ansemaru

The FC/LS I'm part of, Lansquenet, is a group of criminals posing as a troupe of actors and performers. In our ranks, we have characters who specialize in either or both sides of the company- there are actors, bards, stagehands, costumiers, playwrights, guards, and those who stick to the background to carry out criminal activities (thieving, operating gambling rings, kidnapping, smuggling). The issue is that we're spread a bit thin. There are only seven of us active, which is a bit of a small number for putting on performances or carrying out backstage business. We have already put on one play (and an interactive murder mystery) in-game, but in the future, we'd prefer to have more individuals in our ranks for more ambitious productions. Does this sound interesting to anybody? Obviously, you don't have to be both an actor and a criminal to join- we are just as open to people who are one or the other. Bards, dancers, actors, thieves, magicians, clowns, con-men/women, thugs- we would love to have any of these join our ranks, and we'll gladly set up a meeting in-game to get to acquainted with our business if you're at all interested. We're also open to adding individuals to our linkshell if they already are a member of a free company! There's room enough for such associates, as it is.

Balmung or Gilgamesh? Your profile doesn't list which you're on... Either way, I can't really speak for Balmung, but Gilgamesh's RP activity is comparatively low-key. I've had to hunt on typical days for other RPers, since more than half of the server is non-RP players, unfortunately... I know they're out there, they're just hard to find.

I prefer to do it more like this.

I just tried to participate in the FATE and it crashed my game. I don't think I'll be able to get gold this early on, unless the crowd seriously thins out.

The Riki-Tiki-Tavi reference made me smile. I hope they spend lots of time fighting piestes.

I recall that when I started out looking into FFXIV, one of the first things I found myself pointed to were resources on building a character and understanding the lore and setting. And among these resources were the guides to character naming. It was fairly exciting for me- I've always had difficulties naming characters, so having guidelines for each race and sub-group was a great boon. It gave me a fairly easy time of naming my Elezen, and helped with names for any alts I had in mind. But when I started the game, I was kind of surprised. Not that players in general picked names that didn't fit in with the lore/established naming patterns for their character's race, since Gilgamesh is obviously populated by a lot more than just RPers, and I can see why non-RPers wouldn't particularly care about setting-appropriate naming. I was surprised at the number of RPers who had character names that weren't in-line with the lore. Miqo'te with no apostrophes, Hyurs with ridiculously over-the-top names or ones ripped from existing fictional characters, Roegadyn with the wrong tribe's naming scheme, Elezen with names that didn't sound even remotely French, and Lalafells that didn't follow either of the naming patterns. And it seems like it's a non-issue in RP. After all, if you're a good RPer, it doesn't really matter if your character name doesn't sound like something Square would give to an NPC of the same race! What matters is your RPing. And hell, a lot of people I know and RP with are people who didn't make characters with names that follow the "rules". But I guess I still kind of find it jarring with strangers. I've gotten a lot more used to it, to be fair, but it does still give me a bit of a kneejerk reaction to see an ostensibly original RP character with a name pulled out of A Song of Ice and Fire or a character with a name that clashes noticeably with the naming guidelines for their race in-universe. How do you feel about names for RP characters? Should players strive to make names fit into the guidelines/lore-compliant style, or should they feel free to give their character the name they think is the most appropriate, lore be damned?

I like your choice in inspirations. You have exceptional taste.

Lansquenet is still around and very much active (and recruiting)!

I draw pretty frequently, but I've only just started to do any art related to FFXIV. I figured it might be worth sharing, since it's of my character and all... He is an unreasonably pretty Elezen. Those eyelashes are ridiculous. Also drew him as an FFT summoner, because Yoshida's art for that game is still the cutest thing and I wanted to try my hand at it. I guess he's about to summon Ifrit, going from those flames. If things work out, I might start doing commissions. Would people be interested in that sort of thing? It could be fun to draw characters as FFT ones...

Just here to say that I'm one of the current members of Lansquenet, and I'm very excited to see our Free Company open its ranks to fresh blood. My character, Aumeric Chassebel, is an actor and entertainer in the ranks of the company! He's a naive sweetheart who usually ends up in the role of the "heroine" in plays, and absolutely out of his depth on the shadier backstage activities of his fellows. I suppose that's one of the things about Lansquenet- it's a place where you can absolutely have your character focus on just acting or music or other performance, or just on the criminal side of things behind the scenes, or dabble in both, and be totally at home! So there's no need to feel intimidated if you've got a thief or a thug who can't memorize lines to save their life, or a delicate artist who has no aptitude for picking pockets or roughing up competitors. There's absolutely a place for both sorts, and anybody in-between.

