More really good points, and there's not much more I can add here. Â I'm still in love with the idea of a Duskwight LS, even though Eva might never wholly feel a sense of belonging to such a group.
I wanted to talk a little more about backgrounds and heritage, since I've found I've had to take a lot of artistic license with this for Eva's own backstory. Â I confess I've intentionally kept her at a distance from her ancestral homeland and the people there, since it's entirely unofficial and only my own interpretation of one possible way a duskwight community might exist. Â This has been left to speculation, so I did just that. Â I've known other RPers who have taken similar liberties with regard to their own duskwight backstories, just as I would imagine some miqo'te, hyur, and others have had to draw certain conclusions for themselves. Â Much of this also plays off what another RPer I interacted with at the time had done with his own upbringing - specifically Oskar Helvig, for those who may have known him. Â I don't want to discuss too extensively what he had done, but it's impossible to talk about Eva's original homeland without giving some nod to him, since he effectively gave me a launchpad from which to create something similar, but also a little different. Â To keep things as brief as possible since Oskar's player may come here and explain things more fully than I could possibly hope to do, Oskar came from a cavernous place "somewhere north" where there were multiple clans who feuded with one another for survival and his people were very cognizent of that, celebrated a sort of ancestor worship, sung hymns, had certain women who were regarded like shamans sort of, and were generally very warlike - as they had to be.
It makes sense that the duskwight may have split apart into different factions and spread across Eorzea, just as all the other races are generally distributed across the world. Â I know another RPer whose duskwight people lived in caves in Thanalan. Â I see nothing wrong with this, though I can see where some might argue that most duskwight settlements be located in woodland areas - I think someone earlier suggested the Black Shroud and Coerthas only. Â I don't know that I see a Thanalan settlement as ignoring the lore so much as having a slightly different interpretation of it.
Eva's clan was sort of a moot point early on since I had little intention of actually RPing her backstory to that depth, but it became an issue in RP and it became clear that I had to come up with something. Â So what follows is a kind of an analysis of Eva's culture, which aims to explain some of the more 'odd' traditions which she upholds. Â She had to go back to that place when her father died in order to enscribe his name upon a cavern wall. Â That will make more sense later in this post I suppose.
The clan to which Eva's family belongs (or 'belonged' depending on your interpretation, though they themselves were very welcoming of her in the few occasions where she returned) are situated very deep beneath the mountains of Coerthas. Â Getting there has been described as a difficult descent that takes several hours. Â Getting back up is even more taxing. Â I try to keep things as vague, but I also try to keep them extremely displaced from everything else. Â There are few other clans that deep down, and runoff from one of the rivers of Coerthas provides a sort of underground waterfall (dubbed by those people as Flowstone Falls) which brings with it food in the form of fish, and also a variety of edible mushrooms that grow nearby. Â Life is relatively pastoral, peaceful, and probably relatively boring by most peoples' standards. Â The people have established a harmony with the caves. Â There are occasional skirmishes, and they have warrior-protectors, but it is not the central way of their life.
Written word in this particular offshoot of duskwight culture has been regarded as something sacred. Â Literacy is important and children of this clan are taught it at an early age. Â One usually needs to be able to see in order to write, or read, and light is another important element as a result of the first. Â Candles are sacred items and those who are able to procure beeswax to make them are well-regarded, though this generally requires travel closer to the surface in order to facilitate. Â There have been a few interesting traditions as a result of this. Â First, the family has kept a collective journal that goes back generations. Â Eva's great-grandfather did not start it, however they are the oldest journals she owns. Â His earliest tome reveals that the earlier books were lost in a fire, and he endeavors in the first few volumes to recap what he remembers of the earlier family history - which is probably muddled a bit from the actual truth of much older events as a result. Â Eva keeps a few dozen volumes of these journals in a safe place though, and continues recording her own experiences and adventures in journals of her own.
