#The sea of stars ffxiv

[cherulean-art]

Commission ⭐

[herssian]

the most normal, healthy and alive zenos has ever sounded was during the royal menagerie, even as he’s about to let loose and merge with a primal. every part after his suicide throughout endwalker, he’s monotone and disconnected even when talking to the wol, even when threatening to engulf the whole world in flames if it grants him the thing he wants the most. there’s something quietly, mutedly harrowing to realize he truly died in the menagerie. and possibly never came back

[solis-pyr-nola]

I've got a ticket for a world where we belong

Part 3 > Limsa Lominsa

Part 2 > Thavnair Part 1 > Garlemald

[starrysnowdrop]

FFXIV Vanilla Gpose Challenge

Day 5: Vacation 🏝️ Costa del Sol

“Costa del Sol is beautiful no matter what, but have you seen it at night? Heavenly…” ~ Hali

[akirakirxaa]

unique - for the single-word fic prompt!

[ so sorry for the delay, just completed a multi-state move so I didn't have much time until now <3 Thanks for the ask @gatheredfates !]

"Wait for me!" Stella, a small girl of about five summers, scampered after a plump calico cat. The tiny bell around the creature's neck tinkled as it scampered around the corner, tail lashing as its master's tiny child chased after it. As Stella peeled around the corner, she skidded to a halt as she saw her mother lifting the cat into her arms. Stella's ears lowered just a hair, one hand absently picking at the auri scales on the other.

"What have I told you about pestering Marbles?" Akira scolded gently, as the cat slipped out of her hands and disappeared over her shoulder fast enough that Stella's quick eyes missed where he went.

"I wasn't pestering, we were playing!" Stella clasped her hands behind her back, ears flat back in what she hoped was an innocent expression. Akira didn't look like she was buying it.

"Well, whether pestering or playing, it's past time for you to be in bed," Akira folded her arms, stern expression softened somewhat by her slight smile. Stella's face fell.

"But I'm not tired."

"Even still, kittens need their rest."

"I'm not a kitten!" Stella's floofy but still child-short tail waggled behind her. "I'm a dragon!" The warrior of light barely stifled a chuckle at her child's antics, scooping her up.

"Well, trust me, I know plenty of dragons and they all need their beauty sleep."

~*~

Stella tossed and turned amidst her covers. She wasn't even sleepy yet! Why should she have to go to bed now? She pouted, but then thought of something. She'd only done it by accident a few times, but if she wasn't tired, maybe she could practice. Stella laid down in her bed, pulling her covers up to her chin so her parents wouldn't suspect anything should they check on her.

She closed her eyes, and imagined a blue place full of crystals and bright lights. She tried to imagine being there, as if one of those lights were leading her along to where it lived.

And then, she was there.

The first time she'd visited the Blue Place, she thought it had been a dream. The bright lights that lived there seemed to want to play with her, and she chased them about excitedly. The second time, when she started to recognize familiar crystalline shapes and somewhat...recognize the lights that floated about, Stella began to suspect that it wasn't a dream.

She knew her parents had special abilities, though she never got the full story on either. She knew her mother could sometimes see the past, and that her father's had something to do with his eyes. Maybe they could come to this place too and they just never told her. Well, wouldn't they be surprised when they saw she managed it all by herself!

She leaped and chased after the lights; the air was weird here, and her jumps took her a little higher and further than they should, and it took her a little longer to come back down. She leaped at one ball of light after another, swiping delightedly at them as they flitted just out of her reach every time. It reminded her of when the leaves on the trees would change color and fall, but this was much more fun!

"And what might you be doing here?"

Stella nearly jumped out of her skin; she hadn't heard anyone sneak up on her, and the voice didn't belong to her mother or her father. She spun on her heel, fur on her tail and around the base of her ears bristling in alarm.

Behind her stood a strange man. His hair was a light purple, braided and pulled over one shoulder, with matching purple eyes. He was tall, almost as tall as Uncle Urianger, but his ears were round, not pointy. She wondered if maybe he was only half Elezen, like she was half au ra. As she wondered, he knelt down to look her in the eye. Or, well, almost look her in the eye. He was still too tall even kneeling for that.

"Who're you?" Stella shuffled a slight step back, but she didn't run. Something told her he wasn't a threat. He looked a little sad at that.

"I was hoping you might remember me."

Stella tilted her head for a moment, thinking. She definitely knew she'd never seen this person before, so she thought about how he felt safe, and his voice...

"Wait, you're my friend!" she near-shouted in her excitement. "The one in mama's crystal!"

