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How exactly on an aetherical-level does Monk's Chakra work? Are they permanently opened for the individual or does the individual gain the ability to open and close them? A few quotes from Erik state that it increases the user's life-force so does that mean that the opening of the valves allow for aether to flow more freely which allows for the existence of more aether in the body? What does "light" and "dark" aspectation of chakra exactly have to do with each of the 14?

I don't know that I can answer this question in a satisfying way, but I'll start from the bottom with "light and dark" and try to work my way up. To start, XIV's magic system is heavily inspired by real world alchemy and various alchemical theories and principles.

More below the Read More cut.

Have you ever wondered why Black Magic and White Magic came together to form Red Magic? Why Black Magic came into the world first before White Magic? Because the three phases of Magnum Opus or the Great Work are in order: nigredo (blackness, melanosis, spiritual death), albedo (whiteness, leucosis, purification), and then rubedo (redness, iosis, wholeness, re-entry as something new). Black representing the beginning of transformation and Red representing the end of transformation.

Why does Doman aetherology only have five elements? Because in Chinese alchemy (Daojiao) and Wuxing the generative cycle of five elements is: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water.

Speaking of the elements, what if we look at Eorzea's own elemental wheel:

Tilt alchemy's Four Elements 45 degree clockwise so that Cold is at the bottom and then flip it horizontally, and you have aetherology's elemental wheel. Ironically, AST's solar/lunar seals also forgot to flip the elemental wheel to match the artistic flourishes on our rendition which I brought up in the aetherology post.

Our understanding of aether is that it is comprised of three parts: the incorporeal, the soul and memories; and the corporeal, the body. This is similarly inspired by alchemy's Tria Prima: Sulfer/Philosophical Sulfur (soul), Mercury (spirit/intelligence), and Salt (body).

Light and Shadow

To bring this all back, another element of alchemy that XIV's magic system borrows to a far greater extent than any other, is the concept of Yin and Yang as described in the bagua from I Ching or the Book of Change. In western alchemy its Mercury and Sulfur.

Yin: dark, passive Yang: bright, active

The most obvious parallel here is the elemental polarities: Umbral (yin) and Astral (yang). But this is far, far from the only place this concept comes up. Light and Dark, White and Black, MNK's Light and Shadow chakra/sects, Sineater and Voidsent, Hydaelyn and Zodiark, THM/DRK's Darkness/Abyss, etc etc etc etc. The tricky aspect of the lore is trying to suss out whether these are strictly metaphorical or literal representations of the concepts they're embodying.

Thaumaturge, Black Mage, and Dark Knight for example is mostly exploring this concept in a metaphorical way. A lot of people I've seen confuse the "black", the "abyss", and "darkness" as a literal manifestation of Umbral energy. This is not the case. The abyss from DRK quests (note: not capitalized!) is not a real physical place, it's a metaphor for mental health, self care, introspection, and the healing and darkness that will consume you if you should let hate and negativity fester. That's why Sidurgu tries to draw from it, it's easier for him to draw on the trauma and anger than it is for him to confront those emotions himself or let Rielle in emotionally. Sidurgu is in a deep dark place, an abyss. This is also true of the THM quests, which similarly reference a recurring "lightless abyss" which grants them comfort and power, and BLM which refers to taking on the power of "the black".

And I'd argue the same is also true of Monk's light and shadow (note: not light and dark) sects and chakra. Based on the lore we do have about Monks and their factions, there's no indicator that these names are substantially anything more than metaphorical uses. There's a light sect that operated publicly as a state religion, with temples in the open. And there was a Shadow sect which did as its name suggested, operating from the shadows in secret.

We can argue, of course, that there is a yin and yang quality to the Seven Chakra, a light and shadow side, making Fourteen Chakra in function, and there is some grounds there to make headcanons and theories about whether these Chakra then are representative of the elemental wheel or are affected by astral or umbral polarities. But that feels unlikely (but you can absolutely choose to flavor it that way!), and unfortunately there's no more lore than what we have been given already about them. So it would be impossible to say for sure.

