Aelfred Sigmundsson

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Aelfred
Might and Mead


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P R O F I LE


Birth Name... Aelfred Sigmundsson

Aliases... Alfred Klios, Steelsoul, Big Bear, Gargantuan Doofbrains

Race & Clan... Half-Garlean/Half-Hyur | Highlander

Gender... Male

Age & Nameday... 39 | 5th Sun of the 4th Umbral Moon

Marital Status... Afianced

O T H E R


Tribe... Steelsoul

Current Residence... The Salty Hearth (The Goblet 2nd Ward Subdivision, Apartment 61)

Occupation... Smuggler, double agent

Height & Physique... 5'11" | Strongarmed

Alignment... Chaotic Neutral

Status... Lying low.



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M I G H T   A N D    M E A D


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P E R S O N A

Ael is a larger than life Hyur halfbreed who's priorities in life revolve around the frequent use of alcohol, imported cigars, and finding excuse to hedonize throughout the day. He is remarkably crude and honest which usually offends and impedes on the sensitivities of more civilized folk. He elects not to observe many Eorzan themes of decency, such as not belching or pounding on tables to demand more mead and food. He is loud, bold, merry, and lax. Aelfred will speak his mind without remorse in any setting, regardless of backlash or consequence.

In spite of his crass and unrefined demeanor, few may find more characters as approachable as Aelfred. He is quick to welcome others to his "Hearth", whether it be a simple table or the precise place he has decided to plop his rear and drink his honey-wine. He is very curious to hear a passerby's tales and feats of strength. He despises shyness in all forms, and desires that those in his company be boastful and straightforward. At face value, Aelfred can appear simple-minded and rather stubborn. However, his struggle of life at an early age following the Diaspora of his countrymen, and the experience of having lived in two nations has awarded him with a great deal of worldly knowledge. His wisdom can be off-set often by his propensity to become drunk and engage in tom-foolery, and being set off by specific topics that incite his rage such as slavery.

The Highlander may best be described of as a "Lazy Bear" as his past friends have affectionately named him. He is often inanimate and lax, and a warm figure to welcome most who approach with good or honest intentions. He can be quick to anger and maul what he judges as a threat to the physical well being of those close to him, or attacks on his beliefs. The Achilles's Heel to Aelfred's temperament is his unwavering demeanor that earns him as many enemies as it does allies. He simply could not be bothered if he insults and belittles those he considers "meek", "needy", or "petty". Aelfred lives for the moments where others may bask in his simple and honest life style, and that the courage he lends to his allies enables them to make better men and women of themselves.


A P P E A R A N C E


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Aelfred stands out as an above average midlander Hyur given his mixed blood. He is notably soft-featured for a Hyur, and especially a Highlander. His body is more sturdy in proportion to most Highlanders of equal height; His chest numbers nearly forty five ilms around with massive pectoralis muscles often bulging past his form fitting clothing. He carries a softer core gut mildly tilts down a belt. His deltoid and tricep muscle groups are tremendous from decade of work hauling ship cargo and smuggled goods. His thighs hold proud hamstring and quadriceps that bulge like a caveman under a loincloth, and most his body is covered in a fine fur akin to his head hair's color, which is strangely off-white suggesting he might be greatly aged, despite his more youthful features that don't suggest someone almost 40 years of age, courtesy of the Sielamat ritual.
His right eye is completely milky white with a traumatic cataract paired with a grotesque scar that runs vertically from brow to lower cheek bone. His left eye, however, holds a blood-red iris. He inherited it from his father, and it could mistake others into believing he is an albino were it not for his sun-kissed flesh.


L I K E S
Getting tipsy
Philosophical conversations
Bloodsport and carnage
Miqo'te ears
A sense of kinship and brotherhood
Enabling others
Living freely.
Obtaining firearm upgrades
Lady feet and hands.
D I S L I K E S
Sensitive individuals
Passive agression
Cardio
Slavers
The Law
"Badasses"
Lesbians
S I N S
💀 Murder
💀 Genocide
💀 Infanticide
💀 Treason
💀 Smuggling contraband
💀 Assault
💀 Battery
💀 Insubordination
💀 Kidnapping
💀 Tribal intolerance
💀 Hedonism
💀 Substance abuse
Q U I R K S
■ Can make a girl giggle and give a mean foot rub.
■ Often refers to the first person "I" as "a lad"
■ Has an awful blend of pirate, common and tribal accent.
■ Is known to dye his hair red with streaks of his natural hair forming highlights.
■ Can wear down the most uptight of characters to become down to earth.
A B I L I T I E S


