mirror
mirror

—one.

✧ ooc information ✧

30+/F.
I don't enjoy blending of IC and OoC in the slightest and I'm real quick to throw people in the garbage can if they can't differentiate between the two.
This is a hobby for me, not a commitment or a full-time job. if that's what you're looking for, you should probably look elsewhere.
It's 2026 and I'm not in the business of dealing with adult children. Act your age or leave me alone.

—two.

✧ character activity ✧

Xyphris exists in just about any place imaginable, and can always find an excuse to be somewhere out of the norm.
I'm somewhat available Sun-Tues and every other Saturday and while I can exist in daylight hours, I'm primarily active in the overnight hours. My job calls for it and it's easier to do that than try to reverse my sleep schedule every 3-4 days. I've also got a whole ass partner and kids that are my priorities.
I am down for Discord RP, but fair warning that I am notoriously bad at keeping up with it if you don't prod me like a belligerent cow.Xyphris Zeddicus
FFXIV - Crystal - Balmung

—three.

✧ plotting ✧

As much as I like my RP to be organic, I am always down for plotting background stuff, backstory, or coming up with future events if we can make it work.This character deals with some lore-bendy business. If that's not your cup of tea, I can scale it back when we interact. Or we can not interact. Both options are viable.

—four.

✧ interactions ✧

No character death just because he's already done that. Twice. I'm not interested in interacting with minors/minor chars (your char's kids don't count; you know what I mean) or people who are ridiculously bigoted/X-phobic, but everything else? For the sake of story, I don't have any hard lines. Just give me a heads up first, maybe, if you're gonna do something out there.
No noncon RP. He's an asshole, but he's not that kind of asshole.

—five.

✧ shipping ✧

Xyphris is smitten. Good luck.

—six.

✧ blog credits ✧

cassiaslair. carrd template.

  miscellaneous details.  
Xyphris smells like a mix of a soap, neroli, coriander, and jasmine slapped on a base of cedar, musk, and amber.His hair is jet black naturally, but its color depends on his mood. He's dabbled in every color of the rainbow, but he seems to favor blonde (much to his twin's chagrin). If he bothers to grow it out, he even dyes his beard.Where Xyphris' aether should be bright and shiny, to the people keen enough to see into it, or feel it, it is actually dark, murky, and...plentiful, but dense enough that it's like trying to look through a really dark wall. Good luck.

  personality.     Like a mirror, Xyphris is a reflection of the way that you approach him.To some, he may come off as friendly, funny, and easy going. To others, cold, rigid, and distant.What you get is what you see, so long as you're willing to stare the reflection in the eye.

—symbolisms.

symbols. overarching symbols in your muse's story.

—headcanons.

✧ need to knows ✧

headcanon one. Xyphris is ambidextrous. He always had a penchant for playing with things and fidgeting in his youth. It's led to his proficiency both in his weapon-wielding and playing the piano.
headcanon two. Xyphris can use a gun. He can use a gun really well. But after Naime's death, his hatred for the weapon exceeds no bounds. If his options are his bare fists or a firearm, he'll choose his fists every time.
headcanon three. Xyphris is a weapons fanatic. While he's most proficient with his daggers, there's no a weapon that had ever fallen into his hands that he hasn't had some sort of skill with. A lot of the intrigue and training for and with each of them came from his earlier years in Kugane with Naime's grandfather.
headcanon four. Xyphris has impeccable balance. Comes with the job.
headcanon five. While they may not be visible at all times, Xyphris is always armed. Smaller knives, throwing knives.. You name it. If he can conceal it, it's probably on him.
headcanon six. Surprisingly, he's pretty touchy-feely. Don't be surprised if you turn into a pillow or a leaning post amidst interacting with him. Don't take it too personally, though.
headcanon seven. He'll never admit it, but he likes to dance...and he's really, really good at it.
headcanon eight. He's a coffee fanatic. It's not like he gets a lot of sleep anyroad, or that it does anything for him. He just likes the illusion. And the taste.
headcanon nine. Xyphris does not leave his hair alone. He's forever cutting it, dyeing it, dyeing it again, tying it up, or leaving it down. No matter what he does to it, if it gets wet, it dries fluffy. Every. Single. Time. The effort he has to put in to keeping it straight is ridiculous.
headcanon ten. While he can, Xyphris has no actual need to eat, sleep, or drink. Eating and drinking is for flavor, sleep is to pass time. Drugs and alcohol can still have an effect on him, but the amount he has to partake in to get even slightly buzzed is kind of crazy.
headcanon eleven. He's kind of an accessories fanatic. Rings, bracelets, necklaces, you name it... He's rarely seen without at least one set of them.

—abilities.

✧ powers & skills ✧

aspect of aether. Some claim it seems to be tainted by the void. Others say it's darker than that, murkier, unrecognizable. Asking him might get you an answer, but you'll have to get on his good side first.
aether manipulation. Though his teacher remains a secret, he has been diligently learning all forms of aether manipulation...maybe even yours.
the ink. The real explanation behind his aether, abilities, and state of...living. All of this knowledge, 'lest Xyphris has divulged, is considered OOC, and won't be acknowledged if your character just randomly brings it up otherwise. Anyway, read on.

—physical.

✧ combat abilities ✧

special weapons. While Xyphris is skilled with multitudes of weapons, what he keeps close to his heart is a pair of sai and a bo staff, both gifted to him by Naime's grandfather. There is nothing inherently special about them other than their history, and they're usually put up somewhere for safekeeping.
fighting style. Melee/spellcasting. He's learned some things.

—stats.

✧ character stats ✧

—origin story : the beginning.

Xyphris’ name at birth was F’lhihr. He was born to F’lesi Xal and F’xal Nuhn as one half of a set of fraternal twin boys. Before them came two older siblings, a male and a female, and after them two younger females. They’d several other half-siblings borne of affairs on both their parents’ ends, but only one did Xyphris bother to get to know at all – a half-Viera by the name of Zephyr.Growing up on the outskirts of La Noscea allotted the twins – who were inseparable in their youth – the best of both worlds. Tribal life taught them to hunt, to fish, to forage, and their proximity to Summerford Farms let them learn to garden and keep livestock. Their closeness to Limsa Lominsa let them experience more modern city life. While beneficial in its own ways, the two adhered more to the modern ways of life, often getting them into trouble when it came time for them to settle into tribal affairs.The disdain for the traditional seeker way of life was in their blood. F’lesi had just as much of a distaste for it. It was unknown to no one, and the beautiful miqo’te woman had as many callers as the Nuhn himself, if not more.While their father’s dealings went unnoticed (and were expected, frankly), their mother’s cost her her life. The final straw was when she took a visiting elezen pirate by the name of Camsyn Zeddicus to bed. Words were had between all three of them once she and the pirate were discovered, and F’xal ordered her beheaded. F’lesi was murdered when Xyphris was no more than twelve and Camsyn, feeling guilty, took all of the children out of concern that F’xal would have them killed as well. For a time, he put the lot of them to work on his ship the Bloody Raven: a vessel known for being proficient in both the sky and the sea. The seven children were taught to clean, to cook, to fight, and to steal – everything that they might need to stay alive at a pirate’s side. Camsyn did not ignore their formal education either, having only the best tutors to work with each of them every time they found themselves docked. It was not a permanent situation - he’d every intention of letting the ones less suited for a life of piracy find their own ways on the mainland once they were a little older. But for four years, the life on the Bleeding Raven was the only life that any of them knew.It was on a particularly frozen, stormy night as the ship was flying over the city of Ishgard that the vessel encountered a large amount of turbulence. Xyphris, unable to sleep due to the storm, had wandered on deck to watch the storm raging beneath them. When the ship hit the turbulence suddenly, Xyphris was thrown overboard, lost to the night below.

—origin story : ishgard.

