Valence

Well I don't find those restrictions that restrictive. They just say there isn't probably a lot of ex foreign students like Jannequinard, especially ones that were authorized to dabble in astromancy. Leveva and her father/grandfather tried to export the art to Eorzea, but were hunted by Bibliothecs. In any case, they seem now to have mostly succeeded by they are only two of them and it's very new. It's not to say that there isn't any non sharlayan astrologians around there, especially students or neophytes, but the bulk of serious astrologians is without a doubt, sharlayans for now. And when your character is actually sharlayan, there is actually very little if no restrictions on that job and how easy it is to access.

I like that character, she's rather unusual! Feel free to hit me up if you're interested for anything, Shroud or no Shroud. I can offer various and/or relative Gridania based things. I'm open and supportive of most story ideas... Especially since I'm still trying to find myself again so to speak, with story creativity and whatnot. Feel free to offer me story or hooks or anything really.

I am annoyed at all the dead that can't stay dead (please stay dead Papalymo...), but I'll forgive Gaius for surviving. At least he has the decency to have always been a badass and one of the very rare good characters of the story along with his buddy Nero, Yotsuyu, Fordola... wait a minute, most of those are grey characters. This is trying to tell me something.

I know they have unique weapons in lore. What I'm not sure about is that the model is different ingame... And judging by your 2 images, it's uh... hard to tell, they don't even show the same part on both... But I'll trust you on that ^^

I'm probably getting away from the OP but I do strongly believe that archetypes are what give characters depth and an immediate, understandable personality. One, creating a whole new archetype sounds a bit silly to me. Everything has been done here and there, and if it hasn't, then you're a genius I guess? Two, not having an archetype behind means inherently that your character is bland and two dimensional in my opinion, because this is exactly what makes a character not memorable. Lore established stereotypes are usually the strongest archetypes set within the lore you could find. This is not to say that you can't find as potent, or that you have to stick to the exact minutiae of said archetype (or else everyone would be the same), though.

To my eyes either you break the lore, or you don't. Bending would imply touching or affecting it in any way or form without breaking it, and I have a hard time finding concrete examples of that. - Hard lore breaking: directly contradicts lore facts. Going against what the lorebook states, that kind of things. Example: saying that the Knights Dragoon have more than hundred members. No, they don't, they have a dozen. - Soft lore breaking: directly contradicts lore facts, but only goes against what one or several characters say ingame. Example: saying that a character or someone else came back from the dead fully, with their soul and everything. Many characters and the story itself tells you it's impossible, however, it's said by characters that can be flawed in their thinking, reasoning, etc, or just don't know a way to actually do it. KojiFox himself said that everything told by characters isn't always totally accurate, even if the way it's said makes it often pretty obvious that a character is mistaken (like on the classifications of creatures, countless hard lore examples here). Either way, it's like the first point: most of the time it will go against the lore. - Unreasonable terra incognita: building your own RP out of the bonds of lore, or what is described by lore. Technically, you don't break the lore until SE decides to expand on the same playground you are trying to cover. That's what happened for example with dragoon roleplayers with the arrival of the lorebook as the most blatant recent example. Same with a lot of Red Mage roleplayers that decided to start playing one before the actual release of Stormblood (as you can guess it ended up pretty badly for most of them in terms of lore compliance). What makes it unreasonable is often when you try to build your own lore besides the existing lore by creating "grand statements" or very impactful rules. Example: we now have clues and examples that are more or less baking up that fact in lore actually, but before SB some people played with aetherial runes and runology, and I don't believe this existed until now (briefly glimpsed in the RDM questline). Or inventing a whole new type of Magi. Another example: coming from Meracydia and starting to explain how life there is while we don't have much in lore to confirm or deny it. Someday, it'll come back and bite you in the ass, and even today you'll have to deal with other roleplayers that may not accept your vision of it. Reasonable terra incognita: same as above except you're mostly doing your little sandbox in your own corner and it's kept very local as an oddity that could perfectly fit in the world of ff14 (and the world of ff14 is very, very tolerant of a lot of things). Example: making your own little tribe of xaela living in Eorzea with a whole made up culture of your own that you think believable enough. Either way you either break the lore or build out of the lore (which is maybe what people call lore bending). In both cases, this might still make sense or be believable, depending on who you ask. But in both cases, it's not within the lore per se. In the latter case, building outside the lore can amount to a lot of risk taking vs the lore, or very little.

