Hollow

Where did you find the information about ash on the nose?

As in sign of the zodiac? Hollow would be a Gemini, in that case. Let's see, according to this randomly googled website, that's: Mm, not quite Hollow. 'Gentle' and 'curious' would apply, but not 'affectionate' or 'adaptable' - he's a bit of a stick-in-the-mud, in my head. Open-minded about other people doing things, but he wouldn't be one to follow suit himself. Probably not 'nervous' or 'inconsistent' either, though perhaps 'indecisive'. He would tend to go with the flow of things, so he might be a bit flat-footed if asked what his opinion is on a course of action. For Hollow's weaknesses, probably something more like 'distant' or 'slow to form emotional attachments', something like that. Friendly, but not quick to friendship. He'd probably also like most of those listed dislikes - solitude, the comfort of routine. Not being confined, but does anyone like being confined? Unless you're doing fun-times with handcuffs, I mean. He's not particularly expressive or sociable, though the serious and thoughtful characteristics would fix, as would the fascination with the world itself and a want to experience things.

I'm pretty sure that all the dancers you see are employed as such. There's a quest on near Limsa where you have to check on a new dancing girl who coming to audition, and there's a dance quest in Ul'dah where the dancer tries to apprentice to a ballroom dance instructor because she wants to do something different (and winds up deciding to become an adventurer instead). There is some slavery mentioned, with 'pleasure barges' and such, but that's all illegal and pirate activity that wouldn't be done openly in Eorzea.

I think she cast two different spells, there. The one that took so long was the spell to collapse the tunnel on their pursuers (and themselves), and then she very quickly cast Flow to escape while the tunnel was collapsing.

The difference in the magical classes/jobs is primarily in how they replenish their aether. Since everyone uses aether as fuel for magic, and everyone has a very limited personal supply, you need some way of replenishing it - or a different source - in order to use any kind of primarily magical combat style. The other classes/jobs also use aether - gladiators use it to create blinding flashes of light off their swords, monks use it to fire energy blasts and punch through walls, dragoons use it to jump really high, bards use it to enhance or degrade people's abilities, and so forth - but they use a relatively low amount of aether, and so get by on the natural slow regeneration over time. If any kind of caster relied on that, they would cast one spell per battle and then nap for a few hours, which is a bit of a pain. So people came up with work-arounds. White Mages and Black Mages both drew aether from the lifestream. White Mages, to fuel their spells of Air and Earth - Black Mages, to fuel their spells of Fire, Ice, and Lightning. This turned out to be a bad thing for various reasons and, after causing the destruction of three kingdoms and killing most of the world's population, was outlawed. White Magic is now used strictly by the Padjal, near-immortal horned beings chosen by the Elements of the Twelveswood, and Black Magic is still outlawed and used only by... well, outlaws. Meanwhile, in this more modern era, we have three common schools (and a few less common ones). Thaumatury, which oscillates between attuning your soul toward Astral Fire (high aether use, powerful spells) and Umbral Ice (aether regeneration, weak spells). Conjury, which converts the ambient aether in the life around you to restore your own. And Arcanima, which uses geometric sigils recorded in tomes so you can use a very small amount of aether to cast a large spell. Long story short, just be a thaumatage. You use fire spells, ice spells, and there's nothing dark or evil about it. It doesn't use the void, it doesn't draw aether out of anything, it's perfectly safe to use. Or, as safe as any kind of magic, so you can still screw up and die, but you won't kill the entire planet in the bargain.

Didn't it also take her an absurd amount of time to finish casting? Probably should've used the wand.

This does actually happen in the Arcanist quests - the pirate dude chucks her book overboard and she's helpless. If I recall correctly, when she later recovers it, it's ruined beyond repair. I'd imagine that an ARC/SUM/SCH tome wouldn't be quite as vulnerable to the elements as an ordinary book, though. They're made with special paper, special ink, special binding, and so forth, to maximize aetheric conductivity. You could, in theory, cast the spells just by doodling them with a pencil on a piece of paper - or even just drawing them in the sand with a stick, though your geometries would probably be terrible - but you'd have to dump a lot more power to get a weaker version of the same spell. But it's not like you can't do anything magical without a special tool. Warriors can make a flash of blinding light by focusing their aether on the blade of a sword - I'd imagine anyone who learned could do the same thing using anything reflective. Conjurers use a stave to replenish their aether, but you can use your own aether to heal just as easily (though you'll eventually die from it). Monks don't use any focus at all, they channel and project aether using their muscles and motions of their own body.

Also, there may be special obstacles when sailing in open ocean unique to Hydaelyn - for example, actual sea monsters, areas of dense aether, magical maelstroms, and so forth, which could affect travel time when sailing.

Is gil generally considered to be equivalent to dollars or yen? I'd assume yen, because it's a Japanese based game, but that'd mean that even in a swords-and-magic fantasy setting you'd probably have a loaf of bread cost 500-1000 gil (yen) instead of 5-10 gil (dollars). That'd also mean that 500k gil housing would be essentially $5,000, but it makes sense that the cost would be artificially cheap because it's 'adventurer only' housing that the city-states are selling specifically to attract strong adventurers, and it isn't available to the common public or refugees. On-topic, though, my character's a retired sellsword who mostly lives off his savings and indulging in the occasional leve or escort/bodyguard job. He'd like to sell wooden carvings, but he's still learning how to actually whittle.

I'm sure Sounsyy will correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't need to be specifically a Gladiator or Paladin to wield a sword. You also don't need a soul crystal. You can just be some person who fights using a sword and a shield and learned it in whatever way fits their background. A soul crystal, except in certain cases like BLM and MCH, is not necessary to use that job's abilities. It just makes it easier. A soul crystal is basically a semi-autonomous portable instructor you carry around with you. When you acquire a certain minimum level of skill, the soul crystal teaches you new techniques automatically. Once you master those techniques and become even more skilled, you're taught more advanced techniques. Any skills you invent yourself while carrying the soul crystal are stored inside it, and will be automatically taught to your successor - that's why they're handed down from generation to generation. But there's nothing preventing you from learning sword techniques from an actual person who teaches you how to use a sword, with no crystal involved whatsoever. You don't need to fight in the arena or pledge yourself to a code of honor either. This is true of most classes and jobs - take Conjury, for example. Learning the class in Gridania, you are taught a specific way of communing with nature and borrowing power and blah blah, but there are plenty of bandits and thieves and poachers who use Conjury abilities and likely do none of those things. They were taught a different way.

Is this a turkey?

True. Though Sun Seekers are probably the most rigid in that department, with Nunh and Tia for breeding status, and a tribe chief and leadership. Moon Keepers seem to be just family groups of adult women of equal status, and all the men are completely independent. So you would even get the culture clash between the different varieties of tribal Miqo'te - a Seeker Nuhn being offended at how dismissive the Keeper women are of him, whether in their words or their unconscious mannerisms, or vice versa. And a Keeper male would be completely ignorant of any such subtle social interplay, since 90% of his time is spend alone in the forest.

Your character is in a coma (or something else narratively convenient) and in order to wake them up, your friends must travel into their Mental World! A mental projection within their mind or soul, that represents who they are as a person - their personality, memories, hopes, fears, and so forth. What do they find? This could be their childhood home with pictures of their friends and fears hidden in the basement, or a well-ordered library stocked with memorized facts and knowledge in cataloged rows, or an overgrown playground with broken toys and a rusty swingset, or something else entirely! For my character, I think it would be a long dormant volcanic crater, covered in grass and trees, with a small lake in the middle. A volcano, since he used to be strong and boastful, but dormant as he's gotten older and calmer. Plants, because he's gotten a bit wiser and thoughtful (or so he likes to think), and a peaceful lake to represent his centered self of sense and what is right and wrong.

Rather than focusing on the cat aspect for Miqo'te, the tribal aspect has always been more fascinating to me, and how it would influence their culture and norms. For example, a typical Keeper would grow up a small group of two or three families consisting entirely of adult women and children. Boys would leave and go off on their own, probably as a young teen, and from that point on they're a permanent wanderer - traveling between family groups, staying for a while to woo any receptive ladies, then heading off again. Meanwhile, the family group - and thus, the culture, the stories, the lore and myths, all of that would be passed down from mother to daughter. Sons would get some of it, while they're still young, but not nearly as much as the daughter who will be staying and contributing. So the very concept of 'fatherhood' would be largely unknown. If you drift between villages, have a few brief liaisons, and then drift away, you're not even going to know your own children. You might encounter young miqo'te a few years down the road - maybe they're yours, maybe another male wandered through a week after you did and they're his. It probably doesn't even matter to you - you'd know your mother, and your sisters, but you wouldn't have a concept of a male lineage or acknowledging your descendants. And then imagine growing up with that culture, and then wandering through a city, and wondering what in the Seven Hells this city-born Miqo'te is taking about when she mentions "being exclusive" or "marriage". Meanwhile, the women's relationship with men would be almost exclusively based on sex. If a man is visiting, he's either wooing you or ignoring you until he leaves for the next village. You might recognize the men who visit once every season or a few times a year, but you wouldn't have any real friendships with them or platonic relationship at all. Of course, it would also depend on how much interaction the village has with other cultures - an outgoing family group or an insular one in the deep forest - but for the most part, everyone you know and live with is either another woman or a child (and if a boy, he'll be leaving in a few years anyway and you might not even ever see him again). It would be interesting for a story from that perspective, of growing up in that culture and then traveling beyond the Shroud and comparing it to the Hyur or Elezen ways.

What is Auracite, anyway? I feel like I missed a cutscene or anything, she just sort of showed up and started waving it around like I already knew what it was. It's not a crystal, right - crystals are solidified aether, overaspected/corrupted crystals have too much aether and are unstable, but Auracite seems to be empty, but capable of briefly containing aether, like a really crappy battery. Did they ever explain how its made, where its found, if there are other colours, and so forth?