Valence

50% of the story happening in Ala-Migho confirmed. ( Also, they really plan to do Blitzball at some point and are considering it )

I'm pretty sure the liberation of Ala-Migho will probably take place at the end, as the finale. The hub shown in the trailer seems kinda similar to Mor Dhona and Idyllshire to me. The main antagonist also lives there and rules over Ala-Migho. Kugane seems like the new City we will probably join early on, like Ishgard. Most of the new areas are in Othard just around, and they even say that some of those will be the first we will discover. All in all we will probably get the biggest chunk of the expansion around Doma, but the story climax and ending probably around Ala-Migho itself. That's my feeling on the matter.

Well if we are going to use the historical Edo conventions then it would mean that Karasu, Oboro and so on are actually nobility (equivalent to RL samurai) since they also have proper last names? That's interesting. We know that Yuki Yatsurugi is indeed a princess (of a small village they say? That's probably minor nobility then, something akin to jizamurai?). So would it be the same for Oboro and all? All in all, that would mean that in doman naming conventions you would also have to take into consideration the social place of your character, and if they are indeed part of the noble caste or not. So, in a nutshell, if your character is a commoner, you get their first name and a possible epiteth (which isn't even a Doman thing anyway, since eorzeans use them too). If your character is a noble then they get a first name, a last name, and a possible epiteth (will they make the nobility actual samurai, like the job? That might be confusing, but we have seen how it went with all types of dragoons anyway).

That's why I'm asking.. They definitely are nicknames ingame, not surnames.

From what we've seen, most likely yes. A great example is Yamimi Farwalker, a Plainsfolk Lalafell who hails from the Yanxia region of Othard, who follows Plainsfolk naming conventions for her forename and Doman (Raen Au Ra) naming conventions for her surname/epithet. A Doman Miqo'te would likely follow similar conventions, maintaining a Miqo'te forename (without the tribal letter) and a Doman "surname." Are you sure it's her last name and not one of those nicknames/aliases they give to NPC like Karasu Redbeak? Maybe I missed something but so far I have only seen Doman with first and last name in japanese form, like in the naming convention... but it's possible I missed something.

That would mean that a lot of xaela are actually like miqo'te and left their tribal nomadic ways for a city life to live like Raen but in different cities? Or do you just mean they just live in the vicinity of those cities?

I don't think there is anything pointing so far to say that any other shard than the 13rd (messed by Iyegorhm) is part of the Void. As far as I understood it, the Void is the 13rd Shard. And the 1st Shard was scorched by Light so much that we don't even know if there is anything left on it. I'm not totally sure to understand what this has to do with Xande though? Or Xande's clones?

Estinien seems to say that the Azure Dragoon buries his drachen mail, but I don't see any mention of other dragoons? It seems to me it's a specific thing to the Azure, but maybe I missed something between the lines.. Huh

Absolutely nothing yet says it's Rhalgr though. I'm still interested to see if it is or not since it changes everything if so.

That's my point eventually. It's not so much about ONE time bubble, but many time bubbles put after one another in a time flowing forward at an unknown pace. I tend to treat my RP as such, is all. I'm not that twisted to start doing it in a non chronological mess of course. You all bring up good points.

The only more pragmatic version we have had was Gaius van Baelsar view on Eorzean gods, or the Twelve, where he asks the WoL what's the difference between the primals they fight and their gods they summoned at Carteneau, and what makes them so different from the Beast Tribes they oppress. Of course, we can't really know for certain as since it's an outsider point of view, if it's really true, or just heavy bias and garlean drivel. So... This doesn't say much.

I thought I read something about burial but it could honestly have been an earth shard or something of the sort Im speaking of and considering I can't find it I'll haft to assume that was it AHA :lol: That begs my question then, can a person even do any of the things they learned once the stone is gone? I suppose this is a point of speculation in the community and is more of a 'however you feel' situation? It depends a lot on the job lore. For a lot of jobs we don't really know but for some like Black Mage, we know that some of their most powerful spells will burn them from the inside if they even try to cast them. For the Machinist for example, the stone is also the aetherial catalyst acting as a bridge between the body reserves and the aetherotransformer. For the Dark Knight, the soulstone is also the gate to their dark persona (left very vague and a lot of personal interpretation on that one).

