an xiv blog

Jay | 30+ | arting and writing | gay and autistic I make Fragments. Read it here. This's my permanent pinned post that also has more info, tag list, faq. Patreon | Ko-fi Not doing commissions. Please don't repost or use my work in any way. Don't tag my oc/ship as yours. Main is @next-lvl, my likes and follows will show that name.

[nights-at-crystarium]

In a world that wants to use and kill you, what does it take to find a man worth living for?

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Fragments is a ffxiv fan comic leisurely telling a gay wolgraha and wolemet story. A ShB love letter that’ll make you laugh, cry and think. Updates every other Friday.

Read the comic on fragments.gay, or use the index below.  ───── ⋆✧⋆ ─────

✧✦✧ Chapter I: Found and lost ✧✦✧ Episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5.1 - 5.2 | text | 6 | 7 | 8 | text | 9 | 10 | 11 | text

✧✦✧ Chapter II: New world, old friend ✧✦✧ Episodes: 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | text | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90-94 in early access

My notes on episodes: 1-3 | 4-7 | 8-11 | 12-14 | 15-18 | 19-22 | 23-26 | 27-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-46 | 47-52 | 53-58 | 59-64 | 65-70 | 71-75 | 76-80 | 81-85

I love talking about the comic, but you know what I love even more? When YOU talk about the comic! Feel free to reblog any episode (even the old ones) with your added commentary, and I might reblog it back. I have a special tag for the analysis written by readers: Fragments Feedback

This comic’s storytelling style assumes you have not only played through ShB, but are closely familiar with the details. ───── ⋆✧⋆ ─────  Fragments is also on: webtoon | free pdf on kofi | ao3 Follow me on twt, tiktok, join my discord server (most fun happens in the patron channel) Love my art? Get a print or a digital artbook collecting all of it! ───── ⋆✧⋆ ─────  Support the comic: Patreon | Kofi

My work’s made possible by your support. I’m looking for stability over everything else, so if you’re torn between pledging $10 for 1 month or $1 for 10 months, go for 10 months at the lower tier. This’s a marathon, not a sprint. ───── ⋆✧⋆ ─────  Tags: Vivien Rell | G’raha Tia | Emet-Selch | Alisaie Leveilleur | Feo Ul | my art tag | fragments talk - my author notes and other comic-related info | twink tirade - minicomics with unhinged Vivi monologues | my analysis posts | my AUs | my gposes ───── ⋆✧⋆ ─────  Binge-likes, reblogs, interacting with old posts? Encouraged and appreciated!! ───── ⋆✧⋆ ─────

FAQ under the cut:

- Can I use your art as [something]? No, please DON’T repost or use my art in any way, including pfp/icons. The only things you CAN use are the discord emotes, only for their designed purpose. If you wanna share something on another platform, just link to my tumblr post. They’re permanent and easy to find thanks to tags. - Vivi’s pronouns? He/him! He and all his love interests are cis male. - Can I draw Vivi? Yes please, and don’t forget to @ me!! Here’s his refpage. I LOVE fanart. ✔️ You CAN draw Vivi solo or with characters that are established in Fragments. Please keep it sfw. ✖️ Please don't draw Vivi with other wols or characters that aren’t established in Fragments. No what-ifs. - Can I kin him? Kin him at your own risk, his story is an iceberg that you might not like when you see it in full. You can kin Vivi as long as you don’t use his name or art, or rp as him. He’s my WoL, think how would you feel if your WoL was impersonated by someone else. - Are asks okay? YES!! I reply privately by default, anons are public. If you’d like your non-anon ask to be posted on my blog, please indicate it somehow, maybe add “ok to post” <3 - What are your tools? Windows desktop, tablet Wacom One Medium, Paint Tool SAI, Paintstorm Studio. - Any merch/prints? You can grab a print of my art. No merch beyond what inprnt can offer. If you’d like to see another art of mine on my inprnt, just ask me <3 - Fragments physical books? Unfortunately never because I’m not in the US, and got no mental bandwidth needed to process physical orders. - Collab, trade, request, art challenge, any other kind of community project, are you in? Nope, sorry! I prefer working at my own pace, I hope I don't come off as standoffish, just got no time and energy for that. - How do you write Vivi? He seems different from an average wol. Here’s a post just for you :3c Someone asked all the right questions and prompted me to talk about my writing process. - Just how thirsty are you for the Exarch? Yes.

[nights-at-crystarium]

Hyth practice doodles

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i saw the new top and went yeah Vivi would wear it just to be annoying

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if you saw this pinup redraw going around i hope it reminded you of him

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i saw a vid so perfect for them that i had to make this. happy nb visibility day to our beautiful king

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[nights-at-crystarium]

THE COMIC FINALLY GETS A PROPER COVER AFTER 4 YEARS

And today is its anniversary, yes. I'll talk about that in a separate post, here I just wanna point out that everything in this cover is an act.

No one shows his true self, leaning fully into theatrics and playing self-imposed roles. Vivi presents himself as just a little guy compared to these two enigmas larger than life. His white silhouette is obviously the Light, but also a nod to the old cover that you still can find in episode 1: ViviRaha's dramatic silhouettes picking up the fragments of their lives and forming hearts out of them. That's still the end destination of the comic, but I wanted something that shows where the plot currently is.

The composition is perhaps the strongest I've ever made: X symbolizing mystery, crossroads, conflict, rejection, death. Also the shape of the hourglass, time looming over all three of them. YEAH.

[nights-at-crystarium]

Happy 4 years of Fragments!!

Today is the comic's birthday, and I made an epic new cover to mark the occasion and to show where the plot currently is.

"Fragments" launched on August 5, 2022 after half a year of brainstorming. Originally it was short and simple, but warm reception boosted my writing confidence and encouraged me to keep musing about the blorbos.

Here's what I made for the comic's anniversaries:

1 year: digital artbook featuring my ffxiv art and comic materials thus far. It's still available on my kofi! (spoiler: I'm planning to make a second artbook in 2027)

2 years: a whole trailer/animatic. Note that I did all this work without taking a break from the comic. My schedule is 1 episode every 14 days, 1-2 days out of those are free, so instead of resting I drew this animatic lmao. Do not repeat at home.

3 years: launched fragments.gay!! It runs on rarebit webcomic template, but I did have to learn some coding on my own too. The main purpose of THE SITE is to establish in the collective consciousness where Fragments live. The short and memorable name is its main appeal. No need to type a cryptic address that you forget halfway, it's simply fragments.gay \o/

Reflecting back on these years during which I was perhaps too demanding on myself, I decided that the 4th anniversary will be "for me". I made an artbook for you, and the trailer, and the site. This year I'm just taking it easy.

The number of pages I've drawn in 4 years grows close to 900. That's ~1800 panels, ~4 full color panels a day. I'm fueled by obsession, so I don't really mind the schedule. However, the other important component of my fuel is your feedback. Some 10 comments are all that's needed to keep me going after I've finished yet another episode.

I'm making a niche thing, but people must be constantly reminded of this niche thing's existence, so that even as the old readers wither away (they always do, don't get me started on that tangent), new readers must be found to replace them, and those newcomers must be kept reminded of how important it is to TALK to me about the comic. I give you The Work, what can you give me in exchange? Some words, a comment on any episode no matter how old, that's all I ask. This's a marathon that I can't run alone in silence.

And the usual: join patreon (and discord via patreon), tip me on kofi

[nights-at-crystarium]

Feo Ul warmup doodles and their design finalized for the comic C:

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The one thing that makes Shadowbringers worse is the absence of interactions between Emet-Selch and Feo Ul. The size and loudness of the beef they could've had would've shaken the very heavens.

[nights-at-crystarium]

I give them a few scenes in Fragments, but the power level of both is so absurd that they've gotta be stored separately like coke and mentos. No serious confrontations whatsoever. Agree to disagree. And slapstick comedy beef ofc.

[nights-at-crystarium]

how did that one meme go-

me: i wanna die me: *finds some gem of a future scene in the comic script/drafts* me: I HAVE TO LIVE!!! Q_Q

[luna-azzurra]

Random Character Traits!!! Part 15

⟡ Describes a minor inconvenience like they're writing the final chapter of a memoir

⟡ Has a whole grieving process for things that haven't happened yet

⟡ Says 'fine' in seventeen different tones each meaning something completely different

⟡ Treats being slightly cold as a medical emergency requiring immediate intervention

⟡ Narrates their own life out loud while doing completely ordinary tasks

⟡ Gets emotional at commercials for products they don't use and don't want

⟡ Makes every entry into a room feel like the opening scene of something

⟡ Tells a story about going to the grocery store and somehow it takes 25 minutes

⟡ Has a dramatic reaction to mildly bad news and a calm one to genuinely terrible news

⟡ Considers missing the bus a sign from the universe about the direction of their life

⟡ Clutches their chest when startled by something they could see coming

⟡ Gives a speech when leaving a place they were at for less than an hour

⟡ Processes every emotion at full volume with complete commitment

⟡ Writes paragraphs in response to 'how was your day'

⟡ Needs a moment after watching something mildly intense before they can speak

⟡ Recounts dreams like they are reporting breaking news

⟡ Treats finding out a restaurant is closed as a personal betrayal

⟡ Has a signature dramatic exhale they deploy at least four times a day

⟡ Stares out the window of moving vehicles like they're in a music video

⟡ Describes what they had for lunch with the energy of someone recounting a near-death experience

⟡ Rehearses arguments in the shower that will never happen

⟡ Gets misty-eyed when a good song comes on at just the right moment

⟡ Says 'I knew it' even when they absolutely did not know it

[nights-at-crystarium]

why are most of these lowkey this guy

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what was Vivi like in the G'raha timeline?

(WOL gets killed by either Black Rose or Elidizenos iirc)

According to Vivi himself speculating about the bad timeline, it might've been ✨suicide✨ or just letting ElidiZenos kill him. We see the same events unfolding in the current timeline.

As for what caused this state at the end of Stormblood: he feels like his life's fucked beyond recovery, that he's stuck in the wol role, that all he'll ever see is more fighting and political involvement, he's in a golden cage with Aymeric that he can leave at any moment, but he's got nowhere else to go. So he just rots alive and sees this as a dead end. And then Exarch abducts him.

Ofc this's Vivi pov, to the outside observer it was totally normal wol life, no divergences from msq, save for the happy personal relationship and beneficial political alliance with Aymeric. So the bad timeline Raha finds nothing out of ordinary.

[nights-at-crystarium]

happy late yaoi day. read Fragments

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panels from Fragments episode 44 + a silly line that i thought would fit him

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in the questline to unlock the ananta quests you find the guy who made Black Rose. What would Vivi think of that?

(technically because of that guy, G'raha's timeline happens bc the eighth calamity happens)

Huh that's interesting, would've never thought to look for ShB-related lore in there @_@

I think there's no point in getting mad at the guy who made the knife so to speak, even if the Black Rose is unambiguously evil on its own, it could only cause the Calamity with the light-aspected aether boost from the Rejoining of the First. So all fingers point at the ascians again instead of some guy.

Vivi's relationship with the events on the First is weird bc he views it as a better timeline for himself.

[nights-at-crystarium]

URGENT NEWS: Crystarium just got located irl at Grand Palais in France. this fucks with my brain so hard and looks fake but it's apparently over a century old?????

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and the Pendants is a real world place called Bradbury building??