#XIV is down

[haunted-xander]

I made this AAAAGES ago and forgot to post it and now I'm annoyed by how it's rotting away on my phone so here. Bratty teen Thancred being a menace to Fourchenault (and a bad influence on Urianger lol)

[sammi-doodles]

And even when your hope is gone Move along, move along just to make it through

Thinking about Tesleen and Alisaie lately...

[thecrystarium]

Wuk Lamat: *through a mouthful of meat* I LOVE IT HERE!!! Erenville: *head in his hands* Twelve forfend...

[salsasolutions]

✨XIV✨

[madqueenmomo]

Hiya folks. Todays the ffxiv hair contest winers were announced and of of the styles I made won.

The one who will be implimented in game will be Natural curls.

These were made with my friends in mind (because I love them and they deserve more actual natural curls) while taking into consideration the lack of curly hair, the textures I know they would be able to make and how it would look like on non poc wols

The winning hair

This was the first and more simple one I made. I started out with the base shape then painted it over with a natural curl hair brush.

I wanted to make a texture I felt i’ve seen the devs make in Highlander/Midlander hair but no where else.

I simplified it for the quickly drawn examples … I have a feeling the end product might be closer to those instead of the more curly version. Here is to hoping no.

The ones I made but did not win, so wont get in game

The curly swoop

This one was actually requested by one of my friends.

She wanted me to try a hair still she wanted to have in real life. Due to the reasons stated on top, i had to loosen up the curls of the swoop to make it work with what i knew was a texture they could pull off and also work with non poc characters.

Old school ponytail

This one was inspired by nostalgia from when I was in grade school.

I remembered those hail tie balls so well and associated them with fond memories.

Sadly I didn’t think i could do my original idea of the thick cute braids i associated these with in a way that the game would make it not look racist/work with non poc characters so I focused on just the curls. It ended up reminding me of Terra from FF6 but more curly.

In the end. I’m glad Natural curls won. I really hope they get the texture right and curly.

I still feel awkward cause i’m white woman who submitted these. But I did them with love and support for my friends and to yell at SE to add more poc hair (wich i saw a shorter dreads hair and also a really elegant brais with poofy curls won so i guess my plan worked?)

I just hope this will make them make more hair with poc in mind so the players can eat well.

[amememightywarrior]

Food in Dawntrail

Gonna go ahead and share my thoughts on it as posted on twitter, excuse the format!

I found the prevalence of food in DT's MSQ very interesting. In a lot of cultures, food and food-sharing are acts of love both familial and neighborly. It also symbolized a desire to reach out and understand one another, from xibruq pibil to tacos to ice cream to weird grapes.

Our first encounter with food in DT is when Wuk Lamat wants to give us some tacos, but then BJJ smashes them carelessly, a sign that he is rejecting sharing and love

During the lay of repast, which is ALL about food, we learn a lot about the symbolism of meals and food and culture. It's great. 

Zoraal Ja and Bakool Ja Ja are teamed up and shown to not understand or care about food and sharing despite the BLATANT emphasis on it in the trial.

More subtle stuff that isn't called out is the way food is raised - like the Crystarium, where wandering around can reveal the importance, if you wander around DT you can find an example of what's called the three sisters method of farming.

For those unfamiliar with this system, it's actually a very culturally important method of farming in the americas where 3 staple crops, maize, squash, and beans, are grown together in a harmonious fashion. and i mean TOGETHER.

The maize, which grows tall and strong, provides support for the beanstalks which curl around it and provide stabilization both physically and nutritionally. At their feet grows the ground-covering squash which shades the soil, keeping it moist and preventing weeds.

The next major time we learn of food and agriculture is in heritage found, where we see people preserving real food as an act of culture more than anything else, showing the resilience of culture and the spirit of sharing in even the most lightning riddled situations.

After that it gets interesting. The concept of food in S9 is abstracted into the absurd (the grapes??? help), but they still share the food. More than that, it's a SPECTATOR sport, seeing WoL and Wuk Lamat eat. If you've ever been to a dinner with a family of a different culture, you will know the experience of tasting a new cuisine for the first time, and people asking you what you think of it. They share their culture with you and hope you approve. It's the sharing of joy, and it's the same as when you eat in S9.

Then we're REALLY challenged. We enter living memory and find the inhabitants feasting on the mere idea of food. They share with us as well, giving us popcorn. Did you lie and say it was great? Did you speak the truth of your tastebuds and reject the popcorn?

The food in living memory is tasteless to us, the only real ones in the place. But the act of sharing, that was the real important part. And so perhaps if WoL lied, it was not to spare feelings, but to show that yes, they were sharing in joy and culture.

