Tregarde

This is an issue in any game with limited housing. I saw it way back when Ultima Online was young, and in every game that has had limited housing since. Once all the available space is taken, all you can do is wait and hope a plot opens (and you're quick enough to snag it), or hope the developers put in more space for houses. And in FFXIV it didn't help that it was possible for people to have multiple houses. Thankfully that is not so easy anymore, but I do think that SE should crack down and force those people to give up some plots. It's because of situations like this that I prefer instanced housing. My solution here - I'm just not worrying about getting a house. I'm getting along fine without one. Maybe someday, when I have a ton of money to spare I'll try to find a plot, but it's not going to bother me if I don't.

The question is - do you want your character to be a Dark Knight (tm), or a guy with a big sword? Game mechanics restrict who can wield what weapon, how one is trained, etc. Realistically, nothing prevents anyone from picking up any weapon. There are plenty of people who use two handed swords who are not Dark Knights. Not everyone who uses a bow or spear went to Gridania to train. Just because someone is using a sword and shield doesn't necessarily mean that person spent time as a Gladiator in Ul'dah. And so on. A lot of these situations become even more ridiculous when you consider that there are people from Ishgard, or Garleans, or the Far East who are just as skilled as anyone from Eorzea. So, if you want your character to be a guy with a big sword - go for it. Don't let game mechanics hold you back. You don't need a fancy crystal to swing around a long piece of steel. In-character you may not have the "powers" of a Dark Knight, but it's not hard to tweak things a little to make them work in RP - NPCs break the rules all the time! The end effect of a skill may be similar, but how your character enacts that skill can be very different. And if you do want a sociopathic Dark Knight, that's not necessarily out of the question. Being a sociopath doesn't necessarily mean being entirely devoid of emotions, there is a spectrum. Your character may have to reach a little deeper than most others, but just because someone isn't screaming like some anime character doesn't mean those emotions aren't there (unless, of course, you want your character to scream like an anime character when he enters 'rage mode' or whatever). The game mechanics are guidelines, not set-in-stone laws.

Earlier you said "... which I heavily suspect to indicate a non garlean ancestry somewhere." I was saying that these people with non-Roman names are Garleans. If they were not Garleans, they would not have the third eye, because only full blooded Garleans have the third eye. See also Sounsyy's reply in the spoiler -box above.

The argument against that is that Cid Garlond is a "full blooded" Garlean, hence the 'third eye' on his forehead. But that doesn't mean what composes Garlemald today was always a united culture. I would even say it is likely there was more than one culture, with distinct names and customs, before being united under one flag. Obviously the ones with the Romanesque names were the winners, but some people held on to their traditional family names (as people tend to do). Though I would say it is likely there is a common ancestry in the distant past, before unification, which is why people without the Romanesque names can be "full blooded" and have the third eye. Though the 'distant past' may not be that distant, as we know almost nothing about the Empire's history before 50-ish years ago.

Yes, it is. You've had some bad luck so far finding RP, that's all. I've come across RP in all the cities, and even out in the open world. Ul'dah, especially around the Quicksand, is the major RP hotspot, but that also makes it a roll of the dice whether you find good RP. Sometimes RP can be found away from the adventurers' guilds, so don't hesitate to stroll across a town and keep an eye on the chat window. Also look for people with the gold RP symbol by their name, or Free Companies with 'RP' in their name, those are often good indicators that they are at least RP friendly. For some mysterious reason RP events tend to promote themselves on Discord and not post here, so keep an eye on Discord - there's events almost every day. Not all events will have a huge turn out, but you don't need numbers to find RP. Sometimes it's easier to get involved in the smaller stuff. Once you've found some RP you like and made a couple friends, it tends to get a lot easier to find more. And if you come across a Tregarde somewhere in Eorzea (three to chose from!) feel free to poke me.

Welcome to FFXIV and Mateus. Yep, there's a lot of lore, but it's not overwhelming if don't try to absorb it all at once. What's curious is a few glaring holes in the lore, like what year it is (SE really needs to fix this). Maybe we shall cross paths in Eorzea.

