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character info
Jun. 19th, 2020 11:23 pm
Information
Mint green catboy. Wiry build, slightly above average height for a Miqo'te (which still means shorter than the average human - roughly 5'4, or 160cm). Rather long and emotive ears, a dark-tipped, short-furred tail, and noticeably pointy canines.
There's a dark green stripe (tattooed) across his nose and under his eyes, and his face has two light scars - one under his right eye, one on his left cheek. There are various other scars scattered over his body, especially on his arms. His left shoulderblade also has an eye-like tattoo.
His default outfit unless otherwise noted isdungeon casual a hooded purple vest with Steppe patterns embroidered on it, dark pants, and armoured feet/legs. He's functionally always wearing something covering his eyes, regardless of other attire. (It's always something possible to see through - his eyes are just especially sensitive to light.)
His demeanor is usually relaxed, but he is very emotive despite the eye-covering; it's not exaggerated but he is incredibly easy to read. When speaking, he's juuust short of sounding fluent - someone paying attention will notice him putting a bit of effort into sounding words out properly. When he's comfortable with someone he will speed up slightly and, as a consequence, occasionally mangle pronunciation.
Velin was born to a tiny community of Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te, traveling in the Azim Steppe as part of a merchant caravan. While "Vehn"* was not an unwanted child, the merchant caravan was going through a run of tough luck and very lean times in the last couple of months before he was born. His mother was soon forced to admit they didn't have the resources to raise a child right now - even without him, it was very questionable whether they'd be able to keep feeding themselves.
The caravan's next stop was Reunion, and the Qestir tribe soon found an abandoned young Miqo'te on one of their doorsteps, with a note saying not much more than his name. Vehn - soon Velin, due to the vagaries of writing, pronunciation, and not that many people knowing Eorzean well in the Far East - was adopted by a pair of Qestiri with an adolescent daughter, and raised semi-communally like most of the Qestir tribe's children.
While there was no lack of love in Velin's childhood, particularly from his adoptive family, it wasn't an easy one. By custom, the Xaela of the Qestir tribe never speak and rarely write, believing that all words are lies and that actions speak more truly than words. This usually serves them well enough - a surprising amount can be communicated through simple emotions and gestures, especially when you know each other very well. But when your cat-eared son starts wondering why he doesn't look like any of the dragon-scaled tribe surrounding him, it gets harder and harder to explain. When he learns to talk from other Steppe tribes in an effort to communicate, he ends up feeling more and more excluded by his own.
Velin's family put forth their best efforts to make sure he always felt like one of them, but while the undercurrent of love never left, their day-to-day relationship became more strained by the year. The one family member who Velin still looked up to was his older sister, Sarnai. She was stubborn, feisty, never seemed to care when he did something taboo like talking aloud, and wanted to leave the Steppe - she, too, felt a little like an outsider. The two spent a good portion of his early teenage years wandering the Steppe together with their parents' permission, planning to travel the world once they grew up.
Unfortunately, Sarnai was older than Velin by almost six years, and she always assumed he knew she wouldn't wait that long. As soon as she hit adulthood she headed forth from the Steppe. Perhaps she meant to come back for him once he also hit adulthood - Velin, barely thirteen, only knew he felt betrayed.
Despite everything, Velin resolved to travel once he was able to head out on his own. His immediate reaction was starting to volunteer, repeatedly, to hunt or to guard Reunion. While he was too young and green to be allowed, it did lead to some Qestiri noting his interest and taking it upon themselves to give him training. The routine gave him momentum and, eventually, exposure to other tribes' fighting styles - as a Qestiri, Velin was never expected to participate in Nadaam, and was therefore treated as an interesting novelty rather than competition. All of this prepared him well for Bardam's Mettle, which he conquered at roughly the same age Sarnai had.
With his yol obtained and his self-sufficiency proven, six years down the line from his half-forgotten plan, Velin could easily have been convinced to stay in the Azim Steppe. But his "graduation" led to the tribe reminiscing about his sister, and that reminded him of his original goal. The Miqo'te had nothing in particular keeping him at home - Reunion was in good shape, his family was doing well, and while he'd had some young romantic entanglements, none had lasted for long. Almost on a whim, Velin decided once more that he was going to travel the world - more specifically, to try to find Sarnai.
He set out within a week, going first south and then west - and discovered very quickly that he loved being on the road. Traveling in turns by air (on his yol), on foot, and sometimes by hitching rides, Velin made his way through land controlled by the Garlean Empire. He found that the imperials as a whole had... mixed reactions to a non-Garlean national, especially an "uncivilized" one that sometimes had difficulty speaking. This led to him sticking primarily to remote and rural areas, and picking up more central/western habits and dress, trying to fit in. To stave off loneliness, the Miqo'te stopped with nearly every small town, traveling group, and more-tolerant Garlean outpost he saw. He often did little errands in exchange for some cash (or for food less easily obtained in the wild).
