How do you justify being here & not there?

[Darien Cadell]

Qhora's an explorer by blood, so she'll travel just for the hell of it. She's kind of a specialized mercenary, so she also likes to take jobs that send her to various places. She's the kind of person who's meant to be found everywhere, just based on who she is. She used to hate the idea of "home" but she's growing a little more fond of having her own place of refuge between adventures.

[Enla]

Enla was essentially kicked out of service with the Wood Wailers due to her sudden onset of blindness and the pervading tensions between perceived tribal Keepers of the Moon and Gridanians as a whole. (Basically it's complicated.) She's only beholdened to her mercenary group in the loosest sense and unless they ask her to return she has pretty much free rein to do as she pleases, within reason. Even then, if her mercenary company tried to restrict her movements to Ul'dah where they are stationed she'd rip her contract apart and not look back for a second.

 

It also helps that Eorzea for as large as it feels it should be, isn't that big at all. There's an NPC in Horizon that states that they made the trip from Gridania to that outpost in a day, though it clearly almost killed both them and their chocobo due to exhaustion. Factor in airship travel which has probably become less restrictive in the years since the story started and I wouldn't be surprised if it really did just take a day to get from point a to point b. Which means that even those who work for strict groups could in theory use their days off to go wherever they honestly pleased without too many repercussions. Point is, if you really -really- needed to fish for an explanation there's almost always one to be had even if you want to play the idea straight and mainly keep your character in the general area of where their job has influence.

[C'kayah Polaali]

What good is being the crime boss of an up-and-coming organization if you can't justify literally everything you do as business?

[Imo]

Imogene is a free paladin who goes where she's needed. While technically an instructor at Vylbrand Academy, her wandering lifestyle means she runs classes sporadically at best. She used to be in the Flames in her backstory, but left after Ultima Weapon was destroyed.

[Zac Evans]

[align=center]I'm an adventurer. Eat a dick![/align]

[Ryanti]

Military Business, first of all. Sometimes he can be assigned to areas or be found in areas on the way back to Ul'Dah.

 

Second of all, could be send on an errand by his mother. His mother owns the family business and her son has to do his part sometimes. Includes traveling to close deals and whatnot.

 

Third of all, if he's not on duty he tends to travel because he personally loves to since he spent most of his life cooped up in Ul'Dah.

 

And Fourth of all, there because his reason is classified.

 

I try to have multiple reasons to justify where I am if I RP. I'm not in the mindset of trying to explain every little thing about why I'm somewhere if RP randomly happens, so I have those four things to choose from if I have no specific explanation.

[KHMarie]

Serylda has a very mixed background. Though it's mostly in her family name and not in blood, this definitely makes things very strenuous for her between her actual kind: The Highlanders [whom she more or less dismiss as being her "kind", due to having been raised by a Midlander family] and the kin she affiliates with, the Ishgardians [who are known to be prejudice to non-Ishgardians,  making the fact she is adopted not really something they accept]. 

 

I guess you can justify her being in certain place,  because she doesn't really have a set place she belongs to to begin with.

[Kellach Woods]

Because right now even if Kell wanted to go back home, no ships are gonna take him there.

 

It's this thing against sailing through Garlean waters for what's essentially nobody.

[Dravus]

I don't need to. I never saw the appeal in making Graeham tied to one particular area or role and then not bothering to uphold it by actually role-playing it out. When people claim that their character is, for example, a guard in Limsa and then they're rarely if ever there it strikes me as being very much a grab for power and an attempt to embrace all the perks and none of the drawbacks that come with the role.

 

Graeham goes where it makes sense for him to go. He wanders. First that led him from La Noscea to Gridania, then to Coerthas and now he's stationed in the Goblet.

 

I'm not suggesting there isn't any justification to have one's character spend long periods away from their alleged core area but in my experience a lot of the time it's a thinly veiled excuse to have people drift from one tavern to another so they can stand around and talk about doing stuff in a different looking location for a while.

 

I readily commend the role-players who make a major effort to be consistent and think things through though!

[Telluride]

Nathan is a wandering bard, and a devotee (non-practicing, but kind of by default...) of Oschon.

 

If he ISN'T going from place to place, he's not who he is.

 

Now that said...

 

Uldah pays better for Tavern performers, and has a more diverse crowd, He has a burgeoning relationship with a White Witch that keeps him coming back to the Twelveswood where he was raised, and Limsa makes the best rum and really is the easiest of the three city states to entertain - all the sailors, y'know.

 

As for Coerthas, what else is there to do at night but pay a bard to entertain you? Anything else involves going out into eternal winter or potential chafing.

[Desu Nee]

Boy am I glad he's frozen in there and we're out here and he's an adventurer and we're out here and we're in there and I just remembered we're out here.

 

 

But what I wanna know is where's the adventurer?

[schuriscloa]

Because you're questing for more gear?  Possibly Ul'dah is currently overrun with roleplayers?

[Arik]

This is one of the primary reasons I've always gravitated to more simple/malleable roles. My go to's are usually something along the lines of mercenary, treasure hunter, vagrants with a severe case of wanderlust, bright-eyed young adventurers, or any combination of those-- in part because it's just so simple to ICly explain their presence just about anywhere. Granted, it wouldn't be any fun if everyone did that, so I love to see what concepts other people come up with. Some of the creativity you see can be pretty impressive.

 

While I'll occasionally do more centralized roles for alts-- like soldiers in training, courtesans, farmers, localized craftsmen, etc-- my "main" usually always has a pretty go-wherever-they-please-whenever theme so that I can rationalize a completely open door near anywhere. Honestly, I probably run into more trouble rationalizing a character's presence due to their personality more-so than their careers. (IE: What is Mr. Broody Grumpy-Gus doing at a costume party? Oh, because the player wanted to subject him to it to a demeaning outfit, gotcha.)

 

I try not to obsess too much about it, though. I'll come up with something no matter what if the character is pressed for an explanation ICly. That said, I try to  avoid pushing other characters to explain their presences IC as well. It might come up in idle conversation sure, but if it seems like they'd rather stay vague or aren't sure, I'll try to change the subject. 

 

Nonetheless, I agree that it's good for people to make some effort to avoid too blatantly contradicting themselves. Like someone else said, if your character introduces themselves as a guard for a city, but they're currently grifting around a tavern half way across the continent, it's only natural for a character to ICly respond with "So... what the hell are you doing here then?"

[thesunalsorises]

Hello! I'd like to pose a question for those with characters that are oft away from their stations.

 

Why is your Ishgardian Knight mingling in Ul'dah?

 

What is your Wood Wailer doing outside the Twelveswood?

 

So on and so forth.

 

IC and OOC perspectives are welcome!

I guess I get around it by NOT RPing those types of characters. I make my characters flexible so they can be in a variety of areas.

 

^ This. Ophelie does what she wants and goes where when she wants. She's a courtesan and goes where the gil takes her, though she does wish to return to Ishgard.

[Blue]

There is nothing wrong with RPning non-flexible characters with jobs or reasons that'd require them to be around a specific area to respect canon. All you have to do is stick there or have plausible reasons to be moved elsewhere/out of jurisdiction.

 

I'm a bit bummed by how some of these posts seem to imply that it's a mistake and a Bad Idea to RP very local careers or characters. Please try to measure your words and consider that some people who do just that may be reading this thread, and could feel bad to see so many people thinking what they're doing is Wrong and Bad. It was their choice to RP a Sultansworn/Brass Blade/Yellow Jacket/whichever, and it doesn't hurt you in any way should they have reasons to go to other areas. They will always have a reason to explain that, don't you worry.

 

With all that being said, IRL I've never heard someone say "Oh so you do X for a living, why are you here then?". Nobody does a certain job ALL THE TIME. Ironically, to ICly hear "So what do you do here if you are an X?" is a lot less realistic than to hear "I'm a Maelstrom private" in Ul'dah.

 

Anyways, back on topic. Till last month (not anymore now, because she died), I had a Maelstrom that was charged to accompany our group of adventurers which included an ambassador of Limsa Lominsa. This obviously took her to follow them in Ul'dah, Gridania, Coerthas, and other places. So I guess my "justification" is: for work.

[Flickering Ember]

There is nothing wrong with RPning non-flexible characters with jobs or reasons that'd require them to be around a specific area to respect canon. All you have to do is stick there or have plausible reasons to be moved elsewhere/out of jurisdiction.

 

I'm a bit bummed by how some of these posts seem to imply that it's a mistake and a Bad Idea to RP very local careers or characters. Please try to measure your words and consider that some people who do just that may be reading this thread, and could feel bad to see so many people thinking what they're doing is Wrong and Bad. It was their choice to RP a Sultansworn/Brass Blade/Yellow Jacket/whichever, and it doesn't hurt you in any way should they have reasons to go to other areas. They will always have a reason to explain that, don't you worry.

 

When I write my posts, I always measure my words as best as I can. Some of my longer posts can take up to an hour just to write. An hour to write a single post. I have believed for a long time that in the absence of tone, word choice is extremely important when communicating over the Internet. I am not sure if you are specifically talking to me with this post, but I feel that my post, as well as other posts agreeing with me have been fair and neutral.

