#like technically ffxiv ancients

[chicinlicin]

help i'm at the stage of ship brainrot where i'm drawing them as cats

[saanphoenix]

Like. This wall of text is coming to you, ye Dragon Age fans who followed me recently, from someone who is a big fan of DA and FFXIV.

And especially ye Solas fans.

For those of you who don't know who the fuck Emet-Selch is and why he may keep getting brought up in relation to Solas, I'll give you some insight.

Emet-Selch makes an appearance in the third expansion of FFXIV. He is called Solus zos Galvus at the time. He is/was the founder and emperor of a very fascist, expansionist country called Garlemald. So, naturally, not a good guy.

And he is also a being known as an "Ascian," which are... Best description I can give you is, "Ancient, immortal soul that has to possess bodies to exist properly in the world and who is part of a group trying to resurrect their god, who they believe will fix the world." Fixing the world here means destroying, in total, 13 "reflections" of the "source" world, and all life upon them, to funnel their energies back into the "source" and make the planet whole. Each Reflection destroyed causes a catastrophic Calamity on the Source, which generally kills thousands, on top of the millions killed in the Reflections.

Tl;dr, Emet-Selch's and his brethren's body counts are Super Duper High.

Throughout history, for 12,000 years or so, he has been orchestrating Empires and all of their evil to get them to do something amazingly heinous that breaks the barriers between worlds and shoves a Reflection up the Source's ass, making it one step closer to being whole again.

And he does this while having convinced himself that the people he's killing are not technically alive--on account of them being a fraction of a whole--and thus he is not guilty of murder when they die.

Y'know, like Solas thinking the modern world, torn from the Fade by his Veil, is full of Tranquiled people who aren't fully real, and thus tearing down the Veil and destroying this Not Real world he's made to recreate the old one that Was Real is FINE ACTUALLY.

Yeah. Anyway.

So you know Emet-Selch is a bad guy. He approaches your character and the rest of the Good Guys and expresses annoyance that y'all have ruined one of his plans that involve destroying yet another Reflection but states that, while you know his and the other Ascians methods, you do not know his motives. And to fight each other without understanding that would be "mere bloodletting". Thus he offers you his cooperation to now SAVE the Reflection he was trying to destroy. Because he knows waaaaay more about what's actually going on than you do.

Naturally, no one believes he is there to help. He wants something. He's scheming something. Which he admits he's doing every hour of every day. But! ...He's got a point. And he's not trying to kill you yet. So... HE SORT OF JOINS THE GROUP.

For the entire base of an entire expansion, you have a villain tagging along, haunting you, still saying fucked up fascist shit, giving insight into how the worlds work, why the Ascians have been doing what they've been doing, he even occasionally helps out. And while you know he's definitely going to betray you later, and he's killed millions of people, you...kinda like the guy. You shouldn't but you do.

*stares pointedly at Veilguard*

Part of the reason you like the guy is he's sassy. And grumpy. But also, when you find out that 12k years ago, him and his people suffered a Calamity that made them sacrifice themselves to birth a god to save the world, and then the world was Sundered by another man-created god and ALL OF MANKIND was effectively destroyed... you kind of Get It. You don't agree with killing millions of people and making fascist empire after fascist empire just to break worlds and put them back together...but you understand the level of despair needed to walk that path to "bring back our loved ones."

So that, by the time he inevitably betrays you, shows how he was using you the entire time, and kidnaps one of your friends who's got some information he could use to further his plans...you're mad. Disappointed. But not surprised. And you chase after him to try and stop him.

Which leads you to a glimpse of the old world. He's crafted it with his magic. A HUGE ancient, futuristic city at the bottom of an ocean populated with shades of people from his past. That go about their lives as if it was a snapshot from 12k years ago.

And you realize how goddamn lonely this man is. And has been. Where the despair and anger come from. It is beaten into your skull what he's fighting for and what you are fighting to prevent.

Your battle with Emet-Selch is inevitable. He has come too far, sacrificed too much, has a burden so extremely heavy that he cannot stop. You have come too far, sacrificed too much, have the burden of the futures of multiple worlds and millions of people and you cannot stop.

You kill him. And as his essence is fading away through the huge hole in his chest, he takes off his Ascian robe's hood, looks you square in the eyes, and says, "Remember us. Remember that we once lived."

And you nod in acceptance of that burden.

Do you know how many streamers, YouTube and Twitch both, I have seen CRY at that moment? Those two fucking sentences HURT people, lemme tell ya.

That's why Emet-Selch was so loved as a character. Because they fucking ripped your heart out with his demise. They made you understand All Of It and that, though you did the right thing, YOU are now the inherittor of this man's--this PEOPLE'S--legacy. You have to remember because there's hardly anyone left who can. You are the shepherd of the worlds now. You can't fuck it up.

It's such good fucking writing, and I wish DA could have pulled the same with Solas, because the character concepts are damn near the same in so many regards, but they just couldn't do it. They could not get there.

[exploringcastleoblivion]

Then vs Now

Corinne - May 2020:

Now:

The biggest change for Corinne was her eye color going from light purple/pink to brown. Mostly I wanted her eyes to stand out a bit more, since her hair was already purple. Sometimes I miss the original color, but I can let her Ancient self have the purple eyes.

I also made small adjustments to facial features over the years (like making the jaw shorter), and her skin tone more pink/warm.

-------------

Belmont - July/Aug 2023:

Now:

Aside from a haircut change once I unlocked it through pvp, Belmont has stayed exactly the same.

I'm only in HW on him, so my glam options are limited. Of course, once I get to ShB I'll have to add the Shadowless Robe of Casting to the glam list. Technically, he'd have the same robes as the other black masked Ascians we see in game but Shadowless gear is the closest I can get to those, being on console.

Tagged by @avampyone - thank you!

Tagging @scholarlostintime, @otherworldseekers, @briar-ffxiv, @sunbeasts, @fair-fae, @astarmaux & anyone else who wants to do this!

[flourishing-fagopsis]

catboy Iskal!

I've been haphazardly working on a re-imagining of my FR lore that entirely separates it from FR since I'm... not really playing anymore (due to the ancients fiasco) but I decided I wanted to set it more modern and that really threw the whole thing into the mixer. there's a bit of HDM/golden compass inspo in there now and a little FFXIV inspo.

Iskal is part uhh cat guardian (I don't have names for any of these 'species' yet) which are really big wild cat/domestic cat combo sort of giant. protectors. they've intermingled with humans and get diluted over generations, Iskal is SUPER diluted the more closely related ones look like furries.

there's also dragons, but unlike the cats they're not around anymore and were much much even bigger. same deal, their descendants are still around and intermarried with humans but have been so diluted over the years (& often even mixed with cat guardians!) they look a lot more human— mostly like gijinkas, lol.

regular ol humans are still around but it's getting harder and harder to find 'pure' humans and harder still to even... tell who is technically pure. there's big human family linages that laud themselves as being of the 'first' but they're dying out slowly.

uhmm this whole thing is still like 4% of an idea rn but rambling about it helps me develop it :)

[corvid-lullaby]

The Fourth Folly

Hope.

This isn't such a fragile thing as some would have you believe. Nay, it's something rough you have to build for your own. It breathes as its own entity. It can be beaten, bloodied, and bruised, but it can just as likely heal and callous over with enough nourishment. It can raise you up in the most dire moments and become your own hallowed ground.

You grasp for it. You fight for it.

But what if it were all for naught? What if, regardless of how much you clung to it, it continued to slip through between your battered fingers?

You, who once was filled with hope in your eyes.

You, who are a cursed soul.

You, who's death rattle was the final kiss upon your lips many a times.

Trust and love used to come to you so easily. As each betrayal stole another life of yours, you denied that it harmed your morale. Instead you forged ahead. Each turn of your soul withered your hope. You must have been blessed to some degree to have held out through thousands of your spent lives.

Each death of a crow must be accounted for:

One for Sorrow,

Two for Mirth;

Three for a Wedding,

Four for Humanity’s Death;

Five-Hundred for Flesh,

Six-Hundred for Bone;

Seven-Hundred for a Soul,

Not to be Left Alone;

Eight-Hundred for Euphoria,

Nine-Hundred for Eternity,

And Ten-Thousand More for an Unattainable Divinity

How are you now little crow? How do you fare with that broken wing of yours?

This is a chapter list for Shiki's FFXIV verse. Each verse of the counting poem will eventually link to a story as they're released:

Once an Ancient who studied death and how it promoted evolution for survival, he would go through a downfall through an accident at the hands of the Warrior of Light. With a soul malformed through self experimentation while under the influence of Althena and the Heart of Sabik, the Sundering was unkind to him. His soul could not be split while his flesh could. In turn it caused his body to repeatedly be rendered apart only to reform itself around the soul. Eventually his own creations were caught into it and would leave him as a grotesquerie.

A monster, but only by his looks.

While his soul and--technically--his body survived, the trauma would prove too much to let his memories live. He would awaken on the Source in its earliest dawn. Still kind, still gentle, but sadly his actions will not defend him from the many stones that would soon be cast upon him.

After all, if it looks like a monster then it must be a monster, correct?

He would also soon find out that death will not be his escape. Each rebirth would come with his memories intact. Each death meant a fray on his mentality.

And so, these writings will follow the lives he has lived that has impacted him the most, and how a kind soul has rotted so deeply.

They say that it takes ten thousand lives to reach enlightenment.

[foxgirlbeans]

A Ninja's Guide to Eorzea: Part 2

Welcome back, warriors of light! if you missed part 1, this is a series where I'm taking a look at every dungeon in FFXIV and grading them based on how amenable they are to the ninja's oft-overlooked ability Hide. that's right, it's not just a mudra refresh button! sometimes...

today we're finishing up the leveling dungeons in A Realm Reborn, and then if we keep going at 6 dungeons a part we'll spend the next three parts on level 50 dungeons. dear god does ARR have a lot of endgame content.

The Sunken Temple of Qarn

just like part one, we're starting off really strong once again. the only enemy in this dugeon you can't sneak past are the giant stone heads you use to weigh down pressure plates, and you have to fight a few of those to get them on their buttons at all. this dungeon feels more roguish than ninjalike what with stealing ancient artifacts and treasure and all that, but grabbing those artifacts without any dungeon denizens noticing still makes this dungeon more fun than it would be by just hitting Hide and autowalking to the next boss.

you can even complete the scale in the final room without triggering any enemies if you time things just right, which I was honestly surprised by. I'm giving this one an A.

Cutter's Cry

the first two rooms in this dungeon are basically arenas, so the sneaking starts a little late on this one. that being said, the (pray return to the) waking sands and the exploding blue flames in the dry sands and blue sands areas respectively make it a challenge to keep your stealth up as you move between bosses, so it's still just as fun to avoid fights as it is to get into them.

that being said, I do have to take points off here for not being very ninja at all, as well as for the wet sands areas. you can sneak through the wet sands perfectly fine, don't get me wrong, but it's just as easy to run through the place and grab a teleporter before the mobs catch up to you, so sneaking only really slows you down here. still, 2/3s of the dungeon are good, so B-.

The Stone Vigil

this dungeon has almost no checks between bosses so I was super looking forward to this one, but it immediately disappointed me. the dravanian outriders that appear in almost every pull can see through stealth, which given that they're scouts at least kind of makes sense? but between them and the ambushes of ice sprites, there's a grand total of two fights in this dungeon you can avoid through stealth.

technically you're sneaking through an enemy base and attacking their commanders, but most of FFXIV doesn't really make dragons feel sapient, so it really doesn't feel like it. that, plus Hide having almost no effect here, gives the Stone Vigil a D+.

The Dzemael Darkhold

speaking of expectations being turned on their head, here's that again but in the exact opposite direction. I did not think the darkhold could be stealthed all that well, but I was completely wrong once again.

what you would think would be the biggest problem- the timers you have to stand on to progress- actually aren't a huge deal, and like the pulleys in Halatali, these provide an extra fun challenge for anyone trying to avoid a fight.

the first few timers are complicated by the first boss of the dungeon flying around dealing massive AoEs of damage everywhere, but I'm fairly confident at least one of the two timers can be finished without a fight if you time it properly.

the second leg of the dungeon introduces exploding crystals that deal damage in an area around them, but they're slow enough to easily dodge without issue.

the third leg combines the two, forcing you to stay inside the crystals' area of effect in order to finish the timer. you'd think this would be a problem, but again you can time these so you're only revealed while everyone's back is turned, and then you can sneak away after the timer is finished. just be careful to avoid moving until you're properly hidden- I made that mistake before.

I'm not entirely sure what a "Darkhold" even is, but you are sneaking onto a rich family's property so that's roguish enough for my book. all in all, I give this dungeon a B+.

The Aurum Vale

like in Cutter's Cry, the acid pools and gas vents of the Aurum Vale make avoiding fights just as interesting as charging in headfirst, which is a good sign of things to come. the first boss can be reached without incident, as long as you don't get knocked into a pool of goldbile, and after that you'll have to contend with Morbols which can see through your Hide. that being said, in all cases they block your path forward anyway, so fighting them is a forgone conclusion.

this dungeon does not fit the ninja aesthetic at all, but it has easily the shortest runtime so far at less than five minutes even while sneaking the whole way. that alone gives it an A- as an invaluable asset to have while relic grinding.

The Wanderer's Palace

this is the first level 50 dungeon on the list, and if the rest are even half as bad as this I completely understand why people think Hide straight up doesn't work in dungeons. there's a couple ambush fights in this dungeon which aren't new, but the sheer breadth of creatures that can see through your stealth- Pug Pugils, Corrupted Nymians, and Tonberries (in the tonberry dungeon)- means there's a grand total of two fights you can skip throughout the whole thing- one of which still needs you to pull a lever in the middle of all the enemies, and the other can be spoiled if you're standing in the middle of it when an ambush starts.

all in all, sneak adds almost nothing to this dungeon aside from letting you ignore those giant tonberries that patrol certain areas, which really just raises even more questions! that being said, you are technically infiltrating a castle to free an oppressed peoples from their tyrannical king, even if it doesn't feel like it. D+.

[sparkwithinme]

Commissions open with a new commission sheet. ^.^ For more examples, my work can be found mainly be found on my Tumblr all under this tag, but some ancient work is kicking around on Deviantart. Also post things on my main twitter.

Prices are in USD.

I now have a Commission Form to make getting the ball rolling easier!

For a quick run down, keep reading! :D

1. My own style is sorta a mix between Disney-anime, but as I'm trained in animation, I enjoy dabbling with many styles. More anime? More disney? More realistic? Not a problem. :) For OC characters, visual examples or a detailed description is a must! Pose references are fantastic too! Basically the more visual reference you can give me, the better I can capture what you have in mind. :)

2. The above examples are just estimates as complexity of the request can affect the price. I am, however, also super flexible! My sheet is just some examples. Like if you'd be happy with a rougher sketch, pricing can be adjusted. I do also make physical artwork, working in marker, coloured pencil and watercolour--again, contact me to discuss this.

3. What won’t I do? Mecha/technical things I’m hopeless at. Heavily detailed things, like armour (looking at YOU FFXIV) makes my brain melt, thus can affect my quote. And, sorry, I can't do detailed backgrounds. (Don’t ask about my animation layout class grades! Cry XD) Simplified spaces and more natural landscapes I'm much better at. And, lastly, mature content just isn't my cuppa tea.

4. Paypal is my preferred method of payment! (But if you’re a fellow Canadian we might have another option... contact me and we’ll talk! :) )

5. The finished piece is yours to use for any personal uses. (Wallpapers, icons, etc.) However, copyright over the work is retained by me. If you’re interested in work to be used for commercial use, this is something that would need further discussion. See the google form for more thorough explanation of my terms.

6. Finally... I also make stuff! I love making crafty things! And more crafty things! Also MORE! XD (And some older things!) Here is a lot of the things I currently have available and also do custom work. Currently only able to mail things to Canada and US. (Things have been getting complicated lately. :( ) My apologies. Please get in touch if interested! =D

(P.S. I also stream a bunch on Twitch! Games (particularly a LOT of XIV right now) mainly! But also art sometimes too. ^.^ Come hang out with me!

[thefinalwitness]

ffxiv: ok the hydaelyn and zodiark stuff is over after endwalker :)

me: ok but we'll still see ascians sometimes right. there's like 6 of them still out there. and also i personally think they had enough time to find a new shard of igeyorhm and nabriales so technically there's like 8 if you really think about it. and actually wasn't lahabrea only sealed into an eye of nidhogg? he could've been released when the eyes were destroyed. so we might as well count 9. ALSO mitron was definitely replaced and i suspect so was loghrif so actually it's at least 11. ALSO fandaniel's other shards are out there and idk what he's up to without his ancient memories but you know it can't be good so really—

[why-raven]

Did you design your OC with a specific aspect of RP in mind? Such as shipping, NSFW things, attending in-game social events, hosting events or entertaining others?

