D'aito Kuji

Aside from both of us having tan skin and black hair, I tried to make D'aito Kuji the least like-me character so far. She is not meant to be this mute, shy, wallflower type person like I am. She's a brave adventurer who takes her role seriously. She has a more naive sense of right & wrong and struggles to deal with some of the grey areas in the game (the exploitation of the Miqo'te in some places, for example). I tend to see and think about the grey areas and sometimes lose track of right and wrong. She's less tolerant of the other races and prefers to be around other Miqo'te or Highlanders. But that has more to do with romantic pursuits. I'm way more tolerant of others which is a good thing since there's like not very many east asians where I live. Besides, I like being tolerant. D'aito Kuji is a lot less likely to reveal potentially useful facts about herself. She keeps her past a secret as she's a runaway from her tribe. I have a tendency to reveal the most intimate facts about myself to just about anyone. D'aito is also...er...dumber than I am. If a plan is excessively complicated, she is far more likely to just decide to jump into the middle of a mob and start swinging her ax around. She relies on brute force and since I'm tiny, I have to think more strategically. The hard part is actually making D'aito more social. Since she's driven by me, I have to really push myself to live up to my intention.

So that means I can invite Foamy to the FC after all, Armi? We have someone named Scruffy The'Janitor. Do what you do. Someone said Idols! *Gets kicked out before she talks about Morning Musume* Heh - I'm more into Momorio Clover Z and BerryZ (or was, I guess they've broke up) but MM is super good & AKB48 is like a staple. I'll be seeing Babymetal live in Chicago but I've not been much of a fan of the main group Sakura Gakuin. Anyway, now that I've embarrassed myself enough, I'll be moving on.

I name almost all of my RP characters after Japanese temples, if possible. I do this because I'm crap at names and I happen to be Japanese-American. But I know about as much of my ancestral culture as the average American (almost nothing at all). I've used Daitoku-ji in a number of games, spelled "D'aito Kuji" in this game. I think it was Daitoku'ji in SWTOR. I think it's better than some of my other choices in various games which were mostly all versions of j-pop idols or homages to obscure characters from popular media.

Whenever I post pictures to my IC tumblr blog, I usually try to manipulate them to look old fashioned for this reason.

My character, D'aito Kuji, has a kind of "adventurer's newsletter" that she publishes semi-regularly excerpts of which appear on her tumblr. She makes observations, gives advice, and speculates about the news of the day and the wider world. She is especially keen to publish the lives of the Miqo'te she encounters with her "Miqo'te Appreciation Posts." I am trying to post more frequently but I'm not in-game as much as I'd like so I don't always have anything to say. I also try not to reblog things OOC but that's very challenging. You can find it at: adventurer-daitokuji.tumblr.com

"You have something stuck in your hair." "Your zipper is undone...." (does eorzea have zippers?) "Your laces are untied." "What is good to drink here?" "Where did you get that shirt!" The possibilities are endless. Even a stupid thing can set you up for a solid connection. Just the other day, after completing the Brayflox dungeon, my character was asked to help set up the banquet and there were a couple of RP'ers in the area where I needed to be. So, just like I would in real life, I said "don't mind me, I'm just setting up for a banquet that's going to be held in a while." And when my Chocobo accidentally walked through them, I apologized for my bo's bad behavior. This generated some quick but satisfying RP and I had a chance to complain about all the trouble I've been going through to even get to the point of setting up the banquet. So add: Minion/Companion does something unexpected giving you a chance to apologize or talk to anyone who might have been offended.

