Staelufre Lysmerl
Staelufre Lysmerl (pronounced /stail-OU-frey LEES-mar-ill/) was born on 10th Sun of the 5th Umbral Era (October 10th). Her name means "Still Shore of the Bright Sea". She is a miqo'te who was born to one of the vagrant Jackal tribes in La Noscea, wandering through much of Eorzea with them during her childhood. She has kept the affinity to remaining in the wilderness over any form of civilization to this day, and has a very odd way of speaking.
Contents
Basic Info
Not everyone can understand or relate to Staelufre. This is, at times, exceedingly frustrating to her. She speaks with a parlance that was invented and perfected by a hermit, and thus the mannerisms she uses are very foreign and often leading to misunderstanding. She has, however, been getting lessons on how to speak easier and has begun to become acquainted with a more common cant. Only adding to her oddities, she will avoid cities at a very unreasonable rate. At times, she also forgoes the comfort of houses and chooses to disappear into the wilderness for suns at a time. She prefers alcohol and fighting to any sort of minimal comfort, and excels in agility over brute strength or magick. Because Staelufre is terrible at remembering names, she often gives people her own "nicknames" derived from the roegadyn language.
- "He is prey; weak, frightened and unable to fight his way free. He becomes terrified and runs into the briars, then complains when they get caught in his fur. Such rabbits do not deserve pity, or mercy."
- "Oft, you are taken by the deep and churning tides. As they pull you below, to tumble you about, you must not fight. The sea is as nourishing as she is treacherous."
- "I find no small comfort in the shores of my kin. The apprentice and his bannermen honor me with mine namesake, but it is ever the freedom of the sea that I give myself to."
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Appearance & Personality
- Staelufre cuts a slight figure, but nothing about her short stature is wasted. She is muscled and athletic in build, though short. Her skin is tanned and golden in complexion from both heritage and a great many days in the sun. With naturally pink hair and tail, though neither accept to being tried to tame. Her hair is fluffy and wild, and so often cut short or bound down by clips. Usually, after hunting, it's also caked in mud. Even more stunning than a girl with pink hair are her gold eyes. They glare at most of the world from behind long lashes, sharp and stripping. Even with the round face and fat, up-turned nose, the gentleness of her face is ruined by such intruding eyes.
- In almost all situations Staelufre's garbed lightly, wearing little more armor than leather. If there's any metal to her outfit, it is to reinforce weak points such as her shins or forearms. Never does Staelufre show her back, as across it is an uneven and encompassing scar that stretches from shoulders to lower back. More scars mar her arms and hands, though she also commonly wears gloves. Staelufre never goes anywhere without at least a knife, either hidden or plain, and cannot stand to equally part comfortable realms without her most precious ring.
- Staelufre most often stands slouched or with arms crossed, especially when in the presence of others. In crowds she is withdrawn, quiet and in corners. Anything more than five or six others and Staelufre simply tends to leave. She does not, under many circumstances, go into cities or crowded areas. She fears large numbers of people after being so withdrawn from civilization. It is to a point where she resents and hates any form of building or city, even at times preaching against the luxury of society. While she believes her words, she does also enjoy the luxuries that homes can provide. Beds and showers are much better than roots and cold lakes.
- In one word, a sum of her personality would be paradox. She is innocent and violent, both a hunter and likewise utterly feminine. She is harsh in her truths, and warm in her lies. Staelufre is both wise when it comes to others, and utterly ignorant in how to interact with them. Introspective, yet starved for friendship. Should anyone offer her kindness, she will eagerly drink it up and follow at their heels thereafter. Being alone for so long has both driven her to want freedom and to equally want camaraderie.
- One thing that is less fluid and contrary is her perspective on other people. People are either weak or strong, prey or hunters. Those who are prey she pities and sees no value in. Those who are hunters, she respects. Respect does not always mean Staelufre likes or trust them, however. After spending so long in the wild, she knows very well how to discern who is stronger and how to avoid confrontation. Unfortunately, she also strives to better herself at nearly every turn, so often has a deliberate cause and wish to throw herself into unfair situations just to come out stronger. This often makes her come across as rash, when the acts are in fact deliberate and she's always keenly aware of the very real danger of dying.
- If in situations when speaking to an individual person she trusts, Staelufre's personality truly shines through. Her words are eloquent and well-chosen, her loyalty is unbearably strong, and her optimism unyielding. She gives advice as best she can and admits ignorance when she cannot. Pride does, at times, keep her from asking for help when she needs it. When speaking to an individual that Staelufre dislikes, she becomes guarded and calloused. Her words are gated, capable of meaning anything, and her lies are so smooth it's impossible to tell them from the half-true metaphors. Her ability to command her emotions in front of those who she deems weaker is impressive, as is her capability of detaching value to their life. Those who are weak, in her opinion, are better off dead. Should Staelufre be speaking, however, individually with a person she doesn't yet know well, she'll always regard them in the way she would regard a new hunting territory. Assessing their weaknesses and prying for strengths, seeking the balance of their personality to determine whether or not they are worth her time.
Combat
- Staelufre does not fight other people very well. She is more akin to the hunt, to employing stealth and surprise, than to fighting others one-on-one. The thrill of battle still runs hot through her, however, and she always enjoys a good fight. Even if it means getting beaten black and blue, she'll take on an opponent if nothing more than for the experience of it. Because of her inexperience in direct combat, she relies mostly on her larger skills. This would be agility and speed. Not getting hit is the biggest name of her game, and while she can take a couple blows they wear her down quickly. Training for combat is not much in hefting weapons and striking dummies. She trains for flexibility and endurance. Running, stretching, climbing; unorthodox things that keep her body in shape but often don't translate into direct physical combat.
- Primarily, to defeat an opponent, Staelufre uses daggers. She looks for openings in armor first, and exploits any vulnerable spots. Due to being spry and nimble, reaching odd places isn't very difficult. What is difficult is getting close enough to cut without getting hit. So after a few slashes, Staelufre tends to back off and exhaust her opponent by letting them bleed out. To opponents she aims to kill rather than simply defeat, she usually aims for the neck or their gut. Blood is not something the miqo'te is shy of. If she aims to kill as well, it is even less likely that Staelufre will approach an opponent directly.
Biography
Tribal Years
- Born daughter of J'tyraka Nuhn in the jungles of La Noscea as J'adaeza, she had a relatively blissful childhood. Their tribe was exceedingly small, no more than forty people at once, and strictly nomadic. Primarily they traveled through La Noscea, but in her lifetime did build small crafts to carry them across the waters to find new hunting grounds in the Black Shroud. Because of the fact they were so small, it was required for every member of the tribe to be trained and responsible for many aspects of the community. From small things such as building fires, or to larger things such as teaching the children. It was expected, in her tribe, for men and women to both be able to hunt as well as mend wounds.
- As with all the other children, being trained to be a productive member of the tribe begun as soon as infancy ended. Her life was relatively easy, for all that a nomadic tribal life could be. She did not excel very well when it came to cooking or skinning creatures. She did not have much patience to learn to stitch clothes back together, and was often scolded for playing too roughly with the other children. Yet one day, she was brought to her mother's tent and given a choice of weaponry. This would be the weapon she would wield for the rest of her life in the tribe, trained in it until it became as much part of her as a limb. Only then would she be allowed to hunt. J'adaeza chose a spear, which was too large for her scrawny form, but stubbornly kept to it.
- To those of younger ages, one of the more experienced Tias became their teacher. He taught them how to use the weapons they chose, in a strict yet not unkind manner. J'adaeza at this time was awful with the spear. She commonly dropped it, or was much too loud when carrying it around. She was scolded almost constantly, given extra exercises to learn her weapon better, and not allowed to return to the fires until she finished them. It was punishing, but also rewarding. So early in age, she didn't become bitter by the experience, but instead elevated to enjoy the push of her body. To wield the spear was not a natural thing to the tiny pink-haired girl, but she progressed and became decent at it. Once proficient enough, the Tia then began to train her in hunting tactics and strategies. How to step quietly and place traps, the knowledge of sensing danger and so forth.
- At ten, as is traditional in her tribe, J'adaeza was taken on her first hunting trip. She was not permitted to strike at any creatures or wander on her own. She stuck closely to the side of one of the mature hunters, and while much of what she learned was applied, she found she had much more to learn. The thrill of the hunt sunk quickly and deeply in her heart, however, and it soon took her over. She became obsessed with hunting, and decided after but a few meager years of training to dedicate her life to it.
- This went against her tribe's custom, however. When J'adaeza's more relaxed chores and duties began to wane in favor to her hunting, she was taken aside and spoken to. At first, they only expressed concerned. Then, when she ignored their words and abandoned her other disciplines in arrogant need for the sport, they began to punish her in true. As an adolescent who, as pre-teens tend to be, was absolutely certain she knew what was best for her, J'azaeda rebelled against the obedience they demanded from her. This was not an uncommon thing at her age, even in the tribe, but it was still disruptive to a community so small. She was frustratingly single-minded and stuck to it. So one evening, after a particularly bad spat with her aunt, she decided to leave the tribe.
- Leaving itself wasn't terribly traumatic to J'adaeza. The tribe, at the time, was on a particularly wealthy streak in the Shroud. She took a sufficient amount of foodstuffs and her spear, and set off at the opposite direction. It was liberating, for a while, until she found that one of her half-sisters trailing slowly after her. Having heard of J'adaeza's leaving, J'adisa had soon departed for her own reasoning. Guilt and familial obligation forced her to look over this other girl, who had no skill in hunting or fighting.
Death
- While J'adaeza and J'adisa traveled back to La Noscea, they found that life without a tribe was more difficult than previously imagined. While J'adaeza was a fair enough hunter, she was poor at every other practical application. Her rebellion became her own punishment, as her sister and her struggled to feed themselves or find proper campsites. There were many close calls to unsavory sorts and rabid beastmen, and J'adaeza gathered many colorful stories about swiping equipment from unsuspecting travelers.
- During such a colorful tale, she managed to cross paths with the wrong sort of folk. The story involved behind to why, and how the events unfolded, tends to change with each evolution of the story in present day; suggesting a reluctance to admit why or perhaps even a true confusion as to its truth. But what she does always tell, and seem to recall accurately, is the mutilation of her back. Tossed into the sea of Vylbrand, she nearly drowned. Miracle of miracles, she survived. Washed upon the beach with her back quickly growing an infection. Time for her at this point grew wildly inconsistent. A fever over-took her and she wandered in search of shelter or help. Her body was dying, already weak from her time in the water and what she was certain had been her death. Now, she was experiencing the agony of dying all over again.
- Here is where Vilsewaen Steinhoh rescued the dying miqo'te. She had no idea, for a long time, that she was even in the care of anyone. He tended to her in one of his camps in the lowlands of Vylbrand until she recovered enough to become lucid and aware of her situation. They spoke, and while she was still too weak to move did tell him of her sister and where their campsite had been before her near-fatal accident. J'adisa came immediately and helped Vilsewaen tend to J'adaeza. He spoke strangely, but treated them kindly, and offered more than enough hospitality that they felt comfortable staying at his side.
Rebirth
- Though the two half-sisters did not intend to stay with Vilsewaen long, his proficiency of living alone was more than they had. When he offered to teach them, they ended up agreeing. Thus it was that the two came under his tutelage, and the tutelage became something more. His patience and lack of social skills were precisely the right combination of dry and kind that the two bonded with. So when Vilsewaen, the wandering hermit that he is, said he was climbing higher to the La Noscean mountains he took J'adaeza and J'adisa with him.
- There is where J'adaeza's birth into Staelufre became apparent. Though she may had been on the physical brink of death before, with Vilsewaen's help she finally accepted that she will never again be part of a tribe. And as the hermit accepted these two lost girls into his care, he gave to them his traditions and philosophies as well. So J'adaeza and J'adisa came to be known, respectively, as Staelufre Lysmerl and Siehrova Brynstymm. The women were encouraged to be free and study whatever pursuit came to their heart, while their new father ensured their welfare and ability to look after themselves. So they developed into two opposites. Where Staelufre was wild, Siehrova was patient: Where Staelufre learned and strengthened her body, Siehrova was curious and expanded her mind. The two were dawn and dusk, and they both loved Vilsewaen as if he were the sky itself.
- The three were very happy for a long time. As was his nature, Vilsewaen would often leave the two to wander. Even attached to others, he was still a hermit at heart. But Staelufre and Siehrova did not seem to mind. Their growth became exponential as they explored the mountains of La Noscea, alone and away from any civilization. The two bonded until their differences expanded and then compounded, both taking pieces of each other until neither were sure which one began and the other ended. These are the happiest memories to Staelufre, with her ever-present sister and her wayward father. Each so dear to her that she would have rather died than be left without them in the world.
- Eventually Staelufre and Siehrova left La Noscea. Vilsewaen went with them as far as the Shroud, and from there they wandered to Coerthas. The cold weather did not suit Siehrova, but the stars fascinated her sister. Staelufre had always been fascinated by stars and their clarity in these northern grounds stole her heart away. They wandered wherever they wished, though often returned to their "home" in the mountains.
The Calamity
- About four years before the Calamity fell, Vilsewaen took in another rogue soul. While Staelufre isn't sure where the old man found Renee Becquerel - who was then Renaud - he certainly came to become a large figurehead for the elezen. The then-named Wakkeyha Syngronn became Vilsewaen's apprentice. This excited the first time Staelufre ever felt jealousy in another person. She had always thought of her father as belonging to their family, and here was an interloper to steal Vilsewaen's time and ideals away from their already precious moments. It frustrated her, and she harbored equal envy that Renee had the Echo while she did not. So when the Garlean forces threatened their doorstep and Renee announced her leave, Staelufre was overjoyed... until Vilsewaen announced he was leaving as well.
- She remained in the mountains of La Noscea until after Dalamud hit. Then she waited longer for Vilsewaen to return. Eventually, she became too anxious and left - parting with Siehrova for the first time in years. She traveled, seeing the cruelty and savagery that was brought on with total desolation. While uninterested in helping cities to rebuild and regrow, she did know that her skills as a hunter would do many well. So Staelufre took up many odd jobs, expanding her skills and honing her ability as a hunter to be met by the need and demand of others.
- This continued until the ships were rebuilt and the island reconnected to the rest of Eorzea. Then Staelufre left, wanderlust unable to be sated. She continued to work as a hunter for hire for a small time, building a thin and unimportant network of people who knew her by face if not by name. She abandoned it, however, when Revenant's Toll was being formed. Instead she returned to Siehrova and two journeyed there, to a place where Siehrova's genius and thirsty for knowledge could be met on a frontier that would also excite her more than any dusty library. For a time, Staelufre remained in Mor Dhona withe her sister. She did little other than wander and explore, doting upon her other half until such time that she became too thirsty for the hunt again.
Present
- So she left. She regathered her structure of hunting for meager favors or bits of gil, for things that she could not make or find herself in the wild. This was when she came to find, from Vilsewaen, that the long-left apprentice Renee Becquerel had started a Free Company. While the name the Coral Sea was appeasing to her, what truly interested her was the name of their home. It was named in her honor, supposedly, and while her desire to be free and away from any form of civilization was strong... the compulsion to see such a strange thing was stronger. So Staelufre wandered for her first time into the Mist, and quickly became lost.
- This was where she met L'aenoh Tia. Through a quick spiral of events, he introduced her to many others of the Coral Sea. Their relationship becoming something strong, she remained near to the Mist - begrudgingly - to also remain near him. Her first impression of the people was unpleasant. They commonly referred to her as "Zhen's replacement" or "stray", and it happened so often and with so much repetition she accepted it as the views of all those who lived within walls. Dejected and hurt by their actions and calloused attitudes, Staelufre withdrew even further from any want to be apart of the Coral Sea or its people.
- It took much convincing and debate before L'aenoh was able to get Staelufre to join the Coral Sea's roster. She still argues that she's not properly a member. In her eyes, she has never been fully socially accepted. Yet she is officially documented in their applications, so is technically a member. Being with the Coral Sea has expanded those she met, as well, to most everyone that she currently knows. While she disappears for long times to hunt or do whatever else she wishes, she does commonly return to the Free Company house either for its luxuries or its company.
- Even more recent, she's been traveling to the Goblet on a frequenct basis. There is a select few of people who have caught her interest, and that she's certain hold answers they may not be sure that they have. As ever, she has a habit of finding ill fortune and then diving into it even deeper.
Miscellaneous
- She has a habit of naming people, and will eagerly explain the names she's given and their meaning to great detail.
- Her favorite food is cake. Specifically rolanberry and chocolate flavored.
- Odds are, if someone's in good standing with her, she will do almost anything that they request of her.
- If you give her sweets, expect her to always look to you for more. (Don't feed stray cats, kids!)
- Some of her other names include:
- J'adaeza Tyraka
- Skaenliht Lysmerl
- Klynskaet Lysmerl
- Steigifenix Lysmerl
- Loetrtier Lysmerl
- Hirume
Some of these rumors are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC! ◢ Common and easily overheard, use freely
◢ Moderately difficult to overhear, use sparingly or ask first
◢ Very difficult or rarely overheard, ask before using
◢ Rumors from the character's of other players
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Footnotes
- Tumblr: http://stillshore.tumblr.com
- Faceclaim: Emily Bador
- Voiceclaim: NieR - Song of the Ancients Devola
- Theme Music: You Are the Moon - The Hush Sound
- Theme Music: Hope in the Air - Laura Marling
- Theme Music: Little Black Submarines - The Black Keys
- Theme Music: Upside Down - Paloma Faith
- Love Song: A Thousand Years - Christina Perri (Cover by Angela July)
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