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Ashana · **06-24-2015, 10:05 AM**

Help RPC! First off, please excuse this post as it's being done through my phone.

I would like to ask, basically, the thoughts on everyone concerning the Doman nobility and the possibility of RPing add a member of said class. I personally have the plan of RPing as such on my Raen and figured it might be a good idea to bounce this idea of a few heads and see if maybe there could be a built community of such RPers (if there isn't already)

I look forward to what people have to say and am a bit curious on where interest well lie.

Thanks!

***Nero*** · **06-24-2015, 10:16 AM**

It'd be a bit of a stretch simply because we have zero idea of how Doman society actually works beyond very small tidbits. The names are based on 16th to 18th century Japan but there's no indication if their society is based on the same period. The closest equivalent to an aristocracy would be a kuge but again, there's no way of telling if the Domans actually have such a class within their society.

Ashana · **06-24-2015, 10:36 AM**

I'm kinda failing to see how it'd be a stretch, we know it's based culture and aesthetics on Japan, and every nation has some form of social hierarchy in the game so it could be assumed easily. The big wrench is Garlemald but though they conquered we know that this wasn't an always do social structures could still exist, if not in actual bit in perceived.

***Nero*** · **06-24-2015, 11:12 AM**

By all means, I think it's a fine and plausible idea and you should go ahead with it. I haven't seen the idea yet so I fully encourage it; even so, if you wanted to be detailed with it, you'll have to make a lot of assumptions about Doma's system. We do know it's based on Japan, yes, but on which period of Japan? Anywhere from Heian period at the earliest and Edo period at the latest, which is a huge range with the potential to have notably different social structures.

Is Doma a feudal society? Was there an emperor, shogun, or daimyo that ruled Doma to answer to? Was there more than one daimyo? Were wealthy merchant classes considered as nobility, or did only hereditary families hold court influence? Was there a court at all? Did the nobles own land? If so, where? In the Kamakura period of Japan, Kuge where divided into six groups. Does Doma follow the same system? Which group did the family fall under? Was there tension between the samurai class and the nobility?

I'll fully admit that none of these details matter (Really, all you have to say is "<x> is descended from Doman aristocracy" and any issues resolve themselves) in any significant capacity so you really can just ignore them, but detail is always nice to have.

Ashana · **06-24-2015, 11:37 AM**

I agree that detail is a very good thing to have, I suppose though when you're dealing with a society that is conquered, razed, and now refugees, a lot falls to the wayside and raises more questions. What makes it "better" is that Doma is a further away land, unlike Ala Mhigo, which makes it that much harder. Short of asking the lore team themselves it might be necessary to have the community fill in the blanks which is another can of worms but could be fun to start to do.

Either way it just amounts to old history no longer very important, but is still great for story building and maybe culture reconstruction amongst the Doman RP community.

Aduu Avagnar · **06-24-2015, 12:01 PM**

(06-24-2015, 11:37 AM)Ashana Wrote: I agree that detail is a very good thing to have, I suppose though when you're dealing with a society that is conquered, razed, and now refugees, a lot falls to the wayside and raises more questions. What makes it "better" is that Doma is a further away land, unlike Ala Mhigo, which makes it that much harder. Short of asking the lore team themselves it might be necessary to have the community fill in the blanks which is another can of worms but could be fun to start to do.

Either way it just amounts to old history no longer very important, but is still great for story building and maybe culture reconstruction amongst the Doman RP community.

The only thing is that you may have to be prepared for a helluva lot of retconning should anything happen with us either going to Doma or a lorebomb.

Ultimately I would simply play it off as an aristocrat and keep the details vague for that reason.

Marisa · **06-24-2015, 10:24 PM**

Doma's been burnt to the ground. You may be noble-born, but your title means nothing when it relies on the authority of a dead nation.

Moonlit · **06-24-2015, 10:29 PM**

We have someÂ lore on Doman 'nobility' through the au ra naming conventions.Â

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Their nobility / ruling system can be assumed based on that.

Gone. · **06-24-2015, 10:34 PM**

Seeing this thread reminds me that Foxglove's childhood fantasy was to fall in love with a Doman princess. Even gives me hope that maybe one day it'll actually come true for her, heh.

I say go for it. You have more than enough information to create a plausible character of reasonable nobility from the likes of Doma. It's just Eorzea's equivalent of period Japan; if you can't build off of something with that rich of a history, then the problem lies elsewhere, methinks.

Faye · **06-24-2015, 10:35 PM**

(06-24-2015, 10:24 PM)Ryoko Wrote: Doma's been burnt to the ground. You may be noble-born, but your title means nothing when it relies on the authority of a dead nation.

^ This, basically. We do learn from the naming conventions that the warriors and soldiers had some status over the tradesmen. Your character could easily come from a noble family, but her status and title would be lost and all but meaningless in Eorzea, even perhaps to most of her countrymen.

Moonlit · **06-24-2015, 10:42 PM**

More on topic with my opinion on it? Eh.Â I am technically roleplaying a character that would have been considered ruling class. However, she by no means enforces or speaks about it. It's likely that you'll receive mixed reviews. Some people will love the idea, others won't, and there will be the few that go either way. Some Domans might still bow to the ruling class (we see from plentyÂ of NPCs that many Domans are still stuck in their traditional ways). We also may have those that are like, "Pfft that was back then, we're in a new world now!"Â

Nobility is always a 'tricky' thing to play. Some people just don't like others having more 'power' over them based on social status (or lack thereof). A Doman noble may be more respected than a commoner amongst those with money, they also could be cast aside as, "Just another refugee." I'd say go with it, but be prepared to receive a mix of interactions, from both Domans and non-Domans alike. The only suggestion I'd give is to try and avoid making people feel like you're only claiming nobility to hoist your character above theirs.Â

shotgunbadger · **06-24-2015, 10:56 PM**

(06-24-2015, 10:24 PM)Ryoko Wrote: Doma's been burnt to the ground. You may be noble-born, but your title means nothing when it relies on the authority of a dead nation.

Yea this is the most important thing about this concept. I think it's totally fine to play an 'aristocrat' type, but you need to remember if you're Doman, you do not have a home. So you may be a noble who was tutored and trained in nobility, but your name means absolutely nothing even to your own people considering even if you did go home and fight the Garleans away, you still are going home to rubble. This is one of the few things about that area Square has been pretty crystal clear on, there is, politically speaking, no more Doman people, there are refugees of the fallen city state of Doma.

allgivenover · **06-24-2015, 11:04 PM**

My Raen was "ruling class".

All this means really is that she grew up with advantages most common folk don't, and is probably used to getting her way and being treated with respect - since people of higher social status always are.

You don't really have to stretch far to RP it.

Meena · **06-24-2015, 11:54 PM**

I actually role play this aspect of it - not nobility, but a wealthy merchant family who now have to learn with being dirt poor and homeless in Eorzea. It does bring its own troubles, as we dont know what arts and what activities the doman public enjoyed. However we know they kept at least part of their ancient language alive through naming convention.

Caspar · **06-25-2015, 03:34 AM**

(06-24-2015, 11:04 PM)allgivenover Wrote: My Raen was "ruling class".

All this means really is that she grew up with advantages most common folk don't, and is probably used to getting her way and being treated with respect - since people of higher social status always are.

You don't really have to stretch far to RP it.

That is more interesting in my opinion than playing an established noble. All the talk of Doma being dead only encourages me more. The displaced nobles who suddenly have to live among the revolting peasantry who were clearly treated unequally given what we know about Doman naming lore. The warrior aristocrat unable to kill themselves (We know seppuku is a thing from some of Karasu's lines in the NIN storyline.) even after failing their nation because suddenly they don't have it made and their community is relying on them to turn swords to plowshares. This is fertile ground, as is often the case after a forest is burnt.

Even if you stretch the lore a little to add medieval Japanese hobbies or skills to your character, I feel they're plausible enough, if no sweeping statements about it being common knowledge to Domans are made, to likewise sweep it under the rug if later contradicted by lore. Say your character says some Japanese idiom that is situationally appropriate, but may have been born of context that's not strictly canon to Doma in FFXIV. By being vague, you can blur the line between a particular idiom your character said because you felt it fit the situation, and what is actually canon and known to all Domans. By controlling the amount of information that is delivered, you can suddenly change it to having been just an idiom your character knows rather than a common Doman one as previously insinuated in earlier rp.

The nature of their failed rebellion and the razing is central to most of my plot threads. I've done what I can to cheat my way around the ambiguous lore. Character are often peasants and not privy to the upper society and political structure. My character is simultaneously "Doman" and yet an outsider, so new facts can come in without seeming like something she should have known all along. The NPCs from my storyline are essentially terrorists, serial killers and what amount to black ops in many different separate cases, and thus I can be as vague about their backgrounds and history as need be, adding new info as lore is revealed. If a retcon becomes necessary, it's not hard to add to it and still maintain the basic themes and dramatic content of my story. If you wish to play a noble from Doma, you can abide by these tricks and use them to avoid awkward retconning, but you trade some freedom in subject matter by not freely developing non-canon world lore for yourself. I did some of that myself, but to make things easier, I tried to limit that to a single minor location that seems plausible given the setting.

That being said, if the warriors were the aristocracy, I wonder if it'd be plausible that the merchants are oppressed and disrespected (at least openly) by them in Doma as they were at times in feudal Japan. A wealthy merchant family might actually adjust pretty well to Eorzean society if they live in Ul'dah... Basically, I just want to keep things in my rp mutable so I'm ready when new lore comes out. I figure if you want to play a noble, that will be useful to you as well.

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Doman Nobility and RPing As

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes