Saefinn

[edit] This is going to be a single thread from now on. Save making a thread everytime I write something. ((I've written another story for Saefinn's history. This is the story of how Saefinn became a captain. It contains bad language and scenes of a graphic nature (well, not technically graphic, as they're word, but you get the idea). I'm trying to explore Saefinn's dark side a bit as well, think I might struggle combining his lightheartedness and darkness, bit I think it has worked so far)) A Captain's Comeuppance The night waves crashed against our ship, the wind blew hard through my braided hair. I was sat port side, my foot sat atop my other knee. The moon was out, illuminating the deck. A Roegadyn was sat humming an old sea shanty tapping his foot with rum in hand. I felt a slight nervousness, a tingling in my stomach. I felt pipe-smoke in my lung; I coughed it out. Roddy was sat beside me smoking. I couldn’t believe everybody agreed with me. We were all tired, nobody signed up for this shit, theft and smuggling was our game, ruffing up locals and torturing those who didn’t ‘pay’ their debts, the bottom feeders, the commoner struggling to survive each living day, the refugees seeking shelter. Families reminiscent of the ones were left behind. For most of us this was a revelation and we all stood in agreement, we needed change. “He shouldn’t have done it.” Roddy sighed. [align=center]***[/align] At port captain had me hold a Hyur child with a pistol to her head, with his pistol to mine. “Don’t disobey your captain, you know what happens!” He chuckled. It was too far, for the divine’s sake, I did just about any dirty deed he asked, I’ve killed in cold blood, I’ve tortured, I’ve cut people from limb to limb, I’ve destroyed men’s manhood, I’ve left women scarred, I’ve had their children watch in horror so they may learn to never cross Captain. I even found a way to take pride in my work, to hone my technique, but he asked too much. “Captain, don’t you think?” I asked. “Don’t think, do!” He bellowed, “They knew the deal.” “Please,” begged the kid’s father, pinned down by two other Hyurs, “I can’t afford to feed my family, I just needed…” “See lad,” Captain smirked, “he’s not a man at all, what kind of man can’t provide for his family?” “Then let me do him, he’s the one who got himself into this mess, not his kid.” “Don’t second guess me boy. Remember, I own you. Now do as I saw before I blow your fucking brains out.” I gulped. I closed my eyes. There was no use being a hero, the kid was dead anyway, be it by my hands or his. I pulled the trigger. Screams from her mother, her father cried. I felt the blood on my hands. It didn’t feel right, there was no way that it could feel right. My hands were shaking. I felt the weight beneath my arms, the warm sensation running down my tunic. It didn’t feel the same as before, another taboo broken, but this time it wasn’t liberating. There was no redemption from this, I wanted to cry, but inside I felt a rage burning up. I wanted to rip captain’s throat out, call him every bad word I could think of. The bastard was laughing, for the love of all that is good, he was laughing! He felt no remorse, he didn’t do this out of necessity, he didn’t do it for the money, the bastard loved it. I decided, he had to pay, I swore that he would pay. I didn’t care how, I would make him pay. [align=center]***[/align] Roddy put his arm around me. “Look man, don’t look so glum.” He handed me some mead. I remained silent, feeling cold inside. I took the mead, took a swig back, tasting the sweet honey as it warmed my throat. No amount of alcohol could shake this feeling. I was remarkably focused. I had my plan. “Everybody’s on your side mate.” Roddy smiled warmly, “He’s got it coming.” “We do it now. Make sure everybody’s ready.” I grunted. “Aye,” Roddy jumped off, “you might wanna finish that.” Roddy made his way below deck. Moments later I could hear a cheer. I knocked back the last of my mead, wiped my mouth and smashed the bottle to the ground. It’s time. I marched over to the captain’s door, with an army of pissed sailors making their way over. “Tonight!” I bellowed, “Tonight is the night for a mutiny!” Everybody cheered and the door opened. Captain stood, sword in hand, his red long-coat flapping in the wind. “What’s going on here?” He screamed. “Did I hear a mutiny? Saefinn, you scurvy bastard, you think…” Before he could utter another syllable the crew had raised their blades, with Roddy at the front holding a pistol in hand. “Traitorous bastards! After all I’ve done for you. All right, I surrender.” He dropped his blade, one of the Roegadyn crewmates grabbed Captain by the arm and sat him down on a barrel. A Miqo’te tied Captain up in rope. “What’s the deal here? Leave me stranded somewhere? A bottle of rum and send me on my way. You can have my ship.” “Tell me you’re sorry,” I growled. “Oh, about that? Ahahaha, well lad if you’re sore about that, why didn’t you say so? It’s what you signed up for.” “Well, it’s not what you sold to us, now is it lads!” I yelled, the crew cheered. “How was it you recruited us, ‘a life of adventure, crime and freedom – the pirate’s life is for you’? I admit I was stupid to fool for that drivel.” “And what, you wanna be cap’ain, show you can do better? Ha! You think it’s all fun and games, that making money is easy. You wouldn’t last 10 days without me!” Roddy passed me a knife, Captain’s eyes lit up, I could see the fear. “Hey now, come on, you want to do things differently, I get it. I thought you were against all this.” “I’ve learned to enjoy it. And boy, am I going to savour this one.” I leant over to captain, grabbed him by the chin. “Where’s that smile of yours?” I then cut 2 small incisions either side of his mouth. I could see he wanted to scream, he knew what was coming next, he had seen me do it a thousand times when he went to collect his debts. I punched him in the stomach. Took a right hook to his jaw and booted him right in the bollocks. “Come on lads, make him smile!” I stepped away, letting the crew get cathartic. I stared out to the ocean, listening to an orchestra of grunts and cries. I gave it a few moments to savour it, the cool sea air in my face, my aching knuckles. Pure bliss. I turned round back to Captain. “Let’s take a look lads.” They stopped their beating and backed away. Captain was barely conscious, bloodied and purple. The cuts on either side of his mouth had grown across his cheeks. “That’s the smile I was looking for.” I chuckled. I grabbed captain’s hand. I took my knife to his index finger, Captain writhed. I slowly dug my blade in, severing it from his hand. He tried not to scream. “Crew!” I exclaimed, “This kind of shit is reserved for people who deserve it.” I severed another finger. I then grabbed his wrist, pulled up his sleeve and inscribed, ‘bastard’. I looked up and could see that captain had passed out. “That was fun while it lasted. Somebody throw him overboard! Somebody grab an instrument, we’ll crack open the kegs and throw ourselves a fucking party!” I marched below deck with Roddy behind, I grabbed a tankard straight from one of the shelves, opened up a keg and dipped my tankard in, filling it with rum. I knocked it straight back – the alcohol all going to my head. Bitter taste. Hiccups. I felt good. I burst out laughing, Roddy gave me a strange look. He took up a pint of his own, put his arm around me and joined in.

