#mamook

[dracolunari]

The Tyrant of Resolve

Zoraal Ja - Dawntrail

[autumnslance]

Inside or outside, we're all just people. No matter what we look like or where we're born. When you're not used to all the color and variety, differences can feel like obstacles. But by learning more about what makes us different, we can also find common ground in places we never expected. Something new may become something you love! And someone you once hated might one day become your friend. You'll never know unless you keep an open mind. And while it may feel scary, taking that first step towards understanding is always worth it.

-Wuk Lamat, Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, "The Feat of Brotherhood"

[dearestcherry]

mirage martyn x mamook.

[the-imperial-nuisance]

My theory for why so many of Bakool Ja Ja's siblings are stillborn is that the two heads fight over control of the body, resulting in the limbs just weakly jerking about rather than moving with enough strength and coordination to break their shell. The fighting usually gets more intense as the need for oxygen and nutrients increases, which in turn weakens their coordination further until they either starve or drown in their own fluids.

[sightseeinglog]

[sainsa-in-eorzea]

Mamook

[xomnus]

mamool ja OC

[akirakirxaa]

Auraugust Day 12: Flora and Fauna

"Are those rainbow bananas?!"

"Seem to be."

"Hades, why didn't you tell me there were rainbow bananas?!"

"It wouldn't be much of an adventure if I just told you everything, Hero."

[lightparty-fullparty]

I think it would have been interesting if instead of helping Wuk Lamat; Alphinaud and Alisasie ended up helping Bakool JaJa. I have no great reason for this outside of Alphinaud and Alisasie being a pair of Red and Blue coloured twins. Red Twin is more physically powerful and Blue Twin is more strategic and magically powerful. It would have been cute I think. So I might end up doing it for Light Party if I ever get there XD.

[ruuari]

yellinh

[golmorehotgirl]

Something something …mamook’s callousness about birthing miscarriage after miscarriage in chase of glory…. something something …Alexandria’s wanton excessive use and disregard of souls to the point of using them as a literal currency … something something …portal to the city of gold literally being in the fetal mausoleum …something something …both societies chasing after something using similar means

[theshotsheardacrossworlds]

Contest

The second comm for Agi's in-game husband Dandelo in which Dandelo, Agi, Wuk Lamat, and the crew go through the Rite of Succession. SFW.

As always, thank you to Dandelo for trusting me with your blorbo. <3

Dandelo watched his friend with great interest.

Scrunching her nose.

Eyes narrowed.

Shaking her head.

Muttering White Mage stuff.

He approached the hyur and slapped her on the back. “What’re you thinking?”

“By all available evidence, there’s no reason why the plant and animal life seem lethargic. It’s something deeper but what?” Her previously serious mien shifted into a grin. “The answer is around here somewhere. Let’s find it!”

Dandelo raised an eyebrow. “By ‘let’s’ you mean you? This isn’t my area of expertise.”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Oh yes, of course! I’ll work with the others on this, and you can…” Agnes rubbed her hands together and is grinning madly. Shit, what is she thinking?! “Talk to the locals. It’s important to learn more about the Hanu and their lives here…and also it gives you time to think of lines for chatting up the Third Promise.”

AGI, YOU CAN���T JUST SAY THAT AND WINK!!!!

With a wave, she turned and left the hrothgar flushed.

“Damn you, Agi.” He muttered before glancing around Ok’hanu and silently choosing a Hanu carrying a hammer.

***

“Are you shitting me right now?” Dandelo groaned, running a hand over his face. “Catch an alpaca? That’s the feat?”

Agnes’s eyes narrowed. “These things are never as they seem. Catch an alpaca, yes…but what’s the catch?”

The catch, as we discovered, was having to trade to get a bottle of booze to get Wuk Lamat a saddle to catch a wild alpaca.

Since Agi did most of the stuff with the festival, I suppose I should take the lead on this one.

Remember Wuk Lamat.

She needs my…our…help.

Focus on that.

Don’t focus on the capitalist little shits.

***

Rage.

Unrelenting rage.

“Dandelo.” Agnes’s voice called to him. “We—”

The hrothgar clenched his fists. “Need to get her back.”

Her brown eyes narrowed. “Yes, and we will. However, we need to be cautious. Thancred—”

RAGE.

“THANCRED IS FULL OF SHIT! HE’S OUR EN—”

Dandelo did not expect his friend to stare daggers at him, arms crossed over her chest. Uh oh. Miss Agi is mad. “He is not our enemy. If anyone can track where they might have taken her, it’s him, so…” She is MAD. “Get your head out of your ass and let him do his thing.”

Rage…

Okay, maybe not full-on fire-and-brimstone rage anymore.

His shoulders slumped. “I-I can’t lose her.”

Because I’m in love with her.

His friend’s arms quickly wrapped around him, pulling him into a tight hug. “We won’t let that happen. Trust in Thancred. Trust in us.” She gave him a squeeze before releasing him, grinning. “And then we can punch whoever took her in the dick.”

He hummed. “Or perhaps a little dismemberment. As a treat.”

She laughed heartily. “You said it, not me!”

Suddenly their linkpearls rang.

Thancred.

Let’s fucking go.

***

Adorable.

Dandelo hummed to himself as Agnes and Krile prepared the xibruq pibil. Though he was a master culinarian, he ultimately and correctly deferred to Agnes and Krile because damnit, she’s great and deserves all the good things. I hope we can find answers for her.

“So, Agi’s a good cook huh?” Wuk Lamat whispered to Dandelo. “Alisaie said she often prepared meals for the Scions at their old headquarters. Is that true?”

Agi and Higiri making breakfast on snowy winter mornings.

Group dinners.

Man.

Those were good times in the Rising Stones.

He nodded. “She is! Estinien is a lucky bastard.”

How the fuck did Estinien “This Hair Tie Cost 9500 Gil” Varlineau manage to snag Agi? Oh wait, there was snagging from him and from her. “Dandelo, oh gods have you seen Estinien without his helm? He’s so handsome.” And she had those godsdamned heart eyes.

Still has the heart eyes.

Wuk Lamat laughed. “He is indeed! He doesn’t seem like the most…erm, talkative person, but if Agi’s married to him, then he must be a good man.”

Closing his eyes briefly, he remembered how Estinien let him know he was there for him after…after all that. I love Agi, but he knows what it’s like to lose everything. He was a kid and lost it all and came out the other side. He opened his eyes and smiled. “He is.”

And his wife is a kickass culinarian.

“My dear friend, the Warrior of Light doesn’t lose…especially to those shitheads.”

Wise words, Agi!

***

“W-what…is that a Mamool Ja too?” Dandelo gasped. A woman of Mamook asked the Third Promise and her retinue to follow her out of city.

What in the turtle without a shell hell is this?!?!?!

Agnes’s eyes widened as she smacked his arm. “Don’t be a dick! That woman is clearly very upset and in need of someone to listen.” Her brown eyes narrowed. “Out of the earshot of the Autarch at the very least.”

Out of earshot of the weirdo with the cone of shame?

Yeah, it turned out we needed to go to the other side of sick fucking forest.

Just…

Goddamn.

What a forest.

***

“STACK!” Agnes yelled as the others crowded around her.

Ow.

Ow.

Ow.

Why is my future father-in-law hitting us so hard?

Ow.

Thankfully the hitting from Gulool Ja Ja’s shade ended shortly.

Give her the keystone, asshole, or there’s gonna be a problem.

Wait a second!

Who is that man?!?!?

That’s a damn handsome roe, if I do say so.

“Ketenramm, I presume?” Alphinaud asked, smiling at the older man.

What Dandelo saw next nearly made him laugh out loud.

“You good, Agi?”

The highlander nodded wordlessly, staring with her fucking mouth hanging open like a dead fish. “Oh…my…gods…IT’S YOU!!!!” She screamed and did her happy dance. Oh dear. Oh boy. Here we go. “I’m so sorry. I’m Agnes Currai Varlineau, and I…I grew up on stories about you! There’s not a child from Limsa who doesn’t know its greatest son. You inspired me to become an adventurer.” That was a hell of a high-pitched scream there, Agi. “IT’S REALLY YOU!!!!! CAN I GIVE YOU A HUG? IS THAT OKAY? OH MY GODS!!!!”

“Sure, sure. Come ‘ere.”

This is so fucking wholesome. A huge, devilishly handsome apparently famous guy hugging my buddy.

Awwwwwwwwwww.

***

“I want you to stay in Tuliyollal with me.” Wuk Lamat said to Dandelo. OH MY FUCKING GODS. YES, MA’AM. “I won’t force the issue, but you’re always welcome here.” YES. PERFECT.

After more goodbyes and promises to meet again in several weeks, Dandelo and Agnes were left standing in the Vollok Shoonsa. The highlander crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a knowing look. “Soooooo…does that mean you’re going to stay? For good?”

Do I want to stay? Yes.

Am I in love with Wuk Lamat? Also yes.

“Friends forever!”

Did I get friend zoned?!

He waved a dismissive hand. “Maybe. I need a change of scenery, and this might be it.”

Let’s be real---this is it.

“Uh huh. Well, you don’t have to figure it out now. After all, adventure awaits!” She wrinkled her nose and giggled. “And maybe we’ll run into my grumpy dragon.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Is that where he wandered off to?”

Agnes nodded. “Yes, that’s where he told he was headed. ‘Don’t worry, my angel. I won’t go too far.’ He’s a sweetie.”

Heart eyes again.

Dandelo rolled his eyes and gave her a playful smack on her back. “Come on, lover girl. Let’s go with Erenville to Xak Tural.”

And I can think about how…if…HOW…how I will tell Wuk Lamat how I feel…

[impossible-rat-babies]

maybe it’s just 6am talking, but I’m trying to puzzle out in my head why ShB still grabs me so much compared to DT when they both have themes that are adjacent and are interesting to me

[tritoch]

the warrior of light as a game-breaking force of violence

there's a moment, relatively early in dawntrail, that establishes succinctly how out of place the warrior of light (as the savior of eorzea and main character of four successive final fantasy game plots) is in what is essentially the story of fresh new final fantasy protagonist wuk lamat. and it sets up quite nicely how the framework of fantasy video game conflict pulls the warrior of light forever towards violence as the expansion goes on.

spoilers through 7.0 follow

consider wuk lamat's kidnapping and rescue. bakool ja ja holds his blade to wuk lamat's throat, taunting you. his lackeys line up against your party in neat little ranks suspiciously reminiscent of a classic final fantasy encounter screen.

and it simply does not matter to the warrior of light. you stride right through their combat setup because you are beyond that by now. the warrior of light has absolutely no respect for the "we are about to do ATB combat" lineup. the camera even jumps the line for you in one continuous rotating shot, crossing the axis of action as though to emphasize through the disruption of visual convention how far outside the game's boundaries you are.

this is how far you are above the problems of dawntrail's first half. you cannot even be bound by the normal rules of cinematography and video game combat. everyone else here lined up for a good old-fashioned scrap and the warrior of light said haha nope actually. i'm going to stroll through here like a god of war astride this tiny battlefield. your henchmen cannot even raise a hand to me. i don't even have to engage in violence directly anymore. my mere presence is enough.

in fact, not only can bakool ja ja's henchmen not raise a hand to you, he's not even worthy of your direct intervention. he kidnaps wuk lamat and steals her keystones and frees valigarmanda and kidnaps hunmu rruk and none of it warrants the warrior of light so much as raising a finger. he's wuk lamat's recurring villain, that's not your problem. you're just here to take in the scenery.

zoraal ja spends his whole life aspiring to be thought of as his father's equal and a worthy successor to the dawnservant as the "resilient son." all it takes for gulool ja ja to acknowledge you as a warrior on his level is like a five minute sparring match. the acknowledgement from gulool ja ja that zoraal ja hungered for his whole life and would eventually go full cyborg supervillain to get via regicide is something the warrior of light receives casually in a throwaway line after their level 93 solo duty on the way to more important plot conversations.

it really seems for a second, in the first half of dawntrail, like you are strong enough and the problems simple enough for this to be a clean and easy adventure. bakool ja ja? power of friendship'd. mamook? successfully reintegrated, no worries about the crimes against humanity. rite of succession? handily won. nothing can stop you. even duty finder queue times have been conquered: you can do all your duties with trusts now.

all of which only makes it better when the second half has sphene ask you and wuk lamat directly: could your strength have been enough to save alexandria? could you have found a different way?

i know some people get very annoyed we don't intervene in the gulool ja ja fight. now personally i think if you see arthur and mordred squaring up it's rude to intervene, but beyond that, it simply wouldn't have mattered. by the time zoraal ja's forces arrived in tuliyollal, alexandria and tural were already on a collision course and doomed to conflict. your hands alone could never have averted this conflict. sphene was always bound to do what she did—and certainly a gulool ja ja without his reason would not be any more inclined to peace than wuk lamat and koana were.

there's a great little moment just before living memory where estinien, champion at reading the room, is like "okay so if thancred and i stay here that frees up you up, aibou, to do what you do best and save the world and have epic fights. woo!!!" and immediately afterwards you basically have to apologize to alisaie because part of the sort of unspoken premise of this whole trip in the first place was that you were, finally, not going to plunge into mortal peril to save the world. you were finally going to take it easy. you were finally done with that. and she has to sort of ruefully be like nah it's fine bro. i was trying to get you to take it easy and not do insane risky world-saving violence. but y'know these things (interdimensional invasions) happen.

by the time you reach the very last trial, all pretense that the warrior of light could have ever been beyond these problems has vanished. you were, very emphatically, not strong enough to hold onto all that was dear without sacrifice. gulool ja ja and otis and cahciua died. yyasulani was irreversibly changed, physically colonized and culturally decimated by another dimension. you systematically shut down each part of living memory, and all its friendly, charming, loving ghosts, with your own hands. with your own clicks.

not even the vaunted strength of the warrior of light is enough to overcome sphene's inexorable logic of conflict. and so, in the end, she plucks you out of the crowd and says, explicitly for reasons of your strength, that you are going to have to do a boss fight now. you are going to have to kill her and you are going to have to do it in a proper 8-on-1 trial, and she forces you to affirmatively state that you understand you're going to kill her.

did you think you were above it all? did you think you could get away from here with your weapon undrawn, with your hands clean? that for you and you alone the logic of conflict comes undone? wrong. wrong. wrong.

your strength cannot redeem you, says sphene. your friends cannot make these sacrifices for you. if you would play the hero then you must play the hero. no half-measures.

back to the duty finder with ye.

[driftward]

Let's talk about Zoraal Ja.

So early on in Dawntrail, shortly after Krile's first Echo off of Zoraal Ja, I was like, we are going to find out there is something fucked up happening to this guy. Maybe there's actually an Ascian in there purposefully fucking things up, or whoever the big bad of the expansion turns out to be rewired his head somehow, or, you know, some flavour of brain fuckery.

But as we go through the story and ultimately see him at his defeat, no, nothing so extreme as all that. He seems to be just Like That, and I thought it odd. By all accounts, it seemed he must have been raised okay. Gulool Ja Ja seems to have been an alright father figure, good enough to have raised two other kids into decent adults. They have their own sets of issues, but nobody's perfect, and they both do a good job course correcting for their shortcomings.

What the hell happened with Zoraal Ja? Why did he turn out the way he did?

Gulool Ja Ja is a blessed sibling, which we are not just told are exceedingly rare - we are shown so, explicitly, and we learn what the cost of a blessed sibling is to the Mamool Ja. A cost that their people bore in order to try to better their lot and win a war against the Xbr'aal. Gulool Ja Ja did not so much win their war as much as he simply ended it, bringing peace to both peoples.

That peace is simply, however, not that old. When we visit Iq Br'aax, we slowly learn the story of how that peace came to be, but throughout it, I could not help but notice that we were only getting one side of the story. The celebrated meal of Xibruq Pibil was meant to be a symbol of bringing peoples who were historically enemies together, but where were the Mamool Ja to share it with? And why did none of the Mamool Ja present seem to know how to create the recipe?

There is a peace, but here we see that it is a flawed peace. In the side quests, you learn that trade happens between the Mamool Ja and the Xbr'aal, but only in secret. The younger generation knows peace, but the older generation is still cagey about the not all that distant history with their neighbors in the forest.

And so the Mamool Ja still continue their practice of enduring the terrible loss of so many stillbirths in an attempt to create more blessed siblings. Their culture, especially the remnant that chooses to remain in the forest, is still trying to make its place in the larger world and improve their lot. They are still living in a land that makes for harsh conditions for living.

And in this we see a few things. One, Gulool Ja Ja is not perfect. He did a good job, but not a great one. The work of peace is going to need to be an ongoing project. And two, I believe it sets the foundation for why Zoraal Ja is the way he is.

He was not raised in Mamook, but he is still Mamool Ja. And like Gulool Ja Ja, he is a miracle. The trueblood son of a blessed sibling, who were long believed to be sterile. We don't know anything about his mother, and I suspect she had little influence on his life. But judging from the way the fight against him goes, and the visions we see of the people in his life, he may not have had a mother, singular, but I think he definitely had nursemaids.

And they certainly remembered what life was like in Mamook. And that history is not so old. And so early on, he is told he is special. He is told he is destined for great things. And probably, at least a little bit, there are whispers of how he might surpass his father one day.

The seed of a terrible imposter syndrome is planted.

And none of what happens requires Gulool Ja Ja to be a bad parent. In fact, I think what we get is the result of him trying to be a good parent. It seems likely he probably met his kids where they were at, encouraged their interests, and let them be who they wanted to be. Wuk Lamat probably sparred with him, and certainly got his sociable, outgoing tendencies. Koana, quiet Koana, I like to imagine he expressed an interest in sciences, and knowledge, and Gulool Ja Ja probably made sure he had the best tutors, and when the time came, made sure he had a good send off to Old Sharlayan.

And quiet, taciturn Zoraal Ja who rarely speaks. I can imagine Gulool Ja Ja let his son keep his peace. He probably assumed his son wanted his space, and left him to it. And Zoraal Ja, the miracle, watched his father. His father's living accomplishment was peace in Tural. Zoraal Ja will bring peace to the entire star. Gulool Ja Ja loves a good fight, enough that he challenges people to come to the palace and face him. Zoraal Ja will be a better fighter than his father. Gulool Ja Ja was a leader. Zoraal Ja is the leader of the Landsguard, and will succeed his father as Dawnservant.

It's interesting, I think, to compare and contrast Zoraal Ja with Bakool Ja Ja, who are more alike than they are different. Both are miracle children, both are impossible children. The Mamool Ja thought that a child born of Hoobigo and Boonewa was impossible - until the birth of the first blessed sibling. And they also believed a blessed sibling, in turn, was sterile - until the birth of Zoraal Ja, the miracle.

And both of them, I think, are carrying the weight of their people with them. Bakool Ja Ja explicitly, but I don't think Zoraal Ja got to escape it just because he was raised in Tuliyollal instead of Mamook. Even if the aforementioned nursemaids did not explicitly put the idea in his head that he might be the future of the Mamool Ja, he is not an idiot. They definitely told him he was a miracle, destined for great things.

And absent guidance from his father, who probably just wanted him to be his own person, he decided for himself what those great things would be.

Zoraal Ja is intent on completing them alone - to his ultimate detriment, in the trial in Mamook.

And while they are so very similar, the difference between Bakool Ja Ja and Zoraal Ja is that Bakool Ja Ja not only never wanted this, but he was eventually offered a path out. A way to be free of the yoke of the responsibilities his culture put upon him before he was ever even born. But Zoraal Ja never got that chance, because his burdens were not being forced upon him. He took them upon himself.

And he carried them until his death.

In the end, Gulool Ja Ja was probably a decent father, but not the right kind of father for Zoraal Ja. Zoraal Ja's ambition was born of a terrible inferiority complex that he nursed until it festered and swallowed him whole. He could have found his own freedom, but he could not see it past the shadow of his own father, who he was obsessed with eclipsing.

And so we're left with this. Zoraal Ja died in a completely avoidable tragedy of his own making.

[sightseeinglog]