Tiergan

Tossing in Jirandai Olkund as the poor short midget of the Olkund Tribe of giant-ra. :V

I was going to post this in the rant thread, but I felt like this was a more appropriate place. It's actually all about my frustrations as a perceived 'popular' person, so I apologise if this is not a good place for me to piggyback onto the discussion, Faye. I know folks have established in the other thread that removing the reputation number won't accomplish anything, but for my part - there was actually a stretch of time where I really, really resented having a high number. A lot of people in the community know who I am, but I'm sure most of you also know it's not because I got to RP with everyone. It's because I painted a ton of portraits in order to help scrape by during a really dark time where it was incredibly difficult making ends meet. I was having trouble paying rent and buying food. I only had an FFXIV subscription because I had my subscription renewal set to 6-month blocks and I was/still am somewhere in the middle of that block. I lost a considerable amount of weight. I was and still am incredibly appreciative to each person who bought artwork and wanted to buy even more artwork, because without all of you, I literally would not have survived the end of 2014. However, I've noticed people treat me differently now than I was before when I was just another catman-player derping around the forums. I've had people say they're intimidated and scared to speak to me because I'm 'well-known'. I've had people assume I must have my finger in every RP pie on the server or that I must be BFFS with every single "big-name" I have painted. I've had folks try to RP with me purely for my 'status' assuming that if they RPed with me, they'd magically get the keys to the RP castle, and then seem irritated when that didn't happen. As though I was holding out on them somehow. I've had people get resentful when I kept having to push back RPing with them for the first time because of real life slaughtering me in ways I had no control over. I haven't painted any new artwork in months. I'm kind of scared of doing it again in the future. I had no idea how people who only joined very recently determine I must be popular or where they hear it from as I only regularly get to RP with maybe 5 users of on this website, and some of them do not post actively on here. For a while, I assumed it must have been the big rep number, and so there were many times I almost sent a PM to Freelance to just knock mine down back to zero. I enjoy meeting new people. In previous MMOs, I made massive server events just so that I could engage with a ton of new folks every single time. I've always been very open to scheduling out RP with people who request it and it's exciting interacting with a brand new character. But lately that excitement is slowly turning into anxiousness. I'm scared of NOT accepting every single request to RP with me for the first time ever and work to squeeze people in often at the expense of my own free time and comfort. I'm afraid people will label me as someone who is a known member of the community that secretly just wants to stay in some exclusionary RP clique. The reality of it is that I don't actually get that much RP or even much playtime. The people I do get to RP with more regularly are folks that were drawn to me from earlier RPs I managed to do before my life got thrown out of whack, because I like making multi-person story arcs framed in a way that makes it very easy to pull in anyone. However. those take a lot of time to create and it also takes time to draw folks in. Time I no longer have. My life has been consumed by trying to make a very drastic career change so I won't have to be terrified of starving to death this year. I don't have as much free time as I used to. I get sick very often because of the stress. I tried to expand the number of folks I RP with by creating a massive over-ambitious story arc -- but it hit a wall because of said drastic career change swallowing up all of my time. I know some people on these forums can attest to the fact that there were long periods of time where I only got to log in once or twice a week. I love this community. It is literally the best RP community I've ever had the pleasure of being in out of many, many MMO RP communities I've been in. I want to keep coming to the RPC, being active participant in it, and hopefully finding RP with people both old and new. However, it is really exhausting and draining seeing the constant stream of people painting the 'popular' folks as exclusionary assholes who don't want to RP with anyone and keep ignoring everyone. I know I might not even register on the list of folks they might be thinking of. I'm probably just reading too deeply between the lines. But the brushstrokes people are painting with are very broad. Unless every single 'popular' person posts up a veritable novel detailing everything going on in their lives right now like I have in this post -- no one has any idea what each person is actually going through and whether there are significant barriers getting in the way of them welcoming and drawing in new people as much as they would like. They could be struggling with depression and don't want to RP with new folks until they figure out how to manage it. They could be sick with a physical illness that makes it hard for them to find the energy to RP as much as they would like. They could have limited time in their day and can only really devote time to FFXIV in small chunks. Or they could be working hours and hours and hours trying to scrape the money together to pay rent. Until you know the situation of every single 'popular' person on the board, perhaps its time folks talked less about the 'popular' people keep ignoring folks and simply talk about how people in a general sense appear to be ignoring folks. Perhaps its time we figure out a way to work around the popular folks that appear to be ignoring others. Because if I can find RP without RPing with 97% of the users on this forum, and I found that RP before I created my commission thread and was thrust unwittingly into the 'popular' crowd - it is very possible to find RP without them. I did not need popular people to find people to play with when I started - and if a lot of them are like me? They probably didn't have the keys to the RP castle either. I'm going to be stepping away from the RPC for a while. I'll likely come back during Heavensward. Good luck to you all.

I don't think two people having very different Rp values/priorities immediately means they're going to have friction. There were plenty of people I disagreed with lorewise in the past in ways where our RP probably wouldn't ever intersect -- but we were also 100% okay with that and accepting that it's okay we RP differently. I think if people stopped to REMEMBER that more often - that it's okay for people to have different interpretations on the lore and RP styles than you do - we'd have a lot less fighting and sniping. Does it create barriers between different groups of RPers? Sure -- but not everyone has to RP with everyone else, nor should they have to. This community is large enough where you can find like-minded people to befriend and RP with and everyone can be happy from the folks RPing that Link and Zelda have crossed over into Eorzea and are now wandering the world to the folks RPing the most strict, lore-adherent character possible with zero special-snowflake vibes. [Edit: HERP DERP MADE A TYPO]

I actually talked about this roughly 4 days ago with several other folks and on Tumblr. I was hit with a LOT of messages from people who said they either had stopped going to the RPC because of the recent toxicity or they are too afraid to join it for the same reason. It's honestly feels like lately people can't have a disagreement in opinion with each other about what literally amounts to fantasy pretend fun times without tossing in snide insults, subtle jabs, or sweeping generalizations about how shitty [x] group of RPers who do something you don't like are. The thing I always used to love about the RPC in the past was that it was an incredibly positive community. Barring things like a WHM Lore Discussion (which always seemed to explode for whatever reason) - I was always pleasantly surprised whenever a group of people disagreed on the lore or how to RP something and the discussion generally went something like "I personally don't think [x] is adheres to the lore, but if you do - that's okay. You'll be able to find RP because plenty of other people who feel the way you do. I may not RP like you do, but you should be able to RP it if you want to, because RP is supposed to be fun." This was literally the first ever MMO RP community I have ever been in that had that kind of open, positive attitude towards things and I was really appreciative of that. People seemed a lot more willing to acknowledge that different RPers enjoy different things, have different interpretations of the lore, and will RP with different groups of people and that ALL OF THESE THINGS are 100% legit and okay. There's been a very noticeable shift in recent months that's very "My Way Or Fuck You, You're Doing It Wrong.", where people will hammer down on others and belittle them for thinking one way or another about lore, characters, etc - even if it's between two groups of RPers who would realistically NEVER RP with one another because their interpretations of the lore are too different. (Which again - is 100% okay.) At the end of the day - this is just a hobby and there is zero reason why we should be laying down the hate so thick. Also, in regards to the trolls - I think what people are referencing is the a massive wave of trolls the RPC got hit with at one point. Not people who suddenly turned into trolls or "this person has a different opinion than I do, so I'm going to bitch and moan about there being trolls" - but legit trolls with freshly rolled up accounts who showed up to the site out of nowhere and were flagrantly just baiting people into arguments left and right for shits and giggles. A lot of those people seem to have gotten ban-hammered (or just got bored and stopped showing up) and the mods are cracking down on things more tightly now, so it seems like it's just dying down. It's mostly the hostility that's a problem.

BUTTCAPES FOR TANK CLASSES. Or just capes in general. Will also accept a longcoat of some kind with armor slapped onto it. I just want to stand on a clifftop and have something fluttering majestically in the wind behind me in the most cliche manner possible and I'm absolutely sick of the Bohemian Coat. I swear to god the second T9 just becomes loltastic content(for the majority of the populace anyway), I am going to farm the hell out of it until I get the High Allagan Coat.

