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short-for-melancholy · 18 days ago

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Intro post, intro post... this'll do for now

Hi hi! Mel's not my real name, she's just a character of mine, but you can call me that and I'll respond to it. I'm a writer with little to show for it. I like cats, creating fantasy characters, and collecting and cataloging isekai anime.

I'm aroace so whatever you do, don't flirt with me<3

the following is a collection of information about my ocs! you can click their names for a link to their associated posting tag.

Girlie Compendium

Mel

24, 5'6", cis, lesbian, human

it's not actually short for melancholy, she's just mel. as a child, mel's family died protecting her and she was left orphaned in the street. with nothing left to live for, but unable to justify suicide after her family's sacrifice, mel picked up a blade and threw herself into adventuring, hoping to die excusably in an attempt to provide for herself. 18 years later, she finds herself the strongest swordsman alive, having survived encounters with every monster shes come across, though not without scars. she has no special skills or magic, but her ability to fight without fearing death and her natural combat prowess have served her frustratingly well. mel leads a solitary, untethered life, as expected of one who never expects to make it home. her most notable wound is her missing left hand, which was incinerated when she first fought a dragon at age 12. since dragonfire wounds never fully recover, she has to keep much of her arm bandaged to keep the smouldering flesh from spreading further.

Hikari Ni'naritai

25, 5'4", cis, aroace, moon miqote

(art by @atelier-aria)

hikari is my final fantasy 14 warrior of light character. a former conscript of the garlean military in othard, hikari changed her name and defected to eorzea in an attempt to escape her vicious past. if youre not familiar with japanese, 'hikari ni naritai' translates to 'i want to become light', and she's made this a personal creed. her story after defecting follows the events of the game pretty closely, though her meteoric rise to the status of Hero did untold damage to her mental health. her favorite things include fighting, sugary sweets, costuming, and fishing. she started adventuring as a mage, but shes too stupid to cast spells and is much more comfortable in a physical role. her primary driving force is her need to be a perfect, shining example of infallible heroism, and her secondary motivation is redeeming her enemies, because as the worst person to ever walk the earth, she has to believe that everyone can change so she can believe in her own change.

Aoi Furukane

28, [height to be updated, shes shorter tho], cis, bisexual polyamorous, au ra

aoi is hikari's normie friend! they met on the ship to vesper bay, separated when aoi continued to limsa, but met back up again later. aoi left a comfortable life in kugane to go where the wind takes her, which happened to be adventuring in eorzea. she was present with hikari through stormblood, but didnt take part in shadowbringers, and now serves in a more supportive role as hikari's problems become more and more world-threatening. she did go to the new world with her for dawntrail though, as a vacation that quickly went out of control. even when shes not involved though, aoi serves as hikari's confidant and closest friend. she was the first to learn about her past and often lends an ear to her depressed ramblings. aoi's a mage and a healer. her hobbies include scrapbooking, crochet, wearing leather jackets, and helping cid finalfantasy test fucked up motorcycles.

Euthalia "Lia" Pontikos

1024, 6', cis, pansexual aromantic, elf

Lia is a monument to my hubris. she is the epitome of what i believe a wizard is. lia is an elf who has exactly two hobbies: studying magic and having weird polymorph sex. she's always looking for new knowledge and experiences, but she has trouble forming connections with others and doesnt emote well. after pioneering and mastering magic as an adventurer, lia grew bored and developed a spell to travel to a different random universe, where she would be able to study the magic there from scratch. she's repeated this process numerous times, visiting a number of worlds and developing a minor interest in cataloguing curious similarities between worlds, until she landed on a world that didn't have magic. luckily, it was technologically advanced enough for her to get a job working on warp speed space travel, and she stole their prototype ship to escape that universe in a desperate gamble. she's now spent the last 500 or so years searching for a way to gain some kind of inborn magic to use in case of similar emergencies. she hasnt managed it yet.

Anestesia "Nest" Blackmoor

17, 5'7", girl-adjacent (she/they), demisexual lesbian, human

Nest is the daughter of two shitty nobles. Due to her poor behavior as a child, her parents sent her to a remote boarding school to learn proper decorum. this did not work, obviously. she often snuck out to play with a family of orcs she found while exploring the woods around the school, where she learned to fight. nest's primary hobby is getting into unnecessary fist fights, and their second hobby is protecting girls. occasionally these goals align but mostly she just likes fighting. surprisingly, nest is actually smart, and she picked up a baseline level of magic at school, which she's been working to incorporate with her swordplay. nest is still figuring out her sexuality but im sure if they find a girl to protect, that will sort itself out pretty quick.

Violet

real age ???, physical age 14, 4'8", Girl Presumably, aroace, human?

(art by @s-lycopersicum)

violet has a few iterations, like an automaton created by a vampire horologist, but in her primary iteration she was a mid-tier modron in Mechanus in the service of the god of order Primus. modrons can be promoted from one tier to a higher tier when a spot needs filled, and by a similar process violet was 'promoted' to a human, as a sort of experiment to see if order could be restored to the material plane in this way. however, between the confusion of the human experience and her lack of clear orders (she was simply ordered to Increase Order), violet was a failure. she woke up in a dark bedroom, so she put everything in the room in alphabetical order and left through the window, where she walked due north until she luckily came to a city with a temple to primus in it. a worker there named Enba (created by @neurodecadence) took pity on her and allowed her to stay, where she was given a name and earned her keep organising the library every day. after a year, she felt the presence of her god leave her and realised she somehow misunderstood their directions. now she is searching for a new way to bring Order. violet has a curious interest in fashion, though she doesnt understand it at all. she's red-green colourblind. she reorganises her things every day, with different sorting methods. she gives off the air of something very obviously trying to imitate a human girl, but in a cute way rather than an unsettling way.

