Caldera Tumet
| Caldera Tumet | |
 "I'm an angel I swear... My horns are there to hold up the halo." | |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Au Ra |
| Clan | Xaela |
| Citizenship | Unaffiliated |
| Age | Uknown, about 19 physically |
| Occupation | Mercenary, Rogue and Smithy |
| Marital Status | Single |
| Orientation | Bisexual |
Contents
Character
♦ General
Trees.
Symbols of life, to some the symbol of rebirth or even that of purity.
To the Tumet, symbols of a child's coming of age, symbols of the hardship to come and the strenght needed to overcome them.
Caldera was once of the same opinion, a long time ago. As a child, like all of the Tumet, she was abandonned tied to a tree. Nameless, without tools or weapons, she was left to fend for herself.
Thirteen moons. Thus is the lenght of time it took her to find the way back to her tribe, her family. Thirteen moons without help to fend for herself. For most, a short time. For her, it was an eternity. An eternity during which she learned to curse her clan, then to long for her clan, then to find and scavenge food, hunt, fish, find tracks and waypoints, make camps, tools and weapons out of basic materials. And when she found her clan, they had given up on her altogether, believing her to be long dead as before that day, she had always been one of the weaker children, one to cry when hurt.
After that day, secretly, she also gave up on them. Or to be precise, had given up on the elders, finding herself convinced something had to change, in her young mind, it was clear that there would have been other ways to prepare her more, to make sure she could have survived without the immense ammount of luck her adventure had required, yet they didn't bother with it. Because she "was weak", because she had heard them say it wasn't worth teaching her, because she "had no chance of survival". Because they had decided she was inadequate.
After that day, she never cried again, or at the least, never in public.
After that day, she slowly became of the most hardy, of the strongest younglings of her tribe, stunning every naysayer that had once said she wasn't worth the trouble nor the food, becoming a stern defender of the entire clan, weak, strong, sick or healthy.
The elders were mostly glad of finding such determination in their youth and such taste for curiosity, for learning, though many saw the rebellious attitude of the woman as problematic, they bid their time. Most of the older ones amongst the clan had seen such ideas before, and knew she would not stay forever, they only had to "outlast the storm".
The day of parting came, however, sooner then any had anticipated. At the young age of 15 summers, Caldera left her tribe for good. Her reason for departing : A stop to trade near the mighty city of Ishgard.
The size and colors of the town captured her entirely, the dragoons, in their awe inspiring armors, the symbol of what she found her family to be sorely lacking.
Protectors.
The city seemed full of people whom, simply put, gave a damn. People who, as different as they were, worked together against unbelievable odds to try and usher in an astral era. This courage was so incredible to her young eyes that she left her tribe without even thinking...
...To find she was not welcome by the people of the city, nor by its protectors. They called her names, wyrmkin or dragonkin being amongst the most prominent, and refused her entry all together.
Unbeknownst to her, the city was, at the time, in a perpetual war against dragons and their kind, and her scales, horns and tail made her a target of a long stigma. Despite multiples academic studies proving Au'ra had no draconic ancestry, the ressemblance was simply too striking and so, she was treated as if she was "sub-human filth", as one of the particularly vocal people to bar her way once called her.
Only one man, an ex-adventurer whom had become a dragoon, was kind to her. He came from within the walls often to bring her books and supplies from inside in exchange for what she could hunt, fish and craft with what was outside. That man thaught her to read, which she found to be such an incredible ability that she soon challenged herself to reading bigger and bigger tomes. Her thirst for reading was such that the ishgardian actually had a harder and harder time keeping his interactions a secret from the holy see, and their stigmatic views and very long arm when it came to dealing with those they considered heretics, a term he knew full well he was dancing with dangerously by interacting with someone considered to be close enough to dragons to certainly not be good, but too close to other races to easily get rid of without her entering the city, which would have cause panic, or hurting anyone, something she never did no matter what kind of bullying they forced upon her.
When his suppervisor finnaly learned of the relationship, he gave the man a choice : Give up his friendship to the young woman, whom seemed much too dragonlike for the older soldier to even think of her as an equal, or be trialed for treason and heresy, for which there was only one possible outcome ; Death.
