[OOC: Cloud's History]
Born twenty-four years ago in the city of Tulgim, young Cloud often lamented being raised in such a simple, backwater town. Mining was all the city knew, and those who lived around him seemed to be fated to do nothing more than trudge endlessly under the earth, covered and soil and doomed to never know anything beyond the suffocating walls of earth and stone. He simply couldn't accept this, that his life would be the same as their meaningless and unappreciated, their backbreaking labor never even recognized by those living in the bigger, more developed cities. Instead, Cloud turned to the proud tradition of Ivona's military; it was there, he hoped that he could rise up in the ranks, striving for greatness, and one-day glances back upon his family and friends in Tulgim and see the pride in their eyes. To them, though, he was a fool. His head was in the clouds, they said, instead of being in the earth like the rest of them. One day, though, he was simply not there when the morning arrived. At the age of thirteen, he left before the sun came up that day; he wouldn't have to listen to their taunting any longer.
Perhaps it is for the best, then, that Cloud cannot remember this portion of his life. He has no recollection of his family, nor any idea why he had left home to pursue a military career. Tulgim has a strange fondness in his heart, but he simply cannot explain why. Only small remnants of his past remain, hidden away in the corners of his mind.
Cloud did enlist in the military, as he intended, and his skill was admirable. He knew the value of hard work, and diligently applied himself in everything he could, to learn and to gain new, valuable skills. He demonstrated an immense ability for engineering and blacksmithing, even developing a new method for forging metal far denser and lighter than normal. No slouch in combat either, Cloud excelled in his training and widely recognized for his skill. His aspirations of rising to a position of admiration was never achieved, though; corruption had been rampant in Ivona's forces long before his arrival, and it was impossibly rare for anyone other than sycophants or those with rich and influential families to move upward, no matter how much talent he displayed.
Instead, Cloud endured the life of a soldier. Twenty years old and fighting valiantly, he had also gained the ill-will of those he had competed against for higher rank, and as such, was often drafted into fighting lost cause battles, ones with drastic odds against survival. Cloud was highly-trained and confident, yet it was a miracle that he had survived many of the missions assigned to him during this period of his life.
Was it the same luck that kept him alive during a battle with a rogue group of warriors from the Badlands? Cloud's regiment had been assigned to drive off an ambitious warlord that had been bringing down trade vessels in recent weeks, and the operation was supposed to have been quick and clean; the enemy was well-armed, but disorganized, and a large combat division should have easily been enough to dispatch them. Cloud was well into the center of the fray, locking swords with the enemy when, without warning, a massive current of energy detonated from just nearby, rippling across the field like a crippling wave. It had been the decision of a small but powerful think-tank in Ivona's military elite to use this battle as a test for a new type of weapon, a 'Mana Bomb', and Cloud had been standing directly next to the focus of the blast when detonated. A few 'friendly fire' casualties were a small price to pay for the advancement of the nation's power, they reasoned.
Life became a haze from that day forward, nothing but jagged fragments of tortured consciousness. Brought back from the battlefield barely alive, he and many other soldiers clinging to life were then pronounced as dead on record, yet kept in secret to be used as test subjects to research the effects of such dangerous levels of mana exposure. Through every waking day, Cloud was poked and prodded, his body constantly flooded with mana to the point of sickness. It felt as if his essence was being drowned in it, filling his lungs and choking him without mercy. His vision was constantly blurred, his stomach always heaving, his muscles constantly in searing pain. His mind shattered from constant disorientation and over stimulation, only to slowly attempt a repair before being smashed apart once again. Massive portions of his life simply disappeared into the pain, leaving him without any concept of time. The mana's effects made him stronger, though, forging his body and sharpening his mind like a whetting stone; again, he was lucky, as nearly his entire fellow test subjects died because of the exposure, rather than becoming strengthened by the ordeal.
It is because Cloud's memories remain in a fog to this point that he cannot remember how he managed to leave the testing facility and begin a life as a drifter. Gifted with the abilities granted to him during his unwilling captivity, he simply began to wander, using his strengths and skills to garner odd jobs from time to time before moving off into the distance once again. Cloud never stayed in one place for more than two weeks at a time. Though he had no real memory of his past life, he had no real desire to know where he came from; what he truly sought instead was one individual, a single soul that, through the haze of his amnesia, Cloud could swear was the one that saved him from dying alone in that gruesome laboratory.
Perhaps it is for the best, then, that Cloud cannot remember this portion of his life. He has no recollection of his family, nor any idea why he had left home to pursue a military career. Tulgim has a strange fondness in his heart, but he simply cannot explain why. Only small remnants of his past remain, hidden away in the corners of his mind.
Cloud did enlist in the military, as he intended, and his skill was admirable. He knew the value of hard work, and diligently applied himself in everything he could, to learn and to gain new, valuable skills. He demonstrated an immense ability for engineering and blacksmithing, even developing a new method for forging metal far denser and lighter than normal. No slouch in combat either, Cloud excelled in his training and widely recognized for his skill. His aspirations of rising to a position of admiration was never achieved, though; corruption had been rampant in Ivona's forces long before his arrival, and it was impossibly rare for anyone other than sycophants or those with rich and influential families to move upward, no matter how much talent he displayed.
Instead, Cloud endured the life of a soldier. Twenty years old and fighting valiantly, he had also gained the ill-will of those he had competed against for higher rank, and as such, was often drafted into fighting lost cause battles, ones with drastic odds against survival. Cloud was highly-trained and confident, yet it was a miracle that he had survived many of the missions assigned to him during this period of his life.
Was it the same luck that kept him alive during a battle with a rogue group of warriors from the Badlands? Cloud's regiment had been assigned to drive off an ambitious warlord that had been bringing down trade vessels in recent weeks, and the operation was supposed to have been quick and clean; the enemy was well-armed, but disorganized, and a large combat division should have easily been enough to dispatch them. Cloud was well into the center of the fray, locking swords with the enemy when, without warning, a massive current of energy detonated from just nearby, rippling across the field like a crippling wave. It had been the decision of a small but powerful think-tank in Ivona's military elite to use this battle as a test for a new type of weapon, a 'Mana Bomb', and Cloud had been standing directly next to the focus of the blast when detonated. A few 'friendly fire' casualties were a small price to pay for the advancement of the nation's power, they reasoned.
Life became a haze from that day forward, nothing but jagged fragments of tortured consciousness. Brought back from the battlefield barely alive, he and many other soldiers clinging to life were then pronounced as dead on record, yet kept in secret to be used as test subjects to research the effects of such dangerous levels of mana exposure. Through every waking day, Cloud was poked and prodded, his body constantly flooded with mana to the point of sickness. It felt as if his essence was being drowned in it, filling his lungs and choking him without mercy. His vision was constantly blurred, his stomach always heaving, his muscles constantly in searing pain. His mind shattered from constant disorientation and over stimulation, only to slowly attempt a repair before being smashed apart once again. Massive portions of his life simply disappeared into the pain, leaving him without any concept of time. The mana's effects made him stronger, though, forging his body and sharpening his mind like a whetting stone; again, he was lucky, as nearly his entire fellow test subjects died because of the exposure, rather than becoming strengthened by the ordeal.
It is because Cloud's memories remain in a fog to this point that he cannot remember how he managed to leave the testing facility and begin a life as a drifter. Gifted with the abilities granted to him during his unwilling captivity, he simply began to wander, using his strengths and skills to garner odd jobs from time to time before moving off into the distance once again. Cloud never stayed in one place for more than two weeks at a time. Though he had no real memory of his past life, he had no real desire to know where he came from; what he truly sought instead was one individual, a single soul that, through the haze of his amnesia, Cloud could swear was the one that saved him from dying alone in that gruesome laboratory.