The Emberstorm
Mina Angura
As Told by Garron "Stonejaw" Thorne
Intro from “Gods of the Pit: An Oral History of the Bloodsands (1582 Edition)”Mina Angura was one of the most dominant bare-knuckle fighters the Bloodsands ever saw. Fifty-seven wins — twenty-seven by knockout, seven sanctioned kills in deathmatches. Two losses on paper, though neither by another fighter’s hand. One was a ref stoppage. The other? She walked out mid-fight to put down some trouble in the stands. Call them what you want, but she was never outmatched, never tapped, never pinned, and never knocked out. Mina only ever lost interest.She was forged in the frozen wastes of northeast Othard, where the land tries to kill you long before you learn to stand. She lost a wife to the war there, lived through the Calamity besides, and by the time she entered the pit she was already tempered harder than most men ever leave it.She fought with a craftsman’s precision and a storm’s fury — no weapons, no gimmicks, just hands and hell. She didn’t need words. The silence was warning enough, and the Emberstorm was the answer.Now the pit is behind her. Mina tends her own bar in the Goblet, lends her hands and head to Cyrelle and her friends when the work turns mechanical, and hunts the kind of beasts that would tear through villages if left unchecked.Some claim the Emberstorm guttered out, leaving behind only the Ashen Crown. I don’t buy it. That fire still burns — steadier now, like a hearth in the cold, but no less fierce.The Ashen Queen may have set aside her crown, yet Mina Angura’s legacy endures: a wildfire that wouldn't be caged. A fighter who found something worth guarding with the same fire she once unleashed. A story still being written...
At A Glance
AGE: Actual: 33 (Unknown to her) - Legal: 31
NAMEDAY: Actual: 7th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon (Unknown to her)
Legal: 24th Sun of the 6th Astral MoonGUARDIAN: Thaliak, the Scholar
RACE: Au Ra, Xaela
GENDER: Cis female
PRONOUNS: She/Her
SEXUALITY: Omnisexual with a strong sapphic preference
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Semi-open triad marriage with Cyrelle Angura and Maeve Colgan; Dating Argilenne Terrechant
CURRENT OCCUPATIONS:
Ember & Ivy: Owner, Head Chef, and Bartender
The Botanist's Cottage: Server
Workshop Assistant, Logistician: Void Bonfire FC
CEO: Emberbough SolutionsBLOODSANDS RECORD: 57 Wins (27 Knockouts, 7 Deathmatch Kills), 2 Losses (2 TKOs)
AMATEUR RECORD: 7 Wins (4 Knockouts), 5 Losses
ALIGNMENT: Rebel Good
CANON JOBS: Reaper, Sage, Fisher, Omnicrafter, Pugilist (former)
LANGUAGES:
Fluent: Doman, Hingan, Eorzean
Conversational: Auri
Basic: Ala MhiganHOMETOWN: Tribe Angura Nomadic Caravan, The Blindfrost, Othard
CURRENT HOME: Alstroemeria, Goblet, W18 P6 [Lamia]
Fun Facts
Mina doesn’t touch coffee. Instead, she brews an ultra-strong blend of gunpowder tea, a bitter caravan staple she grew up with. She is also partial to a spiced cinnamon whiskey from a small distillery in Coerthas. She keeps a personal reserve of each at all venues owned by her friends.
Tribe Angura has no concept of marriage, monogamy, or gender roles. Mina didn’t encounter any of those ideas until she left the Blindfrost.
Tribe Angura wouldn’t understand her tattoos or navel piercing - body modification, to them, is an unnecessary indulgence. They’d understand the story behind them, but question why she chose that medium to tell it.
Mina hates both closed-toe shoes and heels, and avoids them both whenever possible. Ironically, one of her favorite pairs of shoes for dates are close-toe heels.
Mina's natural aether is fire-aspected, but she only has enough aetherial affinity to control her nouliths. While she can use them with the void powers her pact with Ashen gives her access to, they lose all healing function, defeating the whole reason she learned the skill.
Mina's noulith techniques draw from ambient aether instead of her own limited reserves - great for her personal circumstances, useless in places like the Burn or the Blindfrost without ambient aether.
Mina does not wield a scythe like most reapers, finding them awkward and unwieldy to use. Instead, she uses twin blades, and fights with techniques that are more akin to the martial style of the Turali vipers, finding it a more natural transition from her barehanded fighting style (and Meta: because while I enjoy the class fantasy and imagery of RPR I HATE playing the class.)
Mina is a devoted Songbirds fan. Cyrelle claims she’s seen them live far too many times. She disagrees.
Her “Emberstorm” nickname was coined by Garron “Stonejaw” Thorne, calling out her blazing eyes and force-of-nature style in the ring.
Despite Hamon Holyfist training bare-knuckle fighters just down the road from the Bloodsands, he and Mina have never met.
Mina has only a passing knowledge of the Dancer’s martial style - despite (Meta) it being my preferred raiding job as well as the job tied to most of Mina's default RP gearset.
Meta: Mina’s ring presence channels a toned-down Asuka - less theatrics, same intensity. Her fighting style blends Asuka’s stiff strikes and Kota Ibushi’s daring high-flying maneuvers, grounded by Makunouchi Ippo’s work ethic and a foundation of Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Meta: Balancing Mina's femininity with her love of martial arts and fighting draws inspiration from Satonaka Chie. Her outlook on life is shaped by many influences, most notably Uncle Iroh’s proverbs and Casca’s unyielding resolve. Her obsession with catching every fish? Jeremy Wade.
Meta: Mina lives on two servers. Lamia [Primal] is her home, where most of her adventures - both in and out of character - take place. She also pops up on Cerberus [Chaos] for NA off-hour RP and EU jump puzzles. Someday she might make an appearance on a JP data center, for jump puzzles and Japanese practice, but there’s no rush.
Timeline
META INFORMATION DISCLAIMER: This timeline is presented for context and continuity, but much of this information isn't something Mina would know or be able to recall accurately. Due to Tribe Angura’s lack of written records and the impact of trauma, her understanding of her past is fragmented and unreliable. While the events here are canon, Mina wouldn’t remember them this way — her narration would be inconsistent, incomplete, or emotionally distorted. This is for the curiosity of the audience and my own records — not Mina.
Before Calamity
Birth to 1572
7th Sun, 6th Umbral Moon, 1549 of the Sixth Astral Era (23 Before Calamity): Minatsuki is born to Takayuki and Satsuki of Tribe Angura during a harsh winter in the Blindfrost.
1567: Mina leave the Blindfrost on a trade route as part of a tribal rite, terminating in Stillwater, the home of Tribe Orben. She stays behind to hone her tradecraft, and falls in love with Saya, a river fisher. She grows attached to their river-based life and Saya's dream of fishing the world.
1568: With Garlean forces encroaching, Saya's family pressures the couple to marry. Though new to the concept, Mina agrees, wanting to stay by Saya’s side. Tribe Orben connects with the Doman Liberation Front.
1569: Determined to make a difference, Saya leaves to join the resistance efforts. Mina, uneasy but supportive, remains behind.
1570: Saya’s team vanishes during an ambush. Grieving, Mina leaves Tribe Orben with a passing trade caravan, drifting across Othard as a laborer and low-level fighter, numbing herself through combat.
1571: Mina joins the sailing crew of retired bodyguard Ogiwara "Kenzo" Jinzen, who also helps her hone her fighting skills as they trade their way towards Eorzea, arriving on the 24th Sun of the 6th Astral Moon. With no documentation or knowledge of much beyond her name when questioned at immigration, that date becomes her legal nameday, and her age a rough estimation. A chance encounter over a shared lunch with a kindhearted engineer leaves a lasting impression.
