Saefinn

Ahoy, What kind of times are you looking to run roleplay? We're an FC split between US and EU, so am usually conscious of timezone differences. I can think of a few FC members that may fit, if it works with times we tend to be active, I can see if anybody within my FC are interested.

Hello! Welcome to RPC and RP on FFXIV. If you're looking to get up and running with a group there are "Free Companies" and "Clubs" section for poking FC's and such. As you say, one of the best ways is to interact to see where it gets you, there are a number of open RP night run by the community, you'll find them on the calendar and there is a thread that lists weekly open RP events here. We're also open for recruitment ourselves, but of course worth shopping around to see if there's any right fits for you. We run our open RP nights on Tuesdays at 9pm UK time (GMT, or GMT+ 1 when DST does its thing). If it's a suitable time, by all means, swing by - we're generally quite a relaxed bunch and our numbers at the bar are variable, but we're usually good for nonsense. And if Saefinn misbehaves as he often does, you might even see him get shot! Anyhow, FFXIV has been a great game to RP in, so I hope you have a good time.

“Breathe deep that sea air, dear sailor. You are in the presence of the Wayward Star, a group of honest vagabonds earning their fortune through slightly less than legal means, veiled by a flag of legitimacy. Aye, you’re in the presence of marines with black sails, dear sailor. Learn to love how the air feels on your lungs, learn to love the man who stands by your side, for he determines the difference between a dry head and a watery grave.” IC Introduction We're a legitimate catering business. We have a bar: we serve a whole plethora of drinks ranging from the finest Limsan ales to the controversial Garleans wines and some of our own custom brews to mix. Our Morbol Vodka and Alchemical Absinthe are but two popular choices our guests will order. Any new staff must be capable of making cocktails as the Captain only learned what one was recently. We serve excellently prepared food and have our own resident baker, Strawberry Charlotte who delights our guests with devilishly well-baked goods. We host a stage to perform excellent class acts, we occassionally have a travelling bard who sings such greats hits like "The Captain's Mast" and "Hannish Lady". This is all Maelstrom approved. Downstairs we have an exquisite chill-out lounge and study for guests who wish to be a little more relaxed and refined. And upstairs we have our clinic. Why do we have a clinic? What kind of bar needs a clinic? Huh? Well let me tell you. People get drunk, people have accidents, they could walk to a Maelstrom clinic, but why risk it? There's so many hazards between here and there, your average drunk will find it difficult to make it safely home. Such hazards as: falling down stairs, getting in a fight with a lamppost, a random Sahagin attack, urinating on an electrical eel and offending a sea witch. You see, we take care of our drunks. Oh right. We're legit now. Never mind. We're Black Sail Marines legitimised by the Maelstrom who started out life as Pirates. This the Maelstrom who have sought to make use of their pirate population and turn them into privateers. So we don't have to pretend, though we do have a bar...a chef...baker...a study...a lounge and clinic. So it's not really lying when you come to think of it... OOC Introduction Formerly "Pirates of a Wayward Star". We formed on Gilgamesh back when ARR was in BETA and later moved to Balmung where we've lived since. Our roots are in piracy, but as such is the way of character and story progression we have ceased to define ourselves as pirates, though lead by a pirate of a captain, we are now officially marines. We section ourselves out by three types of roleplay. Story, tavern and spontaneous. We run story night every Saturday, a bar night every Tuesday and spontaneous RP happens as it happens. We have a mix of European and US members, we used to have Aussie members but that's a hard one to accommodate for alongside Europe and US. Our active times are usually between 8pm and 12am UK time. Whilst people will do things outside of those times, if you're not able to be active during our core times you'll struggle to get involved. However, this does mean we are an EU friendly FC. As a group we're very relaxed, we're also open to collaborations with other FC's. There are a couple of areas we're tighter one: one is drama and the other is keeping IC as IC and OOC as OOC. Given the themes we cover, not all of our characters will be pleasant or necessarily take a liking to your character ICly, but OOCly it may be the complete opposite. But we do believe in fair and respectful roleplay and healty communication between people, so we don't tolerate grievances or trolling executed IC. If you're interesting contacting us, whether to collaborate or to join us, more information can be found on our website: we can also be contacted in game or on here. Our Roleplay Lead by Captain Saefinn Liljasson, his First Mate Laurenenne Tierney with her wife K'ahli K'ulha'tor and our trusted Maelstrom official Beldrem Cando we host a "marine" themed roleplay, which has organically grown out of piracy and the natural progression of the crew and our characters. We at times embrace off-the-wall plots but do our best remain respectful to the lore of the game. We're not lore Nazis, but like to keep it plausible, which means anything of the wall will need to be organic and not "just because". We embrace both down-to-earth and comical stories, sometimes the two meet. Open Bar Night, for more information, click here. Our story RP's run Saturday 9pm UK time. These are intended for FC members and associates and are not open to the public, however, if you are interested in a collaboration or coming along, please contact us. Why Marines? It would seem the next logical step when being legitimised by the Maelstrom would be to go from Pirate to Privateer or Corsair. We found that we ended up doing less sea-based RP, mainly due to how restricted that kind of roleplay is in FFXIV. Also where people's interests and stories have kept us inland; we still mix in pirate and sea RP. A "Marine" can be used to define troops on both land and sea, and in being legitimised by the Maelstrom, we can act as an armed force for them when the calling comes. It also appeals to the Captain's ego. Saefinn Liljasson fancies himself as "The Scholar Captain", and what was the role of a Nymian Scholar? That's right, to command marines: Our Leaders (OOC) Captain: Saefinn Liljasson First Mate: Beldrem Cando Council: Strawberry Charlotte, Shayith Lumisol, Thorceig Blaetahcsyn, K'ahli K'ulha'tor Media Website: www.wayward-marines.com Guilded: https://www.guilded.gg/waywardmarines/games/FinalFantasyXIV Housing Plot in Game: Mist Ward 6 Plot 1 Want to Join? Follow our link here. This will have a few questions to answer to help us with the recruitment process, it's not a strenuous process, but we go through a few things first. Once done, expect to be contacted by one of us, most likely Thorceig who is taking care of recruitment, both OOC and ICly. Be ready to handle a buff Roegadyn drill sergeant who is better than anyone at squats as he is tasked with taking care of new recruits! Our recruitment process was made on the principle of trying to find people we're a right fit for and who're a right fit for us. Our experience in the roleplay community is that so many of us have different approaches and attitudes when it comes to RP and they don't all work well together. Want to Collaborate? Give one of us a poke, we're happy to work with other Free Companies and RP groups, so we'd be happy to discuss any potential collaborations.

The alternate method I prefer to Fantasia is glamours. Because we see reference to them within lore...plus avoids a certain number of issues. Saefinn got really drunk once, then woke up as a Lalafell and couldn't remember what happened...He was glamoured for a practical joke. So I got to play as a Lala for a few weeks. But if a person uses Fantasia, I won't make an issue of it.

What I was going to do was take a character I didn't really have any inspiration for, Fantasia them and give them a name change and have them be a refugee who gets picked up by my crew, but actually didn't feel that would be that fun. Instead, I thought I would go another route, this character I have no inspiration for is a street urchin, who had left their home and decided to live life on the streets before being picked up by our FC's cook and she got fed, was given accommodation and became our chocobo keeper and is learning to become a thief (currently she's very amateurish with it). I thought what could make things interesting is to have had her as an Au Ra all along, but with an assumed identity and glamour, having her on the run. But now many Au Ra have migrated, she feels safer not using her glamour, seeing an Au Ra in Limsa would generally stand out, but now there's a few she feels safer - she bumped into a group of recent migrants in The Missing Member and got a little excited and that's kinda where she lost her glamour. Said migrants are now crewmates and have made a home. There's no friction ICly with these strange, foreign newcomers because Captain Saefinn has always had the attitude, "I don't care where you're from, what you background is, so long as we can keep each others back and not step out of line, then that's all that matters". In fact, he said something along those lines to an Au Ra last night. Then I thought about tying my Au Ra in with one of my other characters, but going down that road will present spoilers for my FC members.

