Synodiporia Application: Monx Kha
Apr. 29th, 2018 09:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkmagiciangirlP L A Y E R;
NAME: Coop
AGE: 23
PLAYER JOURNAL:coopyey
TIMEZONE: US Central Time
CONTACT: Discord at coopyey#1337;![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
coopyey
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Monx Kha (Nicknames: Blue, Raspberry Custard)
CANON: Final Fantasy XIV
POINT IN CANON: Stormblood Expansion. 4.2, as her team is getting killed by God Kefka in Omega.
AGE: 24
APPEARANCE: Monx stands at a pleasant 4’8”. Lean and more muscular than expected for a caster type. Silvery blonde hair that she keeps up in a ponytail, except for a few pieces she leaves down to frame her face. She has black irises on dark sclera, with a set of color changing limbal rings that frame her irises - the color changes to match her outfit color. At the time of taking, they’re a magenta color. She has a serious resting bitch face - comes from studying too much and generally trying not to combust into flame. She has scale patterns (you can see a little on her face and neck) winding down her arms as well as scale patches on the sides of her thighs, tops of her feet, forearms, and backs of her hands. She also wears fitted silver rings over her horns, which are, in fact, her olfactory organs. Her tail has some movement to help her with balance, but is not expressive like those of Mi’qote.
CANON HISTORY:
Hydaelyn. That’s the name of the world that Monx is from. She was born in Othard, the eastern continent on the planet. She was born and grew up in the Azim Steppe - the ancestral home to the Au Ra and where her people, the Xaela, still reside. Upon becoming a young adult she found herself restless and ventured from Othard to Aldenard and went to Eorzea. Upon arriving to Eorzea she drank a rare potion called a fantasia and woke up what is called a Lalafell in order to throw off anyone who may try to take her back home. Small and pointy-eared, she joined the gladiator’s guild in the city-state Ul’dah, a trading city located in the desert-like land of Thanalan. Bored, she quickly left the gladiator’s guild and the path of the paladin to join the thautmaturge’s guild.
Magic was new to her and she found deep interest in trying to figure out how it worked. She excelled in her studies of thaumaturgy, eventually becoming an incredibly illegal (punishable by death) black mage. Upon learning the incredibly powerful spell flare, a thought occurred to Monx: the black mage soulstone wasn’t used to lend her the power she needed to practice black magic, the soulstone was literally limiting the amount of power she was using to fuel the spells. The first thing she did upon arriving back in town was buy a journal and wrote down the observation. Thus her interest in studying magic and aether was born. As time went on she went to learn white magic and, much to the shagrin of the Padjali, learned the secrets of becoming a white mage. She learned to run calculations among the stars and provide strength and life to her team with magic cards as an astrologian. She found how to summon great and powerful beings from her own aether as both a summoner and scholar; at last she found the peace to balance the conflicting white and black magic schools as a red mage upon entering her home land of Doma to free her people from under the yolk of the Garlean empire. She experimented with mixing these magics to create hybridized, powerful versions of each. Most importantly, she published papers of her findings. She stopped asking the thautmaturge guild to lend her forbidden texts and, instead, brought them hand bound manuscripts of her own work, with calculations and observations expanding upon the ancient tomes they kept. She became known as the Goddess of Magic among her friends in the magic community, and it was not undeserved.
Parallel to her journey into magic Monx helped the people she ran into and eventually gained notice of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn as well as the leaders of the city-states of Eorzea. She assisted the Scions and Eorzean Alliance as needed, acting as an active arm in the field as well as working closely with them to learn how to strategize against whatever enemy they were facing. Once she began her studies, she spent more and more time with Urianger and the others of the Sharlayan’s and, eventually, working with the Sons of Saint Coinach to learn about the Allagan civilization. When she wasn’t studying she was helping bring down the mighty primals of the quarreling beast tribes, especially helping plan these fights with the strategies and knowledge she’d gained from her work with the Scions or the Eorzean Alliance and her research.
By the time Monx made it to Ishgard she was quite close with a certain Lalafell by the name Pina Conada. At the time that the Ishgardian conspiracy came to a full head and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn were in trouble, Monx met the rest of Pina’s party and helped them all to safety. Due to her illegal connections to the underworld of Eorzea and her more or less control of it, she ensured passage to safety for the Warriors of Light, and, upon getting to know each other better, Monx became good acquaintances with all of them during the events of the Dragonsong War. When asked about Ishgard, even to this day she grows stony faced and simply says it was a bad time. She’s not certain anyone’s recovered from the events then.
