#rain talks ffxiv

[rainofaugustsith]

These lines right here sum up why I feel FFXIV has much more superior, nuanced writing than the Star Wars franchise.

Star Wars has you believe that one side is right regardless of what they do, and the other side is so evil, rotten to the core in every way that their entire people, planets. culture, language, religion - everything - should be permanently erased if they can't be converted to an entirely different culture, language, and creed (And don't get me started on how they conveniently made the Sith alphabet - again considered terrabad - virtually identical to the Hebrew alphabet). It's a very black and white, dogmatic view that IMHO hearkens back to the evangelical belief that only one point of view gets to go to heaven, and if you don't believe that, resist converting and want to hang onto your identity, you're going to hell. And you're certainly going to hell if you point out anything questionable the other side has done.

What you discover in FFXIV is nuance.

Every single job can be used for good; every single job can be used for evil. The heroes of one story are the villains of another. Every heroic gesture comes with a very real price. Nobody is beyond reproach, and that includes the player character. Actions one person takes for the greater good can lead to devastating damage for others.

The "get back to nature" white mages rule a city-state where xenophobia rules the day and the elementals run a reign of terror. White magic executed without proper training can be fatal.

The black mages who congregate in a hall for the gods of the dead have an alliance among the marginalized tribes that spans all three city-states and saves Eorzea from calamity. Black magic executed without proper training can be fatal.

The Dark Knights dedicate themselves to protecting those who need their help, and teach that one's dark side isn't something to vanquish, but something to hear, acknowledge and make peace with.

The Dragoon story shows that one's archenemy can become one's ally - or consume them.

The fearsome reapers who treat with the dead are actually helping the downtrodden.

The community working hard to keep the peace and move forward in a productive way are ex-pirates.

And so on. Nobody is expected to forgive those who have wronged them. Atonement is seen as something that involves work on the part of the perpetrator, not the participation of the survivors. But atonement is there and in several cases characters do better.

Any thoughts that any group in Eorzea needs to be eliminated are eventually dispelled completely. Marginalization of various groups is something that eventually does need to be answered for, and is presented as a problem, not a necessity. When Eorzea finally marches on their nemesis, the Garlean Empire, it is on an aid mission, not conquest. There are no attempts to convert. Just to help.

Both Garlemald in Endwalker and Ziost in SWTOR deal with the issue of murderous possessed people. In SWTOR, the Republic - remember, our "good guys" - response with Saresh is to send an invading army to increase the hurt. In FFXIV, the Alliance's response is to send an army to help, with Scions striking out into the snow and into the smoldering ruins to rescue anyone they can.

If you asked me if I would live anywhere in a Star Wars universe, it would be an emphatic HELL NO. But FFXIV? I feel like they are at least striving for better, with common ground and peaceful co-existence, and everything is nuanced.

[rainofaugustsith]

Rigel Dragoi - Rigel is a star in my favorite constellation, Orion. When I made my WoL I had already decided she would be a reflection based on my SWTOR main (which of course works considering, just saying). And I did name my game character after my SWTOR main OC, but soon discovered that the WoL was pulling away to be her own person very much, and that I wanted to write about her too. I had a hard time coming up with a name for her but when I was browsing some astronomy maps it struck me - Rigel. In headcanon she has a deceased twin brother, Saiph, which is the star that forms Orion's other foot directly across from Rigel. I've left the last name from my SWTOR version, which is Dragoi. No, it's not "lore accurate" ie, in line with naming conventions at all for Seawolf Roegadyn, but my feeling is that it's not uncommon for people to stray from their group's naming convention. Rigel's parents were goldsmiths who went back and forth between Thanalan and Limsa Lominsa. One of her grandparents was Elezen. She had no connection to any large groups of Seawolves. So her parents had names that were not conventional and so did she and her brother.

WoL QotD: What made you choose your WoL's name? Does it have any important meaning or did it just sound nice?

Follow up: Is it lore accurate? If it isn't, why not?

