Sabine Aislihn
 Sabine Aislihn
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| Gender | Female |
| Race | Miqo'te |
| Clan | Keeper of the Moon |
| Citizenship | Ul'dah |
| Place of Birth | Poor Maid's Mill, La Noscea |
| Nameday | 26th Sun of the 3rd Astral Moon, 1550 |
| Age | 27 |
| Guardian | Thaliak, the Scholar |
| Profession | Artisan, Scholar & Summoner |
| Theme Song | Genuine Girl |
Sabine Aislihn is an artisan, crafter and stubborn summoner who frequents Ul'dah and Gridania. An imperious and scholarly individual, she runs a shop in Ul'dah called Saffron Commodities and is a relatively well known crafter in the Thanalan markets. Sabine's typical ventures turn either to the artisan sort or bouts of exploring old tombs and crypts in search of lost knowledge from the many extinct civilizations across Eorzea, be they Sil'dih, Nymian, Allag or Belah'dian. She is almost never seen without a constant companion that, originally, she hired as a bodyguard, Chris Ganale, but recently has found herself growing romantically attached to.
Contents
Personality
If there was one word to best explain Sabine, it would be haughty. With an imperious attitude and proud nature, she tends to think highly of herself. This is not to say that she's patronizing to others off the bat, just that she can come off as a all the aforementioned after a sentence or so... once she's had the time to ascertain the other individual's ability to contribute to a meaningful conversation. Granted, the likelihood of Sabine giving anyone the time of day is slim to none in the first place. She is much more likely to ignore anyone she deems of little interest, which is a vast majority, and keep her nose firmly planted in whatever book or project she has committed herself to at the time. In addition, perhaps a bit of her natural Keeper ways did seep into her way of acting unconsciously. She is much more likely to treat a woman fairly than a male, courtesy of an upbringing involving her mother being condescending towards her father.
In recent moons, however, Sabine's attitude has softened somewhat, as if something had sapped a bit of the sourness that people perceived out of her. She is by no means a sweet, innocent thing now, but she is, perhaps, more willing to humor those people she might have considered not worth her time before. That aside, her allies and closest companions have always found someone in her that, while critical, was willing to attend to them, support them and see a job through to its conclusion. She is still a vain creature, but she does not and never has attempted to purposefully put on airs and those she considers her friends are exempt from her much more imperious attitude now. That she tends to save for halfwits and those that cross her.
That being said, Sabine an incredible intellectual. If you do manage to get more than an superior gaze out of her and she gives you the time of day, you will find someone with a wealth of knowledge in that head of hers. Glad and eager to tackle any magical or design related principle and hash out errors, she is wont to spend days going over diagrams with others, should they need it of her. Something of a buff on almost any written topic, she favors magic, crafts and history and gladly will converse with anyone about those three things. She has a fine eye to detail and is critical, and thus quick to point out when someone else is doing a sloppy job... in her opinion, of course. For her own doings and workings, this eye to detail borders on the obsessive.
Lastly, Sabine is new to the world of love and affection towards another being of the romantic sort. This category of reactions is something she has trouble dealing with, unlike most things, tends to leave her at a loss for words. It should be said, however, that her love for Ganale is of the truest forms, just that she is wholly incapable of articulating such a thing.
Appearance
Appearing a studious sort, Sabine stands five fulms and six ilms tall. Her hair is jet black and has an attractive sheen to it, falling naturally straight. She keeps it trimmed short and evenly, with straight bangs trimmed above her eyes. Sabine's rich, magenta-red colored eyes are the typical Keeper sort with wide, full pupils. The miqo'te has a thick lashes, a pert chin and full cheeks, giving her a rounded face, and full lips. Sabine has faint white markings that barely show up on her pale skin, but she is fond of using a light touch of eye shadow, usually in her signature magenta color.
When it comes to clothing, she is most often seen in a magenta bliaud with white trim and gold filigree. Around her neck she'll most often wear a soft collarguard. Sabine's outfit also consists of bits of replica attire modeled off of the summoners of the past: magenta wrist wraps who which she tucks her bliaud into, a layered waistclout split at the middle to reveal a white layer underneath a black upper layer and a pair of thigh-high leather boots that lace up the front.
This is not to say that the above is Sabine's only outfit, however, and her fondness of a full wardrobe is second only to her fondness of a full bookshelf. Still, that is what she most often wanders about in, though when she is on healing-duty she will wear a robe of arachne and Allagan silk that is trimmed in a silver brocade of her own design.
The last thing of note? Sabine is never seen without a pair of silver half-spectacles perched on the bridge of her nose.
Clothing
Biography
Early Life
Born to impoverished parents living in Poor Maid's Mill, Sabine lead a childhood abound with a number of questions. When was the next meal? Would the wild creatures attack again today? What did life hold for a miqo'te with no tribe or clan. Sabine's parents, Morgane Aislihn and Yho'li Jaahn, had originally lived in the Black Shroud, prior to her being born. Morgane had originally had airs of starting her own clan, setting out with Yho'li from the Shroud for La Noscea and leaving behind their lives there. Unfortunately, tough seasons and tough times finding a means of living lead to the couple settling on their own and giving up the clan life as a means to get by. As a result, they settled in Poor Maid's Mill, appropriately named because cheap housing was to be found there, and bore their first and only child into the world: Sabine.
Knowing little of life beyond the hovel township, Sabine spent a childhood insatiably interested in the world outside of Oakwood. This was further fueled by the prevalence of all sorts of history around the mill. Nymian ruins, ancient fossils and the Floating City alike all played into Sabine's initial interest in adventuring and exploring... even at the cost of her safety. It was not an uncommon sight around the mill for Yho'li and Morgane to scold the girl for having gotten lost in some ruin and Yho'li having needed to come fish her out. There was little to be said of her parents' skills at raising a child, however, except that they allowed Sabine to fend for herself more often than not.
