A Doman Shrine maiden- how's it sound?

[Mavis]

So ever since I joined (both the game and community) I have been working on my character fitting my ooc main. Only appearance wise of course, not in the matter of ooc achievements portrayed icly. 

She's gone through many iterations, though nothing I was ever really satisfied with, until I finally decided to make her a Doman shrine maiden. 

So since we know little  about Doma so far (I only based the existance of shrine maidens on other posts I have read comparing the doman spirituality as learned from the ninja quests to elemental worship and the shinto-religion of Japan), I had to delve into quite a bit of headcanon-ing.

 

I had the idea of her particular shrine (as they change from shrine to shrine with the deities worshipped there) to have an actual focus on combat. They use their aether (called celestial energy by them, as they believe it to be given to them by their deities) to one:

create seals, small pieces of paper that are imbued with their aether to perform a certain specific action such as a small burst of fire or protective wars. 

And to also bolster their (usually less trained) physical strength, for the feats of the like of breaking stone or denting armor with a strong punch or kick. 

 

 

This would segway into her eventually learning about monks and refining her combat style by training with them, something I want to do icly (especially since many of the interactions could be very interesting, with the difference of culture and beliefs). 

 

The theory in the spoiler is more of a, how to say.."wild" idea that may not be something many people like. I would love to include it, so if you could please give your opinion on it too that would be very nice, but please don't hang me, my imagination runs away with me sometimes .w. (and I get really attached)

 

Ps: I just now realised that it does not show you the source of the post at the start. Rip me wondering why the spoiler function was messed up.

 

 

 

This is based on my characters ancestor who founded the shrine. Her name was Imari, her later families' name. She fought like described above in a monk-wise fashion. During her training on the grounds where in many years their shrine would stand a massive battle had taken place, and without knowledge (as described rare, but possible, in the monk storyline), she was able to open her first chakra. She was of course startled and confused by the sudden rush of power.

 

She found out about only the scale of the battlefield that had spanned the area where she had trained, and believed that ones' strength with the gods would grow stronger if they trained on such grounds, or, by defeating incredible foes. She went on a long journey, to find more such places, and testing her might against others, growing more ruthless as years went by, as her challenges for merely testing strength devolved into a fight for survival, where the defeated had to perish.

 

Once she had grown old, she settled down back in the small village next to the old field where she had first obtained this greater strength, unable to proceed further down this path however, despite the years of searching. She found a husband and had a daughter and passed down her story and experiences. She passed on a soul crystal to her before passing away.

Out of shame for the many vile things her mother had commited through her life, her daughter sealed the crystal away below the shrine and tried to honor her mother's good by continuing the first part of her path. She staid in the shrine and meditated and trained like her mother, but honored to never use her strength against humans unless to protect another.

 

The crystal remained with the other relics below the shrine, imbued only with the first Imari's memory, awaiting another shrine maiden of the Imari family to attain she same feat. As would happen, many generations later with my character. 

 

So in short a shrine maiden who by accident opened her first chakra, and who due to cultural differences and beliefs uses the same source of power in a different style (I envisioned that she would rather manipulate her aether into something sliiightly exterior to allow for a fighting style surrounding slashes instead of punches as the strength unleashed with punching would be destructive to her body (such as breaking her hand or lower arm trying to punch through someone in full armor as she is physically meek, sort of as a more literal and reworked fists of fire (spirit claws basically)))

 

[Virella]

Not to be an arse, but chakras are really only a Fist or Rhalgr/Monk thing : < Surely it can happen, but if I'm really honest? So, so, so many do this, and it is getting old very fast. I eye twitch every time I see it, and I know lots of other roleplayers do this as well.

 

Being a Monk isn't just a technique of fighting. It is devoting your whole life to Rhalgr. It is all about training, killing, meditating, Rhalgr this, Rhalgr that, Ala Mhigo boohoo, Temple this ect. And finding a person who can teach you to fight like a Monk isn't going to drop out of the heavens on demand, especially in Othard. It is sadly enough an Ala Mhigan only job in that sense, like Dragoon is an Ishgardian only thing or Ninja a Doman thing. Surely you can find loopholes like the one described above, but ask you would it make for a good character, or just complicate it? (And lets ignore the WoL for a second here, because the person really isn't a Fist but a special snowflake who masters everything in a heartbeat.)

 

If I were you? I would just go towards Ninja seeming that appears to so much fitting for a Doman character. But it is your character in the end, I'm just cautioning you against it due to well, lore. Pugilist might be more where you want to go for. They can achieve awesome things as well. Hells, you don't even need to be a Pugilist or Monk to fight with flashy Aether effects as a melee user. One of the Heavenwards Knights infuses his axe with thunder/lightening. But he isn't suddenly named an axe wielding Monk despite adding an 'elemental/Aether' touch to his fighting style..

[111]

This sounds like making a Paladin that's never been involved with the Sultansworn.

 

 

You could be something like a paladin, that fights and acts like one. However you'd never actually be one, your experience and knowledge and powers would not come from the same place. I suggest just playing whatever you want, use whatever class you want to represent it, and don't try to shoehorn it into an existing lore background.

[Mavis]

Thank you two for your feedback o/

 

I am actually surprised, was not what I expected. I am used to needing to have a strong basis in lore to point to in order to justify whatever you created. The monk way was the closest to what I had in mind so I tried to build it of that so it had a form of context in the world. Not needing to base if of that is kind of a relief honestly since it was more a pain than anything else, so I really need to thank you for that, leaves more room for creativity. 

 

Wont really base myself of a ninja however, the ninjutsu may be cool for representing seals, but as soon as the daggers come out..not so much. ^^"

[Cheezie]

Thank you two for your feedback o/

 

I am actually surprised, was not what I expected. I am used to needing to have a strong basis in lore to point to in order to justify whatever you created. The monk way was the closest to what I had in mind so I tried to build it of that so it had a form of context in the world. Not needing to base if of that is kind of a relief honestly since it was more a pain than anything else, so I really need to thank you for that, leaves more room for creativity. 

 

Wont really base myself of a ninja however, the ninjutsu may be cool for representing seals, but as soon as the daggers come out..not so much. ^^"

 

You could always use conjury or thaumtergy as well since a lot of Shinto spells are done primarily through chants & prayers, there are various 1handed and 2 handed items that make for nature focus icons, I am honestly surprised this game doesn't have a Khakkhara, or a shide

[Nodem]

The monk way was the closest to what I had in mind so I tried to build it...

 

You could use Monk as the basis of the character still but instead the character would be a martial artist. A good example is my own character, Aoi. While I'm bound by game mechanics to look exactly like a Machinist, she isn't one. She'd be somewhere between gunslinger and gun mage. Which sounds a lot like Machinist, looks a lot like a machinist, and is supported by Machinist lore, but isn't a Machinist. Sorry, no cool robots for me. D:

 

Which all of this is a longer version of what McBeef said pretty much. However, I found your story intriguing and would love my alt to possibly come in contact with this character. I think it might be interesting for the both of them.

[Warren Castille]

There's also the argument that even carefully hidden arts can be justifiably learned by someone outside of the usual ways except succor, let's not go there. All Fists of Rhalgr use chakras, but not all chakra users necessarily have to be Fists. Someone could have broken their oaths and helped develop the technique outside of Ala Mhigo. A Sultansworn could have showed secret paladin techniques to those not affiliated with Ul'dah. We know there's more than one form of Thaumaturgy around because the game does allude with a wink and a nod to the original 1.0 THM schools.

 

Is it snowflakey? Yeah, sure, but it's also your character and your backstory, so do as you will.

[111]

Thank you two for your feedback o/

 

I am actually surprised, was not what I expected. I am used to needing to have a strong basis in lore to point to in order to justify whatever you created. The monk way was the closest to what I had in mind so I tried to build it of that so it had a form of context in the world. Not needing to base if of that is kind of a relief honestly since it was more a pain than anything else, so I really need to thank you for that, leaves more room for creativity. 

 

 

See the thing is about FFXIV is that the 'Classess' such as GLD or Archer, are very generic, and can very easily come from a wide variety of backgrounds and places. 

 

Lots of places have lancers, for example. It's just a person who uses a spear in a certain way.

 

Jobs are different, they're tied to organizations and peoples. They're very rare specialties that do certain things that are otherwise unheard of. 

 

For example, Dragoons kill dragons. Only Ishgard has dragoons because no one needs dragons killed. Paladins guard the Sultana, other places don't have a sultana. There is some leeway, but unlike the Classes, you're not meant to generalize on the abilities of the Jobs. They're very specific.

[Caspar]

Given the conditions shown in the Monk storyline, it is not inconceivable to unintentionally open a chakra without even knowing about them, should the character fill the same prerequisites. Put a person in the right battlefield with the right surfeit of violent aether and it will work if the conditions are met. There's nothing saying that it is an Ala Mhigan only technique and it is characterized as a universal metaphysical concept with your body and essence as far as I was able to understand. Therefore, the higher, more advanced chakra manipulation is probably something you could only learn from a Fist because it involves specific encounters with other chakra manipulators, but just like wuxia, your potential to unlock "internal technique" doesn't magically disappear from not being FoR. They are the best at it, but universal potential is universal, albeit probably not widely known outside the order.

 

That being said, just knowing how to manipulate aether in the manner of a monk doesn't make you a FoR.