application (diadem)

[soulshard]

Player Information

Player: Court
Contact: demonology | demonology @ discord | PM
Invitation OR characters played: Fern Whitetooth
Are you over 18?: Y!


Character Information

Character: Ardbert Hylfyst
Canon: The end of Endwalker (via watching events from within the Warrior of Light's soul)
Age: Physical: 31; Mental: 131+
History: Character history & a summary of Endwalker. It was confirmed by the developers that Ardbert is aware from within the Warrior of Light's soul after he is absorbed into them at the end of Shadowbringers. This means that he will have some idea of the events that transpired in Endwalker from the Warrior of Light's POV. I won't assume he was aware and alert for all of it to allow for him to not know certain things depending on canonmate preference. I assume he shifts in and out of awareness so his recollection of things can be hazy, depending.
Possessions: Only the clothes on his back.
Weapon: His axe, Bravura Atma. Notably, it is no longer stained with blood.

Powers/Abilities:
Ardbert is an accomplished martial combatant trained in the ways of the Warrior, which is one of the "jobs" that someone in his universe can take on and learn to be effective in battle. This means that he wields an axe and fills the role of a tank in fights, wherein he tries to gain the attention of enemies, drawing their ire to him and then using abilities to resist their damage and fend them off (while others do more intense damage, or provide healing). He is actually most used to co-tanking with one of his companions, Branden, and therefore often took the off-tank role during their travels together.

On top of this, Ardbert also received the Blessing of Light from the goddess Hydaelyn. This means that he was recognized by her as a hero, a Warrior of Light, and granted a boon as a result. With this blessing comes a variety of abilities.

Another point I'd like to make before getting into the nitty-gritty of this is that while Ardbert might be considered a normal human in his own world/universe (and he doesn't even cast magic like some of the other jobs do), that isn't really the case when comparing what he can do to real life Earth. First of all, he is strong enough to take down godlike beings called primals, but he also can jump much further than a normal human, unleash axe swings that duplicate around him into a much larger range, etc. A lot of it is typical over-the-top JRPG stuff, but it does seem to be what he is capable of within canon. This can be attributed to him using aether (the energy that makes up all living things in the world) to amplify his attacks and what he does, along with the Blessing of Light mentioned above, as well as the fact that he's trained a lot (it's safe to assume he's level 80). Most of the main characters in FFXIV can also do things like this (there's a moment when Alisaie leaps off a tall tower and lands with no issue, for instance), so their baseline doesn't really match what we would consider normal.

WARRIOR
A Warrior first starts as a Marauder, and their fighting style is described as follows: "[it] relies on one's ability to properly direct the force generated by the axe's heavy blade. Thus the techniques employed by a marauder seek to maximize the destructive potential of [their] chosen weapons. The axe is used to rend, to cleave, and to destroy. It is not [their] way to simply outfight [their] adversaries; [they] seek to overwhelm them. A marauder must be the most powerful and enduring presence on the battlefield; [they] must account for the most enemies defeated. [Their] role in combat is that of a steel whirlwind, dealing death and destruction without equal."

Being a Warrior means relying on brute force and using strength and steel to cut down enemies. However, another aspect to the Warrior class is relying on one's "inner beast" and going into a semi-berserk state to boost damage done and become even more of an unyielding force of nature on the battlefield. While this is not something that Ardbert is specifically shown to do, it's safe to assume that he goes into this state when necessary.

See the Warrior Job Guide for more information, but I'll also break things into categories for RP purposes.

Tank stance: Ardbert has an ability called Defiance, which is what allows him to draw the attention of enemies around him. While it is not explained explicitly in canon how enmity generation works, Defiance brings a red fiery aura up around the user for a moment, essentially telling any foes in the area "hey, look at me." I think it's easiest to say that he manipulates aether around him enough to draw aggro, but it's probably also simply a matter of him charging to the front of his group and making himself obvious.

