Hey folks, we're running a Bituun and Tsagaan Sar RP event alongside the <Xaela> DIscord, more information & poster below.
Hey folks, Yesunova here, I am throwing together a Bituun & Tsagaan Sar event with some of my folks at Wayfarers' Ger and as well as organisers from and doing it as a double-feature or two-parter, with the first at Wayfarers' Ger, for the Bituun portion and over at Reunion for the Tsagaan Sar portion (on Zalera). We've timed the events to fall on the real-world Tsagaan Sar and is aimed at an easy-going casual RP with a Tsagaan Sar-based ritual, as well as food and games to get people mingling to get the year started with something nice by catching up with old friends or making new ones, as with new year comes new beginnings.
Bituun (Tsagaan Sar eve)
Friday 9th Feb @ Wayfarers' Ger (Plot 60, Ward 14, The Lavender Beds, Zalera)
Tsagaan Sar
Satuday 10th Feb @ Reunion on Zalera (meet on the hill above the market)
On the first Sunday of every month the <Xaela> Discord runs a Market night over at Mateus' Reunion in the Azim Steppe. We'll be there for Wayfarers' Ger.
Date: Sunday 7th Jan
Time: 9pm UK, 4pm Eastern US
Location: Reunion, Mateus
Lookout for Kydaana Ankhai and any friends as that who I'll be going on. And what we're offering in character will be below:
I'm going to make an effort to actually make use of this Tumblr. \o/
What Is Wayfarers' Ger?
It started out as a weekly storytelling RP event with a steppe theme ICly set in a ger/yurt on the Azim steppe, then we started adding bigger events every so often, like our summer event "Steppes on the Beach", but as altaholics, we've also tied in some of our other projects like The Approving Seal and The Ankhai Tribe.
I am an enthusiast of steppe culture & really want to bring some appreciation for the real-world steppe cultures and base a lot of my RP around its culture. I am far from an expert & I take some artistic license like the devs did because it's Mongolia-influenced, not a re-creation.
What's The Plan?
More events in 2024, starting with Tsagaan Sar, the new year. More use of the Approving Seal and the Ankhai Tribe.
I also want to make better use of social media (like Tumblr here), the wider community and our website.
Plans for the Approving Seal
The Approving Seal is a Terncliff-themed cafe & charity and we just did our Starlight event with it. With the Approving Seal, we like to try and offer a more wholesome kind of RP and this year we want to use it for actual charity fundraisers for real-world charities.
We have a charity page set up for it for people to give their own donations to our selected charity (we'll have separate pages if we do a fundraiser for a different charity): https://www.justgiving.com/page/approving-seal
Plans for Wayfarers' Ger
On the Wayfarers' Ger side, I want to lean more & more heavily into the culture stuff, this seems to be the stuff people respond best to, which I am happy for because it's the part I care most about & want to dive deeper with.
As much as I would like to keep a fortnightly RP, we do find they get a variable turn out and I have mused on it & I know we've tried getting them working again, like in the early days, but my energy may be better placed in themed events with more attention to quality.
And I have a few ideas I am toying with for things we could do, including opening the floor for more people to get involved with contributing, because I realise I can sometimes do things on a bit of a whim.
Plans for General Steppe Stuff
I also found some of my "The Real Steppe" blog posts get some popularity and even got a mention in Mirkes Menagerie for my comments about magic on the steppe. So I want to put out more things like it & share them with the Wayfarers' Ger & general Steppe RP community. And I want to go back & spot-check my old blog posts to make sure they're to a standard I am happy with & that I triple-check any facts.
The motivation for triple-checking is that I have learned that not all sources on Mongolian culture are reliable. For example: UNSECO has information about tuulis and the practice but the information confuses different types of Mongolian storytelling & other sources seem to give similar info & frame it in totally the wrong way. And I have better sources who don't mind me asking questions.
Plans for the Ankhai Tribe
The Ankhai tribe is a custom tribe inspired by Tuvans, Mongolians and Siberians, who come from north of the tail mountains and the Dalvalan Grath. Like with how FFXIV approaches cultures, there is still artistic license, so not all ideas/customs are grounded in the real world, but include FFXIV-appropriate flair, to keep it within the realms of fantasy.
We spent some time introducing some of the characters into the general community & ran individual RP's & events to establish IC connections and working through the story arc that allows us to open up the tribe to more people to create their own characters. For 2024, I want to do smaller RP's & events where the tribe is a focus, with room to recruit people into the concept.
Closing Note
I realise I made it a long post. But the new year brings new opportunities and I am still passionate about the RP's we run and want to not neglect things I've started and instead not only keep doing what we do, but aim for something cooler. Plus, with my focus on visiting Mongolian in 2025, learning the language and spending time in groups relating to Mongolia, it's traditions & culture, I hope to work with you all to create greater RP experiences this year and clear out the crickets & cobwebs from both our Tumblr & Discord.
If I don't keep up my promise, hunt me down and slap me.
As it has been almost two months since the last headcount post, I thought it was time we do another — kupo!
Please like and reblog this post if you are an active Final Fantasy XIV blog focusing on one (or more) of the following: roleplay, writing & worldbuilding.
It does not matter how active you are at all three, only that you participate in some of it and would like to follow more likeminded people.
The bigger this post gets, the more people can have a look through it and follow people they like the look of! You can also reblog this post to give a little blurb about yourself, which I'll reblog back here, or even make you're own separate post tagging @mooglemeet that I will reblog for extra traction!
This headcount was posted 9/30/2023, to help gauge overall activity of users on it!