[bogunicorn]

apparently my hottest fandom take is that i think it's Certified Loser Shit to go on tumblr and act like you're being discriminated against because of the race or whatever of your fantasy OC in a video game

the devs of (insert game here) don't "hate you" and take things away from "your people" because you can't be remotely normal about playing a catgirl or a dwarf or an elf or something

[sezja]

Imagine if the new extreme primal mounts are alpacas

[candycryptids]

Are you also doing the glamour plate asks? Gimme a 16 of whoever you'd like!

Hiii~ Ok so technically I didn't reblog it but I'll take any excuse to blorb post in the precious time before Dawntrail LMFAO And while I was poking my last-second Pre-DT Prep Before Maint stuff... I realized that Chuu and Tue actually have matching plate 16's... this wasn't even on purpose.

Technically, that's Tuesday's Fishing Glam, but he'll also wear it in the Enclave and anytime we go to Kugane, because he likes to blend in. Same with Chuu, but this was also because I got this outfit as a present last year during a sale I think? so it's become her Samurai and Bard glam sometimes too... Mostly it's for dates tho owo

[newty]

How could I not? lol blue light new 💎

@asamis-jodhpurs also asked for this one! it's is also a refresh of something much older. i mentioned it in my 2023 writeup under a 'shame' line, but the draft is called 'blue light' bc eli encourages nol to kiss him so nol pushes him into a stained glass window and they make out. i'd always intended for them to walk away from that glass and have sex, but since its their first time its just so. so so goddamn complicated. my wip is very all over the place.

there's a LOT of up and down in nol's disgust and joy (before we even get to the bed) with the disgust being very internal and the joy being more external--so elliot doesn't immediately see that nol is going thru a p extreme self-hatred episode (lbr what's new)

so i didnt want to write something that was uncritically 'i hate my body (it hurts & wont let me die), my appearance (ugly burn scars everywhere), my life (god hates me & war sucks), and my sexuality (sex is bad, sex w men is worse)' without balancing it with SOME levity jfc nolanel

For a moment he wondered how life could come to this: his chest beating against another, a tongue like holy fire in his mouth, love spoken in soft moans. A murky shame trailed through him, indefinable and weak, and he dismissed it by freeing the word in his heart. "Yes," he said, as candid as a prayer.  Elliot leaned against Nolanel and softly pushed him into the shadows. He separated his body from the blue gleam and offered it to desire.

i think i use sex too often as a catalyst moment for a perspective change, and im not beating that allegation here, but nol really needs it LMAO in the end i think ill weight the next morning with the bulk of nolanel's meltdown. he's going back to war and there's no way brucemont is gonna let him get away w positive character development after a few days home.

ive written two things already that stand under a similar conflict, ie 'is while getting off rly the time u should be contemplating guilt & social responsibility,' and one is ch2 of "the light i hear" (i made a joke abt this fgjdhfjg). the other is "will it rain," which is still a fav of mine:

[moximous-kay]

To absolutely nobody’s surprise another Scug. This time one I just made up.

[spiribia]

actually i know quite a few games do this but i love in gw2 how if you stand on an uneven patch of ground, your character actually adjusts leg position to reflect that instead of just remaining level. look at me with one foot on the rubble heap

[ferrocyan]

ffxiv write day 3 - tempest

"the waves crashed against the port, seafoam spraying our faces every second, but me and kishe held tight onto the ropes. i climbed first and he followed close behind, we were pretty much crawling to get up to the mast, it felt like aaaages i was clinging to the rigging," renda drawled as she drew on her story. she looked over her captive audience, branden had long since fallen over to his side, nyelbert not far behind now murmuring nonsense into his cup, and lamitt and cylva were up to their own quiet talk behind her back. only ardbert was trying his best to stay awake, so renda leaned closer to him, "so then... uuhh, where was i...?"

"up on the mast...?" ardbert had the look of complete bewilderment which made her giggle. she was way past tipsy, too. that made it hard to think.

"ohh yeah. so we fixed up the sail.. or something. but then i looked up, at the clouds--and even though it was s'posed to be totally dark, i could see a star. just one prick of light in the middle of the storm. and i thought... i thought, oh, it's gotta be over soon! we just had to go west, where the star was. i could just tell somehow. so i went down and told--"

lightning flashed, then thunder ripped through the air. renda flinched and lost her balance, tipping back until she bumped into cylva. they were all crammed close together in the one tent they had, under the torrent of rain, their noisy bunch of ragtag adventurers. renda felt cylva's arm hold her steady and grew warmer.

lamitt used the lull to tell the two of them to settle down, already, and ardbert protested that renda had to finish her story. "you--you did get out, after that," he asked, "right?"

"'course we did!" said renda. he cheered, earning a kick on the shin from nyelbert. she told him the star had been the torch of a lighthouse, and her family reached a safe harbor at the end.

she left out that in doing so her uncle tistt had fallen overboard and drowned. that part wasn't fun, and renda was used to leaving out the bummers out of her stories. otherwise she wouldn't get cheers like this.

as lamitt fussed over ardbert and the others drifted off to drunken slumber, renda leaned onto cylva and looked up to the roof of the tent. she wanted to go outside right now and look up. see if she could see stars behind the stormclouds again.

[beanmom-blogs]

FFXIV Write 2024 Prompt#3 : Tempest

The weather fit her mood. Nothing seemed to be going to plan, every little spark, every tiny flame, every brush of fire that was stoked inside her had been dampened. Extinguished. Poured over by this detail or that restriction and left to sit in a sopping mess. What had started off as a simple return to the Shroud had run headlong into her staying for an undetermined time. Suns? Weeks? A moon? Who knew, at this point. Caspar had asked to come along, and she hadn’t thought anything of it. As soon as she had checked them in for the eve and went to go run some ‘errands’, they came. The Adders. Taking him away for questioning, but never returning him. A week went past. She had to go back home, grab enough supplies that she could at least somewhat continue her apothecary duties while waiting. Waiting for information that never came. Waiting for her ‘errands’ to tell her what the next step was.

One thread unraveled. There had been talk about maybe breaking him out, but that fell through. They had him in the gaol now, not just in holding. And the ‘errand’ didn’t think it would be worth the hassle to do a break and run. She understood, ‘errand’s’ have families and others that rely on them, but he, Caspar, was part of her family. Or at least he was. He’d probably never forgive her, if they ever did release him.

Another thread unraveled. In the wait, in the time spent between keeping herself busy with work and keeping all those who needed to be informed in the know, she found herself fancying someone. Denying it at first because of course she would. But others saw, picked at her for it. Teased, taunted, made it impossible for her to get him off her mind. To get it over with, to get these thoughts out of her head, she told him. Quelled swiftly by his turning his back to her and walking rapidly away, that was the end of that. If you could call ‘nothing’ a ‘that’.

Ordinarily, these happenings would send her ablaze. Her temper was well known, the furious ness of her words, the way she ever and always caused a commotion. Dramatic. Tumultuous. A force of anger to be reckoned with. Hit after hit though, thread after thread pulled, she found herself more and more in the bottom of a bottle. Two if she was feeling particularly disgruntled.

Yes, the weather fit her mood. The storm, the whip of the wind and the flick of the rain were as dour as she was. And in these quiet moments that she spent, another evening coming to a close, she let herself stand outside on the back porch of the Villa, and succumb to that build up of anger. Nobody would hear how her words and her screams fell like hail out of her mouth, for the sounds were whooshed away by winds faster than any levin bolt could strike.

[rainofaugustsith]

Who is a shard?

Just for fun, I keep a running list of everyone I think may be sundered in FFXIV. Best guesses right now.

Warrior of Light (S) - Ardbert (F) - Zero (13th) OR Warrior of Light (S) - Ardbert (F) - Golbez 1.0 (13th) 

OR BOTH 

If the Warrior of Light IS a Golbez, I believe it's the one who was in the memoria crystal and became Zeromus. 

- In the First, the Warrior of Light barely escapes succumbing to the Light and becoming a Lightwarden. - In the 13th Golbez 1.0 succumbs to the Darkness and does become a voidsent. We have a parallel there. 

Golbez is also recognised by passerby in much the same way as the Warrior of Light on the Source. In the Lunar Subterrane dungeon, passerby seem to recognize the Warrior of Light as Golbez. 

However: 

- The Warrior of Light's personal crystal from Hydaelyn resonates with Zero.  - Zero has an extraordinary trust of the Warrior of Light.  - Zero's dialogue in the last sequence is very Warrior of Light-esque.  - Zero as a reaper avatar did not voluntarily work with Zenos. If she shares a soul with the Warrior of Light, it would explain why Zenos wanted her. He's obsessed with the WoL, after all. 

- Zero was thrown into the rift to avoid being killed, exactly like the Warrior of Light before ARR. 

During the final dialogue between Zero and Golbez 2.0, the Warrior of Light is not seen, and there seems to be an Echo flicker. Zero also finds the strength to regain her form as a paladin. It could possibly be because the Warrior of Light lent her strength to Zero and briefly merged with her. 

I feel like there's a possibility an Azem shard from another reflection somehow ended up being filtered to the 13th - perhaps as an attempt by Hydaelyn to give them help and avoid destruction. Hydaelyn would have been at her most powerful and we know that even after Shadowbringers she has enough power to bring Minfilia and Emet-Selch's souls back to the aetherial sea on the Source. So this would have been simple for her when the 13th was going downhill.  The names Zero and Zeromus are very similar and we know SQEnix doesn't choose names randomly, so maybe this is meant to pull the player toward realizing both are Azem shards.

Minfilia (S) - Ryne (F) - Golbez 2.0/Durante (13th)

Minfilia and Durante both have the same braids on the sides of their heads - just opposite- the same hair color and the same eyes. -

In Shadowbringers, Minfilia refers to the WoL as her "dearest friend" and is very affectionate toward her even after they've just met in ARR.

If your WoL has carried over from 1.0, Minfilia remembers the WoL clearly when nobody else, including those with the Echo like Papalymo, does not.

Minfilia, as Antecedent of the Scions, is also really successful at bringing together a lot of disparate recruits.

In addition, while Minfilia in the Source is not a fighter, she does stop the entire Flood of Light on the First with the Warriors of Darkness' help. Also, her numerous incarnations in the First all are documented to have fought very successfully against Sin Eaters. 

Minfilia in the First stops the Flood of Light. Her shard in the 13th causes the Flood of Darkness. It really makes sense and brings things full circle. 

Yotsuyu (S) - Barbariccia (13th)

Zenos (S) - Vauthry (F) - Cagnazzo (13th)

Cagnazzo is depicted as being someone who gets off on fighting, believes in no one, and is searching for the perfect fight to fulfill him. That forms the core of his identity. I don't think they could make this any clearer. 

- Vauthry was turned into a monster by his parents and Emet-Selch; Zenos was turned into a monster by his father and Emet-Selch. 

- Vauthry controls those in and around Eulmore by feeding them meol, which when activated turns them into his unwilling servants. Zenos controls those in and around Garlemald with his towers, which when activated temper anyone who isn't protected and turn them into his unwilling servants.  - Both the towers and the meol are made with body parts of the dead.

Both think of absolutely nothing but their own gratification and see those around them as mere tools to be exploited. 

Hautdlong (S) - Traynor (F) - Rubicante (13th) OR  ???? - (S) - Nyelbert (F) - Rubicante (13th) Hautdlong (S) - Traynor (F) - Unukalhai (13th/F)

Rubicante is a noble mage who watches his friend die and mourns for him forever. That's the story of Traynor and Nyelbert exactly. Traynor and Unukalhai are obviously kindred spirits - when U. comes to the First, Traynor comments that he can work with U. like he's known him forever. As though he's Nyelbert's shard.

Urianger (S) - Cyella (13/F)

Both are Elezen with grey hair and questionable pasts. - Cyella betrays her friends to try to save her world, but make amends and saves them in the end by rescuing their bodies from possession as the Cardinal Virtues.   - Urianger betrays his friends to try to save his world, but makes amends and saves them from being defeated by the Warriors.  - In the scenes where the Warriors of Darkness fight the Scions, Urianger appears as the sixth "Warrior," in the spot Cylva occupies with the WoD on the First. 

Haurchefant (S) - Ser Tolas (F) Both are noble Elezen knights who are fast friends with the Warrior of Light/Darkness. Tolas is more contemplative, perhaps, but he also gets the Warrior of Darkness to go sit in the spa with him after just meeting them, as though they're really comfortable and get along well.

Lalai (S) - Lamitt (F)

The most obvious of the parallel souls they show with the Warriors of Darkness. - They look almost identical  - Both leave their homes in search of forbidden knowledge and have to more or less teach themselves - Both are seen as pariahs by their peers - Both are possessed - Lamitt's body by the Cardinal Virtue (evil); Lalai's body by Shatotto (good).  - Both have a very significant unmasking scene - Lamitt has an unrequited crush on someone.  - Someone has an unrequited crush on Lalai.  - Lalai: black mage - Lamitt: white mage - Lamitt: cast out and finds found family - Lalai: accepted and finds found family

Solkzagyl (S) - Branden (F) Leih Aliapoh (S) - Renda-Rae (F)

Gerold (S) - Grenold (F) Rowena (S) - Mowen (F) Drusilla (S) - Lorathia (F)

[blackoutsys]

Introductory Post

Hi. We're The Blackout System.

We had a blog here some years back but ended up deleting it because we weren't sure if we were actually plural. But we're back at least until doubt overwhelms us again.

The large majority of us are non-binary or agender. So they/them pronouns are usually a safe bet.

Our body is 19, and we are POC, autistic with ADHD. On a general level we identify with the term alterhuman.

Keeping the rest of our blogs or other socials/outlets private for the sake of not being bothered, but we may post art here on occasion.

Our system name is a reference to one of our favourite games of all time.

We do not owe you descriptive information on our system, or any one of us. We will also not participate in syscourse as we have better things to be doing.

No we do not know what tags we should be using. We may only post here very infrequently, as this is just a sideblog to our main.

Do feel free to interact with us, however. We are fine with speaking to others and talking about our own experiences, and are looking to make a few more friends.

Our interests are:

Hobbies: Digital Art, Webdev, Gamedev, Embroidery/Sewing, Music Transcription, Divination

Games: Secret Histories Games, Who's Lila, Warframe, FFXIV, Fields of Mistria, Risk of Rain 2, Splatoon 3, Hollow Knight, Rain World, VTM: Bloodhunt

Digital Media: Vita Carnis, Midwest Angelica, Interloper ARG, Chainmail Chasers

~ ✨K

[cylleona]

when it rains it pours

job is good. I should have no complaints about the work itself but the stress snowballs every issue i have into one.

i think I'm struggling with having more independence. I think I'm coming to terms with how much an anxious, neurotic, helicopter parental unit and absent parents have fucked me up because I have no life skills or basic knowledge on how to actually Live. I'm afraid to leave the house by myself, I'm afraid to drive, I'm afraid to deviate from a routine I've had to practice.

Despite my fear of looking ignorant I am the stereotype of a millennial not knowing how to read analog clocks.

It's just small things at work that I'm told to do (usually involving numbers) that are very elementary and easy to grasp for everyone else but I can't understand them or I mess them up and cause problems.

I can't even raid in FFXIV because everyone else understands the mechanics but I don't and keep wiping the party.

I think 'I should look for a different job' but I'm so fucking stupid and not qualified for anything else so I think I have to stay here. Manual labor is the only thing I can do. I'm doomed to be tired, exhausted, swollen and in pain. I'm just stuck.

