I've done setting ports before (three of my eight characters are setting ports, sshhh) and I usually break it down like this:
So not what... the story is about, but what it means?
So like... one of my characters, in his original setting, was royalty. But he lost his kingdom to an aggressive invading force when he was 12, managed to escape to live with foreign royalty, but he'd basically lost his family and his home. His allies managed to win the capital back, and by the time he came of age he was able to be coronated in his old city. But his whole life is plagued with fears of losing that which he'd gained (a wife and child), especially once his wife is assassinated - so he pours ALL that anxiety into his son. His son, predictably, does not react well.
The version of him I roleplay in FFXIV isn't royalty. Because while the story is about a prince who loses his kingdom, its deeper meaning is just a story about a boy who loses everything and then struggles through adulthood with the trauma left behind. Maybe I could've gone about constructing some sort of means where he could've been a tribe leader in his homeland and had his territory taken or something but... I didn't need to? I just needed to give him something important, that he would lose at a young age, and then spend the rest of his life trying to fill the hole that was left in his heart. So I did [dead parents as the original trauma, the "hope rekindled" being a loving family, half of which then died & he drove the rest away through his panicked, controlling behaviour].
IDK anything about the setting you're coming from, but rather than ways to get the crests themselves, I'd think about what they mean to the character you're basing yours off - what do they symbolise? What traits about them is it that makes them important to your character? It's usually possible to find things which motivate the character in similar ways without being exactly the same.
Finding the balance between "still looks/feels like the character I'm inspired by" and "blends nicely with the setting" is the thing you're aiming for, and replacing the plot devices - that keep your character's development moving forward in their original setting - with something native to XIV is a good way to start to accomplish it, at least in my experience.
So not what... the story is about, but what it means?
So like... one of my characters, in his original setting, was royalty. But he lost his kingdom to an aggressive invading force when he was 12, managed to escape to live with foreign royalty, but he'd basically lost his family and his home. His allies managed to win the capital back, and by the time he came of age he was able to be coronated in his old city. But his whole life is plagued with fears of losing that which he'd gained (a wife and child), especially once his wife is assassinated - so he pours ALL that anxiety into his son. His son, predictably, does not react well.
The version of him I roleplay in FFXIV isn't royalty. Because while the story is about a prince who loses his kingdom, its deeper meaning is just a story about a boy who loses everything and then struggles through adulthood with the trauma left behind. Maybe I could've gone about constructing some sort of means where he could've been a tribe leader in his homeland and had his territory taken or something but... I didn't need to? I just needed to give him something important, that he would lose at a young age, and then spend the rest of his life trying to fill the hole that was left in his heart. So I did [dead parents as the original trauma, the "hope rekindled" being a loving family, half of which then died & he drove the rest away through his panicked, controlling behaviour].
IDK anything about the setting you're coming from, but rather than ways to get the crests themselves, I'd think about what they mean to the character you're basing yours off - what do they symbolise? What traits about them is it that makes them important to your character? It's usually possible to find things which motivate the character in similar ways without being exactly the same.
Finding the balance between "still looks/feels like the character I'm inspired by" and "blends nicely with the setting" is the thing you're aiming for, and replacing the plot devices - that keep your character's development moving forward in their original setting - with something native to XIV is a good way to start to accomplish it, at least in my experience.
![[Image: tUzrT.png]](https://puu.sh/tUzrT.png)
