I will not let my legacy die with me....(background check)

[Yunas13]

 

Meet Lady Yuuna Dreamsong (I know she looks like Yuna from X/X-2, but I promise that she isn't going to be her in-game or in my fanfiction.)

 

Here is what I've got so far on backstory and I wanted to run this by you all to be sure that I'm staying in the correct borders this time.

 

Yuuna is the daughter of Alex and Luna Dreamsong, a talented weaver and a talented goldsmith, they open a shop that uses both of their talents which they call Dreamsong. (please correct me on the Garlean lore as I'm hoping that I've got the lore right for this), her parents disappeared when they went to Eorzea when Yuuna had been 16 years old, it had been 5 years since the Calamity, she is now 21 and has become a very successful weaver/goldsmith herself and owner of her parents' shop. She was born an raised on a small island that is located several malms (is that right? Trying to get a good distance from the mainland) off the coast of Othard, the island is called the Kingdom of Rydian.

 

About this time, the Kingdom holds a ball where she is inadvertently picked as Princess, the details are still a mystery on how she was selected but after being Princess for 2 years, Rydian is prospering under her guidance. Her guardian and chosen future husband, Lord Byron, is her military commander along with Keiki Saito, who is her friend and advisor, they alert her to the Garleans making moves toward their kingdom. Her people care for her so much that they risk everything to save her life.

 

The garleans arrive and before they can make landfall, the officials and Byron have Yuuna escape on a merchant vessel. She is disguised, however, the garleans seem to know of her escape and have one of their own board the same ship and try to poison her. Somehow she is transformed from Hyur to Au Ra, the only thing that doesn't change is her eye color. She meets up with Yugiri's fleet as they flee Doma and arrives in Ul'dah with the other refugees.

 

I would be grateful for any guidance on the garleans/Yugiri's passage time frame. I don't want to have Yuuna be the wrong age and definitely not have her in the right lore setting.

 

This is just a brief idea that has been in my head for a while. I've been keeping your advice in my head on what works and what doesn't work. She will be a Summoner/White Mage. The High Summoner Garb isn't mainly the Summoner attire but the royal garb that she choses to wear for royal events and such. She brings it with her to be the only reminder of her former home.

 

Thank you all for reading. I will be referencing the Wiki for more ideas to add to this fanfiction.

[LiadansWhisper]

Meet Lady Yuuna Dreamsong (I know she looks like Yuna from X/X-2' date=' but I promise that she isn't going to be her in-game or in my fanfiction.)[/quote']

 

I know you're saying she has nothing to do with Yuna from FFX, but...you named her Yuuna and she's dressed in Yuna's outfit. So this is kinda hard to believe.

 

Yuuna is the daughter of Alex and Luna Dreamsong, a talented weaver and a talented goldsmith, they open a shop that uses both of their talents which they call Dreamsong. (please correct me on the Garlean lore as I'm hoping that I've got the lore right for this), her parents disappeared when they went to Eorzea when Yuuna had been 16 years old, it had been 5 years since the Calamity, she is now 21 and has become a very successful weaver/goldsmith herself and owner of her parents' shop. She was born an raised on a small island that is located several malms (is that right? Trying to get a good distance from the mainland) off the coast of Othard, the island is called the Kingdom of Rydian.

 

About this time, the Kingdom holds a ball where she is inadvertently picked as Princess, the details are still a mystery on how she was selected but after being Princess for 2 years, Rydian is prospering under her guidance. Her guardian and chosen future husband, Lord Byron, is her military commander along with Keiki Saito, who is her friend and advisor, they alert her to the Garleans making moves toward their kingdom. Her people care for her so much that they risk everything to save her life.

 

Okay, here's my second question - you say the island she is on forms the Kingdom of Rydian, and that she became its Princess. However, you also say that she was chosen or elected (this seems to be unclear, tbh). "Kingdom" and "Princess" imply a monarchy. However, monarchies are not democratic. Monarchies generally pass via lineage. So can you expound a bit more on this?

 

The garleans arrive and before they can make landfall, the officials and Byron have Yuuna escape on a merchant vessel. She is disguised, however, the garleans seem to know of her escape and have one of their own board the same ship and try to poison her. Somehow she is transformed from Hyur to Au Ra, the only thing that doesn't change is her eye color. She meets up with Yugiri's fleet as they flee Doma and arrives in Ul'dah with the other refugees.

 

Is she a Hyur or an Au Ra? The pictures seem to indicate she's Hyur. Your text here seems to indicate that she was poisoned (??) and it transformed (??) her into an Au Ra? Am I misunderstanding?

 

This is just a brief idea that has been in my head for a while. I've been keeping your advice in my head on what works and what doesn't work. She will be a Summoner/White Mage.

