discussion Roleplaying a Xaela of the Sagahl Tribe

[Kaiserin]

Hello everyone,

 

I am interested in roleplaying an Au'ra from the Sagahl tribe, and their little lore snippet says this:

 

"A tribe which sees all beastkin as equals with man, therefore refuses to eat or use them as beasts of burden. As a result, the diet of the Sagahl mainly consists of steppe shrubs and vilekin."

 

My questions stem from how far they take these decrees. For example, in regards to the beasts, are they willing to drink milk from animals or use their fur, so long as they aren't harmed in any manner? I am thinking they probably wouldn't though, if they truly see them as equals to their own race. Afterall, most Au'ra would not drink the milk of one another (save for babies) or then shave their hair off to use for clothing, as an example. (I hope!)

 

Is there anything in the lore to suggest otherwise? Even just a NPC?

 

And also, what kind of clothing do they wear? If any at all.. I discussed this with another person who studies history, and even he thinks they are probably a 'stunted' sortof people who likely don't wear much, if any clothing at all. We thought of various plants that might be harvested and turned into workable fibers by hand (like jute or cotton), but it would be incredibly tedious and difficult without animals to help plant and otherwise. That's assuming those types of plants grow in Othard to begin with.

 

The other thought was that maybe they use magic to help with such things, but I'd hate to immediately jump to that conclusion.. Another thought was that they somehow use the vilekin (like the huge ants) to help work, given they also eat these creatures, so they would likely have no trouble making them into workers as well.

 

I would appreciate any thoughts or insight from anyone who happened to read through my long post! Thank you in advance. :cactuar:

[Kilieit]

There's shockingly little info about the huge majority of xaela tribes. That paragraph is all of the official lore that exists on the Sagahl tribe, including NPC dialogues, gossip bubbles, and quest texts.

 

So in other words:

 

What do you feel is reasonable? Fun? What inspires you to write about your character? What helps you form them more clearly in your mind, and helps you to write them more fluently?

 

What is most likely to play nicely with other players, who might have different ideas? Where there's no official ruling, it's best to bear in mind that your ideas may differ from those of other players, and that you need to be prepared to reconcile and compromise for "random RP" where such situations arise.

 

Looking to similar or parallel IRL societies for inspiration can probably help, as can looking to fictional societies from other settings with similar values. And holding out hope that the lore book has something in it on this topic, I guess...

[Tortles]

Based on that text, I figure they would not drink milk or animal products, as that might be considered using them as a beast of burden. I can't imagine they use vilekin as their work animals, so they probably just hunt them occasionally, or potentially harvest them.

 

As far as clothing, plenty of clothing is made from plant fibers in this game, so you could argue that! Probably naturally gathered rather than farmed, so they wouldn't need animals.

[Kilieit]

Yeah as far as farming goes you also gotta remember they're nomads - so you're looking at hunting/gathering (in your case, the "hunting" being "hunting for whatever's ripe right now") rather than cultivation.

 

Maybe the migration patterns are based primarily on what nuts, berries, and clothing fibres are ready for harvesting in which area of the land at which time of year?

 

Idk I feel like I should be looking up examples of IRL people who live in a similar manner, but...

[Gerel Kha]

As Kilieit said, there isn't a whole ton to draw upon for the Xaela as a people. On one side? This gives you a tremendous amount of wiggle room, which is even supported by the fact that it's not uncommon for entire tribes to go unnoticed/undocumented. On the other? It means you'll have to determine what's good for you with little-to-no lore to help.

 

Study Mongolian culture a bit, since that's what they're (loosely) based on, and then maybe start to cherry pick and tweak aspects you find interesting. For instance, horses were a big thing for the nomadic Mongols, and I imagine that's equally true for the Xaela. So how do the Sagahl deal with this?

 

For clothing? It apparently varies between tribe. One tribe makes armor from the bones of tigers, while another wears nothing at all, save a paste they make to endure the heat. I'd imagine the Sagahl may make bits of armor from the vilekin they kill. A reason to wear the Vath armor, maybe?

 

On the point of farming/supplies: maybe the Sagahl have done some trading with the Dalamiq? Or another one of the few tribes that have abandoned the nomadic lifestyle? Vilekin parts for this and that to be used for- this and that. Something to help compensate for what they can't gather regularly.

