Yssen

Just that they cannot use magic and that magitek is very prolific in the empire. Reapers, field generators, Mecha, fighter craft, etc. etc. We also have examples and lore bits of the soldiers having magitek attached to their armor. Given that Garleans are mostly indistinguishable from Hyur's (save of that whole "third eye" thing) we cannot tell which are conscripts and which are pure bloods in the field, unless they are a whole other race like miqo, elezen, roe, or do not have their forehead's covered. Yar.

None of the forms of magic are actually proprietary to the city their guild is based in. Each city has their own casters of many different stripes. The Guilds perform specific function in their city-state. Thaumaturges, among other things (*cough* assassins *cough*) the priesthood of Ul'dah's whacky money religion, Conjureror's help Gridania communicate with the Elementals, Arcanist serve as customs agentes for Limsa, and Astrologians read the stars to predict dragon attacks for Ishgard. While people are encouraged to serve the guild and city-state in exchange for instruction, it is not required. It also is not necessarily required to have learned a character study magic at one of the guilds (Yssen didn't, he learned his Thaumaturgy and what not from his terrifying ex's mom). Similar smaller/master apprentice methods of instruction should be perfectly acceptable. Heck, if you want connections to other PCs, ask for someone to play your character's mentor (or see if they mind sharing a mentor). Long story short, ya have options as far as the basic schools of casting go. Yar. EDIT - Slight lore tid bit worth mentioning. Pureblood Garleans can't cast magic. Imperial casters are either conscripts from lands they have taken over, or using magitek devices to emulate magic. That said, they have a LOT of conscripts and magitek. Yar.

I'm not sure when he has the time to run up a bar tab. It makes more sense when you take into account that we have probably never seen Gerolt sober. He is the High King of Functioning Drunks. Yar.

And hide it. Keep it secret, keep it safe. Either because you got it nefariously, or you will have crazy power mad other mages trying to hunt you down and dissect you to figure out how. Or don't, good plot comes from that too. Yar.

Not so legit. And all three of the can work pretty well. Feel free to poke at me. Yar.

Then how are we to answer the question posed at all?

The answer to that is "no it is not impossible". The ambiguity is in the details. Your opinion is that it is not. Your reasonable speculation of lore says that it is not. This is all fine, but that is not gospel. It is just your opinion.

There is no disservice to answering "No" to their stated question, because the fact of the matter is, there is nothing within the game that is not conjecture on our part that points to the answer being a "Yes." It is not a "warning," it is an answer to a yes or no question. It's great that you're for the building of possibility and such. But, as I have stated, that is not what the OP has asked for. If the OP came in and said something along the lines of, "I don't care what the lore says; give me avenues for creating a White Mage," then that sort of mentality would have a place in an answer offered to them. However, the OP asked, "does the lore we have say this is possible?" Which is an entirely different question, with an entirely different answer. Regarding the idea of an echo chamber, we have to realize that such a thing goes in both directions. Believe it or not, there are people out there who prefer to stick to the lore rather than go with whatever possibilities they like not because they are "elitists" or bullied into doing it or some such, but because they in fact find that a ruleset makes their roleplay more enjoyable. If this is the case, then if we truly care about neutrality, and upholding people's decisions to play in whatever ways that they want, then we shouldn't be forcing "freedom" on them if that's not what they care for. It's a two-way street; just as forcing lore onto people can be seen as wrong, forcing lore away from people can be seen as equally unfavorable. We must therefore act within the system that those asking have put forth, which, in this case, is stated lore. I am not arguing forced freedom, nor am I arguing to play against lore. I am arguing going with what is possible from best guess and speculation. I am saying that the lore is living and breath, none of us know 100% of it, and none of us can deny options with any form of "lore authority" we do not have that. We only have reasonable speculation. One person says, "There can be no WHM PCs with in lore." Another says, "There can be WHM PCs with in lore." Both statements are true and false at the same time. They both are, and will never be be anything more than, statements of best guess speculation and opinion. At least, not until the actual truth of the lore is revealed and observed. Put simply, everything lore related is a grey area. There are no absolutes. The OP asked "Is it really impossible to RP if I want my character to become a White Mage?" There is no absolute answer to this from a lore perspective, and the only way to judge the idea's merit is based on the story and RP they come up with. Yar.