Stormblood. Monx finally was going home. It was… Awkward. Her knowledge of Doma was invaluable to all parties involved, so she was one of the first to be sent. She wanted nothing more than to get to her home land of the Azim Steppe and see her parents, and she did. Her Gesi father giving her a hug that could break bones, her Kha mother doting on her and having her share what all she’s done. Both couldn’t be more proud. Monx helped with the liberation of Ala Mhigo, as messy as that ordeal was; she helped with the culling of Zenos, and the rending of Shinryu. Her most important task, however, was still to come.
Omega. This strange… AI. It wanted to have a tournament to find the strongest in all of the (Final Fantasy cough) worlds. It sucked in people from different worlds, tested their strength, put them against each other in a fight to the death. This was… Serious. She was put together with seven others, just a small handful of the best there was to offer. The first four floors were easy enough, they passed without issue. From Alte Roite, to Catastrophe. Halicarnassus, to Exdeath. All easy enough foes. Then the next tier came. The Phantom Train? Maybe they didn’t quite suplex it, but they passed. The Demon Chardanook? He belonged in a museum now. Guardian was… A doozy. They could barely get past him. Kefka… Kefka was another level. Just like Exdeath the moment you thought it was over, the fight began. Normal Kefka was easy enough, but Monx never expected to prove her title as the Goddess of Magic against the God of Magic.
CANON PERSONALITY:
More than anything and through everything, Monx is curious. She left her home to learn about the outside word and of the people who inhabit it. She’s never been truly bound by tradition and expectations, she has an idea and usually runs with it. In the start she was impulsive and excitable. Time and work as a strategist for her associated parties have tempered these into asking more pointed questions and acting with more intention and thought put behind the things she does. She does not put her curiosity above others, however. She will not do an experiment if it will hurt those that she cares about. Especially with time tempering her impulse, she is mindful of those around her and what her work may do. The dangerous natures of black and white magic have instilled a level of wariness in her.
In public Monx does her best to be strong, elegant, intelligent. She can tend to be stoic and incredibly formal in front of people she does not know, especially if these are people in “important” positions. She puts up this image in order to make sure others see her as someone who is in control and someone who is always analyzing. In unknown situations she usually also tends to be quiet. It’s amazing what you learn when you let others talk. Often times she has no clue what she’s doing - something she has decided is true of all people - but her goal is to look like she knows exactly what to do and when to do it.
In private Monx is a happy person. She loves her friends and holds them very dear. She tends to be the person always trying to frame grim situations in a more uplifting kind of way, trying to be positive and keep the others afloat. She would do just about anything for her friends. Monx was always the one saying that
For as smart as she is and as smart as she comes off, Monx does not much faith in herself. Inside she is always second guessing herself, wondering if she did the right thing. She’s often anxious and over worried about things. The stress of helping plan how to save the world has piled onto her shoulders very quickly, and that burden is a lot to carry. After mistakes in Ishgard, of Omega… There are cracks there. Cracks she never talks about or gets to express. She has a lot of emotion bottled up in her little frame. Eventually, that bottle will break if she doesn’t figure out how to stop being the strong, reliable pillar that she thinks she is. She loves to help her friends with their problems and listen to them, but any of them that pay attention realize she never opens up about how she’s doing.
Monx is morally grey. She will always try to do the right thing according to the side she is on in Eorzea, but laws don’t really stop her. During her ride over to Eorzea she stole a priceless rarity. Her first Eorzean love is a highly dangerous and definitely illegal magic. Her second love? An equally illegal magic, but at least this one wouldn’t get her killed if she was caught because the Padjali said it was okay. The black market? Hers. She owns it. Literally. Who would say no to a woman that could literally turn you into a pile of ash with only four seconds of her time? Coming from the Xaela people, who’s law was writ by the Au Ra standing at the top of a pile of bodies, it’s not really a surprise that Eorzean laws didn’t really make her pause.
