Esredes Rosemond
The Crimson Heretic | The Soldier Between Two Worlds | A soul blinded by blood.
You will never know me by the truth of my own name.
I won't let my people suffer any longer.
Whatever it takes, I will press on, fading more and more with each passing moment
As I scatter the wicked to embers on the wind and shatter every soul of glass to pieces.
And while you'll do everything in your power to stop me, in the end,
You will burn alongside me as I take this world from you, and shape reality anew while you scream for me to finally perish.
Esredes is a former Ishgardian Temple Knight turned Iceheart heretic. After an incident with dragon’s blood from his childhood came to light and he was nearly killed as a result, he turned against Ishgard and became devoted to winning the Dragonsong War for the heretics by either enlightening, taking over, or if needed, destroying Ishgard. Now fueled by a mixture of vengeance and the need to liberate his people, Esredes continues to press on after years of fighting, refusing to give up the fight no matter how much it takes his toll on him.To that end, he is a presence unbound by the earth beneath him with eyes everywhere, always seeking out those who can help him, those who must be destroyed, and those who will submit to being pulled into a world of a thousand year war with no hope of escaping. He performs his duties with endless vitality, to one day see the war that has consumed his life end… and to see if he is doomed to fall with it.
They who take the flame are fated to perish, but the fire left behind will set the world ablaze.
Nominated to take Iceheart's place by his own people after the climax of the war, Esredes was later officially pardoned by Aymeric and allowed to return to his original home under the condition of adhering to the new law and government. In the wake of the ashes of the war and his movement, Esredes continues to operate in a delicate balance between law and necessity, helping the new Ishgard while being well-prepared for a potential renewal of the war. Despite his many doubts about his own abilities, he has taken up the mantle given to him of Her successor- continuing to convert people to his side and ideology and carefully watch and infiltrate ongoings in Ishgard in an effort to change peoples’ minds and hearts and bring about a true new age.
And at the end of a long trail of withered hearts and souls, there will be nothing left but a streak of ash.
Perhaps there will be salvation in the ashes, or perhaps there is naught to do but delay the inevitable oblivion. One thing is for certain for the man: the war will never truly be over until he can make it so…. Or be forced to enact its resurrection.
With Divine Judgement Comes The Harbinger of War's End.
Overview
Name: Esredes "Esrey" Rosemond. Sometimes known simply by his alias of "Licano" as well in situations where he prefers not to give his true name.
Pronunciation: S-ray-days, s-ray, rose-mund, leh-sah-no
Titles: "The Dubious Puppet Without Strings", “The Path of Knowing", “The Divine Judgement", “The Harbinger of War’s End", "The Soldier Between Worlds"
Race: Ishgardian Elezen [Wildwood Model]/Wyvern
Gender: Cis Male [He/Him/His]
Age: 33
Location: Coerthas [Pre End of HW] Foundation, Ishgard [Post HW Onward]
Birth Place: The Pillars, Ishgard
Occupation: Temple Knight [Formerly] Disciples of Shiva Commander/Highly Wanted Criminal [Pre End of HW] Specialist Negotiator for Dragon Affairs and Political Assistant to a member of the House of Lords [Post HW] Part Time Counselor [5.3 Onward]
Classes: Gladiator
Guardian: He has renounced Halone since changing sides, and currently does not devote himself to or worship any guardian, though he does occasionally still pray to Shiva purely for personal comfort.
Alignment: Lawful Evil; shifts into Lawful Neutral depending on point in time and situation.
Orientation: Heterosexual. Currently in… it’s complicated.
Other: I apologize for this asshole.
His dragon form is as pictured below:
Artwork by Momokarp
At A Glance
It's not hard to tell immediately the man's from a noble background. Even though he stands at a mere 6', the man carries himself with an air of regality and confidence that shows through even when he's trying to avoid attention. If not for that, his accent is unmistakably noble in its sound.The man's body language is in the majority of situations, unrelaxed and tense to some degree. It is rare to see him fully relaxed.Anyone with aether sight or sense can immediately tell his aether is not quite normal. A large amount of it is contained in his eyes and it is all highly saturated with a taint of dragon aether. Yet it is unremarkable and average beyond that, naturally aspected towards earth and mind based magic.