Little OC Creation Ask List. — OPEN

Thank you for the ask, @mimble-sparklepudding! I always love your ask questions for the thoughtfulness and insight, and I’m very happy to receive one from the OP (´◡`) To answer the question: not really, for the options stated in the question.

Whenever I design my OCs for storytelling (be it for writing fanfics or RPing with others), I usually go along with either my personal aesthetic taste, or if I already had a rough idea for their lore to pick something that would work reasonably. I don’t think about what other players would feel towards my muses because I didn’t create my characters for them in the first place. Great if you like my blorbos, but it’s fine if you don’t vibe with them. My characters and I aren’t here to please everybody. I’ve been writing and roleplaying in other fandoms for at least a decade, way before I even joined the FFXIV community, so I’ve never felt the need to create my characters around other people unless absolutely necessary.

So far, I’ve only shared two major muses openly on this site: Sora and Yiuno. Sora is a likeable sort of character, with her cute appearance and child-like innocence (we do not talk about her penchant for violence). She was the first OC I made when I started playing the game during Shadowbringers launch. I was fairly clueless about FFXIV back then, so I didn’t really think much about her character development and mostly went along with what felt right for her. I only started working on her backstory proper around patch 5.55, when I’m more familiar with the game’s lore.

As for Yiuno… he wasn’t created to be someone good and straightforward, like Sora. When male Viera is added to the game in Endwalker, I thought of designing a character who is multilayered, complicated, and fun for me to explore from various perspectives. Yiuno is a dangerous but broken man; almost nothing about him is particularly likeable as a person (except maybe his face, lol). Speaking of appearance, that was what I had intended for him—he has an idealistic beauty that could charm others to gravitate to him, until they finally realize the horrors he kept behind that pretty smiling mask (and by then it’d probably be too late). He’s supposed to be a hypocritical existence, the embodiment of paradox and contradiction.

The only exception created for shipping with NPC, I’d say, is Persephone, the other half of Yiuno’s Ancient self. The serious reason is my own take on the true motive that drove Emet-Selch to extremity in his actions against the Sundered on Etheirys to reclaim the Star for his own people (i.e. my way to fill in some blanks in the canon). The fun reason? I enjoyed the various studies on the relationship between Hades and Persephone in Ancient Greek mythology, and I want to do something similar with them. (Also, I stand by my personal headcanon of Emet and Lahabrea often lamenting about their wives after the Convocation meetings.)

While most people might be unwilling to admit this, our characters also serve as an extension of our real selves, particularly in a virtual world like Etheirys. I mean, we technically don’t see the real faces of other players in the game (unless you share your RL photos, that’s on you), so naturally the avatars that everyone sees in the game is a representation of the player controlling that character. I believe that ultimately people create characters for themselves, because they are the ones making the conscious choice and taking the necessary actions to fulfill that decision. Just my two-cents.

[windupaidoneus]

oh yeah idk if hed keep his big ol ascian powers. im actually torn on whether he does still. ffxiv loves to do "im kinda just a normal person now :)" when a character experiences a Change of sorts (only examples i have rn are ryne, gaia technically & deryk but im sure you could name others) so it would make sense for him to join the ranks of "im just gonna live a normal life now" but also even if his issues are all like mostly settled & whatnot & hes obviously not gonna attempt another calamity or anything (& hes gained more respect & appreciation for sundered ppl/is more willing to show it & not lie to the world & himself about it) like. theyre handy powers to have yknow. & his control freak tendencies would absolutely push him to try his best to keep them. so he can have control over as much as he'd like to since he's bullshit powerful. not particularly interested in meddling in whatever hildegarde's doing bc he has faith in him (& also insert some grumbling abt NOT getting involved in azems antics anymore) but the ability to travel anywhere he wants at will is not something he wants to relinquish so easily

& actually that might be why he kinda goes "dormant" post elpis. kinda trying to gather his strength & whatever bits of him might still be lost in the aetherial sea. since the underworld was his domain i believe he would be capable of it without much trouble anyway... mmm. meow. this all started bc i was torn btwn "hes still sleeping a lot after he comes back, prob some kind of chronic fatigue" & "well he was sleeping this much bc of all the misery weighing on him back in ancient times he was not at all like that so maybe having that weight lifted off his shoulders would also let him return to a state of Less Terminally Depressed And Asleep About It". but i think the option might indeed be the chronic fatigue bc even if hes no longer shackled by grief & loneliness as he used to be its still taken such a huge toll on his entire being i dont think you just recover from that that easily. this is relevant for him napping on hilde thank you & good night

i think emets soul latched onto one of his clones when hilde had to go back to garlemald in post edw to get access to the tower of babil & at the end of post edw when you hear emets questions again is when he makes his re-introduction. for now. in my canon. walks up to hilde from behind. "i see you've taken my words to heart" kinda guy. "i can't say it isn't somewhat gladdening" kinda guy. then they have epic yaoi sex or whatever gay people do when they're overcome with emotions of unclear nature due to how very many of them there are