Valyrie

35, 6'3", trans woman, demisexual lesbian, half-elf

valyrie was orphaned when her hometown was burned down. she was rescued by a priestess of a temple and taken in, where she was raised as a holy assassin. she's a proper follower of the god they worship, but her duties to the church come second to her quest for vengeance against the person who destroyed her home and family. officially, her title is Priestess, and she introduces herself as such, but she prefers to wear a priest's outfit. she likes the pants. she keeps most of her body covered to hide her burn scars. valyrie's physique is most similar to a starved child stretched on a torture rack. she rarely smiles because her smile scares children. she's soft-spoken but firm. she could sneak a knife into a public bath.

Dr. Anarcha "Ann" Marion

30, 5'6", cis, lesbian, human

Ann Marion got her medical license revoked for performing experimental healing magic on a patient, resulting in his death. the patient was doomed anyway, and she only did it as a last resort, but it was determined that the pain experienced by the patient caused him to go into shock, accelerating his death and therefore placing the blame firmly on Dr. Marion's shoulders. despite healing magic being the domain of the divine, dr marion is more attempting to replicate the effects through intellectual arcane means. she rejects the gods for creating humanity to be so eminently fallible and murderable. her goal is to overcome death and evil through advanced medical technology. she has since completed her work on her healing spell (including an anesthetic preparation) and continues to experiment with more advanced healing. in its early stages, dr marion's healing spells would leave a visible herringbone-pattern scar, but she's perfected it now. she has several of those scars on left her arm from where she practiced on herself. she has a pet adder that she's modified to replace its venom with healing potion. her primary combat spells are for healing, but she does also work with necrotic spells, poisons, and diseases for damage.

Cassidy

32, 5'11", trans woman, lesbian, half-elf

cassidy comes from a very large family. her parents are a legendary 5-member adventuring-party-turned-polycule who've spawned a catastrophic number of exceptional children. each of her dozens of older siblings are independently famous or powerful in some way, including her identical twin brother. cassidy took a more mellow path in life and got married. unfortunately, her wife died in childbirth, and cassidy did not deal with it well. she left their child with her wife's parents and went off to try and find herself adventuring, even though she knows she'll never live up to her family's reputation and skills. she is so tired. currently partied up with Caroline.

Adela, Witch of the Veil

???, 7', cis, aromantic lesbian, erstwhile elf

Adela is the rotting corpse of an ancient evil reanimated by a god of peace and forced to serve. she hates this so so much. she once subjugated the world as the dreaded Witch of the Veil, leading terrible armies against the forces of good and laying waste to whole cities with a single wave of her staff or swing of her blade. now, adela is forced to do good deeds and protect others under penalty of death. she cannot even suggest violence. as such, she relishes any opportunity to kill afforded to her by her work as an adventurer, though such privileges must be granted by her church-assigned handler. her primary goal is to reclaim the relics of her ascension from the old days (her Veil, her Blade, and her Staff) so she can break the god's hold on her and resume her quest of world domination. critically, this will not work.

Elyria

23, 5'3", cis (derogatory), bisexual, human

Elyria is an annoying nightmare of a woman who shows up in a number of universes and has been noted by Lia as a 'curious and irritating multiversal semiconstant'. she's an accomplished and deadly assassin with a talent for arcane magic and a fanatical obsession with the holiest god she can find in whatever universe has spawned her. she dedicates all her kills to the god she worships and claims her arcane tricks are divine magic granted to her because she is a holy servant of the lord. she frequently uses a nun's habit as a disguise for her work, and she also uses it to indulge in her nun kink. sometimes these two goals intertwine. its her greatest joy to defile the divine with her earnest, misguided worship. whatever god she worships hates her so so much and wants her dead. shes dumb as hell and i love her.

étoile

???, 3', sexless girl, aroace, doll

étoile was created by a mad wizard in the throes of apotheostic euphoria as a tool through which she could maintain a connection to the material world as she ascended to godhood. She can't speak, but she's able to communicate concepts and feelings telepathically. She's not shy per se, but she takes a while to open up to others and doesn't readily offer information about herself. But once she's more comfortable, she's very open about what she wants and how she feels, in her own way. If she likes you, she'll let you write your name in her Cursed Book so she can write messages into your brain or maybe save your life. The wizard god IS potentially watching everything through her eyes, but it's impossible to know when, and étoile wouldn't have told you anyway.

Caroline Miller

23, 5'5", cis, we'll call her "bicurious", human

Caroline Miller is a normal girl with no problems. She grew up as the middle child (of 5) in a loving family who ran the mill in a midsized rural community. She's very friendly and quick to pick up on others' emotions. She decided to become an adventurer because of a local coming-of-age tradition wherein the mayor, an amateur diviner, foretold that she would make an excellent adventurer. She attended some local seminars on adventuring basics before moving to the city to intern with an established party and get some hands-on experience. With her natural charisma and familiarity with the family lute, she took on the mantle of Bard. At the end of her internship, she celebrated by getting drunk with her party and dying a streak of her hair pink. Currently partied up with Cassidy, but she has yet to meet her eccentric family.

