zaviire

[align=center] [/align] [align=justify]THE CLOAK & DAGGER: NOW HIRING STAFF & SECURITY Formerly a quiet establishment situated on the outskirts of the Goblet, the Cloak & Dagger has recently come under new management. A man known only as Crow seems to take frequent fancies to lost causes; having swindled the property out of the hands of the previous owner in a game of cards (or so he’d say), he hardly accounted for the lack of staff and the poor location of the restaurant itself. Or perhaps, the perfect location for shady people and shadier dealings. Far enough out of the way that few prying eyes are present and fewer would bother to wonder about foot traffic, the Cloak & Dagger is ripe to be molded into a sanctuary for the sort of people who would like to keep things off-the-record…[/align] [align=center]⸻[/align] [align=justify]The Cloak & Dagger is a RP venue located at The Goblet Ward 11 Plot 55 that has come into the possession of Crow, an information broker who claims to be the leader of the criminal network known as Ebonguard. Although intended to be used as a sanctuary for people to conduct their dealings in-person (as is usually necessary with the transfer of goods or the providing of payment for services), such operations necessarily require a front… And, well, there’s no problem in making some coin off of a front. WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR? From an IC standpoint, the Cloak & Dagger is hiring staff (waitstaff and bartenders) and security (hired muscle). From an OOC standpoint, we’re looking for people who would be interested and willing in helping to run a MONTHLY (ish) public event geared toward criminal-types and shady sorts. This doesn’t exclude characters of more neutral/lawful persuasions from offering work, though, since flyers regarding this ‘job listing’ would likely be posted all around Ul’dah. QUESTIONS, ANSWERED: “Do I have to join Ebonguard?” Nope! The allure of Ebonguard is and always has been the idea that you don’t have to leave any groups that you’re currently a member of in order to join (since Ebonguard is strictly a linkshell). Running with that theme, you don’t have to be a member of the Ebonguard linkshell in order to work with the Cloak & Dagger or even go through that whole application process. In order to make contacting everyone easy, though, joining the Discord is required. “Are there any requirements as to the kind of character you want for the Cloak & Dagger?” The short answer is not really but the long answer is kind of. There are no real requirements as far as race or character concept – your character could be a Lawful Good Dunesfolk bookkeeper who’s just looking for a side-job and stumbled upon the listing. All that we ask is that your character is lore-compliant, and preferably isn’t too involved with the Void. (It’s not a deal-breaker but we’d probably need to talk about it because of how sticky those sorts of things tend to get.) “What’s in it for me?” OOC: Potential connections, RP plot hooks, something a little different to do for one night out of the month, and my (Crow’s) eternal love and adoration. IC: Potential friends, potential clients, juicy information to spread, some spare coin and good drinks on the house. WHO TO CONTACT: If you’re interested in getting involved with the Cloak & Dagger, then please contact @ebonguardls directly via our inbox, Perc#5086 on Discord, or Leonnaux Altoix in-game! You can also PM me here. (Read this post on our Tumblr!)[/align]

[align=center] [/align] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH AT 7PM CST After a while of quiet, the rumor-mill has begun to spin once more: of a search for a place to call their own and of what is, quite possibly, the perfect location… Recently under new management. [align=center]⸻[/align] Hey, it's been a while! Things have been a little hectic on my front so it's mostly on me (ah the woes of being a student), but we're going to try and get some stuff going both in the way of (somewhat) benign socializing and (significantly) less benign criminal enterprising. Starting with a meet-up on November 4! While IC the Cloak and Dagger is currently unstaffed (and therefore, to some extent, this meet-up is BYOB... so in other words it's high time to judge others for their drinking tastes), this meet-up technically is public, and it would be public knowledge that the establishment has recently come under new (currently anonymous) management... So if anyone outside the LS wants to stop in and chat, then they are more than welcome to do so!

