Background and how she came to Eorzea:

From a young age, Ada was guided along an identical path, with hopes that if the tradition continued, the family line could put their mark into history via this field. It was impossible for the order of Houses to change, as the Four Nobles Houses were infallible, so lesser Houses must explore other avenues to not blur into obscurity. Unlike her elder sister, Ada had very little interest or attention span for the hours looking over texts and complications of reading the stars. She could execute the tasks asked of her, but it wasn’t something that brought her great joy. With the reminder that her family was still paving the way for upward mobility, she kept silent on her disgruntled feelings of the art.

The only thing that brought her joy from the whole endeavor was when Sharlayans would make rare visits to Ishgard in an attempt to incorporate Sharlayan astrology with Ishgardian astrology. Not because she was particularly interested in the city-state filled with even more books and intellectuals, but because her own country was isolationist and so rarely received visitors with stories to tell of foreign nations. Visitors were often gleaners, and that very nature of the job thrilled her all the more. With their profession involving traveling the world on scholarly pursuits, Ada convinced herself that she would go to Sharlayan one day under the guise of studies, having an excuse to become a gleaner and travel around. In her childlike mind, she believed becoming a scholarly traveler like them would resolve the turmoil within her.

Her parents greatly approved of this idea of hers, being totally impervious to the hidden agenda of becoming a traveling gleaner. They loved the idea that Ada aspired to travel to Sharlayan to further her studies and bring more wealth of knowledge back to Ishgard and the astrologian observatorium

In her early teens, an event happened that changed Ada’s life. Ada was in the Western Highlands with her family and their colleagues, who were in the midsts of tracking a star constellation, when a friend and herself got separated from the pack in a snowstorm. Coming upon an abandoned encampment, the two teen girls could survive in the snow, but a silver wolf had happened upon them. With nothing around the vicinity but a few abandoned frozen over weapons, Ada instinctively picked up the battleaxe and began to blindly swing, finding herself going blank until the ordeal was over. When she regained her senses, the (monster) laid there dead and she and her friend were unharmed. She asked her friend to never speak of the event sensing both their parents would disapprove, but something had awakened in her unlike anything had before.

From that moment going forward, she desperately wanted to pick up a weapon again. Any weapon would do, but she truly desired that axe again. But as the daughter of a privileged status, being unattended was a rare event. Her days were spent in front of maps and books, shifting her spirit to grow stale. At that same time, her mother saw a divination that Ada would one day run away from Ishgard, which caused even more friction for the girl who was now approaching her late teens. The plans to travel to Sharlayn for studies were nixed fearing that Ada’s study abroad was a bad omen. The family agreed that the best path forward would be for her to remain with her family and watched closely, most of them coming under the assumption that the prediction would involve boy troubles, being in the dark of her draw to weaponry.

One day Ada happened upon Stephanivien, a son of one of the Four Noble Houses who was a very notorious rebel for working in machinery and not the knighthood. He struck up a conversation with her and encouraged her to join him on his journey to creating weapons meant to be wielded by anybody– even the commonfolk, as he could see the same fire in her that he saw in himself. She agreed to hang around his steel factory as an assistant, seeing this as an opportunity to get a hold on weaponry. Ada successfully hid her venture at first from her family, but it was not too long before it was discovered. They were outraged but remained tip-lipped only due to Stephanivien’s status as a noble that far outranked their own.

After a few years spent with him, she realized while it was far more fulfilling than what she had been doing, her yearn to travel never faltered. The change of pace that involved offensive skills satiated her true calling for a time, but it was never quite enough. Stephanivien sensing her dissatisfaction encouraged her to take the leap and find what it was she was searching for. Ada had no idea where to begin, Stephanivien nevertheless pledged to aid her in her escape from Ishgard if adventure was truly her desire. He only asked her where she wished to go.

Now she had a new conundrum: where was it she wanted to go? When she asked herself this question, her thoughts immediately jumped to Eorzea. How long had she heard over late night dinner parties with political chitchat the adults balking at the alliance of Eorzea and their problems they always wanted to push onto their proud nation? They were an unruly bunch that had nature-based religions and suffered from constant primal threats as a result. Through one gleaner a few years back, she had heard tales of Louisoix, the Sharlayan who had saved Eorzea through interference. The details were fuzzy and vague, but she clung onto the fantasy and ran with it.

It was decided, she would go to Eorzea.

Ada told Stephanivien of her tale from years back with an axe and her desire to go to Eorzea. He suggested her best bet to leave would be by carriage carrying trade goods meant to be sent by boat to an Eorzean island city-state by the name of Limsa Lominsa. It would be long, and quite dangerous a journey as a young woman, but he believed in her fully and that gave her the courage to make the step. He made the preparations for her to blend in with the merchants leaving the fortress of their homeland and left her with a gun for discreet safety.

He was not incorrect that the trip was the most danger she had ever experienced. She quickly realized that fighting one little monster as a teen was quite literally child’s play compared to the constant threats of dragons, heretics, other people and even the ones she traveled with. Only the coin provided by Stephanivien kept her safe, she quickly realized on her journey. She vowed to somehow one day repay him for all his kindness, though she could barely tolerate the idea of returning home a failure. (She would go on to eventually begin writing him under a pseudonym.)

No, she would arrive to this Limsa Lominsa in one piece and pick up an axe. Even the stars above had predicted this.

That’s where it all began as she stumbled into the Upper decks of the once pirate bay, and found the Marauders guild.

Though she felt as clumsy as a fawn learning to walk on its legs, she was assured she was a natural by Wyrnzolen, who tauntingly called her Little Lady, in an effort to help her lean into her rage with the axe.

Classes and Jobs: