Eva

For most I don't think that '6A' or '7U' at the end would make sense in casual use. Simply because most acknowledge that the era is what it is. I honestly don't know how this has been handled in other types of stories and would be interested to see. A case in point would be when I sign/date a document for work, I'll write 7.19.2013 - but the "A.D." is pretty much implied and seldom written for any reason. However given the eras recently changed that distinction may be more important. I'd love it if a NPC confirmed this, or there was a newspaper or something that illustrated it. Prior to the changing of the era, I always used this format. I don't know if it's generally accepted to be correct or not, but nobody's hassled me. I'll use Eva's nameday as an example: 1A/20/1540

My understanding is that the Umbral eras are a time of great upheaval and usually much shorter-lived than the Astral eras. I also think it's feasible that some characters - particularly those that are confused and coming out of the time rift - might not be aware or fully regard the shift of era right away. I think a character mistakingly regarding it as 1577 may still be all right for RP. But I would assume at some point the newspapers and such might reflect the new dating system. A lot of this is based on speculation. I'm not sure what qualifier there is to discern exactly when an umbral era is over, either.

Eva has been drawn upon a number of different influences - often just specific facets of other characters kind of melded together to make something a little different. Inspirations so far have included (but are not limited to) the following: Kes from ST:Voyager (admittedly her namesake) Deanna Troi from ST:TNG Egwene from the WoT series (and probably by some extention Moiraine whom I know was mentioned earlier) Winnie the Pooh (yes, really) Juliet Burke from Lost Elim Garak from ST:DS9 (not just cuz he's a tailor either) There are others, but the melding of that sort of "deep simplicity" with "empathy" with "coy secretiveness" sort of all mesh together to make Eva who she is. If that makes sense.

Oh since you mentioned that OOC comments were welcome, I just wanted to drop a little note here saying that... ...I loved reading this!!! Coming from another duskwight with a strong affinity towards Nymeia who actually has a similar sort of occurrance with something happening underground as a result of the Calamity, I thought it was just so awesome to read this. I particularly liked the concept of Nymeia's apron-strings as a sort of rescue device. I'm looking forward to reading more and maybe meeting Isobeau in game if you wind up on the Balmung server. And as kind of a footnote, Isilme Turuphant goes by the nickname 'Izzy' as well! So much Izzy makes me dizzy? :dazed:

To clarify, Crystalline is still in discussions about this but leaning towards the Free Company route. There is some debate right now as to whether this is ideal and we are planning on keeping a linkshell channel as our primary mode of communication if we do go this route as to include members who may take up a different FC for other reasons. We're generally encouraged by what we saw in P3 though. In short, we're hoping to better experience what all is included with a Free Company in P4 before polling our members and making any sort of official decision which path we'll be taking. EDIT TO APPEND: Once we settle on whether we'll officially be a Free Company or a Linkshell we'll make it a point to update our listing in the directory to reflect this information.

I'm sorry for the delay since my last post. It's been a busier week than I anticipated and I haven't been able to read/post as much as I would like. This post is going to be rather lengthy as a result and I'm sorry about that because I try to avoid wall'o'texts whenever possible but there were a lot of great points made and I don't want to leave anything out. I'll address the point about some of our members posting here first since that seems the most recent/pressing issue. As I was busy for much of the day yesterday and this thread was/is still taking its course, I had encouraged any member who wanted to speak up on behalf of the linkshell to discretely do so. As we are a community I thought it might be a good thing to let some of the other members have their say as well. That and I was busy and didn't want to leave any points left unaddressed for too long. While I personally don't view any of their posts as being particularly defensive, I do see where some points that have already been made were reiterated and I apologize for this misunderstanding. I've since requested that no further posts be made on this thread by our members and will take it upon myself to funnel their thoughts here if any of them feel compelled to share anything. Going forward it should just be me addressing these concerns, but I may not be able to reply as promptly as I would like, so please take that into consideration. @Averis: I've heard the phrase "RP Elite" - or variants of such - tossed around a bit, usually with a negative connotation. I've never really minded the implication that some of us take our RP interactions and experiences more seriously than others. It was explained to me in a Skype channel once as being less about being immersive in RP and more about being condescending or having certain expectations placed upon others. I admit we strive for realistic and believable experiences and interactions, and have certain rules in place about expectations for godmode/meta/etc. for our own members. I don't think any of us really have any sort of expectations of folks outside of our group who may RP different styles or exhibit more deviation from the game's lore. Instead we try to find common ground to make interactions work between our characters, even when our methods may differ somewhat. I hope this makes sense. @Zeah: I can appreciate that the LS would not fit with your character, or many others. While we were hoping to create a company with a theme that would sort of cast a wide net regarding character types, it quickly became clear to us that not all would fit well with this theme. It felt important to find and fill a niche like this and it's not as all-encompassing as it was in FFXI, and we understand not everyone will be drawn to it, and may even stand to lose a few members (but hopefully not friends!) that we had in 1.0 as a result. Since FFXI was mentioned, I just wanted to be clear that the LS is entirely different in structure and purpose from what it was in FFXI. I asked around and figured out who your FFXI character was. Knowing that now, I can appreciate how you might feel some disenchantment with regard to your experience with us for the couple of months you were with us in XI, particularly given what happened with one of the officers at that time. Even though this is XIV and even though you probably will likely not be joining us, I would like to apologize for any bad feelings from back then. If you would like to talk more about the XI stuff, I invite you to send me a PM. All I can really say is that things are much different now and I hope we may still get a chance to RP at some point. @Rhynka & Spiritual Machine: I hope the opening paragraph of this post addresses those concerns brought up on the last page. I don't think it wasn't really anyone's intent to leave anyone feeling they couldn't speak their mind freely here but I can understand that perception when a number of our members start posting and certain points that were already made have been reiterated. This was my fault as I encouraged it with our membership and I'm sorry for any confusion that may have resulted. @L'yhta: I agree with the point you made of ignoring rumors. I generally base my own opinions of things on facts and observation. Someone recently related to me a paraphrased conversation that went something like: Person1: "What do you think about Crystalline?" Person2: "I've heard bad/negative things about that LS." Person1: "What sort of things or why?" Prior to this thread I don't know that there was really any sort of concrete answer to that, at least none that I've heard or been able to figure out. I have no such dillusions that everyone would like the LS, myself, or its members. People are always going to favor different things based on their own preferences and experiences, and I totally understand that Crystalline is not going to appeal to everyone. What I was hoping to discern by creating this thread was not so much what the rumors are. Admittedly I'm curious, particularly since a couple of posts now have indicated that they've heard things but haven't been much more specific than that. But the rumors themselves aren't the major concern here. The reasons for them and the reasons our LS may be seen in a more unfavorable light is my concern. So far the responses have been illuminating for us and we're using this information to try and make some adjustments so that we can integrate better with other linkshells and the RP community. @Femgame: I can't think of a way to respond to your remark without it being regarded as somewhat defensive. So I'm sorry if it gives that vibe, but I don't want to sound like I'm disagreeing with your point. I generally tend to think we're pretty open to RPing with all RPers and not just our own members - and yes even little lalafell folk too! I'm not sure which member you may have bumped into or what happened there, so I can only speculate, but is it possible that he or she didn't realize you were a RPer or trying to engage in RP? I think it's fine if your character isn't a proactive sort, but if you would like to RP with us - or really with anyone - please feel free to send an OOC /tell to communicate that. If you did this and I'm off base here than I apologize, and I'm sorry if it left you with a negative view of us. We really don't want to be looked at as big, imposing, or frightening. We just want to have fun with everyone! @Asyria: I agree that keeping a group to a certain size and RPing within can be perceived as insular or restrictive, and I can understand where some people might see that as a negative thing. For ourselves what we're going for is that sort of closeness but we also want to have open channels with the rest of the RP world. But you are correct that people do segment into these linkshell groups because they may favor a particular style or a particular sort of guild to another, and preserving that sort of uniqueness that makes us who we are is also important to us. Thank you for your first response. Regarding the second one just above this post, I'm inclined to agree that our members all do have varying opinions and not all of us are in agreement on every point. That said, I understand the point made by others where it may be regarded as a bit confusing with multiple members of our group coming here and in some cases reiterating certain points that have already been made. I've offered to be a sort of mouthpiece for them as well and will be bringing any concerns they have to the table on their behalf as well. I hope that this is a suitable compromise. @Ellion: Thank you for welcoming me to your forums as well. I look forward to future cooperation both IC and OOC between our two guilds, and the other RP guilds as well. @C'io: Thank you for your feedback. As a result of your post and others we've decided that I'll communicate on behalf of the LS solely as to avoid any further confusion. Also Aysun asked me to help clear up one point from your last paragraph. Crystalline as a LS was actually an IC linkshell to begin with. Prior to ARR (and presently) it was sort of a subnetwork. In 1.0 I belonged to a number of guilds over a period of time and either left some for one reason or another or in most cases they disbanded and this started out just as an IC way to keep in touch with friends who wound up joining a bunch of different guilds. Its purpose back then was to be a secondary linkpearl and it didn't see much use, but it was conducted in-character and at the end of 1.0 when Everwatch disbanded most of us kind of migrated over to that for the final weeks of 1.0 since the world was ending and all. So I guess in 1.0 you could say Crystalline was "Eva's Friend Network", and in ARR we're looking to sort of morph that into an actual company as you noted in your post. I hope this helps explain our history a little bit better. @Azelle: I agree with everything your post says! We are hoping to maintain a certain atmosphere in the LS and want to make sure applicants/members are a good fit. This will mean that we may have to unfortunately reject some applicants, but in doing so we're hoping to be delicate about it and are also hoping to be able to make recommendations for other community LS's that might be an even better fit for them. But you are right in that level of experience is not a requirement. We have a few RPers in our group now that came to us brand new and are valuable members of our community. We're also hoping that the change of our recruitment status from Closed to Invitation may help us be seen as a bit more open to the possibility of trickling in some new members as time goes on. Moreover, I agree with your point about preferring to get to know the LS members before release and we have an avenue for this on our forums right now for anyone who is interested and registers, they need only communicate to us that they wish to be considered for membership and we can tag them on the forums which then opens up most of our threads so we can establish a dialogue - get to know the recruit and allow them to get to know us and make sure it's a good fit. I know this has been very poorly communicated in our LS posts and we're going to be making some changes to the phrasing of those in order to spell that out more clearly. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! Again, I'm sorry this became a massive wall'o'text but I have been somewhat busy this week and I'm trying to address all the posts made at least once a day. EDIT: Reworded one sentence at the request of one of the participants of this discussion.

