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the diadem 🌙 info
Emet-Selch
Final Fantasy XIV
Height
6'7"
Build
Tall, lanky, but surprisingly sturdy. Secretly Built.
Hair
White
Eyes
Gold, slightly luminous
Age
12,000+
Canon Point
Post-Endwalker, after vanishing from Ultima Thule
Markings
A large, ragged scar on his torso, front & back.
Vehicle
Character Information
Back when the world was whole, we had family, friends, loves…
Emet-Selch is a member of an ancient race of magically-gifted individuals who would use their powers of creation to breathe life into the flora and fauna that populated their world, their star. Able to live forever, they would only return to the star when they felt their jobs were complete. As a member of the Convocation of Fourteen, the star’s governing body, and an extremely exceptionally gifted mage besides, it was Emet-Selch’s duty to ensure that the star and its people flourished.
When an unexplainable apocalypse struck their world, causing untold casualties and making creation magic run haywire, the Convocation constructed a plan to imbue the very world itself with life, and half the population sacrificed themselves to do so. The being they created, Zodiark, protected them for a time, but was poised to bring about his own doom, demanding ever more sacrifices. A faction opposed to Zodiark arose, creating their own deity, Hydaelyn, and in their ensuing battle, the world was sundered. The star itself, and the very people on it, were broken into the Source and the Shards, mere fractions of the whole, fourteen in all.
Only three of them escaped that terrible fate: Lahabrea, Elidibus, and Emet-Selch. Thus began the terrible work of bringing back the world they lost, sacrificing entire Shards to feed into the Source through calamities, massive natural disasters, and the loss of countless lives.
It was this path that Emet-Selch would walk for lifetimes, doing the unspeakable to bring back that which he loved, warping him forever, until he would meet his end by the Warrior of Light’s hands.
Emet-Selch is a member of an ancient race of magically-gifted individuals who would use their powers of creation to breathe life into the flora and fauna that populated their world, their star. Able to live forever, they would only return to the star when they felt their jobs were complete. As a member of the Convocation of Fourteen, the star’s governing body, and an extremely exceptionally gifted mage besides, it was Emet-Selch’s duty to ensure that the star and its people flourished.
When an unexplainable apocalypse struck their world, causing untold casualties and making creation magic run haywire, the Convocation constructed a plan to imbue the very world itself with life, and half the population sacrificed themselves to do so. The being they created, Zodiark, protected them for a time, but was poised to bring about his own doom, demanding ever more sacrifices. A faction opposed to Zodiark arose, creating their own deity, Hydaelyn, and in their ensuing battle, the world was sundered. The star itself, and the very people on it, were broken into the Source and the Shards, mere fractions of the whole, fourteen in all.
Only three of them escaped that terrible fate: Lahabrea, Elidibus, and Emet-Selch. Thus began the terrible work of bringing back the world they lost, sacrificing entire Shards to feed into the Source through calamities, massive natural disasters, and the loss of countless lives.
It was this path that Emet-Selch would walk for lifetimes, doing the unspeakable to bring back that which he loved, warping him forever, until he would meet his end by the Warrior of Light’s hands.
Appearance
At first glance, Emet-Selch is a severe-looking individual, often seen with a persistent scowl or a look that seems less than interested in his goings on. He gives off the vibe of someone who is perpetually grumpy – which is honestly pretty much what you get. His gold eyes have an intricate pattern in them, and glow softly. His hair is white and does not quite reach his shoulders, but it is long enough to pull back if he wanted.
He stands at an intimidating 6’7” and seems to be pretty noodley. Get him out of his layers, however, and you’ll find that he’s surprisingly well-built – certainly strong enough to go swinging a massive greatsword without much effort. For markings, he has a massive, jagged scar on his torso, front and back. Almost like someone blew a hole through him once. Weird.
He is voiced by René Zagger. (Video contains Shadowbringers and Endwalker spoilers.)
He stands at an intimidating 6’7” and seems to be pretty noodley. Get him out of his layers, however, and you’ll find that he’s surprisingly well-built – certainly strong enough to go swinging a massive greatsword without much effort. For markings, he has a massive, jagged scar on his torso, front and back. Almost like someone blew a hole through him once. Weird.
He is voiced by René Zagger. (Video contains Shadowbringers and Endwalker spoilers.)
Skills & Abilities
✦ immortality
Emet-Selch is ageless and ancient, and fully able to shed his physical body to escape death. He can still be permanently killed, though it takes a lot of power and special circumstances to pull it off, and has already died for real before coming to the game. As a result, he’s been stuck back in his original body from before the Sundering, but this just kind of puts him back at square one. If someone or something manages to kill him, they will basically only kill his body. He can simply hop into another one, effectively taking it over and molding it to whatever form best suits his needs. He’s a creature of habit and will very likely just make it look like himself again – this is annoying and exhausting, but he will do it if he must.