Playing the characters is by no means insulting, just how you play them. Just find it's a good policy to know your subject matter before tackling it. Else you could end up completely getting the wrong end of the stick, come off as patronising, insulting or just find you are misrepresenting something in general. I think when it comes to mental illness, it's easy to get wrong because there's a lot of misrepresentation and stigma and without first doing a some research (be it personal experience or looking it up), you run into the risk of doing it. But to go to the analogy of TV writers, generally good writers will know their subject, though arguably, they don't always. *cough* *cough* CSI. However, I am reminded of this sketch. [video=youtube] Of course, research is the safest way of getting things right. You'll of course play the way you choose, I of course would ask that you do not misrepresent things too grossly, chances are, if what you're doing is bothering me, I'll RP my way out or politely telling you. I don't bother about pissing and moaning, ain't my style.

There will also be a number of us in this game who do suffer from mental illnesses and of course, we employ ourselves in a certain degree into our characters. I have a mental illness myself, but I am very private about it, it prolly comes out in some of my characters unintentionally. But I do agree with what people say about being research, the problem is, mental illness can become stigmatised in general and you bare the risk of bringing that stigma into how you play your character and then it may come off as offensive. Getting into the head of somebody who has a mental illness is very difficult and it is very difficult to see the world through their eyes - even though I suffer from one myself and am very compassionate and understanding of people and make the effort to learn and understand people, those with other mental illnesses, I still find it difficult to see the world through their eyes, even when I try. So I would say writing a character will mental issues becomes more of a sensitive thing when you yourself do not have it. But, if you are the empathetic sort who makes an effort to do it right, then not an issue. However, I would say, generally, people who have mental problems, that they wish to only be treated as equals and not be misunderstood. It is something I wish, hence I'm generally not that forthcoming about mine. So, if you don't respect people properly, you do run into as risk of pissing them off or even come off as patronising. I don't think playing a mental illness needed necessarily be a character flaw, but is something 3 dimensional that gives your character, well, their character. You can gain some positive traits that many not be typical of those who do not have it. If it is something that interests you, particularly, if you're interested in understanding what it is like, then do your research - if you can, maybe speak to somebody with experience. Like any good writer would. It's misrepresentation that's likely to get you flack, especially with stigma and how mental illness is generally misrepresented anyway. If you wish to have a mental illness because you think it gives your character an interesting character flaw and proceed to misunderstand what it means to be a sufferer, then you might get a roundhouse kick to the face.

Heavensward has worked out quite convenient for us, for a number of reasons. For a long time, I have been trying to ICly negotiate business with Ishgardians, at an early stage, I saw potential profits for us in a nation in a war against dragons, they need supplies, we know how to get them. It has been a long time of trust building. Saefinn dreams of being the first Pirate Captain to have a deal with Ishgard since closing their gates. But the convenience doesn't halt there. Pirates...on airships, oh yes. Sky Pirates, we have a magitek engineer among us too, talking of ship parts. Oh, and what will we see for our dear Scholar Captain? Get a load of the Scholar AF in Heavensward, Steampunk, yes! And a perfect suit for Saefinn, if I dare say so myself. Events in 2.55 will help aid RP with my alt, X'hayu, the Sultansworn, she is likely to follow our crew into Ishgard and well, Dark Knight might be the appropriate next step, given the actual lore for it and given her general disposition and the current frame of mind she is in. I was originally going to keep her a Paladin (levelling Dark Knight on 2 characters is a PITA), but it may actually turn out to be a suitable fit for her - not necessarily an experiencing one, so I might not level her all the way straight away, let it build on her in a realistic time frame. From Paladin to Dark Knight, I know, Cecil wouldn't be pleased. In fact, the events in 2.55 will help with our advance to Ishgard, but will be interesting to see how the story pans out into Ishgard, but I can see us taking advantage of Ul'dah as well as things in Ishgard. We already exploit Ul'dah occasionally. Rich men, many a corrupt, so doesn't hurt the conscience if their pockets were a tad lighter. We like being criminals for a good cause, well, most of us, some just enjoy the ride.

