With the help of @rabbitstarvation making some Viera OC’s with me, I’ve figured out a lot of things about Rel’a’s family and how to deal with all of their path as my main warrior of light all these four years and how to reconcile all of the stuff I’ve liked about them so far with how they will be when Shadowbringers launches and I fantasia them into a Viera.
The easy explanation is that they’ve been a viera this whole time, people close to them knew and they told the scions obviously, but due to discomfort from already being an outsider to Eorzea as well as cultural issues from having been a viera assigned male at birth led them to continue the ruse until they felt the time was right. Which uh, hasn’t happened yet because they’ve been busy getting entangled in political incidents and as they already end up coming out as transgender they just really don’t want to toss “im some weird rabbit person most of you have literally never heard of” onto that.
Anyway, on to the important stuff, how did a group of Viera get to the point where they would raise a child in a moonkeeper miqo'te society who would grow up to turn into a very hot and attractive warrior of light? I’ll answer that under the cut!
Back in the Golmore Jungle, the homeland of the Viera, was a nomadic family of Viera, I don’t have a family name because we don’t know the lore for those and I’m impatient, but the important thing is that they’re a group gifted in conjury who have sharp teeth and travel around with another family of Viera gifted in thaumaturgy. These two groups of Viera travelled around the wood with a mission that had been passed down and down again, to find and cover up any relics of the past, technology and magics that could lead to foolish outsiders trying to discover or uncover more. The thaumaturges would locate the relics and ensure that they are safe or take measures to weaken or seal them while the conjurers would bend nature to their will in order to remove any trace of them, with trees, grass, and dirt all moving to ensure that no one could ever find these things ever again.
It was during one such excursion towards securing one of these relics that representatives of the two viera families would finally shatter the many many years of tradition and duty. While walking through the wood they heard a *thwak* as they stood silent, seeing a male viera, the nigh invisible protectors of the wood fall, dead. Knowing that anyone capable of killing him would be far too dangerous to trifle with, they silently looked around, though most of them saw nothing. One of the group, due to an attunement they didn’t even know they had, saw a masked floating cloaked figure, when this story was later relayed, the figure would of course be identified as an Ascian. The ascian, satisfied with whatever they had come here to do but clearly annoyed at the viera’s interruption, then vanished without a trace.
This incident was the straw that broke the camel's back, as Brhyr, the leader of the viera conjurers had already started to become disillusioned with the actions of the other Viera families and leadership. Having heard the horns of war in the continent to the south, feeling the winds of change coming on upon the wood, and fearing an oncoming calamity, this spectre was clearly a sign that they had to take some sort of action. In a very heated council meeting, other problems were also brought up, there was some sort of illness, various reports of odd incidents, and of course the dead male viera all left the leaders divided and uncertain. In the midsts of this, one of them made the suggestion of using one of the relics to try to divine or craft a solution. The anger that followed ensured that no one ever was sure who made that suggestion and also ensured that as soon as the meeting ended, Brhyr would send word that it was time for her and her people, and any who wished to follow, to leave the wood and find other ways of life.
Brhyr and her family would leave, silently seperating from the others and turning their back on their duty, travelling down Othard and eventually making their way to Thavnir. Brhyr’s group had changed a bit, with some Viera having settled down in other places, some deciding to head in another direction, and gaining some other Viera who had heard of Brhyr and also wanted a new place to find on their own. However, so far, they had not found it. Thavnir would not be it, but it was a hub with which to go elsewhere, if nothing else. It was upon trying to figure out what elsewhere to go that Brhyr chanced on Mari Mpago, also a traveller away from home, seeking medicine to take home and save some of her people. She was not having a lot of luck, with those in Thavnir either uninterested or unwilling to help. Mari would not be deterred however, and the determination with which she acted moved Brhyr, who questioned her on her problems.
The two spoke all night, extremely interested in the other’s plight, and Brhyr suggested that her conjury could help Mari. They came to an agreement, with Mari arranging for travel for Brhyr’s group in exchange for the help. The trip to Mari’s homeland would be a long one for the pair, as they spoke every day, learned more and more about the other, and fell in love… After some time, they would eventually land in the south east of the Rhtano Sea, La Isla Centella. Mari came home and introduced the travellers she had brought along, the people of her tribe amazed that their Wanderer had succeeded in her mission. Brhyr and her people cured the sickness and she announced her love to Mari, and how she would stay on the island. Some of her group went onwards to the west, but many stayed, feeling comfortable on the island and happy to stay and intermingle. The island was now one where Miqo'te and Viera lived together, which they would in relative peace, sending occasional rare word back to the wood, to let others know about their lives, and that this could be a home for any who wanted it to be.
There was some cultural shifts and an uncertainty on the parts of the Viera on how to reconcile their upbringings and cultures with those of the Miqo’te, especially that of gender identity as they struggled with what it meant to be a male or female viera without the context of the wood. Brhyr and Mari spoke at length leading up to the birth of their first child, but ultimately decided to raise them with Miqo’te cultures primarily in mind, wanting to adopt the customs of their new home.
