#i would not have believed that the man who thinks archon loaf is good would canonically become a culinarian

[anneapocalypse]

Further thoughts from reviewing Shadowbringers dialogue:

Urianger's gifts to the pixies in MSQ are biscuits, milk, and honey.

Urianger has some kind of treat in his home that the pixies serve him with tea when they think they're pranking him.

There are sheep in Il Mheg, which the pixies canonically get milk from.

There are bees in Il Mheg.

Urianger does go back to the Crystarium sometimes, but he seems to go long stretches without, and when we meet him he says it's been a while.

Therefore:

It seems likely that Urianger has learned to milk sheep and collect wild honey while in Il Mheg.

He has probably also learned how to bake.

[autumnslance]

would you be willing to make a masterpost of all your sharlayan research and headcanons? please please please and THANK YOU if you do

I can certainly try! A lot of my info is from what little we have so far, and my own fics are where a lot of my headcanons go to live, with little snippets about various characters here and there in my scattered lore posts, as well as stuff I’ve collected from other players.

Other Resources In Louisoix’s Wake - The twins’ official Calamity short story on the Lodestone. One Name, One Promise - Thancred’s backstory, from Limsa to Sharlayan training to his early assignment in Ul’dah and then early Shadowbringers. Mirke’s Menagerie - A compilation of lore info from in game, lorebooks, panels, interviews, short stories, etc. There are about 4 or 5 Sharlayan-specific posts @mirkemenagerie has made.

Encyclopaedia Eorzea - If you can get your hands on copies (physical officially; digitally is Unofficial so far as I know), I recommend it! They’re both good reads, though EE 1 is the one with a blurb on Sharlayan as a nation.

Posts by Other People - that I have collected Leveva Comment About Archon Loaf - Keeping in mind Sharlayan’s bad cuisine has been canonical for years per lorebook 1. They care more about ease of eating while studying, also seeing culinary arts as an academic field, not a practical daily exercise. Lorebook 1 Astrologian Lore - screencaps from the lorebook. Phaedra’s Teen Scion Sharlayan Antics fic - I am happy to take responsibility for inspiring @phaedra-mero to write this delightful scene.

My Own Posts Red Mage Research - Includes books from Gubal Library. Scion Ages - Pointing out the ages of the Scions, particularly the Archons.

My Fics - Sometimes there’s more HC musings in the Notes and Comments. I try to stay close to canon, at least as it is when the fic was written. Rogue’s Prelude - Multichapter, teen Thancred meets Louisoix, Yda, and Papalymo. Written a year prior to Thancred’s official ShB story above. Aetherology & Skulking Boots-Beginnings - Y’shtola agrees to tutor Thancred in how to speak properly as teenagers in the colony. Chin Up - Yda gives Thancred advice as youths in the colony. Dreams of Home-Lucubration - Yda, Lyse, and Thancred in the colony. Younger Sister - Thancred’s relationships with the Hext sisters over time. In Violet’s Wake-Louisoix’s Children - A Master Matoya PoV from StB patches. There’s a brief chapter with her and Y’mhitra in Dreams of Home, too. Excerpts from other posts - things that ended up as commentary on other threads, with some editing since.

From a thread that started off as about Thancred’s Gear from ARR to HW:

Sharlayan is a nation on an island NW of Eorzea proper; the Sharlayan everyone we know hails from was a colony that became a city-state a few hundred years back and part of the Eorzean Alliance, in the Dravanian Hinterlands, where Idyllshire is now. After the fall of Ala Mhigo and then the Battle of Silvertear Skies, the Forum (their ruling body) decided to abandon the city and return to the motherland, a process that took 5 years before they all just teleported out in a day. Except Matoya, and those archons that worked for Louisoix and that he asked to stay and go to the remaining 3 Alliance cities. This would have been 15 years before ARR/Heavensward.

The Students of Baldesion are also Sharlayan; the Isle of Val, their headquarters, being under that nation’s banner. Sons of St Coinach are another offshoot; Rammbroes (Crystal Tower raid story) was originally part of Louisoix’s Circle of Knowing (who eventually became the Scions), and Y’shtola’s sister Y’mhitra is one of the Sons and part of the Summoner storyline.

Thancred got involved as a youth–by trying to pick Louisoix’s pocket, and impressing the old man with his skills, and so Louisoix brought Thancred back with him to give the kid an opportunity for study. Yda and Lyse escaped Ala Mhigo, and with help from Papalymo, who was part of an effort to help refugees seeking shelter in Sharlayan, they ended up there, and Yda is the one who actually became an archon.

