famuran

[famuran]

just an fyi. since someone tried to address this with me in the past.

yes, canon dictates that cid had three sons. it doesn't specify whether or not there were daughters. balthier has two cismale siblings. aster & niven. he has a nonbinary sibling too. hence the three sons is correct, in terms of birth. but cidolfus has four, since luc identifies as he/they. and of course balthier cares the most for luc because, aside from himself, luc was the only other sibling to truly experience the worst parts of their childhood. they experienced trauma together and balthier is protective over them. he'd see the world burn if anything happened to luc.

[famuran]

i think a lot about balthier & fatherhood, and the desires he has to not make the same mistakes cid did. cid wasn't intentionally a bad parent at first, it was only through the disregard of his research, how his position was pushed aside and the way the upper echelon of the archadian treated him that he faltered. it was because of the way he was treated, he found himself so open to manipulation. his studies into nethicite led him down a dark path & it's through witnessing this that balthier makes a conscious decision.

if he were to ever find himself a parent, he would not dictate the paths the child must take. he would encourage and guide, but in the end the position they wish to find themselves in must be one chosen by themself. he would teach relevant skills (mainly ones to do with his piracy) & would never make them feel as though they have a legacy to uphold and continue. balthier remembers how that made him feel, those expectations placed upon him & he knows nobody deserves that.

i know it'd shake things up a lot, but only in designated verses as i don't want to interrupt what i have but i may introduce a child down the line. one perhaps from a fling during the very early years of his escape to the skies. idk. its just something i'd like to delve into, to witness him re-establishing his responsibilities and goals.

[famuran]

i brainstormed a bit of a ffx au for balthier so i’m sorry it’s gonna be a mess of a post explaining it but …. my brain wired and thoughts of el.den ri.ng so i gotta do what i can now before i get sucked in.

following from canon, he is forced into things against his will.  cidolfus wanted one of his children AT LEAST to be devout yevonites and train to become summoners.  he wanted to see one of them rise  —  this desire is heightened as he becomes inexplicably possessed by pyreflies of an old presence : a former high priest who followed yu yevon without question and worshipped him to the point of obsession.

ffamran’s sibling luc  went off to train to become a summoner.  they had no choice nor say in the matter.  ffamran was also supposed to become a summoner.  he rejected his father’s choice  &  was instead pushed into maester wen kinoc’s little militia.  when he refused to become a warrior monk, he was placed into the crusaders.  donning a mask  &  reluctantly obeying orders —— he attends operation mi’hen.

he believes luc has died in their attempts to become a summoner.  this is the first death to haunt him.

he witnesses more death in the crusaders, more than he assumed or expected there to be. were they not there to help protect the yevonite faith? why is it, then, that they kill anyone who speaks out of turn for it?  why do they watch death with a smile beneath those masks?  it haunts him every day.

operation mi’hen fails. so many people die.  he is traumatised, horrified.  he knew yevon was not the faith that was preached to spira but this …?  this is too far for him.  all of this was done to prove a point.  on that day, ffamran goes missing in action. news arrives to his father in bevelle.  his other brothers are far from home. aster had accompanied luc on their training  &  pilgrimage. for all ffamran knows he too has perished. niven is a high—ranked warrior monk. he bullies the bevelle people in the lower quarters, pushes them around and taunts them ( ‘ you clearly do not pray to yevon enough if you’re still so poor and lifeless. ‘ )

they later declare that he was killed in action.  a blood trail leading off through mushroom rock road to a cavern — the same one that tormented the crimson squad.  it is all a ruse, he slipped off to the moonflow  &  planned to hitch a ride on a shoopuf across the waters &  into guadosalam; praying that he may find refuge and a new set of clothes.

this is when he meets her  &  fascinated, he approaches.

luc is alive and well. this is not discovered until far later into his journey.  ffamran,  now known as balthier travels with her to find the resting place of his sibling  & brother.  far in the depths of the calm lands is a former warrior monk, no longer bearing symbols of yevon or bevelle.  beside him, a figure in white robes adorned in sharp gold and rose gold.  as they turn around to face the familiar voice, balthier comes to learn that his sibling is very much alive and well. having forsaken their duties as a yevon—whipped summoner ; faking their own passing to distance themselves from their former faith and their father.

all in all…  ffamran and two of his siblings say ‘ fuck yevon ‘ and ‘ fuck cidolfus ‘  &  it is good.