1572 (The Calamity): While traveling to Ul’dah to enter the Bloodsands, Mina and Kenzo witness the Calamity from afar. In her debut match, she discards her weapons mid-fight and overwhelms her opponent bare-handed. Though officially ruled a TKO due to her unstable mental state, her ferocity earns early praise from analyst Garron “Stonejaw” Thorne.
The Emberstorm
1573 - 1576
1573: Mina quickly makes a reputation for herself in the Bloodsands. She and Kenzo move their training camp to La Noscea, where she again finds Cyrelle, the kind engineer who continues to offer her friendship despite Mina's indifference. She continues her swift ascension through the Bloodsands ranks, when she catches the attention of veteran fighter Cagen Vorrick, whose intentions are far less kind.
1574: Kenzo returns to the sea as the demand for trade resusumes, leaving Mina to fend for herself in the arena. She throws herself harder than ever into her fights, having little else to strive for. The gap between Cyrelle and Mina continues to close. By the close of the year, she is beginning to break into mid-card bouts.
1575: Mina begins receiving team offers, but turns them all down, preferring the solitude of her current regimen. Cyrelle begins to regularly attend her fights, and eventually steps in as her "coach". Mina doesn't protest, her feelings for the Viera becoming muddy.
1576: Varrak Stonefist challenges Mina to her first deathmatch, which she emerges victorious from in brutal fashion. What stands out to her, though, is not the victory, but the look of horror on Cyrelle's face upon seeing the blood-soaked Au Ra relish in the violence of the moment. Cyrelle begins to stay over before and after fights, under the guise of helping her prepare and recover. Mina, secretly pleased, begins looking forward to these visits.
1577: Now reaching the top of the card, Mina's name starts emerging into whispers for title matches. She continues her dominant streak in deathmatches - the last against Cagen Vorrick, whose death is administered with a malice yet unseen from her, going so far as to later destroy his grave and plant a tree there instead. The crowd dubs her "The Ashen Queen," a title fitting for one who burns everything in her path. During Starlight Celebration festivities with Cyrelle, Mina starts to finally understand her feelings for the woman, and invites her to huddle beneath the blankets "for warmth." No other words are exchanged that night: their actions say everything they're both feeling, and the pair fall asleep in each other's arms late in the night.
1578: On the day of Mina's 50th match - an anticipated rematch with her rival and friend Lyana Glacefall, drunks harassing Cyrelle in the stand draw the ire of the Aura, who abandons the match and brutally attacks the men. The match is ruled a TKO. After a tense evening, Cyrelle lashes out: she's cannot continue this 'relationship' if they can't even agree on what it is. Mina, too dumbfounded to reply, kisses her in a way that says everything words can't. The next time Cyrelle comes to arrive, her belongings are in tow.
The Ashen Queen
1579 - Current
1579: The pair begin working through their past traumas side by side. Mina's Bloodsands career comes to a close, no longer feeling the need to fight as she had been. With a portion of her fight winnings, she commissions a fishing boat (by coincidence, from the drydock Cyrelle was helping design when they first met). On the anniversary of their first kiss, the pair marry under the customs of their people: a promise spoken for only two to hear.
1580: The wives discover an abandoned whittret kit on the Limsan docks, and adopt him, dubbing him Bandit for his tendency to run off with things he likes. Mina takes delivery of her fishing boat, the Ember Wake, and begins to fulfill Saya's dream of fishing the world, publishing her catches and findings independently in a series she calls Coastlines & Currents, intended to be a resource for hobby anglers like herself. Her work catches the attention of the Sharlayan Studium, who contract her to assist with marine biology research.
1581: Upon learning Cyrelle cannot name Mina her legal next-of-kin due to their marriage not being legally binding, the pair marry a second time, under western custom, at the insistence of their friends. The chaos of the Final Days leaves the wives physically unharmed, but mentally rattled. Mina begins to study the usage of nouliths at the Studium, to better protect those she cares about, despite lacking an affinity for aether.