It's been a while, but we're still kicking! Due to midterms and the like, the officers have all been a little swamped, but we've done our best to keep things going in spite of that! [align=center] [/align] SCENARIO UPDATE: This chapter of the pursuit of Matthias Carver has been one wrought with obstacles, the most recent of which being the gaps in the Artifice’s own knowledge-base. While there are, in the organization’s possession, countless volumes and writings over an equally-countless variety of subjects – they, glaringly, lacked the more esoteric texts that would be most useful in the unraveling of Sleepy Ash’s curse (or, admittedly, would be just plain interesting to have on hand). Thus, Board Member Leonnaux Altoix arranged an outing to the greatest collection of knowledge in all of Eorzea: the Great Gubal Library. Though many texts were removed by the Sharalyans in their exodus from Eorzea as hostilities peaked with the Garlean Empire, countless texts remain on the shelves, guarded by sentinels and familiars crafted with guarded magicks or the voidsent and local wildlife who’ve taken up residence in the Library in the absence of any of its original keepers. These were the marks of the Artifice: texts both rare and forbidden left behind in the Exodus. The Library was, of course, far too vast for any one or two people to explore and traverse alone; instead, the members in attendance split into two groups of three, and embarked on different paths: Ardun Wolfe, Ahlia Wrenn, and Kamenosuke Hamasaki diving into the well-guarded depths of the forbidden vaults below the library, and Leonnaux Altoix, Lyrin’li Sajuuk, and W’lefay Sheqa headed toward the uppermost levels of the library. Read the full scenario update here! [align=center]⸻[/align] [align=center][/align] W'lefay Sheqa also has a plotline going, entitled Swan Song⸻ Following a string of clues to the entrance of Amdapor Keep, the Artifice was first confronted by a Xaela man clad in enchanted armor, who upon defeat in a (somewhat one-sided) duel, said that he would be back with an offer for the Artifice. A few weeks later, he made good on that promise: he arrived at the Institute injured and hungry and gave the Artifice a monumentally important task, for which they are promised to be paid well... Read about The Test here! Read about The Offer here! [align=center]⸻[/align] Until next time! As usual, we are actively recruiting -- and we'd love to make connections outside of the FC as well!

In the process of poking around the Gamer Escape wiki thing for FFXIV for unrelated lore info, I happened across the names of three organizations that seem pretty interesting: Azeyma's Shields, The Horn and Hand, and the Zer'maat Five. While the former two have blurbs that briefly give a run-down of what they did and the like, the last of those three doesn't seem to have anything other than a note that it's a criminal organization. I'm assuming these organizations were never brought up outside of 1.0... But is there any more information available about them? Particularly about the Zer'maat Five? (Or the alternative: is Gamer Escape pulling my leg here and these organizations never actually existed? I would be sad if that was the case... I loved stuff like the Alacran's role in the GLD quests.)

[align=center] Artifice of Reason Meeting - First Sun of Nald’thal’s Moon[/align] Six moons after the company suspended formal meetings, Leonnaux kick-starts the routine again. During this meeting, New Blood Trials were assigned: To retrieve poisonous scales from the arcamoth, a vilekin as long as a man is tall from head to tail and larger when wingspan is taken into consideration. One of the more dangerous Trials ever assigned, three New Bloods were entrusted with this one task. To capture rare and elusive morpho butterflies for study and use in alchemical concoctions. Two New Bloods were given this Trial whom Leonnaux is confident will not repeat the sins of the distant past wherein members of the Company rashly killed that which they were meant to capture. To dismantle and reassemble one of the mammets employed by the Artifice and see that it is fully functional, as well as document the differences between the Artifice’s special models and the generic Mammet #001. Two New Bloods were assigned this Trial, though they’ve been forbidden from keeping the notes for personal use due to the fact that the actual blueprints to the Artifice’s mammets are only shared with those ranked Esteemed or higher… To capture an extremely toxic fish that recently killed a man for use in developing an antivenom. This task would be simple were it not for the aureliae that infest the area around where the original fish was captured. This task was assigned to one uniquely-qualified New Blood. In addition to New Blood assignments, other ventures were announced: an excursion to the Dravanian Hinterlands to poke around the Great Gubal Library in search of any knowledge which might be helpful with regards to Sleepy Ash’s curse, led by Leonnaux and the Board, and a far more benign meet-up being hosted by W’lefay during the week that will feature good food cooked from scratch and the chance to get to know fellow company members. Pictured, left to right: W’lefay Sheqa, W’saheena Sheqa, Ardun Wolfe, Leonnaux Altoix, Ahlia Wrenn, Mira Redde, Kamenosuke Hamasaki

Some updates! Additional officers/contacts: Vasir'li Sohlu (Officer) and Narantu Dazkar (Officer) All else unchanged! (Ebonguard does kind of have a house now, a Goblet Medium that I bought and have dedicated to the LS -- but it's not IC associated with the LS yet so no events are being run out of it. Yet!) Contact updates: Shiori and Inkeri rerolled, so the OOC contacts for this FC are now W'lefay Sheqa/Shiori Eikitaika (Leader), Leonnaux Altoix (Officer), and W'saheena Sheqa (Officer). (Shiori still exists as an alt; when Balmung transfer restrictions are lifted in like ten million years then Inkeri will also be an alt.) All else unchanged!

Oh, other interesting thing that I spaced on last week because Shi hadn't taken screencaps and updated our lore doc: we recently got around to redecorating the house! We will likely be tweaking it a little more in the coming days to get spooky for Halloween/All Saint's Wake, but for now, behold: The Artifice of Reason's Institute! [align=center] [/align] You can read about the Institute and its many rooms and areas in our lore write-up, found on our Shivtr forums! The curious are also free to poke around the house if they desire; it's located at: The Goblet, Ward 7, plot 13. IC some areas are members-only (such as the Basement), but there's no harm in popping in OOC to take a peek. There are some details that are best appreciated up-close! (Those empty display stands in the basement? Try /sit.)

