#karasu redbeak

[mxkokopuff]

Malaguld-Varlineau-Kanshi Family Portrait

[owljunk-kit]

my wol koko and their two boyfriends-- they really said: give me the tall elf boi and silly ninja pls-

(koko goes by they/them pronouns)

[dracolunari]

A Karasu for a friend on Twitter. We did an art trade :>

[aerialsquid]

[bunnalien]

another 5 bean orders done! thank you all for your patronage <3

[caffeinated-moogle]

Job Transitions: Rogue -> Ninja

A friend of mine in game asked an interesting question some time ago about whether or not I follow game canon for the transition from Aeryn's starter classes into her specialized roles, and that's been really fun to ponder!

I'll split this up into a few posts, because it's liable to become quite long. For starters: rogue and ninja!

(Very minor class quest-related ARR spoilers behind the cut!)

N I N J A

For the rogue/ninja quests, the story of the class is canon for Aeryn - but the class itself is not! I adore the rogue questline and its characters with the entirety of my heart, and early rogue is probably my very favorite class to play. I was sad it ultimately branched into ninja, because although I find the characters for that story equally compelling, I find the class and its mechanics far less so. It looks really cool, don't get me wrong! But something about the flavor of rogue just appealed to me more, and I didn't want to skew away from that aesthetic, regardless of how much I enjoy the ninja lore and characters!

As I was already committed at that point to Aeryn being an archer main with lancer on the side, it didn't seem terribly realistic that she would also somehow become a ninja. So I ultimately decided on a path of adopting the rogue/ninja story for her lore without canonizing anything else.

The way I play it, Aeryn got on the radar of the Dutiful Sisters and was approached by Jacke, perhaps after he'd heard about her from various informants across Limsa. After assisting Jacke and his crew on a mission and getting caught up in their competition with Milala, they forged a bond of friendship and mutual understanding, such that the Sisters felt comfortable calling on Aeryn now and then for aid, trusting in her skill and discretion. Some of them (V'kebbe and Underfoot included) taught her to wield a set of daggers as well as how to maneuver in the shadows, but only as a backup means of defending herself in situations when carrying her bow or lance would be too conspicuous. In this way, the rogue story happens more or less canonically, just with Aeryn along for the ride in more of a sniper capacity as archer. She grows to love her silly little rogue family without necessarily becoming one of them.

Likewise, Aeryn does not truly become a shinobi. She does get some twinge of feeling from the soulstone she returns to Oboro; and I believe Oboro likewise has some glimmer of insight from the stone as it passes from her to him, such that he suspects she might join them. But in spite of his optimistic attempts to invite her into the fold, it seems Aeryn is incapable of learning the mudra. Try though she might, the mystical natural magics of ninjutsu simply will not resonate with her. (I feel she would be blocked from this in the same way she is blocked from most magic in Eorzea.) However, she picks up rather quickly on the physical techniques that Oboro and Tsubame teach her, expanding on the skillset taught by Jacke and his crew. And like with the Dutiful Sisters, her bond with the shinobi becomes one of friendship. She is invested in their mission - and forcefully involved due to Karasu's interest in her as Oboro's little "horsebird chick." Whether at Karasu's meddling or at the request of Oboro or Tsubame, Aeryn joins them on their missions as bard, and thus the storyline progresses much as normal - with just a dash of added sneak-sneak.

So Aeryn does technically progress from rogue to ninja as outlined in canon, but without ever actually picking up the class. She participates in the story and adopts extra skills but remains bard/lancer. As a result, Aeryn learns to move more gracefully/quietly as well as to work with her surroundings to mask her presence in a way she never quite learned from Ywain, Luciane, or any of her other mentors. She already knew quite a bit about close-combat, particularly hand-to-hand, from Ywain; but the shinobi and the Sisters helped her learn how to fight with small weapons when needed, including the best ways to incapacitate someone in those circumstances (both fatally and otherwise). She canonically starts carrying daggers at all times for situations when it might be more cumbersome to have her bow or spear along, such as when crafting or gathering. And she is considered an honorary member of the Dutiful Sisters and a friend to the shinobi, to the degree that she is often involved in their adventures. But that's the extent to which the rogue/ninja class is "canon" for her.

That's all for ninja! More class lore to come!

/ponder

[voidsentprinces]

Battle of the Tits, the Breast Chests of Eitheirys and beyond!

The villain Fandaniel WISHES he was and the Manwhore of the Astrologian's Guild.

[the-evil-pizza]

Karasu Redbeak

[deathflare]

pt 2 of twitter requests

[mxkokopuff]

THEY'RE IN FUCKING LOVE YOUR HONOR!!!

[pawmpadour]

this is n’ever’s deep lore

[sarenhale]

<< So live, and leave the dying to those who can do it in style. Yes, I may not have been the hero I thought I was, not the villain you would have me be, but from beginning to end, I was me, and there is nothing I would rather be. >>

[fatedroses]

Theatrical dorks.

[mildkatart]

a boy and his birds 🗡🗡🌕

[ink-long-dry]

happy all saint’s wake!

ft. Karasu Redbeak from NIN quests, Eve Fijhaji and Eekum Bokum who belongs to @ ardbertfucker on twitter. Requested on my Patreon.

[ @ SammishSpook / limsa_brominsa on Twitter ]

[edbydawn]

go ninja go ninja go!

oboro, he’s really cool

karasu, the beautiful