 

I'll be honest - this gives me real pause. So, in addition to being an accomplished and successful Weaver and Goldsmith, she is also both a Summoner and a White Mage? Both Summoner and White Mage are lost arts. Summoner dates from the Allagan era, and nearly all information about it was lost for quite some time. It is only just now making a small resurgence. White Magic was deliberately hidden for hundreds of years, owing to the abuses of Amdapor, and the Padjal of Gridania are currently restricting who can actually learn Succor. The odds of being accomplished at one are quite slim already. Being accomplished at both almost beggars belief. Being accomplished at Summoner and White Mage and a successful Weaver and a successful Goldsmith is...it's a little over the top. I'm not even going to lie. That's a little too much on one character.

[ArmachiA]

Queen Amidala. Checkmate Liadan!

 

:lol:

 

But in all seriousness, do you mean Conjurer or the actual title of White Mage? Also all of Liadan's questions.

[Gegenji]

While you say she isn't Yuna, it does seem she is at least taking some inspiration from her - if not in the looks department, then in the idea of her being a Summoner/White Mage. Which isn't a bad thing, mind you, it's not wrong to take ideas and mash them with your own to make something new. The big thing to keep in mind is having a reason behind it beyond "the inspiration also is that."

 

As such, I have a simple question for you: Why would she need to become a White Mage/Summoner? Putting aside that current White Mages are mostly the Padjali of Gridania and the Warrior of Light (because of his special snowflake-ness), what does it add to your character? Does she NEED to be a White Mage, or a Summoner, or even have any sort of combat ability at all? I know mechanically you "have" to have a combat class in the game, but in RP... it really isn't needed unless you want to have a combat-heavy character.

 

And, as it has been kind of alluded to, she is apparently pretty heavy on skills as it is. The weaving and goldsmithing flow narratively - it's what her parents did and she learned and honed those skills from taking over their shop after they disappeared. But where is the sudden talent for conjury and ancient arcanima coming from?

 

Looking at it, I might have a bit of a solution? If you absolutely want healing and "summoning" as a sort of combat kit for your character (which, again, isn't really required)... perhaps look into the Scholar? It's a healing class with a summonable ally in the Fairy. Plus, you might have a bit of a story hook as to how your character would stumble across that in Byron.

 

Nymian Scholars were also the nation's tacticians - and were part of why the much smaller nation was able to keep up with the powerful nations of Mhach and Amdapor. A small island nation dealing with a superior enemy force? Sounds like something the tactician of a small island nation under assault from the Garleans would want to know about! The three of them head out to the Nymian ruins, plot happens, and Yuuna ends up with the necessary soul crystal (and accompanying Fairy) to start her on that path. If you really want to play with the lore of Nym and information brought on in the Job quests - perhaps Byron could end up being more of a Nymian Marine like the quest giver in the SCH chain does.

 

Or, if you want to go truly off the rails some... why do you have to define your character to an existent class and/or job (single or combination). I have a character who is a Judgemaster - I use the DRK job as a "placeholder" - but he's really just a big guy who uses a big sword and yells about rules a lot. No actual Darkside stuff or anything.

 

So, maybe Yuuna could be... (if you have to assign a name to the "profession") a Princess class, taking inspiration from the original Final Fantasy Tactics. So she knows a few special techniques taught to the leaders of her people. Healing and supportive abilities. Then that could tie into her being "chosen" as leader of her nation - the ball is a pretense to gauge who among them has the best natural ability to learn these special techniques. And then the "actual" leading is likely done by those who aid her - such as Byron and Keiki, in this case - while she serves as a sort of symbolic figurehead and retains the special techniques of their nation.

 

That way, she has the skills she has learned (Weaving/Goldsmithing) and an innate talent perhaps unique to her people (the "Princess" ability) that they'd want to protect, puts the success of her nation on her staff rather than a young girl somehow also being an amazing leader... and it all flows a bit better than saying she's somehow also able to learn ancient Amdaporian and Allagan magics.

 

I'd also ask why she has to be a Hyur who became an Au Ra rather than just being an Au Ra to begin with... or perhaps one disguised (perhaps poorly, due to the haste of escape) as the other. Yugiri tried to pass herself off as a non-Au Ra for a while, after all.

 

Just thoughts.

[SapphireSkylines]

Hey! So small suggestion. I know you said that her being picked as princess was entirely random at a ball/celebration. Maybe you could make it less random. I know some religions pick leadership in very special ways, for example the Dalai Lama is picked right after the last Dala Lama has passed and is chosen if they live under a certain star. (I could be wrong on this) But the point is that a young boy or baby is picked because they display a certain characteristic and they are taken to the temple to be trained as the next religious leader.

 

Maybe your character had a certain characteristic or skill that royal officials caught onto and that's how she became the princess after the last princess/queen/king either passed away or gave up their title.

