Post by Clive Rosfield on Jul 24, 2023 11:56:32 GMT -6
CLIVE ROSFIELD OF ROSARIA
“Life is about having a choice. Take that away, and we might as well be dead.”
I. BASICS
FULL NAME:: Clive Rosfield
TITLES:: Cid The Outlaw, Dominant Of Ifrit, Mythos
GENDER:: Male
AGE:: 33
ORIENTATION:: Straight
ALIGNMENT:: Neutral
HOMEWORLD:: Valisthea (FFXVI)
TITLES:: Cid The Outlaw, Dominant Of Ifrit, Mythos
GENDER:: Male
AGE:: 33
ORIENTATION:: Straight
ALIGNMENT:: Neutral
HOMEWORLD:: Valisthea (FFXVI)
HEIGHT:: 6'3
HAIR/EYES/SKIN:: Black/Blue/Fair
BUILD:: Muscular/Lean
OCCUPATION:: Freelancer; Formerly Lord Marquess and First Shield Of Rosaria
COMPANIONS:: Torgal (MIA), Ambrosia (MIA)
ENGLISH VOICE CLAIM:: Ben Starr
JAPANESE VOICE CLAIM:: Yuya Uchida
II. PERSONA
- Sworn to live life on his terms.
- Values free will, and will do anything to ensure that people are free to live and die as they choose.
- Has a habit of trying to take everything on himself and do everything himself. And sometimes Torgal helps too.
- Animal lover, evidenced by his close bonds with both Torgal and Ambrosia.
- Chronically helpful, getting him into everyone's business in the interests of helping. Consistently gets him into trouble, and constantly gets him pulled into grocery shopping for Mid.
- Seems to find trouble everywhere he goes.
- A genius battle tactician, but his intelligence doesn't extend to everything.
- Oftentimes forgetful.
- Tactless at times. Really tactless. Has a habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
- Loves his brother and his dog more than anything.
- Really is the "dad friend".
III. BACKGROUND
-Formerly the First Shield of Rosaria, trained by Lord Commander Rodney Murdoch in swordplay. Far exceeded the best soldiers Rosaria had to offer by the age of 15 in order to become the First Shield.
- Blessed by the Phoenix, granting him a portion of its power. Can use Rising Flames, Heatwave, Flames Of Rebirth, Phoenix Shift and Scarlet Cyclone. Cannot semi-prime into the Phoenix or access Ifrit Risen, however.
- As the Dominant of the Eikon Ifrit, Clive has access to its abilities. These include the Will o' the Wykes and Ignition.
- While Clive has lost the ability to prime into Ifrit, he can still semi-prime so long as he has the energy to do so. This merged state with Ifrit increases his strength and speed, and grants his attacks the power of fire. However, it doesn't last long before it needs to recharge.
- Wields Gotterdammerung as his main weapon, with Invictus as a spare.
- It's ok, he didn't need the other Eikon powers anyway. Now he can focus on being even better at what he's most attuned to.
IV. HISTORY
The following backstory contains content so tragic that half of it's downright unnecessarily cruel.
The firstborn son of Archduke Elwin and Duchess Anabella of the Grand Duchy Of Rosaria, Clive Rosfield was granted the title of Lord Marquess at a young age, and was told that one day he would become the Dominant Of Fire, ruling Rosaria with the Phoenix as his Eikon. Committed to his duty and to the purpose that had been placed upon him by his family and his people, Clive devoted everything to being the best future ruler he could be.
But when the awaited day came for him to be bonded with the Phoenix, his calls went unanswered. He had been rejected by the Phoenix, considered unworthy of being its Dominant, and in turn, unworthy of ruling Rosaria. Clive’s own mother spurned him, dubbing him a failure with no purpose for his existence. But before the distraught Clive’s downward spiral could destroy him, his father encouraged him to find a new purpose in life. One of his own choosing.
When his younger brother Joshua was then chosen to become the Phoenix’s Dominant, Clive realized he had found his purpose. He would become a Shield of Rosaria, and not just any Shield, but the First Shield. He would stand by his brother’s side as he took the throne, and protect him with his life, what come may.
And that went well and good for a time. Clive put just as much effort into becoming First Shield as he once had towards being the ruler of Rosaria. And by the age of 15 he had won the ducal tournament and would be sworn in as the First Shield of Rosaria. While Joshua granting him the Phoenix’s blessing and its abilities in part did not undo failing to be accepted by the Phoenix himself and all that came of it, Clive no longer minded and found happiness in his new position and purpose in life. While Anabella’s rejection stung, Clive found a loving family in his father, Lord Commander Rodney Murdoch who doubled as his tutor, his younger brother, Jill Warwick who he became quite close with after his dad up and kidnapped her from the Northern Territories, and a dog that his father also brought home from the Northern Territories as a gift for Clive. Naming him Torgal, he and the pup were nigh-inseparable. Except when Jill carried him. Which was a lot of the time.
