YesGood

Aye!~ I wondered if someone would wonder about my decision to RP through PS3. I admit it does seem a bit awkward. But I have the Sony brand keypad thing, so it's actually quite easy for me to type without having to ditch my controller to pick up a keyboard. Also: Thank ya kindly.~ XP Ya sooooo welcome~

Every game has bugs in it through all of its stages and they still have 'bugs' in them when they launch. The developers just go 'Oh, that's AD (as designed)' at which point those bugs become easter eggs and weird finds. I really wish the game'd come out but I'm not entirely sure why they just don't prevent EVERYONE from logging in while they work and stop having to worry about, likely, a flood of reports and tickets about not being able to log in. I mean, I know the people paid and what not but they can be refunded their time and it seems like it would just be easier to boot everyone off instead of trying to fix something while people are thrashing wildly around and breaking everything all over again with the sheer mass. Just fix it without the pretense of letting some of the people play some of the time and be done with it.

Physics, you say!? Well, welcome and I'm glad you decided to play FFXIV. I always thought that PS3 people and Computer people wouldn't be able to play together-- or that Console people wouldn't be able to RP. I know that keyboards exist they just seem more awkward for a PS3 somehow. I dunno. The hard-coredness of your RP realism, actually walking around and RPing more or less full-time, is inspiring. <3

Well, that's good to hear~ Does this mean we can buy the game again?

I had a long post but the baby managed to delete it with his sticky little fingers. Thank you all for the input, I very much appreciate it. I hope this gives anyone who has less text-based fighting experience a little insight on how different people's opinions vary on the subject. Likewise, if you play on Balmung, and you're a reasonable individual maybe we could work out something 'like a fight club' that's more geared towards unorthodox, non-gambling sparring. 'Teaching' techniques or giving advice on a case by case basis. If I should be morally obligated to accept a level 1 'master-of-all-trades', I can appreciate them even more if they take a few minutes out of each week to give me a taste of how good they are with combat.

Originally, I'd planned to participate in establishing an FC called the Divine Aegis. I think, it'd be nice to find some fellows that Sio could bump into in some training area or another, and maybe put together an affiliation of teaching, learning, and sparring. So, if anyone's interested in pursuing this idea, my Skype name is Jilalde, or you can just PM me here. I might need to hear a bit more from you guys before I can solidify what I've got in mind. On the matter of roll-based duels, basically in an effort to try and make the outcome fair (assuming the two people are of relatively equal levels of expertise) you -could- simply do a /roll after every single, open strike to see if the blow landed, and if so, to what severity. I sometimes favor having a certain number of 'achieved strikes' in order to make sure that we know when to say one or the other person has lost, but that's only during /roll duels. I know a lot of people have gone far more in depth; rolling initiative, accuracy, damage and having others roll for whether or not they survived the blow and a potential counter strike, much like in table top games. Becomes a bit difficult when you're not weighing in stats or extraneous abilities. Of course, when someone can heal, if they can heal freely, you might end up in a particularly long-lasting situation if they can't be stopped or interrupted. There may be more to this for different people, so hopefully more can comment on their preferred methods of handling /roll duels.

I think situations like Illidan Stormrage, Edward Elric, and Jet from CB probably influence a lot of people in that respect because those characters are special and unique in their worlds. I always assume that giving up physical sight, like in the case of Demon Hunters, gives many people as many drawbacks as benefits. Like... insanity... in that case, but otherwise -not- being able to physically see people makes things difficult. I went with a 'mute' once, who actually suffered the Curse of Tongues which rendered her unable to speak anything but Eredun. Incidentally, she didn't understand Eredun so many of the warlock or demon RPers who tried to converse with her only hurt her ears. This was mostly to practice my ability to emote to communicate points and while it turned out to be rather difficult, I steadfastly refused to explain what she was saying OOCly and was rewarded by having people interpret her actions they way one would have to interpret miming OOC. She could've gone to pen and paper, and did at times, but it was rather rare. Still, not having words is a big drawback in and of itself. If you're in danger or trying to warn someone of something abstract very quickly, it's difficult to get your point across. The scars thing, I can't wholly agree with if only because everyone has to start somewhere and if you were born with a sword in your hand -maybe- you never accumulated any terrible scars. If you were raised by particularly brutal fighters, you might have picked up numerous scars, each one teaching you when to move faster or more appropriately in a certain situation. Likewise, if you've moved on and continue to challenge even better fighters who specialize in what your weaknesses are, such as range, scars can continue to accumulate even if you are an 'expert' swordsman. Doesn't mean you're an expert at dodging arrows or fireballs to the face all the time. I do like that you pointed that out though, because it does make sense to a degree, in many situations. Siobhain has scars on her forearms and shins, but her trainer was particularly disciplined-- pulling most of his strikes before they could land. Not all trainers are like this, however, and one might end up maimed, at least aesthetically, before they start picking up the harsh lessons.

