(04-14-2015, 12:33 PM)Tiergan Wrote: I would strongly vote against running with assumptions or guesses individual roleplayers might have on what the cultural background of the Ala Mhigans might be like based upon real-world cultures. Â No two groups of roleplayers will likely agree and it might limit the turn out for your event.I Appreciate this very much Tiergan. And I think pretty much everything you mentioned will probably be used. I had not considered using it as a common and current history basing them on that instead of as a cultural basis.
The most we could possibly know regarding real-world cultural inspiration is that highlander's first names are Germanic or Normandic at their roots -- but we don't know if the actual culture of Ala Mhigo itself necessarily falls in line with that. Â Elezen have French names, but the Elezen certainly don't really have many (if any at all) cultural similarities to the French. Â (And they honestly probably only gave the Elezen french names because the Elvaan in FFXI had very obvious French roots.)
Instead, it would be much better to use all the things that have already been presented to us in the lore:
- We know they were a technological advanced military nation living in the highlands of Gyr Albania that often sent forces out to conquer the west even as it was repelling attacks from the east.
- Gyr Albania was historically beset by warfare and conflict -- likely leading to why Ala Mhigo became such a military powerhouse to begin with.
- We know Ala Mhigo was home to the Fists of Rhalgr, monks and war priests whose power became so expansive, they were eventually incorporated into the nation's standing army and Rhalgr the Destroyer became the city's patron god.
- Ala Mhigo once had greatly influential Lancer legions that favored the longspear - which were well known to be effective against the mounted units of Ishgard.
- They had a mostly hyuran highlander population with a much smaller population of elezen, lalafell, miqo'te and roegadyn mixed in.
- We know that the Highlanders are a warring race and their last names tend to sound more violent, as they will often adopt the colorful nicknames they have earned during battle.
- The biggest chunk of history we know is about the actual fall of Ala Mhigo itself and the last king of Ala Mhigo was King Theodoric - also known as the King of Ruin. Â He was paranoid tyrant who crushed any hint of opposition, eventually changing the patron god of Ala Mhigo from Rhalgr to Nymeia and naming himself chosen for the throne by Nymeia herself. Â (Thus making him king by 'divine-will'). Â He outlawed all worship and likenesses of the rest of the Twelve, including Rhalgr - and demanded all prayer and worship go to Nymeia instead.
Once he successfully baited the Fists of Rhalgr into rallying against him, he had the Fists utterly crushed and nearly wiped out by the Ala Mhigan military. Â He then went about beheading every possible member of the royal family who could be a threat to his throne. Â Once there were none left to challenge him, he turned upon the nobility and merchant class who might have the power to turn against him. Â His paranoia grew to the point where he eventually had beheaded everyone from his own wife (who eventually sympathized with her people and tried to orchestrate regicide to end her husband's killing spree) to randomly executing beggars on the streets. No one was safe.
His horrible reign as King is credited as one of the main reasons why Garlemald was eventually able to finally able to conquer Ala Mhigo as by the time the Garleans had arrived - the city was practically in the midst of a civil war with no leadership or solidarity. Â It's said that some Ala Mhigans even welcomed the Garleans in as saviors from their Mad King before they realised what was truly at stake.
There's also some concept art of what the city itself looks like, but since it's just early stage concept work, we don't know how much of it actually got the green-light and whether it's what Ala Mhigo will actually look like when we finally get to see it in game.
From here, you can craft events surrounding these aspects of the lore.
Sporting/martial events could be linked to fist-fighting (Monks of Rhalgr), the use of longspears (like the Lancer legion), or just dueling and combat (because it was a pretty warlike area to begin with).
You could have a bragging/storytelling area where people tell their most impressive combat/fighting/war exploits. Â This is based upon the fact that Highlanders' last names are nicknames earned from battle - which suggests they might place importance on memorable acts from combat.
You could have an area that places an emphasis upon Rhalgr, explaining the details of the god and other events surrounding him. Â
You could have a historian (Sounsyy? :O) talk about the history of the nation and things like the Autumn War, famous historical figures like General Gylbarde, etc.
You could have some kind of game where people throw knives at a representation of King Theodric's head and then set it on fire at the end of the event.
There's plenty of ideas you can pull from the lore - even though there's not too much of it.
