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littlemhiganPlayer Information
Name: CMAK
Age: Verily, I am indeed older than 18.
Contact: On request
Current characters: N/A
Character Information
Name: Castor Westmoore
Series: Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
Appearance: More or less. Glamour is the true endgame, after all
Age: 25-27 summers.
Canon Point: The beginnings of Patch 4.4 Prelude in Violet
Canon History:
Castor was born in the umbra of two shadows - revolution and conquest. Her earliest years were spent cowering in fear of the Mad King of Ala Mhigo, and her earliest memories were of leaving that same city behind as she and her father escaped what would soon become total conquest by the Garlean Empire.
They traveled for what felt to the young girl like moons as they descended from the highlands and entered into the Black Shroud. They tried once to settle there, but the forest and it’s elemental protectors would not allow it, and so they moved on and moved on until folding into a small settlement of fellow Ala Mhigan refugees in the deserts south of Ul’dah.
She spent much of the next several years wandering about the area, scavenging for food, and staying away from the Amalj’aa beastmen and Corpse Brigade alike. She took to following after the odd patrol of Immortal Flames soldiers and tried to satisfy her curiosity about the world through unending questions. She’d pilfer old reports from time to time as well, and from them learned her letters and numbers.
When she was around her ninth year, a close call with a band of roving Amalj’aa drove her to shelter in a cave...unwittingly disturbing the occupant already there, a Miqo'te boy named W’Shian taking a rest from his first solo hunt. Somewhat startled by the intrusion, he offered her his lunch. The pair remained undiscovered, and by the end of the afternoon had struck up what was to become a lasting friendship.
Fast forward a few years, Castor is out hunting her supper when she stumbles across W’Shian again, this time a broken and bloody mess, having been chased out of his tribe by its Nuhn. She brings her dear friend home and nurses him back to health as best she can with few supplies. When he is well, he leaves, promising to meet again.
Shortly afterwards, Castor begins to plan to make her own fortunes in Ul’dah, hoping to win fame and fortune in the coliseum as Raubahn Aldynn had done. The Calamity, however, put a pretty hard freeze on those plans, as Castors father was injured in the chaos. She spends the next while working as a miner to support him while he heals. By the time she’s finally ready to give Ul’dah another go, five years had passed.
Although everything prior to this point is Castor's personal history, the game canon picks up here, upon the Warrior's entrance to Uldah. Everything from here to the end of the history section is Canon.
The Rise of the Warriors of Light
-https://landofodd.net/ffxiv-arr-story-summary/ A summary of the 2.x Expansion can be found here, and a few extra details are below.
-Upon enlisting with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Castor reconnects with W’shian, who had been similarly scouted while living in The Black Shroud. From here on out, the bulk of their adventuring is done together, alongside other adventurers.
-When the Grand Companies come a-callin, Castor enlists with the Immortal Flames.
-Shortly before going to face Titan, Castor is put in contact with a man named Widargelt, one of the very few surviving monks of Ala Mhigo. From him, Castor beings to study as a Monk, and makes her first real connections with the culture of her childhood. He eventually moves to kill her, in order to gain power himself, but is eventually convinced that the path forward is a peaceful one, and they resolve to grow stronger and move forward together.
- http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Binding_Coil_of_Bahamut Interspersed in the above adventures, Castor comes back into contact with Alisaie Leveilleur, who’s trying to unravel the fates of both her grandfather, and the Elder Primal Bahamut.
The Final Verse of the Dragonsong
https://landofodd.net/ffxiv-heavensward-story-summary/ A summary of the 3.x Expac can be found here, with some details below.
-Castor continues training with Widargelt, who has taken on two other students. Together they learn of another sect of the Monkhood, the sect of Shadow, who operated in the dark under far more brutal methods. They also learn of seven additional chakras, which Castor manages to open, allowing her to rise to new heights of power.
The Measure of his Reach.
As there are no good resources for the 4.x series yet, we’re doing this the long way!
-Shortly after the events of Baelsar's wall, the Alliance pushes into the Castrum, and from there make contact with the Ala Mhigan Resistance cell operating out of the nearby Rhalgr’s Reach.
-Shortly afterwards, the resistance base is discovered and assaulted by a Garlean Strikeforce lead by Zenos Yae Galvus, leader of the XIIth legion, Viceroy of Ala Mhigo, and heir apparent to the Imperial throne. The resistance is devastated by this attack, and incurs heavy casualties. Castor herself goes tete-a-tete with Zenos himself and loses. Badly.
-It’s decided that, in order to try and thin out the resources, Castor and a small force would head overseas to Doma, to try and incite rebellion there, tie up significant resources, and hopefully win a better opening into Ala Mhigo. Lyse, Tataru and the Leveilleur twins come in tow.
-They establish a small base of operations in the port city of Kugane, meet back up with Gosetsu and from there, He, Castor, Lyse and Alisae move into the Ruby Sea, which they must bribe their way across. Waylaid by local politics and beastmen alike, Castor accidently enables, then defeats the Primal Susano. The party also comes into contact with the current Doman Viceroy, a woman named Yotsuyu. She’s a dick.
-From the Ruby Sea, the party moves into Doma proper, but find a people broken and demoralized by 25 years of Imperial rule. Also Castor ends up going round 2 against Zenos and once again gets trounced. The party quickly moves from Doma to the Azim Steppe in search of Doma’s lost king, Hien. Alisae stays behind with the Doman resistance.
-The Azim Steppe is home to the Xaela tribes of the Au’Ra race, and Hien is found living amongst a small tribe, the Mol. He sees in the steppe natives the potential for an occupation-ousting army, but cannot unite the tribes to do so. Over the course of the next while, including a ritual test of strength and a friendly kidnapping, Hien and the adventuring party takes part in the Steppe’s annual contest, the Nadaam. The Nadaam’s winner will rule the Steppe as Khagan or Khatun for the next year.
We Win! Which technically makes Castor the Khatun. A title she immediately shoves onto Hien.
