Myxie Tryxle

Whoa whoa, some of us are just a little bit unlucky when it comes to collateral damage. I think what really counts is whether or not you intended to burn down that orphanage.

Hello and Welcome! Good to see another who knows the beauty of AEG roleplaying games. I've played in a few L5R tabletops, which are always fun.

I never understood the entire "Server First!" mentality. Is it really a thing for roleplayers? I'd compare it to an ice cream cone. While the Firster is wolfing down that cone and bragging about how they're going to be the first to finish, the rest of us are enjoying some of the tastiest ice cream of our lives.

Hello, and welcome! I think the notion of an arcanist as a thief works really well. You could distract the merchant while your carbuncle (or better yet pixie) sneak around and take a pie or trinket. Summoner pets like Ifrit don't strike me as the stealthy types, but carbuncle and faeries certainly could.

I can see one potentially massive source for error in this survey. What if whatever group did the survey posted it on Reddit or 4chan? It would certainly explain why Gilgamesh got 2-5 times as many responses as every other server on the survey. Also, what about multiple submissions? I'm not putting much stock in these numbers. I don't see this as being an issue, since players would make up just a small percent of the overall population of the world. Behind the scenes should be whole communities we don't see because the world has to be shrunk down to be playable from a game development perspective. It's not unreasonable to think that Ul'dah, Gridania, and Limsa would support a community of thousands of people. It is unreasonable in that building that sort of world would take a massive development effort in both time and money that would add little to nothing to the gameplay for the average player.

The two look almost identical. Either way, both are scary. I agree with you Merri. The most evil character I've ever played with in a game was the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. Hospitable, empathic, generous. He just had no scruples when it came to things like killing a unicorn to harvest its horn as a powerful magical spell component.

The eyes are giving kind of an ice princess vibe. Like she has a cold, black heart to match her hair. (Or I'm just reading that into her, because I just posted on the villains thread that there need to be more Roegadyn villain pics.)

Running the benchmark on my desktop caused it to crash every time. After a little investigation and downloading some monitoring software I found my CPU was idling at 80 degrees Celsius on the Windows desktop with no programs running. So yay!! New hardware for me too. (It's not as exciting when it's a heatsink and fans though.)

That's pretty terrifying. I was expecting some more Roegadyn in this thread. No one sees Roegadyn villains in their future?

Version one looks slightly younger due to the shorter hairstyle. It indicates a potentially more playful personality, whereas the longer hair looks more mature. This is probably the reasoning behind the punk vs. elegant comments. Personally, I prefer version 1, but that's mostly because I'm a big fan of purple (my favorite color). If you wanted to mix the two, you could keep the emerald green eyes offset by a purple tattoo/lipstick and see if the contrast makes both more vibrant. Perhaps add green (or purple) highlights to the hair to round it out. I've also found if you do highlights but pick the same color as the main color, you still get a slight highlighting of the base color that looks better than the base without highlights (in my opinion). Can't really tell what colors you have for the hair in the second version.

Hi Callipygian, I didn't really get this information from anywhere. It's just pure Dubs created fiction, from the ol noodle. I'm kind of just running with it :cactuar: to see where it takes me and if it comes down to someone way more knowledgable about the Garlean /Allagan technology helping me a long the way so be it. Always have a willing ear open for input. Drat! Thought I might have grounds for another one of my exploratory thesis posts. You might run into a little flak if there's no lore basis for the genetic manipulation. What you described is very modern science or even science fiction. I don't know enough about Garlean/Allagan to say. I know about the genetics of such things, but not if it's supported by the lore.

Not bad, though I was expecting a goatee.

Honestly? I think this sounds friggin awesome. I agree with Naunet. Where did you get this information, because I want to read it. For science! :geek: Seriously, that emoticon is called "geek?" I guess "badass" must have already been taken by the dude with sunglasses. I also think your idea of a culturally distinct Miqo'te has merit. Remember that the 26 tribes plus the Keepers migrated to Eorzea, much like the precursors to Native Americans crossing the Bering Sea land bridge in the last ice age. Just because a few tribes of Asians became Americans doesn't mean there weren't still Asians. Eorzea is a small part of a bigger world. There's bound to be an unimagined number of other Miqo'te tribes in other places of the world, and the means for them to travel around are quite sophisticated (through seas, air, and aether).

