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The Guiding Light
"What is it, do you believe, that lies at the core of Garlean military supremacy?" Her accent a mix of Ul'dah and further south, the miqo'te seated at one of the carbuncle-motif tables is obviously an adventurer, but laid on the table before her is an assortment of books, opened letters, and empty ceramic and tin cups. Academic, with a little tea and brandy. The quill in her hand and the tail behind her move in an almost synchronous sway as she continues. "Why do we not simply evict them from their castrums? Why it is that even our Grand Companies look to Baelsar's Wall with trepidation, if not outright dread?
"The Garleans know more about our past than we do, and that is their power. They hunt Allaghan relics with the confidence that anything they unearth can not just be studied, but also understood and replicated on an imperial scale. Their researchers are united. Ours are not."
Smiling broadly, she offers with a gesture an empty chair at her table. "Or… at least, they are not yet. I have ideas; will you hear me out?"
Welcome to the recruitment page of The Guiding Light!
The Guiding Light is a newly-minted Free Company with the mission of networking Eorzean researchers with one another regardless of affiliation or citizenship. Of course, adventurers also, the members of the company take to the field to collect relics, funding, and relevant data! Whether for a hunt or a survey, The Guiding Light will be out there (or in the study), learning more about Eorzea's past and present so as to inform, together with all possible research partners, the realm's future as one free and independent of Garlean rule.
With stars in our eyes and lightning in our hearts, The Guiding Light is a gathering of persons fueled by strong ideals and a deep love for the pursuit of knowledge in all its forms! Our interests are varied, and we'd like our roster to be also -- whether your character chases the secrets of magic, the self-mastery of martial arts, the wisdom of the fishing pole, or the nuances of social phenomenon, so long as you have passion for the pursuit of knowledge and for teaching that knowledge to others, we’d love to have you!
While in-house research and story progression is important to us, to live up to our name, our goal is to bring our studies, findings, and roleplay out into the general community. Think courses on lalafellian spear-fighting, lectures on Old Allag, symposiums and debates on magic, and field trips to Nymian ruins. Of course, a small group like us isn't the sole source of knowledge on Balmung or Eorzea by far, so achieving this aim means members of The Guiding Light also work as coordinators, both in-character and out-of-character, learning about the in-game passions and research of other individuals and Free Companies and finding ways to connect them to other researchers and to the wider public.
Beyond roleplay, we also have PvE goals we'd like to achieve, so expect fundraising schemes like Aquapolis runs and Diadem, perhaps some gathering/crafting parties, and the usual content chasing to expand our understanding of the nuances of in-game lore!
How to Join Up! [current as of Feb 25, 2017]
So… full disclosure: We're small, really small, so joining means becoming part of the start-up and establishment of who we are. This also means, however, that you can really integrate yourself and your stories into our emerging story as a group. Additionally, since we're building our central identity, we aren't currently accepting alts into the free company, and would prefer active players and characters so as to build a consistent roleplaying center to grow from. If you're okay with that, and want to help us build our culture and achieve our goals, here's some possible in-character hooks--
- Did you see one of our fliers at the adventurers’ guild? They’re very humble in appearance and go a little something like this: “To all and sundry! Seeking the altruistic and brilliant minds of Eorzea to gather in an enterprise poised to resist Garlean Empire in matters of intelligence, history, and technology! Inquire (always inquire!) at levedesk for more details!“
- Are you someone who feels strongly about open access to information? Do you also view the Garleans’ main advantage as one of data consolidation? You could have run into one of our founders in the past and expressed these views, which means we’d be seeking you out now, asking if you want to join.
- Do you have a love for teaching and sharing your skills? Or maybe you are someone looking for mentoring instead? Perhaps you have come to inquiry at our newly renovated office to see what we could offer – and chose to stay.
- Are you a researcher? To get your message out into the realm, maybe you’re looking for backers, peer reviewers, or just anyone with access to a printing press (we have one!).
- Could we have met you at some ruin? You could be an independent or between-hires relic hunter, archeologist, or geologist seeking new employ, company, or protection for those dangerous nights afield. Being cursed by a relic is, of course, optional.
As for out-of-character requirements: there isn't an application you need to complete or a website you need to join (though we do have Discord) to be part of TGL – we’re not of size enough to warrant paperwork. Just come visit us, roleplay and dungeon with us, and see if you'd like to stay. We'll talk OOC, of course, to set expectations – what you want to do and what we want to do – and to get to know you as a person. After all, we’ll be partners in scholasticism, both OOC and IC, after this!
Have questions? Would you like to arrange a meeting to discuss the finer points of popoto farming? You can contact us via PM here on the RPC, posting here, or sending an in-game whisper to any of these characters below:
C'io Behkt (Japan/NA timezone)
Mikhai'a Rohnav (NA timezone)
Mikhai'a Rohnav (NA timezone)
Some of our Rules! (Just setting expectations so we’re on the same page.)
- Do work with the lore. We love the established game lore, otherwise we wouldn't be doing this, and neither would you. But we also love Summoners, Black Mages, White Mages, and all the other highly "restrictive" (It's all just the old-timey magic, isn't it?) job titles out there. Is it possible to reconcile these two loves without contradicting lore? We certainly think so. If you're in doubt about a concept, or you just want help making it plausible, we'll help! We'll use our Encyclopedia Eorzea, comb through in-game text, and scour interviews with Koji Fox to find suggestions to help you play as the classes you love.
- Do participate, interact, make noise! A new group like ours needs the activity to be strong – greet one another, talk to each other, and be a part of the community. Don’t isolate yourself away from everyone else; more than just a study group, we want to be a family group that plays the game together as well.
- Do respect your fellow players and their characters. This should go without saying; if someone is roleplaying, avoid being disruptive if you’re OOC in the same area. Try not to immediately tell others what they can or cannot be – seek to work with them to make what they want possible, whether it is conflict of interest or a contradiction in the lore that’s the issue. This can be a fine balance, we know, particularly since we live in a world that is simultaneously MSQ and Hildibrand, but it is important to avoid powergaming, metagaming, and godmoding to gain advantages over others. We’re a free company that wishes to work with persons and groups outside of our own, so being responsible for how we treat others ourselves is critical to having our own concepts readily accepted by others.
- Do keep to “realistic†character development, skill, and passage of time. This one is pretty hard to nail down exactly as the game itself speeds through milestone events after 1577, supposedly mashing it all into a single year, but regardless of what measure of in-game time you follow, the basic idea is to keep development, skill and the story-wise passage of time for progression reasonable for a character in the world of Eorzea. What is "reasonable"? We'll decide that together through discussion, not never dictation.
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