SamusKnight2K

That pillar, see that pillar on the left? Behind it a Miqo'te in a chocobo mask may be hiding. :blush:

I'm going to assume the information is given in-character so here goes: --- M'hana stared at the small sheet she had picked up, now resting on the table before her in her inn room at the Carline Canopy. Furrowing her brow she began to scribble some information down upon it only to pause a moment to glance to a familiar mask left sitting on the armoire in her room. Only a tick passed before she crossed out something on the parchment with heavy long strokes from her quill. A few more words, and then another quick strike across something on the parchment. "It's not even a rrreal date, so who cares?" Tilting her head to the side slightly she poured over it a moment longer before finishing. Lifting it from the table she held it aloft and read it over to herself. "Gods why am I doing this." She muttered to herself before setting off to see it delivered via moogle mail. On a sheet of paper the following has been scrawled. Name: M'ha Chocobella Sex: Female Race: Miqo'te Age: Twenty Hobby: I hunt. Job: Hunter, Mercenary I suppose. Preferred Gender: Male Doesn't matter. Notes: No Roegadyn! Roegadyn okay, no pirate or ex-pirate Roegadyn. --- OOC Info The character's name is M'hana Zhralyia but since I couldn't see anything against it she's entering under the guise of an alias named Chocobella. M'hana wouldn't be caught dead at one of these (Or so she tries to pretend.) but Chocobella could. Date will be for Saturday's event, maybe Sunday's as well depending on how things go. My friend's birthday is on the 15th but I don't actually think he's doing anything beyond hanging out at home so we won't be going anywhere to celebrate. See you there!

Welcome~! Something to also consider: With the release of a Realm Reborn they will be allowing you to transfer servers (Only to existing ones.) so if you in fact want to migrate your current character over to the RP server you'll have perfect opportunity then! I don't believe the population is planning to change servers but until we find out what new name Balmung will be going by (I think they're changing the names to be monster-themed, aren't they?) it might be best to hold off on any plans for that. There's plenty of linkshells to choose from and when the game relaunches there will be a public RP social linkshell for anyone to join. So if you want to wait on a RP linkshell and just want to socialize with other RPers you've got that option too. Anyhow, again welcome to the fray!

I'm probably aiming at Phase 4 or launch myself. Depending on how my RL situation goes at that time Mihana and Calzien may not reappear into the world until well after everyone else has. If everything goes well then they'll pop in shortly after everyone else begins to.

Not bad, it's been awhile since I visited the site but this looks pretty good! Here's to seeing the rebirth of a new game, and a new site.

A few hours before the final save...

Just something I thought I'd quickly point out I discovered, there's a mistake in the URL for a particular link. When viewing the "Bazaar" or "Gallery" links in the hotbars above the page links for the Portal lead to a broken page. Comparing the others it's because instead of pointing to "http://www.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/portal.php" it points to "http://www.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/forum/portal.php".

