Hydaelyn Role-Players

I have a question but first a little explanation, I have an idea for Izaria's backstory that could involve why she wanted to become an Arcanist. I read in the wiki that both the Dunesfolk and the Plainsfolk are or were, agricultural people. So that made me wonder, is it possible to make a Dunesfolk enjoy the wonders of nature persay, or is it just Plainsfolk who would be like that? Since they are the farmers and the Dunesfolk are the buisness savvy people.

Typically I think those are mostly just guidelines for the race at large. If you want to have a Lalafell that's a little different than the rest, there's nothing from stopping you, IMO :).

Hmmms, okay! Thankies Xenedra! ^^ That helped me alot, I was like, what if it doesn't make sense? Hehe, thanks again.

NP!

Dunesfolk are actually said to be more scholastic of the two and are known for placing the pursuit of knowledge over all other things. Yes, many are business savy, but characteristic trait tends to come from Ul'dah more so than their clan. Also, of the two, traditional dunesfolk were primarily nomadic and thus they didnt rely on agriculture as much as their plains folk cousins. Xenedra has the right if things tho, I'm sure no one would think it odd if you had a lalafell who deviates from the norm. Hell, I do that with my Miqo'te! :3

For a nature-loving Lalafell, I would go Plainsfolk. But there's nothing saying you can't go Dunesfolk. No one would attack you for lore-breaking because of it. Plainsfolk are generally the agricultural little dudes, while Dunesfolk are more urbanized and indoorsy people. Still though, nothing is wrong with a nature-loving Dunesfolk. In the end it's all just stereotypes. The only reason I always pick Plainsfolk over Dunesfolk is because they get the option of sideburns.

I mean, hell, look at Ship. He's atypical of every Lalafell I've ever seen, and his character is awesome.

Also you could simply be part of a dunesfolk family that immigrated to Gridania a couple of generations ago and simply adopted the ways of the Black Shroud.

Yeah, I thought about doing that too. And Shippu is freakin awesomes, he makes me giggle when he shows pictures of his Lala cause he looks like a cute manly badass. I just thought it would be weird and not make sense if I did that.

(06-23-2013, 05:26 PM)Desphiria Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah, I thought about doing that too. And Shippu is freakin awesomes, he makes me giggle when he shows pictures of his Lala cause he looks like a cute manly badass. I just thought it would be weird and not make sense if I did that.

The problem with making a badass Lala is that it's hard to do without looking like your copying Ship. He's pretty much got a monopoly on it because everyone knows that he is the badass Lala. Even if you never met the guy and had the idea on your own, it'd still make people think of Ship when they saw it. It's unfortunately just one of those ideas that there seems to be only room for one of. Plus, to Ship's credit, it's hard to not become a parody of yourself when making a badass Lala.

I considered doing it myself, just because in all my other MMOs I've played dwarves. Felt I was accidentally making a carbon copy of Ship no matter what I did, so I canned the idea. It was for the best though, since this Hyur is one of my favorite characters I've come up with in any game.

That was off-topic. My bad.

Hehe, no it's fine. It would have been cool but yeah, making a carbon copy might get people upset. I just thought that the idea the Nee suggested, that I thought about too, thank goodness she thought of that too though cause I was like, that... makes no sense. Hehe, would be weirds. For Iza's back story.

And I just got conflicted I guess, cause I was thinkin, no that wouldn't make any sense to do that for a Dunes folk after what I read and I like both those clans so yeah. And I think I'm rambling, sorry bout that. XS

I think there's room for badarse Lalas that aren't Ship. You just have to think outside the box marked 'dwarvish stereotypes'. I got some examples!

• The Lalafell jock. Pugilist is a great choice for this. A very active, dynamic youth, who occasionally gets laid out flat, but always picks up and keeps trying. I'm thinking about using this, looking at Tidus for inspiration.
  
• The stern elder. This Lalafell's seen it all, and now is semi-retired, taking on students. A tough but fair tutor, trying to instil discipline in the apprentices for their own good. Doesn't have quite as much energy for travel these days, but can throw down with any whippersnapper.
  
• The valiant champion. Being gallant and virtuous doesn't make you a sissy, in fact if you follow through and put yourself on the line constantly, that makes you a total badarse. Someone aspiring to be a Sultansworn would be a great concept for this.
  
• The dervish. Dunesfolk don't all live in Ul'dah. There are many nomadic tribes hidden in the desert, with proud martial traditions. Some practice banditry, others just want to keep outsiders away. If you want to play a professional assassin, this is the most logical background for it in lore, of any race.
  

Oh my, it seems I have some kind of reputation? Who'da thunk it?!

But Rho strikes great points. There are plenty of character archetypes that can be played out to make sturdy and badass lalafell that aren't like my own character. Even if it is like my own character that's fine, as I get people telling me that Ship reminds them of other tougher lalafell characters they have known before as well. So it's not big thing, I guess I just happen to be the more prevalent one at the moment here.

Ship is brash, loud, obnoxious. These boisterous personality traits make him kind of a ruffian archetype, a selfish brawler. So Rho's examples are all spot on. The valiant champion they listed is basically the archetypal opposite of my own character.

The other options, like stern and wise types, and sneaky thief-assassin types are also good choices. Those archetypes fall more naturally in line with the lalafell status quo though. In that they're more likely to happen (Known for intelligence etc, small size and high agility attribute towards stealth etc.) That's why Ship's a Warrior, because it's just about as far from their natural archetype as you can get.


As a side note though, for those wanting to play more serious non-stereotyped Lalafell. Prepare to take tons of flak OOC as well as some IC from meta-gamed presumptions. This is my biggest pet peeve when it comes to playing a lalafell, within real life, a small race like them is a joke, but within the realm of Eorzea, lalafell are treated with at least a semblance of respect. Certainly their size is the brunt of some jokes, but not their capabilities as combatants, like ever.

You walk around and there's tons of lalafell guards in many places, cutscenes have shown them to be strong well beyond their size would imply and that they are not discriminated from any line of duty. You don't see NPC's treating them differently because of their size or cute tendencies, yet you see many, many players do, both IC, and especially OOC. This can be rather annoying but it cannot be helped sadly. Good RP'ers don't, more or less, but it still happens. It's understandably hard to not let those preconceived notions not leak into people's characters.

(06-24-2013, 09:02 PM)Shippuu Wrote: [ -> ]There are plenty of character archetypes that can be played out to make sturdy and badass lalafell that aren't like my own character. Even if it is like my own character that's fine, as I get people telling me that Ship reminds them of other tougher lalafell characters they have known before as well. So it's not big thing, I guess I just happen to be the more prevalent one at the moment here.

That's a good point. I'm on the shorter side of the scale IRL so I enjoy playing and seeing short characters that have a badass aspect to them. (I'm a big fan of Marvel's Wolverine and the Dwarves of Middle Earth.) Lala are a little harder to make rough and badass and I was disappointed to find there were no scar options for them in the character creator. 

Both Ship and Rho brought up good points about differing stereotypes for no-nonsense lalafell that I, as a huge dwarf fan, didn't even consider. I'm seriously considering making a lala alt now because of it, but it's going to take a lot of thought to separate from the dwarf mentality that I've had in MMOs for almost a decade.

Also I could see the lalafell meta-game stereotypes bothering me as well. I dislike the fact that many lala are seen as one-dimensional short or cute jokes, when a lot of lala players put in a shit load of work to make their character deep and memorable.

For reference, I'd love to see a Lalafell based on this guy:

He pretty much fits both options 2 and 4!

(06-24-2013, 09:50 PM)Rhostel Wrote: [ -> ]For reference, I'd love to see a Lalafell based on this guy:

He pretty much fits both options 2 and 4!

Hahahaha as much as I really do love Kung Fu (don't even get me started on it. Omfg, kung fu movies are sweet.) I was thinking more like a battle-hardened Toon Link from Wind Waker. Sword, shield, maybe some sweet gadgets (that would be played out as paladin magic) since lala are really smart and he has to find a way to close in on his enemy. Except instead of being a child, he'd have sideburns and full plate armor. His personality would be the one mentioned earlier as "the complete opposite of Ship".  Thinking Plainsfolk with tan skin, dirty blonde hair, blue or green eyes, and huge ass ears. I would RP him as Dunesfolk though probably (I just really want those sideburns).