#Alexander Highwind Tycoon

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Opera Omnia Burst Themes 1/?

With Opera Omnia shutting down, I decided to make a few posts about one of my favorite parts of the game: The Burst Weapons. Not because they were a powerful, much sought after weapon tier that gave big numbers with massive benefits, but because I have a love for Final Fantasy music, and what BTs I wanted was strongly dependent on what song would play when used.

These posts are meant to be more for the sake of archiving what there had been more than anything else, but at the very least I am going to list a large number of great FF songs.

The first listing will be the songs that we had gotten during the game's lifetime.

Final Fantasy I Warrior of Light: Battle Garland: Miniboss Theme

Final Fantasy II Firion: The Rebel Army Leon: The Imperial Army Minwu: Battle Theme A

Final Fantasy III Onion Knight: Battle 2 Cloud of Darkness: This is The Last Battle

Final Fantasy IV Cecil Harvey (Dark Knight): The Red Wings Cecil Harvey (Paladin): Battle 2 Kain Highwind: The Final Battle Rydia: Rydia's Theme Rosa Joanna Farrell: Theme of Love (Remake) Fusoya: The Final Battle (Remake) Golbez: Battle with the Four Fiends Rubicante: Battle with the Four Fiends (Remake) Ceodoe Harvey: Battle 2 (Remake) Ursula: Fabul (Remake) Leonora: Troian Beauty

Final Fantasy V Bartz Klauser: Battle 2 Faris Scherwiz: Pirates Ahoy! Lenna Charlotte Tycoon: Lenna's Theme Dorgann Klauser: Home, Sweet Home Kelgar: Deception Xezat: Castle of Dawn Gilgamesh: Battle on the Big Bridge Exdeath: The Final Battle

Final Fantasy VI Terra Branford: The Decisive Battle Locke Cole: Locke's Theme Sabin Rene Figaro: The Unforgiven Setzer Gabbianni: Setzer's Theme Edgar Roni Figaro: Edgar & Sabin's Theme Celes Chere: Searching For Friends Relm Arrowny: Relm's Theme Mog: Protect the Espers Strago Magus: Strago's Theme Leo Cristophe: Battle Theme Kefka Palazzo: Dancing Mad

Final Fantasy VII Cloud Strife: Fight On! Tifa Lockhart: JENOVA COMPLETE Yuffie Kisaragi: Wutai Vincent Valentine: Chaotic End Aerith Gainsborough: Aerith's Theme Cait Sith: Cait Sith's Theme Jesse Rasberry: Let the Battles Begin! Sephiroth: One-Winged Angel Zack Fair: The Price of Freedom Cissnei: Ecounter Angeal Hewley: Dreams and Honor Reno: Turk's Theme Rufus Shinra: Shinra Inc Kadaj: J-E-N-O-V-A (Advent Children) Weiss: Fight Tune: Weiss the Immaculate

Final Fantasy VIII Squall Leonhart: Force Your Way Laguna Loire: The Man with the Machine Gun Irvine Kinneas: The Stage is Set Quistis Trepe: Don't Be Afraid Selphie Tilmitt: Where I Belong Rinoa Heartilly: Premonition Fujin: Only a Plank Between One and Perdition Ultimecia: The Extreme

Final Fantasy IX Zidane Tribal: Not Alone Vivi Ornitier: Breaking Through the South Gate Garnet Til Alexandros XVII: Alexander Eiko Carol: Eiko's Theme Quina Quen: Quina's Theme Amarant Coral: Amarant's Theme Kuja: Dark Messenger Beatrix: Something to Protect

Final Fantasy X Tidus: Battle Theme Yuna: A Contest of Aeons Auron: This is Your Story Braska: Final Battle Seymour Guado: Battle with Seymour Jecht: Otherworld Paine: Yuripa, Fight! No. 2

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[ajoraverse]

Big Al

Alexander Highwind Tycoon, or at least an attempt, at 20 and without his helmet covering his face. 3x5″ post-it note doodle, with an attempt at historical accuracy in the armor before I ran out of time. He’s been growing on me since I translated his bio from Basic Knowledge, the Digicube Complete Works, and so on, and I’m so disappointed always that he never got to know his wayward pirate kid.

Interesting nuggets of info about him behind the cut:

In the initial planning, he was a common mercenary in his youth and appointed the previous king’s heir due to his popularity and leadership abilities. (Ultimania Archive vol 1)

He leans a bit conservative, is influential, and operates with much longer-term goals in mind (Dragon Knights Special Book, Basic Knowledge)

Dislikes conflict and is known as the Pacifist King (Basic Knowledge)

The previous King Tycoon was a warmonger who sought world domination. Alexander opted to do the opposite and rule in peace. (Basic Knowledge, Complete Works)

His skill with the sword is unmatched (Basic Knowledge, Complete Works)

Has the courage to act as a shield to protect the world’s order (everything)

[ajora]

So, in the course of translating a whole bunch of secondary materials (guidebooks, cards), I was able to discern the following:

Tycoon is a fairly new country. Alexander Highwind was the third king. Which would make Lenna the fourth ruler once she takes the throne.

Alex’s predecessor, the second king, likely wasn’t related to him. There are no relationship/kinship markers whatsoever used between them; in comparison, the books have been happy to expound on the relationship between Alexander and Lenna. Sometimes at length. Alexander probably married into the family. 

The second king embarked on a war of expansion 50 years before the game--Basic Knowledge says he was a warmonger and that Alex’s reaction to that was to rule in peace. The 50 year marker is given by a NPC in Carwen, which suggests to me that the war of expansion went at least that far.

Related: the extra material about the Dragon Knights’ Association and how war was one of several reasons why the sky dragon population crashed so hard. May do a whole post about this later.

The second king abdicates (禅譲) to Alex sometime after the war, given that Alex would have been a child at the time. The wording for this is extremely specific, given that there are other words for abdication that don’t include the linked translation, and pretty much states that the abdication was done willingly. My thinking is, the second king was allowed to retain power after his war of expansion, but he was unable to keep Carwen.

My thought is that because of the second king’s war of expansion, Tule and Lix might actually be under Tycoon governance, rather than their own. This is supported by the statement in Basic Knowledge that protection of the Wind Crystal is the king of Tycoon’s responsibility, and the Wind Crystal is placed far from Tycoon castle.