-So we march an army of Xaela back to Doma, get the locals good and riled up, call in the friends made on the Ruby Sea and storm Doma castle, angling to defeat Yotsuyu and cut off the serpent’s head. It works a little too well, as the castle begins to collapse as the party reaches the top. Gosetsu sacrifices himself to ensure that the party escapes in time, and Yotsusu goes down with him.
-So with Doma successfully in open rebellion, the party carts themselves back to the Ala Mhigan front, meet back up with the Alliance and Resistance forces and start taking the region back, one win at a time. Advancement was stalled by the presence of another Primal, Sri Lakshmi. Once she was taken care of, the Alliance could continue to march eastwards.
-In the process of taking the city, we learn that Garlemald had managed to artificially implant Echo-like powers into people, but as we soon learn, it is at great expense. They call it “Resonance,” and it’s mildly terrifying.
-Zenos is, of course, waiting in the throne room of Ala Mhigo. Round 3 against him finally goes in Castor’s favour (much to Zenos’ own delight), and he soon fuses with the captured primal dragon Shinryu to go for round 4. Castor wins anyways, and Zenos takes his own life shortly afterwards.
-His defeat and the subsequent liberation of the city leaves something of a power vacuum, and regional leaders begin to meet to decide where to go from there. Alphinaud and Arenvald, a fellow Scion invite Castor on a treasure hunt, to look for remnants of Ala Mhigo’s royal horde.
-After some brainstorming and discussions, Ul’dah invests some coin into Ala Mhigo to rebuild some industry and incite the refugees to go home. In the same vein, Nanamo, sultana of Ul’dah releases Raubahn from her service so he may return to serve his homeland.
-Shortly afterward, Castor and the twins are called back to Kugane to address the sightings of two individuals that bear striking resemblances to Gosetsu and Yotsuyu, both thought lost when Doma was retaken. After some running around, the rumors turn out to be true, but the former Viceroy has none of her memories, and seems stunted and childlike. Also has a battalion of imperials looking for her. Yikes.
-The party catches up to them in the Ruby Sea, trying to cross into Doma but waylaid by Imperials and lingering hurts. They’re brought home and (mostly) welcomed - everyone is rightly edgy about ‘Tsuyu.’ Before long, an Imperial envoy arrives in Doma to “negotiate peace” with it’s former vassal state. The envoy, Asahi, seems pleasant enough, even acquiescing to Doma not handing Yotsuyu over to him on account of she can’t remember anything. Buuuut it’s an act, as prior to his departure, Asahi privately threatens Castor for her role in Zenos’ downfall.
-Some time later, the Imperial Envoy returns to Doma with a suspicious amount of crates and an emotional bomb in the form of Tsuyu’s mother and father. In the meantime, Tsuyu herself runs off into a nearby town in search of persimmon fruit, only to find herself the victim of the villager’s scorn, fear, and hatred due to her time as Viceroy. Castor and Hien catch up with her here, and Hien tries his best to assuage the anger of the villagers, and seems to be successful for the most part
-Tsuyu is later cornered by her parents, who express remorse in her still being alive, and ruminate simply selling her off to another brothel or somesuch. Something inside the woman snaps and she kills her own parents and runs off with Asahi. The deed is discovered the next morning, and Castor gives chase only to discover the crates that Asahi had brought with him were full of crystals, and the gathered Aether allows Yotsuyu, now fully possessed of her memories and faculties, to herself transform into the primal Tsukiyomi. In the ensuing fight, Yotsuyu kills Asahi before herself succumbing to death.
-Though this crisis seems settled, an echo from the dying Asahi implies that Zenos Yae Galvus is alive and well back in the imperial capital, despite having slit his own throat in Ala Mhigo. Alphinaud makes the choice to return to Garlemald with the remnants of the imperial envoy to see for himself, and to attempt to broker peace with the empire from within. Troubled, Castor and Alisae head back to Ala Mhigo to try and confirm or deny what Castor had seen in her echo vision.
-True enough, Zenos’ body is gone from his grave, with no evidence of how or why, and no further leads on the subject. Thancred offers to head into the western provinces of the Empire to see what information he can gather on foot. For a long time afterwards, it is quiet…
Canon Personality:
The Warrior of Light in FFXIV is effectively a silent protagonist, and thus much of this section is headcanon derived from what the player is given. Though the game occasionally provides some dialogue options during scenes, they don’t have significant bearing on the story at large, save for some NPC responses. Aside from that, the game itself allows a good deal of leeway for how one may choose to interpret their character; they are friendly to allies, unfriendly to enemies, and have a lot of people that need some errands run. To this end, the bulk of the following section is informed headcanon, backed up with in-game reasoning and examples when possible. Traits that are largely headcanon will be marked in bold font.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of nuance to miss Castor Westmoore. She is loud, intimidating and perhaps a bit bellicose. Her size and heritage and disposition give the impression of a feral child who’s trying to tame herself. But, Castor has learned to keep many things close to her chest. After all, she feels it’s much better to be underestimated. Final Fantasy in and of itself doesn’t provide much in the way of characterization as far as the Warrior of Light goes, but dialogue and quest choices, as well as some lore points can provide some informed traits, which I will expand upon to the best of my abilities below.
Castor is aware of how she’s perceived by strangers.Though experience adventuring has allowed her to develop her own wisdoms, she nevertheless makes an effort to maintain something of a ‘brutish’ atmosphere around herself. She is not as intelligent as some of her companions and she knows this - it’s far better to leave the thinking (and talking) to others, and in doing so she is free to observe and listen and come to her own conclusions. This is expressed in canon by the Warrior’s (sometimes lampshaded) habit of simply smiling and nodding stoically at just about every single plan every single friendly NPC comes up with, and almost every request made of her. This is further illustrated by some context; Castor is surrounded by people who are experts or prodigies in fields such as politics, academia, espionage and warfare, and she is an expert or prodigy in none of these. Friendly NPCs often create plans and conduct operations utilizing the Warrior of Light as a precision weapon, either as a backbone to the plan itself, such as when the WoL and a small team infiltrate and assault The Praetorium, or as an effective diversion while another arm of the plan is carried out, such as the assault on The Vault in Ishgard. Furthermore, Castor is of a heritage that is often (loudly) disparaged as being brutish and warlike to begin with, and watched many of her kinsmen languish in poverty and scorn, and so she’s not ignorant of what some may be predisposed to think of her.