Offensives: Abilities like Heavy Swing, Maim, Overpower, or Steel Cyclone fall here. There isn't too much to say here. He swings his axe around, sometimes with an extra burst or arc of energy, and does damage. Some of these are AOE abilities, meaning that they do damage in a fairly large radius around him, whether it's by slamming the ground or swinging the axe above his head in a circle and sending out a cyclone of energy around him. The other thing to note is that some of these abilities also allow him to recover some health. Again, the logistics of this are not really explained, but the idea is supposed to be that Warriors are incredibly good at sustaining themselves and remaining up in a fight. Also, he has a single ranged attack, Tomahawk, where he shoots a blast of energy from his axe to hit an enemy that's further away. This doesn't do a ton of damage and is purely to grab that enemy's attention and draw it toward him.

Damage mitigation: Abilities like Rampart, Vengeance, Equilibrium, and Shake It Off fall here. All tank jobs in FFXIV revolve around the idea of damage mitigation, where they use abilities on themselves (and sometimes on the other party members around them) to lower the amount of damage taken by enemies. Once again, this isn't given a strong logistical explanation in canon, but Warrior in particular has the flavor of doing damage back to the enemy when attacked (Vengeance) or self-healing (Equilibrium). Ardbert also has one AOE ability, Shake It Off, which allows him to create a shielding barrier for all nearby friendlies. Its range is 30 yalms (AKA yards). Within RP, I will flavor this as him being extremely resilient and able to take a lot of hits, even coming back to what feels like full health when he's knocked down by drawing on his own aether, but naturally there's still a limit to this, and he'll need someone else helping to heal him to keep it up against a difficult enemy (or a large number of enemies). There is one more mitigation ability worth mentioning, Nascent Flash. He uses this on another friend in the fight with him and it allows him to heal both himself and that targeted person with each hit of damage he does.

Buffing: Abilities like Berserk, Infuriate, and Inner Release fall here. As those ability names might indicate, Warriors buff their damage output by going into a berserk state, allowing them to attack in a frenzy and do much more damage as a result. It also makes them immune to status effects such as Sleep, Stun, Bind, and Heavy. Warriors do this by charging something called the "Beast Gauge" in-game. For RP purposes, this will be something Ardbert can only do once per fight and he will pull out in moments of desperation or as a last-ditch effort. He'll also be drained by the effort of it to keep things fair and balanced.

Invulnerability: Every tank also has an invuln move that allows them to stay up and in the battle when normally they would have been knocked out. The Warrior's is Holmgang, which is described as: "Brace yourself for an enemy onslaught, preventing most attacks from reducing your HP to less than 1." This is mechanically something he cannot do very often, certainly only once a fight, and it's a last-ditch effort to stay up when he would otherwise be knocked unconscious. He'll use it only when absolutely necessary, and it also only lasts for 10 seconds, just long enough for a healer to hopefully get him back into decent shape.

Role Actions: There are a few abilities that every type of tank role can use. This includes kicking an enemy (by stunning them?) (Low Blow), interrupting an enemy's spell-cast action (Interject), gesturing threateningly to draw an enemy's attention (Provoke), and nullifying abilities that would normally knock back or draw in (Arm's Length). I think these are fairly self-explanatory, but if you need further translation of them in RP-space, let me know.

BLESSING OF LIGHT
As mentioned before, Ardbert is the recipient of the Blessing of Light from the mother goddess Hydaelyn (steward of the Source and its reflections, including the First, which is where Ardbert is from). This confers to him a number of abilities.

The Echo: As Minfilia explains it, "the Echo allows you to pass through the walls of a man's soul, and hear the resonations of his past." What this means is that those with this gift are sometimes able to catch a glimpse of someone else's past. This is always someone they are in close physical proximity with, and it's usually not something that the user can trigger or control. It just happens. In-game this is often for plot device purposes. When Ardbert and the Warrior of Light (player character) first interact, the Echo is triggered in both of them, as they both have this blessing (and are shards of the same soul). However, it's fair to assume that it can also be triggered at other times. I'll use this sparingly in-game, mainly just when I think that the addition of a brief memory share might be useful for progressing a thread or for CR-building purposes.

The Echo also allows for an implicit understanding of all languages. The caveat to this is that the entity speaking the language must have a soul, so I assume this could be used as a way for him to not be able to understand certain eldritch horrors in the Diadem, as needed by mod rulings. Finally, there is some level of seeing the essence of a person's soul that one can do when they have the Echo. Frankly, this isn't touched on much in Ardbert's case, so I don't intend to do too much with it (and if I do, it will be with the other player's permission).

Immune to Tempering: The other big benefit of Hydaelyn's blessing is having an immunity to the influence of primals, who are usually able to "temper" anyone who comes close enough to them, turning them into their thrall. This was, until recently, a completely incurable state. Anyone tempered would become a mindless thrall to the primal's will, essentially an extension of that will, but Ardbert is immune to this effect. It also means that he can't be charmed or manipulated by anything magic/aether-related.

Warrior of Light: There is an implication that anyone who is a Warrior of Light (blessed by Hydaelyn) has a sort of natural aptitude for picking up new skills. In theory, they can also take on multiple combat jobs, but Ardbert is only ever shown to be a Marauder or Warrior. I'll simply translate this as him being a quick study when it comes to new skillsets (like driving a car, for instance).

MISCELLANEOUS

Good with Animals: Ardbert is shown to have a special bond with his amaro, Seto, which came in part because he grew up as a farm boy of sorts, tending to animals with his grandfather. He is very much a horse girl and has a way with getting animals to trust him, along with knowing how to care for them.

Adventurer: Ardbert traveled all of the First as an adventurer from age eighteen all the way up to his death at thirty-one, so he definitely knows how to rough it and get by in the wilderness. This isn't actively shown all that much in his flashbacks, but it's safe to assume he has decent survival and navigation skills as a result.

Application Questions

Who is the most important person in their life and why? What might be different if this person hadn't been around?
At this point in Ardbert's life (or rather, death), it's definitely the Warrior of Light. In truth, Ardbert fully believed that his life had ended and lost all purpose by the time that he returned to the First and then was inconceivably spared by Minfilia as she brought a stop to the Flood before it fully consumed everything. He didn't understand why he was left to exist in limbo as a shade when all of his friends, his fellow Warriors of Light (or Darkness), were sacrificed to help fend off the Flood. He would have preferred to sacrifice himself alongside them, and yet for some reason he was left to wander the realm in a purgatory of solitude for a whole century.

While he wondered at the purpose of it all, if he had been "spared" simply to suffer, the truth came when the Warrior of Light finally arrived on the First. After having lost most of his cognizance as what little was left of his essence began to fray, Ardbert was suddenly alert again and drawn to the Warrior of Light like a fish on a line. This is, as it turns out, because Ardbert and the Warrior of Light are actually shards sundered from the very same soul, that of the Ancient, Azem. They are quite literally soulmates, not that either of them knew that at this time.

From that point on Ardbert was almost always present for the Warrior's journey through the First as they fought to save it. Ardbert thought his home was beyond saving at this point, that it was simply dying a slow and sad death, and he was bitter and skeptical about someone even making an attempt. Yet the Warrior of Light proved him wrong. Through watching the Warrior's actions on the First and also getting to know them as a person during their frequent inn-room chats, Ardbert was able to slowly regain his hope that had been eroded away by the terrible circumstances of his life. The Warrior of Light was ultimately able to succeed where Ardbert had failed, though in truth, they found triumph together. Ardbert was there every step of the way, supporting the Warrior as best he could at even the lowest points — like when everything was almost lost because the Warrior had drawn in too much light from the Lightwardens. More than that, it was only through both Ardbert's moral support and by rejoining his soul with the Warrior's that they had enough combined strength to bring an end to Emet-Selch, the Ascian responsible for the First's fate.

Through this, Ardbert was finally able to find redemption for himself and feel at peace with his fate. His home (or what was left of it, at least) had been saved, and he could find rest within the Warrior's of Light soul, present in some way to observe how their journey continued and be a silent source of support along the way.

Is there an event in your character's life that they'd do differently? How so and why?
The short answer to this is no.

The tragedy of Ardbert's life is that he did everything right. His journey started with him as a humble adventurer who simply wanted to journey out into the world and help people. All those small favors added up, though, and he started to gather people to his cause as they all gained strength and earned the Blessing of Light through the selfless choices they made to help others and make sacrifices. Yet there were bad actors working behind the scenes who wanted to take advantage of Ardbert and his friends and the goodness that they were bringing to the world. As a result of this, the First ended up with too much Light in it, leading to the imbalance that caused the Flood. Simply put, Ardbert and his friends were too good, and that goodness was exploited to try and trigger the Rejoining. If Ardbert were to go back and not do all that good, though, so many others would have suffered, and so he wouldn't make that choice.

