#yrys

Release: April 12, 2024

Lyrics:

Been waiting for someone to tell me that I’m wrong

To make me realise that this is just a song

Don’t wanna be a slave to all the things you said

So from now on, you’ll just be out of my head

I know that it’s a lie

Every time you say you think that I’m the one

Feels so nice, but surprise

I know that it s a lie

Every time you try to just come back to me

You will see, you will see

That now I can be free

But now I can be free

You know that words can hurt you even if you’re strong

Can’t seal the bond we’ve had, you know it’s been too long

You’ll never let me down again cauze now you re gone

You won’t be back and now my life goes on

I know that it’s a lie

Every time you say you think that I’m the one

Feels so nice, but surprise

I know that it s a lie

Every time you try to just come back to me

You will see, you will see

That now I can be free

But now I can be free

Songwriter: Cristian Pistol

Every time you say you think that I’m the one

Feels so nice, but surprise

I know that it s a lie

Every time you try to just come back to me

You will see, you will see

That now I can be free

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Yrys's first experience with magic was before she had the name Yrys back when she was a very small child still living in the Skytay Range forests. In a different life she probably could have moved in to some position of using her obvious talent with Mist for the good of the tribe and the forests, but she has no idea what that would look like. Her mother wasn't a mage, not even particularly having impressive aether. She was skilled hunter, and later many other things martial till her death. Yrys's father, like many Viera is unknown. But if her capacity for magic was inherited it might well be from there.

So she didn't learn magic from her mother, though she did have her mothers support. Which is the only reason she started as early as she did. After Dalmasca was invaded that her mother took her and fled, not right away but eventually, to Doma then Kugane. Kugane was where she got her first lesson on what magic could do. She was struck by it immediately. Really what child wouldn't love to hear they could do anything with the power of magic and she, yes she, has a talent.

They only stayed in Kugane for about two years, playing as an apprentice for a older eastern Arcanist. A shorter stay then even Dalmasca. But she earned something more important in Kugane then she did Dalmasca, or so she thought, an education in arcanima. Sure the kind of education you'd expect from a child of something like ten, but the next place they ended up solidified that path for the rest of her life. Limsa Lominsa, city of the guild of Arcanists.

Still before we move on there lets step back a moment to look at the events in Dalmasca a moment before at the time it was just a painful experience for her. She was nearly crushed to death by a building falling on her. She lost sight in her right eye almost entirely because of it. Plus it was a terrifying time for everyone. She has few good memories of the place, though her mother talked about it fondly in later years. But none of this has to do with magic so why bring it up? Because the event in Dalmasca triggered something in Yrys that she wouldn't understand till decades later, but would eventually save her life. The Echo.

Lets address that right away. The Echo? I think I added that to Yrys at the earliest point because of the path I wanted her to tread and the protection it provides. Or did provide? Thanks for making that confusing Endwalker. I'm still wary about it honestly just because of what it is and the kind of power is represents. But wary doesn't mean I don't think it is necessary for one pivotal event in her life. Just something I need to be careful with. Plus I can ignore it most of the time and it opens up interesting rp potentially.

But back to Limsa. How did they get there and why does the guild matter? Back in Kugane her mother got involved with a Hyur Merchant from Eorzea as one of his guards. He wanted a tall, beautiful, and deadly woman at his side and he payed well. Eventually he offered to take the two of them with him back to Eorzea because they'd become good friends. Trading in Kugane was becoming increasingly dangerous though with the Empire waging it's increasingly expansionist war and he didn't think he'd be making the trip again. He personally lived in Ul'Dah but he traded in Limsa often as a port before crossing to Kugane and he'd be staying in Limsa for a while to work on new trade deals. Yrys and her mother moved in to a small space and eventually her mother found her an Arcanist that was willing to take her on as an apprentice again. At least untill she was old enough to join the guild herself.

As I said before Limsa was foundational to Yrys. The years she spent here solidified her path. A few events later would change that from a life path to an obsession but it still was the one of the important beginnings. She went from being a novice child to a competent adept of arcanima in the next few years. Good enough that when they left for Ul'Dah and the fateful event she was safe enough to explore the path of magic with out a teacher constantly at her side.

Ul'Dah. Retched city that is it. Why go there? Mostly because of the Merchant. He wanted Yrys's mother to join him at his home esate. At this point she's been working as his guard for years, she was extremely well trusted. He wanted the two to come meet his wife and child, maybe Yrys and his daughter would be friends.

It wasn't to be though, not for long at least. Yrys at this point was often traveling with her mother and the merchant on trade caravans. Her education in arcanima also left her extremely skilled with math and logistics. Plus who doesn't want a skilled mage along, even if they were a bit young? One such caravan to the Black Shroud ran in to an ambush by the Amalj'aa. The story from there turning dark. They were out looking for captives and unfortunately the caravan guards prove too ineffective.

I wont address the specifics of what happened after that but the long and short of it was that Yrys and her mother were exposed to the Primal Ifrit. Yrys survived those events thanks to her gift and rescue mission from Ul'Dah, her mother though did not. A dark day in her life but not completely bleak. The Merchant had survived with his mind in whole and his own, and he decided to take Yrys in continuing the support her mother had provided up to that point in her education.

Past this we move in to a period that I feel less a need to detail. It wasn't uneventful but it was slower. More open for me to fill in with interesting less defining events. Yrys dove in to her practice and then eventually in to research to push the boundaries of her magic. She started working with the guild in Ul'Dah to work out similarities in the different disciplines of magic. This was the period where she started manipulating her own aether. Something she could only do because of the old Arcanist from Kugane. She had learned to see with out eyes. To see aether itself. Something she probably shouldn't have learned but she appreciated the gift to replace her blind eye.

She started working as a Tutor to fund her projects. Occasionally working for he merchant, who at this point she thought of as a father figure. Over time she was given a place of her own to live and work out of, largely as a reward for her work, but also because it become obvious that Yrys needed more space to herself.

She also started looking in to Alchemy, at first it seemed like a waste of time, but having to buy grimoires started to annoy her, plus the vast amount of ink she would go through. Those alone wouldn't have pushed her to the field, but she read some work on the aethrochemical works of the Allegans and realized that is might help with her research. Of course you can't find an tutor of aetherochemical studies, but you can for alchemy. A stepping stone. She was willing to recreate entire fields of study if she had to.

Yrys is keenly aware that she has significantly more time then most researchers will ever have. Plus if she research pays out she might have much longer then even that to study. Still another three hundred years was nothing to sniff at. Of course only if she could survive those year.

One thing I haven't address yet is summoning. Summoner was the thing that drove almost all of Yrys's plot at the start. That interest in the allegan came two fold. One obviously in their sciences but also in the skill of summoning. How did she even start though? She had at least the requisite encounter with a primal. But where did she get the soul stone to actually learn the skills? I don't actually have an answer yet, which is a bit unsatisfying, but that feels like something that needs more then just 'she found it'. Something I need to work out, but since it's not something she's likely to show off in all but the most dire situations I have time.

Yrys's range of skills

The above provide a decent overview of how Yrys got to where she is. It lacks on detail but detail will be created slowly over time as I find more inspiration for writing. Below will be a general list of her range of skills.

Arcanist, likely nearing mastery of the art. She certainly beyond the teachings of the guild in Eorzea or the East. It's her primary skill and the thing she earns most of her money from. Acting as anything from tutor to healer.

That said Yrys has taken her arcanima to a different level. As she reached the upper bounds of what was taught at the guild she began to explore the origins of magic. Eventually leading to the history before the advent of focuses, when mages struggle to hold spells entirely in their minds, a minor mistake oft doing much worse then just failing. With this in mind she began to experiment with the skill finding some excitement in the extreme challenge of holding a spell entirely in her mind. She wouldn't claim any kind of mastery in the subject but she can do it.

Tied to that and her recent foray in to alchemy is tattoo's as a focus. It's a bit like drawing in a grimoire but instead directly on her skin. The ink wears out eventually and fade or washes off so it's not something she uses often. Plus that quality and quantity of ink is very expensive. She's considered something more permanent but that would require another person significantly more skill in application then her. She can create the design, but keeping a steady hand while drawing on herself is to much. Not to mention places she can't easily reach or see.

Move on. Living in Ul'Dah has given her access to the Thaumaturgy guild. She's not officially a practitioner, but she has done work with them on occasion and has a working understand of the magic style.

Then of course we come to summoning. A terrible power but one so every close to her goals. It's a recent power, compared to her others at least. So some skill, but limited to Ifrit though that is something she'd like to change. Given that would be highly illegal and unethical for her to do so we'll see.

Past that it safe to assume Yrys at least knows about the other styles of magic even if she has no practical exposure to them. White magic obviously not, though she'd probably kill for a soul stone. Or pay quite a lot for a book detailing the magic. But she explicitly avoid the shroud for years, until recently, so even her exposure to conjurey is low. Black magic is making it's come back I understand? Not something she's explored as of yet. Same for Astrologian, Sage, and Red magics. Blue magic is probably the only style that she has next to no knowledge of beyond knowing it exists.

