YesGood

I am also game. I'd like a little more feedback on a /roll system and I should probably double check that /rolls can even be done in FF. I sort of just assume there is one in any game but there might not be...?

You're quite welcome, sir. And Bea's is finished~ I know I put her at the same angle as Garryson, but the reason for it was because all the refs and the screen shot had her at the same angle. I decided to do the other side before I realized it was a very similar pose. =3=

You don't have to acknowledge any healing powers whatsoever. I mean, you could be a glorified gladiator, really. I went the route of Siobhain that she was trained by a Sultansworn but never became one herself. Instead she went the route of becoming a knight-errant; taking her skills and using them to protect people as she wanders around selling her blacksmith wares. She wouldn't be as good as a Sultansworn, not having completed her training, and her combat style is very rough and less finessed than I imagine many older, true Paladins'. She is, however, extremely religious. Not that I think that really has any connection to being a Paladin in FF like it does in, say, WoW.

Ahhh, Scholars are another one I wonder about. I mean 'scholar' itself, and what they did for Nym doesn't seem like it should be restricted to a place; it's fairly general. “In an age long past, when mankind flourished under the radiance of arcane mastery, the island of Vylbrand was home to a city-state called Nym. Though the history of that age tells of countless wars waged with earth-shattering incantations, it was the brilliant strategic maneuvering of Nym's scholars that allowed their mundane army of mariners to throw back would-be conquerers time and again. These learned men and women defended the freedom of their tiny nation with their unique command over spell-weaving faeries, utilizing the creatures' magicks to heal the wounded and bolster the strength of their allies.” But their method includes fairies. I don't know how exclusive that might be. I mean, a scholar/magic user might be from anywhere and I'm sure they've since dispersed to other places in Eorzea and could teach what they know. I assume they know some spells of their own but I imagine most of what they do is like Orihime from BLEACH; their power lies in their relationship with the fairies they use. I notice that in a lot of these Game Descriptions, it includes 'In an age long past' 'A long time ago' etc. and that gives me the impression you could pick it up from someone, virtually anywhere, so long as you had the mind to dedicate to it. If I rolled a Scholar character, I'd probably have a character with an initial lust for knowledge, who learned as much as they could as an Arcanist before witnessing a Scholar in action and begging to be taught. I -like- making my classes make sense and FFXIV gives you the beeeaaautiful capacity right there in the mechanics to start a character off as a gladiator or a conjurer or an arcanist or any of the starting classes and finding an RPer who's more advanced to teach you their skill. I haven't gotten a chance to do this but if, by some slim... slim hope... Miqo'tes get a little less popular and, say, Siobhain dies (*knocks on wood*) I'd probably take this route and seek out RPers who are playing advanced classes as their main class. There's not really a shortage of them, so much as people who are actually RPing anything to do with a class and not a merchant or a dancer or a general mercenary. While on one hand I don't see everyone as being a novice at everything unless they're rather young and naive, on the other hand I always get a nice sense of validation and development by starting out with a young or otherwise inexperienced character and finding others to help me develop throughout the course of the game rather than coming in, on like Sio, and feeling obligated to at least get to a level where I -am- a Paladin, in some form of Paladin gear before I start strutting around and calling myself one. My main downfall is that I wrote waaaaay too much about her. She's extremely detailed for one of my characters. @ Iseldia: 'While I don't normally want to be a "sparkly magic special person" I will still be making her a White Mage at some point, regardless of how restricted and rare they are "supposed" to be.' I hope I didn't put the thought in your head that you have to be or not be super, special, or sparkly. I mean, obviously I didn't because you're going to do it, but I've said before and I'll say again-- Don't let the lore-fanatics tell you what to do. The lore is great, it's enjoyable, it's helpful, but what it's -not- is refined. As many pitfalls as we find in the lore and as many dead ends as there are, not completely covering all there is that we want to know, this isn't a game like WoW where you get definitive answers for any tiny questions anyone might have. People are forced to resort to using the skeleton of lore that we've been offered to -try- and disprove or validate ideas but most often we resort to real life and what we know and relating past experiences from reality or other games to this one. It doesn't always work out well. So I'm glad you're choosing to do one, knowing full well how rare they may (or may not, considering how many I've seen so far) be. No one should let the opinions of others scare them out of doing what they want to do and finding the most logical course of action for it.