Rel Mpago was their firstborn, and they would later give birth to Mari’a Mpago as well. The two were beloved by not only their parents, but the many Viera and Miqo’te who would be a constant presence in their lives, all of them raising the first children of this new chapter in the islands life together. Mari’a would eventually decide to become a woman and take up the mantle from Mari as the Wanderer of the island, travelling out to get whatever the island needed while Rel would stay on the island, eventually marry, and give birth to one Rel’a Mpago, a future warrior of light…
Rel’a probably looked up to their aunt a lot, and was probably very inspired by her, leaning on her a lot. Rel’a’s upbringing was similar to their parents and Rel’a was blessed with far more younger siblings than Rel was. Eventually, Rel’a would discover that they were blessed with the echo, the calamity would hit, and Rel’a would know that they had to go north, they had to go to the land known as Eorzea. Rel and Brhyr were against it at first, but Mari’a insisted that they let their eldest go on their own path. Still, there was an uncertainty. At the time, Rel’a still identified as male and there was still a lot of apprehension and fear with what the people of eorzea would do upon seeing not just a viera, but a male one at that…
So, upon preparing for Rel’a’s journey to Eorzea, to protect them from the fear of the uncertain, they crafted some glamours that would disguise them as a somewhat tall Miqo’te. Rel’a would go off and start their adventure, following their heart just as Brhyr did so many years ago… onto the path of the Mothercrystal, towards the light and into the hands of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn...
I remember saying that I rarely post about discourse on my blog because I want my blog to be a happy and drama free place as much as possible. Today is an exception.
I’m so upset over the clothes discourse, I was close to crying multiple times today. How could a game company I love and trusted be so careless about my culture? So careless about an entire region of players and a traumatic time in history for us?
How can western players just shrug this off? Be upset over ‘aww the clothes were cute though :(’, or, ‘well the clothes were used in Japan first’. You guys commenting stuff like this have NO IDEA what these clothes represent to Koreans.
I’m going to tell you a story my grandpa used to tell me when I was younger, to put this in perspective, and why its such a big fucking deal.
My grandpa told me many, many things about the Japanese occupation on Korea, things like how Japan FORCED Korea to change its name from ‘Corea’ to ‘Korea’, because C was a higher letter in the english alphabet than J, and how Japan basically stole cherry blossoms from Korea. I know these sound crazy, and not a lot of information is on these two topics, especially from Korea’s point of view… But my grandpa always swore this was the case. I even used to have a bandana from Korea from a world cup, with Korean spelled ‘Corea’, since my mom explained to me that if a Korean really wants to show their pride in their nation, they’ll use the C instead of the K.
These stories are nowhere near as horrific as the one he would tell me about being a Korean student during the occupation.
My Grandpa would tell me how LUCKY I was to be a student in America, because I was free to do what I wanted, and wear what I wanted. When I asked him to elaborate, he told me one of the most horrific stories I’ve ever heard.
He told me that in Korea during Japan’s occupation, they would force the students to wear Japanese uniforms (the same exact clothes surrounding the discourse happening in the FFXIV community right now). They could ONLY speak Japanese, use their Japanese names, and wear the uniforms they provided. If you rebelled, or refused to wear the uniform, you were shot in front of your entire class to be made an example of, so other students wouldn’t follow along.
I’ll reiterate.
IF YOU DIDN’T WEAR THESE UNIFORMS AS A STUDENT IN KOREA DURING THE OCCUPATION, YOU WERE MURDERED IN FRONT OF YOUR ENTIRE SCHOOL.
My grandpa told me that he lost many friends this way. And he told me that it was even worse where he lived, because he lived in a farming area where the population wasn’t as high, so they couldn’t do anything. He would always tell me that there was a Japanese soldier present in every single classroom to make sure no rebellion was happening.
To make it all worse, Koreans have been protesting for the Japanese government to take ownership of all the horrible things they’ve done to us, but there has been NOTHING, they’re not allowing us to heal, to have closure for this horrific time. They think they can issue a ‘simple’ apology and sweep it under the rug, like these horrible things never happened.
Like I said, if you don’t have ANY idea whats happening with the clothes discourse, don’t freaking comment. Don’t try to excuse this decision to bring these clothes in the game. If you have no idea why its such a big deal, don’t fucking comment. Educate yourselves, ask your Korean friends, anything OTHER than trying to excuse this. Because frankly its inexcusable. I’m angry, upset, and quite frankly appalled. And I have no idea what to do than voice my thoughts, and my families experiences on the matter. I hope this helps people understand WHY the Korean player base is so LIVID.
Link to another detailed explanation: https://twitter.com/cheche_dotharl/status/1128279381900779520
Some sources on shit Japan did in Korea, which is what that specific uniform is reminding Koreans about: x x x x x x x
For people who can’t conceptualize all this, the best historical comparison I can give would be the Native American Residential Schools in the US and Canada
Native children were stolen from their parents, forcibly converted to Christianity, indoctrinated with Western ideals and were forbidden to practice their religion, speak their language, wear/own cultural garb/items or grow-out their hair—which they were brutally punished with beatings for doing—in accordance with the ideology of “Kill the savage, save the child”
So for a Korean person who either saw their children forced into these school uniforms or a Korean person who was forced to wear the uniform at school, it would be a very grim reminder of that traumatic past to see that uniform worn and advertised in their or their children’s favorite video game
Reblogging because the items are now available in the Mogstation….
The new clothes in the Mogstation represent a dark past for Koreans, please read these posts if you’re planning on buying them.
romaincrisis
jbbartram-illu
jacobvanloon
ellievsbear
kianamaiart
