Illiteracy in Characters?

[Tamm'lin]

My main, Tamm'lin Maertena, is somewhat illiterate - However, I realized this might be more common than most would think. Many might not have the money for schooling, the access, or the belief such knowledge is needed for the familial line of work. 

 

Any one else have illiterate characters? How do you handle it? Do they eventually learn how to read/write?

[Michaux]

For a while I played a Keeper of the Moon who was so isolated in her youth that she didn't learn to read or write until adulthood. I figured that Miqo'te families living deep in the woods (especially those on poor terms with Gridania) would lack the educational resources that city-dwellers have access to. That was part of her backstory, though - I haven't tried to write a character who is illiterate in the present. I think I might find it frustrating, but that's just me.

[Capheira]

Odette originally struggled to read and write in her backstory, due to the fact she and many Ala Mhigan's fled during the Garlean invasion; meaning that for she it was early childhood. Time in Little Ala Mhigo yielded some results but it was never going to be anything close to what was considered a decent education. Especially when she went on to spend her life at sea as a deckhand. It wasn't until her teen years when she got involved with [THINGS] that she actually worked to become decent at it as a necessity.

 

I hope that helps in some way, and answers your questions!

[S'imba]

S'imba can't read or write...he's been learning slowly and with enough time and effort he can read and write simple things. He has a lot of learning disabilities that really hamper his abilities with it. Learning his letters took a long time because he'd work all night only to wake up the next day and feel like his mind had dumped it all. He's really self-conscious about it because most people he knows makes it sound like reading is easy, and with how much he struggles with it he just feels broken. So he'll pretend he can read rather than admit he has no idea what a pamphlet declaring revolution and the beheading Lolorito, and just agree with the person handing it out.

[Shoshopu]

It's my understanding that most people in Eorzea- the average Eorzean, at least- are illiterate. Player characters/adventurers are special, of course, so I guess that's why most RP characters conveniently can.

 

Most of my characters are arcanists so they're literate, but my primary-alt Awyrbyrt is totally illiterate. It's mostly played up for laughs because nobody seems to realize it, or acknowledge it, IC (say he's walking through the deep Twelveswood with a party and they pass by a sign that reads "danger"- the others take note of it but say nothing, assuming they can all read it, and Awyrbyrt just looks at it and goes "oh a sign" and keeps moving) He might eventually learn to read but for now he's being a stubborn arse about it, despite his father's insistence.

 

My other illiterate character is reserved for private RP but she grew up an orphan in deep La Noscea so she had absolutely no reason nor resources to learn. In the setting she usually finds herself in it's not really relevant.

[Lucius Ignatius]

Kiht'a can read and write a little, but it ends up--for writing, anyway, that it looks like a caveman wrote it. Reading he can read just enough to get by.

[Aera]

I've actually been thinking about this myself for the backstory of my own character that I'm working on. She would have grown up away from the major cities, so I considered that maybe literacy isn't that useful a skill as opposed to hunting or farming. I still haven't delved deep enough into the FF14 lore though to see if there's a real-world pseudo-medieval analogy there or if it's just assumed all adventurers are literate because, y'know, adventurers are special and all.

 

I think having an illiterate character could create some interesting RP opportunities. In character, it's not likely to come up enough to be considered an annoying trait, and it could create some interesting moments for your character to be potentially embarrassed if everyone else around her is, or maybe even create some contention if she's stubborn and just refuses to learn because she doesn't see the value in it.

 

Admittedly, most of my experience with the subject has been from D&D games where it was usually the "dumb barbarian" stereotype which is mostly played up for comedic value, acting like books are some sort of poison/voodoo. I've gotten to find that annoying just because of how overdone it is.

[allgivenover]

According to lore literacy is the exception, not the rule. Barring the wealthy, scholars, and adventurers the vast majority cannot read.

 

It's just that most RPers don't know this or can't get out of a modern privileged mindset that is surprised to run into illiteracy, so most characters are literate as a result. Even near feral wild backwood miqo'te often learned to read and write miraculously well at some point in their backstory.

[Tamm'lin]

Honestly, that's how I say it as well. She's from a traditional tribe, then grew up amongst shipyard workers - Average citizens. Not scholars, the particularly wealthy, or any one with any real access to education. At some point, a kindly neighbor who DID know how to do such things, being a retired ship logsman, bookkeeper, etc. took it upon himself to teach her to read/write. However, it's all very basic knowledge - She can't do much more than write a simple letter; However, because everything the neighbor's knowledge was mostly navigation, sea-faring, and otherwise ship-related - Tamm's knowledge of THOSE specific references is very good.

 

A fantasy novel, though? Nah. She doesn't know even half those related words. 

 

Does that makes sense?

[Luzia Dawn]

My miqo'te, Elza, also lived in isolation in the woods. This made her socially shy and awkward around strangers, but due to this she also kept to herself a lot, and her mom was not anything but a dancer, but she was literate and could read and write fine growing up in the city. So she had tons of time to teach Elza in the woods.

 

However, I did think about this before hand and I believe characters can be illiterate if your backstory makes sense.

[FreelanceWizard]

While L'yhta is literate, none of her family is, and indeed most of my (rarely played) alts aren't. L'yhta learned after the Calamity by way of her master. The rest of her family has no need for that "fancy city knowledge" and indeed, had her story not taken her to Limsa Lominsa, she'd never have learned her letters at all.

 

As others have mentioned in this thread, literacy is indeed rare in Eorzea, according to Fernehalwes.

 

As I (think I may have) mentioned in a past post, literacy rates in Eorzea are quite low. The only people who can read/write are usually the educated writing for the educated. This causes them to use an overly complex jumble of jargon that sounds little like what is actually spoken in Eorzea. The spelling and lack of punctuation can be blamed on the fact that because there were so few people who could read or write, there was really no standardized set of rules. This left those who were literate to make up their own rules (which was pretty much what every educated man and woman did).

 

Successful adventurers likely fall into the "educated" category, but it doesn't seem to be a requirement unless you use magic (and even then, it would likely depend on your level of training and what type of magic you use; conjury is much more intuitive than, say, arcanima). When you sign up at the Adventurers' Guild initially, you just have to make your mark, and most Eorzeans can probably figure out that "the sign that looks like those funny squiggles means 'no entry'" and "the one with the two swords and a shield and some smoke is probably a forge."

[Enla]

Ucugen is a newly minted refugee in Ul'dah and is struggling to learn both the Eorzean language and it's writing systems. It didn't make sense to me that a transplant from the furthest reaches of the Othard Steppes would be fluent in the idiosyncrasies of the languages and writings of a large island (particularly since contact seems limited between Eorzea and Othard) so I made it so she both has trouble grasping the language verbally and in a written sense. She probably has the reading capability of a three year old right now when it comes to the Eorzean writing system, though she's up to speed on Doman and her birth language. It's actually been fun having her not be able to read anything.

 

Enla on the other hand is only illiterate because she can't see. She learned to read just fine before going blind.

[Tamm'lin]

I've actually been thinking about this myself for the backstory of my own character that I'm working on. She would have grown up away from the major cities, so I considered that maybe literacy isn't that useful a skill as opposed to hunting or farming. 

 

I think having an illiterate character could create some interesting RP opportunities. 

 

Admittedly, most of my experience with the subject has been from D&D games where it was usually the "dumb barbarian" stereotype which is mostly played up for comedic value, acting like books are some sort of poison/voodoo. I've gotten to find that annoying just because of how overdone it is.

 

Yes - This is why, to me, illiteracy made sense for my main. Reading and writing just isn't useful to people living out in the desert, who aren't merchants or otherwise. Unless it is VERY basic symbols to just designate certain items - However, it can also be argued such things could simply be told in pictographs and the spoken word.

 

Yes - Again! Tamm being illiterate has already sparked some cool character development and relationships she otherwise might not have had.