[Ellmida]

As you know this is all advice, you are perfectly free to go the route you think is best. Let me start by saying that my usual default to characters and backgrounds is the K.I.S.S. Rule (keep it simple stupid<-I think someone added the last word because they needed an extra S and weren't very creative)

 

That being said It sounds like you made your choices based on what would be most interesting or unique. Yuuna appears to have an acute case of Main Character Syndrome, which is great for writing a novel or a tv series but honestly the same attributes you can want for a main character also tend to carry over poorly when trying to role play with others. Role Play has no true main character, you're trying to tell your story while also helping to build the stories of others and it can be wholly unpredictable how this plays out, the way you seem to present your character however would suggest the main focus be on her and would crowd out others in attempt to cater to your own character's needs, wants and desires.

 

Another matter I notice is the complexity of her backstory which can make her less relatable and surprisingly less interesting and that's where we come into KISS again, does it need to be this way when something can be explained this way?

 

 

Yuuna is the daughter of Alex and Luna Dreamsong, a talented weaver and a

talented goldsmith, they open a shop that uses both of their talents which they call Dreamsong. (please correct me on the Garlean lore as I'm hoping that I've got the lore right for this), her parents disappeared when they went to Eorzea when Yuuna had been 16 years old, it had been 5 years since the Calamity, she is now 21 and has become a very successful weaver/goldsmith herself and owner of her parents' shop. She was born an raised on a small island that is located several malms (is that right? Trying to get a good distance from the mainland) off the coast of Othard, the island is called the Kingdom of Rydian.

This sounds great! why does it have to be more than that? it tells us everything we need to know, creates a sense of loss and tells us she has skill in something. Plus it creates plot bunnies for others to follow, why did her parents leave her? Why didn't she follow them right away?

 

About this time, the Kingdom holds a ball where she is inadvertently picked as Princess, the details are still a mystery on how she was selected but after being Princess for 2 years, Rydian is prospering under her guidance. Her guardian and chosen future husband, Lord Byron, is her military commander along with Keiki Saito, who is her friend and advisor, they alert her to the Garleans making moves toward their kingdom. Her people care for her so much that they risk everything to save her life.

I would look into explaining why she would be selected princess as in how her island elects a princess. Also does she need to have a future husband? seems like it was thrown in there randomly unless you planned on doing something later. Seems like you could just cut him out of the story and lose nothing especially when Keiiki is the one who warns her. If she is a princess it makes sense to smuggle the ruling class out in the event of an invasion, but does she really have to be a princess? What does it bring to her character that can't be otherwise provided?

 

The garleans arrive and before they can make landfall, the officials and Byron have Yuuna escape on a merchant vessel. She is disguised, however, the garleans seem to know of her escape and have one of their own board the same ship and try to poison her. Somehow she is transformed from Hyur to Au Ra, the only thing that doesn't change is her eye color. She meets up with Yugiri's fleet as they flee Doma and arrives in Ul'dah with the other refugees.

This part I think would raise the most objections because it feels tossed in without rhyme or reason. If the Garleans know of her escape why not just destroy the vessel? It seems a whole lot of extra effort to smuggle someone on board a ship just to poison someone, not to mention spies and assassins are valuable in any empire and with no route of escape it's a basic suicide mission. This is what I mean by KISS, you're creating an assassin plot that is incredibly difficult to explain it's complexity and can be unraveled by tugging a thread, it's entire reason for being there seems to revolve around an explanation for making her an Au Ra, but why does she have to be an Au Ra? If you want to play an Au Ra then why not make her one from the beginning? It would definitely be less confusing for everyone.

 

She will be a Summoner/White Mage. The High Summoner Garb isn't mainly the Summoner attire but the royal garb that she choses to wear for royal events and such. She brings it with her to be the only reminder of her former home.

 

You could definitely work with this and bringing back to the princess aspect you could use this as a reason for why she was chosen? Maybe that's all a princess is in her tiny country, someone trained in complex magic.

 

I don't know, that's all the advice I have to offer, I hope my ramblings have been reasonably useful for your character.

[Kismet]

I think above all else... I'm confused?

 

What exactly is the intention here? Is this character/backstory actually meant for RP? Or are you looking for feedback for some fanfic that you just modeled your character after?

[Sounsyy]

(please correct me on the Garlean lore as I'm hoping that I've got the lore right for this)

 

I would be grateful for any guidance on the garleans/Yugiri's passage time frame.

 

I'm just gonna focus on this bit since other people are commenting on the rest. By the current time, the Far Eastern continent of Othard has been under Garlean control for over twenty-five years. When Doma fell, Othard's remaining resistances fell quickly or relinquished rule over to the Empire. Here's a basic timeline for major events in the Far East:

 

 

1528 (49 y/a) - The Garlean Empire begins its invasion into Othard, attacking Rabanastre and Bozja.

c.1530 - The Othardian nations summon an unknown primal to stall the Garlean advance.

1552 (25 y/a) - The Garleans seize Doma, crushing the last resisting nation in the Far East.

1553 (24 y/a) - With the remaining lands of Othard quickly being annexed, Garlemald turns its attention towards Eorzea and begins attacking Ala Mhigo.

1557 (20 y/a) - Ala Mhigo finally falls after Garlean infiltrators incite civil war in the city-state.

1562 (15 y/a) - After amassing their forces in Ala Mhigo, Garlemald pushes south into Eorzea, seeking to lay claim to Silvertear Lake in Mor Dhona, but are thwarted by Midgardsormr and the Dravanians he calls to war. This singular event, later known as the Battle of Silvertear Skies, is the catalyst for almost every major world event to follow.

1562 cont. - In the massive explosion of aether from Silvertear, the first primals are summoned from the fears of the Beast tribes. From then on, the tribes learn to summon these primals repeatedly against their enemies.

1562 cont. - Garlemald, utterly crushed, retreats to Ala Mhigo and begins construction on Baelsar's Wall to keep the beast tribes and their "eikons" at bay.

1562 cont. - Seeking a method to defeat Eorzea's primals, the Emperor gives the okay for the Midas nan Garlond's and Nael van Darnus's "Meteor Project," seeking to use the power of Dalamud as a weapon against Eorzea. Their first test site is Bozja, the largest commercial hub in Othard.

1562 cont. - Dalamud awakens and a beam of energy evaporates the entire city of Bozja, desolating the entire region. Garlemald attempts to coverup this "Bozja Incident" but it is impossible. Fear spreads throughout Othard. Nael van Darnus takes her failure out on the Othardians, worsening conditions there. The first whispers of resistance begin.

1572 (5 y/a) - Nael van Darnus and her VIIth Legion leave the Far East and occupy Ala Mhigo, driving the slaves there to redouble their military efforts. The VIIth and XIVth Legions harry the city-states, cutting off trade routes in and out of Eorzea and shooting down airships over Eorzean skies. Trade between the Far East and Eorzea begins to dwindle.

1572 cont. - The second incarnation of the Meteor Project comes to fruition in the recently Garlean occupied Mor Dhona. Dalamud descends upon Eorzea. The XIVth Legion retreats to Ala Mhigo to crush Ala Mhigan resistance there. The VIIth Legion entrenches itself in Mor Dhona, sending out cohorts to attack the city-states.

1572 cont. - The Calamity and the start of the 7th Umbral Era. The calendar Year resets to Year 1. For the next 5 years, the XIVth Legion pushes into Eorzea, creating castrums to prepare for another round of invasion. However, all further aggression halts as Garlean Emperor Solus zos Galvus's health sharply declines.

0005 7th Umbral Era (~1 y/a) - Operation Archon. The Eorzean Alliance pushes back in a unified assault on all Garlean castrums, rooting any planned Imperial advance. Gaius van Baelsar, legatus of the XIVth Legion is slain. The empire quickly sends reinforcements to the Eorzean castrums to hold their position.

0001 7th Astral Era (~1 y/a) - Solus zos Galvus passes. A War of Succession breaks out between the Emperor's youngest son and the Emperor's grandson. During this War of Succession, the resistance in Doma rebels, taking back several cities and towns from the Garleans.

0001 cont. - The War of Succession ends abruptly with the grandson, Varis zos Galvus, taking control over his uncle. Varis tightens his grip on the East, the Doman rebellion is put down, its capitol is razed, and anyone captured associated with the rebellion is publicly executed alongside their families as an example to Othard's other peoples.

0001 cont. - Yugiri and any surviving Doman refugees sail to the nation of Hingashi (and its cities Kugane and Bukyo) seeking asylum. Hingashi refuses them. The refugees sail to Thavnair. They are also refused there. Yugiri then turns towards Eorzea, sailing for two months to reach Vesper, whereupon Ul'dah also refuses them aid. The Doman refugees finally settle in a border town in Mor Dhona called Revenant's Toll.

 

 

Hopefully that'll give you a better idea of a timeline to work with. The main problem I see with the Garlean portion of this story is that apparently Garlemald is attacking this island nation for the first time around the time of Doma's fall, when it theoretically would've already been under Garlean annexation since before your character was born. An easy work-around for that, is that this kingdom of Rydian aided in the Doman insurgency and now the Garleans are coming to punish them. Though a pertinent tenant of Garlean occupation is that the former leadership of annexed nations are given over to the Empire. Perhaps this character was heir to the throne before the Imperial occupation and it was all kept a secret, making this character the hope for a continued line of succession should the throne ever be restored? That would make a very compelling reason for her to flee the nation when the Garleans were coming to kill everyone.

