Zhavi

See, I tend to pick names with meanings, but then a month after creation I completely forget what the meanings are. Oh well. At least I can remember what streetrunner means!

Brindle clamped his teeth down hard, as if to stubbornly refuse to say anything else that might provide the roe -- thus far classified as probably an enemy -- any more fuel. But, snark was too hard to resist. His teeth opened on a snarl: "I'll not help ye find 'er." They were approaching lights: another hole-in-the-wall. Time for more questions, and more of the half-answers Limsan Lominsans were so rutting good at. ______________ There were times when Solitaire knew in the depths of his gut that he was onto something good. Anyone else might spit on it, but he'd always trusted his instincts. His instincts were good. He had the stashes to prove it. The encounter with the roegadyn had triggered something in him, and even several bells after they'd parted his mind kept returning to it, itching, and itching. Something was going on, and it smelled like gil. He'd two things needed seeing to, and he did them in order. He prided himself on being reliable, but while he was about his business he dropped a few lines, and felt them up for tension. As usual there was more than a fair share of various nefarious things going on, some further abovedecks than others. It took time to sift through the tall tales, rumors, and hard pearls of truth. One thing he knew for true, though, was that a small number of interesting folk were tailing after the crook-tailed scut. What he didn't know was why. He was finishing a delivery when he heard a few strongarms laughing at a tall weed of a duskwight. The man was distinctly out of place in the smoking shop, even for its illicit backrooms. He looked like a navigator off a merchant ship, the sort of man best at home with books, puffed-up snobs, and overpriced wine. "I was speaking to the shop owner," the man was saying, low voice cutting through the guttural chuckles. A bag of gil was produced, taken, and the rowdy sailors were unceremoniously shooed out with the customary banter of regulars. Solitaire turned to a display of elaborately carved pipes and their accouterments, shuffling sideways to another shelf with trays of leaf so he was out of direct line of sight of the duskwight. "I've a package gone missing, along with the runner what was charged with its safekeeping." "What'd ye have me do for ye?" The owner asked, voice all velvet. "All manner o' missing things come traipsing through. I've a mind to make sure if what's lost finds its way through your door, it finds its way home." Solitaire strained to hear the next few exchanges, and caught only a few words -- one of which was 'tail.' A longshot, that word. But his gut told him it was one worth following. When the duskwight left the shop, Solitaire was not long behind. . .with a fresh pouch of leaf in his pocket.

What I'm saying is to build your core, and then build off your core. But ... okay, well, this is my opinion about people in general, and rpers in particular. So, keep that in mind. Most people want to be involved in something bigger. They want to join something that is moving. They want to come in, see what's going on, and then do their own thing alongside or with that. Most people, when they see something already exists, will be more likely to join that (because they know it works, and they know it won't die). So, with two servers already going, the prospect of a third that might possibly go belly up or not provide what someone is looking for in particular is not going to appeal to a lot of people. This is not counting the fact that still more others don't want to split up the rp community more than is necessary. People need a reason. So when you say "are there people on this forum who'd be interested in starting a third RP server." what people hear is "are you willing to put time and effort into building something that might go belly up." And for a lot of people that answer is no. What you're really looking for is an organizer. An active person (two or three working together is a good start, imo). Because this -- "That doesn't mean everyone can just build their own RP community out of whatever disparate RPers are hanging around." says to me "we need someone who will bring people together to rp regularly." This -- "but arranging for those people to hang out together regularly, to build something together isn't necessarily practical." is totally doable, and in the context of building a new place for people to rp in, is the practical thing. I used to function as a raiding recruiter. My guild was built around people with careers. It was semi-hardcore, and on a small server. I had to sell it to people with sometimes four or five characters who would then spend money to transfer all of those characters to our server. But before they would, I had to prove to each and every person I wanted in my guild that we had quality people, a plan, and that we were having fun. So when I see the topic of another server come up, what I see in my head (to be blunt) is: does anyone want to organize and lead rp on another server? And if the people bringing up those topics aren't willing to do that, it ain't gonna happen. In the end, it doesn't matter about practicality, or whether or not another one is "needed" or any of that. What matters is how you go about recruiting people to your cause. When it comes to rp? The first step is to build an active core community. The second step is to advertise/recruit for a specific purpose. The third step is to deliver and be consistent. Build it and people will come. Will it be another Balmung or Gilgamesh? I don't know. But can you have a small, thriving community on another that caters to a certain kind of rper, that maybe grows over time? You bet your ass.

One of my favorite rp communities only has 20-30 people active in it. You don't need a Balmung size group for good rp, just for ease of finding open world rp. My advice? Don't try to start a rp server. Try to start good rp with what you have. "I know plenty between various FCs and linkshells and what not, or people who would RP if their was more of an RP community" You know what I'm fond of saying? I only need one person to build a fulfilling, engaging rp experience. Start rping with people. Build your stories. Be interactive. Be welcoming. But don't focus on the server, focus on the people you have and what you can do with them. Then once you've got your group and your rp, talk to newbies here who are looking for more of an intimate rp experience (don't falsely advertise), tell them what you have going on, see if they're interested. It's far easier to build off a core then to just tell people to 'come here, some of us want to rp!' You rp first. The rest comes with time and consistency. edit - because honestly? The only way you'd attract me to another server is if you say 'we did this and this rp, and this kind of storytelling and these twists and these sorts of characters and we're having a blast!' Then I go 'ooh, that kind of plotting? Those kinds of characters? I like that kind of stuff. I wanna rp with you guys.'

I really like that you're having Okhi work on her language skills; it's a neat little bit of spice that can really add to character depth and development.

Many thank yous for this link! No problem! I'm so far behind, myself, I've been using it too!

My favorite type of romance story (to write) is the kind that leaves everyone involved emotionally crippled. ;D

A very useful guide to catching up: if it hasn't been mentioned, you can bypass server restrictions (if you're not willing to do the daily lottery of trying to find the sweet spot in the early morning when pop is low and they're lifted) by transferring a character in. It will cost you $10, though (or $20, I don't remember).

"I ain't wi' ye."

@Hiroto Absolutely! Due to me still trying to figure out a comfortable schedule with work and school, the only day I'm for sure for sure gonna be on is Saturday -- so I will search for you when I am on, as well. It could be fun to see how Geneq clansmen from different camps/family groups interact! Wavekin language fun? Heck to the yeah! @Goodfellow - I will take any and all of your characters, mate. Bring 'em on. One of the fun things I was looking to do was a reversal of how the Mongolians were viewed in history. Everyone thought the steppes groups were brutal savages with the intellect of common beasts, whose culture was nothing more than the barest assemblage of ritualized behaviors. So I'm inverting that, where Ukakijin comes to Eorzea through a situation out of her control, and sees all the ways the Eorzeans lives, and thinks she's stuck in some kind of backwards hell filled with savages. As time passes, her perceptions and beliefs are going to be repeatedly challenged, and the fun for me is seeing if she's able to adjust and accept that people are not so easily categorized into boxes, or have a break and/or meltdown under the weight of her own bigotry. So . . . I'm down for whatever you got.

Cool beans! Will add in game if I see any of y'all. edit -w hoops, the friend request will be coming from Ukakijin Geneq.

Alright, since I'm having a lot of block with Zhi, tossing my Au Ra into the mix. Refugee, searching for a mythological/rumored cure for someone left behind in a "safe place" she refuses to talk about. Highly religious, somewhat xenophobic; she is struggling to adhere to her faith despite continually coming up against things that contradict it. As a result she is slow to accept change, and she is handling the culture shock of Eorzea by rationalizing the people and cultures as being inferior in various ways to her own. But still, in her own foolishness, she has spent the things of value she owned and now lives hand to mouth, doing small jobs to get by (the ones she doesn't scorn, anyways) and occasionally breaking laws by accident. Meanwhile, I'd like her to meet people who make her question her concept of truth and what's "normal." She is wary, but still gets taken advantage of due to her poor understandings of Eorzean laws and customs. She is skilled with animal husbandry, basic leatherworking and sewing, some botany, hunting (archery, though she's not so great at it in forests), and replicating animal calls. She has high ideals of loyalty and family, and some twisted ideas of honor (when it is and isn't applicable; she's of a survivalist mentality first and foremost). She's determined to complete her quest, but her increasingly complicated doubts are starting to make her question everything. Hit me up if interested. Adventuring, retrospectives, skullduggery, mishaps, misunderstandings, employer/employee -- whatevs. I got your back, boo. Time is limited in game; if we can't make in-game work and you don't mind a forum thread that'd be great. Leave a reply here or send me a pm.

I try to do that as well. I will usually have a general idea of where I would like to go with a plot if/when I present it... but I also try to be open enough that if something comes up that alters the path - or someone has some other ideas - I can roll with it. I suppose Gogon is a good example of that - original plan had him dead, and he's done quite a bit since when that was supposed to happen. What if it wasn't just like something you roll with. If someone had the idea of a plot that went one way then someone or something from your character's past came up like a nuclear fuckin' bomb or a force of nature that wouldn't just shatter your plans but could potentially shatter your partner's too. At that point do you say "Well, look this has been important to my character in the past I can't ignore it." or do you go "Well my character will be affected by this, maybe even dramatically, but I'm going to go for the same loosely defined end goal regardless." And further more would it change the way you viewed this event if you'd known that a lot of the reason this event happened was because of your change in plot. To use the trope again, guy changes not because he would ordinarily have changed but because the idea of losing girl was so bad for guy, his character went through its own development to match. if it makes sense, I roll with it. If it doesn't I either discuss it until it does, or drop it. I once had someone ruin my character in the course of the rp. She was chattel, a means of getting to another character. Still rolled with it. Couldn't play her after, didn't care. The story was worth it.

Any well thought out and interesting idea, or accommodations to either bring in a character or let a character leave. Or, well, something unexpected happening in the rp, so long as it wasn't a nonsensical bit of godmoding. 99.9999% of the time, I leave everything but the beginning setup open to change. I like my rp fluid.

Lower lip outthrust and tone full of suspicion, he demanded, "'Oo's it yer wi', then?"

I like complaining about the character creator at any opportunity I get! /rabble That said, when it comes to ugly, it means a lot of tedious repetition. People assume attractive, or at least average. They do (average is average for a reason, after all). If I want people to think otherwise without a glaringly obvious image in front of them, I have to provide specifics. Frequently. It gets old.

Beautiful tends to correspond with average. Clean features, symmetrical, certain proportions. While beauty does vary across cultures, there's generally some things that stay the same, and those are things that signify a healthy person. So when I decided to make Zhi ugly, it was those things I targeted. But then the character creator wouldn't cooperate. At best, in game she looks dirty and boyish; the most I can hope for is 'plain' but most people consider her 'cute.' In the end, there's a pretty jarring gap between how I have her in my head and what's in game. So.......it's to the point where I'm more pushing how gross her hygiene is than doing anything with her features. She looks how she looks, and I feel it's too confusing for people if I talk about how her mouth is wide like a frog's and her eyes are mean and small and her nose is too short when in game she is none of that. I'll just give her a STD instead.

Brindle blinked. He narrowed his eyes, body rigid under Styrm's arm. "So ye work fer a ship's crew, is't?" He didn't show a sign of hearing the roe's question.

I feel like this is simplifying the emotional struggle too much. The failures you fear the most are the most complicated, the ones that hit you on multiple levels. The last straws, the big, impactful, long-lasting ones that take more away from you than you know how to deal with. Especially if you've already exhausted your avenues of help, or know that there is not really anything else you can do. Those suck, and they suck hard, and there is no way around that except to accept it and pick yourself back up. Sometimes a video game is the last piece of self-worth people have, and so yeah, of course it's a scary prospect. Sometimes it isn't okay to fail. But you have to learn to keep trying anyways, and nothing will make it easier or better.

Something Styrm had said made Brindle go quiet and still for a moment. "An' they let ye do that, hey?"

Zhavi snapped awhile ago, which is why she's as broken as she is now. Indentured servitude did it for her, and being used like chattel to further the means of others. The realization that she was alone and couldn't trust anyone, that her feelings don't matter and never did, that the world is objectively cruel: it cracked her. It wasn't anything big, or any big defining moment, but it was the gradual wearing away at her soul and the obliteration of her innocence as a young person that turned her into the paranoid, drug and alcohol addicted loser she presently is.

Brindle shrugged, and squirmed a little: he resented being carried like some wet-nosed brat. "Ye mean yer mam named ye that? What, ye ain't changed t'fit who yer runnin' wi'?"

Brindle thought about that a moment, eyebrows drawn close over his nose. "What's that mean?"

Brindle struggled, he really did. Somehow, as much as he struggled, the big roe seemed even less to notice, not even when Brindle showed off his impressive vocabulary of dockside words. In the end, he wore himself out, and resolved to make himself as much of a burden as possible: he went limp under Styrm's arm and went unresponsive in general. He was still listening. In fact, as they moved and as he watched Styrm in his interactions, he began to get a funny feeling in his gut. There was something different about the roe, about the way he moved and talked, about the way he asked questions. Even the way he got frustrated. Brindle would have said he was clueless, but even that wasn't so, not exactly. It was more like he was all rusted up and picking it off in bits, bright steel showing in spades. It took two places, with Brindle existing in a mostly sullen silence, before he chose to speak words that were not prompted by spite or the urge to jeer at Styrm. "Who are ye?"

"The ones what came afore yerself, scrag!" Brindle screwed up his face and spat, followed by a muttered, "yet."