Personality
Serious | Determined | Judgemental | Ambitious | Selectively Confident | Manipulative | Driven | Irritable | Reserved | Narrow-minded | Dramatic | Cunning | Calculated | Cautious | Snarky | Vicious | Selectively Hostile | Motivational | Protective | Selectively Empathetic | Selectively Compassionate | Selectively Polite | Selectively Blunt | Leading | Logical | Sadistic | Realist | Intense | Loyal | Selectively Deceitful | Hateful | Selectively Dense | Analytical | Introverted | Selectively Delusional | Self SacrificialEsredes is a person for whom much is said or whispered about, often conflicting in nature. For many people, he is a dangerous, exploitative force of malevolence that no one seems to know how to stop and put down for good, an individual that one should stay away from or else they will either perish or be warped into another evildoer like himself. Yet for others, he is an unsung hero, a caring soul that heals the minds and hearts of people he passes, who many defend and stand by at all costs. But no matter what exactly is said about him, one thing is clear about the man: he is a driven individual with a cause in mind he will never forsake, wielding himself as an engraved, fancy blade with a sharp and rough edge against the opponents of his life’s mission, until such time as a blade finally takes to the fate of all its kind, to break in half and be discarded without a second thought.At first glance, Esredes typically appears as a serious and reserved individual, often even standoffish to a degree. He usually starts off with anywhere from a simple and sometimes indifferent politeness to a neutral form of a speech, and even at times an outright distinctly unfriendly demeanor. By default, he is someone who trends to using fewer words and prefers being somewhat blunt and to the point with a tone that is not particularly emotional, but this can shift to going on for several sentences at a time and even monologuing with much more passion in his voice the moment something strikes his emotional chord or brings up something he knows much about. He isn’t opposed to conversation by default, but his sociability often depends on how much a person is of interest to him, also typically indicated by his tone taking on more emotional inflections. Regardless of his level of conversational effort, his noble upbringing ensures that he speaks with some level of higher vocabulary, but his inability to fully pick up the grace that comes with it results in some of his speech coming across as awkwardly phrased, or when angered, partially foregoing this pattern in favor of much more swearing. Beyond conversation, the air that Esredes carries around himself has a certain powerful, elegant and regal feeling- regardless of how plain and ordinary he chooses to dress- yet weighs heavy with an unmistakable feeling of tenseness, shrouding itself in mystery all around him. Just beyond the fog and faint to the eye are the deep and dark depths within the man- but to approach them is to risk falling straight in, and perhaps some things are best left undiscovered.A soldier at his core, Esredes wields himself equally in mind and body, well equipped for either physical or mental warfare in whatever battle manifests day to day. His mind operates primarily in the medium of logical thinking, strategy, and a realistic outlook. Whether it is simple everyday life or a matter of life and death, Esredes prefers to have at least some sort of plan, and often evaluates his actions to figure out what is the safest, most efficient way to go about them, when to and when not to take a risk on something or someone. Years of operation in this mindset have allowed Esredes to most of the time end up as the person in the room who comes to the best plan of action the quickest, or at all, but it has also lead him to assess situations and people as threats in ways that cause him to behave abnormally at times, assume and react before he has enough information to go off of, or be controlled by paranoia. Esredes almost always takes situations more seriously than everyone else, and will always assume the role of responsibility when there is not a clear person elected to, having no hesitations about immediately shutting down anything that doesn’t meet his standards of safe or effective, no matter the social or emotional costs it has. He keeps his own clear standards for himself in all areas of mental performance from the strategic to the moral, and is reputable for being headstrong and stubborn in all of the ideals he holds in his own head. His secondary modes of thinking are those of emotion and negotiation with others, both of which are more hit and miss in nature. On one hand, he is skilled at using his more primary mode of logic and reasoning to sway people to his words and hopefully even to his side, and is able to fester doubt in peoples’ mind about the nature of themselves or their situation to trigger a realization. He can read and manage someone’s emotions quickly and effectively, defuse tense or hostile situations, and calm others down with effective communication. But he is just as likely to be at a loss for how someone is feeling and how to manage it, or say the exact wrong thing to make a situation worse. Depending on how a situation plays out, Esredes is either a clever and cunning strategist and negotiator… or a clueless and dense, socially ineffective fool.Yet all of Esredes’ constructed ways of mental operation, walls, and carrying himself melt away in certain circumstances, revealing the core, unfiltered person beneath everything. Esredes’ purest form of self is that of a perfectly ordinary, average person forced to use what he has to appear and live as much more. When he cannot be calculated or clever, he reverts to the only somewhat about average intelligence person he truly is that doesn’t actually possess the traits of extended higher thinking one would expect from his position. When he decides not to be serious, he instead either becomes a playful and amused, more snarky person, paired with frequent smirking and more remarks than usual, or he reveals a more dorky part of himself that is endearingly a bit slow to grasp some cues people give to him, and says things either intentionally or unintentionally more goofy in nature. Regardless of the perception others have of him and that which he projects, Esredes operates on the simple idea that he is but the same as any other individual- not a driving, singular force that alone can turn a tide, but merely a small part of a much larger whole, an easily replaceable tool.This reality does not stop Esredes’ unwavering determination and drive in life from being motivated by his need to put himself behind a cause higher than him and contribute to what he views as bettering the world. While many would do this for moral purposes, and he is no exception, for him it is also a matter of simple practicality. Anything less and more self-centered would be boring and unfulfilling and leave him restless. He puts his cause and his allies all above himself, and is more than willing to die for either. Combined with his undying loyalty, this leads to it being extremely difficult to put a stop to him once he is set out on a task in the name of his greater good. He doesn’t hesitate to save those he perceives as in peril, even if it means occasionally being fooled by a trap, and generally keeps his word and deals he makes with others. In addition, Esredes is a proficient leader to his people, preferring to foster a relationship based on trust in his capabilities over raw authority and drive his subordinates to become their best selves, even if it means taking the time to check in on them and ensure they are in the best condition to continue on and listen to him. In the same vein, he is willing to do what needs to be done, even if it is unpleasant and hard, to save others from having to do so instead.But his definition of what should be done… does not quite match up with a lot of others’. Esredes sorts people into categories- categories that dictate if someone is worthy of any consideration before being killed or not. And those who fail to meet his standards of consideration- such as people who are too self-centered or contribute nothing to the world or those who harm and destroy it and other people- are people he will kill without a second thought, often times even taking sadistic enjoyment in the act and believing he has simply offed a lesser being that is wasting space with its defectiveness. True to the form he gave himself, Esredes does not shy away from enjoying violence and fighting to a certain extent and being brutal when there is time and reason for it. While he keeps his calm and calculated manner about in fighting for the most part, the right combination of events loosening his mental restraints under too much pressure can plunge him into a state of mind pertaining to his more inherently chaotic side, a repressed spirit of his personality that controlled him in much of his childhood characterized by rash, destructive, and impulsive behavior. While in this state, Esredes will lose all of his calculated and effective execution in favor of hyperfocusing in on a single target no matter how wounded he is and trying to destroy it entirely, leaving him vulnerable to being wounded more and making his actions much more unpredictable. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to snap him out of this state and allow him to regain his former composure. Even beyond the battlefield, Esredes has a somewhat selective form of empathy that only applies to people he deems complete enough to deserve it, and he has a strong tendency for manipulation, not opposed to stooping to deception, psychological tactics, and guilt tripping and gaslighting to get people to do as he needs, though he has more limitations depending on how much he genuinely cares for a person. Without those limitations and a particular distaste for a target, however, Esredes is prone to becoming emotionally and verbally abusive when he believes a person deserves it. He is even capable of inflicting harsh psychological warfare on others and breaking apart their very reality for his own warped sense of justice and pleasure. While not incapable of feeling remorse and trying to make up for his actions later if he learns he has distributed his twisted sense of justice unfairly, he otherwise holds none and even a lot of pleasure about tearing someone apart physically and mentally.Even without resorting to these measures, Esredes has plenty of other ways to appear generally unpleasant. He is very judgemental by nature, often looking down on people and seeing their flaws before their good traits and holding them in lower regard until they prove themselves worthy of a higher tier of consideration. He will often knowingly or unknowingly talk down to people, and explain things to them as if they don’t already know them or as if they were almost a child. This narrow-minded mentality of his is very unreliable and often too black and white, putting people in boxes and jumping to conclusions without proper evidence. It also contributes to a situational and mild form of arrogance manifesting in the man. Esredes also doesn’t hesitate when there are no consequences to let someone know he dislikes him, and openly insult them while having fun with it. A lifetime of letting hate fester in the black part of his heart has made it all too easy for him to give in and let it consume his actions.But there are two sides to every coin, and Esredes is no different. When he finds people in his good graces and worthy, he is just as capable of building people up as he would be tearing them apart, and quite likes encouraging others and building their self esteem, allowing them to see their positive traits and teaching them about what they’re missing. He is willing to give out love and affection to people who seem to need it in hopes of a return in the form of loyalty to him, and he can be surprisingly patient, kind, and even tolerant of the stranger and less effective parts of people, even understanding and a good listener on top of it. He has a particular soft spot for people who are abused, downtrodden, and vulnerable, and feels compelled to build them up into better people. After all, when you see a clearly broken thing in front of you, is it not common sense to fix it? Esredes’ inconsistent emotion reading ability also makes him capable of seeing into peoples’ issues easily and psychoanalyzing them, and he is blunt enough to tell people what their problems are and offer them advice and help. In the same territory, Esredes is a chronic worrier, unable to stop himself from always being concerned about his loved ones and their well being. Past a certain level of bonding, there is little he won’t do for someone he cares about. However, he will not hesitate to resort to weaponizing his affection and guilt tripping when he feels someone is taking advantage of or trampling on his kindness, or even falling right into verbally abusive territory if he feels particularly violated.But beyond the man’s great capability for both destruction and salvation, beyond his calculated and structured mind or fallen irrationality, and beyond the simple person at his core, lie the depths of a dark abyss left to fester for multiple decades until it became but the most ordinary thing. Esredes views himself as nothing but a weapon, the perfect soldier. And to be the perfect soldier, he believes he was carefully constructed from the beginning with an intentionally hollow center, lacking the true humanity of an ordinary person in order to be an acceptable disposable body and not be tempted into being anything more. In addition, he is not entirely lacking self awareness about his tendency to be perceived in a negative light, and believes he is meant to be an undesirable individual that attracts hatred in order to absorb it so others don’t have to. He has resigned himself to the fate of a soldier’s death on the battlefield from a relatively young age, and fights on until this inevitable fate take holds of him.Yet once the war ended, all of this went from being a simple truth to breaking down and overflowing into his regular mind, leading to greater difficulties in maintaining his usual composed and together mindset. In addition to believing he is a complete failure for not winning the war, he now questions if a worn down weapon has any place in a world that asks him to adapt roles he is ill-suited for, or if he should seek out another way to complete his fate in the wake of the ash…But be it towards his own, inevitable destruction or a hypothetical reevaluation and rebirthing of his very being, Esredes will always press on and keep going. For the sake of his cause or people, nothing short of death can truly stop Esredes from following the path he refuses to abandon.For a soldier must live to fight, until his very last breath is past.
