Hi there -
This is last minute, and I'm gonna throw it out there in a burst of opposite action (because there's nothing to be gained by hiding away).
My birthday is tomorrow (January 5th) - it's right after the holidays, most people are heading back to work for the first full week, it's a lot. Generally I just let it pass by because people are busy (and tired - for a variety of different reasons, let's be honest).
So - my request is this:
Tell me about your OCs family. Can be their family of origin, their group of friends, their partner(s), their children, whoever you want to include. Whatever makes up a family to them. A little or a lot - your choice! However you'd like to go about it, completely up to you.
I've put a fair amount of thought into Daephrin's family. He comes from a minor noble house serving under the banner of House Haillenarte. His mother, Illystra Eclanoir, was actually the nobility and she married a decorated Temple Knight who immediately gave the house his own surname. Lucarian Astramente was a ruthless hardass who felt that marrying and having children was his duty to Ishgard. He didn't love his children and didn't even let them call him "father"; they always called him by his first name. Illystra was mostly chilly and distant, her own upbringing being rather sparse on child-focused care. Illystra and Lucarian had three sons, "one for the lance, one for the law, and one for the books" as Lucarian often said. A duty to produce progeny of specific skills. Each son was tutored accordingly.
Sarin, the eldest, became a master of the lance and a Temple Knight. He was an accomplished dragon slayer, right up until a dragon ate him.
Daephrin, the middle child, was tutored in Ishgardian law with a minor focus in estate law. He was meant to support the house in land disputes and so on. While he excelled at it, he also hated it. The moment he could, he dropped law to become a reprobate and rake of small repute.
Onaerion, the youngest, trained in accounting and math. He had been born to manage the house's finances. By all accounts, he took to it well and was something of a genius with numbers. He mastered calculus before his teenage years.
About two years before the Calamity, Illystra caught a cough that became pneumonia. Her lungs never recovered and she died shortly after her illness. Within the year, Lucarian was found dead on the floor in his study. A heart attack, the chirurgeons said. Stress.
With Sarin gone and both their parents, Daephrin inherited the estate - never knowing that there was paperwork drawn up but not made official to have him disowned. Lucarian took a special dislike to his middle son and they often fought. A scant few months after his death, Onaerion came home to find Daephrin in bed with his fiancee - who had been pledged to marry him for a year.
The brothers got into a fistfight that spilled out onto the second story balcony. Onaerion lunged at Daephrin. Daephrin gave him a push backwards...right over the edge of the railing. Onaerion's fall broke his lower spine in ways chirurgeons and even conjurers could not remedy. He has been in a wheelchair ever since.
When Onaerion awoke to find Daephrin sitting vigil at his side, he was touched - until he realized he could no longer feel his legs. He flew into a rage (he did have Lucarian's temper) and screamed at Daephrin: "I hate you! I never want to see you again! Get out! GET OUT!" So Daephrin took him at his word. He signed control of House Astramente over to Onaerion and ran off to become a sky pirate.
Seven years passed with Daephrin avoiding Ishgard as much as he could, and Onaerion managing an entire household - including farms in the Dravanian Forelands - by himself. It wasn't until Daephrin had been dating one of his lovers - Sorren Greystone - for over a year that he became convinced to reach out to Onaerion with an apology letter. The brothers reconciled after that and Daephrin has since spent a lot of time in Ishgard helping to update the estate to be more accommodating to a wheelchair.
And that's where they stand today. More than a bit long-winded, but a story I've never told in full - only in pieces.
Happy birthday! I hope you get lots of good stories and tidbits!