Robin

???, 5'10", cis, lesbian, soul bound to a weapon

Robin is the closest thing I have to a universal game avatar. She began as an NPC in my DnD game, but I've created her in Monster Hunter and Bloodborne and will continue creating her in any action game i play that lets me. She was created initially as an excuse to have a scythe-wielding character in my game despite scythes being extremely unwieldy, so her general lore is that a powerful wizard bound her soul to a scythe, and then some other more kind wizard created a body she would be able to possess so she could pass as human. Unfortunately, since she needs to maintain contact with the body to possess it, she's had to learn to wield herself as an effective weapon. The exact weapon she's bound to changes from game to game, and her canon is more fluid than most of my other OCs to allow her to fit other settings. She's a generally carefree woman who loves adventure and fighting, and she doesn't tend to think too deeply about anything.

Unnamed Angel

???, 5'9", sexless girl, aroace, fallen angel

one day i'll name her... the angel once served a great creation god, but when that god was destroyed, all the angels in his service fell to the material realm. as a creature created for the purpose of worship, she shows extreme reverence towards all creation, especially living creatures, but shows similar reverence towards destruction, because the object of her worship was destroyed. desecration of life is an act of divine worship, and she finds particular beauty in the eyes of living things, which she preserves and collects. She often spends a great deal of time staring at her own eye in the mirror, though she's managed to hold back the urge to pluck it out so far.

Elemental Sisters

Peach: ???, 5'7", cis, aroace, earth-aspected human Eltah: ???, 5'10", cis, bisexual, water-aspected human Vasch: ???, 5'4", cis, aromantic lesbian, air-aspected human Lefah: ???, 5'6", cis, demi, fire-aspected human

Four kidnapped orphans whose hearts were fused with the cores of elementals, granting them powerful combat abilities. raised by their creator, a monstrously abusive paranoid minor noble dabbling in unethical science, to believe themselves to be artificial homunculi whose lives were directly tied to their creator's, they first discovered this to be false when he was killed by Eltah and they were forced to flee. now, with nothing but each other and their ludicrous combat power, the girls struggle to understand that they might not be merely weapons after all. NOTE that they are not biologically sisters or related in any way! so it's okay when they kiss!

#ocposting #postposting

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northwest-cryptid · 11 months ago

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Idk if I fully understand ffxiv being native-phobic? I just played through stormblood & what I got from that was colonialism bad, to put it in super simple terms. Like idk the entire point of it was liberate an oppressed peoples and give them back their homes? And maybe I missed it but I didn't see the Ala mhigans as being native coded or inspired?

You didn't see the Ala Mhigans being "Native Coded" because they aren't and yet Ala Mhigan clothes use Native patterns. You didn't see FFXIV being "Native-Phobic" because it's generally not, it likes to hide it's racism away in little pockets.

It's hard to see it when you're not used to seeing it. This isn't your fault, it's that you're looking in the wrong places.

This is the "Ala Mhigan Gown" it's being largely attributed to being "Ala Mhigan" it is not. It is Native.

These patterns are Native, and while I cannot claim exactly and exclusively which tribes use them I can say for certain that I'm Deer Clan Lakota and these patterns are ALL OVER my traditional Native clothing. To attribute our clothing to Ala Mhigo is wrong.

This pattern is being reproduced and sold as Ala Mhigan, as "Kimonos" and lastly, as cosplay.

And these patterns can be found across plenty of First Nation/Indigenous clothing and beadwork.

Like, here if you're curious:

Let's also quickly talk about the New World set,

This is just ugh. Believe it or not I like the pants, and the actual torso and shoes aren't bad either. IF (and this isn't the case) this set were to exclude the headdress and were to actually pay proper respect to Native design and culture I'd love it. I actually used to use this set in game minus the headdress obviously, but wouldn't you know it I'm literally Native. This feels like those party city costumes people make, and the parts it gets right are almost more upsetting because it's not being properly attributed to the right people despite knowing very well the devs clearly referenced actual Natives. Those straps on the pants for example are a very real thing, the clothing my father passed down to me has those, tipped with metal because it makes enough noise to scare off rattlesnakes since those were a threat for kids on the res. The colors and bead patterns also do follow a lot of various Native designs, though I find it harder to pin down these exact patterns.

You're looking at the plot, but that's not entirely where the problem lies; also sorry sorry but I can't overlook this. None of the story or plot justifies Zenos calling me a Savage. I do not care if he's the antagonist, that's a fucking slur. It's been used against me and my people for decades. It's been used against me when I was in middle and high school. So yes, even in recent times this is acknowledged as a slur by racist individuals seeking to cause us harm.

If you've never gotten into a physical fight that you didn't instigate only to have someone ask you "what are you gonna do savage? You gonna scalp me?" And then do the worst imitation of a Native war cry; you likely have no idea how annoying it is to see/hear even a villain in a video game call you a fucking savage, have this be hand-waved as kinda being whatever by the general public who don't deal with this kind of racism, and then furthermore when you go into FFXIV community spaces you see this blonde ass white boy being plastered up everywhere like "oh I wanna fuck him so bad" why do you want to fuck a racist?! He's not even hot. Any potential sex appeal he had left his body the second he uttered the word "savage" and you know the worst part? He's not real. Which means he didn't say that shit, someone at Square WROTE that into the game and really thought "hey is it okay to use a slur like this? Yeah it'll be fine no one is gonna know or care."

