Blue

As a Miqo'te myself I admit I get vaguely irritated when some miqo'te near me RPs their tail/ear movements every other line they type. It gives sort of the effect as though they were shouting "look at me! I'm a kitty person! Tails, ears, look look!" I do keep my Keepers nocturnals in my RPs, except for Blue, but that's because her traveling companions are forced her to a diurnal lifestyle (it took her a lot). Light still bothers both her and Jet'a though, especially Jet'a, who wears sunglasses almost fulltime because of that. I do RP a certain smelling ability, too, but like with tail and ears movement, I bring it into emotes only when I feel it's absolutely necessary. Which to my standards, doesn't even occur in every RP session I have. With all that being said, I feel it's kind of unfair to tell others how to RP. I do notice some odd behaviors in a number of roleplayers I come across, some of which defy my comprehension or logic in terms of realisticness too (see my threads where I express my perplexity over some people's obsession with e-dating), but hey... if it doesn't hurt my character (see godmoding, metagaming), they're free to do it as far as I'm concerned. Telling others how to enjoy themselves in RP is generally always the worst approach you can take. If something bothers you in what others are doing with their characters, move along and leave the area. It has been working well for me.

Personally I just mimic cats' body language when it comes to tail and ears (and strictly those. I'm not a fan of RPing cat behavior as a humanoid, like purring, hissing and stuff). So my tail will swing when I'm irritated or conflicted, my ears will tilt in direction of sounds, or when I'm afraid. That general stuff. I notice some people emote using the tail to grab things, but personally I don't do that. As far as I'm aware, only primates have some degree of voluntary muscles in their tails (ie, they can decide what to do with their tails). Felines have only unvoluntary tail muscles, so their tails only move to adjust their balance, or affected by their emotions. In both cases, it's not movements the voluntary part of our brain would control. Feline humanoid with monkey tail sounds too much for me

Definitely go for it! Post a link here and I'll put it in the OP, as well as bump it on the official forums!

Fear not, patches are typically followed by emergency maintenance due to bugs or players crashing the system (by all massing together on the same content). You'll have your chance soon, I'm sure.