Life Force

Let's look at your questions on how Monk works on an aetherial level. I don't think I was able to find the quote from Erik that you were speaking of, maybe this one?

Erik: "This life force, this spiritual energy, this godsforsaken eternal soul essence─I care not what primitive nomenclature those backward monks wish to assign it. It is aether, plain and simple! They claim they are able to manipulate and amplify it through discipline and the opening of the so-called chakra. False! This is nothing more than the aetherial regulation of organisms─a basic and natural concept. In an attempt to explain that which science does not yet fully understand, the monks have erected an institution of control."

As Erik mentions, "life force" is a pretty common synonym for "aether" that comes up frequently across FFXIV, even used by Matoya and Y'shtola rather infamously with disastrous lore misconception consequences. Per general aether lore, aether is always in flux, it is always moving. Even within the body, it is constantly circulating, being expelled with effort or exercise, and being breathed in or ingested. And this concept is also explored with THM's astral and umbral shifts or ACN's aetherflow.

Chakra are described as valves and thus by unlocking one, the practitioner is able to better regulate, control, and amplify their aetherial and magical potential and perform physical feats they otherwise might not be able to accomplish. By virtue of being able to regulate and control these valves, I would take this to mean they can also be closed on purpose, by necessity.

Encyclopedia Eorzea - Chakra: “Chakras are the valves that regulate the flow of the body’s aether. By mastering chakras and gaining control over this flow, a trained monk can accomplish extraordinary physical feats. Ordinarily locked into a closed state, chakras can be opened by entering into deadly combat on ancient battlefields, where the release of rarefied aether resonates with and expands one’s innate seats of power.”

Are Chakra related to the Body or Soul?

As mentioned in the above quote, Chakra regulate the flow of the body's aether explicitly, meaning this is corporeal aether. Most spellcasting in fact, one's mana or aetherpool, relates to the physical body's reserve of aether. That is what is being consumed when using most magic unless stated otherwise, even in some instances where the caster is drawing on an external source of aether (blm, whm, cnj, blu, ast, etc) there still seems in some cases to be an interaction with the caster's own aether, just to a lesser extent.

Similarly to the many many iterations and reiterations of light and dark, there are also almost as many other poetic ways of saying aether, and it can be difficult to suss out whether these are synonymous or if they actually mean slightly different things. A question I've always wanted the opportunity to ask the lore team but I don't know that I'll ever get a satisfying answer to this at this point in the game's life cycle.

"Life force" and "spiritual energy" are both "aether", but are they both the same kind of aether? Is the former corporeal while the latter is incorporeal? A possible exception to the above rule may be teleportation, which is said to utilize a caster's "spiritual energy" or "anima" to transport body and soul, the soul which cannot be broken down en route. Perhaps "anima" is the word for the soul's incorporeal aetherial reserve in much the same way that "mana" is the body's corporeal aetherial reserve. But that is just a theory of mine that has, as yet, not be confirmed or denied.

If you have any other questions about Monks or how Monks utilize aether, the lore we have can be found here:

Aetherology Lore

Monks, Chakra, and Rhalgr Lore

If those don't answer your questions, it's likely that we just don't know for sure and it'll be up to your own interpretation of the texts. Which is why this post is light on specific lore quotes and is mostly taking a step back to look at inspirations and discussing how we might choose to interpret the few texts we do have. Hope this helps!

[lorefiendeli]

alright in honor of FRU releasing in 11 days here's some (as far as i know) unused voice lines from E8, E11, and E12 (along with a few lines that do actually get used for context)

notes/transcription below

for two-part quotes with unused second halves, the unused part is in bold

ryne/shiva (E8): "No... not here... not now..." "There's still too much left undone..."

gaia (E8N cutscene): "Ryne! Can you hear me?" "Hold on! I'll handle this." "I want to see what tomorrow will bring, and I'll be damned if I let it end here!"

fatebreaker (E11): "I'm the only one fit to protect her. If you think otherwise, then prove it!" "Only I can protect her! Not you, or anyone else!"

ryne (most likely for E11 based on file order but possibly E12N intermission): "We can't fail here! We can't!"

oracle of darkness/gaia (E12S P2): "Whispers of awakening..." "Whispers of resonance..." "In Lord Zodiark's name!"