[famuran]

anyone who has me on d/cord knows i ended up spending the day on obl.ivion and frost.punk —- i'm looking at these games for world building inspiration for ivalice, archades and for general verse lore. i am building an elder scrolls verse for balthier and i am going to tie-in his family lineage & siblings into it. as one does.

frost.punk on the other hand ... it's driving me towards more What If...? style ideas for him. such as — judge ffamran, what if he never left or ran away from his duties? what steps would he have taken? where would he be? what would he do? FP in particular has moral ambiguity and makes you question not only your choices, but whether they were right or justified for the survival of the people. and as such, i am going to be diving into ffamran justifying things that he does, and what things he actually partakes in for the betterment of himself and the people who look to him as a peer & as someone with control. and if you haven't played it yet, i highly recommend giving the game a try because you get to know these people you're trying to save and to ffamran ... it's the same thing. he's trying to save the people on his route, the ones assigned to his watch, without causing harm but he can't give away that he's trying. so he has to still follow his laws and show himself to be a capable judge (& magister down the line) while trying to protect them so they can survive.

overall balthier is morally ambiguous unless you pull him to one side and ask him personally, hand on his heart, swearing on the thing he cherishes most. he made sacrifices he isn't proud of, for the sake of the majority, and he will admit to that in private.

[famuran]

i  hurt  myself  thinking  about  balthier’s  mother.  imagined  him  seeing  someone  who  looks  like  her,  from  what  he  remembers  vaguely  &  from  the  remnants  of  family  photos.  how  he  yearns  and  wants  to  pursue  the  person  to  see  if  it  is  her,  or  just  a  doppelganger,  an  unfortunate  soul.  how  he  questions  if  maybe  he’s  starting  to  go  mad  like  his  father  because  of  this,  and  it  isn’t  just  unhealed  trauma  and  grief  over  never  getting  to  be  with  his  mother  for  long  &  how  he  is  desperate  for  motherly  affection,  for  a  mother  figure  to  tell  him  i’m  proud  of  you.

[famuran]

balthier has definitely made love in the strahl, especially while mid-flight. i’d hate to say it, but that’s why he has a moogle crew in the ship to help take care of maintenance and flights....

its for when he gets carried away and has to put it on autopilot so he can continue in his private chambers. in a bond-esque fashion, the strahl is the go-to spot when he seduces someone for the night. and only the night. if he were more long-term, committed etc. then he’d opt for somewhere more fancy and clean, with soft bedsheets. not to say he hasn’t seduced his long-term partners on the ship for a lovers night, but he wants to show them their worth when he can.

the strahl is for temporary hook-ups only and the occasional seduction session. he gets around, whoops.

[famuran]

mostly to myself, but reminder that ffamran became an archadian judge at sixteen. sixteen years old. and he was placed with such overwhelming responsibility. when he turned eighteen, he first thought of escape. but he kept going, bearing the weight of the family name placed upon him by cidolfus and niven — his older brother who was a proudful, cruel judge. at nineteen, he met her. the strahl, a fine beauty.

age twenty, and he leaves behind his armour and steals away their prized possession. months after, he recruits a cautious viera to his side. age twenty two, he steals from the wrong enemy.

[famuran]

random thoughts at work:

balthier in a modern au would definitely have a notif tone of bill wurtz saying "now the dinosaurs are gone" in reference to his dad. his dad's a big dinosaur, v ancient.

his wardrobe is probably stolen. his aristocratic vibe of a look is stolen from various nobles as they sleep on the skyferry flights. he was a teenager when he snuck into the flights and stole them.

the strahl wasn't his first choice of transport in getting out of archades. had he fully gotten his way he'd have stolen a very small military ship that was meant for assaults on buildings. but the strahl was the pride and joy of the ypa and even though they had to make plans to disassemble it, they loved the prototype and the design. balthier stealing it was one final 'fuck you' to them all.

post - game, balthier's siblings are closer in his life. niven however is still often ignored by balthier because of his behaviours and his unwavering loyalty to his father & empire. on the other hand, balthier tries to get luc to join him in his ship but they prefer to support rozarria's efforts in rehoming displaced refugees.

balthier has a hidden tattoo on his left thigh. and by hidden i mean he never shows his bare leggies to anyone except his sexual partners —- the tattoo is completely different to his outward personality and showcases a white dove flying halfway out of a bird cage. it's about the size of an average closed fist. not small, not massive. angled more to the outer part of his thigh. it symbolises his escape, but that part of him remains held in the past he once lived. after the events of revenant wings he gets a tattoo of the dalmascan royal crest to honour queen ashelia on his chest, specifically over the right pectoral muscle.

said this once already but his mum's name is anwyn, any future daughters would be named in honour of people he's met in his life, but with a twist. like ashe, francesca, etc. if he had a boy, damn. he'd not know what to do. balthier being a parent is such a loaded concept —- like he'd wanna be a good dad but he'd be too afraid that he'd end up like his dad.

commitment to balthier is handing over a piece of his jewelry. balthier telling you he wants to marry you and spend his life with you, love you and be by your side is him handing over a sentimental piece of himself; like his colourful rings.

[famuran]

oblivion au.  ffamran is an imperial-born youth,  caught up in the oblivion crisis.  cid is a mad mage bent on mastering necromancy  &  follows the teachings of mannimarco.  is wholly obsessed with knowledge and thinks HERMAEUS MORA is speaking to him — it’s actually sheogorath,  he’s just a bored daedric prince at this specific moment  &  is messing with high mage cidolfus just bc.  ffamran is an imperial soldier,  following a knighthood at the time.  once word about the emperor’s death spreads  &  cid is discovered doing some,  pretty fucking weird experimental shit with the undead,  ffamran abandons post in cyrodiil.

he does stay around for some time,  travelling between towns to make ends meet.  he gets in with the thieves guild  &  well,  that’s it then.  his path drops further down until he claims ownership of dunbarrow cave,  forming his own small pirate’s guild that operates out of the cave.

after a while,  mostly out of boredom - he makes his seafaring journey to skyrim,  land of the nords and the unrelenting cold.  he’s got to tough it out if he wants to make any coin under the overbearing altmer rule.

[famuran]

redoing tags.

OUT OF CHARACTER ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘴𝘬𝘺 𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘳ㅤ

HEADCANONS ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘪'𝘮 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳ㅤ

INBOX PROMPTS ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥ㅤ

QUEUE ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵ㅤ

VISUALS ，SELFㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘧𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘳𝘢𝘯ㅤ

VISUALS ，FATHERㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘧𝘶𝘴 ㅤ

VISUALS ，DANCERㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘰 ㅤ 

VISUALS ，THIEFㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘷𝘢𝘢𝘯 ㅤ  ㅤ

VISUALS ，ARCHERㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘯 ㅤ

VISUALS ，ROYALㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦 ㅤ

VISUALS ，CAPTAINㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘩 ㅤ

VISUALS ，MARGRACEㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘢𝘭 — 𝘤𝘪𝘥 ㅤ

VISUALS ，LILIANㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘦 ㅤ ㅤ

VISUALS ，EVANGELIQUEㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘭𝘪𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘳ㅤ

VISUALS ，OTHERSㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 ㅤ

VERSE：PRE—XII ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦ㅤ

VERSE：XII ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦ㅤ

VERSE：POST—XII ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨ㅤ

VERSE：REVENANT WINGS ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴ㅤ

VERSE：DISSIDIA ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘳ㅤ

VERSE：STARDEW ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵ㅤ

VERSE：OBLIVION ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦ㅤ

VERSE：SKYRIM ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴ㅤ

VERSE：IX ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳ㅤ

VERSE：VII ㅤ ㅤ ( ㅤ ♛ㅤ ) ㅤ ㅤ — ㅤ ㅤ 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨ㅤ

DYN：NAMES ETCHED INTO STARSㅤ ( ㅤ eva ღ balthierㅤ ) ㅤ— ㅤ𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪'𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯?ㅤ

[famuran]

vii ideas.     /     balthier is a thief,  still.  though he has an airship it isn’t in use.  the strahl suffered severe damages after a crash  &  it is currently hidden somewhere past the bone village.  balthier himself hails from a once-noble midgarian family,  the bunansas.  their fortune has waivered and his father slowly going mad as he gets lost in his research alongside professor hojo.  ffamran — as he was once known was meant to join the military at the behest of professor cid but instead,  his life was  taken  in a fatal incident in the experimentation labs of shinra.

of course,  this was a grand display of fraud.  with the help of his sibling,  luc he finally had a chance to escape.  balthier stole a prototype ship — a crumbling piece of machinery known as dreadnought,  he lovingly renamed it the strahl - beam.  the escape lasted all of three weeks until he crashed,  a failure with the engine.  excavators near the bone village helped him get back on his feet,  his residency now shared between the remains of his flight and the excavation camp.

he is present during the prequel events of vii ( crisis core as a young teen who just faked his death ) and the main events of vii as well as in between and can be recruited as a temporary party member,  made permanent if asked.  he can be found travelling — the main place he loves to visit is costa del sol,  he goes via boat whenever a cargo ship goes between the northern continent and the western continent.

he can be recruited as part of avalanche prior to the main developments of vii,  in which case he goes to midgar for meetings  &  acts as an overseas operative in research and subterfuge.

[famuran]

#𝑭𝑨𝑴𝑼𝑹𝑨𝑵 ― BALTHIER, FINAL FANTASY XII.

written by cade. sideblog to @atlasreign.