#timeline : stb

[elliewiltarwyn]

FFXIV Write 2024 | #16: Third-rate

Word Count: 443

Fifth Astral Moon, 25th Sun, 0 7AE

Lily’s alive. Thank the Twelve, she’s alive.

Yugiri found her under a curiously-small amount of guard while scouting out Halatali in search of Raubahn, and managed to spirit her away ere anyone’s notice fell upon them. I felt myself sinking into the chair when Honoroit burst into the room to inform us that they were on their way to Fortemps Manor - Mia flat out fell to her knees and exhaled the biggest sigh of relief I’ve ever heard.

She arrived propped up by Haurchefant, shivering and unable to stand on her own. Count Edmont promises he’ll call upon Ishgard’s finest chirurgeons to help her, but in the meantime I’m doing my best. She’s in a rough state…to put it lightly. She’s half-emaciated and she struggles to hold on to anything, her muscles too weak to make a firm grasp. From what little she’s been able to speak of, she was chained up within her cell and essentially left to rot, only fed enough gruel to survive…

I already wanted to go ballistic and rampage through the Brass Blades and any other Syndicate cronies who dared stand between me and Lolorito… and seeing what they did to Lily in their captivity has only inflamed that desire.

But they’re at least a clear, tangible target in the real world. The other subject Lily was able to speak of is far more difficult to fight.

“I’m sorry,” she keeps saying, staring at me unblinkingly every time, her eyes large and displaying a window into the sheer torrents of pain she’s in. “I declared that I’d protect you, the same way you’ve protected me all this time…but I couldn’t. I barely even delayed them - I couldn’t save you or Mia or Minfilia or anyone else. In the end, I was the useless one - the hanger-on - the worthless, third-rate Warrior of Light who doesn't even deserve the title.”

I immediately protested, told her in no uncertain terms that she isn’t remotely worthless. That if Mia and I are allegedly so vital to the realm as the Warriors of Light, then she is too. I might have actually grown a little frustrated with her: “I’ve been telling you since the beginning, and I’ll keep telling you as many times as is necessary, you’re worth the effort.”

I’ve always doubted that she believed me whenever I told her such before; I’m just about certain that she doesn’t now. I don’t blame her for it, given what she’s been through—what we’ve all been through—but…gods. None of us deserved this. I think Lily deserved it the least of us all.

[200dollarharu]

Just a fun little character timeline lol

[minarcana]

The back of Laurel’s hand wipes a streak of blood off of her cheek. Hers or someone else’s, hard to tell. Laurel is not in the best of moods to say the least, and she carries herself as if heartily bruised. “Stop gawking. Either leave off or tell me where I can get something to drink. Unless you’re real eager to get your bones broken like the last gaggle of idiots who chose to mouth off.” On the plus side, she has a win streak. On the minus, those are the fights not even Lyse could drag her away from and despite Gosetsu’s protests of behaving. If she can’t get respect, she’s perfectly happy with fear.

The Azim Khaat will learn at least not to talk to her at all if the other option is talking shit. Or she’ll just keep hitting people. Why they’re even here is beyond her— who cares about setting diplomatic relations when they’re going to get the crown in that free-for-all anyways? Stupid.

[impossible-rat-babies]

yes eyrie and Sid and rielle know each other. do I know that relationship? no <3

[afflatushesperia]

certified lizard moment (making a reference sheet for your WoL)

[sealrock]

quick n dirty blender render styled gposes of paris showcased in various outfits that were meant to be for a timeline graphic. also showing off their new sword as a DRK:

paris before leaving the west shroud and after moving in with their aunt: 1.0 paris as a teenager growing up in ul'dah (early, mid, late teens): pre & post-calamity paris setting off as an adventurer as a young adult: ARR paris after the bloody banquet and running away to ishgard: HW paris fighting to liberate doma and ala mhigo: StB paris' yearlong stay on the first: ShB paris' current look: EW

[wildstar25]

I would love to see the breakdown of Arsay’s timeline through the expansions!!!

WEEEEELLLL if you insist... My basic timeline break down is as follows: Keep in mind a few things are still kinda in flux, and if I ever contradict myself in the future literally don't worry about it

1.0 -> Calamity 6 months End point in the 4th umbral moon lining up with what is now the rising event (calamity memorial). Now that I’ve switched up arsay’s birthday, she turns 22 during the 1.0 campaign.