"Well, not in it, but yes. I thought you'd forgotten me!" he teased lightly, and Stella relaxed her shoulders a bit, her fur finally flattening.

"Mama said you didn't exist!"

"Well, your mother can't hear us the way you can," he sat properly, folding his legs under his long robe, and she sat across from him.

"So who are you? Really?"

"My name is Hythlodaeus, and I was an old friend of your mother's."

"Hythlo...Hy..." Stella struggled around the long name, and he couldn't hold in a quiet chuckle.

"You can call me Hyth if it's easier," he suggested, and she nodded.

"You...were mama's friend? Are you not anymore?"

"I hope I still am! It's...complicated," his smile was somewhat rueful, and though Stella wanted to needle him about it, she held back. Her father always told her it was rude to pry, after all, and that people would tell her difficult things when they were ready.

"Why were you following me?" Stella tilted her head to the side.

"Well," he started. "You're a stranger here, and this place can be dangerous. So I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Dangerous? Then what about you?"

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm perfectly safe."

"I can't just leave you here!" Stella jumped to her feet in alarm. "If it's dangerous, you should come home with me, I'm sure mama would be okay with it, she always says we should help people if we can-"

"Slow down, Stella," Hythlodaeus cut her off with a somewhat wistful smile. "While I'm sure your mother would be happy to, it's more complicated than that, and at any rate, I'm happy here. You don't have to worry about me." Her stubborn pout spoke to her disagreement, and she folded her arms for good measure.

"I don't understand, if it's dangerous here how could you be happy here?"

"It's dangerous for you, not for me."

"I'm tough! I can handle it!" she puffed up a little, her tiny tail waggling behind her, and Hyth chuckled again.

"I'm sure you can. But it's not that you're not tough. This place isn't meant for people like you, and that's why it's dangerous."

"If I'm not meant to be here, why am I here?"

"Well," he thought for a moment. "You have a somewhat...unique gift. Most people can't visit here, but you can. I do wonder what else you might be able to do with it."

"Like beat up monsters?" Stella jumped up from her seat, making a punching motion in the air, and he laughed.

"You're your mother's daughter, all right," Hyth grinned at her, only to suddenly glance over his shoulder as if he'd heard something. "Alas, I think it's time for me to go."

"Why?"

"I have someone I care a lot for that has trouble sleeping alone, so I need to go help him get some rest," he explained kindly, getting to his feet and patting Stella's head gently. "You should go home and get some rest too. Maybe next time, if we can drag my friend from his sleep, we can explore more of this power of yours."

Stella was about to protest, when suddenly she felt a wave of fatigue wash over her, and the blue place and Hythlodaeus faded from view until she was laying back in her bed. And though she wanted to go tell her mother everything she'd seen, she was so tired.

She could tell her in the morning.

[busnautica]

also if there's a discord out there

for OUR neck of the woods

I suck at discord

but gimme

[artypurrs]

Art by the amazing artist @deyonside thank you

[thegreatyin]

a collection of other nominee categories that i think are about to be a bloodbath this year

and, of course

the real battle of the fates

[liminalitycarb]

It's time to head deeper into the lair of the FLESHMANCER as we continue Sea of Stars! I feel like we're nearing the end so we might finish today?

And after will be No Crits Allowed FFXIV shenanigans as we near the end of our p12s reclears! Though it will start about 90 minutes later than normal.

Watch on Twitch: https://twitch.tv/LiminalityCarb

[jamminsamblog]

Tag 9 5 people you’d like to know!

Tagged by @doctor-roman (howdy!)

Last song:

First one is kinda spoilers (late-game raid) for FFXIV but this, also had this one (a banger) on loop since it dropped recently. My taste in music ranges quite a bit tho!

Currently watching:

The year is 2023. Bleach is actively releasing episodes again. (This is a show I kept up with in middle school and one of the many anime that made me want to draw) I have also seen a lot of spoilers for Miraculous s5 and have been trying to get caught up on that with my roommate (struggling through the cringe of s3)

Currently reading:

Reading... I remember when I had time for that... Last manga I read was Yona of the Dawn, last 'book-book' I read was maybe To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars (Chrisopher Paolini), or Iron Widow (Xiran jay Zhao)?

Current obsession:

Animal Crossing New Horizons has me captive yet again, and FFXIV (critically acclaimed MMO with a free trial with no restriction on playtime up to level 60 including the hit expansion Heavensward) has new content tomorrow, so I'll likely fall back into that as well between working on things.

