Estinien "I hate moogles" Wyrmblood (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
redeyesazuredragoon) wrote2016-06-14 07:34 pm
redeyesazuredragoon) wrote2016-06-14 07:34 pm
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maisondeportes
Player's Name: Char
Contact info: Rakukaja @ AIM,![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
Catphones (best method), Rakukaja@gmail.com
DW: Main:galvantula
Estinien's will be this one obvs (redeyesazuredragoon) with, if it is okay, a side of non!armor icons over at dragoonsong.
Character: Estinien Wyrmblood (... plus Nidhogg, I guess)
Canon: Final Fantasy XIVYou know that MMO series with the dergons and tonberries and kupo.
Version: N/A since there's only one XIV.
Canon Point: Directly at the beginning of 3.3. Right after, while he was possessed, he took off from warning the crowd (as Nidhogg) after stabbing Vidofnir with his lance, when Nidhogg took off to go rest. During that time. Essentially RIGHT BEFORE he wakes up for the Steps of Faith siege.
Age: 32.
Gender: Male.
History: First, some links! Estinien's Wiki Page
Nidhogg's Wiki Page, for good measure.
Next, allow us to cover Estinien, since he is the main one of importance. Born to a small farming family, he a was a shepherd that tended to sheep. At a tender age we're not exactly sure the numbers on (probably 6-10), his village Ferndale was wrecked by Nidhogg and his brood. Out tending to his sheep at the time, Estinien returned to see his brother's corpse buried under mortar, his parents charred alive clinging to each other, and the house in shambles. Not much is known between this time and the time when he is older, but what we do know is that he was taken in by former Azure Dragoon Ser Alberic Bale, out of guilt for the village he felt he'd caused the death of, having given up his Dragoon abilities to prevent Nidhogg consuming him mentally. Estinien decided to train, presumably, to attempt becoming a knight of some merit (and possibly a Dragoon) in the hopes of killing dragons to avenge his family, and threw himself at this for the rest of his time; nothing too noteworthy happened.
Fast forward a bit, and Estinien signed up to become a Knight of some sort in the same regiment that Aymeric de Borel was a part of. Their entire company was set upon by a red dragon that assailed them with fire, cooking all the men in the regiment alive except Estinien and Aymeric, the former whom wounded it and swiftly passed out for... some reason. Probably an injury to the head. Aymeric then helped him up, to which Estinien looked at the cooked and charred men of their unit, had a flashback, and then vowed to kill the dragon; Aymeric bid him to stop, but Estinien being determined trudged off to go follow the trail of blood it left. Finding it after quite a trek resting in a cavern, the two engage in a fearsome battle where Aymeric would again save Estinien's life, shooting the dragon in the eye with an arrow so he could survive its fire to land his first, proper-Dragoonish blow, a jump that felled the scaled beast quickly. Having taken revenge for his comrades, it can be assumed he continued his training, his friendship with Aymeric cemented from that point onward; while Aymeric would continue to rise as a Temple Knight, Estinien instead became the new Azure Dragoon, hunting dragons and generally being sent wherever he may have been needed.
Eventually, he stole Nidhogg's eye, aware thoroughly that the beast would soon awake, and fled the Holy See with it. This caused Alberic to attempt to send either the Warrior of Light (should you take up the Dragoon quests) or another high reputing Dragoon (what I'll be going with, as it seems neither Syhrgeim or Lhuna had Dragoon quests going on) to track him down. This Dragoon was trained to be able to take on Estinien, until Estinien reveals why he stole the Eye in the first place: that Nidhogg's awakening had naught to do with it, and that he stole it to keep the heat off Ishgard once he awoke, and on himself.
Eventually, the Eye tells Estinien of the fact that his father-figure, Alberic, who raised him, lied to him, which leads to Estinien fighting the Dragoon (or Warrior of Light, also marked by the Eye and apparently an incarnation of Haldrath's soul) sent after him, feeling thoroughly betrayed, as Alberic kept the true reason Ferndale burned from him. In truth, it was his abandoning of his power as a Dragoon (to prevent his being taken over by Nidhogg) that stopped his ability to save Estinien's home and his family, making him only able to save him. Thus, he took him in out of pity. Estinien then fights the WoL/Dragoon, intending to kill Alberic for his treachery, broiled inside by his lust for vengeance and his pain. Nidhogg takes advantage of this using the Eye he is carrying and begins to sway him, causing Estinien to call out to him and, he nearly gets possessed right then and there.
Except he gets beaten... pretty badly.
So he doesn't. The wyrm's grasp breaks, and Estinien... flees. It can only be assumed that, given he is still captain/leader of the Dragoons in Heavensward, that whatever happened was settled and Estinien reclaimed his position, putting his feelings aside and burying them. (In my opinion, he never spoke to Alberic again.) From there, he would wander Ishgard, only coming back to Foundation when needed by Aymeric or the Holy See for his most important duties, killing dragons and generally just doing what Dragoons do until the Warriors of Light (i.e., Lhuna and Syhr in this version of canon) came knocking along with Alphinaud and Tataru. While it took time, they eventually formed a group that, with both Haurchefaunt's and Aymeric's blessings, traveled with Ysayle/Iceheart into Dravania to attempt to broker peace with Nidhogg, knowing he would reawaken. (It IS mentioned he was sort of absentish from his post, I believe, but I don't think he was ENTIRELY gone or there'd be a new captain.)
During the arduous journey, many things happen, but the most important ones of note are that his views on dragons change and that he learns that they are a race divided; that only Nidhogg's brood was responsible for his family's death. He eventually speaks with Vidofnir, then, eventually, Hraesvelgr, where they figure out the truth of all that has happened: Ishgard's foundation, their clergy, is based on a lie.
A big one. For Estinien, however, this has little bearing, except that it means he may potentially be distantly related to Haldrath. (And in my opinion, he likely is. They look similar, and whether he TOOK UP the mantle "Wyrmblood", earned it, or was born with it, it's not a common moniker.) A lot of back and forth happens (some of it leaving Estinien to look after Nidhogg's Nidhoggery for a bit), but eventually, they are left with little choice except to slay the dreadwyrm, and so they do so. Estinien then succeeds in gouging out his remaining eye, finishing the fight the Warriors of Light start, and they return the Eye to Hraesvelgr, who is then made whole. After this, his mail becomes tainted with Nidhogg's blood, the first sign that a Warning Flag has gone up. Remember this. Ysayle is left behind, here, because Hraesvelgr informs her of Shiva's fakeness in her heart, of how Primals are merely figments of the imagination, a summoned tool and little else.
Later, a bunch of nonsense happens, what with the Holy See trying to contain things and becoming self-contained Primals of Thordan and his Knights and running off to Azys Lla, so the group is forced to use the Eye as a ram to follow them, Estinien in tow. (He almost gets eaten by Nidhogg here, using the Eye for them, but subdues the dragon.) Unfortunately, they suffer a casualty to get there in the way of Ysayle, who sacrifices herself, becoming Shiva to hold back the Garlean fleet from destroying them so they can get inside. Once within Azys Lla, they have little time to morn, focused more on killing Thordan and avoiding the Garleans. It goes... as smooth as such a trip can go. Lhuna and Syhrgeim kill one Ascian, then Thordan and his lackeys show up with Haldrath's corpse, containing Nidhogg's other Eye, pluck it out, and Thordan transforms, killing the other one. The Warriors of Light are then forced to kill all thirteen of them (we... just assume Estinien did what he could, since, well. Risks of being tempered), and Estinien then retrieves the second Eye of Nidhogg.
Everything seems to be at an end, and, in his relief... Estinien's control loosens just enough that Nidhogg wrests control over his body, turning it into his own personal plaything. He takes his Eyes back, fusing them to Estinien before birthing himself anew into a new hideous dragon, flies away. After this, he flies off to parts unknown for some time, presumably to rest while he "recovers". During this time, Estinien's consciousness mainly just kind of... floats around in the void of ancient rancor, pity, anger, loathing, and all that good stuff that is Nidhogg, unable to control his body. Eventually, after many, many, MANY events, Aymeric and co. are finally ready to "break bread" with the dragons of Vidofnir's tribe. They unveil a statue of Shiva and Hraesvelgr, even. The situation's going well... until Nidhogg shows BACK UP at a ceremony, taking Estinien's form to terrify the masses, perched atop a tall tower. Telling them "never!" and that peace should basically never be had and that if you're not with him you're against him if you're a dragon (and basically wanting to rub in how he stole Estinien's body), he divebombs Vidofnir savagely. He gets to show off his ability to stop arrows with one hand, the creepy Eyes fused to Estinien's Drachen mail, the whole nine yards. Good fun. He threatens to bathe them in the flames of "retribution" and then, basically, levitates into the air, turns into proper, dragony Nidhogg, then flies off with a savage roar.
And that is literally the last thing Estinien remembered because after that Nidhogg took a nap to rest for the impending "I am going to burninate Ishgard" battle coming up as of his canonpoint.
Now, for Nidhogg, it's about the same. To be honest, the only things I need to add are that Nidhogg was born to Midgardsormr and that his sister, Ratatoskr, was killed by the Elezen many, many moons ago. He forced his brother, Hraesvelgr, to give up his eye so he could savagely rampage endlessly on Ishgard, and even after dying, just... refuses to die. He has always hated humanity/human-shaped things/ground-dwellers, and he always will. His war is endless. He's not overly complex, history-wise. ... Thank god. Mostly, he just had a lot of babies that were literally cannon fodder. Worst dad ever. Otherwise, his history pretty much syncs with Estinien's, considering he's the cause of a lot of Ishgardian tragedies.
Personality: Estinien is a lot of things, but he is also NOT a lot of things. It's important you understand all of these to understand the heart of what I like to call the "surliest Dragoon in existence". Let's start with what he isn't: willing to give a single goddamn ilm/inch, if he can help it. Estinien is a stubborn goat. It's a Dragoon trait, to be sure, but it's especially prudent in Estinien due to his... oddly enduring personality. Being stubborn has kept him alive all this time, and it's how he's kept all his limbs and eyes and such, so having a stubborn streak as long and huge as the dragon possessing him is probably not very surprising. In fact, let us talk about, for a moment, just how little he is willing to give up on something. When his entire unit was cooked alive excepting himself and Aymeric, his first reaction was not fear (well there was some fear and a brief flashback to his childhood, to be fair, but not for long!) was not concern, was not, "I should save myself," but, "I will pay the bastard back tenfold for what he did". He then proceeded to fight the dragon until he was so tired he almost died. This would have been the second time in the same day he almost died, if not for Aymeric's help.
This mindset describes Estinien in a nutkin shell. Aymeric says going after that dragon is "tantamount to suicide," but Estinien is so uncaring for his life as it is that he doesn't really giving a flying Bismark whale what Aymeric says. He'd rather run the bastard through than let another dragon that harmed people around him get away. In fact, this sort of endless cycle of revenge mindset is pretty much solely what drove Estinien for 99.9% of his lifetime. From the time he was a boy, he vowed to take revenge on all dragonkind for their actions and the suffering they caused him... and for not killing him, too. He hates that he was left behind, hates that he is forced to endure, always. But endure he does, and he, in his very own words, says this on the matter of his constant survival past many problems: "I have a knack for surviving." Whether I will it or no." One could say that sums up Estinien's personality a lot. He's a bit depressing; really--a Dragoon with a near-suicidal streak, going after his enemies with a vengeance and unsatisfied bloodlust that, for many years, he never felt satisfied about.
