Pepean Gogoan

Lalafell Sage at your service. I play a lot of Final Fantasy XIV and post stupid things about it. If you want to just chill out and laugh at some of the silly things I put up you're more than welcome.

[pepeangogoan]

“It’s as hot as jalapeño, At Vauthry’s casino! That’s the place to be!

Do the Vauthry Stomp, With Big Fat Daddy V!”

The untold story about how Pepean infiltrated Eulmore! ... I may have been watching too much Rescue Rangers on Disney+... Maybe cartoons DO rot the brain! XD

[pepeangogoan]

Pepeze: Such beauty... Such grace... This... THIS is art!

So I decided to start Pepeze on the path of a Dancer. I’ve been wanting to give the job a go for a while, and even though I could do it as Pepean I wanted to do SOMETHING with Pepeze because I’d kinda forgotten about her... Hey bits of game data have feelings too! ... Don’t they?! XD

Anyway, I think as far as my character lore goes it’s time for Pepean and Pepeze to stop living in the shadows of their parents and start living their own lives. While I’d kind of done that with Pepeze with Chocobo Racing, I wanted to start advancing her character past that a little. Hey maybe the Chocobo Racing business is starting to run dry so Pepeze had to pursue another means of income, so she went back to adventuring, this time in a job she enjoys a lot more than magic.

Another reason I wanted Pepeze in this role was to fight against this whole “Only beautiful people can be Dancers, ergo not Lalafells!” stereotype that some people have. Now this only applies to a small few, most people just smile and joke about “dancing potatoes” and generally just have fun with it. However, there is that small section that think Lalas can’t do this job or wear the revealing armour just because they don’t have big boobies. I mean guys, come on, it’s 2020, grow up. So yeah, making Pepeze take on this role is kind of a middle finger to that small-minded meat-head stereotype.

In any case, let’s see where the Dancer career takes Pepeze in the future.

[pepeangogoan]

A little callback to the stuff I mentioned here. I wanted to do SOMETHING showing Pepean’s anguish about losing his magic so what better way to do that than by ripping off another Square-Enix game?! Yeah, this is pretty much taken from Kingdom Hearts III, but hey it’s the internet, I can write it off as a “parody”.

I realised with what I’ve set up that, while R’atohna might have good intentions, seeing him trying to achieve a dream that’s been taken away from Pepean might actually do more harm than good to Pepean’s psyche. So let’s have R’atty remind Pepean to not let his magic be the only thing that defines him. That now’s the time to look at what truly makes Pepean... well, Pepean. To not be so blinded by your dream that you become oblivious to the world around you. That this is the start of a new path for them both.

[pepeangogoan]

... I think Pepean is taking social distancing a little too far...

[pepeangogoan]

Hey look! I’m actually posting something! Wanted to make this joke ever since I heard about the reward for this year’s Hatching Tide. Originally I was going to have Pepean suggest they both wear their bunny outfits to bed seeing as the bunny-girl one is gender neutral now and have Pepean wear that but... I’m saving my MGP for other things with Pepean at the moment. Still, I think this is funny enough.

[pepeangogoan]

I’m not dead (yet)

Hey remember that time I disappeared from tumblr for a while and then came back and said I wasn’t going away again... and then I went away again? Good times.

Just like before there are a number of contributing factors.Tumblr for some reason not responding whenever I try to upload anything (I REALLY hope I’m able to upload this one). Real life starting to build up again. Finding it hard to motivate myself to do anything in Final Fantasy XIV. Not that I like the game any less, I still love it, but some days all I can really do is log in maybe do a roulette or a raid run... and that’s it. Though with the recent patch introducing new Blue Mage spells I do find myself staying on a bit longer now.

But due to all this and more it’s been hard to actually get anything posted on this blog. This is a shame because I really wanted to conclude the Pepean VS R’atohna stuff. In the past I’ve started plenty of lore things with my characters and I haven’t finished them (bringing up that Eliza’s father is still alive being the first example that comes to mind), and I really wanted to break that cycle this time... but sadly I ended up falling back into it. I may not have a huge following, but I do like sharing my ideas and finishing what I start. However, as thing stand right now I really don’t think I can finish the Battle of the BFFs stuff.