I have two quotes for Siobhain, one I think was inspired by some movie... An Arthur movie maybe? "Often peace is found only on the far side of war." The other is one she has said before in RP (in Skype) and will likely say again. "People choose their paths; They want to believe they control their destinies... but when fortune forsakes us, they are swift to blame those gods they would not credit with the goodness of their lives." Pretty much sums up everything about her philosophy towards others who are no longer or have never been devout. The last is a quote from Lycurgus of Sparta. "A city is well-fortified which has a wall of men instead of brick." Though I don't use the quote directly, this also summarizes one of Siobhain's philosophies-- that you can build the strongest walls and castles but investing time in the training and development of good soldiers is incomparable and necessary.

Succor, to clarify for anyone reading this thread who doesn't know, is giving aid or assistance in times of hardship and distress. That's the actual word not the FF version of it. When they said the 'art of succor' I was thinking the 'art of giving aid' but I guess it's actually the name of their magic. Many games make a playable class or race 'rare' in lore but totally accessible for you as a player. Mostly because they're not caring so much about a roleplaying community that'll use their lore as weapons or shields against one another so much as the gamers who want to play through the story line. There's nothing stopping someone from being a master of all the arts they offer, and some people might carry that over into character. Likewise, there's nothing that prevents you, lore-wise, from being no more than a simple merchant or a dancer since many RPers don't want to take classes or abilities into account any more than level or gender or restrictive hair styles. We basically pick and choose what is acceptable for ourselves and (sometimes in some not-so-great cases) for other people out of the mechanics, the lore, and the gameplay. That being said, it -is- a bit weird that they chose to define White Mages this way for FF. Many of the other groups have an origin definition, like Dragoons, Paladins, Pugilists, etc. that don't really make it absolutely necessary that you come from the area where the profession was at its peak or was best known for. White Mages, on the other hand, are restricted as a class to being a lot of Padjal (whom I think many RPers on this forum in an old thread suggest that you not try to RP) or people who are directly accepted by the Padjal (which is still pretty shiny. It's like saying you were trained to be a ranger by a Dark Ranger in Warcraft, which is enough to make most people roll their eyes). Yes, we can try to wheedle our way around them by using loopholes and not going the 'I'm a sparkly magic person that was so great the Padjal made me one of the raaaaare Whiiiite Maaaages....' route but the base-line is still a pain in the bottom. I'd have thought, knowing there'd -be- RPers and knowing that -many- -many- people are going to choose the main healing class, they would've given something a bit more broad or something with a bigger number. All the same, I'm personally ready to accept any reason for a White Mage. I think it's acceptable to play a character who has innate healing potential. Maybe nothing as classy and refined as a full blown White Mage but someone who is just naturally proficient at bending aether in small feats of healing. Maybe we should concentrate more on offering other ideas for how people can play -Healers- and not specifically -White Mages- for the benefit of our fellow RPers.

Okay, this only took me near to forever. I identified one of my big problems -- Noses. I have no idea when they started bothering me but unless the picture is a profile shot, noses undo me. Garryson Complete.

Seconded!

It's interesting that you mention Necromancy, because you're right I haven't seen it mentioned any where either, but you only have to go to the Deepcroft to see the undead shambling about. Restless spirits, trapped in a corporeal form maybe, but it seems likely they were raised by Cthulhu's son and his cultists, which makes me wonder if corrupted white magic was used to raise these dead. After all, healers can use the raise spell on the almost dead, so what happens if a particularly powerful mage forces it on the long dead? Is it possible that white magic becomes corrupted when used for unnatural purposes? I could easily see the corrupted white mages of old drawing on the aether to extend their physical life, or to bring loved ones back from the dead, like you say. (Torture is also a good suggestion! Fling a man with Aero, break his bones every time he's smashed against the wall while slinging cures at him. Gruesome) I didn't realize that there were undead about! I haven't gotten far enough in. So yes, very likely, that could be connected too! Interesting... They gave a dark side to those chubby little Lalafell with their white robes on. (I can see you and I are going to get along.)

