Smiling River

Happy fourth of July! Mmmm Ren, freedom is so sweet. Happy birthday to Eltharian as well! You are older than me by 6 days!

This is because linkshell/guild recruitment hasn't started yet. I don't think we have any rules against representing your guild if you've already chosen one, but don't recruit just yet.

Let me clarify, I would see it as a failure if all guilds were everywhere... as in FFXI, and RPC was just a central gathering hub online. You are saying that guilds/role-players should still be part of the RPC even if they are on a different server? Well that's a slippery slope, but let's not even go there. I'm just saying that the RPC would be rather useless for guilds outside of our server. Random roleplayers, sure there is no way we can stop them even if we wanted to, from checking us out. Again, RPC would be a very limited tool for them. I just don't see what we can do to really incorporate them if they aren't even on our server. I'd want them to join us by switching servers of course, but if they don't want to, there is nothing we can do except go on our business. Blah, maybe this is offtopic.

There is a difference between picking from guilds on the same server and picking from guilds on different servers. If the RPC becomes nothing but a link between different groups on various servers then it would be a failure in my eyes. The whole point (or so I thought) was to have us all under one roof 'cause then everyone will have a lot more freedom to move around from guild to guild, have massive events, greater opportunity for role-play, etc. All of that would be gone if RPC is stretched across servers, it'd just be a shadow of what it could have been.

At the risk of sounding "stereotypically" exclusionary, I dare ask: What would we offer to guilds on other servers? I think everything RPC has got to offer relies on the fact that every/most RP guild has to be on the same server. I mean, if they are all over we might as well have had an RPC in FFXI... but what would be the point of that? I think this discussion, and the purpose of the RPC in general, should be focused on getting all of us on the same server. Once we pick a server we just have to advertise over and over again until it's common knowledge that 'server x' is where the RP community is at. If other guilds form in other places, we can just let them know about us. After that it's up to them. Worst case scenarios: More than one RP server: Pick one, advertise on the others to divert as many Role-Players our way as possible. Over time as our numbers grow we'll also pull RP'ers from other RP servers as well since we'll have a robust community. Random servers: Keep re-rolling until you got the right one, get world-passes. *** Last minute split: Say there is a conflict/misunderstanding/confusion/etc and one or more guilds end up on different servers. What should be done? RP-resistant server: For some reason we end up on a server which has a particularly negative bias against RPers. Grief is a regular ordeal. Stay or go? Unknown Names: Names of servers unknown until launch. How do we pick one? Mobilization agitation: lol I'm having fun with this now. Anyway, what if we fail to mobilize RP'ers to our server? Ads placed on other forums haven't been entirely effective, or at least weren't as welcome as we'd hoped. What if general Role-Players or people who are at least willing to try it end up all over the place? Friend Trap: What if a significant amount of Role-Players decide on a server with their friends first, and move there to play with them. Should we all try to pick one server for everyone? Is that even possible? How can we get as many people on our server, along with their friends.

When I saw 8 hairstyles I thought "What is this, Final Fantasy 11?!" The darker skin Lalafell looked funny at first cause he reminded me of ginger bread man. His mustache looked badass though.

My friend got a $900 laptop (not sure which one, will clarify later) and also got the score in 800's. Needless to say, both of us were disappointed. I hope he can play when the time comes, even on minimal settings.

Let us know what you think!

http://www.archive.org/details/RpcvEp.2 by Jared (Lysander), Andrey (Mason), Jordan (Sunny Dove) Voice of the Role Playing Coalition of Final Fantasy XIV Podcast episode 2 -RP shorthand -Server Selection Discussion Segments: -Fortunately // Unfortunately -In the FFField Music Break: Owl City - Hello Seattle The Script - Talk you down -Character Creation Plugs: [email protected] Podcast Discussion http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSunnyDove http://www.youtube.com/user/SubjectOfInterest TALE "FFXIV Roleplaying Series: Creating a Viable Character" Shout Out- Eltharian Check out the Library section and contribute!