That said, this is partially the reason I wanted to do this post. Instead of just abandoning it outright I thought I’d give a basic summery of what I was originally planning to do. So if you’re one of the three people who were actually interested in where I was going with my characters please feel free to read on. Otherwise thank you for reading this far, and I’m sorry for my absence for so long. Hopefully I can make a comeback in the near future, but we’ll see.

Right so, I believe the last post I did on this was Pepean staring at Eulmore and monologuing about how he’s likely going to have to fight his best friend again when they assault it. I did have panels on their interaction before this inevitable fight made, but as I said before: tumblr wouldn’t let me upload them. It would have taken place just after the final battle with Ran’jit and would have Pepean making one final attempt to reach out to his friend, only to find that he’s still completely in Vauthry’s control. The two would fight once again with Pepean ultimately being the victor this time, leaving R’atohna unconscious.

After Vauthry escapes and Eulmore is liberated Pepean would find his old friend again, now free of Vauthry’s control. It would turn out that when the two of them crossed over into The First something happened to separate them on the journey through. While Pepean got sent to the Crystarium, R’atohna landed in Eulmore. Seeing the light within him Vauthry knew he could use him, so brought him in and started feeding him meol, R’atohna being completely unaware what it was made of. Just like with his other servants, this gave Vauthry the ability to control the Miqo’te’s mind, and after having him test his combat skills against Ran’jit he made him one of his generals. While R’atohna had no control over what he was doing his Echo made him completely aware of his actions. Now free from Vauthry’s control he heavily regrets his actions and begins to question whether or not he’s still worthy of being a hero and fighting by Pepean’s side. However his Lalafell friend is quick to give him a pep talk, reminding him that his actions weren’t his own and that there’s still a chance to make things right. With that R’atohna agree to rejoin the fight, with he and Pepean shaking hands as they acknowledge each other as “Brother”.

After this the main story didn’t give me a heck of a lot to work with as far as incorporating Pepean and R’atohna went, though I thought it would be best to have R’atohna on the sidelines for a bit, still injured from his fight with Pepean (he’d even joke that “For such a little person... you hit hard!”). He would of course help out with getting the giant Talos built where he could, but would be unable to assist in the assault on Gulag. From here the plot would have played out pretty much how it did in the main game, with Pepean defeating Vauthry, only to find himself becoming a Sin Eater, to the reveal of The Crystal Exarch being G’raha (with R’atohna even noting that he looks like him, because I partially based R’atohna on G’raha), to Emit-Selch reminding everyone “Hey, I’m the bad guy remember”, to the whole “I’ve got a sympathetic backstory so you can’t totally hate me” stuff, to the final fight with Hades, The First being saved and so on. Like I said, I didn’t have a heck of a lot to work with in terms of Pepean and R’atohna interaction here, especially now that I’d had R’atohna become free of Vauthry’s control.

However, the next advancement I’d have for my characters would come in their return to The Source. Upon arriving and reuniting with their friends again, Pepean and R’atohna take a much needed rest. Pepean would return home to a loving reunion with Eliza but would quickly find something’s still not right with him. He can no longer communicate with nature. He can’t create Aetherial being anymore. He’s unable to harness the power of the elements. Pepean lies awake at night realising a horrible truth... he’s no longer able to use magic. Upon further examination it turns out that the light of the Lightwardens he absorbed did more damage to him during his corruption than he thought, namely disrupting the Aetherflow within his body. Pepean would consult his friends on this, his heart sinking as he realises his dream of becoming the greatest magic user has now been torn away from him. Thing is, I wanted to show more of a character to Pepean, rather than having him just be an upbeat Lalafell. I wanted to show him vulnerable, scared, and even disheartened. I wanted to advance his character a bit and I thought a good way of doing that would be to take him out of his role as a White Mage and into the role of a Gunbreaker. This gives him a bit more tragedy in his life (not that he didn’t have enough of that already), now his dream, the thing he lived for, the whole reason he became an adventurer in the first place, has been torn away from him. This would just be a lore thing however. While I love Gunbreaker, I still plan on maining Healer roles within the game itself and mastering all magic classes. This is just a lore thing to advance Pepean a bit more for this blog.