Biochemistry is actually a lot more biology than chemistry, but my view may be biased seeing as how I'm a biologist. I see what you're getting at though. That's where the cross-class skill slots come in. Not sure how familiar you are with the mechanics of the game, but every five levels you unlock a cross class skill slot. Depending on what class you're playing, you have many choices for what skills to fill them with, but you have to level other classes to unlock the skills themselves (for example, leveling conjury to level 4 unlocks cure, which almost every other class can use as a cross class skill). Just looking at thaumaturge, you have 24 different cross class skills you can unlock, with a maximum of 10 cross class slots to put them in, allowing for a lot of versatility. This is before we even know what skills arcanist brings to the table. Here's a link to a website with that information for all the class. Just looking at the list for thaumaturge, seven of their cross class skills are learned from conjury, so you can easily incorporate other magics, but the majority of your power comes from your primary class (17 class skills and 11 traits that boost important attributes or augment specific class skills). Also of note, when you activate a job, it affects these cross class slots. Your choices become more limited, but the job skills automatically fill in some of the cross class slots (if I understand the mechanic correctly - haven't actually done this in game yet).

Hi Evie, As far as the lore of the types of magic goes, the manner in which magic is practiced depends on the type of magic. They describe it a little when you get into the guild quests that each type of magic is practiced very differently. Thaumaturges (and black mages) harness the energy within themselves to create their magic and project it into the world. Conjurers (and white mages) harness the latent magical energies that flow throughout the environment and shape it to their purpose. No clue on Arcanists, as we can't play those yet, but their books suggest their power comes from knowledge of rune words of power/creation or something like that. I would equate this to the manner in which real world students study science. To say you're a scientist is a blanket term, equivalent to describing yourself as simply "a mage." Most people pick one discipline and study it almost exclusively, becoming biologists, chemists, physicists, etc. For the typical (NPC) student in Eorzea, it would likely take a lifetime of study to master just one of these schools of magic, equivalent to getting a PhD in one of those scientific fields. If that were the case, trying to put all three types of magic in the same college may be considered unnecessary or even distracting. For the typical student, trying to master all three schools of magic at once could be equivalent to trying to get a PhD in biology, chemistry, and astrophysics at the same time. For exceptionally intelligent individuals (and PCs are exceptional individuals), it could be possible, but for the average student it pretty much guarantees they'll fail at all three when they could succeed if they were trying for just one. Also, real world colleges tend to specialize to be stronger in one field than another. While a college may offer graduate degrees in biology and chemistry, their bio program could be average compared to other schools while their chemistry department is one of the top 5 in the country. It's likely each of the magic guilds would offer rudimentary instruction into a broad base of magical theory, but that would be introductory and lead into their specialized field. Better to be the top school in one field than average in several. Not saying it isn't possible. It just may not have been practical up to this point to try and bring study of all three types of magic together because the average (NPC) mage couldn't handle it. The arrival of a wave of super-intelligent or talented PCs could certainly change that. All of this of course being speculation to rationalize the real reason (game design) where the developers had three schools of magic to divide among three starting cities.