I recently started thinking about RP fighting again while reading (and commenting) over another thread and something occurred to me. From what I understand here http://www.ffxivinfo.com/content/pvp.php 1v1 duels aren't something that's going to be happening. I could have read that wrong, but it basically looks like group arenas and large-scale BGs-- which I guess I should have assumed due to the lack of defined enemy 'factions' in the game that are playable. Before I left WoW I made a friend who turned me onto text-based dueling, when previously, I was 100% against the very concept because of all the horrible experiences I've ever seen or experienced personally with the lack of communication or general agreement in how fights should play out. I also remember on these forums there were plenty of people open to text-based fighting but not to taking wounds on their character-- which leads me to a few inquiries. 1. Is there anyone out there that's done any in-game (FFXIV, specifically) text-based fights so far? If so, no need to tell me with whom, but how did you handle it? Rolling? General discussion? Did any factors play into the fight such as class or level, for you? 2. Is there anyone that knows of a guild where text-based fights in the form of training are a common or scheduled occurrence? I imagine with the way things are in Eorzea that surely there are groups dedicating as much, if not more, time to training rather than just socializing and diplomacy. 3. In the event that there isn't an FC or LS that -does- focus at least in part in training/teaching, is there anyone out there who might be interested in starting something? Nothing with the intent of maiming or killing characters so much as general teaching and practice. I like the idea of having specialist characters (such as a primary gladiator or archer) who get involved with others and teach as well as learn new skills over the course of RP. I also recall my friend being very disappointed at how few people were willing to do any combat RP whatsoever and treated any implication or outright request as some form of harassment rather than potential character development. I'd like to do more to explore in this area. I should also mention that this isn't necessarily a thread to complain about how silly you think combat RP is in any form or fashion; you can feel free to but I'm afraid any derogatory comments on how others choose to handle things might get out of hand. I'm looking more for enlightenment and/or like-minded individuals for when the server issue is fixed.

I've tried to become more open to text-based fighting than I used to be (super strict PVP-based fighting is often only suitable for communities, large or small, that have agreed upon some sort of structure by which to judge the outcome). My primary issue with text-based fighting has always been the sometimes unintentional issue with not acknowledging other individuals joining in the scrap. I'll get onto that elsewhere, though. I do have a question more pertinent to this thread and what you just said-- About how 'Special are we?'. Many people like to RP that they're fighters yet OOCly make it a point to avoid all potential conflict. In your case, do you go to efforts to build a character that's not the type to get into fights because you consciously know, as a player, you don't enjoy them? Or do you play a 'fighter-esque' character while avoiding fights with other members of the community that you may or may not instigate? I understand, and here's where it's pertinent, that many RPers -want- to include the 'special snowflake' detail of being an awesome -insert-some-form-of-combat-specialist-here- and I also understand some of the reasoning (excuses?) for not wanting to actually fight other PCs, such as not wanting to fight in a guarded city or a sacred area. I'd just like a little more input on that special characteristic; if a character advertises what a great fighter they are, what ways do you implement, if not through PVE, Leveling, gear, text-based duels, etc. that characteristic so that others can witness that degree of skill during roleplay? 'You' being general, for anyone this pertains to.

