#ffxiv lore and ref

[janzoo]

Hello fellow FFXIV gposers! I've made this post to pass along a few tips for working with Aymeric and a few quirks of his model. Both of these tips were picked up along the way - I want to send a thank you to those who gave them to me so I could give them to you.

I'm working with Brio for this. Hopefully they are still applicable to other programs, as I'm not familiar with them.

First: Aymeric's earring. As many of you have seen, his earring is "attached" to his armour, so changing whatever is in his "body" slot removes it. But there's a quick fix:

Simply enter "86" into the first section.

Second: His hair. It clips through hats and other headgear.

That is, unless you switch to the player version of his hair, which is number 150 in the hairstyle menu.

Voila! Aymeric can wear hats now!

That's that. Two easy fixes to make gposing with Aymeric that much better.😄Thanks again to those from whom I picked up these tidbits. I list them here only in the hopes of spreading them to as many people as possible. (And to make an easy reference for myself lol)

Take care, and happy gposing!

[fatedroses]

NOOOOOO Blueberry Grandpa!! 🥺🥺🥺 Atticus (and Regent by extension) is such an interesting character. Especially with his complecated relationships with what seems like everyone. I can see why Tsukiko loves her Dad so much. He's so kind and caring despite everything.

:D I'm glad to hear you enjoy old mr.blueberry!

I'm also gonna put this here because I felt like talking a bit more about him as a character:

I started writing Atticus because I wanted to explore pre-imperial and early imperial Garlemald with a character that lived through the brunt of some of the early conflicts (i.e, the reaper society, the home-front war, and the beginning of Solus' reign). Because a lot of the pre-history and subtext caught my eye while I was looking into lore.

He is a character I define almost primarily for the compassion and love he has for others, with Regent balancing him out by being an embodiment of his loyalty, determination, and sense of justice. And I've enjoyed writing him keeping that sense of self, even as it often puts him at odds with those he cares about. For Atticus, to pay the kindness he had gotten from those he had lost forward was the only way he knew of to keep that spark of their memory alive, and in how he thinks of himself, it is how he mentally prevents himself from becoming the man that took his village and his family from him in the first place.

The other main thing I wanted to explore with him is that he is, in archetype, a previous generation non-azem warrior of light, and the concept of him growing up and being from a place like Garlemald and the struggles that came with it because of how his motivations deviated from a lot of his kin.

Also in part because I thought it would be a least a little amusing for Emet to get attached to Atticus only to realize way too late that Hydaelyn had "gotten to him first". (Cue a man angrily shaking his fist towards the earth LOL)

[equinoxbloom]

Fleeting Friend

[FFXIV Write 2024 | Day 3 | Tempest]

The rain fell in a torrent, a cleansing rush from the heavens, and turned the dusty roads to mud. It wasn’t monsoon season, but the levin darted white and purple across the sky. She tucked her knees to her chest, bare toes wriggling against the smooth wood underfoot. She had not stayed a night in the Bokairo Inn in… how many years now? She exhaled, long and slow, and the sound disappeared into the percussion of the storm. Even under the shelter of the eaves, the wind whipping in from off shore skated across the surface of the hot springs and set long hair lashing against her cheeks.

“Imagine my surprise, seeing you step off that ship. Nearly that of seeing you in Ishgard,” Kyokuho was saying, his voice half lost to the gale. It was hard for her sensitive ears to focus, but it afforded them privacy too. Not that their familiarity was a secret. Rather, she had the sense that it was easier for her traveling companions to simply accept she’d arrived miraculously from the East and who, or what, she’d been before they’d pulled her into their fold was fine left at a distance.

She didn’t blame them, really. There was only so much humanizing anyone wanted to engage in when it was rapidly becoming clear she would be sent off to die again and again. Because she wouldn’t die. Because anybody else would be better off if they did. It didn’t really matter if they cared about her on some level. It might be worse if they did.

“It doesn’t rain like this as often in Eorzea,” she said. Kyokuho paused - he’d been saying something else - to stare at her, lips parted. 

“You haven’t changed at all, have you?” he laughed, quiet with a passing affection that settled familiar over her shoulders. He’d always been so quick to call someone, ‘friend,’ and to mean it. Years hadn’t snuffed that warmth; she’d felt it, instant and sure, when he’d recognized her under the wide brim of her hat in the lamplight of the Astrologicum.

“I like to think I have, a little.” It would have been unkind to the memories of those she’d lost if she’d not been changed. He didn’t know the half of what she’d seen. He didn’t know the half of what she’d done. “It doesn’t snow here like it does in Coerthas.” But she was still just herself, as singular and impotent as that felt.

“Does it feel like home across the sea?” he asked. She rolled the thought over once, twice.

“The storms are different, but they still feel familiar. The dark nights still feel familiar.” Where she was speaking of, exactly, she wasn’t sure she could have answered. She had been told the places she would exist. Here and there. Had she found home in anything that wasn’t fleeting? Minfilia’s welcoming embrace. Haurchefant’s warm hand around hers. The weather that descended, violent and aether rich, and stole her breath away along with the rest of the world. Wind, snow, levin, rain.

“Have you found companions you trust? Miss Leveva seemed fond of you.” He kicked his legs over the edge of the engawa, letting the water spilling from the sweep of the roof drench his ankles. “I worried about you when you left,” he said. She frowned. He was younger than her by a couple years. He’d felt like a child when they’d parted ways. In truth, she’d never considered them close. She’d never considered anyone close, besides her brother.

“I have,” she said, though, and found she meant it. The sensation coiled deep in the pit of her stomach. A fragile happiness, a resounding dread.

“And the goddess…” he began, and she shifted to push a finger against his lips. In the rush of the storm, their words were lost as quickly as they were spoken but she stopped him still. The storm wind howled along the hall and set the folds of their hakama fluttering. 

“The rain will leave as quick as it’s come,” she said with a fleeting smile. He nodded slowly. And so will you.      

[diardri]

Dia's FFXIV Art Reference Notes, A possibly long post

Hello! I made this as a thread on my twitter but I might as well post a version of it here. For the record this will be a thread linking to the resources I use when drawing commissions or fanart, I have not made Any of these and whenever I can I will note the creators and link directly to their resources.

GPose Reference First and foremost, if you're drawing a WOL or ordering a commission of your WOL the most important thing is to take a proper reference GPOSE. I use the method in this post, to make sure I got all the angles. Clean refs are super important when drawing armor/intricate outfits so take care to take simple standing poses like the one in the tweet above. Cool dynamic poses might be fun but they're not really useful for referencing.

Gear/Weapon Reference

If you need good references for a weapon/outfit that you don't have a GPOSE for, I recommend using the attire website

This is a japanese website maintained by @/chiyo_asa on twitter and if you've ever looked up a piece of gear in the lodestone you've almost definitely come across their pictures.

This is a super rough translation in english of the menu of the website. While it is in Japanese it's very easy to navigate and all the pictures in the site are super high quality and very useful for referencing.

This is my number one source for gear references I haven't taken myself

The "mirapuri" button afaik is for glams they made themselves that they want to showcase.

An important note about this site specifically is that I believe it's currently undergoing an overhaul so Some weapons/gearsets might not be completely transferred in yet.

That being said, the majority of sets from dungeons/crafting/alliance raids/job gear sets etc are sorted like so, which makes it super easy to look for.

There IS also a search function but I'm pretty sure it works only for japanese input.

NPC reference sheets

@xivrefsheets Offers really detailed resources of npc models. They also occasionally accept requests on their ko-fi (closed at the time of writing this)

These are super useful and really high quality, especially for some of the boss refs they've done. As someone who doesn't use anamnesis I go back to their refs very often

Convocation of the Fourteen refs

Maintained by @/Igeyorhm on twitter this site has a nice list of Ascian refs per character in addition to some lore bits for each of them. Also some very useful closeups of the Ascian clothes.

Even more NPC and Boss Refs

I believe maintained by @/MlNRATHOUS on twitter, this site has a really nice array of major NPC and boss references in various angles and with colourpicks for skintone and hair which is super useful. I use them a Lot

Lalafell centric refs

Norirow Note is a super cute blog that showcases glam items/ weapons/ chocobo barding and more.

It is NOT meant to be an art reference, however if you play a lala like me, I find their showcases useful when drawing gear on lalas.

Even if you don't use it as an art ref it's a super cute blog that's just fun to go through AND fully translated in english so I recommend just having a fun time reading through it anyway.

Bonus- Au Ra Scales.

I literally found out about this today but @/saficchi on twitter has made a super detailed angled ref sheet for both male and female au ra scales and I love them for it

Bonus 2 electric boogaloo- TextTools

I use this to import 3d models of specific weapons into CSP if I'm drawing them.

I don't know how useful this is for other art software but it's saved my ass from freehanding titania weapons so in the thread it goes

That's the full list of refs I personally use, if there's more that people want to add please feel free to do so in the comments. I hope it helps people out in their creative endeavors!

