Khadan

I think I see the point of the OP. Or at least I think I can resonate with the general theme of the topic. It is semi-frustrating to be someone who loves conventional martial arts and incorporates that into RP for the purposes of not only being knowledgeable and realistic but also because it's just plain fun to have a gritty dust up where you don't spend five episodes powering up while internally monologue'ing about your tragic past (I love hyperbole) That being said, it is a high fantasy with magic almost literally -everywhere- but I still believe a balance can be had with little effort on either side of the 'knives' as it were. I.e. you move faster, hit harder, take more punishment etc. You can still display the sheer brutality, economy of movement, and debilitating blows that occur in a normal knife fight will being aetherically charged the whole time. Regardless a really good example of knife fighting to me is from the move "The Hunted", a really well done and underrated film (It also takes place in Portland Oregon *represent*) If you have no intention of watching the movie even though you should, have a movie clip of an example of how nasty and brutal knife fights can be: pKjkQ_sPE0U Otherwise just go see the whole movie, it really is good. One of the best quotes from the making of was something along the lines of "In a knife fight one of you is going to the morgue, the other is going to the hospital"

On my Xaela I've jokingly referred to Raen Au Ra as "Pale Scale" before =P

Something else to keep in mind is that the majority of the Xaela are highly nomadic on their horses roaming over the steppes etc. I imagine that word could spread relatively quickly if it had to and if there was enough fear of being annhilated by the Garleans then they'd likely hoof it quickly to wherever there was a port and ships waiting to take them. There's also a few seafaring Xaela tribes that could likely have taken ship on their own or taken other tribes with them etc. Trading vessels that come and go from Othard and Doma regularly enough (which also means there's a relatively high chance of smuggling going on) plus with the Doman migration to Mor Dhona it wouldn't be long before more ships were sent back to look for survivors and refugees etc. In all of that the Xaela have quite a few options to get from point A to point B. The real question is how does this race of steppes-dwelling horsemen (and women) cope with likely having to leave their horses behind and go to the land of horsebirds? Not having wide open land to resume their nomadic lifestyle and so on? The psychological effects these massive changes would incur, as well, could be thought of. Many things to think on =)

Winner winner chicken dinner From what I've seen the armor choices look pretty darn good and save a single piece here or there seem to keep well in the theme of the classes as well as the theme of the expansion itself. FF14 has its own aesthetic and it seems to stay pretty true to it most of the time. Except for bards. goddamn, bards...

I actually have to wonder about the quality of Xaela horseflesh, myself. As with the Mongolians, the horses "native" to the region of the steppes were usually the more shaggy "pony" type. Shorter, stocky animals more suited to hauling things than warfare or speed. This, of course, makes more sense for a nomadic people to have stocky work animals rather than war mounts but as with the Mongolians, the native horses were of 'mediocre' quality in comparison to the horses in the Western world. So did they (the Xaela) acquire horses somewhere else OR, in a divergence from the Mongolian-Xaela parallel, did they always have the best horses because the other large continent favors Chocobos? Also on a side note, when are we getting those normal-ish horse mounts, SE? Regardless, as an amateur student of Mongolian history I've found myself becoming more and more enamored by the concept of the Au Ra, the Xaela in particular, obviously. This is good times =)

Probably a small thing but I don't believe there are any slaves in Ishgard. Just nobility and peasants. =P

^^^

The first question I will ask is: What do you think of this thread? Do you agree with what I think has happened in the RPC community? Was the RPC community always this way? I think it's a good thread in intent, sure. I also believe that no topic is 'sacred' or 'off limits' because of the innocuous chance of 'offense'. I will hold a discussion with anyone on anything, at any time because that is my right to do so and 'censoring' discussions don't help anyone or any situation, ever; even the most heinous topics are up for debate, discussion, and ultimately skepticism. So when you mention if I and others agree on what has happened to the RPC community? Well I suppose so, to a degree. Though this isn't any different than anywhere else; this isn't unique to the RPC. You see this a lot on tumblr, of course, and other online communities. Sanitizing discussions, hugbox cliques, passive aggressive behavior, and the general nature of 'offense/outrage culture' lend people to believe that they have a right to never be offended (they don't), and that their feelings are valid reasons for ceasing a discussion (they aren't). Of course the opposite to this is if the site rules DO state that such things are the case, which as far as I know aren't the case though given that we're about to experience an ownership/moderatorship/adminship change here, things might change. Was it always this way? I can't honestly say one way or the other. I can say that what I've observed is that the moderatorship of the RPC is and has been far too involved in the RPC's general discussions. My personal experiences moderating an equally sized community in the past for TESO have shown me that the more involved the moderators are the more unhappy people are with the moderators. Tone policing, nitpicking every word looking for 'offenses', and getting into petty arguments with the users do not endear a community to you, your authority, or whatever order you're trying to maintain; just because someone reports something and/or is 'offended' does not mean it warrants action. On the nature of gifs etc, I think people kneejerk too hard on them as if they are some kind of giant lump of feces in the middle of their driveway that they're about to step in. It's kind of ridiculous to fixate on the use of images rather than focus on, say, the reason and intention behind why people use these images. To me it's like using vulgar language. IRL I swear pretty much every hour of every day because to me language is just language; it's only 'offensive' if employed offensively. However do I swear to people at work? Of course not unless I'm absolutely confident that it won't get me in trouble, of course. The difference being that a workplace IS a sanitized area for many reasons, some legitimate, others not. People tend to use gifs and images as a sort of passive aggressive caltrops, on average. That's pretty shitty and shouldn't be condoned. If, however, an image compliments what you're saying and is on the topic of whatever you're responding to? That's fine. Just like swearing; if the language fits the narrative then good. If not, then you're just being a tool.

