Gegenji

Stout Barrel was a Hellsguard with a dream. Fathered by one of his tribe's greatest warriors, this broad-chested man was expected to take up a similar mantle. However, Nymeia spins bizarre threads of fate indeed, and Stout's was wrapped around a bar stool rather than the shaft of an axe. From a young age, it was quickly made clear that he didn't revel in the battle so much as the retelling of it afterward - oft done over a frosty mug of some alcoholic beverage. He desired to run and maintain such a boisterous and friendly space, letting the war-torn unwind and regale over food and drink. And so, when he left his tribe to find a place for himself - as Hellguard often did - his wanderings took him from one tavern to the next. First as a mere bus boy or muscle, then as a server, and finally earning his position behind the bar crafting the delectables that would nourish his clientele. But even that wasn't enough for Stout, for his aspirations lay still higher than that - he sought to own a place of his own. Not just that, but one that anyone could visit at anytime to partake in stories and spirits. And therein lied the problem: location. Where could Stout set his tavern that would ensure that the most people could come enjoy the atmosphere he sought to create, where the most stories could be spun amongst friend and food? The busy and bustling Ul'dah? The raucous and rowdy Limsa Lominsa? Perhaps somewhere out on the frontier where storied men and women oft traveled? Each had their draws, yet each also had their drawbacks. And not a one seemed to wholly encapsulate the dream that burned deep within him. And so he continued his travels, visiting each tavern and bar across Eorzea. Gaining more skill and knowledge as he searched for that one spark that would inspire him and set his burning desire ablaze. And then he found it, while part-timing at the Airship Lounge in Ul'dah. He overheard a pair of merchants talking about retiring their old airship and picking up a newer model, now that airship travel was becoming far more prevalent and - with it - a decrease in ship prices. And the final piece fell into place for old Stout, bringing the image of his vision into sharp clarity. His tavern - his magnum opus - was to be Hydaelyn's first airborne tavern. He had to scrape and save and work many different shifts at different dives to save up the gil, oftentimes running on a couple bells of sleep between them. All the while, he spoke wistfully of his dream to all who would ask why he worked himself so hard. Some were sympathetic, some intrigued, and a few others were dismissive and abrasive. One such patron even went so far as to state that he'd believe such a thing would work "when pigs fly." But at the end of it all - after all the long days and sleepless nights - Stout finally acquired his ship. An old cargo vessel that had been set for decommissioning - slow, clunky, but with space enough for his tavern and all that would go with it. Its outdated ceruleum tanks and engine meant it couldn't travel vast distances very efficiently either, but Stout planned to make stops enough that it was a non-issue. In his eyes, this old bird was perfect - ready to be born again into its new form. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes. And, as word spread that the Hellsguard was to finally launch his flying establishment, a few eager folk stepped forward to help man it. Some were those he had worked with before, others merely those who had heard of his dream as he poured them a drink. Yet others were those who had only now heard of the Hellsguard and his outlandish dream, but came nonetheless. Stout's ambitions - and his passion - had touched their souls, igniting a similar spark deep within them as well. And so, in front of an intrigued crowd at the very airship lounge where his dream finally came into focus, the Winged Boar Tavern launched for the very first time. Its maiden voyage marked by the breaking of a fine bottle of wine that Stout had held onto ever since that fateful day he overheard those two merchants, with a second uncorked to celebrate with all who would join them aboard. And as the swine-shaped figurehead pierced through the clouds and heralded their coming, the Hellsguard could only smile. When pigs fly indeed. ~*~ OOC Stuff: It's been a long while since we've had a good ol' tavern RP thread here on the RPC... and the idea of a flying tavern has been stuck in my mind ever since I had the goofy idea to try and "flesh out" the sadly underutilized IC Tavern RPC chat room. So here it is, a place where anyone - regardless of where they are in Eorzea (and what server their characters might actually be on) can interact! The only staff member I really figured out was Stout himself, so the rest of the crew is basically free for you guys to shape and play with as you will. Maybe if this catches on and gets enough use, some staff my coalesce into consistent NPCs that can get added into the crew "roster." We'll just have to see how it goes. To start, I'll give a rough summary of Stout himself - a sort of NPC blurb like you'd find in a PnP campaign book:

If it helps, the Garleans use such methods because they cannot use magic and so dampening their own non-existent ability to use it isn't really a factor. So, considering that we're dealing with characters that can externalize their aether via magic... maybe some protective spell woven into a piece of jewelry? One that helps to deflect magic that goes their way? I mean, in a spellcaster-vs-spellcaster battle, I'd assume that there's got to be some manner of protective wards and spells that one uses to reduce the incoming magic damage they're going to take. In which case, the enchantments are going to be more important than the materials... in which case you can include some folklore fluff that actually has no actual weight. A belief that some material helps the process when it's actually just the magic that matters. Alternatively: materia. You use materia to strengthen armor in the Armorsmithing quest chain. And there's certainly a wide selection of materia that protect against certain elements. So maybe some manner of jewelry socketed with the appropriate materia might be the way to go.