His training complete, Clive was sent out to clear out Stillwind of goblins in order to pave the way for his father’s army to bring Joshua to Phoenix Gate, in preparation for battle with the Iron Kingdom. It was here that Clive got his first taste of true action, slaying a morbol in impressive fashion. He wasn’t much for drinking and boasting, however, preferring to spend the night with Joshua, Jill and Torgal. Not knowing that it would be the last.
The Empire of Sanbreque attacked Phoenix Gate upon their arrival, bringing Clive’s first and only mission as the First Shield to an end. Nearly all were massacred, including his father and seemingly his beloved chocobo Ambrosia, both of whom sacrificed themselves to protect Joshua and Clive respectively. Their father’s death caused Joshua to prime into the Phoenix, but before Clive could help him, he was stopped by the emergence of a second Dominant of Fire. This Dominant, with its Eikon Ifrit, slew the Phoenix and Joshua with it as Clive desperately cried out for his brother until there was no voice left to bellow, and no tears left to be shed. In the morning, Clive awoke to the sight of his mother with the Empire, having orchestrated the attack. Clive was very much awake when his mother ordered the soldiers to execute him, only to change her mind and decide to have him enslaved as a branded soldier instead.
As he was painfully branded with a mark laced in poison, he wished she had just killed him.
Spending thirteen years as a Branded soldier, marked a Bearer and forced to fight for the Empire, Clive lived only for one reason. The one reason he tolerated being treated as less than human by civilians and soldiers alike because of his brand was the tortured memory of the Ifrit murdering his brother, and the hooded figure that was its Dominant.
Once, his vow had been simple, innocent and full of passion and pride. Now, he was left only with a vow full of pain, suffering, rage and a burning hatred for the man that killed his brother.
His new vow was to destroy Joshua’s killer, by any means necessary. Nothing else mattered.
His identity stripped away and replaced with the callsign Wyvern, Clive was assigned to a unit known as “The Bastards”, given the mission by the Empire to hunt down and kill any Dominants that opposed Sanbreque. As Dhalmekia and the Iron Kingdom clashed, Wyvern was sent to the front lines to assassinate the Dominant of Shiva. But upon discovering that Shiva’s Dominant was in fact Jill, whom had been kidnapped by the Iron Kingdom after Phoenix Gate and forced to serve under them, he immediately abandoned his mission and the Empire. He was forced to kill Tiamat to save her, but he didn’t care. He owed the Empire nothing but contempt, and betrayed them in a heartbeat. He and Jill were then saved by Torgal, now fully grown into a big heckin’ good boy, and the Dominant of Ramuh Cid. Taken to Cid’s Hideaway and regaining ownership of Torgal, Clive rejected Cid’s offer to join with him in favor of his quest for revenge. With Cid deciding to tag along and help anyway, Clive set out in search of this Dominant.
Chasing shadows led him across Sanbreque and into a confrontation with Benedikta, the Dominant of Garuda, whose power he accidentally stole. But when Benedikta went mad and turned into a monstified version of Garuda, Clive would be overtaken by Ifrit, whom then slew her.
That was when Clive realized that the one whom had killed Joshua and destroyed Phoenix Gate, the Dominant of Ifrit…
Was him.
While unwilling, he had killed his own brother in Ifrit’s form. Killed his mentor Rodney Murdoch whom he loved dearly. Losing his senses and having to be thrown naked into the Hideaway’s dungeons, Clive wished only for death. He had promised to avenge his brother, and he would do so. But Cid wouldn’t allow it, bringing up the loose end of the hooded man whom was clearly a Dominant of Fire.
But deep inside Fallen ruins, Clive would be confronted with the truth. He had to accept that it truly had been him that had killed Joshua. In this, Cid convinced him to find a new purpose. To aid him in his goal of destroying the Mothercrystals, ending wars over magic, stopping the Blight, and the cruel treatment of Bearers. Giving them freedom to die as they choose.
Along the way, Clive was reunited with those still loyal to the duchy in Eastpool. He reunited with Rodney’s wife Hannah and was gifted his father’s sword and a set of his clothes from when he was Clive’s age. Happy to discard the fatigues of a Branded, Clive took them thankfully. While asked to take on his father’s Bearers as his own servants, Clive had long seen and suffered by the plight of Bearers as slaves. While he did his best not to offend Eastpool’s mayor, he decided the best place for those Bearers to be – was free. As all Bearers should be. His father had fought for the rights and betterments of Bearers, and this was what he would have wanted. But before he could take them to the Hideaway, Eastpool was massacred by the Black Shields. Bearer hunters led by his mother in a mockery of his former namesake, Clive added them to his growing shit list.