 

Yes - That too! The 'dumb barbarian' steroptype doesn't apply here - Just as it wouldn't in real life. It isn't like some modern day, far flung colonies of humanity would be able to read. In fact, it is only in the last 50+ years that global literacy was even a thing. We have whole charities devoted to it in the US, for our own countrymen... and we have compulsory education. That doesn't make any one a dumb barbarian, though!

 

 

According to lore literacy is the exception, not the rule. Barring the wealthy, scholars, and adventurers the vast majority cannot read.

It's just that most RPers don't know this or can't get out of a modern privileged mindset that is surprised to run into illiteracy, so most characters are literate as a result. Even near feral wild backwood miqo'te often learned to read and write miraculously well at some point in their backstory.

 

 

I noticed this, too. Which is why I posted here, asking. I thought it was odd everyone could read and speak eloquently, when... even NPCs spoke with perhaps an accent, sometimes speaking like what we might imagine 'countryfolk' might talk like. 

[Aera]

I think that's probably one of the harder parts of RP... trying to "forget" what you take for granted every day IRL ...

[LiadansWhisper]

My main, Tamm'lin Maertena, is somewhat illiterate - However, I realized this might be more common than most would think. Many might not have the money for schooling, the access, or the belief such knowledge is needed for the familial line of work. 

 

Any one else have illiterate characters? How do you handle it? Do they eventually learn how to read/write?

 

My character is currently literate, but in her backstory she actually didn't learn to read until she was about 17 when she first went to the Stillglade Fane. She was from an isolated village deep in the East Shroud and never went to school prior.

[Syf]

My character is illiterate in Eorzean, but knows how to read the Doman language, and read and write in the Xaelan inter communicative language. It's a big problem for her in terms of communicating with fellow adventurer's and adventurer guilds, missing jobs and events because she can't read bulletin boards. Illiteracy is also an issue with trading, as she's an easy target to get swindled out of gil even if prices are posted.

 

Syf received a translation book for Doman to Eorzean a few months ago, and uses this as a reference to read things now. However the process is long going, because she translates from her tribe's language to Doman and then to Eorzean. Reading a contract for her may take a few hours, so she often bugs others to read for her. It's going to get slowly better, as she'll recognize shapes of common words and add them to her lexicon, but she only reads once or twice a week. It's just not a priority for the character at this moment.

 

It comes up a lot in roleplay, a lot more than I thought it would. Syf tries to avoid it, or feign that she can read. If she gets confronted about it, she'll say that reading isn't useful or needed.

[SharlayanBlues]

Alot of the stuff I was going to say about the subject has already been said so I won't go repeating too much.

I really think it comes down to your characters background, where they're from, I very rarely think it has to do with your race however but sometimes that might be the case!

 

As for Garrett he can't read nor write, he's rather young as it is and growing up as a Brume rat, let alone an orphan he didn't really have the chance to learn the normal things other people in higher standings might have, but then he can probably do somethings which others can't.

But it's rather amusing, he carries around an old broken pair of reading glasses that he wears sometimes to make himself seem like I can, a small little white lie never hurts.

 

So when it comes to taken on jobs and what not, he makes sure that all the information is taken in person, if I had to read it from a piece of paper he'd be a pretty rubbish freelancer!

[Mae]

Kara is, at best, what I would consider moderately/semi literate. She can read well enough for everyday use, but I don't picture her being able to easily read anything past what I was reading in kindergarten. My reasoning on her ability is that while there were certainly other skills that would've been much more important for her to learn/for those who raised her to know, the ability to read a shipping manifest, ledger, or leaf through a book to determine its value would have been useful.

 

As for the literacy/illiteracy rates of Eorzea, I personally have problems with what the devs have claimed on the matter. They say that literacy is rare, reserved mainly for the rich/privileged. However, the examples we're given in-game, to me, don't match up with this. We pass notes between common people, recover 'religious' pamphlets that were meant for the poor and refugees, deliver well-written (and even eloquent/poetic) letters from and to bandits and poachers, and hang job postings for everyday workers. And in all this, there is -only one- NPC that can't read... and her inability to read is because "I never bothered to learn my letters". So I personally run on the assumption that a great deal of Eorzeans are actually literate, just the average level is what I'd expect from, at best, a third-grader. Which from a lot of our Real World expectations, could possibly come off as being illiterate.

[Valence]

I think that the writers often fall into the same trap as us, sometimes forgetting that the setting is different than our own modern reality. Especially when FFXIV tries to still emulate that modern reality through anachronisms like people sunbathing at Costa Del Sol, etc.

 

I of course would have played an illiterate character if it was not such a central part to the concept behind mine... On that, I can't unfortunately make any concession on the matter. She is a brain more than an everyday muscle, which puts her at odds with much of those Gridanian pragmatic gardeners.

[Mia Moui]

Mia has some education in her family group but mastering reading and writing was not a priority for her.  So she can read and write, but only with great effort.  She usually relies on anyone literate in the area to read for her which can be a serious problem.  She might be forced to have the contractor read a contract for her.  And one can imagine what kinds of disasters that might invite.  This can make for some good storytelling and potentially some good RP.

[Kou]

Two characters of mine come to mind.

 

First is my old main, K'washi. I started off playing him as illiterate, with a bare grasp on the Eorzean language. He had enough knowledge to tell the difference between the different phrases he'd had written in his little book, and that was that. As time went on, he eventually met people that taught him how to read, up to and including his now-husband. Unfortunately, they've both fallen off the radar, pretty much, but it was a fantastic journey from start to finish, to see him grow from illiterate to not.

 

Currently, I have Yesukai, a former slave born into captivity that's recently gained his freedom. He knows enough about numbers to somewhat be able to tell the difference between them, and he knows the letter A. Largely because he was taught enough to understand what numbers were bigger than what for Triple Triad, but he's still developing and he's still very much a work in progress. And he still very easily messes up some numbers with other numbers.

 

But I also have a literate character, from start to finish. Akino Naeuri, former Princess of her little city back home in Othard. Reading is her pleasure in life and it's how she's learned so much about the world around her, despite being so sheltered.

 

My characters always have a history of developing (sometimes healthily, sometimes not). To do otherwise is to remain stagnant, and that's simply boring to me. I'm the kind of player that will revel in seeing a character develop, whether it's my own or someone else's, in whatever way they can.

[Zhavi]

Zhi grew up on the streets, so she didn't know how to read or write. She could recognize some letters, though. It wasn't until her con with Lolotaru that she started to learn to read (she begged him to take her on as an arcanist apprentice so she could get close enough to him to steal something, and part of that was learning to read and write). However, she still doesn't quite have all the letters and even when she can recognize them, she doesn't know a lot of words.

 

I've had a lot of fun with her being illiterate. She'd receive written messages in game, but because she can be a butt and such, most of the time she wouldn't find anyone to read them to her and would just throw them away. It was fun for me to read the messages and be like 'zhi, you are such a dork' and have her be totally unaware of what was going on -- even when she really should have been considering her status as a runner! Teenage pride and all of that, thinking you're hot stuff and don't need no stinking literacy.

[Verad]

I'll remember the population is illiterate when the devs do the same.

[azahana]

Would I be wrong in saying that I feel illiteracy comes in varying degrees?

 

A character or those with low education might not be at the standard of a poet or be able to write flowing prose, but would probably be able to pick up the ability to read simple words, signs and numbers.

 

For example, I can read a few word and to 99 in the numerical system of the native tongue of my family. Conversation is fine, but advanced saying and the business language elude me. Ask me to look at a map and I can figure things out eventually. Ask me to read a news article and I'll fail spectacularly. 

 

 

Game wise, I figure that most adventuring types will figure out some semblance of reading and writing so that they could look at posts and jobs on the board. Soldiers would have rudimentary levels of writing and reading to be able to relay orders and scouting reports.

 

EDIT: canon wise, Curious Gorge studies the lore of his tribe in an effort to revive it and later his brother is alluded to scouring old texts for references to warriors of old, to one specifically. They're also apparently from some small village in the mountains. Just some food for thought, yeah?

[allgivenover]

I don't think that's far off from the truth at all. I suppose most people know how to recognize their own names or words that have to do with their work.