Hydaelyn Role-Players

.... multiple linkpearls? You only have two ears, and can join up to eight shells.

... indoor plumbing? Are there showers and flushing toilets in your version of Eorzea?

... travelling from city to city? Do you RP using the aethryte crystals? Or do you RP travel between town as actually taking time?

... electricity? Can my character make a pot of coffee in the morning, or is she sol? :p

More questions to come if I think of them...

I RP with words!

...

What, no? That's not what you wanted? Oh.

Linkpearls - storage! You certainly wouldn't want to listen to everyone constantly.

Indoor plumbing - For the more industrialized cities, yes. Certainly for places like Ul'dah and Limsa, possibly for classy towns such as Wineport. If I recall correctly, there is actually a sewage system in Mists, the housing district outside Limsa Lominsa, which implies some sort of waste containment technology. Gravity flush toilets are fairly simple constructions technology-wise (no mechanical parts involved) and might be necessary to maintain sanitation in large urban environments. It's entirely possible that outside these cities, there is no indoor plumbing, however.

Travel - Were I roleplaying a character more similar to the adventurers as described in PC stories, I'd likely employ aetheryte crystals. However, I'm not, and so my roleplay tends to incorporate significant travel time between locations. Ultimately, what modes of transportation your character has access to depends on your character's standing in society. I don't think everyone has the ability to attune with aetherytes, as that seems like it would require significant aetheric capacity and understanding.

Electricity - This one I'm not so sure about. There are lamps and such in-game, but it's more likely that they're oil lamps, not electric. If your character wants to make a pot of coffee, they'll probably need to start up a wood stove, or light a magical fire, if they are so inclined.

(09-12-2013, 12:38 PM)Magellan Wrote: [ -> ].... multiple linkpearls? You only have two ears, and can join up to eight shells.

... indoor plumbing? Are there showers and flushing toilets in your version of Eorzea?

... travelling from city to city? Do you RP using the aethryte crystals? Or do you RP travel between town as actually taking time?

... electricity? Can my character make a pot of coffee in the morning, or is she sol? :p

More questions to come if I think of them...

 1. I guess you'd switch them out, right? Keep them in a pearl sack? But honestly, how would you tell the difference...?!

 2. This has always bothered me about games. WHERE ARE THE BATHROOMS?! I'm pretty sure those little things outside the Cantina in Nar Shadaa (SWTOR, I know I'm ruining the name) were porta-potties. Pretty sure. There are also outhouses in WoW but apparently the HORDE doesn't ever use the bathroom -or- they just go in the streets because I've yet to see a bathroom anywhere. Are there toilets? Do they go the old fashioned Roman way, in holes in the ground with great plumbing but they use sticks instead of toilet paper? Do they do the European thing with chamber pots? CAN YOU BUILD AN AIRSHIP AND NOT A FLUSHING TOILET?! Who knows...?

Also, when do they get a chance to bathe? I'm honestly afraid of mentioning Siobhain's bodily functions, though I haven't been before. On a female Orc. She drank a lot so she commonly snarled 'I need to go flood the river' and just wandered off. I never thought too hard about where because I'm sure it would just aggravate me.

 3. Siobhain hates Chocobos. Rather, she hates -riding- Chocobos so she walks nearly everywhere (until I get a Coeurl). Otherwise, I'm sure she'd use the aetheryte crystal if she had to be somewhere quickly, but it probably makes her a bit uncomfortable.

 4. There's magic, but whether or not magic can be used for household items like a stove or a microwave or something doesn't seem very likely. You'd think it would be but honestly it seems like they've made big things in an effort towards progress (airships) but don't worry too much about the little things because life's still a bit too difficult to be thinking about how to get that can out of the fridge without getting up.

- Linkpearls: I haven't really touched upon them in role-play, though I'm not opposed to using them/seeing them used provided it doesn't end up being abused for the sake of meta-gaming and avoiding consequences.

- Plumbing: Not something I'd touch upon either, honestly. The way I see it there would be a sewer system in pretty much every major settlement, though the poorer areas would likely be filthier than the richer areas.

- Travel: My character will be traveling by foot or by ship. It's confirmed in the canon lore that airship use is very restricted due to the threat of vessels being shot down by Garlean forces. It wouldn't sit well with me to have J'hared fly from Gridania to Limsa Lominsa just because he wants a holiday in Costa del Sol. He'd just get a ship or walk and hopefully encounter some intriguing role-play on the way.