Thus introduced, we are hit with that ice cream. We know it tastes of nothing, but we give it to Krile and her parents to share. Krile knows it doesn't taste like anything, and she struggles. But G'raha zips in with his own, to make her laugh and help her understand the joy.

The way each character reacts to food within DT is symbolic and shows a bit of their own perspectives. Someone who's very out on the edges, Estinien, is also someone who has embraced food very heavily after being freed from Nidhogg. He runs around eating everything in sight now.

And of course we also have the cornservant, who wants to feed everyone. I haven't actually done that quest line yet but I can already tell you what's at the heart of it XD

A lot of this we all know, I'm just calling it out specifically because it was beautifully done in DT.

Oh, before I forget: Otis and Gulool Ja

Otis, despite being, er...mechanical, has been feeding Gulool Ja. It is a familial act, feeding and helping this child grow despite zero relation.

is it just another fetch quest? Another shared meal of many shared meals in the field? Or is it asking us to look at this meal in the context of all that came before it?

What does it mean to love and care for one another? Otis shows it by being there and feeding Gulool Ja.

It contrasts with two other parties: Cahciuna's group, and Zoraal Ja.

Zoraal Ja does nothing. He does not feed his child. Abandoned him outright. ZJ rejects family, love, and sharing.

Cahciuna's group is trying really hard to take care of him, and he does allow it because they keep finding and taking him home. But why does he run away to eat with Otis? Cahciuna's response to realizing he WANTS to leave is to allow it instead of insisting.

I find that rather mysterious but I think it shows Gulool Ja prefers organic sharing, not S9 where everything is simply handed to him. Hopefully we see more of him in the future so we can learn wtf is up with this little blue-scaled cutie.

Food takes a background role in a lot of stories but DT took it, explained it, and then challenged our understanding by taking away the most talked about component, stripping away flavor to ask us what the point of food-sharing really is and how it reflects ourselves & our culture.

We've seen a lot of these themes before - ARR used to have a whole thing about feeding the soldiers before the assault on the garlean strongholds, SHB had the infamous rhon ron food stand scene, etc

we just got it called out repeatedly and the concept gently deconstructed for us in DT. 

So. what does the act of food-sharing mean to you? What does it mean to your WoL? How did you see the Lay of Repast? What did you think of the popcorn?

[sebille]

Maybe we could turn dreams into reality and you could give him a little neck bite? Just for fun? Nothing weird or anything of course.......

[tobyfoxmademeascaly]

The hatchingtide/little ladies day quests: look! We trained a goobbue to do tricks! 🥰 but wait! What’s this? She’s scared to perform in front of the crowd! 😲 Go cheer her up so she can bring joy to the people of Ul’dah! 💕

Me, who remembers Thancred and Minfilia’s Tragic Backstory and is having the entire plot of NOPE (2022) flashing through my mind at rapid speed:

[riessene]

meow!

[suckitphaneuf]

[zylphiacrowley]

<previous - next>

[haunted-xander]

I think Ryne would have a kinda skewed sense of what's normal. Like, she may technically know what's "normal" for most people, but what's normal for her is way different. She's raised by two men who are both Weird, only one of which can even pretend to be normal (and like hell Thancred bothered with that while on the run with Ryne lol)

Ryne thinks that talking circles round pixies is common knowledge from her many stays in Il Mheg. It is not. She also thinks knowing how to and being able to stomach skinning and gutting animals for food is normal. It's certainly more common, but unless you're a hunter it absolutely does not come as easily. Being able to walk and run around quietly is something she technically knows is unusual, but since her company has mainly consisted of a professional spy and a man who barely leaves home she tends to forget that most people can't do that.

I can't come up with anymore atm but. Ryne should get to be just a little weird(er) I think

[keicordelle]

FFXIV Write Day 5: Stamp

[Stained parchment, crumpled and worn, rendered nearly illegible by age. Found behind untouched crates in a storage room in the Waking Sands.]

Seventh day of the Sixth Astral Moon, year 0 of the Seventh Astral Era Dear Mr. Tragbharsyn and Mrs. Uwilsyngwyn Dear Wilfsunn and Bloewyda Bloewyda and Wilfsunn, I know not how I might Moenbryda is I regret to inform you I cannot express my sorrow that The words to express such a It is with great sorrow that I must inform you of Moenbryda I have failed to protect Moenbryda was struck down while trying to preserve Moenbryda has valiantly given her life You would have been proud of her How could one possibly express the sorrow of losing From distant shores did she come, and to distant shores I wish it had been otherwise I was not strong enough to save Her bravery has saved I cannot begin to I wish, as I am certain you do, that I had been the She was I cannot

7.11.0 Bloewyda, Wilfsunn, I'm sorry.

[alackofghosts]

it's got me down

[last-flight-of-fancy]

coeurl kitten

[nuclearanomaly]

something something First AU? pose ref