On the motherly figure, Gridanian Conjury could actually fit the bill pretty well for the simple reason that the main gridanian deity is the Matron, Nophica. She's the mother of nature and fertility (vegetals, animals, everything).
On White Magic Kieron has already quoted what I had in mind. Succor/White Magic isn't that much harder than a lot of other jobs to get into. Scattered soulstones exist and are probably found in Amdapori ruins, or maybe sold for fortunes over black/shady markets and whatnot. Much like gems of Shattoto, or some other soul crystals.Â
Generally to access a job skills and knowledge, you have several options, and some may be closed depending on the art:
- Legal and approved training under an official authority, being the keeper of said art. Probably the "easier" since as long as your character qualifies and pass whatever trials or tests there is, they will be teached by mentors. And it's the most lore friendly. For example, the Padjals, but they won't teach anyone else than their own (and the WoL). This therefore excludes WhM from that method. For example, it's a very good way to explain a Samurai background, or a Ninja background, for Hingan or Doman characters without too much hassle, or even Warrior for a Hellsguard, since those jobs are well alive and active, and teached to suitable characters.Â
- Some jobs like MCH are brand new, and will be taught to pretty much everyone, while some lost jobs like bard are being re opened right now, beign taught to specific people (in the case of bards, to Serpent Adders). This works pretty similarly to the above, except that since the job is super new or just rediscovered, it means that nobody has a lot of experience and years of practice. Everyone is learning from scratch or the first few pioneers like Stephanivien (MCH).Â
- Legal or illegal training under a mentor, repository of the art. This is the case for a majority of jobs in the lore. Most jobs have been forgotten entirely except by a few scholars and a lot of jobs tend to just re emerge when the WoL stumbles on them. This is the case for Bard or Red Mage, or Black Mage for example. Those are jobs that got eradicated or disappeared entirely, except for one or two individuals, like those NPC trainers. It directly implies to be taught by a famous NPC, and can imply a certain level of special snowflakism if we're to call it that way. Being taught by X'runh Tia or especially Jehantel, is... assuming they would teach your character, and/or have the time to.
- Self taught training because the only repositories left are books and/or soul crystals. This is especially mentionned in the Red Mage quests, where it is made mention of Red Magic repositories of knowledge held in Ishgard, and Sharlayan. This is probably the most widespread way of learning a job, since it can apply to most of them. But it is also the one the most on the fringes of lore, dealing with a lot of unknowns. It also is the most "patchy" way of learning since books are just books, and the knowledge is probably far from complete and you will have to search for those books all around arcane libraries and blurbs and archaeology (cf the monolith in the Peaks for RDM) or whatever you fancy. Or for the case of a soulstone, filling the requirements for the soulstone to open to you and share its knowledge, and they rarely share everything at once, just bits when it thinks you are ready. Your character would probably be a lot less proficient at the art than one properly trained.
- The excuse of a hidden community where knowledge of the art has been kept and your character is somehow conveniently part of it, or trained by it. It's the most easy one to resort to, but it's a bit like the dark side: it's easy, it's fast, and it's.... totally out of the lore. It doesn't mean it goes against it per se, and if it goes against the spirit of the lore or not is up for debate, it just sits out of the lore. It's not just world building, but essentially creating your own source of a certain lost or forbidden art.
tl;dr: all jobs can be explained. A tiny amount will be accessible through proper training and schools, a bigger amount will be accessible through a few or a lone survivor of the art (a famous NPC), and the majority will be accessible through the very hard way of learning yourself by finding whatever scraps you can about it.
On White Magic Kieron has already quoted what I had in mind. Succor/White Magic isn't that much harder than a lot of other jobs to get into. Scattered soulstones exist and are probably found in Amdapori ruins, or maybe sold for fortunes over black/shady markets and whatnot. Much like gems of Shattoto, or some other soul crystals.Â
Generally to access a job skills and knowledge, you have several options, and some may be closed depending on the art:
- Legal and approved training under an official authority, being the keeper of said art. Probably the "easier" since as long as your character qualifies and pass whatever trials or tests there is, they will be teached by mentors. And it's the most lore friendly. For example, the Padjals, but they won't teach anyone else than their own (and the WoL). This therefore excludes WhM from that method. For example, it's a very good way to explain a Samurai background, or a Ninja background, for Hingan or Doman characters without too much hassle, or even Warrior for a Hellsguard, since those jobs are well alive and active, and teached to suitable characters.Â
- Some jobs like MCH are brand new, and will be taught to pretty much everyone, while some lost jobs like bard are being re opened right now, beign taught to specific people (in the case of bards, to Serpent Adders). This works pretty similarly to the above, except that since the job is super new or just rediscovered, it means that nobody has a lot of experience and years of practice. Everyone is learning from scratch or the first few pioneers like Stephanivien (MCH).Â
- Legal or illegal training under a mentor, repository of the art. This is the case for a majority of jobs in the lore. Most jobs have been forgotten entirely except by a few scholars and a lot of jobs tend to just re emerge when the WoL stumbles on them. This is the case for Bard or Red Mage, or Black Mage for example. Those are jobs that got eradicated or disappeared entirely, except for one or two individuals, like those NPC trainers. It directly implies to be taught by a famous NPC, and can imply a certain level of special snowflakism if we're to call it that way. Being taught by X'runh Tia or especially Jehantel, is... assuming they would teach your character, and/or have the time to.
- Self taught training because the only repositories left are books and/or soul crystals. This is especially mentionned in the Red Mage quests, where it is made mention of Red Magic repositories of knowledge held in Ishgard, and Sharlayan. This is probably the most widespread way of learning a job, since it can apply to most of them. But it is also the one the most on the fringes of lore, dealing with a lot of unknowns. It also is the most "patchy" way of learning since books are just books, and the knowledge is probably far from complete and you will have to search for those books all around arcane libraries and blurbs and archaeology (cf the monolith in the Peaks for RDM) or whatever you fancy. Or for the case of a soulstone, filling the requirements for the soulstone to open to you and share its knowledge, and they rarely share everything at once, just bits when it thinks you are ready. Your character would probably be a lot less proficient at the art than one properly trained.
- The excuse of a hidden community where knowledge of the art has been kept and your character is somehow conveniently part of it, or trained by it. It's the most easy one to resort to, but it's a bit like the dark side: it's easy, it's fast, and it's.... totally out of the lore. It doesn't mean it goes against it per se, and if it goes against the spirit of the lore or not is up for debate, it just sits out of the lore. It's not just world building, but essentially creating your own source of a certain lost or forbidden art.
tl;dr: all jobs can be explained. A tiny amount will be accessible through proper training and schools, a bigger amount will be accessible through a few or a lone survivor of the art (a famous NPC), and the majority will be accessible through the very hard way of learning yourself by finding whatever scraps you can about it.
Balmung:Â Suen Shyu