#hero plays xiv

[herssian]

[thedoctorscompanion]

Emotional Video Game moments

Deku tree dying (or I was just mad cause I did all that work to save him)

Thane

Fuckin' Solas romance

Haurche dying, like je m'excuse?

FFX

Summerset expansion, how dare you do that to her?

Romanced Leliana talking about how it is hard to be away from the Hero of Ferelden <3

Shadowbringers

Fenris confronting his past

Astarion confronting his past

Leliana confronting her past

Romanced Liara or Garrus when they have to leave you right before the crucible

Ketheric getting curb-stomped

The ending of Endwalker

[doozclops]

Nah it'll be easy.

[keykidpilipili]

Hmmm I think my biggest problem with base heavensward is that it tries to juggle with too many big antagonists at once.

The Ul'dahn resolution is inserted at stange moments including right before the first Nidhogg fight. In an expansion that deals with nations trying to return an unsustainable status quo, the capitalist oligarch city gets away with it. In the words of KH dark road Hades, all that angst and for what?

Thordan VII who got in talks with Ascians should have learnt about the echo. He doesn't lift a finger when you, member of the Scions-Of-The-Let's-Create-Peacetalks-Between-Mortal-Enemies and who can see past events, goes on a roadtrip with Estinien and would likely learn about the truth of the war.

The cool moment at the end of the Vault when they have the wisdom to try and backstab the wol is offset by the fact they got TWO more occasions to do that and don't take the chance. If Igeyorhm had the ability to stun the wol long enough to steal the key to Azys La, she had the time to stab them. (one of the reasons Haurchie's death left less of an impact on me)

[foxlin-fantasia]

#9 for the glam game!!

Glamour plate #9 - " Snow Blooms "

( ty for the ask! read more for extra thoughts abt the glam! )

( felt like this screenie didn't fit with the above set but i still like it )

this was is her MSQ cold weather fit for 6.3 (& onwards)

h/c her legs don't feel anything anymore due to dragoon flips / adventuring nonsense lmaoo ( /hj )

i ration pearl dye for particular pieces of her armor! i rly like how it looks with this top & dye combo <3

in her canon, she's was half-teasingly honorarily dubbed the "pearl dragoon" during HW MSQ by aymeric ( which is an entirely different glam in pearl white dye tbh; its simple but i'm very proud of it & its super sentimental?? lol )

[origamihoshi]

Serina: No thank you

[miqojak]

"If your muse insults someone more powerful than them, they will get punished."

This is the one I had the most issues with, when running a Yakuza FC - people would agree to join a dark RP group, then immediately start trying to belittle Jak: the second in command of an organized crime family with extremely strict rules, and hierarchy... that's well-known for its punishment known as yubitsume. None of the punishments/retaliations were hidden from them, and there was no reason to insult the second in command of the entire organization... especially as brand new members - people just saw she was a woman, and thought it was okay to make fun of her for ordinary things... like being short - which many, many people are in the world of FFXIV. It's a common thing that doesn't impact the efficacy, intelligence, or strength of a character. (But who walks up to a mob boss and makes fun of them, or their inner circle, if they don't have a death wish??)

She would even kind of break the rules and tell them they could just apologize to her publicly - in front of the people they tried to humiliate her in front of - and they would still say no when given the easy way out, but then as soon as the real punishment came out? They would quit the group altogether because there were real IC consequences for being a misogynist and disrespecting a family head.

IC actions have IC consequences - and it's worth doing some research about the topics you intend to be writing about... like organized crime. I don't know of any organized crime group that wouldn't severely punish a member for open and public disrespect to those in charge (especially ifv they're new/low-ranking). It simply isn't done - watch any mafia movie/show, and you'll see that respect for the superiors is paramount.

And never agree to RP you don't actually want to do - that was a lot of it for me when leading this crime-based guild/fc, as well. We were very open about our story-based guild and the types of RP that would be happening... including yubitsume, which we didn't really ever expect to have to use, until we kept getting male OCs whose only defining traits were that they liked talking down to women in a world/setting where that... doesn't really happen much.

actions have consequences, no matter your muse’s allignment

just because your muse is the hero, it doesn’t mean they will always succeed. it doesn’t mean they have the right to jump at the villain’s throat everytime, or that they can belittle them for their losses. if the hero fights the villain, they should be ready to lose every now and then, making sure their antagonist doesn’t become stale, or stops being seen as a possible real threat

just because your muse is the villain, it doesn’t mean they have the right to hurt anyone they want. if they go out of their way to threaten the hero’s loved ones or even start fighting, they must expect a response. if the villain fights the hero, they should be ready to find a compromise and accept losses as well to avoid a cycle of violence without payback

just because your muse is powerful and have the power of god, destiny, money, or anything else in their arsenal, it doesn’t mean they can do whatever they want and step back whenever it’s time to pay the price for their actions, good or bad as they could be. the only plot armor we’re allowed to have is the promise to not kill eachother’s muse, or leave permanent wounds unprompted.  if your muse insults someone more powerful than them, they will get punished. if your muse hurts someone dear to someone else, they will eventually pay their price. if your muse does nothing but win by default or always finds way to avoid consequences, eventually every possible plot or threat will become stale.

talk it out. be respectful. accept compromises.

[bengals-barnesbabe]

“Thank You TikTok” Masterlist

~ a series of text imagines between you and Joe all inspired by random TikTok videos ~

Started: 12 September 2024

Last Updated: 31 December 2024

˖⁺‧₊˚ ˚₊‧⁺˖✮✮˖⁺‧₊˚ ˚₊‧⁺˖

fluff - 🌞 smut - 🌚 mix - 🌗 angst - ☄️

most popular - 🌙 newest - ⚡️ request - 💫

i. booktok ~ ever since he downloaded TikTok, Joe’s learnt a lot more about his beautiful bookworm 🌗

ii. say high ~ Joe takes part in some recreational activities and tries (and fails) to hide it from those who know him the best 🌗💫

iii. the real afterparty ~ y/n comes across a TikTok of a bride and groom doing a wardrobe change together, so naturally, she asks her fiance his opinion 🌚

iv. happy weight ~ nothing says a great relationship like two people falling in love while getting fat together, well that’s what TikTok says 🌖

v. pay attention ~ cons to working with your man... he's you're a distraction 🌞

vi. come home ~ it’s been a while since you’ve seen your man, so you left him a present🌒

vii. how that shit tastes ~ they say it's a man's drink so you've never tried it, so you ask your man about his drink of choice 🌗

viii. you like that ~ inspired by another TikTok, Joe compiles a list of things he likes about you🌖

ix. babies ~ you tell your husband about your daughter's supermarket antics, and he gets baby fever? 🌖

x. heroes & princes ~ everyone makes mistakes, even great boyfriends but especially if he has Tee and Ja’Marr as friends 🌞

xi. roses ~ you have a new favorite song and a certain TikTok gives you an idea on how to introduce it to your man 🌚

xii. you're enough ~ you and Joe feel losses hard, so you try your best to make him feel better after this one 🌖

xiii. i can fix her ~ you end up on Joe's fyp for the worst reason possible ☄️

xiv. im a fan ~ Joe finds your secret TikTok account in the best way possible 🌖

xv. it's just a trend ~ you participate in a certain dance trend with a song Joe does not like ☄️ 🌖

xvi. hey shawty ~ you watched a TikTok on how to domesticate your boyfriend, let's see how he does ☄️🌞

xvii. treat me ~ despite always receiving royalty treatment from your boyfriend, you decide to tease him with one of your favorite songs🌚

xviii. ruined me ~ Joe ruined you for all men, this is how he reacts when you tell him 🌗

xix. hey daddy ~ in order to keep your relationship fresh, you do what all couples do... send each other ridiculous pick up lines 🌘

xx. boyfriend blindness ~ your boyfriend becomes a comedian, so you have to show him who he's playing with 🌖

xxi. mini gossip girl ~ your daughter comes home and spills everything about her dad's life 🌞

xxii. daddy duties ~ Joe's left alone for more than a few hours with his boys and chaos ensues 🌞

xxiii. mini gossip girl 2 ~ your daughter is at it again, but this time it works out in Joe's favor🌖

xxiv. talkin nonsense ~ relationships should be fun, especially when you both are on the same level 🌘

xxv. speechless ~ you sent your friend Joe some messages that were not for him to see 🌖

xxvi. mini gossip girl 3 ~ now older, your daughter's mouth reveals some truths she was not ready for 🌖

xxvii. bye week ~ Joe gets caught lying to his pregnant wife 🌖

xxviii. wait, pause ~ you and joe are in the middle of a fight, but he has some tea to spill 🌗☄️💫

xxix. we listen and we don't judge ~ Joe has an idea, Joe regrets his idea 🌖☄️💫

xxx. tatted truths ~ your true feelings for Joe are exposed by decisions you made on one drunken night 🌘

xxxi. hearts on deck ~ ~Joe needs to apologize for his acts… in his fiancée’s dream 🌗☄️💫

xxxii. bending your rules

xxxiii. just friends ~ 🌗💫

updates about twice a week🪷

requests to join this series are open! just send me a quote or link to a video and your fav pic of Joe (along with anything else you desire) to be included!

[inurnctdreams]

it’s the way you are - l.dh

haechan x fem!reader

genre: fluff, comedy, strangers to lovers, college au, soccer au, smau with a couple of written portions

warnings: dark humour, suggestiveness, lots of swearing, mentions of general frat/college shenanigans (e.g. drinking, smoking etc.), the author’s lack of both fraternity and sporting knowledge lmao, mainly nct but idols from other groups are also here

status: ongoing (updates every saturday!)

y/n suh is going into her second semester of her sophomore year at snu. as a self-proclaimed snu lions fangirl, she can’t believe there’s a new player on the team she hasn’t met yet, especially one as cute and funny as lee donghyuck, who nearly everyone she knows seems to already be friends with. how did she manage to avoid him (even if unintentionally) for almost an entire year and a half? he seems way too good to be true… and then she remembers; he’s in the frat.

taglist (open): @ilovejungwonandhaechan @neozon3nha @sunflowerbebe07 @minkyuncutie @multifandomania @amrqxz @wonbin-truther @livingdoll-hara @gomdoleemyson @sehunniepot @remgeolli @gela0205

profiles:

the too broke for therapy squad

the mark take a break challenge (impossible) squad

the y/n’s fake older bros (1 real) squad

chapters:

i. HE’S MY HERO

ii. what is yuta putting in their water

iii. you’re a menace to mankind

iv. yay capitalism

iv s. does he not know

v. okay and what’s wrong with jeno?

vi. SO NO YANGY/N??

vii. rawr XD

vii s. alexa play hands up by 2pm

viii. are you starting a freshman babysitting service? (written)

ix. what’s the opposite of slut shaming

x. you’re not okay

xi. bros before hoes and all that

xii. men ain’t shit

xii s. that’s the goal… ha, get it?

xiii. just because you have the tastebuds of a five year old

xiv. rule two of sleepovers: never be the first to fall asleep 😈

xv. y’know they’ll hold you to that

xvi. you KNOW i love bitching

xvii. help they’re flirting on main now 😓

xviii. not a date

xix. normal day at the studio right?

xx. brownies take priority 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

xxi. i… was not aware he was doing that

xxii. SHOTS FIRED

xxii s. livin la vida loca 💚

xxiii. i’m not fuelling your ego even more (part-written)

xxiv. i don’t need a degree to be a clothing hanger

xxv. drippin should just hire me at this point

xxvi. this is bullying i hate it here

xxvii. lemme rephrase that

xxviii.

[miqo-tales]

A tiny primer on FFXI, pt 2

THE BAD GUYS

THE SHADOW LORD

The big bad of FFXI's first main storyline. He's in the promotional artwork for the 7.1 patch, so he's definitely gonna show up somewhere. Possibly as the final boss of the first tier.

20 years before the start of FFXI, the Shadow Lord appeared without warning. Enlisting the various beastmen races in the Middle Lands, he attacked the three nations and pushed them to the brink of destruction.

The Archduke of Jeuno convinced the nations of San d'Oria, Bastok, and Windurst to ally together in order to fight back. After a long stalemate, the allied forces finally achieved some major victories, and at last a small team of heroes infiltrated Castle Zvahl and defeated the Shadow Lord.

As you play through the initial rank missions of FFXI, you find that forces are working to revive the Shadow Lord, and eventually you fight him.

A variant of him is the boss (and super boss) of the final Dynamis battlefield (the initial set of them, anyway), and he shows up in the storyline of FFXI's fourth expansion.

The Shadow Lord's backstory is actually pretty interesting, and I consider it one of the better parts of FFXI's lore/story. But I won't mention it here cause it spoils so much stuff.

THE BEASTMEN

There's a myriad number of animals, birds, vermin, undead, and even elementals that can kill you in FFXI, but arguably the biggest threats are the Beastmen races.

There's over a dozen of them, but I'm only going to cover a few that might show up in the upcoming raid. The first three are more or less the direct antagonists to the three main nations.

ORCS - "brutish" might be the best way to describe this humanoid race. They have a strong lust for battle and conquest, and their hierarchy is based on strength and combat ability. Orcs originally came from the far north, and are actively invading the lands of San d'Oria. They have outposts in the nearby regions, and even converted Davoi monastery into a stronghold after taking it from the kingdom.

Orcs also employ warmachines, which are basically crude, manually-propelled tanks. They are imitations of massive siege engines used in the Crystal War.

QUADAV - bipedal turtles, Quadav are skilled with metallurgy and mining. It's such a big part of their culture that many Quadav names and titles are taken from metals and gemstones. They're in conflict with Bastok because its expansion has forced the Quadav out of territories they long occupied.

YAGUDO - a crow-like bipedal race, the Yagudo have an extremely strict religious culture and heirarchy, and, well, probably border on fanaticism. They're not interested in conquest or expansion, only to keep the lands they consider to be traditionally theirs. The Yagudo have a treaty of non-aggression with Windurst, but it involves Windurst providing regular large offerings to maintain the truce.

GOBLINS - Goblins can be found almost everywhere, and engage in trade with other beastmen as well as the Enlightened races. There's even a shop in Jeuno run entirely by Goblins. They make use of explosives and trust me, "Bomb Toss" was a terrifying thing to see a goblin use in battle.

(XIV re-used the XI Goblin model, so they look the same in both games.)

A subspecies, Moblins, live in their underground city of Movalpolas, and are highly skilled in refining and smelting ore, as well as developing steam technology and underground lighting.

KINDRED - Commonly known as "Demons", these horned, winged humanoids are found in the cold, northern regions of Quon. Their origins are mostly unknown, but during the Crystal War they served the Shadow Lord and kept the other beastmen armies under control.

(FFXIV re-used their model for some enemies in early quests and dungeons, and they occasionally pop up in other stuff. A good example is in Tam-Tara Deepcroft: the enemy you fight before you can destroy the cultist orb is a demon model.)

OTHER PEOPLE

Some other notable NPCs or creatures/bosses that could maybe show up in this raid series (i.e., not just in 7.1)? Or at least get referenced.

Shantotto - Shantotto is arguably the mascot character of FFXI, and if she doesn't show up in person in this raid series, I'll be shocked. She's a Tarutaru and an extremely proficient and powerful black mage, and a former government minister of Windurst.

Lion - A Hume thief, and adopted daughter of Gilgamesh, the leader of Norg (a settlement of pirates and thieves). She's the "cute girl important to the plot" for the Rise of the Zilart expansion and accompanies and assists your character during it.

Prishe - A young Elvaan girl that is the "cute girl important to the plot" for the Chains of Promathia expansion. Because of an incident during a baptism ceremony, she became immortal, so she's actually quite older than she looks. She's brash, foul-mounted, impatient, and due to her immortality, tends to be self-sacrificing. Prishe is the other FFXI character that tends to be a guest in crossovers, and sure enough, she's in the 7.1 artwork, so she'll show up somewhere.

Nashmeira, Lilisette, and Iroha - "cute girl important to the plot" for Treasure of Aht Urghan, Wings of the Goddess, and Rhapsodies of Vana'diel respectively. I suspect if they do show up, it'll be in later patches, so I'll save talking about them for later.

Naja Salaheem - a Mithra with a big mace, she's the President of Salaheem's Sentinels, a mercenary company in Aht Urghan. Naja cares about profit, how much profit you made for her recently, and why you're just standing there when you could be making profit for her right now. And she does not care about small details like "but you told me to come see you". I honestly dunno if she'll show up in the XI raid at all, but she's really well-known and popular, so I think there's a chance.

Kam'lanaut and Eald'narche - The former is the Archduke of Jeuno, and the latter is his brother. They're also the main antagonists of the Rise of Zilart expansion.

