FFXIV Swap Discord

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Jess was born to a Highlander couple in the fringes of Gyr Abania during the Ala Mhigan civil war against Mad King Theodoric. Her mother, Gisela, raised her on her own for her first years, as her father, Roric, was fighting in the Ala Mhigan resistance alongside his childhood friend, Conrad Kemp. Her father retired from the military in the brief quiet after the civil war concluded, intent to spend his days on his homestead with his wife and daughter, only to be convinced by Conrad to rejoin the military once more when the Garlean Empire began their march into Ala Mhigo. Though Roric refused to join the frontlines, he and Gisela agreed to help ferry refugees across the border into the Black Shroud.

Jess was often left in the care of neighbors and relatives while her parents were away, but, fearing the Empire’s increased conquest, her parents opted to bring her to the Black Shroud as the fighting grew closer to the border. It was during the night they fled that Jess first heard the call of Hydaelyn, spurned on by the sight of fire raining through the war-torn sky. Her parents left her in the care of the Ala Mhigans they’d escorted to Quarrymill, intending to return to Gyr Abania and finish evacuating their village before ultimately joining her and starting life anew in Eorzea. However, some time before they were able to return, they were caught by the Imperials and slaughtered, leaving Jess alone in Quarrymill.

The refugees, suspecting what had happened, took the four-year-old Jess into their care - primarily Meffrid, a teenage man who felt guilty for having left his homeland. Over the years, he taught her most of her basic life skills, including reading, writing and rudimentary math, among other things.

As she grew, Jess was plagued by strange visions and dreams, what she would come to know as the Echo far later. Fearing for her safety, Meffrid approached the conjurers of Gridania, who sent a Hearer to examine the girl, suspecting she may have been a Padjal hearing the voices of the Elementals. They ultimately rejected the notion, and rejected taking her in, proclaiming that her troubles were merely a sign that the Elementals wished for the Ala Mhigans to leave the forest.

Jess often preferred to spend time alone as a child, stealing away into the forest with whatever books she could find. She was bullied by the local Twelveswood children, as an outsider, and she was mostly shunned by the few refugee children who remained in the settlement, the others resenting her for the ‘preferential’ treatment she’d been given by the Hearers and the other Gridanians. She enjoyed reading tomes of heroes and grand adventures, as well as pretending to be one such hero on her exploits through the wood.

When she was a teen, Meffrid announced his intent to leave the Twelveswood, leaving Jess to either join him or make a life of her own in the Black Shroud. Buscarron stepped forward, offering the girl a home at his inn to the west of Quarrymill in exchange for her help running the tavern.

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