Becoming an IC Scholar of Nym

[Kichiro Gunji]

I understand the contention with white and black magic, having almost torn the world assunder and now elementals are blocking it wherever possible. However, it appears Arcanist magic more based on algorithms and sophisticated mage-math with some ink based catalysts for more powerful spells with their grimoire.

 

To be perfectly shallow, I mostly want an IC Scholar because the fairies are absolutely adorable.

 

That said, I also like to do my best to stick with lore. So, I turn to you, RPC! for your thoughts.

 

Some background info on Scorpio as a character.

 

He is a young Duskwight Elezen, that may be late 20's to early 30's. Because I know that the teenage years for an Elezen might be quite extended from the bits of lore I've come across, I'm hesitant to put a firm number on it. That said, he was sent away from the caverns of his family in a sort of voluntary exile due to some peculiar personality traits.

 

Chief among them is his insatiable curiosity. The Duskwight clan he was from was highly xenophobic, but Scorpio has been enamored with everything in Eorzea so far. He's found a lot of tales he heard growing up being proven false from his interactions with people. And he's fell in love with the color of the world outside the caverns they lived in.

 

Every night, he continues a hobby he's had for decades, diving into as many books as he can. Since coming to Limsa Liminsa to study at the Arcanist Guild, it wasn't long before he came across stories of the city state of Nym. With trusty Carbunkle in tow, he heads to some runes of Nym.

 

At this point, I'm debating on either a fan fiction writing piece where there is some monsters trying to kill him or scavengers or an in-game plot arch. Basically some sort of conflict. 

 

In the end, some fairy detects Scorpio's unbridled curiosity in the world and is reminded of one of its owners. It can't really act on its own, but makes the soul stone that its bound to begin to glow extremely bright. Scorpio picks it up and bam, the fairy appears and begins many long hours teaching Scorpio the lost arts of Nym.

 

If not soul stone, then maybe tablet or some other artifact that would give the familiar agency to reach out to Scorpio.

[Lilia Lia]

A fair warning:  No matter how good your explanation, no matter how much thought you put into this, people are going to raise their eyebrows at you for being an "IC Scholar."  It's something that's not generally done.  I don't personally mind it but bear in mind that you are going to be met with resistance if you plan on making this a central part of your character.

 

Wanderer's Palace is connected with Nym.  Let me know if you want to do an IC expedition into the Palace because my character has been wanting to do that for some time.

[Kichiro Gunji]

If it doesn't matter how much thought or how good my explanation is, then I don't particularly care to RP with those people. Thanks for the warning, but I won't be bothered with that branch of elitism. 

 

I believe we talked about Wanderer's Palace before, and if this was another MMO where low level characters could walk into high level dungeons, then it would be perfect. He would be in extreme peril and only high level guild members could protect/ escort him through his studies.

[Darien Cadell]

I believe we talked about Wanderer's Palace before, and if this was another MMO where low level characters could walk into high level dungeons, then it would be perfect. He would be in extreme peril and only high level guild members could protect/ escort him through his studies.

 

I believe there was some discussion of allowing people into dungeons regardless of full party/level, etc., like walking into them, instead of using the dungeon finder. It could happen! Although, I think the concept was more along the lines of not level capping higher level people, which would mean still a minimum level to walk in the door. Still, it'll be interesting to see if they come up with something that'd allow a low level tour.

 

I've shied away from the fairies myself, because I just didn't feel comfortable enough with how the quest story played out. That and their similarity (relation?) to elementals made me wary. I just feel like the whole concept of elementals is way out of my wavelength. When I have used them, I've considered them more as arcanist constructs than independent creatures, like little mathematical healing turrets, which is pretty much flat wrong when taking into account what lore there is for the big S Scholar class.

 

I don't see any issues with what you've proposed. I'd certainly go along with it. It'll be interesting to see what details others provide.

[Aduu Avagnar]

A fair warning:  No matter how good your explanation, no matter how much thought you put into this, people are going to raise their eyebrows at you for being an "IC Scholar."  It's something that's not generally done.  I don't personally mind it but bear in mind that you are going to be met with resistance if you plan on making this a central part of your character.

 

Wanderer's Palace is connected with Nym.  Let me know if you want to do an IC expedition into the Palace because my character has been wanting to do that for some time.

To be fair, SCH is one of the easier ones to justify, over the other three Jobs, that is.

 

I may put together an IC run for it soon. My character has a reason to go poking around the ruins.

 

I've shied away from the fairies myself, because I just didn't feel comfortable enough with how the quest story played out. That and their similarity (relation?) to elementals made me wary. I just feel like the whole concept of elementals is way out of my wavelength. When I have used them, I've considered them more as arcanist constructs than independent creatures, like little mathematical healing turrets, which is pretty much flat wrong when taking into account what lore there is for the big S Scholar class.  

some answers from the Las Vegas Fan Fest for you:

Faeries that accompany Scholars? What are they?

-fall into same category as Sprites and Elementals. Elementals rule Black Shroud and out. Sprites and Faeries are lesser elementals. Draw from aether in the world for power.

Origin of how Faeries became Scholars faeries?

-While they are taxonomy of Elementals, they were made by Scholars. They were created by Scholars out of the power of the elementals.

Essentially, Faeries are to Scholars what Egi are to Summoners and what Carbuncles are to Arcanists. Aetheric constructs that draw their power from a specific source that differs for each type.

[Cliodhna Eoghan]

A fair warning:  No matter how good your explanation, no matter how much thought you put into this, people are going to raise their eyebrows at you for being an "IC Scholar."  It's something that's not generally done.  I don't personally mind it but bear in mind that you are going to be met with resistance if you plan on making this a central part of your character.

 

Wanderer's Palace is connected with Nym.  Let me know if you want to do an IC expedition into the Palace because my character has been wanting to do that for some time.

To be fair, SCH is one of the easier ones to justify, over the other three Jobs, that is.

 

I may put together an IC run for it soon. My character has a reason to go poking around the ruins.

kurt is not allowed to go with >.>

[Terra]

On Brynhildr , in my group, we have a lot of Scholars and we have it nebulously in that the Sch you meet in the questline starts teaching new scholars.

 

Another thing my group on Brynhildr plays with is the creation and Lore behind soulstones and how they once belonged to people and how they're made and how they affect people.

 

Essentially,  because in the paladin storyline you kinda just get given a soulstone for becoming an initiate, it seems that it actually is something that is not absurd to make, particularly with a living practice like that of Paladins. We believe it to be a living person imbuing a stone with their experiences so that with training and exposure someone else might obtain those skills. In the case of Scholars this either acts as a beacon to or housing for the fairies attached to those memories and it's an elite art to create these (only a master would be able to craft one to pass on an art) you could very well come across a soulstone in the ruins or perhaps if you have a group where someone adheres to the job quedts happening amd avts as a teacher to pass on the art .

 

I think any story can be made plausible particularly since Koji Fox dropped a hint on other factions (like the Lambs of Dalamud ) uncovering the art of white magic specifically.  So even if one place or culture is associated with something it doesn't mean that is literally the only way to learn rare skills.

 

Plus coming up with unique names for fairies is also a thing.

[Aduu Avagnar]

A fair warning:  No matter how good your explanation, no matter how much thought you put into this, people are going to raise their eyebrows at you for being an "IC Scholar."  It's something that's not generally done.  I don't personally mind it but bear in mind that you are going to be met with resistance if you plan on making this a central part of your character.

 

Wanderer's Palace is connected with Nym.  Let me know if you want to do an IC expedition into the Palace because my character has been wanting to do that for some time.

To be fair, SCH is one of the easier ones to justify, over the other three Jobs, that is.

 

I may put together an IC run for it soon. My character has a reason to go poking around the ruins.

kurt is not allowed to go with >.>

If nako was there, he wouldn't be drinking any strange potions... the leash would be too tight....

[Kichiro Gunji]

Thanks for the input so far, seems very encouraging with the direction I tend to take Scorpio.