Ark Angels - Summoned by the Archduke and his brother to assist them, they represent the Sins of the five races: Hume's Apathy, Elvaan's Arrogance, Mithra's Envy, Galka's Rage, and Tarutaru's Cowardice. You eventually fight them during Rise of the Zilart, and you can either fight them one at a time, or all five at once. I dunno if they'll show up, but I want them to, cause they're cool looking and I wanna see them in FFXIV graphics.

Maat - Maat is a bit like Godbert, in the sense that he's an old man that can kick anyone and everyone's ass. Once you hit level 50 in XI, you have to do a series of quests for Maat to increase your level cap up to 75 (thankfully you only have to do them once per character, not per job). The last of these "limit break" quests (for base game and Zilart jobs) requires fighting Maat solo, with Maat as the same job as you.

Odin - Yea, Odin is already in FFXIV, but his XI incarnation is actually pretty important to a few stories in XI.

Fafnir - A Notorious Monster, or NM, that could drop a special sword called Ridill. SQEX showed an image of a dragon during the recent Korean fanfest that I think has been confirmed to be Fafnir, and in the Dragon's Aery location where he could be spawned, no less.

Kirin - A very powerful NM, usually called a HNM or High Notorious Monster. You had to force pop it using items that dropped from four other NMs, and if I remember right, it was a long fight that involved kiting some monsters around while the party/alliance killed others. If Fafnir is in, I think Kirin or something similar could be possible too.

Atomos - Atomos in FFXI eats timelines in order to maintain reality. I have a suspicion it might be involved in the XI raid's story.

[ooc-miqojak]

The Commander - for the sole reason that, in a world where coming back from the dead is impossible... they did it. In a world where magic has been on the decline, and only just begun to grow again, they defeated a maddened god. Having played all three of these games... it just feels more impactful and like you've really beat the odds, in GW2.

In FFXIV, you're special - the chosen one. You accomplish great things because you're special. In WoW its been almost normalized to kill gods (in XIV as well... you're a regular godslayer).

The Commander almost seems to show signs of depression, even, as the story goes on... yet still overcomes all odds, despite being basically... a normal person.

mmo tumblr

considerations:

WoW has the most expansions under its belt and therefore the most world-ending threats conquered by the Champion

The WoL can change between like 20 unique combat classes at any time

The Commander has a voice and can dodge roll

[littleeyesofpallas]

Just spitballing some random pokethoughts...

Eternatus and the Darkest Day happened in Galar 3,000 year ago, and at the same time AZ made the Ultimate Weapon in Kalos, again 3,000 years ago.

And the two events lead to Devon co. studying Mega Evolution to develop Infinity Energy, and Macro Cosmos studying Dynamax and Power Spots to develop Rose's power plant. "Eternal" and "Infinite."

And the Eternatus power plant logo strongly resembles the new logo in the Z-A trailer.

And in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, the Infinity Energy was ultimately used to save the day by teleporting the Delta meteor into another universe. getting Mega Rayquaza to destroy the Delta meteor. And Eternatus fell to Earth on a meteorite (20,000 years ago).

Delta(Δ) being the mathematical variable for "Change," and obviously being a play on the Greek letter motif(ΩA). And of course Alpha and Omega as a pair are best known as the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet(and the biblical "Beginning and the End")

So, go figure, ΩA is a synonym with ZA, so the title ...Z-A can be understood as "(from)The End to The Beginning," the reverse reading of A-Z as "A to Z."

There are two kings who helped defeat Eternatus who apparently at some point shared a bloodline? (Did their descendents marry later, or were the two kings already related?) Tragically their bloodline produced the brothers Shieldbert and Swordward.

AZ was a former king of Kalos and is succeeded by a younger brother from whom Lysander is descended.

King Louis XIV was dubbed "le Roi Soleil":"the Sun King" and famously obsessed over sun motifs. His Palace of Versailles is the basis of the Parfum Palace in Kalos. The Parfum Palace was built by either AZ or one of his descendents.

The Parfum Palace garden has statues of Zekrom and Reshiram

Zekrom and Reshiram were split in two from their original united form by the Hero of Truth and the Hero of Ideals, forming Unova in the process.

The Twin Heroes built the Relic Castle in what is now the Resort Desert. The Relic Castle appears to have been built "at least 2,500 years ago".

Possibly also built the Abyssal Ruins? One castle dedicated to the sun and the desert, one to the dark and the watery depths?

The Relic Castle enshrines Volcorona, "The Sun Pokemon" said to have appeared at a time when ash blacked out the sky and saved people by acting as a replacement for the sun.

Eternatus' Darkest Day involved summoning dark clouds to black out the sky.

Alder, Champion of Unova, has a Volcorona as his signature pokemon, a backstory involving losing a pokemon and wandering the region in his grief, kind of like AZ, sans the immortality.

Alder also has a flaming mane-like hair not too dissimilar to Lysandre's.

Alder is the basis of an unspecified character design in Legends Arceus who appears to be a third, perhaps seminal or unifying factor in the Maxi/Archie ancestors' Diamond and Pearl clans. A Platinum clan? The Sinnoh people? Or just a unifier, a peace maker, a mentor, or a shared ancestor?

Cogita and Volo as members of the Sinnoh people have fixations on lore keeping/seeking. Something Cynthia sort of inherits

Cynthia is from Celestic Town in Sinnoh, where Drasna said she's from originally

Zinnia is a Dragon trainer and "lorekeeper" in ORAS

Celestic Town in DPPt has a shrine that uses the same model as the one in Ilex Forest for Celebi in HGSS

Terapagos is supposed to have an ability to alter or shift timelines, relating to the presence of the Paradox Pokemon

But Black City and White Forest also seem to exist as a kind of paradox around polar opposite futurism and primitivism

[literalwallgoop]

Think about BG3HD, Slimecicle’s bg3 play through. Then think about bg3. Think about how everyone talks.