Killing only gets you so much. But, what he really wanted, was to kill Nidhogg, the head dragon, so to speak, as he views Nidhogg as the source of all his problems and woes in life, and there may be quite possibly nothing he hates more than this dragon. It is true that his travels with Ysayle and the Warriors of Light, as well as Alphinaud, helped change his views on some dragons, but he cannot help that his instinctual reaction is still that of when he first was in his unit, still that of when he was a child. Just smelling smoke and seeing a charred something-or-another might be enough to set him on edge (if not set off something worse, such as flashbacks to the many deaths he's seen firsthand, like his families' charred corpses, or the corpses of his platoon) for the entire duration of his time someplace. Being near a dragon can be even worse on him. And while, nowadays, he's less likely to stab first and ask questions later as part of a kind-of-sort-of "agreement" he made with Ysayle all those moons ago... he still isn't against killing them, or above killing anything, really, if he feels them a threat to himself or the others around him. But Estinien is a soldier; the difference between him and a victim is that he won't allow this stuff to get himself killed, so... as a result? He bottles it up, and never talks about how he feels. Ever.
That's the problem with Estinien. He's gruff, blunt, OVER-careful, and it can be like pulling teeth to get him to talk to you or do something for you if you don't know how. Aymeric is one of the few people who knows how to 'work' him, so to speak. If you don't have his respect, you probably won't get much out of him, in all honesty. Sure, he'll observe situations when he can, but there are... also plenty of situations where he'd simply love to, as he'd put it, "stick his lance in something's gut." Estinien does not deal with frustration, politics, social gatherings, having to talk for lengths of time, dressing fancily, and a lot of other 'normal people things' well. He's spent his life training to kill dragons... defend himself... build his body to withstand that... and, well... not... much else? He is Azure Dragoon in body and spirit through and through. This is a problem in daily life, because, to be honest, it means if you asked him to cut his unruly hair, or do something like dress fancily, he'd look at you like you were mad and immediately say no and walk away. He's contrary, and he just doesn't care what others think about him most of the time. He'll curse his enemies right in front of their faces. (And if you insinuate his country is founded on a lie, you better damn well have proof, even if he's not entirely sure that stuff involves him or if he should care.) Estinien expects people to back up their words, and if they don't, that just ticks him off more.
(As an aside, he thoroughly dislikes Moogles and probably barely drinks these days. Estinien is your Anti-Fun.)
Don't even ask about practical skills. He can hunt, sure, but his cooking only goes so far as "I can skewer and burn it or throw it in a pot or heat it up similarly". Estinien never bothered with these things once his family died. Oh, sure, doubtless that his father figure TRIED to teach him, but so focused was he on revenge that he decided he didn't care. All he cares about is fighting, being a paragon of strength, and keeping the Eye(s) where they belong. His feelings, and his cards, are held very close to his chest. He rarely changes out of his mail, even, which is why it can be hard to read him. He practically does it on purpose; Estinien doesn't LIKE being easily read. He hates people knowing what he's thinking or feeling, and often just wants to be left by himself if not needed. That's just an issue with the man. He doesn't tell them about the Eye's issue, for example, off the bat in the Dragoon questline because he handles it by himself, alone, believing only he SHOULD. That's just how he IS. "This is his my mission, not yours. My burden, not yours. I will not drag others in." It's sort of always his mindset. So it's hard for him to MAKE friends, or keep them.
The few friends he does have, however, are precious to him, and he would fight to the death for him. The Warriors of Light, Aymeric (his equal and long-standing One True Friend), Alphinaud (whom he views as the youngermewling girl brother he lost), Ysayle (even if he'd never admit it to her face, he misses her and they had formed an odd, snarky bond), perhaps even Lucia, to some extent. While he works with the Dragoons under him, like as not, he's not as close to them as these people. With this situation as it is, and Estinien being as antisocial and incapable of socializing as he is, it's rare for him to attach, but if he does, he'll never let go. This is why any manner of viewed 'betrayal' stings him harder than most. He lost his family at a very young age, and has built up iron walls inside his heart and mind. If you worm your way inside there somehow... and he perceives you as having broken his trust... he'll bear a grudge a mile long, possibly forever, like as not.
This is illustrated best with his father figure, Alberic. Sure, Alberic hadn't told him because of guilt about Estinien's situation, as well as fear as to how he'd react; Ferndale was, after all, his fault. Alberic WAS going to tell him, but instead, Estinien finds out from Nidhogg's Eye the truth about Ferndale, and goes ballistic. So great was his rage that he had to be beaten down and retreat to quell it. Even after that, it's likely he never spoke to Alberic again, as, when you talk to him, he continues to mention how he worries for Estinien and hopes he'll come back. Estinien holds grudges like nobody's business, cannot let go of the past (when it comes to his own) easily, and angers so incredibly easily you might think he himself was a dragon. While he is usually decent at controlling his temper, resulting in just a gruff and grumbly sort of nature, if it's truly set off, you have a bomb in your vicinity.
Having said all this... Estinien doesn't... really show emotion well. He feels it, but all of it is internal. He can feel sad, or happy, or scared, but the sadness and scaredness are often kept to himself. It is more often than not anger and rare happiness he's expressing, if not utter snark and disdain for those around him. You must earn his respect to be treated well. And, even when he does get tears-worthy sad... Estinien learned a long time ago that knights don't emote, don't cry, so he never shows it. Again: getting him to emote is like pulling teeth, unless you want "grumpy" or "sourpuss lineface" or "smirking at you".
As of his possession by Nidhogg, the two of them have become connected, leaving Estinien with quite a bit of trauma and... problems... over that. So there's even more trauma points that he's hiding than ever before; being a meat puppet for a dragon will do that.
HAVING SPOKEN OF THE DRAGOON, LET US TALK OF THE DRAGON. This will be much shorter.
Nidhogg is a proud, and anger sort. He and Estinien are so alike at first glance you could perhaps swap them in body if you replaced Estinien's grumpiness with arrogance; little would change. In fact, so alike are they that Nidhogg went and used this, making Estinien his ideal vessel in a moment of weakness. (What a jerk!) Nidhogg has a general disdain for the world around him and all children of the land/humans/human-types, dating back to his sister Ratatoskr's murder at the hands of the Elezen when their races once lived in 'harmony'. He never believed they could or should, and it only served to fuel his hatred, rage, and dislike. So much so that he became the embodiment of his namesake: a rage-filled dreadwyrm, constantly producing more and more evil spawn for his never-ending bloodwar. Nidhogg finds humans akin to maggots and shows disdain for most other dragons, even his own brother. It is fairly likely he had little care for his father, as well.
The way in which he uses Estinien as his puppet, molding him to his image, forcing his body to do his bidding, just to try to taunt and terrify the masses or the Warriors of Light bespeaks a personality that exudes confidence, arrogance, and, well... asshole-itry. If that's a word. I'm making it one. Niddy deserves it. Frankly, the dragon is worth his weight in pity, since it seems like he cannot feel genuine happiness, only scorn. He knows only fighting and war, incapable of imagining a calmer state of happiness or peace, he cares little for the lives he destroys and will knock over his own kind if he perceives them as "in his way". He's a greedy bastard, too, demanding his brother's own eye to continue living when his were gouged out. In all, Nidhogg is a horrible wyrm that deserves his title of "dread". He's angry, annoying, arrogant, and other a-words. Cocksure, condescending, overconfident, and generally unpleasant to be around. He can speak Dravanian or normal tongues, but he seems to enjoy speaking Dravanian to monologue to make himself seeming cooler and more dramatic. In short, Nidhogg thinks he's hot, undefeatable shit, and if you insult him, be prepared to die horribly or be burnt to a crisp. And for god's sake, don't tease, poke, or betray him; he will hold a grudge for the rest of his existence and THEN some. He's WORSE then Estinien.
Fears:
Estinien doesn't have as many fears as you'd think, all things considered. But the big ones all involve, well... Nidhogg. Possession. Losing control. The people around him being consumed by him/burned to death by either him or dragons and him being unable to stop it. Ishgard burning, that sort of thing.
He's quite afraid of COOKED PEOPLE and FIRES THAT DRAGONS BREATHE but his knight training allows him to deal with it even in combat. He kind of shelves this. It's a pretty traumatic point for him, considering the state his family and platoon ended up in. Dragoon attacks in general that he cannot control scare him as a concept. ... He's also afraid of being the last one left alive, all by himself.
Nidhogg... Nidhogg is simple. Nidhogg fears losing his power and body and dying. That's it really. I know, I know. Amazing, right. He's not afraid of much, not even his own brother. He's just that overconfident in himself.
Weaknesses:
Estinien is weak to a number of things: first of all, if you can sling spells good, even though he's a Dragoon, he can't avoid them FOREVER. He WILL tire out of all that jumpy-jumping eventually. Then there's all the mental buttons and that BEING CONNECTED TO Nidhogg and POSSESSION nonsense. Plus, there's the whole "if I am in a tiny room how do I fight with my lance or jump" problem. And, even if you get past that, if you tire him out, which while it takes awhile, can happen, he's probably done. Bonus points if you pit him up against a ton of fire or hit a trauma point. But, really, his biggest weakness is probably when he's not wearing his Drachen Mail, which may be often in Portes; without out, he loses a lot of his strength and protection, making him a lot easier to stab and kill. If he's wearing it, he's much harder to harm. Also, if you injure one of his legs, most of his attacks will be rendered ineffective, due to them involving highjumps and the like.
Nidhogg... Nidhogg's problems all boil down to size-based ones. He is a dragon, so if he's small all of a sudden, he is suddenly as threatening as a candlestick. ... BUT! He CAN possess people (if that's still a thing, only if they have his Eyes, Dragon blood in them, have drank dragon blood, or are a case like Estinien, so probably not so much here), so I would say his biggest weaknesses relates to his arrogance. Personality, really. He underestimates people and overestimates himself. Since he is a dragon, immunity to fire or being of a water-based magic or just HAVING water or ice at your disposal or extreme light will avail you well against him; he is weak to all these things, and more. He is particularly weak to Dragoon abilities.
Mundane Strengths/Abilities: Being a military man and a knight/dragoon, Estinien is incredibly in-shape for his age. He could run quite a distance and still put up a fight, and then some, and he'd recover quickly, being a dragoon, and all. Power of the dragon. It's how they roll. He's ALSO really good at boxing his emotions and problems away. Watch him file those mental issues of "FUCKED UP MONTHLY". It's amazing. Also I don't know if it counts as mundane, but... god, can he JUMP as a Dragoon. Also, he's fairly good at lifting, throwing, all that stuff.
Niddy can bite stuff in half really well, set it on fire... you know, all the typical dragon things. And fly!
Sensitivity/Magical Ability: ESTINIEN doesn't have many abilities that aren't connected to Nidhogg. He is really only sensitive to areas of Aether of where Nidhogg is now, to be honest, so that's about it. He can probably sense stuff that's very SIMILAR, though, but not super well. So, slightly sensitive to stuff LIKE Nidhogg, I suppose, but not much else. He's a Dragoon, not a mage class! Basically, Estinien can do everything the Dragoon Class in XIV can do, and maybe a teeeensy bit extra because got-possessed-and-all. Now, if you don't want to explore that link, here's all you really need to know: he is amazing with lances, can jump several stories and then come back down with bone-shattering pressure just fine, stun targets, regain health if need be in small doses, regain health BY HITTING STUFF (who knows how THAT works), and other such magical effects. He can increase his jumps' damage, critical hit rate, and other such things.
Also his dramatic exits and entrances and ability to ollie out of a situation is S-tier. It is amazing. He can jump so, so high. You don't even know.
Nidhogg, however, has super-keep darkness magic fire-dragon senses, so his magic sense is amazing. He can sense Aether and stuff like you would not believe. It allows him to control people, and apparently sometimes read minds? It's crazy, IDK how much you wanna disable there. I'm just gonna go with "NEARLY ALL OF IT." He seems to only be able to do the big stuff if people are holding his eyes or seriously connecting with him mentally, though. See my above comments about dragon's blood, or being a case like Estinien. He's very sensitive.
