⬩ Qaralun Kha ⬩
A stern-faced xaela woman in vaguely Ishgardian dress, carrying herself with both the stoic pride of a warrior of the Azim Steppe, as well as the weathered determination of one who has seen many years of Eorzea's hardships.Travelling the realm in a neverending search for answers, bearing a foreign membership with Clan Centurio and a local one with the Adventurers' Guild, based out of Ishgard but frequently on the road (and probably lost).
⬩ Details ⬩
Name: Qaralun Kha (Qara)
Race: Xaela Au RaAge: 27 (ARR), 29 (HW), 30 (SB/ShB), 31 (EW), 32 (6.1+)
Pronouns: She/Her
Orientation: Biromantic AsexualClass/Job: ARC ⇾ WAR/DRK ⇾ RPR
Occupation: Clan Centurio Hunter, Adventurer, Warrior of LightAppearance Notes: Tall for a female au ra but not unusually so. Curvy but strong build. Freckles across cheeks/shoulders. Old scars around torso/arms, usually but not intentionally concealed by clothing. No limbal rings, black sclera. Small second set of horns above temples. Small pair of fangs. Dresses in red/black (inspired by Kha clan colors) with metallic accents. Chronic resting bitch face.Personality Notes: Comes across curt at first, but just doesn't like introductions. Flusters easily but doesn't often show it. Loyal to a tee once trust is earned. Little bit face blind. Bad with directions on the ground, so ends up lost without maps to help. Prefers plains and port cities for their comparative ease of navigation and due to her upbringing in similar settings. Likes critters, particularly birds and cats. Her yol is back on the Steppe, but in Eorzea she befriended an amber draught chocobo in Dravania that acts as her travelling companion and mount.
⬩ History ⬩
I. Before the Adventure: A daughter of the Steppe learns the truth of her heritage, but yearns for further answers. Her search takes her to the easternmost shores of Eorzea, where her precariously-balanced existence is thrown into further chaos by the onset of the Calamity. Read more ⇾
II. The Unending Journey: An exhausted-looking marauder arrives in Limsa Lominsa and enrolls in the Adventurer's Guild. Her journeys and travails across the breadth and width of Eorzea (and well beyond) will go down in legend and secure her title in eternity - Warrior of Light. Read more ⇾
III. Newfound Adventure: After a harrowing crescendo against the backdrop of the Final Days, a seasoned veteran and vaunted hero attempts to settle down at last. But the call of adventure is seldom ignored... Read more ⇾
⬩ Before the Adventure ⬩
Qaralun was still just a babe when the Garlean Empire attempted to push into the Azim Steppe from freshly-conquered Doma. Her parents joined the battle to repel the invaders and, though victorious, only her father would return, tearfully clutching her mother's treasured axe which he had gifted to her years before and she had sworn to never let leave her side. Hanging the axe in a place of honor in their yurt, he swore he would never lose their daughter the same way he had lost her, and vowed to keep Qaralun safe, no matter what.The years that followed saw him attempt to raise Qaralun with a gentle hand, prioritizing survival skills and the barest bones of archery to use as self-defense. However, being a respected Hunter of Clan Centurio, he was often away on hunts, leaving her to her own devices and misadventures. He would often return to scraped knees or split lips, always with a devilish grin and an all-too-familiar sparkle in her eyes that did nothing to ease his worries. Eventually she began asking to join him on his travels - a plea she repeated many, many times before he finally relented and started bringing her with him on his trips to Kugane.Immediately taken with the city and its myriad denizens, Qaralun eagerly shadowed her father in as much of his work as possible, following him around the city while he sorted out plans and supplies. This led to her being introduced to a variety of hunters, traders, and travelers, most of which were willing to share a tale of adventure or two if asked. The seeds of wanderlust sown, it was no surprise when a few years later she applied to Clan Centurio herself, eventually being accepted as an apprentice under the watchful eye of her father.
Despite her official Hunter status, her father continued to relegate her to the same kind of backline support duties she had already been doing. It was only after a frustrated outburst that she finally saw fieldwork and began to hone her archery skills. Though not the best shot, her aim was true enough to turn a profit, and she found herself with gil to burn. A bit disappointed with her "adventures" thusfar, she skirted her father's watchful eye and sought a more hands-on approach to combat via the hiring of instructors who were willing to accelerate her tutelage, pull no punches, and keep her patronage of them an utmost secret.It was not until the day of her rite of passage in Bardam's Mettle that her father had any inkling of her activities. In the quiet hours before dawn, she reverently plucked her mother's axe from its perch and set out, careful not to wake him. She caught a glimpse of him on the horizon as she neared the canyon entrance, but he was too far off for any words to reach her, and she proceeded forward resolutely, determined to do her mother's memory proud.Some time later she awoke, bafflingly, in her father's care. He advised her of what had transpired - though she was able to tame a yol and thus had passed her trial, both she and the bird had maimed each other so viciously that their bloody, unconscious forms had to be dragged from the Voiceless Muse for treatment. When she admitted she had no recollection of this, he nodded sternly and revealed to her a series of harrowing truths: first, her mother had not been Kha but Qerel, a tribe known for their mastery over the bestial fury of the "Will of Karash." Second, despite his best efforts and fervent prayers, she had evidently inherited this fury and awoken to Karash herself. And finally, to the best of his knowledge, her mother was still alive out there, lost in a ceaseless fury sparked by that fateful battle years before.
Still reeling from these revelations and profoundly unsure of herself for the first time in her life, Qaralun began a search for answers - beginning with her mother's tribe. The Qerel were as uneasy around her as she was around them, but she managed to confirm that they had no information to give regarding her mother, and none to share with outsiders regarding Karash. With no quick solutions in sight and no desire to lose herself again, Qaralun stowed the axe away, picked up her bow once more, and prepared to expand her search beyond the Steppe.Deciding on Kugane as a staging area, she booked herself an inn room and got to work hunting down anything she could find that might be a potential lead. Surprisingly, she stumbled upon her biggest breakthrough accidentally - a group of travelers at the inn loudly swapping tales from their homelands. One particular story of a crimson-eyed "dragon woman" caught her attention, and despite the storyteller being unable to give an exact location, the description of the woman was too precise to be ignored, and Qaralun quickly negotiated passage on a trading vessel bound for Aldenard to investigate.Though the landfall she made was technically in Aldenard, due to a map reading error and general miscommunication she found herself lost in the boundless plains of Paglth'an rather than in Eorzea proper. It was not until a roaming band of amalj'aa found her and returned her to her senses that she realized that she had been lost in more ways than one - another blackout incident with Karash. As they explained how they had penned her in for her own safety, she was intrigued and relieved by their indifference to her condition, so much so that when they offered her a place amongst them for as long as she needed she accepted without hesitation, confident she could ponder her Karash situation safely in their presence.
Intending for her stay with them to be brief, Qaralun was instead surprised by the sense of belonging she found amongst the amalj'aa. Time passed easily in their presence, and with their reassurance she even picked up her mother's axe again, cautious though she was in the wielding of it. Despite not having answers, she did to an extent have solutions, and was content enough with that to put her search on hold. As time wore on however, she became aware of a growing unease among her newfound brothers - one that culminated in a heinous sacrifice and the tainted summoning of Lord Ifrit, shattering their peaceful lives forever.Thanks to the quick thinking of her brothers she was able to escape His flames, fleeing alone to the north in search of aid that, to her horror, none were willing to give. The beastmen were hated, and her obvious association with them saw her driven out of every settlement she stumbled across. As her desperate wanderings carried her further north, she saw the land increasingly destabilized by the descent of the red moon, and her own tentative control over Karash began to destabilize alongside it. Her clashes with increasingly dangerous enemies - aether-crazed beasts, Garlean patrols, even voidsent - took their toll, with her losing more and more time until she could neither tell nor care if the blackouts were from Karash or from pure exhaustion.Eventually she hit the end of the line - metaphorically and literally - in Coerthas, where it was made abundantly clear what the locals thought of her and her "draconic" appearance getting anywhere near them. With nowhere else to go, no one else to turn to, and the very land itself as lost as she was, she was utterly alone, just barely able to survive out in the wilderness. And then, with all the spectacle of the end of the world, the Calamity came.
Somehow, Qaralun survived the ravages of the Calamity. Though the surge of aether that ripped across the land threatened to drown her in darkness, she managed to struggle back to herself, and to a realm in chaos. Coerthas in particular had been hit hard, and as she crept through its shattered, abandoned homesteads in search of supplies, she found not a single living soul. In this solitude it took her some time to notice that the state of her aether and how much time she was continuing to lose was not improving, however she had no choice but to persist, eking out her existence on what scraps she could salvage in the frozen wastes.An indeterminate amount of time later she was rattled back to her senses by a fight with a surprisingly capable traveler - her first real interaction since the Calamity. Though they had both managed to land some good hits, when she fell back he did as well, posing questions and waiting patiently for her to sort out her words and memories into coherent answers. They would meet again - less violently - many times, and each time she would find herself a bit more put together, with a bit more of a plan, and a bit closer of a friend.Eventually she set her sights back on her original goal - finding answers regarding her mother and Karash - and based on her experiences in Kugane she decided Limsa Lominsa would be an ideal spot to resume the search. And so, with a fair bit of cleaning up and a some quick etiquette lessons to help her blend in, she found herself on a ship crossing the Straight of Merthlor and finally, blessedly, back on some kind of path forward.
⬩ OOC ⬩
Server: Coeurl, Crystal
Timezone: Eastern (UTC-5)
Twitter: @mekamaybe
Tumblr: @abyssal-soulHi, I'm Meka! I'm a long-term RP lurker who likes to think way too much about my characters but can never bring myself to actually RP. I sometimes flutter around the edges of venues/events without a tag though, so if you see me please don't percieve me otherwise I'll probably cry and pretend to be AFK. ;-;At the moment Qara is a closed character that only interacts with my friends' characters under very specific circumstances, so this carrd is more of a place to document my backstory building for her! Due to differences in percieved timelines, her age might not always line up with friends', but just...pretend you don't see it. :P