➞ The Liar's Sun ☼

Whatever you do, do not swallow,
O wretched beast wreathed in Sun's mockery

❝When you slip behind your eyes, do the days just pass you by?
Does it always just go on and on and on?❞
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Timid, pushover, crybaby. There's no two ways about it, Arthur's a bit pathetic, kind of neurotic and very easy to fluster. He seems to be scared of his own shadow at times, and it's not a herculean task to make him jump.A closer inspection reveals someone afraid of the world and even more afraid of themself, but has a sincere desire to help people. It is unfortunately buried under layers of vagueness, lies and several vices.Although he craves social interaction like crazy, his anxiety and fear of people cage him into wallflowering and folding to the opinions of others. If allowed, he's prone to following people around. Gullible and easy to deceive. He's very good at ignoring the warning signs.Afraid of water. Uncomfortable around snow and ice.

Aurvandil initially appeared almost 1,000 years ago in the middle of Ishgard, as one of the first to turn heretic, on the day of an eclipse. Driven from the city before it could be completely destroyed, Aurvandil immolated many. For five centuries that followed, Aurvandil would act as a vanguard of the Dravanian Horde. This information is available in Ishgard’s historic halls, although there lingers the mystery of why and where to Aurvandil vanished halfway into Dragonsong.Aurvandil and Arthur are one in the same, though the dragon of today believes his sins best lie in the past. Arthur denies any relation to dragons, and for those who do manage to find out, downplays his involvement in the war. He just wants to be liked.Regardless of his past, he's just as pathetic as his hyurian persona.

❝All the arrows that you've stolen
Split in half, now bum and broken
Like your heart that was so eager to be hid
You can't keep them all caged❞
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Author's note: I will take no offense if you do not want to interact with the dragon part of Arthur’s lore at all. Roleplay is an opt-in activity, and if dragons are not your thing, fine with me!If you are concerned with powerscaling, 95% of Arthur’s rps are in hyurian form. He also 1), self-restricts his aether so he cannot use draconic magic and 2), will not cast any summoner spells, only basic arcanist ones. I play him underpowered on purpose, as I don’t like playing overpowered guys. Unless plot asks for it otherwise, that’s how I roll.The dragon form’s primary function for Arthur’s lore is allegorical for some of his themes, and I just like dragons. So — easy to leave it out if not desired! Plenty of other lore crumbs.

☼ Do not Slay It →

Of all people, there is a bounty on Arthur's head, and it's a hefty sum. It's hard to ignore the amount. Seems an easy target for that much gil. The catch is that it’s required he's brought in alive. The condition doesn't matter, so long as he's still breathing. You'd have received word directly from the requester, "Heir", or through some other channels that operate under the law.

☼ Have We Met...? →

Prior to settling in Ishgard, Arthur used to travel. He'd follow a blue and unreasonably large hrothgar mercenary, who would often leave him to his own devices in inns and such. Having nothing to his name, he would do odd jobs at the inns he stayed at in exchange for room and board. Perhaps you've run into him on your travels before at one of those random roadside taverns...? He would've been the same bumbling idiot he is currently.

☼ Bookwyrm →

Arthur's grimoire is weird. It looks old, smells a little funky and if you happened to glean any of the pages, you could probably tell that there is something off about the arcane geometry within. In fact, it looks like someone went and wedded arcanima spells with occultist symbols... Arthur's spells do feel a little rancid when he casts them, even if they do as designed by a normal arcanist.

☼ Burdensome Beasts →

Mild body horror warning.Arthur's got a pair of wee beasties he dotes on.Yohann is his carbuncle. No arcanist is complete without one, but Yohann's funky. Seems a bit too intelligent, and a bit too mean-spirited to be your ordinary carbuncle. He's also constructed directly from Arthur's aether as opposed to ambient aether.Beau is his chocobo he occasionally mentions. Harder to meet unless you're out in the wilds, but Beau is more of a... suggestion of a chocobo. If you're familiar with the concept of a "not-deer", this is more or less what you're dealing with. He isn't friendly by any means.Maybe these beasties pique your curiosity?

☼ Coal Mine Canary →

For a hyur, Arthur's aether is incredibly dense and very difficult to miss for anyone with any sort of aether sensitivity or sight. The trouble is, it's also under a duress so great, it is essentially suffocating itself. Concentrated around the eyes, it is an inferno with some aether running countercurrent to crush itself down.For those who are not aether sensitive, the strain of Arthur's aether has a toll on his mental and physical health. Namely, he is often exhausted and shaky. Dark circles are constant companions, and he occasionally has trouble with coordination on the worst of days. He runs himself rather ragged. For physicians, he may be a bit of a self-sabotaging health concern.

☼ The Way that You Move →

For someone that claims to know little in the way of combat and adventuring, the way he moves is too practiced and experienced. He's a little too precise, a little too deft, and in the right situation, a little too strong with the fire magic for it to just be a basic arcanist's spell. Give him a sword, and the issue is even more apparent.

☼ The Downed Sun →

Discord rp preferred. Mild body horror warning.

Arthur has to alleviate his aether from time to time, and to do so, he must take on dragon form. Most often it is in the wilds of Coerthas. Rarely, elsewhere. It isn't a glamour, but an actual transformation, involving recreating flesh from scratch every time. That requires time, and there's plenty of that for some random — you — to drop in by accident... or were you following him on purpose?For those familiar with the history of dragons, you may recognise this particular wyrm. Although he does not willingly speak of his tenure during the war, Aurvandil the Errant Star is a known scourge in the annals of Ishgardian history. A large dragon bred for the rawest fire magic, he set many ablaze in the first 500 years of the Dragonsong War before suddenly vanishing. He never answered for his many war crimes. It may be the chance encounter of a lifetime, to meet with someone historic — or to put him down.

❝You were a wanderer back when you were young
I remember when your eyes were clear, brighter than the sun❞
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Arthur was born some thousand years ago, during the burgeoning crucible that was the Dragonsong War, to a single half-elezen mother from Ishgard. He inherited her hair and eyes, her penchant for animals and a zeal for good.His sire was a different sort, and far removed from the very small life they led in early Ishgard. Arthur inherited naught but his blood.Arthur’s station in life was not grand. Poor, even, but mother made ends meet, and he had his trusty bird Beau to keep him company. He grew up on stories of knights and valour, and soft-hearted fairytales where good prevailed.Arthur wanted to be someone who did good, who saved lives.At the tender age of nine, Arthur's mother fell ill. A wealthy man — a vaunted scholar and alchemist — went out of his way to seek them out. The man made an offer.In exchange for finding a cure for his mother, Arthur became the man's ward.Squired to the youngest of two brothers, a sword was put into Arthur's hands. He learned swordplay. Later, he was instructed by the elder brother. He was taught to not fear death.

At twenty, Arthur was a full-fledged soldier thrown to war’s bloody maw. He was a proficient killer and exemplary swordsmen who did not balk when it came to following orders. When word was given, his ruthless blade followed.Arthur wanted nothing less than his master’s approval, to be given the medicines required to keep his mother alive.He told himself the cost of lives did not matter. He wanted to do good. He kept saying as much, even as his mother’s illness advanced, and she became mostly bedbound.At twenty-four, his personal vices became greater sin.A string of particularly bad days had led him to indulge in drinking. Alcohol, spiked with dragonsblood. Faculties impaired, he was struck by anxiety and confusion as a foreign and brutally painful sensation came upon him — then shouting, metal, further pain.He reacted instinctively, bidden by some newfound primal emotions he had no name for…

... and he speaks not of what else happened that day.

From then on, Arthur came to be known as Aurvandil. For the following 500 years, he was a dragon reviled and would send many fleeing whenever he set the sky ablaze. When Nidhogg roared, and the sky lit up, the Dravanian Horde was on the wing.It was thought that Aurvandil would continue to press the attacks for however long the Dragonsong War lasted. However, archives detail his last known sighting to have been halfway into the war. 500 years of being a harbinger of strife, followed by 500 years of simply... vanishing — at least until Nidhogg's roar was permanently silenced.In the modern era, Arthur has sprung up from seemingly nowhere, previously following a hrothgar mercenary and doing odd jobs at inns they stayed at. Currently, he is settled into — of all places — Ishgard as a resident.He speaks not his surname, and is content to either be the ghost of the soldier that died that winter's day so long ago, or a no name arcanist that can offer very little in terms of being useful.

❝With hands so soft, delicate and sweet
You learned to fall and balance on your own two feet❞
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