Despite her grey morals (in the eyes of Eorzea, anyway), she tends to be a very loyal person. She may do something and ask forgiveness after rather than ask for permission, but she always means well. Monx is closest with Nanamo, the figurehead monarch leader of Ul’dah, Merlwyb, queen of the Limsa Lominsan pirates, and Pina Colada. Pina and Monx have known each other for quite a while and are business partners - the Colada business partnered with the black market. At least money was never in question after.
Last but not least: Monx is a very patient person. She’s taught so many people magic and how to better wield it. She’s tutored in maths and ancient languages, writing and speaking. You don’t study and focus as hard as she does if you’re not patient. She has often given the word at meetings with leaders to just wait for a little while longer if things were questionable. Often times the answer becomes evident if you’re willing to wait.
POINT OF DEPARTURE:
As a PC from FFXIV Monx is shunted into the path of being a Warrior of Light. In this iteration of hre, this is not the case. She is not gifted with the Echo and related powers. She is especially skilled in magic and is able to do incredible calculations in her head. Monx does have deep personal relationships with Merlwyb, Coco and his brothers (thautmaturge guildmaster and leaders), and Nanamo that extend much further than those given in the story as well. The story does not allow us to see how for every moment spent adventuring she spends thrice that writing, nor does it show all of the times she’s sat with the generals of the Eorzean Alliance planning their next moves. By the end of patch 4.2 is when she’s taken. She is in the middle of the final Omega 8 Savage battle and her raid group, comprised of herself and seven other people, cleared original form Kefka. They have pulled and were fighting Kefka in his God of Magic form. He’s killed her entire party and she’s the only one left. With an overly dramatic “YOU THINK YOU’RE THE GODDESS OF MAGIC? HAVE YOU MET ME? AN ACTUAL GOD?” with a very cinematic slow motion turn Monx can’t help but know that this is the end.
ABILITIES:
Black magic: powerful offensive magic based on fire, wind, and thunder (in the real world we call it lightning). Very minimal but existent blood magic to convert physical hardiness into magical hardiness.
White magic: powerful offensive or healing magic based upon earth, wind, and water. Heavy focus on restoration alone, more focus on damage when coupled with black magic.
Arcanist magic: infect enemies with diseases that chip away at health and cause death and decay. Alternately, create shields used to mitigate damage and heal allies.
Summoning: using internal aether reserves can summon familiars that may or may not be elementally aspected. With complex enough maths and enough aether can summon more complex and more powerful beings (prose sample gives example of an unusual summon not available in game). May also summon forgotten faeries that provide succor to party members, should damage not be the intent.
Water breathing: thanks to an encounter with the Kojin beast tribe in the Ruby Sea after a rather glorious and joyous battle with the primal Susano.
If it’s a math problem she can solve it.
INVENTORY:
A specialized scythe rod that’s been customized by her to work for either her black or white magic channeling.
A specialized grimoire that’s been customized by her to work for either summoning or scholar healing.
A half finished handmade astroglobe and card set. The main astrologian cards are finished, but a full Deck of Sixty is still in progress - not fully painted.
Enchanted battle clothes (the outfit in description).
Goldsmith crafter tools.
The following soulstones, as well as any magic-based class soulstone that may be put into the game in the future, as the magic exists no matter the the canon: black mage, white mage, red mage, astrologian, summoner, scholar.
Her notes book and writing utensils that she writes observations, thoughts, calculations, etc in. No, it’s not a personal diary. Like that’s not sarcastic. She doesn’t keep a personal diary. Tucked inside is a map of Hydaelyn with strange markings of aetherial flow and mapping.
Mount whistles to call aetherial lanners, aspected after the following primals: Ravana (red), Sephirot (blue), Nidhogg (purple), Zurvan (orange), Sophia (yellow), Thordan (pink), Bismark (white)
A mount whistle to call the firebird mount, made from the combined aether of the seven lanners. The firebird is essentially a phoenix, NOT to be confused with the phoenix summon.
An undefined amount of gil, an undefined amount of every kind of tomestone up to Mendacity.
A questionable amount of persimmon leaf sushi and crimson cider.
The key to her house.
She has a pet bom boko that was gifted to her from the paladin in her raid group. She can often be found interacting with it when not in the middle of adventuring.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? She has never seen a raspberry - they don’t exist in FFXIV.
