History

Tori was born to a happy couple in Sui-no-Sato on the fourth Sun of the fourth Astral Moon, under the full moon beneath the Ruby Sea. He was an only child, and quite spoiled initially.For years, he was granted free reign of the entire city, learning every alley as the back of his hand. Despite being incredibly young (barely three years of age), he would take frequent trips around the settlements, even going so far as the very gates of the city. His parents never knew of his further ventures, however, going beyond the threshold quite often into the sea beyond. Never to the shores, however, that was a bit too far for him to swim.One day though, he chanced it and swam beyond his self-appointed boundaries. When he woke on his fifth nameday, his grand plan was to bring his mother a shell from the land above. This went awry, however, as he was unaware of a band of pirates on the shore he was planning to swim out to. Seeing the Auri child, they thought to grow their ranks, and attempted to sway him from returning home, with rather unnecessary force. One of them grabbed his right cranial protrusion too hard, and pulled-- taking the 'horn' with him.To his luck, however, a band of adventurers arrived on the scene, and brought him to a safe haven far from the pirates' den. The Roegadyn that saved him were a pleasant group, but didn't have the resources to care for a child; they leaned into their network of other adventurers to help him find a new home for the time being.After the scuffle, he couldn't speak for a while, remaining silent when asked even the simplest questions. The trauma of the attempted kidnapping kept him from opening up beyond the occasional nod, a shell that threatened to stay closed until gentle hands eased in.Away from the immediate danger, he was brought to Radz-at-Han on Thavnair, to find a family willing to take him in. He was brought under the wings of a clan of Miqo'te toward the northern side of the island, amidst thick jungle astride a sweeping seascape.

For the next sixteen years, until his twenty-first nameday, Tori lived on Thavnair. He had an insatiable love for books and learning of the outside world beyond Thavnair, but ultimately clung to his family here as he at the very least remembered how he was torn from his birth parents.One of the Keepers of the Moon from his tribe became incredibly close to Tori, a young man named M'alia. He was the first to get the Au Ra engaged in conversation, asking questions about the books he would read and requesting recommendations for books he should pick up on his own. Ultimately, someone Tori found he could trust, and became his closest confidant while living in Thavnair. They would frequent the streets of Radz-at-Han together, at ease with getting lost so long as they had each other to find a way back.A thought came to Tori's mind one night as he read an aged book of the Sixth Umbral Era, where the White Mages of Amdapor and the Black Mages of Mcach came together during the great flood and created Red Magic. Red Mages of old were something special to him, able to both harm and heal, and he wanted more than anything to be able to achieve such feats.
All it took was one day where nobody was around, a well-worn stick, and a polished rock. He thought to experiment with himself and see if he held the gift for Red Magic, and used the branch as a conduit with the stone as his fous as a true Red Mage would. However, this backfired significantly, resulting in his aether unaligning itself with his body and leaving him in a near-death state, had another young child, Varshahn, not been around.
He was treated by chirurgens and mages in Radz-at-Han, where he learned that in burning his own aether up as fuel, he wouldn't be able to perform any magic for a very long time.As a result, he simply lived as any other without use of aether for a time. He still played with it of course with the occasional small spells to induce flame, but never anything straining. It felt as if he had an open gash in his side, where too much moving would split the seam. This would ease up over time as it healed, but it was a slow-moving process.

It was around this time that he began wondering what live was like beyond Thavnair. He would certainly have enough gil if he skipped a few appointments with the medics, and eventually have enough to get him a boat to the war-torn land of Eorzea. Stories would make their way from skippers of the large trade ships at the docks, and the call of adventure pulled on his restless soul to reach out and grab it. His family, however, were more about having him pick up the business of textile trade and marketing in the stalls of Radz-at-Han, and would rather have him stay home than leave. The older members of the tribe were moreso against him leaving, often hoisting physically taxing work on the young man to keep him nearby and unable to leave.One night though, he slipped away without notice. He took the money he had saved and purchased passage to Eorzea, for the port of Limsa Lominsa. From there, he forged himself a new identity with a false last name, officially known as 'Tori Kodakumi' in this new land.Now established on Vylbrand as a worker-for-hire at the docks, he had the opportunity to seek out aid with magery and his aether. In doing so, he got the attention of a thaumaturge known as Y'shtola, becoming fast friends in the port city. Being just after the Calamity as well, it presented the perfect opportunity for work as both cleanup and a builder, meaning it wasn't too difficult to stay afloat. However, it wasn't all Tori wanted to do; the fields of the island were tantalizing, and he swore to see more of Eorzea as soon as he could.This was only furthered in his meeting one of very few living Red Mages, X'rhun Tia. A path finally opened up as he learned about aether usage to ensure he would no longer rip his own life force from himself, and become both an effective field medic and mage. In doing this, he finally had the courage to take up adventuring, becoming a sellsword and helping as often as possible in Summerford with quelling monsters.From here, there was only one thing to do, and that was to see what the rest of this sundered land had to offer.

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