Xyphris was unfortunate enough to land on a pile of destroyed stone and wood in the bowels of the Brume on one of the coldest nights in Ishgard. It wasn't until well into the morning that one of its denizens found his broken body. He was taken into their makeshift hovel – the burned out, abandoned remains of an inn well beneath the Forgotten Knight – and cared for until he was strong enough to get back on to his feet.It took months for the displaced seeker to heal. In that time he had many visitors: the homeless men, women, and children who were fascinated about the mysterious stranger who fell from the sky. He told the children many stories as a way to keep them preoccupied while the others were out begging for food (or worse). But once he was renewed, Xyphris could not bring himself to leave. The children adored and looked up to him, the elderly respected him, and Camsyn and his siblings had left him for dead. What was there truly to return to?Xyphris made a name for himself by taking the children of the Brume under his wing. He helped to steal food, clothes, and other necessities anyone might have needed. He shared everything he had learned from Camsyn’s tutors with any who were interested. He even made a friend-turned-protege, Ella. Here, as opposed to on his Camsyn's ship, he felt as though he was actually making a difference. Here, they needed him. Here, he mattered. How could he simply up and leave?Not all of Xyphris' dealings in Ishgard were noble, of course: He was a teenager upon his untimely arrival, and as he grew he found his own delights in the pleasure of the flesh with noble women he’d no business dealing with, particularly when their husbands were away. He wasn't above thieving whatever he could from them once he was let into their homes, either. He gained a reputation amongst the nobility for it, not to mention a criminal record.It was in doing precisely that that he met a one Pamina Valliered, the youngest daughter of a relatively upstanding noble family. She caught him when he broke into her room and rather than calling the guards, the two sat and talked long into the night. He learned that Pamina was not the actual daughter of the lord and lady Vallieres', but actually their captive, wanting to hone her magical abilities and sell her off to a higher esteemed household simply to make them rich. Xyphris was in no position to actually save the girl, and instead began sneaking her out nearly nightly to the Brume with him to meet and make friends with the people who lived there. The two became close friends, best friends even, and Pamina aided in helping Xyphris support the people of the Brume in any way that she could. Rarely were they ever caught by anyone from House Vallieres, but when they were, Xyphris was thrown into the gaol for a night and Pamina was not seen for moons at a time.Eventually, Xyphris decided the only way to truly help Pamina would be to infiltrate House Vallieres. Despite being notoriously known as a thorn in the lord and lady's side and a (petty) criminal, he appealed to them as Pamina's personal guard. He was the only person they could name that had successfully gotten close to her unnoticed and kept her safe: how could they say no? They suited him with armor and gave him a room with the rest of the guard, then tasked him with the duty of patrolling her end of the house. It had all gone so smoothly. Too smoothly, in fact.It was a farce. One late night, Xyphris was uprooted from his bed and thrown into shackles. Pamina was nowhere to be found, and his questions of her location were met with laughter and sharp kicks to his ribs. He was dragged down into the wine cellar, deep within it, and hidden behind a curtain where no one could see or hear him. There, they strapped him to a table and tortured him, using everything from conventional methods to using his own aether against him. They tortured him daily, until he lost count of how many days passed. The cellar remained dark, and the only sounds he ever heard were the sounds of distant church bells.One day, it all came to an end. Several masked mages appeared adorned in lantern light, though it wouldn't have mattered. His eyes had adjusted to the pitch black of the cellar so well that he couldn't have made out their features if he'd tried. The only person that was not masked or obscured was Pamina's older "sister", Jenevieve Vallieres, one of the many noble women he had shared a tryst with. She did not appear to him as the quiet, shy elezen he had always known her as, but instead full of rage. He hadn't the strength to question her. She approached the table that he was chained to and kissed him."I tire of this. I tire of watching you squirm and endure. I tire of watching you LIVE."With the cruelest smile she could manage, Jenevieve ordered his death. The mages wasted no time in moving in on him. He could not have begun to explain what was happening to him, only that he was suddenly very, very hot, burning even. The burning feeling spread throughout his entire body until he was convinced that he was engulfed in flame. The pain was searing, and it was at the point where he felt his rib cage literally tearing apart that he felt his heart stop and his world went entirely black. The sixth bell for the day tolled until there was naught but silence.

—origin story : kugane.