Hope âHey, hey, hey. What's in your head, In your head, Zombie, zombie, zombie?â -The Cranberries, âZombieâ Tuesday. It was the day to ride trains. All day the train would be his roller-coaster, going below, then coming back up again, maybe dipping back into the darkness. He liked riding above ground. The windows turned into a panorama of human existence. The dark tunnels held creatures of their own, some who thought they were above everyone else. But this story is not about vanity, it's about love. He sat in the corner seat, one leg on the other, reading the 1994 first issue of âJournal of Consciousness Studiesâ article by Todd C. Moody. Resting his eyes by lifting them off the page and focusing on something more distant, he read the cover of a magazine across the isle. People magazine. His eyes then wandered past the cover and unto the reader. A young woman approximately his own age, olive skin tone (for no good reason he assumed she was Dominican), in a bright red coat and small cat eye glasses. She looked back. She didn't cringe or change her seat, just glanced back. They continued glancing back and forth until it was her stop. His eyes followed her to the door; she was a goddess! There was some meat on her bones for one, and underneath all those clothes he could tell that she was just his type. As he watched her walk away he felt even worse for not talking to her. Although what would have happened? Even if they both found each other attractive, aesthetically and otherwise, it was only train ride for Pete's sake! If he piped up; âI like people too,â she'd smile uncomfortably because even jokes don't penetrate these florescent lights. But then again, we've already won the ultimate lottery. Competing against a million cells you made it, beat the odds and won the most important lottery. So the questions should be, how can you not find the love of your life on the train? About two weeks later he tracked a zombie he'd known to exist for a quite some time to a party. It was an arts collective featuring urban-themed work. It seemed a lot more casual than he had thought. In fact, most guests after viewing the artwork, were in the backyard of the venue, smoking, drinking and hanging out. He already had another zombie lined up. His mind began processing ways to kill this one on premises. His thought processes stopped when he saw the girl from the train again. Cuddled in layers, as if protecting what she's got, she peered at the paintings. He stood next to her looking at a particular piece by Emma Pritchard called âDriving to the city.â The city seemed to melt in it's own rain, and perhaps it's a prophesy, rain turning into acid from all that pollution. He looked over and it seemed as if she was thinking the same thing. Or did he just want her to? It was blurry. He couldn't find the courage to say anything. How would he begin? And how then to presume? It all comes down to forcing a moment to it's crisis. He found himself recalling a poem by some famous writer and before he remembered it all, with the intention to wow her by reciting it, she began: âHey, don't you take the seven train?â The rest of the night played itself out naturally like a good chess game. The zombie soon left the party while his killer spoke with the girl. Yes, he lost the rook but sacrifices had to be made to win her over. Hope was her name, and in the upcoming months she became an important person in his life. He lost the lead on the zombies he wanted to get rid of, but chalked it up to sacrifices. You can't win a chess game without having them. A few months later she became exposed, physically. Those layers peeling off one by one. He knew now why she was so covered up. Beautiful as she was to him, a jagged scar ran down deep on both of her inner forearms, down to the wrist. We all hate ourselves so pick your poison; blemishes, eating disorders, drug abuse, low self-esteem, body image issues. For her it was a deep case of depression along with suicidal tendencies, no supervision, and a seven dollar box of a hundred single-edged razors. September. It had been two moths since he last killed a zombie. Hope was hope for a life without zombies. Yet like most hopes, this one won't last either. Sex to him was a battle, a brutal act. He had to show indomitable strength and will for her to finally yield. He would look at a mirror while doing it, glancing at himself giving it all he got. She thought it was hot. Her fingernails dug deep into his back, giving him scars too. But what did he see in that mirror today, September 10th? He watched them go through the motions as if doing it mechanically. He could almost predict what was going to happen before it happened. How long has he been in this trance? âBaby? Why did you stop?â âWait.â âOh you want to make me beg for it?â âShut up.â He put his hand over her mouth, leaning in and coming inches from her face, staring deep into her brown eyes. Why has he been so blind? It all made sense to him now. Why would such a beautiful looking girl ever go for a guy like him? He had no money, hated his long nose, chipped tooth, he knew that he didn't satisfy her in bed regardless of what she told him. Not to mention the rather nasty rash on his side. He was the biggest pessimist and cynicism poured out of him like oil from a busted offshore oil rig. It was black and soiled everything. Now he knew that he was staring into the eyes of a very strange creature. A zombie whose purpose it was to trap people like him, prevent him from killing more zombies? He jumped back in awe of this realization. Her words now meant nothing to him as she pleaded for mercy. She still had futile hope that it might all be role-play. He crammed her body into a nearby garbage container. The next day the smell of death was everywhere. In the city streets, humans and zombies alike were covered by white ash, a proper funeral for Hope.

Yeah the one on the front page is gone now. However there are still scroll bars next to titles in each other section. For example there is one near "Charter" and it barely moves the title up and down... I don't think that's meant to be there.

I have questions that I would as if you were live- so if you don't mind, send us info and I'll reply with q's if they aren't covered... that way it would feel as if you called- sorta.

I've not run this by Lysander or Sunny Dove so keep that in mind, this could be changed. Episode 3: I wanted to talk at length about each forming guild. This will be recorded no sooner than July 7th so I hope most information about them would be out by then. I am also aware that there are a couple of people who want to start a guild but aren't listed on the guild teaser page. This goes for them and any guild which doesn't have a blurb: Send us whatever you do have ([email protected]) by July 7th so we can at least cover it. I also would like guild leaders to call in and talk to us directly about their future guild. I know we wont have time to have every guild leader call in, but I also assume that some wont be able to due to schedule conflict, etc. This episode will be recorded (tentatively) July 7 @5pm EST. If you are a future guild leader and want to talk about your guild on the podcast, we can get you on 5-9pm. Who is interested?

One of our goals is to be heavily involved with the Role-Playing community. As you can see we are very accessible so feel free to contribute to making this Podcast fun and informative! Skype: MasonFFXIV Add me on Skype and call in! We record Sundays at 3pm EST. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @remotelypodcast Segment material: we could always use more questions for "How much?", scenarios for "Fortunately/Unfortunately", multiple choice questions for "Where in Eorzea?" RP stories: cool story/RP that we haven't heard about? Tell us. Linkshell events: A gathering you want us to advertise? Story related or casual, we'll let the listeners know about it. Questions: about the podcast, Role-Playing community, FFXIV, general RP-related concerns. Anything FFXIV: related that you want us to chime in on. Stories from RL: Crazy news article? Funny video? Send it over and we'll put an RP spin on it. Criticism: Yes, we'll listen.

As much as I like him as an actor, Norton doesn't hit the nail on the head exactly. I mean, sort of yeah my character -kinda- would look like him. I'm sure there is someone out there who fits Mason better though. Good thinking though Kes, I wish Mason did look more like him (I know I can change my character lol but I already have a certain image of him), he is one handsome dude. EDIT: Robert Carlyle- seriously never heard of him, but he fits the bill! In the last pic he is a little older than Mason would be but the others seem dead on, with the difference of hair style and skin tone that is. Good lookin' out guys!

Damn, I wanna be a part of this! But I don't know celebrities that well... anyone wanna help me out based on the sketch? >_< He looks like this though, with maybe a slightly darker skin tone.

Feel free to send suggestions for How Much or music or anything else- [email protected] haha sorry for the length, we intended for it to be about an hour but I guess got carried away. Yeah we'll be podcasting often cause it's a lot of fun. I enjoy coming up with ideas for it. We will likely end up in 2-3 different shells so I'm sure we'll have enough to chat about, plus general news and all that other stuff. Segments take up time too. An hour flies by, doing that once a week seems easy. If not we can always do it monthly. We'll see when we get there.

