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Learn more about Mordulin's past, his characteristics and his personality below.

• Backstory
• Characteristics
• Personality

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Backstory

A little over 20 years ago, during the early days of the Garlean occupation of Ala Mhigo, young Mordulin lived in the village of Bittermill in Gyr Abania. An adventurous youth he wandered the woods near his home often, hiding from the bears and other dangerous creatures of the forest until one day he messed up and the crack of a branch drew the attention of one of the wandering Leshy. Mordulin was forced to flee deeper into the forest and eventually found a cave to hide in. By the time he made his way back home night had fallen and a strange mist seemed to be dissipating over his village. As he got closer his eyes felt heavy and he fell unconscious at the edge of the village.While the Black Rose killed everyone in his village being on the outskirts saved Mordulin's life but changed his fate forever. He was "rescued" by the Garlean scientists studying the aftereffects of Black Rose. Thanks to Legatus van Baelsar's orders stopping all research and usage of Black Rose, Mordulin was left in the care of a newly formed orphanage for the victims of both the revolution against the King of Ruin, Theodric and the Garlean invaders.Unlike the majority of the orphans, Mordulin was soon adopted by a Garlean couple that couldn't have children of their own. His newly adopted mother was Sonja lux Arda, a Viera engineer from Dalmasca who gained Garlean citizenship through her long years of loyal service. His new father was Cillien cen Arda, an Elezen originally from Ishgard named Cillien Quiloud, who fled his life in the Brume and the Dragonsong War to find a new purpose and love in the far east in Dalmasca.His new parents had just been assigned to help in the rebuilding of the capitol of Ala Mhigo and the nearby Castrum Abania. They gave Mordulin a new name Valant Arda and raised him with love till he turned 13 and was able to enter the Garlean Academy of Engineering. His mother was extremely proud that her son had decided to follow in her footsteps, and gifted him his first tool kit in celebration. Thanks to the love shown him by his parents and the advantages of living in the upper regions of the city, the young Valant grew to see the Garleans as his kin and fell for the propaganda that only through Garlean rule could the rest of the world be lifted from savagery.Moving to the capital of Garlemald, Valant lived in the on site dorms for the Academy. He would study the principles behind magitek and the workings of Garlean engineering day and night for the next 3 years. During this time his intelligence and cunning set him apart from his fellow students. While he wasn't the top of the class he often found solutions that were outside the box and began sneaking out of the dorms to learn more of his new homeland. It was during one of these outings that he first met Lovro aan Slanasch.The large imposing Hrothgar moved with a grace that seemed counter intuitive to his oversized frame. A simple thin rapier at his side he had an air about him. Valant was instantly drawn to him as a moth to a flame. Lovro in the meantime saw the potential in the youth and immediately began working to help deprogram him from his indoctrination. In time, Valant began to see the truth of Garlemald. That it was rotting beneath the surface. For every noble Garlean like van Baelsar that he admired there were at least a thousand others that sought nothing more than personal glory and desired nothing more than slaughter of the innocents.His eyes now open, he begged Lovro to teach him to fight. Lovro agreed and so during the days Valant would continue his charade of being a loyal student and at night he began studying to master the art of the red mages for the next several years. Once his master Lovro had to leave the capital of Garlemald, Valant continued practicing alone until one night when he observed a drunk officer at a nearby tavern attempt to assault a newly conscripted Hrothgar in a nearby alley. The officer drew his gunblade to bring down on the conscript for no other reason than he saw him as a mere primitive unworthy of being under his command.Valant couldn't sit still and launched a surprise attack from behind. The fact that the officer was too drunk to notice him, combined with his natural speed and grace allowed him to pierce the officer's chest before his own blade could come down upon the beaten Hrothgar. That was the first man Valant killed and before he could even process what had happened he was fleeing the area, praying no one saw his face. He was lucky, even the Hrothgar that was being assaulted was too stunned by the death of his abuser to notice his savior or where he went. Once he was safely back in his dorm room, Valant was finally able to deal with the aftermath of what he had done. He knew that had he not acted then the Hrothgar would have been dead and he consoled himself with the knowledge that no matter what had happened the blood of someone would have been on him, whether from inaction or his assault.The shock from it all caused him to dream of his life before he was Garlean. Of Bittermill and his birth parents. As he awoke from his dreams he found tears running down his face and he finally realized that his saviors had been his parents' murderers. The last of his loyalty to Garlemald vanished and he determined he would find a way to help those that like himself were victims of the Garlean warmachina. To be safe he made a mask and outfit in secret to wear and hide his identity while he tried to help those that were brought in stocks to the Garlean capital. His ambition though grew bigger than his skills and he finally faced his first failure when he tried to free a small family that was being brought to the capital to perform manual labor.Their guard was far more experienced and by that point in time, the soldiers were all wary of attacks from Valant's constant hit and run tactics. The guard dodged the spells that Valant tried to throw and when he dove in close to try to stab the guard, Valant was grabbed by the arm and quickly disarmed. Valant managed to slip out of the guard's grasp only to be greeted by another guard's quick blade strikes in succession upon his mask. The mask fell away and he was left with a scar on his face for his failure. His identity was also discovered. As the guard recognized him as a student of the academy.Flight was his only option and so he had to abandon the family and his own life as a Garlean forever. He managed to flee eventually to Kugane where he managed to get a job with the East Aldenard Trading Company. Through them he eventually made his way back to Eorzea with the thought of helping the Ala Mhigan Resistance in anyway possible. Through his contacts with the East Aldenard Trading Company he made his way to Uldah and from there to Little Ala Mhigo. Once in Little Ala Mhigo he worked to earn the trust of the Ala Mhigans and eventually was allowed to join the resistance.During this time, Valant took up the name Mordulin Amell. He vaguely remembered the name Mordulin from his earliest childhood and took the name Amell from a favorite story of his youth of the mage hero Amell. He fought as part of the Ala Mhigan Resistance in Rhalgr's Reach and was among those that fought for the freedom of Ala Mhigo alongside the Grand Companies of Eorzea. Once the Garlean forces lost and the new Legatus Zenos yae Galvus fell, Mordulin sought out his adopted parents. His search was unfruitful however until he began reviewing the records of the engineers. It was then that he learned that his betrayal was payed for by those that adopted him and raised him as their own. Zenos had both of his parents executed as traitors for Mordulin's actions.Heartbroken and distraught, Mordulin wandered Eorzea aimlessly until he found himself in the snows of Coerthas. Mordulin remembered his adopted father's stories of Ishgard and their war with the dragons. Curiosity overtook him and with Ishgard's recent opening to the other nations of Eorzea he decided that now was a good time to learn of his adopted father's homeland. While in Ishgard, Mordulin was drawn to the machinist shop of House Haillenarte. Offering his skills to Stephanivien he was quickly pointed to help the younger brother Francel in his mission to help rebuild the Firmament and provide a new home for the residents of the Brume and others that were affected by the Dragonsong War.For the past year Mordulin has helped with the restoration efforts and finally the Firmament has been repaired and the work completed. For his extraordinary help Mordulin was granted the title of Saint of the Firmament and given a house in the newly opened Empyreum. During the final days of rebuilding more adventurers were flocking to Ishgard and it was while enjoying some ale with those adventurers that Mordulin heard that X'rhun Tia, the supposed master of the Crimson Duelist, was still alive and wandering the land training those worthy in the arts of the red mage. With his work in Ishgard finished Mordulin decided to set out to try to find Master X'rhun with the thought of further mastering his own skill in the art of the red mages and to perhaps help in forming a new group of Crimson Duelist to help the downtrodden of all of Eorzea.(TL;DR Was an orphan of Bittermill, adopted by a garlean viera engineer and her former ishgardian elezen husband. Trained as an engineer in Garlemald, learned red magic from Lovro and fled Garlemald after assaulting Garlean soldiers. Joined the Ala Mhigan resistance, helped with the Firmament restoration in Ishgard and now looking for X'rhun Tia.)

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Characteristics

Age: 28Height: 6' 10"Weight: 214 lbsEyes: BlueHair: Black naturally, dyed purple with hints of blueBuild: Nimble and litheCombat Style: Magic Swordsman (Lately he has been leaning harder on the offensive black magic spells than his swordsmanship or white magic.)Notable features: Wears fake glasses and has a scar running along the right side of his face.

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Personality

Mordulin is often called arrogant by his friends for good reason. His Garlean upbringing gave him a sense of superiority that he has never grown out of through all his travels. He is usually well meaning but he just can't help but to look down on everyone else.With strangers Mordulin is cautiously friendly. Most can tell he isn't telling the whole truth when asked questions about himself but his nonchalant attitude typically throws others off. If pressed on his past he typically will get exasperated and will begin acting upset and gives short curt answers that typically deflect or doesn't provide any true info.With his friends he is more relaxed and talkative. He still is guarded about his past but he shows a sadness when it is brought up and has been known to open up especially while drunk. On rare occasions Mordulin has been known to attempt to tell jokes only to be groaned at by his friends for being inappropriate or just plain bad. He also becomes distracted easily by new Ironworks inventions and the recent works of House Haillenarte.

Personality Traits:

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