Feedback for my idea

[mongi291]

So, after a long hiatus from RPing for various reasons, I wanted to come back to roleplaying in FFXIV. Sadly, it was the same week Balmung ended up being locked because of its very high population, so whatever, I decided to suck it up and see if with Stormblood Europe was finally going to get its own unofficial RP server, which apparently now is Omega. Neat.

Meanwhile, I've been enjoying the new expansion on my non-RP main, and as I went through the stories and the various zones I realized I really like the Ananta beast tribe (partly because I've always liked lamia-like creatures), and even Lakshmi has become my favorite primal in the game. So I got this idea for a character, but I wanted to hear if I'd be breaking the lore or anything before creating such a character.

Note that this is just a raw idea, I have still a lot of things to sort out such the character's name (it always takes me a lot of time to think about names), her personality and whatnot, and that's assuming I actually go through with this idea. That being said, my idea is a character who has been raised by the Vira Ananta, and as such has assimilated their culture, their beliefs, their arts, and everything).

She'd be an highlander woman (most likely with a midlander model, though) whose parents belonged to the Ala Mhigan Resistance. They both died to the Garleans when she was still very young, though, and a Vira woman (we know the Vira are a small but definitely present part of the Resistance, unlike the Qalyana) who was closely acquainted with the two of them decided out of pity to raise the child as if she was her own.

Fast forward some years later (twenty years, perhaps? I'm not sure since when the Resistance existed, nor do we know if the Vira were there since the beginning), she has grown up and has left the Vira village (I don't really remember its name right off the top of my head, I would check but I'm sitting on a thousand person long queue to login).

Until now, she has lived as if she were a Vira for as long as she can remember (legs notwithstanding), and as such she's made their culture her own: she's a pretty decent goldsmith, capable of creating enchanted jewelry using magicks taught to her by the Ananta, she can put up a fight with an enchanted, jeweled rapier (like some of the Ananta battlemaid NPCs we see; it also means in-game her job would be RDM), and instead of worshiping Rhalgr or the Twelve as a whole, she worships Lakshmi as the embodiment of freedom like the other Vira.

On the other hand, even if their culture is particularly dear to her, she has always known that she isn't actually an Ananta, and that's the exact reason why she has left the Vira: she wants to find her true self, and has decided to travel the world (or at the very least Eorzea, it depends on where all the RP's at) as a merchant of sorts, selling her own enchanted jewels and trying to learn more about other cultures.

Aaaand that's about it for now. Forgive me for this wall of text and for any eventual grammatical error, but I wanted to get this idea out and write it down before I ended up forgetting it. Any feedback is accepted, if you think this is just me trying to create a special snowflake character or something like that then feel free to say it.

[Impstatus]

Please, if creating "just cool character" is not option and you must choose between "snowflake" and "bland safe bet", always choose snowflake! Though, I do not think your concept is snowflakey at all, and belongs closer to cool character category.

 

This rp scene is full of race X characters raised by race Y foster parent/s. That is fine! Good gal anantas are lil different beast tribe after all: helping resistance, helping other orphaned kids too (that angry miqo'te lad) and being all around cool company.

 

All in all, I think that the pieces you have chosen to make up your characters core work well together. Gg.

[mongi291]

First of all, thank you for taking your time to write your opinion. I had almost thought my topic would just go ignored, meaning I'd have to risk trying out a potentially bad concept for a character. My fear is that people might consider this character a special snowflake because being raised by a beast tribe isn't something exactly common... we have seen some examples of this before, like that Miqo'te whose name evades me with the Brotherhood of Ash.

In the past few days, I've come up with a name that might fit this character: Shailja, an Hindu name meaning "daughter of the mountain". It isn't supposed to be her birth name, but simply a nickname given to her by the Vira (because she was born from two Highlanders from the mountains of Gyr Abania) that ended up becoming her name as even she came to call herself that way. As a surname for in-game purpose, I might go with Vira, taking as an example the way the Xaela have their tribe's name as a surname.

[Impstatus]

At this point I feel like broken record, for thinking and writing this kind of comments whenever I see people getting shy about their Original and Different character concepts, but this is basically my true feeling and opinion on the matter. And unfortunately I'm not shy, haha. People who walk around pointing fingers at "not accepable" characters and even character traits are cancer, and do more damage than good. I have never met one, though, which makes me think they are bit of an unicorns, but boy does it kill me to see people making cool character concepts and ba scared witless of "lore police". And who cares? That is a real question: "who cares?". Lore police? I am sure they are well capable to find likeminded people to write rp of their liking. Just like... everyone else! -Have to find the perfect rp partner to bring the best out of their character.

 

I'm big fan of lame mantras like "write of what you know" and "realiy is more unbelievable than fantasy". First is old and good and tested, and second proves to be true all the time.

 

I'll be beefing up my first post because it was just so short and vague bit. Let's start by echoing how I like how these pieces you have chosen to create you character concept with work nicely and logically to me. This will be even more hardcore stream of thought kind of thing than before so sorry not sorry :'D

 

For the fact that this tribe of ananta has chosen to interact with ala mhigans on level that they are fighting Evil Empire side by side, I find Shailja's backstory believable. Are her circumstances extraordinary? - Yes. Does extraordinary equal impossible? - Never.

 

Probably not every ala mhigan has ananta friends (acquaintances, sure, but I think friend is keyword here), but Shailija's parents had. I can only image their death being devastating turn of events for Shailja's foster mother ananta too, and it is only realistic that it must have been hard decision for her to take Shailja in, and not only because she was not prepared for it. 

 

So whether there was objections against ananta taking care of Shailja, I'd think in the end her and Shailja's parents' friendship was respectable enough relationship for everyone to accept it. Darker variation of those events would be that no one but the ananta friend really cared. (Wars irl are harsh enough for childred, and thousands are orphaned, killed and going missing as I write this.)(I kept wondering how this situation would have played out if Shailja was boy. Hydaelyn is premodern world, and little sexism is common in premodern fantasy worlds. Ananta are feminine race, and though I don't really know if they are sexist at all, I'd guess Shailja being little girl made her foster mother's decision to take her in... bit easier?)

 

Adopting the culture part of which Shailja was living about every day is just obvious. Her years growing up must have been interesting, even if she has understood early on that she is not like everyone else, and her teenage years would have had minimum angst and rebellious spirit (pun 100% intended!). 

 

On sidenote I love this link between gemcraft/goldsmithing, anantas' proficiency in magic and Shailja's RDM combat style. Seems and feels natural for the minimum hoops you have to hop through to justify the in-game job's influence in your character.

 

And finally, for the fact that Vira just let Shailja make her own decision and leave tribe to "find herself", I get this rosy feeling of her tender years among ananta, as part of their tribe. I mean, real life is ups and downs, same must have been for Shailja as well, but her foster mom and tribe have managed to raise this lovely young woman who has feet on ground and head up clouds, good sense self-respect, and respect towards different people and things in life. In sense, I get the feeling of mutual trust: Shailja knows this was the home that shaped her, and the vira know Shailja is strong and good person who is ready to take on the world. 

 

Ok, so, these are the thoughts I had about your character concept. Only thing I have left to say is do not be afraid to write small, silly scenes with this character. There is potential for endearing misunderstanding to happen, in form of vira culture vs. common eaorzean culture. I can only imagine Shailja solving situations like that like true lady.

 

(Sorry for about 10,000 typos and such, I did mistake and decided to reply on my ancient tablet...)