Like a Lightning Strike

Back in the Golmore Jungle, the homeland of the Viera, was a nomadic family of Viera, I don’t have a family name because we don’t know the lore for those and I’m impatient, but the important thing is that they’re a group gifted in conjury who have sharp teeth and travel around with another family of Viera gifted in thaumaturgy. These two groups of Viera travelled around the wood with a mission that had been passed down and down again, to find and cover up any relics of the past, technology and magics that could lead to foolish outsiders trying to discover or uncover more. The thaumaturges would locate the relics and ensure that they are safe or take measures to weaken or seal them while the conjurers would bend nature to their will in order to remove any trace of them, with trees, grass, and dirt all moving to ensure that no one could ever find these things ever again.

It was during one such excursion towards securing one of these relics that representatives of the two viera families would finally shatter the many many years of tradition and duty. While walking through the wood they heard a *thwak* as they stood silent, seeing a male viera, the nigh invisible protectors of the wood fall, dead. Knowing that anyone capable of killing him would be far too dangerous to trifle with, they silently looked around, though most of them saw nothing. One of the group, due to an attunement they didn’t even know they had, saw a masked floating cloaked figure, when this story was later relayed, the figure would of course be identified as an Ascian. The ascian, satisfied with whatever they had come here to do but clearly annoyed at the viera’s interruption, then vanished without a trace.

This incident was the straw that broke the camel's back, as Brhyr, the leader of the viera conjurers had already started to become disillusioned with the actions of the other Viera families and leadership. Having heard the horns of war in the continent to the south, feeling the winds of change coming on upon the wood, and fearing an oncoming calamity, this spectre was clearly a sign that they had to take some sort of action. In a very heated council meeting, other problems were also brought up, there was some sort of illness, various reports of odd incidents, and of course the dead male viera all left the leaders divided and uncertain. In the midsts of this, one of them made the suggestion of using one of the relics to try to divine or craft a solution. The anger that followed ensured that no one ever was sure who made that suggestion and also ensured that as soon as the meeting ended, Brhyr would send word that it was time for her and her people, and any who wished to follow, to leave the wood and find other ways of life.

Brhyr and her family would leave, silently seperating from the others and turning their back on their duty, travelling down Othard and eventually making their way to Thavnir. Brhyr’s group had changed a bit, with some Viera having settled down in other places, some deciding to head in another direction, and gaining some other Viera who had heard of Brhyr and also wanted a new place to find on their own. However, so far, they had not found it. Thavnir would not be it, but it was a hub with which to go elsewhere, if nothing else. It was upon trying to figure out what elsewhere to go that Brhyr chanced on Mari Mpago, also a traveller away from home, seeking medicine to take home and save some of her people. She was not having a lot of luck, with those in Thavnir either uninterested or unwilling to help. Mari would not be deterred however, and the determination with which she acted moved Brhyr, who questioned her on her problems.

The two spoke all night, extremely interested in the other’s plight, and Brhyr suggested that her conjury could help Mari. They came to an agreement, with Mari arranging for travel for Brhyr’s group in exchange for the help. The trip to Mari’s homeland would be a long one for the pair, as they spoke every day, learned more and more about the other, and fell in love… After some time, they would eventually land in the south east of the Rhtano Sea, La Isla Centella. Mari came home and introduced the travellers she had brought along, the people of her tribe amazed that their Wanderer had succeeded in her mission. Brhyr and her people cured the sickness and she announced her love to Mari, and how she would stay on the island. Some of her group went onwards to the west, but many stayed, feeling comfortable on the island and happy to stay and intermingle. The island was now one where Miqo'te and Viera lived together, which they would in relative peace, sending occasional rare word back to the wood, to let others know about their lives, and that this could be a home for any who wanted it to be.

There was some cultural shifts and an uncertainty on the parts of the Viera on how to reconcile their upbringings and cultures with those of the Miqo’te, especially that of gender identity as they struggled with what it meant to be a male or female viera without the context of the wood. Brhyr and Mari spoke at length leading up to the birth of their first child, but ultimately decided to raise them with Miqo’te cultures primarily in mind, wanting to adopt the customs of their new home.

Rel Mpago was their firstborn, and they would later give birth to Mari’a Mpago as well. The two were beloved by not only their parents, but the many Viera and Miqo’te who would be a constant presence in their lives, all of them raising the first children of this new chapter in the islands life together. Mari’a would eventually decide to become a woman and take up the mantle from Mari as the Wanderer of the island, travelling out to get whatever the island needed while Rel would stay on the island, eventually marry, and give birth to one Rel’a Mpago, a future warrior of light…

Rel’a probably looked up to their aunt a lot, and was probably very inspired by her, leaning on her a lot. Rel’a’s upbringing was similar to their parents and Rel’a was blessed with far more younger siblings than Rel was. Eventually, Rel’a would discover that they were blessed with the echo, the calamity would hit, and Rel’a would know that they had to go north, they had to go to the land known as Eorzea. Rel and Brhyr were against it at first, but Mari’a insisted that they let their eldest go on their own path. Still, there was an uncertainty. At the time, Rel’a still identified as male and there was still a lot of apprehension and fear with what the people of eorzea would do upon seeing not just a viera, but a male one at that…