Found this and thought it'd make a good read since it deals with the RP community. It's a blog post from Massively on the RP community in FFXIV. --- [offtopic]http://massively.joy...ommunity-drama/ Well, the show's over, everyone. Nothing you do in Final Fantasy XIV matters any longer, in both the cosmic sense and the more immediate one. I hope you got what you wanted to get finished all done! This does not mean that what we do as a community doesn't matter; it always matters. It matters whether the servers are on or off. And that segues nicely into the latest community brouhaha that I've been witnessing, which is essentially a roleplaying schism handled in the way that only roleplaying schisms can happen. Roleplayers are one of the only groups that can still be just as active regarding a game we're not currently playing, odd though it might seem. I've touched on the Final Fantasy XIV roleplaying community more than once in the past. For some of you, I'm sure this is more or less irrelevant. But seeing as how the game's last save has taken place and there are no more relevant discussions to be had regarding drop rates, quest difficulty, or anything else, would it really be so bad to take a step over and look at how the character-building half lives? A distorted and inaccurate history lesson Before I explain the situation, I'd like to make it clear that I've been an outlier and general supporter for most of the events I'm discussing here. I like roleplaying, and I encourage it, but I'm not going to try to manage a roleplaying community in any way because I don't have a pressing urge to incite suicidal thoughts. If you're reading this and protesting that this is not the way something happened, you may be right; this is secondhand. If you're reading this and taking it as a gospel recounting of what took place, stop that. Moving along. When FFXIV was on the horizon, a gentleman by the name of Kylin decided that it would be a good idea to have a single focused community for roleplayers. This is kind of a big deal, seeing as how Final Fantasy XI's insane server selection (or lack thereof) made forming a single roleplaying community nigh impossible. Thus was formed the Roleplaying Coalition, or RPC as it has been known forever after. (I had to think for a minute about what the acronym stood for, to belabor the point.) Now, Kylin figured that as long as a community was being formed, this would be a fine time for everyone to start working together toward a single standard of roleplaying. This is also a laudable goal. Even disregarding the usual spate of secret magical vampire roleplaying you find everywhere, having a single standard for events, timelines, and so forth would be a useful tool for roleplayers in general. So Kylin proceded to outline his views of the RPC's overall role, which included basically serving as the roleplaying police. Some members objected to this, among them a gentleman by the name of Lior. As Lior saw it, the community's role should be to encourage roleplaying, not to create an environment where you either adhered to certain rules or you weren't welcome. Thus began roleplaying drama in earnest before the game had even reached a testing stage, which would be a new record with any other sort of community. (I'm pretty sure there's already roleplaying drama in the WildStar roleplaying community.) After extensive debating/arguing/catfighting, Kylin backed off and left the RPC as a neutral force. This still clearly rankled him and the people who agreed with him, and his designs on being a community administrator cleary rankled Lior and the people who agreed with him. But seeing as how the entire community imploded shortly after launch, this sort of fell by the wayside. Not very long ago, Lior opened up his own community site for roleplaying, dedicated to providing a roleplaying community that both met his personal standard for what the community ought to be like and was an alternative for those not terribly happy with the RPC as it stood. Cue an explosion of drama visible from orbit. My bias, if it matters I know both Kylin and Lior, albeit the latter better than the former. Both of them have been supremely cool people in every interaction between them and me, and both of them have their own version of how events went down. While I've been involved with the RPC and the roleplaying community as a whole, it's been from the knee-deep level, not from the top. I've led one linkshell, briefly, and that's not what this was about. I was not involved in any of the discussions about how the roleplaying community should or shouldn't be handled aside from serving as an observer and providing intermittent color commentary when the drama spilled out from private discussion. While I've got some issues with the RP community in the game, they aren't relevant to this discussion. If it needs to be said, after countless articles from me about how important roleplaying is, I don't have a side in this. The side I support -- and will always support -- is the side of "roleplaying is cool." Anything that encourages people to roleplay is aces in my book. Creating an environment that's RP-positive is a big personal wish. My bias with these sorts of arguments is for people to not be arguing over how we have fun and just have fun. So where are we? Right now, we've got two roleplaying communities being formed. The problem is that the game doesn't need two communities; it needs one unified community, and splitting the community will kill roleplaying and so forth. The obvious answer? No, it won't. Fighting amongst ourselves will kill roleplaying. Creating rules about whether or not Jets can roleplay alongside Sharks is far more dangerous than the existence of the Jets and the Sharks. Division isn't only a natural part of roleplaying communities; it's an entirely healthy one. Not everyone enjoys the same sort of roleplaying. Not everyone enjoys the same intensity level, not everyone enjoys the same subject matter, and not everyone is keen on the same amount of raw game time. Roleplaying is like any other in-game activity, with a lot of different permutations based in individual preference and schedule. Trying to form one standard that applies to all roleplayers everywhere is a process that's doomed to wind up being exclusionary and fail because there will be people who look at that standard, decide that it doesn't fit them, and walk away. That's the real potential tragedy -- not seeing that there are so many different communities, but getting the sense that you're not welcome in any of them. The game can support two different communities. It can support people who are part of both communities, or people who are part of only one, or people who choose to be part of neither but still enjoy roleplaying. Providing more spaces for people to come together is a good thing for all involved. And let's be honest -- the community is already divided. It's divided so many times by now that it could have produced an entirely new species of single-celled life. Trying to prevent divisions from forming in the community is like trying to prevent the breakup of Pangaea. We're long past the point when this could be prevented. So embrace it. Let people do their own thing. Let us build many houses for people to move between, and above all else, let's remember that while we might differ on the how, we agree on the what. And with this, I hope to fix all drama ever forever. Because sure, why not? Feedback, as always, is welcome in the comments below or via mail to [email protected]. Next week, as we wait for the ending, will be taken up by a look back through FFXIV's slow-moving apocalypse -- what worked and what didn't, in other words.[/offtopic]