Hng. Slightly sad if there is an impending FCOB nerf. I was quietly hoping to beat all the turns before they did it. Ah well - at least maybe I'll get to see the whole story before 3.0.

Consciousness was such a fleeting thing sometimes and Tiergan, a young miqo’te of about fifteen summers, found himself floating at the very fringes of it. He couldn’t remember much of what had come before - he could only recall the enormous silhouette of a towering roegadyn before the world fell into shadow. The sea of obsidian was comforting in its own way. He felt light and weightless - a piece of flotsam drifting upon gentle ink-black waves. There was no one else here save him, and the solitude, the silence, sent a spark of hope to his chest. No more screaming, booming commands - no lanistae forcing him to bend, break, and reforge his body into a tool built only for savagery. For the first time in what felt like a decade, he was finally truly alone… …And then he wasn’t. Frigid water struck Tiergan’s head and chest like an icy slap and he jolted awake, pale eyes peeling wide with alarm. He was in a dimly lit room, a shaft of golden light shining through a part in the heavy curtains covering the doorway. Several people were somewhere behind him, shuffling and circling, muttering softly amongst themselves – something about preparation and combat. Tiergan heard the soft familiar sound of a steel blade being drawn from its sheathe and fear clawed its way up through his chest into his heart. He surged forward, caving to the sudden impulse to leap from the chair and flee – only to be jerked back by solid resistance. Restraints. Thick, heavy leather straps bound his arms and legs, holding him securely in place. Panic swelled in his lungs, suffocating him, stealing all air and pushing up, up through his throat until finally it released in a frantic, desperate shout. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! What did I do wrong?!! I’ll never do it again!” A low, rumbling chuckle came from behind him - a deep bass that rolled out like echoing thunder. Tiergan froze still, a hulking roegadyn circling around the chair to move in front of him; the warden’s skin was the color of old wine and his eyes held the fierce cruelty of a behemoth. A heavy assortment of steel and leather armor was layered over his body, with a broad, two-handed axe strapped securely to his back. The man was smiling, but somehow the expression lacked all mirth and kindness. “You didn’t do anything wrong, boy. Quite the opposite really. Today is the day of your first fight.” The miqo’te paled, his heart dropping like a stone into the pit of his stomach, replaced by a coiling sense of dread. His first fight? His first time on the Bloodsands? How could that possibly be– No. No, he was too young. The coliseum likely wouldn’t take a boy his age. It had to be the Pit then, or another arena. One were coin flowed more freely and carried more weight than the lives of children. Tiergan felt a chill creep down his spine, his breath coming in rapid bursts. When he spoke, the miqo’te’s voice came out as a dry whisper, barely audible over the rustling of cloth and the harsh sound of a small mortar and pestle, grinding away. “Then- then why? Why am I–” “Why are you strapped to that chair as though we were planning to skin you alive?” The roegadyn toned, shaking his head before all humor dropped from the man’s features. His eyes were cold, cruel, and unfeeling - the stare of a man who’d seen and caused countless deaths and would likely be responsible for many, many more. “It’s mainly to hold you still. This may be your first fight, but there’s more riding upon it than just the start of your glorious fighting career - so we can’t afford to let you lose.” The roegadyn suddenly jerked his chin in the youth’s direction, looking to some unseen figure on the side. “Open his mouth. Make sure he takes all of it.” Tiergan’s eyes peeled wide, ears flaring up in terror. He barely had time to let out a single terrified shout before several hands swarmed in from behind him, forcing his jaw open, tilting his head back, holding him still as a small palm-sized mortar suddenly loomed overhead. A fine black and green powder spilled into his mouth like poisoned water, coating his tongue, pouring down his throat, burning when it eventually reached his stomach He choked, struggling, gagging, the powder’s bitter taste and acrid smell overwhelming all of his senses. The world gradually began to spin around and ‘round over head - a slow, dizzying, merry-go-round cycle that only grew faster and faster with time. Light blended into into shadow, faces and figures blurred into one another, murmuring voices crashing and cascading over him like the low, harsh croon of monsters. Flesh melted from the bodies of men, gaping sockets and laughing jaws yawning into the looming darkness. Their armor twisted and warped, the sickening crack of bone and squelch of flesh resounding in Tiergan’s ears as steel, iron, and leather curved and spiraled into long spindling legs, barbed carapaces, and bony, bat-like wings. The roegadyn warrior’s still remained standing before him, but his head twisted jarringly upon his shoulders, ripping upside down at an impossible, horrifying angle before that chilling smile flashed across the warden’s face again, cruel, mirthless, and terrible. “Time to go win, boy.” The burgandy-skinned man opened his mouth, his jaws widening, tearing, and stretching as a long, gleaming steel sword emerged handle-first from his throat. The blade sliced against the warrior’s tongue and the inside of his mouth as it passed through and once it had fully left his lips, the warden let out a bloody gurgling cackle. Tiergan was abruptly ejected forward, tumbling out of the chair and onto something soft and pliant. The sword hit the ground with a loud wet slap beside him, gleaming in the shadows like firebrand. He was confused at first, baffled as to where he could possibly have ended up before a clawed talon immediately pierced into his arm, sending searing pain through his body. A soft, chittering, crackling sound drew Tiergan’s eyes downward in time to see a thousand gnarled, rotting demons emerging from the shadows cast upon a floor made of pulsing flesh and blood. He could feel the scrape of their claws against his skin, the sharp, bite of razor sharp fangs, and fear rapidly swallowed him up in a mad, terrifying frenzy. The boy howled, snatching the sword up in his hands and swinging wildly to fend the voidsent back even as they continued to close in on him. He plunged himself in a crazed, desperate battle for survival against things that could only have been real in nightmares, roaring and snarling even as many of them began to meld together into a terrible, hideous whole. It was only just the beginning. The effects of Blackroot Rose leaves could last for over an hour. _____________________________________________________ Lore Trivia: Leaves of the blackroot rose are known to cause horrible visions and induce extreme fits of violence. Animals who eat them grow frenzied, may attack anything that crosses their path, and are often forced to be put down.