 

Hope this helps!

[LiadansWhisper]

Queen Amidala. Checkmate Liadan!

 

This ain't Star Wars! But that is, indeed, why I asked for clarification.

[Yunas13]

Sorry for the late reply! I know my history on royalty as I'm a history fanatic! ☺ My favorite royal is Queen Victoria, to answer the question about the royalty path I'm considering is from an iPad/iPhone game called Midnight Cinderella. The story is You, a commoner, have now become princess of the entire country of Wysteria!

The first job as “princess” is to find the prince who will rule beside you. You soon find yourself surrounded with a cast of nine highly eligible bachelors…

However, you can only pick one!

Who will rule beside you at the throne?!

 

http://otomeobsessed.com/midnight-cinderella

 

I love Yuna from X/X-2 so I thought about just making a look a like but with longer hair as an idea of her older and paying homage to my favorite. I should of clarified about the jobs, that is all they are, I've decided to go a route where Yuuna/Althena (torn on the first name) is a beastmaster like the spec in World of Warcraft. Instead of being a summoner she's a hunter who fights with her animal companions (I.e. Mounts) She's going to be a caster!

 

I plan to dye the garb as I love the original style but for my idea, I'm thinking royal blue. ☺

 

I agree that the lore might not work so I'm going to negate that idea and pick a different spot in the game where she could come to Eorzea.

 

I hope I've cleared things up a bit better! ☺?

[LiadansWhisper]

Sorry for the late reply! I know my history on royalty as I'm a history fanatic! ☺ My favorite royal is Queen Victoria, to answer the question about the royalty path I'm considering is from an iPad/iPhone game called Midnight Cinderella. The story is You, a commoner, have now become princess of the entire country of Wysteria!

The first job as “princess” is to find the prince who will rule beside you. You soon find yourself surrounded with a cast of nine highly eligible bachelors…

However, you can only pick one!

Who will rule beside you at the throne?!

 

http://otomeobsessed.com/midnight-cinderella

 

I love Yuna from X/X-2 so I thought about just making a look a like but with longer hair as an idea of her older and paying homage to my favorite. I should of clarified about the jobs, that is all they are, I've decided to go a route where Yuuna/Althena (torn on the first name) is a beastmaster like the spec in World of Warcraft. Instead of being a summoner she's a hunter who fights with her animal companions (I.e. Mounts) She's going to be a caster!

 

I plan to dye the garb as I love the original style but for my idea, I'm thinking royal blue. ☺

 

I agree that the lore might not work so I'm going to negate that idea and pick a different spot in the game where she could come to Eorzea.

 

I hope I've cleared things up a bit better! ☺?

 

I'm just curious...is there a particular reason why you're fixated on making a character drawn from another game/world? Is there a reason why you don't want to make a character that fits into Eorzea as it's written?

[Yunas13]

I am trying to make a character to fit into Eorzea as it is written. I've been doing what you have told me, draw ideas from other shows/games/etc and rewrite them into a plot that fits Eorzea.

 

I've been told many of my ideas don't work so I've been working my creative side to find a path that isn't overly crazy or impossible to believe. The idea for the princess path is not from another world, I've worked it to be on a small island, not continent like the game's version is, I've changed the name of said kingdom. I did read one wiki where the character's design was based off a character from an anime/video game, so I thought that was ok, that is what I've done.

 

I've done one change my alt, she doesn't have the same dual eye color like Yuna, I've made it a beautiful blue to compliment the rich brown in her hair.

 

It isn't I'm refusing to, it's I'm trying. I'm really tempted to give up the idea of RPing in FF because I've been told no too many times that I'm feeling disappointed and I've been reading up on the lore as much as I can but there is so much I don't really understand as I didn't play in 1.0. I might just focus on doing fanfiction instead or just RP by myself so I can give a little immersion to my play. (did that a lot in Wow).

[Grott]

About this time, the Kingdom holds a ball where she is inadvertently picked as Princess, the details are still a mystery on how she was selected but after being Princess for 2 years, Rydian is prospering under her guidance. Her guardian and chosen future husband, Lord Byron, is her military commander along with Keiki Saito, who is her friend and advisor, they alert her to the Garleans making moves toward their kingdom. Her people care for her so much that they risk everything to save her life.

 

I know my history on royalty

 

Well, I've got some issues here.

 

So, the Star Wars franchise being excluded, princesses are 1. not elected, 2. not given any authority, and 3. are either princess by birth or by marriage.

 

So, the fact that this Yuna-inspired character was given actual sovereignty over an entire nation, because she was prom queen (...?) is a little... off. Especially if we're going to play along with her actually being a competent leader, despite having never run anything, and having her best pal as her only advisor. 

