Questions about a character with a martial past

[Arigaaz]

Hello everyone!  Sorry if my questions are out of place or silly, I'm still learning when it comes to character design/RP.

 

I've been fishing around for ways to design (or re-design) characters to fit more in the realms of FFXIV lore.  I've started to read up on the (surprisingly vast) lore of FFXIV, and while I still have a long way to go in that regard, I've stumbled on a potential problem that I'd like to ask how RPers who have more experience then me (spoiler warning: it's everyone here lol).

 

So I'm looking at making a character with a Martial background - but I feel like that runs into a potential problem:

 

For a character to have experience in warfare, they have to have been in a war.  Served in an army.  Have superiors, possibly even subordinates.

 

This seems hard to make friendly in terms of an existing universe.  If the character has any notable power at all (like, for example, any of the Disciples of War jobs), I would find it hard to imagine that they'd just be ignored on the battlefield.  Not to mention that existing characters, other soldiers, etc never mentioning them would be unusual.

 

"So you're telling me 'x' person served under 'x' general and fought in 'x' war and did 'x' notable thing and nobody ever heard about it?  They commanded people that never mentioned them again?  That general doesn't even seem to remember them anymore?"

 

TLDR:

How do you give someone a backstory involving war when war seems to be fairly well documented in this universe?  How can one explain the absence in history of a character with notable abilities without them just being outcasts or something?

[Lady_Saturn]

Well here's just my two cents if you'd like it. Everyone forgot what the warriors of light looked like did they not? Also the good old name and appearance change is a good option as well. Even remains lore friendly if you want to go as far as change race or gender even with the mention of a fantasia potion.

[Ellmida]

It really depends how well known you want your guy to be, or how important rather. It's not really unheard of for you to be some random commander or leader whose done some notable stuff but to still not be remarked upon in the general population and there have been several PCs that have selected such backgrounds without issue. As long as you are able to stick to the lore of your chosen military you can pretty much gloss over the rest.

[Valence]

Maybe your character was just part of a band of grizzled mercenaries? Or maybe your character was actually involved in wars? I mean, those aren't exactly lacking: you had , or the Garlemald invasion not once but twice: the first time In Ala Mhigo 20 years ago, and the second time on the Carteneau Flats when Meteor happened. And if you want the character not to be an eorzean native or having been at other places in other times, Garlemald also invaded a shitload of other nations, like Dalmasca, Doma, etc.

 

The Dragonsong War lasted for a millenia between man and dragon in Ishgard/DravaniaIn. The character can be a knight of Ishgard and serving directly in the military against the Horde of Nidhogg, even have been a snowflake Knight Dragoon depending on the power level / elite level you want for them, or they could have been just someone wanting to get involved without having the social status (noble/knight) and went through the Convictory to try and get their dragon kill to climb the social ladder. If you opt not to play a native ishgardian, take care because Ishgard closed their doors totally to foreigners after the Calamity, and reopened them very recently. Ishgard is generally known for its knights, heavily armored to face dragons their broods (dragonkin/scalekin), wielding swords and spears, and its Knights Dragoon, an elite order of soldiers using spears and aetherial feats allowing them to jump to incredible heights and contend with flying enemies on a more equal basis. But overall, if you choose the road of the Convitory, whatever art and weapons will do. All of those people desperate for a dragon kill come from various backgrounds.

 

Various Garlemald invasions: Garlemald invaded Ala Mhigo and stepped for the first time in Eorzea 20 years ago, taking advantage of the civil war in the country between the mad, paranoid King of Ruin (basically Caligula) and the Order of the Fists (monks) allied to the Crimson Duellists (red mages). When Garlemald entered the fortified city, people almost welcomed them with relief, but the invasion wasn't exactly bloodless either. The nation was just so bled out that they couldn't really offer any serious opposition, and the mad king Theodric had reached the last stages of insanity anyway, entrenched in his royal palace. Ala Mhigo was known for being the most martial and warmongering of all city states of Eorzean, and for its pikemen, considered at the time the best spear wielders of the realm, even above Gridania's, the latter actually taking a lot of its art from Ala Mhigo originally, but also for its powerful and influential monks, capable of superhuman feats by channeling aether through their steeled bodies by opening inner chakras. Ala Mhigo was conquered by the XIVth legion of Garlemald, lead by the newly appointed legatus and promising Gaius van Baelsar, who strongly believed into conquest of intact territories and upopulation uplifting). Ala Mhigo however has always proved to be a problematic territory to hold and full of unrest, which prompted a rather harsh treatment of its occupied population. 