Afraid I'm not really sure what you're asking for here, are you asking for tips on how to RP or how to fashion a back story out for him? As basis for healing there really isn't a solid deal on that. Generally it would be thought of as using the aether (All living creatures are made up of it, as is the planet itself.) within one's body to speed up the healing process. Realistically though depending on the severity of the wound a simple Cure/Cura spell isn't going to heal it to tip-top shape. I've never really heard of anyone drawing the wound from someone to themselves before but you're free to RP it however you want really. As for the elementals they are considered to be the protectors of the Twelveswood residing in every plant/animal alive. Those born in the Twelveswood are called Forestborn and are often more in tune with the woods than outsiders. Such example would be if you were to get woodsin, a taint that is accumulated from bringing harm to any living creature that dwells within the woods, or causing general harm to the forest themselves. This can range from burning a tree to just poaching. To Gridanians poaching is a serious crime punishable by death. Anyway, woodsin while I don't have the full details on all of it can apparently be detected on someone who has accumulated it like a stench. Forestborns in particular are capable of detecting it but I'd imagine only those who are deeply involved in their beliefs may have that talent. Not all forestborn can hear and commune directly with the elementals, specifically only Conjurers can and even then it's rare that one can commune with every elemental or fully understand them. Typically it may be only one kind or certain kinds. Someone who can would have the ability to hear their whispers. The elementals live in things from the ancient trees to the air, the water, metals, and even the dead skins of animals such as leather. A conjurer acts as a medium between the Gridanians and the elementals and are generally thought of as servants to the elementals from what I recall. There's plenty of info you can find on the rest of that stuff. Now regarding healing, eventually you'll probably unlock White Mage and while I'll spare you the entire details of it all the horned people called Padjal are the ones that came up with and protect the sacred art. Kan-e-Senna, Ray-o-Senna, and several of the head Conjurers (Just look for their horns, they also appear to look like young children almost.) are Padjal. One of the most important aspects though of being a Gridanian (Depending on how deep you play into it.) is that they are huge believers of never wasting anything. Throw away some slightly bruised fruit, or a ratty old bag, and expect to hear an earful about it. Clothes, especially stuff like leather boots, gloves, etc. are often repaired and carried down through tradition as they feel it would be doing the elementals that sacrificed their lives to remain in that piece of gear a great unjustice. Now if your Miqo'te male lived in the Twelveswood itself and not in Gridania then that's perfectly fine, my character Mihana is actually a forestborn herself having her tribe living in the Twelveswood since the age of the Endless Frost. But typically Miqo'te tribes that live in the Twelveswood are Keepers of the Moon. For a brief time there were supposedly quarrels between the tribes and Gridanian folk until peace was made. No huge wars or battles, the two just didn't see eye-to-eye, I think. But as a member of a tribe living in the Twelveswood I'd suggest adopting the following attitude: Let your tribe be devote followers of respecting and worshiping the elementals. By this I mean live by the thought that you never kill more than what you need, you pray to and thank the elementals after a successful hunt and never waste anything. This is a belief Mihana's tribe has, but she didn't which lead her to terrorizing marmots for fun at an early age. It later lead to her accumulating woodsin. Oh and a note about woodsin, it's thought of as kind of an illness that takes place only in the Twelveswood or when you're in it. Basically it would feel as if you're almost suffocating and overexposure could probably lead to rendering you unconscious if not invoke the wrath of the woods itself on you. There's a little something called greenwrath that comes with it but you can look that stuff up while doing the Gridanian storyline. Whew a lot there but I'm not quite done yet. Now you won't really need to worry about explaining a Miqo'te male in 2.0 so I'll spare that but by default the males are supposed to be more anti-social and territorial than the females. I don't really expect that has to be followed since it's not a requirement or something but that's kind of how all Miqo'te generally are. Feel free to experiment all you want on your own with this of course. If you want some ideas on backstories just head on over to the wiki page Castiel keeps here for RPers, there's plenty of biographies players have written. Feel free to take a peek at mine too if you like. I've started keeping mine on a different site though but they're still the same regardless. Mihana Zhralyia (Born in the Twelveswood. I also tried to go into a little more detail as to why there's a Seeker tribe living in the woods too.) http://www.adventureleague.net/wiki/index.php/Mihana Calzien Gishaborah (A Miqo'te male, or played as one. Is an immigrant to Eorzea coming from an island. He's very shy/skittish too living a sheltered life like your character. I also created his own culture/beliefs being from another place, it's loosely based on a Gaian-type view of the world. Thanks to Aysun Demiir for help on that.) http://www.adventureleague.net/wiki/index.php/Calzien I kind of think I may have gotten off-track a little but I hope this helps you out!