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C O M B A T


Dirty Fighting
While Aelfred has respect for loosely-standardized bloodsport, he fights without honor or chivalry. He actively uses cover and innocents to escape or discharge his firearms. He's not above shooting or stabbing someone in the back, and knows well how to make use of his environment.
Swordsmanship
Being the son of a stern Garlean swordswoman and Steelsoul Shield Maiden naturally granted Aelfred familiarity with the blade. The Zweihander and Viking Sword and Round Shield are most familiar to his hands. Even aboard ships he never replaced a stout Viking Sword with a more streamlined cutlass. He can hold his own against most knights and elite guardsman but often supplements dirty tricks and Abyssal magic to ensure victory.
Firearm Proficiency
Before a sword, Aelfred can always be found with a firearm. Either as a main weapon or, more commonly, in the form of concealable single-shit smoothbore flintlocks that he can afford to be expendable with. Repeating firearms he knows are rare and often Garlean in origin and would provoke suspicion. His depth perception has taken a hit for long-distance shooting, but he has near mastered the art of 'point and shoot' by having a feel for a specific model and weight of handgonne for accurate shots up to twenty yalms away with a quick draw.




P A S S I V E


Hyuran versatility
Aelfred's body is neither lean as a Miqo'te lacking body mass for power or great height of Roegadyn or shortness of Lalafells. His body is compact and pound for pound offers similar muscular strength as a Male Roegadyn.
Low center of gravity
Aelfred's newer, solid body and slightly shorter height allows for few instances of loose footing or tripping by enemies.




R E S I S T A N C E S


Pain Tolerance
Aelfred's body is a patchwork of old scars, cauterized wounds and botched field dressings. He suffered from routine flogging for insubordination in a short time of the Garlean Navy. Years of un-caring and self-destructive habits put him in situations where he would he harmed, and now he can fight on non-fatal wounds for extended periods of time drowning out the pain.
Mental Fortitude
A result of Aelfred's steel willpower is his resistance to being possessed and mind dominated. His mind harbors a torrent of horrible pasts and regrets that would disturb or shatter the focus of most mind controllers, especially voidsent. The simplicity of his mind allows him a remarkable discipline in his fighting. He is cold and calculating and allows no handicap for his opponents' taunting or feigns.




W E A K N E S S E S


Endurance
Aelfred is a chain smoker and a massive mound of fast-twitch muscle. His strength is great but his fighting cannot be prolonged. This leads to him assuming defensive stances when forced to melee combat.
Eyesight
Having his right eyesight removed leaves 1/3 of his vision with a blind-spot that can be taken advantage of.




R E L A T I O N S H I P S


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  Color Key

Romance Attraction Unique Friendly Neutral Poor Business Unsure Enemies Deceased

N P C

  Agatha Armis ( ) - Mother; Stern and Distant
Aelfred's three-eyed mother. She presently lives in the familial lodge high in the mountains of Gyr Albania in hermit-hood, an hour's stride from Aelfred's birth place. She had left the Garlean Empire three decades ago to live in seclusion of the Highlands of Gyr Albania, and fell in love with Aelfred's father in his tribe and decided to settle down with child. She remains a figure of marvel for Aelfred, who regards her as a powerful potent woman with unparalleled skill with a zweihander. Despite Aelfred speaking highly of her, she is distant and largely rejecting of him, remarking his failure of the Garlean navy and how he has not secured wife and child in his encroaching middle age. Nevertheless, Aelfred knows that these are expectations of a tribesman and that he is her only living son. She couldn't ever entirely reject him.
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  Janus Aelfredsdottir and Juno Aelfredsson ( ) - Beloved Posterity
Aelfred's twin offspring, or 'cubs'. They were born of three different worlds and always knew their father and mother's admiration. Peach flesh and brown hair, either youth shares the best features of their devoted parents. Originally meant to be Meifeng's ticket to Imperial citizenship, the pair solidified their mother and father's love for one another. They are Aelfred's greatest joy and the two things he would be ready to die for in the world. When Nikolai returned and forced Aelfred's hand following a minor skirmish, the Highlander took both his son and daughter under-arm and retreated to the woods leaving behind Meifeng who was unable to take action in her great fear to disobey her 'father', and whom had led the Garlean straight to their Twelveswood home.
  Siegmund Saigathsson ( ) - Father; Tribal warrior
Siegmund is Aelfred's often unmentioned father, being mostly stated for Aelfred's surname. Siegmund was an adviser for the chieftan and a landowning warrior within the tribe. He was regarded as a stoic man and gave Ael little affection, but was not distant. He taught Ael at a young age how to ride Chocobos and fish and hunt in the summers as the ice melted. Aelfred holds brief but fond memories of him. He is presume dead following the Ala Mhigan resistance against the empire.


P C


   Beralda Skyhawk ( ) - A Siren's Send
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The woman of the North came to Aelfred in a darkest hour. The betrayal of Meifeng had left his heart putrid black: spiteful, distrusting, angered, petty. The adopted sister of Zan'Kria shared her Northern blood and came to know Aelfred through mutual friends. At first there was a fleshly flavor dancing between the two nordic persons, finding comfort in damaged hearts. The pair soon found to be kindred spirits and decided to toss a gamble into beating back the past and making something more of themselves and for future posterity. The ritual of the Sielamat eventually bound their souls as one, and he swore that if he ever would walk a path unfavorable to her or their children that his soul would be surrendered to be taken by the Siren. At last no strings were attached, and Aelfred has enjoyed three more kin to spend with Janus and Juno no longer knowing only their father as a loving hand. Each became the surrogate of the other's spawn indefinitely and proudly.
   Zan'Kria Skyhawk ( ) - A Siren's Sister
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An old friend and the adopted sister of his beloved. There once existed an attraction to Ael as he were involved with playing double agent with one Meifeng Lemurfeet. The Northern Maiden had cared for him as a friend even as it would be a cycle before he were seen again after the Eorzean invasion of Gyr Albania, after the first time he climbed into her bedchamber to pass out asleep from liquor. She came to him again when he returned with Janus and Juno to the desert jewel to be in hiding with a mutual friend finding the halfbreed an often drunken mess in the Pearl Lane. Married and with new child, the old friend worried for Aelfred knowing well that something had occurred why he were absent a wife but he'd never speak of it. In recent times, she's proven to be an unrivaled ally to Aelfred providing both wealth, job, and a plethora of connections including an extended family. The attraction never faltered, and there are moments where the pair frollick together with her adoptive sister: Aelfred once finding the deed an affront to their matrimony but convinced in the world of cryptids it were considered an honor.
   Thidrandisson ( ) - A Scaled Ally
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The Wyrm represented another cryptid to crawl into Aelfred's life in the most unexpected times. Often representing himself in the mortal alias Ryokei Yumitori, the wyrm as Aelfred prefers to describe in the old tongue shows a friendly demeanor toward the Skyhawks and their compatriots. The dragon aided Aelfred in saving his beloved from his brother, Lancefer who were sworn to hunt the "harpies" for sport, and Aelfred considered it an unpayable debt. Aelfred and Thidrandisson can often be at odds on how to handle a friend in need, especially with the conflict of what to do about Lancefer. At times the two leave in a spit but Aelfred could never truly abandon him.
  Dalain Ejinn ( ) - First mate, Matriarch of Ejinn
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Aelfred's first mate since returning to Eorza following his near death. Their bond was solidified upon his infiltration of a Dotharl camp where she had been kidnapped and tied nude to a pole for the chieftan to take his revenge on fallen soldiers. She helped show that the Abyss had no influence on his ability to commit monstrous acts. The two left on very fond terms, as her duty was to her clan as a matriarch and set off one expedition once hearing of surviving members.
  Simeon Sibaruse ( ) - Compatriot Turned Enemy
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Aelfred's oldest compatriot-turned enemy. The Elezen Knight never truly forgave Ael for leaving their friendship behind, and now considers the Highlander a bitter enemy to be loathed and belittled from Aelfred's recent involvement in his company.
  Grymoefyra Fyrillwyn ( ) - Oldest Eorzan Friend
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Fyra had long been Aelfred's muse and occasional guide in his life of turmoil. She is no longer Simeon's mate. Recent events in her Free Company turned her away from Aelfred and judged him a rapist, and a monster. Since then, her friendly, comforting, soft tending words and hand ended. Recently, Aelfred had made ammends with the woman and had brought to light the reality and truth of ambiguous accusations. While acknowledging things could never go back the way they were, as Fyra still grows leery of his Abyssal influence, the pair have a neutral, if not friendly standing to allow one or the other to come to martial aid of the other.
   Primus Ordinarius Nikolai rem Gladio ( ) - The Worst of Enemies
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There would never have been a more heinous hatred for a man than Aelfred holds for Nikolai. The long torturer of his wife, and now cause for displacement of himself and his children. Aelfred had long wanted to snap his neck betwixt his hands at every opportunity, but Meifeng or fate staved Aelfred's hand. Nikolai remains the only being to match Aelfred's wit and the pair were constantly battling one another through instrumental aggression. Aelfred had failed to truly liberate Meifeng from his grasp, and together they forced Aelfred's hand to disadvantage and to return to hiding, with a larger target marker than ever before.
  Meifeng Eir Inugami ( ) - Betrayer.
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A member of the Inugami clan initially, her path changed as the Empire conquered the Domans and she was cast into the servitude of the Empire as little more than a "Doman Dog". Looked down upon as a slave and ridiculed by her superior, she was brainwashed that Imperial might was the truest in the land and the only way to peace. Fourteen years she had served and hoped to earn citizenship in proceeding years. Her first meeting with Aelfred involved drugging him and leading him to interrogation chambers as he was a known Garlean defector. She acted in good faith and let him go without detaining him to test his truths.
Ael had moments to leave Meifeng to die or fail her missions on multiple occasions, but he worked in the guile of a 'loyal' Imperial citizen to aid her plights. Since then, he has taken strong affection with her, and has recently proposed and become affianced. She currently bears his bastard which he looks forward to taking to rear as his own with Mei to be wed and earn her Imperial citizenship instantly in such a manner.
Happiness was short lived for the newlyweds, as Ael took flight with Meifeng during the fall of the XII legion in Gyr Albania back into Gridanian woods finally convincing her she may have a life free of the empire. Aelfred had hoped to forge a quiet livelihood to help tend to his beloved's horrific nightmares of torture at the hands of the Gladio. There Meifeng could live out her dream as a chocobo farmer. The months long peace were shattered by the arrival of a hooded figure to their homestead that turned to be none other than Nikolai. Aelfred welcomed the cursed spawn with false smiles playing coy that they were surviving in Eorzea as MIA rather than AWOL. Aelfred's chance to cleave off the man's head with an axe was ended by hidden backup in the brush, and it became clear that Meifeng had kept ties to her abusive surrogate. Seeing no other option, Aelfred chose his blood over Meifeng, and retreated out of the house and into the deep woods leaving behind the willowing screams of his wife knowing what fate awaited her betrayal to both sides.
The next time the two met was in the Desert Jewel when her appearance nearly drew Aelfred to be thrown into a Gaol wielding his longsword. The man spat in her direction calling her weak and pathetic, and as he turned his back she flung out a poisoned blade at his cheek that marred his flesh permanently. His colleague Auron Savaris and he chased the Shadow into the Pearl Lane where she played as a helpless maiden covered by a roving Roegadyn to escape. The woman had turned back to her old ways and was little more than a shadow of a memory to Aelfred, and one deserving the most brutal of deaths.


