The Last and the First
The son of a great hero and mighty warrior! Or so he would tell you. In reality, Matej is the son of a local, small time ‘hero’ who was well known among his village but ultimately an irrelevant figure in the grander history of Tural and the world at large. Even so, it informs much of his world view. Wuk Oxiric was a xbr'aal (hrothgar) viper of Yak T'el, operating deep in the verdant jungles of southern Tural. Most practitioners of the style limit their marks to wildlife, but Wuk Oxiric took it a step farther: he vowed, made an oath to hunt down and slay monsters no matter their appearance, no matter if they were spoken or Tural Vidraal. This earned him great fame in the tiny sphere of influence he lived in, and earned him many enemies of a similarly small scale. The xbr'aal viper's home and family were targets of revenge by a bandit clan whom he had assisted with culling and weakening, tonawawtan highwaymen. Wuk Oxiric's lover and child were taken hostage, and summarily executed when ransom was not paid. In a rage, the xbr'aal viper assaulted the remnants of the bandit clan's camp, smiting them down with righteous fervor and setting the place ablaze to purge it of filth. In those flames that lit up the night, the xbr'aal man found a young tonawawta boy with amber eyes, the child of two of the bandits; crying and alone, terrified and ripped away from the only comfort he knew. The only crime the toddler had committed was daring to be born to the wrong people, and his punishment had been harsh indeed.
The story of Wuk Oxiric mostly ended that night, the viper retiring and adopting this orphaned young boy just after he had avenged the family he had lost. To honor distant stories of eastern kin waging their own wars against injustice, the tonawawtan toddler was named Matej, and his story would begin with the pair moving to one of the largest xbr'aal villages in Yak T'el: Iq Br'aax. While it might have been an oddity to have a tonawawtan boy raised among the xbr'aal, it was Matej's origins as bandit spawn that truly earned him the ire of those who he tried to coexist with as he grew up. The love those people held for his father and his bygone heroism was the only reason Matej was tolerated, and then, only barely. Some were tolerant and kind, but many were cold, distrustful, or downright hateful: it was an upbringing that could have turned anyone hateful and withdrawn. Matej, however, was never in doubt that his father, though adoptive, truly loved him and wished the best for him, and that unshakable, unconditional devotion and affection allowed the young boy to see the good in the people around him, to understand and forgive their fear and hate, and to push on. With the offer of becoming a viper who would protect the people just like dear old dad, it was a foregone conclusion that Matej would begin to train for it as soon as he could hold two swords.
Matej lacked the raw physicality and keen senses of the more tiger-like xbr'aal he grew up around, but he was a quick learner and cunning to match, scraping by despite the bullying and the attempts to ostracize, showing considerable natural talent as he began to grow from a boy to a young man. Six months before the events of Dawntrail, Wuk Oxiric fell deathly ill, deteriorating rapidly. It was only a matter of weeks after that before he was gone, leaving Matej with his old equipment, a soul crystal, and a promise to keep fighting the good fight. Matej took up that same oath that his father had, donned his armor and took his weapons (after some considerable resizing) and left his home, traveling abroad both Tural and beyond to search for a cause and a place to belong, now that his home lacked the person that ever made it home to him. Things can never be so simple, though. It is a closely guarded secret, but the source of the late xbr'aal man's power, the reasons for his illness, and the reasons Matej seems so in touch with his mortality were all contained within that mysterious soul crystal. He seeks answers for his many questions in Eorzea and abroad, right up to the current day.
If it weren't for the kindness of others, he would have never made it this far. What value, one must wonder, is the servant who can never serve and never help, who must be helped at all times?