I've got no intention of changing anything myself, this is generally why I avoid putting specific dates on my journal entries. SE has been pretty notorious about this stuff, and it's seldom I ever make reference to how long it's been since in-game events happen, only references to things that have happened to my character or anything like that in specific. Roughly five years ago Mihana left the Twelveswood, she went to Limsa Lominsa where she stayed for awhile trying to steal and cheat people out of their gil. Nearly three years later she fled from the nautical state to Ul'dah where she remained after. Just under two years ago she ran into a thaumaturge who successfully scared the hell out of her and with a friend's help she didn't know at the time, was set on a path to leaving the life she made for herself and into one where she could truly be respected. That's what happened, that's what I'm sticking with. So be it 17 years ago, or 15 years ago, everything that has happened between when the game went up to the present time has happened, and will not be overwritten, retcon, or changed. Period.

Guess I'll try to list them. Mihana Zhralyia [spoil]Aysun: [5] She finds that Aysun is a sister to her and deeply trusts her being the first friend she has truly made. Whenever Mihana needs help she knows she can come to Aysun. She is the first to know Mihana's true name is "M'hana". Mnim: [4] Mnim is a close friend to her. Like Aysun she trusts her with a lot of stuff though with Mnim she has a great deal of fun teasing her. Forra: [3] Forra is a good friend whom she also likes teasing. Although she doesn't have interest in Forra she does find his awkwardness cute. Nanami: [-3] Mihana used to have an extreme hate and resentment for Nanami due to the Sun Seeker's habit of opening her mouth before thinking. She's since patched things up with her but still has a dislike of Nanami. Navei: [4] For a brief time Mihana cared for Navei as the two were seeing one another. Eventually the Hyur moved on to find someone else and Mihana grew bitter towards him. As time went on however things were mended once more and Mihana still finds herself expressing feelings towards him even if they are no longer returned. She is unaware that he is now dead. Lyriah: [0] Mihana has never had a strong opinion about Lyriah, at one time she thought more of her but that was lost when the Hyur woman lost control and stabbed Aysun. While she understands and has mostly forgiven her for it she still doesn't carry a truly favorable view of Lyriah. Gustav: [-1] Gustav is Gustav, that's just about it. Mihana feels slight negativity towards him for threats against her when she threatened Lyriah. She cannot blame him as she did threaten his girlfriend, but she still doesn't like him. Galvadan [4] Mihana cares about him a good deal even aside from his angry outbursts sometime. She counts Galvadan as a valued and close friend knowing he'd to just about anything to protect her too. She is saddened of his disappearance. Oskar: [2] Her view of Oskar is peculiar. On one point she didn't approve of his ultimate plan, and found his attitude to be too harsh. On the other, she did meet another side of him that earned her respect for the Duskwight even to the point of having a slight interest in him. She was saddened to hear the news about his fate. Manari: [2] Mihana hasn't had a lot of interactions Manari beyond discovering she's a forestborn too. While Manari can be too soft and insecure for her tastes she does find the girl as a friend. She go as far as to tell Manari she's a sister but not in the sense of a close bond. Kailee: [0] Kailee is from what she knew a Hyur woman that liked other women. She lacks a proper view of her except her attitude can annoy. Eva: [3] She sees Eva as a friend whom she can maybe trust with some things. The Elezen has really done nothing but earn her respect for being kind, caring, and respectful. From being a sane voice during her time Everwatch to giving her work and shelter when it was desperately needed there's not a bad thing she can say about Eva. Alona: [2] Alona was her former boss in Sanctus Refero. She liked her, was a friend, but never saw much beyond that. Even if these days are long