Honestly, I haven't seen a single case of a child (ICly) stating (oocly) they want to be stronger than a High Commander simply because they spent more time playing the game. In fact, the closest thing to any example of a person using their in-game play time, etc. to influence their character's standing in the world was to say 1. 'I've been playing so and so years so I was there through so and so wars' or 2. 'Well I got so and so gear because I worked for it and if we're going to duel, I'm going to wear it because it's IC for me'. I -have- seen 'child characters' treated as super-powered, sometimes half-demons, but incidentally, none of those people have ever been level capped. Ever. My experience is somewhat limited, however. I agree with Freelance that ignoring the mechanics can lead to ignoring the lore that they're based on. Doesn't, by any means, mean you -must- implement each and every single thing absolutely to the letter; but common sense -can- be applied to that too, doesn't have to be one or the other.

*hugs* Nah, you'll be okay, dear. The only way that I imagine it would've been saved is if you accidentally got off the page for a moment. If the laptop totally powered down, I also think it might be gone. Just take a little bit and throw yourself at it again. You did it once already, it'll come to you.

I guess if one person were to sit there and try to excuse just how much of their day is filled by doing important RL things it would matter as much to anyone else as someone sitting there talking about how much time they invest in the game. I agree, no, it shouldn't all be about levels and grinding because yes, then it does come back to my time versus your time and my priorities versus your priorities. Valid as that may be, that excuse shouldn't be, and doubtlessly is, used by people who literally roll a level 1 character and come in periodically, when they feel like it, just to tell other people how much better they are. It's offensive when your character is capped, it's -worse- when the person is fresh out of the starting quests and refuses to level. But if they choose to do it, that's fine-- It's just bothersome at times. The reasonable defense of 'Don't let in-game mechanics dictate roleplay' is easily skewed into 'I'll do whatever I want because in-game mechanics don't count in roleplay' by people who, yes, might not have the time but also might not want to put forth the effort anyway. At that point, it's a glorified chat system, but you're paying -your- money to run around in it so who is anyone else to judge? It's not particularly hard to level, in fact it's beneficial for aesthetics and just to take a break from roleplaying; I'd rather deal with artificial -obstacles-, obstacles that could be overcome in time with motivation than getting in an OOC argument with someone about IC differences in perspective. Because, as we see many times in the threads, it hardly ever leads anywhere productive. But that's a personal preference and so my in game accomplishments and understandings only really help me-- I expect that someone will no doubt sit there and tell me how worthless I am for wasting time -actually playing the game-.

The thing I'm railing against is that this trope has become pretty much a running joke. When every other person is a cyborg, I think it's been run into the ground enough (and by your own admission, you have two characters who are this way already. I think you need an intervention ) This is only my personal experience that I'm really opining on- I just think that roleplayers need a little more, ah, restraint. Too many times they have their character lose an eye or a limb just cause it's cool and a robot part would be bad ass, but it doesn't really add anything of real substance to the character. It's just fluff. Actually, by my admission, I -know- two people with characters like this already. ^.^ My characters are wholly intact, s'far as I know, but if two people out of however many members of the RPC exist with character wikis so far requires intervention then maybe I should reconsider anything I thought I knew about percentages and fractions. Doesn't seem to quite make 'every other person' but then, math isn't my strongest suit, I guess. Maybe there's part of me that wants to see characters that are self-labeled as proficient fighters, swordsmen, assassins and such actually -fight- once in a while in RP and see how many chunks they can carve out of each other to warrant such 'bad ass' maiming. I'd love to lop a guy's arm off and see how he handles it or get Sio's eye poked out in the midst of some skirmish with some stranger despite all efforts made to prevent such maiming. I could see, though, why coming in with a character who's already Edward Elric'd could seem a bit exasperating to -someone-. I dunno. Sounds like typical smarm to me.

