Valence

The house is spooky. I know you wanna inside.

Most of the things in the lore are not evil by essence, except direct servants of Zodiark like Ascians. From all the various quotes we have it seemed to me that the Coeurlclaw king is a relatively new phenomenon growing in power. While poachers is definitely not a new thing, the Coeurlclaw clan seems to be.

It's an interesting idea, but keep in mind that while most eorzeans believe in the Twelve, most of them and especially their own cultures actually revere a single or two gods they dedicate their lives to. For example, Nald and Thal for Ul'dans, Nophica for Gridanians, Lymlaen for lominsans, Azeyma for Seekers of the Sun, Menphina for Keepers of the Moon, Rhalgr for Ala-mighans, Thaliak for Sharlayans, Halone the Fury for Ishgardians, etc. And then also for jobs and guilds, like Nymeia for the weavers and Nophica for the botanists, Oschon for adventurers, among others. Probably Byregot for a lot of smithing professions too. It would ideally mean that you are trying something rather ambitious and universalist here. Which is interesting in its own right. You might find a bit more detailed info there

Oh yeah it's definitely pure gaslighting and all that associated jazz... What sitted less with me was the idea that he was actually pulling that out with keeper criminal females... But... It's true that it definitely fits the case of Ufra (not Mauh!), who was not especially cut initially for a tough life of poaching. I suppose that most of the females he manages to get all have that sort of profile. Except perhaps a tiny fraction of crazy ones that actually believe in him. But from what we see of Ufra, most of them seem pretty miserable, but go to lengths as to convince themselves of the necessity of it. I have a really, really harder time to imagine someone as Pawah Mujuuk following even the Coeurlclaw king though. How can you even think to gaslight someone like her?

If you did the event of course, there is the samurai set that is usable by all if I'm correct.

I'm still unsure how he manages to coerce matriarcally raised women into meekly following him though, added to the fact that most of those girls are not of the faint of heart kind either, or have been forced to get a change of heart. I can totally understand the need for them to find a safe haven when they are basically not safe everywhere else due to their crimes or whatever, but I don't see what prevents one of them to take over, especially a male. Guy is super strong or something?

Maybe she is actually working for Coeurlclaws as a loose gang attached to them? I don't remember the exact details of the Archer storyline... So it's possible? It doesn't seem to be clearly stated or denied so... If NPC attacking you are labeled as Coeurlclaws though, I think that you may well be right. Nothing prevents her gang to be working for Him. And according to those few bits:

Pirates are mostly what they have become under Merlwyb new structures really: privateers. They get letters of marque that allow them to continue exerting their trade (pirating) over cerain vessels, like garleans. Other than that, they are not properly integrated into the Maelstrom as far as I know. But they hold various degrees of influence! They are a bit like the nobles/aristocracy of the Thalassocracy here. They have power, wealth, men and influence.

I never do it. I have a bit of a social anxiety and also try to initiate contact with people I know or contacted beforehand. I am extremely wary of RP styles or ideals that will not mesh well with me. I offer to have RP to people looking for contacts on the RPC that look compatible or sharing the same values as me, and have characters that stand out in a way I like. I suppose I am extremely picky, but that is also in the interest of everyone since a lot of things can just spoil the whole experience for me (mostly a question of level of power/modesty/special snowflakism, among other things). I will however play whatever walk up I see happening when I'm RPing in public. Triaging upstream in my side the people I reach out doesn't mean I won't play the game when people walk up to my character. It actually brings some randomness into the world around and makes your feel immersed a bit more in a living world than in your own bubble. And also, I do it because it's a bit rude not to. Those players surely took upon themselves to walk up to me and friends after all. I like being open when people try to reach me out, even if I'm picky and all of that. Problem is that a great deal of those are often lurkers or very creepy players or characters (or both), and it turns super awkward OOCly pretty soon when they can't get why my character tell them to fuck off. Well, I took it the same as in real life, I don't ignore people walking up to me, but if they do it a certain creepy way, my character will react accordingly. And if they prove the opposite, then my character will get along with it. There is always the case where the other pleyr's RP don't mesh at all with mine and will make me cringe and ruin my experience, but that's the price to pay I guess.

