Maho Mercy

girl far from home

• ABOUT
• HISTORY

• GALLERY
• OOC

• Fiction

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History

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i. Born in a remote village among the towering trees of Golmore, her early life was spent in relative peace under the name given to her by the Wood: Etenia. Her home, Hulmmynd, was a place of ancient importance for those seeking a glimpse of the future through the prophecies dreamt and recorded by the Hulm's  oneiromancers - dream travelers.The passage of eons and the disruption of the present have since rendered those old pilgrimages  forgotten to most of their adherents, and as of the most recent generation the village remains virtually unknown to those outside the dense inner Jungle.Her childhood was pleasant, if simple. She was a quiet, inobtrusive child despite her curiosity. When she was old enough, she began her training in the ways of oneiromancy, and her mother gave birth to another child - Alix.As Etenia struggled with constant nightmares as a result of the dreaming rituals she was tasked to undergo, her brother was always there as a comfort. They shared a bed, meals, and secrets; as their bond grew stronger, so too did her mastery over the Myst... which made Alix's necessary departure all the more painful.

ii. As was the custom of their village, young men left the village as they came of age with their fathers - living apart, save for the few times they would return to sire children, conduct necessary rituals, and leave again. Their role was to protect the Wood from the shadows of those great trees; the path between the siblings diverged, and Etenia was alone. The nightmares returned, mercilessly depriving her of sleep and sense. The elders told her to be stronger, to master the whip of aether through the dreamscape instead of bending to it. She tried, and every night she failed. One evening, in the throes of exhausted delirium, a quiet voice spoke to her:My name is Sopor, it soothed, and I want to help you.She agreed without pause, begging to be freed from the vicious cycle that was threatening to unravel her completely; and Sopor gave her succor. He would devour the dreams that came to her, he promised, leaving her body to finally find rest. She closed her eyes, and when she awoke it was morning - but her victory was short lived. In exchange for sleep, she had traded her ability to manipulate the Myst. A fine exchange indeed, considering her dissatisfaction with the elders of the craft. She went to train under her mother as a huntress instead of a mystic, and the shroud of her sleep was never disturbed by happy dreams or miserable nightmares. It was just emptiness, save for the few moments just prior to unconsciousness she thought she could hear Sopor laughing.

iii. Life was comfortable. Etenia felt no need to leave her village, and had found a place providing for it as she could. However, there was a noticeable change in the woman she was now compared to who she had been when Alix had left. She was wan, thin, and quiet. When she was not hunting, she was sleeping, and when she slept she was unwakeable - her breath slow to the point of mimicking death itself. Her mother worried, but said nothing. Life was comfortable, and with the whispers of unrest outside of the Jungle there seemed little reason to disrupt the peace they'd been blessed with.Then, one evening, a nightmare came. The red moon fell over the battle at Carteneau. Every villager of the Hulmmynd saw what awaited their star: the carnage, the destruction, the red-hot annihilation of thousands. It was beyond prophecy, it was a warning received by each and every one of the Hulm's residents - save Etenia. Her fair sleep was noticed immediately, and in a flurry she was put before the Matriarch of the Hulm. Through a series of rituals, the humiliating truth was revealed to all; Sopor was a creature of the Void, feeding on Etenia's aether, cutting her off from the Myst. Moreover, it had corrupted itself into her. Removal would not be possible, and eventually she would be consumed by the creature and become a monster herself. Horrified, she was given a choice: to die, or to be cast out. Her mother begged for an intercession, but all that was granted was a passage from the archives within the Hulm that spoke of Masters of the Dark that spun and cut the aether like a thread, in a place far beyond the understanding of the Rava. Etenia struggled with her choice, but in the morning she found her resolve. She cut her hair, abandoned her name, and set out into the unknown as Maho.

Ceiba of the Hulm
motherA huntress and warrior first, Ceiba never thought of herself as the maternal type. Despite this, she birthed two children - both of whom she's lost to the unyeilding rigor of tradition.

