Natural Harmonia

• Hair is longer than in-game model
• Skin is more pale than in-game model
• Has a number of scars
• Teeth are pointed

Natural is, by default, a very kind person. He is one that tends to put others before himself, even if it means sacrificing parts of himself in the process. However, he is still a true neutral at heart and will do things for his own personal gain regardless of whether or not it’s morally “right”, or he’ll do what he believes is right and go about it the wrong way (for instance, using bribery or threatening one’s life if it means saving someone else… or himself).

Though Natural has enough intelligence to be deemed a genius (mainly in fields of mathematics and spellweaving), he has trouble understanding his own heart most of the time. He is typically void of any emotion, and most of the emotion he does display tends to be faked in order to better blend into a crowd. It takes exceptionally favorable company and surroundings for Natural to legitimately smile.

Because he didn’t grow up around people, Natural can be very shy and even anxious in worse cases when he’s around others. In group settings, he’s very quiet and tends to only speak when spoken to first.

Natural is also prone to episodes of depression that leave him tired, unmotivated, and struggling to keep up a happy façade. During these times, he tends to isolate himself from his companions when he can help it and turns to drinking, smoking moko grass, and sometimes sexual activity in order to cope.

It started in the depths of the Twelveswood. Two Duskwight Elezen, young and happily married, are expecting their first born.

“Naturelle if she is a girl. Naturaux if he is a boy. I want our child to have a unique name. One that means 'natural'. The greens will not accept us purely because of what we are... but I want our child's name to show them that he or she is just that. Natural.”

Despite his namesake, the baby boy was anything but natural. Opposite of the grayed complexion of his parents, the babe resembled a porcelain doll with hair white as snow and skin nearly pale enough to match.

Naturaux, who would be affectionately referred to as “Natural” by his mother, lived with his family for about five springs. Though these years were relatively peaceful, they did have their share of hardships. The young Duskwight witnessed first-hand the oppression his people received from their Wildwood cousins whenever they entered civilized settlements- especially Gridania. Much of their living was done within the Twelveswood’s caves and forests, so the family often encountered danger in the form of beasts, treacherous weather, and bandits.

Hardships aside, Natural adored living in nature- the settlements seemed too crowded and hostile for his tastes. Over time, he’d become drawn to the forest’s wildlife and attempted to befriend whatever friendly creature he could. Though it was a bit strange to his parents, they didn’t think too much about the child’s fascination.

Natural’s sixth spring was supposed to be a happy one. His mother had announced he was to expect a little brother or sister in the coming moons. The days were filled with much joy and excitement, until one afternoon when something extraordinary happened- Natural’s vision was suddenly filled with thousands of stars. Strangely, his parents hadn’t seen what he had, and merely thought the boy was going too long without food or water. Though he wouldn’t know this until adulthood, that was the day Natural’s Echo awoke.

Soon after having the vision, Natural discovered something amazing when he next encountered a woodland creature; he could understand the animal’s tongue! At first, Natural thought the animal was very special in that it could speak like an Elezen could, but his parents couldn’t hear anything and scolded him for speaking nonsense. They would later come to realize that the child was not lying, and he began spending more time with whatever wildlife he could find and speak to. No matter how much his mother and father scolded him and assumed him insane for understanding non-spoken, Natural went against their wishes and continued to communicate with them. The family already received judgement and strange looks from peers and strangers for having a child that scarcely resembled them, but it was only made worse with Natural speaking to animals. Deeming their son an abomination, the parents decided to abandon young Natural one night in the forest while he slept.

When Natural awoke the next morning, he flew into a fit of panic. As he ran around in circles, calling for his mom and dad, he grabbed the attention of a nearby owl who had been in the area that night. The avian told the boy to go find another home, for he had witnessed his parents willingly leaving without their child in the dead of night. What’s more, they left a trail of meat behind; perhaps for a hungry predator to be led to him. Natural refused to believe such a thing and began following the very trail his family left behind until he almost literally bumped into a wolf following the same trail.

Natural questioned the beast, explaining in the process that he woke to missing parents and the trail of meat was his only clue to their whereabouts. The canine assumed this was the same pair of Elezen who caught the attention of their scouts after they tossed the same meat towards their den in the middle of the night. Apparently, the wolf was following the trail alone to see if it led to a trap or a feast. He realized then that the “feast” at the end was the boy. The child didn’t want to believe it was so, but it made sense that a family who would disown their own son would go to such measures to see he can never be found again.

Unbeknownst to the wolf, several members of his pack, including the alpha, had followed a distance away to ensure his safety. After a brief exchange regarding the strange child, the alpha decided to take the boy in as a member of their pack; partially to give the boy a home, and also to aid his grieving mate who had recently lost their pups to Ixal. In time, he was no longer a child of the Elezen, but a child of the wood instead. Various creatures kept him fed, warm, and sheltered for the next eight summers. One creature among them was a lonely Mandragora that Natural had named “Leafy” who was also abandoned by his family due to his curiosity of Spoken.

The boy spent most of his childhood in that forest. The creatures steered him away from towns and other Elezen if he wandered too close. Thanks to them, he learned to fend for himself; eventually keeping his nails long and sharp like claws and sharpening his adult teeth as they grew in. However, without guidance from anyone like him, such an upbringing made him a wild child- he could not speak the tongue of the Spoken very well, he stopped walking on two legs, shed his clothing once it became damaged and too small to fit, and he knew nothing of etiquette or morals.

It was one fateful day into his 14th summer that the young Elezen found something he hadn’t seen in years- someone like him. Another Duskwight, an older man, wandered around a clearing deep in the boy's home. As for Natural, he knew the creatures feared men like him, so he kept a distance in the bushes. From his robes, the man withdrew an old grimoire. With quill in hand, he began to write. Lights of different shapes and colors surrounded the strange man, swirling about more gracefully than fireflies. Then from the very air itself, an odd animal suddenly appeared! It was unlike anything the boy had seen before; a glowing, blue, four-legged animal with long ears and a tail that split into three ends stood before the man. Throwing his previous caution to the wind, the young Elezen dashed for the glowing creature, despite protests from Leafy.

Ignoring the stranger’s line of questions, the young man crouched before the animal to pet and converse with it. Much to its owner's disdain, the animal nuzzled up to the boy while ignoring all commands to scare him off. Then just as it appeared, the animal was gone again in a dazzling light. The boy knelt upright, looking all around him. Where did it go?

The strange man continued to question Natural, but he simply ignored him. Obviously, the child was unfamiliar with his own tongue after not speaking it for so long and the man realized this soon enough. Concluding that he must have been abandoned or lost from an even younger age, he decided to leave. Something about that man imprinted on the child that day. Was it because he was a man just like him? He did not know- he simply followed until they reached a Duskwight settlement deep within a complex system of caves.

The man, known by the alias “Harmonia”, was immediately bombarded with questions from his peers; questions he couldn't begin to answer. As much as he wanted to pass the child off to someone else, the boy clung to the now-familiar man when the others surrounded him. There was much discussion happening around him, but there was so much being said that he couldn't understand them. However, there was a hush among the crowd when the boy was finally asked his name. Natural struggled to remember; he couldn’t remember his real name at all, but he tried. Because communicating with beasts doesn’t require Natural to use his physical voice, he could only stammer out what sounded like “Natural”. Since the boy clearly hadn’t been cared for by his own kind in who-knows-how-long, the Duskwight group took he and Leafy in.

Though he was quiet for several days, he did slowly warm up to his new “family”. Some of the members took a quick liking to him, while others were put off by his ghastly pale appearance, unblinking eyes, and strange behavior. Those who did like him gladly told Natural of their group. They were known as the Redbelly Wasps; a gang of thieves and mercenaries who were trying to make a name for themselves in the Shroud. Despite being taken in by such a questionable group, Natural didn’t seem to oppose what they do, and the higher-ups informed him that once he seems fully competent that they’ll find some use for him within their numbers.

Harmonia, on the other hand, started thinking of a grander scheme for their newest member. Since it did not take long for Natural to become re-accustomed to civilized life, he believed the child must have some inkling of intelligence. What’s more, he seemed to be able to communicate with his Carbuncle- a skill that might come in handy someday. He taught Natural to read and write; something the young man caught on to quicker than Harmonia had anticipated, and even began to teach him the basics of an Arcanist. In almost no time, Natural became perfectly literate. As for his communication with the wild, he decided to keep that to himself (and of course, to Harmonia; who had already seen this gift in person) as not to repeat history.

During that year, Harmonia taught Natural much about mathematics, literature, history, and a fairly new phenomenon; primals. Apparently, Beast Tribes throughout Eorzea were beginning to summon the godlike creatures to do their bidding. Harmonia, having studied a bit in Allagan summoning, wanted to see if Natural was capable of talking to and befriending a primal. Though he presented his ideals in a way that would make Natural a hero for saving the primals from the cruel grasp of the Beast Men who wanted to use their power for slavery and destruction, he actually intended to use the primals for his own benefit and power. Until the moment could present itself to test that theory, Natural did random jobs for the Redbellies that mainly involved posing as a lost child (a girl, most of the time) to acquire gil from generous passers-by.

Eventually, Harmonia’s chance to test his theory finally came; a group of Ixal had summoned the primal Garuda. While the Wasps took cover in the storm, Harmonia and Natural headed straight for the eye to confront the Lady of the Vortex.

Unfortunately, Harmonia’s plan was doomed to fail. Once confronted, Garuda simply laughed off the boy’s attempts at friendship. The primal was far more intelligent than Harmonia had anticipated. Without hesitation, she attacked the duo- leaving Natural with rather serious gashes on his body. As for Harmonia, he did not last long before the primal tempered him. The man whom Natural saw as a father began to attack him while singing praises of Garuda and deeming the boy a “failure” and a “freak” who belonged in the wild. Thankfully, Leafy got a good attack on the older Elezen and successfully disarmed him. Natural scooped up the dropped grimoire and ran as fast as he could. It is unknown what happened to Harmonia and Garuda after that, but peace was eventually mysteriously restored to the woods.

When Natural got somewhere safe, he absently thumbed through Harmonia’s grimoire as he pondered the man’s fate. One page ended up catching his eye as it contained several hand-written notes detailing the use of Natural’s gift for his own gain. Betrayal mixed with the young man’s grief. For the first time in years, Natural felt utterly heartbroken.

After the second betrayal of his own kind, Natural felt uneasy at the thought of returning to the Redbellies. Instead, he went back to the forest with Leafy to fend for himself. Even though he fully intended to mend his criminal ways, Natural still pickpocketed from easy targets from time to time. One man in particular became a nightly target due to his habit of going to sleep fairly early in the evening. Unfortunately, the man caught on to his things being missing and feigned sleep one night, catching Natural when his guard was down.

The man had the young Elezen on the ground, lashing at him with a knife. The boy was no stranger to people trying to harm him when he was caught stealing, but this man seemed intent on killing him. Luckily, the boy struggled enough so he wouldn’t suffer a vital wound to his throat, but the incident did leave him with numerous scars on his chest and hands. The next thing Natural remembered was losing consciousness and suddenly waking up with the man dead at his feet. Unbeknownst to him at the time, this moment was the awakening of his Dark Side. Natural was thrown into a state of panic- he didn’t know whether he should hide the body, make the wounds look like a creature attack, or simply run. Voices began to echo from the brush, prompting Natural to run and hide. It turns out the man was a husband and father to a girl appearing several years younger than himself. Devastated at not only killing a man, but also tearing a family apart, he fled.

That was the day he left the South Shroud. Natural ran and ran until he reached the very edge of the Twelveswood. A new land seemed to wait on the other side, but he was still too afraid to leave his forest home. A small cave ended up sheltering him, and a nearby town offered him trading and job opportunities. The idea of going into such a society intimidated him after all the prejudice his family went through in his youth, but the residents didn’t bother him much (perhaps due to his light complexion that could easily be mistaken for a Wildwood’s). He would spend the next six years doing small odd jobs in the town, reading the archives in the library, and sleeping in his cave at night.

The only eventful moment in that six years happened around age 16- the Calamity. Though he was ignorant as to what exactly was going on, he remembered seeing the red moon descend slowly as the nights went on and eventually come crashing down. Thankfully, he seemed to be far enough away from the point of impact that he wasn’t put immediately in harm’s way. However, over time the creatures of the Twelveswood grew to be extremely feral, and living out in the wilderness became increasingly difficult. About three years after the calamity, he ended up sleeping on the streets of the town since it was safer.

At age 21, the Elezen’s life would finally turn around for the better. While reading through the town’s archives, he learned of an interesting place in a faraway land- Sharlayan. Apparently, the country was full of scholars and contained a prestigious school. He remembered long ago when Harmonia told him he was gifted with great intelligence- why not extend this knowledge further and put his mind to good use? His mind was made up. Natural worked hard around the town and saved all the gil he could for a ship that would take him to Sharlayan.

Over time, he made enough gil and made the long journey to a town with a ship that would take him where he needed to go. However, fate had other plans for the Elezen and his Mandragora companion. While he did indeed end up on the correct ship, the excitement and hard work that took him that far had finally gotten the best of him and he fell into a deep slumber.

Space… a familiar voice… a shadowy, masked figure… a ball of light… He seemed to be fighting the masked figure with a grimoire in his hand- except he was no Arcanist, but a Summoner instead. The two clashed, but the victor is unknown.

[Hear… Feel... Think...]

One of the sailors had woken him up eventually, and he found himself in a room with just the sailor and two young Elezen twins. A brief discussion with the sailor revealed that the ship was now bound for Limsa Lominsa. While the man spoke to him, Natural scoured his mind, trying to think of a way to get to his desired destination. Perhaps he could try to earn his money back Limsa and do this again? The man assumed he was some sort of “adventurer”- maybe he could give that career a go.

When the ship reached her destination, Natural was greeted with a most beautiful sight. It was the largest city he’d ever seen- surrounded endlessly by gorgeous blue water. Everything was so foreign to him- the sights, the people, the salty aroma… it was horrifying and exciting all at the same time. As per the sailor’s suggestion, Natural visited the adventurer’s guild. Apparently, this city also had a teacher that could train him as an Arcanist- just like Harmonia before him. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered if Sharlayan is truly worth the effort.

There was a strong feeling that persisted in his mind that he was exactly where he needed to be. Maybe travelling to a new land, learning the art that Harmonia sought to teach him long ago, and helping those in need was exactly what he needed to start his life over.