If you ever feel like drawing a busty duskwight elezen lady, my profile is on the same Character References picture that Alothia linked and I would be flattered also. But like Nel said, just have fun!! :thumbsup:

@Seohyun: Thank you for the feedback. I'm glad your experience has been positive so far and I'm looking forward to RPing in ARR! @Spiritual Machine: I'm glad we have not disappointed. Most of the community here I have found to be very sensible and mature and I'm glad that shows through to you as well. @lady2beetle: I understand how the bump might have been somewhat confusing. With all the talk of Balmung/Gilgamesh I felt it was important to note that we were going to be RPing on the Balmung server. Moreover we've begun RPing events that will eventually lead to the founding of the company and I figured I was able to place an educated guess on the timeframe of that and an approximation of when the LS will be fully open for recruitment, for those who may be interested in joining or may have been waiting patiently. I have gone back to both the bump and the linkshell post and made a few corrections. From all the feedback I've been getting from this thread I think it makes more sense to change our status from 'Closed' to 'Invitation' - as we have gradually brought a few friendly folks in who showed interest in what we're building. I apologize that the message was somewhat unclear. The only three options are 'Closed', 'Open', and 'Invitation' - and none of them really perfectly fit our recruitment policy right now, but I think Invitation seems to make a bit more sense. I will need to change around some of the phrasing around on our own forums later this evening to better mesh with this change as well. @Zizirimu: Thanks for the clarification. I like the sheep image too about rumors. There are many good real-world applications for that as well! @Rhynka: I don't really see where anyone is defending themselves. The way I see this thread going, an honest opinion was asked for and a number of people have given it. I suppose a number of the posts have been prefaced with something akin to "please don't be offended but..." which I think may just be a courtesy and while perhaps it may not really necessary there is nothing inherantly wrong with stating that intentions are to express an opinion and not to hurt anyone's feelings. But we as a LS have been able to glean a lot from the responses so far and have already enacted some changes and may be considering some additional changes in the near future as well which we hope will help improve our overall image. @Armi: I guess as flattering as that may be I still don't like the perception that any one RPLS is somehow superior to another. I view them all as different but on equal footing, each usually catering to a different sort of RPer. I do think our members are awesome, but I admit I'm totally biased. I've interacted with a ton of characters outside of our membership who are also awesome! It sounds like we'll have to look for ways to be less intimidating and more open to interaction. From all I've read so far, this seems to be the biggest recurring point. I think most of us are up to the challenge though, and looking forward to demonstrating that in-game rather than just writing words on a forum. We will look forward to fighting the primals and raiding the dungeons (be it IC or OOC) together with Night Blades and any other LS groups. It was always fun when this sort of stuff happened in 1.0 and the more all-encompassing pearls like Intermission/Backstage were great for putting raids and runs together if you didn't have a full lineup! Thank you all for the comments so far. It has been really valuable to us!