Levels don't matter in RP, they only matter in what you can do within game mechanics. Though getting to 20 and your chocobo helps a lot in getting around the world. Welcome to Mateus. We have the best cookies.

Welcome to Hydaelyn, I think you'll like it here. It's a pretty interesting world, and we have a very good RP community. Since you're crunching lore... in case you haven't found it yet, there's a wealth of lore information at Sounsyy's Lore Compilations Index https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/topic/17092-sounsyys-lore-compilations-index/ And who knows, maybe we'll cross paths somewhere in Eorzea.

Welcome back. If you liked RP in WoW, I'm sure you'll love it here. Most of us don't get bent out of shape if you're not 100% on lore, even within lore there's some wiggle room. And outside of lore, just don't go too crazy and we can go with it. But since it seems like you're interested in lore, a good place to start is right here in the Welcome pages. Now that I am here, what do I do? An introduction to Eorzea. https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/topic/18296-now-that-i-am-here-what-do-i-do-an-introduction-to-eorzea/ has some useful links to get the basics down. For more detailed articles, you can't beat our lore guru Sounsyy's Lore Compilations Index https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/topic/17092-sounsyys-lore-compilations-index/ And who knows, maybe we'll cross paths in Eorzea.

English version:

It is rather unfortunate that the way the developers wrote the lore of the classes, and especially the jobs, tends to make them very restrictive. In some cases, like the White Mage, the player represents the ONLY person outside of a select few who has learned that job. So we are left to fudge things a little. Often, because it only makes sense for certain professions to be more widespread than the given lore implies. As people have stated above, it is very unlikely that an Au Ra could have learned the art of the Dragoon in Ishgard. But that doesn't mean that an Au Ra couldn't learn the arts of using a spear or lance. Such weapons are common across the world. Surely there must be people skilled with them to learn from outside of a couple tiny slices if Eorzea. Maybe your character isn't a Dragoon, but could still be someone very skilled with the weapon. Just as an example, by game mechanics my Katarina is a Paladin. But in RP she's no such thing - she never spend time in the arenas of Ul'dah as a Gladiator. She certainly was never one of the Sultansworn to learn to be a Paladin. She's just a reasonably skilled fighter who favors a sword and shield - common weapons that anyone could learn to use if they put in the effort.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: The inspiration should be obvious - so many times in cut-scenes the heroes just stand idle while the bad guys talk and do things. It's gotten to the point where I can't help but laugh when it happens. I can think of no logical reason for this, so it has to be something illogical. Hence, the idea that for whatever reason it is so deeply set in their psyche that interrupting someone is so abhorrent that they'd rather die! I also wrote this so the Warrior of Light could be anyone. Comments welcome. =P

