So, naturally, as the player of a miqo'te main, I feel I have to chime in. I apologize in advance if this comes off as defensive.
In RP, I try to emote L'yhta's tail and ears regularly, especially when they'd be very noticeably expressive or what they're doing adds nuance to what she's saying. After all, if the emote isn't benefitting the narrative in some way, why do it? Emoting it when it doesn't add anything is, as Warren noted, somewhat redundant. I'll admit I could do a bit more in this regard, though. As for the improved sense of smell, I don't use that primarily because a trait of my character is that she's imperceptive, especially so for a miqo'te.
As for the overall lore, much of L'yhta's character concept is related to the way Seeker tribes work -- bearing in mind that there's a fairly wide variance in how that's interpreted. What I wanted to do was take a character who, by all rights, was a normal member of her culture and introduce life-changing experiences that would serve as the Call to Adventure in her story. So, I took some of the (frankly, squickier) parts of Seeker lore, combined them with the upheaval of the Calamity, and introduced a major event in her backstory that caused her to leave her home and old life. She's so loudly and obnoxiously pro-Limsa and anti-tribal culture as a way of separating herself from her prior life and attaching herself to a new culture she doesn't fully understand (reaction formation -- her favored defense mechanism). Things like eternal bond ceremonies are somewhat confusing to her because, where she grew up, they didn't have such things. It's not that she doesn't get the concept, but rather she doesn't entirely grok why you'd do them at all. That said, she adapts because she's trying to assimilate into a culture that she actively wants to be a part of, as she prefers the Bright City Lights and Adventurer's Life over a simple tribal existence.
Certainly, one can accuse me of breaking lore here, but honestly, I think a tribal miqo'te ultimately must leave the tribal culture and assimilate into city-state culture to some degree in order to succeed as a professional adventurer. I realize not everyone plays an adventurer character, but I think it's quite unfair for those of us who do -- or who for other reasons choose to have our character be part of the city-state cultures -- to be viewed as "hyur in cosplay" and written off as poor role-players who should be avoided. I like to think I have a reasonable narrative justification, informed by the lore, for why my character is the way she is and does the things she does.
All that said, I do wish there were more tribal miqo'te about, and I do wish we saw more conflict between the "city miqo'te" and the "country miqo'te." I try to rile them up when the opportunity presents itself, but since city miqo'te are more common in cities (which is, primarily, where L'yhta hangs out) and country miqo'te tend to keep to themselves (which makes sense, as a minority culture attempting to preserve itself), the opportunity is rarely presented.
In RP, I try to emote L'yhta's tail and ears regularly, especially when they'd be very noticeably expressive or what they're doing adds nuance to what she's saying. After all, if the emote isn't benefitting the narrative in some way, why do it? Emoting it when it doesn't add anything is, as Warren noted, somewhat redundant. I'll admit I could do a bit more in this regard, though. As for the improved sense of smell, I don't use that primarily because a trait of my character is that she's imperceptive, especially so for a miqo'te.
As for the overall lore, much of L'yhta's character concept is related to the way Seeker tribes work -- bearing in mind that there's a fairly wide variance in how that's interpreted. What I wanted to do was take a character who, by all rights, was a normal member of her culture and introduce life-changing experiences that would serve as the Call to Adventure in her story. So, I took some of the (frankly, squickier) parts of Seeker lore, combined them with the upheaval of the Calamity, and introduced a major event in her backstory that caused her to leave her home and old life. She's so loudly and obnoxiously pro-Limsa and anti-tribal culture as a way of separating herself from her prior life and attaching herself to a new culture she doesn't fully understand (reaction formation -- her favored defense mechanism). Things like eternal bond ceremonies are somewhat confusing to her because, where she grew up, they didn't have such things. It's not that she doesn't get the concept, but rather she doesn't entirely grok why you'd do them at all. That said, she adapts because she's trying to assimilate into a culture that she actively wants to be a part of, as she prefers the Bright City Lights and Adventurer's Life over a simple tribal existence.
Certainly, one can accuse me of breaking lore here, but honestly, I think a tribal miqo'te ultimately must leave the tribal culture and assimilate into city-state culture to some degree in order to succeed as a professional adventurer. I realize not everyone plays an adventurer character, but I think it's quite unfair for those of us who do -- or who for other reasons choose to have our character be part of the city-state cultures -- to be viewed as "hyur in cosplay" and written off as poor role-players who should be avoided. I like to think I have a reasonable narrative justification, informed by the lore, for why my character is the way she is and does the things she does.
All that said, I do wish there were more tribal miqo'te about, and I do wish we saw more conflict between the "city miqo'te" and the "country miqo'te." I try to rile them up when the opportunity presents itself, but since city miqo'te are more common in cities (which is, primarily, where L'yhta hangs out) and country miqo'te tend to keep to themselves (which makes sense, as a minority culture attempting to preserve itself), the opportunity is rarely presented.
The Freelance Wizard
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))