R U M O R S


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N P C

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◢ Common Rumors - Easily overheard. Use these freely!
“That man looks for any excuse to get drunk and start a brawl or a party, Whatever it is, it's good for business.”
– Quicksand Matron
“He's often seen feeding the homeless in Pearl Lane. He's either a philanthropist or paying someone.”
– Ul'dahn Native
“He speaks with lots of girls accused of being Garleans. Why would he when he feeds his homeless countryman?”
– Pearl Lane Urchin
◢ Uncommon Rumors - A little more difficult to hear. Use sparingly or ask first!
“Something evil brews in that man. He smiles and makes merry with others, but I can feel dark powers at work in his heart.”
– Venerable Thaumaturge
“That Highlander takes alot of homeless women to his house. He is definitely a scoundrel.”
– Quicksand Tender
◢ Rare Rumors - Very rarely overheard. Please ask before using!
“I saw his face once in an alleyway hooded at night. He was accepting a chest while giving away a box of glass-looking objects.”
– Gladiator
“Is that the same man that was in Ul'Dahn officers clothing and moved to pardon the accused Garlean?”
– Hall of Flames Clerk

P C

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◢ Player Character Rumors - Feel free to add rumors of your own!

"This man is causing a commotion everytime I see him." - Auron Savaris

"You might not believe it... but-but he used to be much taller. I'm... still trying t-to figure out if he wore boots with inserts or stilts." - 'Grymoefyra Fyrillwyn (credit to Grymoefyra Fyrillwyn)

"When he's around the Quicksand I feel like I'm right back in Gyr Abania! Or... at least what I imagine it must have been like!" - Aya Foxheart
H I S T O R Y


