Nhago'to Iserin

Nhago'to Iserin
Gender	Male
Race	Miqo'te
Clan	Keeper of the Moon
Citizenship	Gridanian
Server	Balmung
Age	35 (2nd Sun of the 2nd Astral Moon)
Marital Status	Unwed
Occupation	Folklore researcher Wood Wailer (former)
Height / Weight	5'3" / 145 lbs.
Orientation	Bisexual
Relatives	Eqo'li Zerah (Father) Nhago Iserin (Mother) Nhago'a Iserin (Elder Brother) Aja Iserin (Elder Sister) Kieva Xishena (Ex) Kieva'a Xishena (Son) Kyn Xishena (Daughter)

I'm still working on this!

Basic Information

Likes ■ ■ ■ ■

Dislikes ■ ■ ■ ■

Other ■ Alignment: Neutral good ■ Favorite Food: ■ Favorite Drink: Coffee ■ Favorite Colors: Blues, greens, purples

Appearance

Even for a Miqo'te man, Nhago'to is short, standing at only 5'3" (on a good day), though his tiresome training with the spear in the employ of the Wood Wailers has given him a compact and muscular physique which makes him deceptively heavy for his size (though not truly all that much so in the grand scheme of things, considering more massive races). He is not necessarily classically handsome — not with his slightly blocky features and his straight, pronounced nose, but there's some sort of rustic charm to him. His skin is a dusky brown tone, accented by darker brown markings around his eyes and swiped along the corners of his jaw. The color of his hair and the fur of his tail is a muted blue, though it is easily discernible that it is beginning to go prematurely gray in places (something that he doesn't even try to hide by this point). His eyes are a bright, cutting sea blue.

His many years with the Wailers has given him plenty of scars, though the majority of them are too faint to be noticeable without a scrutinizing eye. The few that are more easily-recognizable are: a collection of smaller minor scars across his hands from martial work, a sizable patch of scarring marring the serratus anterior over his right ribs, and a small scar cast down between his eyes (courtesy of a foolish accident when first learning to handle the spear).

Nhago'to is nearsighted, so he often wears glasses, especially when reading or writing.

Biography

Nhago'to's life story is one in which a great deal of thought and consideration went into making amends for a lapse of judgment which was the complete dearth of either thought or consideration. Long story short: he does his best, because it's just about all he can do.

Youth

Nhago'to was born as the second son and last child to his parents, Nhago Iserin and Eqo'li Zerah, into a Keeper of the Moon tribe nestled very, very deep in the dark backwoods of what was, at the time, the West Shroud. With the far more important roles of first son and daughter already fulfilled by the time he arrived to this plane, growing up he found himself utterly ancillary to the machinations of his family. This left him growing up in a supervisory blind spot: his father (a quintessential Keeper man) was a rare visit upon them, his elder brother was often in training with the hunters and away from home, and his mother was more occupied with directing her daughter through the more formative years of her entering a position of responsibility in the highly traditional, matriarchal clan. So he did what any other boy of his age would do in such a situation: he got into a great deal of trouble. In his more tender years this amounted to minor mischief that did little more than garner him the dull frustration of his elders. As he grew into a young teenager, those dull frustrations grew a great deal sharper as he continued to provide what was perceived as a negative influence upon the other children as parents were cross with the headstrong boy that led them out in packs at odd times of the day, to venture and run afoul of all manner of problems. For the most part, nothing truly ill came of this. No one ever got greatly injured. As the years passed on and children matured, his band of n'er-do-wells thinned considerably.

One constant companion of his throughout his childhood was his friend, Kieva Xishena. A girl possessed of a similar rebellious streak, they were thick as thieves throughout their early childhood and well into their teenage years, during the latter half of which they professed mutual romantic feelings for one another. They were swept up into a passionate, faintly torrid, and utterly embarrassing youthful romance for several years. From this romance one of two things was expected of them by others in their clan: one was that the flame of their passion would putter out and they would split up to go separate ways, or the other was that they would be acknowledged as a pair and expected to have children.

They ended up going down a third, narrower, more troublesome path between these two.

Young Adult

When the two of them were eighteen years old, Kieva became pregnant. Their home clan did not necessarily recognize marriage the same as the rest of Eorzea, but still, it was a shock and a partial taboo to become pregnant outside of the will and the blessing of the tribe's elders, especially at such a young age. For a short time there was some question as to how the situation might be handled, and Nhago'to kept himself firmly out of this decision-making process (partially out of his own volition, but also because, culturally, he had no place in it). It ended up coming to pass that she carried the pregnancy to term, giving birth to two fraternal twins the next year: Kyn and Kieva'a Xishena.

By this point the two of them were well in to their nineteenth year, and two very important factors were coming into play. One was that Nhago'to, as a son of their clan, was expected to take one of a very small number of roles which largely would keep him outside of the tribe as a whole. The other was that the tumultuous and naive relationship that he had shared with Kieva had thoroughly degraded to the point of complete collapse. Atop the pile of smaller grievances was one disagreement that they could not move past: Kieva wished to raise their children in-line with the traditions of their clan, which relied on the group effort of the mothers and daughters it was built around. Nhago'to, finding fault with the traditions that minimized the role of the father to their children, impressed that he wished to have a greater role in their lives.

But he was on thin ice, having been seen in the eyes of his elders as a child who had caused trouble from practically the day of his birth. He found no sympathy upon any that might listen, and in the end, nearing his twentieth nameday, he begrudgingly left.

