Born: 30 August 1885 E-10
Heritage: Tritaran/Herrenic/Miiredian, Shade
Origins: The last thing Finlay Heran wanted was to take his mother’s place. He grew up knowing he would have to, but he always imagines it being a joint decision, a rite of passage. Instead, his mother, Syne, abdicates the Talkian throne and leaves him the crowns when he turns twenty-one, then disappears into the unknown. He’s left untrained and utterly unprepared to be Arv’hein. His mothers former council members either pity him or loathe him. He has no one to turn to, and very few people he can trust. He’s terrified.
Then a scruffy Aetherian crash-lands practically in his backyard while chasing some kind of beast from void-hell. And, what do you know, it’s the new Emperor of Aetheria, actually trying to… fix their own mess. And apparently they don’t know anything either.
And he starts to feel a little less alone.
Fun Facts:
- Prefers plants, Hellhounds, and his giant “pet” Wyvern to most people. Is a social butterfly nonetheless.
- Faces a lot of backlash after being outed publicly during his boarding school days, and that followed him for years afterward. Became a staunch (and very vocal) public ally for the trans healthcare process in Tartarus, and for the trans community in general.
- This concept exists in an entirely different context than it does for us here in the real world. Tartarus does not adhere to very strict gender binary practices, socially or otherwise, and their understanding of gender and sexuality as spectrums of experience is vastly broader and different than ours. So when I say “Fin Heran is a trans advocate,” it’s less like he’s demanding civil rights and the right to be treated like a person, and more like he’s spending his time advocating for transparent healthcare, updated research and practices, more financial aid for transition services on a local and state level… etc.
- The “backlash” Fin faces isn’t the same kind of transphobia many of us face in real life. It’s subtler, and isn’t backed by cruel intentions or dehumanizing beliefs. It’s still prejudice, but especially for him as an individual: the public digs its claws into him for transitioning because he was his mother’s only (surviving) daughter, and his parents had laid very specific groundwork for his life path a a child, before any of them knew he was a boy. (TL;DR it’s class-related, socio-political bullshit with echoes of real-world transphobia.)
- Struggled to manage his temper (and, therefore, his magic) for many years, and only started to get a handle on it after the Tartarun Civil War. While his anger usually came from a place of good intentions (i.e. it was often the result of people treating him or others poorly, or directly connected to outdated politics/system operation/governing styles from his Mom’s era), it made him a lot of enemies early on in his reign.
- The older he gets, the better his is received throughout Tartarus (he wouldn’t be elected as head of Nedir Al’verde (the Northern Tartarus Coaltion, which isn’t really “northern” by 2047, if he wasn’t
- Is an excellent fighter, and has spent most of his life up until his coronation training to become a career soldier. By 2047, he has trained in several regional, traditional Tartarun, and interdimensional fighting forms. He’s a very advanced and adept fighter, on and off the battlefield.
- Develops an aversion to most plasma-firing weapons and lead-firing guns after the War of Worlds due to manufacturing issues (caused by the Angel Coalition/Phantasma). By 2047, he will occasionally use plasma blasters from one maker only: the Lycanthra Syndicate (see my other projects).
- Falls in love hard and fast.
- See the reference sheet above for more!
- (Like with Ev, this is 2047 Fin. He goes through a lot in the series too, including some body weight changes. He starts out as a skinny-ass punk.)
Finlay Heran is a hotheaded, quick-thinking underdog who not only got off on the wrong foot when he suddenly became Arv’hein of Talki, but was also given a shit hand at life (caveat: being a literal prince). Fin wasn’t supposed to be born. The last child of Syne Heran and Viridian Eagriss, two scions of a bygone Era of Tartarun and Shade cooperation, he wasn’t planned for nor was he wanted outside of his parents’ home. His tutors didn’t know what to do with him. His aging external family members resented him. He was glad when he reached the age at which he could go to boarding school and try to become something normal.
Then, of course, he experienced the wrong puberty, and had to do his first major course correction on his own.
Despite his heritage (being the son of the last Tritaran Empress and one of three surviving Shade royals), Fin’s history and persona is entirely self-made. His parents were preoccupied with settling a former Tartarun Empire during his childhood, and so he raised hismself – with the help of a few watchful Trivaalian friends who not-so-subtly helped him along.
The last thing he needs, really, is to become friends with the goddamn Emperor of Aetheria less than a year after his own messy coronation. He doesn’t need to become more of an outcast than he already is.
… but who is he to turn down another peculiar, weirdly magical friend?
