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Tempered · **04-07-2016, 10:20 AM**

I had been considering RPing in FFXIV for a bit, but was rather nervous about it.Â When I finally got around to looking up things like lore and which realms were heavy in RPers, I came across this site and got interested.

I used to be heavy into forum RP, but I'm new to the concept of doing it in an MMO setting.Â Any advice to help a forum RPer transition to MMO RP would be greatly appreciated.

On the subject of characters, I've been toying around with one for a bit, but I'm not too sure how to pull it off.Â My major issue is I want to eventually make her a Bard, but I'm not sure how easy it is to segue from Archer to Bard IC.Â I've never actually made a Bard, so I don't know how the class quests go for Archer, nor the job quests for Bard.

There's actually a lot more points I'm unsure of, but I don't want to fill my welcome post with it.Â Is there a dedicated place on the forum where I could post a rough profile or description of what I'd been considering and have people help me with what is and isn't lore friendly?

Anyway, glad to meet you guys!

Warren Castille · **04-07-2016, 10:30 AM**

Hello there! I'm going to attempt to tackle your points in order!

1) Don't be nervous! There's a wildly diverse group of roleplayers and writers here, so even if you decide to be a moon princess from Attack on Titan who is part of the Matrix, you'll probably find someone willing to roll with that.

2) For my money, forum RP is a lot like playing multiplayer cooperative writing; Flowery descriptions and lots of time spent fleshing out a scene or concept is the stuff those posts are made of. Conversely, in-game roleplay feels more like writing out a script while performing it; Equal parts dialogue to keep a scene moving along while describing just enough of what's not displayed on your character. Since we can see the world itself while in-game, a lot of the necessity to describe buildings and interiors and clothing goes away.

...or not! There's also a healthy amount of "para RPers" out there: The kind of people who don't mind taking the time to write out much lengthier posts to get the full detail of a situation. It really comes down to who your partners are and what the scene calls for!

3) Bards are (I think, I haven't done those quests in about two years) basically just empowered storytellers, who know long-mostly-lost songs that aid in battle. Or, you can just be a lower-case-bard who collects stories and songs. Part of finding your character's voice (no pun intended) is learning what parts of the lore you want to pick up and run with and which ones you don't need: If you don't want to follow the story quests on how you got there, don't! Just gently nudge your character into having always been a bard. Game mechanics don't have to be the sole source of a character's story path!

4) If you've got questions, this thread is fine for them! There's also a new shiny Lore Forum with a lot of collected posts; I'd recommend skimming it or using the Search feature to try and find what you're looking for. Really though, there's all sorts of helpful people here who are happy to jump over themselves to answer and help.

SicketySix · **04-07-2016, 10:30 AM**

The beauty of FFXIV RP is that you don't have to be the exact class of you wish to RP that class. A wide majority of players do not use the jobs IC so much as they use they use the weapons/items from said classes.

And by that I mean it's perfectly acceptable if you want to RP your basic archer as a Bard, before they even have access to the actual class of Bard.

Tempered · **04-07-2016, 10:39 AM**

Okay, it's actually relieving to hear that I can RP her having always been a bard.Â That was something I was hoping I could do, but didn't know how much game mechanics would factor into it.Â I guess my only real concern now is that I've never played a bard in this game, so I don't really know how to roleplay one.Â I'm sure that is something that I could look up online, as far as their abilities and so forth, I just don't want to get anyone mad.Â Part of why I chose bard as well is that anyone can gather lore or sing songs.Â I've hard that people can get really upset if you decide to be a white mage or other job where it's considered very rare and a huge honor, so I wanted to avoid a job like that.

Another thing with her backstory I was unsure of was that I have her as a Raen Au Ra.Â However, the Garleans took the town she was in when she was young.Â She barely escaped with her life and was picked up by a group of Xaela Au Ra women who were basically assassins and raised her in assassination, subterfuge, etc.Â I wasn't sure if Raen and Xaela actually get along or not, enough that a group of Xaela would take in a young Raen girl.Â I know they live different lives, but I don't know if that extends into bad blood between them.

I also hate using "lived in Random Village that was destroyed by baddies", but I want her to be in her early 20s, so timeline-wise, I'm not aware of any actual towns I could say she's from that were ransacked by the Garleans.

Warren Castille · **04-07-2016, 11:11 AM**

Playing the named "Jobs" in XIV is an exercise in frustration at times; Some aren't particularly special or stand-out and some are arguably one of a kind. It can get ugly when opinions clash!

Your story sounds plenty reasonable, though! I'm not entirely up to date about the differences in Xaela tribes, but they are the nomadic sorts so it's not at all crazy to think that they would scoop up someone and sort of rebrand them to being in their tribe.

Garlemald controls nearly-if-not-all of the rest of Othard. Specifically named locations they have conquered include Doma, a Japanese-inspired town that has "been razed to the ground" in the past couple of years, and Ala Mhigo, the only Eorzean nation to fall to the Empire. That happened a little more than 20 years ago. That would fit right in to your story if not for the devs stating something along the lines of the Au Ra not appearing in Eorzea until the beginning of Heavensward.

You could certainly be from Ala Mhigo or Doma if you wanted. Doma wasn't destroyed until really recently, but since they were under control you could certainly adjust your backstory to just being that your family tried to flee, got caught, and she was the only survivor before being picked up by your faux-Amazon tribe.

SicketySix · **04-07-2016, 12:51 PM**

Actually, one of the Xaela tribes, Malaguld, to be exact. Openly accepts Raen into their clans, as well as those exiled from other tribes. However I don'tt think that same acceptance is spread throughout any of the other named Xaela tribes.

However, even SE has stated that their are many of named Xaela tribes that have not been named and feel free to make up your own. In which case, just "create" a new tribe name and you should be good to go!

Sounsyy · **04-07-2016, 03:01 PM**

(04-07-2016, 10:39 AM)Tempered Wrote: I guess my only real concern now is that I've never played a bard in this game, so I don't really know how to roleplay one. Part of why I chose bard as well is that anyone can gather lore or sing songs.

You might find this thread on Bard Lore helpful!
In short, Bards (job) are battle-hardened veterans whose songs have the power to stir the heart of their allies both on the fields of battle and off. In Eorzea, these bards disappeared after the end of the Autumn War roughly 100 years ago, as there were no more wars to fight, the songs and tales became fictitious and lost their magic, now most modern bards' (not job) songs have no power or magic left in them.

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(04-07-2016, 10:39 AM)Tempered Wrote: Another thing with her backstory I was unsure of was that I have her as a Raen Au Ra.Â However, the Garleans took the town she was in when she was young.Â She barely escaped with her life and was picked up by a group of Xaela Au Ra women who were basically assassins and raised her in assassination, subterfuge, etc.Â I wasn't sure if Raen and Xaela actually get along or not, enough that a group of Xaela would take in a young Raen girl.Â I know they live different lives, but I don't know if that extends into bad blood between them.

The Far Eastern continent of Othard, where Au Ra originate, has been under the complete dominion of the Garlean Empire for the last 25 years with some nations and provinces having been conquered for an even lengthier time period. The first incursions into Othard began roughly 50 years ago, for reference. So it's far more likely that your character has grown up under Garlean rule. Though you can always very easily say that your Raens' village was razed for defying the Empire at any point in time and have her become an orphan that way. If you wish to use a named location, really the only Raen settlement we have is Doma, which is situated on Othard's eastern coastline, near the northeast mountain valleys. Doma was razed between 1 and 2 years ago, depending on your interpretation of time passage during Garlemald's War of Succession. This has been the impetus for the recent mass-exodus of Raen Au Ra to Eorzea.

Minor sidetrack: Raen specifically are new to Eorzea, the bulk of their population made up of Doman refugees under the leadership of Yugiri. However, Xaela Au Ra have migrated to Eorzea in the past, albeit in small numbers or tribes. (cited at c.100, c.30, and 3 years ago)

As for relations between the Raen and Xaela clans, it is stated that there are very few interactions between the two. Not unheard of, but rare.

Malaguld Wrote:One of the only tribes that accepts people of the Raen--those that have been exiled, or those who have fled persecution--into their circle.

So the Xaela tribe that adopted your wayward Raen would most likely be Malaguld, if you're sticking to a canon tribe. However, like SicketySix mentioned, there are other unnamed tribes out there that could be made up for the purposes of your backstory.

Fernehalwes Wrote:The Othardian steppe is a vast region, therefore, every so often, one may come across a Xaela with a surname that is not found on the list of 51. This may mean that they are from a clan that was recently destroyed or absorbed. It may mean that they are of a new tribe that was formed by members leaving another. It may mean they are of a tribe that remained hidden in the northern mountains.

Hope this helps! ^^ Here's some more links you may find helpful! If you have any other questions feel free to ask!
-Race Lore Masterpost
-Doma Lore

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RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes