Clover

This... And this... And this... ...Are the reasons why I love Au Ra males @////@ Seriously, very good job. I can't fangirl enough about them.

An update, since I finished taking screens. Xaela "Rune" (name might change) Raen Yura (name is final) I might tweak Yura a bit, but so far I'm happy with them. What I wish is that I could choose the horns separatedly. There was a single face that suited the two of them, so they ended up with the same horns ; Edit: Tweaked her hair colour slightly.

I must take proper screens of my two Au Ras. So far, I only have a decent one of my main, codename Rune until Xaela lore releases.

Hahahaha, my Skyrim tumblr dashboard has exploded. I must say I'm laughing a lot at the bizarre mods people have started selling; it's a somehow very sad, yet at the same time very funny situation *sweatdrops*. I'm glad I get most of my mods from Nexus, but now I fear for the hairstyle of one of my characters...

This was a really interesting read, thank you very much! I haven't done the ninja quest myself, so I didn't know much about Doman surnames.

Monday can't come fast enough. I need to get my hands on that character creator >_< I wonder if the horns will be separated from the faces upon release, since they said they'd expand the creation by then. Even if they aren't, I can deal with that. It'll be fun!

A preference for a chocobo...? Was she actually...? K'rahto's eyes opened slightly wider at K'nahli's reply. Somehow, her consideration was the last thing he'd expected, especially when he'd been almost certain that she'd mock his lack of practice. Instead, there she was, talking about how she'd actually tried to find his sister in order to know what chocobo would suit him best, being gentle to the bird. Even... smiling to the animal... Something tickled inside K'rahto's stomach, and he wasn't sure if it was the amazed or the jealous kind. Or both. When K'nahli's gaze raised back to him, the Tia became self conscious of the way he'd been staring at her, completely mesmerized by that unusual display of gentleness. He quickly turned his face away and frowned, his cheeks coloured warmly. "...This one is good," was all he managed to say, his tone dry from the embarrassment. He'd have liked to thank her, but he really didn't know how. Hopefully, she'd understand that he appreciated the chocobo she seemed to have carefully chosen for him. Or perhaps she wouldn't understand a thing. It didn't matter, did it? They had things to do.

Clover simply dismissed the question with a shake of her head, keeping the small smile she had greeted him with. It wasn't a bright one, for bright smiles weren't something someone like her possessed, but it was honest all the same. "It is always nice to see you back in Gridania," she added right after as she continued doing her work on the garden. She seemed to be planting new seeds, which explained the dirt on her gardening gloves. Beside her, resting on the ground, there was a strange book. "Where have you been on this occasion?" Adventures. From her peaceful, almost unchanging life, she wanted to hear about them.

My main character has pale skin like myself, while my alt K'mih has tanned skin. My characters' skins vary either depending on their context (in K'mih's case, since she lives under the desert sun, I guessed it's only natural for her to be tanned), or simply depending on what I find pretty (I'd like one of my Au Ras to have a bit dark skin too, for no other reason than me liking it *laughs*). In any case, I do tend to make pale main characters. I don't really know if I that's because I'm pale too, or because most anime main characters are that way. I guess it's a mix of both, as I tend to think in anime terms when I make characters. But yes, it's normal that most people will favour main characters they can feel a bit identified with, at least physically. Characters are, after all, our representation in that world outside RP.

"...Andre?" The voice didn't come from inside the house, just as there hadn't been any steps behind the door. Clover was found taking a peek from behind the corner of the small building, where she'd been tending to some flowers. She was wearing comfortable clothes for gardening and a straw hat, with thick gloves that had been darkened by the damp soil. "Welcome," she greeted him with a small smile. It wouldn't be the first time he visited her, but it didn't happen often. Andre was mostly a traveller, after all, and she... well, she wasn't that kind of traveller.

K'nahli's question wasn't as odd as he'd have liked, and was met with a small frown of secret embarrassment. The Tia could only understand that she had noticed his lack of experience at riding, but albeit there was little room for doubts in his mind, he still didn't want to risk giving her a direct confirmation. "...What do you mean?" He simply said. His tone was serious, with a tint of defensiveness on it that betrayed his supposed confusion.

K'rahto heard the chocobo steps in the distance and turned his head towards them. Perhaps it'd be awkward for K'nahli to walk all the way to his spot while being watched so intently, as she wasn't exactly close yet, but it'd be also awkward for him to just look away as if he hadn't seen them. He did his best to keep his expression as neutral as possible, which in his case it translated as a very serious, almost annoyed face. Once the huntress was right in front of him, it was easy to figure one which of those chocobos would be his. He recognized K'nahli's favourite, Suna, which meant he'd take the other. "Very well..." was all he said as he approached the bird and started tying his bag to the saddle. Truth be told, K'rahto was quite unused to riding chocobos, but he managed to get on his without much trouble. He just needed to pay attention to what K'nahli did; coupled with his still serious and in-control expression, hopefully she wouldn't notice his lack of experience. "Ready." It went without a saying that she'd have to lead the way, for this was the very first time K'rahto would visit Ul'dah. He was acutely aware of his serious lack of experience in many fields. Such a Tia he was.

I've been quite eager for Dragon's Dogma Online, will definitely play it. I already guessed that Capcom was going to try their luck because SE has been successful, and I'm very glad for that. As an MMORPGs fan, I'm a bit sick of Korean companies, so I can only celebrate that another big Japanese company wants to join the online gaming world (especially with the online version of such an awesome game).

At moments like these, I'm mad at myself for not being able to understand spoken English. The whole premise of those videos sounds very interesting!

Lore-wise, it seems that way. And yet they've been using Au Ra models for both Dark Knight and Astrologian, which gave me the initial impression that a considerable amount of Au Ras could either be related to Ishgard or to the lands beyond it. Now that the lore has been released, we see it might not be the case. And I had been planning to make an Astrologian Au Ra myself *sweatdrops*. Still, I don't see classes as something we have to RP literally. My Tia uses spears, which doesn't mean that he's a Dragoon. I doubt he's even seen a Dragoon before. Likewise, I guess my Au Ra will use cards to predict fate, which doesn't mean she's an Astrologian from Ishgard. Most FFXIV jobs involve the idea that only a single or very few chosen ones can represent them, after all; we have to find ways around their lore or we'd be unable to play at all.

Yugiri had to leave Doma though. I assumed she wasn't the only Au Ra (Raen) who did.

But isn't that the whole point of being an adventurer? Without leaving, the character would not exist within the playable portions of the game. I would think the reason for leaving would be a big part of the backstory or ongoing development of the character. Why did they leave? Was it because of something? Was it for someone? Did they just want to venture out? Maybe something happened to their home? Etc. I can't wrap my head around being conflicted that an adventurer adventures. Being an adventurer is a personal choice, not the only choice. My other characters aren't adventurers, they were born in Eorzea and they have their home there. Having choices is always a good thing, I think. By saying that everyone must be an adventurer, you're removing any other possibility @x@;

Sorry, I mean as a player. I am forced to make my Au Ra leave for whatever reason. The reason itself isn't important.

The thing is that all Au Ra RPers are forced to make their characters leave their land or not be RPed at all. I just wish there were more possibilities than that single one, that's all. As for the Xaela lore, I guess I was disappointed because (to me) it was like seeing a nice cake and being told I couldn't try it, haha. I read the post like "do you see these awesome tribal wars in unknown lands full of history? Sorry, you're going to miss them all because you're forced into the single RP route of emigration!" In any case, emigrating is also fun. But since I want to play two different Au Ras (one from each clan), I'll still pay attention to any new lore info, just in case any Au Ra NPC is spotted living in the new 3.0 lands. That'd be really awesome, as I'd also love to experience the new lands from a native's perspective >A<

That's actually a possibility I'm considering, but I'm wary of bending the lore too much. I'll wait a bit and see, but yes, that possibility is definitely interesting to me.

That's correct, and that's exactly the problem, being forced to play a single kind of Au Ra. My initial hope was that some Au Ras could be living in the new lands beyond Ishgard, while others like Yugiri came from elsewhere. That way, there'd have been more possibilities RP-wise and we could have our war, haha. In any case, I'll see what I can come up with for my two Au Ras.

Ah, they don't sound like mere aimless wanderers to me, as they are engaged in tribal wars. If I made such an Au Ra and she came to Eorzea, I'd have neither a tribe nor a war; that's my concern. We're just unable to explore that part of the lore, as we're stuck with leaving our land to discover a new one (the reasons might vary, but the result is the same). Considering I'll play two Au Ras, I wish I could have given them more variety. Edit: I'm speaking for myself, not for anyone else. I'm not one who tends to bend the lore or break out of it. Remember I'm one of the very few people who plays a tribal miqo'te, because I personally love exploring the original lore. I will naturally adapt to this new one, but I wanted to express my small disappointment.

Will they have their own quests? So far I thought they'd share the same main story as everyone else, since you can Fantasia your main character into an Au Ra. The problem isn't really that we have to find excuses for the Xaela to travel to Eorzea. The problem is that we are forced and limited to take that single route in every single Au Ra story, which leaves their original culture out of the possibilities we can explore. It's definitely not the best kind of lore for us RPers ;

Um, I can't say I'm fond of the Au Ra lore. I was hoping that (at least some) Au Ras could come from the new lands beyond Ishgard, for those are the ones we'll explore. Instead, we get a lore related to a land we aren't going to see anytime soon, which means we can't really and actively play their lore, especially in the case of Xaela. We know that some Raen might have been forced to scape to Eorzea with the Domans, but Xaela? All the lore says is that they have their tribes and their wars in those far away lands. Why would they even come to Eorzea? Vacation? Maybe running away too? Any case means we won't be able to explore their tribal lives nor we'll be able to participate in their wars. I don't know, I feel that giving them a story we can't really play out is such a waste (>_<; Every single Au Ra will be stuck with the "I ran away from my land" premise.

(This is a fun topic!) Clover Blake