Following a prompt give about my interest in Vietnam, where I first learned about it & what's got me interested in it, I wrote the following (translation to follow):
Khi anh đi Việt Nam anh muốn làm nhiều điều như đi du lịch ở Saigon và Châu Đốc. Anh muốn nhìn thiên nhiên, con người, ngôi đền, Kurisu san (một người bạn), núi Sam và nhiều nữa.
Anh đầu tiên đã học về Việt Nam khi anh đã là đứa trẻ và ở trường. Anh đã học về lịch sử của Việt Nam trong lúc chiến tranh với nước Mỹ, nhưng khi anh đã học xong ở trường anh muốn đi du lịch ở Việt Nam nhưng anh đã nghèo và anh đã đi học ở đại học. Vậy trong lúc dịch bệnh COVID anh nghĩ về đi du lịch và anh xem nhiều video YouTube về Việt Nam và anh nhớ anh đã muốn đi du lịch ở Việt Nam nên anh đã nghĩ “fuck it let’s do it” và làm kế hoạch để đi đến Việt Nam và học ngôn ngữ.
Khi anh học nữa về Việt Nam anh yêu thiên nhiên, người, món ăn và ngôn ngữ của nó. Anh cũng là người đạo Phật nên anh muốn nhìn nhiều ngôi đền và hiểu các điều về đạo Phật ở Việt Nam.
Anh cũng học nữa về lịch sử Việt vì anh học về chiến tranh với nước Mỹ và anh muốn hiểu góc nhìn của Việt Nam về nó, nhưng anh cũng học nữa về lịch sử Việt ngoài chiền tranh vì anh nghĩ Việt Nam có nhiều điều học về.
Khi anh học nũa về Việt Nam anh nghĩ món ăn Việt nhìn ngon qúa nên anh thử nấu ăn nó vì anh không có nhà hàng Việt gần anh và anh nghĩ nó ngon quá nhưng anh nghĩ món ăn ở Việt Nam sẽ ngon hơn món ăn của anh. Anh muốn thử phở, bún bò Huế, bún thịt nướng, bánh mì vân vân. Anh cũng muốn học nấu món Việt. Anh thích nó vì nó ngon quá và khỏe và anh nên ăn khỏe hơn.
When I go to Vietnam I want to do many things like travel in Saigon & Chau Doc. I want to see nature, people, temples, Chris-san (a friend), Mount Sam and much more.
I first learned about Vietnam when I was a child in school. I learned about Vietnamese history during the war with America, but when I finished school I wanted to travel in Vietnam but I was poor & went to University. So during the COVID pandemic I thought about traveling and saw many YouTube videos about Vietnam and thought “fuck it, let’s do it” and made plans to go to Vietnam and learn the language
When I learn about Vietnam I loved its nature, people, food & language. I also am a Buddhist so I want to see many temples and understand things about Buddhism in Vietnam
I also learn more about Vietnam’s history and learn about the war with America and want to understand Vietnam’s perspective about it, but I also learn more about Vietnamese history outside of the war and think Vietnam has a lot more to learn about
When I learn more about Vietnam I think its food looks super delicious so I try to cook it because I don’t have a Vietnamese restaurant near me and I think it#s delicious but I think food in Vietnamese will be more delicious than mine. I wany to try Pho, Bun Bo Hue, Bun Thi Nuong, Banh Mi etc. I also want to learn to cook Vietnamese food. I like it because it’s very delicious & healthy and I should eat more healthily
Since Endwalker is there still no way to cast black magic without a soul stone? Argument with a friend. Sadu and Y'shtola seem to be able to use black magic without one?
I'll answer both since I talk about this on discord a lot, so I'd like to talk about it here too.
First, to quickly clear up a small misconception, neither Y'shtola nor Sadu are Black Mages. Y'shtola is a thaumaturge and Sadu is a practitioner of a type of magic unique to the Xaela tribes of the Steppe. The game mechanically treats them like BLMs sometimes, but that's game limitations not so much in line with their lore.
Y'shtola: “I never did tell you why I chose to take up thaumaturgy, did I? As you will no doubt have noticed, life here in the First can be exceedingly unforgiving. Brutal, in a word. I had not long been in Norvrandt when I realized my mastery of conjuring magicks would not suffice to protect the people. 'Twas a struggle at first to embrace the change, but I confess the path of the thaumaturge suits me rather well... Lest you worry, I’ve not forgotten my healing spells. Be it restoration or destruction, this sorceress can command whatever magicks the situation requires.”
Encyclopedia Eorzea II - Eldritch Secrets of the Au Ra: “Among the Xaela of the Azim Steppe, there is a multitude of tribes who have preserved the ways of ancient magicks. In typical Xaela fashion, the manner of their teaching, not to mention the content of the lesson itself, varies wildly from tribe to tribe. There are shamans who claim to hear the voice of the gods themselves, while yet others boast the ability to see into the future.
Whilst research into these magicks of eld has progressed but little, a respected aetherologist has documented instances of other phenomenon - blasts of fire, curative touches, and the like - which prove the Xaela capable of casting the equivalent of most rudimentary spells. Distinct amongst their knowledge, however, is a rite wherein pattern engraved into specially prepared stone result in a biddable golem. These stone faces, or ‘khun chuluu’ in the Xaela’s native tongue, can serve as a focus which amplifies arcane energies, enabling the manifestation of falling comets and other such spells of devastation and ruin.”
To quickly answer the second question: Yes, there are many disciplines of magic which utilize external aether: Black Magic and White Magic, Blue Magic, Conjury, Astromancy, and Geomancy.