Just think about the fUCkhINg cONtrAST okay. Between the main four’s absolute buffoonery, their rambling, and then EVErY npc they come across. So eloquent. So British. Think about the fucking NARRATOR. She’s so mysterious and serene and fucking crystalline. And she’s narrating for THESE GUYS.

Picture, if you will, BG3HD as an actual anime. The video does it well enough, but imagine like, the full thing with three seasons and more dialogue. They had 200 hours, alright, what do we really need to make up? And imagine the bg3 narrator as their/the audience’s narrator. Bonus points if it’s PAIRED with Charlie/Xiv’s narration from the video. Fucking wild.

Or just… whatever they were saying in the ‘editor’s cut’ (please exist please exist please exist), and just. Just listen to clips online, of bg3 audio, and imagine the four/three/four plus rai responding to that.

An alternative? Rai as the narrator. His little ghost at the end inspired this one. He never outright says “us”, “we”, “I was there that blue transmasc that’s me”. But the way he talks implies he has a deep connection to the other three, even if it’s somewhat one-sided. His emotions and opinions will be clear as day (the latter outright stated and used for funnies, the former a bit more subtle and genuine). He’ll refer to the group as ‘our heroes’, in classic narrator fashion, and I can see him saying “our heroes, plus Rai” because it’s funny, and also I imagine his ghost harbours a lot of regret for his attempted amicide.

I quite like this idea. Somebody make a fanfic.

[coldshrugs]

hi Azia! since I'll probably never play FFXIV but want to gobble up everything you've ever written or will write for Io and Estinien, I was wondering if you could kind of summarize or describe the context for their relationship in the canon universe. what do I need to understand about their history in order to better appreciate the way they fit? how do they meet and what brings them together? are there some universal truths for each WoL that heavily contribute to who Io is (kind of like how Hawke in DA2 loses half their family, or every Shepard in Mass Effect is deadish for two years)?

no pressure to answer if you don't have the time/energy or just plain don't want to! ok thanks love you bye 💙

🧍

Hi Ells. I am so sorry....

Understanding Estinio

General World Lore: The story of XIV begins five years after a Calamity (an event of large-scale devastation that leaves the land and people struggling to recover). This is the seventh Calamity over a period of 13,000 years. Other notable world happenings are:

the Dragonsong War: a war between man and dragon that has raged in and around Ishgard for one thousand years

the more recent advancement of the Garlean Empire: Garlemald is a technologically advanced nation seeking to "unite" the world under its rule

Warrior of Light Things: The player character is almost a completely blank slate. Their appearance and combat proclivities are entirely up to the player! Their backstory is not really mentioned, and the only thing we know about them from the start is that they're an Adventurer, which in this setting is someone who wanders here and there, helping with whatever odd jobs they can in hopes of earning a living and maybe some local fame too. A little network of unionized Hometown Heroes. But some things hold true for most WoLs (headcanons notwithstanding):

They have a gift called The Echo. A few other characters have the gift, but it can manifest differently from person to person. The WoL's Echo allows them to visit scenes from the past, sometimes through the eyes of another and sometimes as a kind of bodiless spectator, usually triggered by high emotion from a person or place. It also has a few other functions.

They join the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, an organization that's a bit of an open secret, determined to stop Primal summoning (Primals are replications of gods, the will of a people made manifest, and they are powerful and destructive. If most people venture too close, they become enthralled). Recruited for their prowess in combat (or healing, maybe, if you're not Io) and apparent inability to be tempered by Primals, they, of course, become the team's most powerful asset.

Io Laithe is my WoL, a viera born in the Garlean-occupied region of Dalmasca. When she was 19/20, her home village suffered a violent raid, and her family was lost. She managed to escape and flee far to the west. At the beginning, she's around 29 and an accomplished archer, among other things. Io endures more loss over her story, friends and lovers, and she blames herself over and over. She struggles to lay down her grief and represses her anger for so long that she almost loses herself to it at one point, but she claws her way back with the help of her friends. She's soft-spoken, and reserved, but is also deeply kind and surprisingly funny. (This paragraph is short but I feel like I talk about her so much lmao. Trying not to gush too hard)

Estinien Varlineau was born to a family of sheepherders, in a small farming community outside Ishgard. When he was 12, his village was razed to the ground in a dragon attack. He found the charred remains of his parents outside his home (his dad had tried to shield his mom from the dragon fire). His younger brother was inside, trapped under a collapsed beam but already gone. He was the only survivor, and was taken in by a man named Alberic who held the title of Azure Dragoon (the most powerful lance-wielder in the land, but I'll spare you the specifics. There's dragon-y magic and a literal dragon eye that gives them powers. This was supposed to be quick omfg). Estinien swore to avenge the deaths of his family and trained with Alberic, eventually becoming the next Azure Dragoon. Eventually, he gets his vengeance, but the cost is so much more than he expects. At the end of it, he is begging for his own death, but his friends (the WoL included) refuse to let him go out like that and save him. He's since been on a journey of self-discovery; who is he without the drive to avenge those he lost, without his duty or his post? In personality, Estinien is blunt and abrasive, he cannot read a room (but he would like to leave it). He has a sharp sense of humor and often teases his few friends, he's extremely sentimental, he's very protective of the people he cares for, and can't stop himself from helping a kid in need.

