R'vehn Belanger

R'vehn Belanger
Of the Red Stars
Gender	Male
Race	Miqo'te
Clan	Seeker of the Sun ( former )
Citizenship	Ishgard
Server	Faerie

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Character

Appearance

He has a few minor scars from scrapes he's gotten into as a child, and in his time as an adventurer outside of Ishgard's walls. He's never really done a lot to bulk up, leaving him stringy and wiry, but with the muscle definition of someone who has done regular traveling. Lithe, dexterous, and capable.

Personality

R'vehn is a quiet, but inquisitive type of person. While he has no problems engaging in conversation, he's rarely the type that volunteers information about himself, preferring to get a good grasp of what those that surround him are into. People like to talk, usually, and he likes to listen. You can learn a lot from people - including stories - and he gleans quite a bit from the details people include and those they leave out.

He has a deep-seated need to prove himself - raised in Ishgard and cared for by an Elezen family, he has always had to work extra hard to prove his capabilities in even the most rudimentary of tasks. For a while, he took to pinning down his ears and hiding his tail to prevent others from picking him out easily, but he's always been shorter and frailer than even young Elezen. This can often translate to pushing himself harder than he has any right to, simply because he doesn't want to make his family look bad.

This also manifests in attempts to help people - whether it is monetarily, in combat, or through healing and support. ( Or, even just being a shoulder to cry on. )

Though he can occasionally channel an inner sassmonster, it's a fairly rare occurrence - he's learned not to mouth off to people in real positions of power.

He admires anyone with real strength - not just political, magical, or physical, but strength of personality.

Combat

General

Classes/Jobs: Red Mage, Astrologian.

Tendencies

Strengths:

Likes

• The Stars: They guide him, and he appreciates that. They seem endless, and that alone is reassuring.
• Magic: Red is his favored, though he is a whiz with Sharlayan Astrology
• Ishgard: Despite his less-than-stellar approval growing up there, the man has a fierce love for Ishgard and its people.
• Listening: He loves to listen to everyone who is willing to talk to him, about pretty much anything.
• Helping: Before he discovered his talents for magic, he was on track to become a normal Astrologian, to help stem the possible death and destruction from the tides of dragons. That desire to help others is still deeply ingrained in him.
• Music: It invigorates the mind and body, when done properly.
• Adventuring: Hydaelin is a huge place, and he loves exploring it, even if his home will always be Ishgard.

Dislikes

• Hatred: Even before the Dragonsong war ended, he didn't believe hatred and fear were the answers - he got his fair share, being a Miqo'te in a fiercely exclusionary city.
• Confrontation: He will avoid it if he can - though he is more than capable of dealing with it if he must.
• Flowy clothes: Yes, he knows, Astrologians and magic users tend to stick to robes and the like. He hates them and is very rarely caught in them. Even cloaks and long coats are avoided, nine times out of ten.
• Being treated like an outsider: He's been an outsider most of his life. Doing it now can hurt or irritate him.

Hobbies/Talents

• Stargazing: He was attracted to them long before he found out they were useful.
• Instrumental Music: He's got a decent hand when it comes to stringed and woodwind instruments.
• Stitching: On the go repairs? You got it!
• Prophecy: Astrology is one of the fair skills he's got. He's also a pretty decent navigator thanks to it.

Other

• Develops affection easily: He likes men, and can find himself crushing on them.
• Tactile comfort: Generally, he derives comfort from touch, and offers it as such.

Relationships

Family

Belanger Family: His adopted family. Despite his being a Miqo'te, the Belangers loved him deeply, and without reservation. He has three Elezen brothers and both parents still living.

Miqo'te Family: Though he is unaware, they are still alive. He hasn't had much interaction with the Raptor tribe since he was left in Ishgard

History/Timeline

As an infant, he was left in the care of the Belanger family, at the request of his birth mother, of whom the family owed a debt. Though some might consider the child a burden, the family still managed to love him unconditionally, even if the next youngest Belanger boy was not happy with the turn of events. Eventually, though, even he warmed up to the child, who, like most Seekers, was entirely energetic, especially as a child. Smaller, and therefor more prone to problems, the young Mi'qote did his best to help where he could. The Belanger family was a minor house - one elevated only recently due to their mother having slain a dragon some ten years prior.