Hmm let me see here...sure why not? We've all been guilty of that at some point. I'm sure it was an honest mistake! I mean, you didn't mean to get caught, so I don't see what the fuss is all about. I mean, if she was a looker it was bound to happen at some point, so I think he's totally overreacting.

Considering I'm a pirate captain, it's only appropriate I should post myself as a pirate...drinking Captain Morgans.

I don't mind a server move. This early on it's doable. I know people are concerned by 4Chan & Reddit, I wouldn't want to see it become a trollfest. But not everybody from 4Chan & Reddit are douchebags, it's possible they'll be a little more tolerant with a few idiots making fun - heck there may even be some roleplayers among them, but I think people will make fun regardless, there are just a lot of people out there who think it's weird or sad to roleplay. But I'm a genuine weird person, so people generally think me odd and those who have a problem, I tend to think "*%$ 'em" rather than change anything. I'm not going to let folks spoil my fun. If there are people who are a problem, you can block them. However, has anybody tried speaking to the 4Chan or Reddit communities? I would like the idea of people being able to work together rather than against each other, however, I accept people can be a-holes and enjoy ruining people's fun. I accept that will be a challenge, so I wouldn't be against moving if it needed to come to it. So I am on the fence, I want to be a part of the Gilgamesh RP community, so I'll go wherever they go. Simple as that really. I don't think it's worth fighting over it for. If we do, 4Chan/Reddit will be the least of our problems here.

I've got a couple of up-to-date photos as the one I posted is like 3 years old. I was at the Wacken festival in Germany last week and had my picture taken with some folks from Megabosch (a German post-apocalyptic metal band).

