I'm gonna reach
for the golden skies

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ANCIENTS

 about  Kira Lanning may not be the name she was given at birth, but it is the name she chose and strives to live up to everyday. At twenty four years of age, Kira is a competent traveler and combatant favoring the machinist teachings of Ishgard. A confident yet private woman, she is a master at deflecting questions about herself through both good and mean humor, depending on the recipient and her mood that day. She is more interested in seeing what the world has to offer her as a solo adventurer (bar a few select companions) than keeping the company of others. At present, Kira resides in Kugane on an extended visitor’s visa obtained through a trade deal between Hingashi and Othard for adventurers who’d travelled to the Far East to assist with the Othard rebuilding efforts following the successful overthrow of their Garlean rule.

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 heavensward 
The only daughter of a fading House in Ishgard, Kira spent the entirety of her life locked up in her family manor. Doted upon by a mother whose mental faculties declined rapidly after the stillbirth of her second child and ignored by her father, a man who preferred to remain oblivious to the diminishing coffers of the family's fortune, Kira knew that a hopeless future was all that awaited her.

Growing up with this knowledge in a manor slowly but surely becoming bereft of staff but increasing in grime, she took fate into her own hands as a young woman of only seventeen summers and snuck out one night with the moonlight as her guide. She stood upon one of the many parapets of Ishgard and gazed into the abyss below, contemplating ending her life before circumstance could do it for her.She had not expected any passerby this deep into the night to look past her shabby cloak and deem her worthy of attention. When a small body tackled her away from the edge and pinned her down to the ground, her long-suffering pride reared its head and she cast the stranger away with angry words and angrier fists. She fled the scene back to her home, seething at the audacity of some lowborn girl daring to touch her. Not expecting to see the stranger again, she forced the event out of her mind.She was not brave enough to chance sneaking out again until much later, at which point providence would put her in the path of the lowborn girl again and again, each time running into each other under the silver light of the moon. Curiosity eventually won over and she asked for the name of her stranger. The girl introduced herself as Astellia Grace, a refugee of the Eorzean Alliance who'd fled with her companions after being accused of murdering the Sultana, and found temporary reprieve within Ishgard's walls with House Fortemps as her benevolent sponsor. Aghast yet enthralled, Kira demanded to know more about the golden-haired girl, and the two began to purposefully meet under the cover of night.When her new companion left for duties outside Ishgard, Kira was distraught to find herself despondent. It was not only the sudden departure of the only friend she'd ever had, but the newfound desire to leave the walls of her Manor—the entire city!—in the bright light of day that suddenly began to consume her every waking moment. The quiet routine of life she'd grown accustomed to—her silent father, her mother teetering between madness and hysteria, the silence of the house she'd accepted as her eventual grave—had been completely overturned.Yet it was not enough to overcome the fear she felt at the prospect of stepping past the manor's garden boundary in the light of day. To Kira, the blanket of the night and starlight was a comfort that made the world outside her manor seem less real, less permanent. In the daytime, she could not hide from the crowds and their stares. In the daytime, she could not stand peacefully on the very edge of safety and contemplate her meaningless life and how easy it would be to fall to her end.Trapped in an indecisive cycle of desire and fear, she was all too relieved to one day find a missive tucked away in her window announcing Astellia's return and her desire to meet. Upon seeing the girl returned from her adventures and looking the part, Kira's internal conflict overwhelmed her and she accused the adventurer of ruining her life. At least before meeting Astellia, she knew what she wanted and she'd made her peace with it. She left before her only friend could say much of anything, demanding she never speak to her again.Astellia stayed true to this demand and Kira would not see her for the remainder of the adventurer's time in Ishgard. It was only through the hushed chatter of the family's only remaining cook and maid that Kira would eventually find out the details of change sweeping their city, led by a golden-haired woman and the Lord Commander of the Temple Knights.Withdrawing into herself, Kira promised that the next time she left the safety of the manor, it would be to once more stand on the parapets of Ishgard and throw herself into the yawning darkness beneath.This promise to herself would not be fulfilled: on the night she'd finally been ready to make peace with her end, a moogle appeared at her window. Drawn to this tiny creature she'd only ever read stories about, Kira hesitated just long enough for the moogle to drop a letter into her palm and disappear into the cold sky. Curious, she opened it to find only a short message: Freedom is yours, if that is still your desire. There is a wonderful, frightening world just waiting for you to see it. A time and a location were writ beneath it.Kira had never been called brave, but there were embers of it burning within her, just waiting for a spark. She shut her window, burnt the message goodbye she'd left for her parents, and gathered what meager belongings she'd formed an attachment to into a sack under her bed. When the time came, she snuck out of her home one final time and did not glance back.She knew Astellia would be waiting. The girl spoke nothing of their last meeting and only took Kira's hand in hers as she led them out of the city to where a chocobo rested under the cover of darkness. Seated close together, her friend spoke quietly of what she was able to offer the runaway: an old woman in Gridania, who also once left Ishgard behind, had been the reason Astellia herself could move on after the Calamity and find the strength to chase her freedom. She would open her home to Kira if that is what she desired. She was not a kind woman, but she was patient and would afford Kira the space and opportunity to find herself. Or, she could drop the young girl off in Revenant's Toll where the Adventurers Guild was seeking to build a home and let her hit the ground running.When the time came to choose which path to take out of Coerthas' snowy fields, the pair headed east into the verdant forests of The Black Shroud. stormblood 
Lady Estellise, who awaited their arrival in Gridania, may have left Ishgard but Ishgard certainly never left her. Life under her tutelage was a harsh but not unpleasant change for Kira, who found herself thriving in a new environment and strict but well-meaning guardianship. Months passed and Kira blossomed into herself after being stifled for the entritety of her life. She learned whichever skill she wished, read whichever books she desired, and spent as much time in the warm sunlight as she could. She formed a close bond with her new guardian, who'd become more of a matronly presence to her than her own mother ever was, and exchanged frequent letters via moogle mail with Astellia. When her friend departed for a military campaign against Garlemald, Kira wished her well and made herself a new promise: one day, she would be capable enough to see the world on her own and assist Astellia in whichever battlefield she needed.Kira eventually left the safety of Gridania and struck out on her own as an adventurer, training her fledgling skill with a bow on casual missions available from the Adventurers Guild. Her travels kept her close to home until an opportunity to sail to the newly liberated and rebuilding Far East arrived. Meeting with Astellia upon her arrival in Kugane, the two settled into an easy friendship and shared lodgings in an apartment that had been made available to the Warrior of Light for her role in the nation's liberation. Adventurers were in dire need to assist in the rebuilding efforts, with lengthy visitor visas being offered to those who'd stay and rebuild. Kira was quick to embrace the opportunity, and the two young women remained in Hingashi for a good while enjoying the sights, culture and cuisine.It was during this time that Kira expressed an interest in the strange, handheld contraptions Astellia would occasionally pull out in combat. Upon discovering that the black sheep of House Haillenarte had established his own Guild in Ishgard, intending to teach all those interested—highborn, lowborn, and foreigner alike—the art of the machinist, Kira laughed loudly and for a long time before declaring that perhaps she'd one day return to the nation of her birth after all. shadowbringers (wip) 
When Astellia seemingly disappears into the aether and with rumours of the Scions falling ill, Kira makes good on her promise and returns to Ishgard. She learns at the Skysteel Manufactory and makes peace with her past from afar, refusing to acknowledge her family. As she had been kept isolated from society, there are none who recognize her, aside from a few old members of staff who cannot make up their mind on whether the foreigner could be the disappeared heiress or not. Ultimately, her House is of so little consequence that no one bothers to figure it out. endwalker (wip) 
Kira assists as the Final Days descend. dawntrail (wip) 
Kira resides in Kugane full time.

 about  At only twenty-three years of age, Sania (Sunny, in Eorzea) is a vibrant force of life whose charm and vivacity light up every space she enters. With her infectious laugh, quick wit and a social ease that makes strangers feel like lifelong friends, she’s the kind of woman people gravitate toward without a second thought. Her presence is as bright as her name suggests: carefree, enchanting, and utterly magnetic.As a trained dancer from the colorful streets of Radz-at-Han itself, Sania carries herself with grace and ease that look as natural as breathing and leaves behind crowds charmed by her charisma and beauty. Whether she’s swapping stories at a bustling tavern or flashing a coy smile across a crowded room, Sania is quickly the focus of every space she’s in, drawing everyone closer with her magnetism.But beneath the dazzling exterior lies a far darker truth: the young woman’s charm isn’t just a gift—it’s her most dangerous weapon. A trained assassin from the perfumed halls of Radz-at-Han’s most wealthy and bloodthirsty merchant families, Sania carries out her deadly work in plain sight with the same elegance and precision as she does her social escapades. No one suspects the cheerful young woman with the golden laugh and sparkling eyes.And that’s exactly how she likes it.

