Eva

:surprise: Wh-? Yes. YES!!! This is awesome! And that would make a great deal of sense. I mean it's also possible that both characters have such similar traits due to similar upbringings. Eva's somewhat atypical in that she was raised entirely on the surface, but her father tried to keep to those traditional duskwight values, so she's a bit caught between two worlds. *still stunned* I think this is great!! I could probably provide more information about the Plunierre Clan [before it was destroyed] if it would help at all. The population was probably greater than one might think. It really was like a small underground village and not just a couple families. But that's awesome!! Kudos on all the hard work! :love: If you need faces of the three survivors of Plunierre I can diddle around in the character creator a bit later too.

Eva said "name over the head", so I figured she was referring to the... names that float over other players' heads. Not really much you can do about the chatbox. Without it, trying to figure out who is who would be nigh on impossible, especially as ARR is stupid held back by the PS3 limited in that it doesn't have chat bubbles. To clarify I meant the appearance of the name over my own head as other players see it. I would have liked an option to remove the visibility of the surname as everyone else would see it, since I didn't want to use it early on in 1.0. I realize this would not be practical from a gaming standpoint, and I understand that names can be toggled by each player to their own preferences, but this isn't what I was talking about. I keep nameplates on but if Eva doesn't recognize a character, than that isn't RPed. And if a character looks similar to another character, than they might be mistaken for it. I don't need to remove the nameplates to facilitate that though. Years of practice and all that...

Welcome! You might check this thread out if you haven't already seen it. There's a lot of info there geared towards those who may be newer to RPing. And of course if you have any questions or anything, most of the folks here are generous with their knowledge, generally patient and kind, and eager to help. Please feeel free to ask any questions you might have! We were all there once!!

I've grown to hate chiming in on these threads, but one thing I've noticed that I felt compelled to point out is that most of the 'cons' expressed regarding Balmung are things that seem temporary and will gradually fade with the passage of time whereas those 'cons' relating to Gilgamesh seem a bit more permanent. Another point that seems to get glossed over a lot - I think because it is often perceived by Gilgamesh folk as an attack - is in relation to the size of each group (not just in relation to the server population either). While I'm sure there are some RPers that choose not to be affiliated with the RPC, from all that I've seen it seems like there's going to be significantly more RPers playing on Balmung than there are on Gilgamesh. I know there was an unofficial poll conducted some time ago and it was a pretty significant schism in favor of RPing on Balmung to RPing on Gilgamesh. This isn't to say that the popular choice is always the correct one, and I can understand and appreciate where some folks might prefer a smaller community overall. A larger pool of RPers will mean a greater variety of companies, events, and individual character types. It will also mean there may be more RPers around during offpeak times. These are also things to consider. I think coming to either server with a core group of 10 or so RPers will give you a pretty solid foothold as a LS/company in either community, and you might also want to consider what other LS's are involved with each server, and how your group might interact with them. I like that you're not looking to dominate the server and that you're also not looking to be 'lost in the crowd'. I think from what I've seen of things that you'll find a good niche on either server, regardless of your choice. And in either case, I wish you well with it.

That Angry Birds cake is awesome!!! They all are, actually. Are those Kit-Kat bars around the outer edge?? :love:

That 'name over the head' thing has always been a nuisance. I kind of wish we could toggle the visibility of the surname at least, though that doesn't make much practical sense. In 1.0 I never wanted to fuss around much about Eva's surname because it technically wasn't hers and she didn't give it very readily. Eventually there was some event or another when someone addressed her as Ms. Ianeira, and that was a little troublesome but we kind of just rolled with it and I'm of a mindset now that she still doesn't hand out her surname, but enough people know it that it's simply not worth getting upset over. This is all a little beside the point and a rather longwinded way of saying, "I understand." Regarding the changing of appearance for certain purposes and having a kind of "blank" version, I think that's pretty creative and there's some good possibilities there. It would be nice if the game supported changing of face paint along with hairstyles when the salon/barber/stylist/whatever comes to Eorzea. Maybe it will~! Unless you level both 'halves' you may find yourself unable to equip the same gear or unable to easily reach certain places as the lower-leveled half, but there's probably ways around that as well. As others have suggested, naming whichever version you're planning on using less frequently (I'm assuming the 'blank' one without face paint) something a bit more vague will help towards keeping the anonymity of the character even OOCly as well, but I think most RPers are good enough to avoid any sort of metagaming. But I think the concept is creative, from my perspective refreshing, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all plays out if you do go forward with it!

