I'lyrha's History

🔞 This character's profile contains some mature and/or dark elements, intended only for adult audiences. 🔞

“If I'm not what I was when I was born, and I ain't what I've become instead... what the fuck am I?”

― Anne Bonny, Black Sails XV

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The Short Version

Trigger Warning: Mentions of Child Abuse, Sexual Assault, & Slavery

Note: Lyrha is NOT forthright about most of her history, and tends to avoid talking about it, for obvious reasons.

Lyrha's childhood is not a happy one.

Raised under the "might makes right" maxim and taken captive as a young child by slavers, her spirited nature led them to keep her rather than sell her. The miqo'te child who dreamed of adventure and travel soon found Fate had given her these things in a way far less glamorous than her tribe's stories made them out to be. She committed herself to survival in reality, grim as it might be.

She was not picky about her employers, so long as they had gil to pay. She served as a raider, smuggler, slaver... anything for the right price. She'd betray you for enough coin, too. After all, who wouldn't do the same to her, if given the chance? A few had tried. She rejected the idea of true nobility and goodness in people, deciding everyone was ultimately selfish and that the only one who could be trusted to look out for her welfare was her own self.

From the age of seven to her early twenties, Lyrha had no real friends, only temporary allies. In later years she would ingratiate herself with powerful black-hearted men, pirate captains and slaver kings, offer them whatever they wanted of herself in return for the protection and security their favor provided. Lyrha never loved them, though she liked to feel like she mattered, and the warmth of a shared bed.

Her life might have continued toward a violent end in this manner, but the gods seemed to have other plans. When the Rogue's Guild discovered and raided a slaving operation in Vylbrand Lyrha was part of, most of her crew was killed or captured. Severely wounded in the fight, Lyrha managed to escape by jumping into the sea and swimming with the current.

Delirious, she collapsed not far from the coast and drifted from consciousness. It was here the wandering Red Mage, X'rhun Tia, found her. Believing Lyrha to be the victim of banditry, he mended her wounds and took her to a nearby settlement for aid.

Though suspicious of his kindness, Lyrha was not eager to end up on her own, especially when authorities might be hunting her. The magic he'd used to save her seemed useful, even if the noble code built around it sounded like nonsense. She allowed X'rhun to continue believing she was naught but a fishermans daughter, and begged him to take her on as an apprentice in Red Magic. Her plan was to leave as soon as she had learned what was useful, and be well on her way.

What Lyrha did not expect to discover was that X'rhun really was as honorable and altruistic he claimed to be, and that he had indeed devoted his entire life to an ideal. Faced with increasingly inarguable evidence that there were, in fact, "good" people in the world... Lyrha was forced to acknowledge the unpleasant inverse - that she was a bad one.

Lyrha has since committed herself to the study of Red Magic in earnest. She doesn't know if she can change, but she wants to try. She is extremely loyal to X'rhun, the first person she's ever dared to call a real friend, and is curious what other surprises the world might have out there for her.

Timeline

MAJOR MSQ SPOILERS WITHIN

The Calico Coeurl (Pre-ARR)

(0yo) Lyrha is born to the reigning I'rinha Nunh and his favorite huntress - a woman long thought barren.
(7yo) Lyrha's tribe is raided by slavers. She's told to stay hidden, but wants to be brave and comes out to help. The pirates' coeurls chase her down the beach. Her father abandons his duel with the captain tosave her - and is shot in the back. Lyrha is pulled away from her dying father, claimed as spoils.
Her fury amuses the pirate captain, who decides to keep her around instead of selling her at slave market. She's raised on the ship under the captain's wing, and blames herself for her father's death.
She embraces a ruthless streak born of self-preservation. She considers the crew her "Tribe" and is loyal to the captain. She's dubbed "The Calico Coeurl."
When she gets older, Lyrha is allowed to choose her own bedfellows and begins to experiment, including with the captain. She finds sex underwhelming, but quickly grasps its usefulness as a tool to ingratiate, manipulate, and make coin.
(19yo) Someone offers a significant amount of coin for Lyrha, and the captain agrees to sell her. She overhears. Outraged at the betrayal, she retaliates, setting his ship on fire and killing several crewmates before being forced to retreat.
Piracy being the only trade she knows and believing all people to be either weak or selfish and cruel at heart, Lyrha signs on with another ship of her choosing, sailing for far seas.
Lyrha completes voyages with several crews raiding, smuggling, and slaving, typically choosing captains she can seduce to secure a place of prominence on. She develops a reputation for ruthlessness and burns many bridges along the way. Her reputation extends to law enforcement of various city-states, eager to put an end to the Coeurl's savagery on the high seas.
On one such voyage, she grows disillusioned with their captain's poor leadership, and attempts to orchestrate a mutiny to place the First Mate in charge instead, with her at his side. Found out, her fellow traitors quickly point blame at her to save their own skins. Lyrha is whipped within an inch of her life, and her back is left badly scarred.

Feral Cat (Late ARR, 24 yo)

(~24yo) The Rogues Guild disrupts the illegal slaving operation I'lyrha sails with. Badly wounded, she manages to escape before collapsing near the coast. X'rhun Tia finds her and tends her wounds.
Fearing Yellowjackets will be after her, Lyrha claims to be an orphaned fisherman and begs X'rhun to take her with him and teach her Red Magic.
She attempts to seduce him, hoping to ingratiate herself and secure his loyalty, only to be firmly rebuffed. She has no true feelings for him.
X'rhun's feels dangerous and unpredictable because he doesn't follow the "rules."
She continues to be promiscuous, and uses her body as a way to bargain with others.
Lyrha pretends to be sweet and empathetic. X'rhun wants to believe her request to learn red magic is sincere, so keeps his suspicions of her true nature to himself and watches her carefully.

Foster Fail (Early Patch-ARR, 24 yo)

X'rhun's consistent moral compass & kindness starts to make her curious. She begins testing her assumptions about the world.
Alisaie crosses paths with them and prevails upon X'rhun for training. Lyrha learns about his involvement in the Calamity with Sharlayan. The two apprentices have a tense relationship, upbringing and worldviews clashing over hot tempers.
Realizing what's been stolen from her & how different her life could have been, trauma floors her. She grows angry and begins lashing out. X'rhun recognizes her grief, and struggles to temper and guide her. He hopes she can conquer it, he fears he may not be able to help like he should.
Lyrha stops giving out sexual favours. She feels dirty and misused, and even becomes resistant to most forms of touch.
X'rhun and Lyrha begin helping the Scions with non-Primal concerns, such as at Aurum Vale. They are eventually called to aid in the fight against Leviathan. Past still a secret, Lyrha is developing a new reputation. Association with the Warriors of Light protects her from accusations.

Stained in Scarlet (Late Patch-ARR, 25 yo)

Lyrha now follows X'rhun by deliberate choice and begins to develop romantic feelings for him - but is quick to bury and dismiss them after his earlier rejections. She doesn't know how to do it the "right" way.
X'rhun's feelings likewise begin to take a romantic turn, though he refuses to act on them. Fear of loss, professionalism, and recognizing the hard life she lived before hold him back. He feels he's too old for her, and taking advantage of her would be unseemly.
They begin investigating a series of kidnappings. This is her wheelhouse, and she fears appearing to know "too much" about this world while helping. She's very upset about the Voidsent.
Upon her rescue, Arya quickly attaches herself to Lyrha and is initially frightened of X'rhun. Lyrha genuinely empathizes with this & Arya's loss of uncle, and takes a protective shine to her.
Lambard feels like staring into a mirror, and as she learns of his role in the undoing of the Duelists, Lyrha is once again confronted with the discomfort of how she has lied to X'rhun.
Fearing for her safety, X'rhun tells Lyrha she has progressed beyond the need of a teacher and urges her to leave. When he then declares his mission of vengeance, Lyrha joins Arya in insisting on staying by his side. She feels perhaps by helping him kill Lambard, she can make up for her own treacheries.
Arya's training is undertaken while they wait for X'rhun's contacts to bear fruit on Lambard's next move, and unlike Lyrha, she's everything a Red Mage "should" be - honest, instinctively kind, a clean past.
Lyrha becomes increasingly withdrawn and internalizes her anger, questioning her right to truly call herself a Red Mage. Wanting to be better but not knowing how, she abandons the troupe in a fit of despair.
She's attacked by a vengeful bounty hunter from her old life, but is rescued by X'rhun and Arya. Lyrha barely manages to keep her sordid past a secret. At their urging, she rejoins their ranks and takes back her sword.
When the time comes, Lyrha rejects her self-preservation instincts, to fight alongside Arya and defend X'rhun against Lambard. X'rhun's trust in her becomes unshakeable.
Lyrha is haunted by how tempted she was to flee, and wonders if she'll ever truly escape her nature. Lambard is a victory for X'rhun, but not for her.

Intermission

X'rhun and Lyrha begin a will they won't they bout of flirting and toeing around feelings. Arya takes notice. Lyrha holds back despite finally having the interest from him she craved - guilt about her deception utlimately eating her up with feelings of unworthiness, each time she tries.
The Red Mages assist a peculiar investigator in a matter of betrothal. Lyrha encounters mandragoras for the first time. She's never had so much fun.
Lyrha and a Warrior of Light, A'mahl Tia, assist a peculiar investigator on a matter regarding the coliseum. She's pretty sure that's a voidsent.

Nightkin (Heavensward 25-26 yo)

As things fall apart for the Scions and Eorzea is rocked by the accusations of treachery, X'rhun elects to take his companions to Idyllshire. Their association with the Scions puts them at risk, and rumours that the Warriors of Light may have escaped into Coerthas make it an obvious landing place.
Obtains Guespiere
X'rhun and Lyrha finally consummate their bond. She discovers women can orgasm. Another pillar of her worldview shattered, she struggles to sleep afterward and goes out training to clear her head. She over-channels, severely injuring herself, and is later found by X'rhun.
Overwhelmed by guilt, Lyrha finally tells X'rhun the truth about her past, expecting him to reject her, only for him to reveal that he already knew. Though initially angry, Lyrha is finally able to accept and offer love unfettered by her past.
Arya is abducted by Lilith. X'rhun and Lyrha's feelings get shoved into a box to focus on saving their friend.
Arya is saved, but her magical aptitude greatly diminished. As she can no longer navigate the dangers associated with Red Mage travels, she stays in Mor Dhona to begin her training anew from the ground up.
I'lyrha chases after X'rhun when he leaves, and commits to staying by his side. Honeymoon period.

Stormblood + Patch (26-27 yo)

Lyrha insists on accompanying the Scions to Doma, ostensibly as a guide, but secretly out of a desire to pick up her old captain's trail and put an end to him once and for all.
She fucks this up royally and is spared only by a timely intervention from the other Red Mages, who wisen up to Lyrha's plan before it's too late. Lyrha is badly wounded, both hands almost entirely crushed, and it's unclear whether she will recover use of her sword arm.
X'rhun is furious, and, not realizing it's anger born of fear, she thinks he's finally had enough of her.
Ghimlyt Dark

Shadowbringers + Patch (28 yo - stayed on the Source)

Reclaiming Rdm sword arc
Sorrow of Werlyt arc
Bozja

Endwalker + Patch (28-30 yo)

In Ala Mhigo during Final Days
What the fuck guys more Voidsent really
A bit smitten with Zero actually maybe not all Voidsent suck???