[johannwolfgangvongoethe]

modding/chara building diary

just realized i can just post truly anything. this is sort of ffxiv posting but not really. this is also sort of enstars posting but not really.

this exists so i can look back on it <:) a lot of this probably makes no sense to most people, sorry.

uhh i was kinda into modding ffxiv two years ago. then i stopped because the community around this is full of the most unsympathetic people you will ever meet, and that was honestly just very demotivating. but i play ffxiv regularily and its rather fun and easy to mod. and thats illegal!!! btw!!!! (no one care)

so since enstars has hurt me one too many times and there is no hope for things to get better, i am coping (or not) and grieving terribly by making a seeker catboy who isnt really koga but has all the parts of him that are important to me and that i enjoy.

yeah idk if this is productive either. but its not doing any harm probably. ffxiv as a game has its ups an downs but i find the universe to be very very easy and fun to build around.

idk. im just having fun with it for now.

ive been meaning to make an NA alt and replay some of the early game at least (i started in... 2017? its been so long. man.) and this seems like a perfectly nice vehicle to do so :) and while that happens, i can maybe organically learn about the pretty-much-OC i am trying to build. but out of perfectionist ambitions, i had to mod everything into place first.

i have decided on a name but i ueuuueeehhhhughhhh >publically naming your characters when youre a modder. so i will say "W" for now. basic lore thoughts i knew going into this:

he needs to be a tia because i like catboys and theyre all vaguely gay loner nerds and incredibly hyperfixated on one specific topic

the Warg seeker tribe seems like the obvious and fun pick

i want a monochrome grey colour scheme + Much Teeth

-> game limitations classify those as keeper traits, not seeker traits. but i dont care!!! however that means im using a keeper model for all of this

the character has to be an artist. because the "i need to make art and i wont accept any other way of life" sort of mentality is precious to me due to how unsustainable and stubborn it is

-> i have for now settled on painter because its the type of art i have most connections to. also bc uh love and beast ref ig (I HATE YOU "HIDDEN BEAST"!!!! I HATE YOUUUU!!!!!! but its cute he was a painter for it, isnt it)

his place of origin is most likely the north shroud, esp the bit that got utterly messed up by the calamity, around alder springs. mostly because its an interesting place and warg must exist in the area due to the ixal

this also implies the warg seekers might work in mining these days Or have largely moved their residence. or they split up. i need to re-do coils

to support himself while his art isnt selling yet, i think itd be nice to put him with a tree nursery around gridania that i already thought of for my main ffxiv chara. i just think its funny if theyre ex-coworkers. that is all

-> hes creating incomprehensible symbolism-y shit to me. without people in it. but constantly attempting to redefine and depict humanity without humans. he hates drawing landscapes and portraits but will do so grumpily, if it gets him acknowledged and paid

because i am forever deeply fan of the rkg dynamic, the character must have a muse, which is dead, but which he clings to dearly for inspiration and emotional support. esp bc i dont think the guys that social otherwise.

the drama of him seeing a ghost that is no longer there but real to him is nice.... and honestly even practical. it might just be aetheric residue with a sprinkle of mental illness.

what of the muse? i dont know. a fellow painter, who couldnt follow that passion. obviously they must have met before. i have vague thoughts but nothing im confident enough in yet (i think a duskwight family of heretics could be interesting and dramatic but ehhh) ALSO I DONT THINK THEYRE ACTUALLY DEAD-DEAD LOL but i havent figured the situation out yet

-> you know in star trek tng when Q just randomly shows up to bother picard. thats maybe sort of how id describe whats going on

the muse W sees is a version of a person that is long gone, and cannot return. the actual person behind that might still be out there but they are not the one that left an impact on W. what W sees and passionately interacts with is a phantom that only exists bc his mind allows it to, it is a self-serving vision, at least to a degree. maybe comparable to what fray is.

-> W never actually paints them. he only paints emotions about them. (they were a portrait artist and it makes them rather sad)

which leaves me with a nice to do list i can work on every once in a while, like making the chara, doing sidequests in the north shroud, looking at leve and fish descriptions of that area, doing coils again. to begin with.

anyhow, to the actual modding part. its such a work in progress. but i have made so many small adjustments already.

got an asymmetric face UV base to work on

edited the face mesh, mostly to make the chin more broad and to pull up lower canines

translated the standard miqo'te facial markings into smth more dog-like in appearance, while attempting to keep their canon design somewhat intact

added some basic make up, as well as bit of a gradient

+AN ASHY NOSE. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING A MIQO'TE CAN HAVE

got rid of the ear skin

replaced ears and tails with a torgal body parts port WHICH THANKFULLY EXISTED ALREADY? THANK YOU RANDO ON XMA

darkened the eyeball to resemble canine eyes more

slightly adjusted the dimensions of some face and body parts, like the nose

got rid of the catboy tear lines. bc on dogs they look unhealthy. now hes not a dog. and they dont look bad on game models. but the association is there. this makes no sense really, it just bothered me personally

-> to do: definitely need stronger thicker brows. look up how that works now after the graphics update. add a bit of skin texture? a bit of freckles/moles? need to find out how to hide hair when a full helmet is equipped. also since the ears are attached to the tail, i need a version of the model that just has the tail, so i can kick the ears if i need to (impossible to explain. but what if he wore a hat)

i made a hair mashup for this because. why not. then i painfully retaught myself how weighting armatures works. bc i hate myself. also made shapekeys, so he can wear hats. but i learned a lot so its ok (crying) (thumbs up)

TBSE download bc what else are you supposed to do

added a gradient to his lower legs and arms too, to match his face, also added some skin details but nothing crazy

started making the hands uglier. this guy touches dirt and paint thinner all day. he must have the ugliest hands in the world. and i love that.

but its not enough. we have to go deeper. i have to make them WORSE STILL!!!!!!!! i wonder if i can just shorten the fingers or if that will mess up animations. hmmm ill have to try

also made a quick chest piece mashup just so hes dressed in smth for now.

-> to do: worse hands. maybe paint on rougher skin? i think it would be cute to add paint he didnt manage to wash off to his hands? hrmmm. also ill need to make custom earrings. there still smth about the hair that i need to fix (augh)

but yeah thats what i got so far. might update later on. i just thought itd be fun to capture my initial thinking process in case this goes somehwhere. i like being creative but im not that huge on drawing tbh. so i do stuff like this and nui clothing to stay sane while also engaging in arts and crafts LOL....

[burgerbuan]

buaner 2.0 sheet finally done, jacket and jacketless edition🧎🏽‍♀️ this took too long but i was way too picky with how i wanted it to look…

a little backstory i guess: buaner was my FFXIV WoL i repurposed into a new OC since i don't play the game much anymore, but still love and miss her dearly. new lore is she's an office lady by daytime working in a lunar city bnuuy company and a funny lil 80s anime bounty hunter working w/ a partner by night (maybe you'll see that one soon too)

really happy to finally be done with this and just finally say "ok this is what she looks like" orz this was my first time really committing to a character ref sheet and it felt worth it despite my complaints LOL

[relamune]

Got around to splicing together some screenies for a temp ref of my ffxiv ocs, first up being Savvel, my main & one of two WoL's of mine.

As of posting this, I'm still not super confident in my ffxiv lore knowledge (ive been here for like 3 months) so his backstorys still a wip but hes just a lil guy :3 hes very casual & is like. The shaggy rodgers of hydaelyn (interpret that however u want)

hes also in a polycule with Zenos & @kaelsleftverdantsphere's elezen, Ephex, bc we make the rules

[voidtouched-blue]

I'm here today!

I still have plenty of things saved in my drafts, but I'll be chipping away at them between other things.

I'm currently working on a full overview of Cyra's timeline. I've had to readjust quite a few things due to one of my lovely writing partners being an absolute lore-encyclopedia for FFXIV, but nothing so major that her character changes drastically.

It's going to be fairly in-depth with many of her experiences both inside and outside of her involvement in the MSQ. Eventually I may post it, but for now I just wanted to let you all know I"m working very hard on refining Cyra's character!

(maybe with enough pressure I'll actually finish her ref sheet.)

[a-smol-homo]

I love this!! ♥️♥️ Thank you for the tag!

I’ll pick my ffxiv oc (*´꒳`*)

-> Orpheus Gataki (they/he/she/it)

I picked Orpheus because I’m obsessed with Persona 3 and have been for years. Yuki’s awakening scene did things to me mentally (and I absolutely love giving nicknames when I can, so calling him orphie is my full-time job, I havent said his full name aloud in forever-)

And it’s gonna sound super silly but I knew I wanted him to have a Greek background aside from the obvious first name! Gataki is just Greek for “kitten” because I made him a catboy in ffxiv (his regular oc form is a black wolf because hes originally a fuckin sonic oc-)

Tagging: @wrenegade-accio @huntress-valkyrie @boxdstars @alsopartgekkos @elinoracia and anyone else who’d like to join! ♡⸜(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)⸝♡

edited to include pronouns shh u didnt see me :x

I've been tagged for a few things but I never created my own tagging thing so

WHY IS YOUR CHARACTER NAMED LIKE THIS ?

Answer then tag five people you want to answer ! (If you have more than one character, just choose one)

-> Aubrey Lockhart.

Needed something British so I went with Master and Commander's captain Aubrey.

The name Lockhart stems from when I was a teacher. Because Gilderoy Lockhart is a bad teacher and a complete inspiration for me.

Tagging : @catohphm @earl-grey-hot @ynyseira @esolean @lilac-crown @boomingsmile @a-smol-homo @sallowslytherin

[janzoo]

OC Smash or Pass: Drakyr Saovine

Rules: pretty self explanatory. include physical descriptions or pics, and propaganda. the “other” label can be used for “sexuality misalignment” (ie: oc is femme and you’re gay, vice versa or you aren’t into smashing but a specific thing you wanna do with them like perhaps hug or study them under a microscope idc).

Tagged here by @thevikingwoman thank you! This has turned out to be the best character info/lore page I've put together for Drakyr so far so I'm glad for the tag. 💙

Tagging - oh man who hasn't been tagged in this by now lol uhh @rabid-catboy @paintedscales @hopes-legacy @sebille @raynshyu

@ishgard @dytabytes @hydaelyns-bitch @forishgard @morgan-aleghieri and whoever else wants to do this, it's fun!

(7.0 graphics w/photoshopped black sclera. The beach pic is a remake of an old fave.)

(Pre-7.0 graphics)

(The last pic is from here, with some lore and the original (real person!) pose.)

Quick Facts

Height: 5'2"/159cm

Age: I'm still working out her timeline, but she's in her early 30s by the end of Dawntrail.

Gender: Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Bisexual

Pros

An excellent cook/baker! She is a level 100 Culinarian and absolutely shows it. She also loves tea and is adept at crafting blends.

A foodie in general - come enjoy lots of good/new food with her!

Generally very handy and an excellent craftswoman

Confident

Loyal and dependable

Very passionate and compassionate - she's gotta lotta heart 💙

Not afraid to do dirty work (as long as she can have a good bath afterwards)

An amazing musician, vocalist, and instrumental composer.

Drakyr is in excellent physical condition. She was an athlete and hunter before becoming a warrior proper.

Good sense of sportsmanship. (She does preen over her victories, but has enough class to save it until she's among the right crowd. She also does appreciates the competition and doesn't think less of them for losing to her.)

She's generally good at turning negative experiences into lessons as opposed to being dragged down by them. (She's not immune to grief and the like; this is after the initial shock has passed, so to speak.)

Body- and sex-positive.

Cons

Vain - not in that she flaunts her looks over others, but she spends a lot of time and effort on her appearance. What other people do or don't do with their appearance is on them, but she has to look her best.

Claustrophobic

Ruthless in that once she gets started on something, it's difficult to slow, stop, or redirect her.

Will try to fix everyone's problems.

Is prone to heading into danger/potential traps because she figures that, as the Warrior of Freakin' Light/Darkness, she can handle whatever gets thrown at her.

She is stage-shy about singing in particular, and doesn't do it often unless enough of the audience consists of people she trusts. Struggles to come up with lyrics for her compositions.

Her loyalty can blind her to the wrongdoings of those she's loyal to.

Details

Primarily a Bard, and was raised in a travelling show/competition - she can entertain and handle being the centre of attention.

She's competitive (put here because that can be both a pro and con lol)

Her family/tribe was killed in the Calamity, save for her younger sister, Lakelta. (I do have something in the works of her finding some surviving tribe members that were abducted/conscripted by the Garlean Empire, but the idea is still very tentative/WIP.)

A night-person

Drakyr prefers to carry both titles of Warror of Light and Darkness, in acknowledgement of everything that happened in Shadowbringers, and of the fact that there is no one "evil element". (I'd love to make some kind of combined title for her, like "Warrior of Twilight". But I'm wary of getting Twilight series remarks in turn. 😬)

Drakyr is spiritual, and does revere Nhaama and Oschon as her personal deities. (Less so the latter after Myths of the Realm, though she does occasionally send a prayer/well-wishes his way anyway.) She spends enough time in Ishgard to pay respects to Halone too.

A "work hard, play hard" type who enjoys relaxing/decompressing with a good meal, a soak in a hot tub, and some chill sightseeing/stargazing/lazing around - parallel play is a bonus for any of these. ("Play hard" in that she completely shuts out "work" and any thoughts of it unless an absolute emergency comes up.)

Loves water and swimming, though prefers freshwater over saltwater.

Drakyr believes that destruction is easy, but that ease is a sort of cheat that makes it seem more intimidating and powerful. True power lies in the ability to create and construct.

Not afraid to throw around her weight as Warrior of Light/Darkness (again, can be both a pro and con).