Okay, so an update: I got the game yesterday and rolled my character on Balmung on my first try. I know many of you have already expressed that you don't take level into account for roleplay, which is great and all because I tend to be a slow, single-minded leveler, but I'll still need time to put Siobhain in something less...skimpy... Or more skimpy. Whichever. I digress, I'm interested in starting a 'Fight Club' LS (not a FC, but maybe one of those will come along later. P.S. Thank you Zarek for getting this fight club thing stuck in my head...) on Balmung. This is just in the concept-easily-scrapped phase, but both I and my man-friend enjoy seeing and participating in fights and we enjoy all of the potential character development that can come from it, whether it's mastering new skills under the tutelage of more experienced characters, forging friendships or rivalries, etc. So, a few things to cover: 1. This will be a Linkshell, I think, because I'd like anyone to have the freedom to hear about it through word-of-mouth, and anyone from any group to come join in. There won't be any level or class requirements, you won't have to dedicate yourself to show up each time, and you won't have to rally around me while I go strutting... where ever there's room for Sio-strutting. 2. The theme will be Combat Training; like-minded individuals who either enjoy fighting, watching how others fight, or learning/teaching all coming together. Anyone with a pearl would be able to call out to others, even if they don't personally know them, inviting whomever to meet them for a round or two. 3. I'm afraid the thing that I, and many other RPers, dislike about RP combat that I'd like to weed out is the whole 'Who's going to win and who's going to lose and who might be god-moding a tiny bit' thing. Levels aren't going to be a requirement, as I mentioned, because many people don't like equating their level to their character's skill. That's fine and acceptable, but there'll have to be some sort of skeleton to prevent novices from beating down seasoned veterans based on the /roll system. I'm all for anyone who wants to get together and discuss things OOCly about who'll win and who'll lose and coming to that conclusion on their own, but for those who don't have any preconceived idea of how to handle it and for any future events such as competitions with Gil involved (donations from others and myself pooled together for the winner), we'll need two things: 1. Your level of skill in the 'class' you choose to fight in and 2. A simple roll system. - 1. An example of this would be, say Siobhain is a Paladin, full out Master for some reason, but she wanted to learn to be a Marauder instead. Her rank in Paladin might be 'Veteran' but her rank in Marauder would be 'Novice'. This would be to help pit people of roughly equivalent levels of skill against one another. You'd fight normally but without any concerns about 'accidentally' super-overpowering someone who's just far more experienced with the class they're using than you are with yours. Doesn't mean you have to water down your RP to suit your rank, just that you won't have anyone breathing down your neck about how unfair they think it is. People who are particularly skilled with certain classes could also teach Novices what they know. At least there should be some terminology. - 2. A roll system that -can- be used in fights when you don't want to decide OOC who is going to win or lose, or in those potential event situations where we -definitely- don't want to decide before hand who is going to win or lose might go thusly-- You'd have a set number of times you can be struck in order. First you roll to see who goes first. Highest roll wins. That person writes up an attack. Afterwards, both people roll again- if the attacker wins that roll, the blow connects, if not, the individual dodges. The attackee would respond with their dodge or the effects of the strike and a counter attack. Rinse and repeat until the set number of strikes has been reached by one person or the other. The alternative is saying who got the most strikes out of a set number. Say we pick seven strikes. When one person reaches four, the fight is over. This would be much like many refereed sparring matches-- and as I said before, for regular every day training, you don't have to use this at all. 4. Magic-use in combat sparring? I'm personally not 100 percent for it. There are academies for these sorts of things where novice combat fighters with no magic experience won't get lit up by a novice fire mage or something. While experienced magic users are free to come test their phyical skills or learn new ones, unless someone is willing to act as a supervisor for magical-combat and advanced combat (Magic vs. Physical) I'll probably not think Magic-users will be encouraged to come. 5. Can your whole FC/LS get involved? Why yes, yes you can. Bring as many people as you'd like and let them see how they do against non-guildies. You still have authority over your people, however, on these grounds the people helping to referee, train, and mediate everyone should be respected and heeded. If you or your guild members have an issue with someone else or some other guild's members, you'd still be encouraged to participate but all the rivalries would have to be put aside. This training, where ever it's located, is a more or less neutral situation. Think of it as the Kirin Tor with bloody noses and broken bones. 6. Regulating the flow will be done with some basic rules. No meta-gaming or god-moding, as usual, no harassment, no OOC drama, etc. If one of the characters acts up in character and out of character, they'll be removed by one of the... hrm... 'officers'. Officers will likely just be individuals who offer to become teachers and do a good job at it and thus are given a level of respect if not authority. They won't be able to boss members of another FC or LS around by any means, but so long as they're all together everyone will have to respect their mediation and either calm it down or take their rage elsewhere. 7. No one will die. You will not be killed. If White Mages and Conjurers have to be -hired- just to make sure a clumsy sword in the face doesn't wipe you off the face of Eorzea, it will happen. Anyone who attempts a killing blow will be asked to leave and refused for the group training and event fights. This is for fun, for practice, and for character development. If you don't like combat RP, it's not a requirement by any means. I'm open for suggestions, -constructive- criticism, and I'm looking for help to get this started sooner or later if it seems like a decent idea.

In FFXIV, being a white mage is being a white mage. If you choose to do the profession and choose to connect it to your lore, it's much like deciding you want to join a Grand Company ICly or become a Sultansworn. You, of course, have the option of choosing another, less sparkly path, but everyone has the freedom to choose and if one decides to go with something that has a lore skeleton they need to work within, they should. The fact that male Miqo'te are rare, like Sin'dorei being rare in Warcraft, certainly didn't slow down many RPers. So White Mages being rare doesn't mean you can't be one, it merely means you need to go through the steps. It's still not as difficult or -exceedingly- rare as making a Padjal character or one of the Circle of Knowing. It can be 'complicating' in the sense that others might try to drive a point home with you about how they don't approve of the character you've made because it's just so uber super hard to be a White Mage according to lore, but many other people choose to do something simple or not even have any profession/job skills/affiliation whatsoever. Do what you feel is right and for every one super special snowflake there'll be fifty not-so-special snowflakes. What's confusing for me is the (admittedly rare) occasion where someone -isn't- relating their RP to the game's story. Like... at all. Demon-cats from an alternate universe? *nod* I've seen it happen, long ago in 1.0. --- And I'm not sure what they did. Like I said, I'm thinking immortality. The only other thing I could imagine doing with White Magic is necromancy but I haven't seen any such thing relating to that so I doubt it even exists. I also imagine torturing people to death and rezzing them over and over again until they forfeit. That's a way to abuse dem White Mage powers!

Whoooo... I can answer a couple of these, but man, what a list! Okay, first off: Okay, firstly, Kan-E-Senna had spoken about these people who came from another realm that defended Eorzea, they look like silhouettes, so I'm guessing basically mystery heroes that defended Eorzea and took so little credit that the Gridanian people (or the Eorzean?) call the Warriors of Light. It seems the people have very high respect for them- These are the adventurers from 1.0 who went to war at the Battle of Carteneau to stop the Garlean Empire from trying to bring down Dalamud. During the open cinematic or the FFXIV ARR cinematic (End of an Era), you get to see the whole thing go down and, if I'm not mistaken, you'll recognize all the same adventurers from the 1.0 Cinematic. (The Roegadyn Paladin, the Lalafell White mage, the Miqo'te Bard, the male Elezen Black Mage, and the Hyur Marauder. There's also a female Elezen but I'm not entirely sure that I saw her. She might be a Dragoon in End of an Era?) Louisoix, leader of the Circle of Knowing and a worshipper of the god Thaliak god of wisdom and knowledge, tries to contain Bahamut who burst forth from Dalamud due to the Garleans meddling with the help of the rest of the Circle of Knowing ( http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Circle_of_Knowing )who were located at other shrines (The Miqo'te Y'shtola, the Lalafell Papalymo, the Hyur Pugilist Yda with the mask, and the Hyur male Thancred that you asked about further down - Each represents one or another of the gods, I believe, and during 1.0 when you started in whichever of the three main cities, you would run into one of them. The male Hyur was in Ul'dah, the Lalafell and Hyur female were in Gridania, and the Miqo'te was in Limsa Lominsa, I believe). This inevitably fails and in an effort to save as many of the brave adventurers as he can, he basically teleports them through time using Thaliak's power. The NPC who mentions this quest, at least in Ul'dah, goes into telling about how no one can quite recall what happened, only that brave heroes went to fight and there was a lot of devastation. On the matter of the Circle of Knowing, the only one that doesn't show up in the End of an Era is http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Urianger Urianger who looks a lot like, and may be, the masked mage you see in the opening when you first start a character and you're hovering in space. Incidentally, he is a representative of Nymeia, the spinner of fate, so if that -is- him, then it may be connected to the fate that you're subconsciously realizing during the vision. The Garlean Empire was, originally a small nation that ended up getting a huge technological advancement spearheaded by their, now, Emperor. Later on, Garlean airships started dropping linkpearls in all the major city states of Aldenard and Vylbrand, stating that the beast tribes of Eorzea are plotting to call their eikons to attack the Empire, and offering protection to all states that accepted to be ruled by the empire and take arms against the beast tribes. More recently, the Garlean Empire has dispatched legions throughout Eorzea. Units have been engaged in combat within Thanalan, as well as the Black Shroud. One legion, led by the notorious Nael Van Darnus - Legatus of the VIIth Legion - has invaded the Ishgardian stronghold known as the Dzemael Darkhold, securing the vast crystal deposits located inside the caves for Ceruleum harvesting, which then may be used by the Empire to summon their own Primal. So the reason they brought down Dalamud was to free Bahamut, the primal within it. Basically, they've had it out for the Beastmen and I assume they thought they could control a Primal and use it to devastate the city-states in order to take them over. About the outfit you see in the beginning is a Bard outfit which is the advanced class for a Hunter. Basically, it's assumed that you were one of the adventurers from the Battle of Carteneau who was preserved (For five years?) by Louisoix's spell. You don't remember this at first, through the story, so you're basically a no-named, amnesia-suffering, adventurer. That's pretty much all I've got answers for. While you're floating around (which I assume is a dream) I think it's a memory of when you were being teleported. The Crystal is probably related to the gods somehow, and I feel I should know how, but I'm afraid to say because I could be wrong. Q_Q I chose not to hide these things-- mostly because, for an RPer, some of them may be very important to know, such as the Garlean mess. Sorry about that.

Will the old stuff work if you didn't play the original for a specific amount of time? I think it was like, at least three months.

-Edited: <3- I'll just pretend I look like my Roegadame. *flex*

Well, I love lore. The stories of World of WArcraft made me quite happy. Really, with Pandaria it was so nice that all the major quests/story lines spoke out loud to you! I was hoping Final Fantasy doesn't have them. I heard FFXIV 1.0 was really bad, I asked around about it and the best description I think I got it was it was like 10% complete so I responded: 15 minutes of a 2 hour movie at a theater, only the first 15 minutes done, the rest is just pictures of a pretty mountain. Does that desribe it well? So far I've noticed the Chocobos have a good storyline in themselves, as they were introduced to me by the game and what they were by the game. Hyur Midlanders seem to be the youngest and most inexperienced of the races. I also like how they look. I choose based on look before story, and now quite pleased. Thanks for the welcome! FFXIV/ARR is, of course, very new compared to Warcraft. I -loooooved- Warcraft lore. It was so in depth and always expanding (the only complaints I had were a few inconsistencies here and there that a lot of people complained about). FFXIV doesn't have any novels or things that I know of (yet) so of course there'll be a little bit less. Not hundreds of pages of lore about any little thing you could think of, but I imagine those come in time. I dunno because I wasn't around for vanilla WoW and though I was there are the start of SWTOR, there's already huge bits of lore for Star Wars to begin with. Hyur -do- look great! I like them a lot compared to humans or human-equivalents in some other games. And dun be sad you rolled on Balmung~ I hear it's a good place. *is rolling there too, but just got the game today*

SOON! But in the meanwhile I'll have to settle for my unofficial Limsa getup. Ahmg, it's adorable! Why do Miqo'tes out of all of them look like the cutest little kids in some of these outfits?!

This is true. Also, this: After the abuse of magical energies that led to the Sixth Umbral Era, both white and black magic became forbidden arts. The Padjal are children sanctioned by the elementals to conjure at full strength, particularly in favor of white magic. More recently the elementals have allowed Conjurers to use a portion of that power under the guidance of the Padjal, but only a select few ever become White Mages. Makes me think that even being a White Mage is rather rare. Still, so long as he's not evil and using White Magic for evil purposes, I could see him making a profit from it, so long as he's not neglecting or refusing those in actual need. He doesn't have to be an evil person, or a particular altruistic person, to dedicate the time and energy to learning the art. He might, perhaps, even be able to excuse his desire to trade his skill for currency if he were a follower of Nald'thal? Not exactly a stretch since I can't think of a god off hand who's a deity of healing/life specifically. Though, again, this just raises the issue of the number of White Mages or people who RP as White Mages.

See... I thought a millwright might have something to do with bread somehow. =3=; Ugh, my brain never ceases to mislead me. I'd like to see you RP when you get to Bard status and start barding it up! I enjoy music but I'm terrible with the terminology and writing poems and the like. From someone who -deeply- cares for the art, I would like to see how that love can translate. And we'll be on Balmung if I ever am able to log on!

I like the idea of a White Mage but ultimately, if you think it fits the character better, you should try Scholar! If anything, maybe you can pick up White Mage later if he decides he has the skill and it would benefit him more?

I tend to reroll like a fiend. I don't really know much about Scholars-- would you still apply the Merc background to him?

Welcome back! I loooove bards. I'm eager to see all the different takes of them and I'm sort of compelled to roll a Keeper Bard if it's possible (stat-wise). Although I would like to ask-- What'sa millwright? I could look it up but then I'd be missing out on your answer! *naive in the ways of the world*

Then I say you have your bases covered. Like I said, I like the idea, I genuinely enjoy taking a class and using it differently than what is expected!