Wow, nobody told anyone they aren't allowed to do whatever they want with how they consider the flow of time in their RP... I hear you and I'm still not totally decided on how I should treat it myself. It has pros and cons for both solutions. I'm already annoyed at the progression my character is doing since I'm trying to kickstart something for her to advance eventually. I always have to thread carefully with such things, and doubly so here. Also technically, no I never said I pick some parts of the lore above others, even if it sounded like it. Starlight and other stuff like that are part of the lore and I deal with them accordingly. I just feel like people are way too attached to being precise on dating and their calendar. Since I have played in eve online where such things matter, are part of the lore, and everything is tied to real time in real life, I have a way different perspective on FF14 RP, and my take is quite similar to the take of the writers: if something happens, well, it happened at some point. And I leave it as that. And when we get new info on how much time has passed, I just incorporate it all inside as much as I can. But yes, I understand that seasonal festivities are a problem in that regard. And on the other hand, saying that the Castrum Meridianum got raided 3 years ago and you were there to see it is flat wrong. The same will go soon for the end of the Dragonsong War, etc etc. Or as said just above, Doman refugees (good example!). If you try to take those precise dates into your background or RP history, then time will have passed in your RL time model, where in lore it will not and still be super fresh. I also don't see why you would necessarily need a huge timeframe to tell something meaningul of Eorzea... In your own words, a movie is meaningful but not a photograph or a painting? The latter don't describe anything worthwhile? Or at least, their storytelling ability is lesser? I'm not sure I subscribe to that personally. So... Vagueness is your friend in my book vOv

Havign to chose between the lore timeframe and the few bland seasonals they give us (which are already way too many and pollute the city states visually with immersion breaking RL rip offs)? Well, my choice is easy I think here. If find it way less dangerous and a slippery slope to adhere to the lore timeline, for that if you don't, and suddenly learn it has only been one year since the start of ARR when Baelsar's Wall falls or whatever, and have been playing it way differently... Well I find that a lot harder to work around. But maybe because I anchor all my RP more into MSQ and plot driven events rather than seasonals... I never felt that problem when it came to seasonals. Like for the MSQ, I tend to adapt my writing and keep it rather vague in terms of days/months/years to stick to it. I don't especially feel the need to say something happened that day and not the following day, or even feel obliged to precise the exact day something happened. It happened and it's way enough for me, as long as it remains coherent of course. But yeah, sticking to the lore here at least until the devs make the clock move further ahead, means adding serious limits as to how far a character can grow and evolve. To me it's part of the story itself, and as much as a challenge as specific tone to work with rather than a hindrance.

I personally feel that a lot of players also tend to overdo character evolution and quickly jump to the end of the line, where so many stuff happens in their life in a short amount of time it's ungodly, but I'm not saying it's your case and I understand vast amounts of RP sessions tend to get rather hard to deal with in that regards. It's actually probably one of the hardest things to manage RP wise in a setting where time nearly froze. Especially if you play a character that sees a lot of combat and epic adventures. This is exactly a part of why I withdrew my character very fast from a FC arc that was into that kind of things. My character would have turned into a grizzled vet in less than a few months and the rate was not even that huge (one combat arc every two weeks or so). I probably also have the uncommon belief that even a merc outlet would have a certain amount of non combat time between their epic, adrenalined fueled grim fights. Like the military really. Even the busiest units don't spend their time in missions, and even less in eventful combat missions. As RPers and storytellers, we naturally want to jump to all the interesting and eventful aspects of the lives of our characters. And when we are busy, those events that usually can happen over long spans of time in realistic lives and outakes, will happen in chain. FCs also fall into the same trap for various reasons (one of the first being also here to entertain their members!). So yeah, that's something I have been extensively watchful over, and for that, it clashes with most RPers take on the matter and makes my life miserable.

I think you are talking convenient examples and turning them into a generality. The very state of Ishgard society seems to tell a whole other story to me. The simple fact that the people in power are generally either 1) Clergy, and then 2) Nobles/aristocracy, is by essence contradictory with the principles of meritocracies. As said above, every society can bring up a few meritocratic aspects, especially in the military. I could even agree to say that the Order of Knights Dragoons can be considered a true meritocracy, as opposed to all other ishgardian Knigthoods. The whole existence of the convictory is not ideals, but political agenda. It brings purpose and hope to the masses and commoners, and at the same time promotes a martial culture of grandeur and glory where the rabble and the penniless can do the dirty fight the knights and nobles won't do themselves. It's a win win situation for both social spheres. Ultimately, very few lowborns climb up the ranks by simply becoming a dragoon. Most stay in their misery or just common state, while a minority desperate enough will take arms and probably die in the cold outside. Even the Scholasticate of St Endalim, which could have been seen as some sort of academic meritocracy (through studies and learning), was actually proven to be something else entirely in the last part of its related quests. And I really doubt that your analogy, medieval Europe, is anything but close to meritocratic systems. Be it feudalism, royalty, or even merchant republics (those are more akin to Ul'dah). Last not on bastard children, IRL, were actually proven to be very often very well doted and considered. Some were legitimate heirs, and some got prestigious careers in various affairs (clergy, military, etc). And some yes, were cast out or shunned, but that's a minority really. All in all, Aymeric fills pretty well the role of an average bastard from a king.

What kind of "lots of change"?

Respect of lore timeframe (or just lore itself) trumps everything else for me. If there is 3 starlight events in less than a lore year, then it's compressed in 1 starlight in my book. Storytelling is great in that it allow for time compression or expansion at will. ( I know that my wiki is not following my own medicine, that is planned to get fixed soon )

Annd, I cannot read source material properly it seems. :frustrated: Other than that I play it as in a compressed time bubble. I will maybe RP once, twice a week (or less, or more, but it applies to everyone). All the blanks around can be taken as way more short. Eventually, it can turn 4 real life years into less than one eorzean cycle.

As said above, money trumps everything else in Ul'dah. You just have to see the real power the Sultana holds compared to the Syndicate (which is, almost none, besides the honorifics). Nobles have to remain wealthy to keep being influential. In short, that you a bastard son, a full blooded noble, or rich merchant or a street rat, as long as you have coin, you will be considered proportionally to the amount you can show. And probably make a lot of less fortunate people very jelly and salty.

It has been 25 years that Ala-Migho got invaded, actually. It was 20 years ago for 1.0, and since ARR happens 5 years later... That's 25. Technically you can make that almost 26 since... Well. What Sounsyy said above.

I'm content to let people dwell on whatever they like. I'm not here to judge... Your example works only if you position yourself in a later timeframe of Edison (or whoever of the various previous inventors of the lightbulb you fancy). If you position yourself at the exact timeframe of Edison, then nobody invented it elsewhere. It starts to get muddled since the world was already open and globalizing, but the analogy can work even better with inventions like black powder, which was indeed already used on the other side of the known world back then by the chinese among others. But if you start taking as a frame of reference the time when they invented black powder there, and not in the western world where it was ported centuries later, then I believe to be fairly certain that they were the first to have done that and that it wasn't used anywhere else in the world. So, my point is, maybe it happens elsewhere. Or maybe not. It's out of the lore current boundaries, and thus, fanon at best. The analogy doesn't work either way because the quests clearly portray Darkside as a force, not something developed, unlike the name Dark Knight and the role they play in Ishgardian society as well as their fencing techniques which are explicitly Ishgardian. At least if I'm understanding Sounsyy's lore correctly. This is like arguing electricity was invented, rather than the light bulb. The question is more how hard is it to become aware of this force, which isn't covered in the lore, so it's really speculative at best, if not forbidden or directly contradicting anything. Whether to shoulder the extra work in explaining it away or not is probably just something best left up to the discretion of individuals and RP group. But we are talking about the Dark Arts, not just the Dark Side, right? Could take another, more organic analogy perhaps? Are martial arts invented everywhere? Yeah. Kung Fu? Too specific. Mostly comes from one place/culture. So, the question becomes, are Dark Arts the former (martial arts), or the latter (a form of martial arts, which is kung fu)? I'm afraid not to have any answer to that question. This is why I find it extremely hazardous to state Dark Arts are used elsewhere. Maybe another type of Dark Arts specific to that other region huh?

Well yeah, that goes without saying.

There isn't really any racism in Ishgard but there is classism: you will always be discriminated based on your rank in society, and that also works for a noble guy trying to deal with poor people from the Brume.

I'm content to let people dwell on whatever they like. I'm not here to judge... Your example works only if you position yourself in a later timeframe of Edison (or whoever of the various previous inventors of the lightbulb you fancy). If you position yourself at the exact timeframe of Edison, then nobody invented it elsewhere. It starts to get muddled since the world was already open and globalizing, but the analogy can work even better with inventions like black powder, which was indeed already used on the other side of the known world back then by the chinese among others. But if you start taking as a frame of reference the time when they invented black powder there, and not in the western world where it was ported centuries later, then I believe to be fairly certain that they were the first to have done that and that it wasn't used anywhere else in the world. So, my point is, maybe it happens elsewhere. Or maybe not. It's out of the lore current boundaries, and thus, fanon at best.