beginner Lore taboos?

[LordSqweb]

I wanted to start casually roleplaying but I'll be honest I know nothing about the lore. I'm going to read up about it but I wanted to know if there are some taboos I should avoid so that I can start now whilst I read up the general lore.

 

Like what should I NEVER do as a roleplayer backstory wise or other?

[Lucius Ignatius]

Hey there! Good to see more roleplayers about.

 

I consider myself fairly adjusted to the lore, but there might be others here that could offer more assistance. If I happen to be wrong (@ anyone who reads and responds) please correct me!

 

From what I've witnessed, the major ones seem to be stay away from being an actual "Black Mage" or "White Mage" in name. Mind, its been a while since I looked these up, but I think it stems from how rare it is to see either 'power level' of these jobs around.

 

For example (and I'm paraphrasing) WHM's quest lore mentions you were the first non-Padjali WHM in a very long period of history due to the elementals taking away the powers of Succor from Man, and left it only to the seed seers/Padjali. And the reason you get your hands on a WHM soulstone is due to a padjali who was near the end of his life and sought to pass on the power--or something like that. It was a one of a kind occurence, and there's few other ways (currently) to obtain power of a WHM. Supposedly there are insidious ways to obtain it hinted by devs, but we've not yet seen that indicated.

 

Also, Seedseers/Padjali rarely venture from the Shroud/Gridania because I think they are it's protectors or somesuch--I haven't seen too much 'good' reaction from majority of RPers reacting to someone playing one.

 

BLM is essentially in a similar boat. It suffers from the "chosen one" kind of trope, where you the player are the only one capable of tapping into the powers of void.

 

If you decide to try these jobs, it is still possible and widely acceptable to call yourself an accomplished Conjurer or Thaumaturge. ^^

 

One other job would be Dragoon that is more recently sparse to play IC. While pre-Heavensward it would be okay, I think the Dragoons have been a select task force of people trained for a certain purpose--after the events of Heavensward, I believe no 'new' Dragoons would be taken in. There is a possibility to find a dragoon who retired their dragoon status and trained you, but it'd make more sense to call yourself a good lancer. I think the lore bending can be a bit lax here though.

 

But, I think for the most part, that's the big ones I've seen. If you plan to play a Seeker or Keeper miqo'te, they do have their cultural/tribal society differences, but thats a whole thread on its own. Here is a link to a few lore sources in general if you need it

 

(I posted this via my phone so it might not work :x)

 

 

Edited June 15, 2019 by Lucius Volturcius

[LordSqweb]

Ah, thank you so much! This was so good and I'm so glad you told me that. I'm playing a DRK but my girlfriend is a WHM and she was actually planning to be an actual White Mage but now we know that isn't the best idea haha. Thanks so much for the help. 

 

I'm definitely going to use that link too, thanks a ton man you're a life saver!

[Lucius Ignatius]

8 hours ago, LordSqweb said:

Ah, thank you so much! This was so good and I'm so glad you told me that. I'm playing a DRK but my girlfriend is a WHM and she was actually planning to be an actual White Mage but now we know that isn't the best idea haha. Thanks so much for the help. 

 

I'm definitely going to use that link too, thanks a ton man you're a life saver!

No problem! I'm happy to have helped. DRK, I honestly don't know much about. I think that one is pretty open to be--I /believe/ it just works on the characters psyche or using powers of darkness as a kind of uh... psudeo power for good? Someone else would have better idea than I for that one. ^^

 

Other than that, I think its pretty safe to assume none of our characters are chosen ones/'THE warrior of light'. One thing to mention, I think people CAN have the echo, but with recent lore hinting that the echo is a type of primal tempering, Im unsure of the status on that.

 

One last bit of info: I play a Pureblood Garlean who became a refugee/works for the Ironworks and such. These days, I think its safe to assume there may be some unrest between the political climate in Garlemald, between the viewpoints of the Populares and Optimates--Populares are moreso the group that wants peace with the Eorzeans, while the latter wants subjugation and conquest. So, you may see spies and refugees from that region. They would still be seen with extreme distrust and hatred to most common Eorzeans, though. Probably not exactly on topic, but I figured it'd be helpful to know in case!

