Xanthus Mordecai

Hunter for Hire, Melophile, and Mentor(Carrd contains some spoilers for Main Scenario)

Summary

Considered a 'strange boy' from a young age, Xanthus always felt at home in places of despair and death, and was often mistreated at home due to being 'different'. He came to think of those around him as potential aggressors, preferring solitude and the quiet of lichyards and the wilds, and later music upon coming across a traveling Bard in the Shroud.As he grew older and began to travel himself, he came across long-lost instruments in ruins, namely a flute and a harp, worn by time and in desperate need of repair. Though he had taken them across Eorzea in search of someone able to do so, anyone who laid hands on them mysteriously disappeared, leaving Xanthus with a pair of instruments that he would need to repair at great risk to himself.These days, Xanthus is something of a jack-of-all-trades bounty hunter, friendly and helpful, though still a bit odd.

Basic Information

Preferred Name: Xanthus, Xan for friendsGiven Name: Xanthus MordecaiRace: Duskwight ElezenAge: 27 (?)Nameday: 14th Sun of the First Umbral Moon (Aquarius)Guardian: OschonGender: MaleHeight: 6'10"Eyes: Bright cerulean and crimson, seem to glow in low light; right (red) eye sports a black mark from forehead to near the jaw normally hidden by hair. Black scleraHair: Ebony, (sometimes blonde) usually long and fastidiously kept, occasionally wears a braided ponytail or cuts it short into an asymmetrical or sleek styleSkin: Ashen, possesses a strangely shimmery effect in low-light. Adorned with a black and white, intricate tattoo of spider lilies across his shoulders, upper back, arms and the backs of his handsVoice: Soft-spoken, somewhat melodic, upper-mid baritone. When singing, he has quite the range spanning from countertenor to mid-bassNotable Accessory(ies): Wide-brimmed hat, standard Bard repertoire of instruments (favors harp/flute when out and about), usually has a bat or morpho companionSexual Orientation: Gay, demi, vers but favors subOccupation: Hunter for hire; advisor, handler and jack-of-all-trades for the Moonflower Society. Bard, Dancer, Dragoon, and Dark Knight are all current canon classes.Favorite Food: Ishgardian Tea and chocolate orangesFavorite Book/Literary Genre: Romance, fantasy, music theoryFavorite Music: Prefers organ/piano and string pieces, but listens to, writes, and plays a varietyFavorite Color: Black, crimson, rich purples; wears mostly black, but occasionally fluorescent pink when someone complains about his choice of clothing color.Clothing Style: Well-dressed, if a little flamboyant at times. Loves lots of gold jewelry, leather and slinky fabricsHobbies: Reading, singing, travel, writing music/ballads/stories, learning how to play new instruments, studying the occult, cooking (but not for himself)Likes: Beautiful instruments, lichyards, quiet forests, music, engaging and polite company, late evenings, particular voice tones/pitches, red rosesLoves: peaceful placesDislikes: Loud people, bright light, those who treat him with disrespectArchetype: Artist, Mentor, Lover, OutsiderWeakness: Wary of new people, awkward, cursedFears: Abandonment, hurting those he's grown close to, himselfPositive Traits: Adventurous, amicable, companionly, purposeful, dramatic, gentle, loyal, lyrical, quiet, wiseNegative Traits: Impassive, solemn, aloof, disconcerting, morbid, secretiveSkills: Performance arts in the vein of music and dance, storytelling, jack-of-all-trades, hunting, tracking and survival, mediation