Calamity -> ARR 5 Years Arsay is stuck in the lifestream with the mother crystal for that 5 year period. Her memories of 1.0 and everyone's memories of her are largely erased. Arsay wakes up on a boat to Limsa Lominsa believing it is still her first voyage to Eorzea.

ARR->HVW ~6 months The base story including job quests take 3 months in total. The next three months are dedicated to the patches: Primal Trial series -> Coils of Bahamut -> 2.1. ~3 weeks Crystal Tower Raids, LoTA -> Syrcus Tower ~1 month 2.2-2.3 -> Crystal Tower Raid WoD ~2 weeks 2.4->2.55 ~3 weeks

HVW->STB ~4 months Main story starts a day or two after 2.55 and takes ~1 month total Patches take ~3 Months: 3.1->3.2->Void Arc ~1 month ->Arsay gets really into pvp and does nothing but frontlines and CC for a week -> 3.3->Alexander Raids->3.4 ~3 weeks Warring Triad->3.5->3.56 ~1 month

STB->SHB ~6 months Main story picks up a week after 3.56 and takes ~3 months time. (The first trip to Kugane takes 3 weeks off screen, after that travel time is reduced to a few days to a week using the East Aldenard Trading company boats (it would make sense that lolorito has better boat tech imo)) Next 3 month period is all the patches: Ivalice raids->Omega raids->4.1-4.2 ~1 month Eureka exploration->4.3->4 lords ~1.5 months 4.4->4.56 ~2 weeks

I know the ARR to Shadowbringers lead up is a mad dash but if it happened any slower, I don't believe Arsay would have be the character she is by that point. It is incredibly vital that she has almost 0 down time for herself. Her days and nights are PACKED full by choice. Job Quests, Hildebrand stuff,PvP, Hunts all get squeezed in throughout.

SHB->EDW ~8 months Main story picks up a few days after 4.56 and takes only 1.5 months to complete. Its a non stop emotional roller coaster for Arsay to be completely fine and normal about the whole time. Patches take 6.5 months, notably there is more downtime between patches: Chill relaxing after 5.0->Eden I->5.1->Neir raid I ->5.2-> role quest/shadowkeeper->Eden II-> 5.3 ->chill relaxing/recovery time for scions->Eden III->Neir raids II & III->Werlyt->Bozjia->5.4-5.55

EDW->DWT ~1 year (time spent in Elpis is not counted) ->Main story up to credit roll ~1 month ->Recovery time for injuries sustained in Ultima Thul ~4 months ->After credits - Scions Disband, everyone goes their separate ways - 1 day 🙃 ->Rest of the roll quests now that Arsay can mostly fight again(she can't cast mudras😞 ) ~1 month (casting>healing>tanking>aiming>bonus all role cap off) -> 1 month of nothing to do, Arsay still can't cast mudras, character development dictates she can no longer repress every bad emotion she feels, she has no proper coping mechanisms and quickly spirals into a mental breakdown over feeling like she's worthless and that no one will need her anymore now that the world isnt ending constantly and that she's worried without the scions being the scions everyone she cares about will slowly forget her and she'll be all alone again. Y'shtola and G'raha manage to get Arsay talking after a bit of self destructive lashing out. Things are sorta resolved?? Y'shtola and G'raha reassure her of a lot, and do their best to get it in her little kittycat head that she's not a burden on them even when she's sad. Not an automatic fix but Arsay does make the commitment to better her mental health and to work on her self image issues and communication skills! It'll be a process for her. ->5 days round trip to her home island in the southern seas to visit her Aunt and catch up ->6.1 starts when Arsay gets back from that ->Endwalker patch content takes up the final 5 months of that year period. Things are mostly interspersed with how they are released except for pandae which happens all in one go for Arsay between 6.3 and 6.4. Arsay has done all the variant dungeons, Tataru's grand endeavours, completed Island Sanctuary, and Myths of the Realm. ->The gap between 6.55 and 7.0 will probably only be about a week? Maybe 2? It depends how much it seems like the early arrivals to Tural have been there compared to Arsay and her crew.

That's my timeline! Thank you for asking and reading 🙇 hopefully that all made sense haha ^^

Have a picture of them for the road <3

[alicesadventuresinffxiv]

FFxivWrite2024 Entries

Oh boy, the first FFxivWrite prompt is out and already I am torn. Do I go for completely new and self-contained stories for these, or do I say “screw it” and just write random scenes from the middle of the very elaborate AUs that only exist in my head?

…Well, apparently the latter is what my muse has latched onto for the first prompt, which means I should probably make a guide to keep these AUs straight! I’ll pin this post and use it as my prompts master post, adding new AU explanations when relevant.

TL;DR: Lots of Fordola/Lyse, with a scattering of other NPC/NPC yuri too!

Prompts:

#1 - Who wants to steer the Reaper? (TCaFS AU - M’naago, Fordola, Lyse)

#2 - Narrow Horizons (TCaFS AU - Fordola/Lyse)

#3 - Visitors to the Tempest (Canon-adjacent - Ryne/Gaia, Hythlodaeus)

#4 - Uncharacteristically Reticent (8th Umbral Calamity - Fordola/Lyse, M'naago, Raubahn)

#5 - Stamps from across the Star (Canon-adjacent - Arenvald/Alphinaud)

#6 - Those Fleeting Halcyon Moments (TCaFS AU - Fordola/Lyse, Fordola/Yda)

#7 - For a Morsel of Acceptance (TCaFS AU - Fordola/Lyse, Charlet)

#8 - Wicked Hearts Aligned (The Empire won :( - Yotsuyu/Fordola)

#9 - Field Notes on Misija, Part III [Lend an ear] (WoL was out fishing - Misija, Fordola)

#10 - A Stable to Hubris (Canon-adjacent - Sadu/Cirina)

#11 - Surrogate Hero (Canon-adjacent - Alisaie/Tesleen)

#12 - Take our quarry alive! (TCaFS AU - Fordola/Lyse)

#13 - Butterflies atop the Butte (Canon-adjacent - M'naago/Lyse)

#14 - A Telling Emotion (TCaFS AU - Fordola/Lyse)

#15 - A Nostalgic Adventure (WoL!Fordola AU - Krile (Azem))

#16 - Third-rate Azem (WoL!Fordola AU - Krile (Azem), Fordola, Krile/Tataru)

#17 - Sally forth, to endings unwritten (TCaFS AU - Fordola/Lyse)

#18 - Not hackneyed if it's from you (Canon-adjacent - Krile/Tataru)

#19 - The Girl Whose Hand Was Taken (Fairytale - Yotsuyu/Yugiri)

AU Explanations:

To Catch a Falling Star AU:  Instead of traveling to Doma, Lyse spends Stormblood infiltrating the Skulls, with the ultimate goal of convincing Fordola to defect to the Resistance. When your own army gets decimated, just steal the other guy’s one, you know?

Ends in Fordola/Lyse, with a complicated enemies-to-lovers arc.

Since the entries involving this AU are not being written in the order they happen in the timeline, here's another list that's actually chronological:

Take our quarry alive!

Narrow Horizons

For a Morsel of Acceptance

Who wants to steer the Reaper?

Those Fleeting Halcyon Moments

A Telling Emotion

Sally forth, to endings unwritten

WoL!Fordola AU: Not WoLFordola like the ship, WoL!Fordola as in the original WoL, the Meteor Survivor who fought at Carteneau, who destroyed the Ultima Weapon, who ended the Dragonsong War… he died to Zenos at the end of StB. Oops!

Now Fordola is the only one left who has the fighting skill needed to even have a chance of filling his shoes.

This is the timeline I’m writing in my head as I take my alt through the MSQ. It starts out as a continuation of TCaFS (so technically TCaFS is one of my WoL’s backstories in a roundabout way haha). But canon gets even more broken from there. Fordola might be the replacement WoL, for example, but it’s Krile who is the shard of Azem!

8th Umbral Calamity: Shadowbringers never specifies whether Lyse and Fordola are killed by Black Rose in the bad timeline. What if they weren’t? Lots of fun (and by fun I mean tragic) ways that could play out…

WoL was out fishing, Fordola did the sidequests instead: Not an AU so much as a common premise I use. Fics in this series assume that some unspecified WoL exists who follows the canonical MSQ, they’re just busy offscreen somewhere and Fordola was forced to pick up the slack. My first FFXIV fic (Sympathetic Resonance aka “why is Fordola in Eureka”) would be part of this series, as would my upcoming Sorrows of Werlyt fic.

[meowww-ffxiv]

Thinking about Yukinko's timeline and. 💀

ARR: Yeah whatever, it's cool though that we're doing so much good.

HW: Bruh.

StB: Mental health hitting new lows.

ShB: Stormblood baggage + he was dying. He was apathetic to it, too, hence his not saying shit to the Scions.

But then the whole thing with Emet-Selch and Yukinko suddenly decided fuck that bitch, I'm gonna live. And so.........

ShB patches: Somehow, Zenos is back. And, um.

The whole thing with him was both somehow sorely needed and terribly ill-advised. Yukinko managed to bluff his way through his own doubts. The Scions couldn't... they didn't really protest much, because for once in the many years since the Bloody Banquet, Yukinko seemed alright.

EW: Most surreal 2 months of Yukinko's life, but eh. Wrapped that torrid romance up with Zenos, and all was wack that ended wack. The only thing they could say, Yukinko supposed, was that they each got what they deserved.

Life went on, despite catastrophic and apocalyptic weather. And he along with it.

Dawntrail: He had never felt more normal. This was more surreal to him than Endwalker was. Hewwo?

[otherworldseekers]

It Had to Be You: Omega questline Day 1 scene 2

So I guess I am officially beginning to work on an StB timeline fic and adding it to my WIPs. No, my ARR fic is nowhere near done. But the writer writes what the brain decides to write, you know?

Follows directly after this scene. Post Deltascape V1.0.

Comments/feedback always appreciated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Warrior of Light did not get herself killed. But when she stumbled back through the portal to their base in the Rift there was a gash on her leg and blood dripping down the side of her face. Nero was quick to respond. Within moments he had scooped her up into his arms, deaf to her protests. 

“Nero! I’m fine! I don’t need-”

“Allow me to exercise my own judgment, hero,” said Nero as he carefully set her down on a handy crate and reached for their first aid kit. “I’ve seen you look better after a fight.”

Severia opened her mouth to argue and then closed it again in a pout. He was right. And the enemy hadn’t even been difficult, she was just… not focused. Which was all his fault. 

Right, because he made you have that dream, her treacherous thoughts reminded her. Severia gritted her teeth as Nero removed her hat and wiped the blood from her temple. She was supposed to be more in control of herself than this. She was known for it. But when Nero tol Scaeva so much as looked at her she felt all twisted up inside. 

“Please hold still,” Nero instructed her. “I am attempting to ascertain the gravity of your wounds.”

“I told you-”

“With all due respect, Warrior of Light, you are not known for prioritizing your own well being.” Satisfied that he had cleaned the cut on her brow, Nero cut a small strip of sticking plaster and applied it over the wound. Turning his attention to the gash on her leg, he began unbuckling her greaves so he could get a better look. 

“What are you-”

“Clearly I’m undressing you for my own pleasure,” Nero said with dripping sarcasm. He ignored her sputtering embarrassment. While head wounds tended to bleed excessively and look terrible, the cut on her brow had been superficial. The laceration on her leg was deeper and more concerning. Grit had gotten inside and would need to be cleaned out. Nero set the kettle to boil. 

“Why are you doing this?” Severia asked. 

“Don’t be foolish,” said Nero. “We’ve no chirurgeon or healer here yet. Someone must.” 

“Oh, of course. I just didn’t realize you knew how to do this sort of thing…”

“Basic first aid is some of the most useful knowledge a soldier can possess,” Nero explained patiently. He poured the boiling water into a bowl and gathered what cloths and bandages he had available. Immersing a clean cloth in the water he began to scrub out the wound as gently as he could. Severia flinched. “I’m afraid this part might be unpleasant.”

“It’s ok.” She held her leg still and watched Nero’s hands work. After the first shock of touch to the wound, his delicate ministrations were nearly painless. 

“I’m not hurting you?” Nero asked. He looked up at her and this close she could see past the shades to the concern in his eyes. 

“No,” she breathed. His mouth turned up in a brief smile before he turned back to his work and Severia felt her heartbeat quicken. Was it too much to hope that he was doing this not just because it was necessary, but because he cared?

Having cleaned the wound to his satisfaction, he wrapped her thigh in a thick bandage and tied it neatly in place. “There. That should do for now, but you’ll need to heal before going back in. That will give us time to get a chirurgeon from the Reach in camp.”

“Oh.” Severia couldn’t help her disappointment and Nero could hear it. 

“What’s wrong, hero?” he asked with a smirk. “You’d rather have me be the one who tends to you?”

Well, yes, maybe she would like that but she wasn’t about it admit it. “You ought to know what’s wrong,” Severia told him. “How many times must I tell you that I hate it when you call me ‘hero’? Or adventurer, or Warrior of Light, or anything but my actual name.”

Nero’s eyebrows rose in surprise. He did some quick math in his head. “Four, apparently. It’s only…”

“Only what?”

He hesitated. How could he explain his feelings about her name? That her name was so precious he didn’t know if he had the right to say it? That he felt an irrational spike of jealousy whenever he heard someone use it? How dare they say her name so lightly? That he longed for a name to call her that was his alone? That he wanted to say her name, but was afraid of what it would reveal?

“It’s difficult.”

She blinked at him. Granted, it was a stupid thing to say. Completely unbelievable. She sighed. “Then I guess I’ll start calling you ‘engineer’.”

“But Garlond is also an engineer.”

“Then I’ll call you ‘engineer number two’.”

“Absolutely not. What about ‘genius’?”

“Can I say it sarcastically?”

“Are you insinuating that I’m not a genius?”

“Prove to me you’re a genius.”

“I’ve been trying, you know. Garlond keeps getting in the way.”

Severia laughed. Their repartee felt natural again. It felt good. She jumped to her feet and only wobbled a little, mostly because she was lopsided without one of her greaves. Nero’s hand shot out to support her elbow. 

Cid, conspicuously absent until that moment, finally raised his head from the bank of monitors. “Good news! We got loads of data from that encounter. It should be able to tell us more about what’s going on here.”

“That’s nice, Cid, but I think at the moment what I want is a meal. What have we got to eat around here?”

“What?”

“The Warrior of Light is hungry, Garlond. Drag yourself away from those screens for a few bloody minutes.”

“Oh all right. After all, can’t work on an empty stomach.”

[feralkwe]

For the DT questions meme, 2, 12, and 18

i love how we nearly same-brained these questions. xoxo

under a cut for spoilers.

2. what was the first thing they did when they arrived in tuliyollal?

kit took a moment to stand on the shore and just absorb everything into her senses. the sound of the waves, the warmth of the sun, the smell of the air, the color of the sky. she was charged with seeing as much of the world as she could, and it's something she takes very seriously. everything about this voyage held the promise of a new adventure, and she was determined not only to commit it to memory, but to pause in the moment and experience it in ways that previous adventures had not allowed for. it marked what she needed and wanted to be a new chapter of life, and she paused to ground herself in that before taking steps forward.

12. what was their opinion of the culture of recycling souls and the use of regulators? did this change as the story progressed?

much like aubrey, she was utterly and wholly horrified. that very much did not change. given all of the loved ones--friends, mentors, lovers--whose souls have returned to the aetherial sea, she could not find any way to be okay with the idea of denying that rest and renewal of life to them. to the very depths of who she is it felt wrong and tragic in a way that made her physically ill. the more she thought about it the more angry she became and the more determined that it had to stop. not only that, but the removal of those souls from the memories of their loved ones terrified and devastated her. being able to remember those loved ones is a responsibility that, sure, comes with pain, but is a privilege to her as well. the charge to remember is what she considers perhaps her most important duty, and one she will see fulfilled in the names of those who carried it before her. there is no world where she would be able to accept it.

18. what important relationships changed or developed throughout dawntrail?

i knew before i read them all you'd pick this one for kit lol. obviously her relationship with thancred and urianger changed. ew ended with things uncertain for them, and dt offered a new opportunity to remember what drew them together in the first place while offering the fun of a friendly rivalry that was oddly healing. it also added another... shall we say element that i am still figuring out much to my own outrage. why do they keep doing this to me? some days i miss the simplicity that was just kit and urianger lol.

kit also always liked erenville, but they really had a chance to develop a friendship through dawntrail. getting to go on a journey with him alone was an incredible experience for her and she's come to care for him deeply. he quickly and easily elevated himself to a place where he is cherished by her.

most interesting to me is the way she was able to finally start the process of healing the rift between herself and g'raha. because my timeline for her has stb/shb/ew all happening one on top of the other, she's not really had the chance to address her harsh, ugly, and slightly unfair feelings toward him. where she'd cooled to indifference to his presence, there was finally a moment where she was able approach the pain. you know the one. she's known for a while that she was being too hard on him, and that he deserves her grace at least as much as emet-selch or elidibus did, but has been resistant to actually taking the steps to change that. i'm actually relieved, and look forward to digging into how that all played out.

also, the mentor/mentee relationship she's built with wuk lamat is something which has been very good for her. it's much different to the one she has with alisaie in ways i'm too tired to try and parse out right now, but probably relates to the hot girl warrior fun times they had. it was something which delighted me throughout the msq.

thanks for the asks! i had such a fun time with dawntrail and will take any opportunity to chatter about it!

[khepri-sunscale]

11: Moving onto StB patches in the timeline. Khepri and Carby enjoying a quiet moment in the Doman Enclave among the lights. 🏮

[minarcana]

“Why do the Garleans get those fuckoff big hammers to fight with, but Gods forbid I try to steal one off of ‘em as a war prize or ask Cid if I can bribe him to build me one?! What’s a girl gotta do to get a meat tenderizer for someone’s face around here? They can’t be that much different from my axe. I’m gonna steal that green guy’s next time he crosses me. I deserve it more than him.”

[stormbabylore]

Look at her precious little shocked Pikachu face. ♡(◕‿◕๑)

I finally finished my first HW relic grind, and the plot for this really tugged hard on a key thread of Aeryn's backstory. I need to muse about it... So it's oc lore dump time! \o/

Spoilers for the HW relic weapon story, but that's it!

A quick tl;dr of Aeryn's story, pertinent to black mage:

Aeryn's soul is fused with the remnant magic of the star from her past life. It functions a bit like a shell, "protecting" her, but also blocking her access to the magic of the Source. This prevents her from doing most types of magic without significant effort.

In canon, Aeryn just lives like this, unable to do magic except in extreme circumstances. But in black mage AU, she works with the thaumaturges to disentangle her soul and the "foreign" magic (they none of them realize what it is), enabling her to both access and better utilize magic on the Source.

The disentangled star magic does not disperse. It lingers, greatly enhancing her newfound magical abilities, but also overwhelming her natural senses - especially her sight. Despite this, she takes to magic use with inexplicable ease and turns almost exclusively to magical combat.

Aeryn later channels most of the lingering star magic away during the finale of the StB class quest. The yellow in her hair fades as a result, and she is able to see without magical obstruction once again.

I thought that would be the end of it - that Aeryn-as-Black-Mage would no longer have her connection to her past life or her star following Stormblood. But rolling through the HW relic quests and awakening a new being connected to the WoL through their aether/soul/weapon got me thinking:

What if, in Aeryn's case, the soul she helps give voice and form to is what little remains of her star? (✧_✧)

The connection the anima feels towards the WoL and its desperation to get stronger so it can help/impress/protect them is very reminiscent of the headcanon I have about Aeryn's past connection with her home star and how it "saved" her in its/their last moments. Other than the timeline itself (and the suggestion that other warriors with similar experiences might likewise be able to connect with anima), nothing in the relic quest lore really breaks that theory.

And I'm casually obsessed.

Probably going to shirk the timeline and work this into Aeryn's black mage story, some time following Stormblood. Perhaps she needs a new weapon at that time. (The Stormblood class quest could feasibly have destroyed her existing weapon. Yeah, going with that.) I just love the circular notion of this: Aeryn's star dying in such a way that she was able to be "reborn," but then in turn being "reborn" itself in the form of an anima so that the two can learn, grow, and travel on together.

;-; Yes, this makes my heart is happy. I shall accept this headcanon. It shall be mine.

[afflatushesperia]

Making a note to transfer the hespie lore doc to here, might break it up into relevant parts

[ryxmas]

for the wol think thonkers, 4, 8, 11, 18, 24, 27! i know its been a minute so i can link you the post again if you need it lol

4. What do they do in their down time? Do they have any hobbies outside of Primal-slaying and world-saving? Are these lifelong hobbies or recent interests?

The main thing is that Solara's a tinkerer! Before he came to Eorzea, he was working under (and eventually became) a Goldsmith in Kugane. It’s something he picked up when he was in his teens after seeing these items at Reunion from a foreign merchant that no one was interested in buying. So some of his downtime in ARR was spent with the Goldsmith's guild. Some of it translated well to machinery which he also found himself drawn to, especially after his time with the Skysteel Manufactory. A lot of his ARR and HW and early StB post patch was spent learning from and working with the Ironworks and Skysteel Manufactory. Which contributes to why those groups know him better than the Scions for most of the story. When shit really hits the fan and he doesn’t have the time to work with either the Ironworks or the Manufactory, he puts that creative energy towards his own weapons. Making and repairing stuff is how he eventually connects with the rest of the Crystarium. So some of the Crystalline Mean quests are canon since he does that during his recovery period in post ShB. And I imagine that he becomes a bit of an omnicrafter (sans Alchemist and Culinarian) over the game's timeline. I haven’t decided how post EW looks for him in terms of hobbies though. And I gotta think about some other smaller scale hobbies he might have lol. 

8. What is one of their biggest regrets? Has it had an effect on how they act moving forward, for better or worse?

Choosing just one of his biggest regrets is hard so here’s some back to back lol. There’s several that are kind of in the same ballpark. His behavior to the Scions during Shadowbringers are pretty up there (and more so the latter). And he works towards making amends throughout Shadowbringers post patch and Endwalker. Not quite as high of a regret are his interactions with Hien. He doesn’t regret interfering with Hien’s plans in Stormblood in the slightest, but he does know he took it a lot further than he reasonably should have, which is what he feels bad about specifically. And those two have a bumpier road to reconciliation. I've yet to explore how or if Solara's Myste would manifest (if they do) regarding his guilt over the people he could not save and the people whose lives he unintentionally negatively affected. And among his regrets competing for the top spot are Haurchefant and Ysayle's deaths. He didn't get to know some of the others (e.g. Minfilia, Papalymo, and Moenbryda) to have massive regrets over them, but Haurchefant and Ysayle were some of his closest friends during that point in time. And because Solara only becomes a tank after Heavensward, I think it would make sense if he picked up tanking specifically because of Haurchefant and Ysayle (both of whom are tanks) dying. But these events (and honestly Ishgard as a whole) feeds into his general distrust of city state leaders when he knows they’re hiding things, which affects his perception of and behavior towards Hien and the Exarch later down the line. And I want to say that especially after Ysayle dies is when Solara becomes a lot more hesitant to connect with new people in his life, at least until ShB post patch. 

11. Despite everything, is it still you? Has the core of who they are as a person remained true through everything, or have they been changed by what they've experienced and learned, for better or worse? 

No. Solara has pretty solidly changed on two major facets (and Shadowbringers was his "get torn down and rebuilt from the rubble" arc). The first is that events of the story wore away the ambition that he had before he came to Eorzea. And the way his initial dream of “I want to Khan and Khagan” became such a shitfest that he’s very averse to both ideas now. I need to figure out how long Solara is Khagan because the Naadam is a yearly event. While he doesn't want to, for the sake of being involved in the politics of the region, he might continue to participate until some time in Endwalker/Endwalker post patch where he decides to stop being involved in the Naadam (because I HC that each expansion is roughly one year). And even after EW, I think Solara is a bit aimless now that there isn’t a giant existential crisis. He’s picked up the pieces of his interpersonal life and has made a lot of repairs, but hasn’t really figured out what he wants for himself. The other is that Solara becomes a lot more selfless and heroic as a result of everything. This is a “The mask becomes him” situation where there was a lot of heroism that Solara did early on that grated against him because he thought that’s what he should do in his position (and what he thought his brother would do) and not necessarily what he wanted to do. But it slowly does just become the way he naturally thinks and sees things. Like I imagine early Solara to have thought processes similar to ARR Alphi, he just didn’t act on them because he’s just more aware of how to handle people and that behavior doesn’t suit the WoL image he was trying to craft. And I also have to give a lot of credit to the twins for inspiring him in this regard, especially Alphinaud because Solara sees so much of himself in Alphinaud that there’s a level of “Alphinaud grew and learned and succeeded in a way Solara wished he did”. And that’s not a tone of envy, but of deep admiration and beaming pride. 

18. How do they feel about the work they do? As the Warrior of Light they're tasked with quite a lot of violence, is it something that comes naturally to them or do they resist it? Are they merciless, do they try to spare as many lives as they can, or do they fall somewhere in between?

The first part of this question is already loaded, damn LOL. But I don't think Solara likes being the WoL. He'd really rather it wasn't him, but this is what the situation is and he has to deal with it. He likes helping people, or perhaps more accurately he's grown to liking it. He likes that he's making a difference. But he wishes at the end of the day, it didn't end up all falling to him. 

As for the questions regarding violence, I honestly think Solara's indifferent to it. To a large extent, violence has always been a part of Solara's life or at least hanging over him as a specter. From his mother taking him to flee the Garlean occupation of Doma, to growing up on the Steppes and losing his adoptive brother during a Naadam, to even the fact that his heritage from Doma is that of being bodyguards to the royal family. He just takes it as a fact of life and in a fucked up way, it comes naturally to him when he’s in a situation that calls for it. He isn't going out of his way to take lives, but he isn't making an effort to spare people (unless told to). Not including extreme cases like Zenos, (so mostly talking about foot soldiers on the opposite side of the battlefield here) it makes little difference to him if he takes someone out by killing them or knocking them out. With some exceptions I can think of being parts of StB (e.g. anything on the Steppes and also he might be more careful to not kill soldiers that might be conscripted from the nations he's trying to help free) and fighting tempered after they find a cure. 

24. How do they feel about Hydaelyn? What was their perception of the Mothercrystal in the beginning, and how did that change by the end, if at all?

I haven't put too much thought into Solara's belief system to be honest, or if he's even a religious person. I don't know if it makes sense for him to pay any mind to Hydaelyn until the initial calls though. And the initial calls from Hydaelyn and awakening the Echo were pretty distressing to him. And he's always had a buried fear that he might actually be tempered somehow due to Ifrit's comment back in ARR and the uncertain nature of the Echo. This fear only gets exacerbated during ShB. And also after shit hits the fan during late ARR post patch with Moenbryda dying because he doesn't have the Blessing of Light at that moment and then Minfilia disappears and becomes the Word of the Mother, Solara has a largely negative opinion of Hydaelyn for most of the story. And then Hydaelyn remains silent, which doesn’t help the situation. But contextualizing this over what he learns in Endwalker and thinking about Hydaelyn in the context of Venat makes everything click for him. He likes, trusts, and understands Venat. He retains complicated feelings over everything, but he doesn't have an explicitly negative opinion anymore. Because Venat the Ancient who chose what she thought was the best possible action in a slew of only terrible choices is a lot more easy to accept and forgive than Hydaelyn the faceless, unacting, Mothercrystal who intervened once to keep her weapon alive but not any of his allies. Hydaelyn made Solara feel like a tool and a puppet and Venat made him feel like a friend and accomplice, which made all the difference. 

27. How well known are they? Does everyone know their name as the Warrior of Light, or have they managed to maintain some level of anonymity? Do they prefer it that way, and do they have any struggles resulting from it? (Getting stopped on street corners VS awkwardly avoiding questions.)

Solara being a max height Au Ra is just going to get noticed lol. Especially since there aren't many of them outside of the Eastern regions, which are the regions he's most often in anyways lol. I don't think he can go anywhere after Stormblood, and especially after Endwalker, without being noticed. So it's probably an “everyone knows his name” situation, especially in the East because he was a political figure there for some time. He does wish he retained some anonymity but people generally leave him be. His resting bitch face is canon and deters a good number of people off. And also his (self) destructive behavior during Stormblood post patch was pretty public and also scared many people off. It's one of those situations where the people that do talk and interact with him (which are often children) say he's nice and friendly (late Stormblood post patch excluded) and everyone else is like ??????