Farendaire's Library

• Back

Reymanaud Farrand

Name: The Viscount Farrand, Sir Reymanaud Abelard, Lord of Ardenny
Age: 33
Race: Ishgardian Elezen
Height: 6 fulms, 7 illms
Birthplace: Farrand Manor, Ishgard
Current Residence: Farrand Manor, Ishgard
Temperament: Extroverted and honor-motivated, though a victim of certain vices (mainly lust)
Skills: Reymanud is versed in all traditional Ishgardian arts of war, including longbow archery, jousting, and the Elezen arts of sword and shield. He has taken up some study of thaumaturgy - being motivated to stay ahead of Machinist's Guild-equipped commoners - and carries a rapier modelled after Elezen craft of eld. He is a strong rhetorician and has become obsessed with history and geography as a man of state. He is otherwise a fine sportsman.
Occupation: Peer of the House of Lords
Sexual Orientation: Homosexual
Religion: Halone (Idiosyncratic and nationalist, but still churchgoing)
Affiliations: Ishgardian Committee of Foreign Affairs

Long did he live in the shadow of his father, the gloriously slain Ser Garionaux the Viscount Farrand, who fell defending his knights from a great dragon at the walls of Castle Farrand, placed to defend a flank of House Fortemps's Camp Dragonhead. The great portrait of his image, drawn just before his death, had hung at the center of Castle Farrand's foyer, and ever did friends, family, and all his sworn swords speak highly of his honor and his piety.Because of this he was brash, and eager to prove his chivalry, as much the spitting image of Ul'dah's boastful Paladins of eld as the knights of the Holy See, and his mother ensured that he received the finest tutelage to be bred as one of the finest of men. The War was hard, when he came to it; long years in Camp Dragonhead, gazing over the battlements, losing friends, losing his first love, Sir Arthurioux - and he would not find another for many years. But it was all for valor, and glory, and honor, and his men-at-arms followed him as if he were one of the Knights Twelve returned.And then did the Dragonstar flare, and then did the Warrior come - and having come to slay dragons, that Warrior struck down the entire Song of Ishgard, and none could, at ease, call him a liar.The Revolution came and went, and Reymanaud was hardly the man to refuse representative government; noblesse oblige, as he felt quite intuitively, and he would serve his country in that way. But the new Alliance, and the new airships broadened his horizons - he partook in forest nights, the lull of quiet waves and distant seagulls, and all the delights that gil could buy.The Garlean War was a godsend, a new conflict that all the Ishgardian nation could stand behind - the Fury's Spear leading the charge of the world against a most godless Empire. Having done his part in arms, Reymanaud found himself at the head of foreign policy matters, and obsessed over them night and day.But it was a cruel obsession, and that War was not like other wars. The tales told of the Ghimlyt Dark were food for nightmares, far more than the Horde ever was. And who was Reymanaud to command from the homefront, while the new blood perished under thunder and the black?And then what was there to do, now that the War was won? What else for Ishgard to do when, at the very moment Eorzean learning had practically killed the Gods, that the Fury's Ruth graced the Three Continents at last?Would it just be merriment, would it just be vice? Would the Commons overtake the Lords, and all history brought to an end?No, he decided. He would still be a warrior without peer, a lord of magnanimity, learning, and culture, and by his example, he prayed, the greatest Nation on the Star would thrive. In arts of war, in arts of song, in arts of learning, in arts of building, in discipline, and in honor.

• Back

Judithe Farrand

Name: Judithe Ellenica Reinette de Farrand
Age: 33
Race: Ishgardian Elezen
Height: 6'2'' feet
Birthplace: Farrand Manor, Ishgard
Current Residence: Ishgard
Temperament: Bookish and kind, but imperious when angered (having abandoned the Enchiridion, with less of an ability to explain why)
Skills: In seminary, Judithe was regularly on top of her class in both the trivium and the quadrivium: rigorous courses comprised of grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astrology, and music. She is adequately versed in Ishgardian forms of offensive and defensive magic, and was second to none in her class in theology - now an ambiguous achievement. In canon law her skills were sufficient, if not extraodinary.
Occupation: Professor of Comparative Theology at Saint Endalim's Scholasticate
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Religion: Reformed Halonist

