Yvelont Greystone is the bastard son of Ursielle Tourcenet β a well-known and independent courtesan of Ishgard β and Baron Dacien de Aubaints. He was raised by his mother after his father refused to claim him as an heir, however this all changed when rumours of witchcraft began circulating Ishgardian high society about Ursielle and her relative power and influence. Unwilling to have blood of his House associated with a woman whose name could one day be mired in the worst kind of scandal, Dacien forcibly removed Yvelont from his mother and installed him at the Aubaints estate. He was not to speak of his mother (to whom the family referred as "that whore witch" in an attempt to distance themselves from her further) and was regularly reminded that he was no trueborn heir but rather a burden on the family coffers. Of all his relatives, it was his half-cousin Baptistaux who took that charge most seriously. Yvelont's beatings at his hand were frequent, brutal, and largely ignored by the rest of the family, and as they grew older he would regularly slander his mother by making up salacious lies about having paid to bed and beat her multiple times. His poor treatment only worsened as it became apparent that he both had a natural affinity for thaumatury and there was something "wrong" with him β an affliction he is yet to learn is manifestation of Hydaelyn's Echo. It gave him the ability to sense the weaknesses in a personβs aether, which the family chose to believe was proof of his mother's dabbling in heretical arts. Unwilling to take their suspicions further for fear of guilt by association, Dacien ordered further restrictions on Yvelont's communication with Ursielle β letter-writing, their only form of correspondence, was forbidden β and the majority of his personal belongings were removed from his room so that he wouldn't be able to "practice foul arts" in his own time. This was especially devastating to him as his life's dream had long been to escape Ishgard by means of acceptance into the ranks of the Sharlayan scholars in the North β a place where he could research his magicks freely and contribute to the history of the Black Mages. Instead, he was pushed even further into State-sanctioned tutoring and worship of Halone, and began to despise the goddess he so feared as a cold, unyielding replacement for his mother. Yvelont had barely turned twenty-one when, under the ink-dark veil of night, he smuggled himself out of Ishgard. Desperate to leave the city behind so that he might find a way to grow stronger, burn down his family tree, and return to take his mother with him to Sharlayan, Yvelont saved every coin he could until he was able to make a break for the city gates in the back of a merchant's cart. He was battered and bruised by the time he made it to Gridania, which is where he first heard tell of the Thaumaturge's Guild in Ul'dah β the jewel in the desert that would become his current journey's end. It took him weeks of working, travelling, and saving his gil before he finally made it to the city, where he shed the name Yvelont Greystone and took his mother's surname to become Yves Tourcenet. Tired, dirty, and with barely a handful of gil to his name, Yves headed directly to the Thaumaturge's Guild and committed himself to the path of the darker arts. It was there that he met a Miqo'te woman by the name of V'lantaa Rhios: a fellow Thaumaturge who eventually grew interested in the quiet, cagey young man who seemed to have nothing more than his studies to hold on to. Impressed by his level of education and commitment to the arcane arts she offered him a job with her: he would join her at Thal's Lockbox, Purveyors of Finest Curios and Antiquities, where he could earn a living for himself in minding the shop in her absence while continuing his studies. Yves was wary of the at first but he was desperately low on coin, and so he accepted her offer after a few long days of careful consideration. Their partnership would turn out to be a hugely stabilising moment in his life. For the first time since he left his mother Yves felt that he truly had a friend; it took several summers for him to consider her such, of course, however as the years passed their relationship only strengthened into the bond of a brother and sister. Yves took on further responsibilities at Thal's Lockbox β was given an office of his own for his own research β where he was finally able to pursue his hobbies and indulge his forbidden dream of becoming a Black Mage learned enough to move his life to Sharlayan. With V'lantaa heading the business and Yves focusing on research the Lockbox began to truly flourish, and his expertise as an antiquarian, historian, and treasure hunter would come to be requested all over Eorzea.
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