 

I certainly don't believe that choosing to roleplay a character that is specific to any one area is a 'wrong choice.' I support different roleplaying styles and feel that the community has much to gain from diversity. I do think that certain concepts can be more difficult to RP than others and because of that I do often choose character roles that I personally find to be easier. Different RPers are better in certain areas than I am. I can accept that I am not as good with 'local' characters as other people are.

[Arik]

There is nothing wrong with RPning non-flexible characters with jobs or reasons that'd require them to be around a specific area to respect canon. All you have to do is stick there or have plausible reasons to be moved elsewhere/out of jurisdiction.

 

I'm a bit bummed by how some of these posts seem to imply that it's a mistake and a Bad Idea to RP very local careers or characters. Please try to measure your words and consider that some people who do just that may be reading this thread, and could feel bad to see so many people thinking what they're doing is Wrong and Bad. It was their choice to RP a Sultansworn/Brass Blade/Yellow Jacket/whichever, and it doesn't hurt you in any way should they have reasons to go to other areas. They will always have a reason to explain that, don't you worry.

 

With all that being said, IRL I've never heard someone say "Oh so you do X for a living, why are you here then?". Nobody does a certain job ALL THE TIME. Ironically, to ICly hear "So what do you do here if you are an X?" is a lot less realistic than to hear "I'm a Maelstrom private" in Ul'dah.

 

This is the main reason, in my own post, I specifically called out the fact that it would be very boring if /no one/ played localized roles. I'll even extend that to say it can also be boring if those who did play these roles never ventured outside of their designated areas. Frankly, there's something to be said (something lazy and uncreative, heh) for my tendency to stick with "freerange" roles *so* often, because you're absolutely right. I've seen a good number of players who have played town guards, farmers, local artisans, etc outside of their usual element and have done so with zero problems but lots of intrigue. If anything, these characters being away from their home can open the door for some really interesting conversation and plot. A world takes all types!

 

Also, in case it created any bad vibes, I feel like I need to clarify that when I referred to characters inquiring to other's presence elsewhere (specifically with the wording "what the hell are you doing here then?"), that was a bit of an IC voice seeping through by default, haha. Depending on the character, that same question could just as easily be turned around into a very polite "Oh, how interesting! What brings you here then?" -- I've been toying a lot with my upcoming main's personality lately-- and it's going to be pretty 'rough around the edges' so to speak-- so I think I sorta regressed into voicing it in his own words without thinking, so apologies if that at all came across as OOC and rude! c:

[ArmachiA]

For me, I've been able to improvise reasons immediately and pretty much pride myself on that. If my characters aren't flexible (For instance - Loki won't set foot in Ul'dah unless she has to and only is in the Shroud because the NB are) then I try to be flexible as a player. "I want to RP in Ul'dah, bring Loki." Instead of "No she wouldn't go there." - which is true she wouldn't, I just go "Okay she had to pick up a delivery for the Free Company there and will end up running into you." or "Okay she just got out of a meeting there--" etc etc. This keeps the integrity of the character intact, but makes me more fluid as a player.

 

And that's how I get around it.

[Steel Wolf]

Part of the reason I made Steel a merc/adventurer is specifically to circumvent the idea of being on the clock for a Grand Company or otherwise limited to a nation's borders. She had some history with the Maelstrom but it was tenuous at best, and easy enough for her to sever.

 

Her search for strength and power, as a matter of fact, has led her across the whole realm multiple times....so its worked out pretty damn well overall for me.

[Seren]

Due to my own strange schedule, I prefer to play roles that I can exit in and out of, or have personality with a bit of wanderlust. Seren likes to just keep moving then linger in one place, so it's usually easy to explain why she might not be where people need her to be. This by no means to say its bad to RP any other way, it's just my personal choice, to give others an excuse to use. Like if I haven't been there awhile due to my crazy schedule, when I join an FC and am missing RP, they can easily give an excuse. "Oh Seren is off being Seren doing Sereny things."

[CrimsonMars]

Chiyo isn't really restricted to any one place at the moment, though Thanalan is usually her hotspot.

[Dat Oni]

I get asked this all the fucking time, so might as well...

 

Sultansworn are not limited to one station, nor are they always on duty. Granted, Kopo is on duty during a large portion of the day, but he is cited as being a slacker for not always standing post in the Quicksand.

 

This is because Kopo has posts in other parts of Ul'Dah that he attends when I am not online. For instance, Kopo can be found, occasionally, in the Hustings Strip, guarding the stairway.