✦ soul sight
Emet-Selch has very keen vision and can see beyond the physical – right down to a person’s soul. Souls usually appear as a color to his eyes, and he can use his vision to spot a person at a distance or even in the afterlife. I have an OOC permissions post for this. He can also see aether, which is basically the life-force of the world and the source of magic. I figure all the anomalies probably play havoc with what he’s able to see, so this will range from inconsistent to “what the fuck is that” depending on the situation.
✦ connection with the lifestream
As arbiter of the underworld, he has a connection with the Lifestream, the place souls go when they die and wait to be reborn again. He can feel disturbances in the Lifestream and even pluck a soul from its waters if he wants. Given the nature of Diadem, this connection will be spotty and feel extremely distant, like he’s going through a tunnel with a cell phone.
✦ the echo
You can think of this as a walking memshare prompt. He can resonate with the aether around him, or with the soul of another person, to be able to see into the past. With the anomalies making the ambient aether so wonky, there may not be much he can glean from it. For diving into the past of a person, he very likely won’t do this without asking and I will communicate OOCly as well. The Echo also allows him to understand others and be understood regardless of language barriers.
✦ creation magic
All Ancients are adept in the art of creation, from objects to creatures, but Emet-Selch is in a league of his own. Usually, he can bring forth anything from a weapon to a creature to use as a mount to a full-scale replica of a long-lost city (complete with inhabitants) with hardly any effort at all. His creation abilities will be susceptible to a high failure rate, so nothing he creates will be permanent, nor any bigger than can fit in a room. Smaller, inconsequential things might last a bit longer, like a day or two at most, but there will be literally no way to tell when something might vanish. This will pretty quickly deter him from making modifications to his vehicle or manifesting weapons, since real objects will be much more reliable.
✦ offensive magic & tanking
Emet-Selch is shown wielding shadow and elemental magic to create projectiles, conjure shields, and more. He also seems to be able to lean on just raw magical power to blast people with force. As with his creation abilities, he’s shown to be quite powerful and exceptionally gifted.
His powers mostly seem to be focused on dealing damage, and when slotted into a dungeon alongside the player, he can fill the role of either a DPS (functionally a Black Mage) or a tank (Dark Knight). He is never seen using healing magic, and seems to function with the mindset that the enemy can’t hurt you if you kill them first. Emet-Selch is not a typical Black Mage or Dark Knight, either, and employs several other kinds of spells, such as the wall of spectral spears seen in his boss fight.
As with all tanks in FFXIV, he has an invulnerability move. Emet-Selch’s is called “Katabasis,” and is functionally identical to Dark Knight’s Living Dead: it allows him to survive a fatal hit, but he must be healed afterwards within a short period of time or he will simply collapse. During this period, he can siphon life from his opponents to heal himself.
Of note, he also has the ability Anabasis, which can revive someone from KO.
His powers mostly seem to be focused on dealing damage, and when slotted into a dungeon alongside the player, he can fill the role of either a DPS (functionally a Black Mage) or a tank (Dark Knight). He is never seen using healing magic, and seems to function with the mindset that the enemy can’t hurt you if you kill them first. Emet-Selch is not a typical Black Mage or Dark Knight, either, and employs several other kinds of spells, such as the wall of spectral spears seen in his boss fight.
As with all tanks in FFXIV, he has an invulnerability move. Emet-Selch’s is called “Katabasis,” and is functionally identical to Dark Knight’s Living Dead: it allows him to survive a fatal hit, but he must be healed afterwards within a short period of time or he will simply collapse. During this period, he can siphon life from his opponents to heal himself.
Of note, he also has the ability Anabasis, which can revive someone from KO.
✦ transformation
Ancients can shed their more human forms in favor of something a bit more monstrous or eldritch-looking. These forms are more powerful. However, transforming without reason is considered the same as getting naked in public – it’s taboo. This isn’t something he’d do unless the situation was dire. This form is quite big (like 20 feet tall).
✦ teleportation
He can teleport, either by himself or bringing other people with him. Usually he can go anywhere, across the globe or even to the moon. In game, this power will also be subject to a high failure rate. Most of his attempts will land him only a few feet from where he started in a random direction. This is incredibly embarrassing for him and very funny for me. Eventually, he will be more reliably able to teleport to places he’s been before so long as he knows where he’s going and that place is within like a mile of him. Nightcrawler rules, basically.
✦ flight
Just what it says on the tin. He can fly/levitate, though he doesn’t do it often. As with his teleportation, this will be spotty. Sometimes he won’t even get off the ground – again, embarrassing for him and funny for me. A bit of levitation or floating up a couple of stories will mostly be fine, but if he tries for much more than that, things get shaky and he could just drop like a rock.
Ramey ∞ US Mountain —
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