Au'ra and DRK

[FloppyDingo]

I'd like to run this by you guys since I'm still pretty new to the lore to see if this all works out and makes sense to you. This is basically my final rough draft of my character's background. I'm not amazing with dates and times and whatnot of what's happened, so if I missed anything important that would've happened or my character might've witnessed, feel free to inform me.

 

More importantly: If any of this seems like a bad idea, bad design, or just flat out wrong - let me know.

 

My character is a male Au'ra (Xaela) born on the steppes, as they are. Born to the Borlaaq and given up at a young age to the Iriq, he never really felt wanted, or like he fit in. After some time he left (young age, I'm thinking 12...13) for Doma, a poorly planned out venture that left him poor, wanting, and struggling to survive. He picked up basic swordsman skills as he grew, and worked hard to make his way despite clearly not belonging there - part of his struggle to survive involved giving up his old name, and adopting a Doman one - Kiyokage.

 

 

After some time I wanted him to fall in with the Doman Refugees, and end up in Eorzea, most specifically - Ishgard, as a sellsword and eventually a vigilante fighter. The Ishgardians of course, do not react well to Au'ra, so once again he's forced with a struggle and a hardship that he couldn't have ever planned for. His particular group of refugees ends up headed by a Dark Knight, who, before Kiyokage leaves for home, ends up dying. To remember this man who lead their group, and honor him, he buries him - but keeps his sword and his soulstone, seeing them as too important to just allow to fall into strange hands.

 

If I'm understanding how the DRK soulstone works, this would, in essence, start making him more violent, moody, and well... dark in temperament right? Just by proximity to it? I leave off with where he is currently - Doma once more, having returned "home" to Kugane to attempt to learn the art of the Samurai... though given the Dark Knight's soulstone, he'll have a hard time maintaining any form of honor and level head to become one.

 

At that point I want him to be struggling, between this path of honor and level headedness, and the path of a dark knight - an anti-hero essentially.

 

Thoughts? Ideas? Things I might add? Things that don't fit well?

[Kieron Lohengrin]

My toon is relentlessly cheerful, humorous, and optimistic to a fault. He's also maxed out both SAM and DRK at 70. If the jobquests were fully in his canon, he'd be making fun of Fray's and Sidurgu's edgelord dourness constantly, while saving a few key moments of solemn empathy for all the bullshit that Rielle eventually goes through.

 

Play the character archetype that you want to play. Jobs are just a skillset. Remember, this is the game where Hildibrand's foulmouthed mother is canonically a DRK for laughs, and the furthest person possible from being an edgelord. Unless you're playing WHM or BLM, in which case they can also potentially add an on-the-run illegal/verboten aspect to your toon.

[Sounsyy]

Jobs are just a skillset. Unless you're playing WHM or BLM, in which case they can also potentially add an on-the-run illegal/verboten aspect to your toon.

 

I don't at all agree with this statement. If you can't ignore the background of BLM or WHM, why can you ignore the backgrounds of the other jobs, or classes for that matter? Each job and class-guild has its own history, cultural importance, and often-times (in the case of the guilds) are integral to the day-to-day life of the respective city-state. They're far from just a skillset. Though they can also just be RP'd that way, as just a skillset, if - like many people - you're not interested in associating with the cultural importance some of these jobs represent.

 

But given how Kiyokage seems to be going for the Soul Crystal and Darkness part of DRK and not the swordsmanship part...?

 

 

____________________________

I'd like to run this by you guys since I'm still pretty new to the lore to see if this all works out and makes sense to you. This is basically my final rough draft of my character's background. I'm not amazing with dates and times and whatnot of what's happened, so if I missed anything important that would've happened or my character might've witnessed, feel free to inform me.

 

I've got a few lore links that might help you out with getting a better idea of timeline and Kiyokage's time in Ishgard might've gone.