[asleepinawell]

alphinaud: “meticulous management”

hyth: lol i approved ten new useless shark concepts this week lol

[noxtivagus]

endwalker with "and when they depart upon this journey, it is beautiful. always." vs. "the end has come, and it will be beautiful!" 🥹

[astrxealis]

i find it really interesting... mhm. that. like

[zeravmeta]

🖊

Aye, let me regale you all of my FFXIV OC who technically doesn't exist because I don't play FFXIV and have only had the lore explained to me by mutuals

So imagine a guy, right? John 'Warrior of Light' Fantasy from FFXIV is whoever you need them to be, and she's also full of a bunch of different versions of themself like Fray and the John Fantasies of Fantasies past and also haunted by Zenos' own shadow self (maybe).

WOL is just Built Different as per the events of the game, surviving things they shouldn't, getting body snatched, soul split apart, the whole nine yards of anime things that happen to people to hurt them. However, they don't ever actually die, because they are the aforementioned super badass hero who ends the cycle of shit once and for all, as Hydaelyn says herself "Now all of you will Walk to your Ends after the Warrior of Light Brings the Shadows."

Having been explained that, I took all the bits of the lore and went "What if my WOL was a zombie?" and thus, we have Z.M., otherwise known as Zombie Mailman (Note: I suck at naming my OC's so I always just have tagline code names for them, but Zombie Mailman is actually called Z.M. because it's funny that he has an actual tagline name of his initials without knowing how on the nose it is)

The basic idea for this guy is that FFXIV is full of guys who don't die: Emmet-Selch, Zenos, the Primals, Niddhog, etc, all these dudes who persist out of spite and willpower for all their various reasons. However, despite all the noble/terrible goals they each try to sell you on, they all share a pretty important distinction: They're super unhappy. All of them are immortals but they also fucking HATE being alive for one reason or another, so I took this concept and went:

"What if the Warrior of Light was sent from Hell to deliver these immortals their last rites? After an eternity of suffering, they've clearly forgotten how to die, so the emissary of hell isn't here to drag them back but to help them pass along." And thus, my WOL OC is a literal zombie mailman who runs around working as a mail delivery man and moonlighting as a world saving hero because Someone needs to help these poor saps fucking die already.

Furthermore, all WOL's in canon just kind of appear one day, so the way my John Fantasy gets Fantasy'd is that he literally just crawls out of the ground naked in true zombie fashion, gets found by the Delivery Moogles and the Lalafel Post Office and is offered a job, and now everyone stares awkwardly as the cute little woodland creature guys have this 8ft intimidating dragon-pangolin guy whose clearly dead helping them in the office and backhanding any and all rude customers through a wall.

He has blue skin and wears the standard mailman fit (colored white because I like it but also the white medical towel doctors put on corpses), uses her pronouns interchangeably (corpse who has no identity except what they make), and they're actually very sweet but always kind of nippy and frustrated because all these guys who keep postulating about the nature of humanity are just trying to dodge the fact that, no they really have just forgotten how to die, like IDIOTS. Also a fun little wrinkle to his design (in my head) is that even though he's this ancient corpse, ZM is actually very youthful in appearance because it's a nice juxtaposition to all these older characters who are literally melting but still alive vs a young person who is very much dead.

Anyways heres a few fun little snippits of ZM from my discord in DM talks

Might I share more about ZM? Maybe some day....

[lotusillustration]

I haven’t really seen this discussed at all but something I would REALLY love to be addressed in FFXIV at some point is how the Ancient’s “utopia” actually works. Is it truthfully a utopia, where everyone is happy with the way things are? How did they decide upon “unity through sameness” being such a huge aspect of their society?

