manylivesmanyworlds - Tumblr blog

[manylivesmanyworlds]

I'M GOING CRAZY THEY CONFIRMED CLOSE IN THE DISTANCE AS A SONG FROM ARDBERT TO THE WARRIOR OF LIGHT

ARDBERT/WOL SHIPPERS WE WON!!!

[manylivesmanyworlds]

FFXIV Website Tools

Wikis

Gamer Escape - Probably the most comprehensive wiki for the game.  Tons and tons of info on basically everything, plus Discus comments at the bottom of each page.

ConsoleGames FFXIV Wiki - Another wiki, also very comprehensive, but in a more familiar, traditional, Wikipedia-esque format.

Final Fantasy Wiki - A good solid wiki, but has information for ALL Final Fantasy Games, so requires a bit of navigating.

FFXIV Guild - Somewhat out of date, but offers several still-useful guides for leveling things.

Gathering and Crafting

Garland Tools Database - Extremely comprehensive, constantly updated.  Amazing for making lists of what you want and doing all the math for you on how to get it.  Lots of other tools on the site, but this one’s the one you remember it for!

Teamcraft - Simliar in many ways to Garland, but has tools the above does not, and vice-versa.  Requires a login, but also gives you access to community input, such as rotations people have figured out, as well as tracking your crafting and gathering logs.

XIV Angler - For when you need to know HOW to catch that @&$%ing fish.  Baits, weathers, windows, even hooking info.

FFXIV Crafting Optimizer - Never lose mats to figuring out a rotation again!  Also saves your stats in a cookie, so once you plug everything in, it’s easy to keep yourself up to date and come up with the best rotations.  Also makes macros for you.

FFXIV Clock - Does exactly what it sounds like it does.  For an alarm that will make noise regardless of what you’re tabbed into, use these settings.

Crafting as a Service - Find out what gear you need, find out what mats you need, and figure out how the HECK to level DoH.

Forum Thread - Desynthesis Guide - Exactly as advertised.  Useful to get through items you can get from ARR and HW, but drops off there.

FFXIV Gardening - How to crossbreed, what to crossbreed, and what success rates you’re looking at.  “Worth nothing that the efficiency ratings on FFXIV Gardening are NOT success rates! They are an efficiency calculation based on price of the seeds, how hard they are to obtain, and a few other factors.”  Thank you @renofmanyalts for the clarification!

Hunting

Ariyala Hunt Tracker - Ariyala has several other tools, but this is probably by and large the best dang tool on the site.  It’s broken down by server, and it relies on peoples’ inputs for kill times.  Of note, trackers for Behemoth, Odin, and Ixion are included.

Horus Hunts - Dedicated exclusively to tracking hunts.  User interface is a little complex, but isn’t difficult to figure out at all.  Does require accounts for reporting, but accounts are linked to Lodestone profiles, making it easier to tell if the site is being trolled or not.  Of note: as of May 2019, the site is prone to long load times and frequent downtime, usually due to the (probably unexpected) volume of user traffic.

FFXIV Hunts Pathfinder - For daily hunts, shows you the simplest ways to get them all knocked out in a manner that doesn’t make you want to punch Yoshi-P.  Has ARR, HW, and SB pathfinders.

Cable Monkey’s Hunt Maps - Never ask where Squonk is again!  Spawn points for ARR, HW, and SB hunt marks, B, A, and S ranks.  THIS SITE WILL NOT BE UPDATED FOR SHADOWBRINGERS

FFXIV Hunts - Almost identical to Cable Monkey’s site, but a much more user-friendly layout, with collapsible sections by expansion.

Collections and Logs

Sightseeing Log Helper - Where to go, when to go, what emote to use.  Also keeps track of which sightseeing log entries you’ve done, and can filter them out.

Eureka Tracker - THE Eureka tracker website.  Create and share NM spawns in each zone, check the weather, even tell people if the local Pazuzu is up or not!  Also has a logos tracker!