That's... kind of the drawback of playing a character who is quiet and not really willing to engage or make themselves approachable. Unless you can create a situation where the character will attract interest, or your character has reason to interact with someone else... you are going to struggle regarding a more organic IC walkup approach. Especially since, from the sound of the character... he doesn't sound like the "casual" sort. Unless he has casual things he can do that can engender interaction, finding casual RP is going to be troublesome. ... Maybe have his "in-armor" form be more of an alter-ego sort of thing? He's cold and distant and quiet while in his armor, but is more approachable and friendly out of it? That way you can have two sorts of "modes" - one intense one for the more serious RP, and a more approachable one for casual RP. After all, Batman is intense, but Bruce Wayne's a social butterfly.

He may be "true neutral," but doesn't he still have things he wants or desires? Or skills that might interest other people? Those could get someone interacting with him - with the former giving reason for him to approach other people (because he needs/wants something) or for other people to approach him (because they need/want something from him). Or, in a general sense, discuss OOCly with the person you're trying to interact with to see why the two would do so. If the character themself is disinclined to engage, you kind of have to for them via OOC planning.

I stumbled back on something that might support this in-lore too. They're likely older print and thus may not fully imply the approach is still in use, but in one of the Kojin daily quests you loot some Eorzean coins from some chests. You get silver and gold coins, so - if that format of minting is still in production - that could imply different denominations.

Hello and welcome to FFXIV! Let's see if I can help you out with some of these questions... 1. A little? As you mentioned, you can't send tells (but you can receive them!) and the like. However, you can be invited to Linkshells (private chat groups, effective), which are commonly used for both IC and OOC communication with regards to RP. 2. The Quicksand is a popular RP hub, but it is far from the biggest one. You can sometimes find RP at any of the "taverns" in the three city-states, and sometimes just out in the open. At least, that's how it is in Balmung, but I've heard you can find a lot of "out in the world" RP on Mateus as well. So just looking around (and seeing if anyone has the RP tag up!) can help you find your fellow RPers. 1. While the Quicksand has a bit of an infamous stigma for being a hub for ERP, that isn't the only kind of RP to be found there. It's a good spot for general, "tavern-y" RP - stopping by to get a drink, get something to eat, meet up with friends, regale strangers with tales of daring-do. Most of these locations (Quicksand, Wench, and Canopy) are also where the Adventurer's Guild is maintained, so you can also find people placing ads for and/or looking for adventuring work. 2. There's a few ways people will RP. Some like to have it out in the open and will RP over /say and publicly visible /emotes. However, folks wanting something a little more private or are worried about losing their posts in the scroll (especially in busy areas) will use party chat, tells, and sometimes even over Linkshell chat. I don't think any one way is particularly dominant, but if I had to pick... I'd say most RP either in /say or in party chat. 3. Unfortunately, this is probably the one question I can't answer as I'm not on Mateus. However, we do have a Free Companies section that you can utilize to look at the Mateus FCs that have threads here. Some of them may even come in and let you know about them here! Other than that, I guess look around and see what sort of people are RPing... see if you can find people who are RPing in a style you like... and see what FC they're in. Hopefully that all helps! :blush:

Welcome to the world of FFXIV RP (and MMOs in general)! I hope you have fun and enjoy your stay! I am not too certain on the amount of RP on Brynhildr and Siren, but I definitely know Mateus is a known RP server, so the one you have there will likely be able to find a decent bit of RP! Hopefully you'll find some on the other servers as well, though. As for the various acronyms... ERP and E/RP are the same thing, yes. Erotic Roleplay. However, there's a couple others as well: *MRP or Mature Roleplay, which CAN include ERPish elements, but is also for more mature scenes and interactions in general. Along with that is also... *DRP or Dark Roleplay, which is also more mature roleplay but focusing more on darker elements like torture and other such things. Those are the three "types" I usually see flagged to identify what sort of RP people are willing to (or want to) delve into with their interactions. Another pair you might see (and you've mentioned one of) is WU/T. Those simply mean that the player is open to Walk-Up (WU) RP or being sent a /tell (/T) to be engaged in RP. There are a few other shorthands and acronyms I've seen, but they're usually with an ERP tag, and are quickly identifying preferences in that sort of RP. If there are any others I might've missed though, feel free to mention them and I'll let you know if I know what they mean. :thumbsup:

That's the one! But yeah, it does seem that - in the general sense - they are very likely treated like horses in that they are generally not eaten. It just doesn't mean they can't be if necessary (or you're in a place ripe with them like Chocobo Forest).

