#but if i don't use miqo lore...

[pangolinheart]

me: I should tie my WoLs backstory to miqo'te lore so it feels like they have a connection to world and the lore...

also me: But that would require me to acknowledge that sun seeker lore exists and I Don't Want To.

[theexiledviera]

Dawntrail Benchmark: Thoughts and Screenshots

The moment we've been waiting for, and in some cases dreading. Dawntrail's official benchmark released, showcasing XIV's graphics update and the opportunity for us to see our beloved WoLs' appearances going forward. The results led to the expected mixed reactions with players either elated or aghast with what's changed for their characters.

Even I found myself hesitant to really form an opinion on how Astraea looked in the Character Creator menu. At first I was shocked with her appearance when bringing her into the light. Something clearly looked off, and I worried that the time had come to say goodbye to a muse that did so much for my inspiration and personal healing.

Left - 6.58 / Right - Benchmark

I don't know who at SE thought it was a good idea to have the Character Creator use lighting this abysmal, but dear god! It really clashes with the new textures and bone structures of the redesigned models. It wasn't until I rotated Astraea's face towards the shade when the previews yielded far better results.

It was then that Astraea looked like herself, albeit maybe a little older than she currently appeared ingame, but in a good way. Still, I had to run the trailer to really see how she transitioned to the upcoming graphics update.

Environmentally speaking, the update looks incredible with the more lush foliage and higher textured elements in the open world. Grass and flowers having actual collision on them was an attention to detail I didn't expect with this update, but it's awesome to see.

Seeing Astraea in action brought me peace of mind about the graphics update, not only with her appearance, but with the surprising improvements to her features and motions on display (we actually have real feet and fingers now!!).

I can understand and sympathize with a lot of people who had the knee-jerk reactions they did. When the Benchmark was released, we had no idea how bad the CC menu was going to make our WoLs look.

That's not to say some of the criticism wasn't justified for the more obvious changes. There are some creative decisions that are rather mind-boggling to say the least. Moonkeeper Miqos, you have my condolences for the loss of your fangs.

Whether or not SE will address these concerns as they had from past showcases is yet to be seen, but likely to happen, if not before, then surely after Dawntrail's launch. We can only be patient in the matter.

I've been having fun rebuilding and previewing all my characters in the Benchmark to see if there are any major changes, but so far they all look the same, if not better. My Roe, Skarnwyda really glowed up with this update. Just look at her!

And then, there's the fem Hroths. Overall, I love their design being more beast-like than human, similar to their male counterparts. I am disappointed with the limited customization for them in the Benchmark. We didn't even get normal hair selections for them, which I'm sure will change when DT releases...I hope.

I don't have plans on adding a fem Hroth to Astraea's lore (I'm far too late in the game to make it work), but there's always room for one in Chessylite's story.

In the end, I'm excited for Dawntrail and the graphics update. It will take some getting used to, and surely there are hiccups SE will need to fix as they continue bringing the whole game up to code with it. My biggest concern is the lighting system, at least for the older zones if the CC menu is anything to go by.

It's not perfect, far from it, but it's a step in the right direction for XIV's future.

[lookbluesoup]

just read your AMAB focused NSFW headcanons but im curious, so in light of LGBT month of June, what about trans folk of the miqo/hroth/au'ra/viera races? Trans males, do they go into heat, perhaps not as intensely and/or as often if they're on some version of hormone replacement? I have my own personal headcanon for my AFAB trans guy but i was just curious on your take c:

Thanks for asking!! This ended up being a more general ramble about trans headcanons in Eitherys, hopefully that's ok xD I haven't done much lore digging for this stuff in actual canon, so forgive me if this conflicts with lore! (And feel free to share sources, I'm curious!)

I imagine “hormones” as a word isn't really a thing in Eitherys - or at least isn't widely known - and due to the magic and aetheric aspects of life here, the whole thing doesn’t function quite the same way as real life. --

Most folks are content with using glamours as a (relatively) cheap, accessible way to alter their presentation. --

In Eorzea, skilled alchemists can create potions which alter aether and essentially have the same effect as HRT. Alchemy is somewhat expensive and this particular concoction requires significant skill such as from the Guild - so this isn’t something your average farmer would have reliable access to. --

Garlemald has magitek and medical expertise to perform complex confirmation surgeries, especially thanks to studying Allagan technology like cloning and having an advanced understanding of magical genetics. --

Since Miqo’te and Hrothgar heats are caused by ovaries being ready to ovulate, transfems don’t experience heats naturally (the same way irl transfems don't get periods.) But alchemists have a fix for that too, and potion can be brewed to replicate the sensation of a heat with great accuracy. --

Fantasias… exist. But they’re either a lost art or extremely prohibitive to make, meaning almost nobody outside of like the Leveillieurs and the Emperor of Garlemald would have access to such a thing. --

Transgender acceptance varies significantly between races, city states, and cultures:

Groups like tradition-heavy Miqo'te tribes and Ishgard which push strict gender roles with heavy reproductive expectations attached tend to be less welcoming to the notion.

Viera... super duper chill with trans. They don't even know what sex they are until puberty. Even though their society is divided into gender roles, reproduction isn't a huge focus so there's no major cultural reason to be so opposed to the idea of it.

Will tentatively hc that Gridania is accepting. There's plenty of examples of nonbinary gender stuff in nature. (I could make a case for them being super bigoted and arrogant about "sex=gender, we're Spoken races not animals" or w/e but I'm mean enough to Gridania in my hcs so they can have this xD)

Garlemald is pretty much fine with it, too, but access to gender affirming medical care is, like so much else, dependent on merit.

Sharlayan acknowledges the existence of trans individuals and is verbally affirming, but there's so much academic debate and bureaucracy that it can actually be very hard to “qualify” for affirmative care.

In Ul'dah acceptance is about money. Like everything else lol

Au Ra have SO MANY cultures I feel it's impossible to place any generalizations on them. I imagine there's a huge spectrum of beliefs and whatnot depending on what group you're born to.

There's also just not enough Hrothgar lore out there for me to be too sure how I think they'd handle it. Since they also seem to have pretty strict gender roles, it'd be easy to say it's not accepted. But I also kinda like the idea of intersex traits being fairly common for Hroth, and maybe there's a lot of leeway in their traditions for at least transmasc/transfem individuals! --

The Ancients were very positive about it, especially given the role physical transformation has in their culture and the ease with which it could be done

While I personally like the variation in acceptance & access to care from an immersion and storytelling standpoint, I totally get that's not for everyone and have nothing against folks who hc a more widely accepting world in Eitherys!

[nijohirjesyho]

would you ever make an nsfw ver of the miqo biology thing??

I currently don't see myself doing so because, sorry to disappoint, but I'm pretty vanilla in what I imagine Miqo'te biology to look like for the following two reasons

Knots are not a feline thing, they are a canine thing so that's that popular headcanon down

What cats have instead are barbs, and I am wincing just thinking about it.

Since I based the Miqo'te biology thing mostly on actually animal biology and behaviors, with what luttle lore Square's given us mixed in... yeah.

[adventuresofpotat]

Thoughts #011

I need names for my minions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or at the very least, the ones I have out the most often!!!

My initial thought was to use food names but for the sake of immersion, that would require me to research what the names of food stuffs in Eorzea (though I already stuck with naming the chocobo Mushroom despite not thinking about whether mushrooms exist in Eorzea LMAO) and ngl idk if I have the brain energy for that atm

I could just go with irl terms though, since my lala is already not named conventionally, and if I go with the ~is actually a miqo but was turned into a lala to be forced to become an adventurer~ lore then I don't even have a miqo name either LOL so maybe to hell with it

Could name various creatures stuff like. Cheese... Bagel... Yuzu... Omelette... Toast... Miso... Taro... Chip... Marshmallow... Ketchup... Tuna... Berry... Peanut... Nugget...

Or even names of flora and fauna could be cute... Basil... Daisy... Chamomile... Maple... Ginko... Jasmine... Sage... Lavender...

...why am I such a basic b*tch HAHA god it's not as if this idea is original IN THE SLIGHTEST LMFAOO soiaweohghw this is fine... it gives me joy so it'S FINE...

I'll have to think more on it to see what name suits the red panda the most since that's the minion I have out the most <:

[pangolinheart]

How did Rhiki react to Out in the Cold? It was extremely glossed over in game, but for a miqo to be stuck in a random Garlean body while someone else literally tried to kill her friends with her own, that's gotta be pretty traumatic.

Does she have nightmares where her tail is gone? Does she constantly fidget and touch her ears to make sure they're still there? She's she see phantom images from a Garlean third eye that's not there?

Full disclosure, I haven't actually started Endwalker yet so I haven't played this quest and the answer may change depending on the broader context.

From the ask, though, ii think that the "some else trying to kill her friends in her body" would probably bother her a lot more than being shunted into a Garlean body. it would definitely be weird - I imagine if you are used to having ears with mobile pinnae and essentially an extra limb to control and keep track of it would be a little disorienting to suddenly not them. And the third eye thing would be strange. It would definitely be an uncanny experience. That being said, I don't know how deeply being a miqo'te is tied to Rhiki's identity. Because she's technically a sunseeker and I wasn't a huge fan of the lore surrounding them, I imagine she didn't grow up in a traditional miqo'te family structure, so her connection to the culture wouldn't be very strong, and she would have grown up surrounded by people of all different types. So if she one day mysteriously woke up a hyur or an elezen or a roegadyn I'm not sure how much, if at all, it would upset her. It would be an adjustment - different size, different number of appendages, but it probably wouldn't change much else about who she was so I feel like she could adapt pretty easily. The stress of the situation would certainly make it more traumatic, but if she did have nightmares about the incident it seems like the strange new form would be secondary characteristics, with the primary focus being on her own body being responsible for killing her friends.

BUT like I said, I haven't actually played it so I could feel differently when I do. And because Rhiki doesn't have a backstory, I'm really not 100% sure about how much importance she places on being a miqo in the first place