Qasim Abd al Daiya
The Heartmason

Psalm 24 of Faram's Path:
Glory to he who walks in Faram's light and does not neglect thine own shadow. For shadows cast by the light of his heart are not a sin, but where the weight of fears is unmade by the road of Broken Glass.

About Qasim

A young jack with an enduring heart and sharp temper. A hero in Bandit's clothing.

Man of Faith: Season of Blooming

Qasim worships the Dalmascan god of Light, Faram, and his shadow by expressing Seasons of Blooming and Seasons of Relfection.

OOC Boundaries

Short version: Character is 18. Be nice. Be respectful.

RP Hooks
Blitzball: He will talk about blitzball all day if you let him.Dalmascan: He has a noticeable Dalmascan accent and will often help other Dalmascans.Qasim has something other than an Echo that acts like a special power! It has yet to be discovered IC

About Qasim

Disclaimer: This character is not made to Represent you or your real world culture regardless of what you feel. I don't owe you 'ethnic purity' in a multicultural character. Your feelings are not my job and cultural representation involves multiculturalism. Cry mad.
Qasim: Generous one, one who shares his goods with his people
Abd al Daiya: one who worships light (this changes based on dialect)
Age: 18
Sexuality: Men
Sounds like : Amir El-MasryThe Poor and looked down upon call him Resilient. Gentle. Enduring. Kind. Romantic. Imperfect. Funny. Loyal to Love and his Heart. Cunning. Clever and Brave.The upper class call him Thief. Pirate. Brigand. Knave. Cutthroat. Murderer. Exotic. Vicious.
Many of these apply well and good to Qasim for the heart he presents one Community with, is not the same face he brings to the other. Very few among the wealthy know Qasim's heart.Despite a childhood of severe hardship, by 18 he was his own man with his own money, his own goals and his own loves.Qasim is very much the self made Jackal of the desert and has always been more comfortable living among the rabble than he's ever been living in any form of limelight or privilege. He does genuinely try to do good, and be good. More often than not, Qasim is an absolute sweetheart despite all of the sharp edges he carries.He's never able to quite meet the expectation of others who see him at face value of being a bright eyed naive young viera. Among other Scruffian's he's oft seen for who he is. Rough around the edges, kind, enduring, hot tempered. Imperfect, but very much alive. And those expectations are far easier to meet so he's often drawn to them. Never The Hero, Never the Brigand. But alive and complicated, right in between.

Kiltean Religion: Currently Season of Blooming

Kiltean Religion of Dalmasca
There are three sets of Prayers to Qasim's Kiltean religion. Unity, Reflection, and Blooming.When actively praying in Unity as seen above one tries to embody both light and dark at the same time, and consciously reflect on the joining of both emotional seasons.The cupped hand in prayer must always hold shadow, or have the palm in shadow during Unity prayer to worship inner reflection, modesty, reservation, humility, softness, gentleness, patience and old grief for the Season of Reflection. The open hand facing the light must always hold light during Unity prayer, to reflect openness, warmth, action, confidence, extroversion, and new prominent emotions in the Season of Blooming.When honoring Season of Reflection with prayer, Qasim will often pray in a sensory deprived state of no sound, no light, and no clothing while fasting. Both hands will be cupped upwards and his posture sitting cross legged or kneeling. This is Specifically to have Nothing but his thoughts for long periods of time while enduring hardship, like hunger, so the train of thought remains strong during hardship from practice. During this time, body and mind are practiced to endure and reflect on inner, deeper, long term emotions, and it's not uncommon for this season to be used to process sorrows, and reflect upon blessings to take the time to appreciate them, good or bad.Prayers during Season of Blooming however brings sunbathing, rain bathing, singing, bells, perfuming his clothing with incense, and mantras during times of prayer. Prayers for Season of Blooming are bright exuberant dances rife and full of emotion and dancing until he's tired. A practice of lighting up his senses so to speak to bring his mind forward into wakefulness and open expression.This religion was extremely diverse in how it was practiced in Dalmasca, but one thing all Kilteans had in common was cycles. They lived in cycles of Blooming and Reflection whether that was dedicating six months to each season, having one season expressed on each arm, or switching religious emotional seasons with the rise and fall of the sun. For guards who kept uniform, it could mean a changing of warpaint and work songs. This allowed the Kiltean religion to blend easily in a multicultural Dalmascan state by giving worshippers this freedom as long as they stayed true to the Cycles of Faram and his Seasons.While Qasim was living in Rabanastre it was very common for women to align their Kiltean seasons with their menstrual cycle and have 'Blooming parties' when their menses aligned.
Balance is seen as contextual and individual, a journey and an answer worshippers must find for themself through prayer. So long as the individual respected consistent cycles, and their own path, it would be allowed in scripture.Ex: an introvert may have three months at the end of the year for season of Blooming during festivities, and the rest of the Year as season of Reflection because that particular ratio brings them balance. While an extrovert may have a 9 month long Season of Blooming and a Three month long season of reflection.For Qasim, Being Kiltean means learning to build himself up despite parts of him that will always be broken. Like one does with moziacs and stained glass. It's not the romanticizing of suffering, but the endurance and acceptance of it as part of a greater whole. To honor his own hurts and joys for what they are, connect to them, so his heart may shine brighter in trying times. To this end he prays to both sides of his heart in Faram's name.

Out Of Character

Hello!
Here's a quick rundown of my boundaries. I am very plainspoken and direct ooc so if this comes across as angry it's because very irritating and imbecilic asinine people were the reasons for these rules.While Qasim is now 18 as of 6/1/2024 he's also a romantic at heart and won't share his heart with just anyone he comes across without giving it deep thought or time to consider.Qasim is not made to represent real world cultures just because inspiration was taken from real world cultures, so crying that he doesn't is redundant.People that call him 'baby' and 'kit' and then turn around to thirst all over him are going to be disappointed when he shuts that 'creeper trying to get your pedo fix in' nonsense down. it happens ooc as well, and i call it where i see it. infantilizing a character you want to be horny over is fucking weird. miss me with that shit. im not here looking for a 'mommy'. If you're going to call him a kid IN OR OUT OF CHARACTER, YOU DO NOT ALSO GET TO BE HORNY.1: I will not gentle his backstory to make you comfortable. Wet blankets projecting their ooc issues and assumptions onto fiction are just going to be ignored. His story isn't about you in any part and any parallel or similarities to real people are purely coincidental. I'm telling you now, I do not need to be told how to write my own character.2: I am not here for you to trauma dump on me. My plate is full. If I don't know you, I don't want to know. That's not heartless, it's healthy boundary setting. Get over it.
For any GrimDark rp ask OOC first.Yes, this does sound arrogant, but there have been multiple times Qasim has enforced personal space boundaries, or given a character a reality check, and it immediately devolves into "Do you have any idea what its like to be -insert trauma here- for months/years on end?!' like that somehow gives weight to an argument.4: Constant antagonism and needling, I will lose all interest. Some conflict can drive a story forward, but not when its constant. Some stories need a villain but being a mosquito whiner is a hard pass.5: I am not my character. Qasim showing emotions OTHER than neutral does not mean i am upset OOC just because you decided I was. Ruining a scene to get mad at me instead of letting a scene play out ruins the fun for everyone. If you aren't having fun, walk away.6: Qasim is religious. I am uninterested in your offense or need to 'debate to disprove' on the grounds that you think he lacks critical thinking skills, reasoning, or intelligence. Scholar and skeptic are not the same thing. Religion is the emotional evolution of people and i find the history of it fascinating.Obviously I don't expect characters to be perfect but if you're only interacting to try and debate him into ' 'coming to his senses' by way of throwing away religion in favor of reason' I'm just generally not interested because that viewpoint is already skewed. Emotional reasoning and logical reasoning are both important.7: No, I don't want to come to Bible study. Yes I'm sure, thank you for asking. No he's not Christian. No, He's not Muslim either. No he's not Hindu but there's a sprinkle of inspo there too. There was inspiration, both in his name and some of his attire, but his religion is not the same as any of the Abrahamic real world religions.
I felt his name and the Arabic language were beautiful, so they were used as part of his character build. If you wish to insist that I've "Stolen culture' then you're required to prove how it's no longer available to the cultures I supposedly stole from.8: "You know it's not very professional of you to-" SHUT UP. IT'S A GAME YOU DAFT TIT.9: If at any point you giggled because this page reads like an irritated pirate you are more than welcome to copy pasta my rules to your page. Treat me with dignity and you'll likely receive the same! <3