behind her she truly misses those days being a chef for the company and wishes to see her again. Gospel: [3] Gospel has done a great deal and was really the first person to instill fear in her heart. He was also the first individual to set her straight on her path before Aysun. Who knew a little display of magic could really change someone? The feelings aren't mutual from what she does know but Mihana felt towards Gospel almost like a brother for his caring and protective ways when she knew him. She has not seen him since. Karalie & Azular: [4] These two are the first Mihana had ever confessed her past two forming a deep bond and respect for. Azular had been her first crush for awhile and Karalie had made a deep bond as a sister. She was saddened upon losing Karalie to the realms beyond. Sasha: [0] Initially Mihana absolutely despised Sasha for being the one whom she feels took her rightful place at Navei's side. She's come to accept that never was the case and has since dropped bitterness towards her. She's not a friend but no longer an enemy or rival. Aveline: [1] Aveline was the leader of TALE though she really didn't know her very well. She was upset at seeing their leader meet her demise. Diasee: [-2] D'a is plain annoying, loud. Her habits so very odd as is her desires to either taste everything or eat it. Mihana honestly believes there's some conspiracy behind D'a and her odd speech as if the Miqo'te isn't as dumb as she acts. Diyne: [2] Diyne is a friend she's grown to like and even thankful for his aid in raising K'hallu. She trusts him enough, and would help him if he ever needed it. Zeth: [4] Through some very odd, very peculiar way, Mihana actually likes him. Not in a sense of love but a deep fondness. She finds him very fun to tease in their strange relationship which can go back and forth. She has yet to reveal how she feels towards him but made an unintentional fit of jealousy to many upon hearing he already had a girlfriend. Shien: [-1] Mihana doesn't hate Shien, but she definitely it not on the like list for her. A long time back there had been an incident that garnered a negative reaction from Mihana and along with it a view. That's since subsided but she hasn't really forgotten about it either. Still, any grudges against the Elezen woman are no more. Ozak: [2] Ozak likes to giggle a lot, and can be fun to joke around with. The only thing she doesn't like is his like of pulling Miqo'te tails. Mihana can't actually be certain if he does this for real since she hasn't ever caught him in the act. Rikitiki: [1] Riki is the new acting Doyen of TALE and for that she can at least respect him. But otherwise she hates his puns and jokes. Zhaal: [2] At first she had been confused with Zhaal about what he view her as, downright to the point where she even thought he somehow liked her. That was cleared up later however and admittedly she did find some slight attraction in him for awhile. When he had been hurt it worried her a good deal but since then she hasn't seen him so these moments have passed.[/spoil]

Sienna I just want to say I really like that idea! The RPC can focus on Balmung because after all, that is pretty much what this is all about. The site Lior mentioned having could cover a wider global array, maybe some of the events going on in Balmung but would primarily direct members here. As I said who exactly cares where this information comes from as long as it's easy and convenient to find. Who knows, maybe a global site could lead to smaller RPC-type websites popping up for other servers. Initially I remember long ago Besaid was designated as the primary one with I believe something like Lindblum being the secondary server for spilling over. If ARR proves to be a success we very well may need a secondary server to hold the overflow of new RPers. Having a global one could help in that sense. EDIT: Tiny and completely unrelated note, I can't believe I fail so often as properly spelling the name of my own LS... I either call it the Adventuring or Adventurer, sometimes Adventurers... :cry: At least the 5th time I've had to fix it tonight, either in a post, my profile, or just in making a backup copy of my journal on the Lodestone. I fail... so hard...