 

ONE LAST THING: Sometimes you can bend the lore a little or fill in blanks if you find nothing on the subjects. The most important thing to remember is to enjoy yourself and have fun!

[Sounsyy]

Hey there LordSqweb and welcome to the RPC and to Hydaelyn!

I wanted to drop in and say that, while Lucius isn't incorrect that WHM, BLM, and DRG are probably some of the most looked askance jobs, it's not impossible or "taboo" to roleplay as them in all groups. The "RP Community" here is actually... well, it's many communities (with many more joining the mesh now thanks to World Visit) and no two seem to have exactly the same taboos, lore strictness, etiquette, etc. 

 

In lore, the base classes that you start off playing are disciplines of war, magic, hand, or land that are common across Eorzea. These classes have guilds, which teach a standardized version of each discipline, but practitioners and disciples of those classes also exist and can be trained in a non-standard way. For example, the Lancers' Guild may be in Gridania, which teaches the way of the Wood Wailer lancers, but Ishgard and Ala Mhigo are both famous for very different types of lancers. 

 

Jobs (what classes turn into after level 30 mechanically), on the other hand, are usually professions that are incredibly rare in Eorzea. This can be for a few reasons depending on the job.

Many are ancient professions that have been lost to time until the most recent Calamity: WAR, BRD, BLM, WHM, SCH, SMN, RDM.

Others are currently being practiced but are taught only to an elite order of military soldiers (that may or may not still exist): PLD, DRG, MNK, DRK kinda, SMN and WAR and BRD now after a revival by the Grand Companies.

Others are just brand new to Eorzea's shores, either having just been invented or have come with travelers and refugees from distant lands: MCH, NIN, SAM, AST, BLU, GNB, DNC.

 

While all of these jobs are rare and powerful in Eorzea, you can roleplay as one if you desire to. It's just that each of these jobs usually requires certain backstory elements to make them make sense. For SMN, you have to have faced down a primal and lived. For SAM, you may be better received if your character was from the Far East, where the art originates and is more commonplace. WHM and BLM, as said above, tend to have difficult backstory requirements for many people to swallow. That's not to say it can't be done, just that its hard to do well. And generally, if you start adding more jobs to your IC roster, your character's power level starts increasing beyond the average RPer's characters. This isn't necessarily bad, but it can begin limiting the groups that will want to play with yours. If you have a trusted group, or are playing with other high-powered or WoL type characters, this can be fun! There's a very wide spectrum of what's acceptable here, so play what you find fun and enjoyable, but just be aware that certain things will be turn offs to some roleplayers, but not to others.

 

16 hours ago, Lucius Volturcius said:

BLM is essentially in a similar boat. It suffers from the "chosen one" kind of trope, where you the player are the only one capable of tapping into the powers of void.

One quick correction here. BLM, in and of itself, has very little to do with the void. BLMs harness the energies of the planet and use them to cast powerful destructive magicks, and once did on a grand scale. The art was made forbidden because of this and after a thousand years was forgotten almost entirely. There can be multiple BLMs in the modern day, but the art is forbidden to those versed in the histories. You can find lore on the BLMs, WHMs, SCHs, their histories, and their current status in the world today in this post on the War of the Magi.

 

 

OK, lore sources! You can find a large collection of my own lore posts here: The Lore Index

Just about anything from Ethys, Anonymoose, or Gamerescape is also a good source. Avoid the FFXIV Wiki at all costs. If you use it, take it with a very hefty dose of salt as they have a terrible habit of not citing their sources and writing in player fanon and shipfic as lore.

 

Hope this helps! If you have questions my inboxes and messengers are always open!

Edited June 16, 2019 by Sounsyy

[Lucius Ignatius]

Thank you for the correction Sounsyy!

[LordSqweb]

12 hours ago, Lucius Volturcius said:

No problem! I'm happy to have helped. DRK, I honestly don't know much about. I think that one is pretty open to be--I /believe/ it just works on the characters psyche or using powers of darkness as a kind of uh... psudeo power for good? Someone else would have better idea than I for that one. ^^

 

Other than that, I think its pretty safe to assume none of our characters are chosen ones/'THE warrior of light'. One thing to mention, I think people CAN have the echo, but with recent lore hinting that the echo is a type of primal tempering, Im unsure of the status on that.

 

One last bit of info: I play a Pureblood Garlean who became a refugee/works for the Ironworks and such. These days, I think its safe to assume there may be some unrest between the political climate in Garlemald, between the viewpoints of the Populares and Optimates--Populares are moreso the group that wants peace with the Eorzeans, while the latter wants subjugation and conquest. So, you may see spies and refugees from that region. They would still be seen with extreme distrust and hatred to most common Eorzeans, though. Probably not exactly on topic, but I figured it'd be helpful to know in case!

 

ONE LAST THING: Sometimes you can bend the lore a little or fill in blanks if you find nothing on the subjects. The most important thing to remember is to enjoy yourself and have fun!

 

You've helped a lot so no worries about the DRK thing. From what I've seen it's not too difficult to roleplay, I might just stay away from the DRK mentor NPC as my guide. 

 

That's so interesting, I love hearing about others characters. I won't lie I have absolutely no idea what Garleans are but it's definitely going to be one of the first things I look up haha. If you don't mind me asking, is a Pureblood Garlean one that's against Eorzeans or wants peace with them? It's not necessary to answer I'm just interested haha. 

 

12 hours ago, Sounsyy said:

Hey there LordSqweb and welcome to the RPC and to Hydaelyn!

I wanted to drop in and say that, while Lucius isn't incorrect that WHM, BLM, and DRG are probably some of the most looked askance jobs, it's not impossible or "taboo" to roleplay as them in all groups. The "RP Community" here is actually... well, it's many communities (with many more joining the mesh now thanks to World Visit) and no two seem to have exactly the same taboos, lore strictness, etiquette, etc. 

 

In lore, the base classes that you start off playing are disciplines of war, magic, hand, or land that are common across Eorzea. These classes have guilds, which teach a standardized version of each discipline, but practitioners and disciples of those classes also exist and can be trained in a non-standard way. For example, the Lancers' Guild may be in Gridania, which teaches the way of the Wood Wailer lancers, but Ishgard and Ala Mhigo are both famous for very different types of lancers. 

 

Jobs (what classes turn into after level 30 mechanically), on the other hand, are usually professions that are incredibly rare in Eorzea. This can be for a few reasons depending on the job.

Many are ancient professions that have been lost to time until the most recent Calamity: WAR, BRD, BLM, WHM, SCH, SMN, RDM.

Others are currently being practiced but are taught only to an elite order of military soldiers (that may or may not still exist): PLD, DRG, MNK, DRK kinda, SMN and WAR and BRD now after a revival by the Grand Companies.

Others are just brand new to Eorzea's shores, either having just been invented or have come with travelers and refugees from distant lands: MCH, NIN, SAM, AST, BLU, GNB, DNC.

 

While all of these jobs are rare and powerful in Eorzea, you can roleplay as one if you desire to. It's just that each of these jobs usually requires certain backstory elements to make them make sense. For SMN, you have to have faced down a primal and lived. For SAM, you may be better received if your character was from the Far East, where the art originates and is more commonplace. WHM and BLM, as said above, tend to have difficult backstory requirements for many people to swallow. That's not to say it can't be done, just that its hard to do well. And generally, if you start adding more jobs to your IC roster, your character's power level starts increasing beyond the average RPer's characters. This isn't necessarily bad, but it can begin limiting the groups that will want to play with yours. If you have a trusted group, or are playing with other high-powered or WoL type characters, this can be fun! There's a very wide spectrum of what's acceptable here, so play what you find fun and enjoyable, but just be aware that certain things will be turn offs to some roleplayers, but not to others.