In trying to straddle the fence on this one, I clearly failed to make my point, so I'll try again. Whenever this kind of debate appears, the initial knee jerk reaction is discouragement. People imagine the worst case scenario (your character is a lost love-child of a well-known NPC, your character tamed and rides Bahamut, your character is a sparkly half-vampire half-werewolf half-demon, etc.), and in urging you to err on the side of caution, they squash creativity that is otherwise reasonable and constructive (i.e. creativity that is bounded by common sense). Those that are telling you how they are dealing with the problem are telling you how they play. You're free to decide if that works for you. Personally, I can't play a character without writing up some backstory. I had RP characters I made in WoW and leveled to the level cap but never actually RPed. Because I didn't do that background, I didn't have any idea who the character was. I never put forth the effort to RP them because I had no idea who they were and didn't come to care about their story. That's just how I play (or fail to play, as it were). Do what works for you and your character, otherwise, you won't get the kind of experience you're looking for. I've always found if you do that, you'll find other like-minded players, and those are the ones you'll enjoy playing with the most. This is a large and growing community. Err on the side of whatever's the most fun for you, and you'll find others who play the same way, or are at least accepting of your style. To be completely honest, the availability for lore in this game is currently a 1 on a scale of 10. There's far more speculation than confirmation in the majority of areas, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, just a little frustrating. Don't be afraid to make a mistake or two, because everyone will be making a mistake or two in the next couple months.

A lot of this is also a matter of personal preference. The way I see it, there are two possibilities: 1. You write a story and later have to retcon it. 2. You don't write a story and no lore ever appears that would have contradicted it. Which is the bigger crime? You have to decide for yourself which is the bigger risk, and as someone said, use common sense when it comes to creative license. Writing a little family history to figure out where your character comes from and what their values are is likely fine. The lore is never going to touch a huge fraction of what's available, possible, or underneath the surface in the larger setting, and I consider that exploration a major part of the draw and potential of roleplaying. Now if that family history involves your mother being the secret consort of Louisoix giving you magical powers over space and time, including having brunch with the Twelve every Sunday, well, good luck with that.

Very cool contributions from everyone. Impressed that you made a Lalafell that actually looks a little wicked.

I've seen several threads with a lot of awesome characters generated through the character creator. Playing around with it myself, I had a lot of fun trying to see what types of villainous characters I could come up with. I'd like to see what everyone else can come up with as well. Give it your best shot, and let's see what kinds of disreputable characters the community can churn out!

Go with what you prefer. Others are going to give your character a deep, critical evaluation for all of two seconds, and probably won't even notice a difference between a shade or two of skin-tone. It's 99% likely that if the skin-tone is going to bug anyone, it's you, the primary player who is playing the character for hours on end, so go with what you like.

Not sure if you ever played FFXI, but gardening was a mini-game in that, the first MMO of the series. You could plant stuff, tend to it, and depending on which seed you used, how you tended it, and even the weather or moon phases, it could bloom into all sorts of different products after 24 hours (cooking ingredients, shards/crystals, etc.). So yeah, gardening is a fine idea.

Some of the linkshells are broad in their scope and some are more narrow. Coming up with a character concept can help you to figure out which groups may interest you. For example, if your character is a mercenary swordsman who likes to pound out his own weapons and armor, a crafting guild like Eorzean Labor Union or the Silver Anvil may be right up your alley. If instead your character is a high class Ul'dan noble who never touched a laboring tool in his life, those two groups wouldn't make much sense. You don't have to have a character concept solidified, but it will help you define which groups would be a good fit for you and your character. When it comes to roleplaying, the first step is by far the biggest step, but once you've designed your character it becomes much easier to get your foot in the door.

Hello and welcome! Keeper "tribes" seem like they'd be more independent and freeform. I imagine they've developed lots of different names for themselves, clan probably being one of the more common. I know when my family used to have giant family reunions in real life, we referred to ourselves as a clan.