[align=center]September Update![/align] It has been a while! Crow here with some semi-important announcements! 1) First Activity Check! In the past, the other officers and I (mostly me, really) have struggled to figure out what would be a fair way to guage activity for the members of the linkshell. As a result of not requiring activity, the LS has thus become bloated with members who don’t really interact with anyone else IC or OOC. For our first activity check (and probably subsequent ones), we decided to make it a bit different from how people usually think of activity checks: we created a Google Form for our members to input their character names into so that we have a list of every character who is interested in remaining in the LS. That’s it! There are more precise details that members are privy to that I won’t bore people who are just happening across this with, but starting on October 1, any member of the LS who didn’t put their name on that form is going to get booted from the LS. Does this mean we’re downsizing? In a way, yes! After my most recent sweep of members of the in-game LS who were not in the Discord (which is required for membership), we have 45 members, and we will likely lose quite a few through this activity check. However, it is our hope that we get a more involved and interested memberbase out of it, especially since being a member of the LS is not required to join the Discord and make connections with people that way (even if the reverse is true because our Discord is how we make sure that important announcements like these get out to the memberbase). 2) New Tumblr Theme and Application! They’re both pretty swanky. The second is what’s most noteworthy, though! Recently, I gave the application a once-over and reformatted it to be less messy, and to be functional for people who want to bring in alts or notify us of a character change. The new application is already linked on the blog and in the first post, but for the record, it’s located here: [ https://goo.gl/forms/J9PKAt8nqNayPUbP2 ] 3) I have recently acquired a house which I intend to put to use as an event venue for Ebonguard. [align=center][/align] It’s located at The Goblet Ward 11 Plot 55 and is the site of The Cloak & Dagger. This venue is staffed by (invisible, currently; use your imagination ssshhh!) NPCs and technically exists already, but I want to play it into Ebonguard’s story and lore through a mini-storyline, after which I’ll unveil my plans for running a monthly event out of it! Hopefully these plans generate a bit of RP for all interested parties, and needless to say… [align=center][/align] [align=center]Please look forward to it!![/align]

[align=center] [/align] The expertise of the Artifice’s research was required to discern the nature of the curse that has been placed on Sleepy Ash. W'saheena Sheqa, accompanied by Director Shiori Eikitaika, Caelenn Mhlar, and a tardy Board Member Leonnaux Altoix returned to the Holding Cell once more, this time with equipment and due caution with regards to what they were dealing with. Though their visit was brief, they uncovered some vital information as to the nature of the arcane seal itself: that it was comprised of about a dozen layers of seals crafted carefully to achieve the desired effect and that said seals were etched into the skin using an alternative version of palladium ink that utilized the blood of a person as the medium rather than pine resin.

[align=center] [/align] A note was posted on the Notice Board, calling the members of the Company to action — and signed by a member of the Board: Leonnaux Altoix. A date was scribbled at the bottom, then stricken and replaced with a new one. A reason for this was not provided by the man himself, but several members of the Artifice met him in the basement at the appointed hour anyway: W'lefay Sheqa, W'saheena Sheqa, Mira Redde, and Soalean Monterey. Three New Bloods. A Full Member. And a singular member of the Board. After briefly filling them in as to why he called the meeting, he led them to The Holding Cell, a room locked away deep within the Institute. Only the Vault was considered to be more secure prior to the break-in, with lingering enchantments and a myriad of physical barriers designed to keep whatever was inside, well, inside. A pale Hellsguard woman awaited them, sitting on the floor rather than in the chair that was provided (and bolted to the floor). A dark, bruise-like arcane seal had formed on her chest, with dark lines and tendrils reaching up to her throat. W'lefay and W'saheena made contact first, with Mira simply observing. Leonnaux had tried to glean useful information from the prisoner already, to no avail given that he was “in a tizzy” at the time. W'lefay and W'saheena had more luck than he did, needless to say, offering her first sweets and then actual food upon learning of the poor quality of food that prisoners were provided. They promised to feed her (and bring her a table, since there was nowhere within the cell that was convenient to eat) if she answered their questions after they found a way to break the seal and free her from her ‘contract.’ Sleepy Ash agreed. But for Soalean Monterey, this was not enough. She threatened the Hellsguard in an attempt to pry information out of her now, to get results as quickly as possible. Though the seal’s interference reduced Sleepy Ash into a coughing and wheezing heap, she kept pressing — and in the end, nearly came to blows with the Sheqa sisters. After accusing Leonnaux himself of orchestrating the robbery in the first place, he pressed her into leaving the room and doled out thanks and discipline to those who remained.

I like roll systems in RP, but I hate straight-rolls where it's basically a coin toss, or along the lines of "oh, well I rolled higher than you, so I win." Roll systems make things interesting because they're reasonably unpredictable and they force both players and DMs to cope with the possibility that their plans won't always work out the way they want -- there will be hiccups and snags along the way. But the sorts of systems I've seen have either been so simple that I personally feel like the purpose of having a system to begin with is kind of defeated, or so complex that I couldn't reasonably expect anyone to even bother (because I, as a player OR a DM, don't want to bother; while I do want to get into tabletop at some point, I don't really want to put D&D into my FFXIV). For me, the perfect roll system is quick to pick up and easy to adapt, but still goes deep enough that I can get an idea of what kind of skills, specialties, and weaknesses a character has at a glance. So I guess that means it's important for me to have something to glance at -- I know not everyone likes character sheets but I come from Tumblr and forum RP, where everyone's character profiles and sheets are not only laid out for everyone to see, but everyone who wants to RP with you is expected to read them. But it made it a lot easier for people who wanted to run plots to get a feel for what kinds of characters they were dealing with. I also like roll systems because in my personal experience, if you give someone the freedom to choose, people will almost always choose to have their character succeed no matter what they say. And I hate that, because personally... Watching or playing with people who always gotta win isn't very much fun, especially if that success is unconditional.

[align=center]Almost-August Update![/align] [align=center][/align] On Wednesday, July 19, Ebonguard attended the grand opening of the After-Dark Grill! It was quite a bit of fun for all the members who attended -- and I know I had a ball watching how many ears perked up at the mention of 'Crow.' More screencaps here! We're always looking for events to crash attend, so if you have one you think we'd be interested in, then by all means send me a PM here or contact us on our tumblr! We have new officers! In light of the fact that Stormblood hype meant we got behind on a lot of interviews to bring people into the LS, I promoted two new officers to help keep things running: Narantu Dazkar and Vasir'li Sohlu! I also promoted two people to the rank of Organizer to help arrange events and get things going in the linkshell proper: Aerius Destroven and Ququki Quki! That makes it so as of right now, our officer team is comprised of: Leonnaux Altoix, Edda Vincents, Aran Aethersmith, Gwannes Oskwell, Narantu Dazkar, and Vasir'li Sohlu, with support from the organizers Aerius Destroven and Ququki Quki. If you have any questions about Ebonguard and catch one of us in-game then by all means feel free to ask! I'll update the main post in this thread (and our Tumblr) to reflect this change as soon as I'm able! Hate to update and run, but I've got some last-minute planning to do, heh. An OOC Linkshell?! As people are doubtless aware, Ebonguard is a strictly-IC LS! However, an idea was pitched to us to look into potentially creating an OOC LS for ease-of-communication while in-game. While this didn't end up getting enough interest from our members or our officers to become an actual thing, we do think that having a way to communicate OOC in-game has merit... And thus we are teaming up with a pre-existing OOC LS that a few of our members and officers are already members of: ERP:NEO! Please direct inquiries about this to the appropriate people, because I myself am not an officer of ERP:NEO. I'm just there for the dank memes. Discord Channel Changes! We got rid of two never-used channels recently in order to make way for the new-and-improved #workshop channel, which is exactly what it says on the tin, really. It's where we're probably going to shunt lore discussion and character-building prompts -- and talks of dice systems when people are in the mood for that. [align=center] wew![/align] Scenario Update! We've finished figuring out a rough 'skeleton' to work with for the next leg of the Ebonguard Scenario -- so our focus is going to shift toward putting meat on that skeleton's bones! The goal is to get it kicked off sometime in August, but things are pretty hectic for the officers and organizers at the moment (myself included, since I'm preparing to move halfway across the country for college) so we're also looking at early September at the latest. Hopefully August, though, because coming up on August 25th is Ebonguard's one-year anniversary! ... Unfortunately, I will be away from the internet for Fall Orientation beginning on that day! GG, past me. G fuckin' G. But I'll try to do something for it anyway, because woah! A year! That's pretty awesome.

I'll skip over the mucky issue of my own gender because ain't no one got time for that. That said, I almost always write male characters. I'm not sure exactly why; I part of it might be that I find them easier to design. I do have a few woman characters under my belt, but I've rarely if ever gotten as into them as I have the men I've written. It might have more to do with the type of character that I enjoy writing the most: the tall, dark, and broody guys dressed down in either pinstripes or leather...? Depending on setting and tone, of course. (Leonnaux is of the former variety. I think. He's a good deal more bookish than I guess the archetype usually implies, but he's got the brood down-pat, I think.) When I try to do it with my woman characters, it usually comes off as... I dunno, kind of fake? They fall kind of flat, but I don't think it's for lack of trying. I've written a good share of woman characters who fit that mold, but either because of the overarching story that I was trying to tell or whatever else, I couldn't really get into them. Maybe the trick to writing more would be to find a stereotypically-female character archetype that I enjoy. I do this too -- but I try to be better about it! I guess for me it's probably a little bit because I associate names with pronouns; if I see a character name then it's kind of like an automatic thing. Thankfully with people I'm close to OOC I usually have (or pick) a separate name to refer to them by, so it's more of an issue with people I don't talk to (or about) OOC very often.

While I agree that it's a kind of silly attitude to have that "omg if I wanna walk-up to anyone ever for the arr peez then I have to ask permission first or they'll be mad at me," I don't think it really has anything to do with American "PC Culture." Nor do I think that there's anything really wrong with "PC Culture," because I think it's a pretty good deal that people try to be inclusive and respectful of one another. Being afraid to offend people is kind of its own separate issue that is more likely to stem from other things that are more likely to be on a personal level. For example, Balmung has quite a few people who can and will ostracize or even harass you if you don't march in lock-step with them and their opinions, whether they pertain to RP or not. At that point, I think that the fear is... Kind of natural? RP is a social hobby and MMOs are social games, and no one wants to be bullied. This is to say nothing of cases where people actually do bleed IC into OOC which has ended ugly, or vice-versa. Anyway, I don't think that there's anything I could say on the matter that Gegenji hasn't already. A semi-related note, though, is that I don't feel like it's a particularly heinous crime to let someone know, OOC in /tells, that either the scene is closed or I have no interest in RPing with them. Mostly because in crowded places, I find chat scroll to be a bit brain-bendy and I can barely keep up when I'm just RPing with one other person. If a scene is closed, I'll usually take it to /p because I just treat /p like I do /em, regardless of the nametag attached to names. But anything I do in /s is usually fair game even if I'll probably be surprised if anyone actually picks up on my character to interact in the first place. But if it's just my character being an irritable arse, then the telling-to-buzz-off will probably just be IC. And it'll just be because he's an irritable arse, not because I, OOC, want the scene to be closed. If my character tells someone to buzz off, then they're absolutely free to not buzz off. The results might just be a little interesting depending on how Leon is feeling that day.

[align=center] [/align] News travels fast in Ul’dah, particularly when money is involved. Hardly a sennight after the completion of the ‘heist,’ the White Chocobo Trading Company took to the news… And their story was promptly snatched up by two freelancers who, to this point, have only managed to be published in The Sunway Daily, a news journal known for its less-than-becoming ‘respect’ for journalistic integrity. Still, given that the Ebonguard has historically been plagued by issues of publicity, the fact that it was reported at all ought to give the members some pause… The Ebonguard is and has always been a network of criminals, comprised of thieves and smugglers and other such knaves. But in a time before, prior to the Ebonguard becoming the Ebonguard, there was another case. It was a mile and more away from the network’s most recent escapades, but due to the lack of organization of the network, the way that the case was covered by the newsprint and handled by the authorities very nearly led to the network’s downfall. Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them. NEXT SCENARIO: THE OLD GUARD (Details TBA) Interested in getting involved with the Ebonguard Scenario, either as an ally to this band of n’er-do-wells or as a force working to stop their criminal ways? Both members and outsiders more than welcome! Send an ask to our tumblr or PM me here and we can work something out (posting in this thread is also acceptable)! We are also open to being involved in the plot lines of others, either as allies or antagonists. Our Discord is available for non-members to use as freely as members, and we even have a channel specifically for collaboration. We ask only that you provide us with a character name, and that all involved parties are lore-compliant. [align=center]⸻ Post-Stormblood, Late-July Update![/align] Hey everyone; it's been a while! There has been some delay in stuff and things due to Stormblood hype (and I myself am preparing to attend college), but we're still around and now-gearing up to head into our next Scenario, which is going to be a lottle more plot-focused than the last one. Though don't get me wrong, crime will still be happening, but Scenario Two: The Old Guard will likely be more about delving into Ebonguard's background lore a bit than anything else... And, well, learning from the mistakes of the past as it were. With so many meddling kids around, can't get away with nuthin' these days. Going into this plot arc, we are more than open to the idea of collaborating with mercenary, bounty hunter, or law enforcement characters and groups who would be interested in acting against Ebonguard seeing as it is very much a network comprised of criminals. If you're interested in the prospect of doing this on a semi-consistent basis, then drop me a line and we can work something out! In order to keep things fair, we will likely be using some form of dice-rolling shenanigans, because it's no fun when one or the other side is guaranteed to win. Aside from that, we apologize for some noticeable slowness when it comes to getting through OOC interviews to bring applicants into the LS. In addition to Stormblood shenanigans, many of our officers also have real life things to tend to. In the coming months, I will be looking into growing the officer team (we have only four at the moment) so that this is less of a problem in the future, and to help make events for the LS more frequent! We are also looking into boosting our activity by encouraging our members to attend events through Have Linkpearl, Will Travel and have been plugging events in the Discord lately. Look forward to screen caps and event accounts from those shenanigans as well, to be posted on our Tumblr! Till next time!

