IC explanations to Myth and Soldiery gear

[Seriphyn]

OK, so, IDK when this was put in but talking to Rowena, she offers some 'lore' explanations as to the Myth and Soldiery gear. This keeps in the spirit of Square Enix offering a lore explanation for EVERYTHING regardless of its compatibility with RP...like glamour crystals. I'd much rather say that my character is just -wearing- the glamour gear all along rather than some contrived "Oh well he's ACTUALLY wearing..." ANYWAY!!

 

 

It would appear that Rowena and her master artisans manufactures 'vintage replicas' of armour that holds association with specific 'ancient combat arts', i.e. armour of the Sultansworn, Azure Dragoons, Fists of Rlagr and so on. This means that it is more than possible to wear this stuff IC and not have to worry about the association with those Jobs IC...you could just say 'I purchased this from Rowena's House of Splendors'.

 

For myself, my own suspension of disbelief was getting violated a bit by all the IC Dragoons claiming favour from the Archbishop that earned 'em the Drachen mail. Now I can just have my character go 'eh maybe they got it from that woman in that Mor Dhonan city' (whether it is 'true' is irrelevant) and now we can all live happily ever after!

 

Oh, and Gerolt makes all that other stuff.

 

*insert Slowpoke meme here if people already knew this*

[Meta Xi]

/obligatory slowpoke is slow

 

Rowena's shop has been my go to answer for Meta's armor. Heck, I even spent the coin and effort for the dyeable version of the original Dragoon set to really send the point home. Also, because it looks spiffy.

 

Rowena is pretty much an IC lore reason as to why anyone can have certain pieces of gear. If I recall correctly, it's actually some noble in Ishgard who funds the replicas and gives them to Rowena, who in turn sends the noble the tomestones we collect. Don't quote me on that.

[FreelanceWizard]

Yep, a lot of armors and weapons are replicas. In fact, the devs have written on this, noting that some pieces of gear have lore about where they come from (Darklight, for instance, is all replicas, along with anything you get from Rowena's people) and others don't (Aethereal gear is just "stuff lying around, possibly from other adventurers who didn't make it out").

[Melkire]

The difficulty in justifying possession of said gear ICly is not so much "why do I have this ancient uber unique weapon" (which, as you've pointed out, is handwaved as Rowena and Geralt creating replicas) but rather, "how did my character acquire this from those individuals, and how did they know they could acquire it from them"?

 

Rowena is stationed in Revenat's Toll in Mor Dhona, which is quite some distance from both Vylbrand and Thanalan; likewise for Gerolt. Folks in Gridania and the Black Shroud might have an easier time of it, but I know that for many a region-bound character the justification is not quite so simple.

 

Take my character, for instance, who spends most of his time in Ul'dah and Limsa Lominsa. He's been to Gridania and the Shroud on occasion, but he's never been as far north as Coerthas or Mor Dhona. So for someone who's not in close enough proximity to catch wind of Rowena's and Gerolt's reputations, and for someone not actively looking for more sophisticated weaponry, slapping a glamour on a relic / Masterworks weapon or else explaining it away as something else entirely might work better in passing for a less-contrived explanation.

 

I've been trying to figure out how my character would acquire his weathered replica of Glanzfaust, and I think the answer in most cases would be going through an intermediary party (such as a peddler... hellooooo, Tarot *rubs hands together mischievously*). Something along the lines of, "Hey, I've looking for something a bid sturdier for a while now, and I happened to come across this illustration in this old tome. Help met out?"

[LiveVoltage]

I would think that under some circumstances such as the Draken mail, yes, it would be difficult why a character wears it ICly but I highly doubt people will know the character is wearing a suit of Astrum Mail, which is Allagan armor of a sort, so I think there are exceptions to certain armors and can be passed off as one thing or another, such as standard or armor tailored specifically for said character.

[Zyrusticae]

OK, so, IDK when this was put in but talking to Rowena, she offers some 'lore' explanations as to the Myth and Soldiery gear. This keeps in the spirit of Square Enix offering a lore explanation for EVERYTHING regardless of its compatibility with RP...like glamour crystals. I'd much rather say that my character is just -wearing- the glamour gear all along rather than some contrived "Oh well he's ACTUALLY wearing..." ANYWAY!!

No, not anyway! :lol: I'm going to touch on this.

 

Glamours are really, really popular in Eorzea, something that's made extremely obvious by all the leves and beast tribe quests where you deal with glamour'd monsters. Glamours are powerful enough that they can make something appear like something completely different (i.e. a sylph making itself look like a treasure chest), hence changing the appearance of armor is actually a really mild application in comparison. Hell, someone could make his or herself look like a completely different race through the use of glamours - however, it's worth noting that these types of glamours have various means of being dispelled (with the weakest ones just disappearing upon being attacked).

 

At this point, it's just something accepted within the game world. No matter how contrived it may seem to us IRL, anyone saying their gear is glamour'd is well within reason, and I wouldn't bat an eyelash at someone who claims that they're actually a completely different race from what they appear to be. It's just something that happens in Eorzea. A LOT.

 

Seeing is not believing.