Outside of direct magic schools she obviously has some skill in Alchemy and an interest in something deeper then that. Mostly she uses it to create inks, though she does keep a small store of healing potions and ether made by her hand since those always have a use.

Math and Logistics are skills she's learned, and very proficient at, along with her training as an Arcanist It server her 'father' well and pays well generally. Also useful for tutoring.

Thanks to her general education she also has familiarity with history as a subject. She largely uses it for teaching. but it helps on occasion when she's looking in to older magical styles. Or knowing where to find information on whatever weird and amazing thing the Allagen's did.

Very recently she's been looking in to the chakra's of the monks. That has a direct tie to her study of aether. She hasn't manage to unlock any of hers yet, but without a teacher she realizes it will just be trial and error until she's lucky. On the topic her mother insisted she have some physical training at least, if only to know how to use her body and keep in shape. Modest proficiency in hand to hand. Certainly not going to win a fighting tournament but she can make a mugger sorry generally.

Also recently after a trip to the shroud she's been looking in to weapons made of aether. If you can create a carbuncle why not a sword? I mean there are reasons but aether weapons do exist and it falls under a random interest she has.

She can cook. She wont starve to death or be forced to eat uncooked food, well as long as she doesn't run out of money by spending it all on a random experiment.

Yrys can see aether. She's been able to do it from her youth thanks to her foolish but well meaning teacher. She was more conservative about doing it before the death of her mother, but since her death she uses it often. Particular in experiments with her own aether.

Her own aether. Yrys has specific control over the balance of her aether. She generally forces it completely balance in all aspects. A pleasant almost clear appearance. This started as a way to hide that she'd be change by her encounter with ifrit. If she leaves her aether alone for a long period of time it will slowly aspect toward umbral fire. The skill itself has lead to her being able to intuit balances of aether as percentages with decent accuracy even in other things.

Well this certainly went much longer then I thought it would. I mean looking at it that should have been obvious. Anyway I've decide to cut it in to two simply because this was approaching five pages of text. I could use a break. Next part will probably cover her goals relating to magic, Unique items she owns, and her personality. Though the later might just get rolled in to goals.

On to the magic.

Yrys has been studying arcanima for decades at this point. So most of the magic that anyone will see her casting will be with a grimoire of some sort. Those precise geometric lines scribed to page to help shape her internal aether into spell. That's the physical side, the bit most people will see. The spells themselves are what you'd expect from an Arcanist. Clean in form and function the color oft betraying the intent behind the spell in the moment before it triggers.

That's only what most people would see, and only those that can't see aether. Those that could? Well the would get a more interesting picture. One thing I've pointed out is that Yrys's personal aether is particularly unaspected. A general glance wouldn't raise suspicion but a more detailed study would reveal some kind of tampering, though only the most educated aetherolgist might even begin to guess why. But this isn't about her personal aether so much as that she has the skill to do it. Why is that important? It reveals about how she draws on and shapes her own aether. She easily nudges it's aspect to something more suitable to the spell as she draws it. This feat is largely exclusive to her own aether, at least in degree of skill. Those that see would see aether shift and change in aspect and polarity in the moment between it being drawn and that moment of becoming spell. A trick she claim helps with efficiency.

Of course this all applies to what one might see in public. Yrys has been studying aether close to twenty-five years, its very literally her life. An obsession really. So there are certainly secrets that she keeps, studies that few eyes ever see. Arts that she pursues that certainly have no link to arcanima. Her obsession has drawn her to chasing any and every method. Most she only has passing skill with or no skill and just knowledge of. For now if she has her way. Which is an overly wordy way to say in a more private or more dangerous setting you might see her pull out other tricks.

What does it look like when she needs more aether then her body can safely give? When she's forced to reach out to the world and borrow power?

If anyone could get in to Yry's head in that moment all they would have seen was an array of symbols and numbers backed by annoyance and tinged in rage. Few ever saw her rage, she was always so calm, so professional. Those few? They were always with her when the ships were attacked, or some other situation that put lives on her line. Particularly hers.

It wasn't that she didn't care about others. That they couldn't upset her. Couldn't draw out those emotions. Life had just taken all her rage cooled it to ash and then pressed the ash to a diamond. The only thing that ever truly freed that rage was a threat to her life. Like the one before them now.