"Ah bloody 'ells, thought The Black forgot 'bout me a long time ago, oh, you're here to rescue me lad? Well, no offense mate, most try the opposite." Saefinn is pretty non-judgmental, he's had a pretty jaded past himself and he cares not much for the law or what's generally forbidden. He's dealt with Black Mages before, once as a foe (hence the comment about The Black) but has had then in his crew. They of course are few and far between and generally quite dangerous, but they likely find place on our crew because we're a very accepting crew, in that we don't care what your background is. Also, the law and anything generally 'forbidden' is of no consequence to us and of course, The Captain has an appreciation for magic. Non-mage types typically end up finding those of us who play with magic in less approved ways uncomfortable(Saefinn himself having experimented as well, given he calls himself The Scholar Captain). Sae's usual stance is, "trust me, I know what I'm doing", which might be met with "that Black Mage on our murdered a load of innocent people and is out of control", "that was before I knew what I was doing, he's cool now, we figured it out." Saefinn carries a Grimoire with a Voidsent bound to it, it was experimental, his argument is that urns are too fragile and Grimoires...well, would be interesting to see how it affects how I use aethyr. He doesn't use it that much or try to draw too much power, he doesn't know what'd happen, so although he is reckless, crazy and has a habit of finding trouble, he's not a complete moron. So, it'd be quite hard of him to be like "ewwwww Black Mage, begone heathen!"

I was a little anxious because I've been to something like this before to find it not have a positive outcome - I was kinda aware of it last minute, I did bail out on some RP, but some members offered to help hold the fort and apparently it went really well, so good I can rely on my trusty crew. It is testament to the fact I should browse these forums more, but I am usually put off by forums for MMO's in general and generally don't post a lot in forums anymore anyway. Which is probably worrying, because I am moderator for a couple of forums out there. However, I am glad that I attended and sat through 2 hours of introductions . I was not aware of any issues in the community, but whatever they were, they didn't feel present and people wanted to get involved with each other, so that's a positive thing. Also, it was pretty well timed, because I had been talking about networking again with FC mates and a couple of people outside of the FC, so I've taken a few notes about which FC's I think are worth approaching for our style or RP and what we do ICly, heck, we've already established contact with the first FC we'd like to get involved with. Also, folk seemed in good spirits, I was worried that if I brought my sense of humour I might be viewed as not taking things seriously, whilst I was mostly quiet, it is good that our chocobo suits were not frowned upon. Or my dancing. But then, I actually knew /very/ few people there, so didn't know what to expect. And admittedly, we are an FC who has kind of isolated themselves, though we still manage to sustain a comfortably sized membership, however, when we have been a part of a community, it has been wonderful, so I would like to take this as an opportunity to do that. Of course, with anything, my members' needs will come first. But I am a respectful of people in general and encourage my members to be and try to recruit people on the same page in that respect. So I would say it was a good initiative, so let's make the good stuff follow through.

I've only just seen this, we got a story arc thing planned at 4pm EST, but I will be there for the first hour, but Cassandria/Atamis is my First Mate, so there will still be representation from our FC (Wayward Star). I might be able to get away for longer, but I promised to support an FC mate's arc, so I won't let them down. But I have been talking recently about inter-FC stuff, as it is something we miss too, so I suspect we'll welcome relationships with other people. We're just a pretty relaxed and down-to-earth FC looking to have fun, so if people are wanting to work with such a group, then excellent - obviously not too many at once we'll drown. Just my requirement for working with other people is "no egos" and "no drama". I work off of mutual respect for and another. For clarity: Wayward Star's attendees: Saefinn Liljasson - Captain Cassandria Everfree - First Mate

As the theme behind Captain Saefinn Liljasson is that he is "The Scholar Captain", he is very much in tune with the arcane, he is very skilled and increasingly powerful when it comes to magic and his is often a studied mind, despite being a raging alcoholic and times quite reckless, but he isn't stupid, he's just careless. Given I have ICly been negotiating an IC contract between our crew and Ishgardians, we have had some Coerthas contracts, ICly we've recognised that the Ishgardians often face a perilous existence at the hands of dragons and their friends. So our journey North and to the skies is going to prove very beneficial to us. Obviously the prospects of being sky pirates and the fact Scholar is getting a very Steampunk looking attire, this expansion is going to be almost perfect for us. But I figure in his studies, Astrologian will be the next logical step for Saefinn, as a pirate, he will already be familiar with the stars for navigation and of course, what kind of pirate doesn't like to play with cards? Given Astrologian seems to take inspiration from Corsair. I don't know how I will play the card aspect of it, I will see how the lore plays out here, would be interesting to be a gambler of fate as opposed to just a foreseer. Given there will be a level of power associated with the cards as they are the Astrologian's tools, I would hypothesize that this would work. Also, Saefinn would be liable to cheat and play cards to his favour. Given Saefinn can be unpredictable at times (though predictable in some aspects) this would be quite useful.

I'd say do it how you feel works for you and your character. If they don't look right to you, then it won't work. Some artistic license is permissible given the limitation of the character creator. For my Garlean alt, I stick a pair of Garlond goggles on a Hyur and add the 'Garlean Third Eye' to any description of when he walks in and introduces himself. Likewise, if a character has an injury. I dunno if people would find it hard to believe an Au Ra character is actually a Padjal, but personally? It would work for me, because I don't just visualize a character just based on what I see on my screen, but if a person's descriptions are good enough, then that will contribute well to the image. I would say, you can break the boundaries of the character creator, but of course, once you start pushing too far out of the boundaries of lore, that's when people might get uncomfortable. Of course, this is within reason as well, "hey I've got a Roe, let's RP him as a Lalafell" I would say "buy a Fantasia you tight bastard".

One of my alts, X'hayu, she is a Sultansworn, rather than a Free Paladin, originally I felt Free Paladin would make sense for her, but realised that she basically shares the same morality and principles as the Sultana, so she is somebody she'd get behind, she has previously been military, she is a Garlean defector who has worked hard and selflessly to attain that title, Sultansworn. So the military mentality sticks with her somewhat, so being among the sultansworn suits some of what she knows. I was umming and ahhing as to whether she should stay a Paladin or go Dark Knight, because she is very broody, moody and has little faith in people - she's done and seen some pretty dark stuff, but her title as a Paladin become a shining light for her, to do good and with a Sultana who believes she should help her people and with her giving refuge to Ala Mhigans and her wanting to give refuge to Domans, X'hayu backed the right horse. So to speak. But now, here's the spoiler stuff.

People seem to think ERP is weird and then stigmatized people for it, but even RP itself is stigmatized, there's a number of people that find it odd or weird and even go to extent of trolling RPers, have you tried explaining RP to a normal person? It's an odd experience. So I would expect RPers to be a little more understanding or tolerant of their peers, after all , if we want people to be tolerant and unt derstanding of us, then we should first be able to do it ourselves. ERP comes in many forms and as long as all parties consent, it's their business and nobody else's. I run plot focused RP, so for me any kind of ERP would need to make sense IC, and people's characters in my group do fall in love, so if they sneak away and do the deed, makes perfect sense.

That is more or less the lines of the kind of thing that I am thinking. If you were to piss an Ascian off, I would say a victory would not be defeating the Ascian, but survive long enough for you to be a waste of effort. Ascians very much still live in the shadows and don't like to make their presence too aware and to a certain extent that could work to your advantage in dealing with them, but of course, they are not to be taken lightly, at all. For instance, notice the first victory against an Ascian, you're not exactly swarmed by Ascians after trying to murderify you. The way I've been looking at doing it, is I have one character, who is investigating the Ascians on their own terms, because they had managed to stumble upon one, but is keeping their distance and making themselves very hard to track (said person was under suspicion of our Captain's kidnapping, but nobody could track said person). The Ascian would take an interest in our crew in-so-far as being useful to them, Ascians seem to like manipulating people into doing their bidding. For us, this would then create a plot whereby we have to find a way of getting the Ascian out of our lives and killing them is not the answer. But in the mean time, I've got another villain to play around with, a disgruntled Ala Mhigan who is pissed that we're protecting 2 Garlean defectors responsible for the death of his family and he's been working with the Garleans to help them track them down. (As they are wanted by the Garleans - "enemy of my enemy is my friend")

Not a main, but I do have an alt who is an Ascian thrall, however, they're there for plot purposes, haven't yet decided how to work it in. Because a) lore and b) the likeliness of an Ascian taking an interest in us (though, that's not as much of a problem as we've done IC stuff to do that). However, I spend so much time on my main character and running an FC that I don't think I could commit my alt to a partnership with another RPer, however, if there are other people doing Ascian RP, I'd be partial to showing up on my Ascian for misdeeds. That said, I need to get a few levels up first. I agree to the 'being special' to be of notice to them. Hence this isn't something I've just jumped into and have considered how an Ascian might notice us - one area where this is the case, my main has a particular interest in the Sahagin, mainly because they killed his original crew, so he has meddled in their affairs before now and of course the Sahagin love hugging Leviathan and the Ascians love them summoning primals. However, I will need to play back on some of the earlier cutscenes as it has been so long, it's a question of whether the masked mage you meet in the level 14 quests is a lesser Ascian, or one of the ones you encounter later on. Hard to say. I also don't see any mention of Travanchet in 2.0. This is why it's difficult one to RP. Much of it is speculation ATM.

This has happened with my character Saefinn, we just talked it over and came to an agreement on how we both saw our characters going forward in their absence. My character is in an IC relationship, but the friend playing the partner for the most part has stopped playing. We agreed to keep it going ICly, but to treat her like a background character as part of the story, but isn't physically there. The reason for this is because our 2 characters had no reason to split, even though there were OOC reasons to. It has worked out, because there's periods when I'm not roleplaying, so it manages to be one of those implied background activities. I've always taken value in OOC communication about IC things, because it all affects our own enjoyment - I don't want other people to become uncomfortable or unhappy or for their experience to be ruined. In fact, for the above relationship, we had a long OOC discussion at the start. People sometimes have different visions, so it's good to ensure you're both on the same page. I have seen it when this isn't the case and it can get messy. However, when it has come to members leaving, who are involved with my FC's plots, I kinda treat them as ex-crew members or people on hiatus or leave. I sometimes still make reference to them, like yesterday's RP, a guy referred to somebody as "Black Rose" and Saefinn turned around and said, "I knew a Rose once, she wasn't black, but she slugged me a few times". Sometimes people unfortunately do not make an IC exit or discuss how they're leaving ICly, so you have to make recoveries. That said, if it's a close relationship and something interwoven, I find it is respectful for both to talk about it, perhaps something to discuss when setting it up or at leave, because it comes to that situation where you break apart, so it's not jarring and you can be prepared for it. After all, people won't play the game to infinity (and beyond!) and one will leave before the other, most likely.