Her willingness to help others is what set Castor on the path to notoriety within Ul’Dah, as completing errands and quests around the city is what commences the plot of A Realm Reborn in the first place, and though she’s know known as the Warrior of Light, that same drive to assist others is something that keeps her humble despite the title. She’ll absolutely help you with errands, just as she’ll turn and help a beggar secure some food for the evening. Castor maintains little personal wealth, giving most of her money either to her father or to Tataru to round out the Scion’s coffers a little more. To the community at large, she gives of herself instead, and does so happily (though she sometimes playfully grouses if one calls on her good graces too often). Being an MMORPG, FFXIV does not lack for sidequests, but that being said, they are by and large optional. Chief among them are what’s known as Beast Tribe quests, wherein the WoL undertakes tasks for the various beast tribes of Eorzea, either helping them establish better relationships with the Spoken races, or aiding in a fight against their Primal-worshiping cousins. These sidequests represent a rather substantial time-sink on the part of the WoL/Player, and over time leave the affected tribe better for the effort, with said effort being recognized and praised by beastmen and spoken alike. Though this is something of an extreme and particular example, it nevertheless illustrates the general inclination to Do Good that gets the WoL noticed in the first place.
Castor is often a beacon of good cheer and optimism. Even in the midst of a brawl, she can be found hooting with joy as as easily as she throws a punch. Castor is never shy to offer a smile or kind word when she feels them necessary, and considers herself a good listener. Castor is also very free with physical affection, be that a friendly bump on the shoulder or a good hug. She often teases and ribs in good nature, and flirts if she can get away with it. Even in the thick of conflict she tries to spare a smile for companions, because she’s all too aware that many people look up to her and rely on her to finish thequests tasks she’s given. Castor is intensely aware that she’s capable of things that many people cannot do, and remembering that helps keep her grounded and confident - traits she tries to share with those around her. Although this is all largely headcanon, the game itself includes several actions that allow the players to express affection through hugs, psyching eachother up, brofists and sometimes just silly dancing. The game also often reinforces that the WoL is capable of things many others aren’t, from Thordan’s dying gasp of ‘what ARE you?’ to desperately fighting against a Primal in a room full of people susceptible to its influence, to just simple lines from NPCs that indicate that they’re counting on the WoL to carry out a plan.
Castor does not sit still. The very firmament of her being cannot bear to be idle. To this end, she very often simply acts, without sufficient forethought or consideration. Sometimes the impulse drives her to vanish when not needed - off to wander through some forgotten corner of the world or another (After all, what is an Adventurer who does not adventure?). Sometimes that self same impulse is why she throws herself into battle without hesitating even for her own traveling party. To this end she’s quite prone to cabin fever when she cannot wander and before long ends up resembling something akin to a caged tiger - stalking and waiting and all pent up energy with nowhere to go. The dark mirror to this point is that her own emotions follow similar patterns- Castor can be riled to anger quickly (this will be elaborated on in the following paragraph), and often submits to baser instincts in such a state. It occasionally leads her to do A Stupid, despite her best efforts to curb it. Similar to the last point, this is mostly headcanon, reflected by the player’s ability to peace out at-will, and not necessarily have to “check in” with NPCs. Furthermore, the WoL is, first and foremost, an adventurer, and the call to adventure - be it a search for fortune or glory or just wanderlust - is effectively what got them involved in the story in the first place. There’s a quest early in the 4.1 patch that lampshades this point spectacularly, with an NPC inviting the WoL out on a bona-fide hunt for a lost city with lost treasure.
As mentioned earlier, Castor can be worked to anger quickly, because very often she uses anger and other hostile presentations to cover for fear and anxiety when something has spiraled out of her control. It began as a defense mechanism from growing up in less than ideal circumstances, but she has thus far been unable to break the habit as an adult. In addition, the infamy that being the Warrior of Light brings has encouraged Castor to remain extremely guarded with certain aspects of herself. For all that she freely offers cheer and love, she nevertheless keeps her own counsel with many other emotional matters and very seldom discusses how she feels about a given issue (or person, as the case may be). Though it’s primarily reflected within certain job quests, (the Dark Knight quests especially,) the story does sometimes hint that the Warrior often copes with significant emotional turmoil after three expansions worth of adventuring, and even NPCs have, of, late, begun to remind the WoL to take their time, and to make sure to be well-rested, implying a general concern for their well-being. Despite the plot dictating the WoL be angry when a situation calls for it, this again is informed headcanon, stemming from her personal history and likewise several more traumatic game events (such as the aftermath of The Vault). Also, as mentioned earlier, the Warrior’s reticence is lampshaded by NPCs from time to time and so one is lead to believe that the WoL keeps their own counsel on many things.
Despite never considering herself well learned, nor with an inclination towards science or academia, Castor nevertheless has a curious and hardworking spirit. She taught herself letters and numbers as a child, and as a woman, she is always full of questions and likewise happily shares her own knowledge. While she’s driven to explore (as mentioned earlier,) she also genuinely loves doing so, and equally loves seeing and trying and doing (and eating) everything she comes across in those same travels. This is entirely headcanon, though one may argue that it takes a certain sense of adventure to become an adventurer in the first place.
Personality Shifts:
N/A; Though the player is given dialogue options at points through the story, they're all largely superficial and have little to no bearing on the story overall save a few responses from NPCs. Castor tends to take the lighter or sillier options towards friendly NPCs and a considerably more aggressive option towards antagonists.
