Taele Bellveil

Taele, in Short

Quick Facts

Taele is a young woman with a noble heart and a heroic spirit who has oft been waylaid in her attempts to make the world a better place. She is, however, resolute, and refuses to allow the weight on her shoulders to make her bow or break.Because of her wealthy and sheltered upbringing, she does not always have the best grasp on the struggles of others, and the nuances of difficult situations can escape her, but she is always determined to learn and be better than she was before - even if she occasionally succumbs to her doubt or her old prejudices. She can also, very occasionally, be a bit of a priss. Her manner of speech tends to mark her as a (former) member of the upper class, which may cause others to trust her just a bit less from the outset, but she quickly proves herself to be no simple dilettante.In combat Taele tends to fight with a single sword, attack magic, and barrier spells, which are augmented by her carbuncle, Berry. She is also extremely proficient in Red Magic and with her rapier, and in healing via her mastery of Nymian Arcana.

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Roleplaying Information

Potential RP Hooks

ERP

I am open to engaging in ERP, though this is very much on a case by case basis. If you are interested in that being incorporated as an element of ongoing RP, please do let me know! There's very little I won't write, especially if the chemistry is there.I am, however, not particularly interested in porn-without-plot at this time. If you're after that, there are places for it, and I wish you the best of luck!

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Taele

It began with her parents, as these things often do. Specifically with the marriage of Cecilia Reed - a young woman from a wealthy family of little note - to Alwyn Bellveil, the recent heir of the extremely successful Bellveil Mercantile Company of Ul'dah.Shortly after the two were wed, Alwyn began to experience rather significant growth in the areas where his business operated, his competition disappearing from those same spaces with a notable and perhaps concerning consistency. His wife, Cecilia, was rarely seen in public. When she was, odd rumors would circulate about her, and about the ways in which her reclusiveness might be connected to her husband's success.In truth Cecilia was a mage of some significant skill, and through pacts with a Voidsent named Liath, she had been orchestrating the elimination of Alwyn's opposition in an attempt to make herself useful to him.

Before long, Cecilia was with child - a daughter, whom she named Taele, after a long-passed member of her own family. The girl's parents doted on her as a baby and a small child, and the young Taele wanted for absolutely nothing as she grew.When Taele was a mere six years old, however, tragedy struck her family.On returning from a late night of work, Lord Bellveil was horrified to find the bedroom he and his wife shared painted red with blood, and a mangled corpse that certainly must have been Cecilia's. She was declared dead, and while the cause is unknown, those in the know suggest that perhaps she finally ran afoul of the dark creatures with whom she dealt.The rest of Taele's childhood passed without incident after the death of her mother, the only daughter of a wealthy and doting father receiving naught but the finest standard of living that Ul'dah could provide. While he was often too busy to attend to her parenting himself, there was a frequent and rotating cast of servants and nursemaids who cared for her while she was young, and she was largely left to her own devices once old enough to be so.Her whole life, from the cradle on, Taele was raised on stories. Tales and legends of knights and heroes and adventurers from across the realm. Their exploits, their triumphs, and the renown they found, immortalizing them in story and song, all of it seized on Taele's imagination with a powerful fervor, and when she was grown, she all but demanded her father provide her the means to attempt as much herself. Reluctantly, Lord Bellveil hired a tutor to instruct her in the art of Red Magic.At least, he thought to himself, it was a martial discipline with some dignity.

A Hero-to-Be

Taele's tutor found her a quick study with blade and spell both, and in the space of a mere two summers, the young heiress was judged proficient enough to seek employment with the very same Adventurer's Guild that had seen so many heroes rise and fall through the years. She did so without hesitation, adding her name to the ledgers and beginning to take on the sorts of jobs granted to those just beginning their careers.It was then that Taele met with the first unpleasant reality of adventuring:It was often drudgery.Still, though, though the jobs she took were often deeply and unpleasantly unglamorous, she attended to her work with care and enthusiasm - most of the time, at least. And since those early tasks were predominantly local in nature, she began to make a name for herself among the adventurers of Ul'dah.

Pride Goeth Before...

A bill was posted, one like any other, to protect a scholar of Sharlayan as he traveled Southern Thanalan in search of rare historical artifacts. This was all of little concern to Taele. She had never been much of a historian or archaeologist, and was content to simply take on what seemed like a fairly simple bit of work. In short order, the scholar arrived and introduced himself, and the two set about their trip.Taele found the man to be a bit eccentric, but pleasant enough company, though the longer they travelled together, the more her mind would start to wander. Days turned into a weeks in the desert heat, and between long stretches of time spent standing and doing nothing, and the deeply unpleasant work of moving rocks and shifting sand, Taele became less and less present. After all, she had slain mighty beasts and defended those in need. Who was she to be concerned with this?Really, the whole affair was beneath her.On the final day of their expedition, the scholar surprised her with a gift - a pendant, a beautiful glimmering blue stone on a steel chain, which he fastened around her neck. He informed her that it was a charm from ancient Nym, one that would keep her safe from danger. That it had served him well, but that he felt it was time to pass it along to someone else. She accepted it gratefully, finding it pretty - if quaint - and made ready to pack up camp.Once again, as they made their return journey, she let her mind drift. This time, that proved fatal.The pair were taken by surprise on the journey back to Ul'dah by a group of brigands.The Alacran.They set upon the pair without warning or signal, and Taele was caught off guard in her reverie. Her weapon was knocked from her hand, and her scholarly companion was killed before her eyes while she was helpless to do aught but scream.The last thing she heard before a dagger pommel slammed into her head and knocked her unconscious was one of the men saying:"Careful with the girl, or we won't get paid."When Taele awoke, she quickly learned that she had been kidnapped, held captive by the same Alacran that slew her charge. A ransom was demanded of her father, and so a ransom was paid; thus Taele was allowed to leave with no injuries save a headache and her pride in tatters.

Truth

She returned home, putting her blade aside and shutting herself in her rooms for weeks. She had failed, and not merely to her own detriment. Her pride and inattentiveness had cost an innocent man his life, and it weighed on her heavily.These few weeks were passed almost as if in a trance, with Taele going through the motions of maintaining her life with no real sense of desire, no real drive, her hand frequently going to the protection charm the scholar had given her, now tucked beneath her shirt, wondering if perhaps it would have saved him if he'd kept it.So it was, until she found herself one day standing her father's office. She had gone to seek his opinion on some trivial matter and, finding him absent, allowed herself a moment of uncharacteristic nosiness. What she found disturbed her, an open letter scrawled in a hasty hand and half-tucked beneath a ledger, demanding 'further payment' if Alwyn did not want his daughter to learn the truth of an arrangement made to keep her compliant.The implications twisted in her gut, and when her father returned home, she confronted him about the truth of her kidnapping. While he was initially infuriated at her daring to question him, he eventually admitted that the attack by the Alacran was done under his orders, in an effort to dissuade her from continuing on her too-dangerous path.He called the death of the scholar 'regrettable'.Something snapped in Taele that day, and fury replaced her despair. The young heiress forswore her inheritance and her noble title, and fled the manor with nothing but her blade, a small pouch of coin, and the clothes on her back.

Taele, Herself

Taele, at a loss and feeling betrayed by the only family she had left, knew of few places she might go. She could take to the road and travel, she could find her way in Ul'dah - though this would be difficult given her father's influence. Or she could return home, her head low in shame. But no. That would not do.Ultimately, she sought the one group of people in the city who held the common good above all others, the Paladins of Ul'dah.She petitioned their leader, Somerhilde Langdale, for the right to endure the trials to become one of their order. Taele was warned about the harrowing nature of those trials, but she was determined, and so Somerhilde agreed to allow the attempt.No warning could have prepared her, unfortunately, for what was to come. While she was certainly physically fit, and had a willpower few could match, she was not yet forged and tempered as one must be to succeed. To her dismay, she failed, falling unconscious during the long vigil at the end of the gauntlet and being carried to an infirmary by an unfortunately correct but still rather impressed Ser Langdale.Though Taele had failed to become one of their number, Somerhilde nonetheless took an interest in the stout-hearted young woman. She introduced Taele to her own partner, one Ser Ranja Silverwillow, not a Paladin in title but a knight nonetheless, telling her that the girl could use her guidance. On taking her measure after her recovery, Ranja readily agreed and accepted Taele as her protege.The two traveled together for a period of some years, Ranja educating Taele in the combat style of a knight, as well as in the nature of the chivalry, responsibility, and honorable conduct that must accompany such martial prowess.Taele proved a dedicated student, and never once faltered in her devotion.

To Protect

During the course of Taele's training, Ranja noticed that Taele seemed to struggle with the use of a physical shield to accompany her blade. This presented some difficulty, as a significant part of her martial style required the use of one in order to keep oneself safe from the blows that their armor made it too challenging to avoid.Upon experimenting and suggesting that Taele fight without a shield for a time, both of them were surprised to find that as Taele raised her offhand reflexively to block an oncoming blow, a magicked barrier appeared just in front of her arm, in exactly the spot that a proper shield would be.Confused by this development, Ranja sought the advice of a longtime friend of hers, a once and again student of Sharlayan named Rain'li Jakkya, describing the phenomenon. Upon being informed that is sounded much like a largely-forgotten art practiced by the Scholars of Nym, Taele travelled to Sharlayan to study what resources were available on the matter.With study came understanding, and the realization that the protective charm she had been given years ago was no simple piece of jewelry. It was a Soul of the Scholar, and Taele had been drawing upon it unconsciously to keep herself and others safe from harm ever since she first received it.Now with greater understanding of the power that the stone held, Taele buckled down harder and focused on her study of Arcanima. After weeks of effort, she managed to draw on the power and knowledge of the Soul enough to form a proper aetheric bond with it and call forth a guardian in the form of, much to her surprise, a ruby carbuncle.She was taken with the creature immediately, dubbing it 'Berry', and rarely now are the two seen apart - even when Taele has no particular need of the protective and restorative magics that Berry enables.

And Now...

Taele returned to her teacher's side, carbuncle at her heel and her Scholar stone worn proudly about her neck. The two continued to travel together for quite some time until, relatively recently, Ranja evaluated that Taele had learned all she could from her erstwhile master.On one hand, Taele was giddy.She was enthusiastic and proud that she had reached a point in her training where Ranja felt there was no more to learn from her. She had grown so much in their time together, slowly becoming the kind of person that more closely resembled the vaunted heroes of old of which she was so fond as a young woman.At the same time though, the prospect of making her own way in the world with nothing but her name, her blade, her heart, and her power was a daunting one. Ranja gave what counsel she could, but her decision was firm.

Parting Counsel

"Etheirys needs people like you, Taele Bellveil. It needs your kindness. It needs your hope. It needs your faith. And you can only grow so far standing in my shadow.The rest of your lessons are out there, waiting for you to seize them. And as you do, you will falter. You will fail. But you will laugh, you will learn, and you will help those in need.You will live, Taele. And through it all, through every step and stumble, I know you will make me proud."

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