(( For the purposes of this story, Mikhi (Myxie) is fourteen years old. )) Mikhi stared for a moment at the object in her hand. It was a white, long-stemmed rose, clenched tightly between her fingers. She turned the bloom upwards and filled her nose with its sweet scent. In the other hand was a leather strap. Following it as it weaved through a background of yellow feathers, she suddenly realized she was riding a chocobo. She leaned forward to wrap her arms around the creature, aware of its strong muscles and the occasional rumbling of its throat as it let out a chirp. Looking past the neck of the bird, Mikhi could see many flowers and small, brightly colored strips of paper landing on the cobblestones below her. Mikhi sat up straight and blinked her eyes. The midday sun was blinding ahead of her, so she squinted and glanced around. To one side rose a line of stone buildings reaching towards the sky. On the other side stood a towering wall with many market stands leaning against it. Though Mikhi had never been there, she could tell from the hot, dry wind blowing on her cheek that this must be Ul’dah. A strange sound from behind her caught Mikhi’s attention. She turned in her saddle to see a large procession following behind her. There was a small carriage being pulled by two chocobos directly behind her. Behind that, a giant creature with long, flailing arms strained against the magical bonds that caged it. After a sickening groan the bonds gave way with a loud snapping sound that echoed through the streets. Bystanders screamed and ran in horror as the lumbering creature lurched into the carriage in front of it, sending a spray of splintered wood in all directions. Mikhi grasped desperately for the neck of the chocobo as it reared, trying to cover her head from the wave of debris. Mikhi sat up again and squinted into the sun, though it wasn’t as bright filtering through the canopy of the forest. Her head jerked around in confusion, taking in the trees of the Shroud. In her lap was a book on Ul’dah that Uncle Ori’to had brought the previous autumn for her to read. Mikhi blinked for a moment and sighed, realizing the parade had been a dream. She raised her hands to the horizon, placing one over the other to gauge the height of the sun. “Two handspans? Momma’s gonna kill me!” “Ah knew ah ‘eard somethin’ makin’ noise up ‘ere,” came a deep voice from behind her. Mikhi’s head jerked up and turned to look over the fallen log she was seated against. Moving up the hill towards her was the largest Hyur she had ever seen or even heard of. She stood up and backed away from him, backing up the ridge towards the cliff that hung over her family homestead. The Hyur made easy, long strides up the hill, angling up the hill to the cliff face before moving straight in Mikhi’s direction. The terrible grin he displayed with several missing teeth and one broken at a sharp angle made her feel sick. His eyes traveled up and down her body, then he spoke again. “Imagine my surprise ta find a purty young wench like you ‘ere. The mistress o’ the wharf’ll give me a purty purse for a fresh fish like you. If’n me an’ the boys don’t spoil ya first, that is.” Mikhi’s heart sank as the Highlander finished his threat by teasing the lone, triangular tooth at the front of his mouth with his tongue. She looked down over the cliff to the family stead. With all her strength, she hurled the book in her hands towards the nearest house. It fell softly in the brush at the edge of the clearing, and no one stirred below. “That’s my family’s house,” Mikhi said, trying to muster her courage. “They’ll come looking for me.” “Issat so?” asked the Hyur. He stopped for a moment and laughed at her. “An’ are you gonna fly down there ta them, or are they gonna fly up ‘ere ta rescue ya?” Panic overtook Mikhi, and she started running. Behind her, she could hear the Hyur whooping in delight as he made chase. Mikhi could hear him gaining on her, his long Highlander legs beating more confident strides. She glanced about desperately, looking for any advantage. The cliff was suicide, sheer, tall, and rocky. The hill declined in a steep angle, but it was her best chance. The Hyur was tall and lanky without a tail. He’d have to take the hill slower than her or risk tumbling down it and cracking his skull on a tree trunk or loose boulder. Mikhi plunged headlong down the hill, her feet barely keeping up with gravity as she descended at a breakneck pace. Her tension eased a little as she heard the Hyur stop above her and slowly start making his way down the steep embankment. Mikhi skidded to a halt against a tree to look back at her pursuer. Much to her dismay, he still had a broad smile on his face, despite his slow descent and losing ground on her. “Stop running downhill. His mates are waiting there for him to drive you