► APPLICATION FOR EL NYSA
Sep. 2nd, 2020 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sadustic
Handle: Clamor
Contact:
Over 18? Yes.
Characters Played: N/A
THE CHARACTER
Character Name: Sadu Dotharl
Series: Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
Canon Point: Endgame (Post-4.0)
Character Age: Exact age unknown, likely between mid twenties to mid thirties.
Background: Among all the tribes littered around the Azim Steppe, the Dotharl are known for their courage in the face of death. It should come as no surprise that they are colloquially known as "the undying" - it is their belief that the body is merely a shell to hold a person's soul until they die (preferably) in combat with another Xaela tribe, after which the best and brightest souls return to the tribe as a newborn. If this returning soul is recognized in their eyes by the tribe's current Khan/Khatun, they are given the same name as their previous life, and told stories of their feats and prowess by the tribe elders to help the young warrior remember who they once were.
When asked, several Dotharl tribesman and tribeswomen make it clear that Sadu is for all intents and purposes an old soul indeed. Three of her previous lives were spent as a man, with only the newest having her reborn as a woman; that she is known specifically for being unrivaled in her fierce mien and battle fury regardless of her gender or age is particularly telling. Therefore, it come as no surprise that while certainly not the strongest physically nor the eldest warrior the tribe has to offer, Sadu has a certain air of authority that makes it almost expected for her to bear the mantle of Khatun.
Sadu's leadership seems to be benefiting the tribe despite their dwindling numbers - the Dotharl tribe is perhaps the largest threat to the more numerous Oronir and Buduga tribes, and have been noted to launch attacks on their home territory - the Dawn Throne - regularly enough that a lookout must be posted to keep an eye on the Dotharl encampment's movements.
Personality:
"None are braver than the Dotharl, for we do not fear death. With death a warrior must dance boldly. Fearlessly.
For thus does his soul burn bright."
For thus does his soul burn bright."
In a word, Sadu is... intense.
The first we see of her in FFXIV is after one of the Dotharl tribesmen is killed by wild beasts, where she orders his surviving friend to leave the body somewhere for the scavengers to deal with it. Suffice it to say she isn't the most sympathetic figure in the cast, but as we get to know the beliefs and motivations of the tribe itself it makes sense not to linger over a corpse. After all, it's only a shell for the soul - a soul now gone, and waiting for a child to be born to live again. The player character is originally sent to spy on the Dotharl, which Sadu is fully aware of, and yet she makes absolutely no move at all to keep them out or to deny them from gathering information. In her mind there's nothing to hide. Why bother to lie to outsiders when it's much simpler and wiser to give them the impression of complete unconcern?
Pride is perhaps the one true vice Sadu is guilty of other than being absolutely batshit insane in the heat of battle, but I digress. Much of her dialog is comprised of "X, Y, and Z are why the Dotharl are superior to everyone else" with the more introspective thoughts sprinkled in between. It's almost as if she guards herself with a thick shell of bravado and confidence to keep nosy individuals at bay.
But on the flip side, she is the Khatun, and there are responsibilities that she must shoulder to ensure her tribe prospers in times of hardship. Their numbers have always been small - a consequence of being warlike by creed - and dwindling without new generations to carry on the Dotharl beliefs. More difficult still when the eldest warriors die in combat, and are then unable to pass on knowledge about a warrior's past life if they are reborn.
Instead of dwelling on it, however, Sadu makes great show of shrugging it off in a "if we die out, we die out" manner of pragmatism, shutting down a suggestion that the tribe should be absent from the Naadam to recuperate their numbers. This could be in part due to proximity to larger tribes such as the Oronir and Buduga, which would take the absence as a sign of weakness and mount a full-scale attack, wiping out the Dotharl entirely. Either way, Sadu is not the type to passively take life as it comes. You fight tooth and nail the entire time to ensure survival, even if it's just surviving purely out of spite.
Speaking of spite...
It's A Fact on the Steppe that Sadu and the leader of the Oronir, Magnai, do not see eye to eye. She delights in making herself a thorn in his side, challenging his sovereignty as Khagan prior to the events of Stormblood, even going as far as to taunt him during his search for his "Nhaama", crashing his party and picking a fight simply to prove how much of an idiot he's being (because he IS an idiot, don't you ever think otherwise). They are equally matched on the battlefield - something that infuriates the both of them to no end - and practically polar opposites of each other in everything from personality to morals. They frequently bicker and sling insults at each other if ever in the same room and not actively trying to kill each other.
Suffice it to say Sadu is in a nutshell either your worst enemy or a leadership figure to be admired.
Preferably from a safe distance.
Powers/Abilities: Sadu exhibits a few notable spells that brand her as a Black Mage practitioner.
- Fire spells: Just progressively... larger... fireballs... burning things to a crisp is her forte.
- Dispelling Wind: A linear blast of air. Nothing fancy, mostly used to force an opponent to get out of melee range.
- Falling Dusk: Basically a fancier sounding Limit Break (with identical radius, approx. 30 yards). Drawing power from her totems, Sadu calls down a meteor to incinerate an area and everyone unfortunate enough to be standing in it. It does have a lengthy windup time (30 seconds with four totems, around three minutes with two) and SUPER OBVIOUS ENERGY LINES between her and her totems so there's plenty of warning that she's up to no good. Falling Dusk can be cancelled completely if the totems are destroyed before the cast completes.
- Totems: As mentioned, Sadu uses giant stone totems called "Stellar Chuluu" to focus and amplify her power if given enough time to prepare for combat in a set arena. Alone, they're not much of a threat and can be eliminated without much fuss at all, being quite fragile. Aside from increasing Sadu's destructive power, they have the capability of expending immense amounts of aether in linear beam attacks if there are six active Chuluu at once; in which case the totems destroy themselves upon completion of the spell and must be re-summoned.
Power Nerfs (if applicable): Toning down the strength/size of Falling Dusk as well as imposing a limit on the Chuluu themselves (Or just striking them out completely) is a-ok with me if the mods prefer. Honestly she's more likely to burn stuff to death with her staff anyway.
Inventory: Incentives: Prioritizing the Dotharl tribe in waking queue once things get into full swing. Sadu plans on getting the strongest foundation possible for her tribe before the others start to butt in and squabble over territory or resources once they wake up as well.