For what felt like the thousandth time, I wondered if what I was doing was right. I may be the Warrior of Light, but that doesn’t mean I’m infallible. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, so many actions I would do over if I could... but is that not why I’ve come to the conclusion I have, to avoid making the same mistake again? Is that not why I called my fellow Scions and the leaders of Eorzea together, so we all can avoid making the same mistake? But then why is my heart so heavy? Why does this idea that makes so much sense fill me with trepidation? I looked to Y’shtola. She’s the only one I’ve told. I had to talk to someone, make sure I hadn’t gone insane. I could tell by the look in her eyes she still wasn’t sure either, but at least she listened. Would the others listen? “Are you certain you wish to go through with this?” she asked. I nodded. “How could I not? It could save lives... could have already saved lives, many lives, if only someone had thought of it sooner.” “Thoughts are one thing, acting on them quite another. They won’t like what you have to say.” “I know,” I said with a heavy sigh. “But I have to try. If they will just listen, and think about it...” She placed her hand on my arm to reassure me. She may not like my idea, but she wasn’t going to abandon me. Truly, I could not ask for a better friend. I took a deep breath to steady myself, then stepped to the door that lead to the meeting room. Everyone was there. I could see concern, curiosity, and even some confusion in their eyes. The conversations fell silent as I took my place. My eyes swept the table as Y’shtola took her seat. Long had I earned their trust, many times over. Would I still have it before this was over? “Since the day when our paths first crossed,” I began, “before I even knew what a Scion or the Echo was, we have faced many trials. I have come to regard all of you not just as compatriots and allies, but also as friends. We have all risked our lives for Eorzea, and beyond. Many times over we have only barely averted a great tragedy by only the most narrowest of breadths.” I paused a moment for what I said to sink in. There were nods and murmurs of agreement, all I had said was true. It was clear I was leading up to something. “But, that does not mean that all tragedy was averted. While we have ultimately triumphed in the end, nearly every time there were many sacrifices made along the way, many lives needlessly lost that could have been saved.” I had their attention. They wanted to ask what I was talking about, but dared not interrupt me. In a way, that only proved what I was about to say. “I have long thought about what could have been different, what we could have done, how those loses could have been prevented. Long have I agonized, thinking there must be a way! And then it hit me - one thing that was so common, so frequent among our enemies, it made the solution so obvious... such a simple thing, how had no one thought of it? One thing, time and time again, we could have done that would have prevented so much loss. Something we must start doing...” I paused only long enough to take in a breath. These next words were going to be the hardest thing I had ever said, but they must be said. “We must attack our enemies when they are monologuing.” Bedlam broke out as a dozen voices cried out in shock and denial. Above them all Raubahn shouted, “what madness is this?” “Please, please, hear me out,” I raised my arms and pleaded. I caught the eye of Y’shtola while the room quieted down, this was not going well. I turned to the master engineer. “Cid, you were there when we were going after Ultima Weapon and first came across Gaius, we had a chance to stop him - right there. But instead we let him talk, and summon a magitek armor, and get away on an elevator. Twice more we could have stopped him before he reached Ultima Weapon-” I stopped when I saw the way he was shaking his head. “I left my homeland, fought against my people, because I was appalled at what they were doing. But this,” he pulled the goggles off his head, I’m certain he was thinking about how he had acquired them, “not even the worst of Garlea would consider what you’re saying!” I was shocked by what he said. I had expected resistance, but not this bad. I had to try again. “When we went to stop the Sahagin from summoning Leviathan, we could have prevented it if only we had acted! But instead we all stood idle and let the shaman complete his ritual. All of us,” I looked at the others who were also there. There was guilt on Y’shtola’s face, because I had talked to her already she knew the truth of what I was saying, “he was right behind us, we could have attacked.” I then looked to Thancred and Yugiri, “you could have thrown your daggers.” I then looked to the Admiral, “Merlwyb, if you had only fired your guns sooner... Leviathan would never have attacked all those ships, all those souls would still be with us.” “Enough of this!” she exclaimed. “What do you take me for? Pirate I may be, but there are some lines even the most vile pirate would never cross!” This wasn’t just bad - this was going worse than I had ever expected. Yugiri shook her head. “I would rather have stayed and fought in Doma had I known I would coming here would mean listening to this. At least there I would have died with honor.” Thacred spoke, denial in every word, “What you are proposing... I can not condone such a course of action. Better that I had never been freed from Lahabrea.” My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Kan-E-Senna spoke up, “are these truly the words of the hero who has saved us several times over? Twas easier to face certain annihilation when Bahamut broke his restraints than to bear what mine ears are hearing at this moment.” “Indeed,” Raubahn said. “I would rather believe this is some Ascian plot, a change of tactics to destroy from within by striking directly at our very hearts!” he emphasized by hitting his fist against his chest. “What?” I heard come from my mouth. “Tell us this is a jest. Surely this is just a cruel jest,” Tataru said, her voice quavering. Was that fear I heard, was she actually afraid of what I was saying? I looked at Tataru apologetically. Wait, what was I apologizing for? “I never thought a day would come when I would be glad Papalymo is gone,” Lyse said as tears slid down her cheeks. The implication that death was preferable was clear. “I would have to concur,” Alphinaud said with a sorrowful sigh. “This is not what my grandfather gave his life for.” I snapped out of my shock. “By the Twelve, do you not hear what you all are saying? I’m talking about a way to save lives! All I need from you is to listen and think about it.” Merlwyb slammed her hand on the table. “Warrior of Light? Warrior of chaos more like! What you propose goes too far!” Nanamo spoke up, concern deep in the sultan’s voice, “Mayhaps some of the blame belongs upon us. Over this past year have we not become dependent on the Warrior of Light? Again and again asking a single set of shoulders to take such burdens in so short an amount of time, it has to be more than one person can bear.” “Quite so,” Alisaie said. “In all the time we have known our friend here, when have we ever heard such lengthly speech? It is completely out of character.” “What? I haven’t snapped!” Only after the words left my mouth did I realize how desperate I sounded. I looked to Urianger, who had found the time to join us. He aways had quote, some poem or saying that was perfect for the moment. I saw his jaw move as he searched for the words. “I... I knoweth not what to say.” This was it, the moment when I truly understood what people meant when they said they felt the world slip from under their feet. Even with all those flashes of the Echo, all the tragic and insane events I’d experienced, this was the moment. “I... I’m sorry,” Cid said, the tone of his voice let me know just how badly broken his heart was, “I can no longer be party to this.” Cid then stood and proceeded toward the door. In short order the others followed, muttering words of betrayal, confusion, anger, sorrow, even disgust. Even Y’shtola, who lingered the longest and gave me a hug on the way out, ultimately left. I was alone - only Cid’s goggles, abandoned on the table, a sign that they had even been there. How had it come to this? Is the inability to even contemplate interrupting someone so deeply rooted in the Eorzean psyche - not just Eorzea, but the whole world! - that they’d rather see the land burn? Is it not possible that our foes have realized this and use it against us? I only wanted to spare people unnecessary suffering.

Oh, I totally understand. There's lots of fun stuff out there, especially when you're new to the game. If cross paths with a Tregarde you can feel safe adventuring with me, I'm rarely in a rush. Or RP, that's good too. Heck, sometimes can do both at the same time!

Welcome to Mateus and RP. Sounds like you haven't had the best experiences yet... but really, most of us are quite friendly (out-of-character at least, we may not all be nice in-character, but half the fun in RP is that we can pretend to be someone very different than how we normally are). But keep at it and you're bound to find better RP soon. If you see a Tregarde (three flavors to chose from!) running around, feel free to strike up some RP. If there's more than a few people around you might need to send a whisper to grab my attention, I can get a little focused on what I'm doing, but if there's hardly anyone around I'll notice if you stop near my characters.

As someone who has run many events & venues over the years (and continues to run one in GW2), sometimes that 3-4 is all you need to feel your event was a success. Numbers alone don't tell the whole story, what mattered is if people had fun. Sometimes a small attendance can be preferable, because as a host you don't need to divide your attention much, and for everyone who attended they are able to chat and RP without annoying amounts of text scroll.

You can find many good resources here for people new to Ff14 and roleplay in general: Now that I am here, what do I do? An introduction to Eorzea. https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/topic/18296-now-that-i-am-here-what-do-i-do-an-introduction-to-eorzea/ For more detailed lore of FF14, you can't do better than: Sounsyy's Lore Compilations Index https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/topic/17092-sounsyys-lore-compilations-index/ That out of the way... I would recommend checking out the links above. Find some topics that strike your interest and read up a bit. Don't feel obligated to read everything, you don't need to have an ecyclopedic knowledge of FF14 (that's Sounsyy's job). Just get some general background on Eorzea to give you a foundation to work from. At its heart, roleplay is a game of 'let's pretend.' We all used to play it as children, whether it was in a field acting like our heroes, or with action figures, or Barbies, or whatever. We're a little older now, and our 'toys' are more sophisticated, but it still comes down to 'let's pretend.' In this case, we're pretending to be people of Eorzea. And thanks to the internet, we can pretend along with lots of others who in on the game with us. Of course, you'll need to make at least one character so you can join in the fun. Read up on the lore of each race and class to see if any appeal to you. Or just start playing around with the character creator and see if you come up with something (or someone) that feels like it would be interesting to play. Don't worry if something doesn't work out, you can always make a new character, or change class without making a new character. Some people like to make detailed backgrounds and attributes for their characters before they even start. Others jump right in and make stuff up as they go along. Some, like me, do a little of both. Being new to roleplay, don't worry too much about the details yet. Keep things simple and you can flesh out the specifics later as you get to know your character and the world better. But it doesn't hurt if you want to get detailed. And remember, the lore is flexible. Use what is known about the world as guidelines, but don't feel you are restricted to following everything to the letter. Game mechanics only matter when you doing in-game stuff. For example, by game mechanics one of my characters is a Paladin, but in RP she just a fighter who favors a sword and shield. In RP you can even have characters who have jobs and do things that do not have a class associated with them. It is always a good idea to keep your RP plausible. Making a character who is half-demon, half-dragon, vampire that can walk in daylight, and is the illegitimate child of the emperor isn't going to be taken seriously (and yes, I've seen someone actually do that). That doesn't mean you can't make your character special in some ways, just don't go too crazy. But if you do want to make a noble, or soldier, or whatever, then at least study the politics and social rules that person would have grown up with. Of course, there's nothing wrong with making a character from humble beginnings. In fact, I often find the humble character to be more interesting, it makes them rising up to be someone important a true journey. And above all, remember... HAVE FUN!

Since you're adapting this to D&D rules, it may help to research various magics that already are in D&D. There have been many, many sourcebooks over the years, and even ones from an older edition can still be helpful for giving you some ideas and baselines to work out the mechanics for your game. Or even go outside D&D and FF and look at how other RPGs have handled magic.

Balmung is locked, and there is no telling when, or even if, there will be a window open again. Otherwise, Mateus has become the main RP server for NA, and Omega for Europe. They can become congested during peak times, just try again later when there's less people logging in and you should be able to transfer no problem.

♪And she said ♪Do you come from a realm down under? ♪Where voidsent glow and aether plunder?

I've been playing MMOs since the early days of Ultima Online, so speaking from experience I can say one thing is true... The only constant is change. People come and go. Some stay a long time, others only a short time. Guilds rise and fall. Friendships blossom and wither (though some stay friends). People eventually get bored or burned out and move on to other games, or put a higher priority on real life for any number of reasons. It is the cycle of the MMO. It's not unlike real life in that respect - we grow, get jobs, start families, make new friends and lose touch with old friends... nothing stays the same. That doesn't mean things get worse, or better, just that they change. I can not say if RP is dying on Bal, or any FF14 server as I'm fairly new here (though considering that Bal is still a locked down server, and I see people popping into the Welcome forums regularly, I think the RP scene in general is still pretty healthy). But I can guarantee you that RP is changing. It's always changing. The question is, are you willing to change with it, or even help direct change?

Welcome to Mateus. Don't let those Balmung people fool you, we have the best cookies. And if you see a Tregarde running around (I got three of 'em), feel free to strike up some RP.

I finally found out what the Party Finder is. This game really could use an overhaul to make things more intuitive (like... why isn't Party Finder there next to Duty Finder?) Anyway... now that I know about it, I'll keep my eye on it for events, and will advertise there if/when I am helping with one.

Thanks for the update. Sounds like things have gone about as good as they reasonably can under the circumstances. You are correct in that things will never be the same between you two. Hopefully, with time, your friendship will heal, but it WILL take time. The best thing you can do is let her have the space she needs to figure herself out, and let her know you're there if/when she's ready to talk. This doesn't necessarily mean cutting her off entirely, but you'll have to limit how much contact you have, and not bring up certain subjects. I know patience can be hard, but when the turtle goes further into its shell, all you can do is wait for it to come out. And maybe, someday, with time and perspective, you two may actually become better friends in the end. At least I hope so.

That is a very important point. There are 51 known tribes. FIFTY-ONE, plus an unknown number of smaller tribes. That is a LOT for someone who has not grown up or studied the region to keep track of. And I do mean STUDIED, an Eorzean who's only traveled to the region recently (since SB was released) isn't likely to know more than a handful of tribes by name unless they've spent the time to learn them all. Again, not saying someone's character should or should not have prejudices against Au Ra... just saying we should be realistic about it.