So far I've known two characters with 'robot arms' to some degree or at least prosthetics that they had some explanation for. Neither of those people seemed particularly stupid, in fact I think both were pretty well liked, nor would I have lumped them in with 'escaped demons'. Generalizing doesn't do any good, really. I also don't see an issue with magitech eyes-- Maybe I'm too used to fantasy settings with alternative methods of seeing though. If you sacrifice your physical vision in order to see heat or magic or something like that, then if your method looks legitimate, I'll accept it and it'll likely be the first time I ever heard it in this setting. If you were -already- blind and there -may- be some way to use what's in the world to your advantage to give you some semblance of sight (assuming you're not an Elezen, and according to some people Miqo'te ears won't help ya) or some other sense that can help, then why not? Siobhain is a paladin, mostly my first real 'tanking' character other than my Orc warrior. I let the class I choose help me develop my character's personality-- or rather I develop her personality around it. She is strongly religious, naive at points, but this depth of her faith keeps her running around and even fuels her limited capacity for healing. I'm debating whether to delve into integrating any paladin reinforcement spells or chants or hymns or runic markings or -whatever- they use, in some small way, over time to allow her to develop as she needs. So far, she's a glorified brute with room to improve but I have no intentions of starting her off as a superb healer or a weapon-master. I'd like to actually learn some things from some people over time, or at least evolve what she knows to a greater extent. Maybe someone will teach her to wear make up or ride Chocobos? Anything can happen. I like to invest my time, finding the gear I want to wear for RP or getting my levels in. I started out doing RP-PVP and I lost the majority of my duels, but if there is one thing in the RP community that bothers me more than ANYTHING else-- it's the tendency of people (not even just low-level people) to shoot their mouth off because they can, offend a ton of people, and then stand there and virtually laugh at the fact that as long as they don't accept a duel or attack, text-based or otherwise, it's not going to happen. Being on an RP-PVP server where dueling was an integral part of dictating fights lessened that number considerably. I think there are very, very many well-read and intelligent RPers who don't fathom in the slightest that writing up a mouthy character with the refusal to back themselves up or even acknowledge the attacks they might earn is 1. Different from being trolled by random PVPers and people who are just wearing better gear than you and want to take that opportunity to make their character look better and 2. It's meta-gaming. That scary, scary word that I so despise because it's so quickly applied to a situation that doesn't sit well with a person or two-- taking something out of character (your personal unwillingness to risk your character's health or reputation + whatever aspects of yourself that you used to make a super abrasive character) and using it to influence what's happening in character. People don't have to fight all the time or like PVP or grind for gear or even consider their classes and spells in RP if they don't want to; but it should never be an excuse for people to break that IC/OOC line or intentionally troll people ICly just because they refuse to acknowledge any form of repercussion for their character's actions. I'll still grind the levels and the gear and the classes because I like my avatar in game to match my character as closely as possible. Also, because it feels like I'm misrepresenting my character by going in at a low level and asking to be treated like I'm a high level who's spent time wandering Eorzea and reading quests and working on my levels and gear without the intention of actually doing any of that.