 

One quick correction here. BLM, in and of itself, has very little to do with the void. BLMs harness the energies of the planet and use them to cast powerful destructive magicks, and once did on a grand scale. The art was made forbidden because of this and after a thousand years was forgotten almost entirely. There can be multiple BLMs in the modern day, but the art is forbidden to those versed in the histories. You can find lore on the BLMs, WHMs, SCHs, their histories, and their current status in the world today in this post on the War of the Magi.

 

 

OK, lore sources! You can find a large collection of my own lore posts here: The Lore Index

Just about anything from Ethys, Anonymoose, or Gamerescape is also a good source. Avoid the FFXIV Wiki at all costs. If you use it, take it with a very hefty dose of salt as they have a terrible habit of not citing their sources and writing in player fanon and shipfic as lore.

 

Hope this helps! If you have questions my inboxes and messengers are always open!

 

Thank you Sounsyy! That helps a lot. We haven't actually got a proper group yet. Me and my girlfriend are quite new players so we want to level and advance a bit before we get too involved to make it easier haha. 

 

Thanks for everything you've said, I know what to look out for now. The WHM thing is fine actually because we were a bit afraid of being too tied down to the jobs. She's going to be a Shaman/Devout in training instead (we're playing FF3 together and our characters are Dark Knight and Devout). I know that mechanically Shaman's are upgrades of White Mages but it's more that she's super spiritual irl so it just fits haha. 

 

Thank you for your explanation of the classes and jobs btw they were confusing me for ages haha.

 

[Sounsyy]

2 hours ago, LordSqweb said:

I won't lie I have absolutely no idea what Garleans are but it's definitely going to be one of the first things I look up haha. If you don't mind me asking, is a Pureblood Garlean one that's against Eorzeans or wants peace with them? It's not necessary to answer I'm just interested haha. 

 

The Garlean Empire is sorta the Big Bad Evil Empire of FFXIV who are trying to subjugate the Three Great Continents. You get your first look at them pretty early, so you'll see them before too long if you haven't already! "Pureblood" Garleans are the native race to Garlemald (capital of the Garlean Empire) and they are unique in that they have a third eye on their foreheads, and almost all of them lack the ability to manipulate aether to use magic. To make up for this they've turned to machines, called magitek. 

[Lucius Ignatius]

Pretty much what Sounsyy mentioned, on a factional scale, The Empire/Imperials (Same people and faction) are one of the primary big bads. But, it is capable of housing people who disagree with the Emporer (like my character Lucius) and you will meet another NPC empire-defector through your playing the MSQ. :3

[yhvh13]

I think SE kind of learned a lesson there regarding how the jobs are presented ingame, because the last 3 we got came to be in a whole another state of useability:

Dancer, for example, by the end of the quest-line

Spoiler

, Nashmeria explicitly tells that's she's resigning from the company's principal role to stay around and train new Dancers. While of course, she wouldn't probably just be handing DNC crystals to everyone (since they might be scarce), training as a Dancer from scratch is a viable RPing option

 

Or previously by the end of the Blue Mage quest-line,

Spoiler

Martyn states that he wants to keep doing the Masked Carnivale to raise funds, because he wants to open an actual Blue Mage guild, to train new people. Plus there's no actual evidence on how many "Blue Mage Kits" (with a blank soulstone) he managed to sell before the whole yellowjacket investigation incident, so that might be a venue as well.

 

Also back in HW, Machinist soulstones are as common to obtain as you joining their guild.

 

As for the more "special" cases, like WHM, and BLM... Since there's so much controversy behind that, if it's just for the - flavor - of casting their magic styles, you probably can adapt to become a real powerful CNJ/THM instead. 

Edited July 11, 2019 by yhvh13