And, well, if you let the two of them merge, some really crazy stuff can happen. Estinien can grow wings, he can fly, get kinda huge, make giant fiery lazers on the ground... giant miasma circles... you name it. Nidhogg can do this shit on his own, so it's kind of not surprising.
Supply List: Nnnooot a whole lot, honestly. Just his spear, his Drachen mail (what with the gross Eyes fused to it), what was under that. ... That's... that's it. And Nidhogg himself. Does Nidhogg count as a supply?
Game Transfers: N/A! He's not from another game!
Sample RP post: Here is one!
Contact info: Rakukaja @ AIM,
DW: Main:
galvantulaEstinien's will be this one obvs (
redeyesazuredragoon) with, if it is okay, a side of non!armor icons over at dragoonsong.Character: Estinien Wyrmblood (... plus Nidhogg, I guess)
Canon: Final Fantasy XIV
Version: N/A since there's only one XIV.
Canon Point: Directly at the beginning of 3.3. Right after, while he was possessed, he took off from warning the crowd (as Nidhogg) after stabbing Vidofnir with his lance, when Nidhogg took off to go rest. During that time. Essentially RIGHT BEFORE he wakes up for the Steps of Faith siege.
Age: 32.
Gender: Male.
History: First, some links! Estinien's Wiki Page
Nidhogg's Wiki Page, for good measure.
Next, allow us to cover Estinien, since he is the main one of importance. Born to a small farming family, he a was a shepherd that tended to sheep. At a tender age we're not exactly sure the numbers on (probably 6-10), his village Ferndale was wrecked by Nidhogg and his brood. Out tending to his sheep at the time, Estinien returned to see his brother's corpse buried under mortar, his parents charred alive clinging to each other, and the house in shambles. Not much is known between this time and the time when he is older, but what we do know is that he was taken in by former Azure Dragoon Ser Alberic Bale, out of guilt for the village he felt he'd caused the death of, having given up his Dragoon abilities to prevent Nidhogg consuming him mentally. Estinien decided to train, presumably, to attempt becoming a knight of some merit (and possibly a Dragoon) in the hopes of killing dragons to avenge his family, and threw himself at this for the rest of his time; nothing too noteworthy happened.
Fast forward a bit, and Estinien signed up to become a Knight of some sort in the same regiment that Aymeric de Borel was a part of. Their entire company was set upon by a red dragon that assailed them with fire, cooking all the men in the regiment alive except Estinien and Aymeric, the former whom wounded it and swiftly passed out for... some reason. Probably an injury to the head. Aymeric then helped him up, to which Estinien looked at the cooked and charred men of their unit, had a flashback, and then vowed to kill the dragon; Aymeric bid him to stop, but Estinien being determined trudged off to go follow the trail of blood it left. Finding it after quite a trek resting in a cavern, the two engage in a fearsome battle where Aymeric would again save Estinien's life, shooting the dragon in the eye with an arrow so he could survive its fire to land his first, proper-Dragoonish blow, a jump that felled the scaled beast quickly. Having taken revenge for his comrades, it can be assumed he continued his training, his friendship with Aymeric cemented from that point onward; while Aymeric would continue to rise as a Temple Knight, Estinien instead became the new Azure Dragoon, hunting dragons and generally being sent wherever he may have been needed.
Eventually, he stole Nidhogg's eye, aware thoroughly that the beast would soon awake, and fled the Holy See with it. This caused Alberic to attempt to send either the Warrior of Light (should you take up the Dragoon quests) or another high reputing Dragoon (what I'll be going with, as it seems neither Syhrgeim or Lhuna had Dragoon quests going on) to track him down. This Dragoon was trained to be able to take on Estinien, until Estinien reveals why he stole the Eye in the first place: that Nidhogg's awakening had naught to do with it, and that he stole it to keep the heat off Ishgard once he awoke, and on himself.
Eventually, the Eye tells Estinien of the fact that his father-figure, Alberic, who raised him, lied to him, which leads to Estinien fighting the Dragoon (or Warrior of Light, also marked by the Eye and apparently an incarnation of Haldrath's soul) sent after him, feeling thoroughly betrayed, as Alberic kept the true reason Ferndale burned from him. In truth, it was his abandoning of his power as a Dragoon (to prevent his being taken over by Nidhogg) that stopped his ability to save Estinien's home and his family, making him only able to save him. Thus, he took him in out of pity. Estinien then fights the WoL/Dragoon, intending to kill Alberic for his treachery, broiled inside by his lust for vengeance and his pain. Nidhogg takes advantage of this using the Eye he is carrying and begins to sway him, causing Estinien to call out to him and, he nearly gets possessed right then and there.
Except he gets beaten... pretty badly.
So he doesn't. The wyrm's grasp breaks, and Estinien... flees. It can only be assumed that, given he is still captain/leader of the Dragoons in Heavensward, that whatever happened was settled and Estinien reclaimed his position, putting his feelings aside and burying them. (In my opinion, he never spoke to Alberic again.) From there, he would wander Ishgard, only coming back to Foundation when needed by Aymeric or the Holy See for his most important duties, killing dragons and generally just doing what Dragoons do until the Warriors of Light (i.e., Lhuna and Syhr in this version of canon) came knocking along with Alphinaud and Tataru. While it took time, they eventually formed a group that, with both Haurchefaunt's and Aymeric's blessings, traveled with Ysayle/Iceheart into Dravania to attempt to broker peace with Nidhogg, knowing he would reawaken. (It IS mentioned he was sort of absentish from his post, I believe, but I don't think he was ENTIRELY gone or there'd be a new captain.)
During the arduous journey, many things happen, but the most important ones of note are that his views on dragons change and that he learns that they are a race divided; that only Nidhogg's brood was responsible for his family's death. He eventually speaks with Vidofnir, then, eventually, Hraesvelgr, where they figure out the truth of all that has happened: Ishgard's foundation, their clergy, is based on a lie.