1582: Mina's contract with the Studium ends with the completion of her study of Vylbrand and Eorzea, and joins Cyrelle in focusing on restoration efforts across the East. As the pair make new friends and acquaintances, they join into a Free Company of similar goals, the Void Bonfire, many of whose members become a chosen family for the pair. Their own efforts are incorporated under the name Emberbough Solutions, with which they open a tavern, Ember & Ivy, to act as both refuge and an outreach effort. She and Cyrelle also add a third person to their marriage, Maeve Colgan, a mutual friend stranded far from home whose gentle demeanor enamors the wives.
IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIPS
Cyrelle Angura (Wife): A civil engineer who had once cheered Mina on from the sidelines, Cyrelle was among the first in Eorzea to truly see the woman beneath. Her quiet, steadfast presence slowly broke through the walls Mina had built in her grief. What began as an unrequited crush became more during Starlight Celebration in 1577, though Mina was unable to put words to those feelings until the following year. The pair have built a life together on a foundation of patience, resilience, and unquestionable devotion to the other.
Alstroemeria Trio (Triad Marriage): Three hearts beating in unison, the Trio have built a home defined by the joys they share, believing that their union is as strong as the sum of its parts. The bond they share is forged in a mutual joy. Days are full of little moments and shared routines, leading to countless reminders that love shines the brightest when shared.
K’tora Terrene (Adopted Sister): A young Miqo'te trainee of the Conjurer's Guild, K'tora and Mina got off on the wrong foot early on, with a series of misunderstandings culminating in injuring Mina during a sparring session. Determined to make amends, K'tora worked relentlessly on her craft and on helping Mina whenever possible. When the youngster almost lost her life tracking one of Mina's targets, the depth of her loyalty and courage were proven, and the hatchet buried. Since then, they consider each other sisters - complete with all the teasing, bickering, and occasional blows that come between siblings.
Lotus Dawnflower (Friend, Ex): A mischievous Tiefling who Mina and Cyrelle had dated for a while. Casual flirtation quickly moved into something more, and the trio enjoyed many happy months together. However, Lotus ended the relationship to leave the Source, returning home to resolve conflict. Time passed cruelly: over two years for Lotus, mere days for the Anguras. While they are all still friends, Mina still occasionally finds herself grieving what could have been.
Takayuki and Satsuki of Tribe Angura (Parents): Takayuki and Satsuki raised Mina among Tribe Angura in the frozen reaches beyond the Arras, where the cold shapes everything, and tradition is held close. Takayuki, a traveling trader, came and went with the tides and stars, his presence and absence both shaping Mina’s early dreams of the wider world. Satsuki, a leatherworker and oral historian, believed in precision, patience, and the weight of a well-told truth. They taught discipline, restraint, and quiet strength - values Mina didn’t always take to, but never fully left behind either. Though her path has been louder, sharper, and more scorched than they might have hoped, she carries their love in everything she does. Word from a fellow tribesman brought rare relief: they live, and wait, far beyond the frost.
Bandit (Fur Baby): An abandoned whittret kit the wives rescued from the Limsa Lominsan docks, so named for his tendency to nick anything that catches his interest. He is fiercely protective of every member of the Alstroemeria household, but he is most closely bonded to Mina.
Maeve Colgan (Wife): A Viera trader specializing in homing rare and exotic creatures, Maeve crossed paths with the Anguras through coincidence. When her illness left her stranded far from home, the wives opened their doors until she was able to make it home. Their simple act of kindness turned into a deeper affection, then a whirlwind romance resulting in her joining the Anguras's union. Maeve's warmth and quick wit is a welcome addition to the household, grounding it in a gentle steadiness that feels like it always belonged.