I'm going to whip out the backstory thing again, here. White magic, the arcane art of succor, was conceived eras past that the world might know comfort. Alas, man began perverting its powers for self-gain, and by his wickedness brought about the Sixth Umbral catastrophe. Although the art subsequently became forbidden, it is now in the midst of a revival at the hands of the Padjal, chosen of the elementals. Those who would walk the path of the white mage are healers without peer, possessed of the power to deliver comrades from the direst of afflictions—even the icy grip of death itself Yes. White magic. Sounds like it was used for evil there for a while. I thought of using the Light in WoW as having a sort of cleansing effect; over time, even Blood Knights (Blood Elves who ingested the magic and were able to use it against their opponents or for themselves in battle due to their inherent ability to manipulate magic) might eventually become better people instead of wicked people; the way that Fel magic has a tendency to corrupt. I don't think that White Magic operates the same way. First of all, I'm not sure that any of the races are inherently magical (i.e. have magic naturally coursing through all of their bodies) or feed off of it. Not to say that that's the only way for magic to have an effect on the wielder. If you have the skills and training or natural affinity for wielding white magic, it looks to me like you could easily wield it for whatever reason -so long as it's serving its purpose-. You probably couldn't tear someone apart with it, but whatever the reason you choose to use your ability, you'll still be healing people right? Money or fame or glory or... vengeance somehow... 'NO! I won't let you die because you're a jerk!'... it shouldn't change your ability to heal and healing shouldn't effect your personality. I actually love your idea-- the idea of someone capitalizing on their healing abilities sounds realistic, like some doctors not helping people who can't pay-- not that -THAT- is good by any means, but if you're going to be a huge benefit for people then why not reap a bit of finance off it from those who can afford it? Doesn't mean he'd refuse to heal someone who was poor and dying, right? I -will- say, though, that I think working with the Garleans for any reason might not do so good for anyone who wants to walk around the cities. The only viable explanation for it, -maybe- to one's peers, even if it requires lying, would be to say you'd heal anyone who needs it. 'Need' being interchangeable with 'can afford'. I could see some people who know their history and who discover your character -possibly- having good reason for wanting to extinguish that merc. healer off the face of the planet if only because they might not trust the magic in the beginning and certainly don't trust someone who isn't pure of heart to begin with. * Re-reading that paragraph at the top again, I'm not sure if they tell you in the story quest, but it seems like either people were 'abusing the magic' for immortality or maybe for something else? Sounds like the pursuit of immortality to me but maybe I'm just not 100 percent sure how White Magic works. Regardless, looks like it can be abused and thus, doesn't influence its user.

Iiiiii see. I assume you're talking about the origin for Dragoons from Ishguard? Of all the things that are symbolic of the nation of Ishgard, few are more recognized than the dragoon. Born amidst the timeless conflict between men and dragons, these lance-wielding knights have developed an aerial style of combat, that they might better pierce the scaled hides of their mortal foes. Taking to the firmament as though it were an extension of the land, they descend upon the enemy with every onze of their bodies behind the blow. It is this penetrative power that characterizes the dragoon. I think many RPers treat classes more or less the same: Even though there -are- origins and explanations for where some classes come from in different games, most just take it upon themselves to give a good reason why a character has that class. It could be as simple as their race and thus, what they've seen most or been most comfortable with, like Wildwood Archers or it could be something like a Sea Wolf who's been saved by a White Mage and decided to become one too. For Paladin, they have a backstory relating to the Sultansworn of Ul'dah, but really, anyone who can pick up a shield and a sword and has some proficiency at either bashing skulls in and tanking or some lesser healing or warding spells would be able to do a Paladin. Dragoons, by definition and in FFXIV were 'originally' cavalry people and the people in Ishgard needed to fight dragons, thus, needing to, I assume, take to the skies. Lances are one of the better weapons to use while mounted because things like axes and swords take swinging and sometimes have short range and things like arrows don't do as much damage and require a great deal of accuracy and horsemanship. Lances and spears also had the added benefit (from what I read about some Japanese samurai and their spear usage/super long-swords-of-doom like Sephiroth's) of, if you're dismounted against another mounted soldier, you can brace one end against the ground and aim the other for a mount riding down on you to kill it or at least cause it to shake off the rider, or reach a mounted soldier from the ground and dismount them as well. If your character has a reason to use a lance, they can become a dragoon. Full plate and a spear is a rather good combo-- you've got both the range combined with raw power -and- a level of protection given that spears and lances have no edges to deflect powerful blows. It's sort of dependent on whether or not you want to be a Dragoon by taking their armor and weapons into account or a Dragoon based on where SE decided to set them up from. Monks, as another example, are probably not always played by people who are religious or devout or even disciplined so often as people who want strong fist-fighters with additional skills. Hope I didn't over answer. If I did, mayhaps I should ask for more specifics, please? On what is bothering you about their history.

I'm very confused-- Has someone said you can't be a Dragoon IC?