Can you IMAGINE if they had a villain drop the N word mid fight? You'd never hear the end of it I assure you.

I think the biggest issue is that people don't even know what Native is, they don't know tribes, they don't know patterns, they don't know our actual history.

You say you don't know how it's "Native-phobic" when it's racism and mockery of Natives is very apparent to Natives, but I can't fault you for it because you literally don't know what to look for.

I want to make it super clear I'm not mad at you, I'm upset that this game can get away with this shit because no one is actually educated on Native matters, culture, etc.

I hope this helps clear that up a little.

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most-fuck-able-ff14 · 2 years ago

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Should have used a picture where you could see Urianger’s shoulders

anon you must have missed the meta narrative of "mod fisher is using images appropriate for everyone's bracket."

the Scions started in ARR, round two being heavensward/3.2. round 3 is stormblood but since there isn't a costume change i was gonna go ahead and give the people what they wanted and give the Scions their shadowbringers drip.

"should have used a picture where you could see Urianger's shoulders" thow saith.

anon i held the virgin killer dress as a prize. a reward. gaze upon what you all have forsook! what thow haste forsaken in thy elezen thirst!

-Mod Fisher

#mod rambles #you could have had the dress #instead you get sweaty man

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voidsentprinces · 2 years ago

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FFXIV feels like a weird tv series in terms of how I feel about each expansion

1.0 is the pilot season that people agree was bad but there was charm to it. It had its moments and if given a better writing staff and perhaps more budget. It could of been something great. But the season’s cancelled now so we’ll just have to post on the forums about missing its charms.

ARR feels like the reluctant second season after they got cancelled after the first season. It airs on SciFi (or however the fuck they’re spelling it nowadays) at a 1am dead block in hopes to never see it again. Its rough around the edges, the writing has some spots to be desired, the costuming is iffy but functional and all it all it becomes a cult classic.

Post-ARR is a lost season, extra materials, some unconnected filler but a few episodes that actually link back and boy does the finale really shake things up. Causing a massive fandom to grow around it and pester executives for a third season.

Heavensward is the return of the king. Final Fantasy XIV is back, it has budget, production, and cast and man with the special effects blow you out of the fucking water. After the Post-HW you hear stories about the cast loving their time on set and with the directors and really getting invested in the “characters”.

Stormblood is the unlucky season which has big shoes to fill cause its coming up after Heavensward and like thats like being the Dark Knight Rises after the Dark Knight right? And while it comes close to Heavensward. Some studio heads got involved and wanted to change stuff up because they saw another TV show do it and thats super popular so why don’t we do that? It returns to being a bit rough around the edges but the new villains really are here to chew the scenery and be memorable as all get out.

Post-SB is uneasy, it feels like the execs aren’t happy it didn’t bring in billions like the Heavensward Season did. Some actors go on to different projects and its really up in the air where its going to go. Are we going to stay in Ala Mhigo? Are we going to stay in Doma? Going to Garlemald is on the table. And this new Solus character just seems like Lahabrea but then BAM! The Call Episode happens and everyone is fucking LOSING THEIR GODDAMN MINDS! There are leaked trailer footage online and Y’shtola is now Master Matoya, Urianger is half naked and IS THANCRED WIELDING A GUNBLADE?! WHAT THE FUCK!?

Shadowbringers hits and it is the best thing on television since sliced bread. Everyone is invested, the budget is back, the writing hits hard, the Solus character is changed and given new dimension. Everyone is up in arms about fist fighting Thancred over his initial treatment of Ryne. There’s fan art of Runar and Y’shtola even though the actors are just good friends. And that Finale? Holy shit. There is some sleeper episodes like the second Amh Araeng arc but the emotional pay off of seeing Minfilia return for a last cameo is well received.

Post-Shadowbringers is making the most of the new world sets. Tying up lose ends, here and there. Setting up the next big bad with this Fandaniel dude and Zenos being back by fandom demand. But the mid-season finale has everyone hooked, I mean after the Seat of Sacrifice arc, who can top that?

Endwalker hits, a love letter season. Some stuff feels overtly long, like was an entire half an episode necessary to show extras turning into monsters. But the baby rescue episodes has people emotionally invested, the loporitts are beloved, everyone loses their shit that Zodiark is introduce and fought only like five episodes into a 24 episode season. Speculation flies left and right and then they get the Elpis and the Ancientsona Fandom from Shadowbringers’ initial season is reignited. People are getting into fights whether to fight or protect Meteion and everyone cries at the finale of the Ultima Thule arc.

Now we’re in the after season of Endwalker, its had sort of monster of the week villains. We’ve seen some cool set design in the Thirteenth Shard and this Golbez character seems like a stand in until they figure out what to do next. But everyone is absolutely LOVING this Zero character. Nidhana’s fandom is also reignited. And there is some debate over Vrtra and his avatars but everyone is also absolutely losing their shit on whats going down in Pandaemonium and with the Twelve. Though its getting close to the end of the season and people are wondering where we’re off to next.

...if that makes any fucking sense whatsoever.

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shivasdarknight · 2 years ago

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@koopytron

Forgive my ignorance, but doesn't a set like this help expose people to cultures that they might not have known about? What about players that live in that country and want to dress up in their traditional clothes, are they not allowed to?

I’m responding over here mostly because my reply got a bit long.