I. Basic Info Characters: Aumeric Chassebel Primary character: Aumeric Chassebel Linkshells: Lansquenet, LFRP Primary RP linkshell: Lansquenet II. RP Style Amount of RP (light, medium, heavy): Medium, I believe. I'm not always going to be RPing or seeking RP, but I do like to participate frequently, and I'm looking to expand my interactions beyond my current boundaries. If I'm online and someone wants to initiate RP with me, more often than not I will agree to it. Views on RP combat and injuries: My character isn't primarily combat-oriented, and as such I don't expect to put him in many circumstances where he'd have to fight someone. I don't seek out fights, but if physical danger arises as a result of an RP scenario, I am willing to roll with it- and I don't expect Aumeric to come out of it better off than anybody picking a fight with him. I can also roll well enough with injuries- I've got a character with scars, and if he ends up with a few more, that isn't the end of the world. Views on IC romance: I'm open to it. I've RPed IC romance before in other games, and I've got a character who's young, naive, and open-hearted. If someone wants to woo him, or if he finds himself smitten with another, I'll gladly RP that scenario. Just no crossing the IC/OOC barrier, since the player behind the character has no interest in starting a relationship when he's already in one. And I'd appreciate people being open OOC if they have ulterior motives IC for pursuing a relationship- if someone is taking advantage of my character IC, I'd prefer to know about it beforehand. I'm not going to get him entangled in multiple relationships at once- it would be OOC to play him as non-monogamous- and I suppose it's worth mentioning that I have no interest in RPing heterosexual romance. Aumeric isn't one for the ladies. Views on non-romantic RP (family ties, etc): I'm in favor of it, though family plays a fairly big role in Aumeric's ongoing backstory/character arc, so some coordination would be required if anybody wanted to play a relative of his. Friends and enemies are always welcome, of course. Views on lore: I'm not going to be ridiculously hung up on every lore detail, since I'm still getting the hang of it, but I expect a certain basic level of respect for the lore of the game. It's there as a shared setting/basis for the world we function in, so blatant violations of common sense and widely-accepted canon will shut down my interest right away. I'm okay with people playing with the social rules of Seekers of the Sun, I'm not okay with people bringing in ideas that are wholly alien to the setting (like someone playing a Guado in Gridania.) Views on chat functions (/say, /linkshell, etc): I'm alright with using /say for IC interaction, though it's *public* and as such should probably be interactions that the participants should understand run a risk of being overheard or interrupted by outside parties. /linkshell communication obviously depends on whether a particular LS is IC or OOC- and IC ones should be treated as actual linkshells in-universe, in my opinion. /tell is good for more private interactions. Linkshells are also useful for more privacy than /say, but /tell is something I'd use for private communications that are conducted in-person but are too sensitive/secret for /say. The only other channel I tend to use is /fc, which is OOC. III. Other Info Country:United States Timezone:Eastern Contact info:PM me, or pester me over AIM at "kamen mist".

Lately, I've been doing a lot more sketches and black and white stuff. It's mostly a way to exercise my artistic muscles without committing to a huge piece, so there's a lot of things that probably won't ever be fully finished, unfortunately. I am glad you like my artwork, though! Je parle un petit peu de français. Mais pas trop de français pour le dernier quatre ans, alors... I was thinking about posting in the board for artists, actually! But I'd need to draw a lot more actually relevant art- right now, my only FFXIV-related picture is the one of Aumeric on the first page of the blog. I'd be all about doing commissions for people, but I think I need to get the hang of things like the costuming and visual style of the game. I should probably also have more examples that are more universally relevant to the people around here than huge heaps of Attack on Titan fanart.

I'll keep an eye out!

To be clear, I've been playing FFXIV for about two months, and have spent some of this time RPing! I've even been on here for a little while, but I've only recently started actively posting. So I'm not 100% new, but I'm kind of new to activity on the site and RPing outside of my existing circle of friends. --MMORPG background: I've been an on-again, off-again MMO player for the past seven or so years. Most things I played I only briefly dabbled in before losing interest- Maple Story, Ragnarok Online, Conquer Online, Trickster Online, Aion, Perfect World- but I've also been playing Guild Wars 2 since launch day, and found it was a surprisingly good match for me. Of course, my participation in GW2 has waned considerably since I started FFXIV! I never played FFXI or 1.0, and hadn't been planning on joining this game until it caught the eye of some of my RP friends. --RP experience: Haven't been RPing online quite as long- I started that about five years ago, with journal-based RP on livejournal and insanejournal. Since then, I've participated fairly regularly in RP, either in journal, chat, or IRL tabletop format! I guess I'd call myself a mid-range RPer- I haven't been doing it forever, but by now I'm definitely experienced. --Character ideas/info: My only character currently is Aumeric Chassebel, a Duskwight Elezen. He's a bit of a "runaway princess" type of character, in that he got himself intentionally kidnapped from a wealthy but stifling family by a traveling theatre company, and is now an actor. He's also filled with wonder for the world beyond his home- spending most of your life in a cave will kind of keep you from experiencing a lot of wonderful things, as it turns out- and has been trying to dabble in every craft he can get his hands on. He's polite, a little shy, a bit of a bookworm, and intensely naive about a lot of things, but he also has a bit of a backbone- how else would he have sought out his "kidnappers", after all? Loves things like flowers, chocobos, and the sea. Is too pretty for his own good. --How did you learn about the coalition?: Through the other members of my Free Company. They've been keeping a closer eye on the RP community for the game than I have. --What kind of a role-player are you aiming to be? Light, medium, or heavy?: I suppose medium! I still have a ways to go with leveling my character to my satisfaction, and not all of my time in-game is spent in-character, but I'm also looking to expand my IC interactions beyond the realm of just my Free Company and their associates. I like to have fun, but don't mind more serious stories, just as long as the don't delve into off-putting grimdark or ludicrously lore-breaking. --Anything from real life you're comfortable with sharing? (Work, school, hobbies, etc): I'm afraid I'm hardly the most interesting. I'm an artist, if that has any relevance, and my work can be found over at http://ansemaru.tumblr.com/ if you're for some reason curious about that. I also write, and spend way too much time over-analyzing video games and stupid anime. Outside of that... I suppose you could call me an amateur biologist? I know a lot of trivial nonsense about the natural world, and have spent time working in the field of malacology (the study of mollusks). I'm basically just a huge nerd.

Playing literal nobility is rather at odds with my character being Duskwight, considering their marginalized status, but I also wanted to play with "runaway princess" tropes in his case, so I had to make a compromise. Hence him being the heir to a rather well-established merchant/criminal organization, not entirely unlike the mob. They definitely put on the air of being a noble family, but the whole affair is a bit distorted due to their imposed social role, living in caves, and not being as tangibly well-off as a comparable Wildwood family.

Goodness, thank you! Both of you are being a great help, and I really appreciate it. I'll start hunting around Limsa Lominsa- hopefully I'll bump into some players who are RPing not just in tells! And I'm also going to ask for an invitation to some promising linkshells. It'll hopefully be a little easier to inquire after RP in those...

If it isn't too much trouble, I would like to be added to this LS...

Hmm, so it would be a good idea to seek out a location where people frequently RP? When I get online next, I'll add you!

I suppose the most obvious point of comparison for Aumeric is a gentle riff on the concept of Princess Garnet in FFIX- the self-kidnapped "princess", a summoner who runs off with a shady group of actors who may or may not also be thieves. Of course, Aumeric is male, not literally royalty, and hardly at the center of the kind of plot that Garnet was caught up in. His overall persona of wonderment at the world beyond his restrictive home was, shall we say, very much pulled from Disney princesses. There's a good bit of Ariel and Rapunzel in him, though I think a debt is also owed to Estelle from Tales of Vesperia, a naive and bookish runaway princess created in the exact same mold Aumeric was. It's a little harder to point to male characters that actually influenced him, though! He does slot in nicely to the "reluctant heir" archetype I'm fairly attached to, primarily characterized in my mind by Miharu Rokujou, the protagonist of the anime/manga "Nabari no Ou". Visually, he didn't have any concrete outside inspiration. I just like silver-haired prettyboys, so his design was mostly a matter of personal appeal.

I've been playing for about two months now, and roleplaying for a portion of that time. But to be honest, almost all of my RP has been with members of my Free Company (who are primarily individuals I knew prior to starting FFXIV). I love them, and I love RPing with them, but we tend to only really RP as a group/in our storyline once a week, and sometimes I get the urge to interact with others when they're offline/busy with other things, and I really don't want to pester them when they've got other plans. The obvious solution would be seeking out players beyond my (currently fairly small) FC, but it hasn't been so easy. Gilgamesh is far from an exclusively or even primarily RP server, so I can't assume anything about who is and is not an RPer in the first place, and perhaps more crucial is the fact that I'm terrible at approaching others. It's hard enough for me to ask members of my own FC for RP interaction outside of our weekly meetings, let alone strangers. I have trouble enough talking to people OOC in MMORPGs! And I'm still getting used to posting on/making use of forums like this one! I just straight-up don't know how to go about looking or asking for RP without annoying anybody (and kind of worry that nobody would want to RP with me in the first place, since I don't seem to fit the mold of a lot of the individuals I've seen outside of my FC.) So I guess this is me asking "what should I do?" in addition to "who the hell is out there?" I do really want to branch out and interact with others, it's just proven to be fairly daunting.

It's a shame you're on Balmung, because my FC on Gilgamesh is actually a theatre company. We've already put on a performance back on the 27th for All Saints Wake, and will be doing more productions in the future. But the server barrier is a bit of an issue, isn't it...

You can expect Aumeric to be there, as well!