![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
eachdraidh info page.
|
judge
gabranth 
name. Noah Gabranth (fon Ronsenburg)
age. 36 origin. Ivalice, c. 706 Old Valendian residence. White Citadel titles. Judge Magister, High Inquisitor of Caer Glaem, Marquis of the White Citadel, the Upturned Scale.
height. 5'11"
weight. 190 lbs hair. blond eyes. hazel sign. capricorn personality.}
There are three traits that primarily define Gabranth’s character: his ruthless determination, his priority of honor above nearly all else, and his steadfast loyalty to and pursuit of the people and things that matter most to him. Together these traits make for a well-rounded primary antagonist, but they also tell the story of a broken man who is both chained to his past and driven to regain his honor at any cost.
Throughout Final Fantasy XII, he is shown to interact with most others in a stoic, calm, sometimes aloof and often calculating manner, whether it’s reporting to the Solidors, dismissing an unruly bangaa bounty hunter, or discussing the safety of his charge with fellow Judge Magister Drace. But his true colors show when he confronts his brother Basch, or even when the subject of him comes up in conversation. The grudge Gabranth holds against him for abandoning Landis is one he’s carried for years, and the depth of his hatred shows through in nearly every interaction he has with the player party, and even beyond that. In Basch’s flashback to the night of Raminas’s murder, when Gabranth looks down at him, seeing his twin brother for the first time in many years and in the act of framing him for regicide — essentially sentencing him to death — he regards him with a smirk on his face. Atop the Pharos, he tells him “When you abandoned home and kin, your name was forever stained with blood,” and even after being defeated there, he accuses him of “leav[ing his] debts unpaid.” He is relentless in most everything he does, but this ruthlessness and drive is particularly evident when it comes to anything concerning Basch. In Gabranth’s mind, the only thing that could absolve Basch of his sins is his death, and he will stop at nothing to deliver it to him. He says this much to Emperor Gramis himself, and it also shows in his interactions with Basch in the latter parts of the game. After his defeat at the Pharos, he still doesn’t lay down his swords until Venat violently incapacitates him; when he later encounters them on the Sky Fortress Bahamut, even though he’s still disgraced and heavily wounded from their previous encounter, he picks a fight with Basch anyway and doesn’t give up until he can no longer stand. For all his hatred and begrudging of his brother, though, Gabranth’s resentment does not lie wholly with him. Even years after the fact, and despite all that he has accomplished in his service to Archadia, he is still wracked with guilt over joining the empire that conquered his homeland. He feels as though his honor was lost the day Landis fell, and his dignity continues to be broken down throughout the course of FFXII, after Vayne forces him to kill Drace and Dr. Cid condemns him for breaking Larsa’s trust; even though both of these instances were only partially his own doing, he blames himself for both and slips deeper into self-loathing. He believes the only way he could possibly lay claim to honor once again and atone for his own misdeeds is by somehow avenging his fallen homeland, which becomes clear when he addresses Ashe at the Pharos: in provoking her to battle, he tells her “we cannot escape the past,” and asks if her subjugated kingdom and fallen subjects do not demand revenge. The fact that no vengeance can change the events of the past is something that Gabranth cannot bring himself to recognize, whether he’s too stubborn for it or simply unwilling to admit that all he has struggled for in his quest for honor has been for naught. When he finally is forced to come to terms with that reality, he doesn’t accept it easily; for all the shame, humiliation, and despair he has inflicted upon his brother throughout the years, all in the name of punishing him for abandoning his family and home, Basch still manages to maintain his own honor and dignity, which both vexes and enrages Gabranth. At his lowest and weakest point, he confronts Basch on the Bahamut: “You failed Landis, you failed Dalmasca — all you were to protect, yet you still hold onto your honor! How?” Of course, Basch’s answer — that he has kept his honor by protecting the princess Ashelia, as Gabranth protects his lord Larsa — isn’t something he easily accepts either. He has spent so many years blinded by his hatred, resentment, and self-loathing that he has somehow failed to recognize what truly renders him an honorable man: his steadfast dedication to the protection and welfare of Larsa Solidor. While he is one to double-cross others without much second thought should his orders call for it — as evident in his framing of Basch, as well as his reporting on Vayne’s doings with Dr. Cid — when he is truly loyal to someone, he is loyal to the very end. After assuming his father’s throne, Vayne uses and orders Gabranth like his own personal hound, but it’s clear that Gabranth’s true loyalties lie instead with Vayne’s younger brother Larsa, and it is that true loyalty that stirs him to battle once more. Despite his resentment of the empire, and despite the wounds and shame he’s suffered from his defeat just minutes prior, he raises his sword once more in open defiance to Vayne for the sake of protecting Larsa and the future of Archadia. In doing so, he is shown to be willing to ultimately put the lives of those he values above himself and above his own pain, no matter what the cost, and in giving his life to do so, he finally manages to prove himself an honorable man. COURT ALLIANCE. Gabranth is allied with the court of the Seelie. While his position within his canon's overall narrative casts him in the light of the antagonist, and although he has committed a number of unspeakable deeds, his values of honor, order, and justice take precedence over nearly all else in his mind. It could be said that it was these values that drove him to commit those deeds in the first place, but they were also what drove him to do the right thing in the very end, ultimately bringing his character arc to redemption (or at least something like it). skills+inventory.}
SKILLS.
INVENTORY.
eachdraidh history.}
Gabranth was brought to Caer Glaem just prior to his ascent of the Pharos at Ridorana, before he could fulfill his orders to engage with Ashelia Dalmasca and put her to the sword.
Naturally, he didn't take well to the full scope of the situation he'd just been drawn into, nor could he easily accept that he wouldn't be able to return to Ivalice anytime soon. After failed attempts to demand his freedom from the monarchs, he turned his attention toward learning what he could of this new realm, that he might better understand its politics or even find a way out. To this end he joined a party of Unseelie, led by Saralegui, in their journey to the dwarven city of Troichean Beinn. Despite his keen interest in the Drabwurld's political landscape, Gabranth had so far been given little reason to care personally for the court divide. After his return to Caer Glaem, however, he came to see the value inherent in pleasing his court and playing by their rules; in currying their favor, after all, surely he could build himself up to a position great enough to find some way back to Ivalice, or perhaps even win this war for the Seelie and win his passage home that way. So he did what he could, made a show of serving his court by participating in the hunt for the White Hart, and for his boon he requested a private audience with the Seelie monarchy. In that audience he offered up his service in subterfuge and skill in deceit to the High-King Ridire, and for this was he named High Inquisitor of Caer Glaem, tasked with rooting out anti-shardbearer activity in Glaschu. During the construction of the White Citadel, Gabranth was appointed one of its five Marquises, and so his power grew — as did his responsibility, and the investment of his efforts in this land. When the Jabberwock attacked Caer Glaem in February 2701, his attempts to battle the beast bore little fruit; though he should have counted himself fortunate to have escaped with little injury, he instead felt an unprecedented amount of shame that his strength was not enough to help bring the fiend down. If he couldn't best a monster like that, after all, what hope did he have of protecting his world from destruction? In the months following the monarchs' disappearance, Gabranth found his hands full in dealing with the growing anti-shardbearer movement. Even so, it was during this time that he came to learn of the Seelie court's true goal: to allow the Drabwurld, and thus all other worlds to be consumed by the Void, that they might one day be reborn. The seeming promise of rebirth was not enough to temper the realization that followed: by aiding the Seelie to victory, Gabranth was only participating in the assured destruction of his own world. This was a bitter pill to swallow, and one he could hardly believe until he traveled to Leathann in May 2702 — under the pretense of aiding the native population — to witness the encroaching Void for himself. Once he saw how real the danger was, he knew he could not let this stand. But he'd hardly have the time to dwell upon this new information before he would be tested yet again. Hardly a week passed before the White Citadel came under attack by a swarm of Dullahan and their Unseelie cohorts, and Gabranth met their assault with all the anger and bloodthirst he could muster. He slew a number of native Unseelie soldiers in the first few days of the battle, but as time wore on, his strength would only fail him once again. His defeat came at the hands of an Unseelie shardbearer, who gouged his right eye and left him for dead in the path of an oncoming Dullahan. Once again Gabranth had been lucky enough to escape death — and the loss of his shard — but he didn't feel as though fortune had smiled on him. To the contrary, the loss of his eye not only struck a significant blow to his skill in battle, but also left him with a permanent mark of his failure and weakness. He'd barely had the time to recover from his injury before the next blow came: a mysterious curse that turned patches of his flesh to silver, slowly spreading until surely the whole of him would be consumed. Like many other Seelies who'd been afflicted with the curse, he searched tirelessly for a cure...but as each of his efforts resulted only in failure, whatever was left of his hope and his pride began to ebb away. What was the point of persisting in this world when neither his strength nor his wits could avail him? What was the point of carrying on when it was surely a matter of time before this world claimed his life from him, or when his court's victory would lead to the destruction of his world, of all he had sought to protect? Nevertheless, Gabranth could only carry on; for all the hardship he had faced in his life thus far, he knew how to do nothing else. He was ultimately cured of his silver sickness, but a patch of silver yet remained over the hollow of his right eye. Not long after his recovery, the Black Shuck descended upon both courts to make his decree — that his banshees were dying, and the courts must suspend their war to lend them their aid. Gabranth felt no pressing concern for the banshees or their plight, but in the cease-fire, he saw an opportunity to travel with relative impunity through Unseelie territory, to familiarize himself with the land in case he might ever have need of his booned ring to travel there. To this end he was largely successful, and when he did finally take the time to find a banshee in need of help, he met with the Unseelie Inquisitor Lavellan. It was upon his return to the White Citadel that Gabranth learned of the Red Hand and the true nature of their goals, by way of a public message by John Grimm. Though as a Marquis he could hardly be seen promising aid to a band of mercenaries, he pledged them his service nevertheless, as he could find no other way to subvert the Seelie victory and ensure that Ivalice would not be lost. In the days that followed, however, his mission to preserve Ivalice became all the more important, as he returned to Caer Glaem to find that Larsa Solidor had been drawn into the Drabwurld. Perhaps he might have considered it a blessing that Larsa had been called to the Seelie cause, rather than taken by the Unseelie or ending up in any other part of the world, but to Gabranth, it was little comfort. The dangers of this world were vast, and Gabranth himself had only just begun to engage in activities that could very easily be called treason — and just how well could he protect his lord if he were to lose his shard, as he had come so close to losing it so many times before? Still, he took the time to warn Larsa of exactly what threats he might face as a Seelie shardbearer, and bade his fellow Marquis Hermione Granger to lend him her aid and protection. Gabranth could do little more than that without denying the young lord his freedom or undermining his ability. The Red Hand had begun to put their plans into motion, and for the good of all Ivalice, he could ill afford to overly concern himself with Larsa's safety. Tasked with scouting the Witch Moors and gathering what information he could, Gabranth found little more than agitated wildlife and natives fleeing the encroaching Void — and one defiant Unseelie shardbearer, evidently attempting to tame the local sea life. He reported back with his findings, and there was little more for him to do but bide his time, waiting for the Red Hand to take further action. Toward the end of September 2702, battle broke on the Cathraon, and great dwarven machinery joined the fray against Seelie and Unseelie alike...but, despite the Seelie call to arms, Gabranth was nowhere near the battlefield. The Red Hand had chosen that time to strike — to slip into Caer Glaem and Caer Scima and steal their massed shards, and then to work some arcane ritual upon them in one last gambit to drive back the Void — and Gabranth was to aid through deception, to take part in a false ritual to draw attention away from where the real work was being done. Though they were met with no small amount of opposition, the ruse succeeded, as did the true ritual. But the end result of all their effort would not fully come to light until some days later, when the Uaine Cridhe, the great Gem of Power itself, rose like a vast, glimmering green mountain over the Cathraon. It called to its shards, summoning them with an inexorable pull, and the shard still embedded in Gabranth's breast was no exception. Somewhere in the midst of his return to the White Citadel, before he set out for the Cathraon at last, Gabranth received word of his lord — that Larsa had vanished from this world, leaving his deactivated shard behind. But there was scarcely enough time to berate himself for his failure, and even if he had found the time, the painful pull of his shard — pulling him to the Uaine Cridhe, urging him to seek the heart of the Gem — left him unable to pin his focus on anything else. Like so many others at the Cathraon, whether shardbearers themselves or those who had captured a shard through other means, Gabranth battled his way through the tunnels into the great Gem itself. Once he was deep inside, however, he found himself in a startlingly familiar place: the Ridorana Cataract, staring up at the Pharos, the very place he had last found himself before being brought to the Drabwurld years ago. Though Gabranth hardly knew whether this was some manner of dream or illusion, the shard in his chest pulled him ever forward, guiding him on the true path until at last he reached the heart of the Gem. Here, at last, he made his final plea: "Let my efforts not rest in vain. Let Ivalice live... Let this world live, that all other worlds may yet prosper— Let Ivalice prosper." All of his effort and all of his sacrifice had led to this moment — and as he made his will known to the Uaine Cridhe, as every other shardbearer at the heart of the gem wished and chose their fate, the Drabwurld was engulfed with light, and the power of the Gem carried Gabranth to worlds unknown. assorted notes.}
COURT ALLIANCE.
Gabranth is allied with the court of the Seelie. While his position within his canon's overall narrative casts him in the light of the antagonist, and although he has committed a number of unspeakable deeds, his values of honor, order, and justice take precedence over nearly all else in his mind. It could be said that it was these values that drove him to commit those deeds in the first place, but they were also what drove him to do the right thing in the very end, ultimately bringing his character arc to redemption (or at least something like it). INVENTORY.
ooc contact.}
name. Valya
plurk. futuristics aim. grandSolovey time zone. EST/EDT 
code by wearestardust @ supersuits
|