 

As for the lesser elementals themselves, how much personality might they have? Can they exhibit what would normally be considered sentient behavior?

[Aduu Avagnar]

Thanks for the input so far, seems very encouraging with the direction I tend to take Scorpio.

 

As for the lesser elementals themselves, how much personality might they have? Can they exhibit what would normally be considered sentient behavior?

The faerie from the SCH quest line certainly displays such behaiviours, so I would assume sentience on their part.

[SunTzu7]

Scholar is pretty easy to justify lorewise, since it essentially requires a trip to the Wanderer's Palace, or dealing with Nymian artefacts to justify getting the crystal. More difficult to justify might be getting the skills involved, although there are ways around that. The likelihood is that not all of the fairies are going to have the same problems as the Job Quest fairy (i.e. amnesia about her past).

 

Your fairy will obviously not be Lily and you'll need to come up with your own name, but it's more than likely that their names are things the Scholars gave them in the past. Also, all modern day fairies are likely to have a previous Scholar from Nym.

 

With regards to the fairy's sentience, when I RP them I treat my fairy as being as intelligent (probably more so) than Newton, free will and all. Scholars can command them to some degree, but they'd probably need to trust you enough to follow your orders. Obviously they can't talk, but they have a mental link with their Scholars and can communicate through that.

 

All in all, go nuts. The main fun in having a floating sparkle machine follow you around is essentially creating a character in their own right, with everything that entails.

[Hyrist]

Telling a new player they can't or will run into issues playing something that is readily accessible to them in the game, regardless of whether or not they have a good IC story on how it occurs just comes across as abrasive. One of the fundamental principles of conduct in roleplaying is to promote a positive and inclusive environment in which people feel encouraged to roleplay.

 

Having someone have the entirety of the job system presented before them and seeing all the interesting people getting into roleplaying, then having the second things said to them (besides hello) is that they can't do what enticed them to begin with is both contradictory to the aims and tenants roleplayers desire and ultimately unhealthy for a community.

 

Always should the reasonable inclusiveness of its members superseded any independent idea or 'lore rule' so long as that idea falls within reasonable grounds.

 

Whatever rules you wish to impart on individual groups as far as the usage of Job Stones, particular jobs, etc - are at best Group Canon specific to that group and should have no weight or bearing outside it, and it's fairly clear here that there are multiple opinions on the matter to the point where the RPC cannot claim to be under a single canopy of thought on the matter (nor should it ever, diversity is the soil in which imagination blooms.)

 

All jobs fall within this category - it is a readily accessible mechanic of the game that anyone can play, that in the failing of the written lore is dictated to be rare or non-existent beyond 'special exception'. This portion of that lore can, and in should be disregarded as according to the player or group's preference.

 

Rather than keep the restricting concepts as an absolute - the lore stories behind them are guidelines on how to conduct oneself as that Job. Someone who is a White or Black mage, due to matters of secrecy and persecution, are not going to be outwardly public about it, or, if they are, active persecution would be of the themes of that individual's plot.

 

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Out of all of these, Scholars are rather easy to story-line. Nym is in ruins and many of its treasures were only to be revealed after the Calamity. It's not beyond the concept of a story for someone to stumble across one of these stones in a rare moment of destiny.

 

How a Scholar conducts themselves Publicly, however, that's a matter of discussion. I'm of the mind that while Arcanists are fine having their carbuncles out in public, Scholars would likely want to protect their faeries from unwanted attention, unless they're absolutely needed.

[Lilia Lia]

On Brynhildr , in my group, we have a lot of Scholars and we have it nebulously in that the Sch you meet in the questline starts teaching new scholars.

 

I really like this idea.  I remember feeling super discouraged when I started RPing and wanted to keep SMN as part of my character only to be told that it was unjustifiable from a lore perspective.  Of course I ended up agreeing that this was the case and removing it from my character, but it was still a let down.  It's nice when players agree upon things that make their RP more inclusive.

