T. K. Arispe

 I can't stop drawing Clan Excelsior portraits, but I had so much fun writing these characters; they each have such strong and diverse personalities and dynamics with each other that, like my Neopets cast, it's fun to just come up with new ways for them to interact and show different sides of themselves. My FFTA2 cast was really one of the first times in my writing that my character development was personality-driven--before then, most of the characters I wrote didn't really have much to them and basically just existed to fill a role, not be interesting in their own right (a lot of characters in Skydwellers had this problem, especially in earlier editions).

Plus, I've been re-reading those old FFTA2 fics and enjoying them despite their age. I've been dealing with a lot lately and those fics are a good happy place. Nothing like a bit of lighthearted fantasy brimming with quirky characters to take you away from your stress for a bit.

Qrrog Squallhammer was the first person to join Clan Excelsior after its initial three members; his recruitment involved piracy, being eaten by a sea serpent, and one of the wildest "how I met my spouse" stories ever. But it all worked out in the end.

Qrrog is the son of two rather ruthless and malicious pirates, and he grew up on the high seas, but couldn't bring himself to agree with his parents' pirating philosophies, so he ran away and joined a more benign pirate crew. As an adult he became captain of his own crew and participated in all sorts of swashbuckling escapades... until Clan Excelsior caught up with him.

However, it turned out his pirate days weren't exactly over, because during a clan mission, he managed to oust a tyrannical pirate king from his enchanted island fortress and became the new pirate king (as told in the events of the second fic). Now Qrrog rules over his seafaring subjects benevolently, and in fact they're "pirates" in name only (kinda like Balthier et al. after the events of FFXII), as they actually work to protect the coast from "real" pirates and have a strong alliance with the Archadian Empire due to the clan being friends with Judge Magister Gabranth (i.e. Basch). Qrrog still manages to find time for clan work, though, and when it comes to clan matters, he always defers to Saskia.

Contrary to most people's expectations of seeq, Qrrog is highly intelligent and quick-witted, and he's really the strategic mastermind of the clan. One of his specialties is using his race's reputation to his advantage and double-crossing antagonists who don't think him capable of it, but he still often feels insecure about the bad rep seeq get (which is when Tara steps in to remind him that she thinks he's awesome). He's also an absolute sweetheart who would do anything for his friends and completely dotes on his wife, and his extraverted, easygoing nature and dedication to the well-being of others naturally draws people to him, so he often finds himself in leadership positions, a role he tries to fulfill honorably and responsibly. And he's surprisingly good at sewing because of plenty of time spent repairing sails on ships.

Qrrog is registered in the Viking job class (I know, a Viking pirate, Tara thinks it's weird too, but that's Ivalician semantics for you), so he knows how to unleash a good Thundaga spell on his opponents on top of being a beast with the battleaxe. In fact, Qrrog knows more about magick than the average seeq, as his mother taught him about pirate magick, an obscure and ancient branch of sorcery that involves the ability to control the wind and the sea. The clan's current home base of Worgen Island is heavily ensorcelled with pirate magick from whoever built the place long ago, and Qrrog and Tara are still trying to uncover all its secrets. Hmmmm, sounds like a good basis for another fic. :)

As far as his design goes, if you're thinking he looks like Ganon from The Legend of Zelda, that was actually intentional. I thought it would be fun to have a Ganon-esque character who was actually a good guy, and it's honestly one of my fiction pet peeves when all the protagonists in a story are human(oid) and attractive while the villains are monstrous. I try to turn that on its ear at every opportunity. I think it's a refreshing change of pace to have a big blue boar-troll who's a super nice guy.

(I also kind of wanted to mix things up a bit because the playable characters of FFXII consist of five humes and a viera, which is a little lopsided considering how many races exist in Ivalice, so I enjoyed writing a story set in Ivalice where there's only one hume in the entire cast.)