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 endwalker 
Sania departed from Radz-at-Han with a vague dream and more blood money than she knew what to do with.

 about  At just twenty-eight years old, Swan carries herself with the refined air of someone who has been shaped by both discipline and grace. Her every move speaks of elegance, and her ever-present coy smile hints at secrets she guards with practiced ease. There’s an undeniable confidence in her, one that turns heads and leaves impressions wherever she goes.Since the tumultuous days following the Seventh Umbral Calamity, Swan has made her home in the
picturesque Mist overlooking the Rhotano Sea. In the early hours of dawn, neighbors often catch sight of her, perched with brush and canvas, capturing the shifting hues of the sea with an artist's devotion.Her well-known connection to Eorzea’s Warrior of Light has only elevated her standing among the locals and cemented her as a figure of intrigue and admiration. Yet, for all her talent and charm, the woman behind the poise remains a mystery. Little is known about her life before she arrived in Vylbrand, and that enigma only deepens the allure she seems to cast on those who cross her path. In her wake, fascination lingers, as if she herself were one of the masterpieces she so skillfully brings to life.

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 a realm reborn Swan arrived in Eorzea as a shadow slipping through chaos, unnoticed in the wake of the Seventh Umbral Calamity. The fall of Dalamud had left the land reeling, its people struggling to rebuild amid the ruins of their world. It was the perfect time for someone like her to vanish into the crowd. Quietly, she secured a modest home in the budding adventurer district outside Limsa Lominsa, blending in seamlessly with the throng of new settlers taking up labor contracts in return for housing.Swan worked tirelessly alongside other volunteers, her hands calloused from long hours of labor. She walked the beaches at dawn, broke bread with fellow adventurers at midday and retreated to her humble stone cottage as dusk fell. There was nothing to distinguish her from the countless others who had come seeking a fresh start.Swan may have been the quietly confident and amenable woman eager to lend a helping hand wherever she could, but it was Hound who emerged in the darkness of the night. With long-practiced fingers gliding over the bluebird kept in a simple cage within her home, the animal’s facade would fall away to reveal a communications link to the Frumentarium east across the sea. In the deepest hours of the night, the truth would be revealed: Swan was but one fabrication of the XIVth Imperial Legion’s skillful intelligence division.Before Swan was more than a carefully curated dossier brought to life, her future owner was just one of many half-blood bastards raised to serve the Empire of their fathers. Swan—as she would eventually begin to call herself, even when alone—had never known her mother or been afforded even the smallest whisper of her. Was she of Eorzea, or was she of the Far East? Did she come from some smaller, subjugated region held even longer in Garlemald’s greedy grasp? Did she inherit her hair, her eyes, her mouth or were all the elements of her the inheritance of her father’s lineage? From which of his glorious campaigns did the mysterious woman in whose womb she was nurtured come, and did she do so willingly? Did she rub tender hands over the swell of her belly or did she curse and cry when she realized the seed which had taken?Did she know she would never be allowed to see her newborn daughter, swept up into the opportunistic cold hands of the Frumentarium from the moment of her birth? Did she give her up willingly in return for coin, a hearth, a home? Or did she fight tooth and nail to keep the grasping hands coming for her child and receive a bullet to the head in return?Such thoughts never plagued Swan as a child or even as a woman grown, at least not until a golden haired woman fell into her bed with a request for death and stayed for tea instead. Childhood was a time of rigorous training and a distant father who remained, despite his aloofness, the deepest desire of her young heart. Ever seeking for his eyes to land on her and for a warm smile to tug at his lips, Swan strove for achievement of the highest perfection in her training as a future Frumentarium asset. Her quick ascent among her fellow children eventually garnered the attention of the Legion’s Legatus, Gaius van Baelsar, but rarely her father’s. What few moments he would spare for her became dearly treasured memories and inspiration to rise even higher.When the assignment came to infiltrate Eorzea after Dalamud’s fall, the woman who would become Swan did not hesitate. Her loyalty to her Empire, much like her loyalty to her Father, held steadfast and forever yearning for their regard. She slipped away easily and happily into the aether and Swan took her place with a gentle smile and a helping hand.Whether by guiding hand or merely serendipity, the assignment to live a quiet life in the comforts of Vylbrand’s beauty would prove to be the undoing of the careful grooming of Swan’s mind. Where five years of living amongst Eorzeans was not enough to make Swan question her worldviews, the eventual acquaintanceship of golden-haired, hero-hailed Astellia Grace would.Before the hero became the fallen and accusations of murder drove her into Coerthas’ cold embrace, she’d begun to leave her mark on the Mist. Her presence slipping in and out of the adventurer’s district was subtle but unmistakable, and it wasn’t long before word