 

Garlemald also invaded Eorzea 5-6 years ago, spearheaded by the VIIth garlean Legion and lead by the megalomaniac legatus Nael van Darnus, and eventually caused the 7th calamity by dropping Meteor on the Carteneau Flats with the help of Midas nan Garlond (Cid's father). This is basically the opening cinematic of ff14 ARR. The combined forces of the recently allied and reformed Grand Companies of Gridania, Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah fight against a single legion in a bloody massacre to try and stop Garlemald's advance, until Meteor wipes everyone out. As you can guess, a lot died, but there is definitely many survivors that lived through that hell. The Calamity hit the hardest here but the elder primal Bahamut certainly didn't stop there and caused ruin all across Eorzea anyway. This is probably the war where you have the best opportunity for a character to have seen literal Hell, and survived. 

 

The family of the character can also have had a martial tradition and grand parents or ancestors having served in the Autumn War, a war between Ala Mhigo and Gridania that eventually turned global in Eorzea almost a century ago (date check?), leaving some bad blood between both nations. Ala Mhigo, a nation with very little natural resources and a harsh mountain climate saw its economy bolstered and sustained by the caravans going through their territorial chokepoint between Aldenard and Ilsabard, thus getting a lot of leverage from trade tariffs and taxes, which made their fledging, warmongering nation of mountain tribes and sheperds the nation it is now.... Until trade by sea from Vylbrand and Limsa Lominsa eventually became possible and profitable, and just went around through Thavnair and to the middle and far east without going through arduous land roads in Ala Mhigo. This lead the city state in a state of economic disarray and pushed them to invade their neighbor Gridania, which they could eventually have vanquished after their general died of disease, until Limsa and Ul'dah eventually intervened and pushed back the invader. Family could also have served into other conflicts like the Dragonsong War (since it spreads over thousand years), or even the very old wars between Ishgard and Gridania, or Ul'dah and Sil'dih at the dawn of the 6th Astral Era. 

 

Then you have wars and conflicts that happened outside of Eorzea... Which are legion.

 

In the old and steady theme of Garlean invasions, the garlean invasion of the desert city Rabanastre (and its Kingdom of Dalmasca, including the cities of Valnain and Lea Monde), and then Doma, which happened in blood and technological superiority for both. Finally there is also all the garlean invasions when it was still a fledging republic and how they eventually conquered the whole Ilsabard, but on this we have very little info.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Valence

[Malachar]

That's what RP Hooks are for. Unless you're taking a NPC's name (which is highly discouraged, but you do you), you can't expect anything. Just throw in that RP Hook for any other PC's of similar background to look at and mention in passing or talk OOC with other people with a similar background to set up whether or not they would have heard of you.

 

Alternatively - this is easier to pull off, in my opinion - the army you were involved with or commanded no longer exists, probably wiped out by the Empire or some other conflict, and you're one of the only survivors left scattered in the wind. No one's heard of you because everyone who has is dead.

 

Alternative #2: I did those for SWTOR. Insert yourself into recorded battles, but your role was only minor and thus not focused on except for your personal account, because history usually only focuses on the Big Brand Names and not so much on every single person under their command. Unless they did some heroic shit and sacrificed their life for it.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Darshendros the Eternal

[Aedan Marceaux]

Regarding fantasia, devs were asked if they were canonically part of the game:

 

Quote

1. Would a regular average joe in Eorzea be able to get their hands on a Fantasia potion, it does not appear to be widespread as it is. And if so, is there a reason why it does not appear to be used by people in power/ people with evil agendas?

 

A: While the Fantasia potion has some in-world flavor text, it’s mainly meant to be seen as a meta object. For example, you wouldn’t see it’s use, or reference to its use in storylines since in effect it doesn’t actually exist (… So far. You never know if something might change :P)

So, at least for the time being, fantasias are not actually supported by lore. They are simply meta items.

[Arigaaz]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, and definitely thank you Valence for the more detailed history of Eorzea's wars!  That was going to be another follow up question that I was going to ask in a different forum, but I think that lore summary will give me everything I need to know, at least for now.

 

I'm not looking to go the route of Fantasia potion, seems a bit too risque for my case.

 

Definitely good to know that I can slide into history a bit however!

 

 

Alright, I'm going to try to tack on a lore question, even though this is the wrong forum for it (I'm definitely willing to make a new thread in the proper subforum if I'm straying too far off of forum etiquette):

 

My current PC in ffxiv is an Au'Ra, so it makes the most sense to tie the character back into Doma somehow.

 

Problem: My character's current name "Altheria Zhandri" is uh...definitely not Doman.  At all. Whoops.

 

Answer?: The name fits somewhat with Garlemalean naming schemes (though missing a middle title), and I believe we've already seen Garlemald take in members from the civilizations they've conquered and "uplifting" them (though I can't remember the uplifted changing names).  Regardless, though contrived, I think I might be able to explain that problem away: 

Taken from family at early age, given new name, defected once grown, wanted to drop the middle title. Contrived, but not technically lore-breaking, as far as I'm aware.

Question:  ...did Garlemald even know of Doma's existence prior to their invasion 6 years ago, or have any interest in them whatsoever?  It would be hard to use that as an explanation if Garlemald had never... been there before that point, lol. 

 

Is this getting too contrived at this point? Does the name/country of origin matter that much? Is a name change to something more Doman just significantly easier?  

 

Again everyone, thanks for your help!

[Rosekitten]

You said your character was a Au ra? Well then we have new questions on what type (as the names vary) and where exactly they lived or held up residents at. I wouldn't be too overly concerned with names as you can detail out several reasons as to why or what caused the character to take on such a name

 

To the question at hand here, I'm not well versed in Garlemald or Doma's history so someone else is better suited to answer this I think. I'd assume most places knew of each other despite if they appeared or how the npcs talk in the game. Just like I'm sure there were people in Limsa dating back to when you started the game that knew or had heard of the Au ra.. even if the npcs never say anything about Doma or the lands over there. Looking at this from a world point here.. Civilizations in the game are advanced to having airships and magic. There is little doubt all if not most landmasses are discovered/known about as well as the people on them. 

You can probably assume there could have been smaller conflicts over who knows what .. resources, land, arranged marriages. Beings go to war over some of the simplest of things like disagreeing on a sweet cake that is better.. 

You said your character was a Au ra? Well then we have new questions on what type (as the names vary) and where exactly they lived or held up residents at. I wouldn't be too overly concerned with names as you can detail out several reasons as to why or what caused the character to take on such a name

 

To the question at hand here, I'm not well versed in Garlemald or Doma's history so someone else is better suited to answer this I think. I'd assume most places knew of each other despite if they appeared or how the npcs talk in the game. Just like I'm sure there were people in Limsa dating back to when you started the game that knew or had heard of the Au ra.. even if the npcs never say anything about Doma or the lands over there. Looking at this from a world point here.. Civilizations in the game are advanced to having airships and magic. There is little doubt all if not most landmasses are discovered/known about as well as the people on them. 

You can probably assume there could have been smaller conflicts over who knows what .. resources, land, arranged marriages. Beings go to war over some of the simplest of things like disagreeing on a sweet cake that is better.. 

Just my few thoughts on it.. like my character is a au ra, i made up his tribe name and what tribe he was fighting with before being exiled or more or less assumed dead after the conflict. Though quite a lot less research involved as the Xeala are known to fight other clans for various reasons.. heh ^^; but making up the clan names was my way of dealing with a conflict that may or may not be known about in the long run of things and to avoid causing any lore conflicts just in case 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Rosekitten

[Arigaaz]

The character is a Raen variant of the Au Ra - I haven't brought that up yet because I haven't had the opportunity to read about the Raen or even the Au Ra very much at all, so there's likely going to be more changes once I learn about their lore and adapt the character mold to it.

 

Interesting to hear that names aren't too big of a deal - I figured that would be a basic auto-disqualification from any heavier RP just as a lore violation.  What could be some potential ideas for explaining significant name variances like that (especially when the name doesn't seem to match ANY race's naming convention)?

[Rosekitten]

I have people in my FC personally that play lalafells without them being lore names based on background life choice and everything else. Names are pretty and useless is a common thing I feel my character says to anyone XD

 

I can't speak for a heavy rper but I have never seen or witnessed anyone turning someone down for rp due to a name. ^^ But I'm sure there is some out there that will but.. don't let them discourage you.

Excuses to explain a name; adoption, raised outside of the traditional Raen areas/tribes, maybe the family yo were born to had moved away from their traditional ways. You see Raen in a lot of scattered places so it's hardly out of the question. Maybe the old name brings up bad memories or you want to move away from your roots for whatever reason.