Sin

Make it happen. And count me in on my gladiator character. I've been hoping for a more plot-oriented tournament for a while. I'd be more than willing to help you iron-out any kinks or anything you're trying to figure out. Let me know.

You're not your character.

I start with something very general. An idea, a concept or sometimes even just a goal of what I want to accomplish with the character. It can be really simple, but something that I know I really want to play. This starter piece is more surface-level something that will come up in every day roleplay. Snarky mage. Now I start explaining those two simple things... How's he a mage? Where did he study? Who taught him? Was that relationship good? Did he respect them? Why? How long? What did he do in the meantime? What does he enjoy beside magic? How did his family treat his magical talent? How is his family? Does he love them? Do they love him? As I'm answering all these questions, more and more questions pop up. Like a puzzle where every piece I add makes the picture more complex. You go down this road of questions and eventually you'll reach a point where you'll notice the questions begin to answer themselves or you start to correct yourself. Nahh, he wouldn't do that. He's too selfish. Nahh, probably not like that, he'd probably respect his mother despite how abusive she was. The second you reach this point where your character begins to write itself. Bam! Put a fork in it, it's done!

I would also like to add a team! This event sounds awesome and I would really like to participate.

Are you a tonberry in real life?

That made zero sense to me. It's not even time bubble... it's like... time subtractive.

It's feasible. There's a ton of languages. In fact, for Au Ra it's more than feasible... you're coming over from a whole other continent with different languages like Doman. I roleplay my Xaela as still learning Eorzean which basically means he yells barbaric sounding jibberish every so often, and then broken English the rest of the time.

Hey my man, Among my characters is a Xaela by the name of Ogudei. He hails of a warband of raiders and bandits named the Ayanga. They've traveled to Eorzea and continue to do as they do best. Here he is robbing a drunk Xaela by the name of Kharijin Borlaaq in Thanalan. Might have to work out the specifics, but I wouldn't mind helping you out in your story.

This sounds great. Sign me up.

This is a good question, Aaron. I'll tell you how me and Draco handled this. We asked a third party to come up with a short little event-- some sort of emergency. Casually, both knights were in the observatorium when this emergency occurred, and both rushed out gallantly to aid this caravan in distress. The attack on the caravan was more than it seemed, and Draco was forced to use his great power to ensure victory. At that point my character went googly eyes, and much later on, after they'd saved the victims of the skirmish, he'd complain to Draco about his lack of any power to make a difference and ask Draco for tutelage. There was a thread where we were posting all the cool spoilery stuff from the MSQ, and side quests, and I remember specifically shaking my head vehemently at someone who seemed to just dismiss that quest as sillyness. Heck no. That was probably the most informative quest as far as how DRK's are supposed to work. Not to mention the character development of the questgivers. I like that quest. Hey, my man. You keep using the word Void here, but... unless that's the flavor you're going for which is totally fine, the Void's got little to do with DRK's. It's the Darkside you're referring to.

No, you're not the only one. I posted a thread seeking a character that could serve as a mentor for mine on his way to becoming a Dark Knight as portrayed in the FFXIV Lore/Job Quest. As a result of this thread I was in touch with a handful of Dark Knight roleplayers who for the -most- part stayed faithful to the lore of the Darkside as presented in the game. And yet even then, even requesting a particularly fierce adherence to the presentation in game, I find that a lot of those I spoke with injected their own flavor into it. Some subtle, some less so. Ultimately, you're going to run into all manner of crazy things out there. In any case, I play Jullienaux Sintierre, an ends justify the means knight who has come under tutelage of Draco Nobis, an Ishgardian that has overcome the Darkside and commands it in the name of righteousness! Both of us roleplay more traditional Dark Knights. I've also roleplayed with Sarnai Kha, an Au Ra DRK that from the brief meeting seemed to also be played closely by the Lore with a hint of their own flavor. Finally, Clementine Whittaker is another I wanted to RP but our times have not matched together very well. They roleplay a DRK based on emotion, highly emphasizing the Id, Superego, and Ego conflict.

This is it right here. Exactly what I was going to say. I guess I'll add that it's unfortunate, but it is what it is, without -actual- fear most people will not be able to recognize when their character will feel afraid, and it really sucks for the reasons mentioned here. It's okay to not be the badass always! Try it! For those on the fence! Next fight or conflict have your character lose or shy away if it makes sense! Try it! The lack of awareness for that kind of thing among other similar oversights is what keeps me weary of the community as a whole, and RP'ing with a select few individuals I trust to keep things like that in mind.

Jullienaux raised his head just in time to catch a brief glimpse of the fleeing assassin. Amidst screams of surprise and horror, a young lass fell limp unto the hardwood floors of the establishment at the sight of blood-stained chainmail. The Elezen groaned and reached for the base of the arrow that had pierced chain and flesh and colored his gallant armor crimson. He tried to calm himself, to ease the rising and falling of his chest as panicked onlookers approached, brave samaritans ready to lend their aid to the wounded knight. He raised a hand warning them to keep their distance, but even that effort made his eyes glaze and the world shake. The knight collapsed in a clang of metal. A week later, after the poison had run its course, from the comfort of his bed the knight would seek answers. "Why?" He shook his head, knowing he had made many enemies over his lifetime in the name of justice. "I am... I am a righteous man," he said faintly before repeating it louder, as if the strain on his voice somehow improved the statement's veracity. "I am a righteous man." He found that it became more difficult to accept that lie with each passing sun.

