Character

Shtola was born on the Isle of Yorn, an island in the Northern Empty just south of Old Sharlayan itself. Her father, A'raha Nunh, was considered a genius in the field of aetheric medicine; he had been a professor at the Studium itself, granted the position at a young age, until he decided to return to Yorn and serve as a healer there.

But though A'raha was a kind man to those he treated, he tolerated nothing less than perfection from his offspring. And as his eldest child, A'shtola's path in life was set out for her almost before she could walk: she would study under her father, and when old enough she would be sent to the Studium itself. She would be trained in one or both of the two proper healing arts, either the path of the sage or the art of Sharlayan astrology. And then she would return to Yorn, allowing her father to retire.

A'shtola's own wishes were irrelevant to this plan. And it was undeniable that A'shtola had a talent for the healing arts, much like her father.

It wasn't until she went to the Studium that things went awry.

Out from under her father's thumb and in the bustling college town that Old Sharlayan itself was, A'shtola suddenly found freedom in her daily life. And though she enjoyed the healing arts, she found herself intrigued by other courses as well: history, strategy, and tales of the 'barbaric' lands beyond the borders of Sharlayan civilization. And for the first time, she began to wonder about the world beyond... though to travel there was, of course, an impossibility.

And then two of her classmates, the Leveilleur twins, departed the Studium to follow the path of their infamous grandfather and travel to those selfsame 'barbaric' lands. And suddenly it didn't seem so impossible after all.

And so A'shtola told her father that she would be leaving Old Sharlayan to get more experience of the wider world, and that perhaps she would even encounter other traditions of healing that she could bring back to the Studium on her return.

His reaction could perhaps be best summarized by the term 'catastrophic'.

A'shtola would be going nowhere, he insisted. She would remain at the Studium and be returning to Yorn, and she would put these ridiculous notions of seeing the rest of the world out of her head. Moreover, he declared she would be dropping her extra courses and focusing solely on healing.

No sooner was A'shtola back in Old Sharlayan than she had booked passage on a ship, headed towards Eorzea in the footsteps of her classmates. Once there, she found she couldn't bring herself to practice her healing arts; every time she tried, she could only remember her father's fury. And so, instead, she turned to protecting those around her -- to ensure they needed as little healing as possible.

It wasn't until she'd finally had the time and distance for the wounds of her father's rage to fade that she found herself picking up orrery and nouliths once more, and tending to those she could not protect with armor and blade.