spread: the Warrior of Light had made her home here, in a modest apartment overlooking the sea.It was a coincidence too enticing to ignore for Swan. Her interest was mirrored by her superiors in the Frumentarium, who quickly recognized the value of such proximity to Eorzea’s newest champion. But subtlety was their craft, and they impressed upon Swan the necessity of patience. To approach the hero directly would be to court suspicion. Instead, Swan was instructed to let the natural rhythms of their lives guide the encounter, to weave herself into the hero’s story without drawing undue attention.Their first meeting was almost too ordinary to remember. The dawn, a time Swan had always cherished, painted the sky in gentle hues as she sat on the beach with her easel and worked to capture the endless ebb and flow of the Rhotano Sea. Whether by habit or need, the hero too seemed to be drawn to the solitude of the early hours. Swan would occasionally see her walking the golden sand, her gaze fixed on the waters and the distant horizon.It wasn’t difficult to orchestrate a chance crossing of paths. A simple adjustment—a shift in timing, a slight repositioning—was all it took for Astellia Grace’s curiosity to lead her towards the unassuming woman painting the scene. A genuine compliment was given, a returning smile and observation of the dawn was returned, and companionable silence fell between the two.Swan had plenty of patience to nurture this newfound connection, but even she would be challenged by the time and events that would shortly follow: for it was that very morning that a linkpearl call came through to Astellia and invited her to the newly discovered Crystal Tower. It was with a polite smile that the hero bade her goodbye and returned to her extraordinary life.Swan would not see her again for a very, very long time. heavensward More than a year has passed. Swan has continued her mission in Vylbrand. Having been in the Mist from the very start, she is a known figure and many adventurers are all too happy to share news and gossip with her. While there are most certainly spies within the Maelstrom itself, Swan’s position as a trusted element within the adventurers affords her a degree of comfort in the longevity of her assignment. The Frumentarium continues to be invested in Astellia Grace, especially after her rumored disposal of their leader. From their spies scattered around Coerthas, they believe that the Hero will eventually return to her domicile in the Mist. And so, Swan continues her quiet life by the ocean, but diligently begins to exhibit her skills in weaving so as to present herself as a seamstress and eventually transition to a travelling merchant.When the Hero does return, it is clear that her role in ending Ishgard’s Holy War bears heavy weight on her shoulders. Swan works to integrate herself closer to the woman and makes plans to seduce her. She is surprised by how easily she accomplishes this goal, but it is only after, with the Hero splayed out in her bed with her golden hair as a halo around her head, that her words truly shake Swan to her core:The Hero asks if this is the time when Swan will finally drive a dagger into her heart. Or is it a bullet? She muses languidly, stretching her limbs upon the soft sheets. When Swan does not play along, Astellia reveals that her power, the Echo, had shown her long ago Swan’s true role and ambitions. She had come to bed willingly, expecting Swan to fulfill her duty as a loyal soldier of the Garlean Empire and murder the wretched Eikon Slayer.For the first time in a very long time, Swan does not know how to react. The manner in which the other woman talks about her death and her desire for it unsettles Swan. She refuses to acknowledge the truth and Astellia only shrugs and bids her a pleasant farewell. That night, Swan withholds the full truth from her report to her superiors for the first time, uncertain as to what her next steps should be. She has been unmasked, and by the Hero of Eorzea, of all people.She does not expect Astellia to return and yet she does the next morning. The Hero keeps turning up seeming to seek the company of Swan and expecting her death to come at any moment. Eventually, Swan breaks under what she decides are the Hero’s mind games, and demands to know what the other woman wants with her. Astellia looks at her calmly over her pleasantly fragrant tea, sat in Swan’s small kitchen, and says that she wants to die.An unexpected anger takes Swan and she accuses the Hero of being so willing to throw her life away. The two engage in a discussion during which the true depths of Astellia’s depression and hopelessness are revealed, and Swan is left disturbed and shaken.Astellia keeps coming back and Swan keeps letting her. The two engage in a physical relationship, now born out of desire rather than Swan’s mission. The truth which she sends back to her superiors is carefully filtered as she finds herself engaged in an internal struggle reflecting back on her life.Before she can arrive at a resolution, Astellia is called away for the Alliance campaign of liberating Ala Mhigo. stormblood Swan continues her struggle, amplified by the longer and longer silences coming from Frumentarium. Astellia sends her the occasional letter, which Swan eventually caves and begins replying to. Swan wonders at the likelihood of her Empire kidnapping moogles to read her mail. The gossip she hears around the Mist and Limsa Lominsa of what the Alliance and the Warrior of Light are accomplishing in Ala Mhigo and the Far East is astounding. Swan is unsure of where her future lies. shadowbringers WIP.
 endwalker WIP. dawntrail WIP.