((Note: This was written by both me and Mae.)) The curtains were drawn against the afternoon light as Jet'a sat at the Orphanage's desk, his attention focused on the new inventory list he was preparing. His ears twitched occasionally as a particularly loud snippet of childish chatter and antics floated up from the playroom below, followed by either the encouraging voice of Mallow or the soft disiplines of Holly. Thank Menphina for Holly, Jet'a sent a quick prayer. The ethereal and delicate looking Lalafell was as inquisitive as her much more robust sister, but posessed a quiet maturity that made her a more than welcome addition to the meager staff that the Orphanage had. ... Elm lumber... iron... rivets... steel... He paused and frowned at the old inventory list. Walnut..? I thought we had just gotten some. How is it going so fast..? He put down the quill and sat back, holding the list in his lap as he read through it. ... Thankfully we can find most of this for sale, but I'm going to need to go and find more components for potions to sell... the antelope horn powder i-- Jet'a stopped and looked at the door. Something had thumped against it, and the sound had been repeated a moment later. He was about to go back to his work when something started to scratch at the door, followed by a muffled mewling and another thud. He looked around and then at the stairs leading to the children's playroom, considering calling Mallow if she didn't make an appearence in a moment. He wasn't fond of the orange tabby cat, and was seriously considering ignoring the little beast until a rather horrid yowl and another thud came from the door. He huffed and got up, tucking the list into a pocket before opening the door and dully staring down at the big cat. "I will not keep it open, waiting for you to make your decision." The orange tabby flicked Jet'a an impaitent look before picking up the bundle of mail it had dropped on the doorstep and sauntered into the room. It hopped onto the desk and dropped the mail, glanced around the desk, then deliberately sat on the old list before casting Jet'a another disdainful look before Jet'a shooed it away. It made a huffing noise as it hopped from desk to table, and then climbed to the top of the bookshelf. Jet'a moved to the desk and began sorting the mail; one pile for the letters addressed to the Orphanage itself, and the other for those addressed to the Gardener. He'd have to take care of the ones addressed to the Orphanage himself; the Gardener was prone to only reading the ones addressed to her, and only because they were requests for things for her to make. He was almost finished when he stopped on the second last mail: a small package, wrapped in anonymous paper. And it was addressed to his name. Jet'a frowned; that was unusual... his commissions had always and only gone through the Alchemists' Guild, that he'd visit regularly to receive them and turn in the requested orders. He had never given his address or data to anyone, due to the erratic wandering that his... “hobby” ... forced him into. And also for safety measures; he knew he was probably wanted for his crimes, and even though he had always made sure to leave no witnesses (save for the slaves that he had freed and hosted at the Orphanage... making sure to serve an amnesic potion to those that decided to leave), he couldn't tell for sure that an assailtant seeking revenge would one day try to find him. And the last place he wanted to bring his own trouble at was a building full of kids and wounded refugees. He could feel something solid inside the package. With a bit of reluctance, he opened the letter and turned it upside down to let the object slip down and fall in his right hand. It was a flat, red stone, about the size of his palm. The symbol of some kind of horse seemed to be carved within, a rather unusual and unique kind of craft. Odd too, as Jet'a couldn't figure out its purpose or use, no matter on which side he'd flip it. He felt... something weird about the stone. There seemed to be a certain aetherial concentration in it; that wouldn't have been the first time for him to see something like that. It was rather common of crystals, the very reason beastmen craved for them. The Keeper of the Moon turned his attention on the package, realizing a piece of paper was folded within. He put the stone down on the desk and leaned on the desk with his left hand while reading the fresh parchment. The ink was tracing a crisp, neat script. “Dearest friend, in the spirit of Starlight, we are distributing blessings of prosperity to all. Please accept this gemstone and think of it as a token of good fortune. Signed: Sisters of the Red Lotus”.... I don't remember ever hearing this name before. Jet'a turned the now empty package, looking for more clues that were not there. Yet they give this to me, why? He looked at the words in the letter again, frowning quietly. It could be a trap. A little girl walked inside the building from the main entrance just behind him, trotting towards the staircase leading down. She stopped however, noticing Jet'a and the object on the desk. With curiosity she skipped over to pick it up. “Oh, this is so pretty...!” She looked up at Jet'a, who was still re-reading the letter. “Is this Golden that is carved on it?” “...No, that is a horse. Golden is a unicorn.” He replied quietly. He could detect his steed's scent on the girl's hands, and a part of his mind was already guessing what she had been doing outside. A lot of the girls in the Orphanage had found a new game in threading braids on Golden's mane and tail, something that he inwardly disapproved, but he did not feel to be his place to argue against. “Oh.” The girl looked down at the stone again, before lifting it to look at it against the light of the lamp on the desk. “It's really pretty though. Did you make it?” “... No.” Jet'a's tall collar well hid the sigh he let out at seeing the child play with that stone. “Would you mind to help Miss Mallow's cat down the bookshelf? I think he is afraid to come down on his own.” The two looked in direction of the red tabby cat, who in turn lowered his head.. possibly trying to hide. The girl blinked, then put down the stone to head over to the bookshelf, climbing on the stool and stretching her arms and legs to try and reach up to the cat. “C'mon, Mr. Fuzzyboots!” The Miqo'te took that opportunity to pick up everything and head for the door on the left, ignoring the look of annoyance the cat gave to him before picking itself up and hopping down to the child. Jet'a entered the halls, walking towards the greenhouse. He paused a second before the wooden door, the scent of fresh plants reaching his nose strongly. He knocked twice, lightly on the wood, listening for any noise that may indicate the gardener's presence and awareness. There were some skittering noises before her calm, absent voice reached him with a call. “It is open.” Jet'a entered the greenhouse, glancing around slowly. “I've brought the mail.” He informed her. The red-haired woman glanced over from the planter she was tending. “Yes?” He nodded, walking over to her and handing over two parchments. “You have two new orders...” The gardener took the letters and opened one, her eyes flicking down the paper. “I see.” “...And I've got mail.” Jet'a added just that, knewing it would be enough for her to catch the oddiness of the event. “...You do not receive mail here.” She said in an absent, somewhat mechanical murmur, without glancing up from the second letter. “I know...” Jet'a trailed off, sensing something ... tugging... on his tail, as if trying to nibble at it. “...Can you tell....” He looked back, and made a guess. It was still impossible for him to tell the two small morbol seedlings apart. “...Audrey to stop trying to eat me?” Again, the gardener did not look up. “He is not food, Audrey.” The little morbol slinked off to the other side of the room, emitting small rustling sounds, as well as a throaty noise that was almost like a growl. “...Thank you.” Jet'a bowed his head slightly, then rose his hand, to show the little pile of things, the gemstone over the folded paper, over the empty package. “This is what it contained.” Finally, the gardener glanced up from her letter, then down at the one Jet'a was holding. Her usually impassive expression actually turned into a frown. “What is that?” “A luck charm of sorts, according to those who have sent it to me.” “...” “...Something is off with it, I can feel it.” The Miqo'te observed the woman with reverential attention. “The aether in it... it's acting oddly. I thought you could know more, perhaps?” The woman's piercing golden eyes pointed on him in a puzzled look, before she reached for the stone.. and stopped, pulling her hand back. “...I should not touch that.” She said in a quiet mutter. Jet'a observed her in silence. It wasn't the simple reluctance the gardener had often shown for mundane and trivial things that was keeping her from inspecting the stone, no. She was clearly interested this time, but in a way that did not promise anything good. He looked down at the red charm, concentrating on it, sensing its aether meeting his own. It was a very odd feeling, similar to when he had attuned to aetherytes, yet different. “...It's like it's using me as a focus.” He said, before slipping the piece of paper beneath the stone and opening it before the woman. “The letter doesn't mention anything about it though.” “...How does a stone use a person as a focus?” The gardener frowned again, before looking at the paper, her eyes scanning down. “...Red Lotus?” “...There are many strands of aether coming from all directions and to this stone... It flows around my own like...” Jet'a paused, trying to find a term that did not bother him. He couldn't find any. “...It's almost a caress, like it's gingerly studying me. Do you know that name?” She frowned yet again, before carefully scooting around Jet'a, as if afraid to touch him. The wizard observed her. “...You think this is some kind of cursed object?” “...I do not know.” She started pawing through the drawers of the cabinet in the far corner of the greenhouse. “It is...” She paused and frowned, obviously struggling to find words. She was agitated, and it was impacting her ability to speak. Jet'a moved a few steps closer, trying to see what she was doing. The gardener shook her head. “Yes. It is connected.” She murmured, going back to going through the drawers, irritation slowly bubbling the surface as she seemed unable to find what she was looking for. “Is there something you require?” Jet'a found himself asking, guilt starting to creep in the back of his mind. He did not like to cause distress to women, never mind the one he considered as his “leader”, or Matriarch, at best. “Rowen.” She said quickly. “...I should have rowen in