out,” a high-pitched voice whispered into Mikhi’s ear. Mikhi looked around frantically, but couldn’t find the source of the warning. Straining to look down the hill, she spied what might have been a strip of red cloth, barely visible and clinging to the bark on the side of a tree. The man chasing her had a bright red strip of cloth for a sash as well, from which hung a short, heavy, curved sword. Mikhi looked around frantically again, trying to find somewhere in the middle that she could hide. “That large boulder, a hundred yards away along the ridge. Run for it!” The voice in her ear was insistent. Mikhi pushed off from the tree and made a break for the boulder. Above her she could hear the Hyur running nearly parallel to her own track, angling to intercept her path. Mikhi reached the boulder first. As she turned the corner around the boulder to look for a hiding spot, she ran headlong into the flank of an enormous stag. It reared in surprise, knocking Mikhi to the ground. She rolled to the side into a crevice underneath the boulder as its hooves stomped to the ground. The creature was the largest stag she had ever seen and displayed an unbelievable rack of sharp horns as it leaned down to stare at her where she hid underneath the rock. Mikhi and the stag stared at each other for a moment before both heard a loud stomping of boots against rock. Mikhi could feel the Hyur moving along the top of the rock through the stone pressed against her back. “Gotcha!!” yelled the Hyur as he took two large steps then leaped off with both feet, turning around with his feet apart and his arms spread wide and hands open to catch the girl. Mikhi watched in slow motion as the confident smirk on the Hyur’s face collapsed into a mixture of confusion and terror. As his feet plummeted towards the ground, the stag’s feet reared. The great beast brought its antlers to bear, and as the Hyur’s feet landed in the muddy ground, the stag plunged one of its horns into his unprotected chest. With a cough that sprayed a fine mist of blood into the air, the Hyur fell backwards and raised his arms. The stag reared again, kicking at the pirate with heavy hooves. Mikhi rolled out of her hiding place behind the stag and crouched against the boulder. Looking past the battle, she could see two more men, not as large as her assailant but still larger than Mikhi, scrambling up the hill. “Now’s your chance! Run!” Mikhi didn’t even look around to see where the voice was coming from. She pushed off the rock and ran at full speed along the ridge. The two Hyur saw Mikhi and changed course. Behind her, she heard the Highlander curse at them in a wheezing voice. “Help me... ya bleedin’... fools!” Reluctantly they drew their swords and turned back towards their comrade in battle. Mikhi kept running for a long time. She reached the end of the ridge where it declined down to the forest floor. She turned back and ran along the front of the cliff face until she was exhausted. There was a small cave that she knew nearby, so Mikhi crawled inside to hide and catch her breath. It felt like it took an hour to regain her breath, but she eventually calmed down and listened. No one appeared to be following nearby. She took a deep breath and began to relax. Suddenly, she was keenly aware of a light coming from the back of her small cave. She turned and could see standing there at the back of the cave a small person with softly glowing skin and delicate, moth-like wings. The creature studied Mikhi for a moment then scowled. “It’s not polite to stare, you know,” admonished the tiny woman in a high-pitched voice. Mikhi closed her mouth then gaped again for a moment, trying to say something. Finally she managed to blurt the words out. “Who are you?” The winged creature cocked an eyebrow while shaking her head. “Has our influence dwindled so much?” mused the small woman. “Don’t you know it’s poor form to ask for names? Names hold power, little one!” “Little one?” Mikhi scoffed. “You’re one to talk.” The light coming from the creature’s skin flared in a brilliant flash, and its voice echoed cavernously throughout the small cave. “I mean small in life! Small in experience! I saved your hide today, mortal, and you will show me respect!” Mikhi cringed as the words reverberated in her ears. “Sorry! I’m sorry! I meant no disrespect.” The creature calmed and moved closer. For a moment the two examined each other. “As for what I am,” continued the tiny woman, “a country bumpkin like yourself would be well served to know. I am one of the goodly folk. For many an age mortal kind has respected and feared our dominion over nature.” “A fairy?” asked Mikhi, leaning forward and examining the creature. The fairy cringed and leaned away from Mikhi’s face. “We prefer the term fae, if you must. Fairy is a scholar’s label, and a little bit rude, I