"You know... sometimes I impress even myself."

Luc Al-Cid


Details


Voice Claim: Robin Atkin Downes

Full Name:Lucas Vinayaka Al-Cid
Gender:Male
Age:33-37
Sexuality:Heterosexual
Height & Weight:5 fulm, 11 ilms | 170 ponze
Complexion:Latte
Eyes:Yellow
Alignment:Mostly Neutral
Birthplace/Citizenship:Radz-at-Han, Thavnair
Current Residence:Idyllshire, Personal airship
Weapon of Choice:Guns and gun accessories
Occupation:Pilot, Grifter, Smuggler, Philosopher
Marital Status:It's complicated (Isn't it always?)

Likes
Unintelligent people: While Luc doesn't blatantly look down on people, he finds unintelligent people incredibly useful and easy to manipulate.
Echo-bearers: The phenomenon of the echo is intriguing to Luc, and often will spend a lot of time questioning (interrogating) an echo-bearer about their experiences.Triple Triad/Gambling: Luc loves to gamble and enjoys taking chances in general. He's found that most things work in his favor, and when they don't, it just means he needs to roll the dice once more. He'll bet on Chocobo races, fights, triple triad, etc

Dislikes
Know-it-alls: While Luc can absolutely tolerate the company of some scholarly folk, the know-it-all types test his patience constantly.
The Black Shroud: Nowhere else does Luc find his allergies irritate him as much as they do in the Shroud. Not to mention plant-like creatures always seem to find a way onto his ship whenever he lands there.Virtuous folks: As far as Luc is concerned, just about everything is a shade of grey. He considers anyone who can file one's actions as "right" or "wrong" to be either immature or simply lacking in life experience.

Notable Features
Luc is lean, athletic, and stands pretty tall for a Midlander. He sports a scar across his nose that looks pretty old, alongside various scars littered throughout his body. Another thing most might notice is an accessory that Luc is rarely seen without, which would be the bomb earring on his left ear. The earring serves more than just the purpose of aesthetics (as for what, you'll just have to find out). Facial features aside, Luc often dresses in functional yet fashionable clothing that suits both diplomatic and combat needs.
Personality
Luc is an easygoing guy and he carries himself with that carefree swagger. With the life he's led, he's come to expect anything and nothing at all. A good poker face is a necessity. He likes to push people's buttons for the sake of an interesting outcome and is fond of leisure. That being said, he knows when to lock in if there's a deal to be made. Additionally, he enjoys playing devil's advocate and will often entertain any opposing argument, sometimes just for the sake of hearing his voice. Because of this, he tends to engage in philosophical banter with just about anyone who will entertain it.
Flaws
Luc has his fair share of flaws like anyone else, and he often wears them on his sleeve. His most notable flaw would be his narcissistic tendencies. On the contrary, Luc can be quite empathetic, and with that comes a bare-bones understanding of other people without having to dig too deep. What he’s come to conclude is that everyone is acting in their best interests, and because of that, he’s decided to double down on his self-interests. He’s got a heightened sense of self-importance that he only casts aside on rare occasions. With that, sometimes comes manipulative behavior, occasional mild misogyny, and can simply come off as a jerk. That’s not to say everyone will see all of these features at once, but these traits certainly make up the worst parts of Luc.


A Luc into the Past...


Once upon a time... there was a Limsan sailor by the name of Lukas Madrazo, who frequently visited Thavnair to trade spice, fabrics, gemstones, and various other trinkets. One day, he met the most gorgeous woman he ever laid eyes on. An Alchemist by the name of Padmi Al-Cid. The two eventually fell in love ever so deeply, and that's how Luc Al-Cid came to exist.Time passes... and by the age of eleven, both of his parents had bowed out of the world. Radz-at-Han had programs for orphaned children, but Luc was drawn to something else. A life of petty theft.Sometime toward the end of the sixth Astral era Luc had become a well-known thief in the city-state of Radz-at-Han, and unfortunately being well-known was quite problematic, especially for one approaching adulthood. Merchants knew that when they saw this scoundrel, keep a close watch on their wares and many guards could recognize him by voice. That pickpocketing technique that he learned and polished by the age of fourteen? He was far too tall at this point to get away with anything like that anymore. He could no longer disappear in a crowd, he'd burned too many bridges to get honest work, and thus Luc left his home in Thavnair, hopped on a boat, and made his way to Limsa Lominsa at the age of eighteen. At the time, Limsa was known to be a sovereign state so Luc saw an opportunity to transition into piracy. It seemed to be the natural next step for a thief.

However, by the time Luc arrives, piracy is actually in the process of being phased out thanks to a certain Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn. While piracy could never truly be banished, the profession was only profitable for a short time. Sea piracy was ultimately a stepping stone for Luc. More often than not, he was part of the 'Red Shirts', a group that was sent in first to investigate some spooky cave or haunted ruins to clear traps, get doors unlocked, clear out low-level monsters, etc. With this, along with his knack for thievery, he gained the ability to sniff out traps and secret passageways.Years pass, and eventually, Luc would spend some time in jail, an inevitable fate for most pirates. After serving his time, he seized the opportunity to step out of the pirate life and into the treasure-hunting business. Which, thanks to the skills he developed, turned out to be quite lucrative for him and the crew he was working with. It wasn’t long until they’d received offers from several museums. With his share, Luc decided to invest in a manacutter airship for himself, the start of his “solo/mercenary” days.

Luc would spend the next couple of years in Ishgard, where he regularly found work with the Skysteel Manufactory, and between jobs, he found work amongst beastmen tribes, where he would ship supplies, weapons, crystals, and rations between factions. Of course, Luc considered the possibility that the beastmen could be using the weapons to attack non-beastmen folk, so he made it a point to sell weapons to tribes and other smaller settlements scattered throughout the upper regions of Eorzea. Unbeknownst to him, these were his sky pirate salad days. For the most part, he would tiptoe around Imperial activity, but at some point, the Garlean presence in Abalathia’s Spine practically vanished, save for a few skeleton crews at forward operating bases. It was at this point, Luc began raiding Imperial facilities for magitek parts, weaponry, and ceruleum stores. The amount of money he made from the beastmen and local tribes was but a fraction of the profit he would make selling what he had found on these bases.While the war with the Empire raged on in the East, Luc had established himself as quite the merchant, where he enjoyed the playboy lifestyle for a time. He felt like he truly had it all, and was seriously looking at retiring on a private island in the sky. His Eorzean dream had just about come true, and perhaps that should be enough for him. But, Luc reached even further and managed to procure a large airship, which he named “The Joy”, where he would grow a crew of his own.

In the time that followed, the crew of the Joy saw their share of success, after just about every abandoned facility past Eorzea’s borders had been picked dry, the ship would seek out wartime conflicts overseas. This would lead the crew to Dalmasca, Gangos, and lastly back to Garlemald once the grand companies decided to fully invade. Luc had gotten so lost in the wartime economy, he never stopped to think when enough gil was enough, he just knew there was money to be made and couldn’t let the opportunity slip past him.

The Joy made its way to what looked to be the final stage of the war and did what it did best, dish out some death from above. The crew bombarded the forces below, whether it be rogue magitek or some rampant abomination, Luc and his crew saw to it that they thinned the numbers. Just as things seemed to be going so well, during one fateful operation, Luc noticed a strange object in the sky, what it was- he couldn't quite make out. A visual glitch on the viewscreen? A cloaked object? Whatever it was, it appeared right in the ship's path, and by the time Luc recognized the danger, there was no time to adjust the ship's course. The ship collided with a mysterious object, that somehow blended with the scenery around it.





And that was it.What followed was The Joy’s destruction. The front of the ship exploded, and what was left had spun out and crash-landed into the snow below. Few survived, and Luc's body could not be located.[What happens during this period is classified information.]Months would pass before Luc's body was located by people patrolling the area. He was found unconscious around where the ship crashed months prior, yet he looked like he had only recently experienced the crash. Upon waking, a disoriented Luc had no clue where he was. The world around him was unfamiliar for a time, and he would spend the next few weeks readjusting to his identity. But, like riding a bike, Luc never truly forgot who he was, it was just muddled and scattered about his addled mind.As of the present day, Luc is more or less back to form. He has readjusted to the world around him and it didn’t take him long to return to the skies. Though his reputation may not be what it was, he still carries himself with a thick cloud of self-importance over his head, maybe things will be different this time around, but it's business as usual.


Hooks


Mean Machinist
Luc is a Machinist through and through. He learned the art of gun during his extensive stay in Ishgard, mastering various techniques from the flamethrowers to the automaton sidekick. That being said, he may easily overqualify for the average sellsword type position, but Luc seldom turns down a chance for some old school adventuring.

Sky Pirate/Smuggler
With an airship of his own, Luc has a semi-legitimate business, named Al-Cid Airways. Of course, it’s usually word of mouth that nets the publicity, as he hasn’t gotten around to making any flyers or any actual type of advertisement. Nonetheless, he always makes time to ferry someone, some people, some THING from here to there, for a fee. He puts the Luc in lucrative.

Hannish
So this might be a bit of a niche hook, considering Luc left Radz-at-Han when he was about eighteen, so that can limit parts of this hook to our characters likely having known each other in their younger years. That isn’t to say he never visits Radz-at-Han these days, it’s just often under the pretense of business.

Well-traveled
Luc has seen a great deal of the world, he's visited and stepped foot upon most of the countries and landmasses recognized by the Eorzean alliance. Whether it be due to smuggling, laying low, arms dealing, or even simple transportation, Luc likely came through your hometown at some point.

Counterfeit Gil
Luc is often teetering between being too rich to care, and too broke to even get his ship off the ground. A contradiction he doesn't hide that well, and the reasoning behind it is that Luc uses fake money. He's pretty careful when it comes to using it for anything that might have a paper trail, but common vendors are free game. Has Luc paid you in counterfeit gil? You may be entitled to compensation.


OOC Stuff


Hey, thanks for checking out my character! If you made it this far, I'm betting you would like to RP, so here's a bit of info:

Pacific Time ZoneI'm a somewhat slow typer. Your patience is appreciated!I use Mare Synchronos. Ask me for the code thing!I'm generally open to most if not all RP, and am very appreciative of walk-ups! Tells are welcome too! I'm usually looking for long-term contacts but short-term things are cool too.I have a preference to RP with people over the age of 21.If anything my character says or does in RP rubs you the wrong way, let me know, and maybe we can figure something out. That said, IC and OOC are worlds apart.I'll exchange discord info with anyone who asks, but just to put it out there, I'm not the biggest fan of RP over discord. If we're doing a scene that's too difficult to play out in game, then I'll likely make an exception.I tab out a lot, so please shoot me a tell to get my attention if I seem a little afk.I'm not super strict on lore, as long as there's some proper word-play to make whatever lore-bending work in the FFXIV reality.

See you on the other side!



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