Monk Gates and their Dangers

[Jmaaira]

Hello! I wanted to get everyone's standpoint on the dangers of opening gates and the usage of aether and chakra as a monk. To be clear, this is not for my own character, but rather research into a friend and subordinate's condition. I've roleplayed my character looking through books and such for information on this matter and now I need the ooc knowledge to back up the learning of ic knowledge. So anything pertaining to this would be helpful. I prefer answers that match well with the lore and would be something that could be potentially found in a book related to those matters. Thanks!

[Oli!]

As far as quests go, I don't think there's really any stressed "dangers" of opening your gates, though those in the storyline that have opened them tend to be a little power-hungry about it.

 

If you wanted to come up with something, the stress of being unable to handle the aether might work, since we have examples of that happening in other places, I believe.

 

The closest thing that we have to a danger is the following:

 

 

In the last Monk questline, it is believed that the only way to open the 14th Chakra is in a battle to the death with a Monk of the opposite aspect. However, You (the Warrior of Light) manage to open it by blocking the Ultimate Attack of the main bad guy, giving us the implication that that isn't true anyway.

 

[Jmaaira]

I understand that from the quest perspective but what's the general consensus from roleplayers? What dangers come from unlocking the gates? Power addiction, withdrawal symptoms when limitations are placed, aggression, things of that nature.

[Berrod Armstrong]

Will answer this in a moment when I get back from a thing!

[Sylentmana]

Will answer this in a moment when I get back from a thing!

 

I was about to say "Where is Berrod? He could answer this."

[Berrod Armstrong]

[align=justify]OKAY SO.

 

There's not really any inherent 'danger' of opening the chakras, as shown in lore. The seventh and fourteenth chakras require killing to open (except in the case of the Warrior of Light because he/she is special. Apparently the power of fucking friendship is enough in his/her case). It can be said that the danger in opening the sixth is that someone else with six can come after you to open the seventh. Similarly, the danger in opening the thirteenth is that someone else with thirteen can come after you to open the fourteeth. As it is, lorewise, there's no innate danger. You just gain power. The power-hungriness that we see in the Monk Quests is more attributed to the characters themselves than the chakras they open

 

.

 

However! It's quite fine for you to apply dangers and limits to opening chakras for your own characters! The power comes from the self once they are opened, and because of that, there's a lot of room for individual flair. If you want to put a few dangers in place for your character, have at it! If you want them to have an easy time of having an open chakra, go right ahead. 

 

In the case of Berrod, I applied limits to all of his, and dangers should they be abused. It was really a measure of ensuring that the character doesn't come across as OP, but it ended up working nicely into his story (First, Fourth, and Sixth drain him [the sixth much more than the others!], the second is...lol. Well that's a funny one. The third one can hurt both friend and foe if he isn't careful, the fifth requires finesse or BAM, he runs into a wall or something)[/align]

[Virella]

Can't monks open it with meditation as well though? Or am I making things up in my mind now? :?

[Aedan Marceaux]

Help a newbie out. I know of/have researched into the first seven chakras (root, sacral, etc. etc. up to crown) and thought that's where they ended in FFXIV as well.

 

Reading this thread mentioning a 14th?

 

Where is information regarding 9 - 14? Did I miss mention/explanation of them through the 1-50 class quests? Are they mentioned after 50?

 

Any links would be helpful and appreciated.

 

Edit: Admittedly, I have not yet played monk past 51... as such I don't have knowledge of the lore presented in the class quests beyond that point. That being said, I don't mind spoilers in this regard as it will help me to stick to the lore. Especially since my monk is currently attempting to train another in the art... >.>

 

 

---

 

On the actual topic at hand, using the research I have made, I've made it difficult for my monk to be able to access whatever power each gate would provide depending upon their current mood, state of mind, thoughts, etc. For instance, if she is overly scared, then her root chakra is all messed up and she is unable to call upon its powers.

 

The inherent danger there would simply be her being used to being able to call that power mostly at will... and suddenly not being able to since she can't get her fear under control.

 

Beyond that, I don't know of any actual dangers regarding the various chakras/gates. Though, I'd have to side with Berrod on this and say make it personal/unique to your character as you see fit.

[Berrod Armstrong]

Can't monks open it with meditation as well though? Or am I making things up in my mind now? :?

Yes! This takes a lot of time though -- in terms of the in game skill, it's more like they're preparing to harness and unleash the power of their already accessible chakras!

[Virella]

Above 7+ it is mentioned in the +50 questlines, that said 8-14 is probably super rare to have unlocked! There were/are sects of Fists or Rhalgr, and 8-14 gate seemed to either duelling a monk of the other sect, or right out murdering them. However the questline evolves about the two sects working together again instead of seeking one another to murder one another to unlock gates.

 

 

 

Bloody Ala Mhigan savages : <

 

Can't monks open it with meditation as well though? Or am I making things up in my mind now? :?

Yes! This takes a lot of time though -- in terms of the in game skill, it's more like they're preparing to harness and unleash the power of their already accessible chakras!

 

Thank you!

[Berrod Armstrong]

Help a newbie out. I know of/have researched into the first seven chakras (root, sacral, etc. etc. up to crown) and thought that's where they ended in FFXIV as well.

 

Reading this thread mentioning a 14th?

 

Where is information regarding 9 - 14? Did I miss mention/explanation of them through the 1-50 class quests? Are they mentioned after 50?

 

Any links would be helpful and appreciated.

 

---

 

On the actual topic at hand, using the research I have made, I've made it difficult for my monk to be able to access whatever power each gate would provide depending upon their current mood, state of mind, thoughts, etc. For instance, if she is overly scared, then her root chakra is all messed up and she is unable to call upon its powers.

 

The inherent danger there would simply be her being used to being able to call that power mostly at will... and suddenly not being able to since she can't get her fear under control.

 

Beyond that, I don't know of any actual dangers regarding the various chakras/gates. Though, I'd have to side with Berrod on this and say make it personal/unique to your character as you see fit.

 

The 8th to 14th chakras are known as the dark chakras, and are mentioned in the 50-60 quests. Just as you've done your research into the root to the crown, you can look up the 'talas', or the seven lower chakras, or the seven chakras of the lower body, spanning from Atala to Palatala. Very nasty stuff lol. I don't have the time to provide you with links at the moment but a quick search should get you all you need!

 

[Aedan Marceaux]

Many thanks. I will certainly look into those and pay close attention during the 50-60 quests.

 

My apologies for the slight derail.

[Berrod Armstrong]

Above 7+ it is mentioned in the +50 questlines, that said 8-14 is probably super rare to have unlocked! There were/are sects of Fists or Rhalgr, and 8-14 gate seemed to either duelling a monk of the other sect, or right out murdering them. However the questline evolves about the two sects working together again instead of seeking one another to murder one another to unlock gates.

 

Bloody Ala Mhigan savages : <

 

Can't monks open it with meditation as well though? Or am I making things up in my mind now? :?

Yes! This takes a lot of time though -- in terms of the in game skill, it's more like they're preparing to harness and unleash the power of their already accessible chakras!

 

Thank you!

 

Yep! A person can open chakras of the opposing alignment by battling a monk (not necessarily killing, unless it's the 14th chakra) of that alignment

.

 

[Oli!]

Remember to spoiler stuff, my friends.

[Berrod Armstrong]

Whoops! I really should, lemme go back and fix that.

[Jmaaira]

Thanks for all the helpful comments and info! I'm learning a lot and will apply it to my IC knowledge!

[Brynhilde]

One should be very careful when opening gates to close them again, otherwise the cows might get through because you violated the Country Code and you're a monster.

[Jmaaira]

And then it's the Secret Cow Level all over again.

[Pastry Army]

One thing I see missing here is location, and let me tell you, location is very important to the opening of the gates and you should make sure to incorporate that into your studies. And to put it simply so that it is easy to digest and use: The sight of ancient battles, and more importantly the Aether flowing within such locations are critical to the success or fail of opening the chakra. 