 about  Theodora Grace serves as the current head and Matriarch of House Grace, a distinguished family rooted in the very foundation of Old Sharlayan. Over centuries, the Grace lineage has flourished, earning both affluence and influence as one of the city's most esteemed houses. An austere and cold woman, she is known both for her severe countenance, and the rumours that surround her first marriage and absent firstborn daughter.Born to Bartholomew and Cecelia Grace, Theodora was raised with unwavering discipline in an environment defined by high expectations. As the middle child—positioned between her elder brother, Oliver, the firstborn and heir, and her younger sister, Florence—Theodora’s path in life was carefully charted from her earliest days. A serious and diligent child, she navigated her family’s lofty standards with relative ease.Theodora's life was entirely unremarkable until the summer she fell in love. At the tender age of seven, she met Nadir, the young son of a wealthy Ala Mhigan merchant who made the arduous trip to the nation each summer to peddle his wares. The friendship between the two rapidly blossomed into infatuation and, with time, deepened into young love. At the age of thirteen, Theodora approached her father with a bold petition: she wished to marry Nadir when she came of age.Bartholomew agreed, but with a condition—Theodora would have to assume heirship from her brother Oliver, whose unsuitability for leadership had become clear.

In return, she would be bound to lead House Grace in accordance with her father’s stringent expectations. Eager to wed Nadir, Theodora consented without hesitation.Soon after her sixteenth nameday, Theodora and Nadir were wed, and he relocated to join her in Old Sharlayan. Their union was quickly blessed with a daughter, Emilia, and the small family enjoyed a few years of happiness. Yet tragedy struck in 1557 of the Sixth Astral Era when Nadir returned to Ala Mhigo to visit his kin, only to perish during Gaius van Baelsar’s invasion. At just the tender age eighteen, Theodora had become a widow.Grief consumed her, and the loss of her parents soon after only deepened her despair. Unable to face her daughter, whose resemblance to Nadir was a constant reminder of her loss, Theodora retreated from motherhood entirely. She withdrew into her role as Matriarch of House Grace, immersing herself in her duties on the Forum and working deep within Labyrinthos on a secret project alongside Fourchenault Leveilleur. Emilia’s upbringing fell to the care of the household staff until Theodora’s semi-estranged younger sister, Florence, intervened. After heated arguments, Florence convinced Theodora to relinquish Emilia’s care. At ten years old, Emilia left for Limsa Lominsa to live with Florence and her husband, Frederick.Years passed before Theodora began to reclaim her sense of self. It was only after the Calamity shook the land that her sense of duty reawakened and compelled her to remarry: not for love, but to ensure the continuation of her House. Her union with Elias, the son of a minor Sharlayan family, stirred gossip, which only grew louder when she gave birth to twins, Luca and Sera. With Elias by her side, Theodora re-entered both society and motherhood, though her demeanor remained cold and austere. Grief and duty had shaped her into one of the Forum’s sternest voices.The estrangement between mother and daughter endured until Emilia, now bearing the title of Warrior of Light, returned to Old Sharlayan. Accompanied by some of the nation's most celebrated Archons and the Leveilleur twins, Emilia’s presence could no longer be ignored. Theodora extended a formal invitation for Emilia to meet her stepfather and half-siblings, though the reunion proved tense and fraught. Even the extraordinary events that followed afterward to save the planet failed to mend the rift between them.Despite this, Theodora has continued to make a curious choice that puzzles many: Emilia remains the named heir to House Grace. The reasons as to why remain known only to Theodora herself.