M A R K S;
JUSTIFICATION:
The Hermit: In all of her studying she has spent and is accustomed to spending much time doing self searching and learning so as to temper her magic practices. Even among her friends she isolates her inner self from them, never really giving anyone access to the deepest pieces of her. Isolation and being alone are things she is used to and does for her studies and analyses - the quiet and stillness both outside and in are old friends.
The Sun: She is genuinely a happy person deep down under all of the layers of stress and anxiety she’s built in her adventure. She is positive, chipper, a joy to be around when in a casual setting. She seeks out the bright side of every situation when possible, and otherwise believes that people will inherently do the right thing and in redemption. She is generally optimistic and does her best to keep those around her the same.
Strength: Literally everything involved in her main magical studies have to do with self control, stability, solidity, perseverance, inner strength, and moderation. Having never touched magic before going to Eorzea she had to work hard and study to get to where she is today - magic is not something that ever came naturally to her. In her studies she’s learned how to slow down be patient, to wait, and to keep at it no matter what roadblocks she faces. Her study has tempered her previously excitable and rash personality into a much more stable, caring, and patient person. Often she advocates to wait and see before jumping in head first.
S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE:
[Dips quill in ink] So, Cait, what you mean to tell me is that the Nullstone is not only a Mhachi artifact, but can actually banish the voidsent? [chews on top of quill] I see. What is the manner with which it works? [eyes widen, sets quill down] What do you mean? [turns to Cait Sith] This? This right here? [motions vaguely at the Nullstone] It severs the essence of a voidsent from its vessel? [solemn pause, tilts head and places left hand at chin with right hand cupping elbow, looks at the Nullstone] Hmm…
Certainly you must allow me to borrow this artifact so I may study it. [looks to Cait Sith] ...No? Do you not know who I am? Have you not seen my works? [stands, pulls manuscripts from bookshelf] I am.. [hands Cait Sith said manuscripts] ...simply the most knowledgeable on the topic of magic and magic-related items at this point. [looks to Cait Sith] For you to deny me is akin to denying the Sons of Saint Coinach a lost Allagan artifact! If you don’t think I can protect it, then you clearly don’t know me very well.
[shakes head] That isn’t a worry. Not all books I write go into public circulation. Some only go to join the forbidden texts in Ul’dah with the thautmaturge brothers. [smiles] Of course I would give you a copy of what I find, I’ll give you a personally bound manuscript! [light laughter]
PROSE SAMPLE:
The Circle of Answering was quiet today. Not many spent their time practicing their skills, it seemed. A new training area for a new phase in what seemed to be a never ending adventure. It was a shame, really, that more people did not take advantage of it. Everyone could always use some practice in their skills. There were not many training dummies that could withstand the force of her spells anymore. She opened her grimoire, and made some adjustments to the maths contained in the book. This should help.
She took a deep breath, centering herself. The trick to any arcanist-based magic during the actual summoning cast - the creation of your Egi - was to focus and be well grounded. Today she hoped to summon a Ravana-Egi. Summoning Egi’s required a great deal of personal aether, but Monx felt she was close to optimizing the geometries in her book to make it happen.
One more deep breath.
The conscious opening of herself as a conduit to pull aether from the world around her, as in her black magic practice. The concentration not to do that too much.
Now she manifested the geometry, the patterns searing into her mind. She ran through the calculations one last time: yes, this should do it.
The power coursing through her felt like she was going to be torn apart. She started dumping excess aether into her summoner soul stone. Worry crept up in the back of her throat. What if this was too tall of a task for her? She continued on anyway: the math worked out in her head, it should work out in her actions. She knew she did not need her black mage soul stone to limit her power. She knew her edge and she wouldn’t jump off.
It was done.
A four armed, sword bearing, two winged manifestation of Ravana, the Gnath primal of war and conquest, floated in front of her. It was small compared to her other summons. She could improve upon that later. For now, she was pleased.
“I did it. Everyone said it would be impossible. Everyone said I didn’t have it in me. But I did it. Certainly from here I could do Ramuh, or even Sephirot.” She couldn’t help but touch the Egi, noticing the rose-like patterns on it, the blood colored glow it emitted. She couldn’t help but grin. She always found maintaining the summoned form much easier than the actual summoning, especially after charging her summoner soul stone with so much extra aether. She pointed to a training dummy. “Attack.” She followed the Ravana-Egi and watched as it attacked the dummy, taking notes in her notebook about its form of attack and how it compared to the real Ravana.