In time, Clive, Jill and Cid would sneak into Sanbreque’s capital, Oriflamme, fighting their way into its depths. It was here that Cid would destroy Sanbreque’s mothercrystal, Drake’s Head. But before they could leave, a being called Ultima would arise from the Mothercrystal’s remains. Calling him Mythos, the creature attempted to force him to join with it, but was stopped by Cid at the cost of his life. When Ultima continued its attempt, Clive would be saved by the other Dominant of Fire – his brother Joshua, still very much alive.
All Clive could do was grasp one of the Phoenix’s feathers with all his might as he passed out, a reminder that somewhere out there, his brother was alive. In the wake of Cid’s death, the destruction of the Hideaway and the massacre of its people by Hugo Kupka, Clive took on the name “Cid The Outlaw” as a mantle, inheriting Cid’s legacy. In the five years that followed, Clive founded a new Hideaway in the remains of a Fallen airship in the middle of the sea. Amassing Cid’s closest confidantes, Clive strove to start anew, taking on Cid’s mission to free all Bearers, destroy the Mothercrystals, end the Blight and bring to all the freedom to not just die the way they choose, but to live as well.
To live and die the way they choose. That was Clive’s vision for a new world. Organizing Cid’s old contacts, forming ones of his own, and reuniting with a badass one-eyed Ambrosia, Clive eventually carved a path towards Drake’s Breath in the Iron Kingdom. Reuniting with his uncle Byron and helping Jill to face her past with the Ironblood, Drake’s Breath fell at Clive’s hands. But Hugo Kupka, the Dominant of Titan, made his move. He ravaged Rosaria, murdered many of its civilians, and would have executed Jill if not for Torgal’s Frost Wolf abilities coming to the surface. Clive however, finally gained a measure of revenge when he defeated Kupka and cut off his hands. But when Kupka escaped thanks to some twink from Waloed, Clive strove for Drake’s Fang in Dhalmekia. Storming Kupka’s personal castle where Drake’s Fang was held, Clive was completely oblivious to Kupka’s delusions of him standing naked behind an also-naked Benedikta, chomping down on her neck like a really sloppy vampire.
Perhaps it was good he was oblivious to it, as that would carry the connotation that Kupka had imagined him naked. That really wasn’t something he would want to live with.
Either way, after an hour-long battle of Ifrit vs Titan that involved several different gameplay styles and Clive literally going inside of Titan and fighting the smaller Titan inside of him, Clive slew Kupka and destroyed Drake’s Fang. Avenging the people of the Hideaway and bringing security to the survivors.
After reuniting with Ser Wesley and seeing mom lynch more Bearers, Clive decided to give Anabella another giant middle finger as he shot for the Drake’s Tail in Twinside, which Sanbreque had taken after conquering the Dominion. But as was Clive’s luck, his attempt to destroy Drake’s Tail went predictably awry when Prince Dion, the Dominant of Bahamut and his stepbrother apparently, decided this was the best time to start a coup. Not that he could blame him with Anabella in charge, but if he could have done it tomorrow instead, this would have made things way easier. After fighting through and offing many dragoons that he really had no reason to fight, Dion then went mad and attacked Twinside. Since Goetz was there, the best thing to do to protect the cinnamon roll was to take out Bahamut as well.
But not all was bad, as Clive’s brother Joshua made his reappearance. After getting to team up with his brother in an awesome, extremely long Eikon fight where they merged together into Ifrit Risen and fought Bahamut in space, they took down Bahamut too. Who survived because his brother is just too nice for his own good.
Tearful reunions were had, however, and Clive for the first time in almost twenty years felt whole again. He had his brother back, and everything felt right with the world. The family reunion was made even better by the appearance of Anabella and his half-brother Olivier, whom Clive had about ten seconds to look at before Dion put a spear in his head.
Apparently Ultima can just put himself into people because he turned into Ultima and then crumbled into dust. This is never explained. But when she sees Joshua, Anabella, I shit you not, essentially screams “AHHH GHOST!” and offs herself with a knife that she had for reasons. All while Clive and Joshua awkwardly watch. Then retrieve Dion’s spear, and also Dion, and leave the palace to collapse on her without a burial. It's ok, she wasn't much of a Rosarian anyway.
If this narration sounds “done with this shit” at all, it’s because Clive is definitely mentally checked out at this point. Hard to blame him, really.
Then of course, everything really did go to shit. The sky got dark, the blight started spreading even faster and trying to save Mid and Gav went about as well as-
“If I may. Could I perhaps… Take over?”
Excuse me?
“Your narration. No offense, but I have some… Issues with it. It does not feel as though you are taking seriously enough the fact that I was nearly cut in half by Odin’s blade. The pain, the agony, it was as though a thousand knives struck me inside and out all at once. As though Barnabas sliced through every orifice, every organ, it truly felt like every little bit inside me was cut in twine.”
