Do you every lie awake at night realizing that if Ozai hadn't been such a trash fire of a parent, the Gaang would have never won. Like, season 1 Gaang vs stable Azula + properly supplied Zuko? Not even a contest.
I know right? If the royal family had its act together at all they’d literally conquer the world. Come on Ozai, generations of your ancestors could pull this off, how are you this shitty? Your low bar for making this situation functional was “support your son financially after you burn and banish him”. Zuko with an actual fleet showing up at the South Pole == instant win condition.
Hell, a Zuko who could afford metal cuffs instead of “the good rope” might have won in episode two.
This is why we give our banished children a modest but liveable allowance, Father Lord.
"Ozai tries to be a half-way decent dad" is one of the big AUs I'd love to see someone tackle. It's just that it would more or less require an entire show-rewrite to figure out how to stop the Fire Nation. Because the reasons Ozai is a bad dad are the same reasons he's a bad leader of the Fire Nation, if just for the sake of the Fire Nation. There's good odds that if Ozai tries to be a decent dad, it would end up curbing the worst of his leadership problems...
I'd almost say "Ozai is a terrible dad" was a short-cut to make the entire "Zuko figures out the Fire Nation has to stop conquering" arc easier to pull off... Because if Ozai was taking over the Earth Kingdom while not needlessly sacrificing people, then there'd be a lot less people on his own side who would want him to stop.
The one fic I have read that managed to pull off "Ozai's functional family is a bunch of terrifying badasses" extremely well is this one.
Ember, Ash and Kindling
Summary: After Azulon ordered her son's death, Ursa convinced Ozai his father would not stop with Zuko and they could not stop him. The royal couple fled into exile with their children. Six years later, their tenuous peace shatters with the arrival of two forces in Ba Sing Se: Avatar Aang and Prince-General Iroh.
This probably has the most terrifying version of Ozai I have ever read as he doesn't act like a cartoon villian, but like someone who grew up in Azulon's court instead of as an army general. On the flip-slide, Ozai interacting with Ursa, Zuko and Azula are some of the most heartwarming moments in the fic. And none of them are so OC that you can't imagine this is how canon could have gone either...
Go for it! From what I’ve seen, everyone has a different genre but instrumental (no words) seems to be key. I guess Sweet Dreams words are so ethereal, ADHD just rolls with it????
For me, orchestral covers of songs I know work best since my ADHD is using the extra hyperfocus to remember and keep up with words. Have fun experimenting!!
Y'all I just listen to Lana Del Rey. Would recommend because with instrumentals I tend to focus on where actual words would be but with Lana’s stuff her vocals sound like music but it’s words
really wish I could’ve done this when I was spending 4 hours on every page of math homework in the 90′s. Fast forward to my last year of college when I finally figured out I could just listen to Blackmill and blaze through an entire semester of college math like it was nothing.
Find the study methods that work for you!!! Help kids find the study methods that work for them!
It takes me all day to do simple chores because i keep getting distracted. If i put in earbuds with upbeat music I’m done with everything in a couple hours AND i feel really good and probably danced a little i.e. exercised.
Try songs in another language - one you don’t speak. The idea is that since you don’t understand the words, your brain doesn’t go “Oh hey, someone is talking to me” and thus you can maintain your focus. Although, this is something probably best suited to writing. But on the other hand, if it works, it works.
Personally, I like Opera. BUT, I advise against using Pandora’s Opera Station. At least in the free version, it either cycles through the same ten Singers/Albums or drifts off into instrumental covers.
On the other hand, it’s great for background noise when gaming. Just be sure you have an ad blocker running. You will also have to confirm that you are listening every hour or so.
Followup on the lofi front:
I recommend the following channels.
Chillhop Music: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOxqgCwgOqC2lMqC5PYz_Dg
In particular, I recommend the relax/study livestream radio. Or just about any of their mixes.
Fantasic Music: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZyyXrEF2WCZbI653PFNBbA
Both the Chill and the Jazz playlists are excellent.
Jazzhop Cafe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi8wqezBudeAiTdKOX571ug
Their ChillMix videos are the best.
Jazzhop Cafe Archive: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKbD–QKXKosHmSXarqYUeg
Name is self-evident.
I believe ChilledCow also has a livestream, but I honestly prefer Chillhop. YMMV
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSJ4gkVC6NrvII8umztf0Ow
EDIT: Oh, Pandora’s Vitamin String Quartet IS good, but it tends to drift off into New Age type stuff. Adblocker thing still applies though.
The Genre of music that this works with is all over the place and very, very personalized to whoever is listening to it. I can easily concentrate even with rock, pop, and almost anything with lyrics. Video-game music also works well.
The key thing for me seems to be that the music has to have enough repetition in it for it to be predicatble. If it's not repetative enough, I can't use it as "white noise".
The worst "genre" for me to concentrate with is instrumental Baroque music. Bach, Vivaldi and Handel are the worst composers of the bunch. It isn't repetetive enough and is just too interesting to listen too in the background. Playing violin and piano for ten years probably doesn't help either. Long story short, listening to Baroque music is less like, "oh, nice background music" and more like "OMG!!! He's fitting all these different keys into one fugue and there's all this counterpoint going on here!!!!" and then I start staring off into space and drooling and not getting any work done.
Meanwhile, most modern popular music is verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus regardless of music genere. And vido-game music was desgined speificly for situations where the person listening to it was doing something that was often rather complicated.
the secret, i’ve discovered, to actually writing, like actually sitting down and doing the damn thing, actually getting a word count up there, is to have an idea that makes you think “that’s ridiculous and self-indulgent and nobody else but me would want to read it” and then leaning as fully into self-indulgence as possible
It is really fun going back and reading old fics and enjoying the fact someone wrote fics you like reading. Even if that person was yourself a few years/months back.
please... if you’re going to attempt to speak in “old” english
THOU is the subject (Thou art…)
THEE is the object (I look at thee)
THY is for words beginning in a consonant (Thy dog)
THINE is for words beginning in a vowel (Thine eyes)
Also, because H was sometimes treated as a vowel when the grammar rules for thou/thee/thy/thine were formed,THINE can also be used for words beginning with H. For example, both “thy heart” and “thine heart” appear in Elizabethan poetry.
For consistency, however, if you’re saying “thine eyes”, make sure you also say “mine eyes” instead of “my eyes”.
Further to the PSA:
Thou/thee/thine is SINGULAR ONLY.
Verbs with “thou” end in -st or -est: thou canst, thou hast, thou dost, thou goest. Exception: the verbs will, shall, are, and were, which add only -t: thou wilt, thou shalt, thou art, thou wert.
Only in the indicative, though – when saying how things are (“Thou hast a big nose”). Not in the subjunctive, saying how things might be (“If thou go there…”) nor in the imperative, making instructions or requests (“Go thou there”).
The -eth or -th ending on verbs is EXACTLY EQUIVALENT TO THE -(e)s ENDING IN MODERN ENGLISH.
I go, thou goest, she goeth, we go, ye go, they go.
If you wouldn’t say “goes” in modern English, don’t say “goeth” in Shakespearean English.
“Goeth and getteth me a coffee” NO. KILL IT WITH FIRE.
Usually with an imperative you put the pronoun immediately after the verb, at least once in the sentence (“Go thou” / “Go ye”).
YE is the subject (Ye are…). YOU is the object.
Ye/you/your is both for PLURALS and for DEFERENCE, as vous in French.
It’s fascinating to me how the older the English is, the more Germanic features it has, even in that one sentence. That –sch ending in Middle English parallels the same in German: Deutsch, Englisch. In Old English, the prefix ge– appears to mark a past tense verb, which you also see in German: gescrieben, gesagt.
And just like French, and the earlier forms of English, German has both a formal second person pronoun (Sie, which maps to you), and an informal (du/ihr, which maps to thee). Du and thou even share a common ancestor.
You even see the ‘Ich’, the word modern German still uses for ‘I’ in some parts of England up until Chaucer, and apparently hung on until the 19th C in some parts. It appeared in a madrigal I sang with choir this year, which was in Elizabethan English: ‘Chill love no more’. ‘Chill’ here is a shortening of ‘Ich will’.
Having done some reading, the formality differences between ‘thou’ (always singular) and ‘you’ (formerly only plural) is entirely due to the Norman Invasion.
GOD I LOVE LANGUAGE. I love how you can find the history of a place in the way the language spoken there evolves.
To add to all this... "You/yours" is actually the formal version of "you". "Thee/thy/thine" is (or rather was) the informal version "you". This dichotomy started around the 1300s, but was largley phased out in the 1600s. It did survive in a few regional English and Scotish dialects though.
Which hilariously means that if you hear people in oh... plays from Shakespeare's era (and earlier) addressing monarchs, lords and other members of the upper class with "you" they are actually doing it correctly and not trying to make the play sound more modern. Thy and thine would have more been used between good friends (informal intimacy), hated enemies (as an insult), or from a higher-class individual to a lower-class individual (social subordinate) generally speaking.
Most dungeon-crawling fantasy RPG settings aren’t particularly large, geographically speaking, and the whole “20th level innkeeper” trope notwithstanding, high-level adventurers ought to be quite rare owing to the profession’s astronomical mortality rate and the fact that there are very few ways to cheat your way to being high-level without putting in the time. What’s more, high-level adventurers tend to have mostly similar goals and interests and compete for mostly the same resources.
Basically, what I’m saying is that there’s a decent campaign premise to be had in a setting where high-level adventurers are this insular subculture of maybe a few hundred high-powered weirdos who literally all know each other.
This explains everything about Mor Dhona, Idyllshire, Rowena's House of Splendors, the Ironworks and Clan Centurio. The kind of people doing buisness in those areas (or with those organizations) are all the same "high-level adventurer" types. And there's just not that many of them...
One of my biggest pet pevees in Corethas is that we can't see Sohm Al from Coerthas Western Highlands let alone Ishgard. Sohm Al is the Lonely Mountain of Aldenard; you'd think we could see it from all of Coerthas and Dravania.
This is exactly the view/setting I had in mind for Black Ice Reflection.
This is how every single one of my fan-fics gets written. Write up all the stuff I know is happening, then go back and fill stuff in. Combining this with deliberately not finishing sentences when I've finished writing for the day helps immensely. It makes it easier to continue writing when I go back to something.
Summary: With Gyr Abania now free from the Empire, Clan Centurio is primed and ready to track down all the A and S Rank hunts the Garleans ignored. Unfortunately for the clan, the Warriors of Light are pretty sure Zenos hunted down anything Clan Centurio would consider an A or an S Rank.
Fortunately for everyone, this turns out to not have been the case after all...
This was spawned by the following ficbit: Hunting Definitions
Eyrikoel Sundyrbyrtsyn shifted his aether, and the arid canyons of Rhalgr's Reach were replaced with the busy streets surrounding Kugane's aetheryte crystal. The roegadyn breathed deeply of the salt sea air and sighed in contentment. With Zenos yae Galvus dead and Gyr Abania and Doma freed, there was now time for the Warriors of Light to go on what served them as vacations. For Eyrikoel, that usually meant joining in Clan Centurio's high rank hunts or wandering the various regions the Warriors of Light had already journeyed through to see if anyone needed help with anything that hadn't been deemed a pressing need the first time they had gone though. Today, he was going hunting.
That morning, Leaudaste, the head of Clan Centurio, had sent Eyrikoel a recorded message via linkpearl about a possible S Rank in Yanxia and how it would be preferable if Eyrikoel and the other Warriors of Light who hunted with Clan Centurio could meet up with him in Kugane to discuss where Clan Centurio would be going next. Eyrikoel had passed on the message to Kharagal Meirqid and Nhagi'a Tyunn, his fellow hunting partners and Warriors of Light, and let the rest of the Warriors of Light staying in Rhalgr's Reach know that he would most likely not be back for at least a week. After packing enough supplies for a long-term clan hunt, he had left for Kugane.
Eyrikoel threaded his way towards the Kugane docks, letting his huge size part the crowd before him. While Clan Centurio might maintain a seal exchange and bill posting at the Hostelry, most clan members gathered elsewhere. The clan's overall lack of formality clashed too much with the Hostelry's traditional Kugane flavor for them to feel comfortable there. Instead, they gathered at the Astera, a dockside tavern that shared its back wall with a smithy. Most of the Kugane based hunters swore by both the quality of the Astera's food and the smithy's innovative metal work.
Inside, the Astera was quieting down. Late morning in Rhalgr's Reach translated to late night in Kugane and by now, the only people still eating in the tavern were Kharagal and Nhagi'a, and Leaudaste, the leader of Clan Centurio. Eyrikoel grinned when he saw the massive platters of food they were eating from where still steaming from the oven and took the free seat at the table between Nhai'a and Leaudaste. "And here I was hoping you would wait for me before eating," he teased as he put a thick cut of steak and a selection of miq'abobs on his plate.
"You pack too slow," Nhagai'a teased, "or better yet, get a bag that has a better space compression enchantment on it so you can keep more in it." The miqote's ears twitched, giving away how serious he wasn't.
"And I keep telling you, I like my bag the way it is," Eyrikoel said. True, it was old and the enchantment on it wasn't as powerful as the newer ones were, but it was one of the few things he had from before the Calamity.
"Too bad," said Kharagal, "the Arcanists' Guild is coming out with some new ones based on that hyperbolic space version of the enchantment I found. Those are a lot more... flexible then the old ones are."
"No kidding." Eyrikoel eyed the Accompaniment Node that followed Kharagal everywhere. It also doubled as her storage space due to a version of the space compression enchantment she had found on an Azys Lla computer. She had given a simplified version of it to the Archanists' Guild to experiment with and experiment with it they had.
Leaudaste cleared his throat in the lull in the conversation. "So about Gyr Abania, you did not happen to learn of any new hunts, did you?"
"Not exactly," Eyrikoel grunted around his steak. "We were so busy with the Imperials we didn't get many chances to ask about hunts in particular."
"We know more then that," Nhagi'a said and put down his tankard of ale. "The locals did tell us that the XIIth Legion didn't do any monster exterminations themselves and didn't let the Gyr Abanians do any either." He snorted. "There's certainly plenty of normal monsters everywhere that need to be killed, just no high rank ones."
"And we think we know why that is," Kharagal grumbled. "Zenos was obsessed with hunting to the point he overhunted everything around Ala Mhigo. Anything that needs our expertize to hunt was probably killed a long time ago."
"And here I was hoping I would have an interesting visit to Gyr Abania," Leaudaste almost pouted. For the older elezen, that meant months tracking monsters through wilderness. "I guess I will have to settle for only sending some of the elite mark hunters to Gyr Abania. If the low rank monster populations have run unchecked for so long, it is the least Clan Centurio can do." He shrugged. "Who knows, they might find something worth hunting."
Eyrikoel nodded. "I know Ala Ghiri and Ala Ghana will appreciate it. Now what's this you were saying about there being an S Rank in Yanxia?"
Leaudaste's eyes lit up. "Ah, the S Rank. It turns out the Garleans left behind a lot of their magitek when they pulled out of Yanxia. One such piece of magitek is a warmachina that has been turning on and attacking people at random."
Kharagal, Nhagi'a and Eyrikoel glanced at each other. That kind of thing happened a lot with warmachina. "What makes this one an S Rank?" Nhagi'a asked.
"Reports say it is a prototype of an automated armored weapon." Leaudaste shrugged. "No one has seen anything like it. And no one knows where it comes from or disappears to."
"So it's a standard track and kill hunt," said Kharagal. "Only we're tracking something automated." She finished off her mug of coffee and stood up. "Sounds simple enough."
Nhagi'a snorted. "Yeah, it's not Allagan magitek for once. That stuff..." he shook his head and reached down for Vanargand. "Finding out the Allagans lightning-proofed all their electronics was annoying. I really hope the Garleans don't figure out that trick."
Kharagal and Eyrikoel laughed at that and picked up and secured their own weapons. Nhagi'a loved thunder spells and tended to over-rely on them. Watching him find out that he couldn't use them very effectively in Azys Lla had been hilarious.
"In that case, have fun," Leaudaste told them. "Just do not come back to me and complain if it is more difficult then you thought it was."
"Since when have we ever done that?" Eyrikoel deadpanned as he, Kharagal and Nhagi'a left the Astera. As they walked down the street that led to the rest of Kugane, Eyrikoel sorted though his linkpearls until he found the one tuned to Clan Centurio's linkshell. "Braya," he called into it. "You said you and your party were exploring Othard. Are you all still in the region?"
"Yeah, why?" came the reply.
"Leaudaste said there's an S Rank in Yanxia." Eyrikoel couldn't quite conceal his grin at that.
There was a curse on the other end of the line. "Guess Hersande's group beat us to finding one. We'll meet you in Namai?"
"Yeah," Eyrikoel said, "and that goes for everyone else listening in. If you want to come join us, head for Namai." Before he could hear the chatter of hundreds of Clan Centurio hunters discussing hunting logistics, he pulled the linkpearl out of his ear. "Let's go!" he said to Kharagal and Nhagi'a. "We've got a hunting party to lead!" And the three of them teleported out of Kugane.
A week later, Eyrikoel was watching Kharagal and Nhagi'a sort though the former S Rank Gamma's parts when the Clan Centurio linkshell buzzed. "Eyrikoel," Leaudaste's voice filtered though. "Get over here. I have the reports from Gyr Abania and I think you should see them."
"We'll be right over," said Eyrikoel. He turned to Kharagal and Nhagi'a who had finished dismantling Gamma's computer and were packing it up to bring back to the Ironworks. "Leaudaste found something in Gyr Abania; he wants to see us."
"Well, we're not going to find out by standing here," said Kharagal and she teleported back to Kugane. Eyrikoel and Nhagi'a followed suit.
Unlike the last time they were at the Astera, the canteen was filled with people. Eyrikoel elbowed his way though the crowd to the bar where Leaudaste was, Kharagal and Nhagi'a close behind. Scattered over the bar's surface were lots of file folders and even a few Garlean-style photographs. "What's all this?" he gestured at the bar.
Leaudaste smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Before I answer that, I need to ask the three of you a question. Not as members of Clan Centurio, but as Warriors of Light." At that, Eyrikoel started. Clan Centurio was one of the few places where being a Warrior of Light had never mattered before. At his silence Leaudaste continued, "When Zenos said he was good at hunting, did he mean he was good at actual hunting or did he mean he liked killing things that are hard to kill?"
Eyrikoel blinked. He'd never thought of it that way, but in hindsight...
"That explains so much," Nhagi'a groaned as he held the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe we didn't consider the possibility that Zenos meant something different then we do when he talked about hunting."
"Yup. First rule of hunting," Kharagal muttered. "Always know why your prey does what it does and he never bothered to figure that out about us." She shook her head. "No wonder his obsession with us felt so weird."
Eyrikoel nodded at that. "It sounds about right. He thought we were like him because we fought so much." He snorted at how ridiculous that was. "The only times I saw him enjoying himself was when he fought people who fought back. When people didn't give him a big enough challenge, he got bored." He considered that and looked at Leaudaste. "I think you're right. I don't think he was good at what we consider hunting to be. I have a hard time seeing him have the patience to hunt anything he didn't think was hard to kill."
"I admit I guessed that was the case," said Leaudaste. He pulled some files off the countertop and handed them to the Warriors of Light. "Those are some of the reports the XIIth Legion got over the years of some of the more... outlandish shall we say... monsters in Gyr Abanin." He laughed. "I can not imagine why anyone who claims they are a hunter would ignore any of them."
"You don't say," said Nhagi'a, flipping though the file in his hand. "Giant antlions, giant dhruva, giant hornets, giant sapria, giant fire-breathing crag claws-- Wait," he picked out a sheet of paper and looked over it. "Why would anyone in an Imperial Legion let a fire-breathing crag claw munch on cerulum supply convoys for..." he squinted at the paper. "Over a year? That makes no sense."
"Because the legatus of the XIIth Legion was an idiot when it came to logistics," Eyrikoel supplied without skipping a beat. As much as he had opposed Giaus and Regulus' attempted conquests, he did respect that they had run their legions well. Zenos hadn't. Eyrikoel was confident that such an attack on a cerulum supply convoy would not have continued for long when the XIVth Legion had occupied Gyr Abania. They were certainly vigilant at preventing such attacks from happening to the rail line the Phantom Train ran on in Eorzea.
"Same thing goes for Theodoric," said Kharagal, her nose deep in her own file. "It looks like he had a habit of leaving restless dead behind, maybe on purpose, and the XIIth Legion obviously didn't do anything to put them to rest. Aw!" she cooed as she turned a page. "He bred war griffins. Specifically ones with blue feathers." She pulled out a photograph of a large griffin, one that was a shade of iridescent blue. "That is beautiful."
"If you think that is impressive," Leaudaste interrupted, "then you should see this." He held up one of the larger Garlean-style photographs and everyone went silent in awe. It was a picture of clouds crackling with purple lighting over Ala Mhigo. Outlined by the lighting was what looked to be a gigantic charging horse with a shaggy mane and tail and a thick branching horn on its head. Eyrikoel thought the lighting seemed to be coming from the horse rather then the clouds. "This was found in a file that dates back to when Gyr Abania was taken over by the XIVth Legion. The file describes a giant flying horse that is found in the middle of some of Gyr Abania's levinstorms. Depending on who was recording the sighting, it seems as if the horse might be the one making the levinstorms, instead of just being attracted to them."
"And he's still alive?" Nhagi'a asked, an odd look on his face.
"Yes, mainly because the XIVth Legion discovered that for all intents and purposes, it eats all forms of levin, including the levin produced by Garlean beam weaponry. Its last sighting was right around the time Omega crashed into Gyr Abania." Leudaste put the photograph down and looked around at all the awed Clan Centurio members. "So, who wants to take a first stab at tracking it down?" And everyone started talking at once.
Nhagi'a nudged Eyrikoel and Kharagal and motioned towards the back of the canteen. They followed him to a quiet corner table away from the excited hunters. On the way, Nhagi'a snagged the photograph of the horse. "I know who this is," he tapped the horse. "It's Ixion," he whispered, a touch of wonder in his voice. Eyrikoel didn't hear that tone from him very often.
"Who?" Kharagal asked.
"Ixion," said Nhagi'a. "He crops up in stories about Rhalgr. He's supposed to be Rhalgr's steed and some stories say he's one of the few beings capable of carrying Rhalgr's levinbolts unscathed." He squinted at the photograph. "Looks like the stories were right." Out of nowhere, he burst out laughing.
Eyrikoel stared at him. "What's so funny?"
"Oh nothing," Nhagi'a gasped. He laid out the photograph on the table. "It's just... How could Zenos say he was bored when Ixion is still around?"
Eyrikoel looked down at the picture of a horse that was most likely powering an entire levinstorm and started laughing himself, followed closely by Kharagal. It really was the perfect way to put everything wrong about why Zenos had gone after the Warriors of Light.
After the three of them had calmed down, Kharagal grinned at Nhagi'a with a knowing look in her eye. "So I assume hunting Ixion should be the next thing on our agenda so that you can tame him before everyone else finds him?"
"It's that obvious?" Nhagi'a ruefully snorted.
Eyrikoel chuckled. "The last time you were this in awe of something, you'd seen Markab for the first time. Guess we now know why."
Nhagi'a nodded in agreement before going quiet. He gave the photograph of Ixion a long look before tucking it into his robes. "We should have Avlia come with us when we hunt Ixion," he said. Avlia was the paladin in Nhagi'a's party and another one of the Warriors of Light.
"Why? She's never gone hunting with us before and this looks like it'll be a long one," said Kharagal.
"Yeah, I know," said Nhagi'a, "and that's why I want her to come." He picked at his claw-beds, a sign of nerves, and looked between Eyrikoel and Kharagal. "Ever since we fought Zenos in Ala Mhigo she hasn't been doing well. She's bothered by what he said about us being just like him."
Kharagal rolled her eyes at that. "Not this again."
Nhagi'a sighed. "I know. You, me, Eyrikoel and most of the other Warriors of Light... We do like fighting just fine. But what we really want is what happens after we win and the fighting is over. Avila..." he sighed, "Avila was a gladiator before she was a paladin. She didn't have to be a gladiator, but she liked... still likes, the kind of showy fighting that went on in the coliseum and the reputation she gets though it." Nhagi'a gulped. "Himalgeim says she can't see a difference between liking that kind of fighting and how Zenos liked fighting. I thought if we could show her that the kind of hunting Clan Centurio does is different then the kind of hunting Zenos did, it might help her see that she doesn't like fighting the way Zenos liked fighting either."
"That's not a bad idea" Eyrikoel said. He didn't understand Avila's problem himself. However, he was a Warrior; fighting was how he made his Inner Beast stronger so he could protect the people he cared about. He supposed it might be different if he fought just because he liked the fighting for its own sake. "Should we ask her tomorrow?"
"Yeah," said Nhagi'a and yawned. "It's late and the time shift is going to be crazy to deal with as it is."
"I vote we crash at Hancock's," said Kharagal. She yawned herself.
Nhagi'a gave Eyrikoel a look and nodded. Kyrikoel got up and stretched. "Let's go," he said. "Hopefully the Ruby Bazaar doesn't freak out at the sight of us coming home bloody from hunting again."
Nhagi'a and Kharagal both laughed at that and staggered after him. It was time for sleep and then... the hunt for Ixion.
Author's Notes: If there's anyone in the game who has heard Zenos' perspective on hunting, it would be Clan Centurio. I can easily see people joining up with the clan for the exact same reason Zenos hunts down the WoL. Only to find out that's not how Clan Centurio actually works. The mental image of Zenos sitting down and doing all the research into what makes the WoL tick like the hunting community figures out how to force S Ranks to spawn was hilarious in its improbability. As was the idea that Zenos didn't ever try to take down Ixion while he was in Gyr Abania...
Leudaste is mentioned as being the guy who started Clan Centurio back in Heavensward, but we never actually meet him. So I decided he was an expy of the Admiral from Monster Hunter: World!
I listened to a lot of music while doing FFXIVwrite2019. This was pretty much the song I listened to for all of the prompts that ended up taking place in the Nhaama Desert. It's one of my favorite desert BGMs.
0bsidian5ire replied to your post “Prompt #28 - On the Nature & Function of Aetherytes”
Trying to explain a concept as fundamental as aetherytes and teleportation to the Garleans must drive the Eorzeans nuts. Although the Garleans have the advantage of an outside perspective on them and would probably be better at coming up with inventive ways to use the things…
So much inventiveness; I need write more about Cid tinkering with aetherytes… (i have several ideas) (Lucia probably has to ride everywhere; that must be inconvenient for going about her duties outside the city.) He also has to live with Eorzean bending the laws of physics (as known by Garleans). ‘No, it’s aetherophysics, Cid’ ‘Great I have to learn a whole new form of physics!’ And he might have a skewed perspective of the average Eorzean considering he mostly hangs out with the Warriors of Light.
I imagine that Garlean magitek gates probably work more like doors and shrink the space between two points - they can also see where they’re going but it’s probably limited in reach…? considering they haven’t used them beyond gates for their spire-style Castra
You can see wires between the Garlean magitek gates and the castra they are attached to… so that might be a limiting factor. Or maybe just a power line.
I had it in Intersect of Interests that Eorzean Aetherophisics and Garlean Physics were the two halves of Allagan Aetherochemistry; the aether half and the chemistry half. And if you knew Aetherochemistry, you could “translate” from aetherochemistry to garlean physics. Although given that the people who figured that out were Nero and my Summoner… That’s probably not going to be a thing that gets used for a while. And Allgan Atherochemisty isn’t exactly easy to wrap your head around I imagine.
If I remember right, there’s some really fun aether terms in the Return to Ivalice quest, Uninvited, that almost sound like physics terms…
Mikoto
My apologies. The Otius is no ordinary crystal, even discounting its obvious historical importance. The specimen is more than a simple manifestation of elementally aspected energies─it is, rather, an aetherial lodestone whose facilitation of both the absorption and transmission of distinct-frequency NRR–type harmonic vibrations has been observed to promote aetherial amplification.
The resultant neuro-harmonic disturbance allows for a highly unique emittance of CPRS waves that, instead of radiating outward with a determinate factor of dispersal, instead resonate inward at a frequency so labored, my estimates place the rate of VRT decay at upwards of several centuries…though I must admit I lack sufficient variates to complete a truly comprehensive graphical assessment.
The power line could be a limiting factor itself… after all aetherytes are essentially gateways to the Lifestream and beacons to get out of it. Without aether control, longer distance teleport could be all but impossible… *wishes there was an explanation about those gates now* but I am going to assume Garlean purebloods can’t teleport.
…Chemistry to physics? What is aetherochemistry anyway… I need to review actual scientific fields now…
No, i don’t think poking in Allagan science is a popular thing though it may be necessary to mitigate the damage of their still-accursedly intact tech.
My brain glazed over at Mikoto’s explanation lol. Her second one was simpler
Simpler… Right… Um… Aether is not only the building block of all things material, but those immaterial as well. Thoughts, memories, feelings, one’s very will are all understood to be aetherial phenomena, and can be measured as such. Unlike most crystals, which only can emit elemental energies, auracite is tuned not only to absorb aether, but aether specific to the immaterial. That aether is then stored and multiplied within its crystalline confines until external stimuli precipitate release.
I keep meaning to make a post on the evolution of Arcanism from Lore Book 2. Most of it boils down to "magical information that managed to survive the fall of Allag that can still be cast by mages". All without relying on crazy Allagan technology to boot.
Aetherochemistry is basicly the fusion of magical theory with mundane science. And it was thought up and invented by Xande I and its discovery is the start of the Allagen Golden Age. Pretty much everything Allagan we see in-game runs on aetherochemistry.
Lore Book 1 specificly mentions aetherochemistry as being involved in the creation of chimeras. The Aetherochemical Reasearch Facility was were the Allagans studied ways to restrain dragons and primals. It's also highly likley Summoning is a branch of Aetherochemisty.
Fortunetly, the game does go into some of this in the Lvl 60 - 70 SMN quests.
Prin (A Book with Bite)
In the beginning, the Allagans rose to superiority through their mastery of magecraft. It is told that the very first wielders of summoning magic made do with grimoires fashioned of leather and ink and parchment.
There came a tipping point, however, when the mundane sciences began to progress with ever-growing rapidity. These advances were married with the arcane, and aetherochemical technology was born.
Prin (Preforming for Prin)
My creator was well versed in aetherochemistry and held a particular interest in the technology of information. Broadly speaking, he researched methods for producing arcane geometries without grimoires, and experimented with machine-enhanced egi.
The type of stuff the Ironworks was researching to reset the timeline sounds a lot like the kind of stuff that would depend on aetherochemistry being a thing they knew how to play with.
I can just imagine Cid making it sound like Mikoto is talking to tecnically to the WoL to cover up that he can't understand what she's talking about either!
Or... how the prompts given to us by @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for the FFXIVwrite2019 inspired my fics...
Prompt #1: Voracious - Kharagal really likes learning new spells... even when there's an annoying language barrier in the way...
Prompt #2: Bargain - Voidsent tend to run on bargains and we don't see any in Othard. Cue a minor freakout once Kharagal runs into one.
Prompt #3: Lost - Culture Shock is a pain to deal with. Even more so when you're more weirded out by your friends then your enemies.
Prompt #4: Shifting Blame - Kharagal's parents never pushed her into wanting to experiment with everything. Not everyone thinks that.
Prompt #5: Vault - Alex had problems with what went on in Ishgard before Heavensward. Problems that lead to him going Dark Knight.
Prompt #6: First Steps - Kharagal's first use of the Echo? Instantly understanding Eorzean! Nope, it isn't freaky at all (it totally is)!
Prompt #7: Forgiven - Concepts vary from culture to culture. Particularly when one culture prefers words and the other prefers actions.
Prompt #8: No Prompt! - Kharagal and Carmen are best friends. How did they meet? When their two guilds manged to sort out an arrest...
Prompt #9: Hesitate - A few seconds worth of thinking prevents the Gyr Abanian Resistance from knowing what Kharagal was when she was younger (and still is).
Prompt #10: Foster - Kharagal's party finally admits that yes, they really do care about each other the way a bunch of siblings do.
Prompt #11: Snuff - Before she was a Warrior of Light, Kharagal was a Xaela warrior and excelled at what she did. Including dealing with threats.
Prompt #12: Fingers Crossed - Hacking, Allagan style. Hopefully that old backdoor access to the System Account Creation Program still works!
Prompt #13: Wax - On the night of a new moon, a little girl is born. Hopefully, she will grow in power as the moon grows full.
Prompt #14: Scour - Finding the Ultima Horns in Azys Lla is annoying. So is finding the Ultima Weapon blueprints on the Azys Lla computers.
Prompt #15: No Prompt! - Kharagal finally talks Osric into grafting the Ultima horns onto her head. She loves how it turned out!
Prompt #16: Jitter - Kharagal discovers coffee for the first time in Hingashi. And promptly falls in love with it.
Prompt #17: Obeisant - Most of the time, Kharagal likes pushing the bounds of authority. Metting the Dotharl is not "most of the time".
Prompt #18: Wilt - The Black Shroud will never be a place Kharagal will like. It's too stifling and things watch her from every turn.
Prompt #19: Radiant - Having aether that looks like the Primal Bahamut's isn't exactly a great thing when Tiamat regrets he exists.
Prompt #20: Bisect - After doing the Dreadwyrm Trance for the first time, Kharagal finds a lot of complex aether geometries in her spellbook.
Prompt #21: Crunch - Kharagal and Bahamut are similar. So much so Kharagal has a harder time keeping her own aether in check rather than Bahamut's.
Prompt #22: No Prompt! - The Crystal Braves' inaugeration ceremony reminds the Warriors of Light a little too much of someone significant.
Prompt #23: Parched - After the raid on the Waking Sands, the Warriors of Light are able to come together once again. And meet some new friends.
Prompt #24: Unctuous - Kharagl really wishes one guy would stop annoying her. To the point she gives him a taste of what a warmage is.
Prompt #25: Trust - Erin drops the bombshell on Kharagal's party that she's been around for a lot longer then most people think she has.
Prompt #26: Slosh - Alex hasn't been back to Ishgard since it was swamped in snowdrifts. His Darkside thinks it's very appropriate.
Prompt #27: Palaver - The Warriors of Light decompress after their most recent meeting with Gaius. To bad he's actually worth listening to sometimes.
Prompt #28: Attune - Kharagal deals with the consequences of making her aether look like Bahamut's. Not all of them are pleasant.
Prompt #29: No Prompt! - Coerthas is freezing. Ifrit-Egi would make a good heater. Now if only Kharagal had space for him in her armor...
Prompt #30: Darkness - The Duskmother will always triumph over the Dawnfather. The Xeala celebrate whenever this happens.
I love the contrast between this Ancient!WoL being so interested and invested in what their soul fragment is getting up to verses how bored of life in general Emet-Selch is in ShB.
0bsidian5ire replied to your post “Prompt #28 - On the Nature & Function of Aetherytes”
Trying to explain a concept as fundamental as aetherytes and teleportation to the Garleans must drive the Eorzeans nuts. Although the Garleans have the advantage of an outside perspective on them and would probably be better at coming up with inventive ways to use the things…
So much inventiveness; I need write more about Cid tinkering with aetherytes… (i have several ideas) (Lucia probably has to ride everywhere; that must be inconvenient for going about her duties outside the city.) He also has to live with Eorzean bending the laws of physics (as known by Garleans). ‘No, it’s aetherophysics, Cid’ ‘Great I have to learn a whole new form of physics!’ And he might have a skewed perspective of the average Eorzean considering he mostly hangs out with the Warriors of Light.
I imagine that Garlean magitek gates probably work more like doors and shrink the space between two points - they can also see where they’re going but it’s probably limited in reach…? considering they haven’t used them beyond gates for their spire-style Castra
You can see wires between the Garlean magitek gates and the castra they are attached to... so that might be a limiting factor. Or maybe just a power line.
I had it in Intersect of Interests that Eorzean Aetherophisics and Garlean Physics were the two halves of Allagan Aetherochemistry; the aether half and the chemistry half. And if you knew Aetherochemistry, you could "translate" from aetherochemistry to garlean physics. Although given that the people who figured that out were Nero and my Summoner... That's probably not going to be a thing that gets used for a while. And Allgan Atherochemisty isn't exactly easy to wrap your head around I imagine.
If I remember right, there's some really fun aether terms in the Return to Ivalice quest, Uninvited, that almost sound like physics terms...
Mikoto
My apologies. The Otius is no ordinary crystal, even discounting its obvious historical importance. The specimen is more than a simple manifestation of elementally aspected energies─it is, rather, an aetherial lodestone whose facilitation of both the absorption and transmission of distinct-frequency NRR–type harmonic vibrations has been observed to promote aetherial amplification.
The resultant neuro-harmonic disturbance allows for a highly unique emittance of CPRS waves that, instead of radiating outward with a determinate factor of dispersal, instead resonate inward at a frequency so labored, my estimates place the rate of VRT decay at upwards of several centuries...though I must admit I lack sufficient variates to complete a truly comprehensive graphical assessment.