Her intelligence is much more applied as opposed to booksmarts. She's had to stop Alphinaud or other scholars/Scions from what feels like talking at her and have them show her what they need/mean. What books she has are field guides and story books. She does some light journaling.

She loves holidays! Her birthday is on All Saints' Wake/Halloween.

Pierced nipples (link contains non-sexual nudity). She has several different kinds and can change what colour they glow as. Wears simple rings by default.

You can find more info in Drakyr's lore tag.

Sexuality: First and foremost, it doesn't matter to her if it's vanilla or kinky, slow or fast, as long as there is passion. Otherwise she's an open-minded switch, though she does have a bit of a preference for topping-from-the-bottom. Haurchefant introduced her to some kinks that she enjoys still, namely shibari, light dom/sub, and using/wearing leather. (She is not a lacy gal.) Drakyr also enjoys intimacy for more than just insert-dick-into-hole; it's still sex to her whether there was penetration or not. She especially loves oral (both ways). When in a top/dom position, she is patient and gives lots of praise.

Emotionally: Again, she is passionate - she puts her whole heart into whatever she does. By that I don't mean high-energy - passionate as in her partners will never feel the need to question her conviction. She is unwavering in her love. She is a wellspring of adoration and affection. She's in it for keeps. Drakyr also tends to make herself a sanctuary for her loved ones. They can find solace in her presence, and safety at her back. She expects the same in return from her partners. Drakyr loves to love and be loved.

Cast your vote!

[trashcatte]

So I know I’ve mentioned it before but Jayley can turn herself info a big ol’ monster werepanther due to some occurrences in her rp story. I’ve recently gotten some amazing concept art done for it by the lovely @licheart and it turned out so perfect. Look at it!! My big monster girl! Y’all should 100% check out her art it’s worth every cent. Please don’t take the concept art for your own personal use/character references, or delete the comment with licheart’s link. ❤

[ketchupzombie]

Xaela & Raen Lore

TRANSCRIBED FROM THE “FOR THE LOVE OF THE MOON” MISSION -- detailing the elder’s extent of the canon lore for Xaela and Raen.

[ Hien ] How this world born of the gods was to be their battlefield, their creations to fight in their stead. How Azim, Father of the Dawn, he who birthed the sun, and Nhaama, Mother of the Dusk, she who birthed the moon, made the Au Ra...

Yet though these children warred for a time, eventually they laid down their arms and came to love one another. And so the gods bequeathed this world to their children, and ascended to the heavens whence they came.

Those born of the Dawn Father were called the Raen, and those born of the Dusk Mother were called the Xaela. So it was and ever after.

[ Udutai ] But what it does not mention is this: Azim and Nhaama were lovers.

Oh, they fought in the beginning, as did their creations. That much is true. But when they saw how the Xaela and the Raen rose above their hatreds and joined hands in harmony, their hearts stirred, and the love their children shared became theirs as well. Alas, he was of the sun and she of the moon. Apart they must remain, lest day and night cease to be, and with them all creation.

With sadness in their hearts they returned to heavens-- he to the day, she to the night, destined to walk before and after, never to meet.

As time passed, Azim's yearning for his beloved grew deeper still. Was there truly naught that could be done, he wondered. At last, he knew.

"If the Father cannot be with the Mother, then he shall go amongst her children. Now and ever after."

So it was, that Azim took a fragment of his being and with it fashioned an avatar. Clad in scale of midnight, he descended, and sought out the Xaela.

Yea, he was the first Oronir. We are of his flesh and his blood. We are the children of Azim, and it is our duty to watch over and keep the Xaela safe.

[ Hien ] ... I confess, I did not expect the tale of your people's beginnings to be quite so romantic. Yet I must ask: if it is your duty to defend the Xaela, how can you go to war with them in the Naadam? Is that not a contradiction?

[ Udutai ] If a father disciplines his son, does that mean there is no love in his heart? Xaela are not wont to kneel. They must be made to -- only then will they heed reason.

[ Hien ] I see... Such is the way of the Steppe. Thank you, elder, for sharing with us your wisdom.

[ Udutai ] Eager to depart? Ere you go, you would do well to hear the end of my tale. When Nhaama looked down and saw the avatar of Azim, she knew him at once, and shed tears of love and longing. When they struck the earth, they rose anew, as a counterpart to the Oronir. Their fates entwined.

So you see, for every son of Azim is a daughter of Nhaama for whom he must search. Even now.

PASTEBIN CAN BE FOUND HERE

[hornyflapcat]

Check out my new ref sheet for my 'sona!

Hey, check out my new reference sheet for art commissions! My friend Triss did one for me and for Craz! I'm super excited to use this when getting art commissioned now, because I really feel like this fursona is coming together now!

When I was putting Seren's look together, I just started with a basic concept inspired by a Final Fantasy XIV character I'd made. A humanoid big cat with blue-black fur, wings, horns. I felt a bit unoriginal, since it was one part accidental-furry-because-FFXIV, and also because he looked like several Final Fantasy characters (Kimahri and Ifrit from FFX, for example, or Griever from FFVIII), but also several aspects of his color scheme related to X-Men characters I'd always loved (Beast and Nightcrawler to name just a couple).

However, over time he's developed into a really unique creation, and I'm loving it! Here are some specific qualities that make him individual, and uniquely mine:

The horns are very specifically sort of Maleficent-dragon horns, in that they go up and back between his ears (different from his first design on FFXIV). They're brownish-black and slightly sparkly, and they go between his ears. I have a set of horns I plan on wearing when portraying him in cosplay.

The wings are like giant raven wings, glossy and iridescent black, with an accent on blue and red flash. I figure I'm going to need to buy shirts with raven wings stenciled on the back, and maybe get a jacket of the same kind, so I can wear them as part of cosplay. I also have a really cool jacket that sort of feels like black feathery wings, it's a knit thing, I will probably dedicate to his costume. I may also choose to incorporate wings in jewelry I wear, as an homage.

His body has a sort of natural armor, it's not just covered in fur. The armor is of a similar color scheme to his wings, and it's like dragon scaling or something, rather than segmented carapace. Not sure if that's something I'll ever be able to do anything with in costume.

His eyes are slightly luminescent orange-gold, and he wears glasses over them, to reflect both my poor eyesight (I wear glasses, I usually hate contacts) and the fact that cats are often nearsighted.

He has humanoid hands, although I kinda want him to have paw pads. His nails are trimmed rather than clawlike. It's a personal thing. The nails are black though, and his feet are digitigrade feline paws (also with black claws). I suppose I'll experiment with painting my nails.

His tail is like that of a panther, rather than a lion (one of the bigger changes from his original characterization). I have a scarf I'm going to wear around my waist that will hang in the back, to represent the tail.

He has leopard spotting in places, darker blue on the navy. I figure this is sort of a sensitive subject, as he wears clothing which conceals most of his spotted areas. Basically, he has freckles and is probably a little sensitive about that. Again, I don't think this is something I'll be able to wear as a costume, but it's touches like these which help bring a character to life, if my experience in D&D and such have taught me anything.

He wears a matching set of silver-set blue stones in an amulet around his neck, and a ring on his right hand. There will likely be lore associated with these objects, but really I included them so that I can make a ring and a necklace I have part of my costume when I portray him.

So yeah! I'm pretty proud of his development! I'll share art as I get it!

[janzoo]

Auraugust 2023 - Day 2: Contest

Although my participation in Auraugust will be limited this year, this is the one prompt I really wanted to do - I've been aching for a good excuse/motivator for it. Behold my Au Ra lady and WoL, Drakyr Saovine!

I headcanon that Drakyr's Xaela tribe had their own version of the World Nomad Games, which is a competition showcasing traditional sports primarily from the Central Asian region's nomadic peoples. The Saovine tribe originally held these competitions as part of their own culture - a less-bloody-and-deadly alternative to actual combat - and then as a show when they travelled to Eorzea. The World Nomad Games includes, among its many contests, archery done with the feet instead of the hands, which looks rad as hell. So naturally, I had to pose Drakyr doing it!

She can still do this, and it never fails to impress!

Big thanks to @e-dragoons and @brookhorse and @macroraptor for helping me get the pose and final image looking as it is! 💙

More info on the World Nomad Games: WNG official website's "about" page, two Tumblr posts about it x and x.

[relamune]

pt 2 of my ffxiv oc's refs, this time my special boy Styx <3 hes my #1 catboy

as with the prev ref, Im still not confident with my ffxiv lore knowledge (ive been here for like 3 months) BUT this guy is a *bit* more developed than Savvel.

tl;dr he was born in the middle of nowhere, gridania before escaping his shitty home life, became one of the transients in Ul'dah for awhile, before accidentally stumbling himself into becoming an adventurer (started off bc of the money it brought in to support himself & his son & then as luck would have it, found himself involved in the MSQ)

I often WolCred post with him as they've quickly become a comfort ship of mine :3

[janzoo]

Some notes on Ancients and Greek mythology - spoilers within for Final Fantasy XIV, especially Shadowbringers and Endwalker. This isn’t necessarily new information, but I haven’t seen anything about it here on Tumblr yet. Let’s have a lil fun with (mostly) Greek mythology under the readmore -

Hi folks! While trying to figure out an Azem for my WoL, I found some info that I’d like to share. Not all Ancients take their name directly from Greek mythology, if at all. And of those that do, matching the character’s gender to their namesake’s doesn’t seem to matter, either. So for those of you like me who are figuring out an Azem or other Ancient OCs, relax! Ancients’ names aren’t as strict as we might think.

While “Hythlodaeus” is a name in the ancient Greek language, it doesn’t come from mythos. In fact, it comes from a satirical novel called “Utopia” that was published in 1516; it roughly translates as “speaker/distributor of nonsense”.

Mitron’s real name is Artemis. Mitron is male, but Artemis was a goddess.

“Venat” is a reference to a character from Final Fantasy XII of the same name, and comes from Latin “to hunt”. (Some think that the katakana for her name, which spells out in romaji as “vēnesu”, is supposed to be “Venus”. It’s more likely that it’s supposed to spell “Veneth”, but there’s no way to write “th” sounds in katakana. The same mix-up happened with Aerith in FFVII.)

So yeah, if you want to branch out from Greek mythology, or play with gender, or whatever, cool! Not that you weren’t cool to do so anyway - this is all just for funsies in the end. In the meantime, I’ve put together a few lesser known names and figures from (mainly Greek) mythology that could also prove interesting names/inspirations for Ancients. These are very much simplified versions of the myths. Please don’t be an ass if there’s “wrong” info, the myths vary a lot and I’m doing this in my own spare time for fun and because I’m hyperfocusing/infodumping about some special interests.

Tiresias/Teiresias: One day, Tiresias found a couple of snakes mating, and beat them to death with a stick. This angered Hera, and she turned him into a woman. Tiresias then lived for several years as a woman, including getting married and having children. She then found some mating snakes again, and either beat them to death again or didn’t - either way she became a man again. He then became an oracle - the “how” varies between stories but the version I was told was that Zeus and Hera were arguing over who has better orgasms. Zeus argued that it’s women, and Hera vice versa. They decided to ask Tiresias, since he’d experienced both. He said it’s women. Hera became pissed at him again and blinded him. Zeus felt bad about this and gave Tiresias the gift of prophecy as a sort of consolation. Some myths say that this gift worked by allowing Tiresias to understand birdsong. (Between the gift of prophecy and the gender “fluidity”, Tiresias sounds like a prime candidate for Urianger’s Ancient imo.)

Sibyl: Technically a title denoting a prophetess, but we’re making it a name now. I’m referring specifically to the story of the Cumaean Sibyl. Apollo came to her, offering a wish in exchange for her virginity. She held up a handful of sand and asked for as many years as grains of sand she held. However, she later reneged on her part of the deal, refusing to sleep with Apollo. He granted her the extended life she wanted, but did not preserve her age or body. Sibyl shrank with age until she was no more than sand herself, kept in a jar. She was still conscious and had a voice. She’s referenced to at the beginning of T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land” like so (translated from Latin and Greek): For once I myself saw with my own eyes the Sibyl of Cumae hanging in a jar, and when the boys said, "Sibyl, what do you want?" she replied "I want to die."

Hecate: Greek goddess of magic/witchcraft, transitions, and crossroads. (Many sources also say necromancy, creatures of the night, and ghosts.) I don’t have a specific story for her, I just think she’s cool.

Deimos and Phobos: Sons of Ares, god of war, though they’re more metaphors than proper gods. “Deimos” means “dread” and “phobos” means “fear”. They accompanied their father into war; thus, when Ares descended onto the battlefield, he brought dread and fear with him.

Ma’at/Maat: Let’s dip into ancient Egypt! Ma’at was the goddess of harmony, truth, and justice, said to balance the stars and the seasons. Most notable was her feather, the Feather of Truth, which was used to weigh the hearts of the dead. If the dead person’s heart was lighter than or equal to the weight of her feather, they were deemed worthy of proceeding into the afterlife proper. (The Feather made a cameo in Marvel’s “Moon Knight” lol)

Bast/Bastet/Ailuros (Greek): The Egyptian goddess with the cat head. You’ve probably at least heard of her. Defender of kings and goddess of pregnancy/childbirth. Sometimes depicted as the gentler aspect of the more aggressive lioness-headed goddess Sekhmet. Honestly, I’m mainly listing her because a) she has a cool Greek name if you want to stick with that, and 2) it could be a fun option if you want to be really on-the-nose with the Ancient of a Miqo’te lol.

My hyperfocus seems to have about run its course, so I’m finishing the post here. The point is that if/when you’re making an Ancient OC, you’re not bound to ancient Greece, or matching gender for gender. Thanks for reading. :D