I agree with this 110%. My opening paragraph was also a bit of a generalization. Of course there are those who have already made up their minds but are still encouraging people to research what's out there and choose what they feel will be best for them. But most of these threads do amount to the same few types of posts which express either the same opinions, the same facts, or a bit of both. The proverbial horse has been beaten to death, I think. Nothing new is coming of these posts, which is why I suppose I'm getting tired of seeing the same things re-hashed. I guess my point is that I don't think locking or nuking these threads is going to do any good except hurt people's feelings and we should probably just accept that even though the resources are available to help people make fact-based, educated choices about which server to play on, folks may just need to be continually pointed in that direction.

Please don't feel bad. You are entitled an opinion just as much as anyone else and there is nothing wrong with expressing that! :thumbsup:

I confess I'm annoyed by the frequency with which these threads are popping up, but I think it's just something we're going to have to live with for at least the next three weeks. The facts of what each server are have been presented and as long as that information remains consistent and unbiased, I see no reason to lock it. And when someone comes at one of these threads with an opinion favoring one server or the other, usually someone from the opposite side of the argument is quick to point out any details which may have been omitted. My opinion is that I'm tired of these debate threads because people favoring Balmung are not going to find the reasons to choose Gilgamesh compelling, people favoring Gilgamesh are not going to agree with those favoring Balmung, and a handful of people in the middle are just going to keep reiterating the same points - play on both servers. The only tidbit I could offer to this would be that if a new player does create characters on both servers that he or she also investigate what sort of guilds are available on each of those servers and make some effort to be proactive and initiate contact with members of the most preferred guilds on each. I think standing around in Gold Court and waiting for RP to just happen is not the best way of going about that. Research, research, research. And consider that the friends and acquaintances you will be making and associating with - possibly over the next several years - will ultimately depend on this choice. So don't make it lightly.

@Armi: Thank you for your reply and visiting our site/forums. I think you'll find that you have access to most of the forums there. Please feel welcome to create a thread or offer your thoughts on one of the ongoing discussions. @drake: I'm concerned about some of what I have heard, but I am not looking to attempt to please everyone. One of my favorite quotes is by Bill Cosby and goes something like, "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." While we are looking to make some changes to be a bit more accommodating to the larger community, we're not looking to flush the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. It is important to us that the LS retain its core values and purpose. @Ildur: I agree I don't think there's any way to set up a moderator team on any forum that is going to be received well by all members - particularly with a site like that RPC that encompasses so many members with so many different backgrounds and varying opinions. @JJ: Thanks for better summarizing what I was driving at with my rather longwinded response last night. I don't think I can not be longwinded. It's a sickness. :? @Ellie: Thank you also for clearing up that point about not wanting to promise things we can't deliver and leave prospective members feeling disenchated as a result. You have a way of taking what I'm thinking and wording it so much better than I am able. I appreciate that. @Asyria: Thank you for your comment as well. I also agree that the RPC belongs to all of us. But I am getting an idea where certain perceptions are coming from, which was part of why I created this thread. I also remember BF from 1.0 and it sounded like a good group! @Tyriont: It's good to see you're back! Changing recruitment status to something like 'Pending' would be a good idea. I think we were locked into only a few different options, but this is certainly something worth looking into as well. I also agree that the 'top shell' remark - which was first introduced somewhere on page 1 - is kind of deflating sort of thing. I try to view the smaller communities that make up the RPC as cooperating and collaborating rather than competing. While perhaps not equal in membership quantity, style, immersion, etc., I think it's probably offputting to label any one as being better or worse than another - generally speaking. For each player or character there may be some that make more or less sense than others or make a better fit, but I agree that tagging any LS as being superior to others for any reason is a big no-no. @Spiritual Machine: It's my opinion that this did have a positive impact the last time it was conducted for another community I belonged to at the time. I can appreciate that a lot of delicate issues may be brought up, but our goal is to improve our community not only for our members, but also to make it so that other communities can easily interface with us for cross-LS type RP. I feel that there is value in this. It has also been interesting to read about how these sort of modererator-member matters have been dealt with in other games' RP communities. Please read on. After some discussion with my fellow linkshell members, I decided to go back and edit much of the opening post of this thread. It was pointed out to me - and I agree - that some of the phrasing I used/borrowed may have come off a little bit defensive, and that's really not the message that I'm meaning to send with this solicitation. The OP now reflects what I really feel about the issue, which is simply that I've heard through some of the back channels that Crystalline isn't viewed by some in a mostly positive light, and I'm now concerned about this, since it is as much of a reflection on Crystalline as it is of me, as the group's leader. I'm sincerely looking here for complaints that are registering for Crystalline, so that I can figure out what I can do, as shell leader, to make Crystalline as attractive and friendly as possible both for our members and also for those who may be interacting with us from other linkshell communities. Since we do not want to be seen as hiding anything, I've preserved the original post and will leave it here beneath a spoiler tag:

Bloody outstanding!!! :surprise:

I appreciate all of the feedback so far, and thank you for sharing. There are a lot of points here I'd like to address, so I apologize if I don't manage to touch upon everything said, but I'll be glad to clarify anything further if it's needed. I would imagine most of the comments that are being made are being made OOCly or refer to that aspect of the guild and/or its members. As there's not yet much of a guild to speak of so much as 'the idea of a guild' it's tough to legitimately point the finger at something like that and say 'good', 'bad', or otherwise. So I understand a lot of the feedback may stem from OOC reactions to forum posts, or some of our members' participation along the various avenues of chat. I can also understand wanting to preserve anonymity with regard to who may be spreading certain things about us. This would certainly not be the first time that someone has taken something said by one/some of our members and either split it from context or outright distorted it with the perceived intent of making us look bad. Most who know me well enough will attest that I'm not one who is prone to flying off the handle about things, and I wouldn't have asked for honest feedback if I wasn't prepared to hear what had to be said. I'm not looking to point fingers or make accusations. Being that I'm feeling somewhat villainized myself of late, I have no desire to pass that buck along to anyone else. I would however like to clarify what is truth and what may have been fabricated somewhere along the lines. I'm not perfect, and neither are our members. We have our own internal issues that we deal with on a more regular basis than I'd like - and I feel a lot of this stems from the fact that we are a high-immersion guild that has been stuck in a state of OOC for a rather extended period of time. For those of us who are devoted to this game and to preserving character, that is a rather daunting thing and the past several months have been pretty tough on some of our members, and there has been friction - and I'm sure some of that has at times spilled out into more public channels. I do find it a little surprising that there is some perception that Crystalline "owns" the RPC. I admit this was a concern of ours awhile back and a large part of the reason I stepped down as one of the forum moderators. I also wanted to focus more on developing the guild and had some personal matters going on at that time as well, and I'm still happy with that decision. As has been mentioned, Kylin and Ellie are both members of Crystalline and moderators here. Kylin can attest to the fact that I disagree with him regularly and would manage things with the RPC differently if I had the patience and tenacity that he possesses in his own management methods. I tend to look at Kylin the LS member as being separate from Kylin the RPC mod. We have an odd relationship like that, and we can disagree regularly and still respect each other in spite of those disagreements. But really I think the moderators chosen were selected not for being a part of one community or another, but rather for exhibiting calm and cool reactions in the face of some rather unpleasant situations. But you are correct - there is that perception of favoritism when a number of people from one group are in moderator positions. All I can really say is that there is no "power" being wielded, unless locking threads which are inflammatory is considered such - and most of the time I think almost all of us can agree with their decisions, when that happens. Regarding the temporary block on recruitment, I do maintain that this is what's best to ensure the health of our community given what we are trying to do with it in-character. Towards the end of 1.0 we had a slight rise in membership and it is important to us that each pearl issued to a new member have a fitting reason attached to it. We're not a guild that hands them out willy-nilly - not that there is anything wrong with that. We are different, according to our stated purpose in 1.0 and transitioning that to our new purpose in ARR is proving to be a challenge. We have found some creative ways to introduce a few people in "under the radar" as it were, however after a certain point it goes against the goals of the community to allow a handful of people in when there isn't some sort of in-character mechanism in place for that. I don't expect this to be understood by all RPers, but it is an immersion thing and we do want all our members to be relatively comfortable with each other. Where we're at right now, we have a handful of members who joined up from various places who haven't had much time to interact in-character with the group from 1.0. This has always been intended to be a very gradual process of integrating new members. I've been doing this for a very long time and problems seem to crop up in some groups where too many new members are taken on too quickly without being given a suitable amount of time to integrate and feel the guild's style. With regards to how long the recruitment status will be kept "temporarily closed", I bumped the LS thread just earlier today to indicate we're on goal with having doors open for potential new members sometime around mid-to-late August. I can't give an exact date because the events in RP govern this but I will bump the thread again when that happens. Even then, I think we'll be looking to keep our influx to a steady trickle. A poll of our members was conducted some time back and this has been generally agreed upon as the best policy for us. I realize this may give certain perceptions which I really can't help. All I can say is that it's the nature of the beast. "Insular" and "Reclusive" are words I've heard spoken. Many of our members are pretty active on the forums and Skype channels - many will be joining multiple RPLS's to broaden their characters' horizons. This is not being discouraged. Most of us are looking forward to creating and hosting events. While I've admired the beta events posted that I've seen so far, it has been difficult for me as I've been wanting to create, schedule, and host similar such events but not being able to due to these temporary restrictions, however I still think it's for the best in order to preserve the essence of what Crystalline is and what it will become. I look at us as a horse that is going to be a bit late coming out of the gate, but one that runs strong. Of course now I'm sure someone will look at that metaphor and think we're competitive rather than collaborative. So instead, I look at us as a horse that is going to be a little late coming out of the gate, but one that runs strong so that he can join the other horses for tea and crumpets at the big horse table! I guess I also don't really see us as a top dog LS for that reason. I think there's bigger groups now, and certainly those who are more clearly defined. I suppose we've been around for awhile and we've had a lot of good memories, but we were open to new members back in 1.0 and will be looking forward to welcoming more new faces again in ARR to join us in our adventures. We have some event ideas in store that we'd like to include the bigger community in. We're really excited about a lot of this stuff. So I guess I'm just a little taken back when I hear some of the more negative comments that have been stamped upon us. All I can say is where I'm coming from with it. If you're not comfortable posting though, please feel free to take Alothia's advice and send her a PM to her to have a question or comment posted anonymously. I have no qualms about that. Or I invite you to send me a PM if you'd prefer not to post. I'm always glad to talk about the LS or RP in general. Thank you for all the comments and constructive criticisms so far. I really do appreciate it. :thumbsup: Footnote: Please feel welcome to visit our forums! We have separate designations for prospective members and a category designed just for visitors from other guilds who have no intentions of joining but just want to hang out on our forums and gab. Most of the relevent forums are open to discussion. I just need a PM to tag you into the appropriate group. More information about that may be found HERE.

