Mae

While it adds something to the atmosphere to 'hire security' for an event, it should ultimately fall to the event organizers to police their events... and not just by ICly telling the security RP'ers to "take care of it" and then going back to their party without a care. They need to periodically announce OOCly that there is security/bouncers in circulation, identify them, and impress and that their directions need to be followed. They also need to back up the security/bouncers when they have to 'correct' disruptive behaviour and organizers most certainly need to be directly involved (even if it's in a strictly OOC fashion) when someone is being expelled. Otherwise, a hired security/bouncer PC just appears to be a self-appointed vigilante at a party looking to ICly spoil someone else's good time. Now... if a disruptive PC -still- doesn't take the hint from IC RP with security/bouncers and OOC communication from the event organizers and refuse to leave... then that's an issue with the player, not with their RP. Nothing you can really do about that, unfortunately.

This. Media often makes us sound like we go completely berserk and insane during periods at times. I'd much rather have a guy ask these questions than get into playing a female and blow the impact of periods waaaay out of proportion.

I've never seen a single reference in any NPC or quest dialogue to menstruation, subtle or otherwise. I'm curious to learn where and when such a reference occurs if at all. *sigh* I'll link it again... http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Winter_Pennyroyal Emmenagogues are substances used to promote/induce menstruation. And while emmenagogues can be used as birth control, most birth control is an abortifacient.

Highlighted the relevant part. Whether or not the Devs have silently decided that the reproductive process occurs elsewhere in the body other than what we, as humans, have come to know and expect from other humanoid forms is irrelevant. What the Devs DID decide, and included in the game, is that the Races of Man menstruate. If you want to go back into the irrelevant, then I suppose you could argue that maybe it's the MALES who bleed monthly, but my point still stands: A portion of the population gets periods. If they didn't, then there would have been no need to identify, collect, and distribute substances for the purpose of inducing menstruation. [Edit: Wroooong word...]

Eorzea would have no need of emmenagogues if women didn't have periods, then. Emmenagogue: an herb or medicine that promotes mensturation So we know that women menstruate, but how do we know that menstruation doesn't happen different in Eorzea? From the eyes, perhaps? From the eyes or from between their legs, it'd still be menstruation >_> Which is what the topic is about.

Eorzea would have no need of emmenagogues if women didn't have periods, then. Emmenagogue: an herb or medicine that promotes mensturation

*bows* Welcome~ As for hygiene products... I believe our own real-world archaeological evidence indicates that some neolithic people may have used straps of soft, absorbent leather, sometimes stuffed/padded with various materials to absorb flows so that the straps could be reused. Folded strips of cloth have also been used over the years, as well as giant versions of reusable cloth baby diapers. And.. yes... some cultures didn't use anything and just... dripped as they went. Any of these would likely be available/already in use in the game setting.