Oh. That’s. Really morbid actually-
“It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced, not even being branded came close, and they literally inked my face with wyvern poison. When we stormed Kanver and saw the state it was in, never did we expect to come face to face with Odin himself in the form of King Barnabas. I was woefully, utterly decimated without any effort on his part. He toyed with me, and I only lived because he willed it.”
So, you uh. You wanna take it from here?
“It is true Harpocrates has been badgering me to pick up the pen and tell my story. Suppose this is a good way to start… For all the good it will do me now. After the most humiliating and painful defeat I have ever experienced as a combatant, Jill was captured to ensure I could escape and heal my wounds. The only thing Barnabas didn’t cut physically was my heart… But Jill being missing, possibly dead because of me, because of my failure to be strong enough to protect those I love most? He might as well have. At this point I had the power of the Phoenix and Ifrit, and absorbed the power of Garuda, Ramuh, Titan and Bahamut. And still, it was not enough. I was still weak.”
“After Mid finished the Enterprise, work of genius it was, we were on our way to rescue Jill-“
And that’s when we found out that Barnabas’ personal twink is actually his horse. An actual horse twink, that turns into a horse, that he rides when he primes. And then he turned into a hundred of himself. I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried.
“Ahem, yes. After we were able to hold off Lord Harbard and escape aboard the Enterprise, we journeyed to rescue Jill. Thanks to my brother Joshua’s courageous efforts to hold off Odin, I was able to rescue Jill. But then Odin did the unthinkable — with one strike he parted the sea. Forcing Jill and I into a confrontation, we once again only scarcely escaped with our lives because of Jill. Washed ashore on the Shadow Coast of Waloed, Jill and I laid everything bare. Our feelings for one another, our insecurities, my desires to keep everyone safe even if I have to lift the entire world on my shoulders.”
And your clothes?
“We were in the middle of the ocean with one pair of clothes. But on the coast, Jill made the decision to entrust the fate of this world to me, in her own way. Ultima wanted me to become his vessel, his “Mythos”, to cast some sort of spell, one we knew wouldn’t be good for our world if his actions so far were any indication. She decided that if I was intent on carrying the burden of the world on my shoulders to stop Ultima, that I should carry her will and the blessing of Shiva with me, even if we were ever apart again.”
“Journeying to Waloed, we once more came face to face with King Barnabas. Facing him alone but with Shiva’s blessing and Jill’s will at my back, I was ready. With everything I had, I would finally end the reign of King Barnabas, and destroy the final Mothercrystal. Barnabas bequeathed me Odin’s power, regardless of whether I wanted it or not, and we gained knowledge of Ultima’s plan to form a new world, where all humans would become akashic, robbed of their wills and subservient to him, their god, and apparently; the Founder himself. With it, Ultima created one final Mothercrystal — Origin.”
“We knew it was a suicide mission. Joshua, Dion and I. Dion wished to ferry us as Bahamut to save our strength, but deep down we all knew we probably wouldn’t make it back.”
That explains why there were so many sidequests.
“Spending all the time with my loved ones as I could, I revisited my past and embraced my present, while working to create a future for all. I finally told Jill what I’ve known for so long, but could never find the words. Worked to help so many who had stood with me for all this time, reach their dreams and be ready to shoot further for the stars. When I helped Blackthorn make amends with his home, he would forge a blade called Gotterdammerung, named to symbolize the end if gods.”
“A fitting name, considering what we were setting to do.”
“In the end, I ensured that I left the Hideaway for possibly the final time — with no regrets. With love, determination and purpose in my heart, we set out for Origin. There, we found Ultima’s true purpose. To destroy us. A world of only his people and himself, his own clones spread within the Mothercrystals of his creation, sapping our aether and waiting for them to be destroyed to set them free. Dion was lost, and then Joshua…”
“Oh Joshua… Why you? Why, when we had only been reunited for so little, did you have to die? To free the part of himself that Joshua had sealed, to push me to the edge so that I may become his vessel, Ultima took Joshua from me. In his last act, even at the cost of his life, Joshua granted me the power of the Phoenix in full, that we might see through our dream once and for all. Even if only one of us lives. Joshua refused to give Ultima the satisfaction, and died his way, on his terms.”
“But I didn’t care. Joshua was gone. My whole life, I had sought to protect him, then to avenge him, then to create a world where he could live the happy life that he had long deserved. And now he was gone, and there was no coming back. I failed. I failed as a Shield, my oath in that moment, it was as though it meant nothing. But most importantly, I failed as a big brother. I couldn’t protect my baby brother, and I would have given anything, even my life, to bring him back.”
“But I was who remained. And the only one who could ensure that Joshua’s hopes and dreams don’t die with him.”
“On this, my sword, I swear.”
“To shield the firebird’s flame forevermore.”
“With all I had, with the will of those who lived, and who died, at my side, with me. To ensure that to this deluded fantasy, I be its final witness. We slew Ultima.”
“I didn’t know what I would do with the world we would create. I knew it would be fraught with war, bloodshed, and strife. But at least now, we had the choice and the free will to one day bring the fighting to an end. On our terms.”
“Absorbing Ultima’s power, I had hoped to use it to revive Joshua. But in doing so, I quickly realized that my body wouldn’t be able to withstand using Ultima’s power. It was already too late, and yet… I was at peace. I said I would protect my brother, as his Shield… Even at the cost of my life. And it was a price that I was, in the end, willing to pay.”
“Joshua, Torgal, Jill, Gav, Otto, Mid, Uncle, everyone… I’m sorry. But I hope you find happiness in the world that we have all fought for. Knowing I would soon be undone, I used all that I had to destroy Origin, to end the blight. And end Ultima’s hold over our world.”
“As my body washed ashore and began to turn by the Curse, I held no regrets. I lived, and died… As I chose. On my terms.”
The firstborn son of Archduke Elwin and Duchess Anabella of the Grand Duchy Of Rosaria, Clive Rosfield was granted the title of Lord Marquess at a young age, and was told that one day he would become the Dominant Of Fire, ruling Rosaria with the Phoenix as his Eikon. Committed to his duty and to the purpose that had been placed upon him by his family and his people, Clive devoted everything to being the best future ruler he could be.
But when the awaited day came for him to be bonded with the Phoenix, his calls went unanswered. He had been rejected by the Phoenix, considered unworthy of being its Dominant, and in turn, unworthy of ruling Rosaria. Clive’s own mother spurned him, dubbing him a failure with no purpose for his existence. But before the distraught Clive’s downward spiral could destroy him, his father encouraged him to find a new purpose in life. One of his own choosing.
When his younger brother Joshua was then chosen to become the Phoenix’s Dominant, Clive realized he had found his purpose. He would become a Shield of Rosaria, and not just any Shield, but the First Shield. He would stand by his brother’s side as he took the throne, and protect him with his life, what come may.
And that went well and good for a time. Clive put just as much effort into becoming First Shield as he once had towards being the ruler of Rosaria. And by the age of 15 he had won the ducal tournament and would be sworn in as the First Shield of Rosaria. While Joshua granting him the Phoenix’s blessing and its abilities in part did not undo failing to be accepted by the Phoenix himself and all that came of it, Clive no longer minded and found happiness in his new position and purpose in life. While Anabella’s rejection stung, Clive found a loving family in his father, Lord Commander Rodney Murdoch who doubled as his tutor, his younger brother, Jill Warwick who he became quite close with after his dad up and kidnapped her from the Northern Territories, and a dog that his father also brought home from the Northern Territories as a gift for Clive. Naming him Torgal, he and the pup were nigh-inseparable. Except when Jill carried him. Which was a lot of the time.
His training complete, Clive was sent out to clear out Stillwind of goblins in order to pave the way for his father’s army to bring Joshua to Phoenix Gate, in preparation for battle with the Iron Kingdom. It was here that Clive got his first taste of true action, slaying a morbol in impressive fashion. He wasn’t much for drinking and boasting, however, preferring to spend the night with Joshua, Jill and Torgal. Not knowing that it would be the last.
The Empire of Sanbreque attacked Phoenix Gate upon their arrival, bringing Clive’s first and only mission as the First Shield to an end. Nearly all were massacred, including his father and seemingly his beloved chocobo Ambrosia, both of whom sacrificed themselves to protect Joshua and Clive respectively. Their father’s death caused Joshua to prime into the Phoenix, but before Clive could help him, he was stopped by the emergence of a second Dominant of Fire. This Dominant, with its Eikon Ifrit, slew the Phoenix and Joshua with it as Clive desperately cried out for his brother until there was no voice left to bellow, and no tears left to be shed. In the morning, Clive awoke to the sight of his mother with the Empire, having orchestrated the attack. Clive was very much awake when his mother ordered the soldiers to execute him, only to change her mind and decide to have him enslaved as a branded soldier instead.
As he was painfully branded with a mark laced in poison, he wished she had just killed him.
Spending thirteen years as a Branded soldier, marked a Bearer and forced to fight for the Empire, Clive lived only for one reason. The one reason he tolerated being treated as less than human by civilians and soldiers alike because of his brand was the tortured memory of the Ifrit murdering his brother, and the hooded figure that was its Dominant.
Once, his vow had been simple, innocent and full of passion and pride. Now, he was left only with a vow full of pain, suffering, rage and a burning hatred for the man that killed his brother.
His new vow was to destroy Joshua’s killer, by any means necessary. Nothing else mattered.
His identity stripped away and replaced with the callsign Wyvern, Clive was assigned to a unit known as “The Bastards”, given the mission by the Empire to hunt down and kill any Dominants that opposed Sanbreque. As Dhalmekia and the Iron Kingdom clashed, Wyvern was sent to the front lines to assassinate the Dominant of Shiva. But upon discovering that Shiva’s Dominant was in fact Jill, whom had been kidnapped by the Iron Kingdom after Phoenix Gate and forced to serve under them, he immediately abandoned his mission and the Empire. He was forced to kill Tiamat to save her, but he didn’t care. He owed the Empire nothing but contempt, and betrayed them in a heartbeat. He and Jill were then saved by Torgal, now fully grown into a big heckin’ good boy, and the Dominant of Ramuh Cid. Taken to Cid’s Hideaway and regaining ownership of Torgal, Clive rejected Cid’s offer to join with him in favor of his quest for revenge. With Cid deciding to tag along and help anyway, Clive set out in search of this Dominant.
Chasing shadows led him across Sanbreque and into a confrontation with Benedikta, the Dominant of Garuda, whose power he accidentally stole. But when Benedikta went mad and turned into a monstified version of Garuda, Clive would be overtaken by Ifrit, whom then slew her.
That was when Clive realized that the one whom had killed Joshua and destroyed Phoenix Gate, the Dominant of Ifrit…
Was him.
While unwilling, he had killed his own brother in Ifrit’s form. Killed his mentor Rodney Murdoch whom he loved dearly. Losing his senses and having to be thrown naked into the Hideaway’s dungeons, Clive wished only for death. He had promised to avenge his brother, and he would do so. But Cid wouldn’t allow it, bringing up the loose end of the hooded man whom was clearly a Dominant of Fire.
But deep inside Fallen ruins, Clive would be confronted with the truth. He had to accept that it truly had been him that had killed Joshua. In this, Cid convinced him to find a new purpose. To aid him in his goal of destroying the Mothercrystals, ending wars over magic, stopping the Blight, and the cruel treatment of Bearers. Giving them freedom to die as they choose.
Along the way, Clive was reunited with those still loyal to the duchy in Eastpool. He reunited with Rodney’s wife Hannah and was gifted his father’s sword and a set of his clothes from when he was Clive’s age. Happy to discard the fatigues of a Branded, Clive took them thankfully. While asked to take on his father’s Bearers as his own servants, Clive had long seen and suffered by the plight of Bearers as slaves. While he did his best not to offend Eastpool’s mayor, he decided the best place for those Bearers to be – was free. As all Bearers should be. His father had fought for the rights and betterments of Bearers, and this was what he would have wanted. But before he could take them to the Hideaway, Eastpool was massacred by the Black Shields. Bearer hunters led by his mother in a mockery of his former namesake, Clive added them to his growing shit list.
In time, Clive, Jill and Cid would sneak into Sanbreque’s capital, Oriflamme, fighting their way into its depths. It was here that Cid would destroy Sanbreque’s mothercrystal, Drake’s Head. But before they could leave, a being called Ultima would arise from the Mothercrystal’s remains. Calling him Mythos, the creature attempted to force him to join with it, but was stopped by Cid at the cost of his life. When Ultima continued its attempt, Clive would be saved by the other Dominant of Fire – his brother Joshua, still very much alive.
All Clive could do was grasp one of the Phoenix’s feathers with all his might as he passed out, a reminder that somewhere out there, his brother was alive. In the wake of Cid’s death, the destruction of the Hideaway and the massacre of its people by Hugo Kupka, Clive took on the name “Cid The Outlaw” as a mantle, inheriting Cid’s legacy. In the five years that followed, Clive founded a new Hideaway in the remains of a Fallen airship in the middle of the sea. Amassing Cid’s closest confidantes, Clive strove to start anew, taking on Cid’s mission to free all Bearers, destroy the Mothercrystals, end the Blight and bring to all the freedom to not just die the way they choose, but to live as well.
To live and die the way they choose. That was Clive’s vision for a new world. Organizing Cid’s old contacts, forming ones of his own, and reuniting with a badass one-eyed Ambrosia, Clive eventually carved a path towards Drake’s Breath in the Iron Kingdom. Reuniting with his uncle Byron and helping Jill to face her past with the Ironblood, Drake’s Breath fell at Clive’s hands. But Hugo Kupka, the Dominant of Titan, made his move. He ravaged Rosaria, murdered many of its civilians, and would have executed Jill if not for Torgal’s Frost Wolf abilities coming to the surface. Clive however, finally gained a measure of revenge when he defeated Kupka and cut off his hands. But when Kupka escaped thanks to some twink from Waloed, Clive strove for Drake’s Fang in Dhalmekia. Storming Kupka’s personal castle where Drake’s Fang was held, Clive was completely oblivious to Kupka’s delusions of him standing naked behind an also-naked Benedikta, chomping down on her neck like a really sloppy vampire.
Perhaps it was good he was oblivious to it, as that would carry the connotation that Kupka had imagined him naked. That really wasn’t something he would want to live with.
Either way, after an hour-long battle of Ifrit vs Titan that involved several different gameplay styles and Clive literally going inside of Titan and fighting the smaller Titan inside of him, Clive slew Kupka and destroyed Drake’s Fang. Avenging the people of the Hideaway and bringing security to the survivors.
After reuniting with Ser Wesley and seeing mom lynch more Bearers, Clive decided to give Anabella another giant middle finger as he shot for the Drake’s Tail in Twinside, which Sanbreque had taken after conquering the Dominion. But as was Clive’s luck, his attempt to destroy Drake’s Tail went predictably awry when Prince Dion, the Dominant of Bahamut and his stepbrother apparently, decided this was the best time to start a coup. Not that he could blame him with Anabella in charge, but if he could have done it tomorrow instead, this would have made things way easier. After fighting through and offing many dragoons that he really had no reason to fight, Dion then went mad and attacked Twinside. Since Goetz was there, the best thing to do to protect the cinnamon roll was to take out Bahamut as well.
But not all was bad, as Clive’s brother Joshua made his reappearance. After getting to team up with his brother in an awesome, extremely long Eikon fight where they merged together into Ifrit Risen and fought Bahamut in space, they took down Bahamut too. Who survived because his brother is just too nice for his own good.
Tearful reunions were had, however, and Clive for the first time in almost twenty years felt whole again. He had his brother back, and everything felt right with the world. The family reunion was made even better by the appearance of Anabella and his half-brother Olivier, whom Clive had about ten seconds to look at before Dion put a spear in his head.
Apparently Ultima can just put himself into people because he turned into Ultima and then crumbled into dust. This is never explained. But when she sees Joshua, Anabella, I shit you not, essentially screams “AHHH GHOST!” and offs herself with a knife that she had for reasons. All while Clive and Joshua awkwardly watch. Then retrieve Dion’s spear, and also Dion, and leave the palace to collapse on her without a burial. It's ok, she wasn't much of a Rosarian anyway.
If this narration sounds “done with this shit” at all, it’s because Clive is definitely mentally checked out at this point. Hard to blame him, really.
Then of course, everything really did go to shit. The sky got dark, the blight started spreading even faster and trying to save Mid and Gav went about as well as-
“If I may. Could I perhaps… Take over?”
Excuse me?
“Your narration. No offense, but I have some… Issues with it. It does not feel as though you are taking seriously enough the fact that I was nearly cut in half by Odin’s blade. The pain, the agony, it was as though a thousand knives struck me inside and out all at once. As though Barnabas sliced through every orifice, every organ, it truly felt like every little bit inside me was cut in twine.”
Oh. That’s. Really morbid actually-
“It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced, not even being branded came close, and they literally inked my face with wyvern poison. When we stormed Kanver and saw the state it was in, never did we expect to come face to face with Odin himself in the form of King Barnabas. I was woefully, utterly decimated without any effort on his part. He toyed with me, and I only lived because he willed it.”
So, you uh. You wanna take it from here?
“It is true Harpocrates has been badgering me to pick up the pen and tell my story. Suppose this is a good way to start… For all the good it will do me now. After the most humiliating and painful defeat I have ever experienced as a combatant, Jill was captured to ensure I could escape and heal my wounds. The only thing Barnabas didn’t cut physically was my heart… But Jill being missing, possibly dead because of me, because of my failure to be strong enough to protect those I love most? He might as well have. At this point I had the power of the Phoenix and Ifrit, and absorbed the power of Garuda, Ramuh, Titan and Bahamut. And still, it was not enough. I was still weak.”
“After Mid finished the Enterprise, work of genius it was, we were on our way to rescue Jill-“
And that’s when we found out that Barnabas’ personal twink is actually his horse. An actual horse twink, that turns into a horse, that he rides when he primes. And then he turned into a hundred of himself. I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried.
“Ahem, yes. After we were able to hold off Lord Harbard and escape aboard the Enterprise, we journeyed to rescue Jill. Thanks to my brother Joshua’s courageous efforts to hold off Odin, I was able to rescue Jill. But then Odin did the unthinkable — with one strike he parted the sea. Forcing Jill and I into a confrontation, we once again only scarcely escaped with our lives because of Jill. Washed ashore on the Shadow Coast of Waloed, Jill and I laid everything bare. Our feelings for one another, our insecurities, my desires to keep everyone safe even if I have to lift the entire world on my shoulders.”