Backstory
By all means, Esredes came into this world with as average of a noble background as one could imagine. There were no complications in the birth of his parents' firstborn, and bestowed upon him was the unique name they came up with to celebrate the occasion. House Rosemond itself blended into the long background of noble houses- they had maintained reputation and status in good tidings, generally, through all the years, and keeping that going is what mattered most to them.Perfectly healthy as one can be, Esredes' early years were uneventful. He played with other children, he started home tutoring, he attended the occasional extended family gathering, and when he was old enough, the noble banquets with his parents that always bored him. The more time went on, the more the child's emotions got ahold of him here and there, but so goes the development of a child. When Esredes was nine, his parents gave birth to another son, and suddenly he also had to navigate the mysterious world of being an older brother.Esredes always took to stories and tales that were told to him as a child, especially those tales of grand heroes and knights who slayed dragons and obtained glory and recognition for it. His mind was made up from a young age as these tales endlessly captivated him- he wanted to be a Temple Knight.Alas, his resolve would be a little shaken when he reached the age of twelve, and a fateful night at yet another banquet with his parents came to pass. A small group of insurrectionists had been making their plans to infiltrate it and cause civil unrest by slipping the forbidden substance into select individuals' drinks with calculation- and a bored noble child seemed one of the perfect candidates to cause public outrage. But with so little of an amount able to be put in without notice, it wasn't even until later the child realized anything of what happened, and subsequently panicked over an apparent curse allowing him to shift his skin to red and gold and a leathery texture. He proceeded to bury this secret far away and deep down, silently hoping that enough prayer would make it go away or it wasn't real, and continue on his life as normal.The teenage years brought with them rebellion, as Esredes grew tired of the strict rules of a noble upbringing and began to act out more. He'd sneak out past curfew, visit places off limits to him with his friends, hide magazines that would surely get burned and him yelled at if his parents knew, skip studies, and even tried fogweed once- though it didn't agree at all with his lungs, and when his friends mocked him endlessly for the long coughing fit it produced, he decided not to try again. These bouts of acting out got him into frequent arguments and trouble with his parents, and eventually even his friend group all left him, as following along on his ideas to break the rules got them into too much trouble as well. Esredes was left with only his little brother Seraphiaux for company and began to spend more time playing board games with him, even when Sera was supposed to be studying.Yet it wasn't too long after all this Esredes hit the escalation of everything. A conversation with a girl from his old friend group turned into a day spent together and much more by nightfall- and when caught on the tail end of it, he bore all of the fury from his parents. They had long since stopped taking him out with them in public, too embarrassed by how it must look they could not control their child- but now it was clear they needed to do something different. Two friends of the family were brought in and given control over Esredes, and while he resisted their authority for a while, eventually he was too tired from everything else to keep it up, and yielded himself limply to their lessons on responsibility and self control. And something soon clicked. Esredes emerged from those experiences changed, now much more given in to his logical and composed side, and willing to follow the rules and be a responsible young adult. And so his relationships with his family and some friends slowly recovered.As per his parents’ wishes, though his desire to be a Temple Knight remained, Esredes was not allowed to enlist until he was eighteen and finished his schooling. And while it certainly took effort to get there, Esredes did finish, and set out to enter training at one of his earliest opportunities. He quickly settled on the sword after trying out various other weapons, but struggled with using a shield in conjunction. Eventually, he was given permission to ditch shields entirely and focus on one-handed combat, and his training continued apace. Esredes was a devout and driven trainee, and his determination eventually won him squirehood, and in due time knighthood. The day his family got to celebrate him being knighted was perhaps the happiest day of his life even to this day, and even experiencing the true horrors of war and learning it was nothing like the stories, while it shook him up, ultimately could not knock his resolve to push himself to that day.As a Temple Knight, Esredes performed his tasks as he was told with little hesitation and with much efficiency, steadily climbing the ranks of the knights until he eventually reached the rank equivalent of a squadron leader by age twenty five. With his steady climb, he earned his place in reputation as something of a model knight, finally completing his ascension from being the undesirable firstborn- though those who dealt with him more directly knew not exactly every moment of his knighthood was filled to the brim with perfect, shining chivalry given the man's personality and demeanor. The man believed devoutly in Ishgard's path, and while he did not expect to see his goals achieved by himself in his lifetime, he resigned himself to do his part to wipe out all of dragonkind and their allies without mercy. No matter what injuries put him in hospitals or infirmaries or shook his resolve, he still got back on the battlefield. Nothing would stop the man from pursuing his chosen course of fate.In his twenty fifth year, during an expedition to wipe out a camp of bandits causing trouble, Esredes was thrown off a cliff by a bandit towards certain death, if not for the man deciding in that split moment falling through the air that he would not take death as it came, and reluctantly will his arms to transform their hidden capacity for wings. He managed to reduce the fall to a non-fatal impact by gliding into the opposite wall and being rescued with rope after the fight. He returned home after a stay in the infirmary, discharged from duty while on recovery, presuming his secret was kept and no one had seen him fall.But against his knowledge, someone had seen it, the identity of which he wouldn't learn for several years. And while still on recovery out at a bar, Esredes found himself surrounded by archers with his current overseeing commander ordering him to stand down and give himself up.His time had run out, and so the man ran.Out in the wilderness by himself with no plan, one part of Esredes thought to try and flee to Thanalan and hide, while the other considered turning back and turning himself in at multiple points. It didn't take but a day for knights to catch up with him again, however, and easily incapacitate the tired and still recovering man. Yet before he could even try to give in to the form that lurked underneath his skin to try and get away, an arrow flew through the sky and struck a knight, and Esredes watched in shock as heretics descended upon the knights and drove them away from their target.Esredes found himself face to face with demons, and ones that knew exactly who he was. And when he weighed his choices on the scale of fate, he ultimately chose to take their offer to go with them. While very much wary and mistrusting, Esredes had one objective in mind: to save his family no doubt being held by the Inquisition by whatever means possible. The group said they had resources to do just that, but in exchange he had to help them out. And Esredes willingly sold his soul to such a deal with devils. Most parts of him expected to die in the rescue effort or something similar, not that it would end up going too well with the man very much still alive and his family safe in Thanalan's Silver Bazaar.He was really bound to his promise now, with no way out but death.Yet instead of opting for death, the now ex-Temple Knight stayed with the camp. He adopted a persona that did not speak unless spoken to, followed orders without resistance, and was completely withdrawn without want to be social, all to see if there was going to be anything beyond this point, or if his life was effectively over. Slowly but surely, and with the help of his new partners in arms being patient with him and quietly supportive, he picked up the broken pieces of his life and tried to piece together a makeshift new one out of trying to help and save who else he could from Ishgard while they simply tried to survive otherwise in the wilderness. He reevaluated his perspective on his own home and opened his eyes and mind to the reality of its many bloodstains, worked to get over his fear of dragons as well as accept his own dragon form, and even finally learned how to fly.After about a year, the camp was discovered, and was sieged upon during the night. Amongst the survivors, Esredes followed the camp to settle elsewhere, where in the process they ended up joining with two other camps and settling on a mountain to rebuild. During this period, he was quickly pulled aside by the camp's new body of elected leaders with a request to join them, and so he reluctantly accepted his new position despite feeling he didn't deserve such a large promotion. Life continued as before, just at a somewhat larger and more organized scale due to the higher volume of people.Then came the Calamity, and their efforts were set back once again. More rebuilding came, along with efforts to replenish their ranks. Among the people who would eventually come to the camp in the wake of the Calamity was a young woman with silver hair and a dream in her eyes, who to Esredes looked just as lost as most did when they first joined. Eventually, that woman would come to reveal to the camp her secret of being the reincarnation of the Saint Shiva and bestow upon them a truth of the war, with the determination to set Ishgard free using it. While skeptical of her claim of being a reincarnation, Esredes was quite willing to help her out with her mission and assist in conducting recruitment efforts using this new premise of a truth to be heard- to results he could have only dreamed of.By the words of her truth, their mere camp was transformed into the head of operations of an entire movement of people, and Esredes took on his new role as a leading member of the Disciples of Saint Shiva with pride and a newfound hope. The sheer magnitude of the people who flocked under the banner convinced the man this was it- this was what they needed to stand a chance against the Ishgardian military, and they could now work to end the war by exposing Ishgard to the truth, and failing that, conquer it to put themselves in charge and make peace.He could have a chance to finally go home.In the years that followed, Esredes fought on the Disciples' side with everything in him, doing everything it took to push their efforts forward and bring them closer to their ultimate goal. Whether it meant managing often tense or frail diplomatic efforts between the many camps, robbery from both Ishgardian and outside sources to maintain resources, assault on key Ishgardian points, detaining prisoners of war and trying to persuade them to their side, manipulating outsiders and impressionable parties into helping or joining them. ordering assassinations, and so on, Esredes willingly steeped himself in the darkness of crimes to see peace come to Coerthas, though not without his own moral code of limitations when possible.The war continued on, and there Esredes stood at the front of it. Even if it meant becoming the monster in the shadow Ishgard feared, he pressed on, unrelenting in his singular goal of bringing peace to the land and ending this war for good. And Ishgard would know his name, even if it was cursed to the deepest pit of the seven hells.
And when the song rose once more, then came the final chorus....
All for their efforts to ultimately fail in the end. For his people were slaughtered while defending Snowcloak and Shiva was banished by the putrid being that called itself a Warrior of Life, and he was forced along with Lady Iceheart to resort to a plan B, which ended in a catastrophic failure costing the lives of many in the Brume. Esredes did his best to try and help formulate plans C and D and so on in the time after, but in the meantime the same demon in human skin parleyed with his beloved Ysayle, and the woman came back to base to report on all that had happened and all she had learned. Seeing the game had changed yet again, Esredes told her if she wanted to go on and help the Warrior see her dream through, nothing stopped her, for it didn't matter whether she was or was not Shiva- she still embodied the same courage and drive of the woman, and it was all she needed to move forward.A pep talk he would come to regret very soon after when she never came back.In the months that passed, all attacks on Ishgard stopped, and the heretics waited in their bases to see if Ishgard would do the right thing and bring peace. Esredes was elected to take Iceheart's place as their leader in the wake of her passing, where he quietly grieved, tended to his people and survival, and waited as tensely as anyone else, just as powerless to affect the outcome as the rest of them. Fortunately for all of them, peace was made, and among the rest of his people, Esredes stood conflicted on what to do next with his life after eight years, not only unable to return home, but due to Ishgard's rejoining of the Alliance, no longer likely to have options to start over elsewhere either.It was to this the man found himself shocked when a member of the Warrior of Light's party who he had previously been in conflict with found him pondering alone out in the wilderness, and dared to claim to the man he had pulled the strings to not only have his original crime investigated, but got him a signed pardon from Aymeric himself, on the grounds he order his people to cease all hostile operations for good and obeyed the laws of the new Republic. By all legal means, he could finally go home. He could finally walk across the bridge to Ishgard again- which he didn't manage to do without collapsing multiple times and needing support. He was not set on going home immediately, though, all matters of concerns running through his head, only for the subsequent time he made the daytrip out to Ishgard to involve the newly forming Dravanian Diplomacy Department to be asking after him for employment, followed by a member of the new House of Lords wanting him to be his advisor on speaking on harrier matters, and Esredes felt like he was in a surreal dream world where things stopped making sense.Yet ultimately, he decided to move back to Ishgard and take up both jobs, dealing with the stress of having no assets to his name to start over with as well as the general danger of coming back, all in the name of furthering the goal of his people and not letting Ysayle's incomplete dream die. Over time, more and more of his people quietly moved back, and combined with existing dealings with the spy network, Esredes now operates something of a dual life within Ishgard- by the light a simple law abiding citizen, perhaps a former Temple Knight, perhaps a mere politician's advisor, and by shadow a sentry of Iceheart's people who continuously monitors and handles information both in and out of city to keep his people protected and push as many people to his way of thinking as possible, all while continuously trying to readjust to civilian life.Be it that the man knows this will be his bed to lie down in and meet his demise, he pushes on and on, forever not giving up, forever unable to forsake the cause of his people until someone finally manages to end him, or he finally fulfills his true purpose and dies in battle. But until then, Ishgard remains his battlefield, upon which he resolves himself to die a filthy, meaningless heretic and light the city in cleansing flame in the process, fade away quietly having outlived all usefulness, or against all odds and expectations, find himself ascending beyond his self-determined fate, pulled out of shadows and transforming into something new as scars shine in the daylight.
Roleplay Hooks
Pre/During Heavensward:
A deal with the devil.
The most common hook used to instigate interaction with him. If you consider your character naive, oblivious, inexperienced, a bit too willing to help people, likely to cling to the first person to notice and try to help their issues, or otherwise prone to manipulation, Esredes is always looking for opportunities to get someone to do a favor for the heretics, perhaps slowly pull them further and further into the hole as he takes advantage of their vulnerable mind...Or perhaps your character is the opposite. Perhaps they know what is going on, and they have a chip on their shoulder about Ishgard, and are willing to assist its enemies…Either way, Esredes has to go to a lot of places in favor of the heretics, whether it’s to check up with an ally for new information or to rob something for the supplies. And if your character gets knee deep enough into heretic affairs to actually join them, you get a complimentary membership card to my heretic club.Enemies.
Any loyal Ishgardian or even just people who don’t like what the heretics are doing can easily become an enemy to Esrey. Or just encountering him and his personality can probably spark something, who knows. If your character fought on Ishgard's side during the war, they might have encountered or fought one of Iceheart's highest and most dangerous.Most Wanted.
On that note, he is highly wanted by the Ishgardian authorities, and by ARR he has a 150k gil bounty on his head. Perhaps someone recognizes him from the posters, or wants to make themselves a bit of money.Simple Chance Encounters.
Esredes wanders out into the world a lot and can meet people if he’s simply exploring for his own downtime, or is between or in the middle of taking care of heretic business and something else happens.Freelance Affairs.
Sometimes when heretics have time to not be up to awful things, he will take up short term Adventurer-esque work just for the money.A Specter From The Past.
Applies to both timelines. Before everything, Esredes was still a Temple Knight of some significance, the equivalent of someone capable of leading smaller expeditions into the field, as well as your average noble from a minor house. Between potential noble childhood or early adult friends, fellow Temple Knights, or even small and chance encounter situations with lowborn that left an impact for him, there are plenty of people who could have known him from long ago.Dragon Aether.
Also applies to both timelines; Esredes’ aether is entirely tainted draconic thanks to the blood. Anyone with aethersense or sight would be easily able to notice his aether is not quite normal.
Post Heavensward Onward
Upon the end of the war, Esredes seeks now to non-violently fight back against the inevitable outlash about dragons and heretics. Mostly. Dark Knights still manage to kill all around this place without getting caught, and he keeps a coded list of people who endanger his objectives...More Chance Encounters.