I've run into this issue quite a lot when I try to clic on the quick reply and instead of giving me the edit text pad, it gives me that thing where it's asking for a file upload. I can't get access to the normal text edition unless I reload the page and try again, sometimes several times for no reason. No idea if it's just me or a real issue? I'm using chrome. ( screenshot attached below )

Take it for what it is, and perhaps from someone jaded with their own set of problems... I know what you mean. I have yet to find precisely anything i get along well in spite of that so called wide and large RP base here on Balmung. And I also think I may have to find myself first at some point as well... Anyway.. i have no easy answer to offer unlike everyone... I have really no idea if things have changed though. Hard to say. Doesnt seem like it to me.

Isn't it used as the generic garlean gunblade model everywhere?

I'm probably going on a tangent here and verging apart from the OP proper, but to my eyes and understanding RDM is one of the most restricted jobs, like BLM and WhM. Basically the only way to learn the job is to learn it the hard way: finding somehow a soulstone and parsing countless occult and arcane sources until you actually learn about the job itself being something more than a legend, then learning how that magic is used, what with (so being able to design your own aetherially conductive rapier and whatnot), etc, before even starting to learn about specific spells. Because there is no red mage left alive but X'ruhn (unless others are left and he doesn't know about it, but that's not lore, that's outside of it and on that territory you can make up anything for any job, create hidden communities and whatnot...). Even saying that your character is quite old and has learned red magic under the Crimson Duelists during the reign of the King of Ruin makes little sense, since it would have made them a red mage, and the lore seems to say that they all ded naow. Only thing that goes for you is the lack of enforced illegality around the job even if it makes use of black and white magic...

I don't remember anything specifically covered by the lore concerning the internal structure and organization of the Sekisegumi, other than they follow standard ranks with captains, etc. The only thing I can tell you is that they are the only unit sanctioned by the Bakufu to employ, train and arm (with samurai weapons) members issued from sub castes (aka, non samurai). They are if I remember correctly, sneered at by most hingan samurai as a result and often considered as a trash heap unit of peasants playing samurai by their peers. This is also why they are only charged with the security in the port district of Kugane, only place open to ijin. During the SAM quests, they are directly threatened to see the end of the Sekisegumi due to their repeated failures at regulating the mess caused by some of their former members.