To my knowledge, no one was "cherry-picking," and no one failed to acknowledge the presence of said method in their argument; I even did so in one of my posts. However, our lack of information on it, compounded with its lack of presence within the game at this time, mean that very little can be done with it in this regard. Personal viewpoints on how people have handled being wrong in the past, additionally, have no bearing on the actual argument of living and operating within present lore. The OP asked their question specifically within what we definitively know, by their own choosing. As a result, we can only give an answer within what we definitively know. Doing otherwise would be a disservice to them and their question. That does not mean that they are not free to speculate and draw their own conclusion, but I still see warnings that imply largely being ignored if they do so. When the same thing keeps happening whenever someone asks the same question, it does have bearing on the matter at hand. Just because you personally, I, and some others mentioned the nefarious method does not mean that people did not completely ignore it being a thing. Further, it is a disservice to warn someone against a course of action when the reasons basis for coming to that conclusion are just as speculative as the ones for it. You seem to not quite understand exactly what I am talking about here, so I will clarify. I am for the building up of what is possible, and potentially good story/RP. Not the outright denial of the possible in favor of what is simply popularly held speculation and best guess. Just because more people believe a thing, does not make it true, or the dissenting opinion untrue. I argue that since we must accept that we do not know everything. That sense all we can do is give popular speculation and best guesses, our definition on what must is or is not possible must be "does it make good story/RP for one to do so." Denying it on the basis of "that is the lore" cannot be done, simply because none of us know (or agree) on what any of that is 100%. To do otherwise is to simply become a venomous echo chamber, which is something we have all seen happen over and over. Yar.

Like everyone who kept saying you cannot RP DRGs over and over, even after the Heavensward trailer came out show many of them, in AF, with Gae Bolgs? Or that people often gloss over the fact that we have been told by the main lore dev/guru, Koji Fox that there is another way to get at White Magic that is nefarious? Or any other bit of Jobby Job in Heavensward that has started becoming openly trained in places? (Leaving that one vague for now because spoilers.) One can break lore just as easily by denying things that are out there in favor of their accepted/preferred world view. Saying one type of player is doing that, while another type is not is a silly statement. Particularly when we exist in a state where we do not know everything and can made out to be wrong down the line. Yar. This tangent is mostly off topic anyway, but it's worth noting that there's a difference between being right in retrospect, and actively ignoring current rules or evidence. The lore changes, and what's wrong today can be right tomorrow, and we all adapt in order to suit that. However, if someone, such as the OP, asks a question within the current framework of the lore, that question must be asked within that framework, regardless of the possibility of future change. But the current frame work of the lore, even as it applies to this exact question, is all based on speculation. Despite that, we have people cherry picking their answers to support their point of view. Barely anyone has touched on the "nefarious" method (which we admittedly do not have details about) as being possible. How is denying the methods existence, when it came straight from Koji-Fox's mouth at a panel over a year old, not willful ignornace? We cannot have a full conversation on what is possible and what falls with in the boundaries of lore when we are cherry picking arguments based on the same amount of speculation as everyone else. The polite warnings of what is and is not lore acceptable, all come from the same, cherry picked, speculative argument. That is bad on it's face, to say nothing of the judgements against those that have a differing opinion. That is more than half of what I see here, and that is really really sad. We deny what could be possible (and is possible, based on the same amount of speculation), sack story potential, and deny creativity based on the idea that the hats are green or yellow. It will probably turn out that that hats are actually red, in the end. This would probably not bother me near as much, if people did not use the same speculation and lore diligence in some of the examples I mentioned above to come to a conclusion. They got shame, shade, venom, and such all heaped on them with out a lick of apology or "whoops i was wrong."

Like everyone who kept saying you cannot RP DRGs over and over, even after the Heavensward trailer came out show many of them, in AF, with Gae Bolgs? Or that people often gloss over the fact that we have been told by the main lore dev/guru, Koji Fox that there is another way to get at White Magic that is nefarious? Or any other bit of Jobby Job in Heavensward that has started becoming openly trained in places? (Leaving that one vague for now because spoilers.) One can break lore just as easily by denying things that are out there in favor of their accepted/preferred world view. Saying one type of player is doing that, while another type is not is a silly statement. Particularly when we exist in a state where we do not know everything and can made out to be wrong down the line. Yar.

Or you can avoid mixing OOC and IC and just make sure it never comes up IC if you're really worried about it. But if you've played it really solidly, I doubt any decent RPer is going to have an issue with it, and if they do, they can speak to you then. If people we good at avoiding the mix of IC and OOC in their RP effectively, we wouldn't have people shouting down anyone that may be asking about how to RP a WHM with stuff like "yeah i won't RP with any of those crazies" with out ifs ands or buts. ;p

Everyone is the protagonist of their own story, and people are telling many different stories. Each story mixes however many elements of the MSQ as on wishes. That can be all, or that can be none, up to the individual. That is the way it is. As far as what the game itself assumes, that is not hugely convoluted. The game assumes there is only on Warrior of Light, as in THE Warrior of Light, the dude running running through MSQ and doing the things. There are, however, many Warriors of Light, meaning people who have the Echo and were were poofed away to the future when the stuff hit the fan at the Battle of Carteneaux. (There are also people who have the Echo and were not at the Battle of Careneaux at all, and other people discovering they have it a stuff moves on). The game assumes your character is THE Warrior of Light. That your character runs around and does the things. That they are a member of the Scions, and work with other Scions to do all the things. That is where the party up people come in, that is your character's place in the story as an individual playing the game. Now, how much of that you RP? Purely up to you. Personally, my character does not run around doing the MSQ stuff. (For the most part.) He does have the Echo, and he does his own thing as he figures out what having it means. Sometimes there are elements of the MSQ he is concerned about (Oppression in Ishgard, the plight of the Heretics and the people in the Brume, for instance). Other times he is not concerned. He is way more concerned with other problems in the world that the Scions seem to not to be focusing on. Yar.

Hey there are other cool options! Like time travel, or an ancient tome. The other possibility is just don't tell anyone. There is no requirement that your character divulge ICLY or OOCLY how they learned to handle succor. ^ THIS! All of this. Then think on what could happen if something (either PC or plot NPC) finds out the secret. Blackmailed? Becoming hunted? Attempted capture for study? Conflict! Drama! Shenanigans! All elements of a good time. Yar.

Actually, she uses... This. Also, when you first meet her, if you started in Limsa, she's called "Cultured Conjurer" before she's given a name. And her shield is an AST ability, not a WHM one. If anything, being Sharlayan and all, she'd be more likely to be an AST than a WHM. But she is neither. Just a really good Conjurer. At the risk of steering off topic. I must disagree. Even if on the basis of SE's production notes to the VAs alone. That is SE telling the people that portray her and other characters (or that direct the person doing the portrayal) exactly what she is. A WHM, just like Thancred is a THF, Yda is a MNK, etc. Anyway. Did not mean to de-rail from the topic at hand. To steer back to that, it can be seen that many people have very differing opinions and views on just how prolific WHM is or is not. It will probably be debated endlessly like DRG, right up until SE tosses a bunch of them in our faces in a CSes and quests. Rarity is not an issue here, and I cannot stress enough that you should just do you. Do as you want. Rock on with your bad self. Be an Avatar possessing half vampire were-burito if that is your thing. Make interesting story and rp. No one here holds the entire ultimania of FFXIV, or even knows for absolute certain what the heck is or isn't in it. The worse that will happen is you'll be wrong about the "nefarious" method's details, should you go that route. Lots of people have had good advice about character work, which is good stuff. You should also remember one of the best rules of good RP. "An Assassin does not run around a crowded tavern telling everyone that they are an Assassin." So, you do have you character become a WHM by whatever method, who is your character going to trust enough to tell? Yar.

I must disagree. She uses Holy before ever entering the Lifestream, her shieldy thing is a WHM ability now, and lastly the production notes given to the VAs list her as a WHM specifically.

Nothing is impossible, do as you wish. It is also worth noting that there IS another way to become a White Mage other than bowing down to the Elementals. We just don't know exactly what it is yet. Just that Koji Fox said it, and that he described the method as "nefarious" when he spoke of it. Yar. There are other NPC WHMs running around out there with zero apparent connection to the Shroud (Y'shtola comes to mind). We can only hope to be illuminated as to what the deal is with non-shroud WHMs in the near-ish future. Yar.

There is a lot of wiggle room here, yes. Each of the casting guilds is more about the method of getting a magical effect to manifest, rather than the actual manifestation itself. How one is fueling the effect. I have not messed with Astro yet, but the other guilds basically break down like this. Thaumaturgy - Fueled by the self and one's own aether reserves/life force. This is part of why it is sometimes referered to as blood magic. Conjury - Technically fueled by the aether of the land around you and replaced with one's own aether reserves. Arcanistry - Fueled by personal aether, but Arcanists also refuel themselves by drawing it out from the land around them in a sort of reverse of Conjury (Aetherflow). Keep in mind this is a hard and fast description. There are other factors that define the methods (Glyphs, Prayer, Will, etc. etc.). By and large, the best way to look at it all is that these methods/schools provide a frame work based on efficiency and safety. Anyone that can channel aether can pull off some sort of magical effect (MNKs use Chakras, NINs have Mundras). Just because one can do something naturally does not mean they are doing so in the safest/most efficient manner. That is where formal training comes in, and each method has effects and purposes that they are more focused on. Thaumaturgy is largely destructive, Conjury largely healing and supportive, but this does not mean that one cannot pull off something not in the normal wheel house of a particular paradigm. By way of example, you can cross class Cure as a Thaumaturge and heal people, but that does not mean you are doing so as efficiently as the techniques and teachings of Conjury would let you. Yar. Hope this is helpful.

More than the Dzemael Darkhold being a cave thing, House Dzemael has been said to be of DW ancestry since 1.0, when we first got DH as a dungeon. The whacky part of the time line comes with the exact timing of when Gelmorra fell and when Ishgard was founded, sorta. We know Ishgard existed when Gelmorra fell because people like Koji-Fox have told us that some DW's went to Ishgard as refugees in the aftermath. The founding legend of Ishgard states that Dzemael was there when Thordan did his thing and the Dragonsong war started 1000 or so years ago. Still, migrating from Gelmorra to "proto-Ishgard" is a thing that cannot be ruled out. As a side note, we know that there was a gap of time between when the DW and WW technically split and the fall of Gelmorra. WW made their deal with the Elementals, Gridania (or proto-Grid) was founded, then Gelmorra was ordered destroyed by will of the Elementals, and the DW scattered to the winds. It gets even more wacky when we add the fact that we have been told small minorities of WW chose not to fall under the yoke of the Elementals and remained in Gelmorra with the DWs. So what exactly are they? DWs by association? It is convoluted, but what we DO know is that the whole WWs and DWs splittin and hating each other stems from the pact with the Elementals and the fall of Gelmorra. Yar.

Some of them do, and the Ishgardians we saw in 1.0 did not. Even notable NPCs like Hauchefant and some others do not have super long ears. Their ears are more like normal WW ears from 1.0. It gets a bit tricky because there is only really on size for the elezen ears when they are wearing some sort of head gear, which most of the ishgardians NPC are doing. Still, this difference remains half artifact of old things and half actually there. Sort of a "do with it what you will" sort of thing. The devs and game makers pay attention to it when they choose too, and so it is with we players. Yar. Still, If you want a sorta awesome example that exist in the concept art, look at the pic to the right on this site's bordery thing. The DW female's ears are longer than the WW's directly behind her. Both are still long, elf-y ears though.

In 1.0 there were pretty stark physical differences between the two flavors of Elezen. Duskwights had larger/longer ears and very different skin tones (some of them even slightly glowy in direct light, which was weird). Wildwoods were confined to shorter ears and more normal skin tones. 2.0 took this away with the slider thing. A present there are only two major physical differences between the two tribes. Duskwights have very accute and sensitive hearing, and are have been known to be a little sensitive to bright light. WW on the other hand developed very keen eyesight. Think"Legolas, what do your elf eyes see?" The only other physical difference is an aesthetic one. WW can have earclasps, DW can have the face tatoos. No, we have no idea of the cultural significance of these things yet. Most RPers I have seen have rolled this over. I have seen more than one WW accused of having DW blood over their longer ears, this sometimes results in super neat RP responses (akin to telling a Hyur they have Sea Wolf blood). The same has also been true and said of DW with shorter ears. With that said, they all used to be one group of Elezen. Elezen as a whole were the first race to come to Eorzea, and came from the north. This happened so long ago that Elezen were often mistaken for having originated on Eorzea. There was no split between the two tribes (culturaly or physically) until the fall of Gelmorra. In fact, all Duskwights trace back to Gelmorra and were scattered when the Elementals and the WW sacked it. DWs did not originate anywhere else, but they did spread to other places (House Dzemael for example, is a Great Houste of Ishgard and a DW lineage). Long story short, as far as passing. If WW and DWs can be accused of having their opposites blood in their veins, one can probably totally pass. As far as species, this is a more mystical or strange thing. All elezen are elezen. DW elezen are a whacky quirk originating from one specific place and one specific time. Also, they were not living underground near long enough to completely adapt to it. They exist because long ago, Elementals were dicks (and still are). Or, in fantasy trope translation, a wizard did it. Yar.

Keeping an open mind is always a good thing. It has always been disappointing to me that people in the community haven't been. There has been, and continues to be, a fair amount of vitriol thrown a people when they are just posting up questions or asking for input. The line between critique and attack has already been covered. While everyone should reflect on that difference, I do not intend to go into a subject already well covered by others. One of the things that has bugged me for a while is the venom thrown at supposedly lore breaking concepts by people, particularly without keeping an open mind to what the game lore might reveal in the future. By way of example, think of every insult thrown at someone who was trying to RP a DRG. Every one of those threads got just plain vicious, most of them eventually got shut down by the mods because they got to heated. We have sense gotten a ton of lore that has contradicted every single thing people previously assumed about DRGs. We watched as people were called stupid, lore breaking, and bad RPers by degrees that were all eventually contradicted with Heavensward. It was almost like people took a position, only to see that position contradicted as more stuff came out. Everything from "there is only one DRG," to "there are a bunch but they can't all jump and such," to "X race can't be a DRG." Since Heavensward launch, most of these assumptions have been proven incorrect. That will happen. It is bound to happen by the nature of how the lore is given out. No harm, foul, or shame in that. What we have not seen is people admitting when they were wrong. To be clear, I am not talking about just lore here. I am talking about throwing out insults and venom at other people, and then being shown that one was wrong in the assumption that supposedly justified those insults. I will grant that I do not see everything, and it is more than possible that people apologized for that privately. I mean with some of the stuff said in those threads, I hope they apologized just for the stuff that got flung. DRGs are far from the only hot button topic like this, and there is the thing that we should all try remember. Before we toss out attacks, insults, and "YER DOING IT WRONGS!" over our particular interpretations of the lore we have to work with, we need to remember we could be 100% wrong in our assumptions. That is all any of us have to go off of, assumption and best possible guess. These are not good enough reasons to hurl intolerant, toxic mess at each other (not that I personally think there is any good reason for that at all). They are also the very best reasons to keep an open mind. How many of us would saddle up to the table to eat generous portions of crow if the game's lore peeps told us "Yup there absolutely can be multiple WHMs. That other method of gaining access to Succor we teased about earlier? Here are the details on that." This is true of pretty much every piece of lore that has been used as justification to pass judgement on someone else's RP. We are passionate about stuff, cool beans. On its face, that is completely fine. Debate and even argument are completely fine. Jumping on the bandwagon at people, tossing out insults and attacks? That stuff is toxic. It makes us all toxic and salty, and that just bleeds out into the community at large. The next time you want to pass judgement or attack someone here for having and idea, just think back to the last time the game or the lore guys made you eat crow. Take a second and think about the other places they absolutely could make you do that again. Keep an open mind for no other reason than because you could dig in your heels, draw your line in the sand, and stand by your assumption only to served nummy nummy crow. My two cents for now. Yar.

