Piano Kingsley was born 1562 6AE in Aleport, Limsa Lominsa, a healthy baby girl with a twin sister, Forte. His parents were once pirates on the Sunchaser, and accompanied with their elder brother Andante, all three of them grew up with their parents' tales of derring-do. Notably, once he had figured out that he was more their son than he ever would be their daughter, his parents briefly turned back to piracy to help fund their son's transition. All formal records of who he was in his youth have been destroyed or otherwise sabotaged, but his former childhood friends have mixed memories about him. Most recall him somewhat fondly, though.
All that remains of who he used to be are the tales that still hang over Aleport to this very day. Not long after Dalamud fell, young Piano's friends had gone out to play in the fields surrounding the town, while he hung back to watch the spinning of the aetheryte. His dissociation was rather rudely interrupted, however, as the cheerful yelling and playing turned into screams of terror and the sound of small feet rushing back into the town's walls. All but one of his friends returned safe and sound - his childhood crush.
At once, the boy rushed outside, grabbing a dulled training sword as he charged blindly into danger. He doesn't remember much after that, aside from the moment he came to again surrounded by corpses that were barely recognizable as the attacking wolves, looking his horrified crush dead-on. That, however, is burned forever into his brain. Their eyes wide, their whole body trembling, holding the ball they all played with so tight to their chest... And the way they looked at him when their eyes met.
Never again did they speak to each other, even though he wished he could have. The fear quickly spread from his young crush to the town's parents. It overtook them all like a wildfire in those bleak, dry fields just outside of town. Within a night, there was a mob outside of their door. Were it not for his loving family, he would not have survived the coming years into his teens.
It's little surprise, then, that the devil child of Aleport almost never truly returns to his hometown. When he does meet up with his parents these days, it's typically in Limsa proper, sharing a snack on the docks or having a meal at the Bismarck. Very rarely does he speak to his old friends, but a select few have opted to stick beside him after all this time.
At the ripe young age of 18, Piano took to exploring Eorzea, unable to stand the torment of the adults in his hometown a moment longer. He started smart - and started small. Armed with naught but his trusty bow and arrow, he traveled all of La Noscea, learning the nature and rhythm of her winds and waves...and falling in love with her history. The very beginning of his adventuring career was rather uneventful. While the tales of his childhood trauma had begun to spread in whispers across the region years ago, they didn't seem to take hold like they had in his hometown.
The real adventure didn't begin for another two years. Having spent the last two years traveling La Noscea alone, the now-20-year-old Piano returned to Limsa Lominsa to resupply before making his next great trek - exploring Vylbrand. There, he met a woman who would change his life forever, Sylineri Dawnflame, as she took to being called after he helped fan her sparks of freedom to a roiling flame. They were one another's first loves, and still remain ever loyal to each other, no matter where their travels may take them.
On the road, Piano has met many others - a wise Ishgardian dark knight with a troubled, murderous past; an elezen woman and her Xaelan husband, both of whom have taken to mentorship and loving him all the same; a black mage of unparalleled prowess, who has been a recent guiding hand in his growth; a pirate captain he had grown up hearing stories about; and an amnesiac Xaela with visions of murder. He himself is still shadowed by his own past and fears, but his journey isn't over yet.
