LilithLarkspur

Wow, my sincerest thanks for the massive lore drop. This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. Perfect, this is exactly the kind of information I needed. Essentially I'm creating a (now defunct) family that falls into this upper caste you just talked about. That was until the head of the family fled Ishgard with Lilith due to the mother's condemnation as a Heretic for practicing dark arts. The father's decision was based on the fear that if the mother was executed for her practice, him and my character would be next on the gallows (or, at the bottom of Witchdrop.) Is that a lore fitting assumption? Early in the story quests you hear a knight threaten to extend punishment to a Lowborn's family if she continued to be defiant. Is this behavior typical, or was that knight out of line?

I've gotten just past the end of the 2.0 Storyline, so I'm sure I will find out a -lot- more about the city as I finish some more quests (if I can pry myself away from DRK) but I was also thinking about all of those players out there who may be really far away from getting into Ishgard, the answers to these questions could be very helpful to them starting their RP while they work on the MSQ. I would think you might be safe to answer at least a few of the questions without having to admit too many story-shattering spoilers, but then again I know how Square Enix is haha.

Hello everyone! A pleasure to meet all of you, I've been a long time XIVRPer, just haven't really made my way into the forums until now. Anyway, the purpose of this post is to inquire/group together the lore and information we have available in regard to how the class and social structure is in Ishgard. There are going to be a lot of people interested in RPing a character either a current or ex-citizen of Ishgard and this kind of information is critical for backstories/social interaction. I've used the search function here, and in Google and haven't turned up with much, so here's my first post! 1) We know there 4 high houses that make up the core nobility of Ishgard, and the surnames of these houses carry massive weight in every facet of Ishgard. How extended are these homes? Aside from main family members, what other lower tier occupations/positions are available within these houses for players to write their characters into? (Servants, chefs, etc) 2) Furthermore, how big are these noble houses? Is there just a handful of blood lineage, or has the family grown to the point where is it possible to say your character is in some way a way-down-the-line relative of "X" house without coming off as too pretentious? (ex. A great great grandson/cousin of so-and-so) 3) Upon initially arriving in Ishgard, it immediately noticed there is a very impoverished social class referred to as "baseborn". What details do we know about this, and is it possible to escape this social class through hard work/achievement? 4) In between the baseborn and the four noble houses, what middle class, if any, exists in Ishgard. Is it possible to, for the purpose of backstory, create your own middle/upper class Ishgardian family (below the four core houses, of course) and still fall believably within the lore? 5) Finally, what does social interaction between social classes look like? It is obvious from some of the first quests in Ishgard that the typical intolerance towards the impoverished exists, but how severe is this? Where do non-noble, but financially successful/working class fit into the equation. Thanks for taking the time to read/discuss these questions. I'm sure I'm not the only one trying to write their character (and family tree) into the Ishgard lore while staying within the lore, so let's get the information rolling in!