I may be remembering incorrectly, but I could've sworn there were a couple instances of chocobo-eating in that zone. The one being mentioned here was when an already notorious hunter (one who got ostracized from the camp for killing a female chocobo with eggs) snatched up and ate the baby chocobo that was being raised by one of the Tailfeather residents (named... Gyshal, I believe?). So I wonder if it's actually matter of a distaste for eating chocobo and more the fact that the hunter basically ate someone's pet. The other one that comes to mind, for me, is the quest chain where the little dragon whelp is trying all sorts of foods. And one of those quests involved a hunter who provides you with some fried chocobo wings or something of that nature. The whelp doesn't much care for it, but it seemed like the hunter himself did not really mind eating chocobo. I don't quite recall what the hunter said, but I don't believe there was any disdain or distaste regarding the idea.

Man, I keep looking at my entry and it seems so... bland compared to the rest. Maybe we could add some more to it? Like... Goblet Ward 11, Plot 16: Usagenji Ironworks is a Doman-styled smithy that specializes in armorsmithing from leathers to plate and general repairs. Need some armor made? Need something fixed up? Drop on by!

I am a massive dork. lUAgHNO6z0I

The harmfulness of eating parts of said voidsent? What are you basing that off of, if I may ask? I'm not totally sure to see your point. I was answering to Gegenji's remark on the "complete and utter change over the victim's body". There is examples where the voidsent isn't doing anything to the body, at least for a while. Just to further clarify on the point I mentioned above, I think we have to determine at what point the host is truly considered "a voidsent" and not simply touched or possessed by one. The examples I think we've been using fall into three separate categories - at least by my own personal definitions. Keep in mind that this is mostly extrapolation based on what we know, and thus heavily in the realm of head-canon: 1.) Voidtouched - these are folks roughly on the level of Anya. Some sort of event has made them susceptible to becoming a conduit to the Void or hosting voidsent, but they are not actively being utilized (either not as of yet or perhaps the result of voidsent expulsion from a void-possessed individual, as mentioned below). May allow for increased thaumaturgic ability, and can be dealt with if diagnosed and treated correctly. 2.) Void-possessed - these are like the wayward Coco boy. Through either being voidtouched or some other act (summoning of a voidsent or interacting with an object holding one), the host has become actively possessed by a voidsent. Said voidsent may or may not have full mental control of the host, and removal is much more difficult and dangerous - with the potential of the host's aether being ripped back to the void with the voidsent or their mind already been eroded and suppressed too far for recovery. 3.) Voidsent - this is where you have your imps, ahriman, succubi, and the like. The voidsent has fully manifested on Hydaelyn and transformed its host into their own image, with little to no traces remaining of the former creature (be it animal or Spoken). There is no known "cure" at this point due to there being nothing to save - with what little remnants of the host's psyche likely long twisted or destroyed. The only way to deal with them at this point is to kill them. With this breakdown, I'm postulating that the voidsent to be consumed fall under group 3, since that is the point where they are actually voidsent and not merely voidtouched or a host possessed. Were you to harvest parts from group 1 or 2, you would simply get bits of the base host - squirrel parts from a squirrel or Spoken parts from a Spoken. So, eating those would carry the same benefits and risks as eating them normally. ... Maybe they'd have a bit of a nasty aftertaste from the beginnings of the corruption? Like meat that's starting to go bad? I dunno. :blush:

It's definitely an interesting thought. Also I was honestly thinking of having Gaines be the one thinking about preparing Beast Tribe folk as food. Anyway, in regards to Valence's comment - I'm mostly going with the voidsent being invasive enough to cause them to transmogrify their host. Because I would figure that until that point they're not quite... voidsent... and thus their flesh and other bits are all still that of the base form. For example, I would think that the kin of the Cocos wouldn't bleed voidsent blood if he was pricked. Arya's lineage might have a bit mixed in, but that'd be about it. No extraneous voidsent bits like an ahriman or imp's wing or anything like that.

Well, if he was a Plainsfolk, there's that whole fear of giant birds thing... ... And there's been several mentions about their lack of reach in combat situations... But if I may ask, why do you need to pick flaws that are specific to race? Wouldn't it be better to have the flaws be unique to the character itself and not defined solely by the happenstance of race? The way you're describing it - and forgive me if this sounds overly harsh - it sounds like you're trying to think up a flaw merely for the sake of having a flaw... rather than having one that is actually relevant to the character.

