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inklongdry) wrote2030-07-27 11:18 am
INFO š general bio and stats
Arthur is a Viera, a leporine race of people commonly found in Southern Othard. Most notably, this means he has rabbit ears, a tail, and the shape of his nose is somewhat rabbit-like. He stands at 6ā0ā (without the ears), with auburn hair with red highlights. His eyes are bright blue. As an effect of this time in the First, they have a slight glow to them, usually noticeable only in the dark. Thanks to spending a great deal of time out in the sun, he is covered in freckles, most prominently across his cheeks and his shoulders. No notable scars or tattoos.
His build is slim but toned, having been trained as a martial fighter and not just a spellcaster. He often wears things that show off his forearms, or his arms in general, and favors the color blue. The glasses are a staple all of the time because he legitimately canāt see without them.
šāØ Reference + Extras š°š Voice claim: Ben Whishaw
āšŗļø Past looks: ARR ā HW ā SB ā SHB ā EW ā DT
kind. compassionate. intelligent. well-spoken. quick to lend a hand. loves to live in the moment.
workaholic. sharp-tongued. dry. prone to complaining about nothing. will use excog as a badge of stupidity.
polite. keen memory. observant. curious. will geek out at the drop of a hat.
It was those tendencies that caused Morgan to see something more in his brother, something desperate to escape that quiet, insecure little shell he kept himself in. With a healthy application of hard work and love, Arthur becan to bloom, coming into his own as a confident, quick-witted young man. He no longer has a problem with giving voice to his opinions, and often does so with no small amount of sass and dry sarcasm. This does make him difficult to get along with sometimes, as his personality is bound to clash with others.
click for full write up
However, Arthur isnāt unkind by any stretch of the imagination. After spending more than ten minutes with him, itās very clear that heās got a good heart, and heās good at tempering down his sharper edges if the situation calls for it. Sure, his interest in Nymian magic started as an academic pursuit, but he also came to realize that thereās a lot of good he can do as a healer. He likes to help people, and now that heās out in the world, he can finally put those skills to good use. Additionally, heās not so prideful as to never admit when heās wrong. Being wrong is a part of learning, and heād be a poor scholar indeed if he didnāt embrace it. A little perspective can go a long way for him, and he adjusts and grows accordingly.
Viera are a particularly long-lived race; their lifespans are usually around three hundred years. When Arthur asked his mother why she would devote herself to a Hyuran man, someone who would live for only a fraction of that time, she impressed upon him the importance of living in the moment, and that though some things in life will be fleeting, that doesnāt mean they arenāt worth having. Thatās a lesson that has stuck with Arthur ever since, and he endeavors to live by that as best he can - seizing whatever moments might come his way, and being willing to grow as a person because of them.
While his family may not be the richest in Ulādah, and in fact they are nowhere near the level of the wealthy merchants who hold seats in the cityās governing body, they are still fairly well-off. Arthur attended a fine school, wears fine clothes, and has never wanted for much of anything. His upbringing is clear in the way he addresses people. Arthur is exceedingly formal and well-spoken when he needs to be, though he often uses formality to tease his close friends, referring to them by fake titles or by āmissā or āmisterā.
It is also worth noting that his time in Ulādah has acclimated him to the arid climate pretty heavily, and he canāt stand the cold. Why is this worth noting? Well, the Veena clan of Viera often live in snowy climes and prefer the cold instead. If he has to travel anywhere even remotely chilly, rest assured he will complain the entire time.
Born Avi Rhen, the only child of Ava Rhen, a Viera botanist living in the Sharlayan colony in the Dravanian Hinterlands, Arthur spent his formative years steeped in everything the nation of scholars had to offer, including frequent trips to the towering, tome-filled halls of the Great Gubal Library. Much like his mother, he developed an insatiable love of knowledge, devouring piles of books at a time even at a young age. When he was about five years old, a Hyuran man named Hector Inkwell and his then fifteen year old son, Morgan, came through the colony. Hector was the keeper of the libraries and archives for the city of Ulādah, and had come to see Gubal for himself. He and Arthurās mother quickly captured each otherās hearts, and they began to court long-distance over the next couple of years. Eventually, Hector asked for Avaās hand in marriage, to which she enthusiastically agreed. She packed up seven year old Arthur and moved to the arid city of Ulādah.
Though he was not raised among other Viera, save for those few who ventured to Sharlayan and made a home there, like his mother had, Arthur had some understanding of the customs of his people - namely, their penchant for selecting a ācity nameā after venturing from their secluded forest homes. Arthur loved the Sharlayan colony of his birth, but wanting to be closer to his new Hyuran family, he began drafting up a list of Hyuran names, mostly inspired by storybooks, to choose from when he was old enough. Viera are born androgynous, neither male or female, and grow into their gender around the age of thirteen. So, when Arthur came of age and grew into being male, he brought his list to his parents for approval. Eventually, they settled on āArthurā. (His mother still calls him Avi as a term of endearment, however.)
click for full write up
Arthurās home life was largely one of love and support. He even found a best friend in his elder step-brother despite their difference in age. Morgan was a full decade older than him, and a born fighter on top of that. Heād learned to wield a sword as soon as he was able to lift one. He was fascinated by military history and the life of the soldier, and took up with the Immortal Flames once he was old enough. Arthur, on the other hand, would have been content to spend his days in his fatherās libraries and archives, nose constantly buried in a book. He was curious and precocious but had trouble speaking up for himself or voicing his own opinions.
At some point, Morgan made it his mission to break his quiet younger brother out of his shell. He began dragging poor Arthur out of bed at ungodly early hours to put him through combat lessons. Arthur was not a fan of these lessons at first, but they eventually became something the two of them bonded over. However, Morganās aim was not solely to teach Arthur how to fight, it was to get to know him, to lift him up. As they trained, they talked, and in these conversations, Arthurās confidence began to grow. He proved himself to be possessed of a sharp wit and an unshakeable resolve, and he was at last able to stand up for himself with his words just as easily as a blade.
It was also Morgan who introduced Arthur to his biggest passion, the history and magic of Nym. Hundreds of years ago, Nym was a thriving city, but it had been destroyed by an ancient war between rival nations of mages, known as the War of the Magi. Nym relied heavily on their scholars to guide their military. Nymian scholars were more than just learned men and women, they were strategists and healers, who commanded faerie companions to aid them in battle.
From a young age, Arthur had exhibited some talent with magic, and was more or less a self-taught Arcanist of decent skill by the time he was a teenager. When his brother mentioned there had once been a nation of magically-inclined military strategists and healers, the idea instantly captured Arthurās imagination. He threw himself into the pursuit of the magic of the Nymian scholars, digging up everything he could find, even going so far as to poke around the more restricted sections of his familyās archives. In a few years, Arthur had a basic grasp of the craft, though he had no faerie to call his own, never managing to summon anything more complex than a carbuncle.
Well into his twenties, Arthur had barely set foot out of the city walls, save for a few trips with his father on business, though not for a lack of wanting to. He had devoted himself to the family business, spending his days in his fatherās libraries and archives, learning the tools of the trade and immersing himself in any and every book that caught his interest. His parents and brother could tell, however, that Arthurās insatiable curiosity would not be satisfied by books alone. So they handed him a simple task: He was to deliver a set of rare books to a researcher and old family friend of the Inkwells, currently taking up residence in the neighboring island nation of La Noscea, and after delivering the books, he was not to return until he had seen everything of the world he wanted to see.
Arthur took the assignment to heart, and after spending some time in the port city of Limsa Lominsa, he took to the open road, determined to live the life of an adventurer and explorer, venturing to those far-flung places which had always captured his imagination.
First on his list was Nym, of course, and since the nation had once existed in La Noscea, it was a natural first stop. While exploring what remains of the nation he could easily get to (as most of it was either suspended in the air by magicked crystals or half-submerged in the water), he came across a strange little creature collapsed in the mud and clad in the tattered garb of a Nymian Marine - a tonberry. As Arthur approached, a Nymian faerie suddenly materialized and flew into his face, as if trying to ward him off. She was trying to protect the tonberry, who was injured and fading fast. Arthur instead offered to heal the creature, but before he could, a hunter appeared through the ruins to finish what heād started, claiming the tonberry had some sort of treasure. Although Arthur managed to keep the hunter at bay, he was unable to save the tonberry before it expired. The faerie, touched by Arthurās kindness, retrieved a small, shining object from the tonberryās person and pressed it into Arthurās hand.
It was a soul stone (or soul crystal. The terms seem to be interchangeable), a crystal that contains the memories of all those who had used it before, usually pertaining to their craft of choice, whether that be magic or other combat skills. In the case of the Nymian scholars, soul stones were usually family heirlooms, and not only contained their knowledge, but their faerie companion as well.
The faerie had found something worthy in Arthur, and offered to become his partner, sharing that her name was Clover. With her help, and the help of the memories kept in the soul stone, Arthur quickly came to hone his skills as a scholar. He also learned how to better hone the aether around him and form it into a weapon - a sword that he is able to call out of thin air to aid him in those moments where magic might not be enough.
Clover would be his constant traveling companion from that day forward, always with him - though often hiding in the soul crystal - as Arthur continued his journey to parts unknown.
As a child, Arthur was content to teach himself whenever it caught his fancy, seeking snippets of training from others around the Dravanian colony when he could. However, it wasnāt until his brother introduced him to the history of Nym and their scholars that magic became something of a more serious interest. Arthur threw himself headlong into whatever information he could find about the long-lost city-state and its magic.
Without a soul stone, it took Arthur years to become a scholar of middling skill, but once he obtained the soul stone and thereby his faerie companion, the magic came much easier and heās actually quite good at it.
Scholars are healers and tacticians, relying on spells that shield from oncoming damage as their bread and butter. They do have some vanilla healing spells at their disposal, as well as a couple of potent instant-cast heals that rely on a finite resource called Aetherflow. A scholarās faerie companion is there to help with the heavy lifting, with healing and support spells of their own, such as a heal over time (regen) spell, or a spell to boost healing. A scholar can also tether their faerie to an ally to allow for potent healing over time or summon a more powerful version of their faerie, called seraph.
A full list of a scholarās abilities, including faerie abilities, can be found here.
It should be noted that the spell āResurrectionā cannot bring a person back from the dead, it can only revive them from KO.
Rather than keep a blade on him at all times, Arthur has figured out how to conjure one out of aether, summoning the weapon out of thin air whenever he might need it. Itās just as real and effective as a real sword, despite its appearance.
Additionally, the Echo allows him to understand other sapient beings and be understood regardless of language barriers.
He is a magnificent ballroom dancer as well, thanks to going to a ton of fancy Ulādahn parties while growing up.
CASTMATE PRIMER āØ click to read
As far as job quests go, Arthur only carries a scholarās soulstone, and has done those quests in full, with only some minor differences due to his backstory (guy who managed to do the first half of ARR as a scholar already). I like to play it like he is familiar with some other job quest NPCs by virtue of helping them out as if they were normal sidequests and not necessarily tied to his job, though he probably would not have gone through every quest chain in its entirety. For the role quests from SHB onwards, I will assume heās done them all unless asked to play it otherwise. It doesnāt really come up much in RP so Iām willing to take this on a case-by-case basis.
Of note, his family does business with the Thaumaturgeās Guild regularly, so he would be familiar with them by default.
He does not craft or gather and knows nothing of those quests or NPCs save for dealing with the respective guilds as a customer, or whatever interactions may happen as a part of MSQ.
- Ulādahn. He was born in the Sharlayan colony in the Dravanian Hinterlands, but moved to Ulādah as a child and spent most of his life there.
- Hates the cold. Somewhat related to the above, Arthur absolutely cannot abide winter climes and will complain about being cold the entire time. Coerthas and especially Garlemald are his worst nightmares.
- Comes from money. Cost is usually not a concern of his, but he also sort of fails at most life skills like cooking and cleaning because heās never had to do them for himself. (Arthur and Alphinaud shaking hands.)
- Mixed family. Arthurās mother married into a hyuran family. Arthurās step-father and elder step-brother are midlander hyur.
- Well-educated and well-read. Massive book nerd, very well-spoken and quite intelligent.
- Extremely interested in Nymian history. This is his Special Interest. Heāll gladly natter on about Nym at even the slightest provocation.
- Near-sighted. Yes, he genuinely needs the glasses. Everything far away looks like blobs without them.
- Loves tea. Itās his drink of choice pretty much all the time, heās quite the connoisseur. Heāll resort to coffee only if he really needs the caffeine.
- Loves flowers. His mother is a prolific botanist, and while he wouldn't consider himself such, he does love flowers and dabbles in a bit of gardening.
- Considers his faerie a friend. His faerie companion, Clover is quite independent and Arthur considers her more a friend than a simple summon. She is brave, fiercely protective, and sweet to those she likes. Strawberries are her favorite treat and she can absolutely be bribed with them.
Regarding shipping, I love me a good ship, but itās not a must. I will default to platonic unless a thread goes that way and we both vibe with it. Iām open to ships with pretty much any of the adult Scions or NPCs (except the lalas, sorry). Again, this isnāt a must. Iām more than happy to play out cast dynamics without romance.
Individual write-ups will go here eventually.