Artemis Fauconol (Friend): A former Warder of the Golmore Wood, the pair bonded over shared struggles in many aspects of their lives, finding common ground in their pragmatic approach. They share an easy friendship. In combat, the two are almost unstoppable, thanks to their complementary styles. Artemis is one of the few people Mina will turn to with her problems, knowing he will listen without judgement.
Kettle Avington (Friend): An Au Ra performer, Kettle quickly enamored Mina with her wit and charm. The pair explored the possibility of something more between them for a spell, but a romance never blossomed, instead settling into a close-knit friendship filled with laughter, understanding, and a closeness that continues to blur the lines. Whenever Mina needs to blow off steam or talk about relationship struggles, Kettle is almost always the first person to mind.
Argilenne Terrechant (Girlfriend): A fellow Xaela with a severed tie to her tribe, Mina and Argie found common ground quickly. Their shared outlooks, humor, and survivor's guilt bonded the two closely, eventually gently testing the waters of a romance. Their relationship has deepened since, and while originally their agreement was of a casual nature, believing themselves too similar to flourish with anything more serious, that hasn't stopped the two from becoming much closer than that.
Lyana Terrechant née Glacefall (Friend): A Hyur Paladin of the Sultansworn, the pair started the Bloodsands careers on around the same time. Their shared experience as women in the arena lead to a fast friendship as they trained, bled, and climbed their way up the cards together. The pair have fought twice, with their record standing at 1-1. While the pair don't cross paths often, when they do, it's as though no time has passed at all for them.
Ashen Fall (Friend, Voidsent Avatar): A Shaaloani Miqo'te turned Voidsent, Mina first noticed Ashen when she began regularly attending fight nights hosted at his bar, The Ashfall. The two formed a strong partnership, with Mina relying on him to guide her through several delicate situations. When she sought to strengthen herself further, he made her the usual Voidsent pact: a fraction of his power for a fraction of her aether. Despite their arrangement, the pair remain good friends.
Cantenjoy "Joy" Uvarjoten (Friend): At first glance, Joy seems like any other Roegadyn woman - but Mina suspects her royal lineage ties her to a people far closer to gigants. She and Cyrelle took the younger woman under their wing as they grew close, slipping naturally into the role of meddling aunts in her life. In the ring, Joy and Mina share a fierce yet good-natured rivalry; the Twilight Giant’s otherworldly strength stands toe-to-toe with the Emberstorm’s experience, making their clashes a favorite spectacle at the Ashfall’s fight nights.
Saya pyr Orben (Ex-Wife, Separated): Mina met Saya just before the Garlean subjugation of Othard, part of a Tribe Angura trade caravan from beyond the frozen north. Falling quickly in love, they married within months as tensions rose. Saya taught Mina to fish - sparking a lifelong passion. In 1570, Saya disappeared on a Doman Liberation Front mission, presumed dead. This loss plunged Mina into deep grief. Recently, Mina learned Saya is alive, now a Garlean defector out to dismantle any loyal to the fallen empire. The details of her survival and what it it means to Mina is still unclear, stirring old wounds and new questions - especially having crossed paths while both women were seeking to eliminate the Shadow Index for their own ends.
HOOKS
The Emberstorm Legacy: Mina is a retired Bloodsands fighter whose name is forever etched in those halls, and considered a living legend by many. With a record few can match, her ferocious reputation precedes her among fighter. While her appearance and demeanor have softened with age, she can still go pound for pound with the best fighters, and her name still carries weight among those familiar with the arena.
Whispers of the Tides: Mina is a frequent visitor at many popular fishing spots around the star, and wrote a well-regarded series of fishing guidebooks intended for hobby anglers (Coastlines & Currents). She has also published researched with the Studium regarding marine biology and related sustainability practices, making her one of the rare voices commanding respect of both the common folk and the world of academia.
Emberstorm’s Hearth: Mina's demeanor is one of warmth. Calm and soothing, she transforms any venue she works at into a place of belonging for everyone.