About

Zayne's story begins with his father- Vulso Pyr Venita. Vulso had been born into a mountain-dwelling reaper clade in the Western reaches of Garlemald some sixty-odd years ago, just prior to the rise of magitek brought about by Emperor Solus. Small in number but strong in spirit, his kin, the Taciti, were reclusive as any who'd mastered the reaping arts and rarely ventured forward unless at the call of the Emperor- or to dispatch any that dared threaten their relative tranquility.

However, unique to Vulso's people- distinct from other clades- was their bloodbinding ritual with their chosen Avatars. The Taciti had opted to forgo the tradition of reapers forging individual pacts with their chosen voidsent and instead created paterfamilias lineage-based bonds. In short, whenever possible, the firstborn son of each household would inherit his father's Avatar as a rite of passage.

Unfortunately, due to the failed assassination attempt against Emperor Solus by an unaffiliated reaper clade, the Taciti too were marked for eradication by their own government. Vulso had been lucky to escape the execution of his kin as a young reaper, but having known no other purpose in life, he found himself aimless and adrift in a country that now felt alien and foreign. In an attempt to make something of his life, he joined the Garlean military, working from the ground up as a foot soldier. Though he hid his reaper lineage, he could not hide his martial prowess and quickly found himself rising through the ranks as a Tessarius- a high-ranking communications officer.

It was then, stationed at Castellum Corvi, he met a female Garlean soldier with whom he would inadvertently conceive Zayne. Doting of his son, and ashamed for the poor bastard being born out of wedlock, he formally adopted him, sending the whelp off to the Capital to be learned and reared until he came of age.

At the age of twelve, Zayne was sent back to Castellum Corvi to meet his father- now a grizzled veteran harrowed by the inevitable Eorzean insurgence from the West. Within less than a year of reuniting, Nael van Darnus was given the go-ahead to instigate Project Meteor, bringing about the Seventh Umbral Calamity. While Castellum Corvi was not directly affected, Vulso found himself shorn between military duties and looking after his son- whom he had barely started to become familiar with.

The added stress combined with the fear of the unknown, Vulso inevitably made a mistake. His bloodbound Avatar, the source of his prowess which he had gone to great lengths to keep hidden, was spotted by a group of peregrinus - annexed Garlean soldiers who quickly spread rumor of what they sighted. It was not long until Vulso's identity was revealed to his superiors. Vulso was given orders to march on Eorzea with a small contingent- a death sentence given the scarcity of resources following the Calamity.

Knowing his days were up and, weary of life, he did as bade- bringing his son with him. As expected, his contingent was attacked the moment they crossed into Eorzea from Bealsar's Wall. However, wishing for his son to have a better life than his own, he hid Zayne away within the Black Shroud, entrusting him with his Reaper Soulstone before succumbing to his fatal wounds.

Thus begins Zayne's journey- barely thirteen in a foriegn land, his life turned upside down in moments, his father dead, and partially blinded by his injuries sustained when the contingent he was traveling with was massacred. Scared and alone, with nothing but a soulstone as a memento, Zayne did the only thing he could think to do- cover his third eye and throw himself at the mercy of the Gridanians.

Believed to be an orphaned Hyur named Zay Ven, Zayne was welcomed into the Oak Atrium as a youngling castoff from the war. Though rather large for his age, and oddly clueless as to Gridanian customs, he was accepted wholly by Marcelloix, who viewed him as a blind child in need of guidance. Marcelloix taught him the craft of carpentry, which occupied much of Zayne's time and gave him a focus to work out his feelings of grief and strife.

As time went on, Zayne began experiencing recurring nightmares and whispering hallucinations. Afraid of ridicule, he hid these occurrences from those around him, worried that being looked over by one of Gridania's healers would reveal his facade.

At fifteen, the children of Oak Atrium were given a test to check their aetherial prowess, as the Conjurer's guild had dwindled in number following the Calamity and were eager to find those with the ability to replenish their ranks. Zayne, unable to get out of the test, was fearful his total inability to manipulate aether would give him away. However, bewildered as to why, he found himself able to complete the simple tests given- arcane geometries obeyed him, spells flickered to life at his fingertips, even surpassing some of his more magic-enthused peers.

E-Sumi-Yan, the head of the conjurer's guild, found particular interest in Zayne's powers as his aura matched nothing he had seen previously, thus he eagerly extended an invitation to Zayne to become a trainee. Not in the position to decline, Zayne accepted and began training as a conjurer, though he could not make sense of how or why he was able to perform the tasks given.

As weeks ticked by, his skill grew exponentially- as though guided by a hand much older than his own. And, like his skill, so did his hunger grow- for the more he used his powers, the more he found himself craving sustenance. What started as an extra helping at supper turned to him pilfering foods from stalls at the Shaded Bower, desiring more and more despite not gaining an onze of weight. Just as he hid the whispers, so too did Zayne try to hide his appearent unending emptiness, ignoring and denying it despite the pain it caused him.

Until, one moonless night, something in him snapped. His body, possessed by a force he could not comprehend, fled deep into the Shroud. He could do little more than watch from behind his own eyes, horrified to witness himself pounce on a sleeping antelope and tear into its warm flesh with bare hands, gorging on the aether-rich blood like a feral beast. Once satiated, the force released his body, and left him crying and covered with viscera amongst the dark trees- albeit free of the hunger that so plagued him.

Believing himself to now be a threat to those around him, Zayne did not return to the Oak Atrium immediately, instead building a makeshift camp at Urth's Gift, contemplating what to do next. It was there that his hereditary Avatar finally made itself known to him- able to wholly manifest thanks to the aetherdense air near the Fount without need of an invocation.

It called itself Lathos, explained its purpose as an Avatar and enunciated its frustration at having been unable to properly communicate due to Zay's lack of training. Zayne, frozen in fear at the monstrous Voidsent apparition, and having known nothing of his father's past as a Reaper, could only gawk at the creature, mortified to find out his aetherial powers were sourced from such a wicked entity and not a gift from the Elementals.

Regardless, Zayne was able to accept the appearent demon attatched to his soul- after several days of arguing with Lathos in the middle of the woods- and returned to New Gridania as though nothing had happened [much to the chiding of Marcelloix and E-Sumi-Yan for disappearing the way he did].

He chose to continue his training as a conjurer, alongside having Lathos teach him how to harvest aether from the beasts of the Shroud, giving him the appearance of a reliable healer with a seemingly endless source of aether.

Having found a balance between killing and healing, and surpassing his fellow conjurer's in terms of skill, Zay eventually set off on his own in pursuit of a name for himself, and to learn the art of Reaping. [He eventually joins with the Scions and his story progresses normally alongside them from there, depending on setting.]

Trivia

• Few know he's a pureblood, he goes to great lengths to hide his third eye despite it being the only eye he can see out of. Though, really, it's more of an open secret due to his height.
• His Avatar, Lathos, has been in his family for generations. As his name suggests, he's pretty mellow for a voidsent.
• Zayne has the tendency to be an uptight bastard.
• Lathos is bound to Zay's Reaper stone, which Zay keeps with him constantly.
• Considers himself a healer first, reaper second. Much prefers to help people than wound enemies.