As mentioned before, candles are an important symbol in her culture. Â While young men when they came of age would choose a single mate for life, it was the women who would "offer a candle" as a showing that she was interested in being chosen for a mate. Â One might argue that the women held a lot of influence here, as a result, since a man could not take a mate who had not first offered him a candle. Â This has been described as a very old tradition, and even more recently in the clan-lands men have given candles to young women as a similar gesture. Â There has been at least one time in RP where someone offered Eva a candle with no understanding whatsoever of this practice and she blushed and felt awkward over the whole thing, even though she realized he had no idea what the meaning was.
There is also in her clan-lands a wall made of what is called "The Living Stone" (credit again goes to Oskar for originally coming up with this concept and allowing me to play around with it). Â Apart from being a sort of special sort of rock from which jewelry may be fashioned and such, the only significance as I've RPed it is that there is a sort of abstract tie-in with thaumaturgy in general, and under certain [unknown] conditions, blood causes the stone to glow faintly. Â "Enscribing" is a ritual Eva's ancestors have been practicing for generations where they bleed themselves, then use that blood to write the name of a fallen family member upon this wall. Â Imagine a large chamber deep underground with names of hundreds or thousands of duskwights written upon it in blood that sometimes glows. Â I don't know - I just thought it was pretty cool. Â There is no lore around to completely substantiate it, but it's also not entirely impossible. Â It's just one of those licenses we've taken.
Now that I've shared all of this, most of it is almost a moot point as the ancestral clan-lands were completely destroyed by seismic activity when Dalamud came about. Â Eva wasn't down there at the time, but two people were above the surface, and only one actually survived. Â So I guess this pushes Eva a bit farther away from her heritage in a sense, but it was a plot twist we felt was necessary and we really also wanted to drive home the destruction caused by Dalamud/Bahamut. Â "Everything trickles down," was a common expression of those people. Â Indeed it did.
I'm curious now if anyone else has taken liberties with the lore and such things in similar ways. Â I know Isobeau's story mentions "Nymeia's apron-strings" as something which would make a great deal of sense in that sort of a culture. Â And I think Kari mentioned how her clan has a sort of special regard for its women. Â Are there any other rituals, customs, traditions, or anything else that you've concocted for your duskwight character along the way?
I wanted to talk a little more about backgrounds and heritage, since I've found I've had to take a lot of artistic license with this for Eva's own backstory. Â I confess I've intentionally kept her at a distance from her ancestral homeland and the people there, since it's entirely unofficial and only my own interpretation of one possible way a duskwight community might exist. Â This has been left to speculation, so I did just that. Â I've known other RPers who have taken similar liberties with regard to their own duskwight backstories, just as I would imagine some miqo'te, hyur, and others have had to draw certain conclusions for themselves. Â Much of this also plays off what another RPer I interacted with at the time had done with his own upbringing - specifically Oskar Helvig, for those who may have known him. Â I don't want to discuss too extensively what he had done, but it's impossible to talk about Eva's original homeland without giving some nod to him, since he effectively gave me a launchpad from which to create something similar, but also a little different. Â To keep things as brief as possible since Oskar's player may come here and explain things more fully than I could possibly hope to do, Oskar came from a cavernous place "somewhere north" where there were multiple clans who feuded with one another for survival and his people were very cognizent of that, celebrated a sort of ancestor worship, sung hymns, had certain women who were regarded like shamans sort of, and were generally very warlike - as they had to be.
It makes sense that the duskwight may have split apart into different factions and spread across Eorzea, just as all the other races are generally distributed across the world. Â I know another RPer whose duskwight people lived in caves in Thanalan. Â I see nothing wrong with this, though I can see where some might argue that most duskwight settlements be located in woodland areas - I think someone earlier suggested the Black Shroud and Coerthas only. Â I don't know that I see a Thanalan settlement as ignoring the lore so much as having a slightly different interpretation of it.
Eva's clan was sort of a moot point early on since I had little intention of actually RPing her backstory to that depth, but it became an issue in RP and it became clear that I had to come up with something. Â So what follows is a kind of an analysis of Eva's culture, which aims to explain some of the more 'odd' traditions which she upholds. Â She had to go back to that place when her father died in order to enscribe his name upon a cavern wall. Â That will make more sense later in this post I suppose.
The clan to which Eva's family belongs (or 'belonged' depending on your interpretation, though they themselves were very welcoming of her in the few occasions where she returned) are situated very deep beneath the mountains of Coerthas. Â Getting there has been described as a difficult descent that takes several hours. Â Getting back up is even more taxing. Â I try to keep things as vague, but I also try to keep them extremely displaced from everything else. Â There are few other clans that deep down, and runoff from one of the rivers of Coerthas provides a sort of underground waterfall (dubbed by those people as Flowstone Falls) which brings with it food in the form of fish, and also a variety of edible mushrooms that grow nearby. Â Life is relatively pastoral, peaceful, and probably relatively boring by most peoples' standards. Â The people have established a harmony with the caves. Â There are occasional skirmishes, and they have warrior-protectors, but it is not the central way of their life.
Written word in this particular offshoot of duskwight culture has been regarded as something sacred. Â Literacy is important and children of this clan are taught it at an early age. Â One usually needs to be able to see in order to write, or read, and light is another important element as a result of the first. Â Candles are sacred items and those who are able to procure beeswax to make them are well-regarded, though this generally requires travel closer to the surface in order to facilitate. Â There have been a few interesting traditions as a result of this. Â First, the family has kept a collective journal that goes back generations. Â Eva's great-grandfather did not start it, however they are the oldest journals she owns. Â His earliest tome reveals that the earlier books were lost in a fire, and he endeavors in the first few volumes to recap what he remembers of the earlier family history - which is probably muddled a bit from the actual truth of much older events as a result. Â Eva keeps a few dozen volumes of these journals in a safe place though, and continues recording her own experiences and adventures in journals of her own.
As mentioned before, candles are an important symbol in her culture. Â While young men when they came of age would choose a single mate for life, it was the women who would "offer a candle" as a showing that she was interested in being chosen for a mate. Â One might argue that the women held a lot of influence here, as a result, since a man could not take a mate who had not first offered him a candle. Â This has been described as a very old tradition, and even more recently in the clan-lands men have given candles to young women as a similar gesture. Â There has been at least one time in RP where someone offered Eva a candle with no understanding whatsoever of this practice and she blushed and felt awkward over the whole thing, even though she realized he had no idea what the meaning was.
There is also in her clan-lands a wall made of what is called "The Living Stone" (credit again goes to Oskar for originally coming up with this concept and allowing me to play around with it). Â Apart from being a sort of special sort of rock from which jewelry may be fashioned and such, the only significance as I've RPed it is that there is a sort of abstract tie-in with thaumaturgy in general, and under certain [unknown] conditions, blood causes the stone to glow faintly. Â "Enscribing" is a ritual Eva's ancestors have been practicing for generations where they bleed themselves, then use that blood to write the name of a fallen family member upon this wall. Â Imagine a large chamber deep underground with names of hundreds or thousands of duskwights written upon it in blood that sometimes glows. Â I don't know - I just thought it was pretty cool. Â There is no lore around to completely substantiate it, but it's also not entirely impossible. Â It's just one of those licenses we've taken.
Now that I've shared all of this, most of it is almost a moot point as the ancestral clan-lands were completely destroyed by seismic activity when Dalamud came about. Â Eva wasn't down there at the time, but two people were above the surface, and only one actually survived. Â So I guess this pushes Eva a bit farther away from her heritage in a sense, but it was a plot twist we felt was necessary and we really also wanted to drive home the destruction caused by Dalamud/Bahamut. Â "Everything trickles down," was a common expression of those people. Â Indeed it did.
I'm curious now if anyone else has taken liberties with the lore and such things in similar ways. Â I know Isobeau's story mentions "Nymeia's apron-strings" as something which would make a great deal of sense in that sort of a culture. Â And I think Kari mentioned how her clan has a sort of special regard for its women. Â Are there any other rituals, customs, traditions, or anything else that you've concocted for your duskwight character along the way?
"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others." Â ~ Lewis Carol
Eva's Journals  |  Eva's Wiki Page (coming soon)  |  RP Handbook
Eva's Journals  |  Eva's Wiki Page (coming soon)  |  RP Handbook
