venator vita
Bury your fangs in my flesh. Tear me asunder.
he is a beast of the chain before he is anything else. fate has buried the heavy lead that hangs from his neck here, in the snow and ice, where it will tether him until there is nothing left for the crows to pick at.
“ When I was a child I truly loved:
Unthinking love as calm and deep
As the North Sea. But I have lived,
And now I do not sleep. ”
Before you read . . .
21+ only, no exceptions
not looking for erp
cw: blood, injury just shy of gore, beast & hunter imagery
mun ely (21+)
pronouns she/they
server Aether | Faerie
contact discord (@celestialelysium) / in-game
Hello, I'm Ely! I've been playing FFXIV since about 2020, and I've dabbled in every part of the game. I've been an ultimate and savage raider, deep dungeon delver, venue owner, roleplayer, crafter, gatherer, and more!
GUIDELINES
ABOUT ME
Hello, I'm Ely! I've been playing FFXIV since about 2020, and I've dabbled in every part of the game. I've been an ultimate and savage raider, deep dungeon delver, venue owner, roleplayer, crafter, gatherer, and more!
Venator Vita is my favorite creative exercise. I love building lore and content around my boy, and I love sharing that content with others, and seeing other people's stories in return!
My boy is grim- I am not! feel free to approach me; I'm always happy to chat!
21+, no bigots, no minors, etc.
ABOUT VENN
Venn is my villain. He's self-serving, quick to anger, and eager to bite back. He's also loyal to a fault, highly idealistic, and stubborn in pursuit of his own righteous ideals. He has been a good person before—he could be a good person again.
Venn is, for all of my grandiose writing, just a soldier. His strength and speed are human, and not terribly remarkable even in that. He lives on the scale of a single, ordinary person.
Venn's story explores themes of loss of autonomy, manipulation, and the corruption that comes alongside loyalty. Despite the best intentions, things that are pure tarnish with contact.
LOOKING FOR:
Long-term RP: I'm a fan of character development, building bonds, and the ups and downs of flawed people. I'm open to short-term interactions, but they're less enticing!
Morally grey/antagonistic characters: Venn is a villain. I often find it hard to justify him being with people who do not share some of his less savoury characteristics, just due to the nature of his work. It's possible to set up a storyline with a more positively aligned character, but it'll be more difficult!
OOC banter: RP is more fun with friends! I love sharing character songs, memes, silly bits about ffxiv; If we strike up a rapport, the writing will be all the more fun for it. (Bonus if you're on Aether- I'd love to find more RP folks over here!)
Conflict conflict conflict: a good story has to have a problem!!
Narrative over pedantry: I'll do anything for the story. I love planning out where arcs go, and I'm very open to negotiating events to create the best scene possible, so long as actions stay in character. At any given moment, any person might choose to do anything- let's make sure our choices create great stories :)
NOT LOOKING FOR:
ERP/Romance Plots: I'm not opposed to relationship buiding if that comes up down the line, but it's predicated on substantial character development and growth. My boy is pretty at capacity on romantic partners.
Interactions with anyone under 21. Non-negotiable.
Extremely powerful/power-scaled conflicts: Venn is literally just a guy. I love seeing what kinds of arcane lore people come up with for characters, but if you have command over primal energy, you're just going to kill him LOL.
Weird pro-Garlean sentiments or other IRL bigotry: Venn's as much a victim of Garlemald as anyone else. I like using Garlemald to tell stories, but I most certainly don't endorse them, and don't appreciate when Garlean characters bleed over into people's real life. Please be normal.
Slice-of-life/no-stakes RP: if our characters have built a rapport, there might be an opportunity to explore more casual stories, but at first, it makes sense to build a narrative with a conflict.
STATS
prima facie: the winter winds of Venator's homelands trail behind him. He has moved from place to snowy place, and now their bitter cold is enshrined in the softness of his steps, in the fall of his cloak, in the cut of his gaze.in colloquium: the keen-eyed mercenary is loathe to speak before he has the full grasp of a situation. He will linger in any conversation until he has the full scope of it; only then is he comfortable engaging.
NAME
Venator Vita NICKNAME/ALIAS
Venn TITLES
Venator dus Vita
The Hound of Garlemald AGE
97 GENDER & PRONOUNS
male, he/him RACE / ETHNICITY
Veena Viera
NATIONALITY
displaced Veena Viera, Garlean conscript CURRENT RESIDENCE
Garlemald OCCUPATION
mercenary
HEIGHT
6'1" HAIR
black EYES
green
POSITIVE TRAITS
polite, idealistic, loyal NEUTRAL TRAITS
observant, cautious, reticent NEGATIVE TRAITS
stubborn, resentful, cold
HISTORIA
The threads that weave him will snap under strain. He is a delicate thing– spun of rabbit fur and wet gossamer and sinewy moonlight– and he bends under the weight of his own heart. It has ever been heavy, weighted with his mother’s disdain and his brother’s absence and the hope for his sister’s birth.It drags him down.He is removed from his family like something malignant, an excision that leaves no scar. The host is undamaged; he is unmoored. It is always like this.When he finds home for the first time, it is not a place. There has never been a place for him. Instead, it is a person– a warm smile and a soft touch and an easy lightness. His best friend– his only friend. It makes the world feel real for the first time, like a dream handwoven for him.The hand of Garlemald cuts it cleanly in two.Few things survive contact with the Imperial body. It is unlucky that Venator does; his conscription is sealed with a blow that will ring in his head for the rest of his life. It spends twelve years echoing through his frame, making his steps unsteady and his gaze unclear. Twelve years, each and every one of them soaked in the bone-deep misery of Imperial infantry. He is not suited for this life; his gossamer heart frays and shreds where it brushes against this world. At least his friend has not been torn from his side.
The day he dies is as cold as any other. It is not even an another person who takes his life; he loses it to catastrophe, to gravity, to the crush of a world that has never felt like home.Vita mutatur, non tollitur.The worm in the chrysalis is dissolved before its rebirth– the phoenix depicted as a vulture, picking at the flesh of its own corpse. Most of him sloughs off in death. Whatever wakes up is not him. How could it be?
When he opens his eyes, he is in pieces. His friend– his love– is gone. Venator’s body was almost cold to the touch, and he had fled rather than watch the boy die.
There are thorns tangled where thread used to be. That is what he is now– something made of blood-drawn points with everything else pruned back. Nothing left to be soft for.It is always like this.The man who wakes him wins his affections. The act– happenstance in itself– is enough to buy the newborn Venator’s loyalty. It is the loyalty of a kicked dog, and all the more severe for it.The hunting hound kills at the order of his master, and then, one day, perhaps it does not need the command to crave the hunt.Oh, Venator.
HOOKS
HOUND OUT OF HELL
A hunting dog is nothing without its master. Venator hunts for garlemald not out of love for the empire, but out of devotion to the man who saved his life. Ultimately, it does not matter– his loyalty is lethal to Garlemald's opponents either way. If you count among their number, you may find yourself face to face with the hound himself.
SHADOW IN THE SUN
Venator deals in work too unsavory for the public eye. To achieve it, he works with those who slink below the surface. If you have a foothold in the darker side of Eorzea, Venator may find himself at your door, seeking information.
FOR A PRICE
Venator's patron may, for the right cost, allow his mercenaries' services to be rented. The group is highly accomplished, Venn only one among them, and they might be a valuable investment to those willing to cut a deal with a Garlean.
I KNOW THE PIECES FIT
Venator, for all his faults, has never managed to shake his heart entirely. He has become coldly, efficiently selfish, willing to do whatever is necessary to protect himself and his allies– but the gentle, lighthearted boy he used to be still lives under his skin. Would that he could claw his way out.
CONNECTIONS
undecided
As long as he holds what you want just out of reach, you will strangle yourself at the end of your leash trying to get it.
VRAI ALARIE
forgotten affection
─ and is this, really, what you want? Time and fate wield their hands like hammers, and the things you once loved are unrecognizable. Can you bear to hold them and reconcile the differences?
Vita Nostra
VASTATOR VITA
the destroyer
You have always been nothing more than the sum of the fires burning in your wake. Eventually, it does not matter that is was not your fault; your scent is ash and smoke, and everything you touch crumbles beneath you.
VERITAS VITA
the truth
It takes a certain kind of beast to stand against the world and let its cruelty run off their scales like rain. What madness you possess to shirk life's savagery; what strange wonder it is to instead embrace the thorned root of love.
VESANIA VITA
the madness
Fate is the noose wrapped 'round your neck; fate is the thread that dangles from your fingers; fate is the lash you wield to protect yourself from the world. Fate is the song in your blood the universe sings for you, and you alone.