When she was roughly ten or so, Tanga Tonga moved to the region to begin his life's studies on the fossils to be found there. The lalafell took pity on the girl and she attributes him with her fascination with the written word, having found in his books a wealth of knowledge that she had never before realized existed. Sabine also discovered arcane magic from the tomes Tanga Tonga owned, gleaning from them the ability to cast rudimentary spells. She quickly found she was highly apt at the field of arcane magic, thrusting herself into what spells she could find, be they in the lalafell's library or in some esoteric scroll she dug up from a ruin as she tripped into them.
Magic
Shortly after turning fourteen, Sabine left with not a word to her parents. Bartering her way with a passing qiqirn caravan by paying them in Nymian orbs and relics found during her explorations, she departed for Limsa Lominsa. With nothing but blank journal (stolen from Tanga Tonga with a note that she would refund him one day) and the clothing on her back, she entered the massive port city. A scruffy, dirty miqo'te with not even two gil to rub together, the scoundrels of the port quickly saw two things to be had: some saw a saw a waste of space, but others saw vulnerable girl to be taken advantage of, after all, there was a lot of money to be made in the dark alleys selling a nobody into a dark trade...
The latter, whom were the ones that approached Sabine and attempted to steal her away into servitude, quickly found themselves proved wrong. The stoic girl was quick to flick her hand at them, tossing a liquid green spell that whisked around them and seeped into their pores, crippling their lungs and leaving them gasping for air. As blood speckled at their lips, the young girl might have become a killer right then and there, had it not been for a quick squad of Yellowjackets whom ordered her to halt the spell and told her they would take care of the scum bothering her. A moment later, the girl released the incantation and the real criminals were carted away. One remaining Yellowjacket was left with the girl to keep an eye on her.
It was then that Sabine spoke, asking where the Arcanists' Guild was and how she might sign her name on its roster. The Yellowjacket was taken aback by the directness, but escorted the girl to the guild. Sabine was quick to make ties in the guild, though they were initially obtuse about taking on someone of her age, she demonstrated an ability they recognized as a near-savant level of arcane aptitude. Informing the Yellowjacket lieutenant that Sabine would be under their care, the arcanists in charge of the guild quickly boarded Sabine in a dorm with a few other students. With that, the girl's studies began.
The young girl positively devoured knowledge. The subject did not matter. On the one hand, Sabine tore through any magical tome put before her, but it was not the only thing she soaked up into the insatiable sponge of her interest. History, cooking, botany, biology, geography, alchemy, warfare, smithing, wood-working, weaving and tanning... her curiosity and need to understand how things worked seemed never-ending. Just when her teachers thought she might be content, they found Sabine with some new tome acquired from the Twelve know where tucked under her arm.
Sabine quickly adapted to a city lifestyle, thriving with fresh clothing and a fully belly. Her hair, grown long in her youth, she trimmed to a short cut that framed her face. Any possession Sabine came to own was generally a book. Those in charge of the guilds' dorms eventually moved her to a small study all her own when her roommates complained about the sheer volume of tomes Sabine was amassing around her bed. Seasons came and went and Sabine quickly advanced through courses and curriculum at the guild, rising to and surpassing some of her elders by her sixteenth year.
By the time she was eighteen, Sabine had become an arcanist of some renown within the guild. It was then that she left, however, at the behest of the guildmaster himself. The man had noticed the miqo'te had been hemming and hawing about other interests for a day and an age, so he took it upon himself to point out that she ought to delve into those with as much fervor as she had arcane magic. Distressed that it would mean her attention to magic was wavering, Sabine questioned the course of such an action. The guildmaster pointed out that should Sabine ever become interested in furthering her arcane magic, she ought to seek out another teacher anyways. With that, he left her with two names: Aeronwis Siorwyn and Rinoro Tiyanoro, two individuals who would help her better herself as an arcanist.
Armed with that reassurance, Sabine set out into the world again.
To Learn a Craft
Leaving Limsa Lominsa by ferry at the first of summer, she landed in Vesper Bay and made her way to the desert city of Ul'dah. Finding herself immediately at home with the warmth of the city and the plethora of makers and crafters, the woman signed her name at the first crafter guild that caught her eye: the Goldsmiths' Guild. The woman was quick to find that book-learning in a craft was significantly different than the actual hands-on-process and, for the first time in years, she struggled to learn a skill. Nevertheless, she literally hammered through the training, swiftly becoming that student that showed up early and left late, bleary eyed and weary.
In this new found obsession, Sabine found a love for all things of the hand. She quickly applied herself to the Weavers' and Alchemists' Guilds, finding an obsessions with them as well. Attending all three left her in a flurry of activity and she quickly began to make a fair deal of coin off of a light, breathy linen with a silver brocade of her own design. Having come into the first real amount of money in her life, and the largest sums of it she had ever known, Sabine began to rent a small apartment in one of the local housing districts of Ul'dah. Within it, she began to amass a fair amount of goods for later use. Ingots of silver and bolts of linen were her first acquisitions. Over the next year, she rented a stall and began to work it, selling a number of goods and beginning to make a small name for herself in the Ul'dah markets as she mastered the crafts of Ul'dah.
After making a fair headway, she ventured to Gridania in the winter of her nineteenth, leaving her stall in the care of her first hired retainer, a lalafell living in Ul'dah named Pachoulili Pachouli. Greeted by the forests and armed with a veritable knowledge of jewelry-craft, alchemy and weaving, to this arsenal she began to add carpentry and leatherworking, signing her name at the Carpenters' and Leatherworkers' Guilds. Studying these over the course of a year, the next winter saw her turning twenty. It was then that she was met with a strange prospect when someone sought her out at her workbench in the Carpenters' Guild.
She called herself Rischa Aislihn and she introduced herself as Sabine's aunt, her mother's sister. Inviting the woman back into the clan, Sabine felt that strike a cord. She had never felt any kind of attachment to her family, but she had also never known them. Knowing that Keeper clans were most often a tight-knit family unit, the woman felt as if perhaps she might consider reconnecting with a family she had never known. Rischa invited the budding crafter back to the home of her parents. Though welcomed, Sabine was quickly put off by the fact that they would want her to join in the line of succession for the family. Rischa and Morgane's mother and Sabine's grandmother, Aranen Aislihn had passed away with a fever of some sort three seasons before and Rischa had thus far only borne two sons. Though she spent spring and summer with the clan, Sabine swiftly deduced from the way that Rischa was acting that her aunt wanted her to, more or less, be a figurehead leader while Rischa controlled things from the background. Declining, Sabine left, turning away from what remaining extended family she had.
As winter thawed and spring budded into summer, Sabine ventured back to Limsa Lominsa. Though cooking with the Culinarians' Guild turned out to be quite a change from her usual handiwork with the other guilds, she came to enjoy it immensely, finding it to be a much more relaxing form of alchemy. Her time spent around the Bismarck, where she began to take great interest in how to make the many confectioneries and sweets that the restaurant served was a welcome breather from the hard last two year spent learning a majority of the trades in Eorzea's city-states.
Granted, her interest did not end with the skillet and ladle. After spending all of summer and some of fall cooking with the Bismarck, she entered herself that fall into the duo-guild of the Armorers' and the Blacksmiths', Sabine had saved what she deemed the hardest for last. And, indeed, she struggled with the hard work of the forge and the anvil. Her masters attributed some of it to her lack of physical strength and pointed out that many of her smaller pieces, ingots, gauntlets, daggers and the like were as fine as some of her jewelry-craft. Sabine worked at the trade for that long autumn and winter, but shortly after her twenty-first nameday. Pachoulili had said in correspondence that the small stall they were using was becoming too much for one little lalafell, so the Sabine felt the need to go in and check on the stall she had not properly minded in the last two years. Sabine promised herself that she would return later to hone herself as a smith and armorer, but somewhere inside the miqo'te knew she would never succeed in the way that others might at such trades.
Arriving at the desert city, Sabine found that Pachoulili was indeed right. Business was booming for the small stall and in the past two years it had grown exponentially. That being the case, Sabine quickly acquired the service of another two retainers, Remiria Miria and Sasaku Saku, and quickly put them to work. For the next cycle of seasons, Sabine minded the stall and eventually began to rent a small shop off the market street, moving from an open air setting to an indoor one and naming the storefront Saffron Commodities. Something of a spendthrift, Sabine began to put her fortune behind keeping the shop steadily stocked and behind funding her staff's apprenticeships at the Ul'dah guilds, so that she would not be the only one filling commissions. With that, Pachoulili studied under the Alchemists' Guild, Remiria studied under the Goldsmiths' and Sasaku studied with the Weavers'.
A Summoner and a Scholar
Having secured a livelihood for herself, the woman began to pursue other interests. It had been four years now since leaving the Arcanists' Guild behind, and the now worn slip of paper with the names she'd been given by the guildmaster served its purpose. She decided now was the time to seek out those two on the paper. The past few years had allowed her to amass a sizable library, but none of the information she could glean from the books, even ancient texts, provided her with any further learning to advance her arcane knowledge and thirst for magic. Given that this thirst had frankly been set aside for so many seasons as she established her crafts, Sabine now felt as if she were a dying man in a desert, who's dearest wish was for nothing but a single glass of water.
Tracking down the first of the names lead her back to Gridania's Black Shroud, where she found Aeronwis Siorwyn, a roegadyn summoner of some renown. Though the cross woman was originally unwilling to take Sabine, pure determination and perseverance convinced the surly roegadyn otherwise. It was with a demonstration of Sabine's savant-like ability to command the arcane that Aeronwis began to teach Sabine the arts of commanding the egi, or icons of the primal gods that the beastmen worshiped. Finding the task at hand a daunting one, Sabine leaped into it without a second thought, eager to command a new knowledge and a rare field of magic. If Aeronwis was frightened by the sheer aptitude and fervor that the miqo'te showed, she said nothing as days and weeks lengthened into months.
Those months were spent drilling in spells so intricate that Sabine feared that she might not be able to memorize them and come to understand the woven geometry of the magic on the pages before her. She did come to understand, however, why it had been such a difficult task for her to find the books on this subject in the first place. Many of the texts concerning the egi and the Nymian fairies simply remained in daunting tombs that had yet to be raided or discovered. Allag ruins and knowledge on the egi were few and far between, and the Nymian information on summoning was likewise guarded by fiends of fearsome ferocity.
Sabine's apprenticeship under Aeronwis became even more of a nightmare on the miqo'te's magical reserves and learning when the roegadyn bid her journey with her to Vylbrand's shores. There, the two sought out, unbeknownst to Sabine, the second person on the piece of paper: Rinoro Tiyanoro. The lalafell was a scholar of large ego to make up for his short stature and, had Aeronwis not brought Sabine to him herself, the lalafell might have never taken the girl as a student. Nevertheless, the trio spent two seasons drilling to the backdrop of the Floating City of Nym, Sabine never breaking even under their combined lessons. Rinoro and Aeronwis cautioned Sabine in that her learning would never be over, that there were always other texts to be found that covered the arcane. Especially those of the lost Nymian culture, added Rinoro. As a final test, the two teachers ordered Sabine to uncover a lost tome from a ruin north of the Floating City, a tome rumored to have knowledge of the lost Nymian art of binding voidgates.
Venturing forth into the ruins she had spent her childhood trawling, Sabine was faced with the foul horrors of fiends that still inhabited the ancient places. A close scrape with one of the feared tonberries later, however, found her victorious. A much tattered scroll, not a tome, in her clutches as she returned through the ruinous passage ways to where her teachers awaited above ground. As Nymeia and fate would have it, however, a cry for help would reach her ears before she exited the Nymian catacombs. Rushing to the sound of the fearful screams, she fended off a trio of tonberries that were bearing on another tomb raider. Her egi driving them away, she turned to help the man to his feet, only to discover that it was her father, Yho'li.
At first taken aback by the sudden reunion, Sabine did not have time to dwell on the matter as she guided her father safely out of the catacombs, fiends at nearly ever turn. Coming out of the tunnels on the Oakwood side of the area, just near Poor Maid's Mill, Yho'li questioned where the girl had been. Idly and awkwardly, Sabine explained her studies to her father, feeling someone off put by his attitude and his carelessness. Nevertheless, he said his goodbyes to his daughter without much thought, though he did mention she was welcome to visit should she want, and she turned away from him to return to her teachers.
Presenting Aeronwis and Rinoro with the scroll, both the summoner and the scholar proclaimed that they had no more personal knowledge to pass onto Sabine, and that any other learning she might want was possessed in lost texts such as the one she had retrieved. Embracing her, the two bid her good studies and passed onto her two spellbooks fashioned in the manner of lost tomes. Aeronwis's gift was a brown, leather-bound tome with a hinged crystal reading light, while Rinoro's was a set of journals bound in white fabric and with a fold over latch.
Gifts in hand and knowledge squarely secured, Sabine returned to Ul'dah satiated... but disheartened by yet another reminder that her family was a sour, lacking thing.
The Calamity
Sabine would not have long to dwell on that inner issue, as shortly after her return to Ul'dah, the Garlean Empire advanced into Eorzea, Nael van Darnus and the VIIth legion taking the realm by storm. Though Sabine did not partake in the initial fighting, her shop began to aid in supplying the Immortal Flames' medicinal wares and a number of other commodities. Working overtime, Sabine spent long nights weaving bandages or brewing potions for the troops that were being sent out.
Like all in the realm, she was there for the experience when Dalamud fell, staring up into the sky as the moon broke apart and sent a rain of terror even towards Ul'dah. Though this brought an end to the war, it did not bring an end to the strife of Eorzea, and Sabine found herself on the remains of the battlefield in the end anyways. Shortly after the battle of Carteneau, a call for medics was issued, and Sabine volunteered herself, heading out to the war-torn region in hopes of relieving some of the stress on the over worked healers. She spent the next many weeks tending the infirm in a healing ward as the realm attempted to rationalize the terrible losses they had sustained.
As the ward began to empty and patients left either healed or with family, Sabine returned to Ul'dah. The horrors of Carteneau had not been something she personally witnessed... but seeing its aftermath had left her with a sullen view of the combat and the Empire that had brought it.
A Tome Unread
As Eorzea began to revive itself from the attack of the wyrm Bahamut, Sabine joined her countrymen in the rejuvenation and began to sell her skills as a acquirer of ancient tomes and texts. Though none would say that Dalamud falling had been a blessing, the shards of the prison had opened rifts and wefts in the countryside and revealed a plethora of new ruins, be they Allag or otherwise, under the surface of the realm. That left a fair amount of new places for Sabine to explore. Be the ruin an Allagan catacomb, a Nymian palace or a long forgotten temple of the Belah'dian civilization, Sabine spent her time equally between exploring ruins and minding her burgeoning shop.
Some of her travels concerning the Nymians did take her back home, but a scant few visits with her family revealed that, other than their glee at receiving enough funds to get by well off in the Maid's Mill, they were not thrilled to see their daughter. Morgane in particular began to speak of returning to the clan she'd left in the Shroud. Once, she did ask Sabine if she would want to join them, but the miqo'te, now well into her own life and ways, declined.
As chance would have it one traipse into a desert ruin in Sagolii brought an ancient text into her possession. Bringing the weathered thing back with her to Ul'dah, she quickly began to the task of deciphering the knowledge within it. The Book of Gates, she found it to be called, was an ancient Belah'dian text concerning the magic of opening voidgates and summoning voidkin. Intrigued by this spellcraft, Sabine worked out the diagram for the first spell in the book. Drawing out the arcane circles on the floor of her workroom, she cast the magic, the words bringing a dark chill to the room as she spoke them.
As soon as the last syllable left her lips, an eerie purple glow was cast and a high pitched keen screeched through Saffron Commodities. Though the three lalafell she had hired came at a flurry to figure out what their mistress was up to so late at night, they did not make it to Sabine before the spell backfired tremendously, taking out the entire back portion of the store and blowing a billow of magical smoke into the street besides.
Sabine staggered out into the alley, her body bare of clothing and steeped in void-essence, sending a pack of street-rats scattering away at the red glow of her eyes. Wobbling, she collapsed there upon the stone. Her retainers found her swiftly and covered her, the lalafellin trio whisking her away as curious eyes came to see what had caused such a mess and noise.
When Sabine awoke, her gaze was bleary and she felt as if someone had split her head open like an nut. Sitting up, she was greeted by Pachoulili, who warily informed her that it had been a week since she had last been awake and it had been a month since the explosion. Shocked at the time frame, it wasn't until Pachoulili explained that they had sedated Sabine due to the fits of anger and terror that had racked her whenever she'd awoken... and in the lalafell's opinion, today was the first day their mistress had shown any lucid behavior. Sabine laid back against the pillows and let her eyes slide shut. Her head pounded, but she felt well enough. Cracking her eyes back open, she inquired about the tome. To that, Pachoulili brought forth the Book of Gates. Its pages were blackened and charred, the spells within lost now to whatever blast had happened. Sitting up and flipping through the pages, Sabine felt a pressing thought, a dark attitude almost, seeping through her and felt cold fury at the loss pool in her chest. Shrugging it off, she focused on recovering.
The Contract
Time and seasons passed. To Saffron Commodities, long since repaired from the explosion, she added one more retainer: Meimeirin Meirin, yet another lalafell. She also paid for her others' apprenticeships for alternating turns in Gridania and Limsa Lominsa. If any of the lalafell in charge of minding her shop and learning their trades from Sabine noticed that the passing seasons had brought a change on Sabine, they failed to mention it. Her skin took on a pale pallor and her appetite slacked. While this was often attributed a scholar's complexion, neither could explain the nightmares that began to plague her slumber.
Nevertheless, Sabine was champion at ignoring things that did not interest her. So she cast aside any worry at the growing signs of something dark and sinister and continued to explore the tombs across Eorzea. Having spent quite some time continuing onward down her chosen path, Sabine finally came to a crossroads. As fiends and the voidspawn that plagued Eorzea began to increase in number, she found herself in need of a more physically inclined companion to aid her in her explorations. As such, she eventually put in with Momodi at the Quicksand that she was looking for a bodyguard to mind her.
It was not a month later that the Quicksand proprietress contacted her that she had someone on hand and that she ought to come to the adventurers' guild at her earliest convenience. Hurrying over, Sabine was introduced to one Chris Ganale. Her imperious attitude unbecoming of her, she was quick enough to size him up. He certainly fit the bill in her eyes. Nevertheless, while Sabine remained civil in her opinion, she stated her demands of the contract: they would go where and when she said, and he was to follow her directions at all times, and, of course, he would be the one to face any wandering beasts, nefarious brigands, or voidsent that happened to assail them in their travels. Taking note of the fact he seemed undaunted in the face of those statements, she was quick to hire him on as a bodyguard.
Their first few ventures went smoothly enough. A voyage into the depths of a Belah'dian crypt left no small amount of reanimated mummies and corpses in pieces at Ganale's feet as Sabine mused away before the hieroglyphs on the wall before her. A quick jaunt into a Nymian tomb found Chris fending off tonberries full of rancor as Sabine worked out a myriad of puzzles the Nymians had left behind. The duo even challenged an Allag ruin once, though Sabine almost deemed it a waste of time when they ran into a deadlock she couldn't coax open. To her surprise, a hefty axe swung past her and cleaved the lock in two. The doors rattled in their track and Ganale pushed them open just enough that the pair could enter. Sabine managed to uncover a small collection of Allagan tomestones for Ganale's trouble... and that was perhaps the first moment that she began to consider Ganale as more than the hired guard. Granted, she would never admit to such. ...Yet.
A season passed with Ganale in Sabine's employ and, in her opinion, she treated him well. Though her back was often turned as she fought down fiends and brigands, she always sealed his payments with additional hazard pay. Though, not a gil more than her advertised sum on the additions. Nevertheless, they became a common sight in the Quicksand, having begun to use the establishment as a place to meet up before their ventures and a place to share an evening meal. While for the first few weeks, and many times after them as well, Sabine shared this meal behind the pages of a book, scant conversations between the two eventually did grow into a kind of bickering they seemed to share. Ganale never argued their destination, as per the contract, but he was fond of pointing out which path would be the best, where they should stay over at and what kind of provisions they needed to bring.
As fate would eventually have it, the two would be contracted into a free company together. Put up for room and board in said company's headquarters, Sabine moved a portion of her belongings to the room they allotted her. Though their time with the company was a short season, Sabine managed to make a few connections that would later crop up in her life. Though, true to her nature, conversations were scant with these new faces, Sabine was introduced to one Vervara Rozthan and one Ashiirra Azaria, a miqo'te who had joined the company to hunt down a group of denizens. Her dealings with Vervara did not extend much further than a few exchanges, but they coordinated well enough when it came to a serious dealing within the company involving a voidsent possession.
As it turned out, that individual was a rather well-placed member of a small noble house who had been missing for some time, and the resultant backlash saw the company discharging all of the individuals involved in an effort to save face, managing to catch a fair few innocents in the cross-fire at the same time. Unperturbed by this turn of events, Sabine moved on and moved her operations back Ul'dah, taking up her old mantle of exploring the plethora of lost ruins around Thanalan.
Darkest Hour
It was shortly before moving back to Ul'dah that the nightmares Sabine had been experiencing came back in full fold. Though on her best days, she managed to hide her fluctuating attitude behind the mask of lacking sleep, Ganale would bear the brunt of the scathing attitude this afflicted Sabine with on her worst days. On her best days, Sabine became acquainted with a number of new allies through Vervara: Cain Lear, Gunnbjorn Darkblade and Devilish Sarracenia among them. On her worst days, she would find Ganale at her door, an uneasy, but concerned, look on his face as he questioned why she was ragged and unprepared for a scheduled journey into a ruin she had wanted to go explore.
Even Sabine's bullheadedness would not allow her to ignore the going-ons now and this was her reasoning for relocating back to Ul'dah. The nightmares she was having were not simple terrors of her mind's doing, but something sinister that had afflicted her and it had begun when she had attempted that spell from the Book of Gates. Though she had scrounged through the Book of Gates since it had been scorched, searching for any inkling of a remaining scrap of information, she had found nothing. Recent expeditions into Belah'dian ruins had revealed no further information and the nightmares became clearer over the waning and waxing moons. What before had been twisting shadows now were visions of her naked form dancing over a blood soaked dune, eyes reflecting as a predator's in the moonlight, only red.
As she delved deeper into the affliction that had taken her, Sabine's attitude grew harsher and colder. Ganale suffered the brunt of these changes, though her retainers were at the end of a number fits. Over the passing moons a second presence evolved in Sabine's mind, one clearly not her own, that taunted her at every turn... and eventually began to gain power of her actions. Before long, she stopped going on ventures and ceased contact with Ganale. A fever afflicted her, one that left her shiveringly cold within but as a furnace to all those that touched her. Anyone with any inkling of magical ability could look at her and see that she was practically bleeding aether, as if the sheer amount gathering up in her was trying to burn her out.
The fiend within was a murderous Belah'dian priestess, the authoress and mage known as Ka'hi, who had written the Book of Gates. In her time she had been revered as a goddess in human form... but as her wants and ambitions grew, so did her need for more power. Selling her body to the spirits to the void, it was only by the banishment of a number of Belah'dian priests that she was imprisoned and her tome of summoning cast into a crypt never meant to be found or opened. But ages had past, and Sabine had found it... and the spell had woken the voidkin that housed her lusting spirit... and now that voidkin had a body to possess. And take control of the vulnerable miqo'te she did, having planted seeds in the past moons, whispering voices and nightmares and now this fever. In the last throes of her consciousness, Sabine ordered her chocobo saddled and she left Ul'dah, riding out to Sagolii as her body deteriorated. As it were, Pachoulili watched her mistress leave the gates of the city and then promptly hurried as fast as her short legs would take her to the Quicksand. Seeking the man she'd grown to know as the mistress's bodyguard, she explained the situation... and the words had barely left her lips before the man had abandoned his meal at the pub and had gone.
The moon lit up the desert as Sabine shivered against a dune, fighting a losing battle with the creature taunting her within. It was as the fever reached its high point that she lost control of the force striving to rip her apart. Ka'hi forced a flood of aether into her, taking control of her body in a blast that glassed half the dune she was resting by. Void energies enveloped her form as Ganale neared, lacing her with dark designs. As Ganale arrived, the priestess stood, bare as the day she had been born, in the body of the woman she had possessed. She greeted Ganale with a sneer as the warrior turned his axe head about, flat of the head facing the she-demon as she lunged at him, a mixture of Sabine's ample aether and her own void powers lashing out. The combat dragged on as the moon rose and there was a time where Ganale worried he might not triumph. But then the demon taunted him with the last thing she should have ever used against the besotted warrior: his love for Sabine. In a mighty cleave, he brought the haft of his weapon down on the woman's arm, a tremendous crack that shattered the limb and left the possessed Sabine screaming. With force curbed only by his fear for permanently damaging the miqo'te, his gauntlet-clad fists connected with her temple, knocking her unconscious.
When she came to, Sabine found herself in control of her own person again. Just so. She had awoken at a small temple near Thal's Respite which was practically teeming with thaumaturges from the guild in Ul'dah. She also found that she was under close guard... and for good reason. One glance in the nearby mirror revealed tracking red patterns across her face... and a dull pounding in the back of her mind could be compared to the feeling of someone or something throwing itself bodily against a prison gate, trying to get out. It was then that Ganale approached with the Thaumaturges' guildmaster, Cocobuki, alongside him. Though worry was written across Ganale's face, he said nothing as Cocobuki explained the spell they hoped to use to purge the voidkin and explained that it was as likely to work as it was to kill her. The miqo'te stated simply that that she had nothing to lose that she wouldn't if she didn't go through with it.
The thaumaturges, Cocobuki and his siblings among them, lead Sabine into Thal's Respite and released the binding on the voidkin within her. Ganale stood barred at the entrance as they did their work and as the void-priestess lashed out at them, taking full possession of Sabine once more. Though the fight nearly cost one of the thaumaturge's a limb and another their life, they drained Ka'hi down to a husk until her form, that of a voidroiga appeared and disintegrated into a fine dust. There was no stopping Ganale as he charged forward to gather Sabine's collapse form from the stones of the temple. Without heeding any of those mages present, he took her back to her home to rest.
In the days to come, Sabine recovered slowly, but with no ill effects, never matter how often Cocobuki looked in for them. For all her retainers and the slowly diminishing visits from a thaumaturge every now and again helped her on her path to recovery... there was one face absent: Ganale. Over the next two months, she saw neither hide nor hair of him... but that changed shortly when Eorzea entered a new battle.
Operation Archon
With whispers filtering through the military circles of Eorzea that the Garlean Empire had a terrifying new superweapon under their control and were threatening the realm with destruction lest the city-states bow to the wishes of the Empire, Chris had turned his attention to this new state of affairs. When word came that the City-State Alliance would once more band together and give the collective finger to the Empire, he knew that his place would be with his brothers- and sisters-in-arms on the field of battle. Upon traveling to Camp Bluefog and being briefed of the coming operation, and his unit's part in it, Chris sat and waited at the edge of camp, sharpening his axe in preparation for some 'aggressive therapy' against the Garleans.
Sabine was not idle in the meantime and, knowing her companions affiliations and background as she did, used the growing military presence as a means to track him down. Shortly before the operation was to begin, Sabine arrived at the camp and quickly located her wayward bodyguard, berating him for having chosen to go off on his own to battle without saying a word to her, though it was clear to all observing that she was more annoyed at the 'without telling her' part. Sabine continued on her tirade up until the moment that the troops were called to arms. Silencing Sabine with a gentle finger to her lips, Ganale made the statement that he didn't deserve to be contracted to protect someone when he had failed so utterly at the job and canceled his contract with her. Watching him leave, Sabine stormed off in a huff, losing herself healing those brought back in from the battlefield, but eventually leaving without seeking the man out once more.
Alone With Your Thoughts
Shortly after the success of Operation Archon, Sabine took a leave from her work in Ul'dah to aid in the opening and furnishing of a new tavern in Gridania's Lavender Beds, the Oak Inn. Crafting and scribing the books for the upstairs library of the inn. After some visits and much deliberation, she rented a room as a retreat residence from her usual haunt in Ul'dah. After the turn of a month, Ganale sought her out after word of mouth had traveled that the proprietress of Saffron Commodities had taken up residence in the Oak Inn. Taking a corner table in the tavern, Ganale spent some time catching up with her. In a sudden moment of swelling emotions, Sabine admitted that she had missed his company. It went without saying that the feeling was mutual, and when she remarked that she wished she might see him more, he proposed that perhaps he could acquire a room there as well. This concept pleased her, and it did not take long for him to take up residence in the vacant room across from hers.