First off, I’m no authority on the Sámi. I want to make that very clear - I’m just echoing what has been said so far by people who have a vested interest in this gear’s removal. And again, I want to reiterate by pointing out that for information your best bets are the initial letter to Square Enix, as well as this thread by a Sámi player.

The argument for exposure looks nice on paper, but usually isn’t ever executed well - especially in the case of the Far Northern attire. FFXIV isn’t set up to teach people about cultures (unless it’s Stormblood and the two different fantasy Japans), it’s set up to use cultures as an aesthetic to give each nation a bit of flavor. Thavnair is India, Ul’dah is your typical desert city, the elves are French, Ala Mhigans are Kurdish and Armenian, Xaela are Mongolian etc etc. And how much care that goes into representing and educating players about these cultures varies depending on who it is and if Square cares about them. And every instance of an indigenous culture has been the exact opposite. Even their treatment of the Xaela and Ala Mhigans are extremely demeaning, but that’s a different topic altogether.

If Square had any interest in exposing people to Sámi culture, they would have contacted the tribe for a collaboration and make them have more of a presence in game than just a glam item that costs $18USD. They would’ve also done research into what gákti actually look like, and maybe named each piece appropriately. Instead, we have an offensive caricature that costs $18USD, doesn’t have any cultural presence in the game, and is nothing but a disconnected costume meant to line their paychecks. And as a reminder: the Sámi were never contacted, Square has not reached out after this demand, and they’ve received no money for Square using their material culture for profit. What’s sad is Disney did better than them after Frozen, as they similarly appropriated their regalia and even took their music. Frozen 2 saw them collaborating and the film was even released in one of the Sámi languages, though I’m not entirely sure if they ever saw any amount of the film’s revenue - if someone happens to see this and they know, feel free to correct me.

I think the more important thing here is: do we even want Square to be exposing players to Sámi culture? Because they do not have a good track record when it concerns portraying indigenous cultures. Anyone can feel free to add in stuff I’ve missed, but there are plenty examples through the entire Final Fantasy franchise - including, but not limited to: including monsters that have roots in nativist imagery (anthropophage) but naming them after a particular spirit in Algonquin folklore that people keep asking to not be named or included in media; the entirety of Red XIII’s character (even the name he’s introduced by, despite him actually being named Nanaki); the initial portrayal of the Ronso in X (that then got “sophisticated” into the suddenly Icelandic Hrothgar); and the palewashing of Viera (mesoamerican indigenous coded in XII) in the jump to XIV by only focusing on the palest of individuals and making most of them white-looking.

And then there’s the stuff in XIV. Most of the Tribes (which up until recently were literally known as beast tribes) up until Stormblood are based in some racist depiction of indigenous peoples - like Square did all of their research through racist American movies from the past century. Many speak in the stilted English you’d see in racist advertisements and media (eg. the Vanu Vanu, and the yoda-like speak of the Ixal), they’re all anthropomorphized animals to some degree and not at all...y’know, human; you spend a significant amount of the game hunting them and being rewarded for doing so (especially if you do daily Clan Centurio marks), many are based on real cultures (Ixal are clearly meso-/south american, Vanu Vanu literally have totems and everything), and the Amalj’aa embody the entire Noble Savage trope to a T (only source for this is unfortunately Wikipedia because everything else was paywalled or didn’t touch on how racist this is). We only saw this shift in not calling them “beast” tribes anymore around Stormblood because we suddenly got the Kojin (respected merchants based on Kappa), and the Namazu - techincally also the Lupin, but the shared factor is that they’re all predominant Japanese cultures that they’d never bastardize because the entire Doma half of Stormblood is them drinking the Japanese Imperialism kool-aid (again, another topic altogether and best discussed by someone like the journalist, Kazuma Hashimoto - who goes into it a lot on streams). After that, we saw a deemphasis on indigenous cultures in the tribe quests and the removal of the name once Dwarves, Pixies, Arkosodara, Loporrits, and Omicrons were added. Qitari are loosely here because they are the First equivalent of the Qiqirn, but they’d still “fit” in the old category by Square’s measure.

And then of course the Whalaqee, the entire New World nonsense, how they portray the Mamool’ja (who are from the “New World”), and the entire racist premise of the BLU questline. Which is literally just “White Savior is the only one who can save this dying native tribe from evil oil ceruleum barons who brought diseases over, and your main reps are two animal looking guys and a very pale native boy like the tropes from the old movies”. And yes, this is where the racist New World gear comes in, because that’s the clothing every single member of the Whalaqee wear despite it being a disgusting caricature of ceremonial gear with the war bonnet and everything. The Mamool’ja are also frequently depicted as unintelligent and only suited for war, and are extremely sexual and there’s a fate where one gets kicked out of the Camp Bronze Lake baths for being too sexual. Which again: nativist stereotypes that don’t just apply to indigenous tribes of the Americas, but also Japan’s own indigenous peoples - especially the Ryuukyuuan!

The New World gear wasn’t put in there to expose players to indigenous cultures. They included a racist caricature so people could play dress up with those pieces, and locking their (racist) context behind a side quest most people skip or ignore. And what ends up happening is whenever I do see players wearing it, it’s almost never people of those cultures doing it “for their own sake” - as it’s a racist caricature and not actually their cultural clothing or what they’d wear - it’s instead people playing out the racist caricatures. I’ve seen white catgirls with neon pink war bonnets and bikinis, I’ve seen literal red-skinned players in the full get up, and many other offensive costumes that’s come as a result of this set being in the game.