Kayllen is the second son/3rd child of a small noble house which is a vassal house to Dzemael. Through various things involving "story" he was presumed dead and fled Ishgard after some betrayal related business where he lived in Thanalan for several years. Recently, also through "story" he's been recognized as 'still alive', had to answer for charges of heresy and betrayal, and plans to retake his house from the forces that currently control it. His ultimate goals aren't known by really anyone yet but for now, his reasons for not being IN Ishgard are likely that it would mean he'd be assassinated.

I don't think that's entirely accurate. I'll try not to go on a tangent here though the topic has been discussed at length, before, but Ishgard is actually a Theocratic nation with a Feudal system firmly in place. If a 'Knight' barged into a church demanding a wedding he'd probably be told to gtfo, sure, but if he went through the proper channels his status as a knight would probably grant him precedence over lower class requests for the same thing. The main reason there's so many assassination attempts at Ishgardian weddings is, as stated before, that they are largely political. Nobility marries other nobility not really for love but for power, influence, money, and so on. The issue with this is when two houses get involved in that kind of union other houses lose out on that and sometimes they get a bit butthurt about such things; butthurt enough to hire a contract killer to stop the wedding because why the heck not? Beyond that, though, "personal freedom" seems to be still a thing in regards to one's ability to advance in society if Aymeric is any example. When it comes to marriages elsewhere well Ishgard's patron deity is Halone but they still recognize the Twelve (of which Halone is a part of; 1/12th or 8.33% a part of to be exact), so it stands to reason that an Eternal Bond held at the Sanctum of the Twelve, for example, would be just as legally recognized in Ishgard as anywhere else. They may not LIKE it especially if the couple fled Ishgard to do it and they happened to be nobility and married against the wishes of their houses etc, but then that's why we have assassins. =P Anyway that's my mini rant about personal freedoms and Ishgard etc.

I go with the price of food and compare similar food items to RL for money comparisons. *shrug*. I know, I know, game-to-RL-comparison thought crime activate. A decent meal can cost anywhere from 10-15 dollars while more expensive meals are obviously in the 20-30 dollar range. I think you can buy basic food items for like 10 gil sooooo, there we go. As for making thousands of gil by level 20? Well you're also getting paid to go out weapon in hand and actively kill monsters that can easily kill you in return. PMC's IRL can make roughly 500-750 dollars a day or 15k to 22.5k a month. So it seems legit that you're holding thousands of gil by level 20ish.

Well it could be a the difference between 'literacy' and symbol recognition. Like most kids know before they can even read well what a red octagonal sign with the word "STOP" on it means. They recognize the symbols more than the actual word. The Eorzean alphabet is pretty 'rune rich' and, (once again engaging in IRL comparison thought crimes) 'back in the day' even illiterate workers, sailors, and soldiers all generally knew what "tavern" was or "food". Generally because there are always recognizable symbols and words that everyone generally knows. If an illiterate person actually needed to have a letter written then there was always a ready supply of clerks to hire who would take dictation for you, a profession that means something entirely different, today as the expectation is literacy by age 10 give or take (assuming we're talking the Western World here of course). I suppose you could call that the difference between 'actual literacy' and 'passable literacy'. Though there does seem to be this odd disparity with the expectation of the 'layperson' being largely illiterate yet a large prevalence on letters and books which might dictate that literacy is more widespread than we're led to believe. I think the quote is "A large portion of Eorzea is illiterate" so it also could be that the term 'large' just means anything over 30% which by our standards today is pretty significant when it comes to illiteracy.

Every in game version of a gunblade (short of Lightning's non-canon one) has a cylinder for chambered ammunition. Since the Garleans can't by biology use Aether it would seem more likely that they would make a gun and then bullets for it. The effect you're speaking of is likely tracer ammunition or the glow is an aftereffect of whatever powder mixture they're using; that or they're also using ceruleum to power their ammo the crazy gits. The sparking effect was the high-velocity round impacting the WoL's armor and likely breaking up into shards, though something obviously got through enough to wound him which is pretty common when shooting at anything through material. I don't forsee any new classes until the next expansion, either, here's hoping for Ala Mhigo once Ishgard is secured =P

In before Gunadin. They'll call the Gunbladers "SeeD" >> I want to simultaneously high-five and strangle you for that LOL

In before Gunadin.