In her youth, she was quiet, kind, contemplative, and loved justice and all the tales of the saints - but she had an imperious side, now and again, and would scold even her mother on matters of faith about which she felt very ardently. Her mother Celine, having observed this well, knew that the girl would make a finer servant of the Fury than a servant of a man, and representation within the Church was no poor thing for a viscounty. So when she was of age, Judithe walked from Farrand Manor to Saint Endalim's Scholasticate, and she spent several years there, studied well, and graduated as one of the Trinity in her graduating year.Although she held the spirit of a crusader - a spirit mayhaps blessed by the Fury Herself - she held quite dearly fast to the passages expounding upon Her ruth. "Of the Fury's love will all men receive, and by the balance of Her spear will all be set free," it was written, and truly "All were equal under Her ever-watchful gaze." She loved her neighbor as she loved herself, as surely to do any else was to defy Her will. Because she loved her neighbor, she understood why Halone had righteously decreed ‘Man shall not indulge in excess while Her will remains undone,' and she lived within confined means, avoided all vanities, gave much of her income to the poor, and judged her peers who were nightly intoxicated with wine while knights of the See fought and died under their instruction.Surely did she rush to the defense of the Holy See when Vishap's Horde breached the gates, healing man, woman, and child with a rod of ice - but her heart was always most with the destitute.Judithe took time to believe the Warrior of Light's revelations, for she had only escaped other priests' fate against the Warrior's sword in the Vault because she had been assigned to teaching in Saint Endalim's as one of its most prized former students. She did not like the Warrior well; but when the truth, the terrible truth, could not at all be denied, she remembered the scriptures that made her heart truly sing, and she welcomed the liberation of the people from feudal bondage. By the balance of Her spear, all were now, indeed, set free.Besides, all Eorzea knew the Twelve, to whom Halone belonged, and Sharlayan affirmed them and the saints - the vocation of the priesthood was not yet made totally ridiculous. The Enchiridion had existed before King Thordan's Betrayal, she knew, and she set out in all her studies to discover it untainted. She taught equality and liberty beneath Her spear in the Scholasticate, and indeed challenged the right of the nobility to hold themselves up over the rest of their nation - had not the Twelve receded into the Heavens to "bequeath rule of Eorzea to Man?" And so should all Men have their part in its ruling - and Judithe was the most ardent and disciplined Reformer in the whole Church.And then came the Final Days, and the Warrior of Light shot up into the far heavens, past the Constellations themselves, and laid low a primordial monster never heard of, and Judithe could no longer profess a faith based on Revelation. The Ul'dahn mystics had found Nald'thal in learning and meditation, the Gridanians saw Nophica in front of them; but now no one could say that Halone had come down to give to Man Her Book.All came to ashes in her mouth, and for a time, she could not respect herself in her chosen vocation in the slightest. Indeed, she prepared forever to depart from the Church and all Ishgard, ashamed of what she had done in a most grim crisis of faith. But still that mind worked, for she had ever been well-acquainted, for the sake of argument, with the religious teachings of the South and East.She would teach her Ishgard's next generation for the benefit of all. Mayhaps the universe was a cold, hostile place - but as Halone had warred with all Her Fury against all Nophica's monsters so that Her Ruth might bless and defend the innocent, so would Judithe continue, now very much in truth, to serve her country as she knew best

The following religious treatises may be familiar to Ishgardians and other religious scholars paying attention some years ago:"Against All Saints' Wake"
"Theses on True Government"
"Lecture Against the Doctrine of Predestination"

• Back

Celine Farrand

Name: The Dowager-Countess Farrand, Lady Celine Victoire née Evrard
Age: 55
Race: Ishgardian Elezen
Height: 6 fulms, 3 ilms
Birthplace: Evrard Manor, Ishgard
Current Residence: Farrand Manor (Rarely seen)
Temperament: Reserved, dignified, and aloof
Skills: Discerning truth from lies, offering deceptive smiles, frightening thaumaturgy, and deep knowledge of the Void
Occupation: Publicly retired, but immersed in Voidsent research (Previously Inquisitor for the Supreme Sacred Tribunal of Halonic Inquisitory Doctrine)
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Religion: A silent agnostic since young adulthood, Celine believes that the public order may be maintained by power alone. In times before the Gears of Change moved, she publicly attended Saint Reymanaud's Cathedral as an obedient inquisitor, but in retirement and secular times she has abandoned the habit entirely.

Were the Fury good, She could not be mighty; the might of Her Spear granted, She could not be good. Celine knew from an early age that Man was alone against Nature and against the Stars, but the Horde was ever at the Gates, so she would serve her race and country all the same, that it might not be utterly destroyed. So Man had come out of this Star by his own Will - He would remain here.She was discerning, dilligent, and strong in the arcane arts, and her temperament made her well-suited to the Inquisition. If the tortures amidst tearful denials and enraged curses infected her soul, she said not a word. She was also beautiful, and married well, but she was not married for very long.She was a distant parent, as many highborn women serving their warring country were; her twin children knew maidservants and tutors more than they knew her, except in the late hours and on holy days. She never questioned it - c'est la vie. It was what was expected, and it was what was necessary for the family honor and the national defense, and she never apologized for it. Reymanaud ever respected and loved her - she and Judithe drifted apart too soon, when the latter went to the Scholasticate. It did hurt. Celine had given too much to the Great Game, foiled so many plots to possess the wealth and or arrest prestige of her husband's house, to not feel it.

Wine alone only helped for so long. In the depths of the archives and in the tongues of heretics, Celine learned of the existence of many black arts, some of this world, some of one beyond - and the thought of that power stirred her soul. It was intoxicating. Her career was so illustrious that none questioned when she entered those deep halls, it was her business to. One day, she thought she might earn the slightest bit of glory for herself, and not merely in her family's name - she, too, would be remembered.A bell in the Tribunal cracked the day she opened her first tome forbidden by the Church.The Revolution revolted Celine. She could not believe her eyes.For forty generations had the nobility of Ishgard led the charge against complete annihilation, and herded the rabble for their own good, lest they all perish by fire - and now people spoke of a Republic, of a Democracy! She watched many she knew well, loved, and respected fall under the weight of a mad and crashing wave, all of them forgetting entirely that the Commons could hardly police their own households, let alone govern the last proud Elezen nation upon the Star.She no longer knew her own race, so she retreated into her books, so that at least one day her name would be cited in far Sharlayan as a legend.

• Back

Zazarito Momorito

Name: Zazarito Momorito
Age: 25
Race: Dunesfolk
Height: 3 fulms
Birthplace: Steps of Thal, Ul'dah
Current Residence: Almasi Manor
Temperament: Always quick-witted, at times callous and decadent, but some years in the Order have gifted him with a spiritual perspective.
Skills: Thaumaturgy, political subterfuge, and crafty lawyering
Occupation: Bishop of the Order of Nald'Thal
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Religion: Cult of Nald'thal
Affiliations: House Almasi, Ul'dahn Royalists

Zazarito Momorito, a second son of a mercantile house of great prosperity and regard in the Sultanate, once seemed determined to bring that clan to its ruin; heedless of moneymaking principles, couched in material security, uninterested in financial scheming in favor of idle and oft-vicious court gossip and debauchery, he went through life without purpose except to party like the world was ending. The teachings of the state religion on the accumulation of virtue for comfort in the next life fell empty on his ears, and truly he questioned whether there stood the Twin Judges at the end of life.There happened one fateful day, the morning after a disastrous night at the Platinum Mirage, that Lolorito Momorito had enough of his dissolute son, and having heard rumour of his drunken, anti-Royalist ravings to all who had listened, disowned Zazarito on the very spot. Threatening to forever withold his support and Zazarito's inheritance if disregarded, Lolorito sent him to the Order of Nald'thal to be utterly reformed in mores and character and to provide for him a proper career and eventual path into the Divan in service to Traders, Sultana, and country.For two years Zazarito suffered indignity after vicious indignity with complaint and dragging feet, and always he pined for lost days in the sun of Costa del Sol, in the debaucherous halls of the upper Ul'dahn crust, and hungover risings long past the dawn of day. Slowly, however, and if at jumps and starts and not steadily, he began to heed the teachings of the Order, came to see the occasional merits of charity, if not for the sake of others but to further the flow of gil and capital throughout the Sultanate. He learned to see everything in the Balance; he learned even to pray with conviction. Since being ordained as a priest, oft now he regrets the dissolute and careless life he once led, and sometimes he is even patient in the face of mockery.

Zazarito is currently a close spiritual advisor of the powerful Almasi family, guiding them on matters of state and religion while coordinating their good relations with the Order. While he prefers the pursuit of thaumaturgy over the difficult work of reviewing, writing, and enforcing the laws of the Sultanate, the day came and went that he eagerly embraced the will of his father and achieved what others had dismissed as impossible. In the end, he is more a disciple of Saint Adama Landama than those who would empty their coffers to all Men - the Traders favor the cunning, and not the foolish.He is certainly no longer a Monetarist. Is not the Sultana the exalted vessel of Nald'thal?

"Time is money, is wealth, is virtue. Squander it not," as the Order has long taught. These are the words he now lives by.

The following sermon, published as a treatise on religious interpretation, may be familiar to pious Ul'dahns and foreign religious scholars:"Eternal Truths"

• Back

Madhava Bhaduri

Name: Madhava Bhaduri
Age: 21
Race: Hannish Hyur
Height: 5 fulms, 6 ilms
Birthplace: Radz-at-Han
Current Residence: Ul'dah
Temperament: Soft-spoken
Skills: Broad range of artistic talents, including dance, song, visual art, and poetry (equivalent to the 64 kalas)
Occupation: Hannish Dancer
Sexual Orientation: Homosexual
Religion: Hannish Tradition, particularly Daivadipa ("Heavenly Light," "Eye") and the Magus SistersMadhava's life was no difficult one, before the Final Days. True, his parents perished when he was but a child - one the victim of a poisoning, the other a fallen soldier of the Radiant Guard - but he was taken in by an aunt, a dancer and courtesan, who saw his potential and educated him in all matters of art and society. He was comfortable, and like most Hannish children, he had faith in the gods. His friends were kind, his prospects good, and many dancing troupes - even the international ones that journeyed to faraway lands to perform the Kriegstanz - all had their eyes on his growth.Of the Final Days, the less said, the better - all his adopted family destroyed itself, and of his friends, but one survived. That he danced the Kriegstanz in practically every waking moment, at least when any beast was beneath the All-Seeing Eye, may indeed be how he himself survived the terror. In its wake, he was still too young to understand what it means to carry on. In his heart of hearts, he wanted to be away for a time, though he felt guilty about it. He was not the only one who suffered.But he had held good conversations with and made good impressions upon the visiting dignitaries from the West and East when all the nations had arrayed their arms against extinction, and his name was whispered in high places. One day, he was summoned up the steps of Meghaduta, spoke with learned men, and faced the Satrap himself.Join the troupes that go across the sea, he said, but find your way into the courts of kings and chambers of lords. The world was new again, and the Eye must needs learn and understand it anew.

• Back

OOC Information

Thanks for reading through my characters! I am a US EST roleplayer (M, 26) with 12+ years experience in MMOs, including WoW, TSW, SWTOR, GW2, FFXIV, and ESO. (Every time I change that number...) I very much prefer to RP in-game, but we can work something out on Discord if necessary. (@Farendaire) My usual times are late evenings during the week with variable availability on weekends. I am a law student, so I might go dark for a while every now and then.I tend to mirror my RP partners in one on one and try my best to keep posts to a paragaph in group settings. I assume the real passage of time in-game from launch, so if something in my dating seems wrong, please let me know!I'm very much open to playing a scene that takes place in the in-game's past - for example, before the events of 3.0 when it comes to my Ishgardian characters.I will not agree to permanent character injury or death, but I would be willing to consider a redshirt if the opportunity ever comes up.I am not currently open to ERP, but if I ever was, it would only be on Reymanaud or Madhava.