With the character generator benchmark hanging about, I thought I'd try my hand at designing my characters for this RP. Saefinn, you're already familiar with him, the Lalafell, she's the character who saves Saefinn in the events leading up to beta phase 4 and the female Miqo'te, she will remain somewhat a mystery...not because it's a secret, but because I haven't gone much into her as a character.

Ooh shiny. Well, my scholar will be happy. Can't wait to play it, will be interesting to see how the faeries work with SCH.

Hopefully these fairies will have a lore to work with and have personalities of their own, rather than just being an avatar, so I can RP my fairy as well as Saefinn (iirc Carbuncle used to speak in FFXI, so I wonder if the FFXIV will be the same? We could prolly RP our own Carbies) Either way, my fairy will be roleplayed and it will probably be fun and interesting to do, but I am slightly amused by the fact I'll be a Pirate Captain with his own Tinkerbell. Peter Pan will be turning in his own grave. But this isn't neverland, so I won't be working it into my roleplay - well I suppose I could jokingly make a subtle reference without breaking lore. I mean, Final Fantasy I has a grave that says "Here lies Link" in the Elf Village, I guess I could have a "Here Lies Peter Pan". There are graves in Thanalan after all.

Let's hope the rumours are true. I can't wait. Anyhow, I will be away from this evening until Monday, with no internet access (I'll be in a field somewhere in Germany with lots of mead I hope), so should phase 4 start up this weekend, I won't be here to sort out this LS, so it would have to wait for my return.

I think if the avatars are the same size as a normal Hyur and the Summoner is standing away as a summoner would, I don't think there would be much of a difference than say if a Dragoon Roegadyn was standing in your way meleeing the enemy. In FFXI, the avatars were larger than players and took up more room than the suggested adjustment. Whilst it didn't bother me, in fact I liked it, but I accept it was not the same for everybody. I think the proposal is a fair compromise. It's an increase in size, without the sacrifice to people's line of sight, at least that would be my argument. [edit] Or as Ash just said.

I completely agree with the feedback, sad about the response. It would have been a good place to meet in the middle. I like the appearance, I was worried about it at first, but I think they're well designed, whilst I personally would have preferred it to work like it did in FFXI (and it didn't create any problems), I am not disappointed, I just think they could be a wee bit bigger. I'm not exactly sure why SE won't make them bigger, but as much as I would like them to be bigger, I don't think it'll spoil my enjoyment, but then I'm gonna be a Scholar, not a summoner. The funny thing is in FFXI I was harping on about how Scholar should get a pet, at least after seeing Schultz using the Crimson Grimoire as a pet, it could have been a reward for doing Survival of the Wisest. Ah well, a faery will suffice.

I can't think of any media influences on my main character, I have kept away from popular or stereotypical pirates in coming up with Saefinn - he is kinda influenced by a character in the novel I've been writing...in fact, he has the same name, risky, I know. The first draft of the novel was written in 2008 (I know, I'm slacking) and I had trouble coming up with names in FFXI and I picked one from my novel. It became my identity on any MMO title out there I've played since. I could change the name of my character in the novel, but I'm sticking with it regardless. Saefinn in FFXIV is a different person, but there's some similar attitudes between the two. However, Saefinn in FFXIV is a bit of chauvanist, whilst Saefinn in my novel is pretty much the opposite - their life experiences are different, so they've been shaped in different ways, but both possess the same heart, so to speak. With characters around Saefinn, well there's his best friend, Roddy, who is a bit like a guy I went to university with, a guy called 'Dave', when we used to go out drinking he had a bit of a habit of shouting at women and screaming "waheyhey", he was a bit of what people might call a 'lad'. He was harmless though really, tended to make a prat of himself more than anything, but he was a laugh to be around and despite appearances, he had a good head on his shoulders. Roddy has similarities as far as his 'laddish' side goes. Roddy also had a bit of a bad influence on Saefinn as well, how Saefinn is around women at bars, you could say is because of Roddy, well partially, the lifestyle of his crew helped too. Then there's the captain from when Saefinn was a teenager, I haven't really fleshed him out yet, but his body language reminded me a little of Barbosa. The Lalafell Saefinn met on the beach, in coming up with her, I'm starting to think she might have a bit of a Shantotto quality to her. Rather than being a crazy Black Mage, she's a crazy Conjurer. I may even be tempted to roleplay her further, it might be fun to roleplay with a bit of madness.

((I figured I'd knock out 2 of these today. I figure I'd explore different parts of his character. This one is another one from being a fresh pirate as a young lad. His first time with a women. Don't worry, it's mostly tame, I've not written any sex scenes. I mentioned in my character profile of him that he has a bit of a warped view on women due to his experiences in taverns. This story is where it all started.)) A Quintessential Wench “Weyyy!” Roddy cheered holding his pint in the air. “To Limsa Lominsa!” “To beer!” Cried a Roegadyn crew member. “Ehey!” I cheered back. “To a cracking pair of tits!” Roddy gestured towards the Hyur waitress and everybody in the bar, women included held their pints in the air to her direction. She gave an awkward blush. “Come on now, lads, let’s not get too hasty.” She served me mead. The Roegadyn turned to me, slurring his words, “hey look mate, I fink that pretty Miqo’te was looking at you. She’s got a gorgeous rack.” I spat out my drink. I wasn’t sure if it was the drink talking, but he was right. Her busty breasts looked as though they were about to break her corset, it was as though she wore a small corset on purpose to accentuate them. Her black hair was long, silky and untamed. Surprisingly her soft, sweet smile drew me away from her chest, her eyes alluring, a special kind of beauty – I felt my heart skip a beat, my stomach tingled and I probably had a grin from ear to ear. She giggled. I staggered over drunkenly. “Go on my son!” I could hear Roddy shout from behind, “Get in there!” I was a fresh sailor, only just hit puberty, I didn’t know what to say, even with the alcohol pumping through my veins. “I’ve never seen eyes so beautiful…I could barely notice those wonderful…breasts of yours.” I was giggling like a little girl. I half expected her to call me a pig, but to be honest, I didn’t know what I was expecting her to say. “Erm, thanks. You’ve not spoken to many women, have you?” “Why do you say that?” I slurred. “Because by now you’d have a red hand mark on your face.” “I…am, sorry, milady. It’s just…wow. Can I touch them?” “Really?” She sighed. “Talk to me like I’m a lady and maybe, just maybe.” “Well, erm…” I stuttered. My brain couldn’t really function, Roddy’s foul mouth had really corrupted any train of thought. I was raised to be such a sweet boy who respected women and all I could think about was breasts. I chanted to myself, don’t talk about breasts, don’t talk about breasts, don’t talk about breasts. “So, where are you from?” “Ul’dah, I used to work at The Quicksand.” “What brings you all…all the way to Limsa?” I sneakily raised my arm behind her shoulders. “To find something more exciting. I often saw other people going out on adventure and at The Quicksand we always had work for adventurers, but I never got to have an adventure of my own.” “Hey!” I swigged back on my drink, my head getting light, “I’m on an adventure! Sailing seas! But a pretty girl like you…ain’t the place for you.” “Hey!” Her expression took a furious turn, “I’m more capable than I look!” “I’m not saying you’re not, I mean you could knock somebody out with those knockers!” I bit my lip. I mentioned breasts. Idiot, idiot, idiot. I winced expecting to be slapped, instead she busted out laughing. “You’re a real charmer, ain’t you? A way with words. Look sweetheart, I’m just playing with you. Ha ha ha.” “Excuse me?” “Can’t you tell, I’m a tavern wench?” She sat on my lap facing me, “you guys bring good business. Now let me show you a token of appreciation.” My cheeks turned red as my heart started beating fast. “Get in there my boy!” Roddy shouted, “Woo!” I didn’t know what to do, I felt a tingle. I put down my drink and she put her tongue in my mouth, I could taste the wine on her saliva as we kissed. I closed my eyes and placed my hands on her breasts. Roddy and the Roegadyn, crept up behind me. “Saefinn! Saefinn! Saefinn!” They chanted and handed the wench a couple of jugs full of beer. She poured them over her body, soaking the two of us. By then the whole crew had their attention on us. A bard played music in the background and the wench danced in front of me. I was entranced by her fluid movements, her perfect curves, her bounteous breasts – perfect movement, she had a real talent for it, I think, I wasn’t quite sure if she was a good dancer or if I just…appreciated it more – the short skirt, the tight outfit, the lot. She was soon joined by two others, a Hyur, blonde and an Elezen, brunette. Everybody crowded around cheering and whistling, throwing their coins to the table. Captain marched in. “This is what it’s all about lads!” He shouted, “I’m diving in!” He joined the brunette who had a shy smile about her, captain went straight in, head first for her breasts. The waitress brought about a new round of drinks. “There you go boys,” she winked. Roddy jumped straight in grabbing 2 pints for himself. He plonked himself next to me, put his arm around me and whispered in my ear, “she’s something, eh?” I was speechless. My jaw had dropped, no other 15 year old lads were getting this kind of treatment in Limsa, there’s no way their mums would let them get away with it. I felt…privileged. I never imagined becoming a pirate would quite feel like this, but it felt good. It was like a drug and the night hadn’t even begun. “Becoming a pirate is the best choice I’ve ever made!” I shouted. “Weeeey!” Roddy cheered at the top of his lungs. He walked over to the wench before me. “Turn this boy into a man!” The Miqo’te wench walked over, leant forward and grabbed me by the lapel and walked me across the tavern floor. Another cheer followed, a few whistles, “way to go Sae! Woo!” “Go on lad, you’ve earned it.” Captain applauded before burying his face again. I waved goodbye as the wench led me into the next room. “Tonight is a good night.” I smiled. And indeed it was.