 

-Timeline of the Garlean Invasion and Its Effects

-Dark Knight Lore

 

 

The main thing I see in the story is that Kiyokage seems to live all his life on Othard, then comes to Ishgard specifically just to pick up a dark knight soul crystal, and then goes to Kugane soon after?

 

I'm not sure how old you're wanting your character to be but Doma has been conquered by the Empire for the last 25 years, so in all likelihood when he came to Doma as a young teen it would've already been under imperial control. Doma hasn't yet been razed, so many of the day-to-day functions would've been ongoing. He could've continued swordsmanship, though he would've most likely been drafted by the Empire to work as a soldier or doing slave labor at one of their concentration camps. A lot of Doma and the Yanxian region is agricultural - so farming, fishing, harvesting, repairing homes and tools. His age determines how long he likely would've done this, unless he ended up leaving Othard altogether to head to Hingashi?

 

You mentioned going to Kugane was returning "home," though it was my understanding he'd never been there before in your draft? While somewhat culturally similar in many respects, Hingashi isn't a part of the Othard continent or Doma, similar to how Vylbrand isn't technically part of Aldenard.

 

In any case, a year ago the people of Doma rebel against the Empire, which leads to the mass exodus of displaced Domans to Eorzea. Around this time Yotsuyu takes over as Viceroy of Doma while the previous viceroy, Zenos, is reassigned to Ala Mhigo, to replace the recently deceased Gaius van Baelsar. Yotsuyu despises Domans and begins pressuring other Far Easterners to ignore and report any fleeing Domans. This is why Hingashi turns away Yugiri's refugees initially and still a year later have imperial spies ready to collect a bounty to the Empire on any Domans who show up in Kugane.

 

While in Ishgard, most everything seems fairly plausible. Initially, Kiyokage would've only been able to reach Coerthas and not Ishgard proper until the start of the events of Heavensward where Nidhogg's Horde breaking through the formerly-sealed gates of Ishgard allows outsiders into the city-state for the first time in nearly 15 years. By the current time period, Au Ra aren't normally slaughtered on sight by the Temple Knights, but there's likely still discrimination and xenophobia at play to some capacity, so staying outside the city in Coerthas might have been preferable. A Dark Knight or his soul could be found just as easily outside the city as in.

 

Some things to think on maybe- What is his reasoning for coming to Ishgard? Why does he leave right after? Is he a DRK or a SAM? Both? Why does want to go to Kugane to learn the art of Samurai when he just found a Dark Knight sword where he's at in Ishgard?

 

 

Hope this helps! ^^

[Cocotsu]

From my understanding of DRK questline is its about tapping into this Abyss. But its powers based off emotions, and dark emotions work, but positive emotions are more powerful. DRKs find Charges and become their protectors.

 

Seeing as hes training to be a samurai maybe he finds a lord or lady he wants to protect. And to match his DRK side you have going maybe more then a Samurai of Honor hes a Ronin who forges his own Honor?

[Kieron Lohengrin]

From my understanding of DRK questline is its about tapping into this Abyss. But its powers based off emotions, and dark emotions work, but positive emotions are more powerful. DRKs find Charges and become their protectors.

 

Seeing as hes training to be a samurai maybe he finds a lord or lady he wants to protect. And to match his DRK side you have going maybe more then a Samurai of Honor hes a Ronin who forges his own Honor?

 

Pretty much. For all the grr angst grr mindset that outsiders mistakenly lock DRKs into, the 30-50 jobquests have you rejecting your superpowered evil side that wants to murder everyone. The 51-60 quests have you learning the value of not being a whiny little vengeance bitch, and having a protector's more just mindset instead - from moogles, of all people. The 61-70 quests continue the 51-60 lessons, and additionally has your inner idealism wanting to save everyone and give everyone hope - even in their final moments.

 

The whole plot boils down to you learning to balance your sensible pragmatism and your heroic impulses, while rejecting bitterness and wangst. Some of the best-written content in the game, tbh. They very much echo and capture the arc that Cecil went through in FF4, minus the whole jobchange-to-paladin bit.

[Koro Dotharl]

I play an Au Ra dark knight and here's my advice: Do not have your backstory revolve around it. Find an IC dark knight that can teach you in a plotline.

 

When you play an unconventional race/job combo, you are taking a very difficult challenge and you just can't take shortcuts. In my opinion, to intertwine a Xaela backstory to ishgard is too much of a stretch and you are going to miss out on a lot of race flavor.

 

I do not mean to discourage you. But as someone that has been burned on the forum for this very question I feel like I should warn you.

[Kilieit]

I play an Au Ra dark knight and here's my advice: Do not have your backstory revolve around it. Find an IC dark knight that can teach you in a plotline.

 

As another au ra dark knight who has done this, I can actually recommend it from the other angle. I feel like it really helped (helps - the plot is ongoing) me write his journey in a relateable and engaging fashion. It took me a while to find someone to do the teaching, but it was well worth the effort IMO... and once the ball was rolling, I quickly found a lot of other people willing to give him pointers and assistance. He has about four tutors right now.

 

FWIW, though, I would say about 60-70% of the dark knights I know are au ra (though, they're usually xaela). Probably something to do with our iconic job NPC being such... so while by lore standards they should be rare, I don't think it's anything that players should really have grounds to bother each other over.

[Mermaid]

I play an Au Ra dark knight and here's my advice: Do not have your backstory revolve around it. Find an IC dark knight that can teach you in a plotline.

 

When you play an unconventional race/job combo, you are taking a very difficult challenge and you just can't take shortcuts. In my opinion, to intertwine a Xaela backstory to ishgard is too much of a stretch and you are going to miss out on a lot of race flavor.

 

I do not mean to discourage you. But as someone that has been burned on the forum for this very question I feel like I should warn you.

 

Sidurgu did it pretty well but then Sidurgu also has the mentor aspect you mention. I don't think trying to tie a Xaela to Ishgard is a problem I think OP is trying to tie his character to many locations/jobs/etc. Like Sounsyy pointed out the timeline seems a little wonky and the locations don't all add up.

[Koro Dotharl]

I play an Au Ra dark knight and here's my advice: Do not have your backstory revolve around it. Find an IC dark knight that can teach you in a plotline.

 

When you play an unconventional race/job combo, you are taking a very difficult challenge and you just can't take shortcuts. In my opinion, to intertwine a Xaela backstory to ishgard is too much of a stretch and you are going to miss out on a lot of race flavor.

 

I do not mean to discourage you. But as someone that has been burned on the forum for this very question I feel like I should warn you.

 

Sidurgu did it pretty well but then Sidurgu also has the mentor aspect you mention. I don't think trying to tie a Xaela to Ishgard is a problem I think OP is trying to tie his character to many locations/jobs/etc. Like Sounsyy pointed out the timeline seems a little wonky and the locations don't all add up.

 

Sidurgu is an unique case though. It would be very challenging to do the same as he did without..Kinda carbon copying his backstory. Because there weren't many other ways for a Xaela to be involved with Ishgard and live. They'd just kill them.

 

Not saying it's impossible ofc. But I certanly failed in that and maybe OP will find a way. I think it's less stressful to just get a mentor. There's more RP to be had out of it aswell.

[FloppyDingo]

Jobs are just a skillset. Unless you're playing WHM or BLM, in which case they can also potentially add an on-the-run illegal/verboten aspect to your toon.

 

I don't at all agree with this statement. If you can't ignore the background of BLM or WHM, why can you ignore the backgrounds of the other jobs, or classes for that matter? Each job and class-guild has its own history, cultural importance, and often-times (in the case of the guilds) are integral to the day-to-day life of the respective city-state. They're far from just a skillset. Though they can also just be RP'd that way, as just a skillset, if - like many people - you're not interested in associating with the cultural importance some of these jobs represent.

 

But given how Kiyokage seems to be going for the Soul Crystal and Darkness part of DRK and not the swordsmanship part...?

