Hydaelyn Role-Players

My main, Tamm'lin Maertena, is somewhat illiterate - However, I realized this might be more common than most would think. Many might not have the money for schooling, the access, or the belief such knowledge is needed for the familial line of work. 

Any one else have illiterate characters? How do you handle it? Do they eventually learn how to read/write?

For a while I played a Keeper of the Moon who was so isolated in her youth that she didn't learn to read or write until adulthood. I figured that Miqo'te families living deep in the woods (especially those on poor terms with Gridania) would lack the educational resources that city-dwellers have access to. That was part of her backstory, though - I haven't tried to write a character who is illiterate in the present. I think I might find it frustrating, but that's just me.

Odette originally struggled to read and write in her backstory, due to the fact she and many Ala Mhigan's fled during the Garlean invasion; meaning that for she it was early childhood. Time in Little Ala Mhigo yielded some results but it was never going to be anything close to what was considered a decent education. Especially when she went on to spend her life at sea as a deckhand. It wasn't until her teen years when she got involved with [THINGS] that she actually worked to become decent at it as a necessity.

I hope that helps in some way, and answers your questions!

S'imba can't read or write...he's been learning slowly and with enough time and effort he can read and write simple things. He has a lot of learning disabilities that really hamper his abilities with it. Learning his letters took a long time because he'd work all night only to wake up the next day and feel like his mind had dumped it all. He's really self-conscious about it because most people he knows makes it sound like reading is easy, and with how much he struggles with it he just feels broken. So he'll pretend he can read rather than admit he has no idea what a pamphlet declaring revolution and the beheading Lolorito, and just agree with the person handing it out.

It's my understanding that most people in Eorzea- the average Eorzean, at least- are illiterate. Player characters/adventurers are special, of course, so I guess that's why most RP characters conveniently can.

Most of my characters are arcanists so they're literate, but my primary-alt Awyrbyrt is totally illiterate. It's mostly played up for laughs because nobody seems to realize it, or acknowledge it, IC (say he's walking through the deep Twelveswood with a party and they pass by a sign that reads "danger"- the others take note of it but say nothing, assuming they can all read it, and Awyrbyrt just looks at it and goes "oh a sign" and keeps moving) He might eventually learn to read but for now he's being a stubborn arse about it, despite his father's insistence.

My other illiterate character is reserved for private RP but she grew up an orphan in deep La Noscea so she had absolutely no reason nor resources to learn. In the setting she usually finds herself in it's not really relevant.

Kiht'a can read and write a little, but it ends up--for writing, anyway, that it looks like a caveman wrote it. Reading he can read just enough to get by.

I've actually been thinking about this myself for the backstory of my own character that I'm working on. She would have grown up away from the major cities, so I considered that maybe literacy isn't that useful a skill as opposed to hunting or farming. I still haven't delved deep enough into the FF14 lore though to see if there's a real-world pseudo-medieval analogy there or if it's just assumed all adventurers are literate because, y'know, adventurers are special and all.

I think having an illiterate character could create some interesting RP opportunities. In character, it's not likely to come up enough to be considered an annoying trait, and it could create some interesting moments for your character to be potentially embarrassed if everyone else around her is, or maybe even create some contention if she's stubborn and just refuses to learn because she doesn't see the value in it.

Admittedly, most of my experience with the subject has been from D&D games where it was usually the "dumb barbarian" stereotype which is mostly played up for comedic value, acting like books are some sort of poison/voodoo. I've gotten to find that annoying just because of how overdone it is.

According to lore literacy is the exception, not the rule. Barring the wealthy, scholars, and adventurers the vast majority cannot read.

It's just that most RPers don't know this or can't get out of a modern privileged mindset that is surprised to run into illiteracy, so most characters are literate as a result. Even near feral wild backwood miqo'te often learned to read and write miraculously well at some point in their backstory.

Honestly, that's how I say it as well. She's from a traditional tribe, then grew up amongst shipyard workers - Average citizens. Not scholars, the particularly wealthy, or any one with any real access to education. At some point, a kindly neighbor who DID know how to do such things, being a retired ship logsman, bookkeeper, etc. took it upon himself to teach her to read/write. However, it's all very basic knowledge - She can't do much more than write a simple letter; However, because everything the neighbor's knowledge was mostly navigation, sea-faring, and otherwise ship-related - Tamm's knowledge of THOSE specific references is very good.

A fantasy novel, though? Nah. She doesn't know even half those related words. 

Does that makes sense?

My miqo'te, Elza, also lived in isolation in the woods. This made her socially shy and awkward around strangers, but due to this she also kept to herself a lot, and her mom was not anything but a dancer, but she was literate and could read and write fine growing up in the city. So she had tons of time to teach Elza in the woods.