This is a false etymology, apparently. It's especially noticeable if we go by dates. The papers regarding "Roger Fuckebythenavele" are from 1310, and his "last name" is clearly a sexual reference. It's therefore not unlikely that in the year 1310, you were able to say that you were going to "fuck someone," or "I'm going to fuck you," in the literal sense that you are going to have sexual intercourse with someone. The Battle of Agincourt, meanwhile, was in 1415, more than a hundred years after the word Fuck has been in use. This isn't quite the insulting form of "Fuck You," but if the phrase was still in practice under another meaning (or potentially even the same meaning, considering that the idea of domination through sex is a concept that's basically older than the English Language itself), it's highly unlikely that it came from something that was phonetically similar. Etymology and symbology are both two completely different things, and both evolve quite differently. They are similar in that they are rooted in the culture and people of particular eras, but how they evolve is completely different. Both have there place in helping to understand a period culture. That said, no one can actually be 100% certain of any of it. Much like digging up dinosaur bones, we only have our best guesses. Still, the point was interesting tid bits on the creation of curses and swears. How they are formed and how they come to be used in language by people, and how that could be applied to Eorzea. Background research and writing technique over factual etymology and symbology. For example, Ala Mhigans may use the name of their mad king as a swear or curse because he ultimately lost them their homeland.

If you are looking for some interesting inspiration as far as period swears and what not, dig into some of the writing process notes for the HBO Series Deadwood. While a decision was made not to be 100% accurate with the scripts so that things seemed more familiar, the writers did research a LOT of what people's swears words and curses at the time were and came from. The answers were various Bible and religious references mixed with various historical events based on location. Really very interesting stuff. Andy Wuhl's series "Assume the Position," while done for comedy/entertainment, also has some great tidbits. It includes a whole bit about how the origins of "fuck you" were rooted in the Battle of Agincourt, essentially being diluted shifted from the words "pluck yew." Though this supposedly has more to do with the meaning of the the back handed peace sign in England. Still, the series has a bunch of neat little tidbits like that for the curious. When determining how you want you character to speak, anything really goes. Having your character talk should not be a chore. With that said, it IS fun to spice junk up with the unfamiliar. Personally, I probably use a lot more of the Planescape speech with Yssen than I am willing to admit. Which is a whacky fantasy slang based a bunch of real world stuff, but sounds just super fun when spoken/read. Give one a true sense of "was that even english?!?!?!"

Aether is one's living soul. When one gets right down to it people are just flesh sacks used to hold their aether. When one dies, their aether moves on/returns to the land/what have you. You do not necessarily have to go with the gun being forged from the demon's soul, the demon could just have been the gun's original owner and gotten stuck in the weapon after it was killed. Another option is that it is not the gun itself that is possessed, but a materia embedded into the gun that contains the demon's memories and experiences. Point is, you have a lot of routes to go with for what you are trying to achieve, some just more involved than others. Yar. ^ ^