A big one. For Estinien, however, this has little bearing, except that it means he may potentially be distantly related to Haldrath. (And in my opinion, he likely is. They look similar, and whether he TOOK UP the mantle "Wyrmblood", earned it, or was born with it, it's not a common moniker.) A lot of back and forth happens (some of it leaving Estinien to look after Nidhogg's Nidhoggery for a bit), but eventually, they are left with little choice except to slay the dreadwyrm, and so they do so. Estinien then succeeds in gouging out his remaining eye, finishing the fight the Warriors of Light start, and they return the Eye to Hraesvelgr, who is then made whole. After this, his mail becomes tainted with Nidhogg's blood, the first sign that a Warning Flag has gone up. Remember this. Ysayle is left behind, here, because Hraesvelgr informs her of Shiva's fakeness in her heart, of how Primals are merely figments of the imagination, a summoned tool and little else.
Later, a bunch of nonsense happens, what with the Holy See trying to contain things and becoming self-contained Primals of Thordan and his Knights and running off to Azys Lla, so the group is forced to use the Eye as a ram to follow them, Estinien in tow. (He almost gets eaten by Nidhogg here, using the Eye for them, but subdues the dragon.) Unfortunately, they suffer a casualty to get there in the way of Ysayle, who sacrifices herself, becoming Shiva to hold back the Garlean fleet from destroying them so they can get inside. Once within Azys Lla, they have little time to morn, focused more on killing Thordan and avoiding the Garleans. It goes... as smooth as such a trip can go. Lhuna and Syhrgeim kill one Ascian, then Thordan and his lackeys show up with Haldrath's corpse, containing Nidhogg's other Eye, pluck it out, and Thordan transforms, killing the other one. The Warriors of Light are then forced to kill all thirteen of them (we... just assume Estinien did what he could, since, well. Risks of being tempered), and Estinien then retrieves the second Eye of Nidhogg.
Everything seems to be at an end, and, in his relief... Estinien's control loosens just enough that Nidhogg wrests control over his body, turning it into his own personal plaything. He takes his Eyes back, fusing them to Estinien before birthing himself anew into a new hideous dragon, flies away. After this, he flies off to parts unknown for some time, presumably to rest while he "recovers". During this time, Estinien's consciousness mainly just kind of... floats around in the void of ancient rancor, pity, anger, loathing, and all that good stuff that is Nidhogg, unable to control his body. Eventually, after many, many, MANY events, Aymeric and co. are finally ready to "break bread" with the dragons of Vidofnir's tribe. They unveil a statue of Shiva and Hraesvelgr, even. The situation's going well... until Nidhogg shows BACK UP at a ceremony, taking Estinien's form to terrify the masses, perched atop a tall tower. Telling them "never!" and that peace should basically never be had and that if you're not with him you're against him if you're a dragon (and basically wanting to rub in how he stole Estinien's body), he divebombs Vidofnir savagely. He gets to show off his ability to stop arrows with one hand, the creepy Eyes fused to Estinien's Drachen mail, the whole nine yards. Good fun. He threatens to bathe them in the flames of "retribution" and then, basically, levitates into the air, turns into proper, dragony Nidhogg, then flies off with a savage roar.
And that is literally the last thing Estinien remembered because after that Nidhogg took a nap to rest for the impending "I am going to burninate Ishgard" battle coming up as of his canonpoint.
Now, for Nidhogg, it's about the same. To be honest, the only things I need to add are that Nidhogg was born to Midgardsormr and that his sister, Ratatoskr, was killed by the Elezen many, many moons ago. He forced his brother, Hraesvelgr, to give up his eye so he could savagely rampage endlessly on Ishgard, and even after dying, just... refuses to die. He has always hated humanity/human-shaped things/ground-dwellers, and he always will. His war is endless. He's not overly complex, history-wise. ... Thank god. Mostly, he just had a lot of babies that were literally cannon fodder. Worst dad ever. Otherwise, his history pretty much syncs with Estinien's, considering he's the cause of a lot of Ishgardian tragedies.
Personality: Estinien is a lot of things, but he is also NOT a lot of things. It's important you understand all of these to understand the heart of what I like to call the "surliest Dragoon in existence". Let's start with what he isn't: willing to give a single goddamn ilm/inch, if he can help it. Estinien is a stubborn goat. It's a Dragoon trait, to be sure, but it's especially prudent in Estinien due to his... oddly enduring personality. Being stubborn has kept him alive all this time, and it's how he's kept all his limbs and eyes and such, so having a stubborn streak as long and huge as the dragon possessing him is probably not very surprising. In fact, let us talk about, for a moment, just how little he is willing to give up on something. When his entire unit was cooked alive excepting himself and Aymeric, his first reaction was not fear (
This mindset describes Estinien in a nutkin shell. Aymeric says going after that dragon is "tantamount to suicide," but Estinien is so uncaring for his life as it is that he doesn't really giving a flying Bismark whale what Aymeric says. He'd rather run the bastard through than let another dragon that harmed people around him get away. In fact, this sort of endless cycle of revenge mindset is pretty much solely what drove Estinien for 99.9% of his lifetime. From the time he was a boy, he vowed to take revenge on all dragonkind for their actions and the suffering they caused him... and for not killing him, too. He hates that he was left behind, hates that he is forced to endure, always. But endure he does, and he, in his very own words, says this on the matter of his constant survival past many problems: "I have a knack for surviving." Whether I will it or no." One could say that sums up Estinien's personality a lot. He's a bit depressing; really--a Dragoon with a near-suicidal streak, going after his enemies with a vengeance and unsatisfied bloodlust that, for many years, he never felt satisfied about.