Tagging:

@bace-jeleren, @subtle-error, @thelastpilot, @buggachat, @hchano

[gingerfoxsden]

Soul crystals dedicated to Ultima Thule! New arrival in my shop!

Check here for every customizations available: etsy.com/shop/GingerFoxsDen

[noxtivagus]

I WOKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT 💀

[wintersneg]

manifesting ffxiv merch at the con tomorrow

[gatheredfates]

SEA'S COMMUNITY COMPENDIUM UPDATE

We have a massive one today! Huge thanks to a close friend of mine who sent me every single bookmark of xiv resources she had. 💖

Additionally, a good handful of these resources were sourced from a list originally created by @rinhkitty, which you can find here. I have tried to include the more recent/active of the lot, so it's not a one-for-one. Thank them for a lot of the large scale resources you'll find below! ✨

As of 04/12, I have added the following resources (in no particular order) to Sea's Community Compendium for FFXIV Creatives:

LARGE SCALE

GARLAND TOOLS — Contains XIV resources such as Garland Data, everything database, crafting lists and equipment calculators; Garland Bell, gathering timers, collectable resources and hunt windows; and FFXIV Fisher, daily fishing windows, bait paths and catch checklist. Maintained by Clorifex Ezalor of Zalera.

TEAMCRAFT — Create crafting lists and collaborate with others, set gathering alarms, simulate crafting rotations, and more!

CAT BECAME HUNGRY - FFXIV ANGLER — Contains everything and anything to know about fishing including specific fish guides, location, baits, aquarium fish and more!

FFXIV - CRAFTING AS A SERVICE — Crafting information and planning for FFXIV!

FFXIV GARDENING — The FFXIV Gardening Database is a collection of everything related to gardening in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. It was created to organize and visualize the results obtained from crossbreeding.

SIGHTSEEING LOG HELPER — This tool will help those trying to complete their pesky Sightseeing Log by letting them know upcoming weather patterns for each zone!

EUREKA TRACKER — For everything and anything to do with Eureka mobs, tracking and weather patterns.

FFLOGOS — for tracking of items/actions related to Eureka.

FFXIVSQUADRON — A comprehensive tool that helps you assess the success rate of various squadron missions.

FFXIV CHOCOBO COLOUR CALCULATOR — Will calculate what chocobo feed you will need to get from your current colour to your desired colour. *rng not included.

FFXIV HOUSING — A site specialising in the documentation of all housing items available in game.

HOUSING SNAP — A compilation of player-made housing designs. Can be used for inspiration or places to visit!

MISC

NPC CHAT BUBBLES — Would you like more NPC chat bubbles for edits? Say no more! Created by @alexoisxiv.

OLD TUMBLR LAYOUT BY PIXIEL — While not XIV specific I know a lot of people aren't fans of the new Tumblr layout, so this is a fix that will revert it to an as close as possible approximation of the new one. I won't tag the creator as I don't think they're in the xiv community, but it's run by @/pixiel!

HOW TO CURSE LIKE AN ISHGARDIAN — Do you want to make the church blush? Do you want to incur the wrath of Halone? @stars-and-clouds has compiled a list of appropriate curses/swear words for you!

FINAL FANTASY XIV SIDEQUEST GUIDE - HEAVENSWARD EDITION — maintained by @chatty-moogle, this guide explores interesting sidequests in Heavensward that will give you more information about the lore, titbits about locals and other interesting information!

TRUST BANNERS FOR XIV — If you have ever wondered how people mimic the Trust banners used in XIV, look no further! @locke-rinannis has a template for you.

MAKING USE OF RECOMMENDATIONS — created by @autumnslance, this guide will help you make your recommendations tab useful rather than annoying.

BOTANICA EORZEA — A guide to the flora of Eitherys and her reflections, including fungi and seedkin. For reference in writing and roleplaying. Maintained by @tinolqa.

GPOSE TIPS — A tutorial on how to achieve clarity and detail in your XIV screenshots! Created by @aryalaenkha.

UI MACRO MENUS — A guide on how to use macros to create small UI menus for XIV. Written by @diskwrite-ffxiv.

TYPHON GATE RESEARCH — Created by @mcstronghuge, these are the statistically best places for your character to stand for the Typhon Gate!

CHANGELOG

HYDAELYN HEALTH HAVEN has been removed at the request of the owner.

Moved THE BALANCE higher on the list to reflect alphabetical sorting, excluding names that start with The.

Misc formatting as needed.