Relationship Summary

They overlook each other at first. Io finds Estinien too harsh and rude. He thinks (since she is seeing Haurchefant at the time, who is... affiliated with a noble house of Ishgard) that Io is another pretty girl grabbing at coattails--surely not the "great warrior" he's heard about. And it takes a journey into dragon country for them to warm up to each other, when he learns she can easily hold her own, and she sees how protective and kind he can be to their traveling companions. They become friends and it's easier than either of them expected. They don't talk about their loss with each other though, not for a long time. Both hear the other's story from someone else, and it endears them to each other, an unspoken, invisible bond in addition to what they've already faced together. Just as Io saved him at the end of the Dragonsong War, Estinien saves her when she faces off against the might of Garlemald and almost dies. It's a long time before she gets to thank him for that, but when she does, it's around the time he agrees to join the Scions too. They spend more time together, and they become almost inseparable. And as the world hangs on the brink of what seems to be another Calamity, they quietly fall in love and almost lose each other again. Neither confesses to the other until things have settled down. But once the confessions are out of the way, they easily fall into warm domesticity. They spend the better part of a year mostly in one place, living together, working together, making the smaller trips they need to but always returning to a home base. Now, there's the itch to travel again. They just pulled a stint of traveling separately but ended up in the same place. He very much wants to continue roaming, and Io does too, but part of her is starting to think about a family. I haven't decided when or if they talk about this lmao. They love each other so much, but both have a strong streak of wanderlust, and both are legendary heroes who belong to the world as much as they belong to each other.

Why they compel me:

I don't know if you guys know this about me but I love to think about grief :> It's the shared trauma, the love transformed into anger, and how new bonds can heal someone. I did not plan for Io's backstory to be so similar to Estinien's, and even before I shipped them, their friendship was a highlight for me. I love that they do most of their recovery on their own. I love that they always come back to each other. Big fan of people who might not appear outwardly soft all the time, but are just SO mushy for their partner.

They are both symbols of hope for their people, for better or worse. They understand that about each other, what it's like to have some of your personhood stripped away so you can embody an ideal.

Estinien is impulsive and straightforward, Io is cautious and thoughtful. He pushes her, and she grounds him. They both relish the peace the company of the other brings, and they are more certain of the other's ability and resolve than they are of themselves. They are best friends, they are family, and they admire each other.

Some key reads, chronologically:

close quarters | oh no, she's hot…

oblivious | a mutual friend notices io and estinien seem… different.

what i see in you, i hope you find in me | io realizes she is not in love with zenos

pang | estinien has his own realization

see you in the morning | the night before they depart towards unknown danger, estinien tries to soothe a worried io

in this state | io is unconscious, estinien keeps watch

mustering | estinien tells io about his brother, the first time he's talked about him in decades

take another step off the edge | FIRST KISS!!!!

And then their tag is filled with gposes I've made, art I've commissioned, writing prompt fills, fics from the two AUs I've written for them, and tons of quotes or poems that fit their vibe. I'd share a playlist but I don't have a playlist... there are five now T^T BYE!! 💗

[miqotepotatoe]

All of my Ninjago AUs because I am insane & autistic + it's fun

(disclaimer, a vast majority of these focus on cole brookstone because favouritism bias)

My Nonexistant Friend - Ghost!Cole AU where Day of the Departed...did not end so well. He's trapped in the Airjitzu Temple and is effectivly erased from existance. He suffers in nonexistant puragtory for 300 years until Lloyd's future students move in and the Master of Earth of this new era befriends the ghost. Fluff, feels & the power of friendship ensue

Perma Ghost - Ninjago but Cole remains a ghost. To prevent him from fading he anchors himself to friendship bracelets all the ninja + Wu & Pixal wear. He can't stray to far from anyone wearing a friendship bracelet but he doesn't mind he's always with a friend.

Curseworlds - Possession bad end, heavily inspired by The Star from Fionna & Cake. The Preeminent has won and has cursed all the realms and ghosts torment the remaining living souls. A small faction of survivors is fighting to take out the Queen of the Cursed, but it's very difficult with her two princes causing havoc. Anyone order evil Sandstorm?

Reverse - An alt Ninjago where Wu was bit by the Great Devourer instead of Garmadon. Wu becomes an evil dictator, Ninjago is in a lawless era, the og ninja are all traumatised child soldiers made to do Wu's bidding, Garmadon and a few familiar faces are fighting back.

Genderswap - As it says, everyone is genderswapped. But it's like Fionna & Cake where some stuff is different because of the swapped genders.

Elemental Anacondrai - Chen decides to be extra twisted and mark all the loosers of the Tournament with the Anacondrai Mark as a sign of ownership. When the cult is transformed into Anacondrai, they too. So for the last two episodes of ToE, Skylor, Karlof, Gravis, Bolobo, Ash, Cole, Jacob, Chamile & Tox are turned into Anacondrai.

Constrictai!Cole - Cole isn't dehypnotised at the end of Home and is taken prisoner by the Hypnobrai. When the Fangpyre are free and team up with the Hypnobrai, Skales has them turn Cole into a Serpentine. He ends up a Constrictai. The ninja end up rescueing him durring Can of Worms, remove the hypnotism with some anti-venom tea, and now Cole must adjust to his new reptilian body. Lots of Glacier

Lost But Never Found - AU where Cole ends up in the Land of Lost things after running away from his school. He becomes a Finder and is living his best life with his new found family. Sora also ends up there after running away and Cole adopts her

Vampire!Cole - Cole ends up becoming a vampire after getting attacked by one. Lots of hyjinks & vampire hunting (hunting other vampires, not Cole)

Wu Adopts Cole - Wu finds Cole a lot earlier then canon, at 10 years old. He's an orphan, his mum passed from illness and his dad drank himself to death. Wu raises Cole, trains him in his Elemental Power, very wholesome Dad Wu stuff.