This is more or less how I see things as well. If you're gonna play traditional and take into consideration the deep cultural divide between Seekers and Keepers then I think such cross relationships would be stressful and relatively uncommon. I believe the Seeker/Keeper conflict has to be deeper than just a religious differences. They've been apart for so long that they've developed slight but significant genetic differences. So think about how uncommon it was for Jews/Protestants/Catholics/Muslims to cross marry and still is in many parts of the world. I don't think Eorzea is meant to be as egalitarian as the modern world but I could be wrong. But even so, while many people can form relationships despite religious/cultural differences, situations like having children could really complicate things. What religious or cultural differences would the child be expected to live under? is a hybrid of both really doing service to the beliefs of the parents? I imagine it could be very difficult for people of one faith tradition to see their children being influenced by the other parent's faith tradition. And for the Miqo'te, these traditions might be and probably are stronger than that. Seekers and Keepers do worship two different gods. Still, just for the conflict alone it's tempting to RP it. I find stories arising out of conflicts like these to be fascinating. I don't think I could pull it off myself but I would like to see it done and done well.

What kind of stories has your character gotten into? D'aito Kuji's main adventures have been more or less based on the PVE she encounters in her life as an adventurer. She was selected to be a herald for the admiralty of Limsa Lominsa and that sends her on journeys across the realm. This has usually been the catalyst for further adventure as she meets people along the way and takes on odd jobs. The most significant story line, apart from her fear that the Nuhn she abandoned is looking for her, has been her attempts to track down and apprehend a mysterious mage wanted for murder. In-game this is Lahabrea, but IC it's no one quite so significant. How has your character changed since you rolled them (Or if you have been here since the beginning, since 2013)? She is a year older and wiser. I gave her a more mature hair style to signify that she has grown. She is better at negotiating deals and is less intimidated. She joined the Maelstrom in gratitude to the Admiral for having faith in her. After an incident with a farmer's daughter and subsequently being banned from an entire town, D'aito Kuji has been far more careful in starting relationships. What has been your favorite RP moment this year? I'd say it's finally getting a chance to do some RP. What was the most shocking RP moment this year? I roleplayed with another Miqo'te and we had a very tense but fascinating discussion/debate over the extent to which Miqo'te can adequately pair bond or not. D'aito is very traditionally minded and dislikes the idea of pair bonding. But at the same time, she does not fully embrace the traditions she grew up with in her Sun Seeker tribe. It made for good RP, especially in light of so many players having their characters pair bond. Has your character made any mistakes? D'aito Kuji left a very active free company for one that has turned out to be less active and far more skilled than she is. This is intimidating for her as she recognizes her immaturity is a bit of a hinderance. But she is stubborn and refuses to admit that leaving the other free company was a mistake. What was the most surprising thing you found out about your character? That her free-love lifestyle, at least what she had in mind, didn't work the way she expected. Part of her dream in abandoning her tribe was to "chase the horizon" and to make love to men and women all over the realm. That's been a lot more challenging than she expected, more so than the story books suggested. This has more to do with her driver not being willing to engage in ERP but she doesn't know that. But even so, I like the idea that her romantic ambitions are met with complications she didn't expect - mostly having to do with people mistaking her interest as a potential commitment. What relationships did your character build? I think the relationships she is most proud of is her meeting and successfully negotiating with the Sylphs. She is also glad to have meet the members of her current free company and is learning from them despite their being so much more skilled and knowledgeable then her. She is also secretly working with someone who has promised to train her as a Warrior. Any relationships that fell apart? D'aito Kuji was initially involved with a large and active free company but decided to leave for something more intimate and personal. In hindsight, she feels as though this was a mistake. Also, she was permanently banned from a settlement in Gridania after she was said to have taken liberties with a farmer's daughter. In truth, everything was consensual but misunderstandings prevailed and it's definitely in her best interest to stay away. What was your favorite large-scale event and why? I can't say that D'aito Kuji has been in any large scale event IC. I personally liked the Halloween event. That was a good story. What was your favorite smaller-scale event and why? D'aito volunteered to work with various Starlight Celebration officials to help deliver presents to needy children. While D'aito Kuji's tribe was not "rich" few wanted for anything. But even so, D'aito understood that not every child in Eorzea was so lucky and she wanted to help. Besides, it was a good way to meet people and represent the Maelstrom and the Admiralty in a positive way. What are you looking most forward to seeing in the future with your characters growth and story? I'm looking forward to seeing where the path of the warrior takes her. I'm looking forward to her spending a lot more time in the frozen north and complaining about it. I am hoping to get her more active in IC RP. It would be nice if at some point in the future I can arrange things to where she has to confront the Nuhn of her former tribe.