Added some additional clarification around large-scale discords/spaces; in particular: Large-scale community discords such as the XIV Reddit Discord, Hunts, GPOSE promotions and broad-space roleplay servers that harbour a large number of people and are publicly available to all. These may not have an RP focus but will assist in other aspects of the game. Also includes well-known tools/resources that are utilised by large groups of people and assist in gameplay elements.

Added a quick-jump menu to the bottom of each of the table of contents menus to assist in navigation.

Want to submit? You can either fill out the google form here, send me an ask with the relevant information contained on the Compendium, or join my Discord at SEAFLOOR (21+ only)!

I am sure there's probably a couple of things I have missed or links/formatting that might be broken. Please don't hesitate to let me know if anything is out of place. I'm going to take a break now. I'm pretty sure that's the biggest edit that's ever going to occur on this document!

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV Write Entry #14: Skin-Deep

Prompt: telling || Master Post || On AO3

---

Alakhai does not initially understand just how Synnove and Dancing Heron remain friends with one Rereha Reha.

Oh, sure, the girl is nice enough (‘girl’ as if she isn’t just a few years younger than Alakhai herself), especially for someone that filthy stinking rich. (Who needs that many purses?) But she’s loud and rambunctious and bawdy, a bit too fond of parties, ostentatious in the extreme, the exact opposite of the far more reserved Synnove and Heron.

Clearly, she’s missing pieces of this puzzle, not helped by her infrequent visits to Ul’dah, and then Rereha running screaming for Gridania of all the cities. But Alakhai is very good at fading into the background to observe, so that’s what she’ll do.

It’s all the little moments that count for the most.

The time she and Synnove arrive at Rereha’s family manse to find Rereha’s room a minor disaster with clothes spilling out of the walk-in closet and Rereha sorting things into various piles.

“Shirts to keep, trousers to keep, dresses to keep,” she had said, “shirts to donate, trousers to donate, dresses to donate. Forgot to do this before I went to Gridania. Oh! Gotta let Ruru and Roro at the donate piles, too, they get first dibs on whatever I’m not wearing anymore, should be a couple of things they like…”

There’s also the cheerful pride Rereha always has when she speaks of her baby sisters. She isn’t particularly close with them, but none of them seem to mind that. Rereha has her own path, and she speaks with naked relief about how much better Ruruha and Roroha will be as castellans for the family businesses. “They actually enjoy goldsmithing and alchemy and all the business management stuff!” But she’s always happy to share a list of her sisters’ latest accomplishments when asked, and at one point, Alakhai is present when the young twins decide they want a song from their elder sister. And Rereha immediately puts down her bow, and picks up her fiddle.

There’s the time they were all out shopping the market stalls, and Alakhai sees Rereha clock a minor jeweler down on their luck. Worn hems, unpolished shoes, a collar very carefully turned to hide a faded stain. Their wares are good, even to Alakhai’s untrained eye, and Rereha quite happily purchases a necklace and two sets of earrings from them. But Rereha doesn’t haggle quite as ferociously as she would with a better-off merchant (and there is, apparently, an entire etiquette about haggling in Ul’dah and greater Thanalan that Alakhai has no hope in hell of grasping), though she manages it in such a way that if you’d never seen her actually put her whole effort into it, you’d never know she’d deliberately gone light.

And then she puts on the necklace as they wander off, and hooks in one pair of earrings into her lobes and the other onto her cartilage just at the points of her ears, and gushes to everyone on Sapphire Avenue who asks about her baubles about where she’d gotten them.

Then there’s Rereha’s about preternatural memory for keeping all of Heron’s numerous relatives straight. Synnove’s dead to the world on the couch in Rereha’s room, recovering from exams, while Heron whisper-shouts in frustration over some family squabble that’s boiled over and Rereha is nodding along. Heron finally wears herself out and presses her forehead against the couch with a low groan.

“It’s so stupid,” she finishes.

Rereha wiggles off the still-sleeping Synnove’s back to smush herself against Heron’s head and pat her shoulder in commiseration. “Your uncle’s a moron,” she says. “Has anyone bothered to write to your Great Aunt Intrepid Star to get her to settle the matter already?”

Heron heaved a sigh. “Trying. She went on holiday in the South Seas, which has turned into her island hopping her way to Thavnair, and the runner keeps just missing her in every damned port.”

“Damn.”

Finally, there’s today. Synnove is making eyes at an enormous topaz she just bought like it’s a Bismarck ice cream sundae and Alakhai has a hand on her elbow to keep her moving through the crowd. Rereha, however, isn’t quite so distracted, and she yanks at Alakhai’s belt to get her attention.

Alakhai looks down and can’t help but blink in surprise at the expression of utter loathing on the lalafell’s face. Then Rereha points, and through the heavy crowds, Alakhai sees a hyur woman of middling years, pale-skinned and black-haired and blue-eyed.

Alakhai has never met Isolde Greywolfe and quite frankly probably shouldn’t (oops there’s a knife in someone’s kidneys, so clumsy, how awful of her), but now she knows for sure what the woman looks like.

Rereha has already moved to Synnove’s other side and is tugging at her friend’s skirts, and Alakhai assists by gently pushing Synnove into the movement. “Come on, babe, you’re gonna get us mugged making buffalo eyes like that,” Rereha drawls.

Synnove merely grunts.

Even with her eyes still glued to that topaz, Rereha and Alakhai manage to get Synnove down one of the less busy side streets, and from there, Rereha guides them through the maze that connects the various major Avenues until it spits them out near one the clusters of cafes.

“Time for coffee!” Rereha says, and that finally gets Synnove’s attention.

Alakhai shakes her head in amusement, and levels a considering eye on Rere. The pieces are beginning to fit together, and what a strange creature this Rere really is. Funny, though.

Let’s see where this goes.

[ainyan]

FFXIV Write - Day 2: Horizon

Thancred leaned against the forward railing of The Seventh Dawn, his body lightly pressed against Kal’istae’s back. She, too, clung to the railing, her feet planted on the bottom rail while she held on to the top. The ship’s rail, built to provide safety for Elezen and Roegadyn sailors, was almost too high for the Hyuran Captain to lean on comfortably, much less the fulm-shorter Au Ra. So he held her in place, keeping her steady so she could gaze out towards the west and the lowering sun.

For safety, of course.

If Kal’istae took any exception to his precaution, she did not show it; her face was lifted into the breeze created by their slow passage westward, midnight strands flitting about her face and horns as she inhaled deeply of the salty sea air. “What did you want to show me?” she asked curiously as she scanned the horizon but saw nothing but the wavering surface of the sea and the reddening disk sinking below it.

“Patience,” he murmured, trying to ignore the way the hints of lavender and starflower that scented the breeze made his pulse quicken. 

Her laugh was soft and low and mingled with the crash of the water against the bow of the ship. “Have you not figured out yet, Captain Waters, that patience is not my strong suit?” But she did not push the matter further, content to gaze out over the water and enjoy the warmth of him against her spine.

It was a start.

“Watch,” he whispered against her horn as the last of the sun sank below the horizon. Against her back, he tensed, and she could feel his arms tighten about her, fingers gripping the railing in anticipation. In response, she clung to the damp wood and stared intently at that single point of red before it winked out.

One heartbeat.

Two.

A dull flash of emerald green erupted from the point where the sun had disappeared, briefly illuminating the sky. In the center of that burst of light stood the outline of a great ship, hulking and monstrous and lit from within by that same ghostly foxfire. Kal’istae gasped and jerked backwards into Thancred’s chest, and his arm slid around her waist, holding her close as they watched the spectacle.

It hung in the air for a handful of heartbeats, then the green faded, stealing with it the silhouette of the ship, and all that was left behind was the deepening twilight, the first of the stars, and the afterimage burning in their eyes.

“Was that the Agrius?” she asked, her voice soft and reverent.

“Aye,” Thancred murmured, not loosening his hold on her; instead, he filled his lungs with the scents of her lavender and starflowers and told himself it was only to settle a stomach made raw by the sight of that accursed ship. “Which ship it is depends on where you are, but here in the straits between Limsa and Ul’dah, it’s usually one of those lost during the Battle of Bahamut. Though this is the first time I’ve seen the Agrius.”

She was silent for a long moment. Then, “Thank you,” she said softly. “Whatever ship it was notwithstanding, that was an amazing thing to witness.”

He was silent for an equally long moment. “You’re welcome.” Suddenly self-conscious, he stepped back, reaching out to help her down before shoving his hands into the pockets of his loose breeches. “I should go make sure we’re still on course,” he said suddenly.

She gazed up at him. “Where are we going?”

His gaze trailed past her, towards the ocean beyond. “Ultimately, Limsa Lominsa. I hope to pick up the trail of the Garleans there. But first? I’ve a stop to make.”

“Where?” she repeated.

His single eye remained cast out to sea. “I’ve business to see to in Horizon.”

FFXIV Write 2024 (Daily Prompt List)

Day 2 - Horizon

OC: Kal'istae Miurani

NPC: Thancred Waters

AU: The Scions of the Seventh Sea