Alix of Golmore
brotherEasily 21 years old by now, Alix has yet to return to his home village. Maho hasn't seen him since the day he left, and may not even recognize the man he has become.

Sopor, Veil of Sloth
Voidsent, 5th RungA creature of chaotic entropy, Sopor was sealed away in Golmore by a long forgotten hero of Dalmasca's past. Though his prison eventually shattered, he was left a shade of his former self, weak and needful for aether.

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i. Maho was unprepared for the ruin that awaited her outside of Golmore's well-protected core. The Garleans were thorough in their devastation, with wide swaths of her journey composed of burnt and barren land where once those magnificent trees had scraped the sky. It was in one such clearing she found the remains of a village - and the company of soldiers which had destroyed it. Despite her attempts to hide, she was found by a single man who had the opportunity to out her when his commander called out to him by name (Basileus), but he instead turned away and kept her presence a secret. It was here she adopted the first lesson she'd learned from outsiders: Mercy. Sopor, recognizing the danger he was in, remained relentless in his seductions. He offered her more power, more comfort, more -- of anything, to convince her to stop on her quest towards redemption. Their relationship was devastating despite the inherent intimacy of the possessed and the possessor; co-dependent, toxic, cruel. It took a year of traveling across the world for Maho to find her Master of the Dark in Aldenard - Ramanda, Witch of the Spires. She begged the witch for her help and reluctantly the roegadyn agreed, taking the ailing viera as a student alongside her existing dour elezan charge. In time Ramanda expelled Sopor from Maho, using forbidden techniques she was taught by her own master as part of the scattered and lonely art that was Black Magic. Both Clovis and Maho coveted that power for themselves in their own ways, and for their own reasons. Clovis was cool and calculated, Maho was intense and passionate - she'd come a long way from the wasting, pitiful creature that had barely survived to see her own salvation.The future was something unfixed but bright - that is, until Master Ramanda gave her life to protect her students from forces invested in snuffing out the stain of Black Magic.

Basileus Rem Optus
GarleanA legionary when first he met Maho, the young man who chose not to disclose a potential enemy combatant out of pity eventualy came to command a sizable number of troops.

Master Ramanda
Witch of the SpiresA blunt Roegadyn operating under what is most assuredly a pseudonym. She set up her modest school amidst the Spires and is known to the locals as something resembling a witch; helpful, but for a price.

Clovis Vorande
envious peerA sour-faced elezen of some years, Clovis was the butler of a minor Noble Family for some time before deciding abruptly to quit after meeting Master Ramanda. His reasons for doing so are as mysterious as her agreement to tutor him.

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i. Clovis and Maho fled together with Ramanda, who lay dying in their arms. At the moment she expired, the elezen attempted a grab for the soul stone that the Master held; ensuring that with the death of Ramanda and Maho, the secret of their survival would be kept. Refusing to simply allow herself to die after twice defying that fate, she fought Clovis for the stone with both magic and muscle -- the ensuing struggle tearing a rift to the Void that the man was yanked into before it snapped shut: Maho, stunned and breathless, was left wounded and alone.Her mindset began to shift as she set out by herself into the heat of Thanalan. Perhaps it was the aftershocks of loss, perhaps it was the cloying power of the stone that burned at her breast. Either way, she resolved that she could not entrust anything to others; she could only trust herself when it came to power, safety, and her future. This isn't to say she lived independent of others; the translation of this drive manifested more in making poor decisions of employment and companionship, abandoning them the moment difficulties arose.The stone drove her, directed her, and in some ways even taught her about the weave of the Umbral within the elemental wheel. Thaumaturgical research became her pet interest, one that she dabbled in while between more consistent work as an alchemist. As the years wore on, Maho became complacent with her own selfish refusal to take responsibility for her choice - after all, it was just so simple to walk away and pretend that you'd never made the decision that was so uncomfortable in the first place.

Stone of Ramanda
mage's legacyA stone passed from master to student since ages long past, it holds the secrets of the Black Mage scion Ramanda, whose followers often adopt her name as they grow in mastery over the art.

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