Ethyreil Withersbane

| Inquisitive | Enigmatic | Unfettered |

The Time
The Known
The Unknown
The Hooks
The Player

The Amount Of Time Elapsed Since Waking Up

The Known

The Unknown

When Ethyreil was approximately eight cycles of age, they were discovered to have significant potential for Thaumaturgy, along with a fierce impulse to learn. Their family wanted only the best for their child, so they sent word to another exceedingly talented Thaumaturge, Ystthenilen Istren, who was well known throughout much of their small community, requesting that he take Ethyreil on as both a student and ward. Many people, both seemingly talented adults and the parents of gifted children, had requested his guidance only to find themselves turned away after his evaluation of their skill. When Ethyreil was presented before him and successfully cast a particularly strong fire spell for one so young, he was noticeably speechless, giving no commentary but instead approaching their parents with an extensive contract to sign them over to him. They were eager to sign it immediately but he stopped them before their quills could touch the parchment, advising them to read over it carefully, as one of the stipulations would be that they would not see Ethyreil again as their tutelage would not end for as long as his aether continued to inhabit this plane of existence - they would be signing their child’s life away to him for as long as he lived and there was no room for negotiation. Despite his recommendation to thoroughly read over the contract, they put quill and ink to paper without further hesitation, effectively relinquishing control of Ethyreil over to Ystthenilen for as long as he would live.Upon receiving them as his student, he gave them a rather large tome, composed of thousands of blank pages - the intention being for them to fill it to the brim with information, discoveries, and the like as it related to Thaumaturgy.For a number of years, their studies into Thaumaturgy under Ystthenilen’s guidance bore great success, their abilities truly shining each chance they were given the opportunity to show them. This was in part due to the rigorous studying they were required to do each day for up to sixteen hours, with practical application exams occurring four times a week along with their complete isolation from the outside world. Ystthenilen was determined to turn Ethyreil into the perfect Thaumaturge, his deepest desire being for them to master the control of their own aether to begin controlling and manipulating the aether around them, drawing it into their own body from the land itself - he wanted to turn Ethyreil into a Black Mage, something he had not been able to achieve himself due to his own shortcomings with regard to aether control and manipulation, along with his fear of death, knowing that should he be caught performing Black Magic his life would be effectively forfeit. He had both found a way to achieve his goal through another and avoid the death penalty. But Ystthenilen would come to find out that Ethyreil’s nigh unquenchable thirst for knowledge, something he had learned to exploit, would soon cause them to deviate from the path he had set for them.Ethyreil is endlessly curious about absolutely everything in the universe - they want to know everything about everything. Every minute detail, every molecule of information on subjects ranging from Aetherochemistry to the flora and fauna of Coerthas, they wanted to know it all. Any information there was available, they sought it out and should there be unavailable information, they would do everything in their ability to find it. As they got older, this desire for knowledge only got stronger as evidenced by the pages of their tome quickly filling with in-depth knowledge on subjects other than Thaumaturgy, much to Ystthenilen’s chagrin. He was fully aware of their enormous potential and here they were, squandering it on unnecessary information.In the coming years, Ystthenilen would continuously attempt to redirect Ethyreil’s attentions back to Thaumaturgy, his frustration ever increasing as his pupil baulked against his demands, his expectations, his plan. He tried everything -Repeatedly locking them away for weeks with no food, allowing them to only drink water. A stack of books on Thaumaturgy and applications of aether, along with a pile of long burning candles were provided to them.
Heavily restricting their access to the rather large library in his home, beginning at ten cycles of age, as he discovered this was where they were finding the bulk of their information on subjects outside of what was approved for their studies. It was not until they were nearing eighteen cycles of age that they were permitted back into the library with supervision.
Completely isolating them from the outside world, beginning at twelve cycles of age.
When they were found to be menstruating sometime after their fifteenth cycle (Ethyreil having successfully kept that development a secret from Ystthenilen for two years), he dosed them with a rather heavy sedative and took them to a Chirurgeon to have a complete hysterectomy performed, ensuring that there was no chance of them being further distracted by the “hormones plaguing their body.”Nothing was working. He had done everything he could possibly conceive of to break them, break their spirit to the mold he had so diligently created for them. Finally, his hand was forced. He would have to start over with a clean slate. Knowing what he had to do, Ystthenilen spirited them away to the same Chirurgeon that he had taken them to for the hysterectomy and had them forcibly wipe Ethyreil’s memory completely clean, leaving behind only their basic survival skills (of which they had very little). This time, he would get it right but he knew that he could not do it alone. He would need to enlist the help of the Thaumaturge’s guild in Ul’dah, his thought process being that he himself may have been a distraction and that perhaps under the initial guidance of a group of Thaumaturges, they would have a greater chance of staying the course and relearning all that they would need to know before he returned to reclaim them as his student, but this time as a fledgling Black Mage.Not long after their memory was wiped, Ystthenilen traveled with their still unconscious body to the Black Shroud, depositing them beneath the boughs of a large tree. Before departing, he placed a newly bound, blank tome next to them and tacked a note to the trunk of the wooden giant with the following inscribed upon it -Your name is Ethyreil Withersbane.
You will find your magic again in the blackened halls wrought with destruction.Ystthenilen would not fail again, he would not allow his greatest achievement to become his greatest failure. Ethyreil had so much potential, so much promise, and he was not going to permit them to waste it - not so long as his aether still inhabited this plane of existence.However, he would have been wise not to underestimate Ethyreil’s intense hunger for knowledge, even with the memory of their life prior to waking up being all but scattered to the wind, that desire remained fully intact and unwavering.

The Hooks

THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE | Ethyreil is motivated by one simple desire and everything they do, every action they take, can always be traced back to the fervent and ever present driving force behind their existence - the pursuit of knowledge. That being said, they are aware of the fact that the acquisition of knowledge must be done in achievable increments and so...ALLAGAN ARTIFACTS | The Allagan Empire was as advanced as it was vast before its fall, thus the number of its secrets that have been recovered does not scratch the surface of what existed while the empire flourished and expanded. Ethyreil seeks to uncover the yet undiscovered secrets that the Allagan Empire's ruins still hold. Among those undiscovered secrets, they hope to find something that would serve to prevent their memories from being taken from them again; a way to protect their mind and the memories they have made since waking up from being ripped away. Should such a device exist, they will do everything in their power to restore it.RESEARCH INTO FORBIDDEN SCIENCES, TECHNOLOGY, AND MAGIC | As a result of their time spent as the Head of Research and Development at Cetra Inc., Ethyreil was charged with safeguarding the forbidden science, technology, and magic that the company had stored within its walls. As much of those resources were the result of their own efforts, when Ethyreil retired from Cetra those resources went with them and now it is not uncommon for individuals to seek them out for their seemingly exclusive access to those materials.AETHERIAL MANIPULATION | Ethyreil has an uncommonly large aether pool swirling around inside of them and for reasons that were previously unknown to them, they do have some considerable skill at manipulating it and are always looking for others to practice with and learn new methods from.

The Player