Xyphris came to in slow-motion. Everything seemed wrong about it. His vision was blanketed in spiderwebs and his blood felt like ice in his veins. Any attempts at moving were met with excruciating pain, but he hadn't even the strength to cry out or scream. He heard two voices, different voices than those of his assailants, though he couldn't discern their identities. The last thing he heard before passing out was a female voice telling him, "You're safe now".When he awoke again, he found himself on Camsyn's airship and in his cabin, being watched over by the pirate and Pamina. Pamina explained to him that the lord and lady Vallieres had sold her to a slave caravan rather than their original plans for associating with the miqo'te, which was the same timeframe that they had chained him up in the cellar. She informed him that it hadn't been mere moons, but a full summer that had passed since she had been taken. She told him that Camsyn had been the one to rescue her, then assisted her in returning to Ishgard to rescue him. They infiltrated her former house and then the two of them cut a swath through the guards before finding Xyphris. Pamina alone had slain the lord and lady Vallieres, just to find Xyphris dead in the cellar.She had expended every ounce of her magicks to bring him back, completely unaware of how long he had actually been gone. The healing she had bestowed upon him following had been minimal; he had a long road to recovery ahead of him, and Ishgard was simply unsafe for him to stay in. Camsyn set sail for Kugane to meet with a former contact of his, an old, ailing au ra by the name of Tokiatsu and his granddaughter, Naime. There, Xyphris would receive the care necessary to rejoin the rest of the crew.Naime and her grandfather set Xyphris up in a spare bedroom of their home. They fed him, bathed him, and gave him medicine that Pamina had supplied for turns until he was able to actually stand on his own two feet again. In that time, Naime would come and sit with him daily, acting as his personal nurse. They would talk long into the night, sharing stories about both her life in Kugane and his both in Limsa and in Ishgard. He told her tales from Camsyn's ship, and she showed him paintings she did in her free time. They became close quickly and eventually fell in love.Even when he could move around, he was weak from being immobile for so long and his recovery was not without lasting injury. There had been irreparable damage done to his lungs, something that needed constant tonics that Pamina kept shipping in to him. It left scars all over most of his body that simply would not heal, particularly covering his torso.Naime's grandfather took it upon himself to begin training Xyphris to get him back to full strength and even enlisted Naime's aid in the matter. As time went on and he recovered, he chose to remain with the two, much to Naime's joy and her grandfather's approval. Eventually, they revealed her grandfather's part in the black market trade in Kugane, and convinced Xyphris to take his place where he was too old to continue on. Her grandfather gifted Xyphris a set of sai and a bo staff for his acceptance. Naime assisted Xyphris in most of his endeavors, recovering ancient and magical artifacts and selling them on the markets for an employer he rarely saw the faces of.When they weren't working, the two were either drunk or partaking in various and copious amounts of drugs. The vices were free, so why not?But all was not perfect in their world. Naime and Xyphris fought almost constantly, sometimes about the excessive use of drugs or alleged infidelity on either end, oftentimes leading to one or the other leaving for a night or two in a fit of rage. Eventually, after her grandfather's death, Xyphris purchased a loft high above Shirogane, choosing to stay there mostly for security purposes. At times, she stayed with him, but there was a repetitive fight-and-make-up scenario that seemed to play out between the two of them. On those days, she would return to her grandfather's home.Despite their on-and-off nature, one thing remained constant: after every job that Naime could not follow him on, the au ra woman would wait for him at the end of the road on the path leading to his loft, between the stone and the well. Xyphris asked Naime to marry him and she accepted.On a rainy night after a successful job, Xyphris happened upon a body on the road leading to his home. It took several heartbeats for him to register that it was none other than Naime, shot to death and left out in the storm with little more than the bullet wounds that had felled her and a small lotus pin that was the calling card of a rival organization her grandfather had been battling for years. Broken, Xyphris fled Kugane on Camsyn's airship.Amidst Xyphris' despair, Camsyn revealed to him that the organization that had murdered Naime was none other than the one that he had been working for for summers. He had become friends with Naime's grandfather summers beyond, and the two entered a personal truce, vowing to take care of one anothers' (grand)children if ever there was need. Xyphris was insistent upon Camsyn leaving the organization and exacting revenge, but when Camsyn refused, Xyphris left his ship and swore he would never speak to him again.

—origin story : after.

Xyphris spent every night between Limsa and Ul'dah with a different body, soaked in such a drunken and drug-induced haze that he never bothered to remember, nor even bother to learn, any of their names. Several times he visited one of his childhood friends, Madison Riley, in Summerford. She was the place he went to weep, just to flee again come dawn. Sometimes, they were joined by his younger sister, Ana. She tattooed over the scarring on his body and beyond.This trend continued for several summers, until eventually, Madison revealed to him that she was with child: his. It was at the insistence and under the dubious care of both her and Ana that he sobered up. It was no easy task, and more often than not Madison considered kicking the miqo’te out, never to cross paths again. But she endured, and Madison eventually gave birth to their son, Mathieu. Not terribly long after that, he was reunited with Pamina. Desperately needing something to keep his mind off of Naime and his hands off of his drugs, he began working for her as both a guard and courier, delivering and procuring materials for and her finished potions and tonics for different customers.Together, for a short time and alongside his twin, they worked for a different company in Kugane, though Xyphris found it wildly difficult to focus or even force himself to be in the area. The temptation to return to his substances was great, staved off only by the need to stay sober for his son. Pamina and Xyphris’ twin began a romance, and the relationship between Xyphris and his twin was strained at best due to their differing views on his long-term absence after his fall from the Bleeding Raven.While there, he returned to the company that Naime's grandfather had sworn him into. He stopped simply stealing goods for them, and became their resident assassin-for-hire. The first kill should have tormented the miqo’te, but all he felt was the ice in his veins return. In that time frame, he started seeing another woman seriously and even became engaged to her, but it was not meant to last. Some might have said it was ill-fated from the start what with their vastly differing personalities. Others might have said it was just another body to warm his bed. Xyphris never commented much on the matter.By the time they had left Kugane, Xyphris and his passing romance had faded. He joined another company, lending his blade to them as needed. The other half of his time was spent aiding Pamina and continuing to work with her while also remaining on retainer in Kugane.While still working, Xyphris grew close to a friend of his (second) former fiancee's, Pahja Entialpoh. The two bonded over their recent romantic misfortunes and became fast friends, but the more time that Xyphris spent with the keeper, the more he felt the pieces of himself start to meld back together. He was fascinated by her stories of her childhood and of the Shroud, and intrigued by her wonderment involving aetherology. There was a light that outlined her, one he was terrified to taint with the shadow that loomed over his shoulder. But try as he might to resist, Xyphris fell in love with the miqo'te woman and the feelings were reciprocated. Eventually, they married, and Pahja became with child.Just after they were married, they began to work at a fight club owned by his twin where Pahja was briefly employed as a healer and Xyphris as security. It was housed in the former House Ravensfall, the Ishgardian home that Pamina had once dwelled in. They saw great success, but one night the place was attacked, blown up and left as naught but rubble. The only clue to the attackers was a small, mental pin with a lotus insignia stamped in it, the same as the one left behind when Naime was killed.Thanks to Camsyn, the fight club relocated to a larger building in Ul'dah. Xyphris buried himself in his work much to Pahja's chagrin, which eventually led to their splitting up. The moment that they did, the Lotus came calling again. They attacked Pahja, though did not kill her. Rather than handle it in any sort of way that he should have, Xyphris fled to Kugane unbeknownst to anyone in his life. It was Pamina who hunted him down and found him, dragging him back to the mainland.Pahja gave birth to a son they named Carrilaut, though her time spent in the fight clubs and out in the open much at all had come to an end. She stayed holed up in a cottage in the Shroud, where Xyphris visited weekend after weekend to keep an eye on her and to care for their newborn son.

In his younger years, he had more of a baby face and was less muscular. His hair short and fluffy for the majority of his youth. As he got older, his hair got longer and remained just as fluffy. After leaving Kugane, he covered himself in tattoos.

—inventory.

✧ inventory log ✧

special items. The set of sai gifted to him by Naime's grandfather.
special items. The bo staff gifted to him by Naime's grandfather.
special items. An engagement ring on a cord.

Xyphris added tattoos to his arsenal and his trademark fluffy hair remained long, though he began to highlight it various colors on and off.

—inventory.

✧ inventory log ✧

special items. did they carry any specific items during this time period? new things they've picked up along the journey that they didn't have in the past.
special items. did they carry any specific items during this time period? new things they've picked up along the journey that they didn't have in the past.
special items. did they carry any specific items during this time period? new things they've picked up along the journey that they didn't have in the past.

—present day : the moments now.

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