but i swear in the days still left /
we'll walk in fields of gold

 about  The last Azem to have walked the world of Etheirys. As a student and ward both of the venerated Words of Azem from a young age, her ascension to the position in adulthood came as a surprise to no one. Once known as Astraea -- and Kore, long before that -- she previously served her people dutifully as a Praemonstrator at the Dreams of Departure, helping counsel and guide those of her people ready to depart their long lives and begin their return to the Underworld. A respected figure and a true academician, her life work's intended to cleanse the soul of all past ills in the period between death and rebirth. motifs  the moon, deep ocean, white primrose, blue hydrangea, ravens, jackals

 childhood Astraea manifested into the world from the Cradle of Souls with her soultwin and sister at her side. Children were considered a blessing and a delight for the Amaurotines, who monitored the departure of souls carefully to ensure that the allowance of new life into their society was balanced out by those who had chosen to pass on. The splitting of a single soul born from the Cradle of Souls into two halves, while not unheard of, was rare. The raven-haired babe was named Kore, and her golden-haired sister was given the name Persephone.The sisters were beloved by the bonded pair of Amaurotines who had petitioned for a child and received two. They grew quickly into brilliant and dutiful children. Persephone burned as brightly as the sun did with her carefree laughter and love for all living things on Etheirys, while Kore shone as brilliantly as the full moon with her quick witted mind and insatiable curiosity. It did not take long, however, for jealousy to fester in Kore's heart: for as much as she loved her lovely, bright sister, she was also just as bitter at the ease with which Persephone embraced life and was embraced by all in return. Flowers would bloom at dance at her command; the sun crowning her head would make it shimmer pure gold; her laugh could make even the oldest and weariest of souls want to smile with joy again.The sisters remained as close as ever despite the darkness tainting Kore's heart, but the halcyon days of their youth would never see the light of adulthood. The twins were wandering alone as they often did when a tragic turn of events took place and Persephone was grieviously wonded. With no grown Amaurotine available to help tether her sister's dimming soul to her body, Kore acted in panic and on sheer instinct as she reached for her beloved sister's soul with her own and took it into her body.No one would ever be able to ascertain the workings of such an act, though many would theorize. The soul had long remained a mystery to the Amaurotines despite the many who dedicated their long lives to studying it, and the enigma of twins and the workings of the soul splitting into two and growing apart from each other even more so. All Kore could, and would, describe it as was if a missing piece had felt as if it returned to her person but the shape no longer quite fit as it had once been meant to.The death of Persephone shook Amaurotine society to its core. To have an unexpected death, and a child's one at that, was such a rare occurrence that it spilled over into the obscene. The tragic tale soon spread like wildfire through society and the Amaurotines, not knowing how to handle such a topic with the grieving family, chose not to acknowledge it at all.Kore struggled to navigate life without her other half at her side. What meaning was there in living, if Persephone was no longer the sun she dutifully orbitted around? The ugly jealousy that had festered in her heart quickly curdled into overwhelming guilt. Had she attracted her sister's death by having such hideous feelings?All too soon, tragedy struck again: Kore's parents, who had begun noticeably declining in the wake of their daughter's death, were swallowed by their grief and took their lives. Kore would be the one to find them both in their modest family home, bodies still warm and souls lingering and lost in the ambient aether. The sight threw her back into the moment of her sister's death and caught in that moment of trauma, she reached for her parents' souls and held on tight. Unlike before, however, the souls in her grasp were whole and separate from hers and had no place to go within her body. Lost and confused, Kore acted in the only other way she could think of: she reached for her burgeoning soulsight until the faint wisps of the Lifestream winding all around her became visible, and clumsily guided her parents' souls into the afterlife.Kore would be found days later sitting comatose in her home with her parents' bodies decaying beside her. The one who'd thought to check on the grieving family had not been available at the time of Persephone's death, and perhaps if they had been, Kore's childhood would not have been marked by such tragedy. But the esteemed Fourteenth of the Convocation, Azem, had no ability to be in multiple places at once and was occupied far on the other side of Etheirys at the time. She watched the immobile child for some time, taking stock of the situation, before approaching Kore and offering her hand."The Words of Azem is welcome to you, my child," Azem spoke. "Let us depart for your new home."Kore flourished in the Words of Azem, which was responsible for the study of planetary life. Her soulsight was of great interest to her peers, and her experience of guiding her parents' souls -- and the absorption of her sister's, both topics which none would bring up to her face but were surely discussed long into the night behind her back for