You can learn more about how all of the magic classes work, here!
You can learn more about the history of Black Mage, here!
There's even a section about BLMs in the modern day at the bottom.
Soul Crystals & Roleplay
tl;dr - Can I RP a job without a soul crystal? Absolutely! *But, there's no need to do so unless not having a soul crystal is somehow important narratively to your character.
More in depth talk below the cut!
No soul crystal should be more difficult to obtain than it is for your character to learn about that job's existence.
In every job quest scenario, the WoL bumblefucks their way into obtaining a soul crystal almost immediately in the first quest. There's not an instance where they don't. And detractors will likely say: "Yeah but they're the WoL! They're special!" Sure, but in none of those aforementioned questlines does the WoL get handed a soul crystal because they're the WoL. Circumstances just happens. And they can for your characters just as easily too.
I've noticed a lot of people in the community seem to think these soul crystals are rare or nigh-unobtainable (I can only assume it has to do with the half-dozen Job Tier Lists floating around that I just cannot in good conscience recommend), but that just isn't the case. Soul crystals have been in use for at least the last 6,000 years. Nearly every known civilization on Hydaelyn has made and used soul crystals. Even in the modern day, it is known how to craft new, blank ones. It's never imparted how to us, the players, but its known how in universe. Both Stephanivien (MCH) and Martyn (BLU) mass produce blank ones, two characters from wildly different economic means.
Here's a few suggestions you can tailor to yours or any character:
Passed down as a family heirloom. Maybe for generations, waiting for the right person to come along.
It belonged to your character's parent and they gave it to your character (like Alphinaud).
Bought it on the black market.
Looted off a corpse (on the battlefield, in the belly of a beast you killed, in the slums, on the front doorstep of the Supreme Sacred Tribunal of Halonic Inquisitory Doctrine...).
Pickpocketed off of an adventurer.
Found in a river / dumpster / attic / treasure chest / dungeon crawl / new FC house.
Won as a prize from a tournament or RP event!
From an RP partner who is also that job. If they teach you about the job also just have them give you a soul crystal too.
Make an RP event out of it! Do a dungeon crawl (say U'Ghamaro) and at the end find a soul crystal (on a dead padjal far from home).
Make a blank soul crystal! It may not contain knowledge of past wielders, but it will satisfy that "requires soul crystal" requirement.
Or, you can ignore all of that and just not have one if you really don't want one. There's no real reason not to have one, unless your not having one is part of some specific narrative, but that option is on the table for you.
Doesn't this job say I need one or else I'll explode!? (No.) There are some job quests that will say a soul crystal is required. (SMN, AST, etc) Or in many cases, that soul crystals have a secondary function that serves the wielder in some way (this makes sense because these jobs were invented with soul crystal use in mind). Like a SCH faerie's memories being stored inside the crystal, or a MCH's aetherotransformer being powered by your soul crystal, etc.
You can choose to ignore that, of course, but there's no real need to. You can just say you have a soul crystal. As a given. You can just do that! No explanation needed.
So what does a soul crystal actually do for you? It's a means of learning an art which no longer has any living practitioners. Or just any practitioners in your part of the world. It teaches you through the memories of past practitioners, helping your own journey. Sometimes it aids you in performing that art.
Some might see this as a short cut or speedrunning the process of learning these jobs. But I feel like it must be said that you, the roleplayer, ultimately and always have control on how fast your character learns something. Instead, ask how quick of a learner is your character? How gifted are they with magic? Are they a neophyte caster? Then having a black magic soul crystal probably won't do much for them, if anything. What's their access to education, books, research materials, tutors, foci and other materials necessary to preform the job in question? All of these things can drastically affect how quickly your character learns a new skill. And they're all under your control! Whether you choose to learn a job like black mage from a soul crystal, a tutor, or from ancient tomes sealed away in a forbidden library you ultimately decide how fast and how well your character learns or masters something.
Aren't soul crystals SUPER rare? Not as much as people seem to think they are. Miqo'te and Viera are "rare" in Eorzean lore, but we ignore that don't we. So why do we fanatically gatekeep a soul crystal's rarity? Sure, Samurai might be hard to come by in Eorzea, but if your character is from Far Eastern Doma or Hingashi they and their crystals are likely a dime-a-dozen.
Where could I find a black mage soul crystal? Where couldn't you? Mhach was a nation full of black magic practitioners. Shatotto, the first BLM, its inventor, had a soul crystal. It's safe to assume they (successive black mages) all or most all did. Why wouldn't they? We've established they're simple to mass produce. They conquered a good portion of Eorzea, and waged war on the places they hadn't conquered. Mhachi survivors fled to Gyr Abania where they lived and continued to speak Mhachi until the 10th century 6AE. Mhachi descendants wandered the southern half of Eorzea for nigh 700 years before founding Belah'dia keeping Mhachi traditions like their magic and forehead gems alive. There's a lot of fertile ground in the lore for creative ideas, don't be too afraid of community stigmas to try.
I don't like the idea that people should be gatekept from roleplaying what they want because someone deemed a bit of crystal hard to get in a Final Fantasy game. By all means, roleplay jobs as having the gravitas and obscurity their lore suggests, but "rarity" is subjective and a fake community construct that has little bearing on one's roleplay.
I kind of want to add with the Xaela magic and that ties to shamanism as an aside, the type of shamanism that FFXIV likes to reference is related to Tengrism, which tends to be practiced in Mongolia, Siberia, and parts of central Asia, which makes sense given the steppe is one big Mongolia reference. I did write a post on my own Tumblr, but I kind of want to go back & revise it (as well as my other ones relating to the real-world steppe).
We hear the term 'udgan' used in FFXIV, which is the name of a female shaman in this tradition. We also get references to things like how milk has a spiritual quality in all of its forms, like how kumis is used in the death practices of the Ugund tribe. There are references to how a shaman can see into the previous life of a Dotharl, which perhaps relates to how a shaman can read people's spirits & in the Tengri belief, spirits go through a process of reincarnation like with the Dotharl (I say spirits because in Tengrism people have more than 1 spirit, usually 3: ami, suns and suld).
And there are plenty of other Tengri references within the Xaela tribes. So I think it's safe to say much of their interpretation of how magic works would be related. And it makes sense it's varied between tribes because Tengri practices are also varied, it's more of an umbrella term than pertaining to very specific dogma.
You might also read of 3 types of shaman in Tengri practices, yellow, black & white, which is kind of relevant too, because black shamanism & white shamanism tend to differentiate how they draw their power (which is also a distinction between Thaumaturgy & Conjury), whereas yellow Shamanism will refer to the Buddhist influence.
So heck, who knows, making Sadu a black mage mechanically (just not in lore) is a reference to black shamanism, because she is an udgan. The devs clearly did their research with the steppe, so I wouldn't put it past them.
And if I were to go deeper, there are more things within the FFXIV cosmos that could be explained away with the cosmos according to tengrism, because this is stuff I've had to think about roleplaying a Xaela shaman where I lean into this stuff.
And to me, I guess bringing back to what it could mean for magic is that it kind of opens doors to a bit more room to how magic is accessed, interpreted, and understood, where cultural ideas & values could vary because of it, because although FFXIV sciences the magic, cultures that have not found the science of the magic could have very different takes. Because when a culture doesn't know something to that degree, they'll find their own ways of understanding it and how it works & draw different conclusions. In a way, that's what we also get with Geomancer, which is effectively an eastern Conjurer.
But ultimately, the way I end up looking at magic in the game is, as said in the post I'm reblogging, that what we see is more of a game mechanics limitation than a lore one, where Black Magic is a specific thing, but magic itself is more varied & NPC's are just shoehorned into whatever is the closest fit visually.
[edit] updated some wording, phrasing, tried to add more clarity and went over to try & spot factual errors & emphasise I am not an authority.
On the Azim Steppe we encounter some udgans like Sadu Dotharl and Tumulun Mol. What is an udgan and why is there 'böö' in the title?
A 'böö' is a shaman, whereas an 'udgan' is a shamaness. Talking about shamanism on the Eurasian steppe is a big topic. So at the end, I'm going to recommend some extra reading for those who want to delve deeper. I am not an expert on the subject and have collated what I have learned but will provide resources of better sources. So the aim of this article is to high light parallels and references rather than teach about shamanism on the Eurasion steppe as I am not an authority on the subject, especially as this only scratches the surface of what those beliefs are. I will also try to keep this up to date if I find inaccuracies, because I have come across an alleged trustworthy source before on Tuuli that was wrong, however, my main source for this article is a book written by a Buryat Shaman, so if you are legitimately interested in the topic, I would suggest following up on other sources and I linked her website at the end of the article.
Overview
When we talk about shamanism on the Eurasian steppe we tend to be talking about practitioners belonging to Tengerism, which is the classification of religion practiced by many Mongolians but expands out of Mongolia's borders, such as into Siberia like in Tuvan and Buryatia.
The main principles around Tengerism revolve around the sky gods, known as the Tenger, but also around animism and nature.
And Shamans are able to connect with the spirits and see the cosmos and there is a whole perspective of it that can be mapped in a person's 'ger' or 'yurt', so where things are placed is important, how you move within it too and there are rituals that may be performed within them.
When it comes to animism, it is this idea that there are spirits in all things, so there is a spiritual connection to be made everywhere.
Milk is seen as having a spiritual property, just like you might think of with holy water, so milk products are often used as offerings to spirits and part of rituals and spiritual practices. Milk vodka and kumis might get used for example, as they're drinks made from milk.
I bring up milk and views of the cosmos because there are interesting implications I will come to with some of the lore of the Azim Steppe.
For the sake of this post, I want to focus on a few points that can be related to FFXIV. Those main focuses are:
Types of Shamanism
Milk & also it's relation to the Ugund
The cosmos
Souls, Afterlife and Reincarnation, with ties to the Dotharl
But this only touches the surface of a much bigger topic.
Types of Shamanism
Tengeri Shamanism is split out into 3 types, though we do not really see them explored in Final Fantasy XIV and their udgans, but I think they can leave some room for speculative analysis.
The three types are: yellow, black and white.
Black Shamans:
They get the name from the direction they drew their power and they are supported by black deities and spirits and they also worship their ancestors. They intend to overcome evil by pitting might against might.
White Shamans:
They personify humanity and their practices relate to deed and call upon peaceful masters from the white side and directing their worship in that direction. They have people commune with nature and earth spirits and pacifying any angry ones.
Yellow Shamans:
There were introduced in Mongolia by the spread of Tibetan Buddhism, it is closer to white shamanism but incorporates Buddhist beliefs and practices.