Oh! That's good to hear! I had heard through the grapevine that the PvErs had chased nearly all the RPers off Gilgamesh. I'm glad that it's just hearsay. Are there any good resources we could point potential new Greg-RPers to should more show up in the future? :surprise:

I'm not entirely sure. As far as I understand it, Mateus is doing well and - even if Balmung should open up at some point in the future - I think folks are situated enough there that they won't jump ship just to get back to Balmung. Between those already on Balmung, those who started new or migrated to Mateus and/or Omega, and the other smaller RP communities scattered across other servers we seem to have some decently thriving RP populations.

I have good news! There is actually an EU-based RP server - Omega! If you create a character there, you should be able to find RPers that are more concurrent to your schedule. Hopefully one of them will also be around to add their own suggestions on where to begin once you are there. However, if you don't mind the US time-frame, the alternative to Balmung (which is locked for the foreseeable future for being too full!) is Mateus.

Just by hanging out in the Quicksand yesterday, I met four characters I've never interacted with before! Three Xaela and a Roegadyn. It was good fun, and all it took was seeing them talking and plopping my little dude next to them to join in. And I made a friend at the Grindstone the day before who wants to RP more so I offered hanging out with my little goofball. :thumbsup: I will admit, though, that it's not always easy to just... throw yourself out there. Sometimes you'll not find anything, sometimes you'll make plans that never really come to fruition (I've had a bunch of folks where we've been like WE SHOULD HANG OUT and it never actually happened... :blush: ), and sometimes you'll just find out your characters don't click with theirs. But yeah... the number of RPers on Balmung is sizeable enough that I don't think you'll run out of folks to interact with as long as you're willing to move out of your comfort zone some. Though, that doesn't deal with the problem about wanting to bring already existing friends into the game and to play with you. The only real choice there is to either move off Balmung or start from scratch (or at the start of SB if you're willing to drop the extra money on it) on another server, both options kind of disconnecting you from whatever friends and RP-mates you've made on Balmung...

Just from the drops you usually get off voidsent, I'd personally lean towards no. Considering the degree of the transformation by the possessed host, I think whatever "was" the squirrel has been tainted and corrupted and transmogrified into being ahriman. I think that's part of why you can't just... "cure" being possessed by a voidsent. It's not just like they're controlling your mind. They do such a complete and utter change to the host's structure that there's basically nothing left. Even if you could have the host somehow reclaim dominance somehow, they'd still be stuck in that shape and likely maintain that link to the Void that could result in continued possession-assaults until their mind and will is just... deteriorated away. At least, that's how I see it.

Because it's there, I'd assume. Or just to see what it tastes like due to epicurean curiosity. Alternatively, if you're in an area that has a heavy amount of low-level voidsent that you have to deal with on a regular basis... if they were edible then they could serve as a food source. I don't think anyone would want to be a voidsent rancher or something (or maybe they would if they could be controlled and kept in check), but it could supplement other food types if they were safely edible. Of course, if you're talking the intelligent types too (like succubi and the like)... then you have to raise into question about eating intelligent beings - even if they're ultimately evil. Since that's just a hop and a skip away from fillet de sahagin, koboldatouille, or a nice sylph salad. ... Darn it, now I have an idea for a demented chef who wants to make dishes out of the various beast tribes.

Well, to start with the positives - it seems like you got a character onto Balmung well before it got locked down! It's not the only RP server, obviously - there's Mateus and Omega (EU) as well as other scattered communities across other servers - but it probably has the biggest population of players on it. As for your questions, there's a whole bevvy of knowledge in our RP and Lore Discussion sections, as well as people asking questions in the Character Workshop threads. I'd definitely say get your start there - especially looking for posts by our resident loremaster Sounsyy - but feel free to open your own thread with any specific questions you have (or just ask in here!). As for finding folks to play with, there's the Making Connections section - where you can make your own thread or check out other people's and see who might catch your interest! And, of course, there's always the wikis to browse as well! Hopefully you'll find some good advice and good folks to RP with!

I think my Garlean may rival Gogon in looking very unhappy about things. Plus he has the benefit of being able to actively look down at people in disdain (unless they're a Roe or... max height male Au Ra, I think).

Seriously, I was always impressed by the work you guys put into this thing. I'm sad to see it go, but I'm also glad to see that it's still sort of living on through the Garnet Gazette. TGG? In any case, you should all certainly feel proud and accomplished for what you all did with the Chronicle, and I'm eager to see what you all do next - TGG or otherwise. :thumbsup:

... Carbinkle mounts. Yes. Also, I think I might need that Avenger mount for Gaines, all things considered. Basically I need to find out how to get all these things. Though I had a "Carbuncle" costume before it was cool. :angel: