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

Founded by former Director Shiori Eikitaika along with a personal friend of hers, the Artifice of Reason was created with one goal in mind: the pursuit of knowledge, unhindered by the sorts of restrictions imposed by more traditional, city-state sponsored institutions. Director Eikitaika and her friend had great boons left to them by a late mutual friend, including great funds with which to open the doors and a mansion which they hollowed out and turned into a headquarters for the organization.

Although its methods have drawn unfavorable attention at times, there is very little that money can’t buy in Ul’dah, and in exchange for some clever politicking, some pocket-lining, and official allegiance with the Immortal Flames as a sanctioned Free Company, its activities have been allowed to continue well into the Seventh Astral Era.

In the beginning, it was a small operation—in fact, throughout the Company’s history, it’s always been fairly small, and for a period of time under Director Eikitaika, the Artifice as an organization concerned itself greatly with protecting the knowledge that it had acquired. This was, in part, due to the methods used to acquire it: although hardly worse than the methods employed by most mercenary Free Companies operating under the banner of the Immortal Flames, the last thing that the fledgling Company needed was to attract ill repute among its peers—or worse, the ire of rivals.

The face presented to the public was, then, no less than squeaky-clean. As time went on, Director Eikitaika even went on to make the claim that the Artifice of Reason set out to set the pace of progress: an admirable goal, but one that she would not personally see the organization making good on. With personal obligations and aspirations looming on the horizon, it became apparent both to her and those around her that she could not dedicate the time or energy needed into running the Company and making good on that promise.

So she passed the torch.

And the rest of the story is yet unwritten.

The Artifice of Reason is a research institute-based Free Company. Though they once locked their secrets away in the depths of their Institute, the space now opens its doors to anyone with an interest in enriching their mind and pursuing the knowledge they covet so much. In that, they strive toward ever-greater heights. This is the principle that guides their research into medicine, into aetheric manipulation, into the marial arts, into terra incognita.

I mean, ideally we update this a bit more than bimonthly, but seeing as we have meetings every other week to have some realtalk and keep people on the same page, figured that bimonthly was a good start! ... Bimonthly as in twice a month. Is that right? Should it be biweekly instead? I always called it bimonthly. Biannual/biennial/semiannual. There are good reasons to hate the English language.

Recruitment is officially open! Well, recruitment was officially open when this thread was made, but it's super duper official now because I'm making a post about it and we have a news post about it too. We do have an application but it's mostly painless. All of that information and more can be found on our website! Or, even better: you can just contact any one of our officers in-game! Or send an ask to our Tumblr! Wow, there's really no shortage of ways to get in touch with us these days is there? The internet is amazing.

We're looking for allies! On an organizational level, of course; we have a small list of people we may be approaching in the near future to see if they're interested in maybe getting something going, but we'll welcome anyone who wants to toss their name into the hat as well. Inkeri Ivoryfang is the one who's in charge of the Allies LS formally I'm pretty sure, but seeing as he doesn't have an RPC account, you're more than welcome to go through me... Or anyone you can find in-game. Or our Tumblr! THE INTERNET IS AMAZING.

We are looking at planning a biweekly public event! We have a pretty good idea of what it would be, but those details are going to be ironed out in the coming days. When it's all finalized, look forward to hearing about it in the Events forum and on like every RP event calendar we can get our grubby little hands on. Look forward to more of my awesome Photoshop work.

In the meantime, have a Spiderman meme, because we like to use Spiderman memes as placeholder graphics when we're lazy. And lazy I am.

I'm interested in being an ally! My characters are Y'zhara Zekial and Liara Lia. But the character I really want to join on is Liara.

(04-20-2017, 03:39 AM)SapphireSkylines Wrote: I'm interested in being an ally! My characters are Y'zhara Zekial and Liara Lia. But the character I really want to join on is Liara.

Allies in concept are more of an organizational thing than an individual thing as I understand it, but I'll put a good word in for you! Inkeri is in charge of the Allies LS thing, so I'll defer to his and Shi's judgement on that one! We'd love to hear from you in the near future regarding that though!

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Mission Report Wrote:On the 22nd Sun of Nymeia's Moon, the following members of the Artifice of Reason convened to decide on a plan of action regarding the Tyrian Caravans and some illegal wares that will be passing through Thanalan over the course of the next moon:

I, the leader of this venture: Leonnaux Altoix;
Shiori Eikitaika, the Artifice Director;
Inkeri Ivoryfang, a fellow Board Member to Leonnaux;
and Soalean Monterey, a New Blood whose trial is of a similar nature.

We had a little planning event last night; it was pretty fun, and it's going to lead into a chain of events we're doing as part of a huge FC guild arc! (Or, multiple.) Read the full 'report' here!

Quote:The Artifice of Reason gathers to talk shop with regards to recent operations and progress on certain projects. By the graces of serendipity alone, one of the New Bloods turned out to be a blacksmith of enough skill to create some rods that were pitched as an idea – and the other turned out to be a mage who would be capable of testing them.

The Artifice of Reason gets up to mischief fairly often (you didn't hear it from me) but this time it's for a good cause -- this gathering was part of an event chain during which the Artifice's brilliant minds come together to brainstorm ideas on how to help some of Inkeri's buddies from back in the day super-murderize some Garleans. I don't think there's anyone in Eorzea who would deny us federal funding for an incredibly important project like that, right?! Not that we need funding, given some other things that are in the cards...

Those other things in the cards include a test of the XIV:Notes system that we devised to make DMing events consistent (mostly; the system is optional so I guess anyone in the FC could just do whatever they wanted if the mood struck them, but as someone who Totally Isn't Biased Because I Made It Or Anything, it's better if you do...). What form does this test take? Well, you see, I am a sucker. I also can't spell reconnaissance without spellcheck. So of course, we're doing a little bit of intel-gathering for an upcoming heist! ... But you didn't hear it from me.


We also have a public event... TODAY! Read more about it on Tumblr. There's also an RPC thread for it over here, which I'll bump up a bit when it gets closer to time!

Please look forward to it.

With less than month until Stormblood comes out, the Artifice of Reason has hardly faltered in its endeavors to set the pace of scientific advancement in Eorzea.

Leadership Update: Shiori Eikitaika and Inkeri Ivoryfang are now W'lefay Sheqa and W'saheena Sheqa. While they remain OOC leaders of the Company, these characters are not leaders IC. Shiori Eikitaika, the Director of the Artifice of Reason, remains on the server as an alt, while Inkeri Ivoryfang was unfortunately hit by the transfer lock and will not exist as an actual character on the server for the foreseeable future.

Artifice of Reason Exchange: There will be an Exchange held tomorrow, Friday, June 2 at 7:00 PM CST. Due to Stormblood Early Access, there will be no Exchange on June 16. What is the Artifice Exchange? Read more here or here. The June 2 confirmed attendees are here and here.

Allies LS: It exists. Read more about it on our tumblr page here; there is also a new tab of the opening post detailing it. The Artifice of Reason is always open to outside connections who are willing to join our Allies LS (OOC channel), and we've set up a separate Discord server for the purpose of keeping in touch outside of the game.

Hum...sounds interesting and mostly up my char's alley, though he/she has a tendency to like to share some things while hoarding others (books mostly, they have a massive book collection that will be shown better in their house come 4.0)

My char is mostly into Belah'dan and Nym civilizations but also has an interest in Allg with some history with it too. Been more or less FCless since September with my current FC claiming to be rp but not much does go on (i might if i go to the house a little more often lol)


I also do have a lovely house for researching at (Goblet, Ward 11, Plot 54)

(06-01-2017, 06:41 PM)Zanther Wrote: Hum...sounds interesting and mostly up my char's alley, though he/she has a tendency to like to share some things while hoarding others (books mostly, they have a massive book collection that will be shown better in their house come 4.0)

My char is mostly into Belah'dan and Nym civilizations but also has an interest in Allg with some history with it too. Been more or less FCless since September with my current FC claiming to be rp but not much does go on (i might if i go to the house a little more often lol)


I also do have a lovely house for researching at (Goblet, Ward 11, Plot 54)

Hello! Thank you for your interest in the Artifice of Reason. Mostly, as an FC we just hoard the more touchy stuff -- our methods of research are the main secret thing really -- so being more open with results and stuff (and hoarding books... Needless to say there is a lot of that to be done as well) isn't an issue. In fact, at our bimonthly event, the Artifice of Reason Exchange, we often sell the fruits of our research in an effort to stir up some connections and IC turn a profit (we do not ask for OOC gil for IC services). We have several characters interested in ancient civilizations as well -- Allag for the most part, though others come up from time to time.

If you're interested in the FC and have the time to drop by to the one we have tomorrow, then I highly recommend that you do. I won't be in attendance due to other obligations (and my character having nothing really to offer, as he's a researcher not a craftsman), but the other officers and several other members likely will be. Other than our bimonthly public event, we also have several plot events going on, one of which I'm in the process of planning the next phase of.

The Artifice's own HQ full of research nooks-and-crannies is located at The Goblet, Ward 7, plot 13 if you'd like to take a look around. There are some areas that are supposed to be restricted IC but if you just want to see how we've decorated then it shouldn't be an issue.

We look forward to hearing from you!

I will make sure to make it to the event tonight. THis might be what I'm looking for as my rp lately has been simi-directionless for the most part. I'd hate to leave the current FC as the leader really hopes I'd be a main part if the rp really gets going but I'm just not feeling it with them and might leave by end of the month if i like you guys

Unfortunately, Stormblood happened and we're just now coming down off the content hype and getting going with more RP stuff. Hey there! Your neighborhood friendly Board Member here with stuff and things!

ARTIFICE OF REASON EXCHANGES

As some people may be aware, the Artifice of Reason runs an event known as the Artifice Exchange every other Friday at the Gold Court. Unfortunately, it has become clear to us over time that we currently do not have the manpower (or interest) to run an event. But that doesn't mean we're going to call it quits, though! This Friday will be the last one for a while, but once we've done some recruitment and networked a bit as a Free Company, we intend to revisit the idea of a (bi)monthly event.

In the interests of doing this, we're going to try and branch out and attend other group's events. So if you see a cluster of <AoRRP> people dropping in, hey there! Some of these events will be attended as part of our Casual RP Thursdays that we like to do as an FC because we're sick of being cooped up in the house. Just because lots of us play nerd characters doesn't mean we gotta be locked up in the basement all the time...

RECRUITMENT PROCEDURES

Up until this point, we've been pretty lax with our recruitment procedures, so that will likely be changing soon. We are a lore-strict FC, but even given that we've been getting too hung up on what is possible and forgetting to really ask what is a good idea. That's more something that the officers are going to be worrying about, but fear not! With regards to lore, we understand that not everyone knows everything; hell, not even we know everything! We are willing to work with anyone who is willing to work with us, and we're totally willing to roll with things that explore lore-bendy things or gray areas of the lore, so long as it isn't outright broken, such as with, like... A character from 4000 years in the future of Final Fantasy XIII time-travelling and dimension-hopping into Eorzea or something. For that kind of thing, we probably would not be the FC for you.

The most significant change to the recruitment procedure that will actually affect new applicants is the addition of an OOC interview. Interview is probably a bad word; it's more of a conversation that gives the officers a chance to pick the brains of new people who might be coming in, get a firmer feel for them and their character (clear up any concerns they may have, asking what the character is like, what the person enjoys playing with, etc), and open that line of communication between officers and applicants before accepting people into the FC. This has the added bonus of showing people we don't bite! Promise!

UPCOMING EVENTS AND PLOTS

While the Artifice of Reason Exchanges are going to be discontinued after the one on this Friday (July 14), that doesn't mean that the Artifice is going to stop doing some pretty sweet RPs. We have designated Thursdays as our Casual RP Nights, where we have traditionally done some social stuff in our house but we are going to start attending others' events during this time as well! Screencaps and some choice quotes may be featured from this either here or on our Tumblr. Or both?


As well, we are beginning a large-scale FC plot that spring-boards off of a chain of events I ran in May, during which the Artifice actually got to plan and carry out a heist. Of course, it was a little too good to be true, and this upcoming plot event will deal with the... Aftermath, I suppose, would be the best word! It doesn't feel great to be counter-heisted, does it? Well, thankfully, revenge is a dish best-served cold.

(Our log forum, I believe, is unfortunately not available for guests to view, which I will look into changing because that is kind of silly even if there is an IC reason for it. However, heading into Scenario 02, I will ask for logs to be kept in Google Docs for the public's viewing pleasure.)

Our leader and one of our other members are also planning a trip to Othard, which is bound to be something. Please look forward to it!

A note was posted on the Notice Board, calling the members of the Company to action — and signed by a member of the Board: Leonnaux Altoix. A date was scribbled at the bottom, then stricken and replaced with a new one. A reason for this was not provided by the man himself, but several members of the Artifice met him in the basement at the appointed hour anyway: W'lefay Sheqa, W'saheena Sheqa, Mira Redde, and Soalean Monterey. Three New Bloods. A Full Member. And a singular member of the Board.

After briefly filling them in as to why he called the meeting, he led them to The Holding Cell, a room locked away deep within the Institute. Only the Vault was considered to be more secure prior to the break-in, with lingering enchantments and a myriad of physical barriers designed to keep whatever was inside, well, inside. A pale Hellsguard woman awaited them, sitting on the floor rather than in the chair that was provided (and bolted to the floor). A dark, bruise-like arcane seal had formed on her chest, with dark lines and tendrils reaching up to her throat.

W'lefay and W'saheena made contact first, with Mira simply observing. Leonnaux had tried to glean useful information from the prisoner already, to no avail given that he was “in a tizzy” at the time. W'lefay and W'saheena had more luck than he did, needless to say, offering her first sweets and then actual food upon learning of the poor quality of food that prisoners were provided. They promised to feed her (and bring her a table, since there was nowhere within the cell that was convenient to eat) if she answered their questions after they found a way to break the seal and free her from her ‘contract.’ Sleepy Ash agreed.

But for Soalean Monterey, this was not enough. She threatened the Hellsguard in an attempt to pry information out of her now, to get results as quickly as possible. Though the seal’s interference reduced Sleepy Ash into a coughing and wheezing heap, she kept pressing — and in the end, nearly came to blows with the Sheqa sisters. After accusing Leonnaux himself of orchestrating the robbery in the first place, he pressed her into leaving the room and doled out thanks and discipline to those who remained.



Free Company Scenario started off on a high note last night after being delayed for a week due to some life stuff!

The expertise of the Artifice’s research was required to discern the nature of the curse that has been placed on Sleepy Ash. W'saheena Sheqa, accompanied by Director Shiori Eikitaika, Caelenn Mhlar, and a tardy Board Member Leonnaux Altoix returned to the Holding Cell once more, this time with equipment and due caution with regards to what they were dealing with.

Though their visit was brief, they uncovered some vital information as to the nature of the arcane seal itself: that it was comprised of about a dozen layers of seals crafted carefully to achieve the desired effect and that said seals were etched into the skin using an alternative version of palladium ink that utilized the blood of a person as the medium rather than pine resin.



After being delayed by shitey wifi and college coursework, the log of the most recent FC Scenario event is finally here! Wew!

Along with some other updates! While due to the start of the academic year, the officers have been kind of slacking with meetings and the like, that doesn't mean that nothing important happened in the interim! (Aside from... being students.)

Allies LS: The Allies LS is no more. It didn't live up to the expectations that the officers had for it, so we decided to pull the plug. That doesn't mean we're no longer willing to collaborate with other groups, though; quite the opposite! If anyone is interested in working with us for something-or-another then by all means, let one of the officers know. We are: Leonnaux Altoix, W'lefay Sheqa, and W'saheena Sheqa!

We're going to do our damndest to get back on schedule with the OOC meetings starting next week so I'll have more important stuff to tell you guys probably. We're also looking at getting more RP going, so please look forward to screencaps and quotes and maybe even logs if we're feeling ambitious!

Oh, other interesting thing that I spaced on last week because Shi hadn't taken screencaps and updated our lore doc: we recently got around to redecorating the house! We will likely be tweaking it a little more in the coming days to get spooky for Halloween/All Saint's Wake, but for now, behold: The Artifice of Reason's Institute!


You can read about the Institute and its many rooms and areas in our lore write-up, found on our Shivtr forums! The curious are also free to poke around the house if they desire; it's located at: The Goblet, Ward 7, plot 13. IC some areas are members-only (such as the Basement), but there's no harm in popping in OOC to take a peek. There are some details that are best appreciated up-close! (Those empty display stands in the basement? Try /sit.)

Artifice of Reason Meeting - First Sun of Nald’thal’s Moon

Six moons after the company suspended formal meetings, Leonnaux kick-starts the routine again. During this meeting, New Blood Trials were assigned:

• To retrieve poisonous scales from the arcamoth, a vilekin as long as a man is tall from head to tail and larger when wingspan is taken into consideration. One of the more dangerous Trials ever assigned, three New Bloods were entrusted with this one task.
  To capture rare and elusive morpho butterflies for study and use in alchemical concoctions. Two New Bloods were given this Trial whom Leonnaux is confident will not repeat the sins of the distant past wherein members of the Company rashly killed that which they were meant to capture.
  
• To dismantle and reassemble one of the mammets employed by the Artifice and see that it is fully functional, as well as document the differences between the Artifice’s special models and the generic Mammet #001. Two New Bloods were assigned this Trial, though they’ve been forbidden from keeping the notes for personal use due to the fact that the actual blueprints to the Artifice’s mammets are only shared with those ranked Esteemed or higher…
  
• To capture an extremely toxic fish that recently killed a man for use in developing an antivenom. This task would be simple were it not for the aureliae that infest the area around where the original fish was captured. This task was assigned to one uniquely-qualified New Blood.
  

In addition to New Blood assignments, other ventures were announced: an excursion to the Dravanian Hinterlands to poke around the Great Gubal Library in search of any knowledge which might be helpful with regards to Sleepy Ash’s curse, led by Leonnaux and the Board, and a far more benign meet-up being hosted by W’lefay during the week that will feature good food cooked from scratch and the chance to get to know fellow company members.

Pictured, left to right: W’lefay Sheqa, W’saheena Sheqa, Ardun Wolfe, Leonnaux Altoix, Ahlia Wrenn, Mira Redde, Kamenosuke Hamasaki

It's been a while, but we're still kicking! Due to midterms and the like, the officers have all been a little swamped, but we've done our best to keep things going in spite of that!


SCENARIO UPDATE: This chapter of the pursuit of Matthias Carver has been one wrought with obstacles, the most recent of which being the gaps in the Artifice’s own knowledge-base. While there are, in the organization’s possession, countless volumes and writings over an equally-countless variety of subjects – they, glaringly, lacked the more esoteric texts that would be most useful in the unraveling of Sleepy Ash’s curse (or, admittedly, would be just plain interesting to have on hand).

Thus, Board Member Leonnaux Altoix arranged an outing to the greatest collection of knowledge in all of Eorzea: the Great Gubal Library. Though many texts were removed by the Sharalyans in their exodus from Eorzea as hostilities peaked with the Garlean Empire, countless texts remain on the shelves, guarded by sentinels and familiars crafted with guarded magicks or the voidsent and local wildlife who’ve taken up residence in the Library in the absence of any of its original keepers. These were the marks of the Artifice: texts both rare and forbidden left behind in the Exodus.

The Library was, of course, far too vast for any one or two people to explore and traverse alone; instead, the members in attendance split into two groups of three, and embarked on different paths: Ardun Wolfe, Ahlia Wrenn, and Kamenosuke Hamasaki diving into the well-guarded depths of the forbidden vaults below the library, and Leonnaux Altoix, Lyrin’li Sajuuk, and W’lefay Sheqa headed toward the uppermost levels of the library.

Read the full scenario update here!



W'lefay Sheqa also has a plotline going, entitled Swan Song⸻

Following a string of clues to the entrance of Amdapor Keep, the Artifice was first confronted by a Xaela man clad in enchanted armor, who upon defeat in a (somewhat one-sided) duel, said that he would be back with an offer for the Artifice. A few weeks later, he made good on that promise: he arrived at the Institute injured and hungry and gave the Artifice a monumentally important task, for which they are promised to be paid well...

Read about The Test here!
Read about The Offer here!


Until next time! As usual, we are actively recruiting -- and we'd love to make connections outside of the FC as well!