Aelius sas Corinthius

• Appearance
• Personality
• History
• OOC

A Garlean Imperial agent who was undercover in Eorzea on a mission, he was a dutiful soldier who dedicated his life to his family name and the will of Garlemald. After the mission failed and his cover was blown, he was presumed dead at first, only to be discovered laying low in Coerthas a couple cycles later. Now a traitor to Eorzea and Garlemald alike, Aelius struggles to sort out his loyalties and decide his future.

Aelius stands tall around 6'3", broad-shouldered with a strong and sturdy form, well-sculpted with muscle thanks to a strict regime of training and work, though it is beginning to fade and give way to a more wiry musculature after moons of inactivity. In fact, if one were to catch him not fully clothed, he appears quite malnourished, very thin and lacking any healthy amount of body fat, as well as covered in scars that appear to be from likely near fatal wounds, clear indicators of where his own bones have been broken and jutted out of his skin. His left eye, forehead, and nearly the entire left side of his face are covered in bandages, though along his jaw where the bandages have ended and his skin is visible runs a long, thick, jagged scar that looks far too old to be reason for the bandaging. Several fresher scars mar his face, but are not quite as severe.

Perhaps in a stark contrast to his gruff personality and the rest of his rugged appearance, Ael has a very fair visage with snowy white hair, sickly pale skin, and eye the lightest shade of blue that sometimes glints violet or even red in the right lighting. His ivory locks are overgrown and unkempt, falling messily to obscure his face. His white brow is bushy but arched, his aquiline nose straight and even, his one visible eye deeply set and constantly shadowed with a dark circle from a lack of sleep. His cheekbones are high though gaunt and sunken, his lips pouty and finely shaped, and his jaw strong and squared. He has relatively handsome and masculine features, though they are somewhat hidden behind the scruffy, unshaven facial hair amassing along his jaw, chin, and upper lip. Fine lines can be found upon his face, a testament that the man has just passed his prime.

His posture is slumped and sunken. He moves somewhat slowly and painfully, a slight limp to his right leg, the thump of the respective foot just a little bit louder to its counterpart and perhaps vaguely metallic. Overall, he has the look of a man likely once healthy and handsome, but now exhausted and ill. He seems to purposefully stick to the shadows and avoid eye contact with others, hiding his features. He tends to wear dark and loose fitting clothing to obscure his frame. Despite this, he is a man who dresses for the occasion, which betrays his wardrobe to actually include more varied and ornate clothing and armor in better condition than his usual attire.

Ael speaks very little, and when he does, he is usually a man of few words, more apt to make noncommittal grunts than actual words. His voice is gruff and deep. Though it often sounds a bit tired and weak, seemingly from disuse, there is a commanding bass hidden within it. There is a smoothness to his voice and the pronunciation of his words, as well as evidence of a decent education in his adequate grammar and wide vocabulary (if one manages to hear him speak enough) that offers a contrast to his rough exterior.

Reserved and generally distrustful of others, Aelius is quiet and not forthcoming with information about himself. When he does give details, they are likely to be lies. He's very secretive of his identity, and tries to avoid people, or at the very least, prying conversation with people. Wary that Eorzeans may find out about his heritage and persecute him, and even more concerned that any Imperials he meets may find out his identity and drag him back to Garlemald as a failure and a traitor, he is paranoid and reclusive and feels there is almost no one he can trust.

He's rather gruff and tends to be short with others. While he may still crack the occasional cocky smile or smart-ass remark, his humor and happiness seem hard to come by more recently. He's tired, and often in physical pain, as well as stricken with guilt for how he has failed his family and his country and become a burden to others. He has no shortage of angst over his shortcomings. He's straight forward, matter of fact and to the point, not wanting any conversation to be more personal or lengthy than it needs to be. He is very conflicted, uncertain about whether he should remain loyal to Garlemald, or find some sympathy with the Eorzeans now. His inability to find an answer has left him apathetic and lethargic, no allegiances to either country nor its people for the time being. He is unsure if either country even deserves his loyalty after being burned by both.

Though it is wounded, he retains his pride, causing him endless frustration when he must rely on others or ask for help, or when others ridicule him or look upon him with pity. He detests feeling so weak, helpless, and vulnerable. He has also maintained his vanity, another source of endless anger and shame at his own scarred and disfigured appearance. His pride and ego once meant very much to him, along with combat prowess, good looks, and prominent family name--all things lost or useless to him now, leaving him with next to nothing. His primary motivation is to survive, and regain the strength he has lost. Despite this, he may help an innocent person in need even if it's an inconvenience to himself, holding on to some virtue of justice and honor or maybe even genuine kindness, and perhaps a means to atone for his sins.

Aelius was born the first--and for a long time only known--child to a respected Garlean military general by the name of Stanislas Corinthius and his noblewoman wife. Stanislas was often busy with work, leaving Aelius to be raised primarily by his mother and the household staff. When Aelius was only four years old, his father embarked on an undercover mission into Eorzea that would take two decades. At the time, the young Aelius didn't know the duration or scope of his father's mission, and if his mother did, she certainly didn't inform the small child. With his memories of his father so sparse and from such an early age, most of Ael's knowledge of his father came from his mother and his father's acquaintances, some of whom helped look after the boy. It always seemed to be only good things, tales of his father's accomplishments in war, praise for his calmness and intellect, stories of his prowess in battle and his combat abilities. The young Aelius was of course enamored with the stories, unable to get enough of them. His father was a hero in his eyes, and like most sons, he aspired to be just like him. He missed his father, and every day he watched his mother struggle and try to hide her tears at night over her husband's absence, but life went on and Ael grew older.

When he had learned to read, he began studying diligently. When he was able to pick up a weapon, he began training endlessly. As soon as he was old enough, he enlisted in the Garlean military, and quickly climbed up the ranks. Aelius dedicated his life to his military career and his training, allowing little distraction. As tempting as women and drink and coin proved to be for the young man, he held to his priorities. And yet, every victory, each accomplishment and promotion felt hollow. They either fell short of his father's achievements, or they were credited to him simply being his father's son rather than his own hard work and talents. It only drove him to try harder and climb higher, catching him in an endless cycle. Now an adult, he learned more about his father's work in Eorzea. To keep his cover in Eorzea, Stanislas had taken a wife in Gridania, even sired another child with her, a daughter. The news left Aelius bitter and conflicted. The father who'd been absent his whole life, who he had longed to meet, had been spending time with another family. Was the man even as grand as everyone else had always made him out to be?

Rather than face the questions, Aelius threw himself even more into his work to keep his mind occupied. Slowly but surely, his goal shifted from being just like his father to being better than his father. When he was 24 cycles old, the Calamity struck in Eorzea, and his life in Garlemald changed, too, when his father returned, Stanislas's work in Eorzea ended. For his dedication to Garlemald and the invaluable work he had accomplished, Ael's father was promoted to the rank of Legatus, the commander of his own legion within the Garlean army. Aelius's reunion with his father was hardly heartwarming. Stanislas van Corinthius had barely gotten settled in and exchanged pleasantries with his now adult son before he challenged him to a spar to test his son's competence. Stanislas did not go easy on his son, pulling no punches, and the match came to a swift end when Aelius took a blow from his father's blade to his face. The strike left a nasty wound; a permanent, jagged scar stretching diagonally from Aelius's jaw to his cheek, a constant reminder of his failing.

But despite it all, the family was reformed. Stanislas quickly conceived another child with his wife--a son by the name of Valerius. With Stanislas still ever busy with work even after his homecoming, Aelius found himself helping his mother to raise the infant when his own work and training didn't occupy his time, though he did still find time to get to know his father and spend time at last with the man he'd heard so much about. Ael soon earned a place as a trusted leader within his father's legion. However, it seemed Eorzea could not be left in the past and forgotten. Only four cycles after his homecoming, Stanislas's aspirations of conquest and power took him back to Eorzea, where he admitted he still had loose ends to tie. While he had otherwise destroyed any evidence of his stay in Eorzea, he had not been able to take the life of his daughter, Faye Covington. He planned to rectify this folly, either by bringing her back to Garlemald to make her a proper member of his family, or by ending her life if she refused.