Amphibijago - Ninjago + Amphibia crossover. Cole, Kai and Jay take the places of the Calamity Girls and end up in Amphibia. Cole ends up with the frogs, Kai ends up with the toads, Jay ends up with the newts. What could go wrong

The Oni House - Ninjago + The Owl House, basically the Owl House but with Ninjago characters. Cole is a troubled teen about to be sent off to a performing arts boarding school when he ends up in a realm of witches, demons and magic after wandering through a portal. There he meets Lord Garmadon, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles and his baby dragon demon Rocky. Lava time

Ninja in Eorzea - Ninjago + FFXIV. The ninja play the criticly acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV with an extended free trail with unlimited playtime that allows them to play the award winning expansions Heavensward and Stormblood, and they get suckef in...litterally like Prime Empire.

Miraculous: Tales of Firefly & Charcole Cat - Ninjago + Miraculous. Ninjago City is being ravaged by supervillains created by someone known as the Dark Lord. But new heros have arisen, known as Firefly & Charcole Cat, ready to protect the city from the Dark Lord while trying to balance school & dating. HONEYCOMB MY OTP

Age of Elements - My original Ninjago story set 300 years after canon. Lloyd is training 7 new ninja, the Elemental Masters of Fire, Earth, Wind, Nature, Water, Lightning and Ice to protect the world because a prophetic vision of the furure said so. He's trying his best to make sure they aren't super traumatised by having them keep their ninja identity a secret, not keeping secrets about the FSM family lore, having them go to school, but trauma as a Ninja is a canon event. Got 18 seasons planned and counting

[moxpunk]

Moxie's Big-Ass Retrospective on Games She Played This Year

There's going to be a lot of games under the break, and I'm going full-hog on spoilers. Honestly, I'm going stream-of-consciousness with these, so there's not going to be a clear point made for some of them. Just how I remember them and how I feel now looking back.

Final Fantasy XIV This is my current MMO of choice, and it's been this massive part of how I spent my time this year. The patches and content continue to be great, even if I breeze through it all in a few days after the patch when plugins/mods are back up. I've definitely noticed a dip in my interest lately. I think it's because we've hit a good stopping-point for the plot and junk, so most of us are just waiting until the pre-patch of the new expansion next year. RP continues to get fucking worse and worse for someone that plays a lalafell, since the community at-large (especially the modding community) is actively hostile towards lalafells and their players. Having to check every single venue to see if my middle-aged potato is going to be treated like a child by the hosts gets exhausting after the umpteenth time. Still love the game and I poke at it on a regular basis.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom One of my favorite games I've played this year, but also one of the most frustrating in hindsight. There was a ton of lost opportunity in multiple aspects in this game, and it's sorta the thing I keep coming back to in my head. I loved the exploration and fucking around with physics and just getting to play around in Hyrule. It's a magical experience that I think transcends the fact that 2/3rds of the map is essentially re-used. The Underground was a missed opportunity to shove lore of ancient civilizations in there, Ganondorf was a missed opportunity to finally depict him as a tragic hero with Hyrule being the villains for once, and no plans for DLC or even a Hero Mode is a massive miss for me wanting to return to the world.

Baldur's Gate 3 Hands-down my favorite game of the year by a massive margin, but like TOTK, an immensely frustrating experience. The game is half-cooked in so many areas, and the bugs are plentiful to the extent that they can't really be ignored. The pathing system continues to be the Larian Special of being jank as all hell, with my characters running in the opposite direction of the path it lays out for them. I played this one on stream, and I cannot remember a single stream where I didn't have at least a handful of frustrations with the combat system. Hell, I had to completely restart my file in the middle of Act 2 because Karlach's romance bugged out. I continue to be very upset and frustrated at how goblins are treated, doubly so since in order to pursue the Good Route with Halsin, you have to attack fucking children. I don't care if they're goblins, they're kids. Also very disappointing we don't get a single short-race origin character, meanwhile half of the cast is some form of elf. At least it's nice letting me be full-on cock-out trans. Despite that, the writing and characterizations in this game are unparalleled. It's immensely refreshing to finally have a RPG where you fucking roleplay, after years of it being dialogue that doesn't matter in the slightest other than "points towards the good/evil ending". I love the Brain Slug Squad immensely. This game is probably going to become part of my "play this every year" list because there's just so many different ways to play through this game.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Been waiting for this game (or a game like it) for fuckin' years, and it's everything I wanted and expected. I know a lot of people went into the game expecting some massive thing that lasted hours and hours, but my memories of JSR/JSRF was a game that I could reasonably beat in an afternoon or two because I just get into the flow and know what I'm doing. Cyberfunk is the purest successor to JSF that I can thing of where it just adds to the fun formula of the past. Incredible game, love seeing the mods coming out for it, hope we get another game in the universe since Team Reptile said they aren't doing DLC.

Pizza Tower Love this game, adore the movement and the music, absolutely fell off at about the halfway mark. I think it's because a lot of stuff was coming out at the time, and I just kinda played those instead. One of these days, I'll beat it and be very satisfied, but for now my gremlin-brain that demands collecting every single collectable and getting at least an A-rank on every stage gets exhausted just thinking about it.

Elden Ring Opened the game up after upgrading to a new PC, marveled that I could run it on Ultra with the game keeping a smooth framerate, killed a few enemies, remembered about the fucking giant ants in this game and how there are zero mods to remove/change them, and then turned the game off and uninstalled. Begging someone to make a mod that gets rid of the fucking ants. Please. I've already gotten every trophy in the game last year, so any incentive I have to return is predicated on that.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty So, I'm going to give my thoughts about the base game and the DLC, since I played both. The base game continues to be this utter fascination to me where my brain adores just existing in the cyberhell future of nonstop advertising (if I have to hear YO YO YO MY CHEWERS SHROOMERS AND FUMERS! one more time I'm going to fucking strangle someone to death) and ultraviolence. The game continues to ride that weird line of "might as well do every side-quest because they're quick enough to get to and there's hardly any compared to Witcher 3" and "oh my god I do not care about these fucking sidequests other than I have gremlin-brain". Doing anything with sniper rifles or heavy machine guns is an exercise in frustration thanks to there being zero silenced sniper rifle until late-game and there being no unique HMGs.The DLC is... fine. It's fun antagonizing Idris Alba, it's not fun that the DLC is based around a stealth build, it's extremely not fun that the changed ending is deeply unsatisfying from a narrative standpoint.