FFLogos - For keeping track of what mnemes you’ve got, what you need, and what actions you’ve unlocked.  Will tell you if you can make something based on your input of what you’ve got in your inventory.

Eorzea Music - Excellent way to keep track of what orchestrion rolls you have and don’t have, as well as where to get all of them.  Asks you to create an account, but is free.

Apkallu Falls - A rather comprehensive collection of collection trackers.  Does require a login for manual tracking, but covers just about everything you would want to collect except Triple Triad cards.

Glamour

XIV Style - A comprehensive catalogue of What The Heck Does It Look Like, very neatly sorted and categorized.

Eorzea Collection - We all know glamour is the true endgame, and this is the catalogue to look at if you want glamour inspiration or just want to see what other people are wearing.  Basically the Vogue Magazine for FFXIV.

Miraprisnap - Very similar to Eorzea Collection; a gallery for inspiration, but entirely in Japanese, with no translation available.

Miscellaneous Tools

FFXIV Squadron - A website that does annoying squadron math for you!  Find out if you actually can do that mission or not the (relatively) easy way.

Chocobo Color Calculator - Accurate results for what to stuff your birb with to get the color you want, plus or minus RNG.  Because it’s not really FFXIV if there isn’t RNG in it.

FF14 Housing - Images of housing items in the game, as well as where to get them.  Updated regularly, very comprehensive.

Housing Snap - A housing magazine, basically, chock full of ideas, inspirations, and really pretty pictures.  Of note: the website is in Japanese, and does not seem to have any translations to select from.

Skywatcher Plus - Just in case you want something that does nothing but tell you the weather.  Does not include Eureka weather.

Character Card Generator - Fun little character card generator.

Instant Sloppy - Because this list would absolutely not be complete without this.  You already know what it does.

Credits

Special thank-yous for contributing go to:

@roses-and-grimoires - recommended Apkallu Falls

@ooc-llorne - recommended Housing Snap and Teamcraft

@renofmanyalts - clarification of % rates noted on FFXIV Gardening

@egg-soda - for suggesting Miraprisnap

[manylivesmanyworlds]

Aventurine is so pathetic. I bet if you handed him a small animal or child hed cry

i assume you said this in jest and i do agree he's pathetic(ᵃᶠᶠᵉᶜᵗᶦᵒⁿᵃᵗᵉ) but i actually really like it when ppl give him the boothill/svarog treatment and throw a child at him to take care of

i think it'll be a healing process for him

[manylivesmanyworlds]

I decided to dig up my Galloper sketches. they're a few months old, but I guess it doesn't matter....

I drew this one while I was waiting for rendering for the animation of my diploma.........… I think I put all my nerve into depicting his emotions here, huh.

[manylivesmanyworlds]

i feel like evergray would feel guilty about not talking to his brother for... *checks wiki* 20 years or less

oh yeah, and my ref sheet is under the cut if anyone's curious

i didn't use it at all but oh well

[manylivesmanyworlds]

I want to draw him even more I just like how he stands and watches what is happening in the keep.. probably watches

[manylivesmanyworlds]

A piece of art a good freind of mine did about my favorite parts of FF14. I hope you guys like it! It makes me happy to look at (:

[manylivesmanyworlds]

Thoughts Unspoken

My direct translation of Haurchefant's unsent letter from "Thoughts Unspoken". There are some things in the Eng localisation that aren't in the Jpn, so I thought I should retranslate it for completeness. The original localisation is here for comparison: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/special/2016/short_stories/#sidestory_08

親愛なる友へ

お前は、変わらず元気にしているだろうか？

ドラゴン族による皇都再襲撃の予測……それを受けて、お前やアルフィノ殿が西へ旅立ってから数日が過ぎた。今どこにいるかもわからないお前に、この手紙が届くとも、届けようとも思っていない。つまりは、書き記しただけの独り言だ。

それでも、遠くの空を見ては旅の無事を願う想いを、一度くらいは吐き出さずにいられない。

万が一、これがお前の目に触れるようなことがあったら、まあ、そういうものだと思ってひとつ頼む。

To my dearest friend,

Are you doing well?

A few days ago, after hearing the prediction of the dragons attacking the capital again, you and Alphinaud travelled to the West. I don’t know where you are now, nor do I intend to try to send this letter. In other words, I’m just writing this down for myself.

Nevertheless, I feel compelled to at least once express my feelings of looking to the distant sky and praying for your safe journey.

In the unlikely event that you ever read this, well, please just think of this letter as that.

さて。お前は、イシュガルドに招かれて幸せだっただろうか？

それとも、仕方なく逃げ延びた先で、また誰かの戦いに巻き込まれることになり、うんざりしているのだろうか。たとえそうであったとしても、お前は戦い抜いてしまうのだろうと、容易に想像がついて苦笑している。

Now then. Are you happy that you were invited to Ishgard?

Or are you fed up that after you finally made your escape, you once again got embroiled in someone else’s war? Even if that was the case, I’m bitterly smiling while easily imagining that you would still fight to the very end.

私はといえば、お前がイシュガルドに来てくれたことを、心から嬉しく思い、感謝するばかりだ。それは、お前の実に逞しくイイ冒険者ぶりを、近くで見られる機会が増えたという喜びでもあるのだが……何よりも、頼れる友と同じものを目指し、ともに戦えるのだ。心躍らないわけがない！

As for me, I am so very happy from the bottom of my heart and extremely grateful that you came to Ishgard. That is to say, of course I am delighted that my chances to see your really strong splendid adventuring up close have increased, but also… More than anything, to share a goal with my dependable friend and to fight by their side. There’s no way I couldn’t be excited about this!

お前たちが、ウルダハから逃げ延びて、雪の家に転がり込んできた日。「暁」が灯火を消さんとしていたように、私もまた、お前という友を燻らせてはならないと思った。そこで、どうにかお前たちをイシュガルドに招き入れることができないか、フォルタン伯爵に……父に直訴に行ったのだ。

The day that you two escaped from Ul’dah and came to stay at the House of Snow.

I thought that in the same way that I couldn't let the light of the "Dawn" go out, I couldn’t let your flame be dampened either, my friend. So that was when I went and directly appealed to Count Fortemps... my father, if there wasn't a way to invite you into Ishgard.

……白状すると、私は父のことが苦手だ。恨んでいるわけではない。母にしたって、正しい人であったが故に、己の立場に耐えきれなくなり、私を置いて失踪しただけのこと。父は母のことも、私のことも、愛してくれていたと思う。ただ、それを互いに上手く伝えあえず……私は、フォルタン家に仕える騎士としてしか、あの人と話ができずにいたのだ。

… I must confess that I am not good at dealing with my father.

I don’t mean that I hate him. Even with regards to my mother, even though he tried to do right by her, but she was unable to stand her situation and simply just left me with him and disappeared. I do believe that he loved my mother and loves me too. It’s just… neither of us are very good at communicating this to each other… For me, I was unable to talk to him except from the position of being a knight of House Fortemps.

お前のことを頼みにいったとき、当初、父の返事は渋かった。

それまで開拓団への��援などには積極的だった父でも、指名手配中の人物を受け入れるのには、家を預かる者として懸念があったらしい。

諦められずに懇願する私に、父はそこまで固執する理由は何なのかと問うた。私は、お前との思い出を心のままに語った。それは量としては乏しくとも、ひとつひとつが私にとってかけがえのない、驚きと輝きに満ちたものだ。故に、我が友がどのような人であるか、そして私が友を救いたいと願う気持ちを伝えるには、それが一番だと考えた。

思えば、父とあれほど長く話したことはなかったかもしれない。語り切った私をしばし見つめていた父は、ふと目元を緩め、「明日まで考えさせてほしい」と言った。

そしてその翌日、正式に後見人になると、返事を寄越してくださったのだ。

When I went to ask him to help you, at first, his answer was quite harsh.

