably the only crisis officer I know of who I'd trust on my team. -Maelstrom Officer ■ Supposed to be an adventurer, but he's damn finicky about his work. Turned me down three times now. -Irate "Businessman" ■ Augh, not him! I swear he's in here every week, and no matter how much I tell him he needs to take a proper break, he just keeps getting himself torn up! -Exhausted Conjurer ◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard) ■ I hear he's not like those other ones that fight the beast gods. No echo, or whatever they call it. Whatever he is, he's no warrior of light, that's for sure. - Suspicious Vagrant ■ He seems normal enough on the surface, but once you start digging, he's all tangled leads and dead ends. Nobody appears out of nowhere like he did unless they're running from something. -Information Dealer ■ He laughs and jokes and trains harder and louder than anyone, but in those little gaps in-between, you see it. How tired he is... How worn out... What's hurting you... -Coporal Koshialla Shialla after a night of drinking ◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from the character's of other players) ■ "He is the finest soldier I have had the pleasure of working with." SwygynWyzn Thosinsyn ■ "I have met him only briefly but he is defensive of his friends and we need more people like that!" Okhi Lyehga ■ ■

RELATIONS ♥ Romantic Interest ♥ Platonic Love ● Good Standing ● Poor Standing ♥ Name : Description

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