Dejah Asrian
 Dejah Asrian
| |
 "The Calamity does not define us, though it will bring out in each of us our virtues and vices as it burns away what lay between." | |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Hyur |
| Clan | Midlander |
| Citizenship | Ul'Dahn |
Contents
Basic Info
Midlander Hyur, Ul'Dahn author of some renown, Black Mage of slightly uncomfortable repute, as are they all to one degree or another. The nuclear-hot fires of unstable, overchanneled black magic make people uncomfortable no matter how nice and polite you are at the leve counter.
Appearance: This midlander hyur woman is possibly in her mid to late twenties, and is short and petite enough that she nearly meets Au Ra women eye to eye. She wears her dark brown hair in a wispy crop above the shoulders, tied back with a simple cloth band, though this exposed root color looks to have once been tinted indigo blue, something awfully ostentatious for such an otherwise mousey individual. She's wearing a heavy ring of kohl-black around her pale blue eyes, a style that has been out of fashion among Ul'Dahns for many years now. Oftentimes her mode of dress is similarly just a half-step out of trendy, though fairly modest for the heatand the standards of Thanalan life. Should a passing glance run across her in a rare moment in a backless dress or loose-necked shirt, however, a black scrollwork mark can be seen between her shoulderblades, the symbol that's come to signify some of the survivors of the terrible fall of Dalamud.
History
TL;DR: Once the topic of a tremendous scandal among Ul'Dahn elite that's since been forgotten in the wake of the Calamity and the Alliance's reluctant leap into the Dragonsong War -- the so-called "Sleeping Maiden of Ul'Dah". Now the author of a number of modestly popular novels, some anonymous, some now under her pen name, Dejah has joined the ranks of Eorzea's Adventurers to taste freedom and life, for all its bumps and scrapes, after her many years kept confined to her dreams.
Also, common folk wouldn't really believe half the things adventurers see unless you wrapped it in fiction -- it makes for great material.
The longer version: Though she only remembers it in fuzzy bits and pieces now, Dejah had a wholly unremarkable life for some ten-odd years. She's the daughter of trade merchants, common enough that you couldn't throw a tarnished gil in her native Ul'Dah without hitting just such a story. Dejah's mother and father, however, had the misfortune of being edged out of their livelihood by more ruthless competition being sheltered by the far-reaching hand of a Syndicate member, some favor traded for favor, or the nepotism afforded distant relations. Where some rise above their tragic downturns with resolve and grace... others spiral into desperation, and Dejah's mother in particular chose the latter.
Just as the Lambs of Dalamud prey on the vulnerable in this day and age, the Scales of Nald'Thal did some decades ago in Ul'Dah, and through promises of occult-fueled vengeance and wealth, of magical powers bestowed on those who'd had no such aptitude, the two became drawn deeper and deeper into a world that was both unscrupulous and tightly controlled by four mystical, so-called "elders". And so by the time Dejah was thirteen, was both well-versed in this double-life of public face and important secret dealings her parents carried, never giving much thought to how they'd regained their coveted place among the well-to-do. She was elated, really, to be one of four youths to be pulled out of schools and entered into the personal tutelage of the elders and their "true" form of thaumaturgy, as well as the usual literature, history and sciences.
When something seems too good to be true, it usually is, and when four little frogs are boiled by only slowly heating the pot, they never jump out.
The four children were not taught the traditional forms of fierce, conscious control of one's will needed to wield destructive magic, but rather were trained in methods to enter deeper and deeper magically-induced sleeps to spur lucid dreams, where control over aether could, the elders told, be learned through dream symbology and unfettered emotions. Contact with those outside the Scales ceased first, to reduce worldly distractions, and then contact with their parents waned as well, explained away as "too interested in their regained fortunes" to be present for their magically adept children. The ivory tower became the boundary of Dejah's existence, and inside of it, as well as inside of her dreams, she spun dramatic and complicated stories to entertain herself.
None of the four students sensed anything amiss when the elders told them that attaining the final secrets of true magic would require a pilgrimage to the center of their own beings that would take far longer than any meditations they had performed. Back in the real world, the four ringleaders of the cult placed their wards into a coma-like stasis with the aid of both magic and alchemy, preparing them for the culmination of their designs: living mediums, bodies imbued with innate magical talent that they believed would layer channeling power upon their own when they imparted their own souls to new, youthful bodies. In other words, if soul-crystals and the vile abilities of voidsent had been interbred, however crudely, they'd not only stave off death but grant themselves heretofore unknown levels of mastery.
