Risheid Millen

Risheid Millen
Gender	Male
Race	Hyur
Clan	Highlander
Citizenship	Nomad
Age	28
Residence	Previously west of Skyfire Locks, Coerthas Highlands
Occupation	Wandering Monk
Employment	None

Wisdom Through Isolation

Appearance

Long, red hair is tied back in order to keep his vision clear with the lower half of his head shaved close. A small tuft of red hair is left on his chin, likely more for style than warmth. His brilliant hair is complimented by his deep green eyes and sharp facial features. His body is lithe for a highlander, yet still muscular and tall, allowing for improved movement speed.

His clothing is simple and almost never changes. He wears a dark tunic, loose over his chest to restrict his movements less while also allowing for a degree of misdirection. His crimson pants and black gloves are tight-fitting, making them shift less often in order to give his strikes more accuracy. Leather braces offer improved protection in more sensitive areas. His boots are made of a rugged peisteskin, the toes reinforced with pointed steel to give his kicks an extra "snap." His turban, also in crimson and black, is ornate yet functional, a silver moon and some beads running along the right side, the tie on the left. Over the eyes is a visor which helps to shield bright light while aiding in focus.

When his eyes aren't hidden behind his turban's visor, they are made more striking with eye black. This, too, is not only decorative but functional, reflecting the glare from the snow for better visibility.

More recently, he tends to wear his hair loose while in town or not in a combat situation.

Personality

Risheid can initially come off as a no-nonsense sort of person, but tends to open up considerably once he gets used to whomever he's dealing with. He's focused on the end result and how to get there and sometimes comes off as a cold tactician; however, his goals usually line up with helping those around him. He's honor bound, following through with everything he starts even if it puts his life at risk. He seems to take up the most difficult tasks like a form of penance, showing a somber attitude until it's complete.

Pleasant Memories - Before the Calamity

Risheid's story begins back in Limsa Lominsa where his mother, a baker in the city, cared for him until he left the city. His father was a non-entity, choosing to sail as a marauder during most of Risheid's youth. A second-rate pirate, he only returned briefly to drop off a portion of his plunder and have his way with his wife before setting off again to ransack more unsuspecting ships. Rish never saw his father after his seventh birthday and presumed him dead.

With his mother busy night and day keeping the city's shelves stocked with baked goods, Rish would constantly get into trouble with his friends. He gained a reputation as a ruffian, getting into street fights with friend, for, or innocent passerby just for fun, occasionally landing in gaol overnight to cool off.

When Rish came of age and it came time to choose what he did with his life, only two real options were presented to him: become a marauder like his father, or a fisher. His friends were forced to become fishers by their parents in an effort to separate them from Risheid's trouble-making. Not content with sitting on a boat or pier for the rest of his life, he begrudgingly chose to take up an ax.

His skill was average at best, though he could put a lot of power behind a swing if he got angry enough (control was always an issue, however). It never felt right to him, especially because of the way his father had used his ax. Rish felt trapped, and suddenly realized his past mistakes had cost him the chance to advance in life. He started researching what else he could study, but Limsa had very few options before him. Distraught, he decided to look into what it took to become an arcanist.

While he hesitated outside the door to the guild, a young Elezen named Karameina Verrette quite literally bumped into him on her way out. The two got to talking and decided to meet up again at a later date. During one of these meetings, Kara brought up the idea of him studying pugilism. As he was already an avid fighter, the thought struck him as brilliant and he made it his goal to travel to Thanalan to learn the skill from the master there. Not wanting to say good-bye just yet, he asked Kara to come with him once her studies allowed her to travel.

Once the plans were laid out, the duo traveled to the desert and made their way to Ul'dah. Risheid showed promise as a pugilist and was quickly accepted into the guild. Through it, he finally found the control that escaped him for so long. He trained relentlessly, Kara always close by, and their affection grew. They began a relationship and were inseparable.

Time passed, and the two grew closer. So, too, did the idea of war.

The Garleans were on the brink of devastating the people of Eorzea and needed to be halted before it could happen. Battle plans were drawn up, requiring fighters of all kinds, and Rish and Kara answered the call. They were sent with a small battalion to flank the major battle in Carteneau in case any of the Garlean force tried to break off. Before they went out in the field, Risheid hinted that when it was over, he would ask her to marry him.

The fight began, and for a long time, the unit held its ground well. Risheid was a man possessed, his skills as a pugilist being put to the test, but his swiftness allowed him to avoid any major injuries while Kara kept him alive. Then came the reinforcements for the Garleans, a wave of fresh troops and magitek armor that began to mow down Risheid's group. In what seemed to be a blink of an eye, he found himself alone, his allies dead.

He panicked.

In that moment, he could no longer take in what was happening to him, and he fled. He looked for any sign of Kara as he did, and caught a glimpse of her, surrounded. She saw him, too, and reached out a hand for him as several enemy troops rushed her. He didn't try to save her. He didn't even look back. The ground shook hard as Bahamut appeared and laid waste to everything around him.

Risheid didn't know how he got to Coerthas, but that was the next thing he remembered after the fight.

The Chill of Regret - After the Calamity

Not long after the Calamity, the Coerthas Highlands began to grow much colder. Risheid felt this would be as good a place as any to seclude himself as penance for his cowardice. His mind flitted with painful memories of his past - Kara's smiling face, the warmth of her touch, their adventures together, and, of course, her face in terror just before she fell. Alone and in such an unforgiving environment, Rish felt himself slipping away.

One day, when he was at his lowest, he found the satchel he had with him when he fled to the Highlands. He had forgotten about the tome his master had given him, explaining how to channel aether through his body to use as a weapon - "Chakra" it was called. It was a way to become something greater than a normal pugilist, a way for him to gain full control of his body and mind. He studied the tome extensively, learning all it could teach him, and then, he practiced. In its flow, he found peace finally, the memories subsiding to the back of his mind. He meditated, seeking to unlock the Chakra to its fullest extent, to find an inner peace no one else could comprehend.

For five long years, he did this, subsiding on wolf steak, roasted goobbue, and the nourishment the Chakra gave him through meditating. He was alone nearly the entire time, only occasionally seeing someone else in the frozen wastes, and even then, if they spoke, it was short and to the point. When he felt he had earned his penance and could do Eorzea some good, he set off to the last place he had been happy: Thanalan.

His arrival was unremarkable at first, but slowly, he was able to converse with people again. One of them, Ethne Lancaster, a blind conjurer, recommended he work odd jobs for the Wings group in order to make some money for food and lodging. He became interested in how she was able to "see" by using the aether around her, and the two struck up a deal; he would train her in the ways of a monk so she could better defend herself and she would teach him about conjuring.

Tragedy struck soon after their sessions began, however. The two found themselves wrapped up in a terrifying situation wherein the dreams they shared with strangers turned out to be very real. In these dreams, it was discovered that inhibitions were lost, personalities were changed, death and injury would happen outside of the dream as well, and, while you may not know you're in a dream at the time, you would wake up with full knowledge of what happened. During one such dream, Ethne was attacked brutally by a close friend and never recovered from the shock, losing her ability to conjure aether in the process. Because of this loss, she was no longer able to effectively "see," causing her to become bedridden with sorrow. Rish swore that he would never train anyone again after that, the guilt from an inability to help his pupil overwhelming.

It wasn't long until one of the masterminds revealed himself to Risheid and those he had found in some of his shared dreams. Calling himself "Blasto," he tormented the group until he was forced to flee. Blasto, whose real name was Wyrek Emberdawn, seemed to focus much of his hatred on Rish, eventually pulling him out of an active dream after repeatedly putting him through these trials.

He was captured, and it became clear why Rish had been a target soon after. Working with Blasto was a very much alive Karameina who held a severe grudge for being left to die all those years ago. She tortured him relentlessly, breaking his mind and body before leaving him for dead for his friends to find, a kiss mark left on his cheek.

They found him, barely alive, in Black Brush Station. While a white mage attempted to heal him, he insisted he die, the guilt he felt reopened like a wound. His body went limp as he breathed his last words, commenting about how "she was so terrifying. She was so beautiful." Since Rish had never spoken of his past to anyone but Ethne, who couldn't be reached, the group had no idea where to take him, and Aerius Destroven left his body with those at the cemetery near Camp Drybone.

The "Afterlife" - Present Time

Risheid regained consciousness, now in Gridania, several weeks later, emaciated and still very beaten from his previous ordeal. Ethne had secretly used Wings' money to pay for transport of his body before the cemetery workers could bury him. She had hoped that he was using some of the skills he had tried to teach her in order to stay alive. Through meditation and an intense concentration on what little Chakra was left within him, Risheid was able to slow his heartbeat to an almost imperceptible rate. It fooled everyone, including those who had tried to kill him, into thinking he was dead, but he required intensive healing from the mages in the city in order to make sure that did not come to pass.

Several months later, Risheid was finally able to venture out to hunt down those who had nearly killed him and to stop their plan, whatever it may be. He picked up an understanding of ninjitsu in order to remain in the shadows and not be recognized while hunting members of the group. Calling themselves "the Science," he learned from those he hunted down and killed that their goal was to eventually afflict the primals and the beastmen summoning them with the dreamlike state they had been using on the people of Eorzea. The idea was to put them down in their sleep, a war fought and won without a single loss to the winning side, save those who were killed during the initial phase. People were the test subjects so as not to alert the beastmen before the skill could be perfected, their lives considered "acceptable" by the group, since it would be far fewer deaths than actually fighting the primals head-on. It was proposed that beginning the tests on the beastmen would eventually alert them to the attack, causing them to increase summonings and attacks on Eorzeans.

Risheid made his way through the ranks alone, eventually defeating their leader, but couldn't track down Karameina. Feeling confident that he could finally return from the shadows again, he put down his twin blades and returned to his haunt in Coerthas to clear his mind and body, taking up the mantle of monk once again. He remained in the frigid north for about a year, but with an influx of adventurers (and dragons) to the area, he realized change was on the wind, and he would need to finally search for his friends to both warn them as well as gain their help to take on the new threat that was looming. Ethne was the first one he attempted to return to, but she had left her care in Gridania quite suddenly and was now in the wind. His other friends, he discovered, were also scattered or had died during the Science's onslaught. He continues to look for familiar faces, or friendly new ones, before this new threat can come to fruition.

Combat Style

Chakra plays an important role in how Risheid fights, relying heavily on attacks that channel it rather than ordinary pugilist punches and kicks. He's quick but methodical about his actions, often choosing to hit with a lighter touch if it means hitting a vulnerable point, maximizing his effectiveness. His movements around his target are fluid, almost like a dance; many times, he can slide in a different direction to perform an attack and move back before the aggressor has a chance to react.

While typically composed, Risheid has been known to show increased ferocity during moments of high stress. This often appears in an abandonment of his above fighting style and may be reminiscent of his younger days when he chose to use an ax instead of his fists. While it's rumored he still has one of the halberds he used to carry, no one has seen him use it since before the Calamity.

Risheid also has limited knowledge of how to conjure healing spells, something he learned in repayment of his services to his pupil. When she lost her abilities, however, he no longer attempted to learn more about conjuring aether and now only uses that skill set in a pinch.

He also has a modified ninjitsu skill set, mostly using pugilist combat with assassins blades, but he has put this path to the side due to the type of person he becomes.

Behavioral Tendencies (OOC knowledge that is readily noticed IC)

• Risheid has a habit of speaking proverbially, as one would speak with widsom after much reflection.

• He will not fight unless he sees a reason to, such as someone is in danger, he's training someone, or a friend's honor has been disrespected.

• In times when he's not fighting, he often stays completely motionless.

• He never begins a conversation, again due to his seclusion. He simply doesn't know how to start it off.