WhoahIt'sRha

Hi!! So, social anxiety is something I struggle with a lot. I don't know how helpful you'll find this, but there are a few tools I employ as a REAL LIFE behavior therapist to help get me through situations that normally set me off! I'll put them here: 1) I deliberately contrive scenarios where I have to RP, but in--contained, limited capacities. I'll say, "I'm gonna RP 1x1 today," and I'll do it. For a time, that was all I was capable of doing. once my nerves started to ease, just a bit, I took the next step. "I'm going to invite a friend, to the 1x1 RPs, make a small group." I hated it. Even if they were close friends of mine, it sent me into a heckin' tizzy. But I pushed through, and used coping mechanisms I'll talk about in a moment. I kept doing this, until finally, I was comfortable with that. Then I did my first small group RP with some strangers mixed in, did that until I was comfortable, etc, and I kept progressively building it up until I was in large settings. I'm still anxious in groups, it never fully went away, and in large places I tend to temporarily blist a lot of people because the chatscroll gets me riled up, but I'm certainly a lot better than I used to be. When I do get upset, or anxious (which happens, and that's okay), I have a few tricks I use: 2) Trigger your Diving Reflex. If you're anxious, and that anxiety is on the cusp of turning into panic, take a cold, wet washcloth or an icepack and press it to your lips and under your nose. This triggers something called the dive reflex, something all mammals have. It redirects oxygen to your brain, slows down your breathing, and expands your lung capacity as it prepares you for having to hold your breath for an extended period of time. This comes with a nice side effect-- it supercedes other physiological responses, and slows and prevents the rapid heartbeat, rapid breath, and other physiological responses that go hand-in-hand with anxiety! Will it make you feel fine and dandy? No, but it absolutely prevents the panic button from being slammed. 3) Practice mindfulness. So your thoughts are racing, a million miles an hour, and you can't keep up--that's fine. That's okay. Sometimes, simply accepting, "I'm anxious right now, and that's okay," takes a lot of the punch out of it. The frustration, the anger, the why can't you just be better fizzles out, if you can manage to convince yourself that anxiety happens, and anxiety is okay. What's more, you can imagine it as--a feeling. It's not you. You're not the anxiety. The anxiety is just an emotion, and emotions come, and crest, and crash down like a wave--and then they retreat again, and you will still be here, and you will be okay. 3) Practice Self-as-Context. This is a trick that takes a lot of time to build up to, but I find it really useful once you get it down. When you have anxious emotions, I say them out loud, like I was watching a movie, or describing a scene. "I'm feeling anxious because there's so many people. There's a lot going on right now. My typing is slow, I'm not doing as well as I could be," etc, etc, and the longer I do it, eventually, it's less like a feeling, and more just words spilling out my mouth. I use it as a technique to separate myself from the emotion, to conceptualize me not as the feelings, but as separate from them and existing in the moment. Sorry if this wasn't helpful, but I thought I'd at least weigh in!

