Ildur

Gear that drops from Amdapor Keep is very similar to what Garlean mook troops wear. However, those aren't remotely magitek-y. The closest think to 'special' Garlean armors is the Allaghan sets, which are obtained from running the level 50 dungeon Binding Coil of Bahamut, if I recall correctly.

I'm basing myself on that they are Hyur based on this quote fromthis thread on the official lore forum (emphasis mine): Seeing how they are physically similar to Hyur except for the horns, I'd say they are indeed Hyur; they just have a magically induced mutation (or maybe you could consider them a subrace). I have no idea about Hearers. My lore-fu is rusty right now.

I would argue that they do temper mortals, just in a more limited way: the Padjai. They are Hyur children who are chosen by the Elementals, which causes them to be born with horns (for...some reason) and have a natural affinity towards nature and conjury. All Padjai we have seen in the game are dedicated to the Elemental's cause and unable to defy them. I'd say that's tempering right there. If I had to speculate, I'd say the Elementals are some kind of aetheric pressence limited to the Black Shroud. That would explain why they have been weakened by the Calamity: their aetheric sustenance comes from the forest itself, instead of piles and piles of crystals like the Primals.

The nature of the Elementals is never specified, but they act basically like some cloudy patron pantheon based onthe classic elements (Water, Fire, Earth and Wind) and are guardians of the Black Shroud. Gridanians revere them as forces of nature and they are the source of power from where Conjurers get their power (or at least the Guild), and it is known that they can drive the wood creatures into attacking specific people (this phenomenom is called 'woodwrath'). Gridanians will not help anyone victim of the woodwrath, as it's the "Will of the Elementals" that they be killed or driven off from the Black Shroud. So, in a way, you could say they -might- be Primals, but aren't considered such. The game implies they are just some kind of force of nature.

The gem used for the summoning of the carbuncles is only referenced in the arcanist description in the game's webpage. As far as I recall, there is no mention of it during the arcanist quests. However, if you take a closer look at the summoning animations you will note that, besides writting something on the book, there are three gemstones floating around your character. It's just that they forgot to mention it or maybe they did but didn't call any attention to it.

I suggest answering the 100 questions found here. It will take you sometime (it's a lot of questions!) but it's very useful, specially for stablishing details people tend to ignore but that would, realistically, have a deep impact in an individual's personality. Now, about some of the more specific things you have said about your character: -The VIIth Legion is implied to have been destroyed completely during the Battle of Cartenau. If you want your character to have been part of it, you'll have to make his desertion sometime before it. You should also familiarize yourself with what the Legion was doing before that. Here is a nice (if long) article about what was going on 5 years before A Realm Reborn started. -I have not seen signs of the Garleans using traditional cavalry, be it horses or chocobos. It is also not mentioned in lore if they have access to them. However, they do have the Reapers (the mechs seen in the intro video), which are basically horses with a canon. Soldiers piloting them aren't called "cavalrymen", though. They are just pilots. -For the razed village, I suggest you give it a name and place it in an 'off-game-world' zone. Or in a not determinate area. For example, say it was a village near Ala Mhigo. I suggest against writting that a Castrum was built on top because there are a very definite number of Castri in Eorzea and official lore might come later to contradict you. -About the white mage that saved your character, you will have to stablish him as being a Warrior of Light, as it is stated by lore that the arts of white magic have been kept a secret by the Padjai (the weird horned children from Gridania) until very, very recently. Alternatively, you could push your character desertion closer to the present. For example, instead of being years since his desertion, make it just a few months. Then the white mage can be one of the 'new' white mages.

Interestingly, there is another Miqo'te tribe in the game: the Coeurlclaw Poachers in the Black Shroud which, if I recall correctly, are Keepers of the Moon. Yet there is one FATE where a male is their leader. All tribal Miqo'te societies currently despicted in the game contradict lore.

Miqo'te aren't animals, they are people. You can tell they aren't animals because animals do not reason and do not have culture, two things Miqo'te have. Considering that Miqo'te are more animal than human would be akin to finding a real world culture and comparing them with monkeys because, hey, we humans kinda look like apes, right? As such, any feelings an individual could have towards being the 'top cat' or having multiple mates or multiple offsprings are cultural in nature. A person can go against his instincts depending on how he thinks about them, how his culture defines them and on personal history. The reason Miqo'te society has polygamy isn't because of natural instinct (though I guess we could argue that any man would like having a lot of women), but because males are rare. And because males are rare, their society has formed around them having many mates/wives so that their numbers don't dwindle. So, basically? Miqo're are driven by instinct just as much as humans are.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, Naunet. The roleplayers-made Hipparion Tribe is not different, in practical terms, from any Linkshell or Free Company: it's a user made group with a user made microcanon. As long as it doesn't contradict the metaphysics or the 'hard' facts of ARR's lore, it shouldn't really matter that it's an odd tribe as far as the lore is concerned.