Just as things began to move toward an interpersonal growth between them, Ganale was contacted for a steady job by the Amajina & Sons Mineral Concern, which he quickly accepted by dint of needing a better source of income now that he had the rent at the Inn to consider. The job was one of hard labor, an extra hand to mine a newly-discovered deposit of mythril at the far southern end of the Sagolii desert. Were it not for the considerable pay, consisting of hazard pay for proximity to Amalj'aa territory and travel expenses to and from the Black Shroud on top of the generous pay for a miner's hard labor, he would have balked at a job so far from his new home. But it was such that he decided for the job, which saw him rising before the dawn to head out to the dig and not getting back to the inn until after dark. This had the all-too-predictable drawback of leaving him with scant few free hours at the end of the day, the majority of them spent exhausted and barely able to interact with others. Further, this put his schedule at odds with that of Sabine's, whose nature as a Keeper saw her awake during the night where he had to sleep. The short amount of time available for them to spend in one another's presence further fell during the Inn's peak hours, which has left him unable to nurture any further relationship with her.
For some weeks, this was the routine at the Inn, and Chris did not notice that she had begun taken to attempting to stay awake during the day so that she might see him when he returned from the fields, as this usually wound up resulting in her asleep on her desk and missing his available time entirely. One evening, her perseverance paid off, and as he entered the tavern, it was to find her seated at one of the tables alongside regular resident Ashiirra and her adopted daughter, Ariilyn Azaria. Over the weeks previous, Chris had become accustomed to Sabine not being present when he returned, and had fallen out of the habit of putting away the doll when he returned. At first, Sabine had not noticed it, and he considered himself lucky, going to tuck the thing away in his empty hip pocket.
And then the nine-year old Ariilyn caught sight of it and drew everyone's attention to it.
Knowing he was busted, and with all the enthusiasm of a man marching to the gallows, Chris brought the doll over to the table for them to inspect. Ariilyn was absolutely tickled by it and its wind-up actions, wishing to get one of her own made. While Chris remarked that he suspected Vervara had crafted it and she should be the one asked, he watched with bated breath to see Sabine's response to it. To his relief, she wasn't immediately disgusted by the thought that he had a wind-up doll in her likeness, but his uneasiness with being caught with it prompted him to flee to his room, ostensibly to clean up from the day's work.
Though he did bathe and clean himself up, it was several long minutes before he worked up the courage to return downstairs, whereupon Ashiira and Ariilyn left for the evening, citing time for their evening bath. In the awkward silence that ensued, Sabine expressed her unhappiness that he had suddenly broke the contract. He answered that he did not deserve to be paid to do a job which he had failed at. Knowing that he referred to her prior possession, she adamantly stated that such had been beyond his control, and that he had in fact saved her from a fate worse than death, then implored him to concede to being her guard again. Knowing that he would not persuade her otherwise, he acquiesced and commented that he did not wish to fail someone he cared so much for. Asking him to clarify, he sensed an opportunity and, taking a gamble that would change his life for one way or another, he confessed his feelings of love to her.
For a distressing amount of time, she was silent, her expression betraying her complete surprise. She began to respond that she did not fully understand such feelings, coming frighteningly close to crushing his heart, but clarified that she was also very fond of him, just unused to such interactions due to the way her life had been led. She promised to think on his words, leaving him with a dim hope flickering in the darkness of his personal life.
Traits
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Combat
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A savant at arcane magic and commanding summoned creatures, Sabine's strengths lie wholly on the magical side of the spectrum. She is never seen without a spell tome in her hands, either one to cast poisonous and sickening incantations, one to summon a faerie or egi to her side, or one to heal the wounds of her contracted allies. That aside, Sabine has some handling of thaumaturgy and conjury, enough so to buffer her knowledge of the arcane. Most of this knowledge is from book learning rather than actual practice, however, and she would never consider herself a thaumaturge or a conjurer. |
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- Arcane Magic: Having long since delved into the science of casting illness spells and harmful curses created from the geometry of the pages of an arcane text, one could say that Sabine is a master arcanist... except that the women would quickly argue that there is always lost knowledge to uncover concerning the arcane. Nevertheless, she is in top form as far as arcane magic is concerned. On top of the normal skill set acquired by the Arcanists' Guild, Sabine has added the lost knowledge of the Allagan Empire of summoning egi and the lost art of commanding faeries of the Nymian culture to her robust and growing knowledge of spells and incantations.
- Conjury: A self-taught conjurer from books and texts, Sabine only garnered as much about conjury as she needed to in attempts to buffer her Nymian spells for her and her faeries. As such, she does not often pass herself off as a conjurer and is much more fond of weaving conjury into the spells in her books rather than actually drawing purely from the forces of nature for her magic.
- Thaumaturgy: Sabine has something of a special relationship with thaumaturgy and void magics. Having had no interest for the school of magic, she recently took it up as a means to maintain the voidal residue left behind after the Belah'dian voidkin was purged from her body.
Skills
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Having taken up crafting very early on, shortly after ending her training at the Arcanists' Guild, Sabine has spent long years building a name for herself in Ul'dah's thriving market place. Primarily focusing on weaving and goldsmithing, Sabine has plied herself at all the guilds to at least garner some knowledge of each of them. She has a keen eye for detail, often planning and executing elaborate and intricate pieces of finery and is known for weaving a thin silver thread brocade into silks and felt. That aside, given her physique, she has very little talent for the heavier crafts such as the crafting of arms and armor and, to a lesser extent, carpentry and leatherworking. |
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- Alchemy: One of the three crafting guilds Sabine originally studied in, alchemy is something she succeeds at despite her general indifference to the skill. Boasting a robust knowledge of materials, compounds and reagents, she excels at brewing potions and the like, but her true love in alchemy lay with the knowledge of using glues and fixatives to bind books. Given her love of libraries and books in general, she has become incredibly adept at repairing and rebinding damaged tomes and this is what she studied most while at the Alchemists' Guild. In addition, Sabine is something of a scribe and is more than willing to copy out tomes for a fee.
- Armorsmithing: Armorcraft was the last of two trades that Sabine began to study. Not thriving in the hard work of shaping heavy metal into armor, Sabine does not excel in the heat of the forge. Though she spent a fair amount of at Naldiq & Vymelli's and the Armorers' Guild, plying herself to the techniques that were taught there, she eventually ended her leaving with the guild prematurely. That being said, she did typically make moderate quality chain mail and smaller pieces of armor like gauntlets. This does not stop her from working on small things, it is just larger pieces that she has always had trouble with, especially plate mail.
- Blacksmithing: By and far Sabine's worst craft, blacksmithing was alongside armorcraft as her last trade to study. Though she applied herself to the forge of the Blacksmiths' Guild with as much dedication as she showed in any other guild, blacksmithing required more physical strength than her body was inclined for. Though the small, delicate fixings of dressing up a hilt or a small dagger were something Sabine could handle, the act of pounding out a sword on the anvil left her nearly in tears with frustration... though she will never admit it. When it comes to wares at her store, sometimes she will outsource to Ganale to stock things like small arms at Saffron Commodities.
- Botany: Preferring gardening to the harsh work of cutting trees, Sabine is fond of tending small plots of land. Something of a green thumb, she likes to experiment with cross breeding seedlings in hopes of coming out with new plants. When it does come to field work, she is more of a harvester than a woodswoman, preferring to harvest herbs, fruits and nuts for profit than to bother with cutting lumber. She keeps a small box garden in her shop in addition to a larger one outside in the yard beside it. Though typically Yurick Rozthan tends to the garden at the Oak Inn, Sabine can sometimes be seen poking around it.
- Carpentry: Of all of the crafts that require heavier work, carpentry is by and far Sabine's favorite and best of that type. Though some of the heavier work daunts her skill set, she is not as incapable at woodcraft as she is at the fashioning of arms and armor. It is not uncommon to see her at her work desk carving a small piece of wood into a desk statue or hilt or some other such small trinket. Lately, the fact that she rents a room in Gridania at the Oak Inn often means she takes a visit to the Carpenters' Guild, where she sometimes helps teach youngsters how to whittle. The dagger she made for Ganale has a whittled handle in the shape of a falcon, given her belief that he watches over her the way a bird might.
- Cooking: Something of a special case, training at the Culinarian's Guild in the Bismarck was almost something she forewent. Realizing she would have regretted that horribly, she finds she actually enjoys cooking immensely, finding it to be its own special form of alchemy and science. Though she is a fairly good cook, baking is where she excels, and she often offers free samples of her confections at Saffron Commodities. Having something of a sweet tooth herself, Pachoulili often has to stop her mistress from snacking on her own treats.
- Fishing: Though one could make a joke about how odd it is for a miqo'te to dislike fishing, given the breed, Sabine doesn't dislike fishing so much as she finds it more of a idle pass time than something that one can make a profit off of. That did not stop her from visiting Limsa Lominsa's Fishers' Guild and signing up to learn the skill. Though she sees no viable means of funds from the skill, she does keep up with her knowledge in the area, if only to supply the odd recipe she wants to try that calls for a fish.
- Goldsmithing: Where blacksmithing is Sabine's worst, the smithing of gold and the creation of jewels, jewelry and trinkets is Sabine's best. She can spend hours crafting a masterpiece that will fetch her a small fortune in Ul'dah's thriving noble class and society. By and far her favorite material to work with is silver, and she is fond of drawing silver wire so thin that it can be worked as thread. All of her own jewelry was crafted by her own hands, most of it is silver wire inlaid with gemstones, which are much of the common stock in her shop.
- Leatherworking: Going somewhat hand-in-hand with love of weaving and sewing, leatherworking was one of the skills she enjoyed picking up. Though she did not get along with Geva of the Leatherworkers' Guild, sharing clashing personalities, Sabine's hand at working hide and tooling leather was steady and trained and Geva grudgingly came to admit that. Sabine specializes in clothing pieces, but she is not daunted when it comes to making leather armor, gladly making up for her lack of skill as a heavy armorer by fashioning light leather pieces for speedier warriors to wear.
- Mining: Sabine is an awful miner. For anything related to this field, she usually turns to Ganale and usually pesters him to bring her raw gemstones and ores.
- Weaving: Aside from making jewelry, working with cloth and weaving is Sabine's favorite skill. Having entered the Weavers' Guild at the same time that she entered that of the Goldsmiths', Sabine is often fond of combining the two trades into one. Her original profits for her shopfront were obtained when she began to weave thin silver wire into light brocade and patterns on expensive fabrics. One can often see her with a stitching circle, working on some small piece or another. Though her love of small trims and tidbits on garments is absolute, this does not stop her from crafting elaborate and large designs and pieces, and she willingly takes on large orders.
Relationships
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Rumors
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◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard.)
◢ Uncommon Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear.)
◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard.)
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◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from other player's characters.)
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Music
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Trivia
- Sabine is based on an interpretation of the character Sabrina from Pokémon.
- The name of Sabine's shop is a reference to Saffron City from Pokémon.
- Sabine's character classes, arcanist, summoner and scholar, as well as her tendency to collect minions and wind-up dolls is based on Pokémon.
- The Book of Gates is a reference to the Book of the Dead from The Mummy.
- The physical effects of the possession Sabine goes through are based on the sickness that afflicts the character Thom from The Song of the Lioness series.
- Sabine's ability as a bookbinder is based on the character Mo from Inkheart.