The fishmen, the Sahagin, had made on to the deck of the ship just a few minutes before and already it was chaos. The ship had guards but most had been below deck when the surprise attack started. The few on the deck were immediately targeted in an obvious attempt to cow the rest of the sailors in to obedience. It was working too. Slowly the sailor were surrendering in the face of certain death.

Yrys though was on the top deck with the wheel, two guards both holding the stairs up to them and the pilot of the ship. Not much to win the day with. If they could buy a few minutes the captain and the guards down stairs would arrive, but those would be precious minutes. Her eyes scanned the lower deck again taking the scene in.

The few guards that hadn't already fallen had wisely made a ring around the door leading to the stairs in to the ship. That was their lifeline after all, once the door was taken the people downstairs would be next to useless. Aside from them there were the sailor most who foolishly surrendered. Still that informed her of what the fishmen wanted. Captives.

Her blood boiled at the thought. She spun to face the guards before she barked out orders. "I'm going to buy us time, but it's going to attract attention. The vicious, pointed kind. You MUST hold those stairs no matter what." The anger tinged her order, her demand. She was asking for their lives in an all to real sense.

Fortunately for everyone on that ship those were men that knew her well, guards that had served her father loyally for many years and often got sent with her on the rare times her father asked her help for some job. They were their that fateful day so many years ago and they knew that tone. Yrys meant to do everything in power to turn the situation, everything for survival.

She knew they'd hold the stairs even if it meant throwing their bodies down at their enemies to buy just a few more precious seconds. With that comfort in mind she went to work.

When had it started raining? She only noticed now, a distraction from what she was about to do. In another moment she might have enjoy the drops splattering against her face and rolling down her skin. Now wasn't the time though. Aether started to build up around her as she flipped open the waterproofed grimoire that hung constantly at her side during the trip.

That was the start. The more sensitive among the Sahagin noticed immediately barking out order for their men to stop whatever was going on up by the wheel. They fishmen were quick to follow orders, but it wouldn't matter. The moment they met the two guard at the top of the stairs it become obvious there was still fight in at least some on the ship. Two fishmen fell to swords making of mess for the rest to try and climb over. Every moment the aether responded to a call at on the top deck swirling in rapidly.

Only a few moment has passed since she's started but already her carbuncle had responded to summons popping in to existence to aid her in drawing in aether for her plan. It held the aether in it's form as she worked the spell through her mind. Fine patterns building in her mind ever more complex every moment.

A second passed. Then two. The water and air aspected aether of the sea began to shift as it passed through her carbuncle and the spell she was weaving. More fighting at the stairs, even the pilot was trying to help taking up one of the Sahagin's fallen spears.

A shaman was coming up the stairs pulling his own aether to clear away the annoying bodyguards. A third second passed.

Rage was all she could feel at this point. The rush of aether flooded her mind and feed that rage. Only decades of training kept the spell from failing in the moment.

One of the guards had been stabbed. Both were falling back to buy just a bit of space but Yrys couldn't give them her attention. Later. Later she could thank them. For now she had focus on the swirling blaze that she'd pulled in reality. A blaze that rapidly grew and took shape at the cost of the carbuncle who faded away its duty fulfilled.

Four seconds. The shaman was at the top of the step rapidly trying to cast a spell to stop her, to kill her. That mass of power needed to be stopped.

Five seconds and it was too late. Yrys knew it, the shaman did. Everyone on the ship did honestly. It was hard to miss that aether turn to a visible ball of flame taking the shape of some monster. A shape that left a chill in the bone of the two guards. Too familiar.

She always reached for fire, later she'd reflect on the day that made this particularly feat of magic possible. For now though she put all her focus in to guiding the beast of fire. The shaman first, cut down in a blink by rage my manifest. Then on to the stairs and pushing it way down, cutting down the fishmen that didn't make way or just tossing them over side ,to join ranks with the soldiers near the door.

The moment it hit ground floor the tide of the fighting turned. Even the sailors got back to their feet to fight. The beast of rage and fire couldn't last but it didn't need to. Soon the guards from below deck burst forth to finish the job. The moment they showed Yrys let her self collapse.

She'd pay for that effort later. More in nightmares then in pain but even her reserves were testing in supporting that beast for more then a few moments. She laughed off the dark thoughts of memories past bubbling up and pressed down the rage again to it's diamond. Let herself bask in the warm feeling from all the aether she'd channeled.

Then turning away from the fighting she moved to assist the two guard and the pilot that had protected her for those crucial moments. A bit of healing she could manage still.