(Author’s Note: This is an outdated/retconned backstory for K’lyshna M’tata, from my early years maining Scholar/Summoner. As you’ll soon notice, I themed it heavily around the Emerald/Topaz carbuncle dichotomy, but then Endwalker/6.0 dropped and removed the Topaz as a default summons, meaning this entire concept no longer makes sense. This article is non-canon but kept here for posterity!)
Both of her parents had impressed on her the importance of getting a good education, so K’lyshna seeked out the arcanist’s guild and enrolled in classes soon after arriving in Limsa Lominsa. Carbuncles were just as amazing as she’d imagined, far more tameable than salt swallows. But as she continued in her studies and learned how to summon two different types of carbuncles, she started to think the entire guild was going about summoning the wrong way. Since emerald and topaz carbuncles derive from similar aether, should it not be possible to breed them together to make a hybrid carbuncle with a mixture of both their abilities?
The arcanist guild quickly shot down this line of thinking as absurd; carbuncles are essentially mathematical equations given physical form, they are not animals, and there is no way to breed them. But K’lyshna grew up with two moms that don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, and so diligently continued her research into forming a ‘fractal carbuncle’ that merges Topaz and Emerald, with a future goal of mixing even more colors together.
But her research hit a major snag when the arcanist guild, fed up with her obstinate refusal to follow proper summoning procedures, banned her from their organization. K’lyshna and her two carbuncles quickly found themselves ostracized from all the usual training resources, shunned from the academic cooperation most arcanists enjoy.
With little other choice, K’lyshna found herself involved in the underground Limsa Lominsan carbuncle-fighting pits. This illegal practice operated in the fringes of the seediest levels of society, but it was her only way to make money to fund her research and strengthen her carbuncles at the same time. At night in her underwater home, she’d use the pugilist skills her mother taught her to train with her carbuncles and make them stronger (as well as ensure she could protect herself in skid row).
Years passed, and K’lyshna remained absorbed in her studies, secretly growing less and less sure her dreams to create a fractal carbuncle were even possible. The fighting pits were the only facet of her life bearing any fruit, and several times she grew close to writing the Arcanist Guild and agreeing to give up her illicit research if they’d only re-accept her.
But everything changed one night, when she was boxing with her carbuncle after a particularly unsuccessful day in the arena. They often sparred to hone each other’s martial skills, but this night their match ended early when the carbuncle abruptly shattered and disappeared after a well-placed punch! Shocked, she urgently attempted to resummon it, to no avail. It was only upon conjuring her other carbuncle that she discovered it had somehow merged into an amalgamated compound of Emerald and Topaz!
Further study uncovered that she’d accidentally broken down the aetheric barriers between her two carbuncles through months and months of pugilist roughhousing. Since that night, she found she could no longer summon either individually. Instead, she had unwittingly created a new blended type of pet: the fractal carbuncle!
After some celebration with Hap, she realized things were now going to change very, very quickly. The Arcanist’s Guild will be furious when they find out what she’d done to her carbuncles. Plus she could no longer show her pet in public, much less earn money in the fighting pits, without word getting out. Unless she abandoned her research and her livelihood, the Blind Iron Mines were no longer an adequately-protected place to live.
With a lack of other options, she confided in H’atari Nunh, a local merchant from whom she’d buy most of her food supplies. H’atari quickly recognized the financial possibilities of a new form of summoning magic, and agreed it’d be best to keep her discovery under wraps until she understood it better. He offered to let her live in a spare room at his bakery where he could finance her research into fractal summonings, an offer she was more than happy to accept.
And so K’lyshna enjoyed a vastly-improved quality of life, especially as Mimosa Manor grew larger and more successful in the background. As it expanded, more people moved into the backrooms, all with their own motivations and reasons, and she soon found herself unexpectedly developing a social life. Before she knew it, she had actual friends to hang out with and go on adventures. Her moms would be so proud!
From time to time, H’atari will send her trustworthy hopefuls interested in learning about this new underground form of summoning. But while she’ll happily teach anyone she can, her pupils often lack the endurance and dual-focused discipline needed to unlock a fractal pet. Unlike normal arcanist magic, fractal carbuncles require longterm percussive regimens in addition to mathematical study, a blend of martial and cerebral training completely at odds with each other. But if your character thinks themselves up for the challenge, she might have a slot open on Friday. Just make sure you schedule quickly, because the offer’s only open as long as the Arcanist’s Guild doesn’t catch on!
Despite the friendliness of the other denizens of Mimosa Manor, K’lyshna’s earliest months at her new home were marked with isolation and self-imposed solitude. She’d grown up in an environment completely lacking in social interactions and had never developed the skills needed to seek out companionship beyond her carbuncle and her Salt Swallow mount, Hap. Rarely coming out of her room to eat or socialize, K’lyshna spent her days studying, training, and sleeping alone in her room. The only people who ever really interacted with her were H’atari and any summoners he sent her way to train in the art of the fractal carbuncle.
But that all changed after the other houseowners started discovering mysterious bags of gil left in the front room of the manor. Suspecting fay influence, or mysterious benfactors, or any possible number of nefarious motivations, some of them lay in wake one night to catch the culprit in the act. And they discovered K’lyshna’s fractal carbuncle was sneaking out of the house and, for some reason, stealing their neighbor’s coins!
Faced with the evidence, K’lyshna geniunely couldn’t figure out why her carbuncle was doing such a thing; she certainly never trained it to do anything of the sort, in fact she never let it leave her room for fear somebody would report its existence to the Arcanist guild. Tashi was the one who suggested that may be part of the problem; having grown accustomed to wandering Limsa Lominsa and fighting in the back-alley carbuncle pits, her fractal carbuncle was probably antsy and unhappy being cooped up all the time. In addition, since all it ever saw was K’lyshna taking money from hopefuls, it was mimicking her behavior by revolving its life around collecting money. K’lyshna realized she was being a bad influence on her carbuncle and promised to start setting a better example by living a more versatile life.
And her first step would be to get serious about a goal she’d been dragging her feet on doing: finally establishing an official place to train prospective pupils in the pugilistic practice of what she called ‘orange magic’: the art of channeling carbuncle magic to punch opponents with different aethereally-charged attacks! And thanks to her carbuncle causing her to open up with her housemates, they all pitched in and donated enough money to make it happen! So without further delay, all those interested should come visit Mateus Shirogane, Ward 19 Apt 45 to learn the art of the fractal carbuncle. (Headsup: it involves a lot of punching! Horas and comfortable footwear recommended!
(Update 2/3/2026: The dojo is closed, I bulldozed it to create the submarine for canon K’lyshna. Sorry, dojo fans!)
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