I don't particularly agree with it either Daishi. Thanks for reading guys!

The quality will improve by next time. I got my pricey microphone in the mail yesterday (a day after we recoded ; ; ). I know Jordan will also get the same mic hooked up soon. EDIT: Also I wanted to know what you guys thought of "How Much?" We've got other segments lined up for other episodes.

hehe We should be on the same server. I am split on this... but I am fairly confident that there will be NO RP server from SE. Just a hunch. If they do not, we shall pick one! If there is one, we should be on it. It would make sense, even if some people don't want to. Many RP'ers who didn't look for a coalition would end up on it. We also wont be very welcome on other servers since people can say "ewww what the hell? Go join your RP server and pollute the chat log there" or w/e. I'm just sayin' if there is an RP server it will be a pain for us to direct RP'ers to a non-RP server. It's just confusing and if you ask me, unnecessary. Non-RPers will also be on the RP server anyway, cause they like the atmosphere better. It's not like every single person will be a Role Player anyway. EDIT: Ren and Castiel mentioned size of the server? I'd want to be on a smaller server, so that we might be a bigger minority. I'm wondering though, will SE designate servers by population (small/medium/large)... or what exactly are we basing this on?

Discuss away.

http://www.archive.org/details/RpcvEp.1 Hosted by: Jared (Lysander), Andrey (Mason), Jordan (Sunny Dove) (Sorry, still figuring out a proper way to post the podcast and where. If you have any suggestions include them in the discussion section. Soon we shall be on iTunes as well. Need to find a proper host, or figure out how archive.org works ) Voice of the Role Playing Coalition of Final Fantasy XIV Podcast episode 1 -Introductions -PS3 vs XBox360 Music Break: Estradasphere - Smuggled Mutation Niyaz - The Hunt -Our vision for the Podcast & RPC Segments: -How Much? Plugs: http://www.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/ [email protected] http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSunnyDove http://www.twitter.com/timeslowsdown Shout Out- Mythis RPC Newspaper Name Generator

Looking a lot better! Hope they fix it up even more before it drops. This is gonna be awesome.

(From a collection of vignettes.) Analysis of the Self âWeâre like zombies Like the walking deadâ -Cool Hand Luke, âZombiesâ A zombie is a being who can take a form of a human. It can recall memories, it learns from experience. It even reacts to pain yet has no consciousness. They drift through the world, blending into our society. You might be a zombie and not even know it. They are parasites which already have one hand on the steering wheel of our existence. If nothing is done they will drive humanity to extinction, leaving nothing but former echos of our lives. I've been fighting them for as long as I can remember. It's nights like these that make me reminisce and reflect while staring into puddles on the streets. It's almost closing time, which means free food. I've been standing in front of this Starbucks for an hour now, and the girl inside keeps giving me worried looks. I suppose I look hungry- but I am not hungry for what she thinks I'm hungry for. Just food. Last time a bunch of punk kids swooped in at the last minute and took the garbage bag full of those tasty treats. You'd pay for them what, five bucks each? This city is full of vultures and their talons are taking over. As I approached the bag which was now with the rest of the trash being brought out by the girl, she quickly turned and went back inside as if frightened. I can imagine her chest dropping with relief upon reaching safety. Her manager, an overweight man pushing forty-five with a developing bald spot, what is he asking her? âAre you okay?â To him, her inner fears are foreign and he could never do what I just did. Really step into a different person's shoes; be that bum, be that guy in the suit, be that professor, be that student who waits 'til last minute, be that man in robes who raped children, be those children. Be all of them for a little while. I cannot name anything I love more than riding the metro. Well, one thing: killing zombies. Trains are full of them. Doors open and a party of four enter, three young women and a man. They are all stereotypically beautiful which makes them suspicious. If zombies know how to do anything, it's to take the shape of someone considered good looking. Yet even I am having trouble determining which one of them is a zombie. A minute has gone by and now I know it has to be one of the women, yet they are so similar. It's as if the zombie has convinced the other two to act and look the same as her to increase her chances of survival. They have blonde highlights, wear miniskirts of the latest fashion. One of them has to be a model since her legs are stick thin. They don't seem to notice other people. My eyes cover their bodies for clues but I have to stop because I am utterly revolted. Tons of makeup concealing what is within. I shouldn't even assume there is anything deeper then skin. They wear faces of slight dissatisfaction, especially the slightly chubby one. Her round face tucked in to look more oval, panda-like eyes from all that eye-shadow looking with desire at her skinny friends. Their conversation is hollow which makes tracking difficult. They get off the train and I breathe from relief, as if I've been submerged in their vanity. I get into my house and turn on the only light I have. It's a ceiling light, a bare bulb in the middle of my one room studio. After a quick snack I head for the shower. The cold water felt like hundreds of needles poking and prodding my rash. With clenched teeth I quickly attempted to get the dirt off. I remember seeing something similar to this when the police would hose down the colored and sic German Shepherds on 'em. A force much stronger than any shower-head could produce, blasting your ribs with ice cold water as you fly off hitting the wall or the pavement from impact, only to be chewed up by the dogs. I stand still thinking about it, the cold water gushing, hitting the rash on my side like daggers for hours. Sometimes, perched on the roof of a loft somewhere in Brooklyn looking over the river, I think to myself: âWhy is no one after me?â It's like the city forgot I exist. Instead of burning light-bulbs in a basement in Harlem, I am killing zombies, and no one cares. Are the people secretly cheering me on, âLet him do what we can't!â For some reason I don't feel the love and support that kind of agreement would make me feel. As I look unto this city, these towers burning lights every day and night, I think, âwhat a cemetery!â Lights from every room like epitaphs saying âI'm dying in this tomb everyday!â We even wear the same clothing as our deceased counterparts. The tie, the shoes, the white dress shirt. It seems we are a parody of death itself, staring it right in the face, yelling âBring it on you bastard!â And it will. Life is after all a slow death. It's sadomasochistic by nature because we realize that there will be no one to remember us, and that all we have ever done won't matter in the end. Picture yourself ten seconds from death, consciously knowing that nothingness awaits yet comforting yourself with fantasies still. The constant beeping sound in the hospital room fades out and you realize that it is you that's fading out, not the sound. The doctor shoots you up with morphine, so you get high, exhale your last breath, and die. You may be alone, or perhaps your family is by your side, clutching now a lifeless hand, crying. They will push it out of their mind, but they'll die too. As you zoom out to view the earth as a whole you realize that humanity is nothing more than a mold growing on round bread, constantly dying and being born again. You finally notice that there are two kinds of molds and they are competing for space. Humans giving way to zombies, then taking it back some. This cycle happens for a billion more years before earth gets uncomfortably hot. Then in three billion years you see the sun flicker and expand, the yellow ball that has been preserving life, now red and violently taking it away, burning it off, the greatest holocaust. It explodes and it all goes still for a while. Drifting far out in interstellar space in a few more billion years you can see our âhome sweet homeâ galaxy collide with it's neighbor, their arms twisting and locking together in a suicidal embrace, creating a massive black hole deep within. Fast forward further and all that ever was is now forgotten, as the universe expands endlessly, everything drifting further and further away from everything else. That which was once a singularity now stretching distances inconceivable by our imagination. All around you is absolute darkness, cold and still. At least finally there won't be any more zombies.

Yecely who had been sitting quietly, writing bits and pieces of what she saw in her journal, yawned. The hour of evening was approaching and she had a date later that night. A handsome fellow, although a bit mysterious- which made him even more intriguing. She packed up her things, said her goodbyes and left. She hoped to catch up to Myra but the relentless crowds concealed her view.