Put plainly, none of my characters use or manipulate aether in any way. I don't know much about it but I'm not interested in non-mages using anything of the sort, personally.
Characters: Andre Winter (Hy'ur) / K'nahli Yohko (Miqo'te)
Aether — How's it work and how do your characters use it? |
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RE: Aether — How's it work and how do your characters use it? |
02-19-2015, 01:31 PM
Put plainly, none of my characters use or manipulate aether in any way. I don't know much about it but I'm not interested in non-mages using anything of the sort, personally.
Characters: Andre Winter (Hy'ur) / K'nahli Yohko (Miqo'te) |
RE: Aether — How's it work and how do your characters use it? |
02-19-2015, 02:03 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-19-2015, 04:42 PM by Sounsyy.)
I'm late! Looks like your questions have been answered so I'm just gonna drop some lore on the subject of aether and those who use it.
So, as has already been said, aether is the life force of the planet and every living thing on it. It makes up all things and is the source of all magic. Eorzea has the greatest concentration of this aether because it is home to Lake Silvertear, the fount of all aether (and water) on the planet. There's a pretty real Garden of Eden comparison to be made to Eorzea. But really this is why Eorzea has developed many diverse schools and magical talents throughout history. Not to say magic is not possible outside of Eorzea, but it is certainly much less common. On the subject of Magi and how they use their aether, I'll quote myself from this post: Each person has their own varying but limited amount of personal aetherial stores inside their body, and per the 2.0 THM questline, seems to be a birth trait, not something one could improve upon during their lifetime. For Thaumaturges and Arcanists, who use their own aether to fuel their spells, this can be dangerous for them if they overexert themselves with more powerful or ambitious spells or attempt to cast magic for extended periods of time, such as in a battle setting. Furthering on the subject of personal aether constraints, I saw teleporting got brought up, so I'll link a useful lore post on Teleport Lore. The gist is that anyone and everyone can learn to use an aetheryte (with practice) however, a majority of people do not have overwhelming aetherial stores or the fortitude to withstand multiple teleportations in short succession, so most people use them sparingly. -- On the subject of my own character - Sounsyy has very limited aether reserves. She has absolutely no magical talent and aetheryte travel makes her incredibly ill, so she avoids it at all costs. After barely surviving the Battle of Carteneau, Sounsyy suffered some severe aether sickness from being wounded in such close proximity to the Elder Primal and all the death He wrought. So that incapacitated her for a while and she's still in the long process of recovering. All that said, she doesn't really like aether being used on her for healing, though she tolerates it. She has an irrational fear that she's going to get sick again from it. Hope this helped! ^^ Feel free to ask if you have more questions! I'm going to leave a couple related lore clippings in the Spoiler below to peruse at your leisure. |
RE: Aether — How's it work and how do your characters use it? |
02-19-2015, 02:22 PM
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RE: Aether — How's it work and how do your characters use it? |
02-19-2015, 03:51 PM
I know what it means. I was just being very generic because I am at work and I cant spend 30 minutes checking the lore and typing a post. Thank you for elaborating on my elaboration though, lol.
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RE: Aether — How's it work and how do your characters use it? |
02-19-2015, 05:03 PM
[moderator hardhat]
Oi. Back on-topic. Quit barking at each other. Dankeschön. [/moderator hardhat] EDIT: That'd be a spelling error, not a grammar error. |
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RE: Aether — How's it work and how do your characters use it? |
02-19-2015, 05:39 PM
I'd like to butt in through all the nazis and thank those who posted all that detailed info. This has really helped me out with a few things I had in mind.
*bookmarks Oschon, Oh Oschon What did we do to thee That you'd let us be ravaged by This sickness of the sea |
RE: Aether — How's it work and how do your characters use it? |
02-19-2015, 07:32 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-19-2015, 07:38 PM by Zyrusticae.)
So I am of the mind that aether is pretty much the equivalent of the same metaphysical force used in so many fictional East Asian universes. The names change all the time - ki/chi, chakra, reiatsu, reiki, hamon, The Force, aura, so on and so forth, you get the idea - but they pretty much all function in much the same way. It's how they're used that's different. Well, that, and how much a single individual is allowed to have.
There are two things that are unique to FFXIV's incarnation of this all-encompassing energy field. The first is that it actually obeys the first law of thermodynamics - aether is not an unlimited resource, and drawing too much of it from the environment can decimate everything in the immediate vicinity. The second is the fact that entire living creatures can be created purely out of aether, bypassing the normal rules of the creation of life (i.e. fertilization, gestation, and birth for sexual creatures). I suppose I should mention that lifeforms being capable of existing purely as aether also means that brains effectively serve no purpose other than to serve as vessels of the soul, something that is obviously completely different from RL (I will brook no discourse on this!). That being said, others have already covered the use of it in magick, so I won't go into that here. What I am interested is in the manipulation of personal aether in ways that go outside the framework of using it for destructive magicks. Most of this is extrapolation and not canon, lest anyone get confused, so if you're not interested in this sort of thing you can turn back now. So, we know that all living things have varying amounts of aether comprising their bodies. We know that thaumaturges can draw from their internal wellspring of aether to power spells (many of them incredibly destructive). It stands to reason, then, that this internal wellspring can be used to do far more than simply power magick. Now, it could be argued that only monks really get to do this thanks to the whole 'opening the gates' thing they've got going, but I would argue that that only increases their body's natural ability to direct and move that aether at high speeds, rather than a basic requirement to be able to manipulate it at all, otherwise thaumaturgy wouldn't even be a thing. "But thaumaturgy is different!", you say. Well, yes and no. It still draws aether from the exact same place you're taking it from when you're performing your badass superpowered martial arts. It's just how it's used that's different. I also happen to think that, given the idea that aether comprises our bodies AND our souls, that it makes sense for it to be used whenever possible. Yes, you could just as well argue that the warrior's "Inner Beast" and whatever the hell it is that dragoons do are their own, unique, self-contained ideas, but my problem with that lies in how utterly crude that take is. You're literally tacking things on top of something that is already beautiful and elegant, tainting it beyond repair. Not that Squeenix would be above such a thing, mind you, but I would hope that Koji Fox would take a more high-minded approach to this whole thing. Everything is aether, after all, so why wouldn't everything also be powered by aether? It's simple, it's intuitive, it's elegant, it is the best possible solution and best available explanation for a whole host of supernatural occurrences within the universe of FFXIV. But again... speculation. Heavensward could very well come out with lore telling us that they really are all powered by their own thing and aether has fuck-all to do with it - I would be incredibly disappointed, but it could happen. But until someone tells me otherwise, I assume that my character, who can't cast a spell to save her damn life, is still using aether to power all of her combat moves, and that anyone else who is a competent combatant is doing the same (ESPECIALLY martially-inclined Lalafell - I'm sorry, but small size is NOT an advantage in CQC). Note that it doesn't have to be a huge and obvious effect with flashy lights and everything - that aether manipulation could be happening in extremely subtle fashions that directly influences the outcome of combat, and no one in-universe has to acknowledge it because it's a matter of course, i.e. it works on a subconscious level. And that's my 200 gil. Take it or leave it. |
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