Eva

This is being posted here because I know the RP community reads each others' lodestone blogs and because I wanted my thoughts and opinions noted where they were continually deleted. Is this post any less petty? Probably not, but when I'm branded as being immature, a bully, and paranoid I felt I had some right to do something to stand up against such a baseless attack. I was made aware a few days ago that a search of my name on the lodestone page spurned the following blog entry, recently written by Aveline: http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/rc/diary/entry?e=434787#comments BEFORE: AFTER: I'll let everyone draw their own conclusions. But here's mine: [spoil][/spoil] (Spoke with Kylin and got the OK to post this on a forum that would not arbitrarily delete my thoughts. However this thread will be locked by a moderator if things get ugly, but as the title indicates I wanted to be heard.)

The OP agreed to a thread lock on the Backstage pearl, and nothing good is really coming of this thread at this point anyway.

And this is different than what Kylin has been doing for the past 2+ years... how exactly? I have no qualms about the multiple RPC's. I, for one, do not plan on utilizing yours because I find it to be vestigal and a slight to the RP community. As I said last night - and I will reiterate - I feel that your efforts in creating a new forum system without first trying to work through whatever differences it is you feel you have with the RPC and those who represent it (and it's not just Kylin) undermine the purpose of the RPC in unifying the community, and rather than bringing RPers together in one place to coordinate things I feel your site will only serve to confuse potential RPers and is a deliberate slap in the face towards everything the RPC stands for. I want nothing to do with you or your website.

What I find most upsetting is that no one that supports this "other RPC" made any effort to establish any sort of communication with Kylin. I'm of a mindset that that the energy and effort going into an additional - and in my opinion unnecessary - RPC could better be spent in cooperation and helping make the existing one better and endeavor to bring RPers together, ideally on one forum. But this communication was not ever even attempted. And that leaves me feeling somewhat wary about the future of this project.

Well it makes sense to me if you want to see journals for people from different communities that there be a place on the RPC which makes that possible. As a hub for the RP community and the various linkshell groups and such it makes sense to me that if people wish to share their journals (whether by adding a link to a stickied post or by creating a thread here somewhere), an option be available here at the RPC to view journals across multiple forum networks or what-have-you. The more I think about it the more I favor the sticky-with-links idea, but I know there are a handful of freelance/errant RPers who would need a place to post and perhaps the RPC could create a forum for that as well (and perhaps even an internal link to it on the aforementioned sticky). You're still having to forum hop a bit, but it does give some exposure to the linkshells and it does prevent people from having to copy/paste entire journals and double-up entries each time. I'm also not sure I understand your last line: As I understand it, there is no current system on the RPC for journaling. But creating a thread seems most logical to me. I mean, the lodestone blogs were essentially a forum thread in and of themselves, though I suppose their system afforded subthreads in the sense that posts could be commented on in a way that didn't exactly break the flow of progression from one entry to the next. Did you have something specific in mind? Maybe Kylin can find a way of implementing something like that or setting up a section of the RPC (similar to the wiki) tailored specifically for blogging.

I never liked lodestone for IC journal entries due to text limitations that were in place before. This is even worse. Something as simple as a separate RPC forum for journals might be sufficient. I'm certain that it would be utilized. The formatting between this and enjin is admittedly a little different (mostly just the way text sizes are handled iirc), but I wouldn't mind pasting entries here as well. The biggest problem for me would be dumping all the previous journal entries (which I just did from Everwatch to Crystalline). Another possibility would be to create a stickied post with links to those who have [public] journals across various other sites. I keep meaning to add a link to my wiki (along with a bunch of other changes I keep putting off) to the journals.

Kudos to you good sir! <3 Flonne so much! Perfect cosplay concept!!! :cheer:

While events often have a way of going a different direction than intended (*cough*hinthint*cough*) Eva's plans are to return to the deep underground where some of her duskwight family ascended from in leaving their ancestral homeland. This place/culture has been loosely referenced through a number of journal posts and she's not even entirely sure she will be safe there, but she feels it is where she is meant to go to keep herself [and her unborn babies] safe. I'm sure there will be a curve ball thrown though, since she is planning on being at Mor Dhona in order to make that time jump since she will not be aging 5 years. How that winds up happening is still a bit of a mystery (in part even to me).

The Everwatch is disbanded, shortly after hitting the one-year mark. I believe Oskar is taking an extended leave of absense from Final Fantasy XIV and the rest of us felt it best to move on. Thank you to everyone who RPed with us during the company's lifespan - whether as members, friends, or affiliates. I have so few bad memories of my time in the Watch, and so many good ones. I will move this thread to the archives. No I won't. Apparently my moderator powers don't extend that far. But I've tagged the subject line, and Kylin please feel free to move it to Chronicles at your leisure.

