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RE: General Lore Questions - Stormblade - 12-01-2017

(12-01-2017, 08:31 AM)Sounsyy Wrote: Hope this helps!  ^^ I'll try to come back later and edit in more info and sources.

Thank you! That answered my questions completely - except for the Hellsguard one, which apparently hasn't been given an answer in the lore.

Valence Wrote:They tend to gather between a handful of families that otherwise live by themselves, mothers and daughters mostly, or the occasional son that has yet to reach a certain age before going off wandering. Keepers are a lonesome bunch.

So, do they have permanent settlements? Could you stumble upon a Keeper 'family group' in the Shroud, and see houses and whatnot, or is it more of a situation where they pitch tents in one place for a little while and then move on, with various family's shifting between different groups over time?

Do we know about what age male Keepers get kicked out? I'd assume around puberty, for obvious reasons. I wonder if daughters stay with the mother's family group, or also wander off to join a different group - maybe to scatter the gene pool a bit more.


RE: General Lore Questions - Unnamed Mercenary - 12-01-2017

(12-01-2017, 08:03 PM)Stormblade Wrote:
Valence Wrote:They tend to gather between a handful of families that otherwise live by themselves, mothers and daughters mostly, or the occasional son that has yet to reach a certain age before going off wandering. Keepers are a lonesome bunch.

So, do they have permanent settlements? Could you stumble upon a Keeper 'family group' in the Shroud, and see houses and whatnot, or is it more of a situation where they pitch tents in one place for a little while and then move on, with various family's shifting between different groups over time?

Do we know about what age male Keepers get kicked out? I'd assume around puberty, for obvious reasons. I wonder if daughters stay with the mother's family group, or also wander off to join a different group - maybe to scatter the gene pool a bit more.

Settlement-wise, there's a bit of both, probably. You can find some Coeurlclaw NPCs around some gates/huts iirc. And if we assume they're anything like Tailfeather, they probably use what best fits the situation.

It's more likely that Keeper Males aren't "kicked out" so much as they head off on their own. Think like, leaving for an adventure. Or job. given that the surname is a family name passed on from the mother, it's likely that daughters probably continue to live with their clans, if not heading to the city. But with a variety of traveling/wandering males, they probably have a fair enough amount of genetic diversity. ...and probably a lot of cousins.


RE: General Lore Questions - Stormblade - 12-01-2017

(12-01-2017, 08:09 PM)Unnamed Mercenary Wrote: It's more likely that Keeper Males aren't "kicked out" so much as they head off on their own. Think like, leaving for an adventure. Or job. given that the surname is a family name passed on from the mother, it's likely that daughters probably continue to live with their clans, if not heading to the city. But with a variety of traveling/wandering males, they probably have a fair enough amount of genetic diversity. ...and probably a lot of cousins.

True, that makes sense. It would be interesting to see more lore from the perspective of within a Keeper clan. You'd have siblings growing up together, then the brother leaves for months or years at a time, coming back every so often to visit relatives and "visit" non-relatives. Even for family, there would probably be a mixture of being glad to see him back and uneasiness because it'd be strange having an adult male around.

I wonder if visiting males bring presents to try and help them 'woo' prospective mates. Maybe stroll into the settlement with some hunting trophies - both to display hunting prowess and to give the women some extra food so they have free time for hanky panky instead of hunting. If one male is already visiting, would a second male skip to the next settlement or try to compete? Probably depends.


Keeper lore is so fascinating. And so is Hellsguard! A society where you basically kick out extra kids into the world - it's like Pokémon, but they become mercenaries. I'd imagine they rarely, if ever, go back to visit the Spines - so you'd have old, retired mercenaries who vaguely remember their parents and a few elder siblings, but have no idea if they have any younger brothers and sisters who are out in the world like they are. They had to kill a Roegadyn the other day in a fight - that could've been a sibling, born a few years after they were. And thanks to their naming convention, they'd never even know it.


RE: General Lore Questions - Valence - 12-02-2017

(12-01-2017, 08:03 PM)Stormblade Wrote:
(12-01-2017, 08:31 AM)Sounsyy Wrote: Hope this helps!  ^^ I'll try to come back later and edit in more info and sources.

Thank you! That answered my questions completely - except for the Hellsguard one, which apparently hasn't been given an answer in the lore.

Valence Wrote:They tend to gather between a handful of families that otherwise live by themselves, mothers and daughters mostly, or the occasional son that has yet to reach a certain age before going off wandering. Keepers are a lonesome bunch.

So, do they have permanent settlements? Could you stumble upon a Keeper 'family group' in the Shroud, and see houses and whatnot, or is it more of a situation where they pitch tents in one place for a little while and then move on, with various family's shifting between different groups over time?

Do we know about what age male Keepers get kicked out? I'd assume around puberty, for obvious reasons. I wonder if daughters stay with the mother's family group, or also wander off to join a different group - maybe to scatter the gene pool a bit more.

Those questions are hard to answer. We have examples sure, but that doesn't make them generalities by necessity.

Besides the Coeurlclaw clan that is in itself an oddity and actually has settlements that you can find in the South Shroud ingame, the archer questline portrays a poacher clan that seem to move all around elusively, so probably without true homes. The Keeper archer in the questline is also another of those female Keepers that integrated with Gridanian society, because after all, it's where society, wealth, and activity is centered. All in all, females don't necessarily stick to their clan and their kin, and can also wander off like makes, but it's not always the case, unlike for males. And what put males apart is how they are considered and live during their childhoods too. They don't hold the same place at all than their sisters in the family nucleus. Sisters are the heirs of their mothers.

The postmoogle quests picture a couple of Keeper sisters, one enrolled in the Coeurlclaws, and one living as a wandering merchant around Gridania. The latter tell you about their life and how both sisters stayed with their mother until her ultimate demise though. The big sister had then to take care of everything since the smaller one wasn't in age to do anything. Familial values seem overall to be very strong usually. I'm pretty sure they use the statement "we're a sentimental people" somewhere.


RE: General Lore Questions - Nako Vesh - 12-08-2017

(12-01-2017, 08:51 PM)Stormblade Wrote: I wonder if visiting males bring presents to try and help them 'woo' prospective mates. Maybe stroll into the settlement with some hunting trophies - both to display hunting prowess and to give the women some extra food so they have free time for hanky panky instead of hunting. If one male is already visiting, would a second male skip to the next settlement or try to compete? Probably depends.

It likely depends, but we really just don't know as we have no examples of traditional Keeper clans in game. Going by the Postmoogle quest line though, I would argue that typical Keeper women don't have much tolerance for their men and find their company only something to bother with for the bare minimum of time. Men sticking around for longer than that seem to be thought of as unnatural, and quite possibly annoying.


RE: General Lore Questions - Kairu - 12-09-2017

On the topic of Keepers, is there any lore about that teardrop marking on their forehead you can have? It's not part of the tattoo/facial markings option, but several of the tattoos seem designed to incorporate it. You also can't change the color or shading, it's always solid black. Does it mean anything, in canon or fanon?


RE: General Lore Questions - Nako Vesh - 12-09-2017

(12-09-2017, 01:43 AM)Kairu Wrote: On the topic of Keepers, is there any lore about that teardrop marking on their forehead you can have? It's not part of the tattoo/facial markings option, but several of the tattoos seem designed to incorporate it. You also can't change the color or shading, it's always solid black. Does it mean anything, in canon or fanon?

Not that I've ever seen unfortunately. It is canon that Keepers paint their faces, but the teardrop is never specifically addressed. I think it's a levequest that says this:

Quote:"We Keepers of the Moon have a long history of decorating our faces with colorful paint before going into battle. We do this not only to honor the traditions of our clan, but to also let the gods know that we are prepared to serve them as warriors in the afterlife, should we fall at the hands of our enemies. The paint we use is taken from the inedible red berries of a herb known as 'soldier's sore' that can be found growing in the South Shroud. My unit is willing to pay handsomely for any who can harvest the fruit and deliver it to our barracks."

It kind of makes me wonder if the drop is a tattoo instead of paint, but that's my own speculation. For my own Keeper's background the teardrop is actually hollow with a crescent filled in for the phase of the moon she was born under. Since we know so little about Keeper daily life, you're pretty safe making up small traditions like that. There's no reason different clan-families can't have unique traditions.


RE: General Lore Questions - Stormblade - 12-18-2017

Is there a printing press? Or rather, are books something that can be mass produced cheaply or do they need to be hand-written/hand-copied and are therefore relatively expensive to buy and own?


RE: General Lore Questions - Sounsyy - 12-18-2017

(12-18-2017, 09:58 PM)Stormblade Wrote: Is there a printing press? Or rather, are books something that can be mass produced cheaply or do they need to be hand-written/hand-copied and are therefore relatively expensive to buy and own?

On the one hand, some of Eorzea's publications use block printing (not exactly a "printing-press" but it is an effective mass-production printing technique that's been in use for a long time):

Encyclopedia Eorzea - Publishments of Eorzea Wrote:Lettered residents of Eorzea's major cities turn to printed publications to stay abreast of the latest rumors and affairs of the realm.
Encyclopedia Eorzea - Publishments of Eorzea Wrote:A block print from an article on the looming threat of Dalamud that ran just prior to the Seventh Umbral Era, as depicted by a Far Eastern artist who was visiting Limsa at the time.
Encyclopedia Eorzea - Publishments of Eorzea Wrote:An illustration from a Mythril Eye article covering All Saints' Wake festivities. A black-and-white block print was colored by the hand of a mammet to create this eye-catching image.


On the other hand, the Order of Nald'thal is copying their entire library by hand (though this may be because they're copying the tomes in miniature):

All Booked Up Wrote:The Order of Nald'thal has been making copies of its library, in preparation for the worst. The thought of Arrzaneth Ossuary falling into the enemy is a sobering idea. The most valuable tomes are being copied in miniature so they may be secreted away; the thaumaturges seek spectacles for this reason.


There's a couple instances where "prints" gets used in reference to books or newspapers, so it's a possibility:

Gerolt Wrote:Er...anyroad, there's prints aplenty o' the Trials, but I've heard nothin' about another copy o' the Book of Netherdark. Like as not, that's why ye never saw it in Radz-at-Han.
Amh Garanjy Wrote:Once The Raven printed word of our activities in its publication, however, we were contacted by an anonymous supporter─a generous benefactor who offered to fund the entire celebration, gifts and all.


It's hard to say definitively. A large portion of Eorzea's population is illiterate. There are some formal education, schools, and libraries - though most of the libraries are guild libraries - and a number of books/bookshelves housing items exist detailing various written works:

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RE: General Lore Questions - Kairu - 01-05-2018

If you have a soulstone and learn job stuff, and then give the soulstone to someone else, do you retain the knowledge and abilities you learned from it?

I know that some jobs require it, like BLM, MCH, and SCH, but for ones where it's just a mentor-in-a-box, like PLD or MNK, what happened if you lose it or give it to someone else? A monk's chakras would still be open, right, even if they gave up the stone?


RE: General Lore Questions - Valence - 01-06-2018

Yes, supposedly, you do retain them. They are just repositories of knowledge with the extra entry level checking if you're worthy of that knowledge or not, and that knowledge has various degrees of mastery required depending on the info you're looking for. It teaches you only what you've "unlocked", basically. But it won't erase your memory or skills or reflexes or whatever if you unequip it.

I'm still trying to figure out which soulstones are required or not to be honest. I know it's not the case for Ninja period as it's stated as soon as you get the quest, but for SCH, MCH, BLM, WhM almost certainly as well, we know it's required... What about the rest of them? MNK? BRD? I have doubts there. Worth investigating I think. Especially Monk and chakra access.

Basically there is a difference in my view between knowledge and access to certain energies specific to the job.


RE: General Lore Questions - Sounsyy - 01-06-2018

Lore on Soul Crystals and their role for each job can be found here!

As for which jobs absolutely require a soul crystal to use, most of the disciples of magic fall into that category:

Black Mage, White Mage, Scholar, Summoner, and Astrologian absolutely require a crystal.
Machinist, Dark Knight, Warrior, and Dragoon heavily imply that a soul crystal is necessary to harness or control their respective powers.

The rest are more vague/subjective if the crystal is necessary.


RE: General Lore Questions - Silmanos - 01-06-2018

I find it very unlikely that a soul stone is actually required for Astrologian, otherwise Leveva would require a mountain of them in order to maintain a teaching center for Sharlayan Astromancy in Ishgard. I'd think its safe to say that it may be required for the most powerful Astrologian spells, but the more basic ones would be doubtful.


RE: General Lore Questions - Valence - 01-06-2018

I don't remember well what is exactly said in the AST questline, but we know for example that a soulstone isn't required to cast black magic powerful spells. It's just that it cooks you alive if you don't have one.


RE: General Lore Questions - Kairu - 01-06-2018

So it's like how you don't need a parachute to skydive, so long as you're okay with only doing it the one time?