rajian - Tumblr blog

[rajian]

If I were a Loporrit

[rajian]

G'raha voicing some feelings

[rajian]

Back to School

[rajian]

🫰🏽🌟

[rajian]

New adventures await! 🌱

[rajian]

AU where Nimna is able to have kids but dies in the process. They can't exist at the same time, but I think Altan is cute anyway :')

[rajian]

Maybe those bee pheromones from M2 addle the mind, even after the fight is over… 🐝

But also I made it a bit silly rather than sexy, sorry! (though there’s an epilogue over on my twitter, if your taste leans more towards spice 🫢)

[rajian]

need a full body massage a margarita 400mg of ibuprofen a plate of brownies at least an hour in a jacuzzi and 20,000 dollars cash

[rajian]

The twins

[rajian]

Ouuuwaaaa ... my ear!

[rajian]

deja vu

[rajian]

so. many people have already pointed that koana is sort of like an ARR alphinaud remix and while it is not untrue, i think this analysis is only superficially correct. because the salient point of koana's character is that he feels shame and resentment towards his roots & origins and therefore overcompensates with sharlayan weabooism (well-intentioned, but still unsuitable). he comes off as really weird and stuck up, in the beginning especially, where it's like. "what the fuck is this guy's problem" in a way that's rather similar to the average player's reaction to ARR alphinaud.

BUT!

the thing with ARR alphinaud is that he was the Quintessential Sharlayan, both on account of his upbringing and family tree, and of his personal interests and achievements. he was (and still is) secure in his origins and cultural identity. koana's case is different, because he clearly loathes tradition and turali cultural practices in a way that comes across (and fundamentally is) really weird and destructive, which comes to bite him in the ass on many occasions during the rite of succession (and understandably so).

it all starts to make sense when you learn about his backstory though. while we know that wuk lamat doesn't remember anything of her own childhood, having been adopted by gulool ja ja as a toddler, koana was adopted at a much older age. he remembers his early years, and that's what fuels his entire vision for the future of tural. as he tells it, he was born to one of the most traditionalist hhetsarro tribes in tural, and abandoned (accidentally(?) left behind) during one of their yearly migrations, only surviving thanks to a pelupelu merchant who rescued and took him in before employing him in his tuliyollal shop. an obviously incredibly traumatic event that would shape everything about his future mindset: he's closed off and withdrawn to the extreme, highly analytical, values self-sufficiency and independence and technical innovations above all else, because that's how he survived to begin with. because his nomadic, highly traditional, presumably (from what we've seen of the one hhetsarro tribe we've met so far) tight-knit, spiritual and social tribe rejected and abandoned him. it would make sense that he'd rationalize this unfathomable violence by leaning hard into the opposite, and letting his own pain and resentment color his entire vision, turning his own feelings into a more general mindset of shame, resentful inadequacy, and complete rejection of anything "traditional"

i think sharlayan was a good choice for him because it's pretty much, indeed, the opposite atmosphere: in sharlayan culture, family ties are a lot less emphasized, while the kind of ties that colleagues, peers, teachers and students develop are considered as very important (see pretty much every sidequest and margrat's custom deliveries and all). all these relationships based on a common work and aspirations rather than origins would indeed agree with koana's character better, and his analytical skills, vision and intelligence are pretty much the most valued traits to them.

which is why it was actually such a stroke of genius to have thancred and urianger specifically support him. of course, both of them had a character development arc that echoed with koana's issues: learning how to express himself more openly and acknowledge his feelings, all that, meaning they were uniquely able to help him. but when you look more closely, they can also relate to him on a more personal level: thancred was "adopted" by louisoix as an orphaned lominsan street urchin, probably at a similar age as koana when he was adopted by gulool ja ja; and urianger's parents notably "abandoned" him to the point he was mostly tagging along at moenbryda's house and, later, at the leveilleur estate, as louisoix's disciple and honorary uncle to the twins (also worth noting that urianger and koana share the same flavor of autism).

so the rite of succession was a much-needed window into his own biases and (literal) coping mechanisms, and must have been quite difficult to deal with considering pretty much all the feats involved interacting with and strengthening tight-knit smaller communities with strong traditions and family ties. luckily, partly thanks to thancred and urianger (but not only! he did the work himself), he was clear-minded enough to realize his own failings, and well-intentioned enough to step down - because he did not want power for its own sake, unlike zoraal ja; he wanted to protect the turali people from a potential invasion by leaning hard into foreign technological advances, therefore mimicking his own personal journey and adapting his own tried-and-true methods of survival: anticipating the hardships, being as independent and self-sufficient as possible, and choosing isolationism.

and finally i want to point out that the new techniques and technologies he imported from sharlayan are all (safe, fast and reliable) modes of transportation: aetherytes, dirigibles (including the alpaca carriage adaptation), and trains. interesting choice, moreso considering that while aetherytes are the #1 sharlayan specialty, they have neither dirigibles nor trains; which takes on a whole new layer of meaning when you remember that his original tribe was nomadic and that he specifically was left behind, stranded in the desert, during one of their traditional migrations............

in this regard he truly IS green g'raha, considering that g'raha was, similarly, raised in a traditional seeker manner before being sent to sharlayan for his own (and the tribe's) safety; of course the difference is that g'raha embraced his heritage by locking himself in the crystal tower by the end of ARR, since the G tribe was tasked with guarding the remaining allagan ruins and weapons, to make sure their power would not be misused by yet another imperialist military force (he locked himself in the tower to reinforce its defenses and make sure the garlean empire would not access it to conquer eorzea)

thank you for your time 👍

[rajian]

Without taking new screenshots, post photos of your OC as:

A Romanceable NPC

A Questgiver NPC

And A Final Boss

Yup, I decided to jump on the bandwagon too! Whoever wants to do this but hasn’t done it yet, here’s your chance. Consider yourself tagged!

[rajian]

Vow of Reason Rock n' Roll!

Top: Rowdy Bard by brittleknee

[rajian]

A helping hand..

[rajian]

ANA'S OFFICIAL EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS

As I mentioned in my quick post earlier today, my mom was suddenly admitted to the hospital this afternoon in a panic. I was already intending to open commissions this week as my family and I have been struggling to make ends meet lately, but it's a much more immediate need now.

$50 commissions are limited to three slots for now, and I only but a cap of 10 on sketch commissions to keep from being overwhelmed, but they will be refreshed throughout the week! If you donate more than $5 directly to my page and would also like a sketch commission, just dm me here or on ko-fi!

All shares are appreciated and thank you so much to anyone who sends anything my way. And if commissions aren't your style, I'll be working on some merch designs as well this week, you can find my redbubble here where I will be posting everything!

[rajian]

ANA'S OFFICIAL EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS

As I mentioned in my quick post earlier today, my mom was suddenly admitted to the hospital this afternoon in a panic. I was already intending to open commissions this week as my family and I have been struggling to make ends meet lately, but it's a much more immediate need now.

$50 commissions are limited to three slots for now, and I only but a cap of 10 on sketch commissions to keep from being overwhelmed, but they will be refreshed throughout the week! If you donate more than $5 directly to my page and would also like a sketch commission, just dm me here or on ko-fi!

All shares are appreciated and thank you so much to anyone who sends anything my way. And if commissions aren't your style, I'll be working on some merch designs as well this week, you can find my redbubble here where I will be posting everything!