Esredes can walk out into the world without fear of being arrested and has much more normal motivations for being there. Some common places he can be spotted inside Ishgard are the Crozier (particularly coming in and out of a small apothecary), near the Vault, by his home in Foundation, and around the Firmament.If a character meets him before the end of Heavensward, chances are they will meet again sometime after.He’s generally much more tired, less antagonistic, and going through a battle with his mental health. Characters that can help him with that in some way by befriending him are much appreciated by him.A Teacher and A Guide For All Who Will Listen, The Path of Knowing.
Esredes considers himself a resource for all who are curious about the usual heretical topics- the lost history, dragon’s blood and shifting, dragons themselves, or his own faction. If one listens to the whispers in the shadows around Ishgard, they will talk about him and lead one to him- or perhaps your character simply comes to him through other means. Even if they’re not actively looking for a teacher to help them learn about these topics, perhaps he will find out through other means, or realize where he is needed based on an encounter.Allies.
He’s going to need heretic-sympathizing Ishgardians (especially those who have influence) to help him have any will to live in Ishgard again and to help him with efforts to try and change the public to let go of their wariness towards heretics and dragons.Politics.
Esredes works for a candidate in the House of Lords, and spends the rest of his working time out in the field negotiating with dragons on behalf of Ishgard. If you have a character that has reason to know his background character status in the political field and visit his office, or have a situation involving a dragon or heretical hostility that needs someone called in to resolve, he’s not too far away.Do you think you can play redemption with me? Do you think you’re worthy of my forgiveness?
Do you have a character who served on the Ishgard side of the war and regrets it? Perhaps they feel the need to make it up to those they’ve wronged? Esredes judges said types of people to deem if they’re repentant enough to be worthy of his patience and not his hatred, assuming he finds out in the first place. Perhaps your character will pass and earn his acquaintance, or fail and earn his anger and a potential chew-out. Or if they regret nothing, prepare for a potential shitstorm. Inquisitors in particular are most likely to fail this personal trial of his.Why is that on your coat?
One of his coats he wears during this period has the Fortemps crest visible on the front if you look close enough, and he can often be seen near their manor. Perhaps your character will mistake him for a House Knight or affiliation with Fortemps. Perhaps it might be of interest to your character in some form.The Liberation of Ala Mhigo.
Esredes was not around for all of the battles leading up to the liberation, but he did join the reinforcement wave coming in right before the big day as a freelancer, wanting to do his part to participate in a historical event and feel alive in battle again. If your character was also part of this event, perhaps they saw each other before, during, or in the wake of it.Heresy is the best form of therapy.
This hook applies to both timelines, but the thing about being both a heretic and somewhat the sane one is that Esredes has already completed many of the typical Ishgardian arcs, and that combined with his experience dealing with abused and broken people means he can often see through peoples’ issues like water. As always, he can’t resist trying to fix a broken thing in front of him.
If you consider your character to have mental and emotional problems you want someone to reach out and help with, Esredes may very likely be able to pick up on them and be the one to finally tell them exactly what their problem is and how to help with it. As long as he gets someone willing to listen to him out of it, of course. Therapy isn’t free.
This hook can also now be a lot more literal as of 5.3 and onward, as he now conducts his own private counseling services at his workplace....Yet still, you are a force of darkness, dwelling among fellow beasts.
5.5 Onward. Due to an encounter gone well with a High Inquisitor, Esredes now has limited clearance and permission granted to sometimes offer his counseling services or conduct psychological evaluations on those held in the legal system. Given the nature of the system, this gives him open reign to decide if he wants to genuinely help someone who needs rehabilitation or to join his side… or to be the living torture device he can to the monsters held captive, those not even he can find merit and sympathy in.The Contingency.
6.0 only. Endwalker Spoilers hook. Needless to say, Esredes is a part of it. Was your character also a part of it? Perhaps they encountered one another.Thou Hath Shelter 'Neath My Vigil
As of post 6.0, Esredes has joined a new military establishment within Ishgard serving the House of Commons and working more closely with the Alliance. While still no longer a Temple Knight, this puts Esredes as a member of the wider Ishgardian military again. Will your character support him and the organization, or stand against it in protest? Do they require its services, or seek to help?
Specific Character Hooks
These are more in depth and intimate or situational than most general interaction hooks, and may require a new character altogether. Mostly here in case someone becomes interested in these ideas later on.Extended Family.
The Rosemonds exist outside of Esredes and his three direct family members. If you'd like to play a Rosemond, it's a completely open ended offer for a concept. Esredes was not that close with any of his extended family, nor has not seen any of his extended family since he was caught, but that doesn't mean he can't encounter them in the present. Please keep in mind this also means working with anyone who has also made a character for this.One Night Stands.
Esredes does not deal in intimate physical or romantic relationships, and specifically tailors his urges to have no loose ends. Shame it would be for that method to backfire one day.
Note this is not an ERP or Romance hook and I will only discuss details around anything that happened.Squires.
Esredes was a Temple Knight for seven years, which gives him plenty of time to have mentored at least 2-3 squires and been proud to pass them on when they graduated to full Temple Knights. I am even willing for one of them to have been in process of mentoring when he disappeared if someone wants an extra layer of trauma. He will not have talked to any of them since then and it must be restricted to meeting again in the present.
Currently 1 slots left; third and final squire and first squire has been claimed.