I have to hear my coworkers talk about how they juggle college and 2 jobs and i can't help but compare myself to them. I wasn't able to graduate. I was too much of a coward to look for an internship and they talk about it like it's nothing. I wasted so much of my life doing absolutely nothing. I couldn't even handle college by myself. I had to be driven every day by someone else. So fucking embarrassing.

What's even the point of living? 'Being happy,' you say. I'm not even good at doing that. I want to die but I can't even do that because I'm scared of that too.

[waffliesinyoface]

Initial opinions on FFXIV starting cities:

-Ul'dah: love the design, it makes me think of Mor Ardain/Alba Cavanich from Xenoblade 2. Love me a good desert level. That said, it's also a fucking nightmare to navigate because half the city is inside a building. -Gridania: I'm biased against it because it was raining the entire time I was there. It's fine, I guess, but kinda bland. Elves sure do love to live in trees -Limsa Lominsa: hell yeah pirate towwnnnn. Seemingly the only place where people talk normal. Only downside is that half the NPCs have keymashes for names, and the other half are welsh, which looks much the same.

[staring-at-a-blank-pagee]

hello and welcome!

ao3 • artfight

☆ you can call me blank or tiri! i default to he/they but pretty much any pronouns except she/her are fine with me, honestly. hell, if we're close, you can feel free to go wild with it (/lh). more info :))

☆ i use tone tags a lot and am generally bad at understanding tone so i apologize in advance if i read yours wrong!

☆ the main fandoms you can expect to see from me are up above, but here's the full list anyways: kirby, linked universe, legend of zelda, rain world, super mario, ffxiv, ffxvi, ffxii, lord of the rings, miraculous ladybug, baldur's gate 3, stormlight archive/the cosmere, star trek, celeste, undertale, google doodle-verse, persona 5, good omens, animal well, and uhh possibly more but those are the main ones

☆ i may be sort of awkward and also forget to message people back for weeks to months on end (im working on it okay i promise/srs) but i love making friends here so don't be afraid to come say hello!!

art tag • talk tag • writing tag • asks • starry dee

☆ aheem heem i also have imaginary friends because why not you should come say hi to them as well guys im so normal i swear- /lh

☆ if you're here from the kirby oc tournament, asks for starry dee are still open... I'm just being very slow about answering them, unfortunately!

anyways folks, that's all!! hope to see you around!

[trbotunnel]

hihihi im elian, im an adult, n i use he/it and im like if a dog were a guy :3

i just wanted to rework my pinned to look nicer and be easier to browse my blog from.... and also to help me remember all my tags for stuff :p

im pretty rb heavy but when i do post myself, i tag it with my personal tag, trbotunnels trbomouth :3

i also now have a therian sideblog @poplarbark :p

GENERAL TAGS FOR ... my art, my fics, fic ramblings (when i talk about writing my fics), my graphic design stuff, my ocs, asks, poppy my cat

things labelled in green are my most liked interests, and things in red are current hyperfixations

BOOKS AND SERIES !! the stormlight archive, mistborn (era 1 and wax and wayne), cosmere, the little prince, warriors, not even bones/market of monsters, lotr, the spear cuts through water, the locked tomb (havent read yet!!), hitchhikers guide

GAMES !! red dead, darkest dungeon, the binding of isaac, bg3, hollow knight (and silksong!!!), splatoon, rain world, caves of qud, hades, fnaf, battletoads, animal jam, disco elysium (havent played yet!!), ffxiv

ANIMANGA !! monotone blue, dungeon meshi, mob psycho, girl from the other side, castlevania netflix

MUSIC !! glass animals, kiltro, amigo the devil, this is the glasshouse, carseat headrest

MISCELLANEOUS !! furry stuff, therian stuff tag (therian sideblog is @poplarbark), werewolf stuff tag, jerma, art rb, graphic design

line divider credit: @/cafekitsune :3 — last edited: 2024/10/19, 11:33 am