Issabel Drake
| Issabel Drake | |
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| Gender | Female |
| Race | Hyur |
| Clan | Midlander |
| Citizenship | Unaffiliated |
| Age | 30 |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Occupation | Tailor |
| Height/Weight | 5'2" / 98 lbs |
| Orientation | Pansexual |
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| Martial Prowess |
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Issabel Rosa Drake, (who goes mainly by "Izzi"), is a midlander Hyur hailing from Ul'Dah. She is a gifted craftswoman (particularly proficient at weaving), and is also a skilled mage of multiple disciplines. A key trait of her personality is that she's hyper-competent in most things she does due to her naturally high intellect and obsessive tendencies, which tend towards being a double-edged sword.
Basic Info
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Appearance & Personality
She's very confident in her appearance but will get annoyed if you were to poke fun at her smaller chest. She intentionally dresses to accentuate her curves and almost never wears pants (she loves her legs and will take any opportunity to show them off.) She takes special care of her hair to make it shine and the red streaks in her hair are actually white streaks dyed to hide them. The whiskers she paints on her face are a memento from a past lover, she wears them to follow the advice she was given: to make her enemies underestimate her by playing up her cuteness.
She tends to speak in a posh and proper manner, and if you pay careful attention you'll be able to notice the amount of effort she puts into maintaining this front. Because she grew up having nothing, most of her adult life is driven by the desire to distance herself from that past, and so she has developed a taste for finer things.
Izzi's greatest weakness, the one that she tries her damnedest to hide from most people, is her severe hydrophobia. Due to the fact that she drowned at a young age, the trauma and fear associated with it has stuck with her even after she has grown to be able to think rationally about the water. In recent years she's been growing better about it, she's now able to be in the rain, sail on boats (for the most part), and even bathe in tubs with others, given time to prepare and a bit of alcohol. If someone were to splash her in the face with water when she's not expecting it, or drench her in some way, she would fall victim to an intense panic attack, rendering her useless for a manner of time. Anyone who would make her fall victim to this state is sure to incur her wrath once she recollects herself.
Biography
Childhood
Issabel was born in Gridania to Lynn Moore and Isaiah Drake. Isaiah would often leave on business (though never for more than two weeks at a time) and upon returning he would always bring Issabel a new song to sing. It was through this that she developed a deep love of music. Issabel was almost always at her mother's side; Lynn doted on her and would bring her along to most things she did, save for purification rituals outside the city )in those cases she was left with her father or, if he was away, another conjurer from the guild.) Because Lynn did most of her duties as a hearer in Issabel's presence she developed a curiosity for magic and began to mimic the things she did, casting her first successful cure spell at the age of three.
When she was two, her parents took her to Vesper Bay to sail on a boat for the first time. Isaiah was meeting with a potential business partner on his boat and brought his family along for the ride. The boat hit a rough patch and Issabel fell off because she was looking over the edge at the time. Because Lynn was unable to swim Isaiah dropped everything he was doing and leaped off of the boat to rescue his daughter. He was able to grab her and bring her back aboard but her heart had stopped. Lynn frantically did all she could in her power to bring her daughter back and was successful, though the strain of having her soul dragged from the brink back into her body at such a young age caused Issabel to develop white streaks in her hair. The memory of falling off the boat and seeing her father smiling when she returned to consciousness is her first memory.
When Issabel was four, Lynn was assigned to Quarrymill for a time. At the same time Isaiah was set to leave on a trip to Ul'Dah. The two both decided it best for Issabel to travel with her father as Quarrymill wasn't the kindest place, and they believed it would be a fun experience for Issabel to watch her father work. Soon after arriving in the city Isaiah was stopped by a group of Brass Blades. The Blades questioned Isaiah harshly and accused him of smuggling contraband into the city. When he spoke up to defend himself one of the Blades drew their sword and slew Isaiah. His last words to Issabel were telling her to run. She managed to escape the grip of the Blades, and eventually found herself in an orphanage.
The orphanage was rough. The children were made to work and given little attention by the caretakers. The final straw came after two years in the place, when Issabel overheard the man who ran the orphanage talking with another man about her. They were talking about selling her, and to this day she swears that they were discussing selling her to the mines. She left that night, deciding a life on the streets would be better than what those men would put her through. She spent the next eleven years picking pockets and stealing scraps to survive.
Teenage
Issabel's teenage years involved plenty of theft. She tried her hand at begging but generosity is a myth in Ul'Dah: anyone who gives anything always wants something in return, and even a gil-deprived young woman has something to offer. She learned quickly that caring about another person was a weakness that would inevitably come back to bite her. She became a very calloused and focused woman. Anything that her parents had taught her was stripped away by the unforgiving streets of Ul'Dah. She didn't have many friends, and even those with whom she was friendly never stuck around long.
One day everything changed. On that day Issabel tried to pick the pocket of an Elezen woman named Kalas Wandersong. Kalas was wandering the market and humming a tune that Izzi recognized (though she wasn't sure from where.) Her hesitation coupled with the fact that she was also distracted by how attracted to the woman she was caused her to fumble the act of picking Kalas' pocket and get caught. Kalas forgave her for the attempt and offered to buy her a meal and hear her story. From there the two quickly became romantically involved.
Pre-Calamity
Kalas was beginning her adventuring career when she met Izzi, but was determined to help her out nonetheless. She called in a few favors and got Izzi her first honest job at the Weaver's guild, and paid for a room for her to stay in at the inn, until she had enough for a modest apartment. Kalas would often return back to the city to whisk Izzi away on a quick adventure, but be sure to get her back before she would get in too much trouble. The two would journey across Thanalan and The Black Shroud, but never across the Rhotano to venture into La Noscea, as Izzi was too scared to board a boat.
Eventually Izzi took leave from the guild, though she had built a solid relationship with those there and was therefore free to return at any time. She stuck by Kalas's side as they explored Eorzea, always taking a step back when things got rough as she had little combat training. All she could do at such times was administer first aid to Kalas when she needed it. Despite this, she always had an interest in going to Limsa Lominsa to study Arcanamia.
In the weeks before the Calamity Kalas was contacted by the Twin Adders to assist in the campaign at Cartineau, and while she would have normally taken the chance to run from a certain death she knew that Izzi was worth dying for. The two made their way towards their destination, and Izzi's final stop was Fallgourd Float. The two booked a room at the Bobbling Cork the night before the battle, and while Izzi was asleep Kalas slipped away to join the fray, leaving only a letter.
Post-Calamity
Izzi spent the first year following the Calamity in Fallgourd, assisting with the reconstruction effort. She picked up carpentry fairly quickly and was allowed to keep her room at the inn so long as she continued to work. She waited for Kalas to return every night and after a year when the reconstruction was wrapping up she decided that it had been long enough, and so she returned to Ul'Dah. She returned to her post at the Weaver's guild and for the next four years she led a hollow life, making her living and going to the tavern once a week and waking up in a strangers bed the next morning. One morning she received the letter from Kalas, four years later than it was intended, and after reading it she decided to do something with her life and board a ferry to Limsa and study acranama.
Adventuring Career
After receiving the late letter from Kalas Izzi decided to finally get on with her life and board a ferry to Limsa and study arcanama like she had been wanting to. She stayed in Limsa for a number of months, vigorously training and perfecting her study. One day she met Livvy Ahtynwyb at the Missing Member. Issabel tried to hit on her but Livvy became flustered and much to Izzi's chagrin had to run off for reasons that were never fully articulated, just a jumbled mess of syllables. Even so there was something inexplicable between them and the two quickly became friends.
Livvy and Izzi were beginning their adventuring career, they were often at one another's side. They became very close and liked what each other had to offer, as their skills complemented one anothers and together they were a force to be reckoned with. They found a sense of belonging in one another and wanted to spread that idea. The free company called The Order of the Wild Rose was born in these moments. The pair worked very hard to build the reputation of Rose as the Rose General and Rose Queen. It was these times that Issabel considers the high point of her life.
After half a year with Rose, Livvy felt the need to find herself and left the Roses, Izzi decided to stay and do her best to carry on the legacy that she and her friend had built. She made Rose a name known to adventurers who needed a home and to anyone who needed a job done.
A number of Roses came and went, and eventually Izzi was in a company full of people she hardly knew, everyone she had built it with had moved on and she could see that would easily be able to continue to run without her. She was immeasurably pleased to build something that brought joy to people and that grew to become bigger than herself, and so she made one of the hardest decisions of her life and left the company she founded.
In the days following her departure form Rose, Izzi took to the Gold Saucer and went on what can only be described as an epic bender. The days blended together in a blur of alcohol and forced happiness. One day she woke up outside the Saucer to a moogle waving a letter in her face, as soon as she could see straight she found that it was from a woman named Ashelia Riot who had heard of her accomplishments and wanted to meet. She decided the clean herself up and meet with the woman.
After almost melting down in the woman's house Izzi decided to join her company, The Riskbreakers, as she didn't have anywhere else to go. Things were a bit rocky at first with her new company but everything seemed to click when she met the man who would eventually become her husband: Jaraku. The two fell fast and hard and found themselves married after only a few moons. Izzi loved that he was just as broken as she was in so many ways that perfectly complimented her own flaws and fractures. While flirting is a habit that she still hasn't broken she mostly does it for fun thee days, because at the end of the day Jaraku will always have her heart.
Shortly after the wedding, Issabel started having dreams of her parents, which led to a growing sense of longing. She began to feel the need to find out more about them. This all came to a head when she semi-voluntarily underwent hypnosis to see if her subconscious remembered anything about her parents. At the end of the session she came to the conclusion that her mother might still be alive, and so began the search for her. Jaraku and Izzi devoted all of their energy to said search. In time, Jaraku found her at Buscarron's and brought her back to the Riskbreakers' home (the Sandsea) for an emotional reunion. Since then Izzi has been working to reconnect with her mother, and Jaraku has grown exceptionally close with her.
Attempts at teaching
Feeling fulfilled by being happily married and finding he rlong lost mother, Izzi was at a loss for what to do with her life. Realizing that she could pass on her extensive knowledge of magic to young girls who showed potential, she tried to take on students. She had two for a time but one had to leave to return home and the other simply faded away. Disheartened by this failure she came to the conclusion that teaching was not for her.
Drake Aesthetics
After her attempts at teaching failed, she confided in he rmother these feelings and to comfort Izzi, she would tell her stories about her father. Izzi began to grow more and more curious about what sort of man he was and upon learning more about her father and the reason that he was killed, Izzi felt a fire rise inside her. From everything her mother told her, her father sounded like an amazing man who was killed unjustly simply because he dissented from the coin worshiping dogma of Ul'Dah. She wanted to get revenge, but without any knowledge of who was behind it she could not direct her anger at any one person. It ended up being for the best because her father would not have wanted her to throw herself into a violent rage, instead she decided to do something to honor him. Drake Aesthetics is the product of Izzi following her father's footsteps into business, while slowly making the Drake name one that is visible to anyone in Ul'Dah that sees her work. For most of her life, Izzi has admired the "beautiful people" of Ul'Dah, ever since she was a homeless and starving child. Now she is one of them and she helps anyone who steps into her office become one of the beautiful people. Her goal is to become such a recognizable figure in the city that she will be unable to be silenced whenever she begins to make her move against the monetarists who killed her father.
Still having a soft spot for young girls who are at a turning point in their lives, Izzi has two assistants at Drake Aesthetics. Rydia Misuto, a raen girl who's focused on avenging her mother's death, Izzi teaches her about the finer points of summoning after hours and uses her work to help Rydia learn how to behave in situations where combat isn't the best way to fight. Her other assistant is Annabel Lee-Wae, the youngest of the Wae children, she's working off a debt to Izzi and Izzi is trying to teach her more about how the world works and secretly hopes that if she endears herself to the youngest member of the Lee clan she can use that political connection should she ever need it. But Ana is insufferable and almost not worth the effort.
Parentage
Lynn Moore
Shelinda Moore was a talented young conjurer. She was taken in by the guild after her parents died in an Ixali attack. She has a deep attunement to the elements and was groomed to become a hearer. When she was 17 she was sent to pick up an order of robes and staves for the Conjurer's Guild, and the merchant they were purchasing from was a man name Isaiah Drake. It was he who would end up giving her the nickname "Lynn". He charmed her immediately when he refused to allow her to pay full price for the wares, in his words because he would feel guilty for charging such a beautiful woman full price. At the end of their exchange he remarked how he hoped to see her again soon. Enamored by the man she took to subtly sabotaging supplies around the guild so that they would have to replenish them and order from Isaiah again. After a few more visits Isaiah began coming to Gridania in his free time to see her, and within two years the pair were wed.
