#you also get ffxiv music

[izayoichan]

A moment for us. 🎶

(pose by @simmireen)

[finneander]

if dawntrail has a million fans, i'm one of them

if dawntrail has 5 fans, I'm one of them.

if dawntrail has 1 fan, that one is me

if dawntrail has no fans, i'm no longer alive

if the world is against dawntrail, then i am against the entire world

till my last breath, I'll support dawntrail

[remma-demma]

Thinking about how similar Lucretia TAZ and G’raha Tia FFXIV are………

[pacificovertures]

@blackglasses66 asked me to draw someone in the jirai kei girl outfit and the spinner landed on him. you’re welcome.

[astrxealis]

mobile tumblr's new format what the fuck!

[sexybritishllama]

what i say when i'm trying to get people to play ffxiv: there's such an incredible amount of content that there's something for everyone. you get an intricate jrpg plot with fantastic characters and worldbuilding that also makes YOUR character feel like an actual person somehow despite the limitations that come with customisable pcs. there's 21 different combat classes which you can all do on one character so there's always something new to learn and improve upon, but if you want to specialise that's totally cool too! there's raiding obviously but if you're not into that there's all sorts of side things like crafting, fishing (yes this is its own category), housing, island sanctuary, pvp, and so much more i can't even list. the music goes so hard. people are generally super friendly to newcomers and yes it's a meme but there's a super generous trial up to level 70 with no restrictions on playti—

what i should say when i'm trying to get people to play ffxiv: look at this

[jamiepaige]

Constant Companions Closeup #11: MACHINE LOVE

(also on bandcamp and spotify!)

Welcome back to the Constant Companions Closeups - a series of in-depth dives into the songs off of my latest album, Constant Companions! Yesterday was the title track, My Darling, My Companion, which means today is the final track on the album - a song about the truths that lay in hiding within artifice, and a computer falling in love - Machine Love!

Before we get started on this particularly long closeup - I'll be doing a follow-up post after this one, answering various miscellaneous questions I've gotten over the course of writing these! If you've got anything you wanna hear more from me about, album-related or otherwise, feel free to reply to this post or send me an ask! It may very well end up part of the bonus closeup :~)

---

Let's circle back to the very first track, Dyad.

In that track's closeup, I mentioned the main sonic touchstones of this release relative to my previous ones being guitars and vocal synths. The whole guitar rock thing I think I've gone into detail enough about, what with all the inspirations I've rattled off in other posts, but there likely is still a burning question for some long-time listeners.

Why vocal synths? Why am I not singing on like half of this album? I thought you were a singer, Jamie Paige, so what is this Hatsune Miku robot Vocaloid crap?

Truth be told, the Vocaloid scene and community has always been a massive source of inspiration for me. So much of my favorite music ever, music that inspires me or touches my heart or makes me go apeshit, has been sung by synthesized vocalists in a language I don't even speak. I grew up with it, and it's grown up with me - music just as intricate, mind-boggling, twisted, fun, and ridiculously creative is being put out every single day by vocal synth producers, and nowadays it's coming from English speaking musicians in droves!

Before this year began, I'd made at least one major contribution to the culture, but in spite of my genuine adoration of everything vocal synth related, I felt like I was just looking in from the other side. Caught between worlds, existing outside of any communities, simply gesturing vaguely towards what I wanted to do.

But I wanted more! I wanted to make the same kinds of things that stirred my heart and made me want to write! I wanted to sing with those same voices! I wanted it to be true - to be like you!

---

I won't lie to you and tell you Kasane Teto has always been my favorite vocal synth. That title used to go to GUMI, and in general, I wasn't particularly attached to any UTAU voicebanks as a younger vocal synth fan. (Nowadays, I genuinely open up OpenUTAU just as much as SynthV because I've fallen deeply in love with Adachi Rei, but that's a story for my next album.) Obviously, I knew of Teto, and found her presence in things like Triple Baka delightful, but for the most part, she was mostly something of an oddity, a wayward piece of vocal synth history that had her Fans like any other.

However, there was one Teto song I've been inexplicably attached to since the moment I first heard it - Song of the Eared Robot, by nwp8861. I was introduced via this particular cover, which I love, but I quickly gravitated to the original. Something about the warbly, childish nature of her very first voicebank, the ambitiously orchestrated and unabashedly digital instrumental, the lyrics referencing fundamental frequencies and Markov chains and compiling code all just spoke to me!

That song stuck with me, laying in a part of my heart that had been collecting dust, all the way to April of 2023.

Now, yes, Teto wasn't always my favorite, and I had other vocal synths I was attached to, but I don't live under a rock, and I still understood how monumental the announcement of Kasane Teto's Synth V voicebank was - to the point that I interrupted a call full of FFXIV-playing friends who knew barely anything about vocal synths and gave them an impromptu TED talk because I was so excited.

(An excerpt of a summary of that night's events, written the morning after. i was up my own ass a little bit but in my defense Kasane Teto had just been announced for Synthesizer V)

I was watching, in real time, a dream made manifest. It's literally one of the Bits with Teto! That she'd be a Vocaloid one day too! And here she was, on the fan favorite engine, sounding genuinely fucking incredible. Especially in hindsight, it's such a beautiful and perfect twist of fate for her.

I saw myself in her. A weird little outcast, explosively reborn and thrust straight into a community's open arms with love. I wanted it to be true - To be like that, too.

It didn't fully hit until later, hearing another cover of a song I'd almost forgotten.

Machine Love, my love letter to the entire world of unbridled creativity and artistry surrounding vocal synths filtered through one sentimental little song, was fully written by the start of May, maybe 4 days after I had gotten my hands on Teto SV and long before a certain compilation album was even a glint in my eye.

If you haven't heard DAEMON/DOLL yet, you really, really, really should go listen to it - yes, I mastered this album, many of my friends and collaborators are featured, and I have two entire songs on it, but I genuinely mean it when I say I believe it's some of the best fucking music that's come out this year in general. In many respects, it also feels like a companion (hah) to Constant Companions.

I had finished writing Machine Love by this point, but it was working on this album in its entirety - discovering artists like Anh Duy, Eggtan, and beat_shobon through it, and hearing everyone in top form making this twin-drilled chimera fucker sing her heart out - that not only made me confident in my decision to go down this artistic path, but that made me fall completely in love with Kasane Teto. And honestly, how could I not? She feels like a microcosm of everything that makes vocal synths so special, this community of creatives all leaving their marks and touchstones along the trail of a great big shared folk mythos. Yeah, maybe the folk hero we're all collectively mythologizing is an anime girl, but yknow maybe Odysseus could take some branding cues from hatsune miku idfk

Basically, even if he says he wants to kill me, I owe fucking everything to rice for inviting me to work on DAEMON/DOLL.

---

On that note, my vision for Machine Love's MV was pretty clear from the beginning.

the actual factual setup for the above shot, which was done entirely in-camera with my laptop, a tv, and two video files manually synced using VLC

The fundamental idea was always there - live-action shots of animation playing back on various screens, edited together to feel somewhat seamless. However, I really struggled with what exactly was going to be on said screens for a while; Big commissions were very far out of my budget, but I knew this song needed something grandiose.

Ultimately, what I arrived at was exactly the kind of scrappy, DIY bullshit it was always meant to be.

I asked my Twitter mutuals for help. And spent a couple months in Final Cut Pro and Apple Motion hell turning all the Teto art I got into a bunch of tiny little mini MVs, some of them parodying real vocal synth MVs, some of simply just evocative of vocal synth MVs, all of them painstakingly edited by yours truly and filmed with the help of some friends over the next couple months across two states and many more cities just to be painstakingly edited and synced up again by yours truly.

THE NEXT MV I DO WILL BE SMALLER IN SCOPE

---

And with that, I believe that's the album!

There's a reason it ends with Machine Love, and not with the title track. I do think that in some respects My Darling, My Companion would have made a better closer, but that song only really resolves one of the thematic strands running through the album.

There isn't really a definitive answer to the specific question "Baby, do you know what you wanna hear?", but it evokes a theme running through the entire album - wanting something, knowing that you want something, and simply needing to find the courage to do it or say it or be it. My Darling, My Companion is in many ways a declaration of intent, an acceptance of what needs to happen, but Machine Love, to me, is that action being done. The words being said!

And now, if I may give this a somewhat selfish tint - with the explosive response my works from this album have gotten, my contributions to things like DAEMON/DOLL and Flavor Foley, the collaborations I've done and that I still have in the pipeline, the friends I've made and the community I've found a spot for myself in, and the newfound voices that I can lay my heart bare with -

Well, shit, I know what I wanna hear, and I've gotten to hear it. I'm a vocaloP. It's real!

Thank you all so goddamn much for reading and listening. I'll see you back here either tomorrow or Monday for the bonus AMA post thing!! Make art and be gay, motherfuckers.

❤️💚

[gatheredfates]

Hi everyone! It's been a hot minute since I did a Compendium update, but I promise I'm not dead. For those who don't know, I got a new job! That meant pretty much the entirety of October was spent wrapping up my old job, going to my new site and trying to learn the new one. I'm on break in approximately two weeks, yay! ☃️

These updates will take on a wintery/Starlight theme to celebrate the season, much like All Saints. I hope you enjoy.

Additionally, myself and the lovely folks at SEAFLOOR are having a Catch up (for) Starlight Challenge! You should join us if you're interested. ❄️

However, without further the following communities have been added to Sea's Community Compendium for XIV Creatives.

LARGE SCALE

The Help Lines—We are a community-based discord to be used to play the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. We host almost all content including DRS and BA, Raiding, Deep Dungeons, Blue Mage and more. Our mission is to create a welcoming space for any individual in need of assistance to reach out and accomplish their FFXIV goals in a toxicity-free environment.

The Aether Entertainer—Founded in 2021 on Aether, The Aether Entertainer is player-made virtual magazine covering music, theatre, art, current events, and Eorzean popular culture.

LORE

Final Flowery XIV—Compiled by ann0yance(bsky)/@sa8oteur, this guide explores the various flowers in XIV, comparing them to their real-world equivalents and meanings.

On Elementals, Accountability and Criticism—An essay written by @morgana96 that explores the lore of elementals and their place in Gridania (and beyond)!

MISC

Vanilla Gpose Tips by Winterdeepelegy—A how-to guide on effectively utilising the vanilla gpose tools to create visually stunning screenshots, written by @winterdeepelegy.

WoL Reference Sheet—Created by @coldshrugs, a handy WoL reference sheet you can build in Canva!

NA GPOSE Studio/Themed Housing Directory—A player-made repository of North American Gpose studios and themed houses!

CHANGELOG

The Scholar's of Nym—The link has been modified at the request of the owner.

Skystone Co.—Has been removed at the request of its owner.

UI Macro Menus—The link has been modified to accurately reflect the bookmark.

Have you thought about joining our Tumblr Community? You can find it here!

Want to submit? You can either fill out the google form here or send me an ask with the relevant information!

Is my space suitable for the Compendium? Most of the time, yes! Below the read more is some more information/stipulations. This is all publicly available on the document. 🦌

Below are the following things I do not accept on the Compendium:

Personal/Single-Character LFC ads. (Though these get posted to the SEAFLOOR Tumblr Community when I find them!)

Content intended for or can be used for bullying, harassment and OOC gossip. E.g. ‘Secrets’ blogs, receipts, callout posts, etc. This does not include IC tabloid blogs or other ventures used to generate roleplay.

Communities that do not have an RP/writing element (large-scale exempt).

Anything I find personally distasteful or goes against the spirit of this project.

Common-sense rule applies.

I want to put my community on the Compendium but we have an application process. Is this okay?

Yes! Just note somewhere in your application that's a requirement. The only thing that is mandatory for the Compendium is that you must be open to new members or have a public-facing/accessible facet. There's no point advertising a community if no one can join it in some way!

I want to put my Community on the compendium but I only have x number of members —

Also totally okay! People don't start with large communities. Activity is a must but, whether your server has two or two thousand members, if you're looking for new people to join, I'd love to help you find people.

I want to put my community/resource on the Compendium but I worry its too niche?

Okay, and? If your Eorzean Fishing Alliance has four members but you roleplay every second weekend, I still want to know about it. The same goes for resources; if it's relevant to the game, it'll be useful to someone.

How active does a community need to be?

If you find a community has not been active in about two/three months, send me a message and I'll take a look at it. Communities have ebbs and flows, especially event spaces that may take hiatuses depending on member interest/life events. I'm not strict in my implementation provided a space isn't dead. If a link or anything is broken, contact me asap!

I have [insert a question not stated here]?

No drama! Send me an ask or use the #Compendium channel in my Discord!

[blackoutsys]

☽ ✦ Welcome ✦ ☾

Helloo. We're the Blackout System.

☉ You may call us Astra

☉ Collectively we use They/Them pronouns.

☉ Bodily 20

☉ Black, AuDHD

☉ Generally we identify with Alterhumanity, though some of us may not.

☉ We're fine with interacting with others, and accept DMs and Asks about things. However, if you are under 16-17, we will likely block you if you attempt to befriend us, interacting with anyone below that makes us very uncomfortable. Otherwise we don't care if you interact with our posts, and it's a 50/50 on if we block you from following.

BYF...

✦ We don't participate in syscourse. We're not here to get into arguments, and would rather just share our own experiences.

✦ We don't follow back/like posts. This blog is a sideblog to our main, which we'd like to keep mostly private. We'll occasionally reblog posts here, however.

✦ We liberally use our block button. Most of the time it's not because someone did something "problematic", and is generally just us not vibing with their energy or thinking someone is generally unpleasant. Though we do block people who are genuinely problematic, we're just not gonna say shit about it here lmao.

✦ We may use terms we've coined ourselves to describe our own system online.

✦ We will not share our headmates if they're not the one posting. Do not ask, you won't receive a headcount nor names. All names are replaced with an emoji and a letter, at most, if they feel like signing off.

✦ Do not ask for our Simply Plural/Octocon, or any other social medias.

✦ We are pre-diagnosis, if that is an issue for you. While we're not seeking to get it on our medical records, we are also in the beginning stages of working with a trauma specialist to hopefully get a second opinion. This also might not be possible for many years as we live in an incredibly conservative state with few mental health opportunities.

INTERESTS AND HOBBIES...

☄ HOBBIES ☄

Digital Art, Animation, Webdev [HTML/CSS/Javascript], Gamedev [Godot], Embroidery/Sewing, Music Transcription, Tarot

☄ GAMES ☄

Secret Histories [Cultist Simulator/Book Of Hours/The Lady Afterwards], Who's Lila, Warframe, FFXIV, Fields of Mistria, Risk of Rain 2, Splatoon 3, Hollow Knight, Rain World, VTM: Bloodhunt, Valheim, Terraria, Minecraft, Don't Starve Together

☄ DIGITAL MEDIA ☄

Chainmail Chasers, Vita Carnis, Midwest Angelica, Interloper ARG, Emesis Blue

☄ MOVIES/SHOWS ☄

Arcane [Only seen 1st season], The Owl House, Spiderverse, Delicious In Dungeon

☄ BOOKS ☄

Blood Debts/Blood Justice, The Poisons We Drink

[miqo-tales]

Jeuno: The First Walk

Context, references, and random BS about stuff in the first FFXI raid and the quests before and after.

Tossing under a Read More mainly because I talked too much and I don't wanna throw a giant ass post on your dash.

Enjoy!

THE RAID

An interesting thing about music: in the Boyahda Tree and Tu'Lia sections, the music changes to the battle theme when engaging the trash mobs, and then it fades out once they're dead.

Oh, and just to note, given that FFXI and FFXIV have different combat systems and visuals, even if I mention that a boss ability is something from FFXI, understand I don't mean it's the same in regards to visuals or mechanics. I'm mainly just pointing out references.

PRISHE

Prishe is a MNK and a WHM, so she fights hand to hand, but can also use Holy / Light-elemental spells.

Nullifying Dropkick, Auroral Uppercut, and Knuckle Sandwich are unique weaponskills that Prishe uses in FFXI.

Asuran Fists is a Hand-to-Hand weaponskill in FFXI, only useable by MNK and PUP. Learning it required getting to a certain level of H2H skill and then doing a quest. It hits 8 times, and so does this version of it.

Her "You can't stop the flood of mortal existence!" line is something she said in FFXI.

BOYAHDA TREE

Aquarius was a NM crab in FFXI. There was a chance it would spawn instead of one of the normal crab enemies in the Boyahda Tree zone. Oddly, in the raid it uses Hundred Fists, which is the original MNK 2-hour (it made you attack very fast for a short time). In FFXI, this mob was a PLD, not a MNK. But it did have a very high attack speed, so I assume they gave it that ability to simulate that.

(I'm pretty sure Aquarius once spawned and killed me while I was trying to raise my Scythe skill on the crabs in the Tree. A friend came and raised me and helped me kill it for revenge.)

No music plays when you're not fighting something, which fits, because the Boyahda Tree zone in FFXI doesn't have any background music.

FAFNIR

Honestly not much to say about Fafnir. Overall, most of its attacks share names with ones it does in FFXI and are kinda similar. Spike Flail hit everyone in range in FFXI, and Dragon Breath was a frontal cone, for two examples.

One other thing: I didn't know this, but in FFXI there's a stronger version of Fafnir, Nidhogg. Way back, Fafnir used to be a timed spawn, and there was a chance Nidhogg would spawn instead (now they're both spawned by items). So I wonder if maaaaaaaybe there's a chance you go into this raid and it's called Nidhogg instead?

TU'LIA

Technically this is Ru'Aun Gardens. That's the actual name of the zone. But it's on the floating island of Tu'Lia. Players usually just called it "sky".

A note on the ground mentions trying to get to Ve'Lugannon Palace and missing the raid. I think the only thing this can be about is spawning Kirin. A few NMs in the palace dropped items to spawn some NMs that then dropped items used to spawn Kirin.

Another note on the ground is referencing the Ark Angels.

Despot is a NM Doll that dropped an item used to spawn Genbu, which in turn dropped an item used to spawn Kirin.

ARK ANGELS

Man this fight is a banger.

Their lines like "You shall be defeated by the apathy that plagues you…" are directly from FFXI.

AA Galka is a SAM and DRG. His pattern of using Meikyo Shisui and three Great Katana weaponskills is exactly how he behaves in his FFXI fight, right down to which three weaponskills he uses. Also, Dragonfall is a unique weaponskill he had in FFXI.

AA Tarutaru is a BLM and DRK. Guillotine was a four-hit Scythe weaponskill only available to DRKs (it was single target though).

AA Mithra is a BST and THF. In FFXI she'd summon a pet to assist her, but alas, she doesn't do that here. Her Rampage and Cloudsplitter moves are named after Axe weaponskills from FFXI, while Havoc Spiral is her unique weaponskill.

AA Elvaan is a PLD and WHM. Dominion Slash is her unique weaponskill in FFXI. Arrogance Incarnate is also something she used in FFXI, but it's just her own version of another weaponskill available to players, so not really unique.

AA Hume is a WAR and NIN, and man, he does a lot. Cross Reaver is his unique weaponskill in FFXI. Utsusemi was a NIN spell that gave you shadow doubles that absorbed attacks for you. Mighty Strikes is the original WAR 2-hour ability. It made every attack a critical, which is why he then uses Critical Reaver. And he tries to use Mijin Gakure, which was the original NIN 2-hour. You blew yourself up to deal damage based on your HP.

SHADOW LORD

Giga Slash and Implosion are attacks he had in FFXI. Tera Slash is from the Dynamis Lord fight though. Creating clones of himself is also something from the Dynamis Lord version.

OTHER STUFF

ALXAAL

I am 99% sure this is a character from Chains of Promathia called Louverance. That's also not his real name, but we won't go into that right now. Bakool Ja Ja naming him "vagabond" is kinda appropriate.

Honestly, I find it kinda funny they used this character. If you'd asked me to suggest CoP characters that could show up in this storyline, he would not have been on my list.

Also, Alxaal initally thinking he's been captured by the Mamool Ja may be a nod to the Besieged system in Treasures of Aht Urghan. At times, a horde of beastmen (Mamool Ja, Trolls, or Undead) will march on and attack the capital city of Al Zahbi in order to steal the Astral Candescence. Players have to fight them off. Certain NPCs can be captured as well, and players can go rescue them.

ULMIA

An Elvaan female, a very talented singer, and basically the nicest person ever. She lives in the Tavnazian Safehold and is Prishe's best friend. She's more or less "cute girl important to the plot #2" for Chains of Promathia.

THE TAVNAZIA MARQUISATE

Sister city to San d'Oria, located on an archipelago off the west coast of Quon. The opening cutscene of FFXI shows it being attacked by the Beastmen Horde during the Crystal War.

During the Crystal War, San d'Oria leaked false information to the Beastmen to get them to attack Tavnazia. Partially to get some pressure off the kingdom, but also because Tavnazia had a close relationship with the Empire of Aht Urhgan to the east. The hope was that the Empire would join the fight against the Beastmen after Tavnazia was attacked.

But the Empire didn't get involved, and later Tavnazia was destroyed by an explosion. The common belief is that it was an Orc superweapon, like Prishe says, but that's not what actually happened.

LITTLE THINGS

I was confused by Prishe talking about liking tacos until I happened to talk to Alxaal and he mentioned Tavnazian tacos. They're a food item that increases defense. I'd forgotten about them.

Just a little tidbit, the Aldo that Prishe mentions is also from Tavnazia. He's also the little boy in the FFXI opening cutscene.

The Hume Adventurer mentions his gear came from exploring the Alzadaal Undersea Ruins. I suspect that's referring to Salvage missions that you access from that zone. His equipment resembles the Ares set you can get from that.

Heh. This shade in fake Jeuno appears to be "looking for group" or "looking for members". No party finder in FFXI (at least when I played, dunno about now), so you'd frequently see people shouting to find groups or members for leveling or missions.

Teleport taxis! There's another shade with pop-up text mentioning Mea and 1k. The Crag of Mea was one of a few places that you could teleport to via a spell, but only WHMs could cast it. (And there was a unique spell for each place.) So you'd frequently be paying someone to teleport you.

The Auction House in FFXI works differently than the Market Board in FFXIV. The seller sets a mininum price for the item they put up for sale, and pays a fee based on that minimum price. The buyer cannot see this minimum price, and makes a bid. If the bid equals or exceeds the minimum price, the buyer gets the item and the seller receives the amount of gil the buyer bid.

Prishe's last sentence is a reference to the Bazaar, but specifically to how players would avoid the tax that it used to have. The Bazaar is an alternate to the Auction House and lets you sell directly from your inventory. But selling via the Bazaar while in town used to incur a tax, so players would idle just outside Jeuno in Rolanberry Fields. I called it "Rolanberry Market". SQEX eventually removed the tax.

In FFXI, you unlock the ability to use a Support Job, or sub job, at level 18 by doing a quest either in Selbina or Mhaura. Both quests make you collect three items from monsters, but they require different items. What Alxaal is describing here is the Selbina one, which was the easier one to do.

[luck-and-larceny]

FFXIV Write: Morsel

Marrant’s first and second love is himself. His third love is also himself. But somewhere a little way after that is music. 

Those are qualities we share, I suppose.

Where we disagree is on the topic of image. Marrant cannot rest until he proves to the world that he's every bit as important, intelligent and talented as he fully believes himself to be. He is certain he's a divine gift sent from the Twelve themselves to be idolized and admired by an adoring public. The problem comes when he encounters people who do not realize this. These ungrateful fools cause him to lose sleep, for if there is even one person who might doubt his capability he tosses and turns in bed, fully consumed by a gnawing need to prove them wrong. 

I cannot even begin to comprehend that. To me, it's more fun to be regarded differently by different people. I thrive as much off people hating me as I do them adoring me. 

So when Marrant tells me that he needs me to steal Audr Shade’s latest musical composition because it will win this year's competition I'm not surprised. He could never handle people thinking someone else's work was better than his own (though it often was). 

I am surprised when Marrant tells me that he needs me to also rob his place of the composition he was going to submit to the competition because, “It's not good enough and I won't embarrass myself by letting them hear it. But I also won't embarrass myself by not submitting it.”

“But you will embarrass yourself by asking your ex-girlfriend– who we've already established hates you and you hate in return– to steal it from you? Why not just say it was stolen?”

He rolls his eyes to make it clear to me that he's already considered that and he's disappointed that I can't keep up with his superior intellect.

“Unless it looks like it was actually stolen they'll see through it. They'll gossip amongst themselves that I made the whole robbery up because I was too ashamed to admit my incompetence. Despicable little cretins.”

“Oh, absolutely,” I agree, “It's so hard to find good, honest people to take you at your word these days while you're hiring thieves to wreck your home so you can save face in a stupid little music contest.”

His eyes light up with rage. Uh oh. That means a boring lecture will soon rain down upon me. 

“It's NOT a ‘stupid little music’ contest. The fact that I need to tell you that says so much about you and your lack of culture. All these years later and you still don't care about the things that matter, do you?”

“Nah,” I agree, “You need this done tonight, right? I'll need addresses…”

“The Gridanian Songwriting Competition is the most innovative and creative music celebration in all of Eorzea–”

“Wouldn't know it from the name,” I interrupt, “They use up all the innovation and creativity budget before getting to that?”

He ignores me. That's probably the right call. “Every important name in music and aspiring artist attends the competition. The winner becomes the most respected name in music for the entire year. As a professional musician there is no greater honor than to be acknowledged by the committee. If you spent half as much time on your music as you do skulking about, breaking windows and shoplifting–”

“Then I wouldn't be able to save you from utter humiliation at this contest by robbing you. So really, thank the Twelve I'm such an uncultured child, right?” 

He sniffs and says nothing because he knows I'm right. I'll savor this tiny victory crumb.

“Audr Shade is a genius. A musical genius.” It is a great struggle for Marrant to form these words and if I didn't despise him so much I might even pity him. Instead, I relish this. This is delicious.

“But he's also a heathen,” he says. “He is rude, uncouth, undignified and undeserving of the award.”

“Sounds like my kind of guy,” I reply.

“You'd like him,” he admits with a shrug. “But I still need you to steal that music if you want information on the Tempest Tapestry.”

“I steal from a lot of people I like,” I casually shrug back. 

“You're a terrible person,” he says and I don't disagree. Instead, I take down the address and make my plans to rob the musical genius and this insufferable bore tonight.

I might be a bad person, but at least I won't be a bored one.

[luwha]

Since you post Draenei, do you play WoW yourself? If so, would you say the game is worth picking up this late as a new player?

Also if you dont mind but could you recommend some of your fav goth music? I mostly listen to gothrock/deathrock/gothpunk rather than wave usually but I want to expand my library a little so any recs are welcome :3c

Oh boy, i used to play, but i was simultaneously too late and too soon.

I played in 2014 with a best friend i had. I couldn't afford the original then, so i played The Burning Crusade and Cataclysm on pirate servers. Then later things picked up for me and i joined the official servers...

... For Warlords of Draenor and tbh it wasn't that bad but DAMN it was BAD. Like. It was bad.

I stopped playing for a while since my friend crowd scattered around on multiple servers, and i didn't want to play alone, so i went to play FFXIV (Which now i stopped as well.)

I still love WoW visually way more than FFXIV so i am INTENSE bout the OCs on WoW. God i love draeneis SO MUCH i love void elves SO MUCH I JUST DSJHGFDSHJDSFHJG i love them so much

---

For music i am a goth visually but i am a metalhead at my core, yes, i just started listening to Depeche Mode, like, last year (omg don't judge me)

So for goth i can't offer much, i'm getting into it more recently, but if you're more into metal i can offer some weird silly guys i know 👉👈😳✨ (I have an unsorted playlist here, it has EVERYTHING i ever liked on my spotify fdjksgdksjh: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1aUkGDfuymlb71XnUAvfvY?si=89debf91d5fb428c )

[blissfulalchemist]

Tuesday Tunes

Was tagged by @voidika for music monday but it is now tuesday. Anyway! I've just been rotating an au wherein Alma briefly becomes a Dominant and my ffxiv little guy Phobos. And while they are in vastly different places this piece from the ffxvi soundtrack, "Faith", just lends nicely to the thoughts about them.

But for Dominant!Alma au there are two endings to it, the good one and the bad one and I've been turning over the bad one. While Phobos was just revisiting something I had started and found out they only see themselves as being the bringer of the end, they will only ever be endings. But their hope to be a beginning stays with their soul that many versions of them through time and reflections fulfill that desire. So yeah. And have a little of both below the cut.

sending out no pressure tags to: @shellibisshe @statichvm @shallow-gravy @chyrstis @adelaidedrubman @florbelles @unholymilf @belorage @sorrybatman

Have the Phobos piece first. Spoilers for ShB and beyond for ffxiv

“Then why didn’t you tell them? Remind them of what was lost? You could have stopped this from ever happening to begin with! No one would have had to suffer this way if you had just told them. You say this as if it would come one way or another as if-.” She stays silent as the truth claws within my chest. There is a beginning and an end to all things, and I have only seen the latter, been the bringer of endings and nothing more in this short existence of mine. (...) “But it didn’t have to end like this….we could have changed it. Why did you not go to them for help before it was too late?” “I….do not have a good answer. I had hope that maybe new perspectives would come through and our way of thinking would be challenged. Feared that the more I spoke and asked for help the worse things would get. Unsure on what choices made in the time unknown to your future selves would be. I could not fathom a me that would have come to the choice I made of becoming more when I first heard such a tale, but now that it has come to pass I understand that woman described to me.” I have no reason to doubt her, she has always been honest with us. She’s also right in that those that could help are a stubborn bunch and would laugh at such a thought of golden days coming to an end. Things end though. Good things end, and it’s hard to see bigger when the only things that do are as simple as a dessert. Bad things end too, and hard to conceptualize when negative emotions, strong emotions in general, are seen as superfluous. But I can see it….I understand such concepts having only seen the end of good—how many towns did we try to save only to be met with destruction?—and only seen the end of bad—every monster I’ve slain and every deluge of tears Deimos would shed had a stopping point. An ending to all of us was and is inevitable. “I just wish we could have had a say in how we met our end,” I whisper, “but what’s done is done.”

------------------------- I know Hades can easily expand it, but he’s rendered still by the scene above, eyes searching for what the result of their fight would entail. I cannot save them all but I can save him. Save the man that ever led us forward, had a level head, listened to those around him, and had a compassion that, though silent, extended beyond those he just cared for. He could be the one to best make a way forward. “His grief will become his undoing”, A warning and risk I’m willing to take for I’m the unknown factor, maybe he did not see his brother before this moment, and maybe that makes all the difference in the world. I am not his brother, but we look nearly identical and maybe it will be enough. “Him and two others.”, Does it have to be? A stupid question. Yes, the burden of leadership should not be left on a single person’s shoulders, and who better than the two people Deimos put his most faith in. Two people he respected and that respected him in turn. Lahabrea who mentored us and gave us a chance, understood the potential beneath the surface, and was unfaltering in his strict teachings to bring it forth. The man that allowed himself to be hated by his own son because he was able to make and perform the toughest decision no one should ever have to make. There would be unrest and someone had to be willing to make such choices and put logic above compassion which at times could cloud one’s judgement. And should both parties have their judgements clouded, Elidibus could weigh and find the way forward, as was and ever has been his duty. Unbound by any strict loyalty he could, and rightfully should, go against them both if they were to lead the star to destruction. What made him the more favorable of an Elidibus to Deimos was the free-spirit just below the surface that held such high value in life continuing, one that reminded him of Hythlodaeus….someone the world needed. Inhaling deeply I draw my sword feeling the newly replenished aether flow into it as I make my way to that crack. Hades looks over with a bewildered face between mine, the crack, and the glowing purple sword I carry. The man reaches for me calling out his brother’s name. With gritted teeth and a yell do I swing my sword into the crack. It sticks and even with nearly half my aether and all that I could gather around me it doesn’t move. I channel more and slowly the sword begins to move down, opening the crack further. Enough for a single person to make their way through. I remove the sword bringing it back to the top, lungs burning with every breath I take, body shaking as I feel more of the aether leave me, but I just need it opened a little more, just enough for another to be pushed through at the same time.

And have some of the bad ending of the Dominant AU Spoilers for Rising Tide dlc of xvi

Joshua nods, holding back tears as he feels the one thing he can’t mend, “He’s okay. He’s going to live.” She smiles, nodding, “Good. Good I’m glad. He deserves to live….to finally know happiness.” She inhales shakily, feeling tears fall from her eyes as the pain begins inside her chest. “Joshua….,” she starts, “It’s okay. I knew the risks, even if I wasn’t in full control. I just wanted to keep him safe.” “I know but-.” He gasps, some tears leaving him silently, “Alma, please, don’t go. I love you.” She swallows back the lump in her throat, “I know and I love you too. I will always love you, my beautiful idiot.” She reaches up, cupping his cheek, wiping away his tears, “My Phoenix….don’t let this snuff out your light. Promise me, my love.” “Alma….,” he sobs, pulling her closer. “Promise me, Joshua….” He closes his eyes a moment, nodding, swallowing back the pain that would make it hard to speak. “I promise."

She begins to lift herself, Joshua meeting her halfway, their lips coming together. He begins to memorize the softness, the passion, her laughter, the way she’d light up when their eyes met. Sears memories of when he first saw her face, the moonlit nights where nothing existed but the two of them, and the way she felt laying with him, curled up under a tree in the golden afternoon sun, her hand pressed to his heart in bed, and her arms wrapped around him when the nightmares were too much. Flashes of memories when they’d run off from the Undying and explore the villages around them, how she’d laugh when he told stories of his childhood, the dance they shared just before coming here, and the moment he realized how much more she was to him than just a friend.  A small moment, a pristine image of her standing at a wooden table, hair loosely braided, eyes fixated on her notes as the mortar and pestle move deftly in her hands, her eyebrows concentrating while her pink lips still wore a ghost of a smile as she hummed what he would come to find out as a lullaby from her childhood. He had stood there mesmerized, holding onto books that felt unimportant in that moment, felt the way his heart skipped a beat, and the way he almost said “I love you” aloud when she glanced his way, blush forming when she tried to focus back on her work.  (....) When they finally part she whispers against his lips, “Be safe, my love….my dear Joshua.” Her hand grows limp and he can see the curse make its way to the surface above her heart stopping its spread when she takes her final breath. “Alma,” he asks with a cracking voice, sobs starting to take hold. “Alma.” He shakes her, pulling her closer to him, “Come back, Alma, please.” He holds her to him, sobs freeing themselves as he buries his face into her hair, “Don’t leave me.” 

He starts to rock back and forth, the movement catching Clídna’s eye. Her face falls, chest constricting, breathing out, “Oh no….” She nudges Clive, the other two women following as he turns to see where Clídna’s gaze lands.  He rushes over, heart falling at the sounds of his brother’s sobs and seeing her lifeless body in his arms. “Joshua….,” he starts, the women joining him, Jill pressing a hand over her mouth and Clídna hanging her head. “Joshua, I’m-. I’m so sorry.” “I couldn’t save her, Clive. I-. She-. H-her body couldn’t handle-.” His sobs overtake him once more, mumbling apologies and pleas for her to return to him in between. The rest of the group turns silent, heads hanging for a few minutes until Shula excuses herself to take Wajlas back and begin preparations. As his sobs begin to slow he pulls away, allowing them to see the crystal’s curse on her chest. He brings his hand up to her face, his fire briefly overtaking it to reveal one free of cuts and bruises. Clídna kneels down, gently taking her in her arms. “No!” He protests, pulling Alma closer. “I promise she’ll be okay, but we should be heading back.” He shakes his head at Clídna who breathes out, “Joshua….” Clive steps forward-.  “No! Leave us alone! Please, I’ll-. I’ll take care of her.”

“Joshua,” Jill says softly, hand gently touching his shoulder, “we should make her more comfortable. Let her lie in a soft bed. Can we at least help you with that?” He sniffs back the sobs that feel unending with each movement he makes, nodding. Clídna picks up Alma’s body before he can protest once more, turning to make her way back to Haven. Jill and Clive both help Joshua up from the ground, glinting silver catching his eye. He turns towards it, picking up a beaded belt turned makeshift necklace with blue beads and a Rosfield crest on a silver chain. He clutches it to his chest, the weight of it pulling him towards the ground. Jill and Clive hold him up, encouraging him to walk onward despite the intensifying sobs. The three make it back on land when he collapses crying out her name. Hunching over pushing the necklace ever closer to his heart, apologizing and crying out for her return, pleading and praying to the gods to let her live once again. Clive and Jill say nothing as they wrap their arms tightly around him, letting him scream and cry. Joshua clutches onto his brother, burying his face in his chest, “It’s not fair.” “I know,” Clive says softly. “She shouldn’t have had to-.” He cries, grip tightening, “I love her, Clive. We were going to spend the rest of our lives together when this was all over, but now-. What will I do without her?”

[sunderedazem]

I know i already have a dawntrail reaction post here with a genuine take but i am going to bitch again because i saw some condescending shit and got annoyed. So yeah. This is a vent. If it's not about you then it's not about you, you know? I'm not naming anyone b/c it's an aggregate annoying not a That Person Is Annoying.

Anyway.

Have a certain segment of the people who liked all or most of DT considered that perhaps, some people who disliked parts of dawntrail (especially the latter half) dislike it because they understood and actually just *disagree* with the themes and portrayal of the themes of that portion of the game? I don't dislike it because I didn't get it or because i didn't interpret it correctly (because this shit is subjective too!), I dislike it because it feels like it's spitting on the themes of the previous two expansions to me. Maybe the patch quests will resolve that dislike, i don't know. The Arcadion raids are helping a little, admittedly. If it keeps going like that I might start appreciating things I didn't before.

(Spoilers below here)

BUT- I will never be okay with the fact that all of Living Memory gets deleted, and the people of Alexandria do not have their memories of their lost loved ones restored. To me, that is not moving on, or moving forward, and our characters, the Scions, and the Tuliyollali (?) do not actually have the capability or right to remember these people on behalf of Alexandria when Alexandria's people *still exist*.

The past two expansions have involved uncovering and remembering, or at least acknowledging, a forgotten people, while also protecting the people of today. The Ascians are not an existing society deliberately divesting themselves from their past, they are a nearly-dead people who want the past back. And we choose to remember them, as Emet-selch asks, because we are his last chance of Amaurot not being utterly lost to time. We are literally his last resort. Our win means his people stay dead. He asks us to remember because we're the only people left who even know a little bit about Amaurot.

But Alexandria is a society that is still present! It still has its own culture, its own history, it's own right to keep and change and preserve all of that! But it's people don't appear to know when people die (or if they're killed for their souls, as is implied with Ambrose) or about psychonekrosis. They literally don't remember death. And they all deserve an actual chance to be able to preserve their own culture and history and to remember their own dead! Shutting down Living Memory with NO provisions made for them to be able to preserve the memory of their past *if they so choose to* is nothing like the previous themes of FFXIV and I don't like that. At all.

I am very tired of people acting like a dislike for Dawntrail indicates incomprehension or worse, malice somehow. Or acting like this point of view is completely incomprehensible and means "you're just mad it's not SHB and that's unfair to the devs" or etc. (or the worst- somehow assuming I'm a reddit dudebro who hates Wuk Lamat because I can't handle a leading woman if I ever mention that I thought her character was misused in the latter half of DT.)

I'm really, genuinely happy for you if you loved the latter half of DT. It was visually stunning. The music all slaps. Heritage Found is fucking eerie as shit and the intro to this part of the game with Namikka gave me good heebiejeebies. I can see why people enjoyed it. But to me, the end felt like a series of just...shock value emotional moments. It felt pointless and worse, kind of careless and callous (at least from a Watsonian viewpoint). And I would like that to NOT be called a "red flag lol" thank you. I'm perfectly sure I can hold a normal fucking discussion with people who loved the shit outta Dawntrail about things we mutually enjoyed.

Idk man. This is a vent post, obviously. And I do get that Twitter and Reddit are being Twitter and Reddit. I'm not on them for a few reasons but that nastiness is the main one. But it's also really fucking annoying to keep seeing shit that amounts to "If you dislike or criticize DT at all you're a nasty foul person/stupid idiot who is objectively wrong and you're not worth speaking to ever again." Like dude- can we NOT reactively slide to the polar opposite of the reddit dudebros. Can we just acknowledge that they have viewpoints that are shit *outside* the game that are causing them to have shitty other opinions.

Sighs. Anyway.

[haellen-o]

Then Vs Now: Haellen Orestes

hey uh this got away from me a little bit and there's a massive wall of text and old screenshots detailing my adventure through FFXIV. it gets a little personal cause man this game was with me through some rough times, and those rough times did kinda shape my experience. so uh... yeah tl;dr i yap a lot. do not ask me to talk about my experiences with media i WILL ramble

ARR (August 2020)

by now i had actually met my main friendgroup and they were all starting to get into FFXIV. it was free. one of our other friends was picking it up. and everyone else was like "yeah why not" and i got hit with an unironic sales pitch. because i hate MMO's and i was refusing to even try it because and i quote (myself) "I've tried every other MMO what's gonna be different about this one?"

so yeah i was a fucking idiot lmao. Haellen orestes was born sometime between the 20th to the 31st of august. the earliest screenshot i can find i'm not using cause it looks a w f u l and is really dark and hard to see. so i'm using this one that was taken a little bit later with crime tools with one of my good old friends. that's their highlander on the right. and on the left is baby haellen (or scaellen as i like to call her)

HW (September 2020)

Bnuuy haellen was born shortly after i bought the game (which was a little bit after prae/castrum) and i swapped over to viera. because FF12 was one of my favourite games and my first real exposure to deep diving into a games lore and world building. and i happened to love viera. bnuuy haellen was quite different to haellen now. she was a lot more flirty. a little bit horny, and also not as (physically) strong. she was a science and magic lady in canon despite me playing dragoon and drk in HW. I didn't really have a good idea of how i wanted her character to be yet so i was still experimenting with looks. glams. and hair. i was also still REALLY enjoying the game at the time. especially after i nearly dropped it during the post ARR pre HW slog. the music and story got so much better and i was suddenly super invested in the game. i was also starting to finally meet some more people who played the game and got into communities and FC's

Stormblood (January 2021)

bnuuy haellen was starting to take shape. i had a solid idea for her and knew what i wanted to do with her character for RP purposes. aloof, flirty, friendly, and completely oblivious to actual romance advances. i believe by now i had also fully integrated into being part of a small FC where i made some good friends (who i am no longer friends with due to reasons i'm gonna keep private. No need to air dirty laundry)

Late Shadowbringers (May 2021)

Well the bnuuy is starting to look a little more like a haellen now. And she was starting to BE a little bit more like a haellen too!, kinda reserved, very smart, friendly in a flirty way, and can also kick the shit out of you. by now this was when i started to meet one of my now good good very close friends (an understatement) and was starting to get into the meat of the game. i started gposing less and started doing actual content and playing other classes. as well as doing things like maps, on content extremes. and even dabbled on the idea of tackling an ultimate and finding a team for that (Spoiler. i never did lol) but i was starting to grow tired of being a viera. not because of the lack of hats or the fact everyone was a viera... but because of people being INCREDIBLY HORNY to random strangers on the internet. i've neve recieved so many out of pocket ERP requests before then and hooboy i was growing tired of it...

July 2021 (Endgame shadowbringers)

Well now who is this beautiful woman? this was when haellen began to TRULY become who she is now. stronk. independent. incredibly smart. will punch you. and also (at this time) composer and enjoyer of music. By now i had met all the friends i had made in XIV and was starting to take a break. i was getting burned out on doing high tier content and was starting to not enjoy the game as much. So i started to go back to casual stuff. including levelling classes! (baby bard as pictured here) and the horny in game messages died down completely! because no one cares about hyurs! [quiet sobbing]

by now i was also completely infatuated with nero. and at this time in the old writing it was a little bit of unrequited love. this was pre fan-fic writing so i was just creating l o r e (bonus pic because it made me chuckle but i have no context to give it since it was taken shortly after the other)

Endwalker (December 2021)

By this point i was deep into my casual content. i was still joining for maps but i was mostly doing older content i missed out on that could be done easily. and older mount farming, as well as getting deeper into RP and starting to dabble with the idea of writing a fanfic. this is also when haellen became as she is now. simultaniously the smartest person in the room, and also the dumbest. reserved in public, stronk asf, and back to being blonde!. this was also when i really started to become... More myself. its really funny that endwalker specifically has such a close place in my heart not because it touched me deeply (it did) but because i also went through several self realisation phases. it was a tough year and i did a lot of soul searching and found a lot of answers to questions i had, not all were good. But they all were for the better.

you may recognise that highlander in the backgrounder too, my good good friend ivarr. we'll come back to him

Post endwalker (march 2022)

Babies first modded gposes! that is the haellen i feel most people will recognise. my poor laptop could NOT handle the game at all and it turned into a portable heater, but i was enjoying trying out modded gposes. especially the lovely calfskin jacket replacer i found. and also by this point haellen was the haellen you know today

THE OPHELIA ARC BEGINS (June 2022)

I was a little deeper into writing fanfic now, going from roleplay to solo writing was a little difficult. and that's when i wanted to experiment with some different races, thus ophelia was born. she quickly became her own thing instead of "Elf haellen" and HOO BOY IF ONLY I KNEW HOW MUCH THIS ELF WOULD GET STUCK IN MY HEAD... and if only i knew how much this game would help me again through a dark time

Island sanctuary (August 2022)

Fun fact. i was homeless during this period! By this point i was starting to get into doing more modded stuff for gposing. Including shaders and modded outfits. I was trying my best to not turn into a modbeast because i actually really like the vanilla aesthetic

Return of the bnuuy (january 2023)

With crime tools. I revived the bnuuy haellen as her own existence, an AU if you will. and the brainrot began, and oh BOY i have so many unfinished and unpublished writings from this time. and also by this point i had become kinda content with my existence in FFXIV

Intermission (January 25th 2023)

THIS IMAGE HAUNTS ME IN MY SLEEP (affectionate) ivarr elbow dropping forchenault my beloved

anyway this kinda got away from me. the post i was tagged in was super short and nice and then going back and looking through all my stuff i was like "OH MAN A LOT HAPPENED BETWEEN 2020 AND 2024 HOLY SHIT" and uh... Well its gotten so far away from me we're having an intermission for me to apologise for this being SO DAMN LONG and also a little personal... i like going through memory lane and it gets me a little introspective, and even if this gets hit with the too long didn't read. I've enjoyed going through my back log and seeing all my memories. and remembering the times i've had and how much this game helped me through times. the rest of 2023 was (very thankfully) uneventful. partway through the year i finally joined tumblr and finally got a house (its very awful! in hindsight this should not have been celebrated! help :D) the ophelia arc continued to the point where i'm debating if i put more time into haellen or ophelia, and i got the confidence to be more myself, and put my writing out there for people to view

Now (28th of december, 2024)

And now? well. I'm hopelessly in love with these two absolute goobs (Warning: do not call ophelia a goob. she is wanted for several crimes against humanity)

and i'm doing much better. both in my relationship with FFXIV. mentally. and... well not physically i really need to work on that. but i'm in less pain than i was before!. And more importantly i'm excited to play dawntrail eventually, when i have the money to lol... I also need to fix haellen cause ugh my girl does not look like my girl H E L P

Tagged by @otherworldseekers thank you for inadvertantly putting me down the memory rabbit hole and i apologise if you read through this for how much i blabbed on about my journey lol

i almost don't want to tag anyone cause i don't want to condemn people to read through this. its so fucking long and i yap and blab so much about stuff that i really feel like doesn't matter but also is kinda integral to my experience to this game and why its so close to my heart?

anyway. woe walls of text and tag games upon ye @hdawg1995 @uldahstreetrat @cindernet-exploded @sylaurin and also anyone else who actually reads through this wall of text that wants to take part

[cklukilutz]

When it comes to the arts (music, film, theater, etc), what does your character like?

🎵 MUSIC 🎵

Her favourite genres are rock and industrial. She'll dance to pretty much anything if she's at a party or club though. And her guilty pleasure of pop music gets outted at karaoke events (especially after a few drinks).

Less enjoyed genres include the screamo side of metal (she kindas hates it), and country/western.

🎞️ FILM 🎞️

Luki's very much into action, horror, and sci-fi flicks. She's also love Disney animation (if it exists in FFXIV), but she won't watch them with you as she's likely to cry at whatever character death they throw in there. And she doesn't want you to know she cries at movies sometimes.

She doesn't like westerns. Unless they're space westerns. Or involve some level of thirller/horror.

🎭 THEATER 🎭

Unless it's specific to her interests, she's unlikely to watch a play.

🎨 ART 🎨

She no interest in renaissance type of art, or standing around in museums looking at any world renowned works, but she'll go crazy for something you made.

I can't think of all the specific arts types, so if there's something I missed that you're curious about, feel free to ask away. There's so many, and every ask helps me shape Luki as a character.

So thank you so much for this ask, @captain-rez!! 💖