Introduction The Thanalan Acquisitions and Reliquarium (RELIC) is a medium-intensity roleplaying free company on the Balmung server of Final Fantasy XIV. We come from a range of backgrounds and are a mostly tight circle of friends who prefer quality over quantity in membership. We’re NA Based, with most of our events happening between the hours of 4-11PM EST on weekdays, and late on Fridays and Saturdays. RELIC prides itself on collaboration with several other groups and works hard to coordinate schedules with its partners. We’re located in the Goblet, ward 9, plot 15. We are currently using a Monster of the Week hack for our main quests and events. Background Thanalan Acquisitions was established by a notoriously belligerent, stubborn, private, and ambitious man, Professor Gray (G’rha Nunh), with the intent of realizing his lifelong dream of establishing his own museum. More importantly, after having had enough run-ins with dangerous megalomaniacs and desperate men (and having had his own share of mistakes and hard-learned lessons), Gray sought to create a place where dangerous, unspeakable, esoteric artifacts could be safely contained where they would be unreachable by the likes of those who would seek to abuse them–people, admittedly, like the man he had once been. This secondary goal is kept close to the chest, and only reclaimers and curators know about this goal. In order to facilitate the attainment of these artifacts, as well as to help fund the museum, an acquisitions operation was promptly formed to generate a steady revenue stream as well as help make a name for themselves. What We Do We’re scholars, treasure-hunters, well-intentioned thieves, and adventurers! Our RP largely revolves around acquisition of artifacts and day-to-day museum life through our robust Quest System, occasional public events centered around entertainment and education of the public, as well as taking acquisition requests from both NPCs, FC Members, and non-FC members alike to facilitate community engagement and help deliver plot hooks and light worldbuilding. This takes the form of event-based oneshots and lighthearted, energetic, pulp adventure novel fun. Additionally, more intense arcs continue in the background on a fairly consistent basis with major events taking place biweekly–these are the backbone of the closeted, quiet goal of attainment and containment of dangerous and unpredictable artifacts. Quests RELIC operates on a Quest System, with 3 primary forms of content. Main Quests are time-limited quests which advance the overarching RELIC narrative, and are explicitly DM’d by Officers. Sidequests are quests which may or may not have a deadline, and are often able to be DM’d by anyone, with any style you prefer–Officers ask for logs and results of these events, and will communicate with a DM what to expect. Sidequests may be just for fun, or they may open up new and previously unforeseen routes for the MSQ to take! Lastly, we have Character Quests which are our form of user-generated content! Often DM’d by the creator, unless specifically requested, these events are any character-centric or user-submitted quest or quest chain and open up involvement from our membership beyond simply running or participating in events we put out. Attached are examples of each! Main Quest Sidequest Character Quest New quests are generally thrown up weekly barring significant life circumstances, or if prep for a given event is particularly daunting--so there's generally something to do! Roles Within the Company Roles are largely fluid and little more than a way of distinguishing particular dynamics pertinent to museum life and providing flavor to RP. There is considerable overlap and any member may be active in several roles at once. That being said, we do have several designated roles which influence the interactions within the company. Curators are responsible for research and identifying goods, and often helm expeditions to retrieve them. They are also responsible with expanding the museum. Curators are expected to turn a private room into a personal exhibit hall based around their own theme and interests. Current exhibits will be listed on the company tumblr (here!). They are the closest thing to a supervisory role within the company, and are always fully briefed on the full motives of the company. All other roles are encouraged to repurpose their rooms however they like, be it a private place to stay, a study, a vault, what-have-you--but museums do need to, well, museum! Reclaimers are the muscle of the company, handling artifact retrieval, acquisitions jobs, and wetwork. They also make up the bulk of the staff! Conservators are responsible for restoring and maintaining collections, as well as the occasional recreation of a device or artifact. They’re the tinkerers of the company. Custodians are responsible for handling museum affairs, interacting with the public, and helping with social events. This is largely suited for alts, or as a secondary role, considering the casual nature of this position. Mentees are often younger characters, accepted on a provisional basis, who do safer, low-risk jobs at the museum while acquiring valuable experience. They may be wards, interns, or aspiring heroes who don’t quite have the age or experience for the fields of glory. This role was designed to facilitate the youth of RELIC. Most of these are alts, and it is not recommended you apply as your main. Who We Want We’re looking for members who are active in game, as well as proactive in pitching story ideas, arcs, and events, in a collaborative effort. Participation in events, as well as producing ideas for events oneself is strongly encouraged. If you’re unfamiliar with running events, we’re happy to help you! Any character with a history in mercenary work or adventuring, scholarly pursuits, or craftsmanship with any interest in museum/acquisition work or containment and protection of highly volatile artifacts is a good fit for the company. We are predominantly good-aligned, though we veer into neutral territory frequently–most of our membership, if placed on an alignment spectrum, are Chaotic Neutral, Neutral Good, and Chaotic Good. Outright evil characters are discouraged, though exceptions can be made if they’re played exceptionally well and add to the overall narrative experience. We try to keep our membership small and tight-knit, but active. Please be understanding of this atmosphere. However, you are not required to be in the Free Company to be a part of our events, and if you are already in another Company you are welcome to be an affiliate and spend time in our discord and linkshell! Interested? Contact tsundozer#4085 for any questions on discord, /tell an officer in-game (Professor Gray, K'Velkha Odh, Sleepy Cat), send a message here, check out our tumblr or fill out our application! Hope to hear from you soon!

Hi! I'm Rha/Gray! Or Rosie, if you'd like! I've been playing the game since release, but I've never really gotten around to making an account here. I've always preferred to hang back and be mostly out of site, blah blah, quiet and shy, yadda yadda, and most importantly: I am obscenely and unapologetically lazy, and actually posting on forums was too much work! But hey, here I am, yeah? I play Professor Gray/G'rha Nunh, Ihjia'a Yhundo, Katirci Mualla, and way too many other alts, really, it's a problem, please help me, oh my god, I've already filled up alts on other servers in anticipation for world visit. I enjoy slice of life, high adventure, romance, crime, and good old fashion ruins delving and magical mysteries! I actually run the FC Thanalan Acquisitions (RELIC) along with a friend of mine, which is all about, well. Most of that. A bit about me: Graduate student in Applied Behavior Analysis and Bachelors level Therapist Absolutely obsessed with Twin Peaks Enjoys podcasts, especially McElroy Bros. content and psychoeducational shows. Alice Isn't Dead was pretty neat, too. Mom says i'm VERY cool Over-reliant on bullet lists Owns a pug named "Guts (VERY COOL!)" and a ferret named " *Jim", where * is a rotating adjective--Smelly Jim, Dirty Jim, Fussy Jim, Baby Jim, Disaster Jim, Garbage Jim, etc. Absolutely wishes Danny Devito was my uncle. Garbage. You can find me on tumblr at @lominsadan, and on discord at tsundozer#4085 I hope to make great friends, meet new people! It's great to be here! Good good content!