Thanks to Elza, we now have a good reason for Eva to be there! If there's a way it might make sense for her to assist with being an IC sort of mod, I'd be happy to try and help out that way too. Mostly now I'm just looking forward to the event!

This is actually somewhat helpful X'sato, thank you for the comment. :thumbsup: I suppose I probably could have elaborated a bit more since I imagine a lot of folks newer to the RPC (particularly after November of last year) may never have heard of us. While we've been around since 1.0 launch in some form or another, we're not actively recruiting so we haven't felt much need to bump our thread (although I did earlier today because certain wheels are now being set into motion and I wanted to give a kind of timeframe for those who have been patient with us so far). Other than that, it's made little sense to advertise ourselves since we're not actively recruiting, nor have we figured out our structure in-character or anything. But I'm glad you looked up our Crystalline community thread here on the RPC. There is more information there that details what exactly we're all about, if that helps. We have set some of our forums up to be available to the public and we've heard from a number of folks so far who have shown interest, offered encouragement, or just wanted to spitball some ideas with us. Despite our current - and let me stress temporary - closed-door recruitment policy, we're hoping to be a very active and open part of the RP community on Balmung - er, once we're officially founded in character. For now it's just kind of a fun and wild ride between Point A and a sort of amorphous Point B. :dazed:

I think there is mentioned some bitterness between the duskwight elezen and the wildwood elezen. As a duskwight I have never RPed any such animosity, however some others might. It's not a mandatory thing but perhaps more closely tied to how a character was raised and what he or she was taught to believe. More traditional characters will adhere more to their culture's lore where more contemporary characters who have been a part of Eorzea's melting pot will be a bit more progressive in their views of the other races/clans - generally speaking. I hope this helps a little.

We would like to hear what you've heard of Crystalline - all the good and the bad. We are considering making some adjustments, particularly if there are things that we are doing that are being interpreted in ways that we do not intend. We invite you to share your honest feedback about your experiences with our group or what you may have heard about us. Thank you!

I was a little late to the NES party getting mine (technically my brother's too) in 1988 after spending a lot of time at my friends/cousins playing video games at their homes. My first game (if you don't count SMB/DH) was Zelda II - The Adventure of Link. There were a lot of great games and a lot of wonderful memories from that era. I think some of those memories that cannot be forgotten are finding the warp in 1-2 for the first time in Super Mario Bros., shooting that annoying dog in Duck Hunt when he laughed at you (you know you tried to!!), and completing The Legend of Zelda for the first time only to find the underworlds redesigned for the second play-through. Another NES game I remember fondly that probably wasn't as popular was Base Wars - robots with guns and swords playing baseball but having fights. For its time, it was a lot of fun, and I don't even really care much for baseball!

What a fun idea for a thread!! :thumbsup: What... is in your character's bag? Eva keeps a satchel with her at most times. Right at this moment (after being robbed by bandits) she only has a few things of little-to-no value kept within - a small canteen, a leather-bound journal, small silver quill, inkwell, bandaging materials and medicinal salves, a tattered mandragora plushie, and one [of a few] pouches of gil - the others being kept elsewhere on her person. She also has a few spindles of thread and a number of knitting needles, sewing needles, hoops, and various other tools of her trade. There is also the romance novel she was reading when she left. She also found two other journals in her travels which she is hanging onto for the time being. And she also is carrying a small bundle of fruit, dried beef jerky, and a half loaf of bread. There is normally also a small tea kettle and several tin cups stacked within each other as well as a sizable pouch of tea leaves, however these tea-making items have been stolen or lost since coming out of the time rift. What do they consider essentials for survival? She keeps a dagger strapped in a thigh-sheath that few know about. She had lost it at the battle in 1572 but recently acquired a replacement. What are their keepsakes that push them forward? Her journal is probably her most important possession. The volumes that came before the one she carries with her, and those from her father and ancestors are stored somewhere safe. How much room is there for things to collect from the wild? Right now, homeless, Eva considers carefully whether something is worth carrying or not since space is limited and she has no permanent place of residence to keep things. How much Gil would they carry on their person? She has a small amount of gil leftover from what she made while working in Ul'dah, and she keeps this split apart in five different locations in case she is robbed again. If they have a chocobo they would haul...? She no longer has a chocobo. What kind of things would they leave behind? While she normally would pick up most anything interesting for her collection of trinkets and baubles, the need to preserve space and not burden herself is much more apparent now so she only takes what she feels she will need. Animal skins and such may get picked up OOCly but wouldn't be in her inventory.

It seemed like this could use a bump. First and foremost, we will be playing on the Balmung server. We've also updated our recruitment status to reflect 'By Invitation Only'. For anyone who may be interested in joining our group, please visit the forums so that you can get to know us a little better and so that we can get to know you as well! We've been cautiously allowing a few members in gradually, and we have a separate setting for prospective or hopeful members which allows access to all the character and LS discussions and planning. The wheels are in motion and we should be officially founded in-character and open to full recruitment somewhere around mid-to-late-August to coincide with the official launch of the game. Please feel welcome to peruse our FORUMS - I'd recommend in particular the various Stories and Journals to help get to know some of our members. As always, if you have any questions at all, please feel welcome to send me a PM. Thanks!

Eva was 'shortest' in 1.0 but we gave her a little height in ARR. She's still shorter than an average elezen, but not by as much. We picked '33' on the height slider for a number of reasons. I figure she's about 5'9".

There is extremely little lore surrounding Ishgard and Dragoons. I would highly recommend running a YouTube search on the cutscenes from the Dragoon quests in 1.0 which may help shed a little light on it. I RP a character that was born in Ishgard, but have had to distance myself a bit from that because there is so little information. Her earlier upbringing and her father's reasons for leaving might be made more clear once that information becomes available. I just don't want to make assumptions about it. I know Uther RP's a character with a strong background in Ishgard as well. He might have some additional input.

amg I love both their expressions so much!!! There is a story here, I think, and this picture makes me want to know what happened!!

Wow this is just... breathtakingly gorgeous!! :love: Amazing work!! Keep it up!!!