Birth
Aelfred was born and raised in the small Steelsoul tribe west of Ala Mhigo. His family and extended kin made up the majority of his tribe, with very few settlers from Ala Mhigo. The tribe was renowned for their tempered steel that could resist the bitter cold of the north and not split upon colliding with shields. Aelfred lived a part of his childhood in security and 8 cycles before the invasion of the empire.
Age 8
By age of 8 cycles, Aelfred had learned how to ride a Chocobo, albeit he was far too small to reach the stirrups. He had knowledge of his land to survive the wilds: to eat the right colored berries, how to fish through ice and river, and how to trap small game. This was the year that Ala Mhigo became invaded by the Garlean Empire. Confidence quickly fell that the Highlanders' resistance would be formidable. The men of the Steelsoul tribe had gone to war, leaving behind women and children. When so few men returned, the remaining families decided to travel further South into Eorza to flee the encroaching legions. Garlean soldiers were known to rape women and pillage lands they conquered freely. By the time soldiers arrived at the tribe, they have found a forge long gone cold, and one of their own countrywomen living alone with child. Agatha kept Aelfred alive by pretending that she had been taken captive long ago and forced to live within the tribe and bear a bastard son. Aelfred's home was looted, and he and his mother retreated to a lodge that Agatha and Siegmund had built ten summers prior. It was here where Agatha would live out remaining years as a hermit to the present day, and Aelfred would spend ten more cycles learning the art of swordplay.
Age 18
With Ala Mhigo long conquered a decade ago, the conscription of Ala Mhigan citizens had long been in effect. While Aelfred remained safe in the lodge atop the mountain, his mother decided it best for him to make a man of himself and not live out his days as a half-breed with no land or wife or son. She sent him away to join the Garlean navy much against his wishes, but he would not deny a mother who stood firmly at 6 fulm 4 ilm. There was good knowledge that young men and boys born of platinum or grey hair were bastard half breeds. Aelfred's proof of citizenship was fair enough with his mother's seal, and he joined the Navy among many other conscripts, mainly Othardians and the youth of his countryman who had not fled.
Age 19
Aelfred had survived nearly a cycle into his service. His hardship was often caused by his own doing. The free-spirit of his Highlander blood boiled fresh in his veins, and he was often apt to routine acts of insubordination or poor cooperation. To the present day, he bears countless flogging marring across his back and shoulders, and is very well familiar with a mop and bucket for swabbing. His main reprieve from daily struggles of navy life were found with the crew he was sailing with. Few desired to be numbered among the sailors; many were men and women from conquered Garlean lands.
A morning of cannon fire spurred fate for the young Half-breed. He had sailed half a world away to reap the bounties of the Thanalan shoreline for the glory of the Empire, but the crew had not counted on the waters being patrolled by the true Masters of the Sea, the Sea Wolves of the Maelstrom. The Eorzan city states often granted free passage of shipped goods from other states. While the Maelstrom seaman traded spices and other bounties, the occasional Garlean galleon was a floating bounty and a delicious opportunity to enact revenge. Aelfred had awoken to the booming sounds of cannonballs wracking through his ship's hull. There was hardly a time for return fire, and as the munitions of the galleon caught fire and exploded, the ship began it's sinking along with Garlean officers and the first group of men and women he could call family. He survived being one of the first to jump ship aided by little feeling of allegiance to stay and die for a nation he despised.
He was pulled from the waters surrounded by drowned conscripts and hoisted above ship. The passions and hate of the Empire from the Maelstrom pirates was seldom matched. Aelfred was greeted with cutlass to the throat, and the Pirates decided that another dead sailor was counter-intuitive. It was decided that Aelfred's apparent knowledge of the various ports of Ala Mhigo and his rather negative disposition of the Empire earned him his life. The Maelstrom would have hold over him with an obligatory 'working visa' with his life as condition of service. Aelfred knew by this point there was no returning home to his mother, and he began to harbor feelings of diminished self worth. He had traded one set of shackles for the next. For the next near decade, he would work ten months of the cycle smuggling Garlean technology with help from Eorzan supporters in Ala Mhigo. He returned to the city state as the lone survivor of the Maelstrom attack, and was granted an honorable discharge. He could not see his mother even if he had desired it, she still lie weeks of travel through snow and mountain which was time not afford to him.
Age 29
Aelfred had grown into a seasoned adult with a great deal of influence from his life as a salty sailor. He had picked up dirty fighting and turning away from the traditional, honorable soldierly fighting that he was reared up by his mother and empire basic training. Self interest was boundless, and Aelfred had long abandoned any hope for his life being great. In the two months afforded to him on land, he spent nearly every sun becoming drunk and lying with various bar wenches. His life had become vulgar and aimless, for having lived so long for another's benefit and service.
This cycle he had decided to spend his small months of pleasure in Ul'Dah, a strange desert land unfamiliar to one of snow and sea-breeze. Keeping his Maelstrom duties a secret, he went about his daily doses of entertainment in the Quicksand tavern and Adventurer's Guild. There was little meaning in the day to day living of slurping more mead than a Hyur ever should and rising the next day to do it all over again. His life gained a renewed sense of purpose when he developed affection for one Seeker, Varys Suelan. She was a very sweet and friendly Seeker who had introduced him to a concept of l'amour, and that there could be more to life than simple substances. She had helped him along a bit of rehabilitation and recovering from near death of a band of perverse mercenaries who let him float in a river. There was a great misfortune when sailors of the Maelstrom returned to force him to service again. Attacking in the night, they wrestled him back to the vessel to be sailing immediately for Ala Mhigo for another tour of service. This left Aelfred crippled, and once again resorting to his self-destructive habits and losing that glimmer of hope that things may have turned for the better in his life.