I think this is one of those places were if you take the ability at face value it makes for a dull experience. I understand how Ninjas can use Aether to facilitate their disappearing act, and have seen some cool examples of that written. Ultimately though I think stealth is pretty cool when you roleplay it as actual stealth, hiding behind shadows, distractions, dressing in black and not just a magical I'm hiding now button. In the rogue storyline, I saw Jackes disappearance behind the walking person as just a showcase of his skill to be able to use that momentary distraction to vanish -- not literally, but dextrously moving with the person, or jumping off a ledge or something so as to appear to vanish.

I see several arguments going on here at once and it's getting convoluted. I think my earlier post summed it all pretty well so I'll repeat it as a foreword. If you don't like roleplaying racism, then don't. If you don't like roleplaying X, then don't. That's fine. But please, don't deny that the setting has racism when the lore writer has come out and said that it does. When you can see it in game if you look a little deeper than a superficial glance. I won't deny that the game's developers could do a better job of talking about this conflicts in side quests. They're quite boring anyway, inject some flavor into them SE come on, less moogle finding more flavor! But, the crux of the matter is that the lore -is- there. The representations are there for you to see if you dig just a little bit deeper. Now, I see people saying that nobody is arguing that Eorzea is not a dark, gritty place, but not even three posts from here I can see people arguing that Eorzea is not a dark, gritty place with death, disease, famine and corruption along every corner. This confuses me. Once more, I simply don't think there's debate as to whether Eorzea is a shitty place or not if one takes an honest, objective look at the setting. In any case! If you will indulge me, I'd love to take you guys on a casual stroll through Eorzea to see some of the people of this non-dark, clean world.

Welcome aboard friend! Have fun!

I check/examine/inspect people compulsively. People who watch me stream comment on it. If I'm standing around, I'm inspecting people. Zooming in on their characters, checking their gear, reading their search box. I mean it's just a habit, and though it is pretty boring to read RP'er fifty million times every so often you get a new gem, a nicely worded bit about the character or just something funny altogether. The other day I examined some Ishgardian Rp'er whose comment read "Pious in the streets, heretical in the sheets." I thought it was hilarious. I stopped mentioning walk ups welcomed long ago and now I have a bit about the character or even a quote from the character to give you a tease of what you're getting into. It's just a better hook as you said. Anyway, don't get me wrong guys. I fully support the idea and if I start seeing it gain traction I'll help it as much as I can, but in my experience... I'm just not sure it will. Anyway, two thumbs up, good luck getting off the ground.

I hate to be the naysayer, but as the RPC is a small part of the community I just simply don't see this gaining a lot of traction with the whole community. It's not clear enough, and I can imagine myself walking around with a looking to meld sign and people just being confused as to whether I'm trying to RP or meld. It also doesn't provide much beyond what putting currently IC in my search box would do.

I think that if I join up an MMO late.... like lets say I joined up now I would not RP as starting from the beginning. Whenever I joined, the events going on right now in the world is what's going on. If I make a character now, then I would still roleplay it as Ishgard being open and Nidhogg being awake and raging and all that. I would just simply understand that whenever I do the level 15 MSQ quest where Raubahn is giving his rousing speech that that happened in the past. I conform to the current world events, not the other way around. Does that make sense? I try and keep up with current events like the Au Ra immigration, and then take the MSQ and other pre-HW quests as having happened in the past. So the 4th Summer Festival is coming, and I just joined up, then that's... that's what it is, the other three did happen and I either was there or wasn't depending on the backstory I crafted for my character. Seems simple to me.

Damn, I fail to meet three of those requirements.

Oh... time. What a cruel and disorienting mistress. It's your choice mostly till they actually release something concrete. Best you can do is take a stand and then be ready to retcon. Personally, I prefer to let the holiday events dictate passage of time, and new patch releases dictate progression of world story. The more time that passes between events the more realistic the world seems. Helps to avoid the feeling of living in a world where every two years(coinciding with expansion releases.) there's another world threatening disastrous event.

Allagans have been shown to be no strangers to cloning technology. They've also been shown to possess technology that continues to work after thousands of years. The idea of an Allagan clone surviving to this day and being recently released into the world is plausible. I think you'd run into issues RP'ing it in a way that makes that background choice relevant and interesting. If you don't make it be a relevant part of your character then why even make the choice? If you make it a relevant part of your character you've just made your character the star of any show whenever someone recognizes it. You've also become a fountain of knowledge for any Allagan researchers which will inevitably lead to headcanony lore-fill ins which won't fit with everyone's idea of Allag. It's a very peculiar aspect for a character to have and probably unadvised in the same manner that RP'ing loyalty is. More so in my opinion. As always, if you can find a way to dodge those obstacles and create an exciting and engaging character go for it.

With a simple change of job stone you could use a Faerie, and RP her as having knowledge of scholarly arts somehow. Fae are elemental-like beings, and Faeries specifically have been shown to be capable of speech.