The whole "multiple jobs" thing with characters, the way I deal with it is not that say, a character is an established Warrior, Paladin and Bard, but you could argue proficient in different weapons. I would just approach it realistically and the phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" comes to mind. Also, I would say with some skills out there, it wouldn't take much to learn something similar. I am primarily a Scholar, that is where I am most proficient, however, I have learned to Summon one egi, I have picked up a lance, but am physically weak and not very steady (years of alcoholism), so I'd be fairly easy to beat in a variety of circumstances. I also play about with a bit of alchemy, I am well read and of somewhat scientific mind, just a lot of the time, alchemy results in failure, but has got it right before now. Astrologian may be my next venture, not because "ZOMG new shiny shiny", because he'd have jumped on the Ninja or Rogue bandwagon, which I levelled fairly quickly on him, no, as somebody who navigates at see, he already has a keen interest in the stars, he of course is a healer (considered one of the crew's medics), a part of his story (even before the announcement of Heavensward) has brought him to do business with Ishgardians and of course, the card element would appeal to him greatly - not to mention is being related to a science of sorts. He won't suddenly become an awesome Astralogian, but he will be a fairly fast learner compared to say if he was starting out as a Warrior, so he will be able to learn enough within a sensible period for him to be able to make use of it. However, I am getting a lot of fun playing as a Pirate Captain Miqo'te Scholar. It can create a lot of interesting scenarios. We have somebody who is blundering idiot, drunkard and somebody who used to have a reputation of chasing other people's tails (I am constantly reminded ICly of the "they're nuns, not prostitutes" incident - his reputation has changes since he's mellowed a bit), yet somebody who is intelligent, capable of rational thought, able to come up with a plan, a strategist. He is often treated like a moron, because he can make stupid decisions, has an ego that's grown as I've RP'd him (but he has achieved feats to give him said ego - he was very humble when I started him) and generally comes off as a buffoon, however, he will have moments where his depth comes through and his better qualities stand out. But he won't lose his reputation for being a buffoon, for instance, sitting in the Sands and letting slip he's a pirate with a Brass Blade stood right near him - 2 reasons he did that: one, he's an idiot and two, he's overconfident about himself. Although he was arrested, he was let go without me even needing to use his "get out of jail free card" - though not something that I can use to infinity, he used to have one in Limsa Lominsa, however, after him basically "taking the piss" no longer gets that privilege. So he is slowly learning he's not untouchable and well, he's just been kidnapped ICly, so...he definitely knows. But he let himself get kidnapped so his crew could escape safely...so on that occasion it was a selfless act of bravery and not an over inflated ego. But either way, he doesn't help his reputation with others. On the other side of things, I like playing a lore friendly Sultansworn Seeker of the Sun, perhaps not lore typical because she is prepared to work with pirates and pay them to do work. The reason my character X'hayu agreed to be Sultansworn in the first place is because she and the Sultana share similar interests, but is often weakened by the Syndicate, so X'hayu is unafraid to undermine the Syndicate, work behind their backs and without the Sultana knowing, so she can have complete deniability should X'hayu even get found out. She is one of my characters that has a lot going on for her. She is a two weapon character, bow and a sword and has some experience with magitek engineering, though minimal. She was with her tribe until age 16 (so a lot of interesting tribal lore), was recruited into The Garlean Empire, defected later and worked hard protecting and helping Ala Mhigan refugees as she felt guilty for the things she had done for The Empire - it was through her selfless deeds that she was recruited among the Sultansworn. I also don't play her as a law enforcement as I have seen some Sultansworn played, she will direct people to the Brass Blades normally. Much of her work is about aiding the needy, which the Sultana wishes she could do, but having the resources and the support of the Syndicate is difficult - X'hayu has the means to help some, particularly with the help of my pirate crew, a little theft and smuggling to help the needy. A noble cause.

I would say it's a difficult one. I would say if it's for characterisation and plot devices and something a character may or may not do, then I see it as okay. I mean these are things authors will write about, because there are topics that are mature, sensitive and shocking, but also things that happen. Of course, I would prolly suggest in a world like Eorzea, the age of consent is lower, given the kind of time period the game is set in. Also bear in mind the age of consent in different parts of the world is different, can be 18, 16 or even sometimes 14 and can even get lower than that, but I can understand the lower the number the more likely somebody's going to have moral issues. If you're getting off on ERP with an IC minor and are doing so because they're playing an IC minor, that's where I would find it a problem. Likewise if I was getting off on a torture scene. I think character relationships should happen because they naturally happen, but then I RP for the sake of developing characters and developing a story line and not to actively seek IC relationships or ERP, though my character did get into a relationship, but they connected really well. Only time I've done it and they were right for each other. Given my character has tortured, I've done it because whilst he is very kind and can be very sweet, he is very protective and grew up in some of the much more darker sides of piracy, so it would be something he would do and was tasked to do in the past, so if you really get on his bad side, then he will be merciless, but luckily that will only happen if you're a horribly corrupt bastard who hurts and exploits others or if you threaten the safety of his crew or loved ones. Do I get off on it when I have RP'd torture? No. To me, it's a dramatic device in a story involving my characters. I think that's where the line needs to be drawn. Also, on more mature themes I feel a warning label is needed. For instance, I stuck a warning label on RP where we tortured a very corrupt Maelstrom officer for information, so those who were uncomfortable, didn't need to get involved. I would also say bear in mind that what your character is like morally will affect people's opinions, so if you're shagging a 12 year old Lala, you will probably get a lot of flack, if you're intending to play the character as a scumbag that does that, but not going out to ERP it and are doing so for the sake of making a character people hate and something that makes people uncomfortable, then kudos for having the balls to do so. It is still a topic that people are still offended by, so like any sensitive topic with RP, I would again, stick a warning label on it.