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Age 29
Aelfred had not coped well with his separation from Varys. He had struck his 29th nameday as little more than a prisoner to resume duties committing treason against one empire. Before the next spring, and just after the new cycle, Aelfred made a change of heart. A fire spurned in his soul to start this year as a master of his own fate. He decided to leave Gyr Albania by foot, and head into the Shroud as the nearest Eorzan city state. Initially greeted with hostility, he presented an official Maelstrom identifier that allowed him freedom of passage. His 'mutiny' led him back to Ul'Dah where he searched for many weeks for Varys but could find no trace of her. Accepting that after months passing by she had possibly left, he sank into a deep depression and fell back upon previous habits of substance abuse.
His fate changed yet again when he met Grymoefyra Fyrillwin, a Sea-Wolf slave refugee, and the Crow company of slaver hunters that found use for his experiences aboard ships and smuggling and spy work. Fyra offered a tender hand to help aid him through his grief, and his fire was set aflame again as he desired to fight on behalf of those who could not fight for themselves. Aelfred knew all too well the misery of not being one's own master. He managed to develop feelings for a Xaela name Eilana, a strange scaled creature he had not ever seen before. Her past was dark and stopped her from reciprocating intense and fast degrees of affection Aelfred was offering. This drove him to another sadness, and he decided to leave Eorza for a time and find his mother again and see what became of his home.
Age 30, return home.
Aelfred, now a determined freed man, continued his dismissal of Maelstrom smuggling to find his mother in her Lodge. It had been over ten cycles since he had seen her again. She welcomed him to a harsh strike and held at swordpoint before he was identified. Upon hearing her son's life and choices over several hours of tea and meal, she scolded him immensely and stressed he has yet to make a man of himself, that he was not half the man his father was. A mother's guiding hand was delivered with yet more blows and scolding. Aelfred got a second wind of motivation by tough love, and he set out to return to Ul'Dah bearing his Father's ancestral armor, and his Mother's greatsword.
Age 31, return to Eorza
Aelfred arrived again to Eorza in the early summer. He found Fyra and the crows with a few more souls devoted to the cause. He discovered Eilana had longed for him to return, and his comrades found an Aelfred stout in spirit and with renewed confidence. On the first night of settling into a tavern room, Aelfred discovered the Abyssal Soulstone in his luggage. Uncertain of what it was, he kept it merely for monetary value. He developed a strong bond with Eilana and fought for the Crows until their eventual disbanding from finding corruption within the leader. He had many nights where he had strange dreams of his past where he changed the outcome of his fate by killing the men responsible for his captivity every stage of his life. Garlean invaders, Garlean officers, and Maelstrom privateers. His Abyssal powers came to light when he was forced to defend himself against Maelstrom pirates that found him in Ul'Dah and attempted his capture again. They were forced to flee from a man who had finally turned the tide of his long life of bondage, and truly became a master of his fate.
Age 32
Where Aelfred had gained the courage and confidence to steer his fate, he had succumbed to a madness in his heart. He began to find fault in every comrade. Everyone would become an enemy eventually and his delusions suggested everyone simply wanted something from him. His romance with Eilana had parted from her desiring to harnass his power and be her King, where he desired not to become a Hyuran weapon. He lived for many moons in a torment of internal struggles. He staved off the Abyss in his heart by drinking heavily again, and even taking up such substances as Somnus. He went through several romances that did not last, and finally pushed away his last friend, Fyra, as she went off alone to gain revenge for her fallen mate. Aelfred's already marred body had taken substantial abuse in fighting for friends that he inevitably rejected with his growing dark heart. He searched for a Magi who could grant him a more compact form and be rid of torn ligaments, mis-shapen bones and torn cartilage.
Aelfred had failed to keep the many friendships he earned and romances he desparately opened his heart to. With a heavy heart, sailed away from Eorza to go North to the borders of the Shroud and Gyr Albania. A storm had taken place on the fourth day of his voyage. He was in the crow's nest searching for land to dock at, a simple passenger put again a role to rescue others with his experience at sea. With visibility poor, the ship ran aground and tossed Aelfred overboard. Wearing his full-plate at the time, Aelfred sank as a rock to the bottom of the sea. His soulstone drifted away from his reach, and for once, he welcomed death's cool embrace. He felt there was nothing to live for and was at peace when his last breath gave out and water filled his lungs.
Age 32, return to life.
Aelfred awoke on the shores of La Noscea on the opposite edge of Eorza. A stroke of fate and an unknown cause left him waking up to find his hands more burly, his body sore. He looked to the sea foam and found his body had reverted back to a former, crippled condition. His mind was adrift and suffered a madness from a mix of drinking too much sea water and being starved of a proper meal. A Sahagin had found his mangled form on the beach and attempted looting what was thought to be a corpse, which was met with a gnarled Highlander crazed on seafoam. The encounter left Ael with one horribly scratched, unusable right eye, and a bounty of Sahagin meat from one asphyxiated beastman. He remained here for many suns until a sea-shell collector found him distraught and returned him to civilization.
Age 34.
Aelfred reunited with Fyra and Simeon, a tall lithe Knight from the company of Crows, at the Aldenard Leveworks. With a near loss of his life, Aelfred took this second chance to make amends with all he had forsaken before his departure of Eorza. The soulstone remained disappeared and he was pleased to be rid of it. He identified with Dalain Ejinn and marveled at her plight to find a home in Ul'Dah for herself and her two twin sisters. They formed a powerful bond and would become a mated pair. Her ability to hold breath for great duration did well to recover his soulstone. Aelfred originally would never desire the source of his powers again, but Dalain had almost been taken from him as a sex slave and concubine for a Dotharl clan. This specific event forced Ael to commit his greatest sin of Genocide. Only a few women and children fled to the jungles, and he accepted that the darkness of his heart remained even without the soulstole. He desired power in any form after that, and once again posted atop a slippery slope of danger that led to his near demise.
Time mended Ael's soul and heartache for how he turned his back to his friends before. Eventually he accepted his shorter form once more with the same magicks, to shed his body of its original marring. He found enlightenment in accepting the soulstone's influence without fighting it with drink and substance abuse. He rid his conscience of guilt and saw past the paranoia that anyone close to him desired to use him. Dalain offered him a gentle heart to heal with, and unfortunately she had duty as a Matriarch to leave to far off lands and try to meet with others of her tribe who were rumored to still be surviving, and desired Ael not endanger his life to go with her.
Aelfred found peace at last. He was a freed man of either nation. He had comrades he could look after again. The dark thoughts and paranoia had disappeared, and he had found a real and lasting love that was only lost by a duty he wouldn't dare impede upon. A master of his own fate, Aelfred continues to live by the skills he's acquired and finding satisfaction in making small differences in lives of many who would come to call him ally, or friend.
Aelfred had parted Dalain on good terms. She had left to find the remnants of her tribe which Ael recognized was her superior duty as a matriarch. He's both earned vice of Simeon and forgiveness of Fyra from recent experiences with the Aldenard Leveworks, though he has found purpose in tending to the mother of his soon to be born bastard, Meifeng Inugami, a Garlean shadow.
They are two refugees from foreign lands both having felt the cold hard brutality of Imperial conscription. Ael strongly identified with this woman and works to aid her goal to gain Garlean citizenship. He cast his soulstone into a cavern waterfall to leave it behind forever, no longer desiring the power and dark influence that could jeopardize his newfound family. He hides in plain sight in Eorzan lands committing to the Imperial missions that are placed upon Meifeng. He plays a dangerous game of living a lie that he is an honorably discharged veteran of the Empire, and a free citizen of Eorza. Aelfred aims to play both banners so that he can someday settle into a quiet family in a peaceful part of the world, In whichever land wins the war.
Age 38.
Following the fall of the XIIth legion from Gyr Albania, Aelfred had at last persuaded Meifeng to disappear from Imperial communications listed as a casualty of the war. He led her and his children to a remote location in the Twelveswood to start a Chocobo farm as was his wife's dream all along. He built an adobe hut on the side of a hill and worked together with his wife to set up a corral. For the next year and a half, Aelfred continued to raise his young and try his best to quell Meifeng's PTSD from years of abuse of her 'father' and the horrors of the last war she participated in. Sleepness nights and waking up to his wife's screams of terror and nightmares always had Aelfred on edge, as if his fantasy world he worked so hard to build may be lost at any moment. The horror became reality as Aelfred rounded the homestead hearing his wife suddenly slam the door shut and grab Janus and Juno inside. Axe in hand from splitting wood, Aelfred spoke softly and carried a 'big stick', querying the supposed weary, robed traveler. The mysterious stranger turned out to be Nikolai, Meifeng's sadistic mentor and 'father figure'. Unbeknownst to Aelfred, Meifeng had kept secret contact with the Primus Ordinarius of her whereabouts never able to fully shed herself of the Imperial. Aelfred's cleverness was placed to the limit as he welcomed their once commander within his home, confident that the Highlander would be able to outwit him a second time.
In mid conversation with Meifeng, Nikolai had exposed his back to Ael who attempted to decapitate the Imperial once and for all, and would have succeeded if not for intervention of an agent nearby who kept up a shield around Nikolai. The confident Pure Blood began to torment Meifeng further who was on her knees in hysteria as the two most important men of her life were ready to kill one another. Aelfred bellowed for her to flee with the children, and Nikolai requested that she kill Aelfred. In a split decision, Aelfred discharged his firearm at the Magitech shield with Nikolai's sword-gun trained on Aelfred to distract him long enough for Ael to dart to his children's room and retreat into the woods with his precious posterity, leaving behind Janus and Juno's screaming mother left to an unknown fate.
Aelfred endured a cruel irony to resist the urge to return home to Gyr Albania from all his years of his life he had wished to see his homeland free of Imperial oppression to rear his children in a peaceful land. He was able to retreat back to Thanalan where there were old allies whom he could surround himself with for mutual protection. His old Salty Hearth now serves as a home for his greatly confused and bewildered children now absent of a mother and a permanent homestead. Aelfred was on edge for any sign related to Meifeng or Imperial presences. He returned to the bottle and cigars to quell his fear and rage and loss of security he long fought for. The short time ago in daylight he read to them and kept his children largely sheltered save to travel to the Bazaar. By night, he tucks his twins in for bed and sets upon Ul'Dah to surround himself in false comforts to pass out somewhere not always in his own home. On passing day, the Half-breed lost a little bit of himself to a growing madness and depression. Comforts of flesh often met brick ends with his temporary desires such as Ava Mazet and Erebos, the latter committing to false accusations of molestations once he began to favor his present beloved. A shorter temper drew him to make many enemies and even spend a week of hard labor as a payment for a crime never comitted, only so that he and Beralda might live in the city unbothered. Before his nameday, he had managed to make well with the previous women that acted out by envy and worry.