here...” “You mean, a second growth of hay?” The Miqo'te glanced around, trying to figure out what she could possibly do with something like that. “No. It is a small tree that bears clusters of red berries...” Jet'a opened his mouth to further inquire, but he was interrupted as he noticed a change in the stone. He closed his eyes, focusing, to then reopen them slowly, staring at a point of the wall. “...The strands of aether...” The gardener made a noise of disgust and frustration, then pulled out a length of purplish vine from a jar before turning to look at Jet'a. “...What?” “They're coming out of the stone with new ends... and those all go in the same direction.” The wizard tilted his head slightly, concentrating on his perception. “It's like... a stream with its tributaries.. You think it could be pointing at these Red Lotus Sisters?” He looked at the gardener, and she stared back in sielnce, before muttering something under her breath, before quickly starting to weave the purple vine into a sphere, ignoring the damage the small thorns were inflicting on her hands. “...It is possible.” “Maybe I should try and see what--” The tangy, irony scent of blood struck Jet'a's nostrils, and he turned to look at her with a slightly panicked look. “...You're bleeding.” “It will stop.” “What are you doing?” The gardener shook her head, obviously feeling agitated, then held out the sphere for Jet'a to take. “... Put it in there.” He frowned, reacing to grab the sphere of vine and thorns. “...Inside?” “Yes.” She watched him gently push the flat stone between the vines until it fit, observing the result. She then wiped her hands on her pants, before moving across the room. “...Raspberry vines are not as strong as rowen branches, but.... it is the best precaution I can give at this time.” “Precaution to what?” He asked, following her gaze. “...” She stopped in front of the fountain on the north-western corner of the greenhouse. “...Things.” She then leaned over, starting to feel her way through the various water plants inside the fountain. She the straightened up and shook the water from her arms, before turning to sit on the edge. Jet'a's ears tilted backwards in slight annoyance. “I don't suppose you would be more specific than that?” Shaking her head, she frowned. “...I... cannot.” “...” The blue-haired Miqo'te looked down at the stone in the vines. “...I think I should see what's at the other end... the one that is receiving all this aether. Especially if it's something dangerous, it is probably not safe for it to have a direction to this place.” Running one hand over her face, the gardener got up and walked back over, holding a tuber in her hands. “That is... probably wise.” Jet'a looked at her and the tuber, trying to guess her intentions. The gardener did not speak, seemingly struggling to say something. She instead shook her head again and instead held up the tuber. She then very deliberately bended it, causing part of it to snap off. She did this several times, then held it out again. Although the root had been broken several times, the parts were still connected thanks to a network of thin fibers. When Jet'a only replied with a slight head-tilt, she struggled again, and finally spoke. “...Lotus... even when the root is broken... separated... the pieces stay connected.” She said slowly. “Through... fibers. Strands.” “...You are trying to say this is what is happening with this stone?” She hesitated, considering, then nodded. Again, the wizard looked down t the orb of vines, finally putting it in a pocket inside his cowl. “I'll remember that. Maybe it's not just a coincidence.” “...Be careful.” Jet'a froze, and looked up at the gardener. He felt a little disturbed to hear those words coming from her. It was the first time she seemed to express worry for someone since he had met her over five years ago. “...If there is something you know, or just feel, I'd hear it, Althaea.” He said humbly, using the name he had given her when she had been unable to provide one. The red-haired shook her head. “...I... I do not know more. I can just feel...” She gestured at the pocket where Jet'a had put the stone. “...It is foreign, and it... bothers me.” Jet'a followed her gaze, and then gave one respectful nod. “Do not be concerned.” “Lotus is... normally... not something to be wary of.” She mumbled. “A lotus is pure, but... it symbolizes life as much as it does death. ...And the red ones are for the heart.” She shook her head again, still frowning. “...Be careful.” “I will.” He slowly replied. “If I don't find anything by the time the sun rises, I'll be back.” The gardener's nod was for him her permission for him to leave the room. Jet'a grabbed the saddle and harness in the chest at the entrance of the orphanage, and turned around the corner outside to find Golden, calmly grazing on the grass next to the stabled crimson chocobo of the gardener. Jet'a took a moment to inwardly sighed when he saw the partially braided mane of his steed. He would have had to disentangle it again.. Promising himself to do it during the journey, he proceeded on saddling the dark-coated unicorn. After his ride was ready, Jet'a led Golden outside of the yard before mounting it. The stone's aether flow still pointing at a very specific direction to the north-west. Keeping his shades on against the light of the sunset, Jet'a began his ride after the mysterious stream of aether.