Even though he had been very positive when it came to supporting the Reclamation Corps, it seemed the idea of harbouring wanted fugitives was quite a worry for the head of the household. In response to my insistent pleading, he asked me why I wasn’t giving up. I simply told him straight from my heart my memories of you and I. Though they may be meagre in number, each one of them is irreplaceable, overflowing with surprise and shining light! I thought therefore, that this was the best way to explain to him just who you, my dear friend, is- and also how much my desire to save you was. Now that I think of it, this was probably the longest conversation I ever had with my father. When I had said all that I could, he suddenly smiled warmly and said “Let me think on this unto the morrow”. Then the next day, he sent word to me that he would officially become your guardian.

以降のことは、お前も知るところだろう。

おかげさまで、私は以前よりも、本家に顔を出すのが少しばかり楽しみになった。

とはいえお前は大概不在で、また七面倒な役目を背負ってどこかへ旅立っていると聞くたび、私はお前を祖国のいさかいに巻き込んでしまっただけなのではないかと思ったりもする。それについては、文句があったら、いつか酌でもしながら聞くとしよう。

The rest, I trust you already know.

Thanks to you, unlike before, I now actually look forward to visiting Fortemps Manor. However, you aren’t there very much, and each time I hear you are off fighting some great trouble, I sometimes think I have done nothing but get you involved in the troubles of my homeland. If you have complaints about that you are welcome to tell me them over a drink sometime.

それでも、友よ。

私は、一片の疑いもなく、信じてしまうのだ。

いかなる困難も、決してお前を挫かせることはできまい。

それは今回の旅だけではなく、この先、お前がどこを目指したとしても変わらない。

ひとりで越えられない壁があったとしても、お前が進もうとする限り、必ず誰かが手を差し伸べるだろう。私が今、そうしたいと願っているようにだ。

そしてその困難の先には、必ず新しい景色が待っている。

それを見つけたときにはきっと、大いに、笑ってほしい。

お前の旅路が、最良のものであるよう……

無事を祈っている。

―― オルシュファン・グレイストーン

Nonetheless, my friend.

I, without a trace of doubt in my heart, trust in you.

No matter what troubles come, they will never dampen your spirits.

Not just on your current journey, but in the future, no matter what you try to do. Even if there is a wall you can’t climb by yourself, as long as you keep trying, there will be someone to lend you a hand. Just as I, right now, am praying to do.

And on the other side of those troubles, certainly there will be a new day waiting for you.

And when you find it, I want you to do so with a huge smile on your face.

I pray that your journey will always be a good one.

Haurchefant Greystone.

[manylivesmanyworlds]

Menace to society

[manylivesmanyworlds]

a father’s heart

[manylivesmanyworlds]

What do you think about Sunday and Aventurine? and their interaction in 2.1, I know Sunday did what he had to do but I just have a strong dislike for him ever since. He is an interesting character though.

I mentioned on a previous ask that I wanted to talk about narrative foils/character parallels, and that ask mentioned Aventurine being similar to Robin and a little to Sunday. But I thought I'd combine that character foils idea with this post about Sunday because...

Aventurine and Sunday are Near Perfect Character Parallels

(Also sorry to Youtuber Fayato who I screencapped this image from; I literally couldn't find a single other good image of Aventurine and Sunday in the same frame!)

In media, the concept of the narrative foil refers to a character who contrasts another character; by setting the two characters and their plots side by side, the audience is better able to understand the traits of the central character.

And by setting two surprisingly similar characters in opposition to each other, it becomes very clear how even those facing similar circumstances can take diametrically opposed paths in life.

First, let's start with the basics:

Aventurine and Sunday are both characters whose real fathers were never in the picture, and who lost their mothers right in front of their eyes to traumatizing events.

They both experienced the violent deaths ("death" in Sunday's case) of their sisters.

They both were "rescued" by people who intended to use them by growing them ("grooming them" in Sunday's case) into a figure of authority.

They were both told they were "chosen ones" growing up. And yet ultimately this status as the chosen one is in doubt: Aventurine isn't sure if his family's faith is real, while Gopher Wood tells Sunday that Penacony's chosen should have been Robin all along.

They both became self-sacrificial, Aventurine through his obvious willingness to throw his life away, and Sunday through his plan to remain outside the sweet dream to be its keeper while everyone else got to live in "paradise."

They both are trapped by their situations, Sunday by his inability to leave the cage, Aventurine by his inability to accept the life he isn't able to throw away.

They both became the "villain" of their respective patches and both faced "death."

Personality-wise, they both strongly favor being in control, to the point that their scene together is an aggressive power struggle over each other.

This is how the "future" Aventurine describes himself:

Does it sound familiar? It should, since that's exactly how people describe Sunday.

But they also both prioritize their families, and they are equally altruistic at the core while seemingly self-centered on the exterior.

They both, of course, have the blessing of an aeon.

And here's where I'm going to take a massive tangent, but it's important: I do tend to be among those who think there is at least some connection between Ena, the Order, and Gaiathra.

I've heard all sorts of reasons that they can't be two different concepts for the same being, from the whole "Gaiathra is a goddess of trickery and that's not related to order" to the whole "the Order's followers worship with song while Gaiathra's followers specifically don't," but I think something that has been missing from the discussion of Ena and Gaiathra's possible connection is that "Order" as a concept has entirely different definitions depending on which cultural context you approach it from.

The most mainstream modern concept of "Order" is something that is imposed: A power from on high descends to quell the chaos of the mortal world, to "bring order" through guidance to humanity. This is very Abrahamic, very modern Christian, and that is reflected in the imagery surrounding Sunday. Sunday, as a manifestation of the Order's power, believes he will be able to uplift Penacony from the mire, free people from their unfulfilled desires and confusion, and bring about perpetual peace by enforcing his understanding of harmony on the populace trapped in the dream.

Sunday's Order is not the natural state of the world but something that must be carefully cultivated and maintained, a constant battle against the chaotic forces of life and its temptations. This type of "Order" promises an idyllic future, but at the cost of the present freedom of everyone who submits to the law, who must surrender their original fate for a structured sweet dream.

We understand this concept of "Order" because at its core, it's the one that modern societies largely embrace--ruling authorities establish laws that must be followed at all costs, even when they risk the freedoms of individuals, because they ultimately (supposedly) support a greater good. A majority of society adheres to the laws handed down from on-high, and life functions relatively stably.

Yet this conception of "Order" is predicated on the idea that the course of people's lives is decided first and foremost by the people themselves--which is why they can make mistakes, go astray, and need to be shepherded in the first place.

Without imposing structure through authoritarian power, this type of "Order" will crumble away in an instant, because this view assumes that rightness can only created by humanity, and that chaos--not order--is the natural state of existence.

Ena, who holds worlds tidily contained in her hands, who is tangled in puppet strings, who wears a hood like a nun or the Virgin Mary, and who is haloed like a Christian angel, clearly represents this definition of "Order" to a T.

But... this is not how humanity has always defined "Order."

It was not always taken for granted that people had the power of self-determination, and in fact, for many centuries and across many cultures, the concept of "the order of the world" was tied directly to the concept of destiny. Whether a volcano would explode and destroy your entire civilization, whether floods would swallow your city, whether the crops would grow or fail all depended on the pre-made decisions of supernatural powers, who were in turn often personified concepts of the natural world itself. What happened to any given individual, what twists and turns their life would take, whether they would achieve their dreams or not--all these aspects were also predetermined, decided not by the actions of the individual but by fate itself.