Killing only gets you so much. But, what he really wanted, was to kill Nidhogg, the head dragon, so to speak, as he views Nidhogg as the source of all his problems and woes in life, and there may be quite possibly nothing he hates more than this dragon. It is true that his travels with Ysayle and the Warriors of Light, as well as Alphinaud, helped change his views on some dragons, but he cannot help that his instinctual reaction is still that of when he first was in his unit, still that of when he was a child. Just smelling smoke and seeing a charred something-or-another might be enough to set him on edge (if not set off something worse, such as flashbacks to the many deaths he's seen firsthand, like his families' charred corpses, or the corpses of his platoon) for the entire duration of his time someplace. Being near a dragon can be even worse on him. And while, nowadays, he's less likely to stab first and ask questions later as part of a kind-of-sort-of "agreement" he made with Ysayle all those moons ago... he still isn't against killing them, or above killing anything, really, if he feels them a threat to himself or the others around him. But Estinien is a soldier; the difference between him and a victim is that he won't allow this stuff to get himself killed, so... as a result? He bottles it up, and never talks about how he feels. Ever.
That's the problem with Estinien. He's gruff, blunt, OVER-careful, and it can be like pulling teeth to get him to talk to you or do something for you if you don't know how. Aymeric is one of the few people who knows how to 'work' him, so to speak. If you don't have his respect, you probably won't get much out of him, in all honesty. Sure, he'll observe situations when he can, but there are... also plenty of situations where he'd simply love to, as he'd put it, "stick his lance in something's gut." Estinien does not deal with frustration, politics, social gatherings, having to talk for lengths of time, dressing fancily, and a lot of other 'normal people things' well. He's spent his life training to kill dragons... defend himself... build his body to withstand that... and, well... not... much else? He is Azure Dragoon in body and spirit through and through. This is a problem in daily life, because, to be honest, it means if you asked him to cut his unruly hair, or do something like dress fancily, he'd look at you like you were mad and immediately say no and walk away. He's contrary, and he just doesn't care what others think about him most of the time. He'll curse his enemies right in front of their faces. (And if you insinuate his country is founded on a lie, you better damn well have proof, even if he's not entirely sure that stuff involves him or if he should care.) Estinien expects people to back up their words, and if they don't, that just ticks him off more.
(As an aside, he thoroughly dislikes Moogles and probably barely drinks these days. Estinien is your Anti-Fun.)
Don't even ask about practical skills. He can hunt, sure, but his cooking only goes so far as "I can skewer and burn it or throw it in a pot or heat it up similarly". Estinien never bothered with these things once his family died. Oh, sure, doubtless that his father figure TRIED to teach him, but so focused was he on revenge that he decided he didn't care. All he cares about is fighting, being a paragon of strength, and keeping the Eye(s) where they belong. His feelings, and his cards, are held very close to his chest. He rarely changes out of his mail, even, which is why it can be hard to read him. He practically does it on purpose; Estinien doesn't LIKE being easily read. He hates people knowing what he's thinking or feeling, and often just wants to be left by himself if not needed. That's just an issue with the man. He doesn't tell them about the Eye's issue, for example, off the bat in the Dragoon questline because he handles it by himself, alone, believing only he SHOULD. That's just how he IS. "This is his my mission, not yours. My burden, not yours. I will not drag others in." It's sort of always his mindset. So it's hard for him to MAKE friends, or keep them.
The few friends he does have, however, are precious to him, and he would fight to the death for him. The Warriors of Light, Aymeric (his equal and long-standing One True Friend), Alphinaud (whom he views as the younger
This is illustrated best with his father figure, Alberic. Sure, Alberic hadn't told him because of guilt about Estinien's situation, as well as fear as to how he'd react; Ferndale was, after all, his fault. Alberic WAS going to tell him, but instead, Estinien finds out from Nidhogg's Eye the truth about Ferndale, and goes ballistic. So great was his rage that he had to be beaten down and retreat to quell it. Even after that, it's likely he never spoke to Alberic again, as, when you talk to him, he continues to mention how he worries for Estinien and hopes he'll come back. Estinien holds grudges like nobody's business, cannot let go of the past (when it comes to his own) easily, and angers so incredibly easily you might think he himself was a dragon. While he is usually decent at controlling his temper, resulting in just a gruff and grumbly sort of nature, if it's truly set off, you have a bomb in your vicinity.
Having said all this... Estinien doesn't... really show emotion well. He feels it, but all of it is internal. He can feel sad, or happy, or scared, but the sadness and scaredness are often kept to himself. It is more often than not anger and rare happiness he's expressing, if not utter snark and disdain for those around him. You must earn his respect to be treated well. And, even when he does get tears-worthy sad... Estinien learned a long time ago that knights don't emote, don't cry, so he never shows it. Again: getting him to emote is like pulling teeth, unless you want "grumpy" or "sourpuss lineface" or "smirking at you".
As of his possession by Nidhogg, the two of them have become connected, leaving Estinien with quite a bit of trauma and... problems... over that. So there's even more trauma points that he's hiding than ever before; being a meat puppet for a dragon will do that.
HAVING SPOKEN OF THE DRAGOON, LET US TALK OF THE DRAGON. This will be much shorter.
Nidhogg is a proud, and anger sort. He and Estinien are so alike at first glance you could perhaps swap them in body if you replaced Estinien's grumpiness with arrogance; little would change. In fact, so alike are they that Nidhogg went and used this, making Estinien his ideal vessel in a moment of weakness. (What a jerk!) Nidhogg has a general disdain for the world around him and all children of the land/humans/human-types, dating back to his sister Ratatoskr's murder at the hands of the Elezen when their races once lived in 'harmony'. He never believed they could or should, and it only served to fuel his hatred, rage, and dislike. So much so that he became the embodiment of his namesake: a rage-filled dreadwyrm, constantly producing more and more evil spawn for his never-ending bloodwar. Nidhogg finds humans akin to maggots and shows disdain for most other dragons, even his own brother. It is fairly likely he had little care for his father, as well.
