Au Ra physiology and other lore.

I had a rather long post full of lovely points to make on the subject, but it imploded on itself somehow so I'll just shorten it all down.

Lalafells.

Check and Mate, and before you spout something like "yeah but they too look like they need protecting so lol they suck" just keep in mind that there are two NPC Marauders for Lalafells. I also remember there being a Pugilist or two. There's nothing stopping the insanely adorable Lalafells (even their sit emote falls into a "child-like" theme) from going on to wage war against the Gods of the realm. Keep in mind that the game's lore seldom applies to adventurers, especially not the Warrior of Light. We're special, and you forget that while your "dance, sit, cheer, grovel, pray" emotes may appear Moe, the emotes your going to see most are your class/job actions.

I said this would be abridged, but I ended up ranting a bit again. Oh well, at least I spared you the rant on Miqo'te culture.
(side note regarding Xaela and "war" theme. It's possible the tribes have strict gender roles, and that Xaela females do not typically participate in the blood bath)

Realized this was in the wrong thread, woopsie.

I don't know why the moé thing is bothering some people. I know some of you want to play a more 'tough' type of female character, but that sort of look was clearly never intended for the Au Ra from a design aspect, so pick a different race for it if you want your emotes to match your persona.

You can still make the moé thing work for you, if you go about it by playing a more manipulative type of person, who acts all cutesy to get their way, but in reality they're a psychotic b-word. Or simply ignore the game mechanics altogether, a lot of people in the RP communities of MMOs often do anyway because their characters go against the intended mold. The other option would be to create an Au Ra male instead of a female if you want a more imposing look.

As for me, I'm going male anyway because I want some manmeat to stare at between doing my grinds. Didn't collect all that male slutwear just to throw it out at this point.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

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Well, to avoid getting back into that debate I'm just not going to respond to the first half :P

I just wouldn't mind a more diverse set of options with the Au Ra, as I'm sure you know >_>, Xaela looking badass and big all just kinda fits the motif of warrior imho.

Here's hoping? Though gonna be honest I doubt it'll be the case :P

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Originally Posted by Sabeta

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I want to write a response, but I'm desperately attempting to avoid more debating, so instead I'm just going to say "Not a bad response! But I disagree". Not in a good spot lately to debate though, so... Trying to stay just personal opinions territory here.

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Originally Posted by Nataruma

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Eeh.. I'd rather just play a tough dragon/demon lady without dipping into yandere stuff because I hate that trope or having to play Roegadyn lady to match that "Tough" type. I've attempted to do that, but I also like using in game emotes to help with well in game roleplay. I mean, what's the point of even making a character in game, to roleplay, if you're going to ignore most in game things? Like.. I enjoy using emotes to help give a more immersive feel whenever also doing /em for in game roleplay. Plus I like playing girls, roleplaying as a dude isn't something I want to do.

My point being, even official characters of the game have a personality far off the stereotypes of their species. Race is not tied to personality, from the lore there's calm and cold miqo'te, evil and strongs lalafells etc... however when it come down to the animations given to the players it's stereotypes all the way. (try to find something that's doesn't look cute or attention seeking on a miqo'te)

We should have some more serious/neutral options here and there.
Also don't expect every people to play an Au'ra "moe", once again your race doesn't make your personality.

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Originally Posted by Sigiria

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I know, I just wish emotes weren't so stereotypical in line with one personality, taking a more neutral tone. It's a little irritating attempting to roleplay in game and having to avoid emotes all the time, as it kinda just makes your character kind of dull. There's always out of game roleplay.. But eh.

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Originally Posted by Nataruma

Rawr!

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So... play a female Au Ra like this? :p

And aww yiss for Au Ra manmeat.

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Originally Posted by Raminax

The only outright statement I can find on Au Ra being moeblobs is this summary of the GameWatch interview during the European tour. Translation seems fishy though, considering that another translation contradicts it on points like the Succubi image of female Au Ra. First guy did admittedly warn for mistakes as well. :p

That said, I suppose the full game will tell us the whole basic personality of female Au Ra!