Most of the other senior Scions, so far as I know, are native to Sharlayan, either the motherland or the colony. The Leveilleur twins were born in the Hinterlands Sharlayan, but raised in the motherland, as they were less than a year old when the exodus happened. The university they and Krile attended is the Studium. Becoming an Archon seems to be a separate process not everyone goes through, and is a demonstration of mastery in chosen field(s) of study. That’s the significance of the tattoos some of the Scions have on their necks or faces.

Sharlayan is basically a nation particularly focused on academia; the trouble is, for the last couple decades, it’s been controlled by a faction of isolationists who would rather hoard knowledge and sit in the proverbial ivory tower looking down on non-Sharlayans, claiming others would abuse their knowledge, and that they should simply observe history and not try to affect it. Louisoix, Matoya, and the organizations they associate with (the Circle of Knowing/Scions; Sons of St Coinach, the Students of Baldesion, etc), think that viewpoint is stupid and go against it. A big part of the Astrologian storyline is dealing with Sharlayans who dislike Leveva’s family sharing Sharlayan astrology with outsiders, for example.

What sort of relationship Sharlayan and Ishgard had before the exodus isn’t really detailed much; both were pretty insular and focused on their own issues (like many of Eorzea’s city-states outside of crises), and the Dravanian threat at the time might have kept them pretty separated by land. Sharlayan was responsible for Eorzea’s aetherytes and keeping the aethernets working, though, and it’s suggested they still handle that post-Calamity to some degree. We pay fees for teleports because reconstruction and upkeep is pricey for all of the city-states.

Next post:

The Isle of Val was the headquarters of the Students of Baldesion, Krile’s family and order, and was a Sharlayan institution. It’s destruction/missing status happened during the ARR patches, and Krile was saved by Hydaelyn as she has the Echo (as an aside: you can hear Minfilia talking to Krile via linkpearl in the background on the Enterprise after rescuing the Scions from Castrum Centri before Ultima, and she constantly refers to and worries about Krile after the Isle of Val goes missing, but then plot happened to Minfilia so we never see them together as friends). The Ascians seemed to have a hand in the Isle’s disappearance…but there’s story about the fate of the Isle of Val and the Students of Baldesion in Stormblood’s Eureka plotline.

As for the Archon Marks, if they do confer social benefits, aside from being an easily seen status symbol for some highly skilled & educated folks, it hasn’t been mentioned yet in concrete terms, though we know the rank has benefits (like access to forbidden lore). Mostly they are a way to tell at a glance who has obtained the rank. It’s like if people with doctorates had a tattoo of their degree symbol on them so you knew just by looking.

As of Shadowbringers 5.4, we know that to become an Archon a thesis is required, and it’s a great deal more work than a Studium graduate’s final thesis. It strikes me that Studium (which some of the Scion Archons also attended) is like undergrad or Masters studies, while Archon is a Doctorate level.

I personally headcanon that the arcane marks confer some minor, slowed visible aging and other vague magical benefits befitting their rank in Sharlayan society. Really, that’s a way for the devs to avoid new models and add to the confusion in 1.0′s intros and the running joke about Y’shtola’s age, BUT let’s come up with an in-world thing, too. There has to be some explanation for Thancred’s perpetual baby face when he’s not RPing a Mountain Hobo ;) Also we really don’t know for sure how old Matoya is. Just old.

Lorebook 2 Notes:

Mikoto Jinba (Return to Ivalice, Save the Queen storylines) worked on aetheric siphon research with Moenbryda, and at 29 is the youngest Raen with the rank of Archon in recent history. It was Jessie’s connections that brought her to Cid’s attention and got her involved in the Return to Ivalice story.

Ejika Tsunjika (Eureka storyline) went to school at the same time as Krile and Leveilleur twins, endorsed by Galuf Baldesion, who Ejika later chose to work under. He’s resentful of Krile and the twins as Ejika himself is of humble origins and had to struggle to get to where he is, yet hides his Archon brands with high collars as he refuses to believe himself unique or exceptional.

[windupnamazu]

all i need's a fraction of your happy heart

ffxivwrite2021 #29: debonair

⮞ lunya/g'raha, with fwiends (but mostly blackestnight's hanami). 1888 words. ⮞ post-5.3, pre 5.4! title is from autoheart's moscow ⮞ the crystal tower's stasis preserves a lot of things, but not a reasonable length of hair. the good news is that there's a warrior of light perfectly equipped to give a haircut around here.

debonair: confident, stylish, and charming (typically used of a man).