Okay so... I don't really know what to say that probably hasn't been said but I'm putting my two cents into this. First, I don't know why there was so much "TALE this" and "TALE that" going on. I don't speak for the entire LS but really, all Lior has done which can be even seen on our forums, is came to us first. Far as I know, that's the extent of it. I get the feeling some think just because we've been approached we may be seen as taking control or something. Again, this is just what I got the feeling about. This came from a discussion with someone earlier this evening that asked me about what I knew. Anyway what I really want to touch upon is this discussion though. This is from my own personal opinion and nothing more but I see no wrong in ultimately having two websites existing together here. We have other news outlets for the game, why can't there be for the RP community? Some don't like the RPC maybe, I don't know exactly why and it's not my business. While I support Lior's idea for a new site I am ultimately for the RPC itself. I don't visit much around to know what goes on which is my own fault, nobody else's but I've never had reason to question Castiel's leadership or the RPC itself beyond a past incident I'm well past. Castiel has done nothing from my own standpoint, but helped support the community even if it means posting events that some of us may have not attended. Really, that's our own problem, and not his. Either way I applaud him for trying to support the community. Here's what I really would hope to see between the two sites: Castiel and Lior share news on the community, happenings, events, etc. Like I said if someone doesn't like the RPC they can still get that same news elsewhere. I see no harm in this as the priority is the community, not which site is the most popular. If someone posts a thread on the RPC then it should be Lior's responsibility to copy it to his site just the same. From my understanding the RPC is focused mainly on Balmung, whereas Lior's will be global, correct? Why not try to collaborate the two? Lior's can hold primarily information for all servers (There's bound to be more than just Balmung out there.) for those not on our own server while the RPC focuses primarily on Balmung itself. I don't know, I may be rambling a little and I apologize. All I do know is if there are any differences and the two are serious about trying to support the community as a whole there shouldn't be any reason these cannot be set aside. What matters is ensuring the game community knows of our existence and making an easy and convenient way to find out information about us. If I've said anything out of bounds or whatnot, I apologize. Thank you.

I don't really know the full out plans for Mihana but she will be present for the final battle, it's unavoidable. Currently the latest events have left her mentally stressed that she might even be forbidden from going for her own safety by the Twin Adder. And even if she's scared of abandoning her friends and allies when they need her most she still intends to go and fight. Calzien I want to pull into the time skip too but I haven't figured out how yet. He's a part of the Immortal Flames but went AWOL after awhile. I'd imagine the Flames would be more insistent on making a possible deserter either fight or face imprisonment so he'll have no other choice but to go. Cal hates fighting, but also has a strong sense of trying to protect others so he'd be there either way. So yeah, I don't have full details set but both are going to be there at the final conflict for Eorzea's future.

I don't have any plans myself but I do know I have every intention of tweaking whatever "future" deal SE gives us to fit Mihana somehow be it frozen, traveling through time, or whatever. Just because SE decided they need to pull a stunt like this to redo their game doesn't mean I have any intention of aging Mihana by X amount of years or killing her off and making a new identity. She doesn't have the Echo like everyone else as well which will make the entire thing interesting. Same with Calzien's fate, I don't intend to kill off/age him either. As for relations, I've toyed with either the fact Mihana's tribe perishes with it all, or finds refuge likely someplace else sending her on a desperate search to find what fate befell them during the time she had been gone. All in all I absolutely hate the time-travel thing (It seems so cheap and overdone.) but if that's what they're going to give us to work with I'm using it.