Before you can start to try and figure out how a period would affect DRK or WAR characters, you need to define how a period affects the individual and specific woman. And, like it's been said over and over already, that varies immensely. You line up any ten women (I'm not a guy, I've had no need to look into manperiods, so I know very little about them) and monitor the chemical cocktails their glands and brain produces, and they're all going to be different. And if you test how their bodies react to the hormones, they're all going to be different. And just to add more to to the confusion... that chemical cocktail is not going to be exactly the same every month. Some women have better conscious and subconscious coping skills, others may be partially or totally lacking coping skills. This is why for some women a period is nothing more than a footnote that dictates what they're wearing and whether or not they're taking a bath or shower, while for others its the end of the world. And why one month it might be the former, and the next it'll be the latter for a single woman. Something else to consider is that not all mood swings during a period are created solely by the hormones responsible for periods. Cramping is painful, and we all know our bodies respond to pain, regardless of trigger, in various ways -- anger, crying, or even laughing. Insomnia by itself can put us all out of whack emotionally, mentally, and hormonally. Same with dietary changes (from eating too much to not eating enough, to eating only specific craved things), changes in exercise and activity, and not getting enough sunlight. Waking up in the morning and finding that you can't wear most of your clothes can be devastating, regardless if you're bloated because of your period or bloated because of medicine, temperature/humidity change, illness, hydration levels, or because you've been drinking too much alcohol. Also. Periods are not the only part of a woman's monthly cycle where hormones that can affect mood are released. The hormones that trigger the body to begin developing the uterine lining (after a period ends) and ovulation (up to a week before periods start) can also cause mood swings. Periods just get more notice because there's all that other stuff going on that can drive us batty. So! Where does this land us with DRK/WAR characters? Well, it'll likely depend on how they face their DRK/WAR issues on non-period days. Is it a fact of life they've met face-on and accepted and have determination not to let it control them? Is it something they're struggling under? Do they have slip-ups when the mantle gets control over them? Are they normally about to lose control and go crazy? Well, that's just going to add or multiply their normal period problems. TL;DR version: a female character who normally gets through her period with a certain amount of grace and dignity and has accepted their DRK/WAR mantle may not suffer any worse than they do on normal days -- it'll be the same irritant then as it is other times. A female character who goes to pieces during her period and has lots of issues with their DRK/WAR mantle may react the same way she would if you were to ask her to carry a buffalo over her head for two malms over sharp, rocky terrain while barefoot during her period... which could be the same reaction you'd get if you told her there's no chocolate ice cream on the market board. Still not sure? Here's a scale*: Pick a number between 1 and 10, with 1 being "My special Echo power is that I have no pain or moodswings and the blood disappears directly into the aether", 6 being the pain and mental anguish of childbirth, and 10 being "OH GODS PLEASE KILL ME NOW I CAN'T TAKE ANOTHER DAY OF THIS I HATE EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING THAT HAS OR WILL EVER EXIST!", that best represents your character's ability to cope with their period. Pick another number between 1 and 10, with 1 being "I'm as cool as a cucumber with this DRK/WAR thing" and 10 being "MURDER DEATH RAGE KILL HATE PSYCHO", that best represents your character's relationship with their DRK/WAR mantle. Multiply the two numbers. Find your place in the 1 to 100 scale: -- with 1 being "Problems? HAH! Not even the Warrior of Light could handle a period and this mantle half as good as I can!" -- with 25 being "... I should probably consider staying home and getting ice cream the next few days..." -- with 50 being "I have possibly made a bad choice of career..." -- with 75 being "I am shocked I have not been institutionalized or otherwise locked up." -- with 100 being "I AM DESTROYING ALL WORLDS RIGHT NOW!!!" *Disclaimer: some tongue in cheek intended with this scale >_> [EDIT: forgot to clarify drinking -what-] [ANOTHER EDIT: ... forgot another word..]

Sometimes, you didn't fail... but you sure as hell believed it when you were told you did. And that's the problem I have out in the Real World. Most of the people in my life have been super supportive of me and my decisions. But despite that, the handful of those who weren't supportive often seemed to have the larger effect on me, probably because a couple of them had control of my grades. I recently turned thirty-one. I am just now reaching a point where... yeah, I may actually manage to shake off those voices that told me I was a failure. For the past couple years, my husband has kept reminding me that he wants me to find the career that'll make me happy. I was recently offered space to set up a workshop/studio. I've acquired all the material I need to start... except a pair of safety goggles, rubber gloves, and a particle mask. And I am so afraid to get those three items. Not having them gives me an excuse to not actually start on this course of action. I don't want glass in my eyes, and my lungs are in bad enough shape without coating them in portland dust. And since I can't start, I can't fail. But once I have them? There'll be no more excuses. Will I be the failure that a few people told me I would be? Did I just waste all that money on nothing? It's scary.

"With great power, comes great responsibility." Anyways. Bard (at least pre-HW) wasn't nearly as... weighty, I guess... than other jobs to me. It's been a long time since I've reviewed those CS's (RP-wise, I play as a plain archer so the Bard lore wasn't that important to me), but if I remember correctly it was more about passing down/spreading/keeping a legacy alive than being a burden. I could be wrong, though.