But that set is obtainable through normal gameplay. The Far Northern set is paywalled, making this especially egregious that it’s a racist caricature of Sámi regalia that they’re making a load of money off of.

There is no in game “Far Northern” culture - it’s just a racist costume for players (and they’re designing this for the majority white, and Yamato Japanese player base) to play dress up with. They design the game with dominant cultures in mind (hence why everything is so heavy handed with European and Japanese aesthetics and gear, but there’s a suspicious lack of Korean and SWANA names, material culture, etc. when both exist in the game in their own ways through “Far Eastern” attire and Ala Mhigan stuff). If they’d had any intention on exposing the players to Sámi culture, they would’ve contacted the Sámi for sensitivity or even just copyright issues.

But they didn’t.

Exposing and teaching other people about cultures varies depending on who you’re talking about. It’s especially sensitive when you have a matter of appropriating not only a minority culture, but one that’s being suffocated by colonization and majority culture appropriation. It’s why it’s not really an issue that places like Ishgard are a few mixes of European stuff, or that Hingashi is based in Japan pre-border opening, but it’s a major issue for them to bastardize Mongolian, Armenian, Kurdish, and the various indigenous cultures that they have in their inclusion through the Xaela (described as barbaric, and “will eventually be their own extinction” according to the Namazu quests), the Ala Mhigans (who are not treated with the same level of dignity or respect as the Domans, and are portrayed as aggressive and lower class), and the ARR-HVW tribe quests + the Whalaqee (see the above).

It’s fine to want to expose people to other cultures. You just have to do it on the terms of the cultures themselves. And going behind the backs of the Sámi people and creating a racist costume that costs $18USD isn’t exposing anyone to their culture (if they did, it’s through discourse like this); it’s just Square making money off of a racist costume so people can play dress up with regalia that isn’t theirs.

#cultural appropriation #sámi #saami #ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #ff #final fantasy #racism #legitimately im very open to criticism if i got something wrong #so please feel free to point stuff out if someone sees something #but the end of the day its just #respect the people you're basing your stuff on and do things as they would #get in contact with them #and if they say Don't then DON'T #The point of my posting the letter was just trying to get the word out that the Sámi council has explicitly stated #that they do not want Square to continue to profit off this outfit #yes I know this is an NGO but it still represents a significant amount of interest from the Sámi people #+ someone tried to use that as a gotcha but do you know how many tribal groups are considered NGOs due to colonial governments refusing to #acknowledge their existence? im staring directly at california and the 300+ tribes they will not federally recognize.#AGAIN: if square cared they wouldn't have gone this route to begin with #this is not exposing people to Sámi culture #it's just exposing them to the same old tired racist shit that we already have #if you're not familiar with that then you may be familiar with laplander imagery #thats the exact same thing and laplander is an older and bad term for the Sámi people #the region is called Sápmi and they are Sámi #but you wouldnt know that if you only bought the outfit from the Mogstation.#original #long #long post

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weatheredpileoftomes · 1 year ago

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in your darkest hour

For FFXIVWrite Day 4, “off the hook”. Frydlona, end of Stormblood proper, ~350 words. Spoilers for 4.0 and for dark knight quests through 50. I could have done a fun fishing adventure like everyone else but I sure did not do that.

Frydlona doesn’t get the luxury of saying she can’t, and yet.

The camp is alive with preparations. Everywhere the clamor of voices, the creaking of wheels. Before them stands Ala Mhigo, rose-gold even in the glare of full daylight.

It’s a beautiful city. Frydlona doesn’t want to get any closer to it than this.

I can’t do this, she thinks. I can’t. Not again.

“You don’t have to,” Fray says, leaning against one of the parapets. She’s an ink-black smudge against all this warm stone, armored more heavily than even the Ishgardian contingent, let alone Frydlona in her gold and white tabard.

It should stain. Frydlona still feels covered in the mud of that Doman courtyard, like she’s never quite managed to leave. Some hero she is.

‘I do have to,’ she tells Fray. ‘They’re all expecting me to. I’m…I don’t know. The figurehead of the alliance. They think I can do this, and if I tell them I can’t, then they’ll lose hope themselves. If even the Warrior of Light can’t beat him…’

“Do you trust me?”

It’s been a long time since Whitebrim, and Frydlona understands her better now. ‘Yes.’

Fray turns to face her, eyes nothing but sparks of light behind her visor. “You were better the second time. You’ve trained a lot since then. I think you can do it, after all.”

‘I can’t,’ Frydlona says. A simple fact. ‘Fray, I don’t think I can make myself walk down that bridge.’

“Then I will,” Fray says.

She waits for Frydlona to argue, but all Frydlona says is ‘Please not the civilians.’

“It wasn’t civilians last time,” Fray mutters, not incorrectly, and shimmers and is gone.

Frydlona watches herself set aside her glaives and take the greatsword from her pack. She wears a dress that looks dead plain, when she’s working with Sidurgu and Rielle—just another adventurer, nobody special—but Fray doesn’t touch the sunlit brilliance of her Warrior of Light costume, only shoulders the massive sword. The hilt and trim are gold, but the blade is black as soot. It carves the daylight like a wound.

As if she’s dreaming, she takes a step, and then another. She is no less afraid. But—Fray wouldn’t send her to die. Fray wouldn’t even send her to fail.