(I got bored, found someone that resembled Aysun, and it's a wonder what a little image editing can do~) Wanted: Ayson of Goatees Unknown to many there once was a Zer'maat Six, one evil Miqo'te by the name of "Ayson of Goatees". Her tyranny of stealing little Lalafell's lollipops and stepping on Miqo'te tails proved to be too heinous for even the members of the Zer'maat Six so she was expelled. Ayson of Goatees remained at large for several years and faded into the shadows until recently. With the dangers of Dalamud looming above us the nefarious villain has once more reared her triangular head (No offense Aysun!) undoing all that is right within the realm. The Brass Blades last saw the ex-Zer'maat fugitive somewhere in the vicinity of Camp Broken Water and is petitioning adventurers to stop her before she strikes again. This time a commoner's lollipop, next it could be the Sultanate's very own lollipop. Reward: 82,000 gil Goatee of Evilness Client: Ul'dah Adventurer's Guild Levequest location: Camp Broken Water Objectives: Pursue and defeat the following targets. Ayson of Goatees Muscular Roegadyn Goatee-minion x 5 Miniature Lalafell Goatee-minion x 3

I remember that, but I believe that it was only certain servers. Hopefully they don't actually make the "RP" server when/if they do introduce one as one of the non-transferrable servers. If SE were to pull such a stunt on me I'd either quit the game myself or just give up RP altogether. Although I want to stay with friends I really have no intention of just throwing away all the progress I've made up until now.

Deirdre you need to add Aysun in now! It just won't be the same without her in there too. :mrgreen:

To each their own. But disappointing she has to call it "her" community. It's a linkshell, not a community as the RPC nor Intermission are communities either. Sorry, just that one comment in her post irked me a bit. But I guess we'll see if it simply ends there or if we continue to face slander. That said maybe this topic should be locked now that it's served its purpose. We don't need them accusing us of trying to slander them either by keeping the discussion going.

I told Endricane my thoughts on all of this last night, and everyone else has pretty much said anything I could think of. It's pretty pathetic how the react to us. I recall seeing a shout for their LS in Gridania one night, and considered joining their LS. But that was before I knew everything about... well, this. If they want to act like this, fine. I'll still interact as normal and should I ever RP with them as long as they aren't insistent on trying to be in-character with me about something that's specifically OOC-only I have no problems. But should they attack me or anyone I know directly then I'm taking action on my own. I don't have time for this and quite frankly I know none of us do. We're here to RP, enjoy ourselves, and hopefully make new friends. Trying to create rifts in the community is the last thing any of us should be trying to do.

Sorry Oskar, wish I could offer solutions but I can't entirely think clearly right now due to being tired. My post was just to point out a few of the problems, that's all. Opinions were wanted, so it's what I gave. I'm afraid creating solutions to these aren't my strong suit but I'll try: On the thing about multiple linkshells if there was a way to try more diverse themes rather than falling back on the same one time and time again then it might help. Again like I said the mercenary approach seems to be a pretty popular one. And given the state of the realm is in the midst of a war it isn't too far fetched to follow this route. A few linkshells I know tried to stray from it but didn't really appear to make the cut. I suppose the best approach might be to create a poll asking what the community is most interested in, what type of shell would appeal to them the most. From there, one can get a better grasp at what may bring in the most members. Maybe two shells with similar interests can form a negotiation on their rules/view on lore then merge into one another. It's a give/take relationship. Now with small community shells this could be tough. Getting past our comfort zones and interacting with a wider array of RPers is quite possibly the best way. Like I said people are more open to accepting certain things than they did at launch so if we can find ways to work together on this it may make it easier to get along with each other. As for helping even giving a "Sorry I'm doing this right now." response would mean a lot. Make an effort to at least show you heard the person and respond. The time someone wastes waiting for a reply could be better spent finding another party, or coming up with a different activity to do. One shell could have 30+ members active at any given time and maybe only 3 will respond. What about the other 27 people? Are they all just AFK? Expressing interest in what others around us are doing or coming to their aid is what builds a stronger community. Hope these responses help more. If not I'm sorry. I think I'm going to bed now before I faceplant on my keyboard.

