Ingrid Gaal
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Younger years
Starting at a young age, Ingrid was extremely adventurous, headstrong, and determined, traits that never wavered as she grew. Her father, attuned to the waters and her mother, attuned to the earth; only briefly intertwined in fleeting moment. From this, she knew and loved both land and sea.Knowing the dangers of the river, her parents decided it best to raise her on the land before she was able to travel. Taking her mother’s surname “Naeuri”, she waited by the waters most days longing for the boats to break the horizon to makeshift settlements she called home.At age 9, she was given a choice: stay on land, in safety or travel the river. Looking to her mother, knowing what she would leave behind, she packed her clothes, some herbs, and a book as well as a pack of cards she used as a toy and set sail.Her father, given the name Daichi, was the captain of the boat. A strong, powerful and ruthless leader he led his men to great adventures through hardships she had not experienced on land. With scarce resources, she was taught to use what was on hand to repair the boats on each stop, scales from her skin building the very foundation that keeps her afloat.Her will, bringing her to take in her father’s footsteps, soon gained leadership of a small crew bestowed upon her at age 14… much younger than any captain before her. As time grew, her crew did not change in size, but their trust in her leadership grew as she was kind and resourceful. This kindness did not fall on those that stood in her way.
Astral devotion
Ingrid had always looked to the night sky, listening to the stories it would tell. Her father through his travels gifted her a few cards and a book used for navigation as a small child. What she saw was something inexplicable and wondrous: the stars would speak and tell premonitions through the cards, some fated for direction, some fated for premonition. She could feel the aether of them lightlyMediating in the light of the moon a feeling of calm washed over. Naeuri opened the tent “Are you still out here? It's time for dinner Ingrid, come on in, put your cards away.” The break of silence washing away the feeling only left with a vision of black hardened boats breaking the sunrise. “Dad is coming home tomorrow, let’s wait by the waters in the morning.” Her voice, more commanding, than asking.
“You and those stars, they are only a guidance,” her mother replied “nothing more than what you see in your hopes. Come wash up, we have a lot to forage for before the next migration.”She knew from a young age there was more than just the earth and the sea. Ingrid could feel the energies from the heavens flowing around her, speaking to her, guiding her. The book her father gave only confirmed these feelings as runes and stories were written about Sharlayan Astrology. Her free time devoted to making contact with celestial bodies, she would spend even more time in the fields, collecting branches and twigs, practicing writing runes and twisting them into the contraption on one of the pages. Listening to the heavens guiding her hands. Eventually crafting a makeshift planisphere from what the earth had provided.The sound of a twig snaps followed by a frustrated growl. She hurriedly picks up another piece and carves the rune into it, takes a deep breath and looks to the heavens. “I feel like I’m getting nowhere.” before lowering her gaze back onto her craftsmanship she bends the next stick slowly around the loop. It starts to creak and little ticks of cracking as it begins to move. Her eyes widen. “I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! YES YES YES!” Her voice carrying out of the tent.
Quieting herself, she places a card gently from her pack, It whirls around holding itself up on just the air. Ingrid’s eyes light up in excitement before she hears the stars twinkle in warning, she slips quickly into bed with her new contraption just as her mother walks in. “Its so late Ingrid, and you’re loud enough to call past the mountains, go to sleep.”
Feigning exhaustion from being woken up, she rubs her eyes. “Wha..?” she claims groggily. Her mother snaps “I am no fool so do not treat me as such. Get to sleep before the morning.”Her pride and joy, she carries a handmade planisphere on her back, taking small breaks through work to only enjoy the flow of astral bodies donating their aethyr to augment her own.
A Realm Reborn
Long months of travel exhausted the supplies of her crew, she would stop along the shoreline to gather new ingredients to make salves and sustenance, her teachings as a child passed to her crew through time they would stop to gather what was needed before inspecting the boat and using their own scales for repair, fortifying it more as it aged.Her crew undocking before her, a quiet hush rolled over the land as they look to see an inferno of battle had scarred the land they stood on. The battle had passed but the evidence was clear. As she walked from the boat to find the crew in stunned silence.“The last time you all were this quiet was…” her face dropped a smile as she looked past the men. “What happened? Where is the grass?” Knowing the answer and looking for any other reasoning to the crew. “Ingrid! Please look away, this is not a fight we can deem our own.” Her first mate, looking concerned back at her, “Captain, there is no reason to endanger us for the sake of this place, let's just get to the next spot and gather resources.”
Her eyes narrow to the crew and a harshness washes over her voice “Get back in the boat, continue the voyage, we will meet in Limsa. Take the boat out to sea after the next stop and do not stay near the shore.” Her eyes blaze at them looking for any protest to dissolve.The night covers the boat in a shroud of inky black as she watches for them to sail off before turning to the land, eyes brimming with tears, she looks to the heavens for guidance. Mor Dhona, once a land of beauty and power lay washed in a haze of brown and ash. The walk to Gridania is long, but she wastes no time.Landing in the Black shroud, she begins to assist locals, offering the power of the stars to heal and conversing with the Twin Adder to find information on the front as the months pass as she works diligently. Soon, some take notice of her and word spreads. She is brought to a group called Scions of the Seventh Dawn, they ask for aid in battles explaining what she has missed from her time away from land.Ingrid agrees to aid in battle, asking for the aid of the Grand Companies and those willing to fight alongside her against Primals, against a tyrant called Gaius, and for the land she still knows to love.Her travels take her far from meeting with her crew; she longs to know they are safe out in the waters. Once she reaches Limsa, she looks to see no signs they had arrived. She has no time to stay before the next battle, tired and scared as she may be she presses on. The battles blur before her, she wishes for less violence and only to heal those injured, calling to the heavens to keep her wits while a broken heart for the people of the land.
Heavensward
Battles lost and won, Ingrid continues with the loss of the Scions on her shoulders, a false frame of incrimination looming. A Fight far from over. Consulting with the stars as time passes only to see premonitions of hardships in her near future, she sees nothing of her crew, of her tribe, of her family. The Steppe is a distant memory.
Reaching Ishguard, Ingrid hopes to find sanctuary after being cast from Eorzea as the claims of assassination follows the remaining Scions and her as well through association. This want is rejected as it seems the people have their own issues with an ensuing battle. Stories of fierce dragons and men clashing in violence sends her mind away from her own goals, she wonders if this is the ancestors she has heard legends of.
Thankfully, her acquaintance knows of a place that will give her the peace she needs, if only for a moment, a noble house with kind hearts allow her to rest.
Once again she is drawn to know more about these draconic beings, about herself, and what is to come. She seeks to the streets of Ishgard for some information. A sign catches the corner of her eye, it reads “Athenaeum Astrologicum”.A man standing behind the counter “Welcome miss…” he stops for a moment to notice the rudimentary planisphere hung loosely on her back “oh, we must have had a new student transfer, though i didn't see it in any books…” the elezen man begins flipping through pages on the countertop.
“I am no student.” Ingrid states in a brudish manner before softening her voice, “Though i was hoping to know what this place is.”
Within a moment, the man pulls out a globe and takes a few cards to the heavens before placing them down to the tabletop. “Interesting, the bole and the ewer, water and earth… the heavens told me you’d arrive, you’re early. Tell me Starchild, what is your name?”She looks from the cards to the man in surprise, “Early? Heavens? You can hear them as well?”. A was of familiarity and comfort reaches her as her eyes well. “I-I’m In-ngrid.” she lets herself sob momentarily. “Welcome, Ingrid, I have been expecting you for some time.”Finally finding some relief, someone who can tell her more about herself, Ingrid takes an offer to learn from the guild, striving to learn more about the powers she found herself attuned to.Studies of books and skies teaching her how to do more than just heal with salves and tinctures, but through the lights that flicker beyond the sky. She learns to harness the power of heavens to fight alongside others in combat, refining what skills she read and learned on the Steppe, she excels quickly through training.Jannequinard, a friend and mentor along the way, guiding her hands to better understand the voices of the cosmos. Soon, they speak clearly and without riddles, knowing the cards and the stars are a guide to change and alter the reality of the future.
Newly refined, she takes her learnings to what draws her, the battle of dragons and men awaits.