I haven't checked to see if she's already been mentioned but I think D'aito would sound a lot like Janet Varney who voiced Korra in Legend of Korra. I like her deeper and throaty tones and it adds some credence to D'aito's more stereotypically masculine style. A deep voice isn't required for that, obviously, but I like the idea that this small Miqo'te has a voice that doesn't quite seem to match the expectation.

I made D'aito Kuji with Tao Okamoto in mind. http://36.media.tumblr.com/6327821a90c4928ba5d2fa65355835a6/tumblr_mscwfekyNY1r2fuljo1_1280.jpg[/img]

Note the use of "race" in the description - males are rare in both Seeker and Keeper clans of the Miqo'te race. I really think it's the rarity of the males that make polyamory less likely for the Seekers at least and probably for the Keepers as well. On the surface it seems like an easy fit: one guy, multiple wives. But I think Seekers and Keepers culture and biological realities make it less applicable. There's still room for it, I believe. I haven't been persuaded yet. Such a good discussion tho. I love getting others opinions about Miqo'te especially outside the neko, fan-service, dynamic.

That seems fair enough since there's only one example. But I prefer to play D'aito as having a more traditional background because it complicates the way she interacts with others, thinks about family, and her potential as a mate and a mother. Giving her less traditional values (in the Miqo'te sense) makes the character too much like me. I don't want her to be a human in cat clothes, I prefer to play her as a cat in human clothes and I'll take any bit of lore I can find that justifies that. I'm completely open to the idea that the U-tribe are a minority though and I've already RP'd how little D'aito understands the sudden surge in Eternity Bonding, how it's not her way and can't understand the Miqo'te who do it. There's no doubt that continued contact and interaction with the world outside a tribe will influence and change behavior.

As I've stated I'm very much not familiar where that is, and I'm soooo sorry if this is de-railing Lili's thread but the point was made about races and stuff, where is monogamy not part of the Keeper lifestyle? I understand that there are just lots less male miqo'te (seeker and keeper) but I don't see why it's close to if then. I don't think it was in the lore until very very recently. The dialogue Aysun posted a few posts back showed the offense and chagrin Mauh Lihzeh felt over some Keepers being held by King Poach: "most unnaturally they lie with him and him alone." To me, that suggests Keepers are very used to sharing and would likely resist monogamy. Whereas Seekers are expected to be monogamous to the Nuhn (same-sex relationships notwithstanding in my particular tribe).

This is a really good point. I've never thought about it but Keeper's would seem to be more Polyamorous than Seekers. ... I'm not understanding, I think. How so? I'm still VERY new/rough on the lore, so be gentle. Well the seeker arrangement is more of a societal thing. It's not about love. If one nunh is stronger, they're in charge, the ladies don't get to vote. Though they can leave with the defeated Nunh, this seems rare. Keeper relationships seem more based on romance and personal connections. #also thanks freelance, even though you give me so many warnings I still <3 you! I think, like you said, it's more about society. But it also, to me, seems about duty. Kind of an "everyone for the tribe" so-to-speak. It doesn't mean that the Nunh or tribe as a whole don't respect their women. After all, the women do their hunting and whatnot. They likely know that without them, they wouldn't exist and wouldn't be able to continue their tribe. I feel like it's not only a duty, some tendency for this may be built into their DNA. Not just any male Miqo'te can become a Nuhn, it's not just a political title. He should represent the best breed and offer the best combination of physical and intellectual behaviors. This makes the Nuhn the most reasonable person to breed with as it helps ensure the next generation carries those traits. This could also mean that while many Miqo'te females may have relationships with others, with outsiders, that when it comes to breeding she may look for qualities that may or may not be shared with her current romantic partner. But I'm just speculating. But polyamory suggests a mutual love based relationship but I don't necessarily feel like that's what's going on when I visit the U-Tribe. That all seems more like a business relationship. For all I know, they draw straws for breeding or play lottery. I have no idea. But I don't think that romantic love plays all that much of a part. However, there is more than one kind of love. Love of family, love of community, love for each other, and those might play a much larger role and could be a sort of foundation for polyamory but that's probably a stretch. This is all just my opinion and interpretation, of course.

Eh, really? I thought the laws stated that even kissing was wrong just because it could potentially lead to more? I'm sorry but I didn't have you in mind at all when I wrote about some players ignoring the lore. I apologize that it came across that way. I was meaning to point out my distaste for players who RP Miqo'te as humans with cat ears and tails. Your interpretation of the Lore is even better than what I had because it makes D'aito Kuji's abandonment of her tribe even more viable and reasonable. As far as other types of intimacy is concerned, unless I'm mistaken, there's no hard and fast rule. I personally can't imagine living in a society where my only opportunity for sex is when I'd be expected to breed. But Miqo'te aren't people and if the lore comes out and says that Miqo'te are only intimate when it's breeding time, then that's how I'd play her.

That's a possible route but for our tribe personally, all other forms of intimacy are discouraged among opposite-sex individuals to prevent accidental pregnancies and people refraining from breeding out of loyalty(or whatever) to their true partner. The way I RP this for D'aito's tribe was that opposite sex intimacy was generally frowned upon and discouraged but same sex intimacy was not. In RP, D'aito Kuji keeps these kinds of things to herself and will only reluctantly speak about it. She understands that "outsiders" struggle to understand some of the practices of the Miqo'te. D'aito left her tribe precisely because she could not accept the new Nuhn who she knew gained his position illegitimately over her sire. Of course, other players simply ignore the lore or establish different backgrounds for their characters and that's fine as far as I'm concerned. But I like the lore and the complications it places on my character. I play a non-human character for a reason. I am uncertain how polyamory fits into the Seeker model. But I can see how if someone wanted to tinker with the harem model, it could work. I have ZERO issues with polyamory as I have an unconventional lifestyle myself and like my character am openly bisexual (which I've sometimes heard is an excuse to be a slut). I'm very eager to see where this thread goes and I might retcon some of D'aito's backstory as I learn more.

It wasn't that long ago in actual human history that violence and abuse was truly rampant (unlike today where we merely believe it is). The odds of facing a violent death was exceptionally high during the middle ages, for instance. You would have known someone, probably a close family member who was violently killed. These things happen today, of course, but during the middle ages, almost every family would have some direct experience. For FFXIV, I think that anyone leaving the city or some other organized shelter would know they were taking their life into their hands - that there was a damn good chance they'd never come home. This is all just my opinion tho. For all I know, Eorzea is perfectly safe. But considering how often something tries to kill my character, it doesn't feel safe at all. I do realize that's a game mechanic but still, Eorzea is almost certainly many, many times more dangerous than our world.

The only reason I play FFXIV is for the Miqo'te. So there's little the Au Ra can do to change my mind. I am looking forward to the potential drop in Miqo'te populations. But I might roll and alt once I see them in person and if they have intriguing background and Lore.

D'aito Kuji: "Mostly harmless"

Oh, I've seen it done and done really well. It probably helps if the player has a number of alts. I basically have only my main character so leaving her wounded would seriously cramp my style. Then again, I'm still leveling so...a lot of RP depends on the point of view. :blush:

I got started started roleplaying when I immersed myself in City of Heroes. I had a love of comics even as a little kid, especially Justice League, Teen Titans, and X-Men. But even in my tweens and early teens, I recognized that a lot of stories they told were...not the best quality. I thought I could do better. So City of Heroes was my chance and I started RP'ing. I met a group of RP'ers on Formspring who did out-of-game RP and I started writing stories with them and interacting with them and their characters on a day-to-day basis. I'm not sure that our stories were any better than mainstream comics but I loved them. I was invested in them. They were my world. And that world came crashing down a couple of years ago when the game was cancelled. I scrambled around looking for new RP opportunities and settled in The Secret World for most of the time since City of Heroes sunset. But I wanted new and more fantastical challenges and FFXIV seemed up to the task and so far, the RP has been slow in coming but good when it happens. At my core, I RP because I want to tell the story and to be a part of it. I don't want to sit back and watch/read. I don't play RPGs for the same reason; they aren't my characters. It's just a quirk, I guess. But I have to feed that creative side of me, even in gaming or I'll feel like I'm wasting my time. And reaching out, making connections with someone, seeing someone react to my character is so fulfilling to me. It makes her and the world she lives in that much more real.

I have D'aito Kuji age in real time, using my own birthday as a reference point. D'aito is a couple of years older than me because I felt she needed a couple extra years to be a little more believable as an adventurer. So D'aito ran away from her tribe sometime during her 18th summer and is now experiencing the beginning of her 20th winter. It's possible, even likely, that the story itself could time jump and I'll make adjustments if necessary. Time is always a bit complicated in MMOs. When everything is laid out, all the adventures a character has, all the places they go, all the creatures and people they encounter, it's not really possible to do all those things in a lifetime, much less in a year or month or whatever the timeframe. Maybe not impossible, but extremely unlikely. So there are obviously some things that I count and other things that I don't. Some things like, recovery from injury, are too inconvenient to the mechanics of gameplay and roleplay. I doubt many of us are so dedicated that we'd take weeks of time to recover or essentially play a bed-ridden character for a long period of time. So some stuff is going to get time-compressed and while it might "have happened" during D'aito's year, exactly when and the length of time it occurred might be difficult to pin down.

I do this. I talk to NPCs, I bow to them, thank them, acknowledge them. I sass pirates and poachers and try to soothe beasts before being forced to take them down. It's fun and it keeps me in a RP mindset. It also helps me pick up RP in the wild and make new connections. It can also invite negative attention but I try not to let that get me down. I feel like, if you limit your character to RP when you're only engaged with others, it can turn into a situation where you're just doing small talk at a bar. And small talk can be pretty generic. But I'm still pretty new to RP in FFXIV but not new to RP in MMOs and I've always found a lot of joy in RP'ing in environments outside of the game itself: forums, skype, twitter, tumblr. Those things all really help me keep in touch with my characters.

I've played MMOs for a long time and I've never been on the side of absolutists or fundamentalists. There are some truths to be sure. I strongly dislike it when RP'ers try to do crossovers from one game to another, such as playing their SW:TOR character in FFXIV. But I'm not so keen on the idea that there aren't holes in the lore that the player can't fill with their own ideas so long as they don't completely contradict the rest of the world. And of course, I dislike godmodders and gary stu type characters as well. There are things that the lore actually supports, such as the main character quest/story line that I personally ignore. For instance, that whole psychic thing that my character apparently has, or whatever that out of body stuff is meant to represent. I just pretend that didn't happen for RP purposes. And while she is capable and competent, she isn't as capable and competent for RP purposes. The fun of RP, to me anyway, isn't in what she's capable of doing, it's in what she's not capable of doing but tries to do anyway. I play a Miqo'te and even though there's some Lore, I don't feel there's enough about their traditions, history, biology, culture, and the like so there's a lot of contradictory information on this forum and every forum I've been to. That's led me to make some truly ass clown mistakes and misinterpretations that I'm busy retconning. So I could use some more solid Lore in that regard. But there really is a lot of good Lore out there, it's just not always spoon fed to the player. I guess really what I'm trying to say is that I reject the idea that what isn't directly stated by the Lore doesn't exist. To me, player Lore and headcanons exist until they are directly contradicted by the Lore. What sucks for me is that I'm finding that some of what I thought I knew about the Miqo'te is contradicted.

I have a thing about naming all my RP characters after lesser known Japanese places or cultural references. D'aito Kuji is named after the Daitoku-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. I've been using the name for a while in Rift, Aion, SW:TOR, and now in FFXIV. It's not a perfect fit because from what I've heard, Miqo'te who are very familiar with each other will often drop with tribal letter from the front of their name. This significantly changes D'aito's name but I've grown comfortable with that notion. Fortunately, none of the NPCs seem to know her well enough to drop the letter.