#FFXIV werlyt

[fourteentheart]

Every time I see that particular photo floating around I'm reminded "Oh yeah, I want to draw Gaius and the Werlyt kids like that" and forget. Until today!

I've been wanting to draw this one since last summer. 😭

[whymaige]

No longer weapons

🔴🔷

🟢💎

The Sorrow of Werlyt

[aethris-art]

Children yelling: MCDONALDS MCDONALDS MCDONALDS

[improvised-finish]

And all their words for glory, well, they always sounded empty When we're looking up for heaven, looking up for heaven

I was waiting for some friends to work through the Sorrow of Werlyt quests, so I decided that Lehon'a would pass the time by sitting on the beautiful fountain in Terncliff and gazing at the moon in the gorgeous night sky. Tried to finish this pose quickly, and I'm pretty happy with my ability to get this done with plenty of time to spare!

Bonus shot of the maps we did after Diamond Weapon; made it to the bottom of the canals in a Stormblood one I opened cause Lehon'a is the luckiest cat!

[witchloversupreme]

If you take a step back and really look at them, Gaius (in ARR, at least) and Edmont are actually pretty interesting foils for each other, because one is a deeply, deeply awful person who is an incredible father, while the other is one of the most moral and kind people on the planet who's given all of his kids massive, incredibly self-destructive complexes.

Like, Gaius genuinely adores all his children, even Livia, despite her incredibly disturbing fixation on him, and is very obviously gutted by the idea that they'd go to war without him to protect them, while Edmont very clearly only cared about Haurchefant, foisting all the First Born Son responsibilities on Artoirel but giving him absolutely none of the respect, and hardly remembering that Emmanellain even exists save to scold him.

Hell, even Haurchefant, even though he was the favorite, didn't get particularly better treatment because of Countess Fortemps (incredibly understandable) hatred of him, which led to Haurche becoming self-destructively self-sacrificing to try and get at least a little of the respect he deserves from his peers, and eventually lead to his death at The Vault.

[worldoshaking]

bakool ja ja reminds me a little bit of gaius, as someone who correctly sees that there is injustice and hypocrisy in the systems lauded as just and democratic, and responds by rejecting those kinder ideals altogether since it’s evident that there are limitations to them. gaius sees the hypocrisy in eorzea’s relationships with the beast tribes, and the evident injustice and dishonesty of the eorzean rulers. bakool ja ja sees that the dawnservant’s vaunted vision of peace and equality hasn’t actually done anything to improve the mamool ja’s lives. it is evident that these are not things that these systems intend to address, or even take note of; they’re built into their systems of power.

of course there’s also a significant difference between gaius, the leader of a conquering army, and bakool ja ja, who isn’t the leader of anything in particular. but as werlyt establishes, gaius was trying to use his ideal of meritocracy to make things better for those who were less privileged. it’s easy to see where the temptation of these ideas springs from; in a world where those who deserve better are overlooked, surely a better world would reward those who deserve it? it’s just as easy to see where these ideals fall short; why must people deserve fundamental rights and justice, and who has the right to decide that people are deserving?

[ihaveatypeanditstrickstergods]

When you think about it, Praetorium and Porta Decumana are really just the world's most awkward barbecue hosted by two sad dads. Lahabrea brought his ex and didn't tell anyone, there was drama, everything kinda blew up, and now everything is burnt and Gaius is just spouting his political opinions everywhere.

[cosmicseashanty]

I drew this ahead of the Tataru quest in Werlyt and I dunno, I feel like I predicted the vibe fairly well

[aethernoise]

2. bark

This prompt reminded me to return to a very old WIP idea that I will likely never finish. It may simply be the fic equivalent of writing an angry letter and never sending it - self-care, if anything, in face of grave injustices.

Set in 5.2, inspired by the opening quests of the Sorrows of Werlyt. CW for mild violence.

•

She wanted to spit in his face, but her mouth was dry from anger.

"I don't give a shit about your regrets," she hissed, "They mean nothing to me. They mean nothing to the millions of innocent lives you've taken and the millions more you have ruined forever."

Gaius' face remained stony in the dim light.

"You needn’t list my sins, I know them all full well," he said. "I would never attempt to request your forgiveness, only cooperation--”

"Here is my cooperation, Baelsar," she cut him off. "You are alive at this moment because I will it.”

The corner of his mouth twisted ruefully.

“You would kill an unarmed man in cold blood? It seems we are both a far cry from our former selves.”

“Shut up.” 

"Do it, then, if you must. Say the words, Defender of Eorzea. Prove you're not all bark and no bite. Even if you paint the Royal Palace red with my blood, it will do nothing to stop what is coming."

There was a loud crack and a flash. Gaius grunted and slumped onto the floor. The aether was so loud in Alyx’s ears, she didn’t hear Raubahn’s voice booming down the hall.

