safflowers and candyfruit

A FFXIV sideblog dedicated to my sunset-colored lizard lady and Warrior of Light, Odzaya Malaguld. General game content, inspiration, pics, and writings. Located on Coeurl, Crystal DC. Likes/follows hail from @hamethyst. Recent patch spoilers shall be tagged accordingly.

[rasenkaikyo]

You Retreat In Time And Space (♪)

[moonlitvesper]

happy pride to them

[eriyu]

my headcanon for a long time has been that souls have a degree of control over when/where/how they're reborn. that's why the same souls keep returning to the Dotharl tribe: they choose to.

it also provides a logical explanation for some people (Gerolt, Rowena, the trolley crew) looking exactly the same across reincarnations despite one side of my brain screaming that that doesn't make any sense with either real life genetics or how even in game, people end up looking more or less like their family members. perhaps souls have a preferred form that, within limits, they can facilitate being reborn as.

(the soul having some role in determining physical form would also dovetail with dragons' system of asexual reproduction and personal evolution; despite them being from a different star, they still ought to operate under the same natural laws)

at the same time, the key would be that it is a choice — and that allows the WoL to be anything. you don't have to look like Ardbert, because why wouldn't Azem, the traveler, counselor to the people, want to be someone different, live somewhere different, have totally new experiences, in every new life?

[myrfing]

everyone’s always like if you engage with the story it pays off in shb and ew but it imho it pays off in a much more tangible way far earlier in sb if you gaf about Arenvald (him talking to A’aba and Aulie while everyone else is congratulating you is one of my favorite parts of the game), if Gallien saying you might not remember him but he remembers you means anything before the summoning of shinryu (he’s also a oft-unmentioned part of the drk quests), if doing the For Wilred questline and walking back with Bertliana to Ala Mhigo means anything to you. and to possibly do that you gotta engage a little with the world beyond the parts that boost your wol’s personal angst portfolio

[rasenkaikyo]

Into The Magic Land (♪) (feat. @onwesterlywinds)

[therovingstar]

Thoughts during the 7.5 Main Scenario off the top of my head:

- Enuo music holy crap. I retain my stance that the most difficult mechanic in XIV is the tunes. How the crap am I supposed to learn the battle when all i wanna do is bop and shimmy?

- Pretty sure the reason more resources weren’t put into the moon’s murderbots was because they had already been allocated to the dance club.

- Cutest thing was finding out how hard the Scions searched for WoL after they disappeared down the golden path. All of them running toward our tiny approaching figure in the distance was a sweet little moment. WoL is loved.

- Textures. Halmarut’s velvet dress, Bucc-alyx’s fur and the plastic shine of his eyes and nose. The flickering flame of the lantern in the Rising Stones. Delicious.

- If they’re called the Winterers, what are we gonna be? The Springers? The Summerers? Don’t know but I do love me some seasonal themes.

- I hope the fate of all the members of Halmarut’s posse is to end up stuck in stuffed animals. Personally I’d like to see a fox, some kind of cat, a wolf, something scaly, and a bear.

- Genuinely so nice to be back in the Rising Stones. Made me a little emotional. (Also the music is slightly different? Like it’s the same melody but reworked or reorchestrated? Maybe it’s just me.)

[battleguitar]

a man with flaming red hair and a determined brow

[56kilobits]

new key visual for the Shadowbringers free trial

full res from press site

[invisiblebounds-ffxiv]

FINAL FANTASY XIV: Evercold Coming January 2027!

[sexybritishllama]

funniest thing about the whole emet-selch (waves my hand around vaguely) situation is that when you go back in time and tell emet-selch about who he would become, he is OUTRAGED, he insists you're lying and that there is no WAY he would ever do such awful illogical things and how DARE you even suggest that?

vs. when you first meet the real hythlodaeus and catch him up on everything his husband did while hythlodaeus was stuck on the moon and he's just like

[shalpilot]

last night i had a dream

[kennycrows]

FINAL FANTASY XIV EVERCOLD (2027)

[lavampira]

if I must forsake myself to keep mine oath, then so be it.

[medi-melancholy]

it does admittedly bum me out a little when people see strawberry and immediately go "muscle mommy!!" or "dommy mommy!" just because she's tall or a femroe--she is in fact a 0 on the muscle slider, and she is not meant to be dommy in the slightest

literally part of why i made berry is because big and tall girls being allowed to be girlish and ultra femme and silly and cutesy is important to me, irl tall formerly-a-girl who has always felt out of place trying to express my love of cute and pink things--so when people immediately fall back onto the "all tall women are doms regardless of their actual personality" or "all femroes are supposed to be butch" brand of stereotypes it makes me :(

[medi-melancholy]

your 'dommy muscle mommy' has all the presence of a sparkly pink marshmallow peep and the consistency to match. she has more boob than muscle and brains combined. the only thing she's dominating is the quadruple tier ice cream sundae she just ordered for dinner. if you ask her to step you on there's a nonzero chance she starts tearing up because you are lovely and don't deserve to be crushed :( that sounds mean :( wouldn't you like a hug instead??

[iron-sparrow]

What OC havers have to realize is that racism incl. orientalism isn't always gonna be some straight up hate speech or eye-pulling or whatever.

More often than not, it's appropriation and fetish-laden stereotypes and tropes, masked by the lie of "appreciation." Shit like that is so insidious and widespread, and people just consume it (or scroll past) without a second thought.

Being "not racist" isn't enough; we need to be ANTI-RACIST.

You're tired, I get that. But for a lot of us, this goes well beyond just playing pretend Barbie dress-up. For many, there is harm woven into these OCs and their costumes, in their bigotry-for-lulz.

We belong in these spaces, too, and I am not gonna shut up about that. Block out people like me all you want. Says more about you than us.

Be anti-racist. Or be part of the problem.

[lavampira]

turali adventures with d'alia (she/her) & jiyu (they/she) ☀️

[itssjanedoe]

[s-h-a-s-e]

[goodfriendo]

i wonder what they're gossiping about

[jmawork]

had to draw them