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I think there is a mistake in the blue gartr translation, this is the sentence that has an issue :

――アウラの吉田さんが考えているイメージを教えてもらえますか？
Can you tell us what is your image of the Au Ra ?

吉田氏：　キャラメイクで極端に自分の中のアウラの設定を変えられるようにしています。
In the character maker you can change a lot of options.

僕が基本路線として守れと言ったのは、ちょっと影があって守ってあげたくなるような女性のキャラクターメイクが今まで「FFXIV」にはないので、そこが維持できるようにと。
The basic route that I said I wanted to follow was that as it is now, in the character creation of FFXIV there is no kind of woman that have a little shape and that you want to protect.


The thing in that part is that he uses the words (影) kage and 守 (mamoru)

The issue is that these two can mean multiple things, kage can mean shadow or silhouette / shape / figure and mamoru can mean "to protect", "to orbserve" or "to follow" ( and even that observe and follow are more of the meaning that you must observe/follow a rule and not really look at, the meaning of that kanji is more about protecting someone or a promise, a word. ) that's where there is the mistake in their translation.

There is little sense that in a question about what's the image Yoshida has of Au Ra he talks about shadows, the first part is specifically about women and I don't think there are shadows made only for female Au Ra. I could go into details for that sentence if you want but there is just so many things to explain, I can understand that you can make a mistake in there if you go quickly through the interview.

Thanks for the clarification!

I like the idea of the moé-ness of the Au Ra females, I keep thinking, "wouldn't it be ironic if they were actually the leading brains of the outfit in their warbands, while the males did all the grunt work?" and perhaps that petite look for the females actually excites the males. You know the chicks could all be closeted dominatrix size queens in reality, and with that much man to grab onto (plus handles!), I mean it may as well be canon *cough* >_> don't take me seriously I am a huge fan of size difference in roleplay, I'm so sorry m(_ _)m

As for my Au Ra his persona is a bit flamboyant (read: fashion-conscious) and quite snide, but the default look is more intense and aggressive; I think I can still make it work. I haven't quite found a voice set that fits exactly right, my kingdom for a sultry male voice for these guys, but eh it's not a big deal.

Point is imagination trumps game script, and the latter isn't necessary to make a concept work.

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Originally Posted by Nataruma

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You're not wrong.. But I still would love to have the option of cranking my Auri lady's height up to 7' (Or at least give them a height range to bring them up to 6'3 SE ;~; Girl Roes have a 1' height range!) and roleplay her as the sort of folk you'd see heading the charge into battle. Toothy smirk on her face as she smashes her fists into the faces of enemies and all that. I just don't get the same sort of feel with one that's like 5'3 and I wish I could at least hit up the height some.

Too much posts to respond to individually so I'll just go at it all at once.

Yes, I know there are already "cute" races and their emotes and such have no impact on their capability as adventurers. I suppose I just wanted more neutral body language than we were inevitably going to get, given the Au Ra women were designed to be "someone you want to protect." The petite build I can deal with, but the moé-flavored mannerisms I don't take so well.

Probably just spoiled myself by playing a female Highlander...

I'm not an RPer, so it's not about "my character's persona." I'm not even a woman IRL. I just prefer my characters to look like the sort of person you'd expect them to, and as the Warrior of Light I feel the PC should look like the one doing the protecting, not the one in need of protection.

Meh... whatever. Just look forward to this tough as nails woman protecting you while decked out in black plate mail and carrying a 5' sword.

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/a...nders%2011.png

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Originally Posted by Cilia

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She looks good. I kind of want to avoid that specific hairstyle though since I feel it's going to be on 90% of the Au'Ra.

http://i.imgur.com/WNh5x3V.png

I feel like I could make her better though, but I'm not sure how. I want her to look a little bit creepier, but my attempts so far have resulted in some rather ugly looking girls. This is the best I've managed so far.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Me likie!

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My dude would be honored to be protected by that fine and healthy-looking young lady, as long as he doesn't have to chip any of his manicured nails. Bodyguard services are available, yes?

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Originally Posted by Sabeta

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Not bad. If you're going for a creepier look, using an unnatural (as far as humans go) hair / skin color helps. Like purple skin with yellow eyes. Kinda weirds people out. I kept my design fairly tame (tanned skin for a Mediterranean look thanks to Xaela being tribal nomads, normal hair color, creepy eyes to give off a tough look), but it's really not that tough.

I'm only going with that hairstyle as a placeholder for what I end up using in-game. Depending on how Lightning's haircut and the ponytail look, I might end up using one of those instead... but they're not in the Benchmark, so, yeah.

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Originally Posted by Nataruma

My dude would be honored to be protected by that fine and healthy-looking young lady, as long as he doesn't have to chip any of his manicured nails. Bodyguard services are available, yes?

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I just said I'm not an RPer... lol. If we end up in a dungeon together I will endeavor to play my part though. (Don't have a whole lot of tanking experience, but I never felt challenged in my rise to PLD 35.)

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Originally Posted by Cilia

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My rules for designing her were 1) She must have either Blond/Red hair, and 2) Green Eyes. She's a healer first and foremost, so I wanted her to look reminiscent of all the notable NPC healers. (In other words, I want my dragonlady to look like a Padjal). I tried those color combos with some of the other skin colors, but they ended up taking her closer to diseased rather than creepy.

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Originally Posted by Sabeta

My rules for designing her were 1) She must have either Blond/Red hair, and 2) Green Eyes. She's a healer first and foremost, so I wanted her to look reminiscent of all the notable NPC healers. (In other words, I want my dragonlady to look like a Padjal). I tried those color combos with some of the other skin colors, but they ended up taking her closer to diseased rather than creepy.

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That's pretty restrictive, since it locks you into a lot of the more prominent options (Raen, Face 1, normal skin / hair / eye colors). The Xaela have a lot more "weird" skin tones, but the black horns / scales go against the intended Padjal look...

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Originally Posted by Sabeta

She looks good. I kind of want to avoid that specific hairstyle though since I feel it's going to be on 90% of the Au'Ra.

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That super popular hair style reminds me of"

http://orig07.deviantart.net/74c1/f/...xx-d7vyk2w.jpg

I am ready for Kadaj to invade Eorzea! Haha

I like your hairstyle Sabeta, I am using the same :)

http://i.imgur.com/Cu5NrOq.jpg

You know the phrase "Someone you want to protect" doesn't mean "They look weak". I want to protect my cat but I don't think she's weak or looks weak. Another example could be; Your significant other you want to protect them but may not think they are weak. Cutesy emotes ra

Though I talked to my friend who can speak Japanese about that and she translated the line as Yoshi-P basically saying he's "defending" the design of the female Au Ra in regards to the backlash they've been getting. Which to me makes more sense then the other translations of it because I don't really know how Yoshi-P could say the Au Ra could look any more defensible then other females/lalafells. Maybe the devs could come in and actually clarify it?

Also, if we are still posting our Au Ra:

http://i.minus.com/iwkhyez0reNRm.png
Here's my bored-looking princess.

As Jackie Chan said in the New Karate Kid movie...Being still and doing nothing are two very different things. I like to think she'll smile calmly at you and let you underestimate her right up until the moment she guts you. Literally or figuratively. After all, wasn't it Kipling that said the female is more dangerous than the male? ;)

http://novasunhawk.deviantart.com/ar...Gear-539685100

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Originally Posted by lilirulu

You know the phrase "Someone you want to protect" doesn't mean "They look weak". I want to protect my cat but I don't think she's weak or looks weak. Another example could be; Your significant other you want to protect them but may not think they are weak. Cutesy emotes ra

Though I talked to my friend who can speak Japanese about that and she translated the line as Yoshi-P basically saying he's "defending" the design of the female Au Ra in regards to the backlash they've been getting. Which to me makes more sense then the other translations of it because I don't really know how Yoshi-P could say the Au Ra could look any more defensible then other females/lalafells. Maybe the devs could come in and actually clarify it?

Also, if we are still posting our Au Ra:

Here's my bored-looking princess.

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Thing is, people want to protect the people and things close to them based on emotional attachment. Without emotional attachment, this protective instinct is still triggered by looks of youth and innocence; there's no other way to get it going at a glance, hence the difficulty of stamping out looks of youth and innocence in Auri women. They were designed to trigger that protective instinct - in other words, to be moé.

Now, I am totally fine with that because it's possible to overcome or downplay that element through clever use of the Character Creator. Face 2 is a slightly more mature look, Face 3 looks like a mature woman, etc. Their mannerisms and body language, on the other hand, have been shown to be nothing but cute and diminutive, which I personally don't feel suits the adventuring type. (Then again, the only current in-game Au Ra seriously spits in the face of the moé archetype...)

I'm not asking Yoshi-P or any of the devs to defend the design. I understand why it is the way it is. It's a major component of Auri racial identity; none of the other races have sexual dimorphism like they do. I just find it kind of silly to design a PC race as "someone you want to protect" when they are the ones that are supposed to do the protecting.

Then again, I suppose that's why SE pays Yoshi-P the big bucks, lol ;)

She looks nice. I personally prefer shorter hairstyles because longer hair isn't combat practical, but that's just me. (And for people who continue riffing on me for using the popular "bang over eye" hairstyle, I may switch it out when the game goes live. Need to see how some hairstyles not in the Benchmark look first.)

Emotional Attachments can be formed in an instant though and having them form very quickly isn't something that's uncommon. It could be there beauty attracts people and almost instantly they want to protect them. For an example; You see a gorgeous horse and you'd hate to see something bad happen to it. So, if it did run into trouble you'd run in to try to protect it.

And even then I really don't think we can use that or any fan translation as a basis for any argument unless we get official word from SE saying "this is what he said" because we've gotten three very different translations for it and don't really have any way of saying for sure which is right unless we get actual official, and in english, confirmation. The only actual confirmation we definitely have from SE in regards to the design process of Au Ra is that they are "elegant and mysterious"(x).

Yoshi-P probably (if that was what he was saying) wasn't defending the design to you, me, or anyone one the forums (maybe...) but to the plethora of people who have called him and the devs everything but their names in regards to the female Au Ra. Which, honestly, was a good chance probably mostly coming from Tumblr.

I really doubt SE gives a damn or looks at Tumblr considering how it's a really American platform and there's really no way for their to be a "unifed opinion" as the tagging system is horrid and most people don't bother messing with things that they dislike on it. From what I've seen, just like any other site, it's a bunch of mixed reactions to it. I don't feel it's really fair to call out a social media platform for anything in specific >_>

Aaanyways

http://i.imgur.com/dG7AaWc.png

This is about as close as I could get to a tough look without giving her the "Constantly pissed" furrowed eyes look. I just wish I could crank her height up to 7' ;~;

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

I really doubt SE gives a damn or looks at Tumblr considering how it's a really American platform and there's really no way for their to be a "unifed opinion" as the tagging system is horrid and most people don't bother messing with things that they dislike on it. From what I've seen, just like any other site, it's a bunch of mixed reactions to it. I don't feel it's really fair to call out a social media platform for anything in specific >_>

Aaanyways

http://i.imgur.com/dG7AaWc.png

This is about as close as I could get to a tough look without giving her the "Constantly pissed" furrowed eyes look. I just wish I could crank her height up to 7' ;~;

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I think she looks tough :) Good job! Also, I don't mind their body language so far, the emotes look cute and everything about the female au ra has drawn me to them. Wish we could preview more of the emotes in the benchmark creator lol

I think the reveal trailer for the Au Ra showed off more of their emotes then the benchmark does but I have no clue where you'd find that at.

Edit: Well asides from checking the official youtube but I can't get YT to load right now on my PC. If I do in the next bit I'll check.

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Originally Posted by lilirulu

I think the reveal trailer for the Au Ra showed off more of their emotes then the benchmark does but I have no clue where you'd find that at.

Edit: Well asides from checking the official youtube but I can't get YT to load right now on my PC. If I do in the next bit I'll check.

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Thanks :) I think I remember the video...was it when they first showed the race? Gonna see if I can dig it up too :3

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Originally Posted by lilirulu

I think the reveal trailer for the Au Ra showed off more of their emotes then the benchmark does but I have no clue where you'd find that at.

Edit: Well asides from checking the official youtube but I can't get YT to load right now on my PC. If I do in the next bit I'll check.

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I think this video is the one you're talking about?

While this is nice and all... I STILL WANT LONGER TAILS FOR WOMEN AU RA!

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Originally Posted by lilirulu

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You're basically proving my point for me, lol.

What you're describing is not emotional attachment. That takes time to form and cement. What you're describing is protective instinct, which is basically what moé runs on. Emotional attachment is when you're personally invested in something, emotionally, so you don't want things to turn out badly or see someone get hurt. Protective instinct can be triggered, usually by appearances of innocence and youth. Babies and young children typically trigger it in people, which is why moé show protagonists are often cute girls who still have child-like proportions even if they're supposed to be teenage or adult. It's a subtle difference, but clear as day if you can see it.

Emotional attachment is more along the lines of "How emotionally devastated will I be if I lose / fail to protect this?"
Protective instinct is more along the lines of "This is cute / innocent / pretty (etc) so I have to protect it!"

You did do the assigned homework, did you not? :rolleyes:

While it might not be the wisest idea to run on fan-translated interviews, a lot of that kind of media isn't translated into English or any other language. All three of the magazines that have the interviews from Yoshi-P (Gamewatch, Dengeki, and Famitsu) aren't officially translated or released internationally. Relying on fan translations is dodgy, but it's all we really have.

Ehh, Tumblerites can go bugger off. I don't really touch social media, and I doubt anyone really takes much of what anyone on sites like Tumblr says seriously.

The soul exception being people like me IRL who simply don't want harm to come to people weather I know them or not.

So that "Moe factor" doesn't effect people with a natural protective instinct. Guess though psychologically, that's probably why I fail to see what's apparently so obscenely cutesy about the Auri women as well.

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Originally Posted by NecraMancie

While this is nice and all... I STILL WANT LONGER TAILS FOR WOMEN AU RA!

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Longer tails.. Horns not locked to the face.. Greater height range.. I wouldn't mind a lot of things for girl Au Ra >.>

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Originally Posted by Kaiser-Ace

The soul[sic] exception being people like me IRL who simply don't want harm to come to people weather[sic] I know them or not.

So that "Moe factor" doesn't effect people with a natural protective instinct. Guess though psychologically, that's probably why I fail to see what's apparently so obscenely cutesy about the Auri women as well.

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Don't want to see harm come to people, whether you know them or not? Heheh... ok, let me ask you this: how many Garleans did you unthinkingly kill in the Main Scenario?

Pacifism has nothing to do with either emotional attachment or protective instinct. That's a choice, albeit one influenced by personality. Protective instinct isn't something you even think about; it's an instinct, it just happens naturally whether you want it to or not. Just like people will instinctively recoil if their hand is put into a pot of boiling water, they'll instinctively want to protect young children.

Moé takes advantage of that protective instinct; it's natural in everybody (except sociopaths), not just people who have a distaste for violence and don't want to hurt anybody.

And I don't think Auri women are obscenely cutesy, but their mannerisms are a bit on the saccharine side for my taste.

Wow, wow.. Just... On gods phfff hahaha!!!!

You misunderstood compleatly, the desire of a Guardian personality is far from pasivisim.
No I've slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Garlean Soldiers unthinkingly because if I don't strike them down they'll cause an unthinkable amount of suffering.
This isn't pasivisim, its controlled massacre. Protect those that can not protect themselves and strike down those that would hurt them without mercy.
My RP online and my ideals IRL. Though online permits alot more mindless conflict than IRL. And unlike online much more thought is put into my justice irl too.

This isn't the 14th century irl after all. Conflicts are fought in the mind and on paper now. True war is undesirable so I cast judgment in the battlefield of the mind accordingly.

Also forgive the second post but I have no idea how to access edit via a mobile device.

So it's OK to hurt and kill people, as long as it's the right people?

Huh.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

So it's OK to hurt and kill people, as long as it's the right people?

Huh.

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Yes? You're not gonna find a lot of people who would disagree with that.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

So it's OK to hurt and kill people, as long as it's the right people?

Huh.

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Well there comes the real eternal question.

Who is Right? Who determines what's right?
I do what I do and follow my ideals and except all consequences associated with them. It's true online just as irl, War is a nessicary evil. There are no good guys in War only evil. All point of view determines is which evil do you side with? I choose my family, friends, and people over the enemy that would harm them. As do most. This my "justice" is directed at are the people who seek destruction for the sake of destruction.

Is that wrong? Well you decide. And no matter which side that puts you on, I respect that decision, So long as its your will and not that of another.

No garlen soldier (well with the exception of Livia sas Junes) have I ever killed in mallice only out of duty and the defense of Eorzia. Same for the beastmen, dragons, and meracydians.

Just as in IRL I wouldn't kill my enemy in mallice, only because it me and my family or them. Not even a choice at all from my perspective.

(And in the name of the twelve can some one tell me how to edit a post using a smartphone? I'd greatly appreciate it)

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Originally Posted by Viridiana

Yes? You're not gonna find a lot of people who would disagree with that.

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Originally Posted by Kaiser-Ace

Well there comes the real eternal question.

Who is Right? Who determines what's right?
I do what I do and follow my ideals and except all consequences associated with them. It's true online just as irl, War is a nessicary evil. There are no good guys in War only evil. All point of view determines is which evil do you side with? I choose my family, friends, and people over the enemy that would harm them. As do most. This my "justice" is directed at are the people who seek destruction for the sake of destruction.

Is that wrong? Well you decide. And no matter which side that puts you on, I respect that decision, So long as its your will and not that of another.

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I can't really say I disagree, but I find the people who say "I don't want to hurt people" and who willingly engage in warfare rather sanctimonious. War is not a glorious thing or good in any way, but if you're willing to shoulder the burden of the sins that go along with it for the greater good... well, welcome to the world of moral complexity.

That said, there are few truly "evil" people in the world. Most have ideals they're fighting for, not dissimilar to your own. Or they might have no choice, forced to serve under threat of death. You know all those Garlean rank-and-file soldiers you slaughter? Most are conscripts forced to serve under threat of death. Don't forget that, now!

... killin' people is necessary, sometimes. But it's still, you know, not good and distinctly different from protecting people. You cannot claim to be a guardian if you go around killing people.

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Kupo this is getting off-topic! We can has Au Ra clan info and naming conventions, SE?

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Originally Posted by Kaiser-Ace

(And in the name of the twelve can some one tell me how to edit a post using a smartphone? I'd greatly appreciate it)

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It's my understanding that you can't. Welcome to the SE brand of archaic forum design! >_>

A Guardian guards something, thus the origen of the word. I guard what's important to me.

Being a Guardian is a moral paradox. Protect some at the cost of others. It's sad but its a burden I accept.

As for the edit thing.... I was afraid that was the case sadly. :(