She’ll have to trust to that, and keep going.

#ffxivwrite #ffxivwrite2023 #my fic #my fic: frydlona #my fic: frydlona: gen #my fic: 4.0 #frydlona merlgeimwyn #drk squad ensemble

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rainofaugustsith · 2 years ago

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Now that I've finally leveled all the mage jobs I was doing to 70, I was able to pick up Sage and Scholar, and I'm turning to another job class even as I keep marching these toward 80 for the Amaro achievement. Next up is archer/bard followed by machinist once bard is to the level where they can share gear.

Feelings on the mage jobs, overall: I love these so much I consider them part of Viri's core group of jobs

Red Mage: Still my pick for the best all-around magical job. You have an entire host of melee sword skills when waiting to cast is ill advised, and you have constant use of Dualcast and other abilities to cut down on casting times considerably. Even with all that you get the standard mage resurrect and a heal ability so you can heal yourself in a pinch or help a friend who has gone down. The story is pretty interesting and I love the costumes you get from this job. I also really like the NPCs you get to work with.

Summoner: A job that is interesting, easy to figure out and formidable. While Black Mage is struggling with marks 20 levels below their level, Summoner was able to walk into Shadowbringers FATES at level 69 and hold their own. I love the concept of summoning the egi, that you aren't summoning an actual spirit but a type of simulation from their energy. I weave this job into my lore/head canon for Viri's Reaper job. She's not a Garlean and can use magic and manipulate aether so she has no need to use voidsent. So when she reaps, she's summoning the egi. As for the story, interesting tie-in with the Warring Triad information, and it's always nice to meet one of Y'shtola's siblings. However I still hate the book weapon.

Astrologian: My favorite healing job and that has not changed. I really like how the story shows the discipline of this magic changing with location/culture - it's used totally differently in Ishgard vs. Sharlayan vs. Kugane. That's really interesting to me, that the magical discpline changed according to need. And I really love drawing the cards and being able to buff other players pretty constantly.

After leveling, I would only play these to get achievements/see the story/under duress

Black Mage: I've written before about how much I detest Black Mage and that dislike still stands. It's slow, it's clunky, you have to plant your character in one place and casting takes the better part of a century. For all that is claimed about it having the best mage DPS, Black Mage at 70 still struggles to get through Heavensward and Stormblood hunt marks - where Summoner, wearing the exact same gear, can annihilate NPCs levels higher than them. Shit, my White Mage doesn't struggle as much and that's saying something.

Ironically, Black Mage has the most intriguing story series of all the mages, I think. And certainly the most significant since you avert an actual Calamity. I also liked the history of black magic, and the fact that the black mages you meet are largely from the tribal communities, working united. They also provide a very satisfying counterpoint to the Star Wars THIS SIDE GOOD! THIS SIDE BAD!! absolutism about light and dark sides. It's pointed out in many ways that you need the balance of both and that no magic discipline is evil; it's what is done with it. It even makes those Jedi-style judgmental types look like fools.

Also after doing the 30-70 level missions for Black Mage I am completely convinced Lalai and Lamitt are reflections of each other. There's just too much in common and too many parallels for it to be coincidence.

Scholar: the story missions for this job are giving me so much lore and so many things to think about. If you are interested in Nym and Andapor, you'll want to play this. The NPCs you work with are really likeable, too.

The beauty of this job is that you don't actually have to level it up, it tags along with Summoner. So whatever level your Summoner is will mirror with Scholar. Having said that you do have to play the Scholar's duties and story missions to progress those and unlock some skills. Several of the duties are absolute beasts. But you'll get to visit some really interesting environments, and in light of Shadowbringers, the final boss in the level 70 story mission made me raise my eyebrows a bit.

In terms of gameplay, I love the avatar that comes with you (and again, it raises questions - certain NPCs in Shadowbringers might react to them!), and Art of War is damned amazing as an AOE. I hate that so many healing skills required filling a gauge and remembering combinations. It also seems to eat a ton of MP, far more than the other healer jobs. And again you're out there wielding a book as a weapon.

White Mage: For the most part it's just kind of bland and boring. It's easy to figure out, and it's reliable in dungeons with duty support and I guess that is what counts. I didn't get into the story until the end of the 50-60 arc when issues with NPCs in the rest of the storyline were finally called out. I do like that at level 72 you finally get to stop throwing rocks at people.

Sage: I'm still having a hard time getting my head around Sage. Like Scholar, a lot relies on filling gauges and combinations to access skills. I really don't like that. When you're healing you need to concentrate on what the specific players need in each situation and have the kit available, not sit there remembering combinations to unlock the skills you need in real time. IMHO anyway.

#rain plays ffxiv #I don't think there are other spoilers in here but if there are tell me #ffxiv #ffxiv mages #ffxiv black mage story spoilers

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despair-ninja-everything-agency · 2 years ago

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ThanCole stole SniperSpy’s wedding outfits >:3c

Bit o’ a cheeky bonus to the WoLCred week thingy and also a tribute to @kirame90 ‘s SniperSpy comic series. Y’all should check it out, especially if you’re into TF2 and, most importantly, a fellow SniperSpy shipper like me.