 

Alternatively you can simply use places that are soaked to the  brim in Aether, like Mor Dhona.

 

Edit: Another thing to consider, simply for the sake of rp dynamics, is the possibility of the task being much more difficult, or easier, based on the levels of the individuals own internal Aether. As stated through the Thamaturge question, without an adequate level of Aether one simply can't become one. Based on that, one could reason that the same could be applied here as well. Food for thought.

[Melkire]

Because it needs to be said (and because the thread title is more or less a giveaway)...

 

Nowhere in FFXIV lore is it stated that the opening and usage of chakra is inherently dangerous (save for the seventh and fourteenth which more or less require you to kill a monk of the opposing sect to open). Something I've run into, though, is that some people have a tendency to borrow lore from other settings, so let me make this clear:

 

FFXIV chakra have nothing to do with the Eight Gates that exist within the Naruto setting and are used by Gai and Rock Lee.

 

You can roleplay it that way, if you'd like, for added flavor. But there is no taxation of the body or risk of death with Chakra in FFXIV lore as there are with certain Gates in Naruto.

[Oli!]

One thing I see missing here is location, and let me tell you, location is very important to the opening of the gates and you should make sure to incorporate that into your studies. And to put it simply so that it is easy to digest and use: The sight of ancient battles, and more importantly the Aether flowing within such locations are critical to the success or fail of opening the chakra. 

 

Alternatively you can simply use places that are soaked to the  brim in Aether, like Mor Dhona.

 

Edit: Another thing to consider, simply for the sake of rp dynamics, is the possibility of the task being much more difficult, or easier, based on the levels of the individuals own internal Aether. As stated through the Thamaturge question, without an adequate level of Aether one simply can't become one. Based on that, one could reason that the same could be applied here as well. Food for thought.

 

 

We're probably way way way beyond the Spoiler threshold at this point, but just for the sake of completeness, this entire post contains spoilers.

 

 

 

This just seems to be the Fast-Track way to getting it done, really. Fighting another Monk that has their stuff going for them might do it for the similarly-aspected Chakra as it does for light and dark, but we don't know this for sure.

 

However, background aether being the most important cause for pass / fail wouldn't make sense, considering that there was a veritable army of these guys, fighting each other to open their Chakras. If you could only use specific locations of former battles to get Chakras open (which, it should be noted, cannot be used for a very long time by anyone afterwards), then it would not be feasible for a large group of Monks to exist in the manner that we know they did. Add into that the fact that you are basically getting swamped during the 50+ questline by Darksiders that want their Chakras open (which means that they have to have some of theirs open on their own), and we run into the problem of there just not being enough places for everyone to get their Chakras unlocked if this was the only way to do it.

 

To theorycraft beyond this for the hell of it, one of the recurring themes when it comes to unlocking Chakra is the "quickening," or something like that, of Aether, if my memory of a certain dialogue bit is correct. Large amounts of background aether floating around is one example, because the aether in your body interacts with it. Fighting another Monk is another example, because their pistons are firing, and your pistons are firing, and your aether interacts again. That said, it might be possible to "force-quicken" Aether through other means; having a Thaumaturge or Black Mage spew Aether all over the place might make things a little easier, for example (it could be argued that Yda and Papalymo did this during the 2.5 content, but that's another argument entirely). Converting a large crystal into Aether that is then absorbed or released into the environment might also serve the same purpose. If you wanted to Get Evil with it, absorbing the Aether or life force of other people, like the Bad Cat does in the final Monk quest in order to achieve Ultimate Power, might aid you in opening a Chakra as well.

 

Part of what makes the sites of former battles so appealing is the absolutely huge amounts of aether that were released when people fought and died; the aether of all those people allows you to get done in a few minutes spent punching wildlife what we can assume would normally take several months or years of hard work. I would argue therefore that, despite location being important as far as where aether is goes, the real clincher here is that the more aether there is around you, the easier it is to get Chakras open the first time, though large amounts of aether itself may or may not be necessary at all. Less of a decisive factor, and more of a time-saving one.

 

But, again, this is theorycrafting based on what we are given.