The way in which he uses Estinien as his puppet, molding him to his image, forcing his body to do his bidding, just to try to taunt and terrify the masses or the Warriors of Light bespeaks a personality that exudes confidence, arrogance, and, well... asshole-itry. If that's a word. I'm making it one. Niddy deserves it. Frankly, the dragon is worth his weight in pity, since it seems like he cannot feel genuine happiness, only scorn. He knows only fighting and war, incapable of imagining a calmer state of happiness or peace, he cares little for the lives he destroys and will knock over his own kind if he perceives them as "in his way". He's a greedy bastard, too, demanding his brother's own eye to continue living when his were gouged out. In all, Nidhogg is a horrible wyrm that deserves his title of "dread". He's angry, annoying, arrogant, and other a-words. Cocksure, condescending, overconfident, and generally unpleasant to be around. He can speak Dravanian or normal tongues, but he seems to enjoy speaking Dravanian to monologue to make himself seeming cooler and more dramatic. In short, Nidhogg thinks he's hot, undefeatable shit, and if you insult him, be prepared to die horribly or be burnt to a crisp. And for god's sake, don't tease, poke, or betray him; he will hold a grudge for the rest of his existence and THEN some. He's WORSE then Estinien.
Fears:
Estinien doesn't have as many fears as you'd think, all things considered. But the big ones all involve, well... Nidhogg. Possession. Losing control. The people around him being consumed by him/burned to death by either him or dragons and him being unable to stop it. Ishgard burning, that sort of thing.
He's quite afraid of COOKED PEOPLE and FIRES THAT DRAGONS BREATHE but his knight training allows him to deal with it even in combat. He kind of shelves this. It's a pretty traumatic point for him, considering the state his family and platoon ended up in. Dragoon attacks in general that he cannot control scare him as a concept. ... He's also afraid of being the last one left alive, all by himself.
Nidhogg... Nidhogg is simple. Nidhogg fears losing his power and body and dying. That's it really. I know, I know. Amazing, right. He's not afraid of much, not even his own brother. He's just that overconfident in himself.
Weaknesses:
Estinien is weak to a number of things: first of all, if you can sling spells good, even though he's a Dragoon, he can't avoid them FOREVER. He WILL tire out of all that jumpy-jumping eventually. Then there's all the mental buttons and that BEING CONNECTED TO Nidhogg and POSSESSION nonsense. Plus, there's the whole "if I am in a tiny room how do I fight with my lance or jump" problem. And, even if you get past that, if you tire him out, which while it takes awhile, can happen, he's probably done. Bonus points if you pit him up against a ton of fire or hit a trauma point. But, really, his biggest weakness is probably when he's not wearing his Drachen Mail, which may be often in Portes; without out, he loses a lot of his strength and protection, making him a lot easier to stab and kill. If he's wearing it, he's much harder to harm. Also, if you injure one of his legs, most of his attacks will be rendered ineffective, due to them involving highjumps and the like.
Nidhogg... Nidhogg's problems all boil down to size-based ones. He is a dragon, so if he's small all of a sudden, he is suddenly as threatening as a candlestick. ... BUT! He CAN possess people (if that's still a thing, only if they have his Eyes, Dragon blood in them, have drank dragon blood, or are a case like Estinien, so probably not so much here), so I would say his biggest weaknesses relates to his arrogance. Personality, really. He underestimates people and overestimates himself. Since he is a dragon, immunity to fire or being of a water-based magic or just HAVING water or ice at your disposal or extreme light will avail you well against him; he is weak to all these things, and more. He is particularly weak to Dragoon abilities.
Mundane Strengths/Abilities: Being a military man and a knight/dragoon, Estinien is incredibly in-shape for his age. He could run quite a distance and still put up a fight, and then some, and he'd recover quickly, being a dragoon, and all. Power of the dragon. It's how they roll. He's ALSO really good at boxing his emotions and problems away. Watch him file those mental issues of "FUCKED UP MONTHLY". It's amazing. Also I don't know if it counts as mundane, but... god, can he JUMP as a Dragoon. Also, he's fairly good at lifting, throwing, all that stuff.
Niddy can bite stuff in half really well, set it on fire... you know, all the typical dragon things. And fly!
Sensitivity/Magical Ability: ESTINIEN doesn't have many abilities that aren't connected to Nidhogg. He is really only sensitive to areas of Aether of where Nidhogg is now, to be honest, so that's about it. He can probably sense stuff that's very SIMILAR, though, but not super well. So, slightly sensitive to stuff LIKE Nidhogg, I suppose, but not much else. He's a Dragoon, not a mage class! Basically, Estinien can do everything the Dragoon Class in XIV can do, and maybe a teeeensy bit extra because got-possessed-and-all. Now, if you don't want to explore that link, here's all you really need to know: he is amazing with lances, can jump several stories and then come back down with bone-shattering pressure just fine, stun targets, regain health if need be in small doses, regain health BY HITTING STUFF (who knows how THAT works), and other such magical effects. He can increase his jumps' damage, critical hit rate, and other such things.
Also his dramatic exits and entrances and ability to ollie out of a situation is S-tier. It is amazing. He can jump so, so high. You don't even know.
Nidhogg, however, has super-keep darkness magic fire-dragon senses, so his magic sense is amazing. He can sense Aether and stuff like you would not believe. It allows him to control people, and apparently sometimes read minds? It's crazy, IDK how much you wanna disable there. I'm just gonna go with "NEARLY ALL OF IT." He seems to only be able to do the big stuff if people are holding his eyes or seriously connecting with him mentally, though. See my above comments about dragon's blood, or being a case like Estinien. He's very sensitive.
And, well, if you let the two of them merge, some really crazy stuff can happen. Estinien can grow wings, he can fly, get kinda huge, make giant fiery lazers on the ground... giant miasma circles... you name it. Nidhogg can do this shit on his own, so it's kind of not surprising.
Supply List: Nnnooot a whole lot, honestly. Just his spear, his Drachen mail (what with the gross Eyes fused to it), what was under that. ... That's... that's it. And Nidhogg himself. Does Nidhogg count as a supply?
Game Transfers: N/A! He's not from another game!
Sample RP post: Here is one!