 

So it turns out I was mistaken about SCH being implausible, people actually seem really open to it which is good.  I haven't played the SCH questline myself so I don't really have a frame of reference about how rare or unlikely it is.  If it's just about reviving a lost art because of having a chance encounter with some ancient artifact, I don't see the issue with it at all.

 

I didn't mean to imply that I had any problem with someone playing a SCH, I was just under the impression it was frowned upon, but apparently I was wrong.

[Nero]

 

 

So it turns out I was mistaken about SCH being implausible, people actually seem really open to it which is good.  I haven't played the SCH questline myself so I don't really have a frame of reference about how rare or unlikely it is.  If it's just about reviving a lost art because of having a chance encounter with some ancient artifact, I don't see the issue with it at all.

 

I didn't mean to imply that I had any problem with someone playing a SCH, I was just under the impression it was frowned upon, but apparently I was wrong.

 

Well, the mileage varies on the subject. Some people are pretty okay with just having someone trip and stumble around Nymian ruins for a bit and bam, scholar soulstone. Others equate finding a scholar's soulstone to winning the Jumbo Cactpot with only three numbers i.e. unlikely enough to be nearly impossible. It's not necessarily completely implausible, but the circumstances around the WoL finding the soulstone are so incredibly waffly that it's hard to place a firm range on the probability of finding a scholar's soulstone, so the perception can differ wildly from person to person.

 

I wouldn't worry about being accepted or not, though. What matters is that scholar isn't implausible--that is, finding a soulstone and thus gaining a fairy has a higher than zero chance of happening--so as long as you write it in a manner that's interesting, nobody who matters will care.

 

With that said, like others above me have said all it requires is, well, tripping and stumbling around Nymian ruins for a bit. My advice on the subject is to constantly bear in mind the difficulty of such a trek while you're writing it. Adversity builds character, and having your character pay a price or suffer an injury or get lost for a long time or otherwise having some kind of negative detriment as a result of the trip makes it more compelling and believable. And make sure you show, don't tell! This kind of situation is perfect for displaying certain traits about your character. If you want us to know he's intelligent, present a puzzle and have him solve it with ease. If you want us to know he's cowardly, have him get freaked out by something small, etc.

 

Basically, imagine an average civilian librarian exploring the Temple of Doom from Indiana Jones, and write something like that.

[FreelanceWizard]

I remember feeling super discouraged when I started RPing and wanted to keep SMN as part of my character only to be told that it was unjustifiable from a lore perspective.

 

That depends greatly on one's impression of how often Primals are summoned and how common the Echo is. Some go with "exactly 3 times, period, and essentially non-existent," while others go with "constantly and rare but not especially so among PC adventurers." There's bits one can draw from lore and the game itself to support both perspectives.

 

With that in mind, though, there's obviously differences among groups in that regard. What's acceptable in one group may be unworkable in another.

 

I, personally, feel that SMN and SCH are actually pretty easy Jobs to justify, but as Nero noted, some people feel that no Job is an acceptable thing to have access to ICly.

[Hyrist]

On the subject of Summoner, my FC actually spent a good deal of time pondering over the quandary of how a person could come across the essence of a primal without subjecting themselves to combat and defeat it.

 

As a Free Company, we wished to preserve the sense of danger and threat associated with the Primals. In this effect, our Primal plots (which are considered core storyline for the FC) are fairly extensive. Weeks of RPed preparation, the battle itself is a multi-day rp oocly. NPCs die and at least one PC is walking away with major if not critical injuries. Primals are not something we 'farm'. Therefore simply going back and facing the Primal again wasn't something likely to happen with us (although independent members of the FC have Personal Canon that they get recruited for subsequent returns of said Primals.) 

 

OOCly, we want to impress upon theses newer members the danger of the Primals, as well as encourage them to interact with our members. However, at the same time we don't want to deprive them of a mechanic other members of the FC have due to participating with us. Also my standing policy on the matter of Jobs is something my FC tends to agree with - if it's accessible in game we don't want to just offhandedly prevent them form using it ICly, obstructive lore be damned.

 

So we presented the problem ICly for players to RP and mull over for a time, before coming up with our own solution. (Which I won't spoil here, PM me if you're interested in know what we came up with.) In the end, we were quite happy with what we came up with in the existing lore, and it helped expand our roleplays without trampling on what we've done or the policies we've set for ourselves, but instead reinforcing and celebrating them.

 

Trying to draw a line where fun and fair meet isn't easy, but it's always worthwhile.

[LiadansWhisper]

 

 

To be fair, SCH is one of the easier ones to justify, over the other three Jobs, that is.

 

I may put together an IC run for it soon. My character has a reason to go poking around the ruins.

 

 

 

I was actually going to say this.  Scholar is pretty open in comparison to, say, White Mage.  All you really need is to find a Codex or stumble across a fairy soulstone (or both).

[Nebbs]

Soooo...

 

You can try for a Scholar IC and there are pros and cons to that.

 

One alternative I would suggest is throw the archetype "class/jobs" out of the window. Use the fact that they provide some meta information of what is possible and decide instead what your character would be.

 

Archaeologist 

Healer

Fairy fanatic

Witch/Warlock

 

 

Maybe the fairy found you but was vague and ghostly until you found the stone?

 

There are many ways to spin it and still justify the powers, but not the label.

[Kichiro Gunji]

Scorpio is something of a renaissance character, someone interested in everything. Of course, this means he's not quite the expert in any one thing. However, I'm leveling all the disciplines of the hand and land on him and a well educated type seems to fit that more. Calling him a healer isn't quite adequate, nor an Archaeologist, because he also loves to fish and cook.  

 

It's part of what got him exiled. It's why when people ask him what he does, instead of listing everything, he simply states he's a "scholar of all things Hydaelyn." 

 

Even being an all-around er, he's not without weaknesses. Cultural norms are something of an enigma to him, only learning them through books. He's not particularly strong or agile, depending on his Carbunkle to save his life more than a few times, etc. He can get so absorbed in studying or focused on something, that danger can nearly end him before he reacts. 

 

But I'm glad to hear that scholars seems to be much more justifiable than I feared originally. I can see the merit of keeping faeries hidden most times. Probably only let a select few know, like perhaps the company he joins... once he knows he can trust them, that sort of thing.

[Sounsyy]

I'm of the opinion that every job can be swung ICly with a good enough backstory. Just that the "Jobs" require a bit more attention to detail. And not always because you have to sneak around legality or forbidden-ness either. Like how the Wanderer's Palace and Amdapor were lost beneath a lake and inside a tree (respectively) until the Calamity. So any SCH or WHM character could only have become one in the last 5 years. Sometimes the fact that some of these jobs haven't existed anywhere in the world for 1,600 to 5,000 years is enough to make them incredulously rare.

 

For me personally, I want to see an interesting backstory where people find out about these professions in the first place. Like Faeries, Succor, and Black Magic haven't existed (publicly) in the world for 1,600 years. That's comparable to a real world modern person using techniques for whatever reason from the Roman Empire. Even with public education, the internet, and National Geographic articles on the subject, not everyone today is intimately familiar with the Romans (I'm definitely not!). Now imagine Eorzea, that has none of those things, and some of this knowledge was intentionally hidden away from the world.

 

Not every job was that long ago though. Warriors and Bards were last seen in the Autumn War a little over 100 years ago, roughly comparable to World War I. Monks only 25 years ago, so Berlin Wall coming down. Summoner existed 5000 years ago. Merp, I'll be honest, I don't know off hand without googling what real world civilization existed 5,000 years ago. And neither did the Eorzeans know about the Allagans until Saint Coinach proved the existence of the Allagan Empire sometime during the end of the 6th Astral Era.

 

So it makes sense that they're supposed to be rare and relatively unknown even though it seems like every other RPer plays one of these jobs ICly. So sometimes this inattention to detail can be aggravating to the lore sticklers. But with a good backstory and just a little attention to detail I honestly don't think anyone has ground to stand on to argue you can't play anything ICly. White Mage is tricky, but still very doable in a number of ways.

 

 

Rant over, time for lore and some things.

 

On the subject of Summoner, my FC actually spent a good deal of time pondering over the quandary of how a person could come across the essence of a primal without subjecting themselves to combat and defeat it.

 

Technically, you don't have to physically defeat it. You just have to be in the vicinity when the Primal dies according to lore. So Urianger could technically be taught how to summon a Ramuh-Egi after he watches the WoL defeat Ramuh in the MSQ from the sidelines. Just about any of the former Company of Heroes could become Summoners with the right training. Survivors from the T-3 Mythril Pit who witnessed the first summoning and defeat of Ifrit in 1564 6AE. If your character has a Far Eastern background, the Garlean Empire's initial advance into Othard was halted by a Primal summoning, so you could always say your older Far Eastern character was there for that event. The Garleans defeated that Primal for you. Etc.

 

Let us review the history and role of the summoner, that we might never forget the tragedy that befell the unfortunate Tristan.

 

A summoner is a unique type of mage who harnesses the energy of the primals and reshapes it into a biddable avatar. In the ancient Allagan tongue, these avatars are known as "egi." Only those who are present at the defeat of a primal and have captured its savage essence are able to manifest such aetheric entities. Now, any explanation of the summoner is not complete without a brief history of its origin.

 

The Allagan Empire reached its peak during the Third Astral Era. Dissatisfied with dominion over Eorzea alone, this thriving civilization sought to expand its borders to ever more distant lands. Eventually, the empire cast its avaricious gaze upon the southern continent of Meracydia. The peoples of these nations did not, however, take kindly to being invaded, and they summoned the primals to repel the Allagan forces. Hard-pressed by these incarnations of elemental wrath, the leaders of the empire's military were forced to alter their tactics. They ordered the mages under their command to devise some manner of magic with which to counter the primals, and, after much experimentation, the art of summoning was born.

 

The magic invented by these arcane pioneers met with great success, and, within the Allagan Empire, the title of "summoner" earned the bearer an uncommon measure of awe and respect.

 

 

As for Scholar, I don't think a venture into the Wanderer's Palace or even to the Floating City would be necessary, even though that might be the most sure-fire route? According to Sightseeing Lore, the Calamity cracked the Isle of Vylbrand, draining much of Bronze Lake into the chasm that was formed. This drainage is what revealed the Nymian ruins in the first place. So, feasibly, a washed up soulstone or Nymian artifact could be found anywhere along this fissure, or in any of Vylbrand's rivers. If your character is from Limsa and has a reason to be out on a fishing boat, pirate boat, or Maelstrom vessel they might have found one in the nets out at sea just off the coast. Lots of things you can play with! Especially as an Arcanist, whose job is to inspect imported cargo.

 

Sightseeing #30 - Camp Bronze Lake

The formation of great underwater fissures during the Calamity saw the nearly half of the water comprising Bronze Lake vanish in the span of a single night. The result was the uncovering of ancient Nymian ruins submerged for thousands of years - most notably, the Wanderer's Palace, a temple dedicated to the god Oschon.

 

Sightseeing #21 - Woad Whisper Canyon

Little more than a shallow valley but five years past, Woad Whisper Canyon was carved into a gaping gorge in a matter of moons after the Calamity drained Bronze Lake and dramatically altered the course of the Nym River. On hot days, laborers from both Summerford Farms and the Skylift will oft take respite in the cool mists of the falls... if not met by bandits.

 

 

Hope this helps some! ^^

[Kichiro Gunji]

I like that opinion, if the author is willing to do the leg work to determine a feasible way for it to happen, why not?

 

But! That does give me some other possibilities. Maybe he is traveling along one of these rivers mentioned in a book about Nym's ruins. Or maybe he is doing Arcanist duties and inspecting a pirate ship, where he finds one of these things.

 

-ponders.-

 

Bringing this to the RPC has been greatly beneficial, thanks to everyone has given me feedback to chew on. Hopefully this helps future scholars as well.