Entirely inquisitive, R'vehn had a habit of padding around, listening to everything. It was often easy to spot him, poking his head out over a table, or from around a corner ( or even hanging down from the top of the stairs ) just... listening. He wanted to know and understand as much as he could - not just about people, but about the world at large. Beyond the walls of Ishgard, and away from the cold.

He loved the stars, and on his tenth nameday, he was even given his very own astrolabe. It seemed almost guaranteed that he would never quite be the warrior his adoptive mother was, nor the skilled dragoon his eldest brother was. No, his skills were more observational than not. Which was why it came as no surprise that he expressed interest in learning Astrology - his own way to combat the Dravanians.

It was in his pursuit of knowledge that he found his first planisphere. An odd, dusty old relic that had been offered up at some point to the Holy See, and relegated, ultimately, to storage. It wasn't useful to the See, who had mostly left the Sharlayan astrology in the past. What came with it, though, was the important part. It was where he found his first Soul Crystal and divining deck - small items, embedded in a compartment behind the 'doors' in the center. With permission ( after all, he was hunting for old star charts, per his master's instructions ) he took what he needed... and may or may not have absconded with the relics he'd found.

Though there was no deep instruction, no explanation, persay, he began having fitful dreams. Bits and pieces of understanding that made little sense to him at the time, but gradually became more and more in focus. A way to use the cards to do more than just shuffle. A way to hear the whispers of the stars to predict more than just dragons. A way to attune himself, not just to the Aetherytes in his home, but to the stars themselves.

It took years even with the Soul Crystal and silent practice, to learn how to manipulate the Astrologian magics. He was perfectly certain that he hadn't done anything heretical ( even - or perhaps especially - as a lower-class noble Ishgardian, he had a healthy respect for the teachings of Halone and the Holy See ) but that didn't mean he wouldn't keep things to himself.

Except it wasn't that simple. With one form of magic under his belt, he became nigh insatiable. His interest in becoming a typical Ishgardian astrologian had all but vanished, once he'd discovered the truth of the stars. But that didn't make him any less intrigued by what he'd learned. After some finagling, he managed to snag himself a place in the Scholasticate, with demonstrations of what he already knew and what he wanted to learn. ( While his house might not be incredible, and he was still considered low-born, he'd still gotten a fairly solid education. ) There he began to learn the arts of conjury and thaumaturgy, hand in hand.

In 1577, the Dragonsong War ended, and with it, Ishgard's complicated relationship with greater Eorzea. At nineteen, a sufficiently learned R'vehn chose to make his way out of Ishgard, in favor of the adventuring life. It was within his first two months that he stumbled upon what seemed like a grave, in the middle of being dug up by what appeared to be simple looters.

The grave itself was alone - marked only by a worn and old-looking sword with an overly large pommel. He couldn't abide it - it felt wrong. Between a dazzling display of basic thaumaturgy, and a flash of Astrological energy, he managed to scare them away, with the simplest of warnings never to return.

As he approached - ostensibly to fix the grave, he adjusted the marker - and felt the pulse of an almost-familiar Aether signature. Drawing the sword out of the recently-disturbed earth, he could see it - crimson and glittering where the point had rested. It took a little more maneuvering, but he was able to pull it from the earth. On his skin, he could feel the energy flourishing, holding close. The rapier itself - the pommel of which he could now tell was not a pommel - spoke volumes. He could feel it in his muscles almost as easily as if he had been doing it for ages.

Still, unwilling to disturb the grave ( more than it had been ) he replaced the sword, though he kept the crystal.

Now, at age twenty two, he has a decent mastery over both his Astrologian talents, and the magics of a Red Mage, though both are still somewhat unpolished, having only the Stones to learn from.

Nevertheless, he has continued his travels, enjoying exploring Eorzea's vast wilderness. He's stayed away from the other major cities thus far, wanting instead to see how people lived away from it all.

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