That post from Kilieit is great. I want to also offer an alternative organized around various main criteria for a quick summary glance: Lost to legends or active job? Limited mastery? Repositories of knowledge? Numbers? Legality? Inner resource? Soulstone necessary? Place of origin? Additional requirements? PALADIN Still taught by the Sultanate Sultansworn: no. Free Paladin: very recent opening to worthy non military, so yes. The Sultansworn, and very recently Free Paladins Small elite unit dedicated in protecting the Sultana, as well as a few free paladins Legal Nothing specific No? But all paladins seem to have one... Uld'ah WARRIOR Still used by Hellsguards Hellsguard reclusive communities: no. Maelstrom elite units: very recent revival, so yes. Hellsguard Tribes, and very recently a handful of new Maelstrom units Probably some scattered Hellsguards, and the growing recent new recruits taught by the Maelstrom Legal Inner Beast No, but bolsters the Inner Beast Hellsguard clans DARK KNIGHT Still used by lone Dark knights Depends of the master. A few scattered, secretive Dark Arts vigilante practitioners in Ishgard From a handful to the occasional vigilante Illegal in Ishgard, possibly badly seen anywhere else Inner Darkness Yes: allows to channel the Inner Darkness Ishgard WHITE MAGE Lost to legends Padjals: no. Self taught with amdapori soulstone(??): strong yes. Elementals and Padjals A handful of padjals only Illegal Hydaelyn's lifesource Very possibly yes, but Raya's words are ambiguous Amdapor (now the Shroud) SCHOLAR Lost to legends Nymian Tonberries: yes, they have no casting abilities. Neophytes and amateurs: yes absolutely, has just been rediscovered by connoisseurs (Alka Zolka). Nymian scholars, aka some tonberries None left Totally forgotten, could be badly percieved if linked to the War of Magi Nothing specific Yes: it allows to call upon the faery bond to it Nym ASTROLOGIAN Still used by Sharlayan Sharlayan natives: no. Anyone else: yes, most probably. The Sharlayan Studium, Sharlayan native astrologians. Some non Sharlayan ex students in a more limited fashion (like Jannequinard) A decent to good amount of sharlayan scholars Non sharlayan astrologian initiates hunted down by the Bibliothecs faction Nothing specific Very possibly yes Old Sharlayan DRAGOON Still used by the Order of the Knights Dragoon No. The ishgardian Order of the Knights Dragoon Some ex Dragoons in a more limited fashion (like Alberic) A dozen of them left in the Order proper, including famous Dragoon NPCs Possibly other exiled or discharged dragoons elsewhere Legal Inner Dragon (not to be confused with Blood of the Dragon) Yes: allows to wake the power of the dragon and the use of the Drachen Mail Ishgard MONK Still used by scattered survivors of the Fists Probably yes, but depends on the master, however rare those remaining may be. A handful scattered survivors of the massacre of the Fists of Rhalgr A handful scattered survivors of the massacre of the Fists of Rhalgr Legal everywhere except in Garlemald Was illegal under the King of Ruin The opening of one to seven Chakras of Light, one to seven Chakras of Shadow No, opened chakras actually allows the progressive unlock of the soulstone Gyr Abania SAMURAI Still used in the Far East No. Hingan and Doman noble castes, ronin Samurai, and members of the Sekiseigumi in Kugane A decent to good amount of Hingans and Domans Legal in Hingashi as long as you are either of noble Hingan descent, or part of the pleb Sekiseigumi Nothing specific No Hingashi/Doma NINJA Still used in the Far East No. Old noble Hingan families, founders of the art, hoard a lot of specific secrets like the 4th mudra though. Powerful or old Hingan families, or reclusive shinobi villages Some exiled doman refugees (like Yugiri). Probably a various amount of different shinobi clans Probably illegal or taboo in Hingashi and Doma Nothing specific No Hingashi BARD Lost to legends Probably yes, unless you have been trained by someone like Jehantel for a long time already. Besides Jehantel and the Moogles... hard to tell. Some improbable surviving bards perhaps, and a handful of new Twin Adders units Almost nobody left from old, a growing pool of recent new recruits by the Twin Adders Legal Nothing specific No The Shroud? MACHINIST Brand new Yes, brand new job, everyone is still experimenting. The Skysteel Manufactory (with open arms) and Hilda's Wolfhounds. Some freelance brand new machinists? Small but gradually growing numbers Legal Nothing specific Yes: allows the use of the aetherotransformer Ishgard BLACK MAGE Lost to legends Probably yes, not many great black magic masters still walking this earth. Some odd Beast Tribe members in a limited fashion, very improbable obscure masters, or perhaps some old reincarnation ala Shattoto... Hard to pinpoint in exact statements Or your usual run of the mill black mage wanabees in obscure secretive cults Scattered black mage wanabees in rare obscure cults, at best Illegal Hydaelyn's lifesource Yes: allows to cast the most powerful black magic spells without cooking one's own insides Mhach (now the marshes just next to Mor Dhona) SUMMONER Lost to legends Yes, just rediscovered by Saint Coinach. The Sons of Saint Coinach, Y'mithra, or old Allagan timeless sources like familiars or nodes Some summoner neophytes in a more limited fashion (like Tristan) A handful of brand new Immortal Flames units Scattered neophytes, new Flames recruits Legal Nothing specific Yes Allag (widespan over Eorzea/Ilsabard/Meracydia and possibly more, like into space) Having basked into primal/eikon essences RED MAGE Lost to legends Yes unless you've somehow been X'ruhn or Lambard student for ages... Probably nobody besides the two (or single now...) surviving Crimson Duelists Probably none for now except the 3 famous NPCs (X'ruhn, Arya and the WoL) Legal, but could be badly seen if linked to the War of Magi Was illegal under the reign of the King of Ruin Nothing specific No Gyr Abania Lost to legend or active: this basically means that either the job is still recent enough, or actively used to be part of common knowledge, or if said job was lost long ago and is now mostly part of folklore, myth and legend, or a reality of the past. In terms of roleplay, a job being lost to history or worse, legends, means obviously that few might at best still practice it, and that it isn't widely known by common folks. Limited mastery: if said job just re appeared in Eorzea, or if it's just brand new, odds are that you'll not find a lot of masters, or people with very incomplete or limited knowledge of the art. It's not possible for anyone on Hydaelyn to be the equal of say, a Monk grand master that had 50 Twelvemoons or so to learn and practice. In terms of roleplay, this means that choosing a peculiar job might mean that even the greatest wielders of that job can have somewhat limited knowledge. With the exception for Machinist though, ultimately, all those jobs are old enough that if you're self taught with your own soulstone and/or arcane research, and have been practicing for a long time, then you're probably past limitations I guess. Repositories of knowledge: how readily available knowledge of said job is, and how accessible it will be. Who to reach when you don't want to rely on "stumbling on a soul crystal" or "doing lots of arcane research in obscure libraries". Numbers: how many still practice that job. This can place restrictions, like in the case of Dragoon or White Mage. Legality: if you're about to be actively hunted by certain groups, or by everyone on Hydaelyn. Inner resource: if the job relies exclusively on some type of inner resource or not. Decent Aetherial affinity is a given for all jobs so it will not be listed. Necessity of a soulstone: if the job requires a soul crystal to properly work or not. Place of origin: regions where you're the most likely to find a way to learn that job. Additional requirements: self explanatory. Edit: sorry for the layout, it's a bit shitty in table actually... Maybe i'll redo a v2.0 a bit more clean...

Lalafells? I don't remember well, where did we see some of them natives already? If I remember correctly we have hints of Keeper clans living in the primeval forest of the Farreach (the region on top of Dravania, you can also see a bit of it beneath Idyllshire, or so people speculate). Old lore though, haven't checked on it since I started playing. Might have to give it another go someday... Also, Meracydia and possibly Ilsabard... With literally even less lore blurbs about it. Anyway a good idea when you want to play races that aren't native to Othard can usually be playing the card of the foreign expatriates. A lot of those live daily in the Ijin part of the Kugane port city in Hingashi, and as mentionned already there is always the Garlean influence.

While I will generally agree that an Au'ra character being a member of the Order of the Knight Dragoons seems far fetched and difficult to believe, I think that on both sides a lot of shortcuts and misconceptions happen, and most of those are born from a lack of rigor in definitions. - You can play an Aura with masterful skills at the spear. A lance wielder is as generic as it can get and you'll find plenty of those even in Othard born cultures, probably using things not disssimilar to naginata or the good old japanese yari. - You can play an Aura that learned and/or is part of the Lancer Guild, that is the guild in Gridania, the Eorzean current reference when it comes to the best teachings about the spear. Similarly, you can also play an Aura that learned the art of the spear in most other cultures, either in Othard as said above, or even in Ala Migho or whatever (since Ala Migho had the best lancer wielders of Eorzea before being invaded: their pikeman legions were considered the best of the best). - What is being a Dragoon? Dragoon has at least 2 distinct definitions. A Dragoon is someone in ishgardian culture that managed to slay a dravanian dragon. Many knights are dragoons, but aren't part of the Order of the Knight Dragoons, which leads to the second definition, the job definition, which is an elite order of Ishgard composed of very few members (thus, not regular infantry divisions), which amounted to around 30ish during the Dragonsong War, constantly renewed since a lot of them died regularly, and now amounts to around a dozen only now the war is over, and this is including famous NPCs like Estinien or Heustienne. This in itself, is very special snowflaky, like a lot of jobs (which doesn't mean you can't play one, but having RPers playing official Knight Dragoons telling to someone they are special snowflaky is kinda hilarious). - You can go around being part of the Knight Dragoons by using different substitutes, and this is how I helped some dragoon RPers cope with the lorebook revelation of their so small numbers. You can say your character is only a trainee. You can also say your character used to be one, like Alberic was. You can say your character used to be one and got exiled. Or mutilated, or wounded, and so got dismissed from the Order. Those are all very convenient and easy ways to avoid the very unique status of being part of the Knight Dragoons without technically being part of it. - Saying that the Knight Dragoons (so the Dragoon job) require the use of the blood of the first Brood that got diluted and spread among all the ishgardian descendents of the first King Thordan is patently false as far as I know. The presence of said blood in the bodies of every native ishgardian has been 1) diluted in power over the centuries (we're speaking about 1000 years of war), and 2) makes them very vulnerable into turning into dragon spawns when they drink dragon blood, cf Heustienne or Ysayle's followers during 2.5. Any trainee can don the armor of the Dragoon if they follow the training and the traditions. The WoL being a perfect example of it and being a non ishgardian native. The blessing of the Eye and/or the ingestion of dragon blood unlocks certain abilities (HW and SB skills) is all. - Sidurgu is one example of Au'ri being present in Ishgard (mostly Xaela though), way before Ishgard re opens to foreigners. He's not a Dragoon, yes. He's not a Raen, yes. But Ishgard hasn't been closed to foreign influences for all its history. And contact with Othard isn't exactly new either, thus why we saw several xaela migratory waves that ended up in Coerthas, among other things. Nothing to my knowledge forbids anyone to be of othardian descent in Ishgard, but it will sure be very rare, as Sidurgu is the perfect example of it. So, in a nutshell, it always boils down to how far are you going to go with the uniqueness of some background character traits? This is possible. Combine it with a very rare othardian native being somehow in Ishgard and also being accepted in the ranks of the Order of the Knight Dragoons, and you sure end up with a very unique, hard to believe scenario. Well at least, that Order is pretty much the only ishgardian organization that isn't concerned about lineage, classism, and xenophobia. Up to you.

I fail to see how any of those quotes show that White Magic is called Succor. None. Period. They could have called that "the garb of Healing" or anything along those lines that it would have been the same. If you have better sources and quotes that actually show it without any ambiguity, since you have obviously been looking much harder than me, feel free to actually share. I have nothing against being proven wrong. I actually have no opinion on the matter other than I have yet to see any clear evidence of that fact. My only suspicion at this point is that it is a fanon born out of a misunderstanding of quotes, that aren't legion to begin with.

It's possible to rename if you really wish to play Aura. It's possible to keep your name and to hell with it. It's possible to say that said name is only a nickname for eorzean friendos. Either way, it's up to you, and I would only suggest to make everything you can not to have any regrets, with the race, and with the name. Depends on where you put the limits yourself and what ruffles your feathers, and what doesn't. There isn't a wide accepted rule or standard in all the RP community. Some don't care, some care too much, some in between... 1) A class, and even more a job, is something already specific. A gladiator is what the title says: a noxcius fighting in the Bloodsands arena in Ul'dah, often for debt or otherwise. A simple blade wielder isn't necessary a gladiator, but you'll probably use a gladiator ingame to use a blade because that's the only way ingame to do it. Or play a dark knight if you're into two handed. 2) Most base classes, like conjurer for example, also exist in other regions of Eorzea. You have healers in Ishgard that use similar spells, but aren't conjurers (but just ishgardian chirurgeons). You have healers in the xaela steppes that are shamans. etc. They aren't conjurers, that are specific to Stillglade Fane in the Shroud, much like Thaumaturges are a thing of the uldan Ossuary. 3) Jobs are very often presented as very unique, elite arts, that are often lost or heavily restricted. Take that into account and how hard it would be for a lot of people to even learn about jobs past the myths and legends, and find sources to learn those. It doesn't mean it's impossible, to the contrary. But keep it in mind. 1 job is already rare. Imagine 2, or 3, or more? For the WoL, sure though. No problemo. Same as for the first point, some roleplayers won't care, some will, some will put the bar somewhere in between, there is no community enforced standard. I've seen a lot, even a majority of roleplayers having characters versed in several arts. Several jobs, probably less, but being versed in a lot of things, sure. Mercenary already covered it above, but Ishgard starts opening a bit before Heavensward, accepting foreign adventurers and whatnot. The WoL is one of the first to get there, like the MCH Sea Wolf NPC you mentionned. Keep in mind that this specific NPC is not a nobody and is actually the second in command in Limsa in the 1.0 storyline, and is now a renegade exile. ANYWAY, we see quite a bit of foreigners in Heavensward arriving in Ishgard. Some like Sidurgu (the DRK NPC trainer after Fray), have even been there before due to very specific circumstances. Now that Ishgard has won the Dragonsong War and all, and ousted the theocratic monarchy for an open bicameral constitutional republic, you can bet that the influx of foreign manpower and relations has increased tenfold. Very little means besides getting past a very unforgiving series of land and climates. Most of what the game tells us is that the settlements in the Forelands, or more precisely in the Chocobo Forest, are what you see: hunters and chocobo handlers camps with not much for themselves, only protected from dragons hordes by the thickness of the forest. If you try to get there through airship, you get probably torn apart by dravanians - though this is probably not the case anymore besides the occasional remnant of Nidhogg's Horde, since the war is over). If you try to get there through the Hinterlands and the Sharlayan colony, it's probably the same: harsh terrain, very little civilization. There may be other routes, like going through sea and landing somewhere on the coast of Dravania, or even trying to get through the Bloodbrine Sea in the North and land in the Farreach (which is like, super wild, with some Keeper of the Moon tribes, that we know nothing about). Either way, you immediately have to deal with very mountainous, jagged terrain, and climate, with nothing to sustain you, and dangerous wildlife. The emphasis on lord-servant relationship is usually strong in most Raen communities, as described in the lorebook itself. This is how the Raen that left the steppes and their xaela brothers and sisters, settled and found a new way to live, first by serving a charismatic doman lord, then settling for that kind of life and integrating in the Doman society that way. Some Raen also invest a lot in being master swordsmen and women, either serving their lords or roaming free. This is only the basis for the race though, since a lot of raen scattered around, some founding communities in Hingashi itself (cf the village of the raen princess in the 50-60 Nin questline), or some finding very unique sanctuaries like the community of Sui-no-Sato, from which Yugiri originates. And while Yugiri cares a lot about her master Hien and her retainer duties as a shinobi, her place of origin being an oddity in itself, is very reclusive and shuns all foreigners, even domans or hingans, and only deal with the blue kojin. With that in mind, you have a general basis that is pretty much the standard, safe to pick from, but a lot of alternatives exist. All races in Eorzea aren't limited to one archetype only. They spread, they live, they have differing opinions, sometimes very opposed to the mainstream of their kin.

A weakening of the Elementals, probably not. The opening of Amdapor certainly (past the quest for unlocking Amdapor city especially where the WoL seems to be one of the first to really get deeper in there and gets rid of Diabolos presence). Those ruins are still guarded by wailers of course, but are more easily penetrable. Any job, absolutely any job can give your the opportunity to find a soul crystal and learn it that way. Even White Mage. Job "snowflakism" in roleplay in my opinion can be broken into several tiers: - Find a mentor of said job, like in most quests ingame. Without a soulstone, the work and learning will be more painful, but it will still go relatively well depending on your mentor's experience and knowledge, while a soul crystal can go a long way to cover the holes in the knowledge of said mentor, especially in the case of Y'mithra with the summoner quests for example. In roleplay of course, it's probably a lot easier to find a mentor for a job like ninja since it's still a wellestablished art, unlike white mage, where all bearers of the art disappeared and you can basically only count on padjals as far as we know so far. Padjals that will not be willing to teach you, period, unless you're even more snowflaky than the WoL himself. - Find a job crystal somehow on your own. It asks for your character to actually have already acquired certain basis that can help the soulstone to open up and start teaching things it deems them worthy of. Works like a jedi holocron. This will be subject to trial and error, possible dangers (cf casters or machinist, or maybe bard, where personal aetherial reserves are involved), and be probably slower. - Learn a job without a soul crystal or a mentor, through books, libraries, scattered texts... A work of a lifetime really. And knowledge about certain jobs is very scarse or hard to find. So, any job is legit possible. All jobs are somewhat presented as unique, elite arts, and often forbidden and/or lost for eons. Some jobs are still active and teached, with various restriction like being able to enter a shinobi clan for ninja, or the Seikisegumi for samurai, or the very closed circle of the Knights Dragoons that are only a dozen these days (counting famous NPCs). It's possible to work around it, find explanations, as usual. And some jobs are totally lost or forgotten. Some other jobs like bard or summoner are just starting to get brought back to life, and machinist is brand new: those jobs are obviously still in their infancy in terms of mastery by all of their disciples. White Mage is, of course, one of the hardest to justify is all, but it doesn't mean wanabe white mages can't exist due to soulstone access. There is sources ingame that makes me think that yes, War of Magi arts, aka black and white magic, are forbidden everywhere in Eorzea. The Black Mage quests actually brings a Hearer from the Twelveswood to play black magic police and tell everyone involved how illegal this is and how he will have to bring all those wanabe black mages to justice in the conjurer guild. Note: I have yet to find any evidence ingame or in the lorebook that white magic is actually refered to as the art of Succor (capital S). At best, it's ambigous but it seems to always point at a descriptive rather than an alternative name, especially in other translations where it isn't even capitalized afaik.

I wasn't going to post in that thread because I often couldn't be arsed to care about any open public event most of the time for personal taste and reasons, but I feel obligated to point out: is criticism wrong? Or was it done in a wrong manner to offend? To be perfectly blunt, actual lore/world centric events maybe? Instead of the usual cabarets, speed dating and consorts in private housing areas that could be tied to any RP setting that it wouldn't change anything at all. Don't get me wrong. I've seen some of those from time to time. They are however, even on Balmung, pretty scarse or just not there. I just feel that the open RP scenery in that game is all but about Eorzea. ( then there is the timezone issue for me but that's my own issue )

Define void-touched? You can be possessed by a voidsent, which is a "common" occurence (cf the Coco brothers THM questline). Generally, as said above, the Ossuary or any other void hunting organization will put you down because it is widely believed to be incurable. Which it isn't if you know how to draw a voidsent out of someone's body and fight their true form outside once they get enough aether to do so. You can be tainted/cursed by a voidsent, which means that a living physical voidsent or the void itself entered in contact with your body and started corrupting it. This is a mortal disease that can also transform you into a voidsent yourself, but it can be cleansed in the case the source of the taint is killed (cf CNJ questline, fighting an arhiman corrupting the forest, or as seen in the SCH questline and the Wanderer's Palace, with old nymian inhabitants (lalafells) being turned into Tonberries, for which no cure exists currently). Either way, if you can recover from being tainted by the Void or not is unclear. With that in mind there doesn't seem to be a clear limit to what kind of curse a voidsent can bring. In the case of the Tonberries cursed by the invisible Bitoso, it seems to be already a very powerful plague with little hope of return. You can be cursed by a voidsent specific power, which doesn't seem to be a common occurence (as seen in the RDM questline). In said questline the afflicted character has potent magical powers and soon discovers that they aren't hers, but the voidsent's through his bloodline scheme, who ultimately planned to possess her permanently. While there doesn't seem to be any clear limit or rule to what void afflictions can be, there are a few constants that you can't break: - The more powerful a voidsent is (meaning, a rank 1 voidsent like Cloud of Darkness versus a rank 4 or 5 like an arhiman), the more difficult it will be for them to seep through the fabric of Hydaelyn's reflections and make the trip from the 13rd Shard (The Void) and our world (The Source). They require tears, or artificial voidgates. - It is way easier for a voidsent to integrate our world in ethereal form. They are harder to catch and harm in that form, but their powers and abilities are also greatly limited. In any case, it asks for a lot less aether/energy and a way smaller portal/tear. Once there, they usually possess what's closest, like objects, or beings. In any case, their true goal is to possess a lifeform to get access to a source of aether in order to grow. They can hop from life form to other life forms at will if they think the new host has a greater amount of aether. Once they reach a host sufficiently powerful depending on their class, they remanifest their true physical form and can unleash their whole power. - In the case of Arya in the RDM quests, so when a curse is left on specific individuals for a voidsent to reintegrate a body, a voidsent is always involved and alive somewhere in one way or another. More generally, unless we're speaking about a void contamination/taint, all the other cases require a voidsent being the source of it, and being left alive and looking to achieve its schemes. It's like a pact against your will. If you are about to RP a character that has links with the void, you have to take into account that your character is accountable to a voidsent somewhere looking to do harm and possibly consume them (and a lot of other people). And if it's just a void disease, well, it's probably trying to kill you or corrupt you enough that you might stop being human anymore. Your choice.

I just want to chime in and nitpick a bit, but this will actually help alleviate your reluctance possibly: the Raen are definitely all but secluded. Most of them and their families serve various eastern lords as retainers and vassals. Sui-no-Sato is a special case and an oddity.

There is a lot of stuff coming from the New World, like popotos, mamook pears, etc. I don't have the full list in memory.

Maybe it's a typo but keep in mind that Hingashi and Doma are two different nations with two different (but similar) cultures. Hingashi is the one like Edo Japan, closed off to foreigners except in the port district of the city of Kugane (Stormblood city). It is also the place where ninjutsu and the first, old shinobi clans appeared in venerable noble families. And then spread everywhere, in villages, etc. Doma is something like a mix between medieval Japan and medieval China. The architecture definitely feels more chinese, and they also have samurai and ninjas like japan, but I feel while we got a shitload of hingan lore in Stormblood, the lore about Doma is still very... lackluster. It's still hard to see exactly how their society is/was, and how different from Hingashi it is. In any case, refugees are doman, mostly. Not to say that Hingan refugees can't exist, but it's a nation state closed to everything where hingans live their lives, mostly oblivious to everyone outside. The hingan characters wee see ingame, like the Samurai NPC trainer, are exiles or travelers, mostly, and are quite the oddity.

It's a bit... well yeah, but the very few characters from the far east in Eorzea we see before Stormblood are either from the little group of refugees led by Yugiri, that are at first very nervous and wary of eorzeans, not knowing what to expect and mostly expecting scorn, and soon they instead open up warmly because of the warm welcome they get from the Scions. Which doesn't mean that all doman refugees had the chance to get through similar issues (I would wage more the opposite actually, see Ala-mighan refugees). Oboro's group is also totally lost in terra incognita and trying to get their marks. Hingan society is like Edo Japan. It's very xenophobic and mostly closed to foreigners. Doma is... hard to tell. Possibly more open, but they have been burnt to the ground and oppressed for 20 years by a foreign war machine. But if you recall the first meetings with Yugiri, she seems pretty secretive at first. A good concept can be exactly what happens in the game story with either Yugiri or Oboro: during the hard times they go through, the WoL helps them so much and proves so invaluable as a friend that they open up on everything.

Just want to point out that ninjas aren't necessarily trained in villages. Actually, the standard would probably be more in Hingan castles in the bowels of famous Hingan families secrecy. The ninjutsu arts were created by nobles and went to cement the true mastery of the art in the hands of those few very famous samurai noble families. We are lead to believe that ninjutsu is a village thing with the original ninja quests up to 60 because Oboro, Karasu, and all their friendos come from a hingan village with secret shinobi clans, and because Yugiri herself isn't especially said to be a doman bugyo or anything fancy. The lvl 70 quests however, clearly state where the art truly originates from, and who has true mastery over all its secrets (hint: not village communities). This can definitely work in itself. How and why did she learn such a secret art from them, is where you'll have to work on. How did an actual ninja from those refugees even decided to reveal their own nature to a foreigner, how they decided to teach her, and more importantly, how much time did it take if you actually go all the way to make her knowledgeable about 2 or even 3 mudra techniques (4 mudra techniques however, would require a very specific hingan master of a certain aristocratic family and a shitload of talent and years of practice).

I don't think there is a ton of lore on this, I actually can't think of any... Other than that, limbal rings also exist in humans, albeit to a way smaller degree. I suppose it's just a trait of the eyes that can be especially prominent for au'ra.