And refuse she did, pleading for another option, and Stanislas begrudgingly complied. He spared her life for the time being, but under the condition that she would give him whatever information he desired and do his bidding. Stanislas van Corinthius soon called his son to join in his work, and Aelius set off for Eorzea, taking with him as his assistant a woman by the name of Lucretia Devereux who was highly impressed with his military career and eager to pledge her loyalty to him and the Corinthius family. Aelius was tasked with looking after Faye, ensuring she complied with their father's orders and did not flee. He infiltrated her free company, the Harbingers of Dawn, taking the persona of Ael, a bastard mercenary from Limsa Lominsa.

Having no choice but to be so wholly dedicated to his faux persona for so long, Ael actually found some enjoyment in playing the part of the crass mercenary that allowed him to be much more relaxed and carefree than his disciplined life in Garlemald had ever let him. He found the people of Eorzea to be... strange, to say the least. While he did not feel he'd been misled in the slightest with all the tales he'd heard of the barbarism, as he lived among them and fought alongside them, he was surprised to find himself sympathizing with some of them. Faye in particular caught him off guard with her cunning and composure, but he credited that to the Garlean blood that flowed her veins and all the time she'd spent with their father, who she was indeed much like. Lucretia even eventually questioned his loyalty, afraid he'd become too empathetic with the Eorzeans and lost sight of their mission, threatening to kill him if he proved to be treacherous, but he managed to convince her to let go her worries.

While he was highly skeptical of Faye and harboring more than a little resentment toward her, he did his best to embrace his father's desire to welcome her into their family. She did seem to be a fine fit and a potentially valuable addition. Faye, however, was resistant, bitter and spiteful toward Stanislas and Aelius both, and reluctant to submit to their orders. For nearly two tense cycles, Ael worked undercover in the Harbingers, sabotaging them or setting up an ambush whenever his father bade, and monitoring Faye who herself had little choice but to give their father whatever information he desired and heed his commands. Aelius and Lucretia eventually became lovers, despite the taboo of their ranks, able to trust and depend only upon each other in this foreign land. Stanislas took a particular interest in the original founder of Harbingers of Dawn and the person Faye considered a brother of sorts and likewise Stanislas had treated as a son for some time, Zularti Vensar, tasking Aelius with befriending the man and manipulating him for their cause.

Things soon took a turn for the worst. Aelius had underestimated Faye and just how ruthless and clever the half-blooded woman could be, along with the strength and conviction of the Harbingers of Dawn, and how his poking the bear could backfire. Stanislas's two most-esteemed generals were consecutively killed by the Harbingers of Dawn, the first losing his life after he had captured Faye's husband Val Nunh, and in the battle to rescue Val, Zularti perished saving his free company mates. Zul had already played his role in the Garlean's plan, but his death was Faye's breaking point and the end of her forced loyalty. She announced Aelius as a suspected traitor, and he was arrested by the Harbingers of Dawn, narrowly managing to later escape captivity thanks to the help of his father's second general, the man who had helped raise Aelius in his father's absence, who lost his life holding off the Harbingers so Ael could flee. Aelius considered himself a failure and responsible for their deaths, a notion Stanislas agreed with, if beating Ael and leaving him for dead in the snow of Coerthas was any indication.

But Faye was not finished with her rebellion and the Harbingers of Dawn had a score to settle. They confronted Stanislas, barely managing to slay him and taking heavy injuries of their own. Aelius was furious and distraught to learn the news. His father, his idol, was dead, stricken down by their own blood who they had tried so hard to make a part of their family. His father's entire legion, as well, had been all but destroyed by the Harbingers of Dawn, their plans dashed. Lost and confused as he was, he knew what he must do through the haze of anger and despair. He ordered Lucretia to return to Garlemald, and when she protested, they found the compromise that she'd return first thing in the morning and Aelius would soon follow. Aelius had no intention of keeping up his end of the bargain, however. He penned a final letter to his mother back in Garlemald, and he set off for Thanalan, to watch and wait at the scene where his father had been slain.

