Heeelp.

[DrSanaChan]

I want to be a part of this lore, but I get so confused every time I start trying to look.

I have a character- a Xaelan Au Ra named Guua Kha. She's an arcanist, currently level 38, studying both the scholar and summoner sides,  and is a part of the order of the twin adder, though only for the sake of getting a chocobo so as to not walk everywhere. I have no idea where to begin in trying to come up with a backstory for her other than at some point, she put out her right eye and she and her best friend- a hyur- went separate paths as the hyur became a marauder and she became an arcanist. I realize this might not be the usual sort of post here, but I have no idea how to even start here since there are all these stories and lores to follow that I get just overwhelmed with every time I try to read them.

[Kilieit]

Hi, I'll try and TL;DR/quickstart this for you!

 

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1) Your character is from the Kha tribe

 

Your character's surname indicates that she's from the Kha tribe of Xaela. Basic information on all the major tribes known as of 3.0 (Heavensward) can be found here, but here is the information about the Kha:

 

Unlike most of the Xaela, the Kha live on the fringes of the Xaela lands, actively seeking contact with non Auri peoples, introducing many aspects of those cultures into their own.

 

2) Your character is probably not from Eorzea + a quick geography lesson

 

Here is our current world map:

 

I'm just gonna highlight two parts of it real quick:

 

The right, bigger red circle is the section of the continent of Othard where most of the Xaela are from - the Azim Steppe. It's a vast plain where multiple nomadic tribes roam about, trading and looking after livestock, competing for resources and dominance. Mostly Xaela live here.

 

Nearby to it - to the south - is Doma, a country which has been occupied by the domineering Garlean Empire for the last two decades. Its residents are mostly Hyur, but the occasional Raen shows up as well.

 

To the east across the sea is the island of Hingashi, upon which lies Kugane: Othard's main non-Garlean-aligned international port. To get there from mainland Othard, you have to cross the Ruby Sea, which is infested with pirates.

 

...and then way to the left, the smaller red circle is Limsa Lominsa, where the Arcanists' Guild is.

 

SO: Your character will probably have needed to make the perilous journey at some stage from the Azim Steppe, to Kugane, and then to Eorzea.

 

3) Arcanima is primarily an Eorzean discipline, so your character - on balance of probability - likely learned it after she arrived in Eorzea. Going back and reading your class quest texts is probably your best bet regarding getting the ins and outs of the ACN class, but in short, it's magic created through the visualisation of mathematical geometries.

 

Have a think about whether you want her hyuran friend to be Eorzean or Doman; either is a possibility. If her friend was Doman, perhaps falling out with him was what prompted her to go travelling in the first place?

 

4) Summoner job has some very specific criteria:

a) Your character must be able to read Eorzean, and basically be good at maths

b) Your character must use this ability to learn Arcanima, i.e. the base ACN class, and reach a strong level of proficiency

c) Your character must ALSO survive (body and mind in-tact) an encounter with a weaker Primal such as Ifrit, Titan, or Garuda in their NM or HM iterations

and optional, d) your character may wish to make some connection with an official research organisation, such as the Sons of Saint Coinach, in order to avoid being arrested for dabbling in suspicious-looking magic

 

The most difficult thing to do here is c). Primals are extremely dangerous, a little bit rare, and have a nasty tendency to perform a process known as "tempering" - a process which wipes the victim's mind clean of almost everything save a desire to worship that primal. Having a gift known as the Echo can prevent you from being tempered, but that's a whole big bag of chips on its own, and one you should only delve into if it sounds interesting to you.

 

5) Don't feel the need to press your character into service with a grand company. Grand company RP can be fun, but if it doesn't suit your character, don't sweat it. Most people do their grand company OOCly.

 

In fact, that goes for the SMN job too - your character can just be a regular ACN if you like, or even develop into a SMN during RP, instead of it being a backstory element. I find that's always a good way to do elements you're not sure about, since it allows the people you're RPing with to give input about what they think is good.

 

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UUHH I think that's everything in short, feel free to ask follow-up questions if anything's unclear or if I missed anything? I did my best to keep it simple but I have a tendency to go on sometimes, haha!

[DrSanaChan]

That was  extremely helpful. Thank you. My brother was just like you should roleplay! And I'm like I have an an Au Ra acranist and a Hyur Maruader on that server and I have no idea what I'm doing with either. I just wanted to go with the arcanist cause my lazy nature works well with fighting there cause my Titan-egi and my chocobo take the brunt while I'm in the back casting like a monster lol. Thank you for that information though, I would have never known any of that with my own investigation. It is tremendously helpful for me to wrap my head around what type of person my Au Ra should be.