#When its time to end the dragonsong war for real this time in the patches she picks up the lance again and enters trance mode

[wildstar25]

MiqoMarch Day 08 - Fav. (Side) Job

When she's not running around as Ninja or Summoner , Arsay's next choice is the lance. Being bestowed a source of draconic power by Midgardsormr moments before his slumber, and knowing how to channel the powers of Bahamut with dreadwyrm trance, Arsay's power as a Dragoon rivals that of even the former Azure Dragoon. With that said, she'd much rather use her polearm to hunt monsters.

[misscammiedawn]

(Game progress: just beat Stormblood, patch 4.0 and unspoiled for the rest at this time)

We try to play Nori as if she's a member of a group of Scions sharing the duties and responsibility of WoL (it doesn't always work 1-to-1 with the experience because our party are all veterans who are not experiencing the story for the first time and the game is geared towards a solo experience in spite of its group/social gameplay) so we try to measure the canon WoL's experience versus which member or our party is most impacted.

Like one member of our group resonated with the dragon story of Heavendward, one understood the peerless isolation of Zenos, one knows the pain of Garlean experimentation (though as far as we understand that meta knowledge is not yet known by our WoL IC).

In that regard, Nori's struggles so far have all been internal. She is trying desperately to understand how to incite change, how to force a world that refuses to abandon archaic ways to allow change to be thrust upon them.

In that regard her closest connection to date was Ysayle who was doomed to walk the same path as she was (and she's not forgiven her for giving up the fight, which played heavily into her version of Dark Knight 60-70) and her fiercest enemies were those who clung greedily and desperately against the tides of this Astral age like Lolarito or even the maid who poisoned us and tried to speak out against the truce at the end of the dragonsong war. She doesn't consider those people nemesis. They represent the fight she cannot win with might alone and has yet to learn how to manage.

Nori is an idealistic fool and simply not smart enough to be a ruler. She doesn't wish to be a ruler. But a crown is among her Titles and she must learn to wield it as surely as axe or blade. She sees so many parallels to her own struggle and is trying so hard to learn from them. She has more power than she knows what to do with but cannot fight The Times into submission.

She desperately wishes she could just swing an axe, sign a paper and change the world. But t'is foolishness! If all were so easy, why, none would suffer in this world!

In her past she had a nemesis or two. The Wyrd created them for her. Narratives need foils, heroes need enemies. There was a time when her legend had steered her queen as her nemesis (the nightmares are not real though, that time is passed) but it was always fitting that the one who defeated her wielded the Title of The Times.

She held the ability to change the tempo, direct the dance, sway the tide. She was the enemy that Nori needed to defeat in order to enact change and The Times broke her. Shattered her and left her a refugee on the shores of Limsa.

The Fae wielding the title she fears the most is in another realm. At present she is dedicated to the struggles of her new home. She wishes to see it all, learn everything she can about every culture and help the scions bring peace to this world in repair. She does not want to insert herself into the story more than she must (because she must leave? Or because she's afraid of being broken again?) and so she tries to keep her experiences internal.

But that's another form of running... and The Times are changing. She was at the ceremony where the Umbral Age shifted.

She can't run forever and even if she's not gained a true nemesis yet, she's hardly escaped her old one.

Do your WoL have a nemesis?

[windupnamazu]

unsteady hand

ffxivwrite2020 #21: foibles

⮞ lunya/g’raha. 900 words. ⮞ post 5.3, spoilers for the end of the patch! ⮞ old habits die hard or not at all.

“a quirk, idiosyncrasy, or mannerism; unusual habit or way that is slightly strange or silly.”

While he knew Ishgard was going to be cold—far colder than Sharlayan and her blanketing seas and gloomy, rainy winters because of the Holy See's frozen alpine landscape—G'raha honestly hadn't thought he would ever consider getting one of those legwarmer things for his tail. The chill of the Pillars as it was quietly blanketed beneath snow made a good cover for his nervous rubbing of his wrists, at least. Or it would have been if he was being accompanied to the Last Vigil by anyone other than his wife, who was eyeing him with the countenance of a Sharlayan librarian who knew his tomes were three weeks past overdue and was simply waiting for him to make a slip-up so she could pounce in with a late fee.

"Are you cold?" Lunya asked sweetly, peering up at him past the fleece trim of her hood, violet eyes bright and alert against the backdrop of snow. The boxes of fresh pastries she carried smelled tantalizing and were the only thing stopping him from taking her hand in his in an attempt to fight the urge to twitch—that and the scandalized looks they'd get from the nobles if he indulged himself too much in her affection. Even now they walked so close that it would only take a half-ilm reach to brush her hair behind a pointed ear. "Or is the trembling of your boots simply from your old age catching up?"

He rolled his eyes. "'Tis just pre-meeting nerves." When he sighed, his breath spread visible in the frostlight. "I'll be alright."

Edmont de Fortemps' memoir was an incredible, awe-inspiring read in the darkened midnights of the 8th Umbral Calamity, painting a map of the Warriors' deeds through Coerthas and beyond its frozen reach in the midst of the Dragonsong War. His own faded copy still sat in the Umbilicus of the First's Crystal Tower, well-worn and devotedly preserved. To meet the man who wrote it himself in the flesh—the very man who'd taken a band of exiled heroes into his home and hearth—stirred something in his old historian's heart and it was safe to say he'd been anticipating this meeting for weeks.

Except the real problem was that G'raha knew the former count considered almost all of the Warriors like they were his own flesh and blood, including the indomitable Lunya Lanya, G'raha's wife, who saved the life of the count's second son when it could have killed her to do so.

"You survived my mom." Lunya tossed her hair as he conceded that it was a good point—Lilina Lina was more scary than the inevitability of turning to crystal and being abducted by an Ascian combined and that was when she was in a good mood. "Lord Edmont's about as intimidating as a moogle in a sallet by comparison."

...Didn't she fight one of those during her travels in Dravania?

"I take it I shouldn't repeat that comparison to anyone else," G'raha muttered, nervously glancing at the tittering women standing around the Hoplon.

"Maybe. If you're lucky, Emmanellain could get a laugh out of it."

Between his many thoughts—most of them bad—about the sheer number of stairs around the city and watching Lunya visibly fight the urge to open one of her boxes and pilfer her own treats before they could get to the manor (and he did offer to carry them for her before they left, but she insisted he was just as weak to their sweet siren call as she was), he found they were no longer walking down the slope to the Vigil. Lunya set her parcels on the bench inside the gazebo she'd silently taken him to and turned with her hands on her hips.

"You're still doing it, Raha," she pointed out, amused instead of scolding.

G'raha glanced down in time to see himself unconsciously rubbing his wrist again and he winced. "Um. I, er—"

"Luckily for you—" she didn't hide the impish smile forming on her lips as she stepped towards him, a very endearing gleam in her eyes, "—you married one of the best healers on Hydaelyn. And I just so happen to have a cure for shaking hands."

Lunya was up to something, though he didn't really know what. A little apprehensive he said, "Is that so? I'll have to credit this windfall to my Lady Luck. Would you care to share?"

"Here." She raised her small hands to him, palms facing upward, and he placed his hand on top of her own. Instead of feeling her magic surge between their palms after a few seconds like he thought he would, Lunya simply threaded her fingers through his, looking up at him with a bright, expectant smile.

Oh.

OH.

"Oh," G'raha managed to squeak feebly, feeling a spark fizzle through his spine and make his tail and ears stand on end with surprise. His inspiration was a ray of vibrant summer sun in the midst of the endless Coerthan winter, spreading heat all through him as her smile became a huge grin.

If he had to retract one of his arms to hide his furiously blushing face in the crook of his elbow or sit down with his face in his hands for a few minutes more before they finally entered the Fortemps Manor, it'd be a secret between just the two of them in this private, warm corner of Ishgard.

[pepeangogoan]

I’m not dead (yet)

Hey remember that time I disappeared from tumblr for a while and then came back and said I wasn’t going away again... and then I went away again? Good times.