Personality and Quirks

Xanthus loves to travel, to meet new people, to learn their stories, and to spin them into songs and epics of his own to add them to the growing repertoire of famous Bardic pieces. Many of the ones played in taverns and at parties may have been written, contributed to, or influenced by his large body of personal work in some fashion, though they may not always bear his name. While it pleases him to hear his pieces, it's often more important to him that others love the music rather than who wrote it. He does often perform, either in public or at the Moonflower's own night club, and his shows are said to almost be hypnotic; pieces played by him possess a quality not heard from other musicians.He's rather charming and soft-spoken, easy to approach in spite of an air of unease that seems to shroud his person. Xanthus has a winning smile and an almost poetic cadence in the way that he speaks, blending Middle and Modern Eorzean together in strange ways, and a warm, almost paternal demeanor. He only looks to be about twenty-seven summers, but often speaks of times well past with a familiarity that one might think he had actually lived it. Something about his voice boasts enchanting characteristics when set to certain pitches.Though he's a generally elegant marshmallow, that does not mean that he's harmless. His role within his Free Company has him overseeing and taking on leves and work that others are unable to handle due to his rather unique skill set. As such, Xanthus is a rather confident and capable leader of his department, able to delegate tasks to those who are best suited, and mentoring those in need of extra guidance by tagging along to bolster and help them improve their craft.When alone, he's a force to be reckoned with, and has long made a living even before coming to the Moonflower off of bounty hunting, always taking the most difficult and highest paid work whenever possible. While always cautious, he nonetheless enjoyed the challenge -as well as the bloodshed-, and the money was just a bonus.While he tends to dress modestly and in styles that may be considered old-fashioned, but he also has a proclivity towards wearing things that are woven in silks, clad in gems, and sway about him when he's not on duty. Sometimes though, he just has a day where he feels like showing off and wears whatever feels comfortable, either when performing or tending to matters that don't require armor.Xanthus's eyes are shades of bright, piercing cerulean and crimson, the crimson eye often hidden behind long strands of hair and sporting a long black mark from forehead to mouth. They're as keen as his hearing, able to notice minute detail with enough time to analyze what he's focused on.He has a weird hatred for technology, but utilizes both a tomestone and a linkpearl for Company business.Xanthus has no natural skill with magic, but his altered being allows some casting ability. While Dancer and Bard are his main classes, he possesses techniques to manifest a great sword and a lance made of what appears to be Void matter. He also shares skills with both Dark Knight and Dragoon, but they're modified or corrupted versions of them to suit his transformed state of being.A bat seems to follow him wherever he goes. Xanthus is aware of it's presence and is sometimes seen conversing with what seems to be himself while he works on tasks.His tattoo of Lycoris Radiata was less a planned piece of body art and more of a spontaneous thing that one day bloomed onto his ashen flesh. It seems to hold a meaning of a sort, but Xanthus has yet to sort out what it is.He struggles with his place and existence in the realm at large despite having made a name for himself. It's more of a personal and moral battle in trying to cope and come to terms with the fact that he is and will not be like anyone else, and has done some horrific things in the past that he's trying to atone for. Xanthus believes it's his duty to put more good into the realm than the bad he's contributed, and is always striving to be a better person today than he was yesterday, no matter how hard it might be to do so.

Background

Xanthus was one of twelve children born to a pair of banished, but well-off crafters from Ishgard, often overlooked by his parents and abused by his siblings for his shyness and being 'different'. While their expulsion from the snowy city-state didn't affect Xanthus as much as his older siblings since he was just an infant, the aftershocks of such an event left lasting damage to him and all of the other children that came after, but him most of all. All of his siblings were fair-skinned and had light hair, and as the odd one out with a darker complexion and hair, he was often singled out and blamed for their exile. Given this, he does not consider himself Ishgardian, but also having never been raised with other Duskwight or Wildwood in the Shroud, Xanthus doesn't consider himself a part of any of these groups, preferring instead to remain an outlier with his own principles and views of the world formed from his own experiences. As such, he does not bear a typical Duskwight or Ishgardian name, but one gave to himself that reflects neither.As Xanthus grew up, he found he was rather fond of lichyards, often offering to help around the local church with burials and general care of the headstones, finding the work therapeutic as the dead could not jeer at him and would always listen to his woes. Given his history with them, he does not speak fondly when the subject of family comes up, suggesting there was more than mere neglect involved.When he was about 10, he became lost in the Shroud and was stumbled upon by a traveling Bard in the midst of a heavy storm, taking shelter together and being comforted by the tales and songs woven by the kindly adventurer. Upon being returned home by the Bard, Xanthus began to visit him frequently whenever he heard they were in the area, and later became a Bard himself under their mentorship, learning survival skills and how to become self-sufficient.Not long after becoming an adult and setting out on his own, he came across long forgotten ruins within the depths of the Shroud, and found a pair of ornate instruments housed within a shattered box and covered in grime, lost to time and damaged near beyond repair.Since coming into contact with them, one could say he was cursed. People other than himself who tried to tamper with or fix the instruments would disappear, and he felt himself become more and more attached to them as time wore on, nearing obsession when it came to fixing them and keeping them out of the hands of others. Over time, he himself began to change, leaving him more withdrawn, wary of others, even going so far as to alter his person and leaving his mind a mess of whispers he couldn't understand.As time went by and more changes began to overtake him, Xanthus found himself spiraling out of control, dismayed at the lack of choice in his condition and the inability to save the humanity that felt like was slipping through his fingers like water. Much of his life during this time was punctuated with gaps in between times of lucidity and an almost eternal sense of horror that hung over him at the monster he'd found himself becoming. It was not uncommon for him to wake up in the midst of scenes that would later leave him scarred.After years of sustained changes and trauma, it all finally came to a climax. While traveling from Ul'dah to Gridania, somewhere near the ruins of Amdapor, Xanthus suffered a blackout like he'd never had before, losing so much time that he wasn't even sure what year he was in any longer by the time he woke. He'd been irreparably altered, and his mind finally clear for the first time in ages; the whispers had finally stopped. After regaining his bearings, it took time to learn how his body and abilities had changed, of which had proven to be invaluable over the years, but also made him feel further alienated from those around him as he adjusted.Once he had, Xanthus began to reintegrate himself into society bit by bit, putting his hunting skills to use to begin his bounty hunting career, and taking more difficult ones as he became more confident in his skills. As his pay increased, he began enrolling himself in music schools across the realm to learn more styles and how to better compose, as well as how to improve his singing. He eventually began to see success as he improved in both fields, and later came across Thavnairian dancers on his way through Limsa Lominsa for other business. Enchanted with their graceful, fluid movements, he entreated the troupe to show him the basics, and later sought out other instructors to hone and improve the craft through his subsequent travels. Dancing is now his primary form of combat, while his bow is used for more stealth-based work.

Current

In the present, Xanthus is a much different man. He's come into his own, standing tall, proud and confident in himself for the first time in his life, as well as successful in his endeavors. He's well-traveled, having been across the length and breadth of the realm several times over seeking adventure, tracking down marks, and simply immersing himself in the cultures of the Source both for business and pleasure.Xanthus joined the Moonflower Society after being talent scouted by it's leader to fill a role as handler, advisor and craftsman. Though his usually gentle, friendly demeanor seems to clash with his position at first, it's his genuine concern and care for those who work with him that makes him effective, and he has a firm, instructive hand when he needs one. When not on duty, he's a wellspring of advice and almost fatherly support in spite of his outward age, sometimes taking on people looking for purpose to help them find it.Aside from managing the day-to-day of the Moonflower, Xanthus is also an accomplished crafter of sorts, able to build a wide array of things if given ample time and a description of the work in question. He specializes in Goldsmithing, Leatherworking and Carpentry, but has dabbled in everything at some point, and is resourceful enough to make something out of near nothing with enough time.In his free time, Xanthus performs, either telling stories, performing music, singing, dancing, or some mix of the latter three. He finds there's little better than unwinding with good vibes and tunes.

Hooks and Roleplay

Interested in most M/RP, open to walk-ups; tells preferred to catch attention so I don't miss you when things are moving quickly in Say.Melophile, Dancer and Storyteller: Loves to perform. Will tell stories, dance and sing when he's off-duty and prompted if he's not already doing so for leisure.Hunter for Hire: Fearless and picky about his contracts with high prices to boot, but carries out the job to the letter. Is open to business inquiries.Leader: Works for his Free Company as an Overseer; he delegates tasks to who is best suited, cares for those under his command, and guides or builds them up as needed, as well as ensuring nothing goes wrong within the Company's halls.Mentor: Is well traveled and willing to discuss his experiences or give advice on a wide variety of subjects if prompted. Sometimes takes those he finds in need of guidance under his wing to help them out of tough spots or find their purpose in life.This character is currently single, considered more of a slow burn in terms of romance. Xanthus is more of an 'old fashioned' sort of character, but may be open to 'Friend with Benefits' sorts of situations depending on the dynamic, though he does not simply hop into bed with just anyone.(It has been quite some time since I've done RP, so I am rusty and relearning speech patterns. I am open to corrections and criticism in the name of improving.)