This actually presents a fascinating conundrum for Lenna’s background. Tycoon’s founding is very recent, comparatively, and the war of expansion is still part of living memory. She will come into the crown knowing that Tycoon was built in blood. How is that going to clash with her being as kind and generous as she is? I’ve really been enjoying touching upon it for fanfic fodder.

Anyway, just some thoughts about these things I’ve been translating. I may end up posting my current batch of translations on Christmas Day, even though I’m pretty sure no one would actually care. 

[ajoraverse]

Happy Old Bon/Ghost Festival.

Rhapsody on a Theme of Dragons: On AO3 // ff.net.

Summary: Despite her best intentions to avoid getting involved in politics, Faris is a princess and therefore a public figure by default. Her criminal past, combined with her resemblance to her warmonger grandfather, encourages the more discontent to try to manipulate her. She'll have none of it, but she also has no experience with the subtleties of politics among noble houses and she won't burden Lenna with this nonsense.

Might as well consult the master.

[ajoraverse]

If anyone is interested, I did a bunch of translations of a bunch of Japanese guidebook bios for fanfic fodder and here they are. They are a delight.

[ajoraverse]

Orbital Dynamics 5: Resonance: On AO3 // ff.net.

Summary: Five times Faris and Alexander’s orbits almost intersected, and the one time they did.

Chapter summary: At eighteen years old, Faris has grand designs and the drive to pursue them. She simply has to prove herself. It's that one problem that brings her close enough to the king's orbit to be noticed.

[ajoraverse]

Orbital Dynamics 3: Transit: On AO3 // ff.net.

Summary: Five times Faris and Alexander’s orbits almost intersected, and the one time they did.

Chapter summary: The queen dies eight years after her eldest daughter's disappearance, forcing Alexander to accept that Lenna must learn how to rule. Eight years into Faris' life with pirates, her guardian starts her on the path towards captaincy.

[ajoraverse]

So somehow I got the idea to do one of those 5+1 things and here we are.

Orbital Dynamics 1: Occultation: On AO3 // ff.net.

Summary: Five times Faris and Alexander's orbits almost intersected, and the one time they did.

Chapter summary: Lost and found.

Warning for mention of rough characters doing rough things, though not described.

[ajoraverse]

Orbital Dynamics 4: Perturbation: On AO3 // ff.net.

Summary: Five times Faris and Alexander’s orbits almost intersected, and the one time they did.

Chapter summary: Faris is a rising star. She catches the eye of the queen of Karnak, who is more than happy to stir up trouble.

[ajoraverse]

Orbital Dynamics 2: Osculation: On AO3 // ff.net.

Summary: Five times Faris and Alexander’s orbits almost intersected, and the one time they did.

Chapter summary: Five years after the loss of Sarisa, five years into Faris’ life with pirates. So close, so far.

[ajoraverse]

I should probably post things I’ve been working on, so here: an excerpt from Rhapsody (teens and up, FF5, Faris and Alexander, Ghost Festival fic). It’s a follow-up to The Island and will have a cover illustration.

It's for Lenna, and for her own soul, that she's here to summon the dead. Faris needs advice that she refuses to go to anyone else for; if she has to get her hands dirty, she'd rather no one know about it so as to better shield Lenna from any backlash.

He turns up around midnight. The spirit of her father looks old, worn-out the way he did just before his death. It takes him a moment to get his bearings and figure out that he's in the family mausoleum. When the recognition finally strikes, Faris raises her glass.

"Mornin', Dad."

Her father's eyebrows go up at what she's sure is an unusual tableau: a couple of chairs hauled from the castle, a table between them with a bottle of wine and two glasses, lit candles and incense that some Istorian shaman assured her would help her raise the dead, her cello propped between her knees and its bow unceremoniously stuck in the bass-side f-hole, and his final resting place right behind her. And she's in her king's garb. That always makes people look twice.

With a grin, she stands and steps out from behind her cello to make a sweeping bow. The white trousers aren't so different from what she used to wear as a captain, though the silk certainly feels nicer against her skin than the wool ever did. She still favors boots to the shoes that are in fashion; these are just nicer than her old pair. The waistcoat works as just as well as the binder did to hold her breasts in, and embroidered silver sea dragons swim up and down the edges and stand out brightly against the pale blue-grey, wave-patterned damask fabric. The ivory and gold brocade coat is probably her favorite part of the ensemble: the brocade is in a subtle dragonscale pattern with stylized wings in the back, the gold satin lining flashes when she strides through the castle and the long skirt-like tail in the back flares out like the one on her captain's greatcoat, red stitches decorate along the seams as an acknowledgment of her role as the Light Warrior of Fire. The white satin sash with its embroidered gold band and gold sky dragon brooch might have been purloined from a portrait of her father at her age, though the white lace cravat and its Syldra-shaped pin is all her.

"You've appointed yourself king?" The tone of his voice is mild curiosity, but the crinkling at the corners of his eyes betray his amusement at her gall.

"'Twas a concession, I'm afraid. I'll not wear a dress and the minister refused to let me attend official functions in my preferred attire. Lenna's still the ruling queen. She can keep her throne." Frankly, the very notion of undertaking Lenna's workload and responsibilities drives Faris up the wall. Anyone who would want to be a ruler of a nation has no idea what it takes to be a good one.

At her gesture of invitation, he joins her on the other chair; she sits back down shortly after he does, sets aside her glass, and drapes herself over her cello like some dragon sunning on a warm rock.

Fine, so maybe she did want to reconnect. This silence of theirs is comfortable; she has her own death to thank for that. She knows now, in a way she didn't before, that he accepts her as she is. For some reason he's never explained, he even seems proud of her. It's not something she needed--she came to terms with not having a proper family long ago--but both acceptance and pride from her father are nice to have.

"When did you take up the cello?" he asks at last, once his form fully shifts from transparent shade to solid and almost alive.

"Oh, well, funny story, that." Faris pulls her bow out of the sound hole and tucks it frog-end into her palm so she can get to it quickly when she needs to. She plucks out a simple tune that goes up and down scales, altering the beginning note each time. It's meant to evoke the thought of the Crystals spinning idly over their daises, light catching and reflecting off their facets. "We lost most of the skills the Crystal shards taught us when they put themselves back together. The ones we kept were those from the Crystals that chose us. Butz still makes a good fighter, with sword or without. Lenna's still our best mage. Krile's a nightmare with her katana and a wizard with potions. Me, I sneak around better than ever, I've still got a good ear and a knack with timing, and," her eyes might sparkle when she says it and her fingers pause for the moment, "any dragon I talk to talks back."

Her father perks up and his eyes sparkle just as much as hers. "Wild ones, too?"

"Aye. Wild and domesticated. Any variety of dragon. Mind, some of that I got from you. Fire Crystal just... enhanced it, I reckon." And that was an exciting discovery, being hit with a wave of malice just before some demon dragon leapt out at them from a treasure chest. Her head still aches sometimes from Shinryuu's mental assault.

"You were always sensitive to them," her father says slowly as he works through some memory or other. "Notos said he heard you when you were born. It's why I wanted you to ride him as soon as your mother allowed it."

Admittedly, she doesn't recall much of that time. At most she has snatches of half-remembered feelings and maybe some images. She does remember her father's dragon introducing himself for the first time and running, screaming, to the nearest watchtower because his voice sounded in her head and not from outside her like human voices.

Sometimes Faris suspects that this sensitivity is why she heard Syldra in that whirlpool he kicked up when she was fifteen, just before she dived in and they bonded. Nowadays it's just a matter of course, especially once Krile helped her hone her ability, and the dragons she encounters just mentally curl up in her head until she shoo's them out. Something about them recognizing her as kin.

She sets the bow on the D string and close enough to the G string for it to resonate and starts--the notes short and spirited and low-voiced, the bow strokes short, strong, and made down-bow. It's her, strutting around her ship. Or, rather, wishing she could strut around her ship--she ties the notes together under longer bow-strokes and rounds out the sharp notes, adding a bit of wistfulness to the composition. "Turns out I can't go back to piracy. Everyone knows my face as both Sarisa and the captain."

"The price of being a public figure," her father says dryly, though he's not unsympathetic.

With a nod, the composition changes. She shifts to the A string and starts on Lenna's theme: open, clear notes and long, measured bow-strokes. Elegant but unpretentious. "I can visit my crew and offer advice to my replacement. Can't do a thing elsewise that might endanger Lenna or her political standing." Her theme joins with Lenna's for the moment and her motif turns almost martial, an acknowledgement of her protectiveness towards her little sister, before she breaks away from Lenna's notes and goes back to her own.

Her motif grows sharper, louder, quicker, the notes disconnecting as the bow bounces along the string and almost growling as she runs the bow over both D and G strings at the same time. It sounds like she was growing unhinged. Which she was. "So I'm stuck most of the time at Tycoon with the ministers hounding me about being a proper princess. Drives me up the fucking wall."

Her father, to his credit, says nothing. She shifts over to second position on the G string for Butz's theme: light, quick notes and long bow-strokes. "Butz comes along to the rescue and hauls me out for an expedition to rout out the bandits camping in Kuza Castle." Okay, maybe he didn't haul her out; she was practically out the door the moment he said "expedition". Her motif brightens as it joins him on the way to Kuza. "Found shielddragons, didn't find bandits." With that, she introduces a slow, shambling bowing along the C and G strings with languid notes in a minor key. "Undead dragons, difficult to defeat but easy to control. And since we'd already gone all that way, why not have some fun?"

This part gets tricky, the joining of her motif with the shielddragons; she has to shift her finger placement further up on the G string to avoid awkward bowing. The tune grows playful--the shielddragons liked her, and she suspects that half the reason for that is that she'd been dead once. They were mostly mindless, but what little mind they did have left propelled them to listen to her. They responded well to simple commands, and she and Butz weren't above exploiting that. "So we played with them and headed back."

Her father's face goes peculiar; likely he's trying and failing to picture frolicking undead horrors. Faris tries not to grin as she plays her and Butz returning to Tycoon and running into Lenna. Sure they'd left a message, but Lenna prefers to be personally informed and her motif grows a bit snippy for being left behind again. "Lenna gets Butz to snitch about playing fetch with the undead, because she's magic that way."  

That does it. A fond smile splits his face, likely at the thought of Lenna getting into a larger man's face to glare him down until he caves. She'd probably done it to dear old Father plenty of times. Heavens knew Faris got that particular glare often enough, and frankly she prefers it to the disappointment.

"Now, my dear little sister knows me better than I know myself. The minx." It's said with all the love in the world, of course. She expands on Lenna's theme, turning it into a full song. "Knows I need to keep busy and knows to keep me separate from the nobles. Gave me this to better manage me."

It was framed as a birthday gift and gesture of appreciation from a master craftsman for helping to save the world, but Faris has no illusions. Lenna is a canny manipulator when she sets her mind to it and the gift has her fingerprints all over it: the painting on the cello's back of her lost ship and Syldra near the bluffs of her former hide-away is too intimate a detail for a stranger to just come up with on his own. Lenna denies all knowledge of masterminding its commission, but there's always a twinkle in her eye that betrays her whenever Faris brings up the issue. She did well and she knows it.

To be fair to Lenna, it was a clever scheme. Anyone Faris practices swordplay with will let her win on account of her being the queen's feral sister. The only ones who won't are the other Light Warriors, who came away from the whole save-the-world quest with enough skill to present Faris with a challenge. Problem with that is that the queen can't always make the time for Faris and her restlessness, Krile heads the excavation of Lonkan ruins and spends all her time studying them, and who the hell knows where Butz disappears to half the time. After a few lessons in playing it right, the cello got to be an outlet. It takes well to the fast pace and high energies of scherzos, she finds its range more pleasing and more like her than other instruments, and she usually manages to burn herself out enough to not be completely unbearable at supper.

"I'm surprised you let her," her father admits.

"Oh, there's no 'let her' with Lenna. She'll get her way, and she's so sweet about it that it's impossible to say no." It's difficult not to laugh before she gets out what she wants to say, and the insistent tugging at the corners of her lips are probably betraying her. Focus, you idiot. "'Sides, I figure if she gets annoying, I'll...throw a frog down her dress or somethin'."