While Pepean’s friends do try and comfort him during this difficult time, it’s still a heartbreaking situation for him. But hope does come to him from a very unlikely outcome. As Eliza, Terry, and Selaine try to comfort the depressed Lalafell, R’atohna comes in wearing his basic adventuring clothes (the starting gear) again, with Misago by his side. He says he’s thought long and hard about it, and he’s decided to quit the life of a Dragoon once again, though this time for good. The life brought him nothing but difficulties, both during the Heavenward stuff and after being used in the role to fight his best friend. He says that with the Dragonsong War over, Ishgard no longer needs an Azure Dragoon, something he understands Estinien realised as well. Pepean its quick to point out to him that he had a dream of being like a lance wielding hero who saved him as a child, but R’atohna explains that he has a new hero he wants to be like now: his best friend. He’s decided that if Pepean can’t achieve his dream of being a great magic user then he’ll do it for him, saying that if Pepean’s going to defend them as a Gunbreaker he’s going to need someone by his side to keep him healthy. As such R’atohna is now pursing learning healing magic (with my intention of having him become a Scholar). While Pepean does say he wishes he could be there to teach him everything he knows but he’s unable to now, R’atohna tells him not to worry as he looks to Misago and says he has a great teacher already, to which Pepean agrees. So the two begin pursuing new paths, with Pepean promising to become the best Gunbreaker he can be, while R’atohna promises that no harm will come to his friend as long as he’s around. 

At first it seems like Pepean is in a similar position to Thancred, being unable to enchant his ammo, he eventually develops his own work around to it which he calls “Drawing”. While he can no longer use magic he’s able to find a way to Draw it out of the creatures he fights in order to charge his ammo (yes, this is meant to be a homage to Final Fantasy VIII).

If you’ve actually read through all this thank you very much. This is as far as I’ve gotten with character lore stuff so far. 5.1′s MSQs didn’t give me a whole lot to work with in regards to moving this plot forward. I imagine Pepean dealt with the stuff in The First alone, while R’atohna began his training at the Arcanist Guild. Soon I obviously plan to incorporate Eliza, Terry and Selaine into the story, having them come to The First too, but I thought it better to suss things out with just Pepean and R’atohna first. Pretty much any posts I make going forward are going to be continuing on from this lore. I hope you enjoyed what I’ve come up with and will continue to support my blog. Now, hopefully I can get this posted and get back to work on more FFXIV related stuff.

Thank you all so much.

[pepeangogoan]

Pepean: (This is it... Our assault on Eulmore has come at last. Vauthry will be waiting for us... along with Ran’jit... and R’atohna... I fear I may have to come to blows with R’atohna again... but one thing is for certain: I will not leave without my best friend! I’m coming to save you... brother!)

Kind of a part 3.5 to the Brainwashed R’atohna Saga. A pic I took right before I began the assault on Eulmore. In my lore this battle holds even more weight for Pepean as he knows that he’s going to have to fight his best friend again, maybe even to the death this time. But he won’t let his resolve be swayed! He will stop Vauthry’s reign of madness and save his best buddy, even if it kills him!

[pepeangogoan]

Part 3-2 of my Brainwashed R’atohna saga. These events take place after Pepean’s third clash with his friend. Where previously they had fought to a stalemate, here Pepean actually managed to gain the upper hand. He even managed to hit R’atohna hard enough that some sense was restored to him, but as expect Vauthry interfered. But Pepean will not let this discourage him! He WILL save his best friend, no matter what it takes!

[pepeangogoan]

Part 3-1 of my Brainwashed R’atohna Saga. This obviously takes place during Thancred’s fight with Ran-jit, just before Minfilia meets with her namesake.

You know, I’m really lucky with how things worked out with Vaurthy’s powers! I’d always planned to do this plot with R’atohna being brainwashed in The First since Shadowbringers was announced, but little did I know there would actually be founding for it within the plot. From the outside looking in it probably looks like I planned it all around the revelations about Vaurthy, but no I’m actually just extremely lucky with how it worked out! :P

Got a lot more going on this time around, now that Pepean knows it’s his best friend he’s been fighting all this time. Naturally what he wants more than anything is to snap him out of it. Unfortunately that’s easier said than done, as he quickly finds out, and once again the two come to blows... in a battle I’ll leave up to your imagination because, as I said last time, I don’t have the skill to edit one together.

There’s a second half coming to this addition to the story, which hopefully won’t take too long to go up.

EDIT: Fixed a typo!

[pepeangogoan]

Part 2 in my Brainwashed R’atohna Saga. This event would take place during the events in The Rak’tika Greatwood. I did think about editing R’atohna into one of the shots in Il Mheg, but I didn’t think it worth it for an instance where he and Pepean didn’t even fight. It would have just been a case of Pepean thinking “That knight was with them again... I don’t know why but he feels so... familiar...”.

Sorry about the cop-out on a fight scene... in fact overall I think I could have done this whole thing a lot better, but I have some cool ones on the way, trust me. Just as before, before R’atohna can react to who he believes to be his enemy apparently knowing his name the stuff with Ran'jit goes down, and during the chaos R’atohna retreats.

Overall this whole thing was an emotional time for Pepean: He found out his best friend is in league with his enemy, thought he’d lost Y’shtola again and now owes an Ascian of all people for saving her life. Needless to say he had a lot to ponder in his talk with Ardbert.

By the way, am I the only person who finds Emet-Selch to be this game’s equivalent of Loki?!

[pepeangogoan]

UGH! I can’t take it! The new Minfilia... she’s TOO cute! Her innocence and kindness towards everything... it’s more than my heart can take! (Add that she can actually defend herself in battle, meaning she’s infinitely more useful than the original!) STOP BEING SO CUTE!!!! Please, throw me in jail! I deserve it!

[pepeangogoan]

Thus began a clash between two best friends, unbeknownst to both of them. Yeah, thought I’d make a start of my integration of the brainwashed R’atohna into the plot. This is obviously meant to take place during the rescue of Minfiia. I imagine these two fought each other to a standstill, with neither one managing to get the better of the other. Though as they fought Pepean realised that this “mysterious” Dragoon’s fighting style was VERY familiar to him, and for a brief moment he swore he saw the symbol of Ishgard on his armour. However, he had no time to think on it with the arrival of Ran’jit.

Don’t know why I decided to turn Pepean into Wolverine in the last panel... just did :P

[pepeangogoan]

Lately I’ve been having romantic fantasies about Alisaie... Looks like it’s back to jail for me! XD

(And come on, you can’t tell me she’s not in love with our characters, regardless of gender! :P)

[pepeangogoan]

Pepean: What do you think? If I am to play the Warrior of Darkness, it stands to reason I should look the part ey?

[pepeangogoan]

Pepean: Very well... if to save this world and my own I need to become the Warrior of Darkness, then the Warrior of Darkness I shall be!

So I finally became the Potato of Darkness... sorry, Warrior of Darkness in the plot, so I’m finally able to use this glamour for Pepean. Hey, if he’s going to be the Warrior of Darkness he’s got to look the part right? I actually think this look works really well with the Gunbreaker job (partially helped by him using Squall’s Gunblade and wearing Squall’s trousers, XD). Snow’s coat does make it look a little bit like Seifer... but there’s no way I’ll ever be like that whinging man-baby! Look out Sin Eaters, this potato is coming to harvest!

[pepeangogoan]

Pepean: Ah ha... S-sorry I’m a married Lala- Dwarf, I’m afraid! (Elisa’s going to kill me!)

[pepeangogoan]

Pepean: Could it be possible R’atohna is here? He’s crafty enough... he may have found a way in. Has anyone seen a Miqo... Mystel with red hair carrying a spear at all?

Pepean’s small spark of hope quickly turned into despair once again as his friend was nowhere in sight.