((Another story for Saefinn. This is just a short story detailing the events prior to beta phase 4, giving Saefinn the motivation to travel to his starting city, also providing some insight to his background and introducing the nameless Lalafell he owes his life to. Feedback welcome. I figure leading up to beta phase 4, I'll do some of these stories as it has been a while since I've written fiction and I'm rusty.)) … … My head. Thumping. I could barely breathe. The sound of the sea wooshing as it engulfed my feet. My head was against the sand and there was the taste of salt dry in my mouth. I could feel the sun’s warmth. I tried to open my eyes, but the light blinded me, it was like a bad hangover, without the vomit. I felt a pain in my shoulder, from what I did not know. “Hello? Hello, can you hear me?” Somebody shoved me, followed by the whirring of magic. I felt a cool sensation run through my body, my headache dissipated, my shoulder felt a little better, yet I still thirsted for water. “Come on, get up, you’re not dead yet.” As I opened my eye I saw a small Lalafell wrapped in white robes. “Ergh,” I groaned. “See, I told you so.” Her face had a warming quality, she had the innocent childlike features the Lalafell possessed, including the stubbed nose. From what I could see underneath the hood, her hair was blonde. Almost every bit a child, but the eyes, they had matured. As strange as it would seem to say it, behind them were years of discipline, yet I felt a certain compassion, one I was unfamiliar with. “Can you get up? I’m too small to carry you.” I just felt like laying there, I didn’t have much strength to move. I needed a drink, not the hard stuff, water. “W…ter,” I mumbled. “Oh, how silly of me.” She pulled out a leather flask and held it to my mouth and I drank. It was warm as it rushed down my gullet, hydrating it along the way “How was that?” She asked as she put her flask away. “Warm,” I replied. “It’s a warm day,” she laughed, “I’m not some two-bit Thaumaturge who casts a Blizzard spell to refresh my water.” “Thank you.” I managed to regain some of my strength. I wondered if she would treat me with such grace if she knew what kind of man I was and knew the things I had done. Things even I look back in disgust. Despite all that has happened, I always had a crew loyal to me, brothers in arms to take good care of me and I…well, I wish I could say “and I them”, but it had dawned on me the weight of what had led me ashore. I no longer had a crew. I felt a tightness in my stomach, a small tear in my and the tension in my muscles. Shaking, I wanted to scream at the top of my voice. They trusted you. I felt I didn’t deserve to live, yet was grateful of the Lalafell’s hospitality. I was no true Captain. Even with all my smarts I never could formulate an effective battle plan. What did I know about strategy? What did I know about fighting? The most I could do was a drunken brawl and even them I couldn’t win without cheating. I sat in an upward position, “what are you then?” I asked. “A Conjurer,” she smiled, “I take care of the weak. Right now, that’s you.” “Why?” “Because you need it. Need it be any less simple?” I had considered for a moment, what if there was a Conjurer among my crew? Would things have been any different? The ability to heal and raise the fallen. Maybe then we might have stood a chance against the Sahagin. But there would be no way that this Lalafell would agree to be a part of my crew – nor could I turn back time - she just didn’t seem the type to support the idea of hanging a man by the ankles over the edge of the ship to ‘encourage’ him to pays his debts. Or the kind to support the idea of smuggling in illegal goods, especially narcotics. “Are you ready to get up? Or are you just going to sit there?” The Lalafell sighed. I slowly got up, staggering slightly, to oblige her demand. Like a fresh drunkard, I staggered my way as the Lalafell led me to some shelter. There were the charcoal remains of a fire and a tent and we sat nearby. “You’re going to stay here until you’re fit enough to make it on your own.” I nodded. She walked into her tent and rummaged through a few supplies before walking back out again. In her hand she held out a small piece of cake. At first I was bewildered, she gave me a strange look. “Nourishment,” she said, “Cake makes everybody feel good.” I took a bite, tasting the sweet sponge of the cake, a hint of jam – but I didn’t have time to savour the whole thing, I ended up wolfing the rest down – I got a bit of icing on my nose, so I wiped it off. I smiled a little, it seemed cake really does make everybody feel good. “So, where will you be heading?” She asked. “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “There’s gotta be somewhere, somebody who knows you.” “My ship was attacked, I was lucky to get out alive,” I paused. I felt a tight pain in my chest before I could say what I had to say, “My crew, they’re all dead.” “I’m sorry.” She bowed her head. “They died because of me,” I said sincerely. “I was just…hopeless.” “I am sure that’s not true. I know, I wasn’t there.” “I buried my head in books and my game was always business, not warfare. My crew needed a captain not only prepared with a business plan to make money, but somebody who had the balls to stand up in a fight and act like a %*^ing leader! A part of me wishes you just left me to die. It’s where I belonged.” The Lalafell thwacked me across the cheek, for a small thing she packed a lot of punch. “Don’t say that! Come now. Were you the one going around stabbing your crew with a knife? Looking at you, you wouldn’t last 5 seconds trying to murder a whole crew!” She exclaimed. “I don’t think that makes any sense.” I frowned. “Look, unless you led the attack against your crew then you didn’t murder your crew. Fine, you might not have had a general’s ability to lead people into battle, but you wouldn’t be the only one. You’re going to do nothing feeling sorry for yourself. Look, if you’re so worried about how to handle a fight – you don’t look like you have a lot of brawn, why don’t you invest in that learned brain of yours and do something about it. Well, I dunno, aspire to become a Scholar or something crazy like that.” “What now?” “I’m just saying, you’re down on your luck, no crew, you say you like to bury your head in books, you hate the fact you lack any tactical ability, except when it comes to business. You’ve got nowhere to go. Okay, nobody can just become a Scholar willy nilly, but you can start by developing your arcane abilities a little. When you’re feeling a little better I can show you a couple of tricks. See how far you get, you never know, you might be good at it.” “My arcane abilities? All righty then, I’ll humour you.” I sighed. “Trust me, you’ll love it. It’s up to you, I’m a Conjurer, and you could always learn magic in Gridania with the Conjurer’s guild and see how it works out for you – I could get you started. Or you can bury your head in a book in Limsa Lominsa with the Arcanists and get a head start, in fact, I probably have a book to read around here somewhere.” “Sounds like I don’t have a choice.” “That’s right. I saved your butt and now it’s mine.” She placed her hand on her chest laughing. I shook my head. She was right though. I had failed my crew and it hurt me knowing that, but I was alive and it wouldn’t exactly have been honourable for me to kill myself and it would achieve bugger all. I had read a little about Scholars and how their strategic manoeuvres and masterful spell weaving were the strength behind the men and women of Vylbrand, defending their tiny nation. I also knew of their dominion over faeries, it didn’t feel exactly emasculating, but all who would laugh at the faery sat atop my shoulder would soon laugh no more. As brilliant as the fantasy in my head was, of casting powerful spells to bring my foes to their knees and empowering a mighty crew as they launched their attack, I had never cast a spell. I was a long way off from acquiring the level of excellence of a Scholar and I didn’t think I could do it, but a part of me felt right. I had to do this. Maybe with the right amount of training I could avenge my crew and show those mother$%^£ ing Sahagin, you don’t cross Captain Saefinn Liljasson!

I think that settles it.

Assuming SE keep to their word, I'll be starting in Limsa as an Arcanist. If they don't, it will be Gridania with a Conjurer. But anybody's welcome to look me up in game and I'll be more than happy to team up. Should phase 4 start anytime soon, I will be unavailable from Tuesday, right round until Monday. I will be away on holiday in Germany, enjoying the awesome music festival that is Wacken. There won't be many pirates there sadly, though Alestorm will be there. However, there is a Viking village, so I'm sure I'll be doing some pillaging of some description.

That's awesome. I'll try and make it.

To my mind it's a living character. It wouldn't be interesting to me otherwise, because everything would be so...forced. I think you can go into a roleplay with certain pre-determined aims to bring everybody on the same page, but I personally like being spontaneous, when I did student radio, I tried scripted shows, but making stuff up on the spot is so much more fun in my opinion. However, I think in order to do that you need to know a certain amount about your character, what kind of people they are and so on so you can manipulate them more convincingly. Though I'm by no means a veteran, but to me, planning a script would suck some of the fun out it. Sure, I enjoy script writing, but a game is too interactive for me to then to treat it in a much more static way. I've never heard of anything scripted at least. In other words, roleplayers are like Ed Gein, they put on other people's skin.

When I've tried RPing before I've always been worried about 'crashing' other people's RP, but this convinces me that it's a good idea. Being spontaneous is so much more fun. Thanks for sharing.

That's awesome. Well, sticking with the Pirate theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os5TXyJlEMc And for those looking for crime tips:

Greetings fellow person from the UK! I can relate to some of the stuff you've said about MMOs. I too have burned myself out before, it was how I ended up quitting Final Fantasy XI. I loved it a little too much. As for server choice. The two main ones here are Balmung or Gilgamesh. I'm personally on Gilgamesh, don't know what the scale of Brits are like - prolly small, but I've gotten used to working around US timezones, but would like to see more EU folk at least...namely those who speak English, mainly because my German is awful and I'm worse at every other language.

I might be tempted to get in on this, I'll be having some events ideas and stuff I wanna do. Also, hopefully phase 4 will be just starting when I get back from holiday so I don't miss out. My email for Skype is bryn.price[at]live.co.uk Also, I am an EU dude, so I might be able to help out with some events orientated more for EU timezones. At least with the Limitless Sky event currently planned I can get away with 2 or 3 hours and still not feel like a zombie at work the next day (which I guess wouldn't be so bad, as people like zombies, but our IT department is pretty vigilant about zombie invasions)

I picked 'Arcanist', interesting so many have picked it, but it's a new class. Rather than the excitement of a new class (or for the awesomeness of being able to summon), for me it's the gateway to becoming a Scholar. My primary job on FFXI was Scholar and loved it to bits - I know this isn't FFXI and Scholar won't be the same, but it seems like it may be a great user of HoT and DoT, which is one aspect I loved about it in FFXI (as they later improved it as a HoT job). So my character's roleplay revolves around the eventual goal of becoming a Scholar. Hence he's starting out as a Conjurer in phase 4 and with Arcanist coming out on release, I'll have my secondary class prepared for when Arcanist hits 30. Unless of course SE throw in Arcanist in phase 4, how could I say no? It would take a couple of adjustments in my RP, but Saefinn hasn't yet started his life, so it disnay matter.

Thanks for the interest guys. It's gonna be both. It'll be a linkshell to start with, just so folks have a channel to communicate. Once Saefinn reaches the prestige to start a Free Company, he'll create one as a front for the operation. It will be a seemingly legitimate FC, so it won't have an obvious name, like "Pirates of a Wayward Star", I mean in RP it'd just be like saying, "hey, look at us, we're highly suspicious individuals", chances are the FC will just be called 'Wayward Star'. Perhaps a merchant such as yourself would help present our reputation as a legitimate company and vouch for Sae when he says he's a reformed criminal looking to make an honest buck.

When creating your character, how do you balance between being too boring and too snowflake? In my opinion, there is not a boring soul out there, yep, even those trainspotters wearing anoraks. Okay, I personally found a trainspotter I knew boring, because our interests didn't match, but he found himself interesting and as did his friends. I think it's a question of finding something interesting about your character and bringing out that quality, something you're interested by, be it certain characteristics or traits, you can bring about depth. Even if you're simply a merchant's son who collects coins and likes to go out fishing on a friday, you might not be an exciting adventurer, but there are probably interesting life experiences and stories to tell. Perhaps with a bit of alcohol down your throat you might lighten up and be a bit of an animal. There can be interesting secrets or interesting things to have happened in your life or even interesting things that are to happen. If you can make connections you find interesting, then I guess it makes it easier. Though I see no point playing a character you're not interested in, because it's harder to sustain and harder to get something out of it. I know I am saying this as somebody who jumped right in an said "I'm gonna be a pirate captain", but I've added some depth to his character and thought about what kind of person he'll be. I picked captain because I've gone in the intention of starting a shell & FC. I think to avoid Mary-Sues it's a question of trying to understand what people are like. You could take a Mary-Sue and completely descontruct her, on the surface she may be perfect, but deep down she has her own flaws, like the rest of us. She might be judgmental of others, she may cover her own mistakes and always put herself in the positive light, little miss perfect, living to an image, hiding her true flaws. When role-playing with others, what character traits, personalities or actions have you found to be interesting and enjoyable to RP with and/or what have you seen just not work or appear too boring to engage your character? I've barely roleplayed to be fair. A bit of an RP flair on WoW, SW:TOR and a friend's forum. I've always felt those trying to engage their character as though they were human (so to speak) have been more interesting. I remember in WoW, I encountered a bar maid, she was just like a normal barmaid, she wasn't doing anything over the top or bigging herself up. She was doing her shift, she engaged with her patrons as the patrons told their stories. In a way she was a catalyst for discussion, which is true of a good bar-person and in this sense helps a roleplay. In another roleplay I encountered a discussion with a drunk who was a bit of a conspiracy theorist. I don't know who he was or what his background was, but I have met conspiracy theorists at bars, generally the alcohol will get that out of you. Sometimes it can be the little things that can leave an impression. On another occasion, as a Night Elf Death Knight in Stormwind, I met a bigot. He didn't take too kindly to have my sort in the bar. Whilst the Death Knights were allied with the Horde and Alliance, but in this world there were individuals not comfortable with it and the guy played his part as the bigot. He was clearly prejudice. I on the other hand was having an identity crisis, Night Elves don't take kindly to the unholy, so becoming a Death Knight is a fate worse than death for a Night Elf. So rather than doing the whole, "you're a bigot" and sticking up for myself, I just downed my drink and accepted his insults. Somebody else stuck up for my character though. For me, it's a turn off once people start going over the top, breaking the fluidity of roleplay, like a badly dubbed movie. Of course not everybody is an expert creative writer and I wouldn't expect them to be. I think it helps to take on the identity of who you're playing, whilst that may seem agiven, I think sometimes there can be a distance between the roleplayer and the character. You are the character, you're not playing a character. Perhaps this is why people say creativity is a mental illness? Where do you find the line and when do you think it can be easily crossed while still being within the lore? What kind of advice would you give given your past experience. I think lore is important, but I'm not anal about it. I think it's acceptable for people to make mistakes. I also think just because a certain culture in lore exists for different characters backgrounds, I don't think it should dictact how a character should be. Not everybody is a paragon of their own cultural virtues, some go completely against tradition. If people can do that in the real world, why not a fictional one? For instance, the name principles of my characters I mentioned in another thread. The principles break lore so to speak, yet lore is broken with reason. I think people need to work within the realistic confines of the world your character is based. So, you're not going to be Sephiroth with a jetpack weilding a lightsaber (as badass as that would be) and I don't think anybody's going to be knighted by the Queen of England either. I think it's also worth bearing in mind some of the other restrictions - I don't think you could become Sultana just as you wouldn't become the Emperor in SW:TOR, because if you were able to (if you choose to ignore cutscenes and the game's story), there's probably about 5 other people trying to fill that spot.