Anja Wulfgard

Anja Wulfgard
Gender	Female
Race	Hyur
Clan	Highlander
Citizenship	Unaffiliated
Server	Balmung
Age	32

Family History

Long before the Garlean invasion of Ala Mhigo, Anja's family worked as common laborers and sellswords in Gyr Abania. Their skill was of mixed repute, until her great-great-grandfather, Hrodi Tufisson, accepted a contract to serve as a bodyguard for an up-and-coming nobleman, Rúnar Wulf. When a group of brigands waylaid Rúnar's carriage, Hrodi fought six men by himself: killing one, injuring two, and frightening the remaining three into flight. Rúnar repaid Hrodi's valor by elevating his family to serve in perpetuity as guardians of his bloodline. To mark the honor, the family name was ceremonially changed to Wulfgard.

Unfortunately, the tumult of Ala Mhigo's pre-invasion politics took its toll on the Wulfgard family. During the elder years of Anja's great-grandfather, Beiner, a single night of well-timed assassinations left Rúnar's descendants wiped out. With nothing left to protect, the adopted arm of the Wulfgard family fled. They took a ship to the Bay of Dha'yuz and then hired passage inland to Ul'dah. Lacking local connections, they returned to their squalid roots, trading muscle for just enough coin to survive. Beiner fell into a deep shame over all that his family had lost and changed his surname back to Tufisson before taking his own life.

Refusing to accept the lot of Beiner, Anja's grandfather, Surt, kept the Wulfgard name. He swore that by the time of his death he would reestablish the family's pride. While working as a cargo handler at Ul'dah's gates, Surt noticed an inefficiency in local commerce. Trade caravans would arrive at the great city, hoping to sell their cargo and return to the road as quickly as possible. Idle caravans cost money and risked banditry while providing no gain. Thus, they often returned to the road with much of their merchandise either unsold or traded off far below its actual value. Simultaneously, locals looking for a particular good had to simply hope a matching caravan had recently been through the city.

Though Surt possessed only mediocre combat capabilities, he demonstrated profound intuition in regard to these economic trends, and thus he devised a new path for his family's success. He saved up enough money to buy a small warehouse. Whenever a caravan entered the city, he told the merchants to show him their unsold goods before they left. If he predicted those items would be in demand within a few seasons, he would purchase and store the items, only to resell them some months later at an inflated price. Within a few years, his business had succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Not only did he purchase additional warehouses in Ul'dah, but soon he was replicating his model in Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, and a few smaller towns. True to his word, his family's good fortune had been restored.

Background

Anja was born in Ul'dah to Sigmund and Freydis Wulfgard. Throughout childhood, she enjoyed material wealth and the finest education. She showed particular pride in her family's heritage and impressed even her grandfather with her understanding of the Tufisson-Wulfgard line. However, being the fourth of five children, her older siblings had already been groomed for the most important roles in the family business, leaving little room for Anja to live up to the stories of Hrodi or Surt. As she approached adulthood, she became increasingly discontent with what she saw as her fated mediocrity.

On her 17th birthday, Anja declared her intent to leave Ul'dah and find her own way. As a compromise to her parents, she accepted an ongoing stipend to work in the nominal role of "market scout" for the company. To that end, she found housing and favorite haunts across Eorzea, though always at a comfortable distance from her childhood home.

In the years since, Anja has flitted from one interest to the next. She's studied commerce, magic, and swordsmanship—though found her calling in none of them. Her final apprenticeship was in the art of conjuring, until she abandoned her Padjal tutor in favor of self-education in a very different career: practical sciences, vis-à-vis internal medicine.

Occupation

There's a marked gap between the jobs Anja holds and how she spends her time. As she often jokes, her resume is more impressive than her day-planner.

She's a trained doctor and white magician, but hasn't established a medical practice anywhere. Every few months, she sends her family notes on new market opportunities she's observed, thus fulfilling her obligation to them. However, none of these take up much of her time, leaving her free to spend most days as a gadder. Indeed, the only times she seems truly employed is when the Twin Adders conscript her into service as a field medic.

Personality

Anja has a heart full of energy—pointed in no particular direction. Her most obvious trait might be her poorly-veiled listlessness, which her parents chalk up to her Highlander heritage. Whatever the cause, Anja can't shake the sense she has no meaningful place in the world—or at least none she's discovered yet. She fills that profound emptiness by wandering about, seeking stimulation wherever she can find it. She's not a true vagabond, having two homes and a small list of favorite social spots. However, a sense of restlessness forever hangs about her.

The young woman is friendly and compassionate, which is why she favors the healing arts. She loves accumulating new facts and is quite a conversationalist. She's also a bit of a prankster, often amusing herself by creating awkward social situations just to watch how they resolve.

Politics

Anja is effectively apolitical. She has no particular loyalty to the Eorzean Alliance nor any animosity for the Empire. Indeed, the only city-state she has a particularly strong opinion of is Ala Mhigo, which she despises for its history of pointless turmoil and, more specifically, the way in which that turmoil nearly destroyed her family. Realizing these are an unwelcome opinions in a war-torn society, she doesn't often share them.

Having seen the destruction wrought by magic's use—alongside the stillborn sciences of so many societies—she is increasingly fascinated by practical pursuits, such as industry. She's far more impressed by the cannons and forges of Ishgard than the conjurers she once trained with.

Religion

Her religious views aren't much stronger than her political ones. Seeing life as a scripted joke, she's become a nominal follower of Nymeia. She has a degree of reverence for all of the Twelve, which has led to her often cursing "eleven of the Twelve," so each of them might presume they're the one not being defamed.

Random Facts

• Claims to have been the personal physician of Ysayle Dangoulain for a short time.

• Has developed a mild tranquilizer addiction to cope with the psychological trauma of treating—and losing—patients with severe injuries.

• Is more intrigued by parlor tricks than actual magic.

• Sees Padjal as possessing an unmerited arrogance, which is the chief reason she finished her training in white magic apart from the guild.

Out-of-Character Information

Open to roleplaying, even when the RP flag isn't on (which it almost never is). Feel free to send a /tell or do walk-up RP anytime.

Player lives in Central US time, keeping a relatively "normal" schedule, though awake and available into the A.M. on most weekends.