Mae stares at the mind reader, who is laying on the floor and looking like his brain got fried, and slooowly shakes her head. "I warned you... so, which part got? The crazy part that's full of voices, or the part that's the result of not having a husband handy for over a month?" The mind reader just continues to lay on the floor, occasionally twitching and smoke coming from his ears and eyes.

Are we looking at $15 for the rest of the week, or $15 per meal? If we're looking at $15 for the week... well, you're in luck. I spent a few months feeding myself and my husband with a budget of $20 a week for the both of us. First thing you wanna do, is identify where you can get stuff the cheapest. Super Walmarts are great when you're on a tight budget, but sometimes the regular grocery store has some items for cheaper. If you're in southern Maine, southern New Hampshire, or Massachusetts, Market Basket is your friend. I've been in a few Food Lion's in the south, and they weren't bad price-wise. King Soopers in Colorado was good on some items, not so good on others. Anyways. I'm going to assume that you have most typical seasonings/condiments and basic staples already at home, so I'm not going to list those. -- A bag of standard store-brand rice. Walmart has them starting at $3, which will give you several days worth of something filling. They're just about the same price elsewhere. -- Whole roasted chicken from the deli. Walmart has them during the day for around $8, my local Market Basket has them for $5. Check also the meat counters for uncooked, they might have whole uncooked chicken (but not the tiny Cornish hens) for even cheaper. You can also get bone-in chicken thighs for cheap. -- Bagged mixed frozen veggies. Peas/corn/carrot/greenbean medley is probably the most versatile that you'll find. Chopped spinach and onions are also good. These tend to be about $1.50 at a Walmart, $1 at my local Market Basket. -- Eggs are about $2 a 12-pack carton, a 6-pack is typically about $1, regardless of where you go. Alright, so... if you managed to get the whole roasted chicken for a good price, when you get it home you want to butcher it down. Snip off any butcher's twine, peel back the skin, and just start picking away anything that looks and feels like meat. Toss half of the meat in one bag and refrigerate, toss the other half in the other bag and freeze. If you managed to get ahold of an uncooked whole chicken (or chicken thighs) for cheap, roast those off in the oven first. Sprinkle with salt and pepper before roasting if you wish, but don't worry about seasoning beyond that. Once they're cooked and cool enough to touch, do the same thing as above with the store-roasted chicken. Once you got as much of the meat off the bones as you can you can, give the bones a quick chop with a knife (or crack them with a kitchen hammer), toss the bones, skin, and any retained juices into a large pot, cover with water, put on the lid, and set it to boil. Boil for about two hours, keep adding water to keep the chicken covered. After the two hours, spoon out a small amount of the broth into a small dish and allow to cool. If it gels up, you're done. If not, keep boiling and adding water. Once the bones are clean and the liquid gels, strain off the bones and any other solids, pour half in one container to refrigerate once cool, pour the other half in another and freeze. So, what does this get you? Depending on how many mouths you have to feed (and what else you have already around the house), you now have building blocks for a chicken soup, stew, psudo-chicken-fried-rice, chicken and rice, and rice omelettes. Chicken and rice -- similar to chicken and dumplings or chicken and biscuits. -- Make a batch of rice (with plenty of extra). Take out the portion for what you're going to eat, season as you want (butter, salt, pepper), refrigerate the rest. -- Make a quick roux of flour and butter (or olive oil) in a pan. If you're cooking for yourself, 1 teaspoon butter/oil to 1 teaspoon flour will work. Add a pinch of salt, pepper (I'll also do garlic powder and paprika, but that's my tastes). Once the flour is cooked, add a few splashes of milk (or cream or half-and-half) and some of the gelled broth (about 1/4 cup) and cook until slightly thickened. Add a small handful of shredded chicken to heat through. -- Pour sauce and chicken mixture over rice Psudo fried rice -- 'Psudo' because purists will say this isn't real fried rice. -- Reheat leftover rice in skillet or wok with some oil. Add a couple splashes of soy sauce, any seasonings that appeal to you, some of the frozen veggie medly, and some shredded chicken. If you want extra chicken flavor, put in a spoonful of the gelled broth. -- Once everything is heated through, whisk up an egg or two. Push the rice mixture to the sides of the pan, add oil to the middle, and pour in the egg. Let the egg set up for a few moments before scrambling it a bit. Start mixing