#u'zafye

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Gydeo Abbey gang

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From the Warden's garden.

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Answered these for myself since it's maintenance! 😌

1. Ifan Kaleid. He generally doesn't use his surname for a variety of reasons, one of which being he picked it during an embarrassing point in his youth. (He and Y'shtola both had chuuni phases)

2. He's (probably) a Midlander Hyur of (probably) Ul'dahn ancestry, and he calls himself a Magician in the archaic sense of "practitioner of magic" given he dips into most magical jobs for skills. BLM and WHM are probably his main jobs, if I had to narrow it down.

3. Probably the brand he received from Ifrit: it's a scar on his lower left side which looks like the flesh is fractured and glued together with fire crystal. He usually conceals it with magic, but it causes chronic pain from aether buildup.

4. I use a floating timeline and visualize him in terms of comparison to other characters rather than a strict number: he's slightly older than Lyse, but younger than Y'shtola. I've said 25 in a fic but who knows lol

5. He's kind, cunning, helpful, and romantic, but also pretty mischievous, sharp-tongued, and has a bit of a bad temper. His "Fray" manifests as Ambition rather than Esteem, if that helps frame his more negative qualities.

6. He tends to prefer clothes which don't inhibit his movement, as his fighting style is quite mobile and he spends a lot of time on birdback. Sun-bleached linen is his signature fabric, stemming from a headcanon about Ul'dahn religion - specifically to do with Thaliak.

7. He was raised in the orphanage at Gydeo Abbey, a religious community dedicated to Azeyma. The clerics there were responsible and loving caretakers, but Ifan still feels certain absences which he's buried very deeply.

8. His personal goal is something he describes in terms of "drinking from the Ewer"; his metaphor for understanding the true nature of aether, if Thaliak's vessel is the source of all magic and wisdom.

9. Adventuring! He decided he wasn't cut out for formal study and picked up adventuring at his first mentor's suggestion to fund a path of self-research. He still considers adventuring to be a job one does for a living, however, where magic is his calling.

10. Lentil curry with rice. Sister Brazen Briar, one of the caretakers at the orphanage, used to make it for feast days and her recipe is still the one he defaults to himself. Eating Roegadyn-strength curry as a kid has given him a pretty strong stomach as an adult, lol

11. Not being able to use magic. It used to be rejection, but after the body swap incident in Garlemald and his recovery after Ultima Thule, he's afraid of losing his magic again.

12. Besides magic, he enjoys literary pursuits; reading, writing, calligraphy. He also loves metalworking, particularly goldsmithing, and has recently started delving into glasswork.

13. He generally prefers DPS, but is an equally as competent healer. He *can* tank if pressed (think Knight-Enchanter from Dragon Age), but his fighting style isn't suited to taking direct hits; he's fundamentally a caster, not a martialist.

14. He has an excellent (most would say uncanny) instinct for working out the nature and function of a spell. His most distinct talent is housekeeping magic; the very first spell he learned was a dusting charm, and he's well practiced with domestic spells (he's lazy)

15. He was probably born in Ul'dah, as Gydeo Abbey's orphanage is known as a place where illegitimate kids of the city's upper crust get sent. That said, he could be from anywhere.

16. He doesn't know his birth parents. His caretakers at the orphanage were Sister Brazen Briar and her wife Sister U'zafye, and his mentor was Brother Dedelai Totolai, the Abbey's librarian.

17+18. As mentioned, he doesn't know his blood family. It might come up in future, but as it stands Ifan's heritage and legacy are spiritual rather than familial.

19. He's a romantic who likes falling in love early and often, both platonically and otherwise. People often joke that he should have picked Menphina as his patron.

20. Very avid fan of sex with even casual friends and a bit of a freak-a-leak, but his biggest turn on is really just enthusiasm.

21. Ul'dahn from balls to bones, but ironically suffers from mild dyscalculia; so he can smell a bad deal from a mile away, but can't count for shit. (Tataru does his taxes)

22. He's actually quite religious and spends a lot of time thinking about theology. If you asked him if he believes the Twelve exist, however, he'd tell you that they're a necessary fiction. Thaliak is very much a figure of aspiration and comfort for him, in that regard.

23. He generally prefers being friends with people, but oh boy can he hold a grudge if you rub him the wrong way: just ask Gaius.

24. His job trainers! Even if he's graduated or surpassed them in some areas, people like Lalai, Raya-O-Senna, and Surito Carito remain his role models. Beyond that, there are two women against whom he measures himself: Shatotto, and Venat.

25. Probably moments where people like G'raha, Ga Bu, Halric, and Setoto recover from conditions people deemed uncurable. He's a healer at heart.

