Aislinn Ulchabhan

Aetherologist, Dancer, Griffin Rider, Mother, Free Spirit

Bio

The only child of wealthy but emotionally distant merchant-class parents, Aislinn Ulchabhan was raised in the Pillars district of Ishgard. While she never lacked for creature comforts or the finer things in life, it was clear to her from an early age that her upwardly-mobile, social-climbing family considered her purpose in life to be an advantageous marriage. To that end, she was provided a stellar if rather stifling education at The Holy Sisters of Our Lady Halone Academy for Young Women, then moved on to earn a graduate degree in Aetherology at The Studium in Sharlayan. Though her parents never ceased to consider her lifelong desire to see the world and experience what other cultures had to offer to be 'a phase', Aislinn continued to hope throughout the course of her studies that someday, she would travel and come to know people unlike herself. She was informed of her impending nuptials to the fourth son of a minor noble family shortly before her graduation, but as fate would have it, she was invited to attend the performance of an Ala Mhigan dance troupe the same sennight. Mesmerised by the troupe's colourful costumes and seemingly carefree lifestyle, Aislinn sold her jewellery, packed a few highly impractical things, and set off in search of the troupe the moment she finished school.Dancing, travelling, and living in close quarters with Ala Mhigan refugees exposed Aislinn to unfamiliar customs and foods and an entirely new way of life. Though adjustment to this was both difficult and exhilarating, an extended tour in Dravania would change her life once more. The opportunity to explore the land of the dragons with whom she had always silently sympathised motivated Aislinn to leave her little troupe and join the efforts of the knights of Ser Aymeric de Borel to end the Dragonsong War. In the aftermath, she lent her time and creative talents to the restoration of Ishgard, further horrifying her estranged parents by mingling with commoners, tradesmen, and dragons alike.The honing of her combat and crafting skills eventually led to Aislinn's fieldwork with the Ananta of Gyr Abania, where she assisted the Vira physicians, fostered public relations, and learned, albeit reluctantly, to eat fungi and wash dirty bedsheets. Perseverance in these pursuits paid off, culminating in the priceless gift of her beloved white griffin, Aerie. Though coached by the Vira in the fundamentals of feeding and training griffins, however, details of their reproductive cycle were never elucidated, and Aislinn was shocked to the core when Aerie made an impromptu landing atop an observatorium in Coerthas and began to build a nest, evicting several furious astronomers in the process. After quite some time, Aerie's single egg produced a male hatchling, whom Aislinn named Boreas. Once the new arrival had fledged, the three of them hastily abandoned their perch and set off on a series of ever more demanding field assignments among the unique creatures on Hydaelyn and beyond. Prince Ritsuka, the rider of Aerie's mate, Zephyr, remains a close friend.The excitement surrounding an influx of new information regarding the 13th and the creatures residing there prompted Aislinn to retire her dancing shoes and return to the Aetherology Department of the Studium as an Adjunct Professor. Currently juggling single motherhood of a toddler and her research, she dreams of achieving an archonate. When not engaged in teaching and writing her thesis, she continues to interview the Voidsent with whom she crosses paths, and has begun work on a children's book about the 13th and its inhabitants. Recently, she has also taken up chocobo racing.Aislinn currently spends a fair amount of her time at the headquarters of Ivy, a Free Company of Zalera, where she enjoys crossbreeding plants, training chocobos, and magnanimously lavishing her guildmates with unsolicited fashion advice. With some effort, she can be convinced to explore dank and dangerous dungeons and eradicate undesirable creatures, but she would much rather read, write letters, and research the mysterious denizens of the void whose behaviours she finds fascinating. Though her days of cheap meals and objectionable lodgings are behind her, her love of dancing and travelling persist, and she can often be seen on griffinback enjoying the scenery of Etheirys at length, usually because she is hopelessly lost.

Trivia

  • Aislinn is unapologetically girly. She wears makeup, keeps her nails painted, and plays with her hairstyle on a regular basis. The contents of her closet bypassed excess long ago, and now border on the obscene. No stranger to adventure or physical hardship, she will nevertheless insist on changing into what she considers to be appropriate apparel for any given occasion, and is unlikely to be responsive to suggestions that she might be overdressed.

  • Though raised in Ishgard, Aislinn has since reconnected with her Wildwood roots. While she doesn't care to sleep outdoors, she greatly enjoys spending time in nature, particularly the less muddy bits with fewer bugs.

  • Aislinn's sense of direction is negligible at best. Maps help to a small extent, but she is reliant on the aetheryte network for orientation and her friends for navigation. In a pinch, she is happy to depend on the kindness of strangers.

  • A gourmand at heart, Aislinn will eat very nearly anything put in front of her. The primary exception to this is archon loaf, to which she has a permanent aversion as the result of several months spent trapped on the tower of an observatorium with a nesting griffin.

  • Aislinn is fiercely loyal, and regularly defends her loved ones to her death. She is sentimental and romantic to a fault, often at the expense of common sense, and is easily distracted or sidetracked altogether by street vendors, fortune-tellers, teahouses, scenic views, musicians, and delivery moogles.

Loves: griffins, goobbues, fine dining, starlight, fireworks, gardening, music, aquariums, decorating, moogle mail, metallic green dye

Loathes: namazu, haphazard or mismatched outfits, incompetent bards who insist on performing in public, archon loaf, being told to hurry up

Hooks

Academics and the Arts

In the course of her academic journey, Aislinn has crossed paths with a great number of students, professors, tutors, booksellers, and apothecaries. A well-known client of the local herbalists and purveyors of fine teas, she has also encountered many of their regular customers. Frequent attendance at a wide variety of musical and dramatic performances in both Ishgard and Old Sharlayan has brought her into contact with other patrons of the arts.

Botany and Medicine

Community service hours required by her preparatory school fostered Aislinn's acquaintance with medical personnel at Ser Vaindreau's Grace and Ishgardian locals from all walks of life, including both Temple Knights sworn to eradicate the dragons of Dravania and the Harrier sympathisers who called for peace. Interning at the Studium clinic in the course of her certification in Aetherology introduced her to any number of healers, alchemists, injured gleaners, scratched and bitten zoologists, and researchers suffering from eyestrain and papercuts.

Performance and Travel

Whilst travelling Eorzea as a mediocre but enthusiastic member of a small itinerant dance company, Aislinn came to meet many other performers and some spectators, and encountered the proprietors and clientele of the cheaper taverns and flophouses along the way. Innkeepers and hostellers she has met more recently are especially likely to remember her, as neither adult nor juvenile griffins are particularly tidy.

The Thirteenth

A professionally-trained Aetherologist by trade, Aislinn jumped on the Void bandwagon as the discovery of a stable portal allowed opportunities for new and exciting research. Eager to study the aetherial deficits and dietary practices of the denizens of the 13th, she has collaborated with alchemists, aetherologists, and other Void scholars on a variety of projects. She has developed relationships of one sort or another with various Voidsent, their hosts, and the void-touched. For personal reasons, her focus of late has been the care and education of Voidsent children.

Fashion

Aislinn's preference for bright green silk often calls her to the attention of those around her. She is easily engaged by anyone well-dressed, anyone who thinks her well-dressed, and anyone she feels requires intervention in order to become well-dressed. Her love of haute couture is a perpetual talking point, whether or not anyone else actually wants to discuss it.