I sometimes use music from Final Fantasy titles, occasionally I will match music to roleplay. However, there was a roleplay I found that was quite inspired for a pretty emotional scene using FFIX's You're Not Alone. Essentially, one of the early roleplays I did I have Captain Saefinn become a bit of a wreck (I occasionally do that to him, I'm mean), basically his own crimes were coming to bite him and his crew in the arse and his crew didn't deserve to suffer for what he's done. He agreed to meet one of his crew at the Sanctum of The Twelve, to which he confessed all the evils and wrong he had done (at the time, his past was kept secret) and finding out one of his crew was missing by mysterious circumstances he decided the only way he could save his crew was to turn himself over to the Maelstrom. In this scene, the crew mate (Rose) was breaking down and begging him to reconsider and Saefinn just turned his back on her and went alone. This roleplay was followed up by this story of his confession to the Maelstrom: Captain's Downfall (Story) Sometimes I have emotional, dark moments, but think for music inspired RP, I think that's probably the favourite I've done. But, from roleplay like that, I have developed his character more and more, progressed him as a human being and actually, he's a lot less depressing, I have started being nice and letting things going well for him and even letting him have some happiness and bringing out his drunken and playful sides as well as some of his darker, but non-depressing stuff. But, who knows when I might be mean to him again? *Shrugs*

I think in terms of skill set, Marauder is probably better for a Dark Knight, however, I think they would need to replace that axe with a greatsword or a scythe. I can imagine some of Marauder's skills being used on a Dark Knight, but can really imagine Gladiator's. However, Dark Knights could use a greataxe on FFXI (as well as scythes and greatswords), so who knows? Dark Knight might get an axe. If Gladiator were to become Samurai, again, it would need to a 2 handed weapon, but it is possible they'd overhaul the class system to offer a little more flexibility in that respect, because in its current state, it's pretty flawed and doesn't offer much flexibility in terms of job roles.

I roleplay a Tonberry called Falfa. Like the Tonberry in the Scholar quest-line she isn't blinded by the curse. She plays a part in some of Saefinn's storyline, mainly with his exploration of Nymian ruins to find ancient treasures. Falfa has helped him navigate said ruins. I mainly use her for comic reasons, she, like one of Saefinn's faeries, likes to berate him, but then Saefinn's faerie Asaviola is a bad influence on her. Because Saefinn is somewhat of an egotist and a drunk and a little on the eccentric side, it's not uncommon for folk to make fun of him...even his own damn crew. However, Saefinn not so long ago was trying to convince Falfa to be our receptionist at our estate. Asaviola is also a big whiskey drinker - the Captain clearly not being an influence there. As you can probably tell, I roleplay the faeries too. I even roleplay the Ifrit-egi, though Saefinn treats him like a walking barbecue, it's not often he gets to play a combat role, rather, Saefinn finds it more amusing to treat the essence of some primal deity like a chef.

Saefinn sports 2 Grimoires. One, he managed to successfully steal from Nymian ruins, granted, he did end up a little lacerated...but he got better. Trying to get between a Tonberry King and a valuable treasure was dumb. He'd like to say that the Tonberry ended up worse off...Saefinn just ended up half dead and bleeding out, his faerie trying keep him alive and begging his crew to come save him. His crew was angry, but he argues that it was worth it. His second Grimoire is a rare artifact he managed to pay a good some of money for. However, this weapon is special. He was crazy and thought taking on a Voidsent would help him save somebody he cared about. Said Voidsent has now been bound to his Grimoire. He hasn't quite understood the effects the Voidsent has on his Grimoire, he hasn't risked extensive testing. Though he has used it and the Voidsent has managed to have some influence to his power. X'hayu on the other hand? Her blade comes with her title as Sultansworn. Nothing all that interesting. She became a Sultansworn through good deeds and selflessness, though her true motives are not in loyalty to the Sultana.