in the rice, toss/stir until egg is cooked and the rice is as 'fried' as you like it. -- Reserve leftover fried rice for omelettes. Psudo rice omelettes -- again, purists will say this isn't the real thing. -- Whisk two eggs with a splash of cold water, a little bit of salt, and a little bit of pepper. Ground mustard powder, red pepper flakes, and dried basil or parsley can also be added to the egg mixture. In a hot, non-stick pan that has butter or a bit of oil already melted/heated in it, add the egg mixture and allow it to sit for a few seconds before gently stirring it a bit with a spatula. You're not looking to do a full scramble, you just want to move the already cooked egg around so more of the liquid can come in contact with the bottom of the pan. -- Add some of the leftover fried rice (room temp) once the egg is mostly set. Fold over the edges, flip, and cook until the folds are cooked/sealed shut. Flip back over, continue to cook until the egg reaches the colour you like it. -- Serve (hot sauce is good on this) Chicken stew -- this is fairly forgiving, so you can literally go through your whole pantry and grab out anything you have kicking around that can pair with chicken and your seasoning choices. -- If you have the chopped frozen onions (or if you have onions in general kicking around), add those to a pot with some oil or butter and cook for a few minutes. Sprinkle in some flour to make a roux. If you don't have the onions, just make the roux. You'll want about a 2 tablespoon flour to butter/oil batch for this. Once the roux is cooked, add a cup or so of the gelled broth, a cup of shredded chicken, and some water (or if you have it around, wine or beer). Bring everything up to a boil, season however you want. -- At this point, you can start adding in whatever else you found around the kitchen. Mushrooms (dried, or canned), beans (if dried, re-hydrate first), canned veggies, canned tomatoes, canned meat (if you're into that... just be aware that this choice will return in a later meal), jerky that's been cut/shredded (this is surprisingly good), a potato, salsa... -- Once everything is up to temp, add in some of the frozen veggie medley, and some of the frozen spinach (if you were able to get it). Bring everything up to temp, check seasonings again. -- If you have Bisquick (pancake/biscuit mix) or the staples to make drop biscuits, make up a small batch and drop that into the hot stew. Cover the pot, turn the heat down to where it'll continue to bubble but not burn, and allow the stew to steam the mix into drop dumplings. It only takes a few minutes Pot pie -- made with leftover chicken stew -- Take leftover stew, add enough chicken, veg medley, and gelled broth to cover the amount of portions you want to have. Heat gently; you just want things to be at the same temp. Pour into oven-safe dish. -- Pie crust is made from basic kitchen staples; flour, cold water, butter (or shortening/lard), and a bit of salt. It's not as difficult to make as some sites might make it out to be, so don't despair. Make a batch of crust, roll it out, and place over the top of the mix in the oven-safe dish. Poke holes in the top, put dish on a baking sheet (because it might bubble over a bit), and bake until the crust is golden. Chicken and rice soup -- the rice portion can also be subbed out for pasta shapes of your choice, barley, or re-hydrated beans. -- Bring some of the gelled broth, shredded chicken, and water to a boil. Add any seasonings, onions (if you have them), anything else you have around that might sound good, and a handful of rice. Cook until rice is tender, add in frozen veggie medley and heat until hot. What else can you do? The leftover gelled broth can be used to add flavor to various dishes, turned into gravy, or used anywhere stock might be wanted. You can use it to cook your ramen noodles in instead of using the flavor packet, therefore reducing how much salt you're consuming. Or just drink a hot cup of it when you're feeling like you're getting a cold or sore throat. The leftover chicken can be mixed with mayo or various dressings and be turned into sandwich or cracker spread. Melt some butter, add some herbs, and you can top pasta with it. Add it to ramen (add an egg and some of the frozen veg medley or spinach to the ramen, too). Or just nibble on it. If you have the basic kitchen staples, you have ingredients for pancakes. This is the recipe I used. I also used it for savory biscuits, dumplings, and quick-breads. -- Also, it might be a bit of a kick to your pride, but if you have a food bank/food pantry nearby, look into visiting one of those. The ones that were by where I was living when I was in money troubles allowed 'households with no children' to receive aid. We were limited to one trip a month and only for certain items, but it helped. I just needed ID to prove residency. Just remember to give back to the bank/pantry when you get back on your feet!