Over a year of traveling, Velin made his way slowly to Eorzea, finally flying over Baelsar's Wall in the dead of night. It was there that the story of FFXIV picked up, most of which is summarized here (with the assumption that each of the below took about a year, give or take a few months):
Of note to the canon familiar: no class/job quests are canon for Velin except Sage. Despite being a Dragoon by game mechanic standards, Velin is not a second Azure Dragoon - the majority of his skills were self-taught as he practiced attacking from the back of his yol, with a little bit of dragoon training given to him in Ishgard only after the events of Heavensward. This can definitely be noticed by anyone who would be familiar with dragoon techniques - his battle style looks different to the trained eye, and he doesn't draw on the First Brood.
Additionally, during the events at the Azim Steppe during Stormblood, Velin did not claim the title of khagan. He obtained permission from his tribe to participate on behalf of the Mol, but would never even consider going for the title - instead, he made sure Cirina was the one who claimed the ovoo.
As a Sage, he's unusually physical and constantly in motion, relying on his nouliths to fling him around to give him nearly the mobility of a dragoon. He wards and heals through a combo of memorization and instincts granted by the job stone - Velin is not the one to come to if you want to develop something new! He doesn't have the background for it. He's quite good at using what he has memorized to react in the moment, though.
*Of note on Velin's gender: Velin is trans. This should not generally come up unless someone is getting into his pants - by all other indications he should read as cis male, and it's not an identity issue he struggles with like he does his adoption. (I am particularly uninterested in it being a source of angst for him.)
I headcanon/handwave that multiple Steppe tribes are accepting of gender variations and quirks (see: the Dotharl), with different approaches to how they conceptualize this. I haven't quite decided what the Qestiri approach is - they may think of Velin as another gender separate from male or female - but as far as anywhere outside his tribe is concerned, he finds it easier to be considered a trans man. Either way, Velin was treated with a permanent, magical version of hormone therapy early in life (people in FFXIV can straight up transform into frogs, magic HRT is entirely plausible).
| ⦿ name Velin Qestir | ⦿ gender Male |
| ⦿ canon Final Fantasy XIV | ⦿ age 25...ish |
| ⦿ canon point 6.0 | ⦿ species Miqo'te (Keeper of the Moon) |
| ⦿ primary job "Dragoon" | ⦿ backup jobs CUL, SGE |
First Impressions
Mint green catboy. Wiry build, slightly above average height for a Miqo'te (which still means shorter than the average human - roughly 5'4, or 160cm). Rather long and emotive ears, a dark-tipped, short-furred tail, and noticeably pointy canines.
There's a dark green stripe (tattooed) across his nose and under his eyes, and his face has two light scars - one under his right eye, one on his left cheek. There are various other scars scattered over his body, especially on his arms. His left shoulderblade also has an eye-like tattoo.
His default outfit unless otherwise noted is
His demeanor is usually relaxed, but he is very emotive despite the eye-covering; it's not exaggerated but he is incredibly easy to read. When speaking, he's juuust short of sounding fluent - someone paying attention will notice him putting a bit of effort into sounding words out properly. When he's comfortable with someone he will speed up slightly and, as a consequence, occasionally mangle pronunciation.
Personality
History
Velin was born to a tiny community of Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te, traveling in the Azim Steppe as part of a merchant caravan. While "Vehn"* was not an unwanted child, the merchant caravan was going through a run of tough luck and very lean times in the last couple of months before he was born. His mother was soon forced to admit they didn't have the resources to raise a child right now - even without him, it was very questionable whether they'd be able to keep feeding themselves.
The caravan's next stop was Reunion, and the Qestir tribe soon found an abandoned young Miqo'te on one of their doorsteps, with a note saying not much more than his name. Vehn - soon Velin, due to the vagaries of writing, pronunciation, and not that many people knowing Eorzean well in the Far East - was adopted by a pair of Qestiri with an adolescent daughter, and raised semi-communally like most of the Qestir tribe's children.
While there was no lack of love in Velin's childhood, particularly from his adoptive family, it wasn't an easy one. By custom, the Xaela of the Qestir tribe never speak and rarely write, believing that all words are lies and that actions speak more truly than words. This usually serves them well enough - a surprising amount can be communicated through simple emotions and gestures, especially when you know each other very well. But when your cat-eared son starts wondering why he doesn't look like any of the dragon-scaled tribe surrounding him, it gets harder and harder to explain. When he learns to talk from other Steppe tribes in an effort to communicate, he ends up feeling more and more excluded by his own.