[align=center]THESE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE BIMONTHLY[/align] Unfortunately, Stormblood happened and we're just now coming down off the content hype and getting going with more RP stuff. Hey there! Your neighborhood friendly Board Member here with stuff and things! ARTIFICE OF REASON EXCHANGES As some people may be aware, the Artifice of Reason runs an event known as the Artifice Exchange every other Friday at the Gold Court. Unfortunately, it has become clear to us over time that we currently do not have the manpower (or interest) to run an event. But that doesn't mean we're going to call it quits, though! This Friday will be the last one for a while, but once we've done some recruitment and networked a bit as a Free Company, we intend to revisit the idea of a (bi)monthly event. In the interests of doing this, we're going to try and branch out and attend other group's events. So if you see a cluster of people dropping in, hey there! Some of these events will be attended as part of our Casual RP Thursdays that we like to do as an FC because we're sick of being cooped up in the house. Just because lots of us play nerd characters doesn't mean we gotta be locked up in the basement all the time... RECRUITMENT PROCEDURES Up until this point, we've been pretty lax with our recruitment procedures, so that will likely be changing soon. We are a lore-strict FC, but even given that we've been getting too hung up on what is possible and forgetting to really ask what is a good idea. That's more something that the officers are going to be worrying about, but fear not! With regards to lore, we understand that not everyone knows everything; hell, not even we know everything! We are willing to work with anyone who is willing to work with us, and we're totally willing to roll with things that explore lore-bendy things or gray areas of the lore, so long as it isn't outright broken, such as with, like... A character from 4000 years in the future of Final Fantasy XIII time-travelling and dimension-hopping into Eorzea or something. For that kind of thing, we probably would not be the FC for you. The most significant change to the recruitment procedure that will actually affect new applicants is the addition of an OOC interview. Interview is probably a bad word; it's more of a conversation that gives the officers a chance to pick the brains of new people who might be coming in, get a firmer feel for them and their character (clear up any concerns they may have, asking what the character is like, what the person enjoys playing with, etc), and open that line of communication between officers and applicants before accepting people into the FC. This has the added bonus of showing people we don't bite! Promise! UPCOMING EVENTS AND PLOTS While the Artifice of Reason Exchanges are going to be discontinued after the one on this Friday (July 14), that doesn't mean that the Artifice is going to stop doing some pretty sweet RPs. We have designated Thursdays as our Casual RP Nights, where we have traditionally done some social stuff in our house but we are going to start attending others' events during this time as well! Screencaps and some choice quotes may be featured from this either here or on our Tumblr. Or both? [align=center][/align] As well, we are beginning a large-scale FC plot that spring-boards off of a chain of events I ran in May, during which the Artifice actually got to plan and carry out a heist. Of course, it was a little too good to be true, and this upcoming plot event will deal with the... Aftermath, I suppose, would be the best word! It doesn't feel great to be counter-heisted, does it? Well, thankfully, revenge is a dish best-served cold. (Our log forum, I believe, is unfortunately not available for guests to view, which I will look into changing because that is kind of silly even if there is an IC reason for it. However, heading into Scenario 02, I will ask for logs to be kept in Google Docs for the public's viewing pleasure.) Our leader and one of our other members are also planning a trip to Othard, which is bound to be something. Please look forward to it!

[align=center] Have Linkpearl? Will Travel! [/align] Ebonguard is a network – plain and simple… But what’s a network without the people in it, the members comprising it? The members of Ebonguard are as varied in interests and tastes as there are interests and tastes to be had (to say nothing of motivations). Have Linkpearl? Will Travel! is a thing that the officers of Ebonguard are going to start doing which entails encouraging members to attend events that we have been recommended to or that we believe would be fun to attend as a group. These events can feasibly be anything: performances, tavern nights, book clubs, fighting tournaments, black markets… While Ebonguard as a group is themed around criminal activity, it’s safe for most of us to show our faces in public. For the moment. The criteria that we will likely be considering when picking what events to recommend are… Attendance/Turn-out: We are more likely to recommend events that have a lower turn-out or are smaller on the whole. This is partly due to concerns with chat scroll. Location, Location, Location: As it pertains to most events, we are more likely to recommend events that are hosted in their own spaces (not in the open world). There are likely to be exceptions to this on a case-by-case basis (i.e. it’s kind of hard to have a parade in a house or something). Entry Fees: We will never endorse an event that requires an OOC gil fee to enter or attend. Personal Schedules: Our application requires all our members to inform us of their timezones, so we have a vague idea of what times are likely to work for our members. (Ebonguard is an NA linkshell most active during the evenings.) (These criteria are liable to be amended at any time as the Ebonguard officer team sees fit.) If you have an event that you would like us to check out, then by all means contact us on Tumblr or here on the RPC! Again, all event themes are technically welcome. If you recommend an event to us then please include… Name of the event (example: The Pub Tavern Night) Start time of the event (example: 7:30PM Central Standard Time) Event host (example: or Character Name) Location of the event (example: Goblet Ward 99, plot 99, room 9) A person to contact (Name#1234 or an in-game character name) A little bit about the event would also be appreciated, as would any links to Tumblr or RPC posts. Thanks! We look forward to potentially hearing from people.

While I have no plans to retire Leonnaux as of yet, I have a vague idea of how I would do it if I had to. Given the kind of lifestyle he leads, he would probably end up dead, either because he did something stupid and got himself killed or because he crossed the wrong person. Or maybe it would be an accidental death. The thing with Leonnaux is that he's actually pretty fun to write and he gets himself into a lot of different stuff that he maybe has no business getting into because functionally, he's still a kid. (IC he turns 20 at the end of July/the Fourth Astral Moon -- but he spent four of the past six years of his life aggressively hitting the books instead of exploring his own identity in... literally any capacity whatsoever, so he doesn't necessarily have the emotional/social maturity of someone who's 20. Work in progress. Someday he might mellow out but that day won't be tomorrow.) In the event that his story takes an unforeseen turn for the better and he cleans up his act/learns when to shove it, I could see him quietly continuing his life as an academic. He still probably wouldn't live to be like eighty or whatever, but he'd probably continue to exist as an NPC who quietly goes about his business in the background. Either way I don't see him settling down and pursuing any sort of family stuff. The closest he'd probably come to actually having a family would probably be a "found family" sort of thing and/or maybe finding a nice man or woman to maintain a stable relationship with. But if I had to retire him tomorrow I'd definitely go the route of him getting ganked and left in a ditch somewhere. (My first/other character, Percival, is effectively retired in her current form. She went back home to Ul'dah to be with her family after all the shit in Ishgard went down. She figured that she would be intruding on her (now-married) friend's life if she stayed with him in the Twelveswood so she's doing her own thing. If I ever picked her back up it would have to be with some major story changes but overall that would probably also be the starting point for any future version of her.)

[align=center] [/align] Now you see me… The heist was a success. Continuing their facades, Tamrik Brokenblade (Greeneyes) and Vaicean Daimetois (Leonnaux Altoix) returned to work for the White Chocobo Trading Company as they prepared to enter the city of Ul’dah at the Scorpion Crossing in Western Thanalan. The heat of the desert subsided slowly as the sun dipped under the horizon, but without a doubt summer had begun in the southern reaches of the realm. The duo was joined in short order by an unexpected addition: Aodh Dohern (Page). Assigned to look after chocobos for their work, they were forced to improvise – sleight of hand, after all, was not a viable option when they were not allowed near the goods. After some difficulty getting the bids to trust the team, they wiggled their way into a situation where they could get their hands on some goods… By simply taking the cart with them once they were out of sight of the Crossing. It was at this point that Aodh revealed that he was one of them – perhaps as a ploy to ensure his safety. Now you don’t. After deciding in short order how the goods would be split up, the team went their separate ways: the cut may not have been in cold, hard cash and they may have made off with goods worth only 1,359,000 gil, but for a first effort? It would certainly turn some heads…

On in ten minutes.

Hello! Thank you for your interest in the Artifice of Reason. Mostly, as an FC we just hoard the more touchy stuff -- our methods of research are the main secret thing really -- so being more open with results and stuff (and hoarding books... Needless to say there is a lot of that to be done as well) isn't an issue. In fact, at our bimonthly event, the Artifice of Reason Exchange, we often sell the fruits of our research in an effort to stir up some connections and IC turn a profit (we do not ask for OOC gil for IC services). We have several characters interested in ancient civilizations as well -- Allag for the most part, though others come up from time to time. If you're interested in the FC and have the time to drop by to the one we have tomorrow, then I highly recommend that you do. I won't be in attendance due to other obligations (and my character having nothing really to offer, as he's a researcher not a craftsman), but the other officers and several other members likely will be. Other than our bimonthly public event, we also have several plot events going on, one of which I'm in the process of planning the next phase of. The Artifice's own HQ full of research nooks-and-crannies is located at The Goblet, Ward 7, plot 13 if you'd like to take a look around. There are some areas that are supposed to be restricted IC but if you just want to see how we've decorated then it shouldn't be an issue. We look forward to hearing from you!

[align=center]Update![/align] With less than month until Stormblood comes out, the Artifice of Reason has hardly faltered in its endeavors to set the pace of scientific advancement in Eorzea. Leadership Update: Shiori Eikitaika and Inkeri Ivoryfang are now W'lefay Sheqa and W'saheena Sheqa. While they remain OOC leaders of the Company, these characters are not leaders IC. Shiori Eikitaika, the Director of the Artifice of Reason, remains on the server as an alt, while Inkeri Ivoryfang was unfortunately hit by the transfer lock and will not exist as an actual character on the server for the foreseeable future. Artifice of Reason Exchange: There will be an Exchange held tomorrow, Friday, June 2 at 7:00 PM CST. Due to Stormblood Early Access, there will be no Exchange on June 16. What is the Artifice Exchange? Read more here or here. The June 2 confirmed attendees are here and here. Allies LS: It exists. Read more about it on our tumblr page here; there is also a new tab of the opening post detailing it. The Artifice of Reason is always open to outside connections who are willing to join our Allies LS (OOC channel), and we've set up a separate Discord server for the purpose of keeping in touch outside of the game.

[align=center] [/align] Confirmed attendees are the aforementioned Dezi’to Cannera, bringing once more his magitek expertise, along with the Artifice’s resident alchemist, Ardun Wolfe. We hope to see you there! (IMPORTANT NOTICE: there will be no Exchange on Friday, June 16 due to Stormblood early access. We look forward to more fun and games after the expansion!)

[align=center] [/align] A key part of any successful mission is reconnaissance. After all, it pays well to know what you’re getting into before you’re in too deep to get out, and as the White Chocobo Trading Company docked at Vesper Bay, that is precisely what Greeneyes and Leonnaux Altoix (Crow’s messenger) did. The evening air was cool, the breeze coming off the sea salty, and the fickle desert climate gifted them with a brief shower toward the beginning of their endeavors. They donned their chosen guises – Tamrik Brokenblade and Vaicean Daimetois – after brief discussion and set their sights on the matter at hand. Unbeknownst to the two of them, they were joined by another member of the Ebonguard who heard of their planned escapades over the linkpearl: Adder. The bookish, quiet sort watched from a distance as they went through the motions, gathering intelligence, submitting their (forged) employment papers, and investigating the crates that had yet to be unloaded from the Company’s ship. Watching for if anything went awry – but luckily, this was simply reconnaissance, and when a company is in the business of hiring sellswords to handle security… Well, they hardly acted out of place.

I think that it's: 1.) Unfair to expect new players who want to RP to automatically also be willing to pay the $18 to transfer to Balmung or whatever official RP server ends up being designated. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that a designated RP server would quickly be subject to similar character creation restrictions that Balmung is given the sheer size of Balmung (26k or so players iirc?). I don't think it speaks poorly of RPers' "dedication" to their hobby, either, since... You know. RP is a hobby, and people who want to RP shouldn't be derided for an unwillingness to transfer to a huge server that is honestly probably really intimidating. Bigger is not always better, and I'd argue that Balmung's size is just as much a deterrent as it is an incentive to transfer. (In the hypothetical world in which the server lock never happens, or in the future-hypothetical world wherein the transfer lock is indeed lifted a month or two after Stormblood launches) And... 2.) Unfair to dismiss legitimate concerns regarding the toxicity of certain sects of Balmung's greater "community" as being unimportant in the grander scheme or simply not existing at all. Things such as stalkers, flaky RP partners, being invisible in a sea of people, rampant ERP and romance plots masquerading as non-ERP and romance plots that get dropped as soon as it becomes clear that ERP isn't what you're after... It's really easy to argue that these things aren't huge problems, or that these problems don't exist when these things aren't happening to you. I'll return momentarily to Balmung's size. The community is absolutely massive -- so massive that it's really difficult to be able to get a bearing for all of its demographics, issues, and benefits at a glance. Especially because RPers are very prone to carving out little comfort zones and corners to call their own, which they probably rarely break out of because, well... It's called a comfort zone for a reason. Just like it's easy to argue that these things don't happen because they haven't happened to you or any of the 30 people in your immediate circle (out of how many players on the server?), someone who gets lost in the crowd at every massive event they attend is probably going to get the impression that the community is a closed circle regardless of whatever individual success stories they hear. Someone who gets into the community only to be stalked by someone probably isn't going to be very comforted by assurances that it's not a problem of the greater community of that it doesn't happen often. Someone who constantly has all their connections and plots fall through probably isn't going to come away with a very positive impression of the greater RP culture on the server. Given that Balmung's RP community is hardly an organized, monolithic entity even on good days (I've probably seen as many different stances on ERP, romance, RP etiquette, lore interpretations and compliance, FC organization, approaches to plot-planning or lack thereof, dice systems, etc. as I have people on the server), I don't think that even the people already on the server can reasonably be expect to stand in "solidarity" in favor of Balmung's continued health (which imo is in no way in any immediate danger) or in favor of designating an official RP server, let alone the people who would rather stick to a smaller scene for whatever reason, and God forbid the people who actually left Balmung due to personal reasons already in the past.