I don't know that angels exist in lore officially (though demons and the hells do, I haven't heard much about heaven(s) and such yet). I've been wondering this for a long time. Incidentally this would not be the first time I've heard of Eva being described as a sort of duskwight angel~ It could be possible that the passing of an heirloom from one generation to the next was another overarching tradition of many duskwight subcultures, and Plunierre Clan adapted it after breaking away to where the heirloom was the family journals! I kind of like this notion actually~

This may not be the answer you're looking for, but the situation resonates a certain chord that reminds me a great deal of my time spent with a previous linkshell whereby one of the leader was not particularly well-liked by most of the members and a lot of people were really reaching in order to explain why they were remaining under such an individual's leadership. In this particular situation I sort of injected myself into an almost liaison sort of role, hoping to serve as the sort of glue that kept everything together. This won't always be practical, but there were some very good reasons why this made sense in that situation. It's difficult to speak in abstracts, though I know a number of folks from 1.0 will know exactly whom I'm speaking of here. If there's no way to kind of bridge that gap, or it would be extremely out of character to do so, I think each character involved also needs to make that decision for him- or herself. In the example you've given, if there's no way to bridge that gap, it seems like the character involved should probably be sort of asked to leave the group in-character (bolded for emphasis). I think this is one of those things where a little OOC /tell softly indicating that there's no hard feelings OOC but that it doesn't make sense for the sake of the RP scene to carry on when the newer participant isn't meshing well ICly for whatever reason. This could spurn some really interesting RP of its own, even. But there should remain that dividing line between what is IC and what is OOC and any bitterness about being ejected from the group should only be felt IC. If this is an undesirable outcome for all, than I think there needs to be some OOC communication to sort of explain that there needs to be a point in the middle where both "sides" can meet in order for the event to go on smoothly and plausibly. Mind you, this is all only my opinion, fwiw.

I won't speak for Oskars clan(s) since they had some rather unusual traditions of their own, but I can list off a few of the ones that have been referenced either through journal entries or in direct RP from Eva's ancestry: 1. Coming of Age - On a duskwight's 17th nameday in the Plunierre Clan, if he (or she) is the eldest son (or daughter), he receives "The Saga of Ages" - a collection of journals dating back through history. They also receive the privilege of being able to "enscribe" their parents' name upon the wall of Living Stone when they pass. This cannot be done before the 17th nameday, and it falls to some other family member to "enscribe" the deceased's name upon the wall should they die. More on this later. At 17 they are also considered old enough to choose a mate and be regarded by the clan as an adult. Important to note, any subsequent children upon their 17th nameday receive a gift of blank parchment and generally [but not always] choose to begin their own Saga of Ages, to pass along one day to their own children. 2. Symbol of Intent - Historically, Plunierre Clan males choose females for mates, however they may only select a mate who has bestowed upon them a symbol of intent. This takes the form of a candle as a sign that the female will help bring light to guide the male along the way. This tradition may be practiced by any Duskwight who has Come of Age. More recently in the past few generations it has become accepted for a male to offer a candle to a female in order to express his interest. She may then choose to receive it or reject it. Thus begins a courtship. 3. The Marking - In the Plunierre Clan, there are no engagement rings. Instead when a couple is ready to begin the journey towards marriage, they start a commitment and an elder from the village (or one of his family) then marks both by tattooing a symbol upon their face. Traditionally this has been done using blue or green ink, and alerts the rest of the clan that they have chosen a mate and are essentially unavailable. 4. Matrimony - Weddings are almost a foregone conclusion after The Marking ceremony, and a date will be set. Before the entire clan, each duskwight pledges his and her love to one another and swears devotion, then there is much celebration and merriment as would follow most weddings. Marriage is taken very seriously and while very few from Plunierre Clan stray, it has been known to happen on occasion, and is very much a community ordeal and brings great shame upon those who cannot keep to their oaths. It may bear note that there is no greater sin in the Plunierre community than breaking a sworn oath, and the term "Oathbreaker" is considered the worst curse there is.* 5. Enscribing - The Plunierre clan-lands may be somewhat unique in that an underground river once carved a tunnel through the Living Stone. From the time they first settled there, it has been custom that when one died, their next of kin (if of age) would enscribe their name upon the wall. This has gone on for many generations. The chamber is regarded as a sacred place and only the Elder is allowed there unless someone is enscribing. No one is told what enscribing entails until that time comes for them. They are given a small stone shard and a bowl and must prick themselves, then write the name upon the wall in their own blood. It is considered a great honor to enscribe one's father or mother's name. Conversely it is considered unfortunate or shameful to have to enscribe a child's or some other family member's name. 6. The Blessing of Hands - When a new duskwight arrives from another clan, or when one returns from a long absense, chimes are rung to rally the clan together and the new duskwight passes through an aisle with duskwights along either side who place their hands upon his or her shoulders and back as a symbolic gesture, guiding the individual back home and towards the Elder. * As a footnote, the importance upon oaths is one theme that ran common with Oskar's duskwight culture as well and may be an interesting sticking point for other clans There are more than just these too, to my mind, but they just haven't come up in-game at all yet.