Realising he only was given a choice due to his supperior's liking of him, the man gave up his relationship with naught but one last gift to the woman ; Directions to a nearby shipyard and a ticket for passage to Ul'dah, where he assured her she could find as many tomes as she wanted and, most importantly, a safer environment to study and sleep in.
Upon arriving in Thanalan, saddened to see her dream of becoming a dragoon crushed, she soon found the world to be a crueler place than even her clan's own brand of cruelty had prepared her for. Captured by slavers and framed for the theft of some item she had never heard of in her life, she found herself in the arena, sentenced to serving in the entertainment of the masses at the risk of her life. Her captors, having lied on her age so she was tried as an adult, left with a good ammount of gold for their trouble and the thieving truly did stop after her capture, as she had been turned in by the very group responsible for the acts she was now being punished for.
During this time, she learned the meaning of words alien to her tribe ; gladiators, thieves, pirates, merchants, of life in the city and - eventually having been proven to NOT have been the thief when the true thieves were caught still holding the goods at a merchant checkpoint in the desert - found bigger tomes, learning more about the world. Life as a willing gladiator was very different to that of a criminal one ; She was treated much better and found merchant sponsors to pay her as well as to pay equipment and accomodations for her. One of her particularly scholarly sponsors enjoyed her inquisitive mind so much, he once paid for her to get lessons in writing.
Whilst interesting and thrilling, she soon found the life of a gladiator was not quite as challenging as it once was ; Wether she wanted to admit it or not, the blood of the Tumet, of survivors, was coursing through her veins, asking for new challenges, which she eventually found when an army recruiter got word of her, as often happened when one won enough matches in the arena.
Army life was hard but fair ; A few of her comrades even admitted to being fans of her gladiatorial work and before long, her stage name of "The Crimson Dragon of Ul'Dah" had followed her to her unit, leading to quite a few men and women of her squad looking up to her fighting experience and her fearlesness in front of all sorts of dangers.
It took three years for her to leave her official place in the army, finding she would never become a dragoon as she once wanted if she kept training only with swords and fists, especially so far from their hometown. Seeing no other way, the young Au'Ra left her new home in Ul'dah to look for adventure. With skills as varied as her aspirations, having learned to hunt and fish for her food as well as to repair or build her own weapons and armor, she found she had all she needed for life on the road and a taste to see things she had never the chance of truly enjoying ; Like the sea.
Limsa Lominsa, the obvious destination according to all she had learned to find both more to read and the sea close by as well as enough millitary and adventuring work to keep her fed and clothed, proved to be her second love after Ishgard, as far as cities went.
While early on few were very welcoming of an Ishgardian ex gladiator expected to have a chip on her shoulder, her knowledge, experience and surprisingly bubbly personnality meant she soon found comradery with the local sailors and, after a long time, even officially joined the Maelstrom to put her millitary knowledge to use once more in defending her new home from all sorts of dangers, albeit with a more "open" contract to factor in her new life of adventuring.
Her love of battle and weapons, learned in the arena, eventually led her to become one of the marauder's guild, where she spent most of the following months training, learning to use a weapon so different from her usual swords, shields and hand to hand techniques, one day deciding she could learn no more without leaving the safety of the nearby area.
Picking up her battleaxe and telling of her leaving to her friends of the marauder guild, she bid them farewell only to be stopped as she was about to leave by a man dressed more pirate then soldier whom wanted to exchange words with her. The strange meeting, for reasons unknown, made her stay in Limsa and continue her activity with the marauder guild for a while yet, her reputation gained from the arena and her time in the army drawing a few of her older friends to come and join it, much to her and the guild's delight.
The exact nature of what made her stay was a secret that never came to light, though some stated her taking a sudden interest in charity working with the Sisters of the Edelweiss had to have some form of meaning behind it, what with its timing matching her changing her mind about leaving almost perfectly.
It was during her time staying in Limsa Lominsa on her own business that she learned of the lancer's guild of Gridannia and that some of the veterans amongst them sometimes became dragoons of Ishgard themselves. Her childhood dream being ignited once more, Caldera took an extended leave from both the Lominsan army and her various guild dealings to visit Gridannia herself and add yet another weapon to her repertoire.
Gridannia was yet another unique culture and city, with a wildly different decor than anything she ever saw or was used to, the wildlife being so diverse and present allowed the young survivalist to find that what she once considered simple necessities, such as working wood into shapes and tools, was here revered as an art of which masters existed in such number that an entire guild of them was present, a guild she made sure to join in her spare time whilst joining her one goal ; The lancer guild.
Managing to once more mix work, fun and learning in equal ammounts, the Au'Ra was welcomed with open arms to learn the art of lance fighting, her past combat experience proving to be a true gift in adapting herself to this new weapon and fighting style, nourishing comradery and healthy competition with her fellow guild mates who were, to her surprise, very welcoming of the idea she was here mostly to try her luck at forcing her way past the biggotery of Ishgard and becoming a dragoon, many even wishing her luck or discussing books in which she may find insight to prepare her before the time came.
Improbably, the ongoing war between Ishgard and the dragons came to a sort of standstill during her time in Gridania, and the city became much more open to outsiders of all kind, including her own people, though it took her quite a while to learn of this and she highly doubted that it was truly that open and devoid of racism, given what she had been privy to in her own life about their view on anything scaled and horned.
Whilst she soon prepared for departure, sending ahead word of her arrival to her old dragoon friend, she ended up staying a while longer, seemingly depressed as only a few of her closer fellows learned of the reason to her hesitation :
Her friend had died.
Though the reason was veiled behind conflict, glorious combat and a dash of heroic retribution for heresy, deep down she knew he had most likely finnaly been executed by the very system he defended and, while she knew the kind of inner conflict that came with clans with old views and new blood, the young woman simply could not bring herself to ignore this and move on, instead choosing to mourn for fourteen days, one more than what she had needed to find her way back to her clan in her early life. Knowing she could not make a true grave for the man who had, in a way, made her what she was now, much more than her own parents, she instead opted for planting a tree in his name.
A symbol of life. A symbol of rebirth. A symbol of a child's coming of age.
Done with her mourning, settling on honoring her best friend by going against the odds and fulfilling her dream, wearing the armor her friend had once doned and using the same high flying techniques as him, she took what little she owned and took the direction of Ishgard.
Little did she know how much this would change her life.
Despite reticence early on, due to the same draconic features that caused her hardship in the past, she was eventually, and somewhat begrudgingly, allowed into their training regiment with a handfull of her race, some sort of treaty keeping the holy see of Ishgard from interfering too much with the process of them joining and, soon enough, just as countless times before, her upbringing coupled with her time in both the arena and the army proved to be enough for her supperiors to be impressed sufficiently.
Though it took time, she earned the title of Dragoon and began donning the well known armor of these lance wielding warriors, engraving her personnal armor and weapons with a name she kept saying meant "more than anything else" to her, though none were allowed to be made privy to that particular secret.
What truly defined her life in Ishgard though, was her fateful meeting with the staff and headmistress of the Saint-Reinette's University and Orphanage.
Foreign to the idea of schools, especially of higher learning such as an university, her ever curious mind could not stay away long, though she found it hard to stay around for the classes a student was required to attend, and also missed quite a few due to falling asleep in the library after a long night of reading and learning.
Eventually discussing matters with the teachers and headmistress of the university, she quickly agreed with their assessment that she was more made for self learning than for long classes despite her enjoyment while studying with her classmates.
Being an actual adult now, though with little knowledge of her exact age as she had "stopped counting back at the colliseum" it soon became clear she had one skill that could be used in a university-owned avenue : Her knowledge of alcools and the preparation of drinks gotten from her time both in the arena and in the army, where strong booze was often loved and a sure way to make new friends from old ennemies.
Taking over the lovingly named "Grandfather clock" as a sort of part time job, she found there much the same comradery she found in her various units, and, retiring from the Maelstrom for the time being, found many of her old mates stopping by for a drink and a story or three whilst continuing her various activities.
While the next step in her life is veiled in unknown factors for her, she relish the tought of meeting this secrecy head on and finding new challenges to overcome, all while attempting to understand once and for all the greatest question of them all : How DOES one conduct themselves "Properly in social situations"..?
♦ Appearance
Slightly red hair comes crashing in front of her forehead, scales of midnight black covering part of her face. Her eyes, different colors one from the other, tend to give her a slightly childish look contrasting with the horns that grow on each sides of her head.
While she adapts to situations as needed, she tend to prefer wearing clothes that are light yet stylish, although she often forget looks when it comes to her business attire for rogue guild activities, going instead for pure functionality.
While she dreams of becoming a dragoon, she dislikes helmets, a thing that has kept her from joining most guilds of fighters as few are those that dare pick up armor with no head protection.
Due to her tail and horns, she has had to adapt her clothes all her life, making her a slightly decent seamstress.
♦ Behaviour
A charismatic lass, Caldera learned that, oftentimes, actions speak louder then words at an early age, leading to her demeanor and to her being, in general, a woman of few words.
With that said, when she decides to let herself off the leash a bit, she can become quite lively, especially if a few drinks are involved.
Although she still loves Ishgard a lot, she has found, in Limsa Lominsa, a group of people whom are both interesting, laidback and hardworking, making the wench her home away from home.
She is interested in learning thaumaturgy and constantly preparing for her long trips outside the city or to other cities.
Combat
Being knowledgeable in many fighting styles, from fighting with a single sword, dual wielding and with a two handed weapon all the way to fighting using nothing but fists or magic, she tends to either use her fists or two small daggers (or swords) although she has been constantly hoping to learn lance fighting and join the ranks of the dragoons. While decent at most any fighting style, it his obvious she is used to wielding swords and using whatever she can procure, although her stance with the gigantic axes of Limsa Lominsa could still use some work. She keeps on herself quite a few hidden throwing knives, an habit she took from her time with the rogue guild, and is proficient at throwing them. While she is a fast learner, she tends to draw out fights for longer then needed as she found that she enjoys fighting quite a lot.
Echo Power
Echo Power:
She has some but do not know what they are.
Description:
While she seems to have some kind of special ability, she rarely talk of them and, to some who know her well, admit that she has no idea what exactly are her abilities. Whenever she takes damage that would be fatal to most, this strange power seems to restore her somehow as she usually reappears within a short time, with barely any scratches on her. Her ability to explain this phenomenon seems particularly poor, only finding out about what is known as echo very recently.
★ Recent RP events ★
Tendencies
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♦ Related Images
Relationships
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Rumours
- ■ "A woman with short blades, red hair and odd eyes you say? Aye, I saw a lass like that. Hang 'round the Wench I reckon. Oh, and don't say the words Isghard or Dragoon around her, I swear she'll make ye ears bleed with talk." - Citizen of Limsa Lominsa, easily heard.
- ■ "What? Girl with red hair and weird eyes? Aye, saw a woman o' that liking around. Ask at the wench, ye might just find out more, if she ain't there, I'd try th' library, real bookrat, that one." Guard of Limsa Lominsa, moderately easy to hear
- ■ "A dragon? Ain't been no dragon in Gridania for ages, what are you talking about? What? A woman? Go home, you must be drunk if you comfound woman and dragon..." - Citizen of Grigania, easy to hear
- ■ "Fire hair, eyes to scare a wyrm and with blades at her belt you say? Talks of dragoons and does research..? Aye, heard o' the lass, they call her the Crimson Dragon of Ul'dah they do, but hey, try surviving for a few years in any army without gettin' a ridiculous name slapped on ye, try it, I dare ye..! Anyroad, last I heard she was headin' to Gridania, must finnaly have worked out th' courage to join them lancers..." - "Slightly" drunk patron of the drowning wench, hard to hear (Unless you ask directly about the nickname, obviously.)
- ■ "The Red Dragon of Ul'dah? Aye, heard of the woman, but if you ask me it's another of those Ul'dah legends that never truly existed... They do love telling everyone how superior they are, in that town." - Guard of Gridania/Twin Adder soldier, hard to hear without nickname, easy when asking about said nickname directly.
Player Character Rumours
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♦ Footnotes
Alignment:
Neutral Good (Most often, when not looking for something in particular or when her way of life is in no peril.)
Chaotic Neutral (Rarely, but sometimes resort to chaotic neutral methods without any remorse for different reasons, especially when acting as a rogue guild agent, in need of information or when her free way of life is in peril.)
Theme song(s):
General Theme
Theme of her Rogue dealings
Mercenary dealings
Crimson Dragon Of Ul'dah Theme
Theme of her past navy dealings
