John Spiegel

~_~ I said I was eating a sandwich, not that I was unable to RP you n00b. That's like asking "Hey JJ, what's up? Are you busy?" And I say "I'm jus' eattin' a sammich." Which means not busy at all. N00b. Sincerely, JJ

*runs hand through long invisible locks of magnificent hair* So THAT'S why Aysun's a jerk to JJ. She's crushing on him and all his gorgeousness. E>

Heard you ran away so that's why I picked up the game. jk.

Heard you ran away so that's why I picked up the game. jk.

Though I have prolonged leaves of absence from the game due to my job, if you happen to see John Spiegel, Alex Silversheath or Grace Silversheath around in Ul'Dah, they're all me. John (JJ) in particular draws quite the bit of randoms as he's a big highlander dude with scars an eyepatch, grey stubble, big armor and a big weapon... but he frequents the adventurer's guild (or any food joints) and orders a large plate of sandwiches and milk. Milk! That's frequent fodder for random "badasses" commenting on JJ's choice of drink. Alex/Grace (JJ's children) share certain traits with their father but are far more reserved than JJ. Grace frequently gives would-be suitors (in her eyes) a tongue lashing or simply beats them up. Alex pretty much chats with anyone. I haven't had anyone -follow- any of my characters out of their mealtime stuff. That'd be interesting to see. Just food for thought. :3

I make it a point to only really seriously journal when I am on my gas rig as I'm not able to play XIV, I also take notes for stuff for Alex to mention that have happened over a series of days in game. Some characters keep journals, some don't. Some people meta game, a lot don't. JJ, on the other hand, is a very private person and there are times where I really wanna share all the awesome that I've put into him so I've done story blurbs in a narration sort of scheme (narrated by the narrator from Bastion or The Stanley Parable) of things going though JJ's mind as he's doing something. To date, I've done only three of them, which barely scratch the surface. Short story long: Excessive journaling (actually you doing the journaling) is a bit much, but a character may journal everyday (which doesn't get typed down or anything just because of time consumption!) Someone that journals EVERYTHING rather than RPs is as absurd as the character you meet at a tavern that tells you all their secrets (bonus points if they say they're some sort of master criminal too). Happy balance~

First and foremost: If people are RPing in public, they don't have the OOC right to be angry (IC is another story!) from interruptions. I'm going to be getting of this rig tonight/tomorrow morning. Meaning I will be in-game for a few days. If you see/search for John Spiegel, Alex Silversheath or Grace Silversheath, they're all my characters. With the exception of Grace, they're all nice to random folk (Grace doesn't take kindly to men talking to her randomly). John in particular has a way of even making a statue smile so he's your best bet to unshyify (that's a word now) you and help kick you in the butt for more RP.

Yup. Another culture might have a different year for it... same event, though.. The Jewish calender says it's 12th of Sh'vat, 5774. That's clearly not the date convention we use but we're referring to the same day (more or less... I'm not going to learn how the Jewish calender measures time just to explain my point better.)

They're marked by years though. 1500 years is not the amount of years ever. 1572 is the amount of years since the start of the 6th Astral Era, which came after the 5th Umbral which was a calamity. "Eras" can be equated to "Dynasties" more or less. They're a subsection of the time spectrum that may overlap with another societies way of grouping time.

SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW 1577 is the year ARR starts if you're continuing from the 6th Astral Era. The 6th Umbral Era started with Bahamut's Big Hissy Fit and So depending how you/your group are RPing the game progression, it's either the 6th Year of the 6th Umbral or the 2nd year of the 7th Astral (the switch from 6th Umbral to 7th Astral can be assumed to have just used up the rest of the 6th UE's days or something) The way SE is doing the big patches shows things are changing... Renevnat's Toll got remodeled, Little Solace... etc. So time is progressing "softly"... as in that the progression of the main story ushers in some changes. So yeah, it depends on your group and how you're dealing with the main story progression for what year it is.... My peeps more or less are waiting for the first expansion before we RP that the events of the main story happen... and that'll take a few months and various journals of "Oh, I read that some folks smacked Titan down!" and the sort with the creshendo being Archeron and the multiple GC strikes of the Garleans and all that.