 

And I know we can sit here all day and say "Well magic isn't real either so anything goes" but that's just not true. The FFXIV setting is a little off-the-wall, granted, but it holds together as having a believable society, culture, and government. There are leaders, advisors of all stripes, well maintained militaries, local enforcement divisions, dissenting political opponents in some cases, and an infrastructure.  

 

So how does this government ...work? Who abdicated the throne to Dancing Queen? Do you mean to tell me a government leader said "Well, she was elected by the kids at the dance. Guess my economic stimulus package can wait." Not very believable.

 

Not to rub this all in your face, but this just isn't a very original or plausible idea. You basically just said "my favorite video game character is in the setting of my favorite mobile game, and marries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron this guy (idk if that one was intentional, but Lord Byron is definitely already a famous man) and then has to flee so she goes to the setting of my favorite MMO and now I can play as her." It just needs some flare of originality.

 

And this one isn't just you, there's other people that do this, but I'm just going to vent about it while it's relevant: Can we stop IC race changes? Just retcon it. Saying "I woke up in a different body whooooooa" isn't half as interesting as some people think it is. It's more frustrating than anything, because everyone else is then pulled away from their group narrative, and into some wacky Freaky Friday/Shrek plotline they don't want their characters to be a part of. --Trust me, they don't.

 

And so... you're from Othard, where there are Au Ra, and it would totally make sense to just say "Yeah my kingdom (princessdom/student body president election) was highly Au Ra populated because that's the region I'm from, and I fled here." why complicate it with "I had to flee my nation, THEN I turned into voidsent, THEN I glamoured myself to look Au Ra." Streamlining is key when it comes to backstories because generally speaking, nobody wants to listen to anyone go on and on and on about how sad they are because of whatever-the-hell-who-cares-we-weren't-there. Remember: You're making your own kingdom. You don't need an excuse as to why you're the race you chose. It just helps ease people into your headcanon if you keep it simple.

 

Honestly, I hate being this harsh when people ask for feedback, but you're making about a dozen RP faux pas in your backstory and everyone's being pretty light about it when I know they're just being polite, so I figure I'll just throw in some reality here. But again, You can RP whatever you want, but keep in mind you're playing with other people who may or may not accept it. The more streamlined, plausible, and lore appropriate, the better, when it comes to interacting with other RPers.

[Grott]

It isn't I'm refusing to, it's I'm trying. I'm really tempted to give up the idea of RPing in FF because I've been told no too many times that I'm feeling disappointed and I've been reading up on the lore as much as I can but there is so much I don't really understand as I didn't play in 1.0. I might just focus on doing fanfiction instead or just RP by myself so I can give a little immersion to my play. (did that a lot in Wow).

 

Also, don't give up because people don't like your ideas.

 

Just realize people don't want their immersion broken by things that don't jive. Do a little research, ask some lore questions. It's tough to start RPing in an already established community.

 

I don't like your backstory idea. I'll just lay it out there. I don't think it fits. But that doesn't mean I think you should give up and not RP with people. There's always a give and take. Just work with it. It'll work out.

[Skae]

 

So, the Star Wars franchise being excluded, princesses are 1. not elected, 2. not given any authority, and 3. are either princess by birth or by marriage..

 

Not quite correct. There are actually several different positions that in English are all called Prince/Princess.

The first is of course children/grand-children/other descendants of a monarch. Those are indeed neither elected nor do they usually have any formal authority attached to the prince/princess title.

But there are also rulers of smaller independent territories (principalities) that have the title prince/princess. One real-world example is the Prince of Monaco. Such a prince/princess does have quite a bit of authority attached to the title.

(There are also a bunch of other uses of the prince/princess title. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince for the whole silly mess.)

 

There are such a thing as elective monarchies, so there have been elected kings etc. throughout history I am not familiar with any elected rulers using the title prince/princess, but they could certainly exist.

 

 

On a related note: So far I do not believe we have seen anybody use any of the king/queen/prince/princess titles in Eorzea.

[Gegenji]

It isn't I'm refusing to, it's I'm trying. I'm really tempted to give up the idea of RPing in FF because I've been told no too many times that I'm feeling disappointed and I've been reading up on the lore as much as I can but there is so much I don't really understand as I didn't play in 1.0. I might just focus on doing fanfiction instead or just RP by myself so I can give a little immersion to my play. (did that a lot in Wow).

 

I think the thing to keep in mind here is that the RPC generally cleaves to a lower level of power/influence for their characters. It also does not speak for the entirety of Balmung, as it itself is but a small section of it. So, most of the suggestions being provided are more to turn the character more towards the type of character that they would be willing to interact and RP with.