I think I've ranted about this once or twice and I'll rant about it once more. I also admit, when I first started RPing in an MMO, my character was probably what you'd see in a dictionary next to 'Mary-Sue'. Some highlights: -She was a Blood Elf-- But she came from some pocket dimension in the Nether where numerous warlocks lived with demons -She was mute -She was a hunter for no real reason -She understood every language -Her hair changed colors with her mood So, okay... I get in game on Ravenholdt server which, coincidentally, had a wonderful community. NOT. ONE. PERSON. berated me on how unorthodox and lore-breaking my abomination of a character was. Not one. I had countless walk ups where people did their best to take me seriously, I even got pulled into one of the larger guilds on the server (right after WotLK) where the leader gently began to press me towards the lore by sharing it with me in and out of character. He gave me examples, using his own character, rather than trying to shove it down my throat like bitter medicine. My character was killed and underwent a three day long process (72 hours) of a group-wide effort to resurrect her as a Death Knight after WotLK, along with several other guildies. In fact, every non DK who joined, unless they were a warlock, ended up being turned into a Death Knight. Why? Because our necromancers, after the expansion, spent weeks training ICly on forums and in game to achieve that level of skill. Not many people appreciate DKs now since they were overdone for RP-- it meant you could start a whole new character without having to bother leveling to 58 and they could be your vampire, more or less. I've never seen a guild since that went through the level of care that that particular guild put into helping its members develop their characters with near constant attention and a stable environment and structure. Sure, that character was still a special snowflake in her own right, but after that change I had more freedom to learn the lore and all characters after, with the impression my guild leader left on me, I've built to be supporting characters. I wasted a lot of time working in taverns or Cantinas, answering the calls for help where ever I go on a character if my character has the personality to respond to it, which they usually do. I do this because I enjoy it, not because it gives me some sense of elitism to say I play a virtual NPC in the RP lives of others by playing fairly cut and dry characters. I add little tidbits in here and there if I want to do something interesting, like in Siobhain's history. She'll be a decent fighter, physically, but she's neither tall nor short, nor super feminine or super masculine; she'll be working a minor job, she won't ever learn every single skill or class (Paladin/Blacksmith So technically what... Four? Only because Paladin takes two.), she's not incredibly rich or poor-- she's there. Her past was difficult but not extremely uncommon, I imagine. Her personality should make her interesting, but that's about it. Playing a 'normal' or 'boring' character is usually special in its own right, because so many others are almost -too- interesting and when the exceptions to the rule outnumber the 'rule' so to speak, it becomes the majority. On the other hand, 99% of the people on Wyrmrest Accord that I've seen don't play their class because it's 'overdone and game mechanics have no reflection on roleplaying' so many of them are merchants or bards or blacksmiths or leatherworkers-- civilians because they don't want to be the stereotypical hero. At the same time those people who otherwise claim to have little to no combat experience won't allow their characters to be fought or killed as though being a citizen in Azeroth makes you immune to death. It seems, again, like a conflict of interest. Frankly, it's boring-- sure, not everyone has to be a hero, but enough of us genuinely enjoy writing up semi-plain characters that we intend to develop rather than having everything set out for us and playing 'NPC' to help drive strangers' character development as well as our own. So many of us are like that, in fact, I just don't grasp why people bother to complain so much about those super special outrageous characters-- I've seen about a 5 to 1 ratio of intentionally bland and ultra realistic to Dragons or Demons or super-powered paragons of awesome, birthed of the loins of Thrall from the seed of Wrynn. Not one single avatar of Azeyma or Rhalgr, but I'm still holding out hope. People will always be on either side of the fence and as readily as I'll defend anyone's right to play whatever character they want, I'll keep shaking my head every time someone gets degraded or overlooked for a lore-breaking Mary-Sue. We all had to start somewhere and for most of us it wasn't being ostracized or ignored for our lack of knowledge or our decisions. I'd like to enjoy some more perfect people, personally, because bland can be as boring when everyone's doing it as ultra-shiny choices. I'd also like to see more characters open to potentially altering their personalities and lifestyles rather than just treating every RP like an in-depth Q&A of 'How would my character respond to this?'

Why, hello there. I've recently (past two days-ish) returned from a sort of self-imposed hiatus after being gone for a few months. As I posted elsewhere, I finally got everything in order to play FFXIV: ARR and... can't... buy it... So, I've been suffering a bit from general rustiness setting in to my creativity gland. I was wondering if there was anyone bored enough to try one-on-one or a small group RP in Skype. I'm sure there's a Skype chat room still open but I feel extra pressure when there's a ton of people involved and was in the hopes I could just flex my RP wings and try out Siobhain, again, in a slightly more 'canon' setting (in game notwithstanding if only because it's not available to me in any way). I intend to play on Balmung with the one or two friends that are already there and the many people I admire that I've seen before-- so while I'm really open to just about anyone, I think, if you don't mind, I would like to keep it to Balmung players -IF- those players condone letting whatever initial encounters arise to carry over when I manage to get into game (i.e. Sio might recognize your character at some point after I can get onto ye olde server). Otherwise, doesn't really matter what server you're on. My preference is: -Chat - Skype -Server - Balmung -City - Limsa Lominsa Anything else is subject to change depending on who all, if anyone, might take me up on this. I'm so starved for decent RP, I'll even go for non-canon stuff if it means I can write a bit and that also extends to my server choice and whatnot but I will, likely, stick with using Siobhain as I don't have any ideas for an alt. If you're interested, feel free to PM me for my Skype name and we can get started anytime in the next two days. This is not some solicitation for a love affair or some such nonsense, so have no fear! I'm also open to suggestions of immediate settings (tavern, bazaar, docks, etc.) and also just for friends. Ya don't have to reply here if ya don't want to; I know this is a bit of a odd request but if it's an inspiring enough RP I might be able to generate some art with it. And who doesn't like art, right? Thanks.

A few months ago I returned to WoW, then a week or so ago I dropped WoW for GW2. At the very least, GW has taught me to avoid standing in one place and trying to kill things-- mostly because it just doesn't work. Ever since I started talking with a friend from the RPC again a few days ago, my drive for FFXIV has returned full force. I have a computer that can run the game well, good internet, a tablet, and I can finally afford to buy it and maybe, just maybe maintain a subscription. Then I find out I can't even buy it until this whole mess is over. I'd still be playing GW2 to help pass the time but I can't seem to bring myself to do it. I'll probably take up doing a bout of tablet sketches for play L4D with my cousin for the next two or so days. Q_Q My pretty Mesmer... she fades...

I need to stop giving myself an capped level goal. I work so hard to level in games lately I just neglect RP altogether. Q_Q Edit: At least I'm not alone either. I'll probably take up your philosophy, Remis.

I'm on the fence about this. I've met a lot of decent people, mostly in Warcraft, whose characters have been in pretty much every major Horde or Alliance excursion. They're extremely knowledgeable and usually have veteran, true-Faction characters so I don't have any issue seeing it. In FFXIV I think using the Primals, because it's almost more of a game mechanic than a real set-in-the-timeline-chain-of-events it becomes a conflict at times if too many people want to claim they're involved in such situations. The major battle(s), however, might not be unlikely at all, though again, I suppose if everyone was there and got time-warped, it might be a little strange. I don't think it's -quite- an etiquette thing so much as a matter of taste + world-related issue. If SE puts out expansions and patches and those expansions or patches include major events where a large number of people could legitimately be there, I'd find it acceptable to hear a fair number of people claiming to have been involved ICly, so long as it matches their character's goals in the game. I hesitate to throw my lot in just because I've seen such situations abused (Sir, I have a hard time believing that you, personally, overthrew the Lich King with your band of guildies...) because I find when existing people start doing that, new individuals tend to shut down their ideas at 'I'm not ah'posed tah make my characters involved with anything in teh lore' and I don't like to restrict that aspect of roleplay for anyone in any way. At the same time, some people unintentionally go the opposite route. Again, using WoW as I almost always do as an example, the whole of the issues with Vol'jin and Garrosh and the rebellion were often treated as a series of events that hadn't happened yet while some others were treating it as an on-going thing and others yet believed it was done and over with. It leads to a conflict of interest at times when you have Kor'kron RPers trying to assault Darkspears who're treating the issue like it hasn't even happened. General acceptance on situations like that alleviate the issue in large-scale communities, but it almost never happens because -that- for some reason is one of those situations where everyone gets hesitant about telling someone what time it is for them. I'm sure in many cases it comes down to OOC communication, and much as I can appreciate the maturity and understanding that that can create, I prefer to keep my OOC communications with another RPer as limited as possible unless it's asking how they want to handle a fight (assuming PVP isn't an option) or apologizing for a really difficult-to-understand typo. So in short, to review, I think it's a matter of taste and, if done tastefully, contributes plenty to a good RPer's history and I, in no way, would support seeing that appear as an over-arcing, all-inclusive rule that might end with some people who misinterpret or don't give a situation/individual a chance to show their legitimacy being ostracized or corrected needlessly. It's entirely situational, taking in game events or lore events and using them in your character build.

I've been having the same problem. It's depressing that I can at least get the game for my birthday and I have a computer capable of playing it but I can't get it because of the server thing. Irony... <3

Welcome! I'm glad to see new people still arriving even though I've been gone forever. And this video you linked is hirarious and informative. I dig it!