26. His ambition. It leads him to some very dark and lonely places, even if the will to conquer is both necessary in magic and in life.

27. His philosophy centers around the importance of being human and not losing or disfiguring the essence of what makes one so. His motto is "Life is filled with joys pleasing to the eyes of heaven, and knowledge without action is empty."

28. He's firmly egalitarian. Ifan counts Kazagg Chah as one of his mentors in the Black, and he's also a sworn ally of the Brotherhood of Ash.

29. He carries many. If he could change one small thing for someone else's sake, however, Ifan would be brave enough to tell the man atop the Vault how he really felt before the end.

30. Ifan's instinct is to conceal things which bother him lest he burden others, but he's gotten much better at it over time. One thing he will never willingly share with another soul is exactly what happened between himself and Elidibus under the Tempest.

[astrology-bf]

Tag Bio: Ifan Kaleid

Tagged by @naejlas-axe Thank you friend! 💞

Tagging: @arinemone, @anneapocalypse, and any followers/moots who'd like to share a little more about their OCs!

B A S I C S

Name: Ifan Kaleid

Nickname(s): 'fan (pronounced like 'fun')

Age: Late Twenties (I use a floating timeline, he's best thought of as older than Lyse but younger than Y'shtola)

Nameday: 7th Sun of the 1st Umbral Moon

Race: Midlander Hyur

Gender: Cis Male

Orientation: Gay (mostly)

Profession: Disciple of Magic, Adventurer

P H Y S I C A L A S P E C T S

Hair: Ash brown which lightens easily from being in the sun, on the thicker side with a tendency to curl when wet. Prefers to leave it on the shaggier side so he can partly hide his eyes behind it, but only rarely grows it out past shoulder length.

Eyes: Dark blue, verging on grey. The term I use is "wine-dark".

Skin: Bronze/Olive.

Tattoos: Still debating on other tattoos, but he does have one canon marking - a representation of the Bravura ax on his right wrist, hafted with four sparking stars. He got it done in Limsa after his return to the Source to commemorate Ardbert and the other heroes of the First.

Scars: From least to most serious; two lacerations on the right shoulderblade from Nidhogg in Estinien's body, a bullet wound from Yotsuyu in Doma castle on the upper left pectoral, a diagonal slash across the torso from Elidibus in Zenos' body, and most notably a scar he received from one of Ifrit's fangs on his left side. That scar, which Ifan calls his 'godbrand', looks like the flesh was shattered and then glued back together with fire crystals and in many ways behaves more like a fire crystal than flesh - aether will build up in it over time and cause chronic pain, sometimes to the point of immobility. Rebalancing it is a task that falls to Krile and G'raha, especially since the latter spent years on the First refining pain relief treatments for what is an-almost unique condition.

F A M I L Y

Parents: Ifan doesn't know his birth parents and was handed over to the orphanage at Gydeo Abbey, a temple dedicated to Azeyma located near the Sagolii Desert. He was raised by the clerics there, and three of them are probably the closest people he has to parents. Sister Brazen Briar and her wife Sister U'zafye were the caretakers of the orphanage, and Brother Dedelai Totolai the librarian became Ifan's teacher in sorcery and surrogate father.

Siblings: No blood relatives, but he does have one of the other orphans from the Abbey who is very close to a brother; Feferito Seserito, who's currently a merchant operating under the East Aldenard Trading Company.

Grandparents: Doesn't know them.

In-laws and other: Plenty of found family! The Scions of the Seventh Dawn, of course, as well as his various love interests in his myriad timelines.

Pets: Ifan generally doesn't keep pets since he's out on the road so often, so the closest thing he has is his chocobo - Laios. He named him after a friendly and intelligent but very food-focused adventurer he became acquainted with in passing, and Ifan was reminded of his habits as well as his blond hair when seeing his new steed for the first time.

S K I L L S

Magic: Ifan calls himself a "magician" in the archaic sense of the term as someone identified by their study and performance of magic, and that's very representative of how central the arcane is to his character and his life. He's not the most powerful mage, nor does he have the biggest tank of aether - but he was trained by a former Dalmascan war mage, studied for two years each at Arrzaneth Ossuary and then Mealvaan's Gate, and has since spent the time picking up spellcraft from a huge variety of sources without much discrimination. He wants to know everything there is to know about magic, and to use that knowledge wisely as his patron would desire.

Domestic Magic (This needs its own entry, lol): For all the magecraft he's learned, spells which remove the need to do mundane chores remain his favorite. He's extremely well practiced with laundry and culinary magic and enjoys using magic to do menial tasks to the point he gives off the impression of being very tidy when in actuality he is a very messy individual and learned all this domestic magic precisely because he's lazy.