And your clothes?
“We were in the middle of the ocean with one pair of clothes. But on the coast, Jill made the decision to entrust the fate of this world to me, in her own way. Ultima wanted me to become his vessel, his “Mythos”, to cast some sort of spell, one we knew wouldn’t be good for our world if his actions so far were any indication. She decided that if I was intent on carrying the burden of the world on my shoulders to stop Ultima, that I should carry her will and the blessing of Shiva with me, even if we were ever apart again.”
“Journeying to Waloed, we once more came face to face with King Barnabas. Facing him alone but with Shiva’s blessing and Jill’s will at my back, I was ready. With everything I had, I would finally end the reign of King Barnabas, and destroy the final Mothercrystal. Barnabas bequeathed me Odin’s power, regardless of whether I wanted it or not, and we gained knowledge of Ultima’s plan to form a new world, where all humans would become akashic, robbed of their wills and subservient to him, their god, and apparently; the Founder himself. With it, Ultima created one final Mothercrystal — Origin.”
“We knew it was a suicide mission. Joshua, Dion and I. Dion wished to ferry us as Bahamut to save our strength, but deep down we all knew we probably wouldn’t make it back.”
That explains why there were so many sidequests.
“Spending all the time with my loved ones as I could, I revisited my past and embraced my present, while working to create a future for all. I finally told Jill what I’ve known for so long, but could never find the words. Worked to help so many who had stood with me for all this time, reach their dreams and be ready to shoot further for the stars. When I helped Blackthorn make amends with his home, he would forge a blade called Gotterdammerung, named to symbolize the end if gods.”
“A fitting name, considering what we were setting to do.”
“In the end, I ensured that I left the Hideaway for possibly the final time — with no regrets. With love, determination and purpose in my heart, we set out for Origin. There, we found Ultima’s true purpose. To destroy us. A world of only his people and himself, his own clones spread within the Mothercrystals of his creation, sapping our aether and waiting for them to be destroyed to set them free. Dion was lost, and then Joshua…”
“Oh Joshua… Why you? Why, when we had only been reunited for so little, did you have to die? To free the part of himself that Joshua had sealed, to push me to the edge so that I may become his vessel, Ultima took Joshua from me. In his last act, even at the cost of his life, Joshua granted me the power of the Phoenix in full, that we might see through our dream once and for all. Even if only one of us lives. Joshua refused to give Ultima the satisfaction, and died his way, on his terms.”
“But I didn’t care. Joshua was gone. My whole life, I had sought to protect him, then to avenge him, then to create a world where he could live the happy life that he had long deserved. And now he was gone, and there was no coming back. I failed. I failed as a Shield, my oath in that moment, it was as though it meant nothing. But most importantly, I failed as a big brother. I couldn’t protect my baby brother, and I would have given anything, even my life, to bring him back.”
“But I was who remained. And the only one who could ensure that Joshua’s hopes and dreams don’t die with him.”
“On this, my sword, I swear.”
“To shield the firebird’s flame forevermore.”
“With all I had, with the will of those who lived, and who died, at my side, with me. To ensure that to this deluded fantasy, I be its final witness. We slew Ultima.”
“I didn’t know what I would do with the world we would create. I knew it would be fraught with war, bloodshed, and strife. But at least now, we had the choice and the free will to one day bring the fighting to an end. On our terms.”
“Absorbing Ultima’s power, I had hoped to use it to revive Joshua. But in doing so, I quickly realized that my body wouldn’t be able to withstand using Ultima’s power. It was already too late, and yet… I was at peace. I said I would protect my brother, as his Shield… Even at the cost of my life. And it was a price that I was, in the end, willing to pay.”
“Joshua, Torgal, Jill, Gav, Otto, Mid, Uncle, everyone… I’m sorry. But I hope you find happiness in the world that we have all fought for. Knowing I would soon be undone, I used all that I had to destroy Origin, to end the blight. And end Ultima’s hold over our world.”
“As my body washed ashore and began to turn by the Curse, I held no regrets. I lived, and died… As I chose. On my terms.”
V. AUTHOR
PLAYER ALIAS:: Josh
OTHER CHARACTERS:: Caius Dragelion
ROLE-PLAYING EXPERIENCE:: 16+ Years
HOW YOU FOUND US:: I'm literally staff
NOTES FOR CONSIDERATION:: One ticket for Barbie, please.
ROLE-PLAY SAMPLE::
See: Caius Dragelion
neverland realities.
OTHER CHARACTERS:: Caius Dragelion
ROLE-PLAYING EXPERIENCE:: 16+ Years
HOW YOU FOUND US:: I'm literally staff
NOTES FOR CONSIDERATION:: One ticket for Barbie, please.
ROLE-PLAY SAMPLE::
See: Caius Dragelion
neverland realities.