^ Sometimes ERP is for narrative purposes/character relationships. Sometimes its just someone getting their rocks off. Sometimes it's something in the middle where folks are getting their rocks off while immersed in their character and that character's overall narrative. People engage in it for a lot of different reasons. I don't think anyone should be ashamed of enjoying what they enjoy so long as you're considerate of everyone around you, everyone involved is on the same page, and no one is causing other people discomfort by pressuring or shoving them into unwanted situations. Most of us likely have a story where we've been severely squicked out by people herding us towards RP that we didn't ask for, sending unprompted whispers with unsolicited lewd requests, or straight up just walking in on some folks doing the dirty in public without any regard to anyone nearby. These are all situations where people were not being considerate of others. It's okay to have fun - but a person's right to have fun extends only up until the point you start making other people feel forced into something uncomfortable, harassed, or afraid. Then you're just being a jerk.

This pretty much nails exactly what I'm doing currently with Tiergan and what I will do with him when I pick up the DRK class for funsies. As much as Tiergan is considered a defender/protector figure by a couple of folks, it doesn't entirely make sense for Tiergan to become a paladin, so he's just a 'gladiator'. If I have him become something DRK-ish IC, it will literally just be him going "Well, I like swords. WHY NOT USE A BIGGER SWORD?!" No darkness powers, no batman. Tiergan will just be a regular dude who really likes swords. PLD will probably still stay my main tanking class though unless DRK turns out to be so astoundingly fun that none can resist its siren call.

I want one for Leilani Leilai ;A;

This was really fun to watch! Also -- ouch Aaron. I... didn't know the rolls actually could give a 0.

The second someone doesn't take "I don't want to ERP with you" as "I will go find someone else to do the RP naughties with instead of this person." is the second they go on the Do Not RP With This Raging Twat list because they clearly don't grasp the concept of NO or the comfort of the other person.

I think we've actually chatted about ERP before on these forums (and it was a super nice, interesting chat too!) I think most people have already nailed down on a lot of the most important things about ERP or any sensual/romantic RP, but I'll just reiterate the ones I feel are most important. 1) Make sure all parties involved are both comfortable and consenting. (I'm personally in the 'only with someone I know and trust' boat when it comes to my own personal comfort.) 2) Keep it PRIVATE, because if it's public you most likely haven't gotten consent from your audience who didn't ask to see your hanky panky times. 3) Don't do the fake-naughty with real life minors. (It's... kinda sad "do not do the fake diddle with kids." has to be said.) and one of the biggest things for me is: 4) DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES use the ERP or even just RP in general to fulfill a need you are missing in real life - whether that is sex, romance, or anything else. And DO NOT RP with someone who is clearly using you to fulfill their need. This path only leads to horror, ruin, IC/OOC blending, and some pretty extreme discomfort on the part of the person who didn't really ask to be someone else's tool for living out fantasies. It honestly doesn't bother me if people are going to ERP to get their rocks off or ERP to develop characters or ERP to build a narrative. As long as folks are safe, consenting, happy, and aren't exposing me to any surprise unwanted public dong -- it's doesn't really affect me what folks do on the side. However, if you're craving real life romance - go out and get real life, healthy romance. Don't try to use RP romance to fulfill that need. It inevitably places the other person in a really shitty situation and leads to the really awful scenarios that I think Hammersmith is hitting upon.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF- goddamnit SE just give me more LS slots. ::sob::

Hey, past!me. It's current/future!me. We tried, man. We tried. GUYS. IT'S ME FROM THE FAR FUTURE. JUST GIVE IT UP, ALL IS LOST. IN THE FUTURE NOBODY CAN READ. Man, I feel like we should have just... gone with the idea that all of Eorzea is really prejudiced against each other for one reason or another or something. <_<:a On a slightly random note - I love that Eorzea's a pretty prejudiced lot. As horrible as it is in the real world when it happens, it can make for fascinating conflicts and stories in a fantasy setting. I rolled up a Duskwight alt BECAUSE i was fascinated by how much horrible shit they go through in Gridania (which is super well documented and I can point to folks who could write books on how poorly they get treated.) The key to any great story is conflict - and I liked exploring that conflict with the Duskwight. Tiergan and Lurial both have had to struggle with discrimination as well (ignoring the whole Ala Mhigan bit just so we don't go down that rabbit hole again) - because Lurial started off a penniless street child in a city where Coin = Status and Tiergan was pretty much the same but in a very different manner. Furious Storm was a Hellsguard Roegadyn in Limsa Lominsa with no sealegs for a bit, so I'm sure you can only imagine how well that went for him until he traveled to Ul'dah where Hellsguard were a lot more common place. This stuff makes for some really interesting stories. I'm not sure if the resistance to the idea that Ishgard might be racist comes at the heels of fear that somehow the city is less 'cool' if it's racist. I actually think that makes it twice as interesting because if they ARE super racist and xenophobic - that means Heavensward is going to be rife with plenty of juicy conflict for our characters to run into in the MSQ and for us as roleplayers to play with as storytellers. YMMV, I suppose - but I think it's awesome that there's so much simmering strife beneath the surface for racial, social, and religious reasons for us to write tales about.

He also expresses prejudice towards the main character as an "outsider," regardless of race. Well, yes. Gridania was (and likely still partly is) xenophobic as well. One can be racist and xenophobic at the same time. The way that certain elezen NPC treated the miqo'te NPC is one of probably more examples. He doesn't like outsider adventurers in "his" city, but he hates even more that there are miqo'te poachers abouts. I think Yves was just saying "Yeah, that guy is pretty prejudiced. He even calls you 'outsider' along WITH being racist."

Duskwight DEFINITELY face a lot of prejudice in Gridania. As mentioned elsewhere in the thread, a lot of them actually left for Ishgard because it was actually way better for them there than in Gridania. There's also a story in the game where a Duskwight Lancer steals something with two Wildwood Lancers. Eventually something happens that makes the Duskwight feel compelled to confess what they did. His two Wildwood partners agreed that they would confess as well - but when the time came, they betrayed him and let him take the fall for everything. After that, the lancers all remarked something to the effect of "Of course, it was the Duskwight. We should have known." (It might actually even be the NPCs you're talking about Sin.) Moon Keepers face some problems as well - mainly because there's a lot of Moon Keeper poachers in the Shroud that give Gridanian Moon Keepers a hard time convincing other Gridanians that they're not like the poachers in the forest.

This is a strawman argument. No one in this thread has ever said that Ala Mhigo is not predominantly Highlander (well, unless that's what you were trying to claim, Ryoko. In that case - apologies.) only that it's not entirely Highlander and that there is a small population of other races, which was exemplified in the few cut-scenes we saw in 1.0 of the Ala Mhigan Resistance. In 1.0 that was literally one of the main chunks of story where we actually saw Ala Mhigans in the game, so when Sounsyy and myself rolled up miqo'te Ala Mhigan women - it just wasn't really a weird sticking point in the lore. A lot of Ala Mhigan players back then were Highlander, but they were also roes, lalas, elezen, etc because that's what the game presented to us at the time. So yeah, it bothers me just a little for people to appear and claim all the Ala Mhigan based RP I did as Lurial in 1.0 is irrelevant and invalid just because they don't think 1.0 counts. Even if we DO decide all of the roegadyn, lalafell, elezen, and midlanders from 1.0 were just there because SE decided to break it's own lore for whatever reason: Minfillia, Wilfred, the Hellfire Phoenix miqo'te champion from 1.0 who shows up as your client in the level 50 2.0 Blacksmith quest, and 3 Hellsguard Roegadyn hanging out in Little Ala Mhigo (along with that old midlander you mentioned) show that non-highlander Ala Mhigans do exist even in 2.0 Why so quick to conveniently shove the roegadyn couple under the rug as though they don't count? I guess maybe those three roegadyn and the roegadyn in the 1.0 MSQ cutscenes are all exceptions too? Or perhaps just added for flavor? Maybe they don't count because they're not major NPCs? Where do we draw the line on what 'counts' and what doesn't when they're actually in the game itself? When is something not obscure enough to 'count' as lore? People can argue they were tossed in just to make things appear diverse -- but the fact of the matter is, that's an assumption based upon zero evidence. No one can actually know whether or not SE decided to say "fuck the lore, we need some character model diversity" where as these characters are actually in the game as Ala Mhigans and some of them are written directly into quest lines or referenced in items in 2.0. You can try to split hairs and say 'maybe these roe are just visiting adventurers' - but they're clearly dressed in similar colors/attire as the rest of the camp and the husband/wife couple is actually getting extorted by the highlander in a way that suggests they live there and they aren't just visiting adventurers who can pick up and leave. At the end of the day, I get it. Despite all of this, you're going to continue to believe Ala Mhigans can only be highlanders. And even if it irks me a little because I liked the RP I did in 1.0 - that's totally okay. We're allowed to disagree with each other and the server's big enough for us to find our own circle of friends to have rich narrative experiences with. I enjoy lore debates as long as they're respectful, which large portions of this thread have been and I'm appreciative of that. There's plenty of aspects of the lore I don't really agree with everyone in the RPC about. I've been able to get along with/RP with most of them just fine. What irritates me more is that your assertions are often wrapped tightly around your notorious dislike not for 'miqo'te' as a race, but miqo'te players themselves - which you have consistently made clear on these forums and in game many times over. You even exemplify it here in your post writing off the majority of miqo'te players as being composed of 'lore libertytakers'. If you're going to debate the lore - then debate the actual lore without those petty remarks. It's okay if you think a lot of miqo'te RP poorly or in a way you dislike. It's even okay if you think I'm breaking the lore, because like I said - two people can disagree on the lore without being called a butthead. But at least have this discussion without taking the time to paint a large brush over miqo'te players as though the vast majority of them are animu garbage 'lore libertytakers' that don't deeply care for the setting they're playing in. It's one thing to say I specifically, or other folks specifically in this thread are RPing in a way you feel is inconsistent with the lore -- it's another to just label the vast majority of a player group that way as though the large bulk of us are the same.

Just as a random note ( I guess more like FFXIV triva ) -- the lore stated that male Miqo'te were rare only because in 1.0 you couldn't be a male cat. Lady cats only! Thus, they tried to plop some reason for why you couldn't be a mancat in the lore and decided they were just super rare. All of that kind of got turned on its head the moment they unleashed cat boys into the world.

I like this and will probably run with it as the explanation for my character. o/ I kind of liked Tiergan being the aether-dumb guy while Lurial was the one between the two of them who really knows how to handle it to a certain extent.

Haha, well - I meant more "how does the bright flashy thing" happen as opposed to how it suddenly makes every enemy in the surrounding area instantaneously upset with you while not doing the same with your friends. Aether in the hand makes sense to me. I suppose that means characters who can't control aether worth a lick might not be able to do it. I've RPing Tiergan as 'just a gladiator' with no real talent with aether -- though I've been getting tempted to have him trot on over to the Sultansworn for free paladin training. I'd have to peg him as 'not-totally-incompetent-with-aether' if I do that.

I saw a gladiator rp flash as a sudden burst of aether being released from their body. Can't say of it was good or not so center in my mind I yelled solar flare. Was giggling too much. Oh god. I will never not be able to think that now every time I use flash in a dungeon. :V

For the most part, gladiators and marauders are just people with swords and axes. Most of their abilities can just be pinned down to sword/axe techniques. But what about Flash (Blinding burst of light!) and Overpower (CONE OF FIRE!)? I know I've had Tiergan use it at least once before, but I felt a little weird about it because I couldn't sort out in my head how he actually does it. Do you folks just ignore it because it's pretty much an aggro-grabbing game mechanic or do you feel like there's probably an explanation for it? (A wizard did it! Aether!)

I was about to comment on this myself before I saw you did it already. I feel like there is a big difference between a roleplayer who thought out a plausible, detailed narrative on why/how their miqo'te Ishgardian wound up where they are and a roleplayer who just goes "Well, I really like miqo'te and I've been wanting to be a dragoon for forever because they're my favorite class so that's the way it is." Same with any other lore detail of something rare/odd/potentially implausible that I won't explicitly mention in fear of triggering another 10 page long lore debate. :V Also, as an aside - I saw someone talk about miqo'te lancers. I don't think a miqo'te lancer (especially a non-ishgardian one) is as big an issue as Gridania, Ishgard, and even Ala Mhigo have divisions of troops with lances. Your cat basically could have picked it up from anything between the Lancer's guild in Gridania to an exiled Ishgardian knight hanging around the Shroud to an old Ala Mhigan refugee who was part of the Lancer division and uses a longspear. Dragoon is the area where it gets dicey because its got so much importance placed upon it that some people feel Ishgard's infamous xenophobia would prevent non-elezen from ever reaching that far up.

This is what grates on my nerves as well. If there was zero precedent in the game for it, I'd understand why it would be hard to swallow - but there are examples of pretty much every race also being Ala Mhigan even if they were a much smaller portion of the city's population. Even if we were to consider that maybe SE just said 'eh, whatevs' and tossed in a few random minor 'lore-breaking' NPCs in some of the cutscenes just to add more diversity - there's the fact that a large chunk of the gladiator quest-chain was devoted to J'moldva in 1.0. It's a lot less likely that they'd have made an NPC so central to that quest-chain a figure that directly contradicts their own lore. And then put her in the 2.0 version of the game. And then name an Ala Mhigan fighting fish after her. That's essentially SE confirming twice that "Yeah, there's a miqo'te Ala Mhigan champion." The fact that no NPC in either 1.0 or 2.0 ever made a huge deal about the fact that she was both miqo'te and Ala Mhigan suggests it wasn't really all that surprising for her to be both either.