Gaspard

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I've used the Half - Garlean heritage as a sort of 'indeficiency to overcome', putting obstacles in his progression as a Thaumaturge. I've taken to it this way because, Initially I think people perceived Garleans incapable of using magic as a result of their Aether farming for Ceruleum, thus rendering them incapable to 'sense' Aether over the decades and so on, making it a hereditary, genetic thing. Once it became apparent however that that was less the case and they where just genetically inept to use Aether by default, I've had to make atleast one of his parents Garlean Migrants. Thus making his Origin of Birth Garlean, but his bloodline far from it. By pure lore technicality (So far atleast), the only thing you cannot have is a pure-blooded, third-eye garlean mage. Aslong one of his parents is a migrant/Eorzean/Doman etc, It's likely that he too can be able to use magic, and eventually become proficient in it. The indeficiency bit probably just aims to help you avoid getting into the 'special snowflake' (which is a term I abhor at this point, seriously) territory, as in adding background information not to be original, but to be unique. You may net a frown here and there if people find out your character has garlean heritage and is a mage, but it 'is' possible.

Well if all involved characters are played characters, and not NPC's, the dynamic is different. What you're subjected to at that point is a player vs. player fight, which would boil back down to the fight vs. flight response and measuring 'proficiencies' against eachother if not talking about it OOCly. Either way, Communicate your intend and perceived consequences clearly and beforehand oocly, otherwise you'll end up with a mess that is hard to fix.

Situations like these are usually rooted in a lack of communication, and with one of the players garnering a 'fight or flight' response, immediately blocking any further communication. Without an actual fighting system both agree to use above, there's no way to just 'text it out' without probably breaking one anothers concepts/perception of their own characters. As sold as one person might be in the strength and proficiency of his own character, or the effectiveness of his political pull / wealth, so may the other character be, and you may end up in an endless 'arm-race' cycle drawing to out-argue or ICly out-arm eachother. The only way to avoid that is to either talk things through beforehand, or to have a Dungeon Master above to call the shots. As the latter doesn't exist in an Open-RP environment, OOC communication is a must. So the answer to that would be ; Make sure to talk things through before conflict even takes place. As for the point of Otto 'sicking his hounds' on somebody. The moment you make use of NPC's like that, you stop responding as a singular character and begin acting like a faction. You're basically playing 'Otto's Mafia', and not 'Otto'. The same way you could perhaps suddenly introduce your 'henchmen' to send after, the opposing player may recruit his own NPC's from his own background, such as 'close friend/family/brother in arms'. The problem with power, or powerful characters in whatever shape or form is that, in an open-rp environment, players sometimes end up believing they can actually use said power to full effect, while other players must take it. That is simply not the case. Unless all involved players adhere to the same storyline/rules/guidelines and narrative in which there's an overarching Dungeon Master/Story-Admin w/e present to call the shots in regards to NPC response / effectiveness, You'll be simply entering an argument about your effectiveness versus the other players, and those usually end badly. So to summarize it.. If you're playing in an Open RP environment ; Talk Oocly beforehand, always. If you're playing in a seperate, controlled narrative ; You can ommit the OOC talk part, if there's someone present to call the shots fairly.

Within storytelling, or entertainment in general, people tend to be drawn towards the darker things in life. Even if you wind back to the times of shakespeare, everything revolved around betrayal, lust, and the likes. For more common-day examples, just take a look at what type of shows are trending. Hannibal, Dexter. Movies that fall under the 'revenge flick' category such as 'Law abiding Citizen' or the recent 'John Wick', All revolve around Characters doing what we normally do not, and we find ourselves compelled by these stories. However, What all of these stay clear from, is sexual tension / attraction to minors, Unless it's depicted as what it is. A gruesome, disgusting and stomach churning event. And that is in 'writing' alone, without the 'dynamic' component of Roleplaying. Roleplaying as such will always be a dynamic thing. It involves interaction, not just mere writing/storytelling. You actively work with others by doing a sort of give/take feedback circle, to weave the story. Now, the moment you RP material with a minor that is sexually loaded, all you need to do is strip away the tag of 'RP' and what you're essentially doing is texting eachother sexually arousing material. Any Lawyer can have a field day with that, rightfully so. Now, if both are of age and doing a plot involving minors, that 'is' up to them, but you still may find yourself in that 'child-pornography' nieche, because you're pushing boundaries hard there. Can you be prosecuted for it? Probably not. However, in my personal opinion it 'is' disgusting, and if you try to brush it off with 'It's RP so everything goes' you clearly do not understand the social dynamic behind roleplay and the inevitable link between player and character. I may be alone in this, but when it comes to roleplaying I consider children off-limits. Simply because roleplaying is 'not' just this harmless form of storytelling, as it is far too dynamic for that. I go by the general rule of thumb 'you can do anything, aslong adults are involved/adult characters are involved.', Child characters however are entirely out of question.

Considering the sorts that would think a male "courtesan" something desirable, it strikes me that such men might often be referred to as being part of some separate profession - a butler, or messenger, or musician, or masseur, or the like. There are fewer traditional roles for males in the traditional sense of being a courtesan, so it might behoove such a male to take on a more sociably acceptable role to mask what he did for his clients. A music teacher, combat instructor, professional speaker, or dance instructor would make excellent cover for a male whose primary income came from entertaining clients, and since there may be more potential humiliating social stigma in seeking a male "courtesan" than a female one ("What, a good-looking one like you can't find some big, muscled brute for a free romp? What's wrong with you?"), a man who has skills, social standing and a very advanced sense of discretion may meld these roles smoothly into anything else he might offer. In other words, lacking a social structure that sees men used as frequently as women as temporary compensated company, the need for a male-specific title may not even be WANTED by the clientele, for reasons of discretion. I haven't yet seen in Eorzean lore a setting in which such a different social structure exists in force, but I'd be happy to be corrected. However, it amuses me to think that Patrick Swayze's character from DIRTY DANCING was pretty much one good epiphany from being the very sort of male "courtesan" that would be in demand. Or every Yoga teacher in history of Yoga Teachers. "And now do the howling dog. Ooooooh yeah."

i take ingame gil only, because I currently don't feel comfortable charging hard cash for where I am at quality wise. 50k ingame basically

Aye aye. I'd need a good screenshot of your liking, and then I can fix you up something similar to Vals relatively quickly. The 50K fee in the first post is the updated one, so that's the current one, yes. So, just send me a good Screenshot (prefferably with no UI elements) And I'll get something done for ya.

It's a bit of a shady suspect I think. Asfar I recall, BLM's draw certain powers from the Void/ World of Darkness equivalent in FFXIV. Nald'thal 'is' the guardian deity of the Underworld, therefore, it 'could' be said that all BLM's must, in some way (whether knowingly or not), be connected to that. Therefore, you may not need the connection to Ul'dah, but you certainly need the Nald'thal bits in some regard.

Cocaine is one hell of a drug

I knew someone would make this argument, and for the MSQ you are correct. But there are many questlines that fall outside of this progression, such as the Paladin job quests which people -could- do after the MSQ. All of these quests would have to be updated in order to make sense. Even if it's just a dialogue change. But it also would not make sense to keep Jenlyns in the Husting Strip. It would make the sidequests story timeline dependent, sure, but that's how it goes usually in MMO's. There's probably various other sidequests that have already been torn apart continuity wise, Or anything featuring garlean commentary. Within the MSQ, you end up defeating Gaius and Ultima Weapon, this in itself probably retcons a handful of NPC dialogue/material aimed at you prior to those events. Ofcourse that's only a theoretical, but I could very well imagine that to be the case. As is with many other MMO's (For example Swtor). Where you have a plethora of dungeons/Quests you needn't run, but which throw the story on its head (For example, you end up killing the Emperor, you end up killing Darth Malgus, all of which are bound tightly in various NPC actions, Main and sidequest alike). I guess the main point to keep in mind is that we as Roleplayers aren't the number one concern, and that continuity needs only to be established within the main characters story progression. If the rest doesn't fit 100 percent, that's something we as roleplayers stumble over, but the rest probably pays absolutely no mind/heed to.

Whichever way this turns out, I'm pretty sure that, until we get our next MSQ fix come next patch, all this speculating is somewhat trivial in regards to the RP scenery. So far no clear result/action has been taken, and as such there's nothing to act upon. We know what the Sultana wants to do OOCly, but Icly's nothing changed. 'yet'. However, 'should' things change down for the general RP scope, then yeah, everyone's who's involved in some way with Ul'dahs government will have to figure out a way to adapt his story to the changes appropriately. I guess this especially rings true for the Sultansworn, but that's what happens when you attach yourself to IC NPC's role wise. There's always the probability that something will happen with those characters. Infact, it's more likely that, in progression, the main cast of the NPC's will end up doing drastic/dramatical things, because that is how stories are told in MMO's most times. Kings fall, heroes rise, etc. FFXIV wouldn't be the first to do it, and I wouldn't find it irresponsible on their behalf at all if they end up doing drastic changes to Ul'dah. Also, for the argument that they'd have to re-write the entire storylines and quest lines etc by then ; Nope. Given the MSQ acts like a progression, It would actually make more sense to keep NPC dialogue etc etc as it is. You 'start' as a hero imbued with the echo, back at that time post calamity, and progress bit by bit in the MSQ up to the current events. You should remember that MMO's don't follow a fixed timeline principle where everyone must, at all times, be present in the very same continuity/timeline with their characters. That's a necessity for Roleplayers, but not MMO's.

Le new sig

Drawing, Sketching, Coloring

While I'm cringing while posting this, it 'is' very..appropriate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znQaKaQXZUM Mostly because Lucan is into the Occult, Obsessed with Power and Survival, to the point he's willing to sacrifice his humanity, Obsessed with the Art of War and so on, yet still so self aware of it that he knows exactly what he's making himself out to be

I used to push my characters in a certain niche and stick with it in the past. Comedic Characters staying in comedy, Dramatic in Drama, Gritty and Gloomy in Doom and Gloom. There's however a limit to it. You do not always get to choose what type of environment your character ends up in, or what characters he's around, and often-times this means that alot of those facets do not get exposed. Therfore, even if my Character is, for the lack of a better description, a magnificent bastard, you might end up playing him as just a common merchant or Civilian all the time, as the surrounding Situation does not allow you to.. truly delve into those facets of your Characters personality. I usually go with the notion of creating a Character and his Mind-set, and the setting develops from the Roleplay that I do. Akin to how many writers simply 'toss' situations at their characters to display their reaction, I do it likewise. My Character would respond differently to a comedic setting as he would in a horror-esque one. So there's no true 'direction' I force myself into beyond the general vybe of my characters personal plots. Which usually end up being about chasing power or righting wrongs in a very anti-hero esque fashion. Either way, beyond that my personal prefference rests somewhere in the Semi-Realistic, Lore-based play. I'll be honest. I don't roleplay to enter a Real-Life simulation where absolutely everything adheres to Real-World logic, physics and the likes. If I would, I'd be roleplaying some type of CEO/Lawyer in New York. I gravitate towards Dark Fantasy stories, Ranging anywhere from things like Hellblazer, to Dracula, to other dark-fantasy materials. Right behind that you've got the psychologically dark themed stories and heroes such as Hannibal and the likes. For fights, or general RP mechanics, I do not mind fantasy material at all, and if going Devil may Cry or more stylistically in your fights is your thing, I'm not opposed to it. Aslong it has an astound foundation in the lore, and is explainable by it without too much of a stretch in imagination. I'll frown upon a Rasenshuriken or Kamehameha frown in my direction, But if your character is capable of uncanny degrees of speed due to having surpassed his physical limits as a Monk, or Is able to shred through another being clean with an axe, I wont have any obligations with that. So towards your description.. I'd go with Hard-Fantasy Realism. Logically packaged fantasy so that it doesn't entice eyebrow irking responses.

well after alpt of thought i cant help but keep hearing lucan in james spaders voice. Theres just something badass to his calm cadence. Its emotive and yet never to the point you'd consider it 'out of control'

catch 22, you surround yourself with japanese games(FFXIV) and an avatar from a japanese game. You clearly are a Weeaboo. Or; I don't believe anyone here qualifies as a Weeaboo unless you finish buying your groceries with 'Arigato', or spam Kawai Desukane Senpai notice me lines.

If the shoe fits indeed.

I guess it comes down to the degree you take the Japan culture porting. There's taking a bit of it, and there's ripping it 90 percent. For example; Highlanders are more or less taking after the Nordic folk, such as old Viking cultures, with their teutonic/germanic names etc, which is fine. It does become a bit overburdening if your name is Loki Mjönir however, preying to the Deity of Adin the Wanderer, Who's son is also your Tribe-Leader by the name of Thur. The biggest issue is that people, not being from Japan as such forget just how unoriginal it is to simply take and mix things you can grab. It may not seem so bad if your char is called Ryonosuke Tsubasa, the Ninja from a japan-esque continent with clans of ninjas warring against eachother, but if you'd shift that into more familiar context, you'd quickly understand the cringe-worthiness of it. So yes, FFXIV takes 'alot' of inspiration from real world history and blends/likens it to Final fantasy standards, but it does not outright -port- the entire thing over. If it would, Shiva would have to be the exclusive goddess of the Indian esque culture (That being Thavnarian I think), instead of a simple Primal, Odin wouldn't be a Primal of his own but the god of the Highlanders etc etc etc. I guess what people are trying to say is 'be wary of the conclusions you jump to', because you might be jumping into a straighout pit from where there's no return character-concept wise.

@ TheLastCandle : Screw you for giving me a hard-on at work. On a serious note; I'd advice that you don't become as.. haphazard over it. ERP isn't just roleplay. Yes, if you take it by very distanced, closed off measures, it is. Still, Women (unless the whole world was lying to me) Like to feel desired, to be enough to satisfy your needs, and the moment you consume 'any' other sexual material (May that be pornography, erotic novels and/or ERP), she may feel inadequate to your needs / sexual prefferences. Oh, and a good measure in this regard is to think of it in a catch 22. Imagine your Girlfriend texting dirty/hot things with a male friend of hers, material that could potential 'turn her on'. Would you feel comfortable with that? Don't forget, even if ERP is just RP, it's also Erotic, and people don't consume Erotica for the sake of the 'storytelling'.

Everyone ever signing on to play a villain-type should be forced to read this and sign a document stating they've read it. Yep! This is a big one. To reinforce this, here's the relevant section from the Tylwyth Narah new member's guide: unless this is watchmen and your name is ozymandias

also, all typos where provided to you by nokia lumia. Connecting people like vodka does. i hate this phone.

I think a good idea would be to create an area actually controlled and nurtured by villa villainous types. For ine, anything outsode of the major cities should be fine. Think goblet and the outskirts of ul'dah (coffer and coffin etc), then theres always an option to go tortuga. As in pirates of the carribean tortuga. Something in asimilar veign should work splendidly.

my name is gaspard and this is jackass. -slingshots himself face first at the thread-