Reinterpreting for FFXIV:
Sadu's job/class is represented as Black Mage, though she is referred to as an Udgan. But in the world of Final Fantasy XIV, certain 'jobs' appear in different parts of the world under different names and practices. Like Warriors with their berserking and the Chaghan tribe with the Will of Karash. Or how Geomancers of the East are like conjurers of the West. So with Sadu she appears to be a black mage, but is practicing magic of steppe shamanism. And pitting might against might sounds like her thing and also true of black mages with the use of the Void. Unlike Black Mages we do not see Sadu draw power from the Void. But I feel Sadu's magic would be more in tune with the concepts of Black Shamanism if we wanted to relate FFXIV jobs.
On the note of White Shamanism. There's the calling upon peaceful masters, communing with nature and earth, which sounds very White Mage/Conjurer like. Though I sincerely doubt there are any intended connections, but these may be the kind of connections I tend to think about when writing a character related to the steppe (as an RPer).
The Significance of Milk
In FFXIV we have reference to some of the milk-based drinks you will find in Mongolia. There is kumis, arkhi and steppe tea. Ever wondered why they put Ala Mhigan salt crystals in the crafted recipe for Steppe Tea? It's likely because it's based on 'Suutei Tsai', which is the name given to a savoury tea from Mongolia, which is very milky and savoury (hence the added salt).
But in terms of religious practices, if you see milk arkhi served in a ger in Mongolia, you might see somebody dip their finger in and offer some arkhi vodka to the sky, the earth and to their forehead. This is an offering made to the spirits that may be done before they drink it. There's many ceremonies that involve milk as something akin to holy water, such as at weddings where they may drink kumis or milk from respective families to the bride and groom or during shamanistic rituals.
On the Azim Steppe there is also a tradition relating to milk and that's with the Ugund tribe. Their flavour text is below:
When members of this tribe die, their heads are removed from their bodies and placed in a jar of fermented goat milk. Once the liquid has been drunk by the head (in other words, evaporated), the head is then buried under an anthill so that the tiny workers can carry the spirit to the afterlife. The journey is thought to be a terrible one, the road filled with ghosts of the damned, so ensuring the spirit is drunk helps ease the journey.
At first glance it looks like the idea is that the spirit finds comfort in their journey to the afterlife by being intoxicated, but it does specify milk. Given it 'holy' nature, I expect this would provide a boon to the dead spirits of ugund in their journey.
The 3 Souls & 3 Worlds
I find the 3 souls concept of Tengrism interesting, though it can be more than 3 souls depending on beliefs, but in short, each of us have at least three souls within us, the suns, suld and ami.
The suld sits in our crown chakra whilst the suns and ami sit in our chest. The suns and ami have to be in balance with each other, else you may be susceptible to illness. A shaman is able to perform rituals that help rebalance them. It is also possible for suns and ami to become disembodied, but the suld is vital to life and you will die if you lose it. If the suns and ami are gone for a period of time then you will fall ill.
Suld - This resides in nature after death. This is vital to life, without it, you will die. This has a connection to father heaven and the tengger that live there. It's the most individualised and it is your nature spirit. It carries no past-life experiences but develops characteristics to distinguish you from other people, like your charisma and dignity.
Suns - Reincarnates after death. This contributes to the formation of your personality and carries the collective experiences of past lives. It's also comes from the lower world and in death will return there and may also return as a ghost. The suns has the strongest past-life memories. But significantly evil suns may end up extinguished forever. The suns can temporarily leave the body and sometimes wander as far as the lower world.
Ami - This is the body soul, which also reincarnates after death. It is called the 'breath' soul, if it exits the body it'll result in illness. It returns to the world tree in death and roosts in the tree branches between heaven and earth in the form of a bird. They tend to reincarnate through relatives and carry genetic or ancestral memory and these enter the body at birth.
As we reference three worlds here too: they are comprised of the upper, middle and lower worlds, which I referenced in my post on Morin Khuur with its symbolism. The upper world is represented by the heavens and the lower world can possess evil and malicious spirits and has more superstition and taboo surrounding it. The crossing over into the lower world is also represented as crossing a river.
There's a few nuggets of information I've represented above that may elicit some connections. So I will break them down.
The idea of the suns and ami souls reincarnating can maybe be related to the Dotharl, where only the udgan can tell a person's previous life, this remains consistent with the point that in Tengerism only shamans can see these souls. Could it be that the Dotharl follow the 'suns' soul and sense its past lives to know who it once belonged to and help them learn who they were and continue their life in a new body?
The talk of the Ugund journey to the afterlife being filled with the ghost of the damned could be referencing the suns of the lower world.
And one can draw a comparison to the lower world and life stream if you wanted, though there is not causal relationship here in Final Fantasy lore, but the similarity can make for comparison. But of course, something like this in Final Fantasy could have been inspired by something like the River Styx, as it's not an exclusively Tenger imagery used for passing into a lower world.
The Cosmos
Towards the start I referenced how a ger/yurt can be used as a map of the cosmos and it's spiritual significance and use in rituals. I like to think this is relevant to the Mol, they talk of communing with the old gods who are capable of revealing truths from the cosmos and the mol can interpret judgments from the gods themselves.
One of the Easter eggs involving the Mol is that their dialogue changes at different parts of Shadowbringers and Endwalker if you go back to them after those points. They comment on the things the WoL is doing on another shard but also provide a vague sight into the future of Endwalker. Just as a shaman in a ritual within a ger might reach out to the Tengger and connect with them based on their directions in the cosmos, it may perhaps be the way Mol reaches out to their elder gods to gain insights to the greater cosmos. Sadly, the lore does not go too great of depth of the Mol practice. So this is maybe a loose parallel, however, I've generally interpreted the elder gods as sky gods, because of the Mol's reading of the cosmos allowing me to draw parallels with the Tengger and how shamans reach out to them based on the map of the cosmos within the ger (based on cardinal directions) used in certain rituals.
Learn More:
This is a huge topic and this post scratches the surface, but I thought these were interesting aspects that have some references (some loose) in FFXIV's lore.
This is a pretty good online resource, the author is a Tenger Shaman and I also have a copy of their book, which covers much of what's on there as well as some of the rituals: http://buryatmongol.org/a-course-in-mongolian-shamanism/
And a video of a Tengger Shaman talking about his profession:
In the Azim Steppe lore the Torgud tribe are known as a desert tribe who deal with harsh climate and adapted to wearing body paint to protect their skin and of course, are known for not covering themselves with anything else.
The nudity is a logical trait, because clothes do not always protect your skin, especially when the sun is hottest , but if the body paint they were reflects the sun's rays, it would be good protection. That aspect of their tribe doesn't have roots in the Eurasian Steppe or the Gobi desert, but there are tribal cultures who have similar traditions. There isn't a specific one I can tie down for the Torguds, as there are cultural practices all over the world that use bodypaint.
However, the 'desert tribe' part does relate to their namesake.
Background
The Torghut (also Torguud) are one of the Oirat subgroups and speak the Torgut dialect of Oirat. Their dialect can be found in Western Mongolia, Eastern Kalmykia (and formed the basis of Kalmyk) and Xinjiang. The name likely derives from a word for 'silk'.
The spread of these languages makes sense given the history of the Torguts who had moved around and migrated a lot, mostly from conflict and has split up and old members returned.
Kalmykia makes for an interesting talking point because the core of the Kalmyks were Torguts and they're a group who left Mongolia and migrated to the Volga region, which is in Europe. Although many Kalmyks later returned to the Torguts, many still remain in Kalmykia and Kalmykia is still its own country but is a republic in the Russian federation. And they retain many of the roots from Mongolia, making it a slice of Mongolia that exists in Europe and is Europe's only mostly-Buddhist country.
On which note, the YouTuber "Bald and Bankrupt" did a video where he visited Kalmykia and talked about it.
History
The history is that the Torgut clan appeared in the 16th Century. It was when the Four Oirat alliance fell that most Torguts separated from the Oirat groups to migrate West on the Volga region (where Kalmykia is). Others when to China to become part of the 'Upper Mongols'. There were Torguts who went on a pilgrimage to Tibet and were unable to return and were re-settled by the Ejin River.
And later many Torguts returned from the Volga region and into the Dzungaria region. After the fall of the Dzungar Khanate many fled West to the Volga region.
Due to treatment from Russia, most Torguts migrated back to Dzungaria and Wester Mongolia. They ended up becoming known at "Old Torguts" and "New Torguts" was given to later Torgut immigrants. And it was near the Ejin river they settled. But they were forced by the Qing to give up their Nomadic lifestyle in favour of agriculture.
Those left behind in Russia, of course became known as the Kalmyks. And to note: Torgud-Kalmyk archers fought against the French army of Napoleon under Russian command.
A fun detail about the Kalmyk language, which is mentioned in the above video, the Ewok language in Star Wars was based on the Kalmyk language. Apparently they heard the language in a documentary and identified an old Kalmyk refugee and recorded her telling stories in her native language, which formed the basis of the Ewok language.
Torguts Today
The Qing ended up putting the New Torguts under the Altai district. And others ended up in the Khovd province. And Torguts aided in the invasion of Xinjiang. And it is those regions you will find Torguts today.
In talking of the Khovd province and Western Mongolia, this may be where the inspiration of a desert tribe comes from. The Khovd province is very dry and has rainfall comparable to Arizona. It is has extremes in terms of temperatures. It can get as hot as 40 °C/104 °F and low as −30 °C/−22 °F.
When in their nomadic lifestyle the Torguts raised cattle, sheep, horses, camels and dogs.
There is a video visiting the Torgut in Bulgan village, Khovd, for an insight to their lives today.
And below is a small article relating to Torgut in China.
The Real Steppe: The Morin Khuur & Music of the Steppe
From completing the Azim Steppe section of Stormblood we get the 'Morin Khuur' housing item and some steppe RPers like myself love to use it in RP, because it is a beautiful instrument. But there is a history and cultural significance about it. As a learner of the instrument, I would like to talk more about it.
I will cover:
An overview on the Morin Khuur
Spiritualism & Symbolism
Different musical styles the Morin Khuur may be used: Urtiin Duu, Tuuli and Khoomei.
Other instruments
Overview
It is perhaps the most iconic instrument of Mongolia, though it is not their only instrument but the only one we see referenced in Final Fantasy XIV, it has cousins like the Tuvan Igil and although they are both 2 stringed horse head fiddles they are different instruments. Modern Morin Khuurs (and the design used in FFXIV) have taken on the Western engineering used in violins and cellos, which helps retain its tuning longer and offers more projection, despite this, it is still true to its sound.
The instrument is fairly versatile, if looking to musical compositions, you will find a mix of more traditional folkish styles like "Long Song", "Khoomei" or used as part of storytelling with the "Tuuli" epics. It is also used as part of classical music in larger compositions and ensembles. And we also see it get used with modern music in pop, rap, rock and metal, which I think lends to its versatility.
The strings are played with the left hand and the bow is played with the right hand. Four fingers are used on the string and may slide down to adjust based on the position relative to the notes. The strings are usually tuned to fourths or fifths, the common standard is 'F' on the lower string a 'B flat' on the higher string, but tunings may be different for more traditional and folk-ish music. Techniques like vibrato and harmonics are achievable on the Morin Khuur. And the technique of playing notes on the string is that on the first two fingers you push away at the string with the top part of your nail (closer to the knuckle) and the second 2 fingers, the bottom of your nail rests on the string (it is better to have long nails on those 2 fingers, if not, you will have to adjust).
Spiritualism & Symbolism
There are some spiritual & symbolic aspects tied to the Morin Khuur. The Morin Khuur represents a horse, not just because of the Horse head, but the way you're sat may resemble that of riding a horse, you are also upright with the neck of the horse away from you. There is also the use of horse hair and the bottom part that holds the strings is called the 'tail'. It is also common to replicate the sound of a horse on a Morin Khuur and you can replicate the feeling of horses galloping with it. And heck, even horses themselves seem to like it:
The music of the Morin Khuur can represent that sounds of nature and one may play it surrounded by nature, which may serve as inspiration. There are many videos of Batzorig Vaanchig playing in natural landmarks, sometimes just improvising and inspired by his surroundings. You can play the Morin Khuur and find your own connection with nature and your surroundings. Though it is not the only purpose of their music, as different music styles played on the instrument maybe serve different purposes.
I could go further into the spiritualism & symbolism tied to the Morin Khuur, but there is already somebody who can do better justice than I:
However, to elaborate a little from the video. He talks about the symbolism of the strings of the Morin Khuur and how they're placed, with the kingdom above, the kingdom below and the middle kingdom (bow) connecting them both.
If my understanding of Tengrism is correct (which I will expand upon when I talk about udgans/boos/shamans). It is believed there are at least 3 spirits within us, which are the suns, ami and suld. One returns to nature in the middle world when we die, another to the upper world and another to the lower world. So these are our own personal connections to the three worlds. It is spirits tied to the lower world that can become malicious, hence some of the superstition he mentions. One of the practices of a shaman is to help move those spirits on and may have to ward of such malicious lower world spirits.
Long Song/Urtiin Duu
The "long song" is a type of traditional Mongolia music, it's not called a 'long song' because it's long but because the notes are long and tends to be accompanied by a singer who players out long syllables, which the Morin Khuur is tuned to match. The songs tends to cover topics of tradition, culture, history, ethics and philosophy.
An example of Long Song below:
Tuuli
"Tuuli" refers to the Mongolian epics, which are stories, and are often sung. Although this is not something exclusively played on Morin Khuur, it is one of the artforms it gets used for. Tuulis tend to be made up of benedictions, eulogies, spells, idiomatic phrases, fairy tales, myths and folk songs. It is through these epics that they pass down their history and values down. Those who perform Tuuli have a remarkable memory, because there is a lot to memorise. Tuulis may be performed at public events, state affairs, weddings and more.
The Epics of Jangar and Gesar are two well known ones that are easier to find English versions of.
A Tuuli is sung in couplets of alliterative verse, and may be categorised as (but not limited to):
Stories about courting
About recovering stolen possessions
A myth, such as about hero restoring order
Epics where the hero(es) challenge a threat
Ritualised epics, such as warding off monsters
An example of Tuuli can be found here:
Khoomei
This is also known as 'throat singing' and is often tied to Tuva, but there are traditions around throat singing in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, The Altai Republic and many other places because it is much older than those geographic borders and is a part of many people's identity. So it is worth not just attributing the music to Mongolia and in doing so, you may pull from a wider pool of music to listen to. Especially as it has a shared culture and history with its neighbours. There are 3 main styles to 'khoomei', which are khoomei, sygyt and kargyraa. Khoomei sits in the middle, it is the combination of your chest voice and an overtone created by muscle tension in the throat controlled by the tongue. Sygyt adds a whistle-like high pitched sound to it, created by the tongue position in the mouth. Kargyraa is the deep rumbly vocals that sit lower in the throat to Khoomei and causes your vocal folds to vibrate. There are more styles and techniques, but they're the main 3 ways to separate them.
Khoomei is typically accompanied by music, which may include the Morin Khuur. Morin Khuur would be tuned to the voice of the vocalist to match. But normally you might find a baseline for Khoomei is around 'D' or 'C' (based on Tuvan), but it varies.
An example of Khoomei:
Other Instruments
There's more than just the Morin Khuur, I can list a few other typical instruments you may find on the steppe, not all of them are Mongolian and the list isn't exhaustive.
With my keen interest in both the Azim Steppe and Mongolian Steppe, I thought I would look behind the lore of the Azim Steppe and explore its real world references. My main character, Yesunova, belongs to the Hotgo tribe and it is of course the bias I will start with.
The Name
The 'Hotgo' name seems to derive from the 'Hotgoid' of Mongolia. They're also referred to as 'Khotgoid' and 'Khotogoid'. They are a Mongolic ethnic group who still exist today.
The Khotgoid made up the Altan Khanate and were Khalkha Mongols (that make up the majority of Mongolia), who once had a Khan called Dayan Khan, who was a descendant of Kublai Khan, which may be where we get 'Dayan Hotgo', one of the tribe's founders as seen in the Alexander questline.
The History
There was the Altan Khanate of Khotgoid. They had a history of conflict with Oirats, who're an ethnic group different to Mongols but also occupy Mongolia. Both groups tended to surround the Altai mountains, but the Altan Khanate spread quite far and reached as far North as Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, which meant they also occupied Tuva in the middle.
It was the Khotgoid who pushed the Oirats out of Western Mongolia, but the Khotgoids also came into conflict with Zasagtu Khan, which lead to the Khotgoids disintegrating and ceasing to be a political power, which may be inspiration for the Hotgo's demise on the Azim Steppe. This meant they got invaded by Oirats and others.
A couple of small interesting notes about the Oirats that may be expanded upon in later posts, is that the 'Torgut' are Oirats, who seems to be the inspiration behind the Torgud tribe. And one of the Oirat tribes formed a republic in Europe, which still exists today, Kalmykia, which is in the Russia federation. They speak their own language derived from Mongolian and retain their cultural roots and are Europe's only mostly Buddhist country. So this idea of a Mongolian tribe, like the Orl, migrating far West has grounding in history.
I mentioned Tuva as one of the places occupied by the Altan Khanate, Tuvans made up for a larger group called Uriankhai, whose territory (among others) was given to one of Dayan Khan's sons. "Uriankhai" was a name given to all forest people, but later came to mean Tuvans. Given the shared history, Tuvans, although Turkic, share a lot of similarities culturally, religiously and musically to Mongolians.
On this note, it is in the regions the Altan Khanate once ruled over that are famous for throat singing. Although it is hard to say the exact origin, the style we often hear is shared between Tuvans and Mongolians, which is made up of Khoomei, Sygyt and Kargyraa (and others substyles). Modern Khotgoid can be found in lands not far from the Tuvan border. Although we often think of Mongolia when it comes to throat singing, it is worth knowing it has its roots Tuva, The Altai Republic, Kazakhstan and other central Asian countries too.
Khotgoid Today
So what about Khotgoid today? They are still found in Western Mongolia, and stretch from the Uvs lake basin to the Delgermoron river. The Uvs lake basin is right on the border of Mongolia and Tuva, it is also where desert and tundra meet. Some of them still live the traditional lifestyle, they raise cattle, camels, goats, sheep and yaks and live in gers/yurts. Some Khotgoids live in the cities. However, many Mongolian traditions and beliefs remain, they typically tend to follow Tengrism and Tibetan Buddhism.
Closing Thoughts
Some of these references leads me to think about the Hotgo. First, the direct connections we see is in the name and that both disintegrated and one of the Hotgo founders shares a name with one of the Khotgoid Khans. The spelling I think also indicates that maybe the 'H' in 'Hotgo' is pronounced with a hard 'h' sound, like 'Han' in 'Khan' or 'Huur' in 'Morin Khuur' (as the 'K' affects how the 'h' sounds and a hard 'c' sound like in English). I think geographically the Hotgo would likely have been a Western tribe near the mountains, which makes sense because the Dotharl aren't far and it is consistent with the Khotgoid in relative terms. They don't have to be geographically related, but it makes sense to think that they are and I found the Torgud and Torghut also share geographical references, but that will be another article. However, we don't see any evidence of the Hotgo's location on the parts of the Azim Steppe we see as we only evidence of the Dhoro, Dotharl, Uyagir, Qerel and Kahkol in that area but no Hotgo.
So it is hard to place where the Hotgo might have been. One thought I have is that Dotharl Khaa could have been where the former Hotgo lived, but there is no evidence to suggest this, but it would be a good vantage point and may be why they left behind no survivors so none could make claim. Given 10 years have passed, it's also plausible that there's nothing left and where they used to live got occupied by other tribes who have settled nearby. But I find it interesting that the Dotharl Khaa is where desert meets steppe and the Uvs lake, where some Khotgoid occupy, is where desert meets tundra.
Bonus - Hotgoidiin Unaga
There is a song about a Hotgoid horse, called 'Hotgoidiin Unaga'. There is an adorable music video of Batzorig Vaanchig playing it with his daughter.
Although it is not sang in English, Batzorig was kind enough to offer an explanation of the song:
'Hotgoidiin Unaga' refers to a horse that of Hotgoid tribe of Mongolia. Once upon a time, there was a poor man with a beautiful light bay horse. Once he decided to race his beautiful light bay horse at the Great Naadam Festival. But when the local noble met him, he mocked at him and said "If your light bay horse wins the Naadam Festival, I'll give you my flock of stallions." At that festival, that beautiful light bay horse came far ahead and made the owner happy and famous. Moreover, he jumped down throat of rich nobles. Since then, the beautiful light bay horse has won seven times until its age of 25. It is worth to mention that Mongolians have been herding livestock, especially horses for thousands of years. Horses are being used by brave Mongolian men for hunting and war. Mongolian men are adorned with beautiful and good horses, who race hundreds of horses for Naadam festivals and who have revered the horses even in the coat of arms of their state.
IC Location: Wayfarers' Ger, somewhere on the Azim Steppe
OOC Location: Plot 60, Ward 14, The Lavender Beds, Zalera (Downstairs)
Date/Time: 19th Feb, 7:30 EST
Uyanga Torgud is our resident black shaman and she'll be making her return all the way from deep within the Nhaama Desert to our beautiful steppe.
She will offer her shamanism and spiritual services for all. And she will provide a small ritual for good fortune. She will bring food and drink for the desert.
In Wayfarers' tradition, there will be room for storytelling. The space is also available to others who have something to offer.
Services she can offer on the spot:
- Shagai reading
- Personal and spirit advice/consultation
- Herbalism
- Hospitality Service she can schedule for (and speak about IC here) - Healing rituals
- Rituals involving the dead - Communing with the dead - Warding off/combating malicious spirits
Yesunova Hotgo @yesunova-xiv - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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