“Alyx!”

There was a small singe on the front of Gaius’ coat, leaking a faint smell of burned leather. She remained transfixed on the mark while his chest slowly rose and fell.

“Alyx! Seven hells, what have you done?”

“He’s fine,” she said flatly.

“I cannot say he didn’t have it coming,” Raubahn said with the hint of a chuckle, and Alyx almost gave herself neck strain with the speed she turned to look up at him.

“Nothing compared to what he deserves. He doesn’t even deserve to be here, walking free in our home--” Her fingers clenched, shoulders squared against trembling with anger. “Raubahn, how could you?”

“Do you think I want him here?” His voice was hushed, his enormous shadow tense, black eyes flashing with ferocity. “Do you truly think I welcomed him as a friend with open arms?!”

Alyx had the dim awareness that anyone sane would be completely terrified to be rounded upon by General Aldynn in such a manner, but another awareness reminded her that she could knock him on his arse too if she had to.  

“How am I supposed to know? You certainly looked chummy enough,” she spat, “Standing there next to him like a gods damned diplomat, like he wasn’t the one responsible fo--”

His giant, calloused hand seized her arm. The hold was not ungentle, but the sheer weight of him rooted her to the spot. 

“And what would you have me do?” His voice had lowered to a rumbling growl like an earthquake. “Execute him on sight? Drag him through the streets? He came to us in peace, and with information vital to our survival--”

“And you trusted him!” 

“We have no reason not to.”

“My gods, do you even hear yourself?!”

“We have no choice. I have no choice.” Alyx opened her mouth to disagree, but he continued: “I will not put our borders at further risk out of pride. I cannot afford to refuse help, even from the most hated of sources. If Ala Mhigo is to survive--if Eorzea is to survive--it cannot depend only on you forever, Alyx.”

Her heart hammered in her ears, but she had no rebuttal. The General went on:

"Someday, Rhalgr forbid, you might not be here. What if something were to happen to you? What would become of us? I know full well what you're capable of, but I know you cannot be everywhere at once."

A soft groan from below - Gaius was waking up. As soon as Raubahn's grip slackened enough, Alyx pulled her arm free. 

"Fine. Do what you will." Her voice was low, robbed of much of its former power. "But please, do not ask me to work with him."

Alyx didn't wait for confirmation. Instead she turned to leave before she could regret anything more.

[jalopeura]

inspired by last reblog. please look at my bunny, he cute

[catgirlalchemist]

Souls Weighed Down by Gravity

“I’m turning on the KLEOS now, Cid.” “Roger that, Mihri. Reading the KLEOS as active.” She closed her eyes and breathed deeply and evenly. All around her, the cockpit of the warmachina was lit up with holographic screens reporting on every aspect of her surroundings, but none of that mattered right now. The hairpin-like device on her forehead was warm, and she could feel it guiding her toward the familiar mental state of the Echo. Hear… Feel… That wasn’t it. She needed to go deeper. The machine was thrumming above her, below her, around her, like a living being. Focus on its heart, Cid had said, and your own will follow. She let herself sink into it. The thrumming was inside her, now, and she opened her eyes, raised her hand, and saw the metal fingers flex as she moved them. She turned her head to the side and looked towards the catwalk at eye level. Cid and the other Ironworks technicians were so small compared to her now. “I’ve got it,” she said. A complete rewrite of the Sorrows of Werlyt questline, focusing on Milisandia and the other pilots.

Chapter 1: Crossing the Rubicon

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences (subject to change)

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV

Relationships: Cid Garlond & Warrior of Light, Milisandia & Warrior of Light, Avilina/Milisandia

Characters: Warrior of Light, Cid Garlond, Milisandia, Avilina

Tags: The Sorrows of Werlyt Questline, Canon Rewrite, Mecha

On AO3 here

[specterthief]

has someone tallied all the references to char aznable specifically in ffxiv because i can think of three just off the top of my head from the comparatively small amount of content i've played

[cephalonsuda]

you could say im baelsarpilled lovemaxxing

[dawntrailing]

"I'm sorry, Father. We've come too far to back down now."

[luc1d17y-ffxiv]

My life in FFXIV feels like a series of "but I can't do X unless I do Y first," so when I read that it was highly recommended to finish the Eden raids before doing the 6.5 MSQ... here we are 24 hours later.

[fourteentheart]

A bit late but this is a scenario I've been thinking of - mostly in the context of a modern AU, but i figured it'd be ok for this too LOL

Werlyt Auri: Time to get SPOOPY! Gaius: Makoh'to, what is "spoopy"? Should I be worried that the children want to "get spoopy"? Makoh'to: It's a cute way to say "spooky"! Do you want some candy?