“You’re just as ferocious as the real thing, little one.” She smiled as she continued writing. “I’m glad, because ferocity is what we will need for the trials ahead.”
NAME: Coop
AGE: 23
PLAYER JOURNAL:
coopyey TIMEZONE: US Central Time
CONTACT: Discord at coopyey#1337;
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Monx Kha (Nicknames: Blue, Raspberry Custard)
CANON: Final Fantasy XIV
POINT IN CANON: Stormblood Expansion. 4.2, as her team is getting killed by God Kefka in Omega.
AGE: 24
APPEARANCE: Monx stands at a pleasant 4’8”. Lean and more muscular than expected for a caster type. Silvery blonde hair that she keeps up in a ponytail, except for a few pieces she leaves down to frame her face. She has black irises on dark sclera, with a set of color changing limbal rings that frame her irises - the color changes to match her outfit color. At the time of taking, they’re a magenta color. She has a serious resting bitch face - comes from studying too much and generally trying not to combust into flame. She has scale patterns (you can see a little on her face and neck) winding down her arms as well as scale patches on the sides of her thighs, tops of her feet, forearms, and backs of her hands. She also wears fitted silver rings over her horns, which are, in fact, her olfactory organs. Her tail has some movement to help her with balance, but is not expressive like those of Mi’qote.
CANON HISTORY:
Hydaelyn. That’s the name of the world that Monx is from. She was born in Othard, the eastern continent on the planet. She was born and grew up in the Azim Steppe - the ancestral home to the Au Ra and where her people, the Xaela, still reside. Upon becoming a young adult she found herself restless and ventured from Othard to Aldenard and went to Eorzea. Upon arriving to Eorzea she drank a rare potion called a fantasia and woke up what is called a Lalafell in order to throw off anyone who may try to take her back home. Small and pointy-eared, she joined the gladiator’s guild in the city-state Ul’dah, a trading city located in the desert-like land of Thanalan. Bored, she quickly left the gladiator’s guild and the path of the paladin to join the thautmaturge’s guild.
Magic was new to her and she found deep interest in trying to figure out how it worked. She excelled in her studies of thaumaturgy, eventually becoming an incredibly illegal (punishable by death) black mage. Upon learning the incredibly powerful spell flare, a thought occurred to Monx: the black mage soulstone wasn’t used to lend her the power she needed to practice black magic, the soulstone was literally limiting the amount of power she was using to fuel the spells. The first thing she did upon arriving back in town was buy a journal and wrote down the observation. Thus her interest in studying magic and aether was born. As time went on she went to learn white magic and, much to the shagrin of the Padjali, learned the secrets of becoming a white mage. She learned to run calculations among the stars and provide strength and life to her team with magic cards as an astrologian. She found how to summon great and powerful beings from her own aether as both a summoner and scholar; at last she found the peace to balance the conflicting white and black magic schools as a red mage upon entering her home land of Doma to free her people from under the yolk of the Garlean empire. She experimented with mixing these magics to create hybridized, powerful versions of each. Most importantly, she published papers of her findings. She stopped asking the thautmaturge guild to lend her forbidden texts and, instead, brought them hand bound manuscripts of her own work, with calculations and observations expanding upon the ancient tomes they kept. She became known as the Goddess of Magic among her friends in the magic community, and it was not undeserved.
Parallel to her journey into magic Monx helped the people she ran into and eventually gained notice of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn as well as the leaders of the city-states of Eorzea. She assisted the Scions and Eorzean Alliance as needed, acting as an active arm in the field as well as working closely with them to learn how to strategize against whatever enemy they were facing. Once she began her studies, she spent more and more time with Urianger and the others of the Sharlayan’s and, eventually, working with the Sons of Saint Coinach to learn about the Allagan civilization. When she wasn’t studying she was helping bring down the mighty primals of the quarreling beast tribes, especially helping plan these fights with the strategies and knowledge she’d gained from her work with the Scions or the Eorzean Alliance and her research.
By the time Monx made it to Ishgard she was quite close with a certain Lalafell by the name Pina Conada. At the time that the Ishgardian conspiracy came to a full head and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn were in trouble, Monx met the rest of Pina’s party and helped them all to safety. Due to her illegal connections to the underworld of Eorzea and her more or less control of it, she ensured passage to safety for the Warriors of Light, and, upon getting to know each other better, Monx became good acquaintances with all of them during the events of the Dragonsong War. When asked about Ishgard, even to this day she grows stony faced and simply says it was a bad time. She’s not certain anyone’s recovered from the events then.
Stormblood. Monx finally was going home. It was… Awkward. Her knowledge of Doma was invaluable to all parties involved, so she was one of the first to be sent. She wanted nothing more than to get to her home land of the Azim Steppe and see her parents, and she did. Her Gesi father giving her a hug that could break bones, her Kha mother doting on her and having her share what all she’s done. Both couldn’t be more proud. Monx helped with the liberation of Ala Mhigo, as messy as that ordeal was; she helped with the culling of Zenos, and the rending of Shinryu. Her most important task, however, was still to come.
Omega. This strange… AI. It wanted to have a tournament to find the strongest in all of the (Final Fantasy cough) worlds. It sucked in people from different worlds, tested their strength, put them against each other in a fight to the death. This was… Serious. She was put together with seven others, just a small handful of the best there was to offer. The first four floors were easy enough, they passed without issue. From Alte Roite, to Catastrophe. Halicarnassus, to Exdeath. All easy enough foes. Then the next tier came. The Phantom Train? Maybe they didn’t quite suplex it, but they passed. The Demon Chardanook? He belonged in a museum now. Guardian was… A doozy. They could barely get past him. Kefka… Kefka was another level. Just like Exdeath the moment you thought it was over, the fight began. Normal Kefka was easy enough, but Monx never expected to prove her title as the Goddess of Magic against the God of Magic.
CANON PERSONALITY:
More than anything and through everything, Monx is curious. She left her home to learn about the outside word and of the people who inhabit it. She’s never been truly bound by tradition and expectations, she has an idea and usually runs with it. In the start she was impulsive and excitable. Time and work as a strategist for her associated parties have tempered these into asking more pointed questions and acting with more intention and thought put behind the things she does. She does not put her curiosity above others, however. She will not do an experiment if it will hurt those that she cares about. Especially with time tempering her impulse, she is mindful of those around her and what her work may do. The dangerous natures of black and white magic have instilled a level of wariness in her.
In public Monx does her best to be strong, elegant, intelligent. She can tend to be stoic and incredibly formal in front of people she does not know, especially if these are people in “important” positions. She puts up this image in order to make sure others see her as someone who is in control and someone who is always analyzing. In unknown situations she usually also tends to be quiet. It’s amazing what you learn when you let others talk. Often times she has no clue what she’s doing - something she has decided is true of all people - but her goal is to look like she knows exactly what to do and when to do it.
In private Monx is a happy person. She loves her friends and holds them very dear. She tends to be the person always trying to frame grim situations in a more uplifting kind of way, trying to be positive and keep the others afloat. She would do just about anything for her friends. Monx was always the one saying that
For as smart as she is and as smart as she comes off, Monx does not much faith in herself. Inside she is always second guessing herself, wondering if she did the right thing. She’s often anxious and over worried about things. The stress of helping plan how to save the world has piled onto her shoulders very quickly, and that burden is a lot to carry. After mistakes in Ishgard, of Omega… There are cracks there. Cracks she never talks about or gets to express. She has a lot of emotion bottled up in her little frame. Eventually, that bottle will break if she doesn’t figure out how to stop being the strong, reliable pillar that she thinks she is. She loves to help her friends with their problems and listen to them, but any of them that pay attention realize she never opens up about how she’s doing.
Monx is morally grey. She will always try to do the right thing according to the side she is on in Eorzea, but laws don’t really stop her. During her ride over to Eorzea she stole a priceless rarity. Her first Eorzean love is a highly dangerous and definitely illegal magic. Her second love? An equally illegal magic, but at least this one wouldn’t get her killed if she was caught because the Padjali said it was okay. The black market? Hers. She owns it. Literally. Who would say no to a woman that could literally turn you into a pile of ash with only four seconds of her time? Coming from the Xaela people, who’s law was writ by the Au Ra standing at the top of a pile of bodies, it’s not really a surprise that Eorzean laws didn’t really make her pause.
Despite her grey morals (in the eyes of Eorzea, anyway), she tends to be a very loyal person. She may do something and ask forgiveness after rather than ask for permission, but she always means well. Monx is closest with Nanamo, the figurehead monarch leader of Ul’dah, Merlwyb, queen of the Limsa Lominsan pirates, and Pina Colada. Pina and Monx have known each other for quite a while and are business partners - the Colada business partnered with the black market. At least money was never in question after.
Last but not least: Monx is a very patient person. She’s taught so many people magic and how to better wield it. She’s tutored in maths and ancient languages, writing and speaking. You don’t study and focus as hard as she does if you’re not patient. She has often given the word at meetings with leaders to just wait for a little while longer if things were questionable. Often times the answer becomes evident if you’re willing to wait.
POINT OF DEPARTURE:
As a PC from FFXIV Monx is shunted into the path of being a Warrior of Light. In this iteration of hre, this is not the case. She is not gifted with the Echo and related powers. She is especially skilled in magic and is able to do incredible calculations in her head. Monx does have deep personal relationships with Merlwyb, Coco and his brothers (thautmaturge guildmaster and leaders), and Nanamo that extend much further than those given in the story as well. The story does not allow us to see how for every moment spent adventuring she spends thrice that writing, nor does it show all of the times she’s sat with the generals of the Eorzean Alliance planning their next moves. By the end of patch 4.2 is when she’s taken. She is in the middle of the final Omega 8 Savage battle and her raid group, comprised of herself and seven other people, cleared original form Kefka. They have pulled and were fighting Kefka in his God of Magic form. He’s killed her entire party and she’s the only one left. With an overly dramatic “YOU THINK YOU’RE THE GODDESS OF MAGIC? HAVE YOU MET ME? AN ACTUAL GOD?” with a very cinematic slow motion turn Monx can’t help but know that this is the end.
ABILITIES:
Black magic: powerful offensive magic based on fire, wind, and thunder (in the real world we call it lightning). Very minimal but existent blood magic to convert physical hardiness into magical hardiness.
White magic: powerful offensive or healing magic based upon earth, wind, and water. Heavy focus on restoration alone, more focus on damage when coupled with black magic.
Arcanist magic: infect enemies with diseases that chip away at health and cause death and decay. Alternately, create shields used to mitigate damage and heal allies.
Summoning: using internal aether reserves can summon familiars that may or may not be elementally aspected. With complex enough maths and enough aether can summon more complex and more powerful beings (prose sample gives example of an unusual summon not available in game). May also summon forgotten faeries that provide succor to party members, should damage not be the intent.
Water breathing: thanks to an encounter with the Kojin beast tribe in the Ruby Sea after a rather glorious and joyous battle with the primal Susano.
If it’s a math problem she can solve it.
INVENTORY:
A specialized scythe rod that’s been customized by her to work for either her black or white magic channeling.
A specialized grimoire that’s been customized by her to work for either summoning or scholar healing.
A half finished handmade astroglobe and card set. The main astrologian cards are finished, but a full Deck of Sixty is still in progress - not fully painted.
Enchanted battle clothes (the outfit in description).
Goldsmith crafter tools.
The following soulstones, as well as any magic-based class soulstone that may be put into the game in the future, as the magic exists no matter the the canon: black mage, white mage, red mage, astrologian, summoner, scholar.
Her notes book and writing utensils that she writes observations, thoughts, calculations, etc in. No, it’s not a personal diary. Like that’s not sarcastic. She doesn’t keep a personal diary. Tucked inside is a map of Hydaelyn with strange markings of aetherial flow and mapping.
Mount whistles to call aetherial lanners, aspected after the following primals: Ravana (red), Sephirot (blue), Nidhogg (purple), Zurvan (orange), Sophia (yellow), Thordan (pink), Bismark (white)
A mount whistle to call the firebird mount, made from the combined aether of the seven lanners. The firebird is essentially a phoenix, NOT to be confused with the phoenix summon.
An undefined amount of gil, an undefined amount of every kind of tomestone up to Mendacity.
A questionable amount of persimmon leaf sushi and crimson cider.
The key to her house.
She has a pet bom boko that was gifted to her from the paladin in her raid group. She can often be found interacting with it when not in the middle of adventuring.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? She has never seen a raspberry - they don’t exist in FFXIV.