Reading: Books have always and will always be Ifan's first and best love. Sister Brazen made it her mission that every orphan at Gydeo Abbey would leave her charge both literate and able to do arithmetic, and while Ifan struggled with the latter due to having mild dyscalculia (which is also why he struggles with traditional arcanima), she instilled in him a love of reading that was only further reinforced by Dedelai being the Abbey librarian. Ifan usually has at least one or two books tucked away by magic somewhere on his person at all times, and is very much in the Scion book club along with G'raha, Y'shtola, and Urianger - excellent researcher, with a great memory.

Metalworking: Ifan picked up goldsmithing as a supplemental skill given the craft is very useful for spellcasters, but found in both it and blacksmithing a beloved hobby and outlet for stress which he continues with even to this day. He's actually very good at metalwork to the point he could probably make a living off it if he weren't a magician or adventurer; it's also why he's surprisingly strong for a mage, at least in his arms.

Dancing: I've written a little about my headcanons surrounding the performing arts in Ul'dah, and Ifan is definitely a big fan of his homeland's cultural love of dance. Not only that, he was actively encouraged to practice it by his master; much like Ul'dah, Dalmasca also has a strong tradition of dance, and Dedelai was a firm believer that being a skilled dancer is an excellent quality in a mage since it necessitates having good timing, coordination, and situational awareness.

Romance: I feel like this needs its own entry since Ifan, at least in his Warrior of Light incarnation, has the benefit of having had two very skilled mentors in the arts of love. The first being the man that Ifan calls 'Jacke of Hearts' (yes, that Jacke), whom he met before ARR while he was studying at the Arcanists' Guild. The other being the woman whose game was so good that even twelve thousand years later her student's reincarnated shard still kisses in a way best described as "lapsarian".

T R A I T S

Most positive trait: His kindness. I consider Ifan to be a villain-coded individual in that he's naturally empathetic to the point that the existence of injustice plants the seeds of (occasionally violent) anger in him, but that's tempered by his overwhelming desire to be a good man; he'll tamp down the anger and instead makes a point of living his life by being brave enough to be kind.

Most negative trait: His ambition. Ifan's "Fray" is named exactly that - Ambition, not Esteem - since his darkside is rooted in the drive to 'conquer' (in the Nietzschean sense) and rears itself when he's faced with the option of exploiting others for his own purposes. Naturally that leads to a lot of the classic behaviors from a very prideful person: he's stubborn, sharp-tongued, a show-off, and a bit of a sore loser.

L I K E S

Colors: Blue. Ifan used to see the indigo lithams worn by a few of the Seeker clans in the Sagolii when they'd visit to make donations to the Abbey, and a vibrant indigo or ultramarine remains his favorite color. For clothing, he's partial to white; the reason being that sun-bleached linen has a lot of spiritual connotations in Ul'dah, and is what Thaliak as depicted as wearing in my headcanons traditional Ul'dahn Iconography.

Smells: Petrichor, old books, Azeyma roses. The latter stems from Sister U'zafye keeping a garden of the blooms and making oil from them, which she'd use to keep her hands moisturized. Ifan picked up the habit and also uses it on his beard, too - so he's very pleasant to kiss, as you can imagine.

Textures: Good quality fabric. Hannish muslin is by and far his favorite thing to touch, and he has more than a few garments made of it despite its relative indecency in certain settings.

Food: Lentil curry, the hotter the better. Sister Brazen used to make Hellsguard-strength curry for feast days in the Abbey, and it became Ifan's comfort food. This preference has only gotten worse since he got his godbrand, as he now has an even higher spice tolerance.

Drinks: Coffee in the Ul'dahn (i.e. Turkish) style, with plenty of sugar, but he's also extremely partial to La Noscean lemon liqueurs which he first tried during his time at the Arcanists' Guild. He's also started developing a taste for Turali style hot chocolate with chili.

O T H E R D E T A I L S

Smokes: Socially. Tobacco doesn't do much for him, but as hookah is a beloved Ul'dahn tradition he's well used to having to light up in company.

Alcohol: Teaching him Esuna was a mistake, that's all I'll say.

Drugs: Privately. Ifan uses fogwood or even somnus for his chronic pain, but it isn't something he's proud of. He'll usually just hotbox at home with the door locked.

Been arrested: He's been taken into custody as the Warrior of Light, but he's only been arrested for a regular incident once during his time in Limsa Lominsa - for public indecency, no thanks to a certain rogue who hopped the twig and let Ifan take the fall. (He was a gentleman and bailed him out, at least)

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Sister U'zafye Saroh, one of the clerics of Azeyma at Gydeo Abbey in Southern Thanalan.