+- Hydaelyn Role-Players (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18)
+-- Forum: Community (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=8)
+--- Forum: RP Discussion (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=13)
+--- Thread: LF assistance w/ character background (/showthread.php?tid=4483)
LF assistance w/ character background - Crimmera Vahn - 09-12-2013
I am trying to put together a history for my Gilgamesh character, Crimmera "Crim" Vahn. In MMOs I don't like to be too fussy with my characters' backgrounds, I try to focus on the present and future, and leave the past as a frame for who they are.Â
The chief issue I am having is with my lack of lore. I have been doing some reading of online Wikis and such, but unlike other MMOs such as LotRO, WoW, etc... there is simply not a huge, detailed body of lore. (That I am aware of.) I actually consider this a good thing, leaves more room to improvise, however, being new to FFXIV I don't want to write a character that'll be... illogical - let's go with that word.
Crim is young, I am going to say 21, and is a Highlander. I like to keep things simple, so I am going to say her family is from Ala Mhigo. After reading the Wikis, I understand the Garleans conquered Ala Mhigo 15 years prior to v1.0, and ARR occurs five years after that. So she would have been 1 year old when her family had to have fled Ala Mhigo.
The gapping hole in her history occurs between that exodus to her carriage ride into Gridania. What I am thinking is her family, along with several Highlander families, settled somewhere on the edges of the Black Shroud. (I know the lore says most resettled in Ul'dah.) To add a little tragedy to her background, I am thinking perhaps her family's new home was sacked and razed by Ixal, which would be the catalyst for her going to Gridania.
RE: LF assistance w/ character background - DAISHI - 09-12-2013
My advice is to make it whatever you want, preferably superbly outlandish, and rewrite only as necessary.
RE: LF assistance w/ character background - Crimmera Vahn - 09-12-2013
Superbly outlandish, you say? As in the ixal were perhaps all dressed for a fancy dress party with bowties, pocket watches, and monocles?
RE: LF assistance w/ character background - DAISHI - 09-12-2013
(09-12-2013, 06:45 AM)Anari_Tao Wrote: Superbly outlandish, you say? As in the ixal were perhaps all dressed for a fancy dress party with bowties, pocket watches, and monocles?
This... is awesome.
RE: LF assistance w/ character background - Rinh Hallani - 09-12-2013
(09-12-2013, 06:45 AM)Anari_Tao Wrote: Superbly outlandish, you say? As in the ixal were perhaps all dressed for a fancy dress party with bowties, pocket watches, and monocles?
You have my attention.
RE: LF assistance w/ character background - Crimmera Vahn - 09-14-2013
I got nothing. I did have a scene sketched out in my head of a motley crew of Britsh Ixal trying to organise a village they were sacking into slave groups while en route to a low budget community musical, but in the end it really wasn't that humorous. So lets just let the well dressed Ixal dance themselves off stage to Al Jolson's "Mammy" while I continue to ponder the early life history of my forming character.
RE: LF assistance w/ character background - Lament - 09-14-2013
If you'd like, you could have her family settle down in Ul'dah along with most other refugees. Ul'dah, however, is a brutal place for refugees and you can see lots of them are beyond poor, most without so much as medicine. It could be that her family had managed to bring some money/jewelry/etc with them (I imagine some refugees would have once been healthy and/or influential). If you like the idea of tragedy/having lost everything, her family could've eventually fallen into debt and lost everything they still had, and she could've used the last of the money to move to Gridania (I'm assuming the trip would be easier than a trip to Limsa, which is much farther away and accessible by ship or airship only).
There are quite a few scenes/quests with refugees being abused in Ul'dah, as well as at least one scene that comes to mind of debt collectors threatening someone, so it's reasonable for her family to have met a less than savory end once they were no longer rich.
That would probably give her a grudge against the way things are run in Ul'dah, though, which may not be what you're looking for.
RE: LF assistance w/ character background - Sigyn Shieldbreaker - 09-14-2013
This looks like a really good way to start!
I have a question though. How long do you want her to have lived in one place before going to Gridania? Would she make her way there as an adult or would she move there with her impoverished family as a child? Would they send her away in the hopes she'd have a better future? Maybe they had distant relatives or at least a contact there that she could stay with and perhaps they scrimped enough to send her off before the attack...
My brain is painting colorful images. Like I said, I like this way of starting out without too too much pre-planned. Especially since I know it's hard with the lore. I had the same problem.
RE: LF assistance w/ character background - Crimmera Vahn - 09-15-2013
@Lament
Yeah, Ul'dah would work well because of that, and I have learned a lot about the refugees in Ul'dah via in-game questing, but I was thinking of having her been almost exclusively in Gridania prior to becoming an "adventurer". I prefer my characters to start with as little experience as possible and let them learn as they are played. Having been through all the cities growing up it'd make her seem... too worldly than I'd like. However, while I write this reply, my mind is working on an alternative history for her utilizing Ul'dah.
@Siobhain
Well I am a little unsure the distance between Ala Mhigo and the Black Shroud. I was thinking a small group of families would have walked from the mountains fleeing the Garlean Empire and settled on the fringes of the Black Shroud, where she'd be raised. It'd be a long, hard walk. Stories of people fleeing Tibet on foot and walking through the mountains into India comes to mind. Being refugees they'd not be accepted into Gridania.  Not because Gridania is harsh, but there is only so much food and land available. I have also found through in-game questing that at least the elezen frown on the influx of outsiders. Being forced to live on the fringes, they'd be more vulnerable to Ixal who, in addition to raiding, also appreciate fancy dress parties, low-budget musical productions, and a good Sunday's roast.
I find I need to have IC reasons for all her classes, and I doubt I am the exception on this site with that attitude, and being raised in the Black Shroud I could easily chalk up archery, fishing, cooking, botany, carpentry, and leather working to being a rugged survivalist.
Disclaimer: I am still waking up with my morning coffee and it's 4:45 AM, so if this most is disjointed I apologize.
RE: LF assistance w/ character background - Lament - 09-15-2013
According to the wiki, Ala Mhigo is in a region called Gyr Abania, which is between the Black Shroud and Garlemald, so it sounds like the Black Shroud would actually be the first stop for refugees.
There may also still be some bad blood between Ala Mhigans and Gridanians since AM tried to invade Gridania roughly 100 years ago. Since Elezen are apparently very long-lived, many would likely remember the war and may not be as welcoming to Ala Mhigan refugees as they might be to refugees from other places.
RE: LF assistance w/ character background - Gideon Aryeh - 09-15-2013
Be sure to also check out the site link in my sig.