Just like before there are a number of contributing factors.Tumblr for some reason not responding whenever I try to upload anything (I REALLY hope I’m able to upload this one). Real life starting to build up again. Finding it hard to motivate myself to do anything in Final Fantasy XIV. Not that I like the game any less, I still love it, but some days all I can really do is log in maybe do a roulette or a raid run... and that’s it. Though with the recent patch introducing new Blue Mage spells I do find myself staying on a bit longer now.

But due to all this and more it’s been hard to actually get anything posted on this blog. This is a shame because I really wanted to conclude the Pepean VS R’atohna stuff. In the past I’ve started plenty of lore things with my characters and I haven’t finished them (bringing up that Eliza’s father is still alive being the first example that comes to mind), and I really wanted to break that cycle this time... but sadly I ended up falling back into it. I may not have a huge following, but I do like sharing my ideas and finishing what I start. However, as thing stand right now I really don’t think I can finish the Battle of the BFFs stuff.

That said, this is partially the reason I wanted to do this post. Instead of just abandoning it outright I thought I’d give a basic summery of what I was originally planning to do. So if you’re one of the three people who were actually interested in where I was going with my characters please feel free to read on. Otherwise thank you for reading this far, and I’m sorry for my absence for so long. Hopefully I can make a comeback in the near future, but we’ll see.

Right so, I believe the last post I did on this was Pepean staring at Eulmore and monologuing about how he’s likely going to have to fight his best friend again when they assault it. I did have panels on their interaction before this inevitable fight made, but as I said before: tumblr wouldn’t let me upload them. It would have taken place just after the final battle with Ran’jit and would have Pepean making one final attempt to reach out to his friend, only to find that he’s still completely in Vauthry’s control. The two would fight once again with Pepean ultimately being the victor this time, leaving R’atohna unconscious.

After Vauthry escapes and Eulmore is liberated Pepean would find his old friend again, now free of Vauthry’s control. It would turn out that when the two of them crossed over into The First something happened to separate them on the journey through. While Pepean got sent to the Crystarium, R’atohna landed in Eulmore. Seeing the light within him Vauthry knew he could use him, so brought him in and started feeding him meol, R’atohna being completely unaware what it was made of. Just like with his other servants, this gave Vauthry the ability to control the Miqo’te’s mind, and after having him test his combat skills against Ran’jit he made him one of his generals. While R’atohna had no control over what he was doing his Echo made him completely aware of his actions. Now free from Vauthry’s control he heavily regrets his actions and begins to question whether or not he’s still worthy of being a hero and fighting by Pepean’s side. However his Lalafell friend is quick to give him a pep talk, reminding him that his actions weren’t his own and that there’s still a chance to make things right. With that R’atohna agree to rejoin the fight, with he and Pepean shaking hands as they acknowledge each other as “Brother”.

After this the main story didn’t give me a heck of a lot to work with as far as incorporating Pepean and R’atohna went, though I thought it would be best to have R’atohna on the sidelines for a bit, still injured from his fight with Pepean (he’d even joke that “For such a little person... you hit hard!”). He would of course help out with getting the giant Talos built where he could, but would be unable to assist in the assault on Gulag. From here the plot would have played out pretty much how it did in the main game, with Pepean defeating Vauthry, only to find himself becoming a Sin Eater, to the reveal of The Crystal Exarch being G’raha (with R’atohna even noting that he looks like him, because I partially based R’atohna on G’raha), to Emit-Selch reminding everyone “Hey, I’m the bad guy remember”, to the whole “I’ve got a sympathetic backstory so you can’t totally hate me” stuff, to the final fight with Hades, The First being saved and so on. Like I said, I didn’t have a heck of a lot to work with in terms of Pepean and R’atohna interaction here, especially now that I’d had R’atohna become free of Vauthry’s control.