I encountered that SniperSpy comic, like, 2 or 3 months ago as it’s coming closer to conclusion. Word cannot describe how I feel about the comic series, but it made me laugh and cry and feel all sorts of feelings. I admire how the story told, how the couple having to deal with their blooming relationship, the comedy that is the other mercs, Sniper’s parents, the exploration of Spy’s past and how it affects him till present day. Highly recommend you to read it. Be warned that it’s a long read, but I promise it’s worth the journey. You can start reading it from page one over here :3c

As for the glam itself, finding Spy’s tuxedo wasn’t hard as there’s a couple of good tux top in FFXIV and I managed to work out his corsage with a yellow hyacinth corsage for the yellow leaves and a purple carnation earring for the small flower. Alas, you can’t layer headgears so no baclava/ninja mask. As for Sniper’s, while I managed to find a good fit, it’s sadly missing the tie. On the other hand, I like the bracelet (iirc it’s a StormBlood dungeon drop) as his wristwatch.

Overall, I’m really proud of this getup. Might post it to Eorzea Collection if I feel like it uwub

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Feel like I wanna include this here as well. @miqomischief , I found you out from Biff and while I don’t know much about you just yet, I’m sending all my supports and positive thoughts at your direction OwO/ Hope your journey is a fulfilling one. ‘Tis ain’t much, just a self-indulgence, but I’d like to share you my WoLCred ship all the same. And, hey! If you want and you’re into TF2 as well, maybe you can check out the comic I linked above. Who knows if it can brighten your day or at least amuse you :3 ------

Bonus under the cut:

ThanCole demands a costume switch while implicitly roasting Sniper’s sense of fashion

*For context, a Gunbreaker’s weapon is a sword... that can shoot magic boolets

#Final Fantasy #Final Fantasy XIV #FFXIV #Cole Ushiromiya #Ushiromiya Cole #Thancred Waters #WoLCred #ThanCole #Everyday I check the SniperSpy tag in tumblr just to see if the comic updated yet #TF2 is canon in Cole's story so I can imagine him sending a picture of him and Thancred to Mick and J #just to mess with them XD #credit to Sapphire Arch for their gorgeous photo studio #I'm using their first private room #No Thancred doesn't enjoy Sniper's outfit very much thank you #Cole's more tolerant and he can see some sense in it #but as a weaver he's inclined to give him an advice or two in fashion #I don't hate Sniper's wedding suit pls dont kill me QWQ #just thought it looks tacky is all #but it's part of the Sniper charm uwu #can't tag people for some reason but eh it's the thoughts that counts

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anneapocalypse · 4 months ago

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Moreover I think it is also important to his character that the Soothsayer's Chiton is still a costume. This is just what he does. He embodies a persona. The mysterious hooded Doomsayer who may or may not be a 1500-year-old sorcerer was the role he needed to play in Louisoix's plan before the Calamity and he embraced it. The Chronicler of Primal Lore was the role he needed to play for the Scions, and he embraced it. The Betrayer/Warrior of Darkness was the role he believed he needed to play to save the First when he learned of its plight, and he embraced it and with flair. (Look at how he enters the scene to reveal his true motives! Look at the drama!)

And post-Warriors of Darkness, he humbly returns to the role of the Chronicler but this time with 50% more shame and guilt. When he says, should you talk to him in the Waking Sands during Stormblood, "I have ever been a practical man. What I wear now shall suffice," in light of everything else we see of him, I read that not as I don't care how I look, but as I will be whatever you need me to be. As he says in the same conversation, "...for as long as I have the strength to do so… and for as long as you all will suffer it." I promise I will continue to be useful to you if you let me.

I have brought up before, too, that a surprise "openness" of Urianger's outward appearance always accompanies deception. When first we see him with hood down and eyes uncovered, it is as the "Masked Man" with the Warriors of Darkness, while he is actively deceiving both them and the Scions.

Shadowbringers is not an exception to this. When Urianger makes his appearance to us in Il Mheg for the first time, bare-faced and beautiful (and yes, he is very pretty and his new look is very flattering), it is in the midst of telling his closest friends barefaced lies.

And what's his new role? An Astrologian. A diviner. A soothsayer. His new gearset is literally called Soothsayer, teller of truths, the exact thing that he is not doing.

And this, I think embodies something complex that I think has always been true of Urianger, that the persona he embodies at any given time always has some truth to it. Urianger is indeed a longtime student of prophecy; the art of foreknowledge is one of his greatest passions. Astrology is divinatory and a Sharlayan discipline. In the same way that his role as Chronicler of Primal Lore dovetailed with his love of prophecy, in the same way that his role as the Mysterious Old Wizard meshes well with the way he likes to be seen (if that one bit of dialogue in Shadowbringers is any indication), taking up Astrology is entirely appropriate to him.

It's also a role that reinforces his trustworthiness as the Prophet of the Eighth Umbral Calamity, which must never come to be.

At the Exarch's behest, Urianger has literally become a false prophet.

And this is not me necessarily disagreeing with common interpretations of Urianger's costume changes as symbolic of his character development, but yes, and-ing them. Yes, each costume change has meaning--and that meaning is more complex, I think, than simply, "The hood wasn't his true self, and this is." All of his costumes reflect aspects of his inner self, as well as the outward persona he has chosen to embody.

There are plenty of good theories about where Urianger got his new fit in the First but personally I cannot rule out the possibility that he simply moved into the Bookman's Shelves, opened up the wardrobe and put on what he found there, and said, "This is who I am now."

#urianger augurelt #afk by the aetheryte #shadowbringers spoilers

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