#ishgard

[thebrumeknight-ffxiv]

The Boy With Dragons Blood

[asha-mage]

I have my gripes with FFXIV but I have to admit the decision to use a longsword as the substitute for a crucifix when making Ishgard's French Catholic aesthetic was artistically fucking brilliant and I still haven't recovered from it almost a decade later.

[viiioca]

one of my favorite bits of minor coerthan lore is that there's an abandoned castrum (castrum aquilonis) that they stopped construction on because of how tremendously shitty coerthan weather is now. the garleans -- from garlemald! notorious for its harsh conditions and shitty weather! -- took one look around coerthas and said, "actually, fuck this."

this is after they sent a spy to infiltrate ishgard & lost her. thing is, lucia received the ranking of "goe" before her defection: that places her at the same social rank as rulers of imperial territories and provinces, and among the frumentarii, it would indicate leadership. she was not just a normal field operative, she was a major resource for the empire. and she took one look at aymeric and said, "ummmm yeah i'm catholic now."

ishgard racking up Ws and clowning on the most powerful country in the known world at every turn just by existing in the mountains and having cold weather and hot elves. that is so funny to me

[dumpy-dump]

[finishing-touch]

The French ( affectionate )

[amymja]

Been a while since I did an environment piece

[estinininininen]

look i've read/watched/played a lot of fantastical stories and i love creative displays of how mind-boggingly alien different cultures can possibly get.

but there is something just. so viscerally frightening to me about ishgard and their communal table salt lick and i can't stop thinking about it. ishgard is already framed as a foreign place to the warrior of light/the player so everyone in-story is patiently explaining the importance of the church of halone and ishgard's history because everyone knows the big stuff has to be explained to an outsider. but something small the ishgardians think is normal would slip right past.

i'm ready to laugh myself sick any time of day at the idea of the warrior sitting down to eat at fortemps manor for the first time, emotionally drained and scared. and one of these finicky nobles you have to trust your life with just picks up a pale rock you thought was a centerpiece with a curiously smooth, maybe even already damp worn surface, opens their mouth, sticks out their tongue, and SCHLURPS

i would feel such visceral horror. briefly wonder if i had fallen in faerie-land/the dark world/the upside-down. it would only increase as i look left and right and everyone else continues eating calmly. only maybe if haurchefant were there would someone realize how weird that would seem to outsiders and laugh at my expression.

it's like in the simpsons when homer time travels, sits back down to dinner, and discovers the butterfly effect gave everyone lizard tongues. it's so close to a normal dinner time interaction and yet incredibly far. you think ishgard must have a weird supersition about it to explain. "what, is - is it bad luck to break up a salt lump?" you ask

"no" haurchefant says. "it's just always been done this way"

and so often in any society there is no better explanation than just that but this is so fuckkng weird it would briefly make you question all normal human instincts if ishgard thinks this is okay. that is such silly, terrifying, and superfluous world bulding. it's great.

[stars-and-clouds]

You know what makes Aymeric and Haurchefant special?

Despite having every reason to be cold, vengeful, mean and selfish people-being bastards, living in a house they weren't born to, growing up in an environment as hostile as Ishgard, having inherent beliefs different to everyone around them- they still chose to be kind.

I think it takes something away from them if we assume they were simply born with a kinder deposition.

Haurchefant was bullied by all of Ishgard, including his step mother, for being a Greystone. Aymeric was adopted and has really low self esteem because he probably grew up hearing how ill deserving he is of everything he got by being adopted into house Borel. Yet they both made a conscious choice to be better. They wanted to treat others the way they wanted to be treated themselves. They wanted to love and invite change when Ishgard taught hate and stagnation.

This is why the warrior of light would've failed in doing everything they did if it wasn't for Haurchefant and Aymeric. How many warriors of light have tried helping Ishgard before us? Over hundreds of years of war, this revolution can't have been the only one. Yet it was during our lifetime that the stars aligned perfectly to have Haurchefant aid us and Aymeric lead us into changing Ishgard for the better and bring about peace.

Without Haurchefant, we'd have ended up in prison and possibly executed (he saves us again by taking a blow meant for us) and we wouldn't have been let into Ishgard. And without Aymeric's trust over his best friend he wouldn't have let us go to Dravania and afterwards, invite the reality shattering truth about his ancestors' actions and usher Ishgard to peace and unity.

Everyone hails the Warrior of Light as the antithesis to bad with absolute power. That, if they're there, everything is solved. But without Haurchefants and Aymerics, the Warrior of Light would be nothing and would not be able to solve half the problems they have solved.

[goldfishu]

a solemn duty

[adelelorienne]

"A Hero's Companion"

Commissioned art of Haurchefant Greystone with his little black chocobo (as a chick!) from Final Fantasy XIV. I loved working on this one so much. <3

Brand new art prints now available in my Etsy Shop! Use code SMILE (because it better suits a hero) for 10% off any order

Meadowhaven.net | DeviantArt | Patreon | Instagram | Twitter | Etsy Shop

[sebnoire]

so, uh. the xvi crossover event dropped today.

[faerytale-wings]

I gave myself feelings, so now I'm giving all of you feelings too. :D

[midonart]

Aymeric de Borel. A man of Ishgard, and Lord Commander of the Temple Knights.

What a man he is

[kokiri]

Are you obsessed with Ishgard's lore? Because I know that I'm obsessed with Ishgard's lore! I present to you a 116 page PDF that compiles all of the levequest descriptions from Coerthas Central Highlands (Observatorium and Whitebrim) and Ishgard (Temple Leves).

There's tons of fun little bits of useless silly trivia to downright harrowing worldbuilding about Ishgard's religion and military practices. So, enjoy!

[launindigo]

Ishgards chocobo care taker!

[southshrouded]

and the sequel, expansion snacks! where is worthy of the aetheryte fee?