[lorefiendeli]

As a footnote, not all of these have corresponding text data; the sheet containing instanced content talk bubbles (the stuff up on the screen, not on top of models) has Gaia's one in E8N and the Oracle of Darkness', even though they're unused, but I couldn't find Ryne's and the Fatebreaker's missing ones. This difference doesn't mean anything, a cut line is a cut line, but thank you for finding them and sharing! Digging through voice lines is a lot more of a pain than text data so finds like these are rare.

alright in honor of FRU releasing in 11 days here's some (as far as i know) unused voice lines from E8, E11, and E12 (along with a few lines that do actually get used for context)

notes/transcription below

for two-part quotes with unused second halves, the unused part is in bold

ryne/shiva (E8): "No... not here... not now..." "There's still too much left undone..."

gaia (E8N cutscene): "Ryne! Can you hear me?" "Hold on! I'll handle this." "I want to see what tomorrow will bring, and I'll be damned if I let it end here!"

fatebreaker (E11): "I'm the only one fit to protect her. If you think otherwise, then prove it!" "Only I can protect her! Not you, or anyone else!"

ryne (most likely for E11 based on file order but possibly E12N intermission): "We can't fail here! We can't!"

oracle of darkness/gaia (E12S P2): "Whispers of awakening..." "Whispers of resonance..." "In Lord Zodiark's name!"

[lorefiendeli]

Teary Eyes Posing Tutorial

So I've been desperate to replicate the teary eye effect we see in cutscenes (mostly Tataru unleashing her LB3 on WoLs) and all similar questions I've seen on the crime tool discords are met with the same "can't be done, photoshop it" line of answers if any. So if you have zero photoshopping skills like me and want a fix of that sweet angst, here's a quick way to fake it in-game directly while gposing:

(Requires very basic Anamnesis or Brio experience)

-

(You might want this to be the last step after you're done posing your character, since you'll be dealing with a hand prop.)

Equip this prop to both your main and offhand, by typing in the numbers: 9072, 1, 1. and click below them to "show weapon."

2. Now since they're tiny little droplets, they'll be hard to see, so I suggest you click on the weapon bone in your preferred posing mode and scale them up to around 5. Raising the z value (3rd one) slightly higher makes the droplets rounder and easier to work with. And if the size doesn't change for some reason, try scaling the root or abdomen bone instead of the weapon bone.

3. Shove that thing up your eye (lovingly). It helps if you rotate each droplet sideways so that its shape matches that of your eye. (smaller tip toward your inner eye corner, large tip toward the outer corner)

4. Now the fun part! You can do this several ways: If you want the full-on LB3-level brimming-with-tears effect like Tataru's, just keep tweaking the scale of the droplet til it's about the size of your eye and position it just over the whole eye, tweaking and rotating until it fits perfectly inside your eyelids without clipping out, et voila.

The LB2 level: Another (more realistic?) way would be to lower the droplets to have them "well up" around your lower eyelids:

LB1 level: Or you can simply lay the droplets at their original size at the outer corners of your eyes for a "threatening to turn on the waterworks but can be assuaged with cake" effect

Bonus tips for extra realism:

- As with most other things, best to avoid symmetry

- Mix & match shapes & sizes

- The more dramatic your lighting the more dramatic they'll look

If you try this please show me. Angst gives me life thankyou.

[lorefiendeli]

They deserve their summer vacation, too.

[lorefiendeli]

For yuri day I come and offer the highest of all experiences: hot cocoa, a(n uncomfortable) couch and blanket, a good phantasmascape and someone you want to see the future together with!