Sorry Oskar, wish I could offer solutions but I can't entirely think clearly right now due to being tired. My post was just to point out a few of the problems, that's all. Opinions were wanted, so it's what I gave. I'm afraid creating solutions to these aren't my strong suit but I'll try: On the thing about multiple linkshells if there was a way to try more diverse themes rather than falling back on the same one time and time again then it might help. Again like I said the mercenary approach seems to be a pretty popular one. And given the state of the realm is in the midst of a war it isn't too far fetched to follow this route. A few linkshells I know tried to stray from it but didn't really appear to make the cut. I suppose the best approach might be to create a poll asking what the community is most interested in, what type of shell would appeal to them the most. From there, one can get a better grasp at what may bring in the most members. Maybe two shells with similar interests can form a negotiation on their rules/view on lore then merge into one another. It's a give/take relationship. Now with small community shells this could be tough. Getting past our comfort zones and interacting with a wider array of RPers is quite possibly the best way. Like I said people are more open to accepting certain things than they did at launch so if we can find ways to work together on this it may make it easier to get along with each other. As for helping even giving a "Sorry I'm doing this right now." response would mean a lot. Make an effort to at least show you heard the person and respond. The time someone wastes waiting for a reply could be better spent finding another party, or coming up with a different activity to do. One shell could have 30+ members active at any given time and maybe only 3 will respond. What about the other 27 people? Are they all just AFK? Expressing interest in what others around us are doing or coming to their aid is what builds a stronger community. Hope these responses help more. If not I'm sorry. I think I'm going to bed now before I faceplant on my keyboard.

From the view of just another RPer one problem with multiple linkshells in existence is most often they tend to follow the same theme. Though fine, it limits the possible options that a roleplayer has for compatible linkshells when the theme is repeated. A heavy view of this is the mercenary theme. There's plenty of these linkshells around to choose from but what if your character or play style doesn't fit this? Ultimately you're left to scour around for one that does, or make your own. That is where the influx of linkshells comes from, people trying to either create their own personalized theme, or follow a popular one. The difference however could be in the set rules. Lore between varying shells tends to differ, some will accept one thing, but another won't. The theme could be right but the rules are not. Isn't to say we all must throw our standards out the window but with a higher standard one would restrict how many potential matches are available. Another problem is some shells prefer to remain small, strictly to encourage interaction with their members. It's a double-edged sword in this sense. Keeping it small means it's easier to make lasting bonds with one another and promote character growth. But this also means creating the traditional niche that doesn't want to interact with others outside their comfort zone. If the RP community is to thrive in 2.0 this must be somehow addressed. All of this comes down to us as players too. I've noticed in particular that very often a request is made for help, be it an in-game thing, or perhaps just a request for RP. The request can often go unanswered by anyone. Many of us are off in our own world, instanced if you will, that we ignore these requests. Is it because we don't know them? Is it because we're busy? I don't know. One thing I am pleased to notice is the community seems to be far more willing to accept certain things, even stuff beyond what might be our comfort zones. Tonight I made that decision myself too regarding something that everyone seemed to be okay with, but I was not. I'd only be hurting myself to do so, and in the end it didn't seem like it was that big of a deal either. Forgive me if I'm rambling, very tired but hope some of this helps.

I can't say I have much of a view of Everwatch, beyond merely second-hand rumors that have popped up here and there. But as I've learned you really cannot believe everything you hear. I don't really spend much time reading other character journals but I do give a skim now and again. But the thing about the whole heavy romance part never even crossed my mind. Be it a single character or all characters interactions like this don't define a linkshell at all. On the subject of ERP I haven't heard this rumor about Everwatch, and even if I had I cannot say I'd have believed it. These days the term is thrown around too loosely be in in seriousness or joke. See two people sitting together in a corner? Oh must mean they're engaging in ERP! False. They could just be RPing privately, I know for example a number of Corvus Cinis members used to sit outside a building. Often they'd RP publicly, others they might take it to a party-like setting. Purpose was because we don't have rooms you can actively -act- out these parts in. I'm getting a little off-topic there, but that was my point on the ERP deal. The only true thing I can say about Everwatch is like the Eorzean Guard it feels to deeply involved in a military-like setting. That's not technically a bad thing, only a personal preference of mine. This alone is one thing that I've sort of felt kept me from trying to apply perhaps. And although I can't confirm those for myself I know a few people who weren't pleased or enjoyed the initial recruitment phase done ICly. But being a military-styled linkshell you can't expect it to be for everyone.