Stormblood
Worn from the battles, worn from the travels, worn from watching ones fall to blades and beasts. Ingrid knows she must trudge on, begging the celestial bodies for any relief to the land and the ones who reside.Her travels take her fight to Ala Mhigo, aiding a man named Rauban in pressures against those she calls enemies. One night, the celestial bodies call her from her sleep, to warn of where she must follow. Firsts to Doma, then to where she fears.Pulling up from the bed, Ingrid rushes to her cards, pulling them up feverishly to the skies before placing it down. The bole lands before her, “Earth.” she mumbles before reaching for the next card, placing it down, her heart sinks in despair and worry, as the ewer lands, before her fingertips “..water…”. “Home is not really in danger, is it? Please give me a different sign than this.”
Closing her eyes, the 5th heaven answers only in confirmation of what she suspects.A calling to the Steppe sends a sickening feeling of dread to her mind. There is not room for sleep in this worry. At daybreak she begins the voyage to her homeland, not alone in body, but alone in mind.The land much like she left it, still swarming with hues of green, Ingrid falls to her knees and weeps from relief, the wars of the land have not spoiled the memory of her childhood. All to be shattered by the sounds of men battling once more.She rushes to the hills to see a battle in progress, and though no dead lay, she widens her eyes as she sees it not to be a familiar sight, Au’ra versus Au’ra crosses her sight. A pit in her stomach forms as she rushes quickly to the waters, for any sign of what would have been her tribe, though she knows them to be good at covering their own tracks, she longs for a mistake, a footprint in the mud, anything.Her efforts in vain, she heads to the large structure built in the middle of the Steppe, a new addition to her memory. She moves her eyes to the bridge and traverses up.It seems the Oronir were busier than she suspected, as she sees some familiar faces.Gathering information, the Steppe is in a battle of their own over land they have yet to conquer, though no one is in peril, she questions where her mother and father are. All is not lost as Ingrid reassured they continue voyages out in the waters together, finally.Offering her aid in battle, or at least to be a liaison in peace, Ingrid stays for longer. Letting a moment of reminiscing and joy overshadow the run of misfortune and fear that had taken her away. A busy while of worry and defense is all not for waste, as the battles of the Au’ra are never in focus for kills, only for power. Her healing does not go to waste to send the Orobins back out to the battlegrounds, only tending to bruises and exhaustion, a relief she appreciates.The outside world still raging on, the Steppe remains a place she loves, the fight is not over, the lands are still in peril and she must push forward, assisting in the liberation for Ala Mhigo against yet another tyrant. Zenos does not stand much longer in the fates she writes for herself.Ala Mhigo, once liberated, becomes immediately under attack again as a revolt to the fallen prince. Ingrid is called to the front lines to aid in a war once more. Upon getting there, the snow fallen, the cold brings dread and death. So much death.Overwhelmed, Ingrid looks to the astral bodies and only Azeyma remains seen in the smoke. Fire. Of course fire. Looking to the bloodshed across the lands, the snow covers her hair. There stands allies, readied for battles yet to come, their axes sheathed a fire surrounding them as they try to keep warm, unaffected by the slaughter.Looks up to the heavens “A little more literal, but I can take the hint.”
Approaching the warriors around the fire “May I?” One of the men shuffle to the side to make room as she stands close to the fire. “Snow never lets up here, does it?” one of the men looks to her eyes focusing on the blaze in front. Nodding in agreement, “I really think its not helping me with healing, it almost feels like an uphill battle.”
The men nod in agreement, Ingrid looks up “What keeps you men so collected in these times, I cannot keep my mind off death and despair, it makes me ill.” The three men look at each other contemplating how to respond, “Well, we prevent death, in our own way, protection.”
She looks back into the fire, and her face sterns “Teach me to protect the way you do, I’m tired of standing on the side.”Ingrid begins to learn the way of the warrior, a trial by fire, so it would seem. Learning only the ways of the axe through combat, her strength and resolve grows within.
Where
Crystal, Goblin, Lavender Beds Ward 15, Plot 51
When
Saturdays 9pm-1am Eastern
Why
Because I can
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