 

However - and I do kind of hate that it's such a lazy fallback term - it is your character and you are free to do what you want with it. And, fortunately, Balmung is populous enough that you'll likely find someone who is willing to RP with your deposed Princess, but it might take a bit of searching and effort to find those sorts of people. The proffered ideas are simply to help make her more... approachable and more engaging to a wider group of people - or so I'd like to think the suggestions are at their heart. They're just offering ways to tweak your character to be able to more... evenly interact with a wider range of players and lighten that burden of trying to find that niche (or failing to do so, as many "I can't find RP" threads seem to attest to).

 

In the end, the more fantastical the character, the less folks around here are going to like them. Not due to disliking you or your character, but more the simple fact that characters like that tend to... dominate a scene if they're not alongside characters of a similar power/influence level. And there are very few princesses and other high-level movers and shakers among a majority of the RPC regulars. Most of us are shop owners and foot-soldiers and ruffians and thieves. Maybe some minor nobles thrown in here and there, and a few that might be skilled fighters or casters... but the power/influence bar is pretty low around here.

 

... Sorry if I'm being rambly, I'm trying to tweak what I'm saying to be more... clear-cut but I tend to go on tangents.

[Virella]

I'd honestly just go with something easier...

 

"Othardian Hyur noble had to flee due to supporting underground rebellion against the Garlean Empire and got found out" is a lot easier to work then having some super complicated background. That's not to say you can't make a super complicated background, but you're really seeming to stab yourself in the foot at this point.

 

Especially if you don't know much lore, keep it simple!

[Unnamed Mercenary]

I think what a couple of us are trying to say is that while yes, if you're struggling to find a concept, looking at other games and their characters is a good way to see the generic archetypes of what makes a character. Things to derive from this are similar backgrounds, motivations, maybe some personality traits.

 

I would suggest not trying to port a character or concept directly from another game or work. Often times, the wold building just doesn't match up and while a certain amount of kludging can force a square peg into a round hole, there are things that inevitably get stripped or don't fit right and gaps occur.

 

Many of the players here never played 1.0. In fact, the vast majority of them didn't. If they had, perhaps that game wouldn't have flopped and been canceled and remade. There's a lot of lore in the game, but that doesn't mean you need to have a god-like understanding of it to roleplay a character. For probably every lore-stickler out there, you can find another player who's completely ignored the lore as presented in the game. And both can create characters that fit within the world.

 

So what do we have that we can use to make a character?

• Othardian( Doman noble? A princess from a small Othardian kingdom that's fallen?)
  
• Inspired by FFX Yuna (honestly, I think this works fine. Othard is coming out to be very much a catch-all for all Oriental/Far-Eastern cultures and Yuna's summoner outfit doesn't stand out from that aesthetic)
  
• Left her homeland (This is fine as is. There are plenty of good in-world reasons, like the Garlean conquest.)
  
• Beastmaster (This may be a little more difficult. While we could possibly get a beastmaster class later in the game, we don't have too much to work with currently. There are things like carbuncles. Or chocobo companions. Summoner egi are much less common due to how rare it is to be the job summoner, but it's possible that as an Othardian who may have been exposed to many of those currently unknown mini-primal-somethings, that these could be summoned. There's a lot of information here that hasn't been released and we can't really gauge what we're going to get.)
  
• ??? (Remember, this is your character. People here can help, but the final design is still up to you. I can suggest starting with a simpler concept. It's OK o flesh things out as you go and get a feel for the character. It's not like you need a full bio, resume, references and a multiple interviews to RP with someone. I would also suggest keeping other-game references to a minimum. If someone can look at your character and break her down into each reference/piece, then you've gotta worth on the synthesis. It's like making a stew. The ingredients need to be well-mixed so that it's something on it's own, not a bunch of individual pieces broken up and stirred together.)
  

[Nero]

One thing that's important to consider is, what kind of story do you want to tell?

 

Do you want to tell the story of a princess stranded in a far-away land, forced to adapt in a place far from home? The story story of a rebel trying to free their country? The story of a magic-user discovering and interacting with new magic?

 

Or perhaps the story of a princess rebel stranded in a far-away land, trying to free her country by discovering new magic. A combination is totally fine.

 

Figure out exactly what kind of story you'd like to tell with this character, and only add elements that convey the story you want to tell. Anything else excess can be added later, but every piece of the story should ideally have some sort of goal behind it. Why do you want this character to transform from one race to another? Why do you want this character to be royalty? Why does this character need to know magic?

 

Try to justify everything, and I'm sure it will help you have something a bit cleaner.

[Aegir]

What do you want to do with this character? 

 

Like~ do you want to lead a plot line where you gather all allies and they meet for regular rps taking them through this princess plot? Or do you plan to have your princess sit in the Quicksand? Is she mostly going to go to cafes and tavern nights? Runestone? Or are you hoping to have her join an FC and join their plotline? 

