Personally I am a bit confused at how much negativity there is about aether and its uses in Eorzea. Surely there are people who do not want to be magic users, but we have to remember that aether is not simply "a magic substance". It's the prime matter of all things.
In a real-world aspect, it's the equivalent of atoms. While we do not have mental control on them, we already have the ability through our technology to manipulate atoms and do both great and terrific things with them. But do we call that "magic"?
The way I see it, Eorzea is a world in which a percentage of its inhabitants can, through training and study (or technology, if we look at Garleans), have control on atomic physics and the way they work (and thus manipulating their laws too, such as in the case of dragoon jumps or white mages floating during Holy). That's what aether is to me.
While it is perfectly okay to RP not having this kind of control on aether, I feel it should be reasonable to use it as a justification to things that are not possible to common people who do not exploit aetheric control. Much how in modern days we use physics and chemistry to explain what we cannot normally do on our own.
Everything else, that we label with all kinds of words such as miracles and supernatural phenomena should be much much rarer in the world than a rogue using Hide.
I am losing my own thread in all what I'm trying to say, but the main point is: to me, things explained through aether control are legit enough and not necessarily requiring magic powers.
In a real-world aspect, it's the equivalent of atoms. While we do not have mental control on them, we already have the ability through our technology to manipulate atoms and do both great and terrific things with them. But do we call that "magic"?
The way I see it, Eorzea is a world in which a percentage of its inhabitants can, through training and study (or technology, if we look at Garleans), have control on atomic physics and the way they work (and thus manipulating their laws too, such as in the case of dragoon jumps or white mages floating during Holy). That's what aether is to me.
While it is perfectly okay to RP not having this kind of control on aether, I feel it should be reasonable to use it as a justification to things that are not possible to common people who do not exploit aetheric control. Much how in modern days we use physics and chemistry to explain what we cannot normally do on our own.
Everything else, that we label with all kinds of words such as miracles and supernatural phenomena should be much much rarer in the world than a rogue using Hide.
I am losing my own thread in all what I'm trying to say, but the main point is: to me, things explained through aether control are legit enough and not necessarily requiring magic powers.
To be an interesting, intriguing, well-written character, there needs to be something to allow the audience to relate to them. That is what the problem is with who wants their character to be "perfect". Perfect characters will never be strong, and strong characters will never be perfect, because WE (those who read, who watch, who RP) are not perfect.
"What makes a strong character is how they deal with their flaws, their fears, their turmoils, their troubles that get in the way. That's what makes them relatable." -- N.C.
"What makes a strong character is how they deal with their flaws, their fears, their turmoils, their troubles that get in the way. That's what makes them relatable." -- N.C.