M A R K S;
JUSTIFICATION:
The Sun: She is genuinely a happy person deep down under all of the layers of stress and anxiety she’s built in her adventure. She is positive, chipper, a joy to be around when in a casual setting. She seeks out the bright side of every situation when possible, and otherwise believes that people will inherently do the right thing and in redemption. She is generally optimistic and does her best to keep those around her the same.
Strength: Literally everything involved in her main magical studies have to do with self control, stability, solidity, perseverance, inner strength, and moderation. Having never touched magic before going to Eorzea she had to work hard and study to get to where she is today - magic is not something that ever came naturally to her. In her studies she’s learned how to slow down be patient, to wait, and to keep at it no matter what roadblocks she faces. Her study has tempered her previously excitable and rash personality into a much more stable, caring, and patient person. Often she advocates to wait and see before jumping in head first.
S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE:
[Dips quill in ink] So, Cait, what you mean to tell me is that the Nullstone is not only a Mhachi artifact, but can actually banish the voidsent? [chews on top of quill] I see. What is the manner with which it works? [eyes widen, sets quill down] What do you mean? [turns to Cait Sith] This? This right here? [motions vaguely at the Nullstone] It severs the essence of a voidsent from its vessel? [solemn pause, tilts head and places left hand at chin with right hand cupping elbow, looks at the Nullstone] Hmm…
Certainly you must allow me to borrow this artifact so I may study it. [looks to Cait Sith] ...No? Do you not know who I am? Have you not seen my works? [stands, pulls manuscripts from bookshelf] I am.. [hands Cait Sith said manuscripts] ...simply the most knowledgeable on the topic of magic and magic-related items at this point. [looks to Cait Sith] For you to deny me is akin to denying the Sons of Saint Coinach a lost Allagan artifact! If you don’t think I can protect it, then you clearly don’t know me very well.
[shakes head] That isn’t a worry. Not all books I write go into public circulation. Some only go to join the forbidden texts in Ul’dah with the thautmaturge brothers. [smiles] Of course I would give you a copy of what I find, I’ll give you a personally bound manuscript! [light laughter]
PROSE SAMPLE:
The Circle of Answering was quiet today. Not many spent their time practicing their skills, it seemed. A new training area for a new phase in what seemed to be a never ending adventure. It was a shame, really, that more people did not take advantage of it. Everyone could always use some practice in their skills. There were not many training dummies that could withstand the force of her spells anymore. She opened her grimoire, and made some adjustments to the maths contained in the book. This should help.
She took a deep breath, centering herself. The trick to any arcanist-based magic during the actual summoning cast - the creation of your Egi - was to focus and be well grounded. Today she hoped to summon a Ravana-Egi. Summoning Egi’s required a great deal of personal aether, but Monx felt she was close to optimizing the geometries in her book to make it happen.
One more deep breath.
The conscious opening of herself as a conduit to pull aether from the world around her, as in her black magic practice. The concentration not to do that too much.
Now she manifested the geometry, the patterns searing into her mind. She ran through the calculations one last time: yes, this should do it.
The power coursing through her felt like she was going to be torn apart. She started dumping excess aether into her summoner soul stone. Worry crept up in the back of her throat. What if this was too tall of a task for her? She continued on anyway: the math worked out in her head, it should work out in her actions. She knew she did not need her black mage soul stone to limit her power. She knew her edge and she wouldn’t jump off.
It was done.
A four armed, sword bearing, two winged manifestation of Ravana, the Gnath primal of war and conquest, floated in front of her. It was small compared to her other summons. She could improve upon that later. For now, she was pleased.
“I did it. Everyone said it would be impossible. Everyone said I didn’t have it in me. But I did it. Certainly from here I could do Ramuh, or even Sephirot.” She couldn’t help but touch the Egi, noticing the rose-like patterns on it, the blood colored glow it emitted. She couldn’t help but grin. She always found maintaining the summoned form much easier than the actual summoning, especially after charging her summoner soul stone with so much extra aether. She pointed to a training dummy. “Attack.” She followed the Ravana-Egi and watched as it attacked the dummy, taking notes in her notebook about its form of attack and how it compared to the real Ravana.
“You’re just as ferocious as the real thing, little one.” She smiled as she continued writing. “I’m glad, because ferocity is what we will need for the trials ahead.”