Thus, the world and everything in it has a natural order. Things may seem chaotic, they may even seem unbelievably horrible, but all events in existence unfold as they should. We may not understand why, but everything occurs in due course, woven into an endlessly repeating pattern on the fates' loom--spring becomes summer, life becomes death, disasters happen and are healed from, children are born and grow old. If it is your fate to die, you will. If it is your fate to fight and live, you will. To reject this natural order would be as futile as telling the sun not to rise.

The words "order" and "ordained" have the same origin.

Enter Gaiathra. First of all, she is the Star Rail equivalent of a pagan goddess--her worship exists separate of the confirmed existence of aeons, by an uncontacted and non-space-faring race. Even her description, being triple-eyed, evokes other "triple goddess" figures across history, both in modern interpretations (the triple goddess of Neopaganism) and in ancient mythologies (the three fates of Greece, the Tridevi of Hindu culture, etc.).

She is strongly associated with the natural world: The planet of Sigonia is said to be a manifestation of her very body, the rain is her blessing and acknowledgment, and she goes through a yearly cycle of death and rebirth (calling the cycle of the seasons to mind). She is said to be a goddess of both fertility and travel (likely in the sense of nomadic wandering by the time Aventurine was born). Avgin worship of the goddess manifests in the form of sacrificial cyclic knots.

Which might call to mind another pagan culture well-known for their cyclic knots: the Celts, whose famous Celtic knots represent cycles of eternity, unity, and the interconnected nature of life itself.

The Avgin prayer to Gaiathra focuses on elements of a person's life that all might be determined by "fate"--will your blood keep flowing, will your journey be peaceful, will your schemes stay hidden? It hopes that things will be as they should, that the future ahead of you is predetermined to be a good one, and that the cycle of life decided by the goddess will be in one's favor.

But while the Avgin hope for good things, they also strongly espouse embracing the reality of one's life, with suffering and hardships seen as manifestations of fate that should be accepted as facts of life. It is said that any society blessed by the Order ultimately falls--is it not the natural fate of all societies to one day fall? For mankind to return to the dust and be reborn anew?

Whatever will be, will be.

There is a reason--a logic--an order--to everything that happens.

I hope you can see where I'm going with this: While Sunday and Ena represent the concept of "Order" as a result of self-determination, a power "the strong" can wield to overcome the inherent chaos of reality, Aventurine and Gaiathra represent a different, older concept of "Order" (I can't help but see the entirely separate eye lurking behind Ena?): existence is not inherently chaotic but instead is foreordained, following endless orderly cycles life and death, weal and woe, rise and fall.

PHEW! Okay, so all of that to say Aventurine and Sunday make perfect parallels through a mirror darkly, even when it comes to the blessings they've been granted: One imposes order from on high; one continually rolls the dice despite knowing the inevitable outcome.

Both of their stories are entirely intertwined with the concept of fate, whether by opposing it...

Or accepting it.

And even at the end of Penacony, we leave both Sunday and Aventurine in precarious positions. Aventurine, while ostensibly "victorious," faces another roll of the dice immediately after Penacony, when his future as a Stoneheart is called into question. Yet "fate" comes through for him again--his bet, as always, comes true. His future isn't in question--it is the question itself. What's next? He finally wants to live to find out.

Sunday, meanwhile, ends Penacony's arc in a truly difficult place. He's virtually exiled from the only home he's ever known, a flightless bird tossed out of his cage into cold hard reality. He has to find an entirely new way forward and may even be forced to reckon with an entirely new definition of "Order" itself.

The parallels between these two characters are entirely intentional and very, very blatant, and I am exceedingly interested in seeing whether their paths diverge or continue to reflect similar fates moving forward.

So uhhh... that's what I think of Sunday? 😂

[manylivesmanyworlds]

[manylivesmanyworlds]

Honkai: Star Rail Animated Short ☆ Ichor of Two Dragons

[manylivesmanyworlds]

🐸

RA-9594‐3338‐6443

[manylivesmanyworlds]

My dear Argenti 😌