Welcome back!! :cheer:

All right, awesome! Thank you for the clarification Kylin. I'm really looking forward to this. :mrgreen:

Just seeking a little clarification. I know this has been described as the 'beginning of the end', but is there any expectation that the end of this event will mark the end of RP for 1.0? I had somewhat different plans for that but might be willing to make some adjustments. I also know it's a few days prior to the 11/1 "end" of things. While I'm playing a lot of things by ear, my understanding is that those of us who are undergoing the whole "being timewarped" thing likely need to be in Mor Dhona in those final moments, and I've finally figured out a pretty good reason why Eva might wind up there - because for all intents and purposes that should be the last place she'd be going. lol Anyway, just trying to make sure all my ducks dodos are in a row.

Also agree with Kylin. Only took me about 10 minutes. There's a super-easy-to-use template that Kylin made. Granted I C&P a lot of Kylin's answers because we RP similar, but still... this isn't really that big of a deal. And the old wiki's are still there and may be transferred over also.

Updated for the new template (two-and-a-half years later).

(( Thank you for recording the log Aysun. And thank you to everyone who came out last night - we had a really great turn-out!! And a special thank you in particular to those who volunteered to share a story or poem! Events such as this rely pretty heavily on others' sharing stories and I near-panicked at the start when I realized pretty much everyone came to listen and none to share. In the end I'm grateful for those folks that came up with something, even if it was kind of on the fly or improvised. They were all wonderful and thank you for keeping the event going! I think the next time I set one of these up - post-ARR - we'll change things up a bit and make it such that each storyteller chooses the next one to go, so that everyone in attendance should be expected to have at least one story or poem of their own on standby in case they're called upon. If may decrease overall attendance, if there are people who adamantly don't want to share anything, but I think overall it would be a good thing for RP. All in all though, it was great to see the RP community come together across a variety of linkshells and I hope to keep these going post-ARR. I'm sure those staying behind for the 5 years will have some interesting stories to tell, in particular. ))

This is fantastic!!! LOLOLOL!! :cheer:

I'm leaving the linkshell description as-is for right now, since things have not yet changed, but I wanted to give notice that Crystalline as a linkshell would be changing its focus post-ARR. I've created a thread HERE with more details about the forthcoming changes which is open to discussion, and of course please also feel free to visit our forums at the link above.

Crystalline RP Linkshell being Repurposed for ARR I wanted to make a brief announcement that the role of the Crystalline RP linkshell will be changing shortly after 2.0 begins. What will remain the same is the high level of immersion. Crystalline (even in its 8 years in FFXI) has always strived for 100% in-character content over the linkshell channel. This will not be changing, though we would encourage all members interested in OOC chatter to partake in the Backstage linkpearl as well, to that end. Presently we are kind of a close-knit bunch belonging to a variety of different "main linkshells" and the idea was to give a handful of RPers across a spectrum of communities a place with which to associate with one another and hopefully help foster cross-LS activity. While some might have regarded it as being a bit underutilized, it's served its purpose thus far admirably. That being said, a number of us have felt that there's an opportunity to transform the linkshell into something a bit more prevalent. So this kind of "band of friends" as it is now will be evolving - albeit gradually and realistically. Already there's been a bit of a split between who will be getting phased out of time and reappearing five years later, and those who will stay. And we're really intent on RPing this out gradually over a period of time since we expect there should be a lot of chaos as people are suddenly thrust five years into the future. So while the groundwork is currently being established, it's going to be as though this sort of project is coming together through a normal process, likely spanning two or three months - perhaps even more. It's not going to be some awkward instance where a new company suddenly and inexplicably crops up overnight. Without going into too much detail and too many spoilers we can give kind of a rundown at how we sort of envision things going. Since Eva is kind of at the core of this and since she's arguably not the most steadfast of leaders, the jump forward in time itself will serve as kind of a catalyst to this sort of change. And I'll go into a bit how this will happen and what we're looking at as a sort of "end product" (a term I use very loosely because invariably the end product is ever changing based upon the members of a community). Please note that these plans below are all subject to change based upon whatever lore may be thrown at us. This is kind of a rough guideline for what we're planning though: Stage 1: Arrival We're still debating whether to start this at open beta or official launch of ARR. We don't really want to start until all of our existing members are on the same page, and if that means official release of ARR we will likely push it back to that instead, though I know many of us are eager. In any case, arrival of those who arrive to the reborn realm from 5 years ago will likely stir up a lot of confusion. I can only speak for Eva's character right now, but throughout all of this she has had faith that everything will be fine. She's worried more about personal problems than the cataclysmic events in the sky and such. She's kind of had dreams of a better future and while she doesn't regard them as prophecies or any such thing, they have left her feeling a certain calmness that everything will be fine. Right now there are few who want to hear of such complacency, and generally speaking I think folks would rather panic. After 2.0... when she reappears, along with whomever else is making this jump, she will probably dive headfirst into that faith and it is my hope that at least a handful of others will share in those beliefs (likely many who already have pearls). Which brings me to the next stage. Stage 2: Spiritual Order from Chaos We feel that this faith will lead to a renewed sense of purpose. Eva is a devout follower of Nymeia, the goddess of fate. She will firmly believe that their lives were spared so that they could be reunited for some greater purpose. You may think of this almost akin to Morpheus from the Matrix movies. While I don't expect all to fall in line with her own beliefs, the linkshell at this point will be repurposed from simply a communications medium to a kind of spiritual organization whereby each of the Twelve (not just Eva's patron) will be regarded for having played a role in saving lives and helping reunite the "been here all along" folks with the "time traveling" folks. Those who no longer wish to be a part of such a spiritual organization are welcome to leave the linkshell at that point, however further transformations will be coming down the pipe. Stage 3: Paying it Forward As time goes on, we feel that this will continue to quickly evolve beyond just kind of a religious community to become something greater still. At its core, Crystalline will likely continue to preach of faith in the Twelve and there will be lots of talk of thanksgiving and the blessings bestowed upon everyone, but the natural place to go here would be encouragement of the faithfull to give back in the name of the Twelve. What with the destruction and the still-present Garlean threat, it's likely that there will be much to pray for, and that prayer will also give way to action. This evolution has been likened by some of our interested members to something akin to organizations such as the Red Cross, where we will go out and volunteer whatever they're able to help make the world a better place. Unlike many of the current linkshells which are more oriented on things like treasure hunting, glory, fame, and gil - we're hoping to be a bit more benevolent and become something of a charity organization. So far as I'm aware, this hasn't really been done before and we feel the time is ripe for such a thing. While we will likely need some gil to sustain ourselves IC, I don't see it being a driving factor. It's also meant to be flexible. Some linkshells are intended to be kind of a full-time job sort of thing - and that's ok! I would expect some people to regard Crystalline in such a manner, but I would also expect some to be kind of "part-timers", coming along to help out when available and go on about their day to earn their own keep. And of course that would be celebrated, since some aid is better than none. We also want to work with other companies and linkshells in order to offer aid for various projects and such. We feel that there's a lot of possibility with this kind of an organization for cross-LS activity, and we're really looking forward to opportunities to interact with other RPLS's! Now, in this way we realize we're not going to appeal to all character types. A subset of the RP populis may be put off by the religious "core" to the group, and others may be intent on earning gil and not want to waste time and such. And that's great too. At the start of this we decided that we weren't going to try and create the sort of "all-encompassing" the way Crystalline in FFXI was, for those from Sylph who may have been familiar with it. There will be a core theme here, however we're hoping that the charity organization should help widen the scope a bit to help include adventurers who may "just want to help" as well. And of course there may be room for more religious fanatic types as well as any number of other plotlines. While the goal isn't necessarily for the company itself to be open to all different types, we feel that many character types can at least integrate with it on some level of another. As we are now, a handful of us are very excited about this and looking forward to RPing the various facets of this company and opening Crystalline's doors to other RPers that would be interested in participating with us. Our site will be undergoing some improvements in the near future to coincide with all of these changes as well. We're looking forward to being a more involved part of the larger RP community and hope that our excitement is felt by all. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please feel welcome to reply. Thus far feedback from interested parties has been the driving force behind this linkshell, and so it shall be as time goes on. *FOOTNOTE: I have used the word 'company' to describe the organization as it evolves. As we do not yet have enough information from S-E about what Free Companies will entail, I cannot say that we would go that route with any certainty. While it is certainly a possibility, the fact that players may be a member of only one free company may be offputting to some RPers. Whether we wind up becoming a Free Company of our own, joining some kind of conglomerate of other RPLS's to form a big Free Company, or avoid the Free Company thing altogether - will be determined based on member polling after more information is provided about the specifics and what these Free Companies will entail. I just wanted to make this note to help avoid any confusion in the terminology. I have left the linkshell description thread alone for the time being (aside from making a bump with a link to reference this thread). Since in-game it has not taken on any of these elements yet and is still a kind of informal linkshell for keeping in touch with each other, it didn't make sense to be advertising it on the RPC as such just yet. I will likely change that after the servers go down. It is important to us that the linkshell evolve gradually. Questions and comments are of course strongly encouraged. Or feel free to swing by our forums and pay us a visit (though we're still ironing a few things out and making some changes as we go): http://www.crystalline-rp.net Thanks! :cheer:

omg lmao!!! Dalamud's smily face threw me into giggle-fits. :lol:

:cheer: (( Just a friendly reminder to notify that this is coming up in less than a week. We had some great stories told the last time, but I know a little bit of preparation is needed, whether it be to author something creative and new, or tweak an existing story to make it fit in with Eorzean lore. I'm hoping to see everyone there and will probably be spamming Backstage with a notice or two each night for those who don't frequent the RPC. Please help me spread the word! )) EDIT TO ADD: (( Oh!! Also last time there was a little confusion about having a fire pit on the wooden stage at the amphitheatre. Just to kind of provide a helpful illustration, the wrought-iron firepit being dragged up there is kind of a larger version of the one depicted below. No, we are not burning the stage down. lol )) Example:

We had a thread like this on EG and Everwatch and I always struggled with it because Eva - while strikingly beautiful - is kind of the "buxom blonde" and many of the actresses/models that kind of fit that are posed in sort of trashy ways, and Eva is very classy and refined by comparison, so this has always been a challenge... and I've spent the past couple of days just kind of searching around various models and actresses. Mega-thanks to Gerik for finding this Irish model (who probably has a very similar accent to Eva's as well!) Her fair skin and the softness to her features mesh up very well with how we've always envisioned Eva to look. Being a model and all there's apparently a lot of risque pictures out there but I found a few of the tamer ones - since Eva's kind of a tame lass. The only differences I can really discern here is that Eva has slightly longer hear, doesn't wear quite so much mascara, and has a slightly larger bosom. I mean, she also has pointy elezen ears and violet eyes. lol But as far as facial features and such goes - this is pretty spot on. I wonder if we could get these people to do Final Fantasy - the movie! Claire Tully - model and biochemist (how awesome is that?!) [spoil]This looks almost exactly how we picture her: I love the expression on her face: Another great one: And one sexy one just because Eva can be sexy once in awhile... [/spoil] This also makes me want to keep her blonde instead of changing to black hair. I'm reconsidering now. :?

I don't think I'd mind another tattoo. Eva will certainly be going the "frozen in time" route.

Welcome back! :cheer: Things are great! There are a handful of good RPLS's out there and the game itself is much more refined than it was at launch, and by the look of things 2.0 is going to make it exponentially better still! I'm sure a lot of RPers who left for 'greener pastures' will be coming back as well.

The metallic rattling of the modest-sized birdcage at the opposite end of Eva's bedroom signaled the beginning of another day. Another day fraught with the same level of trepidation as the handful of days that had come before. It wasn't the scarlet-colored light that permeated the edges of her bedroom window that spun this anxiety though; not any longer. No, the fair-skinned duskwight had grown used to the way that Dalamud's glow permeated the canopy of the Twelveswood, reflected off the waters of the lake out back, and peeked its way into the sanctuary of her newly-built cabin in the woods. She had felt safe here until recently, if not quite completely at home yet. Eva lay in bed, her violet eyes open and staring through the darkness at the ceiling as thoughts from the days past brought her back from whatever dreams she had been summoned away from. Rising from her bed, she was aware her blonde hair was a mess. Giving a passive effort, she ran her fingernails through it in a half-hearted effort to comb it straight again. It didn't seem to matter. There was no one to look pretty for this morning anyway. She was usually very fastidious about her appearance. Today though, this was enough. Satisfied, she glided across the room to where the creature in the bird cage continued making a ruckus now that he realized she was awake. Opening the cage door, she reached in and withdrew a small ceramic food bowl and scooped some nuts and berries into it from a small wooden bin on a small table nearby. "Good morning Bixby," her voice was eerily soothing as she placed the bowl back within the cage. The black bat within stretched his wingspan, filling most of the bredth of the cage for a moment. Chirring contentedly in thanks, he began enjoying his breakfast noisily. Eva pressed her hand against the side of the cage. Watching him feast for a moment, she gave a somber smile before going back to the window and drawing up the shade. The odd crimson aurora filled the bedroom, and Bixby stopped eating for a moment as if to acknowledge the strangeness of the lighting before he commenced with his breakfast. Peculiar shadows cast themselves upon the wooden walls of the room and Eva stood in the large windowframe looking out, her frumpy night gown obscuring her figure. There was not much to see as she gazed outside. Her bedroom window faced the western wood. She could see through the branches above that the faintest hint of gray was just beginning to touch the sky. The sun would be up over the opposite horizon shortly, lighting up the trees and revealing every ripple atop the lake's surface. And the red wouldn't seem so bad, hidden away mostly behind the canopy. "Oskar..." The name barely touched the elezen woman's lips. He had been involved with a team that was conducting a land survey somewhere last week and had uncovered a system of caverns. A few days later she had received a letter reporting news that the site caved in. She didn't know for certain whether he was alive or dead. She had been to the company's base of operations each day since - Good Luck Fortune Co. - but no one was ever there. She scoffed inwardly at the company's name. The rescue effort was tying up all of their resources, she had assured herself. If anyone knew how to survive amidst a cavernous environment, it would be him. He had to be alive. She had known him nearly two full cycles now, and they'd been seeing each other intimiately for the past four moons. It had been gradual, and in spite of his faults and her frustrations with him, she had fallen in love. And the thought that he might be dying or dead frustrated her. And the fact that she didn't know frustrated her further. All she wanted was to speak with him, if only for a few heartbeats. Her hands fell to her belly and she gave a quiet sigh, closing her eyes. The cave-in wasn't the only news she had received last week. After having an unsettled stomach for several mornings in a row, she had been examined at Stillglade Fane and it had been determined that she was with child. Even before news of the cave-in, this brought its own anxiety to the tired-looking woman. "It won't be an easy pregnancy," they had said. She had been told she was barren, after she lost her baby boy just after childbirth five years ago and having endured the trauma that went along with that. It could as easily happen again, if she could even keep the baby for the remaining nine moons. It was a miracle indeed, and she was as excited as she was afraid. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered if it even mattered. Dalamud was coming. Her efforts within Everwatch - even in Oskar's absense - to halt the further descent of the crimson moon seemed to have been in vain. Oh the mission was a success, but she couldn't help feeling all they'd manage to do was prick the Garleans' finger with one of her sewing needles. It was something though, and it had given them hope. And hope is a very powerful thing, especially in times like these. Her mind wandered a bit as she gazed out the window, the landscape slowly beginning to illuminate as dawn grew nearer. She had thought of running away. But there was no guarantee that Dalamud's reach wouldn't extend however far she could run. She also had a thought to travel to her ancestral homeland, in a complex network of caves deep beneath the surface of Coerthas. She felt like she needed to do something in spite of her faith. Dreams. Visions of the future, of a sky void of Dalamud's angry glow, and of walking and talking with her friends. She knew she would survive this somehow. She know this with alarming certainty. And her faith had been unwavering on the matter. Where others expressed doubt, she had tried to instill hope. But many - Oskar among them - seemed afraid for the worst. And one quiet woman's inexplicable assurances did little to change anyone's mind or assuage anyone's worry. What kept her up nights wasn't fear of some supposedly-imminent destruction that she knew would never come. No. Rather, she stayed awake and worried for Oskar's life. She wanted to tell him that she held his baby, for whom she also worried. It seemed the odds were stacked against this new life, and where her friend Nel had once expressed frustration at being regarded in her own pregnancy as a 'glass doll' - Eva knew full well this is exactly what she was. A glass doll perched precariously at the edge of a table amidst gale-force winds. Her thoughts continued to wander as she stepped away from the window and got changed. She had chosen to quit her job at Sunsilks because the weaving of cloth seemed such a frivolous thing. In the mornings she had been either running or practicing the forms with the spear - lessons that her father had taught her when he was still alive. This morning it would be the latter. Once her practice leathers were fit snugly over her form, she shook her head a bit as though to slough away the morning's thoughts, then she grabbed her practice spear and made her way outside to the dock in the back yard that stretched out into the lake and began the dance with her spear that helped bring peace to her mind and prayer to her heart. All she had to do was hold on. Hold onto her spear. Hold onto her unborn baby. Hold onto her faith. Hold onto hope. Hold on.

Welcome! Yeah it's kind of nuts how many miqo'te are running around. :cat: As for getting a pearl for Backstage - the OOC linkshell - there are a handful of us who can get to you. You can send a /tell to pretty much any RPer. Even if they don't have a Backstage pearl, it's a good bet that they know someone that does, and can put a call out to have one of the recruiters get a pearl to you. I would, myself, but I'm not going to be in game much today I'm afraid. But if you haven't gotten one by tomorrow you can send me a /tell also - Eva Ianeira But welcome to the RPC! :cheer: