icarus rhapsody

basics

age: late 20s
gender: trans male (he/him)
race: hyur, midlander
height: 5'6"
nameday: 7th sun of the 4th astral moon ^{(july 7th)}
sexuality: gay (mostly)
birthplace: thavnair(?)
commonly found in: kugane, ishgard
occupation: dramaturge, steward of light
job/class: red mage

early life

at 5 years old, a young icarus came across the theater troupe preforming in radz-at-han. after the show, he hid away from his parents on purpose, then snuck aboard the troupe's airship, and demanded to stay. his parents were never found, so the husband and wife leaders of the troupe adopted him in their family of misfits. he started acting as soon as he was able to read lines, and enjoyed playing panto parts. he read every book in the troupe's library, and taught himself thaumaturgy and conjury at an early age. as a teenager, he often "microdosed" phials of fantasia for his own comfort and to play leading man characters easier. he traveled across the three great contients with the troupe, and they frequently docked in kugane in the off-season.

"steward of light"

one big difference in icarus's journey is that he is not the original warrior of light. that honor goes to minerva lightengale. her and icarus met in the troupe in childhood, and were paired off together for many roles. they got along exceptionally well, and trained in sword fighting together. minerva left for eorzea before the seventh umbral calamity, and was teleported back to the troupe when the calamity struck with mild memory loss. she went back to her life of acting and training, until five years later, when she suddenly left again to become a full time adventurer.

icarus participated in some of minerva's adventures in the seventh umbral era, below are the vague list of events:

icarus started accompanying minerva in tough trials beginning with the reemergence of ifrit, titan, and garuda. (bowl of embers hard, the navel hard, the howling eye hard) by this point, she was already eorzea's champion.
he helped her in the crystal tower series (labyrinth of the ancients, syrcus tower, world of darkness)
helped defeat leviathan (the whorleater hard)
ramuh (the striking tree hard)
shiva (the akh afah ampitheater hard)
assisted in defending the steps of faith (the steps of faith^*)
helped defeat odin (urth's fount)
ravana (thok ast thok hard)
bismarck (the limitless blue)
king thordan (the singularity reactor) (at this point, icarus is fully "what on earth have you gotten yourself into" and she goes "haha maybe you should adventure with me more often!" and so...)
comes along to saint mocianne's arboretum
the lost city of amdapor (hard)
helps defeat nidhogg (the final steps of fate)
gets an invite to explore the great gubal library (hard)

ishgard saga

so while minerva is in ishgard and doing heavensward things, the troupe moves over there (because they care about her), but icarus also gets involved with a dragoon named serafino, and they have a torrid love affair. he also reunites with a childhood crush angelus/amasar while in ishgard and those three go on their own adventures while minerva is doing the dragonsong war. this is largely oversimplifed as i don't feel like writing it out right now, but i'll get back to it later.

the gist of all of this is that icarus is a footnote in minerva's wol career, although she considers him a go to warrior to take with her during really dire moments. this will be important later!

in crimson it began

during the surprise attack on rhalgr's reach, minerva is gravely injured in the confrontation between her and zenos. she hangs on by a thread but names a successor: "go find icarus rhapsody in kugane...he will go in my stead". as she names this, icarus has a dream of a starshower and is granted the power of the echo. a few short days later, alphinaud, alisae, and lyse show up to his apartment in shirogane, asking for his assistance. he reluctantly agrees.

he assumes the duties of the warrior of light, freeing doma, and returns to gyr abania, expecting to see an injured minerva on the mend. unfortunately, she is on her deathbed, and expresses her wishes to carry on her legacy personally before she dies. through a trick of hydelean, he also absorbs part of her soul. this will ALSO be important later. and so the steward of light was born. from there on out, icarus carries through the story as is typical.

more later...

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