"Faris." Her father looks like he's torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to scold her.

"Hey, I've been good," she starts off with feigned innocence. "Haven't even started making up for the years of lost pranking opportunities. Only pranked her once in all these years."

His eyes, dragon-green like theirs, widen in growing horror. "Faris--"

"Spiders in her hair," she continues, eyes glinting, and she's sure the broad spread of her grin can be misconstrued as wicked. "You shoulda heard the scream."

His sigh is long-suffering and he looks like he's tempted to plant his face in his hands. Good. He missed out on her shenanigans as a kid and this is as good a hint of what she was like as any. "Faris, you didn't--"

Finally she can't help but laugh. It's short, natural, and she might have tears she'll have to scrub out. "Maybe it wasn't spiders, per se. Just as impossible to get out of everything, though. Glitter and sequins. Lenna still finds shiny bits in her hairbrush sometimes."

[ajoraverse]

This is part of the first of 3 fics I want to finish before my birthday, so it’s really rough. Final Fantasy V, Lenna/Faris, set really early in the game and before the balcony scene. Also I can’t write action, so watch out for that.

A note, also: I play this game in Japanese and use my own translations. I’ll adopt some official NA romanizations, but not others. Butz is always gonna be Butz for me, sorry.

They were working their way through the rotting ships of the graveyard for a second day when she stammered an excuse to Butz and Galuf and tugged Faris aside. Something about needing a quick talk. Faris was still in a dour mood from having her shirt ripped open and her bindings exposed, but the scowl faded in the face of Lenna's request.

"Were you serious when you were flirting with me?" she whispered once she closed the door between them and the men.

The captain was disconcerted by her words, so much so that she took a step back. "Princess, this is hardly the time--"

Lenna knew that, of course, but she couldn't get that slim, strong hand at her hip out of her mind. The bewilderment in Faris' tone felt like a pin-prick to her spirit, and she could feel herself deflating. "I--I know. It's just--"

Faris sighed and stepped closer, and her sea-roughened hands settled onto Lenna's bare shoulders. Her voice was low and gentle. "If you asked me when we met, I'd've said no. I did it to discourage my men. I've gotten to know you since and I can't get you out of my head." A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "I'm game if you are."

Heat rose to Lenna's cheeks, ushered by a combination of Faris' touch, the kindness of her tone, her proximity, the implications of I can't get you out of my head. She wondered faintly whether those thoughts were anything like her own, and it deepened what she was sure was a very obvious blush.

Faris lost whatever control she had over her face and unbidden came a quick, charming grin. It was so inviting, so disarming, that Lenna was tempted to try something she never had before. "We'll talk in Car--"

Before Faris could even finish the word, Lenna rocked forth onto her toes, grasped the lapels of the captain's great black coat, and pressed her lips against Faris'. It lasted for all of a moment before she settled back onto her heels.

Utter surprise wiped away that grin. Faris blinked at her instead, her expression unreadable. At the sight of Lenna's hopeful smile, she chuckled and pulled her hands away. "You've never done this before, have you?"

Lenna shook her head. She supposed she could have taken advantage of her rank and experimented with a chambermaid, but it seemed terribly unfair. "If you, um, want to do this, you'd be my first."

Faris' eyebrows shot up as Lenna surprised her again. "Your father won't approve of some pirate dandy pillaging Tycoon of its prize."

That certainly got Lenna's imagination going. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled, her eyes surely twinkling at the half-formed thoughts parading through her mind. "Maybe I want to be pillaged."

"Ha!" It was an abrupt, almost sharp sound against the ever-present creaking of rotting timbers. Faris' eyes seemed to dance with suppressed mirth. "You've more brass than I, Princess. Best do this properly, then."

Faris placed a hand on the small of her back, drawing her so close that her body was flush against hers. The pad of her thumb on her other hand glided gently over Lenna's lips as if encouraging her to part them. Lenna very nearly shivered from the contact, from the realization that she was really doing this, and Faris' lips met with hers.

Lenna was aware, faintly, that she was tasting the sweet rice wine Faris drank earlier, and something else that seemed to be uniquely her. The brush of Faris' tongue against hers, velvet and warm and wet in a way she'd never imagined, shot a bolt of desire through her. She gasped into the other woman's mouth, which only seemed to serve as encouragement. Faris caressed her cheek before deepening the kiss; Lenna had to grasp at the captain's shoulders to keep from drowning in the sudden wash of new sensations.

There was a knock that seemed to come from some distance; she didn't care so long as Faris kept kissing her like this. It was hard to care about anything at all. But Faris broke the kiss, only to whisper in her ear in a way that only served to stoke the flame of her desire. "Decide to go through with this when we're in Carwen and I'll happily divest you of your virginity. Decide otherwise and we'll never speak of this again. Until then, give no one any idea of what we've done."

Lenna nodded as she tried to suppress the heated yearning that Faris' kiss had ignited under her skin. She was usually so good at being able to school her features for court, but nothing in her life could hold a candle to that kiss. Her first kiss, offered up for a pirate to steal.

The knock came again, sounding harsher and closer than she liked. Faris leaned in and gave her forehead a quick peck. "Still looking a bit moony there, love." Then, before Lenna could respond, the door was thrown open for the men.

"We're talking about changing her ransom to my reward for getting her through this mess safely." Faris' voice switched so quickly to sharp and impatient that Lenna was momentarily thrown. "What do you blighters want?"

Butz, looking as if he suspected nothing untoward happening between them, responded first. "It can wait, surely? We don't want to spend another night here."

"Killjoy." Faris turned and held out her hand to Lenna. "Come along, Princess. I've no more desire to remain in this ghoul-infested graveyard than you."

Lenna slipped her hand into Faris' and she allowed herself to be led out of the room in which they kissed. She was distracted by the memory and eager for more, but the ships' graveyard made focusing on such pleasantries harder the further along they went.

It was grueling work, hopping from wooden carcass to carcass in search of dry land. Faris had the easiest time of it, being the only sailor among them, and she took charge of delivering Lenna across each gap between ships or hole in rotten hulls. If Lenna looked a bit smitten by the captain leaping across shifting wood or swinging on dangling rigging with a princess in her arms, well, no one was close enough to notice. Butz followed, either making clever quips or complaints all the while. Galuf, though, seemed to suspect something going on between the women in the party. Not that he said anything, but she could feel his eyes boring into her back sometimes.

Finally, as the dim light of a deeply overcast day faded into evening, they reached land. A brittle, warmth-sapping gloom hung over the spit of land like a funerary shroud, but they had no choice but to plow through it. Butz, ever the intrepid explorer, went first into the gloom and seemed to fade. Then Lenna noticed a small, hovering blue flame.

The blue flame grew, shifted to assume the form of her father. It beckoned her to come to him, and her legs seemed to move on their own accord. It had been a week now since she last saw her father, and now they could go home and she could forget this entire business of her being a Light Warrior. Someone else could be the Warrior of Water. Someone more suited.

Faintly she was aware of someone calling out to her. Was that surprise? Who was it? The footsteps paused at her side, and Faris looked at her with the most peculiar expression on her face. Then she, too, was drawn in by the image of King Alexander Highwind of Tycoon. Lenna thought nothing of it--everything would be okay now.

Her cheek stung and a veil lifted from her eyes. A scant few seconds later, a sharp crack of flesh on flesh resounded through the silence of their would-be tomb; Faris swore up a storm at Galuf shortly afterwards.

Butz was the first to notice and draw attention to her: a blonde woman so beautiful and ethereal that Lenna wanted to get back up and fall into her embrace. The twin shhkkks of metal on metal as Butz and Faris drew their swords broke her from another trance, and they stepped forward to protect her and Galuf.

The fight was chaos, for the woman was monstrous in her strength and resistance to steel and magic. Every slice and skewer the fighters managed to land soon healed. Every spell Lenna fired off fizzled out on the woman's skin. Galuf kept them from bleeding out with well-placed healing spells every time the woman clawed open their flesh.

Then someone got in a strike that shattered the illusion. Creamy skin turned a horrific, mottled black-blue before them. Whole chunks of flesh fell away to expose sinew and bone, gristle and slimy, rotted-green organs. An eye popped out, rolled in front of them, and shriveled upon itself. What skin that remained around the woman's fingernails pulled back, giving her already-formidable hands the appearance of talons. The reek was so overpowering that Lenna could barely breathe, and it took everything she had to keep from vomiting.

"Undead," Faris said, and ignored Galuf's retort that he knew that already. And they had plenty of practice with fighting off the undead while traversing the ships' graveyard, hadn't they? Her eyes sparkled with amusement as she resheathed her sword, and she gave Lenna a sweeping bow. "My lady? This is a mage's job."

Confused, not the least because her spells hadn't worked so well before the illusion broke, Lenna murmured the Fire spell. It caught on the monster's dried rags that were once a beautiful dress and flared up to devour her. The monster shrieked and curled up upon herself as the fire skittered along to fry the rancid fat under her skin and crack her bones. The smell of burning corpse was almost worse, somehow, and the smoke that billowed from its body was a thick, choking black that seemed to fill the sky.

Faris's arm circled her waist and she was lifted until her weight settled over Faris' center of gravity. Unsure what else to do, Lenna's arms looped around Faris' shoulders for support. Faris ran quickly, her long legs covering more ground than they'd managed if they had to wait up for Lenna, and she leapt through the smoke and crossed the stone circle that protected the mainland from the undead. Butz and Galuf followed; their coughs as the smoke filled their lungs were deep hacking sounds that concerned Lenna greatly.

"Carwen's a couple of hours from here." Faris' voice wasn't as harsh as it had been while they were in the ships' graveyard. Maybe it was just because she considered the worst over. "Follow the shore eastwards and we'll be there soon enough."

Lenna was set back onto her feet, and the party moved on.

The trek was exhausting so soon after a grueling battle with an undead monster, and for most of it they walked in silence. Butz led the way, with Galuf close behind. Lenna lagged only because Faris did, and the men knew better than to tell Faris to hurry up.

"Faris? Have you been there before?" Lenna asked when the stars came out and all remnants of the daylight was gone. The black moon blotted out some of the stars, but the rest gave them just enough light to see where they were going. At Faris' quizzical hum, Lenna continued. "The ships' graveyard. We would have gotten lost and died there without you."

Faris walked in silence for a few moments. Then, finally, she responded with soft, deliberate words that sounded almost vulnerable. "Went there once when I was... eight, perhaps. Pirate crew found me as a child, y'see, and the lodesman wanted to see if there was a recent wreck at the graveyard that might've given a clue where I came from. Didn't find a thing."

Lenna paused, her heart aching for the captain. "You're an orphan?"

"Hope so." Faris grunted and paused in wait for Lenna to catch up to her. Lenna reached out to slip her hand into Faris' and squeezed lightly, reassuringly. "I'd rather be that than live with the thought that any parents I did have just didn't bother to look for me. Or worse, succeeded in getting rid of me."

Lenna couldn't respond. It didn't seem appropriate. She simply drew closer, hoping Faris could draw what comfort she wanted from the gesture.

Not that social graces seemed to matter to Butz, who overheard her but didn't seem to have heard Faris' response. He stopped, waited for them to catch up, and blurted out; "You're an orphan, Faris?"

"Bugger, my secret's out," Faris responded dryly, as if she wasn't still smarting from having her shirt ripped open last night. "Far as I know, aye."

"Hey, me too." To his credit, he didn't try to do anything friendly. He drifted to her other side and well out of range of Faris' elbow. "Three years for me. How long for you?"

"Since before I can remember." Faris' voice was tight, and her hand tense in Lenna's. She didn't think it was just the subject that was bothering her; it might also have been the unwanted attention. Lenna, wanting to be supportive and unsure of how without stepping in herself, shifted their hand-hold a little and laced her fingers between Faris'. It seemed to help, a little--the tension drained bit by bit.

Lenna got the sense that the men didn't know when to leave well enough alone. Galuf was close enough now to get the gist of the conversation, and Lenna was uncomfortably aware of his gaze falling on their linked hands. How much had he already guessed about them? "Your surname doesn't give you a clue?"

Faris is a Jacolean name, Lenna wanted to say. Jacoleans were famous adventurers, and it would make a degree of sense that Faris might have their spirit, too. The Scherwiz part puzzled her, however. If it was a real name at all, it wasn't on any of the lists of noble houses. Not that it mattered, for Faris’ mood grew more sour with every effort to pry something out of her.

"No more than yours, Gramps." The words were unnecessarily sharp and well-placed; the only thing Galuf could remember was his given name. Faris might have twisted the knife, Lenna knew she was capable of it, but she clearly wanted nothing more to do with the topic. "Stow it."

Galuf got the hint and held his hands up in surrender, which was Butz's hint to leave Faris alone, too. They resumed their trek along the coast in quiet, bone-deep exhaustion. By the time Carwen came into view, the only thing Lenna wanted just then was a bath and sleep. 

[ajoraverse]

Just quick sketches to get a hang of sizes for Dragondance. Faris, Lenna, and their dragons. 

tl;dr on the dragons, which I’m sure no one cares about but hey, this ficverse is pretty much 100% pandering to me and my girlfriend. 

A bit of background from the ficverse: Some time after Bahamut was unsealed, sky dragon eggs started appearing in Dragon Valley (I think it’s Dragonvale in the GBA adaptation or something? It’s that mountain in Galuf’s World). A werewolf of Quelb discovered them by happy accident, sent word to Krile, and Krile had them monitored to ensure they’d hatch safely. The next season, her dragon was nesting and she made a gift of one of her dragon’s eggs and a wild egg to Faris and Lenna.

Cloudburst, Lenna’s wild-born dragon, claims to be a daughter of Bahamut. Given that she’s the largest and most fertile female sky dragon on record, she might be right.

-

Cloudburst: Lenna’s dragon is larger than the wild sky dragons who laid her. Active in her youth and maybe a bit indolent in adulthood due to Lenna not being able to divide her time equally between Cloudburst and her duties as queen. Care of her is largely split between Lenna, Faris, and a cousin on the Highwind side of the family. Often demanding and can be a bit of a brat, but only until Lenna can devote time to her. She is a queen and she knows it, which makes her a little bit unbearable to Faris sometimes--pair her occasional brattiness with Faris’ stubbornness and they can sometimes get annoyed with each other enough to yell at each other.

Silverstorm: Faris’ dragon, laid by Krile’s. Smaller than your average male dragon, but quick, agile, and still strong enough to carry a person. Because of his smaller size, Faris is his primary caretaker. One of the very few sky dragons able to swim well, and that’s 100% due to Faris’ training. Consequently, Faris is a filthy cheater and gets the two to take the mating flight to the water to shake off any wild dragons chasing Cloudburst. Perhaps as part of him being aware that he’s not Faris’ first pairbond dragon, and part of him growing up with Cloudburst’s more forceful personality, he’s often reticent and doesn’t ask for much. 

Zephyr: Stunted, partly blind, severely disabled sky dragon whose egg was abandoned and found by Krile a few years after the other two reached maturity. Given over to the sisters to find someone willing to take her. Because no one would step up, Faris ended up adopting her and raising her to patrol the secret passages of the castle and watch over Lenna. Cared for by Faris when she’s in Tycoon, and Lenna and the Highwind cousin when she isn’t. Zephyr takes her task seriously and the only ones who can traverse the secret passages of Tycoon are Faris and Lenna. Like Silverstorm, she’s usually very shy about making her needs known.

Generally, a rider gets to bond with just one dragon for the extent of their lifespan. Faris losing Syldra and gaining Silverstorm and Zephyr means that she bonded with three of them. Which technically isn’t unheard of, it’s just rare because the rider spreading themselves out so thinly has some side-effects largely considered unpleasant. Mainly: smudging her concentration sometimes with multiple dragons talking in her head, greater propensity for migraines, sharpening her more draconic tendencies. Possessiveness, overprotectiveness, that kind of thing. This only gets to be a real issue if Lenna is ever in danger.

It should be noted that Lenna is able to bend the rules a little regarding talking to dragons that aren’t bonded to her. She’s able to fully converse with Silverstorm and Zephyr, and can make herself understood by most other dragons. Her mother was also able to converse with Alexander’s Notos, though that was an exceptionally rare occurrence because she was not a Highwind.

[ajora]

FF5 fic thing absolutely no one is gonna care about but I am entertained with:

As the Light Warriors are chosen by their respective Crystals (Butz:Wind, Lenna:Water, Faris:Fire, Galuf/Krile:Earth), my pet theory is that they don’t just have an affinity for their elements but are also better at the job classes provided by their particular crystals. So, the following:

Butz/Wind: Knight, monk, thief, white mage, blue mage, black mage Lenna/Water: Time mage, magic knight, berserker, red mage, summoner, mimic Faris/Fire: Ninja, geomancer/fuusuishi, majuutsukai... monster trainer?, archer, bard Galuf/Krile/Earth: Samurai, dragon knight, dancer, chemist

Not that there’s not any mixing, of course. Lenna’s magic stats make her a great mage, so she’s technically better than Butz at his Wind Crystal mage skills. Faris has prior experience with thievery and genetic predisposition towards dragon knight (combining, of course, the Highwind capability to bond with/communicate with dragons with the actual job class). Galuf’s stats make him a great monk, and Krile’s speed makes her a great ninja or thief. The Earth elementals would have an easier time with the fuusuishi job due to, well, Earth elementals. So on.

So this is just a round-about way of saying that I have a picture in my head of Faris getting ready to infiltrate the revolution at Karnak to save an ex because saving the queen/princess is just a thing she does, and asking Lenna where her ninja gear is. Also just another mental image of her strumming a lute absently while trying to figure out how to navigate this mess of a relationship* given that they fell in love before they figured out they were related**.

I actually have a bunch of mental images of Faris going full-on bard on her off-time and it’s just so weird because... pirate upbringing, dragon knight heritage and ability to communicate with dragons, has probably done some stealing in her youth. Where does music come into any of this? But I’m guessing she has decided to serenade Lenna in the 3 years postgame fic and they are impossible.

Lenna, for her part, generally defaults to omni-mage with a preference for white magic, but she’s also a hell of a magic knight if you can get her out of the castle. Also! I really want to play with her initial black-haired designs so... maybe she’ll go undercover with black hair***.

