Sharlya as a backstory

[Tara]

Nevahe, my main (and currently only fleshed out character) is a street rat from Sharlaya who stowed away on a trading vessel bound for Vylbrand. 

 

The thing is I don't know how acceptable having her former home be Sharlaya. I originally chose it for purely selfish reasons, namely that we don't have much lore about there and that I could 'smudge' it a bit and be a bit vague on the details. In your honest opinions, is this an alright backstory (it's probably by no means an imaginative one I know, but she's my first attempt) or should I make it something a bit more normal like some backwater village in La Noscea? 

 

Pardons for bothering you, Nevahe.

 

Sharlayan vs Sharlaya. Above I used the term Sharlaya to talk about the place. Perhaps I'm presumptuous in assuming that Sharlayan refers to a people and Sharlaya the place. (I'm Sharlayan from Sharlaya for example, makes perfect grammatical sense to me due in part this being an established thing elsewhere in the game: Gridanian from Gridania, Ul'dahn from Ul'dah, Limsian (La Noscean is also something I've seen) from Limsa, Doman from Doma etc. This is just what I observed in game and thus applied it to Sharlaya/Sharlayan.

[Ashe]

Hrmmmmm

Sharlayan (is there no n at the end of it in the english version of the game?) was a city of scholars and probably the most knowledgable group of people about Allag and aether. It seems like it was a pretty exclusive society...and it wouldn't have a peasant population as it was literally all scholars and scholar families? 

 

I could be wrong with my assumption about that though >>

 

Thancred is the only one from Sharlayan that I can think of with a sketchy background and he was a Limsan rogue first...not a rogue in Sharlayan.

 

I COULD BE WRONG THOUGH!!!!

But that's what I think...

[Sounsyy]

Sharlayan, or the Old World as it is also referred to, is an island nation in the far northern Bloodbrine Sea. We do not know much about the city-state admittedly, but this is what we do know. Sharlayan is composed of several smaller isles. It prizes knowledge and higher learning before all else, and as such, offers public education to its citizens at a school known as the Studium.

 

That said, I don't believe its possible for any civilization to not have a lower socioeconomic class in its population, even though Sharlayan's might be very small. A great way to justify this is the Sharlayan exodus of 20 years past. After peace negotiations with Garlemald failed following the fall of Ala Mhigo, the city-state of Sharlayan located in Dravania was abandoned nearly overnight to return north across the Bloodbrine to their island Sharlayan home. Lore from the Sharlayan area, fates, and quests suggest that many of the scholars were forced to leave behind everything, including their life's work. Imagine one such family returning to Sharlayan in such a fashion, empty handed. You could easily say your character's parents were one such family who returned to the Old World with nothing to their name and just never truly recovered financially.

 

Now, there are trading vessels which run the incredibly dangerous sea route from Vylbrand to Sharlayan so that part checks out. If you wanted to make the ride over exciting, know that the route passes through both Sahagin and Garlean controlled waters.

 

 

Here's some more links to lore on Sharlayan:

-Sharlayan Lore

-History of Sharlayan

-In Louisoix's Wake

-The Waning of the Sixth Sun

-Geography of Hydaelyn Lore

[Valence]

As said above, I cannot imagine any nation without a working class. 

 

Or, either way, they had engineers specialized in lower mechanized tasks as cleaning, agriculture and the likes.

 

Also, perhaps a good part of those necessary bothersome tasks actually were traded against sharlayan expertise for food imports and other necessities? For some reason Sharlayan always struck me as the clear opposite of a self sustaining nation... Maybe i'm wrong though.

[Tara]

I think I'll borrow Sounsyy's idea about impoverished scholars...it's leugues better than my own "Mother was a Ishgradian noble, father was a scholar form Sharlayan" thing I had  been trying to pass off as backstory. 

 

I can actually roll with this and make up a viable reason for Neva to be scared of fire...rival scholar still holding a grudge maybe ((Sharlayan has always screamed deadly decadent court to me for some reason.))

 

Since she's only 19 this fits almost like a glove. I know for sure that she's been on her own since she was seven. Since she gets a public education she at least knows how to read and write the basics. 

 

I...don't know how well her being a Duswight/Wildwood mix would work though. I'd personally assume that the two intermarrying in Sharlayan would be no big deal but then that's just me. 

 

The whole perilous journey thing to Eorzea is so going to be a thing...if she snaps out of her haze of omgseasick.

 

Anyway! New backstory is tentatively hashed out. Thank you Sounsyy, Ashe, and Valence for humoring this scrub's question.

 

*Walks off murmuring ideas*

[Eliane Dufresne]

Typing away from my computer here, so I can't double check and link my sources, but I'm playing a character with Sharlayan ancestry as well and I make sure to gobble up Sharlayan lore wherever I can.

 

From memory here...Matoya and the AST quests provide good hints as to the social hierarchy of Sharlayan. There is a council -- the Forum, I think it's called? -- of higher-ranking scholars who oversee all works and who decide whether or not research on a particular subject can continue to be undertaken. The Forum has enough power that they can force you out of society if you piss them off enough, or elevate you if they like your work. They're also known to confiscate and censor what they find threatening. It sounds like in recent years, with the rise of Garlemald especially, Sharlayan censorship is on a sharp rise. They're very jealous with their information because their magic/magitech is the only thing that could realistically rival Garlemald in power. However, it would appear that they don't want a war at any cost, probably because it would result in a ton of lost knowledge, so instead they've become isolationist.

 

Because of all this, it could be very easy for a Sharlayan scholar to "fall from grace", as it were, rather quickly. And if the Forum dislikes you enough, you're gonna stay on the bottom. You can even be exiled and killed for undertaking the wrong research -- they do have their assassins and their crooked lawmen, and they'll send them as far as Eorzea to shut down dissent. In any case I would say yes, your backstory would still work!

 

I highly, highly suggest leveling AST. Even if you never play it, it's a good source on Sharlayan political lore in general.

[Tara]

Typing away from my computer here, so I can't double check and link my sources, but I'm playing a character with Sharlayan ancestry as well and I make sure to gobble up Sharlayan lore wherever I can.

 

From memory here...Matoya and the AST quests provide good hints as to the social hierarchy of Sharlayan. There is a council -- the Forum, I think it's called? -- of higher-ranking scholars who oversee all works and who decide whether or not research on a particular subject can continue to be undertaken. The Forum has enough power that they can force you out of society if you piss them off enough, or elevate you if they like your work. They're also known to confiscate and censor what they find threatening. It sounds like in recent years, with the rise of Garlemald especially, Sharlayan censorship is on a sharp rise. They're very jealous with their information because their magic/magitech is the only thing that could realistically rival Garlemald in power. However, it would appear that they don't want a war at any cost, probably because it would result in a ton of lost knowledge, so instead they've become isolationist.

 

Because of all this, it could be very easy for a Sharlayan scholar to "fall from grace", as it were, rather quickly. And if the Forum dislikes you enough, you're gonna stay on the bottom. You can even be exiled and killed for undertaking the wrong research -- they do have their assassins and their crooked lawmen, and they'll send them as far as Eorzea to shut down dissent. In any case I would say yes, your backstory would still work!

 

I highly, highly suggest leveling AST. Even if you never play it, it's a good source on Sharlayan political lore in general.

Neva is currently an Arcanist, but yes she will definitely 'discover' a set of tarot that belonged to one of her parents (Left with someone they knew from Ishgard...possibly as a memento or for safekeeping. (Mom may have had the Echo that manifested in foreseeing a bit, maybe she knew her daughter would one day meet x person.Thank you Krile for making this canon.)) And your other suggestions are awesome.