ImmoralAria

Actually, it's nothing like Paladins - because we already know of an order of paladins outside of the Sultansworn - The Free Paladins, which were created to create the art alive. But yeah, on the subject of soulstones, I do not believe they are limited to 30. But claiming to be an officially ordained Dragoon was always a very risky endeavor. Mostly due to the Dragoons being a proper noun organization. And also that I believe all of the Dragoons we meet are either Hyur or Elezen, which makes sense in a stratified society where being one of the Dragoons is a prestigious assignment. I suspect there will be more of "I am /a dragoon/" as opposed to "I am a member of /The Dragoons/."

Heyo! We're still here, and with open recruitment slots! We've been more active lately, and are still looking to expand our ranks!

Just a reminder, we are still here and somewhat actively recruiting!

[align=center]Introduction & About Us[/align] The Golden Sands is a free company founded by Mikh Tayuun to address the need to help Eorzea as a whole, and Ul'dah in particular. They deal with any job that is requested of them, and work somewhat as middle-men and problem solvers. They also take a secondary role in protecting Ul'dah from itself, and making sure no one that is truely terrible rises to power if they can stop it. From saving your lost chocobo, to deal with bandits that are plaguing your caravan, The Golden Sands are here to help you. [align=center]OOC[/align] The Free Company is based around eastern standard time. We recently transferred mostly intact from Gilgamesh, and are looking to start accepting Balmung players into our ranks! There's been some slight changes to our FC due to the fact that we no longer have a house, but we're slowly working on building up enough funds to buy one. The FC is comprised of the FC itself as well as an IC linkpearl titled "The Drifting Dunes", and it is primarily for company and contact use. If you're looking to hire some adventurer's for something, or use us in your FC plot, please contact either Mikh Tayuun or Enja Niuhali to give us some details. As a company we ourselves attempt to follow the lore where-ever possible, and so if your character is too far outside the lore, we may refuse to invite you to the company. There is some wiggle room on this issue, but we simply wish to keep things as close to it as possible, and ask for your understanding on this matter!

This is something I've actually struggled with a great deal with my character. I play an older Miqo'te woman, whom was a mercenary for most of her life. Her body is supposed to be gnarled and full of old scars. But I simply don't have the ability to show this to people, as I would picture her swimsuit laden body to be quite a ghastly sight, but instead people see her in-game model which is the standard slim miqo'te body. It's actually quite frustrating to me, because if I want to point it out I have to type up quite the description, and it's really cumbersome in large settings.

See, where you all think it would go against what the WoL stands for, I would have to disagree on that point. Nor would I agree that it wouldn't be fitting for the Dark Knight to draw upon the void. The Dark Knight is presented as a class that is very clearly playing with anti-hero themes. And while your character is a beacon of hope for Eorzea, you are ultimately someone that achieves what needs to be done, despite the odds and despite the means. Think about the beast-men we've killed in our pursuits of killing their gods, the many people that we've ruined their lives indirectly (Eda, anyone?). We pursue our brand of justice, and try to accomplish our goals over all else. To draw upon the void would fit well with the anti-hero theme completely. Remember, unlike the other jobs, we don't outright choose to become one at first. We interact with the soul stone of a dead member. We then choose to embrace the darkness and walk down that path with "Fray" as our guide. Ultimately we're all just projecting our wants and our needs unto this unknown element of the abyss. Does it stand for the darkness in all men? Or does it refer to a physical plane? We've all seen (well, assuming anyways) That there is real power that can be brought from the void in the Crystal Tower storyline. However in that, we see that Xande sacrificed clones and such as offerings in a covenant for power. However, we're not talking about making a covenant with a specific being. We're talking about the power to bleed the energy from a plane. Namely the void. There's already a precedent for this within the FFXIV world. Albeit, they don't drain power from the void. The Dark Magic of Black Mages, is dangerous and mostly outlawed not because of what it's practitioners have done. (Though that no doubt played a significant role in the imprisonment of the ones we interact with.) Black Magic, in such that comes from the Black Mage specialization drains the Aether of the land around you. It is a purely destructive force. That would be why it's represented by it's near limitless power and why it's so dangerous. Use too much and you can literally kill the planet. What if the power of the soul stone allows you to drain the power from the void in a similar fashion? That your emotions allow you to pull power from another plane and manifest it here, in the material realm. If the power did indeed come from the void, that would be my guess on how it works. However, on the flip-side, if the power is drawn from the area around you - I would argue that this isn't any better, and would still earn you a black mark in a great many places. I cannot see for instance the conjurer's guild looking kindly upon the use of the Dark Arts of a Dark Knight being used within the confines of the Twelveswood. They have the advantage of being relatively obscure, and their actual powers either being misunderstood, or misrepresented by the populace. There isn't a guild in Ishgard where people can learn about them in great detail. And as such, neither can we. We can only apply our conjecture upon the limited resources that we're allowed and shown. The only people that seem to really understand how and where aether is coming from, is the Sharlyan Scholars within the Scions of the Seventh dawn. They're the only ones really equipped with the tools to judge things accurately. And unless we get some comments from an adequately equipped NPC, or someone else that is a Dark Knight outright tells us....I don't see a real end to this argument. There is no right answer right now. As much as I'd love to be able to copy and paste an answer as to where their powers come from by a developer or something, we don't have that. So till that point, the true nature of the Abyss eludes us. Just don't delude yourself into thinking that your way of doing it is the only way, and remember - that in-world there aren't many ways to actually tell something is void energy short of opening up a void portal, or being the cause of it in the first place, or if voidsent are pouring out, et cetra. So to the layman, void energy would just be dark energy. The Dark Knights themselves aren't exactly forthcoming with information either, so it's not like they would be fighting temple knights and be like "B-T-W, I'm using Void energy ." And I uh, don't think they have many peaceful encounters in general. We still don't even really know how many there are, let alone how they're organized, beyond a seeming Master-Student relationship we've been shown...

We have no problems helping people learn assuming they want to learn! Just ask us any questions you have - try to catch either Enja or I on, however if you contact anyone in the guild they can invite you!

So I'm a bit late to the party here. And I'm going to open this up by saying that I am not a person that RP's as a DRK. I simply am a lore enthusiast and like to dig into whatever I can. I've been leveling DRK OOCly for raid flexibility purposes, and have been eating up all the lore I've been able to get my grubby hands on. While there is not really enough one way or the other, unless the level 60 quest shines some beacon of light. Which I'm going to assume it does not because there's still this big humdrum over it. We can draw a few conclusions. Emotions, are not the source of a Dark Knights power. The wording in how things were stated in the 58 Quest made it sound more like Emotions are the means to accessing the powers, not that the emotions themselves were the power. This distinction is pretty important I feel. But it also leaves us far from learning the true nature of the Abyss. So rather than a source, Emotions would be the kindling, or the means by which you access it. I, personally am of the belief that this power comes from the void - due to how it's been presented, the colors the skill abilities use, and the general themes it plays with. That's not to say that all of you should stop doing what you're doing and adjust to my beliefs. It's simply that this is the most plausible explanation that I believe we've got. The way that people talk about the DRK's job in the story makes me feel like there's certainly something to my theory. Sidguru talks early on how once you become a DRK and come in contact with the Abyss, you're never quite whole again. Which is likely referencing the split in your psyche, that creates your super powered evil side. However, in the level 50 job quest, it also seems to me that your dark side is doing more than just appearing to you. I believe it was implied that your darkside was actually animating Fray's remains until it split from them revealing itself giving us the Fight Club-esque twist we got. This in particular felt very...voidy to me. In the end, RP as you see fit. But for better or worse the true nature of the Abyss still eludes us in definite detail. As with everything that is deliciously gray, we get to draw our own conclusions. I'd just like to remind people that your way of doing things may not be the correct one, and neither may my beliefs. But currently this conversation seemed to lack a good counter argument so I decided to throw my hat into the ring.

Yeah, it is! I actually recognize your name, I believe I've seen you around before. We're usually more active at night anyhow.

Alrighty, sounds good! I'll see if I can find you when I get on next! EDIT: Haven't had any luck getting you in I am usually around 6pm~ EST and onward, sometimes a little earlier. Sometimes a lot earlier, what're you times?

Just as a small fact, we are indeed still active and still recruiting~

We're still alive! We've got some new members, did a few more adjustments to the house, and our private rooms - re-did the outside a bit. And started posting up more jobs and stuff for members to complete!

I probably should check this website more often! *gets a little embarassed* Try and reach me in game when you're on if you're still interested! I'll keep an eye out for you aswell!

Just doin' a bit of a reply to let everyone know that yes the guild is still active, and yes we're still recruiting. There's been some fun events going on the past week or two on our server, so it's been quite fun. There's more fun to be had in the coming weeks as well.

Hello! I'll more than gladly add you in game, I had laid down for a little nap so that's why Zach was so much faster than me at replying. I'll contact you in game, or you can contact me.