A XIV blog for writing and roleplay. Livvy Ahtynwyb, the storied Warrior of Light; Ashelia Riot, Grand Steward of the Riskbreakers; Ashley "Walker" Rosenheim, a former black ops agent; Ingvald Bloodhound, an ex-Kingsguard red mage; Hrjt Brotin, Valnain's void witch; Sigrid Keane, veteran sky pirate captain; Tia Malheur, the elementalist; Alma Malheur/Malla Velius, spy to Dalmasca
"Howdy y'all! Glad our paths could cross before you head out. It's Livvy Ahtynwyb Eynskyfwyn, back with another round of tips for this Fan Fest!"
"I wish I could say I'll see you there… But I'm sitting this one out! I've got a job that's keeping me here for a bit."
"Turns out boat moorage is expensive when you're a laid-off adventurer…"
"But honestly, I don't have too many reminders for you this time around. Nothing I haven't said before, at any rate! Though one thing does come to mind…"
"I'm sure you've got lots of people to see and catch up with! But don't forget to enjoy the journey as it happens!"
"One of my favorite parts of traveling—especially for Fan Fest—is that you never know who you'll meet along the way!"
"I've said it before and I'll say it again, Ahtyn: I don't want a time travel arc unless it gives us the info they promised us years ago about Ala Mhigo's last queen!"
("Hopefully not your boss…")
"So if you see someone who's definitely sharing your destination, make a point of saying hi, even if it seems a little daunting! Who knows: you might just make a new friend, and friends always make a journey worthwhile."
"And speaking of friends, don't forget about your buddies who can't afford to get sick. Believe it or not, we're still in a Pandæmonium! Keep everyone else safe by wearing a mask!"
"And if you show up feeling sick, I'm throwing you in the fucking brig!"
"Right, that's all I've got! I'll see you next time—safe travels and all that, now go make some memories worth keeping!"
Ashelia Riot: With us do treat. I-I mean, welcome!
The Sandsea (Balmung) will be open Thursday, October 2 at 3PM Pacific for a literary discussion of the Majestic's newest rendition of the Zodiac Brave Story. We may even crack open a Leá Monde vintage for the occasion!
The Sandsea is located at: Crystal > Balmung > Goblet > Ward 3 > Plot 5 > Goblet West aetheryte.
Ashelia Riot: And none of this, of course, takes into account the unfortunate reality that the wandering minstrel's interpretations of these myths often leave much to be desired in regards to the framing of the women and their motivations—
Livvy Ahtynwyb: go off queen
Ashelia Riot: With us do treat. I-I mean, welcome!
The Sandsea (Balmung) will be open Thursday, October 2 at 3PM Pacific for a literary discussion of the Majestic's newest rendition of the Zodiac Brave Story. We may even crack open a Leá Monde vintage for the occasion!
The Sandsea is located at: Crystal > Balmung > Goblet > Ward 3 > Plot 5 > Goblet West aetheryte.
✨ and what's left of me, a cavity / at least this space is mine
I'm forgoing FFXIVWrite this year to focus on an original project… but considering said project aligns very neatly with Lyhe Ghiah lore, you'll likely be seeing snippets from me before long!
"Consider perhaps a dense book. Everything you can see in the world around you is encapsulated in a couple of pages. Were you to turn the page, you'd find something similar but different. Keep turning and you slowly further deviate from where you began. These are hidden facets of existence that most cannot see, and what I have honed to focus on all my life. Often spirits or the spiritually acute lurk beyond the veil here, including voidsent.
"You read on and on, and eventually you reach a new chapter, a new story. This is a whole new realm, often called a reflection or a shard - within the same book, for all such realms are part of the greater whole. Worlds not utterly foreign to the Source, but their histories are their own. As well as the relative flows of time. Such is believed from where voidsent hail. From where Alexandria originated..."
... And in that regard, Alexandria's world must be exceptional.
When the search for Pakim had stalled, despite scrutiny of the Ohantum Family, I turned my attention back to Origenics and the trail of souls that flowed from there, using that to re-coordinate my friends' efforts. Further south, into Yok Tural. While I couldn't trace those souls all the way to an endpoint, the shinobi did pick up some interesting information through the Landsguard...
The City of Gold.
A common Turali legend that seemed to be considered very real within intelligence.
I shared my findings with Ashelia...
...And she was able to corroborate via an independent source that the City was in fact our destination, and that it resided in Yak T'el, a region that lines up with the souls' trajectory.
Finding the mythical City was believed to be the end goal of the rite of succession, and seems that it was connected to the world from which Alexandria came all along.
To have had an influence as to spur centuries of myth and speculation, the veil to that world must be quite thin indeed. And this, coupled with the process of the Rite, is how Zoraal Ja was able to strike an accord with Alexandria to begin with. How he became its king and arranged a merge with Yyasulani.
The summit of Everkeep was quite unlike anything I had expected... Barring the dramatic throne, it was remarkably featureless. Almost as if the head had been severed perfectly clean from the rest of the body, and I suspect that uppermost reaches of the complex had been left behind in the home world.
It felt like something else used to be there. Maybe it was lost at the time Zoraal Ja was vanquished. Is there a connection, I wonder, with the City of Gold?
I did feel a little bit too assured on information that was largely obscure, I imagine, to the wider Tural. Knowing what I've known, I didn't at the least unconvinced about the City's existence.
Still, I'm of the understanding that its location has been long-sought for a long time, a close secret - and the upper echelons of the Landsguard have been keen on keeping it that way.
I don't doubt Ashe's impeccable connections for a minute, but how would Pakim have known? How did he reach that world to set his plans in motion...?
Living Memory... Yes, that would certainly be fitting, with everything that has transpired...
...!!
"Lazuli, I have a question... There has been a lot of talk, lately, and I have met with many Alexandrians, but I'm afraid it has eluded me -- what, truly, is an Endless?"
"Well, this is mostly hearsay, but... Believe it or not, there is a thriving black market in Everkeep, and the scarcity of the neo-regulators fast made them a ripe target for shady dealings-- a scalper obtains such a device, doesn't register it, and then sells it under the table for the most desperate. Abhorrent, but amidst all of that there have been tonzes of rumors - regarding the Endless, the Cloud, the very nature of the 'Queen' herself, past and present. You see..."
"Just so you know," the Midsummer Knight had said upon meeting Ashe outside the Arcadion, "it's 'they' under the dome. No names, no aliases, just-" And then they'd broken off to gracefully decline a photo with a fan.
Ashe could not rightly say that they "looked good," as they had yet to remove their strange helmet. She could not fathom how Ahtyn could stand to wear it, or any of the other Vanguard armor that made up their fighting kit - until she recalled, while watching them gesture over to the True Vue bartender to bring them an unspecified drink, that this was the same adventurer who had taken to wearing Noah van Gabranth's Magister plate after the IVth's defeat in Bozja. Still, controversial apparel aside, Ashe recognized an ease to their movements that had often been hard-won over the years.
"Right," they said, as the two of them took their seats along the busiest stretch of the promenade. "Before I forget-"
They pulled out from one of their comically large pockets a familiar green bottle imprinted with a Dalmascan desert rose, and set it upon the table between them. Ashe could not help but marvel at it - at anything so artisanal amid a sea of the artificial.
"And how," she asked, unable to suppress her grin, "does one obtain a bottle of Lea Monde vintage - a Suhd Viandja, no less - in Everkeep of all places?"
Ahtyn shrugged. "Same way anything else from outside the dome gets in: at the order of someone really rich with nothing better to do. If I have to hear one more Alexandrian talk about how they haven't had any good wine since 'the war'…"
Their recollection stirred memories of Ashe's own of their shared tenure with the Ilsabard contingent, and of the entitlement they'd continued to face from Garleans of all ranks - even with everything they and their people had worked, died, and conquered for in ruins.
"You said the Alexandrians remind you of the Garleans," Ashe said at length. "And I certainly don't disagree, what with all the bread and circuses…" She could not help but glance up at the towering structure of the Arcadion over Ahtyn's shoulder, and took care to lower her voice. "But the Garleans had some measure of loyalty. Whether to their emperor, or their ideals, or what have you. Here, I expect the average Alexandrian would just as soon cut down the person next to them as they would me, if it meant they would get a shiny new regulator out of it."
"Fair point." Ahtyn gazed out for a long moment along the neon cityscape, only to turn back to Ashe with a note of fondness in their voice. "Gotta say, though - when you said you'd be making your way to Everkeep, I, uh… well, I didn't think you'd stay this long."
