FFXIV Swap Discord

There are many accounts of the Warrior of Light, but all agree that he is a fierce fighter and a stalwart defender of the star. He has been said to have felled entire Garlean platoons with a single blow from his lance, able to cleave even the mightiest magitek in twain with a single blow… although these accounts are somewhat suspect of being exaggeration.

Those achievements that can be reliably attributed to him are perfectly impressive on their own: primals slain, imperial castra reduced to rubble, nations liberated, and, of course, his voyage into the stars to halt the flames of despair consuming the star. Those who have worked or fought alongside him describe a man uninclined to hesitate before taking action, far more interested in what he can yet do than what he has already done. First and foremost, it would seem, he is a man dedicated to helping others, largely uninterested in accolades or formality. Indeed, those who have worked with him particularly closely can attest he is so uninterested in formality there are no fewer than six Scions capable of, and even entrusted with, forging his signature on essential paperwork.

There are darker rumors, of course, as well. Wrangle a war story out of a veteran of the Ghimlyt front, and they might describe a man cutting through his foes with such brutal efficiency, and with so little emotion on his face, that he resembled a piece of warmachina himself. Buy the right patron a tankard of the Forgotten Knight's finest ale, and they might tell, in hushed whispers, of a shadowed figure swinging a sword the size of his torso, tearing a bloody path through Halone's own holy knights, roaring bloody oaths and curses into the frozen air. A few select Wood Wailers might describe, if convinced appropriately, a thoroughly razed Coeurlclaw den that made the mistake of flaunting a trophy taken from a vengeful adventurer's slain brother.

All accounts agree, whether exaggerated, sung, written or whispered: it is for the best to be on his good side.

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Daca'li hails from the foothills in Eastern Coerthas, where three small Keeper homesteads, his mother's and two others, sheltered in the shadow of a cliff face. He was the youngest of nine siblings, and his oldest sister took over most of the responsibility of raising him once their mother's health began to fade in his early childhood, although he also commonly received guidance from their neighbours. His playmates growing up were his closest sister, Khayta, and his niece and nephew from his eldest sister, Linna and Rashe'a. They were often joined by children from the other homesteads, but the four of them were practically inseparable. They had an uneventful upbringing by the standards of Keeper tradition, learning to hunt and navigate the wilds, and to respect the teachings of Menphina.

As they aged into adolescence, he and Khayta began to play at ideas of leaving the homestead together. The two shared a sire, X'Khleti Tia, a young man who had wandered far from his Gyr Abanian home, stumbled upon the Liath homestead, and charmed its matriarch well enough to be welcomed back repeatedly. He returned to his tribe when his two kits were young, after the fall of Ala Mhigo, fearing he'd be cut off from the region entirely if he waited for Baelsar's Wall to be built. Both of them had fond memories of him and no concept of what crossing the Gyr Abanian border would entail, and Khayta in particular was eager to seek out the other half of their ancestry. Unfortunately, as they aged, the visits from their elder brothers abruptly stopped, and it ultimately became clear neither of them would be returning, leaving both Daca'li and Rashe'a without a guide. This in mind, Daca'li left the homestead alone after his seventeenth winter, intending to learn as much as he could about traveling in the Shroud so that he could pass that information on to his nephew.

Being raised in Coerthas had taught Daca'li much about avoiding dragons and Halonic inquisitors, but left him woefully unprepared for elementals and Wood Wailers. He spent two months stumbling through the forest before Tolni'to, another Keeper, found him and took him under his wing for what he swore was going to be only a few months. Tolni'to was already traveling with another young man, Seka'sae (Kas), and he and Daca'li quickly struck a chord with each other. They became close enough that, even once Daca'li's feet were firmly under him and Tolni'to had thoroughly explained all the intricacies of living in harmony with the elementals of the Shroud, the subject of Daca'li striking out from the group was never actually broached. Indeed, when Daca'li did leave briefly a year and a half later to visit home and came back with Rashe'a in tow, the new addition was simply accepted into the group without any argument. They traveled together through the Shroud for another year, until Dalamud fell.

The moon falling from the sky prompted Tolni'to and Kas to flee to shelter in a village, while Daca'li and Rashe'a rushed back to Coerthas out of worry for their family. Their travel was made more complicated by the awakening of Daca'li's Echo in response to the fire raining from the sky, however, as he could barely come near any other person during that time without suffering from visions of whatever awful events they'd just endured. Still, they returned to Coerthas as quickly as they could, just in time to find the verdant hills they'd grown up in being buried under blizzards. Worse, when they reached their home, they found that the cliff face had collapsed under the assault from Bahamut, and the three homesteads there had been buried. Prompted by a vision from Daca'li, they were able to rescue one of their younger nieces, Zihn, from their basement, but they found no other survivors there.

Their family was not entirely wiped out; those who had survived had taken shelter in a nearby village. They came to a consensus in the coming weeks that Coerthas was no longer a suitable home for them, but were split over where their new home should be. In the end, his eldest sister Rashe, with her daughter Linna, Khayta, and their neighbour Vayl decided to accompany Daca'li and Rashe'a back to the Shroud, while the second eldest sister Eline, along with Zihn and their neighbor Tahl, set out to investigate the western and northern highlands, and would eventually wind up settling near Tailfeather in Dravania.

Daca'li and Rashe'a helped Rashe build a new homestead in the Eastern Shroud, but Rashe'a left alone once his help was no longer needed; Daca'li remained in his sister's homestead, still afflicted by what they could only assume was lingering aethersickness, although his difficulties had lessened. Tolni'to chanced upon the homestead after some time, much the worse for wear since the Calamity, and through him Daca'li learned that Kas had not survived the dragon's onslaught. He spent some time grieving until a letter arrived from Eline, bearing news that they'd settled successfully and were doing well. Additionally, it told them that Tahl had added a new kit to their homestead, and Daca'li was the sire.

The letter had only been informational; Eline and Tahl knew well how treacherous the journey between the Shroud and Dravania would be, having recently made it themselves. Still, Daca'li felt a new spark pushing him forward at the news. Resolving that aethersickness couldn't pin him down indefinitely, he left his sister's homestead and sought a way to make the journey. Eventually he made contact with a caravan of chocobo transporters, registered with the Adventurer's Guild in order to work with them, and took on a position with them as a guard, enabling him to make the crossing to Dravania once a year when they made their journey. Thereafter, every year, he made sure to contract with them again, glad of the chance to see his family safe and well in the Dravanian forests.

Between journeys, however, he was free to take other jobs, and he took up working as an adventurer in the Shroud, working at small jobs and lending a helping hand to reconstruction efforts, working around his aethersickness as well as he could. It was this adventuring work that would eventually bring him into contact with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn.

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