Greetings, community! As I mentioned in my introductory post, I have a problem child in Ajianne. As you tell from my naming history, I've actually bounced around quite a bit racially! I started out as a Xaela Au Ra, before moving to a Roegadyn, then a Lalafell, then a Hyur, then to Miqo'te when I rediscovered this community and changed my name to reflect it, before ultimately changing to an Elezen. When I was Treaphine de Shaulain, I wanted to RP as an Ishgardian Paladin, even going so far as to try to gain entry into a Temple Knight FC. However, the backstory I had come up with wasn't correct from a lore/timeline perspective, and I was denied entry until I revamped it. Hearing that crushed my budding interest in Ishgard RP, so I fantasia'd again into a darker skinned Duskwight, and came up with another story, but it was missing several elements. I name changed when I transferred to Balmung, as I wanted an easier to pronounce name, and just changed the name in my backstory to fit. Here's what little I've done for her backstory:
"Ajianne is a Duskwight Elezen, with a neglectful at best matriarchial line that is and was fanatical about Gelmorra and its loss. Her mother and grandmother tried to instill their rabid fanaticism within Aja, but it was countered by her kind-hearted nanny who taught Aja right from wrong, compassion, and empathy for others. She never knew who her father was. Aja has since been disowned by her mother's line for her lack of hatred for those responsible for the collapse of Gelmorra. She has since wandered the world, looking for respectable work, and picking up a variety of skills along the way. Aja has a love for sewing things, and also enjoys gardening and botany. She's handy with a lance and gun, preferring them to the Bow she was taught to wield by her mother. She has also grown fond of the Troupe Falsiam dance style, apprenticing herself to their dancemaster in order to learn their art. She is fascinated with swordwork, specifically the styles shown in the Gladiator's Guild, in the Ishguardian heretic Dark Knights, and by the Sekiseigumi of Doma, and would eventually like to learn those styles as well."
I know the first thing that people will tell me is that I have too many jobs on her, and my rebuttal to that is that they are jobs that she no longer has interest in, among other reasons! I like to include my starting job and any notable milestone jobs in my RP backstory, as a means of showing where she's come from, so her skill in Archery and with the Lance are key points to me, and would probably stick around. The sewing and Gardening/Botany are what I view as her hobbies, and ICly, she does dream of opening a florist's shop when she's done adventuring. Thing is, I kinda prefer to have my main class OOC be my main RP class, and I unfortunately haven't decided on a main class for Ajianne, which is why I'm so late in starting Shadowbringers content! Everything I've listed in the final two sentences of Ajianne's current backstory are what I'm considering Maining for ShB: Dancer, Paladin, Dark Knight, though Samurai just got taken off the table recently and I just haven't revamped the story to reflect it. In addition to those, the "skill with a gun" I mention opens up Machinist to main, and I also really enjoy playing a Black Mage! However, I play solo, so I'm not sure of open world survivability with some of these classes.
The way I see it, Ajianne's current story has her "painted into a corner". Since the only concrete thing that I've got for her is that she dreams of opening a florist's shop, she can't relate in slice of life RP FCs because she doesn't lead an adventuring life. I don't know how to take Archery and Lancer and move her from them to becoming a Paladin, Black Mage, Dancer, Machinist, or Dark Knight in her backstory. It just feels like the ideas I have aren't good enough, which could be a holdover from the crushing of my Ishgardian RP hope. I want to stay Elezen, as I like the race's aesthetic look, but I am totally open to fantasia-ing back to Wildwood, as I happen to have one lying around on her.
So, this is me begging the community for help. If you have a suggestion on what to main OOCly, I'm happy to hear it! If you have a suggestion on how I can take her Archery and Lancer skills and move her from them to becoming a Paladin, Black Mage, Dancer, Machinist, or Dark Knight, I'd love to hear it! I heard mention in one of my RP Discord servers that someone loved Blue Mage RPers, and I think that would also be a viable Main Class to RP, as I enjoy playing the class, but again, I don't know how to move from Archer and Lancer into it. I will say that I don't plan on maining Lancer in Shadowbringers, as I've begun to find the class somewhat stale, and am seeking out something new. Feel free to also let me know if you think I should Fantasia again...I do have a cobbled together work in progress backstory for a Wildwood going that I'll add in the comments below.
Thank you for taking the time to read my wall of text and thank you in advance for any thoughts, advice, or help that you provide!