There were options open to him that would allow him to provide occasional aid to the clan and continue to visit, albeit rarely, but Nhago'to refused them — this was one of his last rebellious acts, but his decision was also influenced by a distinct lack of skill in any of the areas they required. Instead, he trekked through the Black Shroud until he came to Gridania, where he enlisted in the Wood Wailers and requested he have himself assigned to the Tenth Spears: the division that oversaw the West Shroud. In his eyes, he was protecting his family in a way that would also allow him to provide for them, sending whatever they might need.

But to a highly secluded tribe still wary of Wildwood-dominated Gridania and their tension with woods-dwelling Keepers, they saw it as a final, stinging betrayal.

Adult

Nhago'to would spend the next fifteen years serving as a Wood Wailer for Gridania. He faced some trouble in their ranks, especially in the beginning, as a Keeper in a space still dominated by Wildwood Elezen and Hyur. The trouble-making streak of his childhood had seemingly ended, however, and keeping his head down at the very least minimized the negative impact of the situation. While he was stationed out in the West Shroud, he was able to visit his family — most importantly his children — somewhat often, though it was typically at Kieva's displeasure. For years this was how he made his living, without too many hugely impactful events to break up the routine.

That is, until the war brewing between the allied nations of Eorzea and the Garlean Empire stretched even to the more secluded hamlets of the Shroud. As a Wood Wailer, he did not participate in the Battle of Carteneau at the closing of the Sixth Astral Era. He was still a Tenth Spear at the time, however, and aided in helping to evacuate inhabitants of the West Shroud as it was destroyed during the Calamity which would usher in the Seventh Umbral Era. His clan was not among these people, though he found out later that they had safely escaped the devastation to the West Shroud — though relocating to the South Shroud and rebuilding their home there was its own challenge. After the Calamity and the restructuring of the Order of the Twin Adders, Nhago'to was transferred to the Fourth Spears in the East Shroud. This relocation was difficult for him, partially due to the separation from his family and also due to the notoriously aggravating treatment Fourth Spears often received from the nearby sylphs.

So when Nhago'to retired from the Wood Wailers soon before his thirty-fifth nameday, he cited (jokingly) that it was the sylphs, though the truth of the matter was that the situation he found himself no longer resembled something that he could work with. He began to search for some other pursuit that would give him stronger meaning in his life.

Present

Nhago'to was aimless in his life for a short time before settling upon something for the first time in his life: a personal interest. Throughout his time with the Wood Wailers, his employment had been something he had felt both an obligation and a duty. Now, with his children nearly grown and the circumstances between himself and his clan no longer resembling what they had originally, he found himself oddly free to pursue whatever he wanted. So he remembered back to the distant memories of his young childhood, when he had led a band of rascals through the shadow-dappled depths of the Shroud, chasing after tall tales and legends. He began to research not only what was recorded in books but also what tales he could convince people living out in the forest to tell him by word of mouth, compiling details so that he could begin to search out the origins of the folklore, what was embellished and what had a core of truth.

This is what he finds himself doing nowadays. This — and whatever else his overly-sympathetic consideration can be brought to give aid to.

Miscellaneous

Martial Skills

Nhago'to is canonically a lancer, due to his time with the Wood Wailers. Though he had only been a mediocre hand at it at first, tireless practice has made him considerably formidable. Quick footwork, a low center of gravity, and his ability to strike not only swiftly but powerfully have allowed him to emerge the victor in many contentious fights. Though he is a dragoon out-of-character in the game, this does not extend to him in-character.

WIP SECTION: Thinking about making him a summoner also because he just thinks primals are neat, but I gotta work out how that would've played out in-character. So I might work this in later.

Rumors 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 (Feel free to add to this!) ■ ■ ■ ■

Relations ( ♥ romantic ♥ platonic ● positive relationship ● negative relationship ● uncertain ) ♥ ● Kieva Xishena (NPC) : After nearly two decades of the youthful passion dying from their teenage romance, there is very little positive of note left between Nhago'to and Kieva. Despite this, there still is and perhaps always will be a piece of him that keeps preserved how he had once felt for her and the reasons that had inspired it — his being overly sentimental has always been a fault of his. Currently, and as it has been for many years, there is a cool and businesslike relationship between them, something which occasionally frays into something sharp and short-tempered. For the most part, Nhago'to respectfully keeps his distance, both for what he assumes is her own wishes and also to minimize problems between them. ● Kieva'a Xishena (NPC) : Of his children, Nhago'to's most positive relationship is with his son. Kieva'a's wide-eyed idolization of his father and his many tall tales has been a thorn in his mother's side for nearly as long as he has been alive, and his excitement to see Nhago'to whenever he visits is one of the strongest reasons he had been able to visit at all. Kieva'a is a mild-mannered, soft-spoken, gentle boy, which makes Nhago'to fairly protective of him. One of his greatest inspirations to improve himself as a person is to do so to lift himself up to be who his son believes him to be. ● Kyn Xishena (NPC) : His relationship with his daughter is slightly more complex than that of his son. Kyn takes heavily after her mother, with a fiery disposition and a tendency towards snap judgments that persist longer than sometimes is appropriate. She is perhaps more aware of the unease between her parents, which makes her slightly more wary of her father. Though he has noticed this, he has always only endeavored to capture her favor, and so they are both at a bit of a stand-still. He hopes that once she becomes old enough to choose her own path with regards to the clan, she will choose to speak to him more often, so that they can come to understand one another better. ● Sanma'a Kaatapoh : A young man who, in addition to his parents, he became familiar on his patrols during his time with the Wood Wailers. The boy acted awfully cagey when they met again after so much time. Now, what could that possibly be about? ● Veyha Yanjahl : . . .

Gallery

I need to draw something for him tbh

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Footnotes

Character Playlist: Link goes here when I formalize it.

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