Bump, renewed the thread's purpose, check the OP out!

Let's see... I hate how hypocrite the politicians of my country (Italy) are being in relation to the terroristic attack in Paris. Everyone is Charlie Hebdo now, and apparently they forgot of all the satirical stand-up comedians, journalists and reporters they banned and fired from TV channels (all our main TV channels are owned by politicians, 3 to the Left and 3 to Silvio Berlusconi (who belongs to the Right) supposedly, but the co-director of the Left's TV channels is also a secretary to Berlusconi so you can guess who has the monopoly in the end), all because they dared talking of the church, of the politics, of how corrupted our government is, and most of all, of Berlusconi. You can read all of his crap on the wiki if you want, from his passion for minor prostitutes, how abuse of power for personal affairs, his fiscal evasion etc. He'll put any gangster you've had in the US to shame. Thank goodness there's the Internet, or Italy would have no satire left to be seen. And yet, today every one of our politicians shows off his Je Suis Charlie banner. It's fucking disgusting.

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I'd like to ask (thought it's still rather early for this) if you also run a LS for wanna-be members who do not wish to part with their Free Companies. I plan to transform/name change two of my characters to become Doman Au Ras when 3.0 hits, but I'd like to keep the rooms the current two characters have made inside our own FC, since other members use them a lot (we use private rooms to add public areas to our house for everyone to use, one is a bathroom, the other a study room, another a laboratory, etc...). So yes, do you have LSs to hand over for who can't be an FC member? Of course, ICly my Au Ras would still hang in yours instead. I just don't want to take away rooms to my FC members.

Yes, it's what we were talking about. People feel it's unfair to have to pay the extra fee to transfer. Honestly, I wish SE would keep their promise made back in the 1.0 days and release an official RP server, offering free transfers to it. I'd rush there in a blink, even if that meant losing our current FC house. So tired of my RP-griefing neighbors...

The Elezen one looks very similar to one they already have, but hey, finally they seem to heave broken the rotation! Hair for all! *squees* (Granted these two don't look like styles I'd use <_<; )

I agree that at this point the argument does not matter in the end as the problem of the servers capacity is there and is not on our end to fix it, I suppose that is mainly what got me to post in the first place. I guess I was a little struck on a nerve by some comments regarding the auto-boot feature and AFK players. It has happened only once so far, but I still remember pretty clearly that time, while afk on our FC house bed, I came back to find I had received a tell from some anonymous stranger (I guess they entered in the open room while I was away? my AFK icon is deactivated to never show up) around the lines of "lol log off fucker, my gf wants to play." I get that perhaps while AFK my character is still transferring a certain amount of data, but I strongly repel this hatred people have for afk players. People have reasons to AFK rather than logging off, and they wary from person to person (my own? I like to come back and see what linkshell conversations I've missed while I wasn't there. My friends always talk of interesting stuff, and sometimes even RP there. It's like coming back home to watch your recorded favorite show). Are there lots of afk players? Maybe, but it'll never be the majority of the playerbase. Are they to be blamed/hassled for the server congestion? No, I don't think so. There are many other factors to point at for the server congestion before turning on AFK players and the necessity to boot them. The servers needing an upgrade for once, and after that, the bots come to mind. I'd prefer to keep an afk player over one who is active but cheating in doing so. And I guess that's all I really have to say on the topic. Sure it sucks that new players can't get in, and me starting the Balmung Is Open thread was what little I felt we could do to help it; but I'd like to not read as often that I and those who need to AFK as I do are causing a problem.

Again, it has little to nothing to do with people already logged in on the game. The server is locked because the log ins are constant. If you really cannot find a good window (I was able to make all my 8 characters during EST mornings in the weekdays, when people go to school/work, but it was a loooong time ago, so things could be worse now), you could always make the character on another server and then transfer to Balmung for a fee.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I was looking for small, RP friendly things. Like an "IC" status to search for active roleplayers (like Looking for Meld status, Busy status etc), or changeposes for mounts (I'd love to sidesaddle when wearing robes, and I almost always wear robes), or new mounts, or new, non pokemon-esque minions (thinking of Fable 2 & 3 Dog), or that they'd make facial expression permanent, give us backpacks to display with a toggle command (similar to /legacymark), and a lot many other small things I did poke for on the official forums. Thanks a lot! Yes, I've had friends offer their help before, but as of now it's not really a matter of needing help, as much as a situation of "I just can't". There's many factors, including my role of main Pacekeeper in our RP LS as well as, again, issues that lean more towards my personal mind and psyche, which I've mentioned here and there but feel would derail this thread to explain in full here. Anyways, I am excited for this new content as much as anyone else, so don't take my posts as though I'm thinking it's bad or that SE should have done something else instead of this. I think it's great and will look forward to when I will get there myself. I just am hoping to see something for those like me (or if you want, for very new lowbie players, cause I feel they're really in no different situation as myself, even if for a complete separate reason (They just started! Can't unlock that stuff yet.)). Would love some stuff not locked behind a Lv50 wall or a mountain of gil (looking at you, lv1 craftable gear...!) :frustrated:

World of Darkness, MSQ, and new dungeons are all casual. In fact there is no hardcore content in 2.5 at all. Well then, I don't know what word to use for players who, for all kinds of reasons, do not go into dungeons or do MSQ. I meant stuff that did not really require progress, I guess? Town gear, emotes, poses, character creation options and the like. For reasons that I will not entail (mostly it's a health issue/personal problem of mine, but also involves my RP characters) I currently cannot activate quests above level 28 yet (or obtain gear that would allow me to partake to these newest things without being killed in one shot), so this stuff is kind of out of reach for me at this point. I was hoping for things that did not require progress and gave RP options. But oh well, maybe they're there and just not in the trailer ^^;

Hello all, signing in today to offer a small writing challenge, or rather game, as it's not really that much of a challenge... Do you remember the Path Companion from FFXIV 1.0? In a little moment of nostalgia, I have been reading the Old Lodestone a lot before the site is taken down, and this is where I have found the small descriptions of each available Path Companion from back then: So here's the game: Write a small description about your character, as if it was a Path Companion to choose! You can write whatever you want in it, just try to not go past the four lines of text. Allow me to start this~ ______________________________________________________________ Blue: Impassive, pragmatic, and logical at best. If being stared at doesn't bother you, this Keeper of the Moon is the ideal partner for a long journey across Eorzea. Just remember to be very literal with her, or she could surprise you with less than expected reactions...

T_T Nothing for casuals until 2.51 and Manderville Saucer... I was hoping for some new changeposes >_<

Currently trying to solo rack up 45M to get our FC a large house (the other members have other stuff to make gil for and I don't feel like asking them to help yet, not when we're still so far from the goal), with no 3+ stars crafting nor access to any endgame that may drop juicy stuff to sell lol x_X I just... craft basic things. Currently on the 9M mark though, so I'm getting there! Also, I collect all the green gear in the game in ascending order by ilvl (OCD much, I know). Currently working on the ilvl70 stuff from Hunts and PvP. And yep! Got my Apkallu too~

I've already said this in another thread but on the forums the devs have explained (and this was a long time ago, so I can't even find it again), that the server lock has nothing to do with the game server where the active and inactive players are, but with the lobby server. During phases of high log-in activity, to prevent the (pretty aged at this point) lobby server from crashing, servers are locked out from receiving new characters. What the players do or not do inside the game at that time has nothing to do with the server lock, so that is why the auto-boot was removed. It's not me being afk that is preventing the server to be open again. My whole LS could decide to log off at that time and the server would still stay locked. We're not taking anyone's room. It's the amount of people who are logging in at that time that induces the server lock. The developer's statement was further proven the other day with the maintenance. Why wasn't Balmung locked a half hour before maintenance? Because almost nobody logs in with only 30 minutes left to play. And why was it still open after maintenance? Because not a lot of people were awake to log in at that hour. This continuous hatred versus afk players has been pointed to be unjustified several times now, and SE isn't likely to answer the same question twice, so that is why they no longer address threads like this in the official forums. The auto-boot feature is no longer necessary as of now, because the game-servers (not the lobby server) have met the capacity requirement necessary to contain all the players in each world as of now. So yeah, again, blame the cheap lobby server if you want, or those who are logging in at the time you're making a new character. AFK players' got nothing to do with it.

Jet'a will be awkwardly there, and feel horribly humiliated in doing so!

Jet'a was taught at a rather late age (12 years old) by the alchemist who picked him up from the streets. While Chiara was educated by a personal mentor hired by her family when she was a child, coming from an aristocratic family of goldsmiths in Ul'dah who could afford such expenses. Vincent is also from a mid-upper class Ishgardian family, and since he couldn't become a knight (ineptitude for combat, combined to allergy to chocobos), he was instead raised to become acquainted with political affairs and the like, so reading and writing were due skills. My other five characters are illiterate, and so will my two Au Ras, I think.

Especially in a continent as illiterate as Eorzea, even if an Au Ra had been sighted, unless they had made a very big deal such as bringing miracolous medicines or destroying a city, it would've been hard for the news to spread everywhere. Imagine if one arrived at a small village on a coast, with little ways to connect to bigger cities and such, did his business and then moved along. Again, the native americans (nor Yncas, Aztecs or Mayas) did not pass down through generations the story of vikings visiting their shores. To know everyone and everything in this world it's a lot harder than you think. In fact, it's even borderline impossible to claim to be the first at doing ANYTHING really, since in order to make that claim you'd need to be able to possess the knowledge of everyone, including people of the past. There's countless cases of things that we believe to be recent discoveries to have been invented in the long past and then be forgotten. Think of the Padjal for example. We OOCly know that they're a thing and exist, but not everyone in Eorzea knows it. Again, I think that as long as Au Ra existed in the past and had means of travel, surely there has to have been at least a handful that managed to reach Eorzea before. They simply never were heard of. I mean, I'm still in 2.1 MSQ and I've never met Yugiri yet. Does that mean that if I meet an Au Ra character before I do 2.4 and he/she tells me he's the first Au Ra to arrive to Eorzea, then he is saying the truth? ICly, 2.4 hasn't occurred for me yet, so Yugiri may be the second Au Ra that arrives in Eorzea to me, or the third, or the fourth, depending on how many Au Ra RPers I meet before I get to 2.4 (I am awfully slow, I don't expect to have even gotten to Leviathan by the time 3.0 hits). It's the same for everyone else in Eorzea. Plus, I doubt Yugiri knows every single Au Ra in Doma of present and past (or even not in Doma, what forbids them from travelling in other countries and procreating there?) and whether they ever saw Eorzea or not, so again her statement is iffy.

Unless the Au Ra were just created (I haven't been that far in the MSQ yet so I don't know), I find it perfectly plausible to believe that other Au Ras came to Eorzea before Yugiri, and simply weren't heard of or their traces were lost. Just think of how Columbus thought he was the first to dicover the Americas; today, we know the Vikings arrived there long before he did, no? People travel, it's in our nature to be curious about what's beyond, and boats have existed for a looong damn time. That alone is enough excuses to believe a few Au Ras have been in Eorzea before.

Tuning in because I just remembered of another clear case in which culture makes cross-clan breeding a rare and frowned upon thing. According to the Elezen naming conventions, no elezen last name will be found to be shared between both clans. This is a great sign of the disdain and general scorn that flows between the two clans (and that they give themselves names such as "Gray" and "Green" is a pretty obvious one too). If a Duskwight and a Wilwood were to mate, the last name of one of the parents would be passed down to the offspring, which in either case would be seen in the wrong because of its mixed heritage, thus unable to receive either last name and still claim to belong to its "right clan" (since it'd be of both and none of the clans at the same time). Personally I RP both my Elezen being very aware of the differences between the two clans, and try to keep away from characters of the opposed clan (with my female Duskwight being certainly the more aggressive about it, since my male Wildwood is more kind-hearted. He however still keeps a general defensive behavior when a Duskwight is nearby.). As for the new Keeper lore coming from the Moogle mail quests... well, waaay to go SE. Destroyed my whole one-year old plot with information that should've come much much sooner. I think I'll stick to my own point of view because I don't feel like retconning one year worth of story. Time to put a huge disclaimer on Jet'a and Kujh'a's wikis!

It is a common misconception that the server lock is related in any way to people being online at any given time; it's not. The server automatically locks down when the simultaneous log-ins in the lobby server reach a certain peak. It doesn't matter how many are already in the game and whether they are active or AFK. What matters is those attempting to log-in while you are creating your character. Remember that log-in from characters that already are registered in the game (meaning, those who haven't just been created and have yet to see the first cutscene) do not get any server lock, so they have priority over those who have to step on Balmung on the first time. That's why transferring characters do not get any server lock (except of course the specific Legacy > Non Legacy transfer, but that's for a different reason, not the lobby server). I know it sucks, but sadly our current lobby server is very cheap, and SE already said that upgrading any hardware (and thus giving us nifty things such as extra character data, which translates in more inventory, more details, more customizations, more hairstyles, bycolor dyeing etc. in the case of game servers, and less DCs/more log ins in the case of lobby server) is the last possible resort they want to look at.