The difficult decisions don't end there, though. Following the start of the Flood, he decided (alongside his friends) to take his own life and theirs so they could travel to the Source. So desperate was he to save his world at this point, he tried to bring about a Calamity on the Source because Elidibus had promised him that would be the way to bring salvation to the First. He failed at this, and it's something he looks back on as foolish now, as the actions of a man pushed to his very limits. But if he hadn't done that, Minfilia would have never gone to the First to stop the Flood, nor would the other events that ultimately led to the First being saved have taken place. So he can't say he would undo that either.

After his stint on the Source, he also asks Minfilia to return him and his friends home. If he didn't do this, maybe he would have simply faded away into the Lifestream, but even if the return meant being doomed to a century in purgatory, he still wouldn't change that choice, because that century was the price he paid for reuniting with the Warrior of Light and saving his realm.

It doesn't really matter how many ways his life went utterly sideways, leading to that miserable existence of a solitary ghost left to stew in all of his mistakes. There was never any better path for him; if he changed anything he did, something worse would have happened (or at least something he personally would see as not worth the cost, such as simply choosing not to act and do good when people on the First were in need of aid).

This quote of his basically sums it up: "We did everything right, everything that was asked of us, and still--still, it came to this!"

What's the greatest challenge you foresee your character facing in the setting? How might this impact their ability to adapt and in what ways will they confront this challenge?
So, about that whole thing where he was a ghost for one hundred years...

Ardbert hasn't been in a corporeal body for over a century. He could not interact with any physical items (he just phased through them); he couldn't eat or sleep; no one could see him or hear him. This changed when the Warrior of Light arrived on the First given their shared soul, but even then, it was only the Warrior of Light who could see him and who he could interact with. Suffice to say that he's extremely rusty when it comes to the day-to-day of being a person. I definitely want to play with this as I have him adjust to the Diadem setting as he has to remember how to socialize with people, readjust to having any sort of structured schedule, and so on. He will forget that people can see him or that he's expected to interact with them, his sleep and eating schedule will be a mess, and he'll still default to doing things on his own at first.

The fact that he's going to have castmates will force him to adjust quicker than he might have done otherwise, but I still expect him to struggle with this for a while and come off as kind of distant and out-to-lunch when he's going about his business. Still, he'll have little choice but to adapt to being corporeal again, it will just take some time.

He's also going to be alarmed by his shadow/void blood (approved by the mods) and will want to try and figure out how he was able to be put back into what seems to be his body in the first place, especially knowing that in canon his corpse was snatched by Elidibus. He's definitely going to assume something weird is going on. This could also lead to some fun plotting opportunities.

What's the easiest thing you foresee your character adapting to in the setting?
Once Ardbert gets past the hump of being alive again, the easiest thing for him will be throwing himself headfirst into the setting and just exploring. Given that Ardbert is a shard of Azem, who is known for their love to explore and travel the star, it's quite literally written into his soul that he has wanderlust. More than that, he has already spent over a decade (while he was still alive) traveling his world and doing JRPG protagonist stuff, whether that's doing random errands and odd jobs for people or hunting down dangerous monsters. In some ways, the ability to do this again will actually make the adjustment period of being corporeal again a bit easier, since this will all feel like old hat to him. He'll be ready and willing to learn every nook and cranny of Panorama and also will frequently venture out into the Fringes just to see what's there. It's the nature of any Azem shard to always want to explore, which will make general engagement with the setting very easy for him.

Granted, the Diadem and Panorama are not like anything that Ardbert has seen before. While he has traveled to another star in the past when he went to the Source, there is still bound to be an adjustment period when it comes to the technology here and the ins and outs of Diadem's culture. Nonetheless, he'll be eager to learn about that and get up to speed, and as was referenced in the powers section, Warriors of Light tend to have a knack for picking up on new things with ease. This doesn't mean that everything will come easily to him, but he will have the wherewithal to poke at whatever doesn't make sense to him and figure it out, as needed.


Samples

Sample: TDM top level