Just as he had expected, Faye soon returned to the scene of her crime once her injuries had healed enough for her travel. Significantly smaller and physically weaker than the seasoned soldier and still very wounded, Faye had no hope of escaping Aelius as he caught her off guard and grabbed her. He dragged her toward Highbridge, taking every opportunity to inflict pain upon her, to make her suffer for misdeeds, to punish her for each attempt to fight back or flee. She managed to call the Harbingers for aid over her linkpearl before he could snatch it from her, but he didn't much care. The Harbingers caught up with them right as they reached the bridge, surrounding them upon it. Aelius backed to the edge of the bridge, threatening to toss Faye over. The Harbingers pressed closer and he made good on his threat, tossing Faye over the edge, though unfortunately, a pesky dragoon managed to save her from the fall. Left without his hostage to hide behind or bargain, a hulking Roegadyn swung his axe straight for Aelius's midsection in a golf swing that would send him flying, and strangely, Aelius did nothing to attempt to block or evade it. In fact, the faintest of smirks rested upon his lips as he went soaring through the air and disappeared into the fog beneath the bridge.

The Harbingers sought to retrieve his body and confirm his death, but were disrupted by the fire of a hidden sniper--Lucretia had disobeyed his orders and remained in Eorzea after all. By the time they were able to safely reach the ground below and pinpoint the location of his fall, his body was gone. Lucretia had dragged off his severely injured and barely living form, tending to his wounds as best as she could before she could find a proper doctor to treat him. Once he was stabilized, he was transferred to the snowy wastelands of Coerthas were the two could safely hide. Aelius was unconscious for some time, comatose, but Lucretia tended to him and his slow and painful recovery. Even after he awoke, it was weeks before he could move much, and many moons before he was no longer bedridden. He'd lost a leg to the trauma of the fall, but managed to elicit the aid of a fellow Garlean he'd met while in Eorzea who happened to be a Magitek engineer. The man crafted him a prosthetic leg with the promise that Aelius would owe him work once he was physically able.

Aelius was certain things would have been better if he had died in the fall. On top of the physical pain that plagued his every moment, he was ashamed, humiliated not only by failing his father, his family, and his country, but now being entirely useless and dependent, the burden falling on of all people, the woman for whom he was meant to provide. He struggled every sun first to sit up, then to stand, then to walk, and then to work and fight. Every second hurt his body and pride in equal measure, but he could not afford to keep being such a burden.

Eventually, he regained the strength to begin to do odd jobs for the people of Coerthas. At danger in Eorzea yet unable to return to Garlemald as a deserter, he sets his sights on earning enough funds for him and Lucretia to secure passage to Kugane in the far east, where the city's neutrality and vigilant security would allow them protection from the people of both nations. He had finally scraped enough gil for the couple to make their escape when a sword-wielding Highlander man garbed in black discovered the small cabin in the snowy mountainside where he and Lucretia had been lying low.

Wary, Aelius immediately lashed out at the man. However, when it became clear the man meant him no harm, Aelius let down his guard long enough for Faye to reveal herself from a nearby hiding spot. He lunged at her on sight, only to be promptly subdued by the pair and interrogated by Faye with perhaps a bit of unnecessary violence on her part. Apparently her husband, Val, had gone missing and seemed to be somewhere within the Garlean Empire, and she had assumed Aelius's involvement. With the promise of sanctuary and forgiveness for he and Lucretia (and not being murdered or turned over to the Empire), he agreed to accompany Faye to her teahouse in the Lavender Beds where he would aid her in her search for her lost husband with the help of some relevant information Lucretia had obtained while keeping tabs on their former Imperial comrades.