Present.
The thirty ninth cycle were met on the 5th day of the Fourth Umbral Moon. Aelfred had been saved from a life of substance abuse and finally provided meaning. Enough experience had drawn him to take a leap with no strings attached into a ritual that would give him no way out by irony. No longer bothering himself with seeking comradery among the usual masses, he instead surrounds himself with familiars, family, extended family and allies. His children and Beralda are his world and he would fiercely defend either to his last breath. He has accepted that his tribe is forever lost, and he no longer needs to dwell on the past in the stead of an illuminated future with his spawn and Valkyrie.
M U S I C



A True Warrior
Warrior
Artist: Disturbed
Theme: Aelfred-Unwavering Will
Context: “I can't be told the compromises from every toppled body lying at my feet.They know for minimal reminder they will speak my name for eternity. I have no need of any guidance, I am a weapon powerful beyond belief. Seen through the warrior's eyes I never need to question how to defeat you”
Fall from Grace
The Sound of Silence
Artist: Simon and Garfunkle
Theme: Aelfred--Losing it all
Context: “Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again. Because a vision softly creeping left its seeds while I was sleeping, and the vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sound of silence."
Context: "People talking without speaking. People hearing without listening. People writing songs that voices never share. No one dare disturb the sound of silence"
Follow the Reaper
Artist: Children of Bodom
Theme: Aelfred--Easy way out
Context: “Sinking down in the ocean of severe emotions. Grab a bottle to drink up the pain-reliefing potion. But after all, that got boring too, so no matter what happens, I couldn't give a damn or two. The portal has been past 'til the point of no return. No more lines to cross, no bridges to burn. Now when your blindly death-raying blade swept my griefs and tears away. I'd never go back to cross that line. I cross my heart and hope to die."
The Price of a Mile
Artist: Sabaton
Theme: Aelfred--Deserter
Context: “It's a stalemate at the frontline where the soldiers rest in mud roads and housesall is gonethere is no glory to be won know that many men will suffer know that many men will die half a million lives at stake... And as the night falls the general calls and the battle carries on and on. How long? What is the purpose of it all? What's the price of a mile? Thousands of feet march to the beat, it's an army on the march. Long way from home, paying the price in young men's lives. Thousands of feet march to the beat, it's an army in despair. Knee-deep in mud, stuck in the trench with no way out."
Redemption
Indestructible
Artist: Disturbed
Theme: Aelfred--Fighting for Mei's Freedom
Context: “Determination that is incorruptible from the other side. A terror to behold. Annihilation will be unavoidable. Every broken enemy will know that their opponent had to be invincible.Take a last look around while you're alive. I'm an indestructible master of war.
Context: "Another reason, another cause for me to fight. Another fuse uncovered now, for me to light. My dedication to all that I've sworn to protect...With not a regret. A declaration embedded deep under my skin. A permanent reminder of how we began. No hesitation when I am commanding the strike. You need to know that you're in for the fight of your life. You will be shown how I've become Indestructible"
Through the Fire and the Flames
Artist: Dragon Force
Theme: Aelfred--Securing a life for his Children
Context: “As the red day is dawning and the lightning cracks the sky They'll raise their hands to the heavens above with resentment in their eyes. Running back through the mid morning light there's a burning in my heart. We're banished from a time in a fallen land to a life beyond the stars. In your darkest dreams see to believe our destiny is time, and endlessly we'll all be free tonight. And on the wings of a dream, so far beyond reality. All alone in desperation, now the time has gone. Lost inside you'll never find, lost within my own mind. Day after day this misery must go on. So far away we wait for the day for the lives all so wasted and gone. We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days, through the fire and the flames we carry on"


O O C


P E R S O N A L    R P    E T I Q U E T T E

My Do’s & Don’t’s
Talk to me. As a good friend says, "I’m a firm believer that communication is key and collaboration is dependent on it". Be honest with grievances. Be up front with sensitivities you have or concerns. Equally, I have zero patience for mixing IC and OOC.
Exceptions. I am logic driven in my RP. Things my characters do are for IC reasons. I will not RP rape of a character, and most ERP scenarios can be FTB'ed on. Do not expect me to pull RP favors or 'mod' my character for your liking.
Plot-Driven. Stories are the purpose I seek RP. I do give alot of random RP and can be seen making contacts in taverns often.
Lore. I stress lore and will ask for cites or logic explained of anything that I am unfamiliar with. I do not view myself an elitist, but I find it extremely awkward to be presented with situations that does not seem to have any ground in the 'reality' of the game. I also tend not to accept 'because magic'.


Other Stuffs
Posts. My posts generally are meaty and at least a paragraph in length. I encourage others to avoid rp'ing 1 liners outside of a witty banter exchange.


C H A R A C T E R   E X T R A S

Links Out
Links that lead off the wiki, but are technically relevant to the character.
Voice Claim Audio: Sean Bean
C R E D I T

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