many, many years to come -- resulted in many interested eyes upon her. The all-consuming curiosity she'd had before Persephone's death reared its head once again and Kore threw herself into her studies, focusing on the study of the soul where she could. She wanted to know what it meant to have Persephone's soul nestled within hers, catching at the edges but burning warmly like a hearth, and if her sister would ever find peace in the afterlife upon Kore's own death. adulthood Now a meticulous although distant woman, Kore's days studying at the Words of Azem would serve her well into adulthood. After graduating, Kore followed in the footsteps of all students who chose to leave the Words of Azem and cast aside her previous name to take up her new name, "Astraea". Thusly named, Astraea swiflty applied and was accepted into the Dreams of Departure, a facility where trained Amaurotines, called Praemonstrators, offered counselling services to those of The People making ready to pass on and help guide their souls into the Underworld. It seemed to Astraea that all her life had led up to this duty, and she embraced her training vigorously and with passion. Eventually she rose to become one of the top Praemonstrators at the Dreams of Departure, and soon the Principal Praemonstrator who was given the privelege of guiding her predecessor into the Underworld herself.Despite the success of her position, Astraea's personal studies continued to consume her. She had never stopped wanting to know the answer to the question of her sister's soul, which she could still feel nestled deep within. Like a wound it had scabbed over and become a part of herself, intrinsically tied and foreign both. The mystery of the soul beckoned to Astraea and she circled it like a moth to a flame, forever curious: what, precisely, occurred in the moment between death and rebirth? Could a soul who became trapped in the body of another ever be granted rebirth, or was it now corrupted beyond saving?It was this flame of desire deep within her aloof and calculating persona, eager with desire to help ease the burdens of the soul, which eventually convinced Azem to pass on her title to Astraea. Having known her since she was a child, Azem -- known before and then once again as Venat -- observed the woman with careful interest and consideration. Azem served the people of Amaurot first and foremost, and the smaller life forms beneath the floating island second; but in truth, the duty passed on from one Azem to another, was the study of the Lifestream, giver and holder of all life and souls. Astraea's interests lined up directly with the legacy of Azem, and she was quickly approached by the Word of the Mother -- a secret sect serving directly under Azem -- by Azem herself. Astraea did not need time to decide whether to accept the offer: she took it on the spot. In addition to the duty as the Principal Praemonstrator, she became a pupil of Azem and a recognized candidate for the position.Her understanding of the soul and devotion to the study of the Lifestream soon marked her apart from the others. After completing the final ritual of the Word of the Mother, wherein the member was required to visit a mysterious figure titled only The Oracle through which the Lifestream would speak, Astraea was officially petitioned by Azem as her successor. The Convocation of Fourteen accepted, and Astraea left her post at the Dreams of Departure behind and took on the office of her mentor. Astraea's position as a Praemonstrator had taught her the skills all Azems must possess: empathy, understanding, and an unbending will when faced with the realities of the world around and, most importantly, below.A woman with a strong moral compass and a drive to succeed, she quickly became a favourite of the people. Astraea, now become Azem, threw herself into her role as servant of the people, growing to prefer to be on the move rather than remain in the city for long periods of time. Her access to the world below the floating Amaurot served as a great boon and, driven by curiosity nurtured by many long years of not being allowed to descend -- for few Amaurotines had the privilege -- she took to the seat of Azem with eagerness and grace.Astraea was eager to utilize the resources her new position offered to continue her research and, in line with Azem's duties, assist her people in whichever manner they may need. Azem began journeying far and wide to find anything to assist in her quest, travelling both as a Ward of Etheirys and greeted reverently by the people, and in disguise as an old kindly woman treated with suspicion and kindness both. It was a strange new world she found, however, with fragile lifeforms and so very little time afforded to them when compared to the Amaurotines' longevity. What concerned her even more was the frequency with which their children would come into the world sick or already dying, with little to nothing being able to be done to bring them to health. Time and time again Azem would be met with stories or events of children dying young from a taint she was certain had carried over from their previous lives.Concerned for what it could mean for Persephone, still trapped within her, and the greater world as a whole, the flame within Azem soon sparked into an inferno, seeking now to assist both her people and those below, with a single-minded focus:To eliminate that, which between death and rebirth, ails the soul and manifests in new life. To manipulate the soul -- within the Lifestream itself, if need be -- to cleanse it of all imperfections before allowing it to be reborn. the final days WIP.

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