OOC Notes
-Hello, I am Plat! As far as further about me goes, I kind of just talk about myself as I go and as people ask. My basic overview is I get excited about characters the way anyone else does, and aim to someday create media out of mine. I am also a naive baby (over 21, but still young compared to most in the community) so excuse my innocence and please don’t try to destroy what remains of it.-I am always willing to interact with others through roleplay and I do my best not to be exclusive in any capacity. I’m flexible to in-game or Discord roleplay, but in-game is very likely to have a queue of people for one to wait on, as my tendency to interact with everyone leaves me with a lot of demand for scenes. I’m fairly open to giving out my discord once we’ve had a conversation.-That being said, I will not ERP, do not ask. I don’t like explicit sexual content and I do not want my characters to be put in sexualizing situations, not to mention I… probably literally couldn’t because I don’t entirely understand sex. The most I’m willing to do is a fade to black and nothing more, as I’m not inherently opposed to exploring tension and buildup to that point and the aftermath.-Esredes is single but not exactly open to shipping as things are. I don’t mind exploring AUs or mere ideas and musings of pairings, but he’s not a really romantically focused character.-I view roleplaying as its own form of media, with all the potential for beauty within it that other forms of media possess. I’m mainly just looking to see how different situations and characters can bring something interesting out of my character, or vice versa, and create something beautiful out of it. That being said, I also know it is a hobby for everyone and not a formal writing experience, so while I like to hold my own writing to my imaginations about media, I do not expect anything from my partners beyond the basic standard of adequacy.-I take a looser approach to Dragon’s Blood with my own headcanons because of ambigious gaps in lore, and due to the fact certain elements of his story demand the looseness. It may very well be considered lorebending and characters are free to treat it as such, but it’s what I need for the story I want to tell.-Esredes is a fully developed character with a complex psychology, so I don’t really seek to develop him through roleplay as much as I do see if it’s possible for him to grow through healing arcs- otherwise I am just here to enjoy what he gets into, and see how it helps others’ characters in turn. Feel free to use him as a development tool for your own characters- I love being able to help others’ creativity through him, and he plays the support role well, I’ve found.-That being said, I would still appreciate a reasonable amount of give and take. I don't mind taking multiple roleplays to develop another's character, but I am eventually going to have to ask we work out something meaningful happening to my character as well, if the other character is not naturally capable of focusing on others. I will not appreciate it if I sink multiple roleplays into helping your character only to get dropped or not have the will or interest to balance out the in-character dynamic.-Obviously, he falls into the range of villain to ambiguously evil or just questionable and problematic. Esredes does not usually attack or harm people without reason, but I usually warn if something does happen he will respond to with violence. Beyond that, he’s just generally prone to coming off as an asshole, can be hard to please (especially if he doesn’t like someone), and is terribly judgemental of people. He also quite enjoys insulting people who he believes deserve it and more rarely can get verbally abusive, so be aware that sometimes this is a possibility going in. And while he is manipulative as hell with an agenda, I only want to take that as far as the other person is willing to go. If you want a certain outcome to occur with him, whether positive or negative or otherwise, feel free to consult about what factors are more likely to tip things one way or another.-In terms of genre and types of roleplay, I am pretty flexible and all over the place. I like simple slice of life, I like some level of dark, I especially like adventure and combat, I like wholesome and lighthearted and healing, I'm a glutton for psychological and emotional roleplay. Besides ERP, my only kinds of roleplays I don't tend to enjoy are those that expect or rely on Esredes being a continous punching bag for other characters without proper consequence or meaningful plot development coming out of it.
Esredes caters to themes of heresy (obviously), psychological development and horror, political intrigue and tension, enemies to good standing, ideological upheaval or reevaluation, villain protagonist or hero arcs, straight up villain storylines, explorations of PTSD, trauma, abandonment issues, survivor's and regular guilt, and self-hatred, among other things, but roleplay with him does not need to concern or focus any of these for me to enjoy it. Just keep in mind they're the most core to his character and you're going to get the most out of him by catering to them.-I am not picky or strict about lore if it's plausible, nor about high or low fantasy. Esredes himself is flexible to both ends of the spectrum. Beyond the dragon form, he is designed as a very basic vanilla type of person, so he easily blends into most normal situations and he plays the role of Local Mostly Normal Man Has To Handle A Lot Of Abnormal Shit quite well. The only thing that is a hard no from me is anything that will add to his powerset or existing abnormalities. He already has a comfortable powerset, and it’s crucial to his character to maintain his seminormal aesthetic. But merely dealing with abnormal content is all good!-Esredes is a mid power level character, maybe on the higher end of that depending on your personal definition. I abide by rolls and the like as everyone else, but keep in mind it’s a part of his character to be dangerous, competent, and not willing to go down easily.-I take a wide net approach to roleplay; I utilize peoples’ differing rates of reply speed to take on more at once. So don’t feel bad if you are slow, because I am guaranteed to have other things going on at the same time and will not be solely focused on our scene. If you drop off, I may poke you a couple times, but I am going to have to let it go after that and keep moving. I believe if people want to roleplay, they will roleplay, and if not, they won’t, and it’s not on me to take personally if they can’t.