Adelheid lux Aurelia

As a child born to the lesser nobility of Garlemald, Adelheid had an affluent upbringing. Her life remained this way - simple, comfortable, typical - for nearly two dozen years. Aptitude for all things biological presented itself in the growing Garlean as she aged, which inspired her to join the Magitek Academy.

The months following her graduation led her to take up the role of a researcher in service to the Empire. However, tragedy soon struck. An audit into her gens' finances revealed a pervasive history of aiding foreign powers against Garlemald's Hydaelyn-wide conquest; all but a few were put to the sword, slain for their treason.

At the age of 24, Adelheid rose to become the materfamilias of the gens Aurelius. Rather than take to the role, Adelheid hid away from the world and dove deep into her work; it was a futile attempt, allayed at every step by her gens' traitorous background and her own waning sanity.

With her inherited funds draining by the day, Adelheid grew an addiction to an opioid of her own making in order to cope - 'alacerine', a drug synthesised via aetherochemical means, which imparted symptoms of insomnia. Within its cruel grip, Adelheid sunk deeper. Her every day - and now night - was spent pursuing a vain attempt at redemption through study.

Finally, she had a breakthrough. Her private funding was dwindling, and her public funding was nonexistent - to bring her newfound theories into the realm of experimentation, Adelheid knew that she would need more 'subjects' than she could reasonably be allowed. So, to throw her fate to the wind, she left Garlemald.

Eorzea brought its own challenges, yet the weight of her Garlean heritage was easily brushed aside compared to the freedom of her novel anonymity. Assuming the role of 'Adie', a Hyuran refugee, Adelheid sought to open an apothecary as a front for her true plans. There, her accomplishments might one day be made - even if it was at the expense of unwitting savages...

Adelheid has authored several texts:

"On the Augmentation, Adaptation, and Manufacture of Life"

A dissertation regarding the Empire's modern approach toward altering forms of life, and how such technologies might be used in combination with Allagan aetherochemistry going forward.

"The Body, The Mind, The Soul: Malleability"

A thesis to which Adelheid is the sole author, this text posits a theoretical approach to affecting, altering, or reprogramming minds in a similar manner to how current methods affect the body. Underfunded as her research was, the resulting theory was largely ignored as it lacked sufficient evidence.

"The Fascism of Hierarchical Authorship"

One of Adelheid's more infamous works; 24 pages of incoherent drunken ramblings toward the nature of how credit is shared - unfairly - amongst teams of researchers. While since retracted, it significantly damaged her credibility within Garlemald.