Ussually, the reason good characters come as boring (besides overexposure), is because they have the 'Flawless' trait added to them. At the eyes of the writer/player, a 'good' character cannot commit moral mistakes ever. And that's what makes them boring: they are perfect morally speaking (at least in the head of the author). If they commit a crime, they weren't mistaken, they weren't victim to their own desires or fleshy nature. No, they were tricked. Or it was 'really' for a good cause. Or that crimes comes up later as a good thing, retroactively. Or maybe they suffer from Harry Potter syndrome and you get that the character's perfect morality is applied to the things he does: nothing he does is evil so, whatever he does, it is not evil even if it would be evil if commited by someone else. Good characters aren't boring. One-sided characters are.

There are no pistols nor guns yet, though this might change once the Musketeer class is implemented. And yes, weapons are limited to certain classes. Only Arcanists and the related Jobs can use books, and only Marauders can use axes, for example. Armor has also restrictions. Marauders and Gladiators wear the bulkier armors, though they share some with Lancers, too. Archers and Pugilists use light armor, and all magic classes wear clothes/robes.

I can see it now. Two people doing dirty things in a restaurant, the police arriving (called by the staff or maybe by other customers) grabbing them and taking them away. Then, the next morning, the governor declares: "Because there's people doing inappropiate things in restaurants, we have decided that the best solution is to forbid citizens of this city to sit next to each other in any situation or place with no exceptions at all." And then people find the way to do inappropiate things while sitting in front of each other anyway. What will the governor do next? Forbid chairs? The use of limbs when in close proximity to another person? Simply put, Squee is trying to avoid a problem that is unsolvabe: people are still going to make dirty imagery with the tools given. I think we have been given enough examples of that already.

If you think about it, every Disciple of War is a 'muscle wizard'. Heavy use of Aether is the only way to justify how a gladiator is able to cut Titan's ankles with what is basically a very sharp needle (as far as Titan is concerned). Or how Dragoons are capable of jumping outrageously far to hit airborne dragons. Or how a Bard's arrows can pierce through the stone guardians in the Temple of Qarn. Etcetera. The flimsy auto-attacks everyone gets is what an unassisted blow looks like: perfectly normal and not very damaging. All the flashy special effects we get when using skills? I don't see them just as an aesthetic (and blinding) choice, but as a representation of the use of aether. Everyone is, essentially, an aether user. What differes is the method of use, I'd say. Though it's never specified what the difference might be.

Ah, I see! So they do think that. How odd to worry about players being idiots, though, considering in this game there's a non insignificant ammount of innuendo between NPCs lying around for anyone to see in the open world.

I'm curious as to why your mind went directly to that place and, what's more, I'm even more curious of why you stick your interpretation of the matter as if it was Squee's. It's more problable they couldn't bother to implement emotes as toggles because they have a thing for arbitrary restricitons (see: bank space, airship travel, dyes) and not because they were thinking how those pesky players would be abusing them in childish manners. Unless they specifically stated that is the reason, of course. Anyway, they shouldn't be worrying about what the players do with their emotes unless it somehow breaks the game somehow (see: SWToR's old dance glitch).

The first thing I want changed in the game is the dungeon timer. It discourages communication, exploration and learning. Specially when the final boss has some difficult mechanics and a whole dungeon preceding them. Because of the timer, after you wipe at a boss, you can't stop to discuss what you did wrong or how to change the tactics you are using. The 'sense of urgency' is meaningless when all it does is push you into smashing your head into a wall and hoping you manage to break it eventually. So what if you are stuck with a terrible organized group, like most PuGs? Well, you try to organize it, of course. The timer does nothing but discourage that: you have limited time, so you can't explain and analize what people are doing wrong, what their roles are and what they should be doing. If the group is still bad after attempts at organizing it, then you can just leave. The timer does literally nothing about badly organized groups. You would problably 'cut your loses' and leave before 90 minutes in the dungeon anyway. Besides, what if the badly organized group is part of my FC? Like, say, trying to teach them Amdapor Keep, or the Hardmode Primal fights or whatever. I'll need time to coordinate them properly and if we run out of time because we wipe at the last boss, when the timer runs out we get to do the WHOLE THING again. Do not fool yourself: the timer is only there to 'alleviate' the load on the instance servers. A load that would be better alleviated if there was a lockout timer: once you enter the dungeon, you can't get in again in for, say, two hours. It would have a better impact on the instance server's load and would discourage constant, unstopped farming of instances. And it would probably make Amdapor Keep's queuing times with full groups less of an issue, I bet.