Amazon code just showed up. Three hours earlier than SE and Amazon said I'd get it, so I'm happy.

I pre-ordered from Amazon too, and I didn't get my early access codes yet either. Come to find out (and this information came FROM SE, not Amazon)... SE didn't start giving Amazon the early access codes until this morning. On Amazon's side, they're hoping to have everything sorted and sent out by this afternoon. As for the fox urine, that's used to repel rodents from gardens and storage sheds.

Kara would be that kid who does the bare minimum to avoid being held back each year. Not because she's stupid, but because she finds sitting in class boring. Prone to skipping class and hanging out in a courtyard or on the roof of the athletic's storage shed. When she does attend class, if she's not lurking (or napping) in the back, she's throwing paper airplanes whenever the teacher's back is turned.

You know, I've seen this stated in the forums here a few times while looking around and I'm a little confused about it. Is there anything in-game that supports the idea of a large number of illiterate people? Because... so far... all I've seen are examples of people being pretty literate in general. Books, logs, journals, letters, etc... all being passed around in quests.... Signs and posters on the walls... Wearable "reading glasses".... Books decorating buildings... etc... There's also a statement in the Hyur character creation about how Midlanders are taught to read very young or "trained in letters from infancy" if you will. The only thing I've seen to support illiteracy in game was a one-off statement from a game dev without much elaboration (or racial/regional/cultural specifics). Curious if anyone here could point to more examples from in-game text/lore to support this at all? I'd LOVE to know though, because I'm thinking of having my character be pretty literate... or perhaps a "book nerd" if you will. It would be nice to know how odd/rare that kind of thing actually is amongst people (or Lalafell specifically) so I can RP appropriately. This is something I don't get, either. We have that statement from the Dev saying that literacy is rare... yet we have so many quests where we're passing notes around for people. Or putting up notices/posters. And then there's the actual Moogle Delivery Quests. And the 'newspaper' NPC's that pop up for some events. There's only one NPC (quest out in the Gold Bazaar) that I've ever encountered that, when trying to give them a flyer for work, actually said "I can't read". Everyone else, you give them a piece of paper and they read it.

Due to having several crappy experiences using SE's store, I preordered my copy of Heavensward CE through Amazon. According to the product description, I'll get codes for Early Access on the 19th, buuuuut according to my receipt (unless I'm reading/understanding things wrong) they won't send codes until they officially charge my bank when "the product becomes available" on the 23rd. A bit annoying, but I was entirely serious when I told the SE rep that I'd never buy things directly from them again. At least Amazon tells me within seconds if something is going to 'take time' to be available to me, not five days of me badgering. Honestly though, I don't care if I don't get into Early Access. At best, the new areas are going to be crowded and laggy as hell. At worst, servers are going to be unstable and it's going to be like 2013 all over again. If the servers stay stable enough, I'll probably just keep on with what I've been doing and getting alt's crafting up. If not, well... I still have XI. And a shop down the street sells Gamecubes for $20, I can amuse myself with the old copies of Phantasy Star Online and Animal Crossing that I found in the basement last week.

T-T I was hungry and needed to take medicine, and my brother made off with the rest of the eggplant cutlets, leaving me to make a snack... No.. I'm NOT pregnant. No, I'm NOT stoned. Yes, that IS a grilled cheddar cheese/Nutella sandwich. Yes, it is delicious.