What she said~ We pretty much use the FC chat as a quick OOC shout out to people on it, then sending tells to those that aren't in the FC when we throw together a dungeon run or some other OOC thing. We have a chatroom on our forums for OOC talk. The main reason we even are an FC is for when we get around to having gil for a house, which is a steep slope IC and OOC (damn you prices!) but other than that, we don't really acknowledge a difference between being in the FC or just having a pearl. We understand folks like endgame progression which pretty much calls to join an endgame FC. You shouldn't have any problems if you make your FC chat restricted~!

And what if it's not about being "badass" but about tapping into the themes surrounding a particular job? Telling someone to just be "a really strong CNJ" might be completely contrary to what that person wants to roleplay because a conjurer is not a white mage, and the former does not carry the same themes or historical identity as the latter. Would you tell someone who wants to roleplay a monk "Why can't you just be a really strong PGL?" No, because the two are not the same. I'm not one to police anyone's RP. I personally stick pretty close to the lore on things like this. If someone does want to be a white mage, it's not going to ruin my day as much as it may make me eyeroll depending how they do it. I was speaking from the angle of someone that just wants to be a really awesome healer/something rather than specifically follow a specific storyline, which I should have clarified. If someone wants to identify as being a white mage, they should be aware of the historical implications as well as the prejudices some characters may have of such as well as their skepticism REGARDLESS of the OOC implications. Bend the lore, break the lore, some folks don't care, others do. That's how it always is going to be. SE didn't set it up to be RP-friendly. Not the first MMO to do so. But yeah. Keep calm and Role Play. /shrug

Consider how many people show up at the Grindstone every week, I'm going with quite a few. I've yet to attend due to my job giving me limited random time. ANYWAYS. So the problem with RPing the "one hero" or a job that makes it impossible to be that job unless you are the "one" is obnoxiously selfish and really lazy. If you followed the story at all at the end, there were massive-off-screen battles at other Castrums. Just because you RP'd the main story doesn't mean you have to be the one to poke the final bosses. Whenever my group gets up that point, no way in hell we're going to be the ones that did it. There's so many other battles my character could be badassing at as well. As for RPing a job like WHM or whatnot, why can't you just be a really strong CNJ? Hell, two of my characters are MNKs straight out of Ala Mhigo during the Garlean's big ol' genocide (second one in five years for them) and JJ's just a dude that's fought his entire life to be free - no guild affiliation or nothing. It's kind of narrow to think just because a character is a great healer or really badass with a lance automatically makes them one thing. I recall that the lancers of Ala Mhigo were the cream of the crop, giving Ishgardian lancers/dragoons a run for their gil. All that being said, I have actually RP'd with somone that says they're a dark white mage. OOCly I thought it to be hoaky but ICly, John takes things for face value. He'd rather not piss off someone he has no intentions of fighting on the off chance that they're some supreme being... he wasn't wearing the right eyepatch for the occasion! In the end, there's LS/FC out there that cater to various amounts of lorebending. There's NEVER going to be a community-wide agreement of this... just like of so many other things. When these varying-of-opinion RPers cross paths, just play nice with each other, eh? *plants a pinwheel in the ground*

Naming conventions are fun, that being said my main dude, John Spiegel is a highlander. Neither John nor Spiegel are highlander names nor are his birth names (Jnsyn Silversheath is). As a highlander, he has adopted brutal battle names, but goes by John Spiegel for two reasons: 1. JJ is a spiritual successor to my XI hume of epicness 2. There's an IC reason he has a non-highlander name that I have yet to write up so only I know why. "It's just a name" JJ says, not taking much stalk in heritages and titles and all that hubub. Truth be told, having an odd-named person of a particular race is interesting if you make it a point to establish -why- rather than "lol. I just liked this name for the character", it can lead to interesting RP from other folks questioning your non-typical name for your clan and all that.

I have nothing to add at this current juncture other than giving you the prestigious Two Thumbs Up the Nose of Approval (the highest honor I can give) and I look forward to more.

As these weapons are one-of-a-kind in-game, it's generally accepted that if you wish to RP relic, that you make it some other weapon. There was a thread awhile back (I am too lazy to find it) but that was the general consensus. There's more than one epic weapon of a type that's existed in the vast history of Hydaelyn!

While I am a stickler for not lore bending, I have never downright ousted someone, if it was a big enough issue for me, I would point it out. Obvious abuse of the lore, robots, aliens, and all that stuff is pretty well beyond my tolerance and obviously straight up wrong. That being said, Balmung is not -their- server and not everyone RPs exactly the same. There's militaristic groups, charity groups, light-hearted groups, somewhat lore-bending groups beyond my tolerance... but yeah NEVER think you should leave a server just because someone told you to. That's my two gil.

I'm always please to be part of randoms. I'll be in game in about a week or less. John Spiegel Alex Silversheath Grace Silversheath

One sun. Two suns. Three suns. Gore. The Balloon Settlement had the Wind Witch's followers strongly stated on the east but not so much the west side. No doubt they were trying to cut it off completely and make it a stronghold. He started with the west where the raiders came from. The Bark Criers would no doubt do the same, but being a single person, he could mobilize faster. Strike meaner. Kill more. They weren't expecting a retaliation so soon. With the Fury and Destruction of the Fury and her father the Destroyer deities, the slaughter began. At first there were runts. Their vestigial feathers hadn't even molded more than a few times. Their crying squawks and squawking cries ring true and quick. He does have mercy after all. A longsword here, a polearm there, a small fortune of weapons he began to collect. One head. Two. Three. Four. Five. The heads of them stuck on a pike which he fitted to his armor. Their heads acting his banner. By the eve of the first night, all of the western flank of the Balloon Settlement was free if them. That wasn't enough for him. He made modest camp. A passing Bark Crier brigade passed. Information was swapped. So were underhanded remarks of Mountain Brutes and immanent Woodsin. Wouldn't be the first time. He learned surveyed till the following eve then he struck. Wind Witch's followers gathered rally in a gorge. This was their fatal mistake. A stomp. A crush. Rolling. Their exit was sealed only the sky lead free. In their fright, they attempted to fly. Generations ago perhaps. Their most ancient ones probably still could fly. Above where he stood he launched the piked heads they flew true to their small target: the ground. Just then lightning flashed as if the Destroyer gave approval -- or perhaps Old Thunder, granting his blessing to cleanse his woods. These were older ones from their homeland in the Always Winter mountains -- he would take the fight there too if he must. The Twelveswood would not give this patch of land away. Not tonight. Arrows began flying past his head and he retreated out of sight. Fires of torches soon filled the ridge. Bark Criers. Dozens of them. Archers backed by pikemen. Not a single beastman stood left. He returns home in time to see his son carrying the Woodland Highlander, his own face splattered with beast blood. She lay peacefully in his arms. A smile crosses his face as thuds from his armor are heard from removing them piece by blooded piece. His undershirt and pants were patched brown with dried blood and stunk of blood, mostly their blood, and sweat. Seeing his son, one who was always the meekly mannered and only fought back when really pushed -- something was different. Had she tempered his heart to discover himself when they take off on their journey? The son's journey is something he believes should happen. He imagines there has been something deep in him calling him to this. Something missing from his life other than his sister and da.

Gusts of slashes cur the air around as he swings his greatsword teetering on the top of rocks. He back flips and propels himself from a rock to a giant tree above before using the tree to push himself down in a vertical smash, crushing the rock he lands on and sending shards flying. He's not ignoring his son or daughter though he is clearing his mind as to help temper their hearts. His son has met a woman, the Woodland Highlander, and has resolved to follow her in her journey. Perhaps his son was looking for something in himself. The women that have frequented the household, the Green Lady, the Demon Woman's daughter, the Goblin Cat, the Woodland Highander. They all seemed to have positive influences on the daughter. Just as the son and he wished. The daughter is still far from getting back to herself, if that would even be possible, but it's a start, or so he tells himself. The Woodland Highlander has been invited by the son to take housing in the son's home for as long as she wishes or until the son has settled his home to start their journey together. It was early one morn when he returned from a nights training and prepared himself a feast on a bun. The son and daughter were just leaving for their morning training. He hadn't met the woman yet, she lay slumbering in the bed down the hall. He heard of her beauty and kindness from the son. He squats on the window sill, quietly eating his feast on a bun while watching the Woodland Highlander slumber. Her peaceful innocent sleep gave him an unperverse and pure smile. That's a sight he hasn't seen in moons or cycles. At times he himself was the cause of nightmares to people. At times he was the one quelling the nightmares or "dream gods". The Woodland Highlander has her own worries but seemed to have set those aside for a peaceful slumber. He takes a bite of his feast on a bun. The following sun, the Wind Witch's followers raided the Balloon Settlement at the foothills of the now Long Winterland. The son went to offer his plant and medicine help. While he himself went in secret to wage Hells on the Wind Witch's followers. He is apparently missing by those of the son's household. The daughter and Woodland Highlander might notice.

It's not unlike the other hardships he's experienced. A woman he and other orphans revered as a mother figure is killed, he killed the killer and ran away from Ala Mhigo and began "adventuring". He's finally free as he always wanted to be. Tender age of twelve. He gets in a terrible accident which severely burns his scalp, he recovers and shrugs that off. It's just hair. He loses his eye. He shrugged that off too. Kept moving forward. It's just an eye. He still got one good one. He's accepted and welcomes that he's going to burn for all the lives he took, innocent or otherwise.. out there on the killing floor. He's forcibly moved from his friends by his wife due to the nature of his Pandorican curse. That wasn't so bad. He had his wife and children all in good health. The Garleans swept through Gyr Abania, killing the majority of people he revered as family. His wife, his step brother, his father in law, a number of monks... that took awhile to get back on his feet. But he did anyways. And he hit the road like he was jackknifed and was never going to go back no more... Nevermore. Facing the end of the Sixth Astral Era which by all accounts should have been the end of it all. The Seventh Verse. Bahamut. An entire army to fight. Perhaps this would be where his luck ran out. Think again. His darksteel breastplate and helm were blown off during his blood curdling charges as he tore through groups of Garleans and magitek alike. A white light threw him five years into the future like so many others. As long as he found his son and daughter all would be alright. He thought. He traveled the three nations of the Grand Company with plans of heading north if he didn't find her. He found her but.. her spirit was broken. This wasn't unfamiliar either, all of their hearts ached after Ala Mhigo was seiged. This was different. She finally let her raging heart calm after fifteen years of her family's loss only to have it ripped from her chest in the most horrible of fashions. His son, though they were five cycles scarred over, lost his fire as well. His meek demeanor doesn't let it seem as such though. But the son is resolved in helping his sister through this. The pains his children felt a second time are things no parent wants their child to experence a first time. There's no bad guy to kill to make it better. No way of saying it will be better tomorrow... possibly. There's just time. Time he's well off to waiting through but seeing his son and daughter slither through this is anything but pleasant. Every time his daughter cries, every time his son puts on a strong face.. it's twisting a knife. It's something he can't grab onto and squeeze the pain out of, and believe me, he's tried. A lot.

7th Astral ^^ 6th Astral -> Bahamut's Birfday reigned in 6th Umbral -> Defeat of Ultima Weapon/Garleans in Eorzea reigned in 7th Astral

My folks and I are mulling around and have pretty much agreed to wait until the first expansion announcement for the majority of 2.0 plot to have happened. That's still up for debate, though, in our house. We've concluded that during those big boy raids at the end of 2.0 storyline that our characters would be at one of the other raids wooping ass at another Castrum or some other facet (Crystalline is about charity/healing, so a good portion of them might be behind the battleline tending to wounded even), but that's still a ways away from us properly RPing it. We're running on such a lagged timeframe from input from folks' experience on various MMOs and that our individual plots aren't really tied to the main storyline anyways. This will always be an issue in any RP community since not every group will agree on when to say "hey, we're all officially at the end of content A".

People forget that Ultima Weapon wasn't the only big as hell operation going on during the end. There were massive attacks on all Garlean strongholds. When me and my people get around for time to catch up to the storyline (that's a whole other topic), we will figure that crap out. Of course not all characters would even participate in that for one reason or another.. pregnant, dead, on the lamb or whatever. I eyeroll (JJ has one eye so lol) whenever someone's out to be that single character that trumps all.

As others have said, if it is in your character's character to write things down, simply figure out how they would write. Simple, complex, elegant... Alex's Journal has the thoughts of Alex Silversheath, one of my characters in it. It (kind of) starts with directly following Dalmund but I quickly skip up to several months ago and his journey of trying to remember his dad and sister, joining Crystalline and relationship with Costia Demora. His writing style is scatter-brained at times to reflect his ever-working and over-thinking mind. He makes frequent digressions to reflect his spoken word, though it is much neater as he doesn't stammer when writing! Some characters, simply, aren't cut to write journals. My other character, JJ, is not one to divulge much about himself to anyone, let alone a piece of paper. Perceptions of a Madman is my attempt to do a third-party narration of some of what goes on in JJ's head. Not exactly a journal but it reveals thoughts that otherwise wouldn't be known my anyone OOCly (unless they asked). JJ is a HIGHLY private individual when it comes to deep things like that.