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Contract with the Void

In the years prior to his defection from the Garlean army, Rabrandt had heard the legends of assassins who formed contracts with the creatures of the void. They were a mainstay in bedtime stories and fairy tales meant to frighten young children. In exchange for power, they vowed to carve a bloody path, feeding their demonic, voidsent partners.

Like many among his fellow conscripts and enlistees, from nations subjugated by the empire, he dismissed them as nothing more than fantasy. It wasn’t until he met one such practitioner of the art, long after he had begun his new career as an adventurer in Eorzea, that he realized his error. Though, unlike the fearsome assassins he had read and heard about, this warrior dedicated herself solely to protecting her fellow Garlean refugees in a land otherwise foreign to them.

As one such refugee himself, fleeing the state of Garlemald after losing his homeland of Bozja, he couldn’t help but sympathize with their plight. In that moment of mutual understanding, they made a pact of their own. In exchange for his help, she would teach him the blasphemous arts that kept her own people safe from harm.

Fearsome and bloody though the art may be, it is ultimately up to the wielder to decide what mark that power will make upon the world. As a worldly man, experienced in numerous disciplines, he knew this better than anyone.

Thus, on this day, he took up the scythe, and a new Reaper was born.

Among the greatest techniques of the Garlean Reaper is the most dangerous one: The ability of the practitioner to temporarily merge body and soul with their voidsent partner, and unleash their full, combined powers on their adversary.

It is an art that requires the highest degree of both trust in their avatar and self-control, as the practitioner runs the risk of their own avatar running rampant with their body, gleefully feasting on the harvested souls. And yet, it is impossible to truly tap into the power of the Reaper without taking on this Enshrouded form.

Despite the risks, this power can safeguard the innocent and the vulnerable. When lives were on the line, it was always said that Rabrandt fought “like a man possessed”.

Now, perhaps there’s more truth to that claim than many who make it realize.

As some who loves playing Reaper in Final Fantasy XIV, when I saw this YCH from LittleBadWolf in February of 2024, I had to have it because it was perfect for the class.

It was fun to weave in Rabrandt’s backstory with the Reaper quest line, because it fit so well.