The plan was never to survive, however, as the emboldened Scales became careless, accrued witnesses to some of their misdeeds, and attracted the attention of the Syndicate and the newly reformed Immortal Flames. In their desperate attempt to fall back during the final confrontation between soldiers and cultists, two of the elders and two of their would-be vessels died in the ensuing aetheric backlash of their rushed attempts to merge bodies and souls. One more elder died at the hand of his own student, abruptly woken from dreaming by the sudden disruption of the heavy enchantments surrounding him, though he, too, died from this over-exertion of a weak physical body. The final elder was apprehended alive, and her vessel, the last of four failed attempts at some truly foul hubris, was Dejah, still locked in her own world of dreams.
The Sleeping Maiden of Ul'Dah was not to awaken for another three full moons after the incident, and as such, the shocking journalistic exposés of occult rings, captivity, and murder never had a name to attach to her face. The whole sordid affair of the Scales and their magically-imprisoned "maiden" were quickly obliterated in the public memory by problems far more severe and with a farther reach -- the Calamity crashed down a mere nine moons later.
During her comatose stay as an anonymous sick ward patient, however, Dejah was visited many times by the same Immortal Flames soldier who had hauled her limp-noodle body out of the cultists' lair -- Anzo Vandaal, an exiled soldier-turned-scholar from Ala Mhigo. Though she sensed the presence of another near her at times during her imprisonment in her own shell the same way a normal dreamer sometimes weaves snippets of next-room conversations into their dreams, it took her many tries over the coming days and weeks to get Anzo to admit he'd come to check on her often -- for a long time, he maintained that he simply chose to come calling after the Flames' gossip-mill told him she'd awakened.
Fantastical origins or no, Dejah found herself tasked with the tremendous uphill battle to find normalcy, find a means of paying her way, and find a means of picking up the shattered pieces of a worldview that she'd been cultivating for many many years -- that she was special. That she was destined. She was neither of these things, nor had her tutors been privy to special cosmic knowledge. She lived in a fog of self-pity and rather haughty isolation for a time, at first under the generosity of the same Syndicate members who'd paid for her stay with healers as a sort of concession to her crime-victim status, and then on her own in a pretty dingy rented room once the initial welcome was worn out by their sullen-acting ward.
Eventually, frustrated with her situation (both the directionless present and her quickly growing realization of what she'd been complicit to in the past), Dejah shoved pen to paper and began an outpouring she'd initially meant to be a letter to nobody, a sort of venting confession she could burn before the ink had a chance to dry. What she ended up with instead would be, along with some of her old magical study journals Anzo helped her reacquire from the Immortal Flames, the initial draft of her anonymously-published account of the Scales: the sordid affairs of growing up inside a secret death cult, and her time in an aetherically-influenced dream world that taught her the bulk of her magical abilities by allowing her to pick apart her own psyche. Of course the book was written pretty terribly, but it didn't matter, it was lurid and conspiratorial and Ul'Dahns adored it.
With her own personal catharsis now more or less complete, and her earnings from the memoirs affording her something more than scraping by, Dejah again found herself in need of a direction, though this time with a much happier outlook. Now free to explore the world she'd been isolated from most of her life, she accompanied Anzo as a free adventurer among the City-States, and the flood of new experiences both eased her lonely soul, and she grew all the closer with her rescuer-turned-comrade despite both of their misgivings after the whole "I pulled you from a magic circle that was leaking blood and void" vulnerability thing.
The Calamity, however, would shatter everything they knew after this brief period of happiness -- they had intended to see the disaster to the end on the fields of Cartineau, together under the Flames' banners, but they were separated by the catastrophic Primal and Louisoix's sacrifical magic, both. They would each have to contend with their own trials afterwards, the trauma of the sudden destruction lingering alongside a heavy fog that made it difficult for them to remember anything about that time, let alone how to find each other -- but that's a longer story for another day.
Since that time, Dejah began penning more fictionalized accounts of the astonishing things she's borne witness to in her time as a free adventurer of Eorzea to publish as novels, though she does still sometimes draw on her strange and vivid dream-time to come up with fantastical elements. She and Anzo were eternally bonded some two years ago, and now their thoughts turn to the looming threat of a true liberation war for his native land. Folk who linger on the broad stone avenues of Ul'Dah may see her wandering there late into the night, avoiding the urge to fall asleep, as she's had more than enough of that to satisfy an entire lifetime.
Personality
- Refined, polite, gentle mannerisms, occasionally uses outdated turns of phrase
- Intelligent, artsy and full of obscure information gleaned from old books, witty in writing though more soft-spoken and awkward in face to face speech
- Genuinely caring, supportive friend, tends to "scheme" benignly to help friends nurture their potential, artists helping artists etc
- Strong sense of right and wrong, but has learned enough history to know that reality is shades of grey (neutral good)
- Forgetful, disorganized and too detached from reality when distracted by her nerdy pursuits (writing, magic, deciphering ancient puzzles)
- Doesn't seem to know how to express strong feelings outwardly, even when she really desperately wants to
- Still too delicate for the big mean outside world, doubly bad because she can't seem to ask for help when it's truly needed
- Sullen and withdrawn when plans backfire, moody when artistically blocked or otherwise hindered
Affiliations
Anzo Vandaal: Unwitting rescuer turned confidant, protector, and eventually love. Dejah coaxes more words out of the normally shy and reluctant Anzo than perhaps the rest of Eorzea combined, and never ceases to feel just a tad special to be the main recipient of his clever humor and often quite thoughtful observations. Though they've been separated by disasters and wars, and then obligations as veteran Adventurers defending Eorzea, Dejah cherishes their time together, and pens long and sliiiightly sappy letters to him during his travels. The two were eternally bonded some two years ago, in a lavish and fanciful ceremony she would later go on to describe in journals as "great fun, and I surprised myself with sentimental tears when I accepted the hand of the man I truly love, but it was something I would have been embarrassed to pen into the end a story, as it hit every girlish cliché."
The Scales of Nald'Thal: A now-defunct shadowy and nefarious Ul'Dahn organization, who attracted followers through promises of wealth and mastery over death through occult powers, some of which were plain huckster scams, others of which were true magic. Once responsible for keeping Dejah confined to a dreaming state as part of their unscrupulous experiments. At their core, they were something in the flavor of the Lambs of Dalamud (some of their more unhinged members with obsessive ideas about death probably crossed affiliations to the Lambs after the Calamity). Feel free to contact me if you'd like to use this as a jumping off point for in-character connections. The four ringleaders were all captured or killed less than a year before the Calamity -- those with a keen memory of local history may yet remember when this criminal ring was exposed and routed.
Nolili Noli: Dejah's main point of contact and literary agent (if such a thing exists in Eorzea, if not then please trust Nolili to invent it at a ten percent take) at Emerald Hummingbird Publishing House. This printing shop and talent-acquisition firm was a once an indomitable force in the market of both scholarly and fiction books in Eorzea, and the name still holds weight, but it is now pushed to the outskirts by newer operations and the more open flow of book-trade from exotic places like Doma and Sharlayan. Nolili is a bit of a whirlwind force of personality, melodramatic and ambitious to prove herself, partly out of a stubborn refusal to let such a long-running Ul'Dahn business collapse on her watch. Her relationship with Dejah cycles dramatically between "the deepest and most effusive sisterly love ever known between two souls" and "I am the most feared bounty hunter in Thanalan and I will wrestle Ifrit down by his stupid horns to get to you if you don't bring me that manuscript you promised".
On Powers
Despite her unusual tutelage in magic and her aptitude for learning the craft, Dejah is no more powerful than any of her Black Mage peers because of it. The purpose for such an unorthodox upbringing was not to empower her to become some kind of a thaumaturgic superweapon in her own right, but rather to become an empty vessel for the soul of another mage dabbling in some terrible powers of the void and experimental spellwork. With their conscious mastery over destructive magic and the subconscious ability of their new "bodies", the elder cult leaders believed they would become something even more powerful than those who once took the Black in the bygone eras (they were mad stupid wrong). Skilled mages or those able to detect aetheric signatures will notice that her spellwork has a raw and unstable-seeming quality to it compared to someone trained up properly. Like any magical student worth their salt, she's also got a bit of a lazy streak, and this has given her cause to learn several spells that are utterly useless in combat but good for getting out of a bothersome chore (she's a big fan of Matoya's enchanted brooms).
List of Published Works
As Anonymous
An Account of the Scales of Nald'Thal before the Seventh Umbral Era: A biographical memoir of Dejah's time under the thumb of what she later learned was a cult, and then her years trapped within an aetherically-influenced dream world. The strange, symbolic imagery of those dreams would also go on to provide a lot of material for describing fantastic elements of Hydaelyn, Voidsent, prophecies and ancient magicks in her later novels.
As Dejah Asrian
Under the Watch of the Silent King: A novel about a plucky young hyur whose parents are lost to a terrible famine in Thanalan, leaving him with only his steely resolve to rescue his surviving brother and sister from the clutches of poverty and despair. His cleverness and his skill with a blade lead him into a dangerous life of adventuring -- in order to afford healers for his ailing siblings, he must venture into the depths of Qarn to retrieve its most deeply-buried treasures for a shadowy syndicate merchant.
A Darkened Veil Falls: Two duskwight lovers' lives are turned upside down when an ancient curse is awakened beneath the Shroud, and their trust in one another is put to the ultimate test as they each begin to suspect the other may have committed terrible murders across the sleepy forest hamlets. Forbidden void magicks and old grudges between the duskwights and the city-folk allow the true killer to wreak havoc, as all the elements weave together into a murder-mystery-turned-adventure-journey.
The Thorn Prince: An expedition of veteran adventurers lead by two longtime friend Roegadyns sets out to slay an enormous, ever-growing Treant that lurks near Gridania. There's a mutiny among the adventuring band, however, as some among them were paid to bring the creature back to Ul'Dah alive as a sort of living wonder of the world on display. The two warriors must put a stop to the creature's rampage through the merchant city, all the while trying to complete their original goal -- fetch the amber heart of the monster treant to make a life-saving magical cure for a dying princess.
As Unlikely Lotus
Shar'azad and the Myriad of Tales: A sort of patchwork story made up of several Ul'Dahn bits of folklore wrapped within a larger narrative, this book is actually rather flowery and then smutty in turn with its romance depictions. In the overarcing story, the Sultan of Sil'Dih has beautiful maidens of all sorts brought to his harem, but has each one executed after one night, as a display of unchecked hedonistic power over his subjects. Shar'azad is a clever Miqo'te maiden who entertains the Sultan each night with a new story, slowly and subtly causing him to realize the error of his evil ways through the various allegories (sprinkled in with some adventures and just general ribaldry) as he also falls too far in love with her to see her killed. This book is utterly over-the-top with both improbable action and erotica, therefore it's been published under its own pen name.
Other Notes
RP Preferences: I like character-driven RP and stories, unfortunately my in-game hours run very late (see below), so I'm looking for light/medium in-game, and longer story arcs on forums, discord, etc to be able to participate fully. I believe it's important to give everyone else's character a turn in the spotlight and avoid too much navel-gazing, or lurking in a tavern room that has impossible dimensions and 8 dark shadowy corners (one brooder per corner only).
RP Limitations: Dejah is, in the words of Bioware, not a romance option. I'm comfortable dealing in mature themes and I love a well-timed swear word or bloody description for dramatic effect. I'm not looking for ERP or participating in any plot that's shades of torture-porn or loli/shota/fetish stuff.
About the Player: I'm an amateur artist and a full-time working person over 18, and my work makes my online presence almost entirely late night/early daytime before noon EDT. I'm happy to work out pre-existing RP connections either in PM or contact me in-game. I'm also a veteran of roleplaying and tend to favor a wordy, character-focused style while I try to avoid hitting the dreaded purple prose too hard. I also love funny and witty writing though I myself will probably never be great at either. That being said, I try to be easygoing and accommodating to other RP styles, the point is to have fun with it and make sure everyone else has fun participating in a safe space, aka respecting those personal boundaries. I am new to MMO roleplaying and the Balmung server in general, so if I do something that makes you uncomfortable or isn't compatible with your RP prefs, let me know - no hard feelings for honest, polite feedback. I've been around too long to want dramz :3