After another two years her first daughter, Issabel, was born. Lynn was a doting mother from the beginning; she wanted her child not to want for anything and Lynn and Isaiah did their best to make certain Issabel never would. Lynn had a happy life with her family for four years before Isaiah and Issabel disappeared in Ul'Dah. She went to the city to look for them, but when she asked one of the Brass Blades it turned out to be one of the ones who was present at and participated in the murder of Isaiah. She was attacked by the man, losing her eye in the ensuing fight. Lynn barely managed to escape with her life. She came to at Quarrymill, bandaged and unsure how she got there. It was while staying in Quarrymill getting her wounds tended when she found out that she was with child. She held on with all her of being to the hope that this child would be born healthy, so that she could have some remnant of her family, as she believed Issabel to be dead as well. Moons passed and the child was stillborn. Stricken with grief over this fact Lynn tried to take her life for the first time.
Lynn was put under careful watch as she went back to work with the guild, everyone around her treading very carefully for fear of setting her off. She was never able to reconnect with anyone after all the tragedy. Two years after Issabel's disappearance, on her nameday, Lynn made another attempt on her life, sick of being alone and living a hollow life. It failed once more and the people around her were unsure of what to do with her. It didn't take long for Lynn to get tired of the fake pleasantries and their mindless obedience to the Elementals, so she left.
She would spent the next twenty years wandering the forest, cursing the elementals and searching for those that had been cast out. She devoted herself to providing them with aid and finding them a place to stay, whether it be in Gelmorran ruins or a settlement just outside the reach of the elementals. She was a woman driven by spite but still compelled to do good.
She was found by her son in law when she stopped for a drink at Buscarron's one evening and he reunited her with her daughter. Lynn now lives at the Sandsea with her children and is doing all she can to be the mother she couldn't be for most of Issabel's life.
Isaiah Drake
Isaiah Drake was a trader hailing from Ul'Dah. Upon meeting and eventually marrying Lynn he moved to the Twelveswood to raise a family with her. While he would continue with his work while living in Gridania, he made it a rule to never stay away from home for more than two weeks. He was a family man first and foremost, and he continued to work even after he settled down because while he had enough gil saved up to support his family he still enjoyed the feeling of working. Upon returning home he would always bring his wife a gift or trinket and his daughter a song. His kindness was so geniune that many found it hard to believe that he was from Ul'Dah. He was a generous and selfless man; those who knew him would often say that they couldn't trust him with his own money, because he'd always spend it on others. At the same time, he was trustworthy enough and talented enough that they wouldn't hesitate to trust him with theirs.
He died in Ul'Dah when he was struck down by the Brass Blades when they accused him of smuggling contraband into the city. In later years it would come to light that he had made an enemy in the Syndicate and they ordered the hit on him, who exactly this enemy was is unknown to this day.
Miscellaneous
- The natural white streaks in her hair are dyed red, the only person she knows aside from her mother that has seen her natural hair is Livvy Ahtynwyb.
- She has a lower back tattoo of a rose that she is very proud of.
- She has a tendency to fly off the handle if you mention certain things. (Gods help you if you call her old.)
- The age that she'd ideally like to be mistaken for is 24.
- She considers herself a child of the desert, even though she was born in the Twelveswood and lived for a time in Mist.
- She's naturally left handed, but has trained herself to be fairly ambidextrous.
- She has a habit of becoming hyperfocused when ingrained in her work or studying something new, so much so that she will forget to eat or sleep if no one comes and reminds her to. It's because of this habit that she has picked up so many skills in what feels like too short a time period to be reasonable.
- The whiskers on her face are not tattoos, she paints them on every morning to continue to feel connected to her first fiancee.
Some of these rumors are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC! ◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)
◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)
◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)
◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from the character's of other players)
-Zwynmaga Doesmagasyn
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Fashion Gallery
Izzi's day to day wear
Izzi's winter wear
Izzi's dancer outfit, within are concealed knives.
Izzi's machinist attire, the Magitek bit is augmented to act as a turret.
Izzi's caster and formal attire.
Izzi's preferred attire for lounging around her room.
Footnotes
- Theme Song: Asking Alexandria - Empire
- TV Tropes: Ditzy Genius | Child Prodigy | Eccentric Mentor | Innocence Lost | Missing Time | Missing Mom| Street Urchin | Tell Me About my Father | Happily Married | Mum Looks Like a Sister | Cute and Psycho
- External links: The Diary of Issabel Drake | Tumblr
