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Hey, not sure of your progress through the questline, but I'll just add what I can recall up to and including the Lv 70 Job Quest. Hence, don't let me spoil anything if you haven't gone that far. Also, I'm not a lore expert, so take this as tentative until someone corrects me. The Dark Knight as an institution is a response to a lack of Justice. They are those who give of themselves in order to enact judgement upon the wicked when none other can or will. Thus, I do not believe they are inherently evil, but rather willing to commit brutality in order to serve their ideal of justice. The pivotal question is: how morally universal in that ideal? Personally, and this may be wrong, I think of the soul stone as a repository of knowledge and memory. The 'soul' is the operating system, and as the WoL cultivates their own 'soul' (through story, leveling, etc.), new insights within the stone can be accessed. I don't believe so. The WoL bears the stone, taps into it, and also feeds their experience and memory within. Someday, someone else could bear it, gleaning insight through the WoL's memories along with others. Hypothetically, if The Esteem were victorious in that pivotal battle, I think a typical Dark Knight would cease to be, and The Esteem would become , having seemingly gone 'murderously insane'. That being may have the power of the Dark Knight abilities but none of the temperance that the original soul stone bearer exerted over their own destructive emotions. However, I'm skeptical that a living soul stone bearer would retain the ability to wield the stone in the event that they were so far detached from reason. Ultimately, the Dark Knight is not meant to kill, but to punish.

Sometimes Clo swings the greatsword, sometimes the sword swings her. While strong, she is not massive, and so the art of swordsmanship for her is an exercise in the preservation of inertia, minimizing wasted effort, maximizing fluidity and power. Once the thrill of battle takes her, black blood rituals are invoked in the whirling steps between blows, spurring her weapon to strike deeper, withering her enemies.

Seconded. After MMORPG i went back to tabletop, though. :bomb:

If you feel like trying Bryn's community out, you'll have the preferred world XP boost. Our timezones are close, though my activity is generally late at night, mostly Hunts or slowly working up my healing/dps roles. Not hardcore in the least, so if you need a break from that, such the better. I can be flaky tho, ngl. Alternately, if it's just RP you find yourself seeking, I have Lv1 alts on several worlds, so if you roll somewhere else you can ping me for details.

Looks like a fun system, I will give it a shot.

"Abandoned refugee adopted by gravediggers as an indentured servant spends eight years on her knees to buy back her freedom." (scrubbing the Ossuary floor)

Hamauzu continues to capture my heart. [video=youtube]https://youtu.be/MdLqH6re4_4

As Bryn is, for the time being, a Preferred World, I suppose it falls on me to revive this just in case any of the new or itinerant souls are looking for roleplay connections. From the originator's post: Frithgilt is a roleplaying Linkshell organized as an informal auxiliary of the Immortal Flames. Though it is founded upon an ancient Highlander tradition, it is not restricted in any way by race or creed. No formal memberships or oaths are imposed, and no particular allegiance in required, though service to the Ul'dahn Grand Company is appreciated. An adventurer's interest in the general welfare is all that may be asked, and the aid provided does not necessarily need to take one form over another. Frithgilt is intended to be an in-character vehicle for activities such as FATEs, The Hunt, and Levequests, but can also be extended to gathering, supply and provision, and exploratory missions. Our present support directive is the safe repatriation of Ala Mhigan refugees. There are a great many ways that you can help. If you're on Bryn and are interested in a Linkshell invite, ping me here or at the links in my signature. Thanks for reading and {Have a safe journey!}

Well, I usually like to factor my characters' Guardians heavily into their personality or backstory. This certainly gives me something new to consider for my Althyk-touched alts. Disturbing imagery notwithstanding.

One thing I like to keep in mind as a Bard: if aether is shed by the living as part of the cycle of life and death, then each person may carry with them a personal treasure trove of memory and emotion, some fragments of which may join the lifestream. I like to think that it is these memories and emotions that Clo draws upon when singing. Hope that helps.

Just posed this question in Discord, people I asked seem to agree with you. Teaser Cutscene Without indications if this scene is past or present, or eyes on a Circle of Knowing tattoo, can't commit, myself.

...and so it happened that in the summer of 2017 I continued maining BRD, inexplicably.

Just a note as someone who plays in your time slot (late night Pacific US), I have had some success with walk-ups in the Sea of Clouds and Forelands by throwing up the RP flag (formerly the Materia Meld flag) in the vicinity of Cloudtop, Ok Zundu, Ok Gundu Nakki, and Loth ast Vath. Even at that hour, traffic through those hubs seems to be steady, so I can only imagine it's even heavier on Balmung. Hope that helps.

I can only say that during the first week on Brynhildr, use of the new status has only resulted in an uptick in the appearance of lewd emotes in my whisper tab. (°ー°〃)

I ended up moving and deleting my RP characters from Balmung, leaving just an old legacy character. The main reason was a lack of diversity. All FFXIV Worlds are skewed against certain races, but Balmung takes the NA average and completely inverts it. Based on December Lodestone data, 32% of all characters >Lv20 are either Miqo'te or Au Ra females. That's one in three... among almost 30000 characters. While I grant it's a fantasy game not fully tailored to Western sensibilities, and it's a flawed game that is nonetheless fun to play in many respects, the demographics of Balmung made no sense in the context of Eorzea's lore and were so boring to me that I tired of seeking out the kind of content I wanted. Judging by your avatar, this is not a problem for you, but it is a point some may want to consider. In any case, best of luck to you.