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Eva · **07-31-2013, 12:38 PM**

This has been kind of a complicated point for our LS/FC as well. Â I can just rattle off a bit about what we're doing and maybe it might help you figure out some ideas for your own group, or if you have any questions or I can explain anything any further I'd be glad to clarify.

The history is a bit lengthy and admittedly a little bit off-topic but it still might help, so I'm going to drop it under a spoiler tag:

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SpoilerCrystalline as a linkshell was originally something that Eva's father had had created a few decades ago when he was living in Ishgard and maintained ownership of throughout the years. Â This is something that he and a few [now more elderly] characters had used back in their "glory days" to keep in communication with each other. Â It was never any sort of formalized company or anything more than a group of friends who leaned upon one another during some tough times of their own that the previous generation faced.

Throughout the course of 1.0 pearls were somewhat randomly dispensed by Eva to those she considered to be friends. Â She had been a part of a number of communities, some of which were a bad fit for her but she wanted to keep in contact with friends she had made, and other companies didn't stand the test of time for whatever reason. Â Towards the end of 1.0 she was heavily invested in a group called Everwatch as a sort of assistant to its leader Oskar. Â When he was feared dead after particular events the company disbanded, but more of these pearls were distributed to the members in order to preserve friendships and the bonds of camradarie. Â At that time there was little sense to trying to breathe new life into a company because Dalamud was swollen in the sky and people were panicking. Â So the little blue pearl that her father had given her before passing away wound up being handed out as a way for people to hear the comfort of their friends' voices during what looked to be tough times.

And then the Calamity happened and all the pearls stopped working. Â Eva herself was pulled into this time rift along with a number of other members. Â Some members remained behind though and survived throughout the five years. Â They have their own stories and those characters have seen marked changes as well, from what I have come to understand.

Now five years later the people that were safely removed from that battlefield are beginning to re-appear in Eorzea - confused, disoriented. Â They're finding that their homes have been destroyed, or reappropriated, and that life has gone on for five years without them. Â And for many of our characters that's been a tough pill to swallow. Â They're meeting with slightly-older versions of characters they once knew, but are finding that they're not being recognized. Â And amidst all of this, some of the older "original" elder members are making their presense known as well.

So we have a lot of interesting sort of interactions now where Eva's still adapting to the change in environment, adjusting to people she knew from only a month or two ago [from her perspective] exhibiting five years worth of change and in many cases having to convince them she is who she claims to be since there is that fuzziness of memory being exhibited by many - and it's not always quick for that realization/recognition to sort of 'click'. Â And some newer folks have been rolled in as friends of friends and such. Â And the old timers are kind of back offering their advice and sort of gently trying to nudge Eva along the path they think her father might have wanted. Â And some who shared the time jump experience are just finding solace in each others' experience, or trying to help find other friends who may have gone missing, or dealing with that uncertainty of not knowing whether their friends, lovers, or family are alive or dead.

Somehow this will give way to an actual company forming with Eva (not a natural leader herself) at the helm somehow, but for right now there's just too many really wonderful sorts of interactions to explore first and it would be a shame to kind of rush through all of this chaos for the sake of hastening the company's formation.

I've been RPing a lot, both in P3 beta and along various Skype channels in a multitude of settings. Â I wouldn't say so much that Eva's been trying to get from Point A to a concrete Point B. Â Instead I would say we have sort of a direction we're moving in, and certain events and interactions push her in that direction, while others might pull her in a slightly different direction. Â That whole ambiguity thing has been kind of fun for us though.

It sounds like maybe you should discuss the issue with your members in some detail - perhaps explain where you're stuck now and where you'd like to end up and brainstorm some plausible ways to at least move in that general direction. Â Folks who stayed behind may have "forgotten" the faces of those Warriors of Light who disappeared for five years, but you might have some success in trying to jog their memory in-character. Â One good example of this might be a character doesn't believe at first that FriendX is who she says she is. Â After explaining, there is still doubt. Â Then she makes mention of something that only FriendX could have known, and there is a moment of eureka, like that face gets linked back to that character, and its like the one missing puzzle piece fills in all the gaps. Â Or it can be done differently such that a stay-behind character might have to trust that FriendX is telling the truth, and that sort of wariness that may need to be overcome could then become a part of their new relationship, in and of itself. Â There are a lot of really great things you can do with it.

I would love to see an NPC who is like the wife of an NPC Warrior of Light - to see how she might react to her husband's return. Â Or a quest whereby you have to go fetch some items or do some questy things to help him prove to her that he is who he says he is. Â I think that would be really fun, and also sort of cement down the idea that a WoL can sort of return to one of the stay-behind's memory through some sort of deed that proves it. Â But... sadly this is not the case yet, or at least not that I've seen at all. Â Perhaps in ARR we may see something like this or it may be explained to us in greater detail.

Sorry for all my rambling here, but maybe there's some nugget of wisdom that helps? Â I hope... Â Blush

Linkshells, Free Companies, and Amnesia

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