[lorefiendeli]

For yuri day I come and offer the highest of all experiences: hot cocoa, a(n uncomfortable) couch and blanket, a good phantasmascape and someone you want to see the future together with!

[lorefiendeli]

The pictomancer reveal was HUGE i wasn't expecting to learn so much about the job

[lorefiendeli]

Lost Jobs & Classes

This is going to be a doozy for some of you. Here is some data that has essentially a list of data (from some point in development) that represents a list of jobs and classes that 1.0 recognizes. This first picture is basically a list of guilds. We can ignore the Adventurer's Guild (right? ....right?), but there are some interesting things in here. - A few classes that never saw the light of day: Fencers, Enforcers, Sentinels, Samurai, Stavesman, Assassins, Mystics and Flayers.

Bard is both a job and a class.

There are two empty data for crafters and gatherers (possibly for symmetry or perhaps to be filled into the future.

We already know about the Musketeer, Arcanist and Shepherd classes, but they're in this list anyways. (Even more fun: I might have pictures of the Sentinel, Stavesman and Mystic weapons, as well as muskets and other pics.)

Okay, this list is long, but what it comprises is information regarding skills of each class and job, including abbreviations for those job. Some things to note here: Adventurer is listed as an unarmed, which is something you can't have in FFXIV...ever, whether in 1.0 or not. I'm thinking this is not an actual class, but more of a catch-all in case you get in a situation where you don't have a weapon. Some of these classes and the skills they use are obvious - a fencer fences, duh. It's interesting that gladiators, who in FFXIV are sword and board, are just listed as "sword" and sentinels are listed as "shield". Enforcers would've used a club. Samurai uses great katanas. Assassins use "dark arts", whatever that can be. The "Bard" class would use Musical skills, and was considered a magic class.

It's an interesting topic, especially how you look at ARR. Take Fencer, RDM is a fencing class, so how much of 1.0 Fencer became RDM? Assassin used "Dark" powers, so was original DRK inspired by Assassin? Was Assassin a mix between DRK and NIN? And somethings don't have equivalent. There isn't a class that just uses clubs (although other jobs in ARR have club-like weapons), or shields, or staves, or whatever mysticism entails.

More on these lost jobs to come.

[lorefiendeli]

General Skill Overview

Like in Modern FFXIV, classes are divided up in four categories: Disciple of War, Disciple of Magic, Disciple of Hand, Disciple of Land. As in ARR and most MMOs, you gain abilities as you level up, and you also gain traits which are passives. In 1.0, you also have jobs, which unique in 1.0, basically give you a handful of skills. You just have them when you equip the job crystal. Some classes have "common" skills. People who play modern FFXIV might already know what these are - things like role skills, or things like the basic Synthesis actions in crafting. Starting in the next few days, we will go over the skills and traits for each class and job in 1.0, including some of the ones that are lost.

I'm very interested in the evolution of games, so each class and skill will be presented in a context of how it's used in 1.0, and how it possibly changed over time to Modern FFXIV (if applicable). Please look forward to it.

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This crossover event kinda reminded me of the XV one...

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Day 5 - Home Sweet Home

Chose to lean a bit away from specifically shippy domestic fluff for this since I already do that for everything else. (Plus more excuses to put Meteion in more things)

bonus: her ass has NOT watched the krusty krab training video

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The festivities of Valentione's Day may be over on the Source, but they crossed over to the First, with the Crystarium's first two emissaries of love! and this goofy elf is providing the special effects

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cicirno showing off her kicks to the dripless ishgardians

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The pictomancer reveal was HUGE i wasn't expecting to learn so much about the job

[lorefiendeli]

Happy new yuri year!

2023 was good for us on that front, but let's hope we can feast in 2024!

[lorefiendeli]

Elftober day 8 - Fate/Fortune They're... going to pretend they never heard anything. And that fate is something they make themselves.

But the fortune teller has seen this many times before, to see them return eternally bonded later.