At this -exact- moment, I am unemployed. By choice. When my husband got his CDL almost four years ago, I had the option of keeping my job while trying to get out of the bad living situation I was in (roommates from hell who were doing all they could to suck away all our money) or putting in my two-week notice, packing all our stuff into storage, and getting on the truck with him. I took the latter. So for three years, I lived in a Freightliner Cascadia and got to visit all 48 continental states. I joke about it being a three-year vacation, but even though I wasn't employed by the company, I learned how to do some of the work just to help my husband out. Route planning, fuel calculations, HoS management, a little bit of minor trailer and truck maintenance, load securement, and dealing with Dispatch and Road Assist. And defending the truck against lot lizards. Prior to that, I was a cashier for a Home Depot. I mainly worked the garden center and returns desk. Before that, I did work for a janitorial service, work as a home care provider, was a dishwasher for a restaurant, a key-carrier ('not a manager but does manager work') for a couple gas stations, and worked at a Wendy's. Now that I'm off the truck, though, I'm trying to re-enter the work force. Applications are starting to go out hopefully something will bite.

Last night after a long day of trying to get myself ready to rejoin the work force, I found myself wandering the grocery store on tired, achy feet, trying to find something that I could make quickly when I got home. I could've gotten take-out or have something delivered, sure, but the only places I was interested in getting food from were on the other side of town and doesn't offer delivery. Salad sounded really good, but after I had grabbed all the ingredients I'd need, I realized I'd be cutting and chopping for a while, and... I didn't want that. So back to wandering I went, when I caught sight of this out of the corner of my eye: Seafood sounded good. I looked over at the actual counter, and it was several people deep ordering (living in New England, most people here have an appreciation for fish so the seafood counter is always busy). I looked at the package again. The only things in it that I knew 100% I'd like were the shrimp and clams. I had always wanted to try mussels, but for reasons I never had the opportunity. Squid... eh. I'd had bad squid more often than good, but whatever. Worst to worst, I could pick it out. Consulting the back of the package, I see that not only is everything pre-cooked, but there is absolutely no additives. Further consulting the package, I see that I already have everything else at home to make it according to suggested method. Plus, it's only $4. If I were to get the ingredients fresh from the counter, I'd be spending at least $15. If it ended up being inedible, I wouldn't be wasting a lot of money. Get home, and discover that I'm last in line to make dinner (my mum and I have similar diets, but there are a few things I can't eat and last night was one of those nights where we couldn't share a meal. My brother's diet is completely incomparable with my mum and I, so he always eats something different), so by the time I get a chance I'm exhausted and not really reading directions well. Oil goes into a pot. And then I add some grated garlic (I'm tired and lazy, it's just easier to run the garlic cloves over a grater than to chop/dice them) ... At this point, I was looking to just sweat out the garlic a bit in the oil. This usually takes at least five minutes even on high, because the stove is old and it takes a bit for the coils to come up to temp. So I wander down the hall to grab something from the room I'm using. By the time I'm on my way back to the kitchen, no more than two minutes have elapsed but I can smell burning garlic. I had literally claimed the burner from my brother the moment he was done cooking, so the coil didn't need it's normal warm-up time. Oops... time to start over. But at least it happened at this point. According to the package, all the seafood goes in at the same time. But I remembered that the one time I had squid and really liked it, it had gotten a bit of a sear on it. So I toss in the squid, hoping that it'll get a little bit of a pan-fry browning. Nope, the squid releases a LOT of liquid, making that impossible. Oh well. Clams go in next. Now... there was another version of the frozen package on the shelf that included more shrimp and no squid, but everything was still in the shell. I get it that the shells are supposed to add more flavor, but having to pick them out of the food... ugh. In goes the wine. The package didn't specify anything beyond 'white wine', so whether or not this is the correct type for this dish is up in the air. Did I mention I was tired before this? If not, I was tired. And I misread the package. I eyeballed 8 ounces (1 cup)... package only called for 2 ounces. Ooooops.. Tomatoes. Package called for 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes. Well, if I'm not going to spend time chopping veggies for the salad that I really wanted, I'm not going to spend time chopping tomatoes for something I might not like. So I grab a small can of petite-diced tomatoes and dump that in. Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and fresh basi-- oh, crap. I forgot to pick some basil from the garden... aaaand it's dark and raining out by this time. I'll just use some dried basil. I let what's in the pot simmer/boil for five minutes to cook out the alcohol before adding in the still-frozen mussels and shrimp. Package says everything is pre-cooked, so I'm just really waiting for these to thaw and get hot again. These add more liquid to the pot, and as I stir it I'm realizing I have something more like soup than sauce... So instead of boiling a batch of standard dried pasta in another pot, I beg a little bit of the 'fresh' linguine that my brother is fond of and toss that into the sauce to cook, and hopefully thicken it up. Which... didn't really happen. Too much wine, and probably too much juice from the canned tomatoes. Oh well... The end result was this: Lots of what I'll call broth, so I was very glad I had gone and made the decision to only use a half-portion of pasta (hard to tell with how the pasta clumped in the bowl, but there isn't that much there). Floated a bit of butter in it for extra richness, squeezed the juice of some of these tiny lemons I found in the 'exotics' section of the produce department, and grabbed some slices of baguette to sop up the broth... altogether, it was a tasty experiment, even with the mistakes. Only two of the clams opened by the time I was done cooking, so that was disappointing. The squid part was... interesting. They almost mimicked the pasta. The mussels were delicious. I'll be making this again... though I think I'll just skip the pasta part and go straight for the bread -- as a soup, it was wonderful.

