Duskwight Questions

[Therese]

So, I've taken the opportunity to look around and I think that the Elezen aren't as bad as I originally thought. So I think I'm going to go ahead and go with my original idea of playing as an Duskwight Elezen female that has Ul'dah as an allegiance. However, I still have a couple days before I can finally get my hands on it, so I was wondering if I could get a few opinions/observations of them.

 

Specifically, I'm curious with how they present themselves in the game, and how other races seem to respond to them in general. I know that they are distrusted because they tend to take of thievery, but apart from the fact that they live in caves across Eorzea there hasn't been that much information about them and who they are.

 

Also, I have a couple of ideas for the name, and if anybody is willing I'd like to hear thoughts, as they aren't ~really~ conventional Duskwight names

First name: Rowde or Therese

Last name: Felspar, Felhold or Tigerion

I'd really like Therese Felspar, but if it doesn't seem to fit then I'm willing to come up with some new ones.

[Xzenivar]

I like Therese Felspar or Therese Felhold.

 

I can't say much for the duskwights culturally, besides they see their wildwood cousins as traitors and look at the hyur as invaders

[Trizzip]

I'd really like Therese Felspar, but if it doesn't seem to fit then I'm willing to come up with some new ones.

 

I think it sounds fine. Keep in mind that not all races necessarily need to follow the traditional trend. (within reason). Just look at my character's name. I chalk it up to progressive parents who decided not to follow the trend of their ancestors.

[Loonymonkey]

The race descriptions are.. alittle extreme id think. You can talk to any of the races and yes theres hints of the tendencies, but not to the extremes the descriptions imply. Mother, a light elf in gridania just tells you to watch the dusks and be carefule, but she just makes it sound as if they are on hard times rather than evil traiters and criminals.

[Eva]

Sorry to join this discussion late.

 

I've taken a lot of the clan/racial stuff to be typical stereotyping which isn't necessarily always true. Perhaps a subsect of the clan has given the entire group an unpleasant reputation. For whatever it's worth, my own character, also a female duskwight that lives in Ul'dah, doesn't conform to these rumors. Eva is more of a neutral-good duskwight.

[Therese]

Yay another Duskwight appears! :3

 

As for me, I sort of took it to the lore of my character's origins, but she's taking a huuuuge leap away from that. Not... to mention that all the guys in her family are phenomenal jerkasses... no seriously. They, at least, have embarrassed the stereotype and Therse is sort of trying to get out of it and see what else is outside the world around her. Maybe that's cliche? But I sort of love the idea. ^^

 

I'll definitely keep the stereotype thing in mind. And while it probably isn't reality for a majority of the Duskwights out there, for a stereotype to exist there has to be some truth to the stereotype for it to be true...

[Koti Nexus]

Vaelyn I know is in Gri, and I know that most woodlands see the Duskwights as dirty, backstabbers, since one of them tells you to "watch your back when you around them."

But its your typical stuff. Where you stick them in the room, and they will probably half heartily get along, but they also wont get to close either. Don't probably expect them to give one another a brotherly hug anytime soon. :lol: Though I imagine a few, like ourselves, break this majority mold.

 

Vaelyn however as a Duskwight, due to his job as a Merc, tends to get along with everyone. He doesn't like how his own people act really and how they are seen by the majority. So, he tends to go out of his way to put on a welcoming smile and open arms.

Which sometimes makes him to friendly.

 

I think honestly go whatever feels and seems right for you and your character.

[Tyrgard]

Where you stick them in the room, and they will probably half heartily get along

 

or maybe this?

[Therese]

Where you stick them in the room, and they will probably half heartily get along

 

or maybe this?

 

So the black one is the Wildwood, and the big one is the Duskwight? Rite? =DDD

[Gossamer]

My alt is a Duskwight, and at the very beginning, I'm planning to play him as someone who feels rather jaded after all of the racism and stereotyping of his race. Some of which he understands why...but he doesn't agree with it. I would absolutely adore for that to be an ongoing thing for him, but not too many like playing the racist or "bad" character, so I expect he'll grow less jaded rather quickly with all the nice folk around.

[Volkai]

The race descriptions are.. alittle extreme id think. You can talk to any of the races and yes theres hints of the tendencies' date=' but not to the extremes the descriptions imply. Mother, a light elf in gridania just tells you to watch the dusks and be carefule, but she just makes it sound as if they are on hard times rather than evil traiters and criminals.[/quote']

Sorry to join this discussion late.

 

I've taken a lot of the clan/racial stuff to be typical stereotyping which isn't necessarily always true. Perhaps a subsect of the clan has given the entire group an unpleasant reputation. For whatever it's worth, my own character, also a female duskwight that lives in Ul'dah, doesn't conform to these rumors. Eva is more of a neutral-good duskwight.

 

The clan/race stuff isn't stereotyping so much as it is generalities. Generalities that may be influenced by culture as much as ethnicity. (At least until SE says otherwise) there are legitimate reasons for the generalities made about each clan -- but just as most people don't let their race or nationality define who they are in real life, the clan your character is from probably shouldn't define your character.

 

The important thing is this: You are an individual before you are a member of your race.

[Therese]

You raise good points, Volkai, but one thing I would definitely want to address is:

 

The important thing is this: You are an individual before you are a member of your race.

 

This actually varies depending on the group you are talking about. Some groups are very individualistic and emphasize what a person wants, desires and values. Other groups are more communal and emphasize what would benefit the group or their community. My impressions on the Duskwight, and again this doesn't fit all Duskwights and could be wrong as it is my opinion, is that they tend to be more communal. They seem as though they want to focus on their culture and maintaining who they are in spite of the changes around that are happening, with a majority of them resorting to theft as a way of surviving. Certainly, you'd have different levels of how antagonistic they are to other races, and some Duskwights would probably try looking to work with other races. But overall I think that to a certain extent all Duskwights considers their cultural history as a part of their identity, and being a group that was pushed out by the Hyur just happens to be a part of this.

[FreelanceWizard]

An outcast, however, may not stick with the views of their society. Even if the Duskwight were more communal (and I agree with that; their living in caves, secreted away from everyone, probably created a polarized, communal society), at least some people are going to reject the societal strictures. It seems to me those would be the people most likely to be encountered as adventurers, especially among the Elezen. Those who leave do so for a reason, and the simplest one is that they're uncomfortable with the current social structure. As a reaction, the society more or less punts them out. That means you'd be likely to see a lot more variation in behavior among Elezen adventurers, I'd think.

[Volkai]

Even then, you are an individual before you are a member of your community before you are a member of your race.

[Therese]

That's true too, FreelanceWizard. I guess for my character, the whole communal thing is very important, as she's just beginning her little adventure away from her community. x3 And you're right, she's very different from conventional Duskwights. My point is, however, that unless you have a Duskwight brought out of that community (like adoption or something like that), their collective history would be something that they are very aware of and have at least thought about. Even if that thought was "that's not the way I want to live."

[FreelanceWizard]

their collective history would be something that they are very aware of and have at least thought about. Even if that thought was "that's not the way I want to live."

 

Indeed so. Sadly, there's just not that much lore out there that I know of; perhaps others know of some and will post it up on the wiki when it comes online in the Very Near Future. The few Duskwight NPCs I've dealt with have been like most NPCs in that they were pretty unique sorts. I'd cite the Path Companion details, but the Elezen there aren't broken out by clan. That page suggests that they tend to be a bit uptight and particular in their manners -- like high elves in EverQuest, I suppose.

 

I think others have run into this issue before, alas. The worst part of all is that I suspect Duskwight Elezen are among the least common race/clan combinations, so it'll be difficult to get a consensus from people's characters. I also suspect that at least some people are going to play them like Drow, as they always do, or at least attach some Drow-like behaviors to them. I think the only viable option might be to carve out your own little section of lore to make your background work, then either not talk about it much IC -- giving you the option to change it as SE adds lore -- or say that your home was different where it conflicts with any additional canonical information.