The database has an item called "Wood Wailer's Jacket" that sports green leather, but it doesn't specify how to obtain it. It might be one of those dated items from 1.0 that aren't available in ARR. The one thing I'm positive isn't in the game is their mask.

I think Squee said that the vanity slots would only allow you to equip items that your class can equip. So anything that has specific class restrictions would still be restricted.

Oh, I didn't know the woolen turban could be crafted! I got mine from a quest, so it's not that hard to get at all. The problem of the Woolen Turban is that the top part is gray, while the one the NPC's are wearing is black. The only headgear that matches that coloration is the Sipahi Turban which, algonside the Vermillion set, can only be obtained from Wanderer's Palace. What's more, they are untradeable, so you are forced to run that dungeon if you want the looks. The lantern shields (there are multiple versions) aren't part of the Brass Blade uniform. You can see various Immortal Flame troops and it's even the default shield of some Garlean units, though. Here's the Brass Blade shield. The shield at the bottom left is the lantern shield (bladed version, there's another version without the swords attached to it) and the one to the right is the buckler I'm using. As you can see, the buckler has the same texture and design, but the wrong colors. Not to mention it's missing the two "side-blades". I haven't seen the correct version in game yet, but I believe it's the "Ancient Buckler", an item that the database tells me is only for Black Mages/Thaumaturges.

No, the escutcheon (I think that's how it's called) doesn't resemble the Brass Blade shield at all. At least if the ARR Database's 3D models are to be trusted.

Someone in my Linkshell asked me about it, actually, so I put this fancy informative collage. Click it to be able to actually read the thing! Everything can be acquired except for the shield. Though, as you may note, you need to either be a Paladin or a Warrior on level 50, at least. The shield I listed has the same design but different colors, and it is also missing two small 'blades' that the NPC's sport. The shield itself is in the game, but can only be used by Black Mages. - Edit (twice!)- For the Stone Torches: By looking at that image and one of my own screenshots, I think these are the items for the uniform: *Level 23 Iron Scale Mail *Level 33 Iron Mitt Gauntlets *Level 23 Iron Elmo *Level 32 Toadskin Breeches I have no idea what the boots are, though they look like stripped down sollerets.

Yes, they are really optional. Interacting with those certain guilds is as optional as the addons they require. In fact, their requeriment is also optional: they could have decided not to require them. The only way the addons would be really not optional would be if the whole or at least the great majority of the roleplaying community decided that people not using that addon should be shunned off and ignored. And if the community does that, then there's a much bigger problem than the addon's existance: that the community is composed of jerks. The addon would just make it explicit.

I'm surprised nobody has yet made the obvious joke about Midlander males being feminine. They even have a face that, combined with some hair styles, could pass as a young woman. Do you realize that addons would be optional and that, even if you had the correct addon, you'd still need to click on some buttons to be "assaulted" by those beautiful, powerful and handsome descriptions?

Addons have not been implemented yet, though I think Squee said they'd eventually do something about it. So yeah, the only way you can do to have your character's RP profile is to put a link to the RPC wiki (or wherever you store it). There's also the Lodestone, which is a web service for the game, giving you access to your charcater stats, achievements, and see the same for other player's characters. If you login there, you can set a small description for each character (I think the limit is 600 charcaters or something) that anyone can read via the Lodestone. It's hardly efficient, though.

There's an interesting problem with soulstones and Job skills. It is never stated (as far as I've seen) what exactly they are used for besides being a repository of knowledge. I think soulstone lore is just a fancy way to justify the class/job mechanics, and so I'm unsure on how to approach it IC. They clearly exist, as you are physically given the thing during the quests. But how exactly do they work? It is never explained if they give your character a Matrix-style insta-knowledge dump or if they are like books. You could interpret them as instant knowledge dumps based on the game mechanics: since unequiping the soulstone results in the loss of the skills, it means the character literally forgets or becomes incapable to use those skills once the soulstone is not in his power. You could also interpret them as some kind of instict-based book: you get access to the knowledge and the skills held inside, but you can eventually learn to use them yourself without using the soulstone. In the first Paladin quest, a rogue paladin gives you a soulstone. Because he's a paladin fugitive, he couldn't get access to more soulstones than his. So it seems to be implied that people can become without the soulstones, eventually. The means to achieve that are not clear, though, but it's probably just training. After all, all the knowledge contained within the soulstones must have come to be from a time when those soulstones didn't yet exist. I guess the best bet is to marry the two explanations into one: unless you have been trained for very, very long, you will need a soulstone to aid you into using the Job's skills.