"Ruby," Lunya decided as she flipped through her collection of fabric swatches, scritching under her carbuncle's chin when the little ball of aether sandwiched between her and Tataru's elbows. "Dalamud is too dark. The blue can stay in the accessories—no, not that shade, this one, this warmer tone. I sent Zaya to get some gem samples already."

Tataru hummed. "Alright, and what about the gloves?"

"Mmm." Scritch scritch went a stick of graphite. Lunya pushed part of her hair back, tucking it behind her ear as she stuck her tongue out in concentration. "He gets antsy over having his hands completely covered, so I'd like to make them fingerless… and I think having a gap here for his tail would be better than just allowing it to drape or having more than one hole in the whole set for it."

"She wasn't this intensively involved in any of our outfits," Alisaie huffed, watching as the two Lalafellin seamstresses poured over their sketches, murmuring measurements to each other and to the carbuncle who eventually slipped out to terrorize the Toll.

The furthest the Scions were allowed to venture during this stage of recovery was up to the common room that connected the veritable labyrinth of hallways and rooms above the Rising Stones. Krile hadn't even cleared them to stay in their own bedrooms yet, let alone beyond the bars of the Seventh Heaven, requiring them to come back down to the Dawn's Respite each night or else. While Alphinaud had contented himself with sitting around in companionable silence with Illya, his sister elected to socialize and tease.

With an airy chuckle, Y'shtola slipped another coffee biscuit onto her plate—courtesy of Rjoli, who'd plucked the recipe from the Wandering Stairs before they went home—from the folding table in front of them and refilled her cup, missing how Urianger devotedly moved it beneath the stream of tea from the pot and wiped up what she initially missed. Pinky raised, she said, "I do believe she has a good reason for this time, Alisaie."

Lunya grinned, turning to her good reason. Her husband was as still as a statue in his chair by the front window overlooking the Toll, the tip of his tail batting anxiously against the cloth cape Reese had come in with to stuff over him right before Hanami had come up the stairs, a dangerously sharp pair of scissors in hand and an almost giddy look in her coldfire eyes.

The stasis G'raha had placed himself in half a decade ago meant he hadn't physically aged up until now, but his hair decided to keep going for one reason or another, and now it was as long as Lunya was tall. She knew he wasn't at all comfortable with it, constantly having it drape into his soups and Archon loaf slices and probably reminding him about the last time it managed to get that long—when he woke up after two hundred years and learned of just how she and their friends died. When she spent an afternoon combing out the tangles so she could rebraid it out of the way for him he nearly cried in relief after whimpering through the whole ordeal. Back then, he hadn't been well enough to sit long enough for a haircut; it turns out that lying in a crystal chair for five or six years could royally fuck up your back, which was to be expected, but the minute he could prop himself up he begged her to get rid of it.

And Lunya could! She had cut hair before��her own, mostly, and sometimes Cherrypit's because by the Twelve she would never trust Babycorn with a pair of scissors (or a knife. Seven hells.) again—and she never stopped being cute once ever since she learned how to, so that said a lot about her skills. But to be honest, she liked G'raha with long hair. Really, really liked. It was her right as his wife to have an embarrassing reaction every time he so much as turned his face and a curtain of crimson slipped over the exposed shoulder from his tunic slipping down. Of course she would get him his haircut, because it was his hair and he didn't like it and she loved him whether he had blue raspberry rock candy for an arm or the same hairstyle he apparently rocked for more than one lifetime, but the thing was that she couldn't bear to cut his hair herself. Not this time, at least, because getting to braid his hair earlier really drove in the whole I haven't seen him in six years and I could have lost him forever thing that made her want to cry both in relief and resurging heartache.

The other thing was that Lunya enjoyed causing problems, and Hanami had heard her talking about the whole ordeal to Rjoli while they were stenching up the kitchen with another batch of Archon loafs. Her good friend Hagane no Hanami, who many argued was rightfully feared, except Lunya knew she was really just a big teddy bear deep down. ...Deep, deep, deep down. G'raha and Hanami were friends! Almost like siblings, even, for reasons she didn't entirely understand but had vague knowledge of because of one night back during the expedition when G'raha returned to their tent smelling faintly like spring and also vomit. Whatever the case, when Hanami had offered Lunya had seized it, and possibly forgot to tell G'raha that it was not actually going to be her doing the hair cutting.

If she also forgot to assure him that Hanami was just as capable of cutting hair as she was, and that no, Hanami wasn't planning on stabbing him with the scissors because if she wanted to do that she would've done it after the whole lying-to-save-Norvrandt thing with her own greatsword, well—

In her defense, she was genuinely still recovering after watching her husband die, and then having to leave behind the daughter she shared with like ten other people, and then going back home to hopefully wake up her husband and inject him with her husband (blue raspberry flavour)'s memories. It was a lot! She'd been through a lot! She was allowed to be a hot fucking mess for at least another half year!

"Haircuts art a symbol of changeth, particularly in the Far East," Urianger said placidly over the snip snip snips and the sound of Alisaie taking a not very elegant slurp from her tea cup. Lunya had undergone a few character-development-related haircuts herself. Not by choice, mind you, which was scary. Knowing that fact actually made it a whole lot more frightening when Hanami and Kotone came back after the Doman prisoner exchange with their hair cut to their horns.

"This is a change," G'raha agreed, finally starting to relax when Lunya approached with a comforting smile while Tataru continued to stew over the clothing designs back over at the breakfast table. "A good one. A new chapter of my story—our story."

As she leaned in to kiss him, Hanami brandished a spray bottle in her face. "No."

"But—" Lunya and G'raha protested in unison.

"I will cut his bangs right over your nose and you will be sneezing all day."

"Tang ina mo," Lunya muttered audibly, watching as Hanami scrunched her nose as the Echo did its thing. When it did, she narrowed her eyes and squeezed the bottle's nozzle. Lunya shrieked out a laugh and just barely dodged the spray of water.

Zaya and H'lios entered the room right as Hanami finished the final touch—the braid, making sure it was the right length—and began roughly dusting off hair clippings from G'raha's shoulders as he looked over himself with a hand mirror.

"Wow, exactly how you looked when we first met you," said H'lios approvingly, who also hadn't changed his hairstyle at all in the past half-decade.

Zaya squinted at them, and then raised a hand to the top of their head, palm turned to the side and thumb in as they slid it back.

"Hmm, they're right," said Alisaie with an approving nod. "You could have given him a mohawk."

"I'll give you one," Lunya threatened to their almost-sibling, who feigned hiding behind the wooden box in their hands, shoulders tingling with lightning-shock laughter. When Tataru saw it she darted off her chair, bee-lining over to take it from Zaya with a delighted gasp. "Thanks for the samples, though, Zaya!"

Grinning toothily and hands freed, Zaya went to fling themselves over Thancred's napping form on the other side of the room. Meanwhile, H'lios handed Lunya a small paper package and then slipped down a hallway in the direction of Kotone's room, not hanging around long enough for Hanami to give him what he and A'dewah called The In-Law Stare.

Hanami didn't even notice, her arms folded over her chest as she waited. "Well, G'raha Tia?"

G'raha thumbed at his bangs, letting them fall as they always had. He really did look exactly as he had last. "Perfect," he breathed, returning the mirror to her and carefully taking off the cape over him, earning a small smile in turn as their friend turned to find a broom. "Thank you, Hanami."

"Ah-ah-ah," Lunya tutted as she grabbed his hand, placing the little package on his palm. "We're not done yet."

She called in a small favour with H'lios to get this one done. An innocuous set of bobby pins stared up at G'raha when he unwrapped the paper, and he looked back up at her in question.

"From my robe," she explained, standing on the tips of her toes to pull back some of the loose hair on the left side of his face, taking and pushing in the pins one at a time to keep the section in place and smiling as his eyes lit up in recognition. There. Her Raha truly was the most handsome man she knew, and she was always so eager to let him know it. "It got banged up between running across Norvrandt and the stuff with Elidibus, but I asked H'lios to salvage the metal at least."

Sniffle.

"Raha," Lunya sighed, threading her fingers through her husband's newly cut hair as his head sank weakly into her shoulder. The others were conveniently gone by the time the tears actually started rolling down, with the exception of Thancred and Zaya napping away in the corner, giving them as much privacy as they were going to get around here. Or maybe Alisaie just wanted to get away from how gushy and emotional they always were.

G'raha's laugh was watery, muffled in the fabric of her cardigan. "Sorry. I just—I just keep thinking. About how many years I spent waiting, of how hopeless it all felt. I may never stop saying this, but I am truly glad I am here, that we can write our story—build our future together."

And she cupped the curve of his exposed cheek, pressing a kiss by her thumb. "As am I," she promised, and she pulled him up from the chair and toward the table, where Tataru had left behind their sketches and the box of gem samples. "Now, I wanna know what you think of the outfit we're designing—for you, my love, perfection is the only option."