Pawah Mujuuk is indeed not a Coeurlclaw. She is your typical half feral Keeper that thinks in the vein of "fuck the elementals, we do what we want and we hunt like we have always hunted". She is the leader of a gang of poachers that cause a lot of trouble to Wood Wailers and God's Quiver. Interestingly enough, the Coeurclaw king shares the same mindset, which is unusual for a male Keeper in itself. In the mogmail quest, he specifically claims that freedom is above all else. Which is arguably hypocritical of him considering how he chains his Keeper women to himself by letting them no choice in the matter. But to his eyes, it's akin to liberating them. Mostly, the Coeurclaw king is a recent phenomena (the guy doesn't look very old) that is said to have grown over the last years. He basically coerce most female Keepers that have issues with the law (either through desperation, misery, or victims of xenophobia and racism), like Urha Liszeh that had to sell herself as well as deal with criminals to make money with the idea to send it back to her ill mother and young little sister. The Coeurclaw king basically offers them a 'shelter' where they can gather and survive. In exchange for well. Everything else. The Coeurlclaw clan is an abomination to Keepers of the Moon. It goes in direct contradiction with their traditional societal structure, which is isolated families of a handful of female individuals raised by their mothers, that get to be visited from time to time by the men folk. It is interestingly enough, close enough to Seeker harems, but not quite. The main difference being that coercion is not part of Seeker societies, and a Nunh isn't necessarily the leader of the tribe either, and actually tolerate other males around as Tias (unlike the Coeurclaw King). To make it short, the Coeurclaw king is not much more than a pimp, using misery and poor people to his ends. The thing I always wondered though, is why female Keepers, that are very matriarchal and usually very well versed in the art of combat, hunting, and generally pretty tough overall, get to be so docile towards him. Perhaps the guy has skills that are not shown ingame. Basically, once gathered together as a bunch of criminals, what do they get from him that they can't get from themselves?

Interestingly enough, you will note that golem also use soulstones. Are they the same thing however? I don't know, but they use the same word. I believe it could be similar, it basically stores a persona inside with memories and experience. For a golem, it works like a core works for a mammet. Which makes me wonder if you can do the same trick with job soulstones... Mhhh. Anyway. Which brings me to:

Hey, just chiming in if you ever are interested in the lore around pop bands of minstrels in Eorzea, there is actually a quest directly dealing with the subject. It's part of the mogmail series that starts in Limsa.

Honestly at this point, especially since they seem to have said that 3 classes at once was was too much and crazy, I'm not expecting more than a single one and... I would rather like it to be a tank. If it can bring more tanks into the game, I'm all for it. Especially if it's successful. Might also bring a horde of awful tanks at first like it was for clueless DRKs, but whatever.

I dismiss glamour as a thing despite that it seems to be indeed lore justified... I mean, it seems pretty obvious that they tried to justify a clear game mechanic the same way they did with aetherytes... I have never seen anyone use actual glamour ICly anyway. The only thing that annoys me a lot and could justify a quickchanging of armour is for example, you are with a certain class as usual (say MCH), and suddenly you need to switch to blades (ROG) for whatever reason because your character is brought up to use knives... And it suddenly messes up half your attire because it's MCH only... I never had to do that but I have seen people having to resort to it, conveniently retiring behind a shed, swapping, and coming back happily like nothing happened. And it's either swapping clothes, or not swapping weapons. In both cases, you are screwed.

For those interested, Fernehalwes states in that oooold thread that Keeper families have also probably emigrated elsewhere than Eorzea (so, Seekers too I guess?). Make of it what you will. Forgive me if that has already been pointed somewhere though.

Well I mean, if they are really going to do independent deals for every EU country, it's bound for at least one or two not to be too shitty right?... right?

You can get lower prices apparently, they seem to say it's possible to find 40€ two way tickets, but I have yet to find them. Anyhow. If you know people on site it can maybe be an option to ask them to buy it for you. Any EU country really, then send it. I guess digital is way easier.

I don't see why not. If it's physical, cross the channel, buy the thing. If it's digital, then use a VPN.

Are we really taking StarWars as a realistic point of analogy? Well in any case then I guess that it tends to show the importance on the difference between the audiences/demographics and tone of story you want to aim for...

3 years is absolutely peanuts in that kind of things. A drop in the water at best. You will probably be a neophyte after that, nothing more. That's how it works with art, drawing, music, martial arts, swordsmanship or whatever else. Not really, there's plenty people that have mastered similar stuff in shorter times both irl & in fiction. To put it frankly, let us look at the 10,000 hours rule. In short, that's a lie. I could get complicated and explain it but that's too much work. I guess what I'm saying is there's no static timeframe for one person to get highly adept at something. No where in my post did I say Aaron was masterful,I simply said he's "very good", also for clarification. Gotta read between the lines there. Unless you know a timeframe to judge someone's ability in a field that was vaguely classified as "very good"? In 3 years? Are you kidding me? Well, in any case, I never saw anyone like that in my entire life. I have been to art schools, do art myself, and anyone that tells me outright that they master their field (drawing, painting, whatever you fancy), after just 3 years, is suffering from heavy delusions. Seriously... 3 years. Will have to agree to disagree on that one, but that's just silly. Go tell me that a musician gets a master of his art after just 3 years. Really? I'm certainly not saying that there is a fixed timeframe, I'm just saying that be it a master, or 'very good', after 3 years, is silly to me. Unless we somehow put a very different meaning behind 'very good'.

That would be awkward though, after people like Gaius van Baelsar. Speak of inconsistency...

3 years is absolutely peanuts in that kind of things. A drop in the water at best. You will probably be a neophyte after that, nothing more. That's how it works with art, drawing, music, martial arts, swordsmanship or whatever else.

To mitigate what I said above a bit, I would definitely say that no matter what, alt or not, if the characters is really interesting I'll be drawn to it like a fly anyway.

"Better" is a fairly loaded worded. I'd say average characters are much safer/easier characters to play, for a variety of reasons, and that ease of play results in less skilled or experienced writers getting much better results instead of fumbling around with a more complex and extravagant character that would require more finesse to play to appropriate effect. They are not easier, quite the opposite in my view. The more average and common, the harder it gets to find something standing out, and then the more it asks for subtlety and a good grasp on believability. Although your point is definitely true as well I guess. A case could be made for both. It's true that a modest character has less chances to be a ludicrous walking disaster when played bad.

Firstly I wouldn't put too much credit into labeling everything into the ingame classes. While they are of course good guidelines to use the lore and stay into it, I tend myself more to go directly take into the lore itself and just use the ingame classes as just a tool to equip a certain kind of gear and equipment and emotes and look a certain way. If I want to play a conjurer for example, you bet I'm going to use fire and ice spells as well, espcially if said conjurer learned it before 5 years ago. I don't care if the ingame class doesn't allow me to do it. The lore says it's the way it is. But the ingame class will allow me to wear the correct garb and use the canes I want. I think a point you might also want to touch is the level of heroism you are aiming for, as well as the audience you try to reach out. For the first one, you can obviously have skilled and exceptional characters as well as very mundane, average joes, like IRL or anywhere else. People with bigger destinies than others. It's important to know what kind of level of skill and expertise you want to reach. There is a huge difference between playing a dodo farmer and a trained knight that spent his whole life, even if still young, training for his job, yes, but there is also a whole world of difference between a drunkard knight with passable skills and a very talented guy that is expected one day to become a commander. Also, the dodo farmer can also be very skilled in his trade, or not. Don't mock the dodo farmers. For the audience, it's even trickier I would say. Some people will play very 'anime' characters, shonen style, with over the top actions and drama and everything. Some people like me will swear by realistic and modest, everyday settings playing the lives of your average eorzeans as seen in some quests (mogmail quests is a shining example of that). All in all the audience sets the tone, and if you combine a shonen anime setting with a heroic character you are probably going to play on a warrior of light kind of story, for example. There is not really one better than another, just different ways of telling a story (clone wars is probably not gonna be told the same way than game of thrones is). It will also probably determine eventually which kind of roleplayers you might spend your time with.