 

 

____________________________

I'd like to run this by you guys since I'm still pretty new to the lore to see if this all works out and makes sense to you. This is basically my final rough draft of my character's background. I'm not amazing with dates and times and whatnot of what's happened, so if I missed anything important that would've happened or my character might've witnessed, feel free to inform me.

 

I've got a few lore links that might help you out with getting a better idea of timeline and Kiyokage's time in Ishgard might've gone.

 

-Timeline of the Garlean Invasion and Its Effects

-Dark Knight Lore

 

 

The main thing I see in the story is that Kiyokage seems to live all his life on Othard, then comes to Ishgard specifically just to pick up a dark knight soul crystal, and then goes to Kugane soon after?

 

I'm not sure how old you're wanting your character to be but Doma has been conquered by the Empire for the last 25 years, so in all likelihood when he came to Doma as a young teen it would've already been under imperial control. Doma hasn't yet been razed, so many of the day-to-day functions would've been ongoing. He could've continued swordsmanship, though he would've most likely been drafted by the Empire to work as a soldier or doing slave labor at one of their concentration camps. A lot of Doma and the Yanxian region is agricultural - so farming, fishing, harvesting, repairing homes and tools. His age determines how long he likely would've done this, unless he ended up leaving Othard altogether to head to Hingashi?

 

You mentioned going to Kugane was returning "home," though it was my understanding he'd never been there before in your draft? While somewhat culturally similar in many respects, Hingashi isn't a part of the Othard continent or Doma, similar to how Vylbrand isn't technically part of Aldenard.

 

In any case, a year ago the people of Doma rebel against the Empire, which leads to the mass exodus of displaced Domans to Eorzea. Around this time Yotsuyu takes over as Viceroy of Doma while the previous viceroy, Zenos, is reassigned to Ala Mhigo, to replace the recently deceased Gaius van Baelsar. Yotsuyu despises Domans and begins pressuring other Far Easterners to ignore and report any fleeing Domans. This is why Hingashi turns away Yugiri's refugees initially and still a year later have imperial spies ready to collect a bounty to the Empire on any Domans who show up in Kugane.

 

While in Ishgard, most everything seems fairly plausible. Initially, Kiyokage would've only been able to reach Coerthas and not Ishgard proper until the start of the events of Heavensward where Nidhogg's Horde breaking through the formerly-sealed gates of Ishgard allows outsiders into the city-state for the first time in nearly 15 years. By the current time period, Au Ra aren't normally slaughtered on sight by the Temple Knights, but there's likely still discrimination and xenophobia at play to some capacity, so staying outside the city in Coerthas might have been preferable. A Dark Knight or his soul could be found just as easily outside the city as in.

 

Some things to think on maybe- What is his reasoning for coming to Ishgard? Why does he leave right after? Is he a DRK or a SAM? Both? Why does want to go to Kugane to learn the art of Samurai when he just found a Dark Knight sword where he's at in Ishgard?

 

 

Hope this helps! ^^

 

I play an Au Ra dark knight and here's my advice: Do not have your backstory revolve around it. Find an IC dark knight that can teach you in a plotline.

 

When you play an unconventional race/job combo, you are taking a very difficult challenge and you just can't take shortcuts. In my opinion, to intertwine a Xaela backstory to ishgard is too much of a stretch and you are going to miss out on a lot of race flavor.

 

I do not mean to discourage you. But as someone that has been burned on the forum for this very question I feel like I should warn you.

 

I've taken into account both of your statements, read through the timeline and dark knight info, and reworked my ideas into the following:

 

1547: A male xaela is born to a woman of the Borlaaq tribe. Disappointed with his gender, she gives him the name Nergui (meaning: "No Name") and sends him off to the Iriq to be raised.

 

1552 - 1553: Doma, and Othard, is quickly annexed and seized by the growing Garlean Empire. Nergui is six at this time.

 

1559: At 12 years old, disenfranchised both with his name, and the recent discovery that his birth mother did not want him, Nergui leaves his home in the night to find a new path in life. With little else to go on, the young man makes his way towards Doma, expecting to find something there.

 

Six months pass, and he struggles to find his way in Doma, having little knowledge of how to survive out in the world. Finally, desperate, Nergui lies about his age (due to his height and build, it's relatively believable, and the Garleans care little) and becomes a conscript in the Garlean military where he learns to fight with a sword. The work is grueling, the people cruel, but he has no choice: it's this, or starve to death in the streets attempting to find work. He is sent first to Ala Mhigo (as they do not keep recruits in their homelands for risk of rebellion).

 

1562: The Garleans push into Eorzea, and Nergui is there. The fight in Mor Dhona is brutal - he witnesses the death of Midgardsormr. After this - he is stationed in Castrum Centri.

 

The Garleans in the meantime begin the first Meteor Project, and news of their 'success' eventually filters through to Nergui. Bozja is destroyed - eliminated in a massive blast by Dalamund. The news of such a tragic loss of life makes him begin to question where he is in the world - and just how expendable he might be in the end.

 

Year 5, 7th Umbral Era (to sometime in Year 1, 7th Astral Era): Opreation Archon kills Gaius Van Baelsar and frees Eorzea. This begins the 7th Astral Era.

 

Operation Archon leaves the Garlean troops in dismay - giving Nergui the perfect opportunity to go AWOL and escape. He flees Castrum Centri, taking shelter in Revenant's Toll temporarily while gathering himself and debating what to do. He's terrified of being found out as a garlean, stealing the clothes of a bathing worker to wear - inconspicuous and common place garments that don't have him stick out.

 

Eventually news of the Dragonsong War escalating reaches his ears. Desperate to start his own life, he heads to Ishgard to participate in the Dragonsong War - figuring this would be his way of reinventing himself. Taking on the Doman name Kiyokage, he leaves behind his past, attempting to strive forward as a wandering swordsman. Things do not go as well there as he hoped. Once again the victim of discrimination and xenophobia (especially at such a time of high strife with the dravanians; though to a lesser degree than if he had shown up some years prior), he falls by the wayside. Seeing a similarity between the opressive lies of the Holy See, and the oppression of the Garleans, he takes up with a group of vigilantes to strike back.

 

It is here he learns of the Dark Knights, and seeks out their tales, their stories, and soon - finds one of them in person. The Dark Knight sees the strife and turmoil within Kiyokage's eyes and takes him in, if only temporarily. By the end of the war, his mentor is dead, slain by dravanians - and he has learned little of the Dark Knight ways. He is broken - the man who would lead him on a new path has died before showing him the way. With little else to do he buries him in the snow and takes his sword and soulstone. Once more his life is unclear.

 

It takes time, but eventually he hears of the uprising in Ala Mhigo and Othard once more - that rebellions have been successful, and that people might finally, after the long years of imperial rule, begin to rebuild their lands. Inspired that he might be of some use there, he takes a boat to Kugane, so that he might make his way across the Ruby Sea, and finally find the path he was destined to walk.

 

When he gets to Doma, he finds the land in ruins - not quite prepared for what he expected to see. He knew it had been razed, but so little remained. There was a lot of work to be done - the people would need protectors. They would need people to do things right... and he had a lot of right things to do, to make up for what he saw as his past sins (working with the empire). Determined to make something of everything he had seen thus far, he returned to Kugane - the port where so many now wandered, seeking to find a tutor to finally help him unlock that soulstone himself... and begin walking the path of a dark knight.

 

---

At the end, the last entry, is where time gets a bit wonky and hard to realize. Nergui/Kiyokage is now 30 years old.

 

How is this? Better? Instead of going with a Samurai, I'm going to have him as a wandering swordsman, and just use samurai to represent his particular swordsmanship (as someone mentioned classes are also skillsets), until he learns to be a DRK.