Plumbing has been around for thousands of years. Not only did the ancient Romans, Greeks, and Persians have sewer systems and indoor plumbing for sinks and bathtubs, they even had water-flushing toilets. About the only things that are modern to the whole thing are water heaters, electric well pumps, detachable shower heads, high-efficiency particle filters, and honey trucks...

When confronted about her clothing choices, Yugiri makes a comment about people fearing that which is strange/unknown, and that she'd spare citizens of Ul'dah the discomfort of seeing her. This seems to be indication that Au Ra have -somewhere- encountered other cultures that reacted negatively to their appearance. With that in mind, I think it's perfectly justifiable for people to go the distrustful/hostile route if they choose.

Low-level MSQ in Gridania, yeah. The point where you go to Bentbranch Meadows, there's a plot revolving around the stables.

I have, in other MMO's. ... Multiple times... The first time might not be considered a kidnapping under the definition here. My character was being manipulated and drugged at the time, so she didn't realize she had been kidnapped until the third or fourth day. If she had been in her right mind, though, it would've been against her will from the start. I don't remember the exact details, but I do remember that she was being used as bait. Second time... her 'boyfriend' had just 'died' and a 'demon' that was infatuated with her crawled out of his dead husk, sack of potato'd her over one shoulder, and ran off. That lasted two or three days before he let her go just short of a mob tracking them down. He actually grabbed her a few other times after that too, but never for more than a day at a time. Third time, a relative (a friend's character) grabbed her and was going to torture her for family-related angsty reasons. She managed to escape a week later when someone forgot to lock the cell door after bringing her food. Fourth time was the same guy for similar reasons and trying to bait someone, she was rescued after a few days. ... This one probably isn't a kidnapping, but she was 'held' for two days. Friends tricked her and the guy she had been crushing on into a room, then locked the door and wouldn't let them leave until 'something happened'. They tricked their way out by spending a few hours jumping up and down on the bed. And then there was a political thing that I wasn't 100% in the loop for, but basically someone wanted to run an event and asked for volunteers for hostages. That one was like a week long. And... she got snatched and/or telepathically manipulated into walking off a bunch of other times too. Few hours to one-day things, mostly. It's something that, as long as someone can give me a logical reason why it should happen and why my character is unable to free themselves for whatever time period, I'm typically fine with the idea.

If the 2014 Near Year's event would be considered canon (not everyone considers the holiday events to be canon because of how SE counts time), one of the reasons we don't have horses in Eorzea is because the Elementals have forbidden them from the Shroud. To the point where in one dialogue, it was hinted (my interpretation, at least ) that bringing a horse there could get someone some measure of Greenwrath. Beyond that, though, horses just aren't native to Eorzea. The GC ones from PvP were 'purchased from the Far East' (from the same NPC that was introduced in the New Year's event, it seems), so even those are foreign bred, born, and raised.