Abilities:
IN GENERAL:
The most important of Castor’s powers is what’s known in Eorzea as The Echo. While the Echo’s effects seem to vary slightly from person to person, in Castor it manifests primarily as flashbacks to other people’s memories, the ability to understand any and all languages, and some minor clairvoyance in battle (namely seeing cast bars and AoE markers in-game).
Castor is also a Monk of the Fist of Rhalgr, and in battle, she uses her own body as a weapon, moving aether through her body to land devastatingly powerful blows with her fists and feet, as well as using that same aether to make herself go *really fast.* Even without aether, she’s in incredible shape, but I don’t know if “Swole as Hell” counts as an ability.
SPECIFICALLY:
The Echo is hard to dig into specifically because we, the player, are not in possession of all the facts about it, and in fact have been witness to several events that involve the applications of Echo we’re not otherwise familiar with, nor privy to the mechanics of. It SEEMS to act primarily on the resonance of one ‘soul’ to another’s - even the polyglotism is implied to be one soul understanding another’s intent, more than understanding the words themselves. Likewise the battle clairvoyance is less precognition and more of an instinctive read on an opponent’s next move ( and thus it occasionally fails in the presence of a creature that acts more on instinct than actual thought). It’s… really a lot of weird fantasy metaphysical wackiness that hasn’t been fully explained to either players nor characters alike. Though the Echo also allows one to see the past experiences of others, it seems to only ever happen when necessary for the plot, and so likely won’t come up in game unless agreed upon by all parties. I am okay with this being nerfed, The Echo is stupid and badly explained.
As for Castor’s martial prowess, though the WoL canonly can do just about whatever they set their minds to, Castor herself has focused the bulk of her attention on the ‘Monk’ job; a Discipline of War that focuses on rapid blows to deal significant damage over time. Without going skill by skill, the core mechanic of Monk is what’s called “Greased Lighting,” the state of flowing between one blow and the next quickly, and to this end, as battle progresses, Castor moves faster and hits harder over time. Though any one individual blow is relatively insignificant, sustained fire from her can and will cause significant damage. She can also build up Chakra energy from herself, and from those around her, and unleash a haymaker blow. Castor strikes more effectively from the back or flank of her opponent than she does the front.
Monk also has a limited amount of situational flexibility, with different stances enhancing different stats; Fists of Earth increases otherwise middling defensive capabilities, Fists of Wind allows Castor to move faster, and Fists of Fire allows for more damaging attacks. Each stance also has an associated “Riddle,” which more or less enhance what the stance already acts upon for a limited time. In addition, Castor has a few self-heals in the form of Second Wind, which recovers HP and Bloodbath, which recovers HP as a percentage of damage dealt. Also, Mantra increases the healing capabilities of Castor and those around her, making her useful to have in a group, as well as being fairly self sufficient in a fight.
In less warlike situations, Castor is also an accomplished Blacksmith and Armorer, and makes a hobby of metalwork.
Inventory: Castor travels light. Her inventory consists of: The clothing on her back (and head, and hands etc), a set of fist-weapons (named Nyepels), a set of Tonfa, her Monk crystal, a handful of Gyshal Greens, a handful of Glamour Prisms, a few thousand gil, some coke ash, various elemental crystals, a blacksmithing hammer and file, and an Aether Compass…..and probably some vendor trash animal hides.
The bulk of these items are mundane or have specific but dubiously consequential uses to things in Eorzea. The Nyepels are glorified knuckle-dusters that sort of grew a soul? They're effectively infused with copious amounts of stable Aether specifically tuned to Castor, that allow them to 'learn' from her battles and make her a better warrior, but in practice, they're just flashy weapons. The Tonfa are mundane but cool as heckie. The Monk Crystal is a very concentrated Aether crystal that contains the memories of all it's previous owners, and was one of the first things Castor learned from when she first started Monking. The Gyshal Greens are....for chocobos, but are also probably edible?? Glamour Prisms allow Castor to change the *appearance* of what she's wearing to something else of similar function; for example, a pair of pants can take on the appearance of another pair of pants or a skirt, but not the appearance of a hat. They're single-use and probably won't work here anyways. Elemental crystals are small shards of elementally-aspected aether that are frequently used in crafting and some small sundry uses besides (fire crystals to warm a small area, ice to preserve something etc). The last item of import is Castor's Aether Compass, which points towards nearby aether currents. It probably won't work here, but she keeps it on her for sentimental reasons. The coke ash and blacksmithing tools are perfectly mundane and used to do Blacksmith Stuff.
Sample
Thread Sample:
Two threads within!
Q&A:
Are all lives equal, or are some lives more important than others?
Nobody’s life is worth more’n someone else’s. Doesn’t matter who’s loins ye sprang from, or how much gil ye’ve got te yer name. Folks who don’t realize or respect this’re my least favourite kind of people.
Is there anything you don’t like about yourself?
Plenty. ‘M not the cleverest by a malm, an’ I know my temper get’s the best’ve me sometimes. I’m good at what I do, but I wish I was better. Too many people ’ve taken falls for me, an’ more damningly, I’ve let ‘em.
How do you think you measure up compared to your peers?
In what way? I ain’t as smart or well read or well travelled as some’ve ‘em but I can do things they can’t. A fish ain’t like te climb a tree, but opo-opos don’t swim much, either. I do what I’m good at, and let ‘em do what they’re good at and it works out when all’s said and done.
Do you prefer spending time with many people, a few friends, or by yourself?
Depends on how I’m feelin’. Usually I like havin’ company, an’ its nice te be able to sit and hear...I guess life pass by. People goin’ about their business, talkin’ an movin’ an hagglin’. S’all the better with friends close, really.
Sometimes I like te be by myself though. Jes’ till I can think through some things. ‘M never far out of reach if someone needs me.
Do you consider yourself easily swayed by others?
Nah. I’ll listen te what someone has te say, but once my mind is made up, I’m not like te change it.
Describe a fond memory you have.
I was maybe nine summers old. Bright an’ hot, jes’ about midday, and I was runnin’ for my life from some Amalj'aa. Ducked into a small cave for cover, an’ what do I see but a little Miqo'te, ‘bout my age, about te tuck into his lunch. Met my best friend that day, and I don’t think I’d forget the look on his face when I ran in, even if I tried.
Do you think things like politics and history are important to know about? Why or why not?
I’m….learnin the importance of both. Not sure a layman’s got need fer the former, but the latter’s especially important. S’ hard te see where you’re goin if ye don’t know where ye’ve been. This is especially true if yer travellin’. If ye don’t make an effort te learn about people ye don’t know, you’ll make a damn fool of yourself ‘fore long.
Name: CMAK
Age: Verily, I am indeed older than 18.
Contact: On request
Current characters: N/A
Character Information
Name: Castor Westmoore
Series: Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
Appearance: More or less. Glamour is the true endgame, after all
Age: 25-27 summers.
Canon Point: The beginnings of Patch 4.4 Prelude in Violet
Canon History:
Castor was born in the umbra of two shadows - revolution and conquest. Her earliest years were spent cowering in fear of the Mad King of Ala Mhigo, and her earliest memories were of leaving that same city behind as she and her father escaped what would soon become total conquest by the Garlean Empire.
They traveled for what felt to the young girl like moons as they descended from the highlands and entered into the Black Shroud. They tried once to settle there, but the forest and it’s elemental protectors would not allow it, and so they moved on and moved on until folding into a small settlement of fellow Ala Mhigan refugees in the deserts south of Ul’dah.
She spent much of the next several years wandering about the area, scavenging for food, and staying away from the Amalj’aa beastmen and Corpse Brigade alike. She took to following after the odd patrol of Immortal Flames soldiers and tried to satisfy her curiosity about the world through unending questions. She’d pilfer old reports from time to time as well, and from them learned her letters and numbers.
When she was around her ninth year, a close call with a band of roving Amalj’aa drove her to shelter in a cave...unwittingly disturbing the occupant already there, a Miqo'te boy named W’Shian taking a rest from his first solo hunt. Somewhat startled by the intrusion, he offered her his lunch. The pair remained undiscovered, and by the end of the afternoon had struck up what was to become a lasting friendship.
Fast forward a few years, Castor is out hunting her supper when she stumbles across W’Shian again, this time a broken and bloody mess, having been chased out of his tribe by its Nuhn. She brings her dear friend home and nurses him back to health as best she can with few supplies. When he is well, he leaves, promising to meet again.
Shortly afterwards, Castor begins to plan to make her own fortunes in Ul’dah, hoping to win fame and fortune in the coliseum as Raubahn Aldynn had done. The Calamity, however, put a pretty hard freeze on those plans, as Castors father was injured in the chaos. She spends the next while working as a miner to support him while he heals. By the time she’s finally ready to give Ul’dah another go, five years had passed.
Although everything prior to this point is Castor's personal history, the game canon picks up here, upon the Warrior's entrance to Uldah. Everything from here to the end of the history section is Canon.
The Rise of the Warriors of Light
-https://landofodd.net/ffxiv-arr-story-summary/ A summary of the 2.x Expansion can be found here, and a few extra details are below.
-Upon enlisting with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Castor reconnects with W’shian, who had been similarly scouted while living in The Black Shroud. From here on out, the bulk of their adventuring is done together, alongside other adventurers.
-When the Grand Companies come a-callin, Castor enlists with the Immortal Flames.
-Shortly before going to face Titan, Castor is put in contact with a man named Widargelt, one of the very few surviving monks of Ala Mhigo. From him, Castor beings to study as a Monk, and makes her first real connections with the culture of her childhood. He eventually moves to kill her, in order to gain power himself, but is eventually convinced that the path forward is a peaceful one, and they resolve to grow stronger and move forward together.
- http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Binding_Coil_of_Bahamut Interspersed in the above adventures, Castor comes back into contact with Alisaie Leveilleur, who’s trying to unravel the fates of both her grandfather, and the Elder Primal Bahamut.
The Final Verse of the Dragonsong
https://landofodd.net/ffxiv-heavensward-story-summary/ A summary of the 3.x Expac can be found here, with some details below.
-Castor continues training with Widargelt, who has taken on two other students. Together they learn of another sect of the Monkhood, the sect of Shadow, who operated in the dark under far more brutal methods. They also learn of seven additional chakras, which Castor manages to open, allowing her to rise to new heights of power.
The Measure of his Reach.
As there are no good resources for the 4.x series yet, we’re doing this the long way!
-Shortly after the events of Baelsar's wall, the Alliance pushes into the Castrum, and from there make contact with the Ala Mhigan Resistance cell operating out of the nearby Rhalgr’s Reach.
-Shortly afterwards, the resistance base is discovered and assaulted by a Garlean Strikeforce lead by Zenos Yae Galvus, leader of the XIIth legion, Viceroy of Ala Mhigo, and heir apparent to the Imperial throne. The resistance is devastated by this attack, and incurs heavy casualties. Castor herself goes tete-a-tete with Zenos himself and loses. Badly.
-It’s decided that, in order to try and thin out the resources, Castor and a small force would head overseas to Doma, to try and incite rebellion there, tie up significant resources, and hopefully win a better opening into Ala Mhigo. Lyse, Tataru and the Leveilleur twins come in tow.
-They establish a small base of operations in the port city of Kugane, meet back up with Gosetsu and from there, He, Castor, Lyse and Alisae move into the Ruby Sea, which they must bribe their way across. Waylaid by local politics and beastmen alike, Castor accidently enables, then defeats the Primal Susano. The party also comes into contact with the current Doman Viceroy, a woman named Yotsuyu. She’s a dick.
-From the Ruby Sea, the party moves into Doma proper, but find a people broken and demoralized by 25 years of Imperial rule. Also Castor ends up going round 2 against Zenos and once again gets trounced. The party quickly moves from Doma to the Azim Steppe in search of Doma’s lost king, Hien. Alisae stays behind with the Doman resistance.
-The Azim Steppe is home to the Xaela tribes of the Au’Ra race, and Hien is found living amongst a small tribe, the Mol. He sees in the steppe natives the potential for an occupation-ousting army, but cannot unite the tribes to do so. Over the course of the next while, including a ritual test of strength and a friendly kidnapping, Hien and the adventuring party takes part in the Steppe’s annual contest, the Nadaam. The Nadaam’s winner will rule the Steppe as Khagan or Khatun for the next year.
We Win! Which technically makes Castor the Khatun. A title she immediately shoves onto Hien.
-So we march an army of Xaela back to Doma, get the locals good and riled up, call in the friends made on the Ruby Sea and storm Doma castle, angling to defeat Yotsuyu and cut off the serpent’s head. It works a little too well, as the castle begins to collapse as the party reaches the top. Gosetsu sacrifices himself to ensure that the party escapes in time, and Yotsusu goes down with him.
-So with Doma successfully in open rebellion, the party carts themselves back to the Ala Mhigan front, meet back up with the Alliance and Resistance forces and start taking the region back, one win at a time. Advancement was stalled by the presence of another Primal, Sri Lakshmi. Once she was taken care of, the Alliance could continue to march eastwards.
-In the process of taking the city, we learn that Garlemald had managed to artificially implant Echo-like powers into people, but as we soon learn, it is at great expense. They call it “Resonance,” and it’s mildly terrifying.
-Zenos is, of course, waiting in the throne room of Ala Mhigo. Round 3 against him finally goes in Castor’s favour (much to Zenos’ own delight), and he soon fuses with the captured primal dragon Shinryu to go for round 4. Castor wins anyways, and Zenos takes his own life shortly afterwards.
-His defeat and the subsequent liberation of the city leaves something of a power vacuum, and regional leaders begin to meet to decide where to go from there. Alphinaud and Arenvald, a fellow Scion invite Castor on a treasure hunt, to look for remnants of Ala Mhigo’s royal horde.
-After some brainstorming and discussions, Ul’dah invests some coin into Ala Mhigo to rebuild some industry and incite the refugees to go home. In the same vein, Nanamo, sultana of Ul’dah releases Raubahn from her service so he may return to serve his homeland.
-Shortly afterward, Castor and the twins are called back to Kugane to address the sightings of two individuals that bear striking resemblances to Gosetsu and Yotsuyu, both thought lost when Doma was retaken. After some running around, the rumors turn out to be true, but the former Viceroy has none of her memories, and seems stunted and childlike. Also has a battalion of imperials looking for her. Yikes.
-The party catches up to them in the Ruby Sea, trying to cross into Doma but waylaid by Imperials and lingering hurts. They’re brought home and (mostly) welcomed - everyone is rightly edgy about ‘Tsuyu.’ Before long, an Imperial envoy arrives in Doma to “negotiate peace” with it’s former vassal state. The envoy, Asahi, seems pleasant enough, even acquiescing to Doma not handing Yotsuyu over to him on account of she can’t remember anything. Buuuut it’s an act, as prior to his departure, Asahi privately threatens Castor for her role in Zenos’ downfall.
-Some time later, the Imperial Envoy returns to Doma with a suspicious amount of crates and an emotional bomb in the form of Tsuyu’s mother and father. In the meantime, Tsuyu herself runs off into a nearby town in search of persimmon fruit, only to find herself the victim of the villager’s scorn, fear, and hatred due to her time as Viceroy. Castor and Hien catch up with her here, and Hien tries his best to assuage the anger of the villagers, and seems to be successful for the most part
-Tsuyu is later cornered by her parents, who express remorse in her still being alive, and ruminate simply selling her off to another brothel or somesuch. Something inside the woman snaps and she kills her own parents and runs off with Asahi. The deed is discovered the next morning, and Castor gives chase only to discover the crates that Asahi had brought with him were full of crystals, and the gathered Aether allows Yotsuyu, now fully possessed of her memories and faculties, to herself transform into the primal Tsukiyomi. In the ensuing fight, Yotsuyu kills Asahi before herself succumbing to death.
-Though this crisis seems settled, an echo from the dying Asahi implies that Zenos Yae Galvus is alive and well back in the imperial capital, despite having slit his own throat in Ala Mhigo. Alphinaud makes the choice to return to Garlemald with the remnants of the imperial envoy to see for himself, and to attempt to broker peace with the empire from within. Troubled, Castor and Alisae head back to Ala Mhigo to try and confirm or deny what Castor had seen in her echo vision.
-True enough, Zenos’ body is gone from his grave, with no evidence of how or why, and no further leads on the subject. Thancred offers to head into the western provinces of the Empire to see what information he can gather on foot. For a long time afterwards, it is quiet…
Canon Personality:
The Warrior of Light in FFXIV is effectively a silent protagonist, and thus much of this section is headcanon derived from what the player is given. Though the game occasionally provides some dialogue options during scenes, they don’t have significant bearing on the story at large, save for some NPC responses. Aside from that, the game itself allows a good deal of leeway for how one may choose to interpret their character; they are friendly to allies, unfriendly to enemies, and have a lot of people that need some errands run. To this end, the bulk of the following section is informed headcanon, backed up with in-game reasoning and examples when possible. Traits that are largely headcanon will be marked in bold font.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of nuance to miss Castor Westmoore. She is loud, intimidating and perhaps a bit bellicose. Her size and heritage and disposition give the impression of a feral child who’s trying to tame herself. But, Castor has learned to keep many things close to her chest. After all, she feels it’s much better to be underestimated. Final Fantasy in and of itself doesn’t provide much in the way of characterization as far as the Warrior of Light goes, but dialogue and quest choices, as well as some lore points can provide some informed traits, which I will expand upon to the best of my abilities below.
Castor is aware of how she’s perceived by strangers.Though experience adventuring has allowed her to develop her own wisdoms, she nevertheless makes an effort to maintain something of a ‘brutish’ atmosphere around herself. She is not as intelligent as some of her companions and she knows this - it’s far better to leave the thinking (and talking) to others, and in doing so she is free to observe and listen and come to her own conclusions. This is expressed in canon by the Warrior’s (sometimes lampshaded) habit of simply smiling and nodding stoically at just about every single plan every single friendly NPC comes up with, and almost every request made of her. This is further illustrated by some context; Castor is surrounded by people who are experts or prodigies in fields such as politics, academia, espionage and warfare, and she is an expert or prodigy in none of these. Friendly NPCs often create plans and conduct operations utilizing the Warrior of Light as a precision weapon, either as a backbone to the plan itself, such as when the WoL and a small team infiltrate and assault The Praetorium, or as an effective diversion while another arm of the plan is carried out, such as the assault on The Vault in Ishgard. Furthermore, Castor is of a heritage that is often (loudly) disparaged as being brutish and warlike to begin with, and watched many of her kinsmen languish in poverty and scorn, and so she’s not ignorant of what some may be predisposed to think of her.
Her willingness to help others is what set Castor on the path to notoriety within Ul’Dah, as completing errands and quests around the city is what commences the plot of A Realm Reborn in the first place, and though she’s know known as the Warrior of Light, that same drive to assist others is something that keeps her humble despite the title. She’ll absolutely help you with errands, just as she’ll turn and help a beggar secure some food for the evening. Castor maintains little personal wealth, giving most of her money either to her father or to Tataru to round out the Scion’s coffers a little more. To the community at large, she gives of herself instead, and does so happily (though she sometimes playfully grouses if one calls on her good graces too often). Being an MMORPG, FFXIV does not lack for sidequests, but that being said, they are by and large optional. Chief among them are what’s known as Beast Tribe quests, wherein the WoL undertakes tasks for the various beast tribes of Eorzea, either helping them establish better relationships with the Spoken races, or aiding in a fight against their Primal-worshiping cousins. These sidequests represent a rather substantial time-sink on the part of the WoL/Player, and over time leave the affected tribe better for the effort, with said effort being recognized and praised by beastmen and spoken alike. Though this is something of an extreme and particular example, it nevertheless illustrates the general inclination to Do Good that gets the WoL noticed in the first place.
Castor is often a beacon of good cheer and optimism. Even in the midst of a brawl, she can be found hooting with joy as as easily as she throws a punch. Castor is never shy to offer a smile or kind word when she feels them necessary, and considers herself a good listener. Castor is also very free with physical affection, be that a friendly bump on the shoulder or a good hug. She often teases and ribs in good nature, and flirts if she can get away with it. Even in the thick of conflict she tries to spare a smile for companions, because she’s all too aware that many people look up to her and rely on her to finish the
Castor does not sit still. The very firmament of her being cannot bear to be idle. To this end, she very often simply acts, without sufficient forethought or consideration. Sometimes the impulse drives her to vanish when not needed - off to wander through some forgotten corner of the world or another (After all, what is an Adventurer who does not adventure?). Sometimes that self same impulse is why she throws herself into battle without hesitating even for her own traveling party. To this end she’s quite prone to cabin fever when she cannot wander and before long ends up resembling something akin to a caged tiger - stalking and waiting and all pent up energy with nowhere to go. The dark mirror to this point is that her own emotions follow similar patterns- Castor can be riled to anger quickly (this will be elaborated on in the following paragraph), and often submits to baser instincts in such a state. It occasionally leads her to do A Stupid, despite her best efforts to curb it. Similar to the last point, this is mostly headcanon, reflected by the player’s ability to peace out at-will, and not necessarily have to “check in” with NPCs. Furthermore, the WoL is, first and foremost, an adventurer, and the call to adventure - be it a search for fortune or glory or just wanderlust - is effectively what got them involved in the story in the first place. There’s a quest early in the 4.1 patch that lampshades this point spectacularly, with an NPC inviting the WoL out on a bona-fide hunt for a lost city with lost treasure.
As mentioned earlier, Castor can be worked to anger quickly, because very often she uses anger and other hostile presentations to cover for fear and anxiety when something has spiraled out of her control. It began as a defense mechanism from growing up in less than ideal circumstances, but she has thus far been unable to break the habit as an adult. In addition, the infamy that being the Warrior of Light brings has encouraged Castor to remain extremely guarded with certain aspects of herself. For all that she freely offers cheer and love, she nevertheless keeps her own counsel with many other emotional matters and very seldom discusses how she feels about a given issue (or person, as the case may be). Though it’s primarily reflected within certain job quests, (the Dark Knight quests especially,) the story does sometimes hint that the Warrior often copes with significant emotional turmoil after three expansions worth of adventuring, and even NPCs have, of, late, begun to remind the WoL to take their time, and to make sure to be well-rested, implying a general concern for their well-being. Despite the plot dictating the WoL be angry when a situation calls for it, this again is informed headcanon, stemming from her personal history and likewise several more traumatic game events (such as the aftermath of The Vault). Also, as mentioned earlier, the Warrior’s reticence is lampshaded by NPCs from time to time and so one is lead to believe that the WoL keeps their own counsel on many things.
Despite never considering herself well learned, nor with an inclination towards science or academia, Castor nevertheless has a curious and hardworking spirit. She taught herself letters and numbers as a child, and as a woman, she is always full of questions and likewise happily shares her own knowledge. While she’s driven to explore (as mentioned earlier,) she also genuinely loves doing so, and equally loves seeing and trying and doing (and eating) everything she comes across in those same travels. This is entirely headcanon, though one may argue that it takes a certain sense of adventure to become an adventurer in the first place.
Personality Shifts:
N/A; Though the player is given dialogue options at points through the story, they're all largely superficial and have little to no bearing on the story overall save a few responses from NPCs. Castor tends to take the lighter or sillier options towards friendly NPCs and a considerably more aggressive option towards antagonists.
Abilities:
IN GENERAL:
The most important of Castor’s powers is what’s known in Eorzea as The Echo. While the Echo’s effects seem to vary slightly from person to person, in Castor it manifests primarily as flashbacks to other people’s memories, the ability to understand any and all languages, and some minor clairvoyance in battle (namely seeing cast bars and AoE markers in-game).
Castor is also a Monk of the Fist of Rhalgr, and in battle, she uses her own body as a weapon, moving aether through her body to land devastatingly powerful blows with her fists and feet, as well as using that same aether to make herself go *really fast.* Even without aether, she’s in incredible shape, but I don’t know if “Swole as Hell” counts as an ability.
SPECIFICALLY:
As for Castor’s martial prowess, though the WoL canonly can do just about whatever they set their minds to, Castor herself has focused the bulk of her attention on the ‘Monk’ job; a Discipline of War that focuses on rapid blows to deal significant damage over time. Without going skill by skill, the core mechanic of Monk is what’s called “Greased Lighting,” the state of flowing between one blow and the next quickly, and to this end, as battle progresses, Castor moves faster and hits harder over time. Though any one individual blow is relatively insignificant, sustained fire from her can and will cause significant damage. She can also build up Chakra energy from herself, and from those around her, and unleash a haymaker blow. Castor strikes more effectively from the back or flank of her opponent than she does the front.
Monk also has a limited amount of situational flexibility, with different stances enhancing different stats; Fists of Earth increases otherwise middling defensive capabilities, Fists of Wind allows Castor to move faster, and Fists of Fire allows for more damaging attacks. Each stance also has an associated “Riddle,” which more or less enhance what the stance already acts upon for a limited time. In addition, Castor has a few self-heals in the form of Second Wind, which recovers HP and Bloodbath, which recovers HP as a percentage of damage dealt. Also, Mantra increases the healing capabilities of Castor and those around her, making her useful to have in a group, as well as being fairly self sufficient in a fight.
In less warlike situations, Castor is also an accomplished Blacksmith and Armorer, and makes a hobby of metalwork.
Inventory: Castor travels light. Her inventory consists of: The clothing on her back (and head, and hands etc), a set of fist-weapons (named Nyepels), a set of Tonfa, her Monk crystal, a handful of Gyshal Greens, a handful of Glamour Prisms, a few thousand gil, some coke ash, various elemental crystals, a blacksmithing hammer and file, and an Aether Compass…..and probably some vendor trash animal hides.
The bulk of these items are mundane or have specific but dubiously consequential uses to things in Eorzea. The Nyepels are glorified knuckle-dusters that sort of grew a soul? They're effectively infused with copious amounts of stable Aether specifically tuned to Castor, that allow them to 'learn' from her battles and make her a better warrior, but in practice, they're just flashy weapons. The Tonfa are mundane but cool as heckie. The Monk Crystal is a very concentrated Aether crystal that contains the memories of all it's previous owners, and was one of the first things Castor learned from when she first started Monking. The Gyshal Greens are....for chocobos, but are also probably edible?? Glamour Prisms allow Castor to change the *appearance* of what she's wearing to something else of similar function; for example, a pair of pants can take on the appearance of another pair of pants or a skirt, but not the appearance of a hat. They're single-use and probably won't work here anyways. Elemental crystals are small shards of elementally-aspected aether that are frequently used in crafting and some small sundry uses besides (fire crystals to warm a small area, ice to preserve something etc). The last item of import is Castor's Aether Compass, which points towards nearby aether currents. It probably won't work here, but she keeps it on her for sentimental reasons. The coke ash and blacksmithing tools are perfectly mundane and used to do Blacksmith Stuff.
Sample
Thread Sample:
Two threads within!
Q&A:
Are all lives equal, or are some lives more important than others?
Nobody’s life is worth more’n someone else’s. Doesn’t matter who’s loins ye sprang from, or how much gil ye’ve got te yer name. Folks who don’t realize or respect this’re my least favourite kind of people.
Is there anything you don’t like about yourself?
Plenty. ‘M not the cleverest by a malm, an’ I know my temper get’s the best’ve me sometimes. I’m good at what I do, but I wish I was better. Too many people ’ve taken falls for me, an’ more damningly, I’ve let ‘em.
How do you think you measure up compared to your peers?
In what way? I ain’t as smart or well read or well travelled as some’ve ‘em but I can do things they can’t. A fish ain’t like te climb a tree, but opo-opos don’t swim much, either. I do what I’m good at, and let ‘em do what they’re good at and it works out when all’s said and done.
Do you prefer spending time with many people, a few friends, or by yourself?
Depends on how I’m feelin’. Usually I like havin’ company, an’ its nice te be able to sit and hear...I guess life pass by. People goin’ about their business, talkin’ an movin’ an hagglin’. S’all the better with friends close, really.
Sometimes I like te be by myself though. Jes’ till I can think through some things. ‘M never far out of reach if someone needs me.
Do you consider yourself easily swayed by others?
Nah. I’ll listen te what someone has te say, but once my mind is made up, I’m not like te change it.
Describe a fond memory you have.
I was maybe nine summers old. Bright an’ hot, jes’ about midday, and I was runnin’ for my life from some Amalj'aa. Ducked into a small cave for cover, an’ what do I see but a little Miqo'te, ‘bout my age, about te tuck into his lunch. Met my best friend that day, and I don’t think I’d forget the look on his face when I ran in, even if I tried.
Do you think things like politics and history are important to know about? Why or why not?
I’m….learnin the importance of both. Not sure a layman’s got need fer the former, but the latter’s especially important. S’ hard te see where you’re goin if ye don’t know where ye’ve been. This is especially true if yer travellin’. If ye don’t make an effort te learn about people ye don’t know, you’ll make a damn fool of yourself ‘fore long.