 

It sounds like you got a character that would only work as a plot device for an on-going storyline. Is that something you're up to doing? It's a lot of work~

[Grott]

 

Not quite correct.  There are actually several different positions that in English are all called Prince/Princess.

The first is of course children/grand-children/other descendants of a monarch.  Those are indeed neither elected nor do they usually have any formal authority attached to the prince/princess title.

But there are also rulers of smaller independent territories (principalities) that have the title prince/princess.  One real-world example is the Prince of Monaco.  Such a prince/princess does have quite a bit of authority attached to the title.

(There are also a bunch of other uses of the prince/princess title.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince for the whole silly mess.)

 

There are such a thing as elective monarchies, so there have been elected kings etc. throughout history  I am not familiar with any elected rulers using the title prince/princess, but they could certainly exist.

 

 

On a related note:  So far I do not believe we have seen anybody use any of the king/queen/prince/princess titles in Eorzea.

 

I'm in a rush but I thought I'd respond to this quickly, so excuse the brevity and sloppy formatting:

 

1. I'll give you Monaco. That's fair I guess. But this Rydian place isn't a principality, it's a kingdom, according to OP.

 

2. I am also not familiar with any elected rulers using the title "Princess", nor am I familiar with any such rulers being elected because of their showing at a dance. Of course elective monarchies are a thing, and are plausible in fantasy land, but electing said ruler because they went to the annual ball is not a thing anywhere and reads like a bad disney pitch.

 

3. Theodoric, the last King of Ala Mhigo. That's the only one I can think of.

 

It's not that I think OP's story is unworkable. It just needs an overhaul to make sense in this game's world.

[Teadrinker]

Stripping away a lot of what I feel to be superfluous information, the only thing I really want to add is the following. I always ask this with any character I make and offer this advice to anyone.

 

"Why does my character need this feature?"

 

If you go over the array of things your character can call assets or strengths or even obtained via 'luck' and you can't answer why or how they need these things to progress the story or how it adds to it then it's usually time for some pruning.

[Musemi]

Hrm... the first question isn't 'how much lore should I respect', but 'how available do I want my character to be'?

 

Like all things, there is a spectrum in rp, from the super lore strict to the 'what is lore?' It's not up to anyone other than you where you fall in that spectrum, but the closer you are to the middle baseline of lore friendly, the more rp you'll have available to you.

 

I've been in a community where there was a game of thrones themed guild as an example, and I'm sure they had fun amongst themselves and if that's what you're looking for that's great! Just realize your character may not fit into the wider community.

 

I will say working with the established lore can seem very daunting at first, but can be very rewarding. Ask a lot of questions, whittle away the aspects of your character that don't quite fit, and strengthen the ones that make them exciting members of Eorzea.

 

Or find a small group that's loose on lore and go crazy. Ultimately the choice is up to you! But rp is fun so dont get discouraged!

[Aya]

I see a lot of time being spent on a back story and discussion of it that would probably be more productively put toward simple RP.

 

I've said it before, and I am sure I will again: character backstory is one of the least important aspects of roleplaying.  Precious few people will suddenly become interested in RPing with a character because of their backstory, few will even be interested in learning anything beyond the most basic elements.

 

It can provide inspiration for story writing.  It can provide depth of knowledge about a character. 

 

But when it comes with actual RP, most people care a lot more about the here and the future than the "back then".  If you want to RP, stop thinking about it, and just get out there and do it!

[Aoi Fukiku]

I see a lot of time being spent on a back story and discussion of it that would probably be more productively put toward simple RP.

 

I've said it before, and I am sure I will again: character backstory is one of the least important aspects of roleplaying.  Precious few people will suddenly become interested in RPing with a character because of their backstory, few will even be interested in learning anything beyond the most basic elements.

 

It can provide inspiration for story writing.  It can provide depth of knowledge about a character. 

 

But when it comes with actual RP, most people care a lot more about the here and the future than the "back then".  If you want to RP, stop thinking about it, and just get out there and do it!

 

I am going to be blunt and just say I am fully in disagreement with you that a back story means nothing. Think of it like a tree trunk. The backstory grows and branches out to help discover if your character will have strengths and weaknesses, fears, past trauma, and more. You can always just mess around in a character creator and find something you like and build from there but then you will wonder the personality and how they got to be like that.

 

Everyone is free to of course RP what they want but please don't say a back story has no real importance. I mean,if you are constantly changing the background of your own character to fit the theme of this months fashion then yeah,a back story will probably just be a hassle. If not? Thinking on one can really help but a character.it doesn't even need to be elaborate and can always be branched out as time goes on ideas come. You can even trim old ideas for new ones.