Pseudoregalia An adorable little game that I enjoyed quite a bit for the very short time I got to fool around with it. Love the movement, love the style of the graphics, love the little pieces of story. Game doesn't get enough love, so here's me giving it some more.

Potionomics I fucking adore this game. I think what helped endear me was getting to do all the voices on-stream, but who cares this is my retrospective and I get to be biased. Loved the romances and characters in there. I absolutely headcanon Xid as being trans, Roxanne turns me into a babbling idiot, and I relate to Luna so hard it almost hurts. I enjoy that characters remain your friend if you already picked a partner, and you have to have a conversation about "hey, you were kinda flirty for a while and I feel a little weird about that now" for each of them. Breaking the economy by the third competition was immensely satisfying.

Paradise Killer I slammed through this game over the course of a single sleepless night thanks to Super Depression. Love the character designs and how bold they are, love the lore behind the world, got kinda sick of it taking so long to travel from place to place, gremlin-brain refused to let me part with the game until I collected everything. Hope to see a prequel/sequel of some sort, because Lady Love Dies is such an interesting character and I liked the bugfuck-weird world.

Peglin It's Peggle, you're a goblin, you get funky ball powerups, adore playing this game on my phone in short bursts. Not much more to say, it's my potato-chip game.

Rimworld Friend gifted this to me and I got horribly obsessed for like a week. It's a lot easier to grok than Dwarf Fortress thanks to the UI and information being easier to comprehend. I never know how to do the crazy shit in these games, I usually peak at having a little self-sustaining settlement with like 4 characters that live their little lives until a plague or bandit raid sweep through and kill everyone.

Halo: Master Chief Collection Another series of games I got obsessed with and pounded out before dropping it. Halo 1 is like twice as long as I remember, Halo 2's remastered cutscenes are fucking gorgeous and it continues to be my favorite out of the series, Halo 3 I'm lukewarm on it's whatever, Halo Reach is... eh I don't care, ODST I petered out of thanks to playing it with an ex that does not understand videogames, Halo 4 is a slog. Didn't do any multiplayer.

Helltaker Finally played it, beat it in like 2 hours, thought the puzzles were fun and the art continues to rattle around in my noggin.

A Hat In Time Another game that I finally beat after owning it for like the better part of a decade. Cute little game, I don't have a clue what any of the updates and junk do these days. The big mountain level is a fucking nightmare to navigate and explore and that's why I fell off last time.

Puzzle Agent Played this one on-stream because I'm Minnesotan as all fuck and I enjoy Professor Layton puzzles. It's just as good as I remember, even if it's incredibly short.

Kingsway Love the premise, adore that it takes me back to the Windows XP era of using my parents' computer. I had like one good run that died in the middle of things, and I never really went back. I should do this game again at some point.

Loop Hero Another procedural game where progress is usually bottlenecked by gathering base resources in each run so you have a fighting chance. All my runs sorta ended up the same by a certain point and I wasn't really having much fun anymore.

Lethal Company Game scares the absolute shit out of me, I cannot play this game for extended periods because I get heartburn from fear. Excellent experience with friends.

Super Mario RPG I didn't have a SNES growing up, so I never got a chance to play the original. So far, I've been greatly enjoying the remake! I don't have much to say because I've only played like four hours of it on stream.

Katamari Reroll Just beat this game again on stream last week. Extremely fun, extremely short, Lonely Rolling Star continues to make me get emotional and cry, my memories get mixed-up with We ♥️ Katamari when it comes to the final sequence of levels.

World of Warcraft I made the return, and holy shit have things changed in-game. The UI actually looks like it's part of a cohesive artstyle, catching up with the story and questlines after bouncing in the middle of Shadowlands is honestly kind of exhausting, and the RP community is still splintered and fractured between Retail and Epsilon. Controller-support has been my biggest gripe since XIV's is fucking stellar and I do not have the wrists/hands for putting my abilities on the keyboard anymore, I either have to use my janked-out mouse buttons or a controller using ConsolePort which is... serviceable but nowhere near good. Uh, I don't particularly care for the dragon-stuff in WoW's lore, and I still haven't done a single dungeon since I play Brewmaster and I'm so out of whack with WoW tanking that I just don't bother. I'm usually doing RP on my endless ranks of characters if I'm not playing with my girlfriend. Season of Discovery has been a fun thing to do with my friend and our guild, it's sorta what I wanted out of Classic when they announced it. The "No Changes" thing was stupid because we'll never get back the lack of information and endless time we had back then, so I'm very happy to have World Of Warcraft Chopped And Screwed Edition. As much as I still have massive, major gripes with Blizzard and ABK in general... Azeroth is still home for me. It's been important to me as a person. Wouldn't have realized I was trans or poly without it.

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT My thinks and feelings on all the games I played this year in 2023. I guess to sum up the year in general? It's been a real shit year for me. Went through like three big breakups, my art output's been dogshit in quantity thanks to mental-health issues, and for the first half of the year people just sorta generally treated me poorly which exaserbated a lot of problems. I'm recovering, but I've noticed it's been a lot slower than it has been in the past. Games are a huge hobby of mine, so I'm glad I've gotten to play some bangers this year. Being more active on Tumblr's been good for my mental health, since I finally feel like I've got a community again after not really feeling like I've had one in forever. Love you guys, stay weird. 💖💖💖

Sorry not sorry for this being so long.