Neither did she, but she refrained from stating the obvious. "Needs must. This business with the stolen electrope-"
"I've been following it," Ahtyn interrupted. "What I can gather from the Riskbreakers' channels, at least. But I'll help out if I can."
Ashe scanned the crowds nearby, at the Alexandrians from a distance further off craning their necks for a glimpse at the Midsummer Knight. She could make out no security drones in the vicinity, but that did not mean they were absent. "Those souls that pass through Origenics-"
She had the sense that Ahtyn's eyes were wide under their helmet. "You've been into Origenics?"
"We had to-" she began, then shook her head. "It's not important. The long and short of it is that as of now, our only lead on Pakim - the electrope thief - is that he's still leveraging souls. Siphoning them, perhaps. But when Hinako tried to follow their flow, they… disappeared."
Ahtyn sighed. For a moment, they stared off into the middle distance, and Ashe had to glare on their behalf as a particularly gutsy observer veered too close to their table.
"Okay," they said eventually. "So I'm going to fill you in on some stuff that's absolutely not mine to talk about. Like, not just state secrets - think 'what if I brought the Dawnservants to Baelsar's Wall, and showed them around, and gave them the blow-by-blow of how Shinryu was summoned.'"
Ahtyn's comparison had found its mark: a shudder tore through Ashe before she could suppress it. All at once she missed Stella, missed Ala Mhigo. "I understand."
The words rang hollow to her own ears, but Ahtyn offered a nod. They leaned in a little closer over the table and began one of their signature meandering stories.
"Years ago - I'm talking a long time, centuries - the Yok Huy had an empire that spanned most of the south. Not much is left of it, but deep in one of the jungles around Yak T'el, there's a village called Mamook, which, as you can probably guess, is home to Mamool Ja now. Real fundamentalists. Anyway, they built a grave on top of an ancient Yok Huy quarry. And that's the entrance to the city of gold."
Ashe could only expect she had somehow misheard, particularly as someone chose that moment to walk past blaring the most obnoxious electronic music she had ever heard from a tomestone's tinny speakers. "What?"
"Yeah. Those souls, or their memories, or what have you - I guarantee you that's where they're going. To the city of gold. And if Pakim has found a way inside, somehow… well."
Still Ahtyn's anxious demeanor did not lessen an ilm; they continued to fiddle with their straw.
"What else is it?" Ashe prompted.
"The grave is… it's for their babies, Ashe." Her blood froze, even before Ahtyn continued. "It's a grave for all the dead Mamool Ja babies that couldn't survive outside of their shells, because of all the magicking that went into trying to make them fit to rule. And all that's on top of an old quarry that was tapped to sustain an empire." Again Ahtyn glanced away. "It was a lot for me, Ashe - I got back to Tuliyollal and had to have a good cry about it. But knowing you, with your Echo…"
Their words trailed off. Ashe reached across the table for their hand and took it in her own.
"Thank you," she said, as firmly as she could muster. If this was to be the Riskbreakers' path forward, then at least she was forewarned. "As far as reaching out to the people of Mamook-"
"I'll handle that bit. I know a guy - technically a pair of guys. But he won't be on-site, per se, so if you run into any issues while you're there, ask for Blue-Eyes. Tell him his niece sent you."
"His-"
Any other questions Ashe might have raised were cut off as a throng of people rushed their table, many of them with cameras.
"I'll send you the coordinates!" Ahtyn promised, and stood, conveying the bottle of Suhd Viandja to the safety of Ashe's hands all the while. "And I'm here if you need anything else - but don't think that means I won't send Edge sprawling when I fight him!"
Though it had been years since Ashe and Ahtyn had fought side by side, she recognized the Midsummer Knight's crowd control tactics all too well - even with their sword absent. With their relative privacy at an end, Ashe made her retreat back to Suraja's living quarters to plan the Riskbreakers' next move.
My main from FFXIV~ The symbols are her main jobs. I wanted to sit down and try to draw how I see her in my head as a half miqo'te/half hrothgar, with her fur and whatnot. She dyes her hair, which is why the fur is white and her hair is purple. She's got a boatload of arcanima tattoos that I didn't draw though, I need to settle on placement/style for those.
Doing all the XIV job symbols with the calligraphy brush was so fun, I should do the other girls' jobs too.