We now know that Lahabrea’s Ancient form is visibly far more aged than the other characters we’ve seen, even Venat who should technically be older than him. Is it because he’s “weaker” from what he’s been through, and can’t hold up a more youthful glamour? Is the reason everyone covers their faces and bodies in public specifically so that you CAN’T tell who is weaker or stronger at a glance?

Their “utopia” shares a lot in common with one of my all-time favourite books, The Giver. As The Giver goes on, we learn that their “utopia” is really not so great after all, and they chose sameness to try to avoid discrimination (I am wildly oversimplifying, but the point hopefully comes through), but it turns out that’s really not the solution to the problem. We learn that with the absence of grief, people become complacent and also lose their joy.

It would be SO interesting to me if a character like Themis, younger & with a fresh perspective, begins to question their society. We already know from the personalities of characters like Emet-Selch that they are most likely supportive of the way their society works and would resist change, but I would still LOVE to know at least how they decided this would be the way their society functions best. What battles did their forefathers face to achieve a “utopia” in the first place?

[fatewalker-phoenix]

2, 13, 20. *spins the wheel* (from oc asks pt 2)

2. Is there a meaning behind their name, or a particular reason why they have it?

Eden Azalea's name has such a long boring history behind it that I fear I would put everyone to sleep recounting it, suffice it to say that it comes from the names I used for two previous MMO's I played before xiv, as well as my online tag. In-game, as we know, eden is the fae word that means utopia, and is the alias she adopted for herself on a whim following the loss of her memories. Her birth name is Tsutsuji.

Kiana's name origin story is that I literally took Kiara from the Lion King II and changed one letter for the OC I was developing for my Inheritance Cycle fanfic, from which she originates. Kveykva is from the in universe ancient language of that series, and means lightning. The name Kiana itself is of Hawaiian origin and means divine, so put em together and you get divine lightning, which, I mean, is pretty metal ngl. Ironic since she's the most Baby of the three.

Airi Nakamura was the name given to a Bleach OC made for me by a friend. Airi itself has meanings both in Japanese (beloved jasmine) and Finnish (messenger). In story it has come to be her nickname, as her full first name is Aurora.

13. What are their views on marriage? If they want to get married, what would their dream wedding be like?

Eden, as the sole married one of the three, thinks marriage is pretty dang sweet. In keeping with both her and Astor's (@tiredassmage) wishes, theirs was a fairly quiet wedding, much to the chagrin of much of the Alliance who wanted a union between two Warriors of Light to be a grand affair. But enough of their lives and accomplishments are under the scrutiny of the public that they are happy to keep such a moment to themselves. With that said, let there never be any doubt that the two are deeply, deeply in love. Eden couldn't imagine a future without him in it that she would want for herself, and he will never fail to get a shiver of delight out of her when calling her Mrs. Caulfield.

Airi's views on marriage are...complicated. On one hand, she would absolutely be down for a lavish affair and the chance to dress up and declare her vows! But. Her strict parents drilled into her that her marriage would be one that benefits their family, feelings and romance be damned, giving her an overall bitter feeling toward the idea. Additionally, the man who owns her heart is...not one for conventional weddings, period. It was already a shock to see him dressed up for the Banquet at all. And their bond is already one that has transcended eons and lightyears, to declare their union in a ceremony seems very insignificant in comparison. There will be opportunities to dress up, but a wedding as the setting is unlikely for the time being.

What AU would they belong in the best?

See it's funny, because all three of them come from other fandoms, technically making ffxiv the AU!

Of the three of them, however, Eden's characterization was developed the most in xiv, and it's become a little difficult to fit her into other universes without having to change large parts of her (such as her memory loss and future-sight Echo). If I had to pick one AU she would do well in, it's one where she can flex her full queenly self to its max, so something in the fantasy/historical fiction genre would fit her. If she finds herself

Kiana is meant to be an underdog protagonist, so she's very flexible on where she can go. I do still carry a soft spot for her original incarnation as a surprise Dragon Rider in the war between the Varden and the Empire. She's most recently found herself in a small YGO 5'Ds AU with a few friends.

Airi is also very flexible on which universes she can go into, she usually fits into the role of the rich family's runaway heiress (think Lucy from Fairy Tail), who like any Disney princess just wants more than whatever stifling role her parents want to force her into. Bonus points if she's able to meet a brooding world-weary grump who slowly warms up to and falls in love with her over the course of the story (psst Shay that's your queue)