Esperemont Taimeaux
BackTornado
- Created
- 3 years, 7 months ago
- Creator
- BackTornado
- Favorites
- 1
Basic Info
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Race:
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Duskwight Elezen
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Age:
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~29
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Gender:
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Man (he/him) (trans)
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Likes:
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Magic, peace, ruins
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Loves:
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New magics, resurrection, revival
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Dislikes:
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Interference, distractions, unfairness
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Hates:
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Prying into his affairs
Profile
Esperemont Taimeaux, vaunted warrior of light, lurker in shadows, disciple of magic, a man who looks at death and asks if he can fix it.
Those who seek out a musclebound champion of justice may be surprised when they visit the Stones, usually finding either an empty room and a "He's out on business" from anyone around. For those who might catch him, Esperemont cuts a gangly form, barely paying attention from some book or another. But nonetheless, if someone tells him their problem, some bandit's attacked your family, some political crisis is happening, he'll snap that book shut, look you in the eye, and dissect the information out of you that he needs to help you. Not in a heartless way, one must understand, but he learned a time ago that the fastest way to get rid of someone is to solve their problem.
He'll carry out his task swiftly yet... strangely naively at times. His awareness of social norms is somewhat off, his attitude almost lazy at first glance, but his will is relentless.
- Someone stolen your precious trinket?
- He'll dither around town, muttering spells, then late at night sneak out and blow the criminal's door off of its hinges, rich or poor.
- Bandits raided your village?
- He'll stay in town, quietly treating people with white magic, checking some tracks, then appear before some bandits with a fireball in hand, a smile on his face, and a very sincere yet convincing argument for a swift changing of ways.
- You found notes leading to a dangerous magical artifact?
- He'll snatch away your notes, disappear for a week, and eventually hand it it to you, hiding his book of notes from the last few days of studying it.
To understand why Esperemont is the way he is, one must consider the problem he faces. The past is a foreign country to him and yet it is his greatest motivation. Esperemont has suffered from amnesia for many years, unable to remember the time before he came to the surface save in brief snippets. Let us gaze upon a somewhat edited version of Esperemont's past, present, and (possible) story beats.
Sections spoilered are outside of his general memory.
Youth (pre-surface life)
Born to an isolated group of Duskwights far beneath the surface.
The darkness was almost constant, but the chatter was warm.
Grew up with only a couple other children from different families. Made firm friends with them, and was as happy and open as any kid could be.
He was told stories of old Gelmorra, of the uncaring ones who abandoned them, and of the evils of the surface, and yet still of the busy streets and the heroes of this underground city, of the quick thieves and the rousing songs they used to sing.
Played among the ruins of deep Gelmorra, and wondered why they were left down here. Why would they be left behind?
Became familiar with the Voidsent's existence.
Even as a child, was fascinated with the hedge-magician tricks that some could perform. Bringing forth power from seemingly nothing... what could you do with that?
Heard the faint whispers of elementals, warning of the coming of evil. His parents fearfully told him that was the Voidsent whispering, and he pretended he stopped hearing them from then on.
Learned to read and write at a late age, as lighting is difficult to come by underground.
Read old fables of adventures, traced carvings telling of the despair of those left behind, and generally absorbed all knowledge he could come across.
A feeling of loss always hung over him. Surely he could bring something back? Could it be rebuilt?
When he was around 10 years old, a strange woman came to their group. She seemed like a friendly face, and wanderers are rare down there.
While she stayed with the group, things started changing. His parents became distracted, people told stories less and less, and even the elders seemed to be busy now.
As the group twisted more and more around her, her true nature became apparent, as some dark magician seeking thralls, maybe even an apprentice. When she approached him, noticing his fascination with magic, Esperemont was naive enough to be taken under her wing.
Who knows what magics she whispered around him to make him focus on her work, how she made him drift away from thinking of his family as they, too, drifted away from him, working to excavate skeletons, find reagents, anything in service to their master.
Magic was so wonderful, so bright, it was his whole life. What a wonderful feeling it was, to be consumed so wholly by it.
As he reached the age of 16, their group had transformed from a warm home to a cold group in service to this lady, and he had hardly noticed, years of magics paring back his mind to make him the ideal apprentice to an aspiring necromancer. The only thing that reached through this dull fog of beguilement was a faint whisper - of warning, of evil, of the misuse of magic and the corruption of the living, one that reminded him almost of a past.
The dark deeds done during this time escalated, lives being offered up for power, voidsent summonded and bound, and he was part and party to it, even the one performing the rites on rare occasion. That dark magician believed him completely under her thumb.
His escape from this situation was hardly intentional, but more of a convergence of factors. Performing a particularly vile rite one day, several events occured:
- Hydaelyn attempted to contact this prospective warrior of light.
- The elementals shouted louder than ever before.
- One former friend's face jumped out at him, bringing memories to mind.
The collision of these factors threw his mind into turmoil during this delicate rite, cutting through the fog of beguilement, and he misspoke his words disastrously wrong. A torrent of Void poured into the world, brought forth by his words and yet free from his control.
Void. The wrong kind of darkness. Tearing through it all. Gnashing jaws. A great mistake. A great loss.
It tore through the area, destroying flesh in some places, simply bearing some away on its tides. For Esperemont it bore him to the surface and stripped him of his mind, leaving his flesh unharmed.
The Surface (Pre-WOL)
Crawling out of a cavern, his first sight of light filled him with happiness. He spent a couple years as an oddity living near Gridania, taken in by someone who took pity on the spacey Duskwight. Magic came easily to him, made him feel at home. Quickly he grew to learn that he was unnatural for not knowing where he was from.
He made himself up a new past, of living underground, leaving home and getting into an accident on the way. The night terrors of the Void that still haunted him were a secret to keep close to his heart, and keep close he did.
As he grew in strength, he received a basic education from the Conjurer's guild in the matters of white magic, then left to travel in search of something. What was he searching for? He wasn't sure himself, but he wanted to know more, to devour knowledge, to see what magic lurked out there. For a couple years he roamed the world, learning of the black magics and their destruction, red magic and its artful balance, blue magic and its bizarre methods, and he revelled in this knowledge in his own quiet way. People scammed him, he learned, he found them, he
Then one day, he found himself on a chocobo carriage back to Gridania, burning with questions for E-Sumi-Yan, when the typical events of the game began.
Current WOL Events
Studies resurrection and different forms of magic obsessively. Whether this is connected to faint memories of his past... who's to say.
When learning of the Ascians, he became very interested - to be undying, to return endlessly, it gripped him - but as their plans grew ever more dangerous, he became dismissive of them. To him, they waste their power, and if one must become some strange being to be resurrected then it defeats his aim, to be able to return anyone.
Consoled Urianger in his own quiet way post-Moenbryda. Close to him.
Hydaelyn's silence on the past frustrates him.
He's happy with the past he's made up for himself, but if someone with the Echo were to view part of his past, it'd likely be a bit... worrying, and very obviously wouldn't line up with what he says his past is. Much of it is darkness, difficult to interpret save for kind voices, and such a significant portion of it is consumed with sordid deeds and Voidsent screams that it'd be a horror to behold. Anyone trying to dredge up his past would get sharply repudiated - he's happy with what he knows of himself.
Ishgard fascinated him, the mechanisms of draconic immortality, the survival beyond death. Perhaps it is a good thing that Nidhogg's eyes were lost, for Esperemont could hardly have stopped himself from coming back to them.
