balmung Tiergan's Red Lotus Story Arc + FAQs

[Tiergan]

Hey folks. Unfortunately, coding bootcamp is devouring much more of my time than I anticipated even though I anticipated it would take up a lot of my time. I’m essentially only reliably online on weekends. (I did warn you all it would be extremely slow moving. :V I just didn’t expect it to be THIS slow.)

However, a few updates:

 

1) Another player has been trying to look for RP posts related to the Red Lotus Arc on Tumblr. If you have a FFXIV Tumblr and want to use it to post RP things related to this arc, feel free to tag any posts related to the story arc with "ffxiv red lotus" so that they can find them much more easily — especially if they’re RP!

 

2) Because I’m taking forever - if you have any neat ideas you would like to suggest for the gemstones, feel free to shoot them my way. The OOC purpose of the stones is actually just to give people an excuse to interact with one another. So if you have ideas that would help facilitate RP between you and others, feel free to shoot it my way. They have an IC purpose too - but ultimately even if your character tossed them, things would unfold in pretty much the same way when Tiergan finally finds you or if you find Tiergan.

 

3) My original plan was just to hunt people down as I play the game, but I realised I’m being dumb. So if you want Tiergan to FINALLY find your character, feel free to just poke me and we’ll try to sort out when we’re both online at the same time. If you’re okay with waiting however and are in no rush because perhaps you’re already embroiled in some pretty intense RP - you can also just wait for me to run into you in-game.

 

4) If it helps your RP at all, your characters would all likely find that they’re being followed. Or at least feel like they’re being followed. The men and women that track your characters are armed, with hooded capes and carefully maintained armor. They would mostly be watching. Though they may also feel compelled to capture your characters - but would take specific care in capturing your characters alive and without any crippling wounds. If captured themselves, would remain silent even under torture or threat of death. There would be nothing on their persons that are identifiable ways to mark where they come from - save for the fact that they’re all vaguely dressed in a similar manner.

 

Please feel free to actually RP/control them as convenient NPCs to spark any RP interactions you like between you, your friends, or even other participants. If you actually want your character captured by them, we’ll have to talk though! And it’ll require a lot more work on my part, which means possibly more waiting on your part.

 

5) Some folks have asked if it’s okay to organize a linkshell or just to group up and do things together in general. This is totally encouraged. Additionally, if you all want me to actually make a “Red Lotus OOC” linkshell and actually have a free LS slot, I’ll do that too so you guys can find and communicate with each other more easily for fun interaction times with strangers. Let me know if this is something you’re interested in.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Val]

I have an open linkshell slot as well, and would be more than happy to help

[Tiergan]

Red Lotus Linkshell has been created!

Everyone, upon joining, instantly gets pearl-distribution privileges. Please use them to invite in people you know are also in the plot or friends who are interested in the plot even though they don't have gems. (I.e. Your IC lovers, best friends, family members, etc.)

 

Please use the linkshell to grab a person and engage in red-lotus related shenanigans. Hit up a stranger and do some gem-vision swap times. Bump into someone and notice that "hey, you have one of these weird stones too!" Race away from your terrifying new stalkers and crash into another stranger who is running from hunters of their own. If you can come up with some other neat idea that the stones could mysteriously do to help make conjuring up RP even easier, feel free to send me suggestions. If they work with what I have planned, I will throw them in.

 

Shy people, please don't be scared about asking for RP times! BE BOLD!

 

As for the mysterious cloaked NPCs - you are 100% allowed to give your character's new stalkers any personality, appearance, armor, etc you like. They (usually) wear cloaks, but not always - so you literally have free-reign in designing them how you like. Feel free to make up encounters where they are watching, stalking, hunting, or attempting to capture you and others. Design them for whatever helps you get more RP - even if it’s for things unrelated to the Red Lotus plot.

 

The only requirement for these NPCs is that they will not speak of who they work for or why they are hunting you even under threat of death. This is half because the NPCs wouldn't fess up and half because it frees you guys from having to worry about whether or not you're breaking my future plot plans with the kind of NPCs you create. They can be smart, dumb, bumbling, efficient, fanatical, or even oddly kind. You have free reign.

 

If you don't have a free LS slot, that's okay. I'll just try to put you on priority for me running into you if I haven't already.

 

Edit: I forgot to mention - the NPC hunters in the Red Lotus plot would most definitely be trying to capture your character alive. Generally they would also try to do the least harm possible. However, you can have a particularly aggressive or bumbling hunter that does damage in favor of a higher capture success rate.

 

I will add all of this to the original when I get home later today.

[Tiergan]

Master post updated.

[Tiergan]

Hey folks,

 

I just thought I would take some time to be more explicit about something probably wasn't very clear on. Other than not having much playtime and having to RP individually with so many people, the reason why I went out of my way to describe this arc as "organic", "slow" and something that should be seen as a way to grab occasional supplemental RP is that ultimately - there is not a huge amount of structure to help point the way in regards to what your character should do next.

 

There is enough to get something started and give reasons to run into new or old friends and RP with them if you decide, but at the end of the day, the only scripted portions of the plot are:

 

1) What happens with you and the gem.

 

2) What happens with you, your gem, and other people with gems.

 

3) What happens if you write to the Sisters of the Red Lotus.

 

4) What happens if you arrange to meet with the Sisters of the Red Lotus.

 

5) What happens if you run into or find Tiergan. (If you are tired of waiting around for me to find you - it is actually way easier for people to straight up give me their schedules and arrange a meeting time with me. The list got so huge that I admittedly feel overwhelmed sometimes.)

 

6) What happens if you want to RP out a scenario where your character was captured by the Mystery Hunters and your friends want to help get you back. (It involves an IC dungeon run, so if that isn't your thing, let me know and I can devise something else that is not dungeon related.)

 

7) What happens if your character does one of two very specific to "the Lotus", tries to destroy it, or tries to take it away from Tiergan.

 

8) What happens if your character decides to help 'awaken' rather than help close the Lotus.

 

Other than that, the arc is organic rather than scripted. There is no clear directive on what to do next. I understand that some people enjoy plots that have much more structure and clearer goals. I actually do too. Normally, I like to provide more structure so people never feel lost. Unfortunately, this story can't work that way because of real life constraints. Therefore, if you are bored, unhappy and have realised that this isn't really what you expected or wanted when you signed up...

 

THAT IS 100% OK. I know where you are coming from. I will definitely not take it personally if you want to exit from things and step away from the arc. You will not hurt my feelings, I will not think poorly of you, and I will absolutely respect your feelings because they are 100% valid. My biggest concern is that people will grow frustrated and upset because they don't want to participate anymore but feel "stuck" out of fear that I will get mad and throw a fit. Please do not worry!

 

All that said, I definitely see that I need some way to push things forward for more people, so I will be making some adjustments and bringing in some volunteers to help speed things up.

 

Thanks!