 

In the end, one of the fun (but also frustrating) things about playing Xaela is that you're free to be very creative with the character, but you're gonna have to be ready for differences in opinion and interpretation, as Kilieit pointed out. It definitely comes up, sooner or later.

[Kaiserin]

Hey! Thanks for the responses!

 

Been trying to research some real life hunter-gatherer tribes, and so far all use animals to some degree, but a good few wear little to no clothing, as it's not really needed in some cases or for one reason or another, they simply don't. To me, this sortof makes sense for the Sagahl, given they don't have husbandry of any kind (or so we can assume, at least.)

 

I'm going to keep looking, so I can try to draw some parallels from real life groups, if at all possible.

[Chidori]

Maybe look at Vegans. It sounds very similar. Question would be does it extend to more bug like creatures. It would really cut down options for clothing if it does extend to that. Hempen clothing would be an option.

[Kilieit]

Question would be does it extend to more bug like creatures. It would really cut down options for clothing if it does extend to that. Hempen clothing would be an option.

 

It says they eat vilekin (I presume as a protein source), so bugs are on the table. (Literally.) I really liked Gerel Kha's suggestion of using the Vath armour to represent Sagahl-style clothes.

[Kaiserin]

The thing is, where would they get clothing made of plant fibers? I suppose they could trade with the friendly tribes for such, but it makes more sense to me that they might even go nude or then wear little to no clothing. (Or, as mentioned by others in the thread, maybe use carapaces or pieces of the vilekin. Or then somehow make a little bit of clothing from the shrubs..)

 

A lot of the tribes seem like they are inspired by more than just the Mongolians, to me, though this is only speculation on my part. It seems there might be some inspiration from other Asian tribes tossed in there, especially in the case of those that are more coastal and such. (And the one who covers themselves only in mud, as an example!)

 

I may just end up having my own small tribe that she's from, in the end, given it's definitely a possibility. There's just too many questions with some of the other listed tribes that I'm not sure I feel comfortable answering. :?

[Kilieit]

Yeah... I went with making my own tribes (Aghurlal's been in two) because it meant I had complete freedom to come up with flavour, daily living, and tribe history without running into the issue of potentially disagreeing with someone else about essentially made-up details.

 

There's a certain amount to be said for "just do it anyway! be bold! ignore the haters!", but I know from experience that it takes a certain type of personality to find doing that fun. And this is meant to be fun, so...

 

You lose the networking possibilities, though. I have a Malaguld as well and though I haven't started RPing on him yet, but when I do, I think asking for other Malaguld to connect with is one of the first things I'm gonna do. That's not a possibility on Aghurlal.

 

That said, I don't know how many other Sagahl there are around anyway (from what I've seen of the RP community, there are lots of members of a few tribes - less so of others), so... swings and roundabouts

 

That'd be interesting, actually. Survey of what au ra tribes people roleplay, with options being the canon ones and another tickbox for "fan-made". Difficult to find a decent sample on, though, considering all methods of gathering one introduce a pretty heavy bias...

[Kaiserin]

I haven't been actively rp'ing much in game recently, but so far I have really only seen Dotharls and Malagulds. I saw one Kha, and I play another char which is a Goro, but I haven't seen a whole lot beyond that.

 

I really like the idea of doing my own thing, but you're right in that it leaves no one to connect with, unless I happen to coerce a friend into making a char of the same tribe. I don't mind that at all though, as I can use it in her story. (As in, her tribe was scattered, absorbed, or maybe killed off, unfortunately.)

 

Gah, what to do!

[Gerel Kha]

The three most common Xaela tribes I see are Dotharl, Malaguld, and Kha--throw a stone at the Quicksand, and you're likely to hit one of 'em. Me included! Ejinn, Borlaaq, Arulaq, and Himaa are the close seconds. 

 

If you wanna play a Xaela who may have a bunch of influences to draw upon, you could always go with Kahkol: a tribe of orphans and refugees from defeated or destroyed tribes. That way, you can keep the self-made tribe and practices without running into (as many) issues regarding conflicting info and fanon from other tribes.

 

You get to do your own thing, to a degree, while putting yourself in the shoes of an established tribe. 

 

Another thing you can do if you choose to go with the self-made tribe is put up a post explaining it, after you've worked out details. Maybe some lone Xaela wanderers have crossed paths with your tribe, or others will find the concept interesting enough to work with you on it.

 

To sum it all up, though, from everything in this thread? Xaela are hard, man.

[ExAtomos]

The thing is, where would they get clothing made of plant fibers?

 

You can make cloth out of tree bark and fibrous plants or grasses (cotton, hemp, and linen are in game. Other irl options include fabric made from kudzu or papyrus, as well as barkcloth).

 

For the whole "how to deal with animals" thing, look at this wiki on a specific part of Jainism. And this CNN article on The Mundari, a tribe that reveres cows.

[Kaiserin]

Just wanted to thank everyone once again for your responses to the post!

 

I went ahead and made her a Kahkol, though she will have her own tribe which I'm making myself which would have been scattered/absorbed/killed (haven't fully decided) otherwise. That way, she has a reason for joining the aforemention Kahkol tribe. Now to do even more reading and research.

 

Thanks again! :moogle:

[Charity322]

I'd think that the major problem would be dealing with the amount of quests/leves/dungeons/FATEs that require you to kill animals. Would it make a difference if they're hostile and/or potentially evil?

[ExAtomos]

I'd think that the major problem would be dealing with the amount of quests/leves/dungeons/FATEs that require you to kill animals. Would it make a difference if they're hostile and/or potentially evil?

 

Easy, don't do those IC.

[Charity322]

Easy' date=' don't do those IC.[/quote']

 

Yeah, but what if you wanted to do them IC? Do people really never RP adventuring at all?

[Gerel Kha]

Easy, don't do those IC.

 

Yeah, but what if you wanted to do them IC? Do people really never RP adventuring at all?

 

Some do, some don't. A lot of people like to separate their gameplay from their RP, to an extent, since they may not be an adventurer who's going around killing everything for the experience, rewards, and thrills.

[ExAtomos]

Easy, don't do those IC.

 

Yeah, but what if you wanted to do them IC? Do people really never RP adventuring at all?

 

From what I have read here and encountered in game, the vast majority do not RP as the Warrior of Light, which is what you are due to the events of the msq. I have done quite a few RP dungeons, but the reasons we go in have nothing to do with the quest the game offers.

 

In the case of the Sagahl, if you held to the tenets of the tribe and harmed no animals, you would be stopped by the level 1 quest that has you go out and kill 3 types of animals. You literally cannot go through msq as a Sagahl unless as one who has deviated and now kills animals.

 

On a side note... think of the Qestir who believe all words are lies and choose not to speak. Yet many cutscenes show your character retelling events that just occurred to a npc that wasn't present for the fight (or whatever). Interesting philosophical conundrum there.

[Charity322]

Yeah, I didn't mean as the WoL. But even your first class quest makes you go out and kill things and gives you a hunting log of things to kill and that has nothing to do with the WoL.

 

It's hard to get by in Eorzea without killing anything. So that's why I wondered if there was an exception for things that want to eat you/things that want to do bad things to the world.

[Kilieit]

Plenty of people get by in Eorzea without killing anything. Adventurers are an outlying minority, and most of the things we see as player-characters do not represent every day life as an average Eorzean citizen because, as ExAtomos said, the game is shown to us through the eyes of the Warrior of Light.

 

Arguably, it'd be easier to get by as a Sagahl in Eorzea than on the Steppes - there's a merchant infrastructure where you can work for someone, earn money, then buy clothes, grain, bread, fruit, canvas tents, and so on and so forth, rather than having to collect and make everything yourself.

 

Assuming, that is, that the character was ignorant (willfully or otherwise) of the methods those items were obtained by.

 

(Side note - I assume "animals" definitely means "beastkin" and probably means "cloudkin", but I wonder if wavekin (fish, etc) count...)

[Kaiserin]

I am personally not one of those types that take every in-game thing into my roleplay, and generally (at least in other games), I stray away from that entirely. I often separate in-game mechanics and ideas from rp entirely, unless it makes sense to do so otherwise. (Just as an example, I don't do the level = RP strength thing.) I know that leves and such are a thing that has lore behind it, so I'm okay with that, but.. Some of the things in this game that have lore behind them I absolutely would never RP, and would find it just strange to do so otherwise.

 

To each their own! Just my style of doing things, I guess. :chocobo:

 

Either way! I went ahead and made her a Kahkol tribe member, with her original tribe having a reverence for animals found on the steppe (amongst some other little ideas, based on some research I did.) Should be fun.