Commission art aside, I'd do that listening thing for the sheer joy of listening/gabbing about characters alone~ :thumbsup:

I think what you've posted so far is reasonable and Seto sounds like an interesting character with a complex - but still realistically plausible - backstory. I would not worry too much about having to possibly retcon something very early on in the character's history. These sort of changes often happen very early on as a character sort of develops and little retcons while a character is still forming don't usually hurt anything and are generally accepted (RPer growing pains, of a sort). I also wouldn't worry to much about the breaking of rules/conventions. Not to say rules are made to be broken exactly (as there are some which probably should not), but there is a lot of wiggle room with regard to how they may be interpreted. What you've described so far in your post seems perfectly acceptable to me and serves as a backstory that I feel makes Seto an interesting character. While no one can really say this sort of thing happens in miqo'te culture, I'm not sure there's anything that can say that it also can't happen. I, for one, am looking forward to hearing more and hope to one day meet this character~

I agree! I like the original one too Garryson.

You're going to be the best one to answer this question for yourself. Every RPer is different. I personally do not play multiple characters very well, preferring to add more depth and story to one character. But that is also my own style and I know there are plenty of RPers out there who are able distribute their time evenly, between 4 or more characters. But if have the free time and are willing and able to play the same character across two servers, you'll probably be all right. Or you could play two totally different characters, but you'll just want to keep in mind that will also slant how your experience goes. The other thing I would recommend for those opting to play on both servers is to consider that what you're experiencing on each server is going to be only a sampling of that server's RP community. I would not write off an entire server - either Balmung or Gilgamesh - based on some lackluster RP early on. It sounds like both servers will have multiple groups and if one doesn't mesh well on one server it might be worthwhile to research some others first before selecting a full-time server.

This is wonderful stuff!! :love:

I think this is a good idea. There was recently a similar thread which you might want to bump as well (it was only down on page 3) about "You might know me from..." which offers some additional points of common interest from which connections may be drawn. Also don't be afraid to shoot a PM to any other RPer that might be at the same place. I think most would be happy to have some sort of connection, whether as just a passing acquaintance they know from working in a particular place to something more than that! To address the post itself though, possible connections may be made through her work at Sunsilks Tapestries (mostly mending and commissions for various articles of clothing, but she dabbles a bit in design as well). Also volunteering at Stillglade Fane as a nurse she may have worked with other healer types or tended to you if you were ever a patient there while she was on duty (which exempts about five years for time-skippy reasons). I can only think of two other significant overlap points, and both relate more specifically to her father, who was one of the dragoons of Ishgard for several years prior to Eva's birth, though he left Ishgard and the knighthood shortly after her birth (PM me if you want specifics years and such). The other tie-in with her father might relate more specifically to the elite of Ul'dah. Eva's avoided her family name 'Zelorius' for a certain stigma that was attached to it for several years. Characters who are older (or their parents) might remember that name as being attached to a certain merchant who was accused of murdering a number of key individuals after they 'conveniently' turned up dead. While the charges never stuck since there was insufficient evidence, he was presumed guilty by his peers and his business ruined. He kept what wealth he had accumulated and lived out the rest of his life as a sort of hermit in Gridania, his health declining more rapidly after that for about fifteen years until he eventually died. These events were later found out to be the product of a frame job meant by one of Ul'dah's elite to keep an ambitious self-starter from climbing that particular ladder any further, but it's entirely possible that a wealthy family might have somehow been involved (related to those who framed her father, or related to one of the victims even).

I'm also not sure how accurate you could really regard this data either. If they're using a cross-section of a community than they are making a lot of assumptions. The link in the OP didn't work for me, and I'm unable to discern where the data came from for these figures. And I don't recall casting any sort of vote on beta forums, so I don't think this factors me in, and I have to wonder how many others might not be represented here either. I'm not putting much stock into these numbers. Things will be much clearer in a month's time.

Eva has become a very light eater, but being pregnant now she eats a bit more, so here's just an example of an average day's fare. Breakfast: Tea, a slice of plain toast, and some fresh oranges Lunch: Tea, a tuna miq'abob, and a sliced zucchini cooked with black pepper Dinner: Tea, a bowl of beef stew with popotoes and carrots, a small bowl of white rice, and possibly some sort of chocolate treat for dessert Snacking: Tea, and any kind of fresh fruit

Good links Ashren! Beat me to it! 8-) You don't really need to know every little tidbit of lore before you can start hashing out a character concept, as well. Having some understanding of what the races are like and the names of some of the places and what they're like is probably a good start. But I've found you don't really need all that much lore to make a compelling and interesting character. There are a lot of parallels that can be drawn between Eorzea and other worlds and you can figure out most things like personality, family, and backstory without having to know too much about the lore itself. And if there's something you're not sure about or there's no lore for, you can often find creative ways to explain away this sort of gap in information. And then as you familiarize yourself more closely with Eorzea and its inner workings you might find other things to integrate into your character's already-existing story and kind of build outwards from there. For my own part, Eva has been fashioned much more by her interactions with other people than she has from any specific lore-related stuff. Once the game comes up and RP starts happening again, I think you'll find it will all progress very naturally and fluidly. :thumbsup:

Stuff like this is a lot of fun! It's kind of late in the game for me to suddenly be concocting new talents, but I'll certainly be keeping this handy for future characters if I suddenly develop a desire to make an alt or such~ I also usually like to throw something a little uncharacteristic into my characters and then find a way to turn around and have it make sense. For instance, Eva is generally pretty stoic and disciplined, however her former boss at the book shop was something of a prestidigitator and taught her a number of little parlor tricks, so Eva has a somewhat uncharacteristic skill with sleight-of-hand, often pulling gil from childrens' ears and having items appear in her hands as if from thin air.

No major changes here~

I don't really have any problem with it either. Kind of curious what exactly you had in mind. But as it stands I figure there's three survivors from that culture - two of whom have been removed enough from the culture as to be more "surface-dweller" than traditional, and the third a young boy who had to adapt after the Calamity. It's possible there might be others who had left for other clan-lands or to try to live on the surface. I don't see that being so far-fetched, as it's why Eva's grandparents ascended. :thumbsup:

Thanks!! I have gone ahead and updated the OP to reflect the actual values derived from the game here, since this is going to be a better metric by which to gauge character heights! I agree! It's nice to have game-supported values for this. We came really close in our educated guesswork! :thumbsup: This may be a discussion for another thread and I know there have been some hurt feelings about some of the values [particularly with regard to miqo'te males not being taller]. My sense is that any RPer need not adhere to these ranges and I don't think there is any harm if one falls outside this range. I think it's there to provide a guideline for what a sort of "normal range" for racial heights looks like. If we look to male midlander heights as an example (5'6" to 6'0") similar to how a human male would appear, than obviously there are going to be people who fall outside of this average. I think what we're seeing is a range where maybe 90+% of the race's population lands. Going a few inches outside of that does not seem harmful. Even going more than that is fine, but you might have to consider the implications of such. An example might be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who is 7'2" and would fall well outside such a range. But some considerations for such a drastic outlier might need to be made. Other characters - depending on their backgrounds and personalities - might regard someone much taller or shorter than the range as freakish. But a few inches in either direction I don't think should matter much if that is what a RPer is set upon. :thumbsup: That's my view though. I'd be a hypocrite to say otherwise since Eva doesn't exactly conform to certain other elezen standards. But the guideline was always meant to be a helpful tool and not something to be seen as any sort of a hard range of acceptable character heights.

AW YISSS!!!! I might [sometimes] use a minion to show off Bixby a bit now, after all~ :love: :love: :love:

I am starting to wonder if you are a long lost twin... :angel: *prods unceremoniously at her own battered tin teacups*

I don't think this sounds silly at all, as it's more or less the same thing as I've been doing with Eva - who generally likes and respects anyone until she's given some sort of reason not to - naive as it may be sometimes. I'll also confess as a healer that I don't do much with regards to the CNJ quests, being probably a bit more like that impetuous youth from the cutscenes that doesn't want to learn the elemental aspects of it or doesn't feel that she needs to. That could present some interesting angles. But I don't think there's anything wrong with going against the grain with regard to a well-intentioned duskwight living in Gridania. It makes sense that some duskwight would live there and have to learn ways to adapt to survive living with the Wildwood and I'll be glad not to be alone in that too. Eva has also spent a lot of her teenage years being teased and ridiculed so there is that too. It didn't help that she was also overweight throughout most of those years, so there was certainly no lack of ammo for the more racially-traditional Wildwoods who wanted to be particularly mean. But I'm happy there's at least another duskwight Gridanian resident, and perhaps someone else that donates some time as a healer at Stillglade Fane~!!