"With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned."
Ariane Clairière
A Warrior of Light
Wildwood Elezen
Healer Main
Played by Anne Apocalypse
Basics
Full Name: Ariane Clairière
Heritage: Wildwood Elezen
Nameday: 23rd day of the Third Umbral Moon, 1550 of the Sixth Astral Era
Birthplace: Silvertear Falls, Mor Dhona
Parents: Annette Clairière, Gratien Clairiére (né Aubreneaux)
Sibling: Gratienne ClairièreAge at the start of ARR: 27
Starter Class: Conjurer/White Mage
Grand Company: The Immortal Flames of Ul’dah
Company Chocobo: Charlie (snow white)
Pet: Marshmallow (Fat Cat)
Favorite things: plants, flowers, tea, books, poetry, chocobos, cats, crafting, cooking, the starsOrientation: Bisexual
Love Interests:
- Minfilia (unrequited)
- Hildibrand (friends with benefits, briefly)
- Haurchefant
- Aymeric (unrequited the other way)
- UriangerMain Jobs: Sage, Astrologian, Scholar, White Mage, Botanist, Alchemist, Weaver, Culinarian
Secondary Jobs: Pictomancer, Black Mage, Red Mage, Summoner, Bard, Fisher
Appearance
At just barely six fulms tall, Ariane is a diminutive Elezen, taking after her father; her sister Gratienne, though younger by 18 moons, grew to be the taller of the two. Ariane has light skin with warm undertones. Her face is somewhat heart-shaped, with a pointed chin and full cheeks that give her a youthful look even in adulthood, especially when she smiles. She has a long straight nose and freckles on her face that darken in the sun. Her eyes are a deep moss green, and her ears are wide, triangular, and upturned at the ends. Her figure is willowy, with slender hips and a small chest. She does not typically wear makeup.Ariane's hair is dark golden-blonde shade that lightens in the sun, and may look closer to light brown in shadow. She typically wears it shoulder-length or longer, but in Heavensward she cuts it to chin-length, eventually growing it back out. She regularly change her hairstyle and likes to experiment with different styles.Ariane is quite near-sighted, and rarely seen without a pair of spectacles.Having grown up with few clothing options, and now finding the whole world of fashion at her disposal, Ariane loves to play with colors and silhouettes, drawing inspiration from a wide variety of styles. Some of her looks can be seen here on her Eorzea Collection page.
Early Life
Ariane Clairière was born in the year 1550 of the Sixth Astral Era, the eldest child of Elezen parents Annette and Gratien Clairière. Her sister Gratienne was born a mere 18 moons later, and the two girls were the best of friends growing up.The Clairière family resided in the village of Silvertear Falls, on the shares of the lake of the same name in Mor Dhona. Annette herself was born in Mor Dhona to Gridanian parents, and though not forestborn herself, still held many Gridanian cultural beliefs, and the Clairière name was hers.Annette was a skilled botanist and herbalist and her herb shop was the family's livelihood. The quieter Gratien kept the shop's books, and provided most of the girls' education. The village had what amounted to a one-room schoolhouse which the girls did attend, but Gratien had a substantial collection of books which was constantly threatening to outgrow their small house, and both girls grew up voracious readers.
Silvertear Skies
In 1562, the Garlean invasion of Mor Dhona shattered the peaceful life of the Clairière family. As they fled by carriage with only what they could carry on their backs, Ariane witnessed a sight she would never forget: the Keeper awakened, rising from the Lake to hold off the Garlean airship, buying many including her family time to escape with their lives.Their destination would be a refugee camp sprung up at the southwestern outskirts of the Black Shroud. Few carriage drivers were willing to brave the treacherous roads through the South Shroud to Gridania with loads of outsiders and risk either the Greenwrath or the Hearers' displeasure. The fate of the refugees would no doubt have been far worse save for the charity of the Little Sisters of Sorrows, a religious order devoted to Nymeia who furnished the camp with all the food, supplies, and healing they could spare. Within days, the word reached them that there was nothing to return to in Silvertear Falls. Some moved on, braving the Twelveswood on foot or setting out for other destinations. A few stayed, and founded the small hamlet of Nymeia's Respite, attempting to rebuild their lives.The loss took a great toll on the Clairière family. Gratien's library, lovingly curated over many years and enjoyed by all, was gone. Annette's skills in foraging availed her well in the aftermath, and she quickly re-established herself as the local herbalist in the Respite, but she was starting over from nothing, and would never again achieve the prosperity they had once enjoyed in a bustling village. And the girls, in addition to leaving behind nearly all their possessions, lost childhood friends, many of whose fates they would never know.In the years that followed, Annette would become obsessed with the safety of her family, and paranoid to an extreme degree about the dangers of venturing too far from home. While Ariane dutifully bent herself to her mother's will, ever striving to ease her worries and keep the peace at home, the more willful Gratienne chafed against their mother's over-protectiveness, and their relationship became increasingly tense throughout the girls' teenage years.Meanwhile, Ariane had been beset by another change. As Midgardsormr had clashed with the Agrius over the lake, she had beheld a strange vision of falling stars, which she later realized was incongruous with what the others had seen. Even stranger, she had heard a woman's voice calling out to her: Hear… Feel… Think… At the time, the vision blended into the general blur of horror and chaos, but it would not be the last. Visions would come upon her at strange times, sometimes utterly unfamiliar, but other times featuring people she knew. One of the first coherent visions was of a younger version of her father, in a place she had never seen. Though she did not have the words for it, Ariane had begun to experience the Echo. Confused and frightened, she kept the visions to herself, but other signs were impossible to hide: headaches, dizziness, disorientation, lost time. Though her parents fretted over her, they grew accustomed to Ariane's "spells," which persisted in the face of all her mother's herbal remedies.
The Calamity
Isolated as the Respite was, they were not completely insulated from happenings in the rest of Eorzea, traveling merchants bringing news as well as goods from far-off cities. Gratien painstakingly built a new family library one volume at a time, and ensured that his daughters received the best education he could give.As Ariane approached her twenty-first birthday, rumors of unrest in the realm grew more frequent, and her sister's restlessness to leave home and seek her own fortune as an adventurer grew ever stronger. In turn, Ariane protested that striking out into an increasingly troubled world would only cause their mother more distress.As the news grew more dire, their mother's fears only worsened, and the family stockpiled goods in preparation for trade stoppages and crop losses, and braced for what might come.In the end, none of it would matter.As the lesser moon fell and the Archons prayed for the Twelve's salvation, the residents of Nymeia's Respite shuttered themselves in their homes, and made their own prayers... all of which proved powerless against Bahamut's destruction.
Ariane awoke on bare ground, on the outskirts of the Twelveswood, beside a terrible rent in the earth where her home had once been, with no idea how she had survived.Dazed, she made her way south toward some semblance of civilization. It was like Silvertear Skies all over again, only so much worse, for this time there was scarcely any corner of the realm left unscathed. Relief efforts were scattered and disorganized; no one was properly equipped to handle the masses of displaced, wounded, and terrified people. Search and rescue parties were haphazard, led by whatever scattered bands of adventurers had not vanished in the fires at Carteneau. Where Ariane could, she offered what skills in botany and herbalism her mother had taught her, and asked whoever would listen for any sign of her family.It was several moons before she began to accept that she would never see them again, and to grieve for all she had lost.In the year following the Calamity, things felt terribly bleak. Ariane felt truly alone for the first time in her life, and only the knowledge that her skills might help to ease the suffering of others kept her going, one day at a time. It was difficult to see any further than that. But each time she helped to tend a wound or mixed medicine for a sick child or simply contributed to a communal stew pot in exchange for some bread and a bowl, she found the strength to wake up the next day, and keep going.In so doing, she became an adventurer, without especially trying to. The bitter irony of unwillingly realizing her sister's dream was not lost on her, and the question would haunt her for years to come: why had she alone survived? The faith of her childhood led her to believe that the Twelve had in fact intervened, perhaps even the Spinner herself keeping Ariane's thread uncut in the tapestry of fate. By now she had found no evidence that any others from her hamlet had survived, nor much comfort in the thought that she alone had been spared. Why her, and no others?For several years she wandered, aimless, taking on more and varied odd jobs and offering her aid where she could. She kept only what she needed for herself, had a few short-term relationships but no lasting ones, and stayed nowhere long. Home and security were comforts she was certain she would never know again, and even to seek them out felt like tempting fate.But she could not wander without purpose forever, and at length she thought to make her way to the city of her mother's heritage, a city she had never seen: Gridania.
An Adventurer of Gridania
Ariane did not find the family she had hoped she might in Gridania; though the Clairière name was recognizable to some, it seemed that whatever relations had once lived there had long since moved on, and it was made clear to her that as one not forestborn, she was and always would be an outsider. Ariane registered with the Adventurer's Guild instead, but she felt the rejection acutely.Nonetheless, determined to find a new path, Ariane made her way to the Conjurer’s Guild, and began her magical studies under Brother E-Sumi-Yan.As she established herself as an adventurer, however, Ariane was met with a life-changing revelation. The strange headaches and visions that had plagued her for over a decade were a known phenomenon called the Echo, a gift from the Mothercrystal Herself at the heart of the star. And with her first Crystal of Light, Ariane's journey as a Warrior of Light had begun.
A Scion of the Seventh Dawn
Minfilia was the first person Ariane had ever met who also had the Echo. Though a bit overwhelmed in the presence of the Archons, Ariane found Minfilia warm and kind, and felt more at ease in her presence than she had with anyone since the Calamity.Eager to please, she leapt into her assignments from the Scions with great zeal. Nevertheless, her own anxieties dogged her along the way. The painful rejection of Gridania fresh in her mind, Ariane struggled to feel that she truly belonged anywhere She found herself intimidated in the presence of the highly-educated Archons, and despite their friendliness, she felt at a loss to connect with them on a personal level. Though she strove for their approval and gave her all to the work, she felt at times very lonely.Throughout her journey as a Scion and Warrior of Light, however, Ariane would grow and change, and her relationships would grow and change as well.You can read more of her story here on AO3.
Permissions
At this time, I do not RP with Ariane and do not have plans to do so.Fan art of Ariane or illustrations of something I've written about her, are welcome.Please ask first regarding the following:
- Gposes in FFXIV using her character files. (If we’re actually hanging out in-game it’s totally fine to take a picture.)
- Fanfiction about Ariane
- Interactions with another’s OC
- Anything sexually explicit
- Any very specific scenario I haven’t written, mentioned, or otherwise portrayed her in myself.I do not use or support the use of generative AI. Please don't send me AI-generated fanworks, or use my OC for AI-generated content in any way.