Velin's family put forth their best efforts to make sure he always felt like one of them, but while the undercurrent of love never left, their day-to-day relationship became more strained by the year. The one family member who Velin still looked up to was his older sister, Sarnai. She was stubborn, feisty, never seemed to care when he did something taboo like talking aloud, and wanted to leave the Steppe - she, too, felt a little like an outsider. The two spent a good portion of his early teenage years wandering the Steppe together with their parents' permission, planning to travel the world once they grew up.
Unfortunately, Sarnai was older than Velin by almost six years, and she always assumed he knew she wouldn't wait that long. As soon as she hit adulthood she headed forth from the Steppe. Perhaps she meant to come back for him once he also hit adulthood - Velin, barely thirteen, only knew he felt betrayed.
Despite everything, Velin resolved to travel once he was able to head out on his own. His immediate reaction was starting to volunteer, repeatedly, to hunt or to guard Reunion. While he was too young and green to be allowed, it did lead to some Qestiri noting his interest and taking it upon themselves to give him training. The routine gave him momentum and, eventually, exposure to other tribes' fighting styles - as a Qestiri, Velin was never expected to participate in Nadaam, and was therefore treated as an interesting novelty rather than competition. All of this prepared him well for Bardam's Mettle, which he conquered at roughly the same age Sarnai had.
With his yol obtained and his self-sufficiency proven, six years down the line from his half-forgotten plan, Velin could easily have been convinced to stay in the Azim Steppe. But his "graduation" led to the tribe reminiscing about his sister, and that reminded him of his original goal. The Miqo'te had nothing in particular keeping him at home - Reunion was in good shape, his family was doing well, and while he'd had some young romantic entanglements, none had lasted for long. Almost on a whim, Velin decided once more that he was going to travel the world - more specifically, to try to find Sarnai.
He set out within a week, going first south and then west - and discovered very quickly that he loved being on the road. Traveling in turns by air (on his yol), on foot, and sometimes by hitching rides, Velin made his way through land controlled by the Garlean Empire. He found that the imperials as a whole had... mixed reactions to a non-Garlean national, especially an "uncivilized" one that sometimes had difficulty speaking. This led to him sticking primarily to remote and rural areas, and picking up more central/western habits and dress, trying to fit in. To stave off loneliness, the Miqo'te stopped with nearly every small town, traveling group, and more-tolerant Garlean outpost he saw. He often did little errands in exchange for some cash (or for food less easily obtained in the wild).
Over a year of traveling, Velin made his way slowly to Eorzea, finally flying over Baelsar's Wall in the dead of night. It was there that the story of FFXIV picked up, most of which is summarized here (with the assumption that each of the below took about a year, give or take a few months):
- A Realm Reborn
- Heavensward
- Stormblood
- Shadowbringers
- Endwalker
Of note to the canon familiar: no class/job quests are canon for Velin except Sage. Despite being a Dragoon by game mechanic standards, Velin is not a second Azure Dragoon - the majority of his skills were self-taught as he practiced attacking from the back of his yol, with a little bit of dragoon training given to him in Ishgard only after the events of Heavensward. This can definitely be noticed by anyone who would be familiar with dragoon techniques - his battle style looks different to the trained eye, and he doesn't draw on the First Brood.
Additionally, during the events at the Azim Steppe during Stormblood, Velin did not claim the title of khagan. He obtained permission from his tribe to participate on behalf of the Mol, but would never even consider going for the title - instead, he made sure Cirina was the one who claimed the ovoo.
As a Sage, he's unusually physical and constantly in motion, relying on his nouliths to fling him around to give him nearly the mobility of a dragoon. He wards and heals through a combo of memorization and instincts granted by the job stone - Velin is not the one to come to if you want to develop something new! He doesn't have the background for it. He's quite good at using what he has memorized to react in the moment, though.
*Of note on Velin's gender: Velin is trans. This should not generally come up unless someone is getting into his pants - by all other indications he should read as cis male, and it's not an identity issue he struggles with like he does his adoption. (I am particularly uninterested in it being a source of angst for him.)
I headcanon/handwave that multiple Steppe tribes are accepting of gender variations and quirks (see: the Dotharl), with different approaches to how they conceptualize this. I haven't quite decided what the Qestiri approach is - they may think of Velin as another gender separate from male or female - but as far as anywhere outside his tribe is concerned, he finds it easier to be considered a trans man. Either way, Velin was treated with a permanent, magical version of hormone therapy early in life (people in FFXIV can straight up transform into frogs, magic HRT is entirely plausible).
