Having only just joined the game about a month ago and started assembling stuff for an IC Au Ra Main, I can definitely say that all of the Glamour talk and apparent use really confused me at first. For a time, I even considered it myself; though that was more out of impatience for wanting to get involved in RP. But I never could really get myself comfortable with the idea when I couldn't find a whole lot of information supporting glamours as a reliable and more importantly widely available tool on an IC basis. (Outside of armor glamours and the bits and pieces I've encountered in leves.) It only made matters worse that the character I have in mind is hardly magic-centric, nor is he in any way 'subtle.' I eventually resigned myself to focusing on leveling/MSQs and just being patient -- though, trust me, I'm practically vibrating in my seat the closer we get to Friday.
It kind of amazes me though that so many people are comfortable with playing this race already when it hasn't even been fully released yet and canonical information is still so limited. Maybe I'm just a lore-junky and the sort who likes to have a relatively established backstory rather than making it up as I go, but I've already found myself compelled to find IC ways to disconnect Verik from his 'traditional' Au Ra brethren, if only to help explain any discrepancies between what I write for him and what we eventually learn to be true Au Ra customs/culture/etc (at least for certain things that I can't be easily fluid about and change along the way).
I'm not saying there's anything technically wrong with playing the race now-- I'm sure there are plenty of people who are doing so wonderfully already-- all I'm saying is that those who do are braver and much more easy-going in regards to continuity than I.
I think there might be something to be said regarding the excitement that comes with playing a race that is "only just emerging" on a large scale in canon story. In a way, it's almost like there's a competition to see who can be the first to garner the "holy crap" reactions that are bound to happen when other characters see an Au Ra for the first time. Alternatively, I think there might be a certain appeal in being able to say that your character was one of the first and one of the few of their kind on Eorzea pre-expansion. I can't help but wonder if that was part of why so many people flocked to the idea of using "glamours" as a way to jumpstart that sort of angle. But it starts to lose its meaning when so many other people are doing the same thing.
In the end though, it's RP and we do it to have fun. if someone else wants to use the fantasia/glamour device in order to have fun in their RP, then all the more power to them. I just hope that if they are already established characters in the community that they do some OOC legwork on behalf of those they play with to be sure the partners who may be affected by the choice are on board and have something of a say in how it's done.
It kind of amazes me though that so many people are comfortable with playing this race already when it hasn't even been fully released yet and canonical information is still so limited. Maybe I'm just a lore-junky and the sort who likes to have a relatively established backstory rather than making it up as I go, but I've already found myself compelled to find IC ways to disconnect Verik from his 'traditional' Au Ra brethren, if only to help explain any discrepancies between what I write for him and what we eventually learn to be true Au Ra customs/culture/etc (at least for certain things that I can't be easily fluid about and change along the way).
I'm not saying there's anything technically wrong with playing the race now-- I'm sure there are plenty of people who are doing so wonderfully already-- all I'm saying is that those who do are braver and much more easy-going in regards to continuity than I.
I think there might be something to be said regarding the excitement that comes with playing a race that is "only just emerging" on a large scale in canon story. In a way, it's almost like there's a competition to see who can be the first to garner the "holy crap" reactions that are bound to happen when other characters see an Au Ra for the first time. Alternatively, I think there might be a certain appeal in being able to say that your character was one of the first and one of the few of their kind on Eorzea pre-expansion. I can't help but wonder if that was part of why so many people flocked to the idea of using "glamours" as a way to jumpstart that sort of angle. But it starts to lose its meaning when so many other people are doing the same thing.
In the end though, it's RP and we do it to have fun. if someone else wants to use the fantasia/glamour device in order to have fun in their RP, then all the more power to them. I just hope that if they are already established characters in the community that they do some OOC legwork on behalf of those they play with to be sure the partners who may be affected by the choice are on board and have something of a say in how it's done.
![[Image: mO8aEaH.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/mO8aEaH.jpg)
Always looking for new connections!
