Blessed Shadows

Sariel Varlineau-Kha, of Stranger Shadows and Blessed Relief

age: 28 → 33

pronouns & orientation: she/her, bisexual

ethnicity & race: Thavnairian raen au Ra

height: 5'0"

jobs & fighting style: BLM, DRG→RPR, AST, DRK.

color palette & aesthetic: dark purple and black, whimsigoth void mage

partner(s): Estinien Varlineau

Origins

She was orginally born on the Tenth Shard. She often practiced thaumaturgy with her mother behind her home where the lands were open. One afternoon, her mother had stepped away for but a moment before Sariel tried, and succeeded, in opening up a void portal. Meanwhile in Mhach, a void mage adept was summoning more fodder for their magi war. Sariel was torn through one world to another in just a moment, confused and scared. She was used for chimerical experiemnts and ended up as a weapon of war herself. The war ended and so did Sariel--though Hydaelyn plucked her soul from the aetherial sea and spoke softly to her, "Now is not your time, little spark."

She was reborn on the Source, washed up upon the Thavnairian beaches. She was taken into a loving community until traveling Steppe merchants of the Kha clan adopted her on their journey when she was roughly 12 summers old. They stayed in Thavnair until Sariel's early twenties. They caught and sold raw and prepared fish as well as medicinal and alchemical salves. She made trips to the Great Work often, where she showed interest in alchemy and learned from scholars there. She gained spearmanship skills from her time spent spearfishing in Thavnairian waters.

In her time going between Yedlihmad and the Great Work, she made great friends with Nidhana. They remained great friends to this day.

A Realm Reborn

Her adoptive parents moved back to the Steppe in their retirement, a few years before the events of A Realm Reborn. Sariel decided to start on her own journey to see the world, beginning with the lush green lands of Gridania. She picked up a jobs with the Adventurer's Guild and the Lancer's Guild in order to help support herself and her aging parents. She took many quests, especially ones that took her further out into the wild lands between Gridania and Ishgard.

Within those few years, she had met Heustienne. She helped Sariel hone her already strong spearmanship skills. The two were off and on again lovers, going on dates and sharing intimacies. They were never officially partners with one another, both too wrapped up in their own worlds to truly be there for one another.

Later on after Dalamud fell, she began training with Ser Alberic. That was when she met Estinien. The two developed a conflicted relationship as Sariel tried to help mend the bonds between him and Alberic. She found Estinien a complicated man, hiding a deep sorrow within. She saw past that and knew he was crying out for help, even if he couldn't see it yet.

Heavensward

Sariel pursued Estinien fervrently, feeling guilty that she was unable to help ease his pain before he had gotten this far gone.

During her experiences with th Redbills researching the Void Ark, she was given insight through her Echo. She learned about her previous life on the Tenth Shard and how she was summoned via accident and used to perpetuate the War of the Magi. This caused her memories to faulter at times, confusing which memories were from which era. With time, she had been able to sort out which was which, but nightmares regarding the War of the Magi continued to stir within her mind during her sleeping hours.

This was when she began to pursue black magic, trying to understand more of herself, her origins, how all of this was even possible, and how she fit into its' grand scheme. She made friends with a lalafell named Lailai who helped her learn the basics. Lailai had later become possessed by the spirit of Ququruka, who baited Sariel to a remote place in the Ul'Dahn wilds. Sariel had been backed into a corner as a possessed Lailai summoned a creature of the void, Barbatos, and slung mighty spells. Another curious voidsent, an ahriman, wandered out and offered her a contract after she had been burned and nearly fully blinded by a ball of fire. The ahriman, later named Rem, had been sealed within her burning eye, saving her from fully losing her right eye. It granted her a weak form of aethersight similar to Y'shtola's. Rem gains the benefit of being able to feed from aether within battle, similar to any voidsent contract that reaper's consign themselves to.

Stormblood

Sariel fought alongside Dhoro (another Warrior of Light), the one chosen to represent the Mol tribe, in the Nadaam.

Nearing the end of the events of Stormblood, Estinien and Sariel met one another in quelling the rage of Faunehm within the Azim Steppe. This was when they finally confessed their feelings for one another, sharing a first kiss inspired by the dragon lovers that they had reunited. They did not publicly announce the start of their relationship, nor did they tell their Scion friends.

Shadowbringers

Sariel absorbed Light Wardens: Philia, King Titania, Eros, and Storge. When the time came to absorb Innocence, Sariel began to absorb him but began to experience severely adverse affects and began to change, and thus Dhoro stepped in but failed. The two of them suffered and the aether from Innocence was distributed unevenly between them.

Both Sariel and Dhoro dealt the final blow to Hades in order to release the excess astral aether within them. Dhoro took Ardbert's axe and drove it through while Sariel cast a massively destructive spell to do the same.

When she returned to the Source, reuniting with the Scions and the rest of her loved ones, her and Estinien officially informed their friends and fellow Scions of their relationship.

Endwalker

When the Final Days fell upon Thavnairian soil, Sariel found herself dazed among the battlefield for just a moment, seeing her birthplace go up in flames and its' people torn apart. She heard the raspings of a voidsent amongst the landscape, starving from the lack of aether found as people succumbed to their terror. Sariel, feeling sorry for the malformed Baalzephon-like creature. She took it in as a part of another contract, sealed within her black mage staff. The voidsent, deemed as Keres, fed upon enemies in battle by Sariel's grace while it granted her more power, something she was desperate for seeing the days to come ahead.

During the fight with Endsinger, Dhoro endured with a tank LB3, which left him in poor condition. Sariel dealt a final LB3 blow to the Endsinger at the end, which she overdid and almost killed herself in casting.

Once the events of Endwalker calm down, Sariel and Estinien get married during the post-patch lull.

Dawntrail

Estinien was informed of Sariel’s plans to head to Tural, thus he went ahead and helped her secure lodging and made some plans at every stop ahead. In a way, this was their honeymoon vacation since they got married at the end of the events of Endwalker. They planned to have some time together to enjoy the culture and sights on each stop along the way. Estinien left each area ahead of Sariel.

Estinien and Sariel found out that she was pregnant during their stay in Shaaloani. They learn about it just before Heritage Found crash lands on the Source. Because of this and Estinien’s genuine concern for Sariel and their future child's safety, she is a part of the team that stays behind and Dhoro is the one to assist with the train.

Once the events of 7.3 conclude, Sariel gave birth to her son, Azahma Rashvaaz bin Varlineau. He is mostly auri in appearance, bearing scales, horns, and a tail. His scales are a bit curled and devilish although creamy in hue. The scales stayed around his arms, legs, shoulders, and neck, straying away from his face. He had Elezen facial features--Estinien's heavy lidded eyes accentuated by Sariel's blazing orange color. Azahma also inherited his father's stark silvery white hair and like both of his parents, he was not much of a talkative boy.