- Electricity: There's a quest in Limsa Lominsa involving putting oil in street lamps so I'm reluctant to consider electricity to be a widespread thing. I can envision the core of a lightning sprite being used to power something, though I doubt it'd be a widespread practice with common folk due to how dangerous acquiring one would be. Then there's magitek technology which likely uses electricity, but that's not widespread outside of the Garlean's domain.

*Linkpearls: No true issue. Aslong people don't abuse their power in RP for some inane reason.

*Plumbing: Hehe. This is something I have had a beef with games for a very long time. Usually I just depict an idea of a restroom appropriate for that game out of nowhere. It's RP, gotta use your imagination sometimes. In more "Fantasy" styled settings, usually its a outhouse or just dig-a-hole. In futuristic places-like Firefall/SWTOR/Wildstar, bathrooms better be everywhere in those cities. 

*Travel: Usually I try to make the travel rather IC, hoping to catch people in a RP scene on the way maybe. And it would take time to reach the location. I'm not going to touch on Aetherite though. 

*Electricity: I don't really think that they have electricity in Eorzea, and if so, its very limited. Only the most rich or powerful could have access to it.

I'd say that multiple linkpearls would be handled by some sort of amulet or earring. That way, it's kind of like a radio with multiple channels. Tap the pearl you want to reply to, but it magically sorts out the incoming transmissions so you can understand them all.

And if you REALLY have to handle the question of plumbing then you're demanding a level of immersion that quite frankly makes me go "ew". Having indoor bathrooms and plumbing in the large cities certainly makes sense, and in some of the larger villages even. But I have no desire to RP out the aftereffects of a evening of drinking except as an excuse to take a quick break IRL.

Travel, on the other hand... That's up to the people. Some would be comfortable taking the air ferry over presumably well-guarded routes. Others would turn to the aetherite crystals. It all depends on what you want.

And I'd say that unless you're using magitech, there is no electricity outside of lightning spells and the odd Pikachu knockoff. You want your morning coffee? Start a fire. However, I would say that there's nothing against using magic the same way. It may not be explicitly called out in the game, but some sort of "heatstone" that won't catch things on fire but let you cook food and not freeze to death? Gardania would be all over that. This sort of thing is probably EXPENSIVE, though. So unless you're playing a magical artificer, then I'd save it for when you strike it rich.

Do pearls go -inside- the ear or... are they like... earrings? Do you just squish it in there?

I think of them like a earbud.

(09-12-2013, 01:11 PM)shdwsng Wrote: [ -> ]And if you REALLY have to handle the question of plumbing then you're demanding a level of immersion that quite frankly makes me go "ew". Having indoor bathrooms and plumbing in the large cities certainly makes sense, and in some of the larger villages even. But I have no desire to RP out the aftereffects of a evening of drinking except as an excuse to take a quick break IRL.

Yes, I do think about this sort of thing :p I would never 'demand' a certain level of immersion from anyone, but as for myself, I find it enjoyable. When my character goes to bathe I think; shower? Bath with running water? Bath with supplied water? Bucket that char pours over themselves? River and/or spring?


These little things help tip me off about the state of technology in Eorzea in general, and sometimes I'm a little shaky on what does and doesn't exist in ARR

(09-12-2013, 01:12 PM)Siobhain Wrote: [ -> ]Do pearls go -inside- the ear or... are they like... earrings? Do you just squish it in there?

I always treat them like ear-mics from heist movies and all, push em in the ear.

As for travel I personally don't RP the crystals but I obviously acknowledge they exist and that others chose to use them. For me my characters just wouldn't use them. Zutoto is a wanderer who thinks the crystals kill the fun of it, Drunken Comet is a very traditionalist Hellsguard who thinks they're not to be trusted and my Miqo'te thinks they're just insane much like how in early Star Trek stuff you had people afraid of transporters.

For plumbing and electricity, plumbing yes but only in major 'modern' areas, electricity no, most of the lamps and such look like oil lamps to me.

(09-12-2013, 12:54 PM)Siobhain Wrote: [ -> ]1. I guess you'd switch them out, right? Keep them in a pearl sack? But honestly, how would you tell the difference...?!

Paint them different colors, like keys! ...Attach each to a different earring? Keep them in a jewelry box and hope nobody mixes them up?

Linkpearls, for all your IC mistell needs.

PS all you need to make a pot of coffee is fire, a pot (ok, two pots), water, cloth, and coffee powder (and sugar, if you don't take it black). So fear not! Your character can make a pot of coffee in the morning.

Based on how our characters raise their hands and place their fingers somewhere on the top side of the ear, I'd say they are earrings of some sort.

Quote:.... multiple linkpearls? You only have two ears, and can join up to eight shells.

I treat linkpearls as tiny radios. You can change their 'frequency', so to speak, and get to hear and talk in different channels with minimal fuzz as long as you are told how to do so (it probably involves some magic capabilities, but this is a high-magic world).
To be a bit more specific and lore-worthy, I consider that linkpearls are attuned to each other, pretty much the same way a person can attune theirselves to the aetherytes. It's just a matter of tapping into the aether inside the pearl to change which one it gets to gear, as long as it has been attuned to the others.

Having them on a purse can probably work, too, but it's more messy of a justification.

Quote:... indoor plumbing? Are there showers and flushing toilets in your version of Eorzea?

Eorzea has airships and very complex contraptions. It stands to reason that the cities (except Gridania) would have at the very least basic plumbing.

Quote:... travelling from city to city? Do you RP using the aethryte crystals? Or do you RP travel between town as actually taking time?

It depends on the character. The existence of the aetherytes is a bit confusing: they are obviously pretty damn important, with nations placing them on critical locations. However, it's not clear what the payment needed to teleport from one to the other really means. (Is it just a gameplay gilsink? A representation of reagents needed?) It's also obvious that not every avereage Joe use them, as there's still carts, chocobo routes, airships and ferries that transport people around. This tells me two things:
First, there's some sort of economic or knowledge 'gate' that avoids common people from using them on a regular basis. If I had to take a guess, I'd say the payment is a representation of a tax the character pays when arriving at the location. The aetherytes probably have a limited (if large) pool of aether from which their teleportation capabilities are extracted from, and this tax would be used to mantain the aetheryte working.
Second, it tells me that any common Joe can use the aetherytes, at least with training. If common troops require years of magical expertise to be able to use them, then the city-states would have no reason at all to keep the aetherytes around (since it's implied they are used by adventurers and troops to move around quickly).

Quote:... electricity? Can my character make a pot of coffee in the morning, or is she sol?

It's implied in the main storyline that the Garleans have electricity (and even radio signals), though it's tied to the Thunder aspect of aether. So, in Eorzea, electricity is an element and, as such, it can be used for all kinds of things and contraptions.
With that said, Eorzea, contrary to the Empire, is a bit low on the technology end, so it's unlikely you'll see electricity/thunder powered contraptions...
On the other hand, mages can probably make them and just zap them with lighting everytime they want to use them.

I agree plumbing seems reasonable when they're capable of making flying contraptions, since plumbing is more a matter of engineering than technology. Gridania does seem unlikely to have plumbing, but for me more because of their attunement to nature than anything. I can't imagine them being very partial to sewer systems that would drop waste into clean water.

(09-12-2013, 01:58 PM)Lament Wrote: [ -> ]I can't imagine them being very partial to sewer systems that would drop waste into clean water.

Sewer systems are far cleaner than simply dumping waste wherever, especially since it means you can contain the waste and treat it, if their society has access to such knowledge.

(09-12-2013, 02:09 PM)Naunet Wrote: [ -> ]

(09-12-2013, 01:58 PM)Lament Wrote: [ -> ]I can't imagine them being very partial to sewer systems that would drop waste into clean water.

Sewer systems are far cleaner than simply dumping waste wherever, especially since it means you can contain the waste and treat it, if their society has access to such knowledge.

It depends. Dumping waste wherever in a city is unclean, but Gridania doesn't even have pavement - it's a city, sure, but it's also pretty much integrated into the forest, and around it there's earth and grass and trees as far as you can see. Waste is a natural fertilizer and though it's never particularly pleasant, it's not as out of place in a forest setting as it would be in a city. They seem more likely to bury their waste than feel the need to find a way to contain or treat it.