I’m thinking Butz will probably be a jack-of-all-trades given Dissidia, but also defaults as an expert blue mage for the purposes of the fic.

Krile I’m thinking might have a predisposition towards chemist and samurai, though the fuusuishi class/her Earth elemental status might help a lot for my plans to get her involved with unearthing ancient horrors or whatever.

* Which has evidently devolved into an even more melancholy version of this and I have no idea why because Faris doesn’t actually have an accent in Japanese and I have like 0 memory of the PSX localization except for the mangling of wyvern to Y-burn and Sarisa to Salsa somehow.

** Which itself has devolved into a ridiculous thing of Faris trying to write and re-write the ransom note to King Tycoon, kicking that down the road to later and later and later until “To the King of Tycoon, I have your daughter and you can have her back for 100,000 gil” turns into “King Tycoon: Ransom paid. Your daughter is a delight.” turns into “Dear Dad. Well. Lenna and I are closer than you probably wanted, and we might’ve gone about it the wrong way.” Thankfully Alexander dies before he learns any of this.

*** I have no idea where I’m gonna even fit Faris Falil of Moore and Lenna Lotte of Surgate postgame, but they could both do with a vacation by the 3-years-postgame mark.

[ajora]

Blabbing regarding dragon biology re: Dragondance. And other things, but primarily FF5/Pern stuff and fantasy geopolitics.

It never ceases to amuse me that GRRM is so against magic but his dragons are all magic. Meanwhile, Anne McCaffrey, who predates him and frankly wrote it better, reverse-engineered dragons and made them believable (triple-helix DNA leading to 6-limb body plan for the bulk of Pern’s fauna, chemical reactions resulting in breathing fire) and alive (skin and teeth issues riders help take care of, ritualized mating and nesting behaviors). Pern is founded solidly in science fiction, but her writing makes the dragon/rider and firelizard/human bonds magical enough that you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a fantasy series. 

Reading the mating flight tag on AO3 has been immensely entertaining and gave me ideas. Like, Faris would have trained her and Lenna’s dragons to swim as well as fly, no question. Buuut, it’s also a good way to cheat at the mating flight if there are other dragons around to provide Silverstorm with competition. He’s small for a male and probably not good for combat with a wild dragon, but he’s quick and agile, and he has his bond with Faris to give him a tactical edge. And Faris being able to talk to him and Lenna’s Cloudburst means she can exploit their swim training and finish the flight off with a dive to get rid of the competition. 

Dive, my lads. I didn’t raise you to be afraid of a little water.

Look, Faris is a filthy cheater. She used her partnership with Syldra to get around Tycoon’s monopoly of the Wind Crystal, plus terrorize merchant ships into surrendering their cargo. She got her captaincy by basically saying “I have a dragon” (and, yknow, nearly sacrificing her life to save her crew when she was nothing but a 15 year old deck hand). This is completely in character for her and I love her for it.

Plus the swimming ability comes in handy in Lenna’s kidnapping in the 5-years-later. Her kidnappers would be looking at the skies for a dragon, not in the water. No worries, though--Lenna saves herself because she knows Faris is going to burn everyone alive if Lenna’s still in danger by the time she arrives. Note to self: get around to drawing out that B99 meme but with Faris and Lenna and Faris being the one saying��“I’ve only known Lenna for a day and a half” etc etc. 

I’ll probably reduce the psychic backwash of mating flights by a lot, though. The only people we’ve seen with the ability to talk with dragons are the Highwinds (Alexander and his daughters) and Krile. So, probably no one else in the castle is going to be affected by it. 

Of course, the breeding thing brings up a problem--the remaining Highwind clan would be given any egg from Cloudburst because there’s that historical bond between the Highwinds and sky dragons. But it’s also another strike against Tycoon in that this looks a lot like favoritism. And really, there’s no winning politically for the following reasons:

The nation of Tycoon expanded by conquest under Faris and Lenna’s grandfather.

Alexander may have backtracked on their grandfather’s world conquest schemes, but under his rule, the Wind Crystal was monopolized and controlled by the nation of Tycoon. And when Cid produced his Crystal amplification devices, the Wind Crystal was further exploited to give Tycoon’s merchant fleet an edge.

These two elements made Tycoon the wealthiest nation in the world.

Fast forward to Lenna’s rule and now there are two Light Warriors in Tycoon, and the Crystals are scattered across entirely different nations, and some more inaccessible than others. Yet, somehow, the Wind Crystal is still in Tycoon control because Grandpa Tycoon laid claim on Solitary Island back in the day. The Fire Crystal is literally under the sea. This is a bad look.

Not to mention, Lenna being the senior ruling Light Warrior means she has control of the only existing airship. Another bad look

Even worse? Faris taking control of the military and building more airships. That she looks and acts like Grandpa Tycoon sets off a lot of alarm bells.

Sure Bal may have Krile and her sky dragon, but Tycoon has a breeding pair and Faris insists on giving all the resulting eggs to the remains of the Highwind clan, who participated in the Dragon War that her grandfather started. This makes neighboring nations very uncomfortable. 

Karnak and Bal being destabilized by Surgate revolutionaries, and suspicions that Faris has something to do with it, also makes Walse and long-integrated Tycoon nobles uncomfortable. 

Basically, Faris makes everyone nervous. She’s delighted

Gosh, if only I could write faster.

[ajora]

Blitherings about royalty and shit wrt FFV and why I’ve been mostly okay with that and at the same time have no interest in the Diamond drama on SU

We know a few things about the Tycoon and Bal royals that make them different from the other royals in the game.

Alexander Highwind Tycoon:

Alexander is an active king. Though he had been using machines to amplify the power of the Wind Crystal, he understood that the Wind Crystal was behaving oddly and went, himself, to fix the problem. This, unfortunately, got him possessed for the rest of the first part of the game until his death.

Alexander is the rider/partner of the last surviving sky dragon/hiryuu. As the sky dragons were killed off by either the war with Walse 50 years before or the poaching afterwards, my personal interpretation is that the Highwinds weren’t originally royal blood and just kind of got accolades for their service and married into the royal family. The timeline would make sense for one of Alexander’s parents to have been an active participant in the war.

Alexander also assisted the Dawn Warriors when they chased that manifestation of all the evil in their world, ExDeath, to his world to seal. That his dragon got severely wounded when Alexander gets possessed likely isn’t an accident and is probably retaliation by ExDeath.

Also, Alexander has been shown making efforts to include his firstborn daughter into his life--there’s a couple of flashbacks of him trying to introduce Sarisa/Faris to his dragon. I’m certain that he had intended for Sarisa to take after him.

Honestly, aside from a bit of a piracy problem, we don’t really see much of Tycoon having a crime problem. We see Karnak and Walse having dungeons, but not Tycoon. 

My impression of Alexander is, basically... he’s a good man. Lenna wouldn’t have come out half so well if he wasn’t. I’m less certain about him having an effect on Faris, as she fell overboard and was lost at sea when she was 5 years old.

Lenna Charlotte Tycoon:

A Friend To All Living Beings, Dragons Especially

We know that that’s not how she started off--when she was younger, she was absolutely prepared to sacrifice her father’s dragon to save her mother. The player gets to choose whether she does or doesn’t try to go through with it, but the end result is that she learns that all life has value, not just those important to her. 

She’s polite, and kind, but also won’t hesitate to call someone out on their bullshit. (see also: the confrontation with King Walse, that slip of the tongue around Cid regarding his Crystal-amplifying machines.)

Compare her to the queen of Karnak and the king of Walse--she seems much more open to criticism to her actions than them

She is, admittedly, a bit impulsive. With some tempering, that’s not a bad thing. She would never use a dragon to slaughter an entire city ffs

I expect, especially once Sarisa disappeared, she’d have been trained in statesmanship since she was young. Japanese texts/wiki states that she is learned in the military arts; combine that with her kindness and you have a queen that knows what to do to defend her kingdom, but will make every effort to avoid bloodshed. And at the end of the game, she has Faris at her side to speak for the commons.

Lenna is the one pink princess to have never disappointed me

Faris Scherwiz/Sarisa Scherwil Tycoon:

A fun fact that gets lost in swashbuckler romances is that pirate ships tend to be loose democracies with their own constitutions. If Faris had ever taken a critical misstep in her 5-year captaincy, she’d have lost it quickly.

Her crew is loyal to her, which says good things about her leadership. 

On the other hand, she is the one with the dragon friend to pull the ship along when becalmed

A thing that makes me so pleased with Faris as a character is that while she’s assertive and brusque to the point of rudeness a lot of the time, she cares deeply about her people. Win her as a friend and she will have your back.

If she cared about taking the throne for longer than just part-time to please Lenna, and had Lenna to listen to for advice on finesse and the politics of acceptable behavior, she might actually make a good king. She lived as a pirate for a good 15 years, she knows what it’s like to be the lowest of the low. 

I will not get Gilbert and Sullivan in this, I will not--sigh

Galuf Halm Baldesion:

The sense I get is that he’s been more of a glorified general rather than the typical royal type you see on the 1st world. This is likely a side-effect of ExDeath beleaguering his world and probably decimating whole populations in his rise to power. There probably was a kingdom where Castle ExDeath is when the party gets there, it’s too good a location for there not to be.

His crown may have been inherited, but he’s also a Dawn Warrior and fought ExDeath before. He did the legwork to be worthy of it.

The closest we probably get to seeing a king who acts like one in the 2nd world is Zezae, and, well, he dies while being an action king like Alexander and Galuf.

Krile Mayer Baldesion

Krile spends a lot of her time with moogles and dragons. I really doubt she has any interest at all in being queen when Galuf dies. Hell, she’s 14 when she becomes a Light Warrior, she has more pressing things to worry about. If anyone is likely to abdicate their throne, it’s her. 

That said, she at least starts doing the work once Galuf dies. It’s just that the whole save-the-world thing comes first.

So I think, basically, the gist is that FFV does the work of presenting the royals we’re supposed to care about as people who have been worthy, either through action (Alexander, Faris, Galuf, Zezae from what little we know of him) or intent (Lenna, Krile--both princesses in line for their thrones, though Lenna seems a lot more prepared for hers than Krile is), of their titles. There’s no indication of expanding territories in Tycoon or Bal (or Surgate), and I think in part that’s due to wars predating the Light Warriors (the first war vs ExDeath was 30 years before, the Tycoon vs Walse war was 50 years before). This might have resulted in a conscious effort on the parts of Alexander and Galuf to avoid more conflict whenever possible.

I feel like I should point out, too, that the main heroboy, Butz, and his father, the Dawn Warrior of Wind, are commoners, and Kelgar was duly elected by his people to run Quelb as mayor. I’m not sure if Kelgar’s election was before or after his Dawn Warrior stint, however. 

Now that I think about it more... pirate captain is also an elected position. You’ve got Galuf (Dawn, Earth) -> Krile (LW, Earth), nobility; Dorgan (DW, Wind) -> Butz (LW, Wind), commoners; Zezae (DW, Water) -> Lenna (LW, Water), nobility; Kelgar (DW, Fire) -> Faris (LW, Fire), elected leadership.

SU, meanwhile, rolls out the facts that 

The Diamonds are planet-destroying tyrants

They are part of their oppressive system, but they also benefit from said system. That this gets lost of the Diamond stans says a lot, honestly. 

Gems are made to serve a purpose, and sometimes that purpose is as wall hangings and bridges. This is a terrible use of resources you guys. At least the components of ExDeath’s castle of flayed bodies writhing in agony weren’t originally made for just that thing.

The Diamonds have not yet made any efforts to ameliorate the harm they caused to their own people. There was an attempt, but only because they had to own up to one of their own killing herself beforehand. And honestly? There is no fixing all the planets they destroyed in their empire’s expansion, the countless organics killed off in colonization, all the gems shattered for not fitting in their places, or the Cluster and cluster experiments. There’s only going forward. IMO, it will never be enough.

SU also wants me to care that the Diamonds are... hurting, I guess, but I do not care about them at all. I’m sorry. Except for Steven, who deserved none of this, the Diamonds can all go walk into a black hole. 

I guess my frustration with SU is that it tries to be too many things at once, but in focusing on Diamonds Being Sad, it ignores/whitewashes all the actual victims.  

That said, Lenna is still my favorite pretty pink princess who has never done a thing wrong in her life.