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You’ve committed the cardinal sin of boring me. And so I retire to the shade.

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The haunting

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borncles

1st image description:

Carbuncles had evolved to become as docile as possible, and are non-aggressive to a fault. Since they are simulacrums made from gemstones, they have no distinct biology either. Due to being low maintanence, some use carbuncles as a status symbol that reflect wealth in tandem to academic achievement. (see diamond, obsidian, onyx)

these lil dudes love to sniff btw

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Since my Azem Zoe's name means "life", I always wanted to make her transformation looks something like "tree of life"~

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they've been banned from radz-at-han

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As an appreciator of angst I like the times when the WoL's friends and allies worry for them: there's no doubt that the WoL can fight most anything and win, but that doesn't stop their loved ones from being concerned for their mental and emotional health, and there's an interesting flavor to that sort of drama. The scene I really want to talk about now though isn't about the WoL's friends.

The scene being the one in the StB post-patches where Fordola has an Echo vision of the WoL's past and is, to put it simply, shaken by what she sees. Her horror at the WoL's past isn't because she's worried about them as a friend, far from it, she's basically still an enemy at this point. My brother has a good take that Fordola's false Echo acts as a sort of "forced empathy" for her - she has her ways of rationalizing and justifying the bad things she's done, feeling little for the people she hurts, until the Echo forces her to see and share in that pain. So she gets a moment of direct soul-to-soul communication with the WoL, not friend to friend but just human to human, and her reaction is shock, confusion, and a small amount of empathy too, because she felt their pain through the Echo.

No doubt it's a sobering moment for the WoL as well. Like her, like anyone else, they likely have their own ways of compartmentalizing, justifying, choosing the stories they tell themself about what they've done and what's been done to them. By Stormblood they've likely come to accept their way of life as what's normal for them - but then someone looks at their life and her reaction is basically "how have you not gone insane yet?". It's a jarring reminder that all that fighting and grieving and being used as a weapon is not normal or okay.

The dialogue options in response are all very characteristic of the WoL: simple and blunt, a little bit harsh - there's no quips here considering the gravity of the moment. There's also, notably, no "..." option that crops up often in other exchanges. You can't keep silence, in this moment you have to choose a reason to say why you're still standing, for your own sake as much as for the one asking.

(Also, I have heard that this exchange is a bit different in some of the other translations of the game, with more emphasis put on the Echo and how the WoL suffers from being exposed to other people's pain as opposed to just their own pain in the English version. I don't think either version is right or wrong, but I do like the rare times where the Echo is explored as something more than a plot device for giving plot-relevent flashbacks. The Echo is psychic empathy; the fact that they frequently get brain-blasted with other people's trauma plays a role in the WoL's heroism.)

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Still chugging along with the FFXIV playing card deck - we're about a third of the way there!

If you have just a couple of bucks a month to spare and would like to see this deck made, please consider joining us on Patreon. And if you happen to have a few more dollars than that, prints of completed cards are available on the $20 tier. Literally nothing I do is possible without the fine folks over there, so please consider helping out if you can.

Previously: FF playing cards | FFVII playing cards | FFXV Tarots | FFVII Tarots | FFXV Playing cards | FFVII Full Tarots | FF Hanafuda deck | FFVII Shinra photo book

Patreon | Bluesky

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sanctum

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Foolish and misguided as you are, you are not without charm.

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happy valentine's day kupo!

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Happy Valentines to everyone with the finest taste in catboys

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palace of the dead floors 1-10

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You've found yourself in Eorzea and learning a combat job from one of the in-game job trainers. Spin this wheel to find out what you're learning from whom.

(I tried to limit the spinner contents to people who actually teach you how to do stuff, with a couple of exceptions that I knew y'all would come after me for not including)

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ok so i've been thinking about ffxiv housing. the in-universe explanation for the housing districts is that the city-states want to attract adventurers because they are a valuable demographics, in terms of spending power, social networks, and martial power. this makes sense, especially in the wake of the calamity; the states have all been considerably weakened and currying favor with (otherwise mercenary) powerful individuals in hopes of stimulating the economy and protecting their own citizenry and property is a rather sound prospect.

this makes even more sense for limsa lominsa in particular, considering merlwyb was the one behind costa del sol - the land being unfit for cultivation, she sold it to gegeruju who turned it into a luxury resort (and kicked out the locals who are now forced to resort to poaching! yay), and was behind the island sanctuary project. she wants to be an economic power using tourism as a means for colonization sooooo badly

it makes sense for ishgard, too - considerably weakened by their own war and isolationism, similarly unable to push for self-sufficiency (considering the environmental disaster that was the calamity for coerthas), they have (imo) correctly identified that one of their avenues for development lies in the brokering of trade agreements and tourism development (ishgard has a unique and strong cultural identity and beautiful vistas that make for a sound touristic opportunity).

it also makes sense for kugane to have a housing district - kugane being the only place that's open to foreigners, and catering quite extensively (not to mention expensively) to tourists' tastes, and being practically the only trade point between hingashi and the rest of the world.

that being said, the game itself acknowledges how unfair this system is, since unlocking access to every housing district involves you watching some poor local citizen's hopes of homeownership getting brutally dashed by the "foreigners/adventurers-only" policy. (except for ishgard, since there is another citizens-only housing district?)

that's very obviously a case of gentrification (textbook definition even). worse, the sprawling suburban hellscape, literal-gated-community-full-of-gaudy-mcmansions that is the housing district is an inefficient use of land + very resource-intensive + creates an entire domestic service economy (labor-intensive to maintain). in other words, the opposite of a community & incredibly alienating to the people living there!!

you CAN'T create this kind of dynamic in the crystarium (first of all there's no room and most importantly the entire concept is that they're a communist city). you can't recreate the kind of exploitative class dynamics they had in EULMORE in there!!!!! that makes no sense!!

now it would make sense in eulmore but the resource availability in the First is still limited, i would say, not to mention it would be an extremely scummy move lmao

as for sharlayan, the same applies; theyre not communist at all (lol) but they would not benefit from tourism or creating this kind of class at all, and anyway they already manage their (limited) (island) land scarily extensively and i don't see how or why or where a housing district could be located anyway (and can you imagine the paperwork??)

now obviously the actual option for a new housing district would be mare lamentorum. it was quite literally made for that. no idea if they will ever go through with it but it would make sense and be physically possible, i think

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1.28.25 Wishing you all a happy Lunar New Year! May we all be happy, healthy, and prosperous despite and in spite of the world trying to get us down.

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unsundered.mp4

[Music]

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ffxiv tarot commission for @drk-brain🔹⬛