might add.” The fae wagged her finger in Mikhi’s direction. “Oh, alright,” responded Mikhi. “I’ll keep that in mind.” For a long moment, the two stared at one another. The fae had an expectant look on her face. Mikhi continued to examine the creature, then realized she was staring and looked away. “Well, I really do appreciate your help today,” began Mikhi as she stood up and angled towards the entrance to the cave. “HALT!” declared the fae in an authoritative voice. Mikhi turned her head towards the tiny woman and realized that she couldn’t move her feet. They stuck as if frozen to the cavern floor. She glared at the fae. “What is this?” Mikhi demanded. The fairy sighed as she flew to the entrance of the cave to hover in front of Mikhi. “Mothers these days must care nothing for their children. In days past, an outburst like that would have warranted a lightning bolt or transformation for a year or some other fitting punishment.” Mikhi continued to glare defiantly. The fae studied her for a moment before laughing and continuing. “But I can see that you’ve got spirit, so I’ll let it slide this time. You, however, owe me a favor.” “A favor?” Mikhi looked a little surprised. “Yes,” continued the tiny woman. “You owe me a favor. Do you think that stag did as I requested out of the kindness of his heart? He’s fine, by the way. Escaped after holding those men at bay for a few minutes while you ran, thanks for asking. He did it because I called in a favor. He was a scrawny, stub-horn when I first met him, and now he’s lord of the herd!” The fae leaned her head forward and placed her index fingers pointing up on each side of her head before splaying out all her fingers and strutting in a circle. Mikhi couldn’t help but laugh at the spectacle, which drew a glare from the fae. “Where do you think you’d be right now if I hadn’t intervened?” asked the tiny woman. Mikhi’s tail lowered and her ears fell flat against her head. As she thought about the question, her skin started to go pale. “I... I don’t know.” “Exactly!” said the fae. “I expended my own resources and put me and mine in harm’s way to rescue you, so you owe me a favor.” “Alright, I get it,” responded Mikhi, slightly annoyed. “What do you want?” The fairy drifted to the ground and brought the palm of its left hand up to its cheek. While it thought for a moment, it drummed the fingers of its hand against the side of its face. “A bowl of honey and a bowl of cream.” Mikhi stared in astonishment. “That’s it?” “I’m not finished!” protested the fae. “Every equinox, spring and fall, in this cave, for the next five years.” “That seems fair,” said Mikhi as she extended her hand. The fae quickly grasped her hand and shook it vigorously. “Just so we’re clear, this is now a fae pact,” warned the tiny woman. “If you break our pact there will be dire consequences. Dire consequences!” Mikhi chuckled as the fae pointed a finger in Mikhi’s face. “I think I get it now,” Mikhi responded. “Can I bring you treats at other times too?” The fairy shook her head while waving her hands in front of her chest. “Oh no! You can’t buy favors from a fae. It doesn’t work like that.” “Nothing like that,” Mikhi said, shaking her head. “Just to say ‘hi’ or something.” The tiny woman looked genuinely confused. “What? Why?” “Because you seem like a nice person,” said Mikhi with a smile. For a moment, the fae just stared at Mikhi. Then she crossed her tiny arms over her stomach and started laughing. She fell backwards onto her butt, laughing while she sat on the ground. She fell further backwards, her wings splayed out on the ground behind her, laughing while her feet kicked wildly in the air. She continued laughing as she rolled back and forth on the ground, first to the left, then to the right. Her laughing turned to gasping as she pushed off the ground onto hands and knees. A tiny hand brushed away a tear. It fell to the ground, a single silver speck, and where it landed a patch of clover immediately grew and bloomed in many tiny flowers. As the fae stood, she released the last few chuckles left in her chest then turned to face Mikhi. “If you can make me laugh like that again, I just might show up.” “MIKHI TRIKHEL!” Grendar’s commanding voice echoed through the forest. Mikhi looked to see which direction her mother was coming from. When she looked back, the fae had vanished. She smiled and found that she could move her feet again, so she started walking back towards the homestead. At least she’d have a good excuse for why she stayed out late into the morning this time. If Momma believed her....

Mine didn't work if I extracted it to the same directory where the zip file was located. As soon as I extracted to a different folder, I had no issues. For some reason having the zip file there prevented it from creating a text file it needed to run.