However, the next advancement I’d have for my characters would come in their return to The Source. Upon arriving and reuniting with their friends again, Pepean and R’atohna take a much needed rest. Pepean would return home to a loving reunion with Eliza but would quickly find something’s still not right with him. He can no longer communicate with nature. He can’t create Aetherial being anymore. He’s unable to harness the power of the elements. Pepean lies awake at night realising a horrible truth... he’s no longer able to use magic. Upon further examination it turns out that the light of the Lightwardens he absorbed did more damage to him during his corruption than he thought, namely disrupting the Aetherflow within his body. Pepean would consult his friends on this, his heart sinking as he realises his dream of becoming the greatest magic user has now been torn away from him. Thing is, I wanted to show more of a character to Pepean, rather than having him just be an upbeat Lalafell. I wanted to show him vulnerable, scared, and even disheartened. I wanted to advance his character a bit and I thought a good way of doing that would be to take him out of his role as a White Mage and into the role of a Gunbreaker. This gives him a bit more tragedy in his life (not that he didn’t have enough of that already), now his dream, the thing he lived for, the whole reason he became an adventurer in the first place, has been torn away from him. This would just be a lore thing however. While I love Gunbreaker, I still plan on maining Healer roles within the game itself and mastering all magic classes. This is just a lore thing to advance Pepean a bit more for this blog.

While Pepean’s friends do try and comfort him during this difficult time, it’s still a heartbreaking situation for him. But hope does come to him from a very unlikely outcome. As Eliza, Terry, and Selaine try to comfort the depressed Lalafell, R’atohna comes in wearing his basic adventuring clothes (the starting gear) again, with Misago by his side. He says he’s thought long and hard about it, and he’s decided to quit the life of a Dragoon once again, though this time for good. The life brought him nothing but difficulties, both during the Heavenward stuff and after being used in the role to fight his best friend. He says that with the Dragonsong War over, Ishgard no longer needs an Azure Dragoon, something he understands Estinien realised as well. Pepean its quick to point out to him that he had a dream of being like a lance wielding hero who saved him as a child, but R’atohna explains that he has a new hero he wants to be like now: his best friend. He’s decided that if Pepean can’t achieve his dream of being a great magic user then he’ll do it for him, saying that if Pepean’s going to defend them as a Gunbreaker he’s going to need someone by his side to keep him healthy. As such R’atohna is now pursing learning healing magic (with my intention of having him become a Scholar). While Pepean does say he wishes he could be there to teach him everything he knows but he’s unable to now, R’atohna tells him not to worry as he looks to Misago and says he has a great teacher already, to which Pepean agrees. So the two begin pursuing new paths, with Pepean promising to become the best Gunbreaker he can be, while R’atohna promises that no harm will come to his friend as long as he’s around. 

At first it seems like Pepean is in a similar position to Thancred, being unable to enchant his ammo, he eventually develops his own work around to it which he calls “Drawing”. While he can no longer use magic he’s able to find a way to Draw it out of the creatures he fights in order to charge his ammo (yes, this is meant to be a homage to Final Fantasy VIII).

If you’ve actually read through all this thank you very much. This is as far as I’ve gotten with character lore stuff so far. 5.1′s MSQs didn’t give me a whole lot to work with in regards to moving this plot forward. I imagine Pepean dealt with the stuff in The First alone, while R’atohna began his training at the Arcanist Guild. Soon I obviously plan to incorporate Eliza, Terry and Selaine into the story, having them come to The First too, but I thought it better to suss things out with just Pepean and R’atohna first. Pretty much any posts I make going forward are going to be continuing on from this lore. I hope you enjoyed what I’ve come up with and will continue to support my blog. Now, hopefully I can get this posted and get back to work on more FFXIV related stuff.

Thank you all so much.

[livvyplaysfinalfantasy]

Count Edmont writes the final pages of his memoir, Heavensward.

Immediately after the Dragonsong War, Aymeric proposes a new government that is then put into action: a republic featuring dual representation in the form of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Though Aymeric’s intention was to abdicate any responsibilities to governing Ishgard, he was then voted into the highest seat among the House of Lords. The alliance with dragons endures, and Aymeric’s achievements have left such a mark that he is referred to as “an Azure Dragoon for a new age;” the first dragoons in Final Fantasy history were dragon riders, not dragon slayers, and Aymeric’s ceremonial flight with Vedrfolnir seems to hearken back to that as well. Estinien embarks on a journey and leaves his helm behind, Hraesvelgr quite literally flies off into the sunset, and Edmont closes his memoir for the last time.

My reaction to the dénouement - particularly Ishgard’s formation of a republican government - might be harder to articulate than anything else in the expansion.

It isn’t that I don’t like Ishgard, or that I don’t want its new society to succeed - far from it. But the establishment and success of such a drastic shift in Ishgard’s government feels sudden and contrived, given the way the expansion’s themes of class have been presented in the story up until this point.

Ultimately, Heavensward's Dragonsong War arc spends much more time focusing on the reformation of Ishgard's nobility than it does the actual empowerment of the disenfranchised. There is a massive difference between the two.

Consider 3.1, and the revelation that factions of the clergy were behind a violent movement to mislead people’s trust back to the Ishgardian Orthodox Church. Even once the refugees were saved from kidnapping, very little was done to improve their condition; the patch presumably ended with the victims of arson still living in poverty. Now consider 3.2, and the rebellion against the peace ceremony at Falcon’s Nest generated largely by lowborn Ishgardians. These NPCs are never named, yet they carry very legitimate grievances against the sudden push toward an alliance with Dravania. Any Ishgardian characters with whom the Warrior of Light is closely affiliated, however, don’t seem to have much sympathy for their ideals: Honoroit expresses pity for the rebels’ apparent inability to move on, and Edmont and Aymeric even spend an entire conversation referring to the rebels as “misguided” and “disillusioned” with very little acknowledgement that the concerns they voiced are both rational and valid. The resolution to 3.2′s class struggles comes when Emmanellain de Fortemps learns and grows from state violence that nearly got a civilian dissident killed, and when said civilian dissident is swayed by Aymeric’s vision of peace. At no point are the lowborn rebels’ concerns truly acknowledged by Ishgard’s nobility, let alone addressed.

We see an overwhelming emphasis on the highborn in these cutscenes, too, when we learn that Aymeric only joined the House of Lords because the Count de Durendaire insisted he do so. The Count de Durendaire's influence on Heavensward's story has until now been tangential at best, even as a representation of the "status quo" of Ishgard's nobility; why give him such significance at such a crucial moment in the story? Why are we granted no insight whatsoever into how the new government changes the lives of Ishgard's lowborn? It feels as though we as players are expected to accept that the lowborn unanimously and immediately agreed to this new government, and that all of their other concerns with the nobility were resolved with the end of the Dragonsong War. After a thousand years of deep-seated inequality, it’s far-fetched at best. Even in a world with talking dragons.

Hilda would have been a fantastic way to tie together Ishgard’s themes of class struggles. As she was our only real representative for those in the Brume, there were so many opportunities to give Hilda greater presence and responsibility throughout the entirety of Heavensward’s story, but nowhere is her absence more apparent than at the end of the Dragonsong War. Hilda, the character who is named for a queen of Final Fantasy, is not so much as mentioned when plans are made for a government that will theoretically represent her and people like her. Hilda could easily have been raised to Aymeric's equivalent rank in the House of Commons - begrudgingly or otherwise - and the irony of two bastards leading a new Ishgard in tandem would have driven home the idea of things changing for the better. Hilda's lack of a role comes as even more of a surprise when one considers that Matoya and Krile are both highly similar to their original counterparts; Hilda the Mongrel is similar to Hilda of Fynn in name only, and I don't blame fans for expecting much more out of her than what has been in the game so far.

To sum up, I have less of a problem with Ishgard’s new republican government and more of a problem with the storytelling that went into it. While I understand and appreciate that the Warrior of Light’s lens into Ishgardian society comes largely from highborn allies, I don’t think that that perspective did the story many favors - especially when it concerns issues that affect all Ishgardians.