I'd like to know all this, too, I'm a sucker for any and all details I can glean. They would be very interesting and potential to note-- but this thread is about the one thing there is some actual information about, right? I hadn't even known any tiny excuse as to what them male Miqo's have been doing existed until I read this thread so that, in itself, was enlightening. I agree they -can- be more vital in their entirety, but relationship dynamics play a large role in understanding societies. Leaving things for RPers to decide themselves is nice on one hand, but it really can't be helped regardless-- it's just how it is when all of the info isn't on the table. Or even very much of the info. I wish in some tiny, naive portion of my soul that there -were- things that involved incomplete lore that were generally accepted as a rule by a community but there are always the people who think such things can infringe on their creative rights and, thus, do everything to discredit it. Sometimes they're right but I don't see it as being too different from subjects that result in a virtually unanimous agreement in the community.

Realistically, I think that these were just two explanations for why they didn't 'exist' before, in a sense. Being rare and thus being put into certain socially necessary places based on their male gender might explain why they (SE) bothered mentioning those sorts of 'rituals' in the first place. Matriarchal societies denote that women are the ones that go out as warriors and whatnot and men are generally the equivalent of 'housekeepers'-- not always literally, but they might be protected and gently (or harshly) persuaded not to go out and risk their lives and subsequently the lives of their entire species if they keep throwing themselves out on dangerous adventures. Likewise, males who have 'harems' might not actually be ruling harems like tiny sultans but might, in fact, be more similar to situations such as in India and China where one wife is shared amongst several husbands due to not only a shortage of women but a lack of fraternal income. (i.e. sometimes they can really only afford one wife between two or more husbands). Male Miqo'tes might have no real power in those harems and are, instead, put in a sort of pseudo-role of prestige where they're treated well but don't get to pick and choose their female mates so much as their existing mates choose. Instead they'd get to decide whether a 'lesser' male was able to stay with the group instead of being sent away to be taken in by another group of women or left to wander because he wasn't deemed suitable for breeding. Male Keepers might be more inclined to listen to the direction of women, especially women who are nearly twice their size (like a Roegadyn /koff) because they've been raised to respect women as leaders. Likewise, maybe a male Keeper would be -less- inclined to listen to women outside or inside his own race because he's tired of hearing it and that's why he left home in the first place. Reflective personalities might crop up more in female Keepers, women who are used to talking down to men regardless of their size and women who are more hesitant to do it because they never agreed with such a cultural hierarchy based on gender. Similarly, male Seekers might be more open and frivolous with their flirtations, because perhaps they're used to being surrounded by women who want their attention or seeing other, older males able to do so. They might be less inclined to have a serious relationship with anyone, much less anyone outside their race if they chose not to become a Nuhn when given the chance, not wanting any part of such a large responsibility. Adversely, Tias might be more or less inclined based on those similar views, not to mention how a young female Miqo'te might consider her place in the big gender positions of the world. There are really plenty of things that this could potentially flesh out in the start of a character's personality and it could lead to a healthy bit of character development as a new, slightly less worldly Miqo'te was exposed to the cultures of others and changed their opinion over time. Not all of them are romantic. These very things may also dictate friendships, rivalries, or the choice of who becomes one's enemy. I agree that what you might see in game might not line up entirely with what's going on, but then, if SE felt so inclined they could give -more- excuses about it. Basing everything we know off a race exclusively by what we see in game isn't entirely commonplace because in many other games there are books and side-games and expansive profiles and such that delve deeper into all that which might not be covered. It could be as simple as SE not having thought of those things right away or not seeing it as important enough to put in game. Warcraft seems to pretend to take its lore pretty seriously and so does its players, but that doesn't stop things like the Tauren Chieftains or all of the easter egg NPCs from existing in the game and not necessarily in books or the like and things like differing eye-glows and playable Quel'dorei or neutral factions from -not- appearing in the game.

I'm sorry I missed it. Do we have a section about half-breed characters? Also, are Seeker harems or Keeper matriarchal groups actually being considered by anyone who might be following the original train of thought? Because I'm interested in hearing more details regarding how those groups might be handled, and again, there just ain't much in the realm of Roe culture to look at unless someone's uncovered something I haven't.

Edit: After reading the post following this post, I realize what I said is the same thing, only not so eloquently worded in some places.