However, I did think about this before hand and I believe characters can be illiterate if your backstory makes sense.

While L'yhta is literate, none of her family is, and indeed most of my (rarely played) alts aren't. L'yhta learned after the Calamity by way of her master. The rest of her family has no need for that "fancy city knowledge" and indeed, had her story not taken her to Limsa Lominsa, she'd never have learned her letters at all.

As others have mentioned in this thread, literacy is indeed rare in Eorzea, according to Fernehalwes.

Quote:As I (think I may have) mentioned in a past post, literacy rates in Eorzea are quite low. The only people who can read/write are usually the educated writing for the educated. This causes them to use an overly complex jumble of jargon that sounds little like what is actually spoken in Eorzea. The spelling and lack of punctuation can be blamed on the fact that because there were so few people who could read or write, there was really no standardized set of rules. This left those who were literate to make up their own rules (which was pretty much what every educated man and woman did).

Successful adventurers likely fall into the "educated" category, but it doesn't seem to be a requirement unless you use magic (and even then, it would likely depend on your level of training and what type of magic you use; conjury is much more intuitive than, say, arcanima). When you sign up at the Adventurers' Guild initially, you just have to make your mark, and most Eorzeans can probably figure out that "the sign that looks like those funny squiggles means 'no entry'" and "the one with the two swords and a shield and some smoke is probably a forge."

Ucugen is a newly minted refugee in Ul'dah and is struggling to learn both the Eorzean language and it's writing systems. It didn't make sense to me that a transplant from the furthest reaches of the Othard Steppes would be fluent in the idiosyncrasies of the languages and writings of a large island (particularly since contact seems limited between Eorzea and Othard) so I made it so she both has trouble grasping the language verbally and in a written sense. She probably has the reading capability of a three year old right now when it comes to the Eorzean writing system, though she's up to speed on Doman and her birth language. It's actually been fun having her not be able to read anything.

Enla on the other hand is only illiterate because she can't see. She learned to read just fine before going blind.

(12-17-2015, 12:28 PM)Aera Wrote: [ -> ]I've actually been thinking about this myself for the backstory of my own character that I'm working on. She would have grown up away from the major cities, so I considered that maybe literacy isn't that useful a skill as opposed to hunting or farming. 

I think having an illiterate character could create some interesting RP opportunities. 

Admittedly, most of my experience with the subject has been from D&D games where it was usually the "dumb barbarian" stereotype which is mostly played up for comedic value, acting like books are some sort of poison/voodoo. I've gotten to find that annoying just because of how overdone it is.

Yes - This is why, to me, illiteracy made sense for my main. Reading and writing just isn't useful to people living out in the desert, who aren't merchants or otherwise. Unless it is VERY basic symbols to just designate certain items - However, it can also be argued such things could simply be told in pictographs and the spoken word.

Yes - Again! Tamm being illiterate has already sparked some cool character development and relationships she otherwise might not have had.

Yes - That too! The 'dumb barbarian' steroptype doesn't apply here - Just as it wouldn't in real life. It isn't like some modern day, far flung colonies of humanity would be able to read. In fact, it is only in the last 50+ years that global literacy was even a thing. We have whole charities devoted to it in the US, for our own countrymen... and we have compulsory education. That doesn't make any one a dumb barbarian, though!

(12-17-2015, 01:19 PM)allgivenover Wrote: [ -> ]According to lore literacy is the exception, not the rule. Barring the wealthy, scholars, and adventurers the vast majority cannot read.

It's just that most RPers don't know this or can't get out of a modern privileged mindset that is surprised to run into illiteracy, so most characters are literate as a result. Even near feral wild backwood miqo'te often learned to read and write miraculously well at some point in their backstory.

I noticed this, too. Which is why I posted here, asking. I thought it was odd everyone could read and speak eloquently, when... even NPCs spoke with perhaps an accent, sometimes speaking like what we might imagine 'countryfolk' might talk like. 

I think that's probably one of the harder parts of RP... trying to "forget" what you take for granted every day IRL ...

(12-16-2015, 03:35 AM)BadChemistry Wrote: [ -> ]My main, Tamm'lin Maertena, is somewhat illiterate - However, I realized this might be more common than most would think. Many might not have the money for schooling, the access, or the belief such knowledge is needed for the familial line of work. 

Any one else have illiterate characters? How do you handle it? Do they eventually learn how to read/write?

My character is currently literate, but in her backstory she actually didn't learn to read until she was about 17 when she first went to the Stillglade Fane. She was from an isolated village deep in the East Shroud and never went to school prior.