Alternate Craftsmen Classes

[Mysterysword]

This actually started with a tangientially-related question I have, which is regarding the writing materials of Eorzea.

From the names and descriptions of certain in-game items, we can tell that Eorzeans (and the Au Ra tribes of the Azim Steppe) use parchment as a writing material. What I wanted to know was: do they also create and use paper? It seems logical that they would; they have the materials and the technological capabilities to manufacture paper on a large scale.

Also, I can't imagine the elementals would be too happy about people slaughtering animals en masse just to make parchment.

But anyway.

From here, I wondered, if parchment/paper exists, then which craftsman trade is in charge of making it? Presumably it would be CRP for paper and LTW for parchment, guilds which happen to share a home city. Traditionally, though, craftsmen have been far more specialised in their respective trades than the umbrella terms of carpenter, leatherworker, etc.

For example, glass is a common material in Eorzea, and glassblowing is an entire trade all its own. Yet, none of the 8 crafter classes we have so far seem to include glassblowing as part of their scope. What other kinds of craftsmen have we not seen yet?

[YianKutku]

What I wanted to know was: do they also create and use paper?

Off the top of my head, orchestrion rolls are made from paper.

Blank spools of paper onto which scores of sheet music can be transcribed by means of perforation.

Apart from that, there's also "Bamboo Paper", classified under "Lumber" for some reason:

Thinly sliced bamboo used to preserve the aroma of rare fragrant wood.

(I admit I only remember Bamboo Paper because I got some from a treasure map chest, and then had no idea what it was used for, and so the stack sat in my inventory for a couple of months.)

Interestingly, there is a game in Eorzea implied to be equivalent to rock-paper-scissors, called "stone-parchment-shears" (as mentioned in the description for the Fiend Worm FSH bait). Which suggests that for the majority of people, parchment is what they think of when it comes to thin, flat writing material.

From here, I wondered, if parchment/paper exists, then which craftsman trade is in charge of making it? Presumably it would be CRP for paper and LTW for parchment, guilds which happen to share a home city.

CRP makes the Blank Orchestrion Rolls. Also, the Arcanist grimoires made by ALC usually involve wood logs in their crafting recipes, which implies that the pages are made of paper. (Grimoire recipes also usually have leather, but it's implied to be for the covers.)

Parchment is a bit harder to look up. I'll let others more well-versed in lore pick that up.

For example, glass is a common material in Eorzea, and glassblowing is an entire trade all its own. Yet, none of the 8 crafter classes we have so far seem to include glassblowing as part of their scope.

ALC creates the various glass-related items, but I admit I don't know if they actually blow glass, or if it's done by some form of fantasy alchemical magic. You're right that there really should be a whole separate trade for glassblowing, or at least that Alchemists will probably be spending most of their time handling orders for glass.

[uvuvwevwevweonyetenyevweugwemu]

I haven't seen a guild has factory/offices somewhere other than Naldiq & Vymelli's (BSM/ARM, in Moraby Drydocks).
The guilds afaik are separate from mass producing, mostly for learning the art and new ways to fit clients needs.
ALC guildmaster is too quirky to run a factory. LTW's naturalist and not wasting parts from animals guild motto.
I think paper is more common than parchment in Eorzea, Ishgard may have more because winter preserve some animals.

[Mysterysword]

Parchment is a bit harder to look up. I'll let others more well-versed in lore pick that up.

I assumed leatherworkers would handle the manufacture of parchment, since it's animal skin. It also makes sense that that would be what the Xaela tribes use as writing material, since the Azim Steppes are relatively low on suitable plant matter for paper, and they keep a lot of animals.

Mechanics wise, I can understand why glassblowing isn't a crafter class in-game - what kind of items would a glassblower make that an adventurer would actually use? But it does make me curious about what other trades we haven't seen yet that ought to exist.

[YianKutku]

Mechanics wise, I can understand why glassblowing isn't a crafter class in-game - what kind of items would a glassblower make that an adventurer would actually use?

If we want to go into "realism" in game mechanics at the expense of actual player fun, there's always potion bottles. As it is, potion creation just kind of comes with their own bottles, particularly decorative for cordials and ethers.

[Enkidoh]

Well, given that there was meant to be a fourth Disciple of the Land class named 'Shepherd' available to players in the original version of FFXIV, only for the class to be dropped and never touched on again, it's clear that besides the guilds that are available gameplay wise, there is bound to be trades that involve manufacturing other items or materials not covered by the existing classes (like brickmaking, stoneworking/masonry, and yes, glassblowing would all probably have their own specialized disciplines, but the game does not go into that).

And speaking of glassblowing, besides the more mundane use of glass in Eorzea like windows, bottles for medicines and beverages and lamps, another more esoteric use for glass that even features in gameplay is guildleves, specifically the leve plates, are made of stained glass in a metal frame, so there would need to be some way of making said glass... unless it's just another thing handled by the GSM's Guild (in a way glass can sort of be considered 'stone' I guess), as besides jewellery they also make clockwork gears and movements used in mammet brains (which are basically clockwork computers), so glassmaking would easily fit too.

But that's just my own musings so your guess is as good as mine.

[CaesarCV]

I think this touches on a more general issue that appears in nearly every RPG, FFXIV included. And that is the problem of 'scale'. Having a fully scaled, completely accurate world is basically impossible. In order to do it you'd have to have villages every few miles, ridiculous travel distances and times, hundreds of thousands of people, and a host of other problems. To fully model a world would require completely ridiculous amounts of depth and interest. Hundreds of thousands of named NPCs would have to exist, and there would have to be people of a nearly infinite combinations of professions. Each of them would have to have a family, friends, ideas, political affiliations, and more. It is, frankly, an impossible task. So, all games, (and other media for that instance) instead just focus on what's important to make the work function. For example, in FFXIV, the cities are full of named NPCs, but are nowhere near the proper scale for them. There are probably tens of thousands of people inhabiting Limsa Lominsa, and a bustling location like Aleport should have thousands of souls within its walls. However, for a mixture of gameplay convenience and engine limitations, we get a sort of warped, abstract view of the world. Everything is condensed and made possible for proper gameplay.

To relate this to the question at hand, there are undoubtedly more guilds and crafting professions than exist for players in the game. However, since most of them are either A) useless for adventuring or B) not particularly exciting, they're not nearly as detailed as the full crafting classes in the game. For example, most of the Blacksmiths would probably spend their days fixing pitchforks, but that would be boring to a player, who would rather be forging the mightiest weapons and armor in the realm. Similarly, there is probably a guild of Wainrights who make the carts that allow Eorzean trade, but spending all day building carts would not make for compelling gameplay in a theme park style MMO like FFXIV. In short, only what's really important to the gameplay (or story) is fully shown, other things can be presumed to exist off screen.

I do love all of the other discussion and such on specific uses of glass and parchment though! It's great to see!

[Mysterysword]

Glass bottles are one thing, though I can understand why we don't have an entire glassblowing class just for one item. Aside from the other trades mentioned so far, though, I've always wondered who makes all the clay pots we see around the world. It's funny to think that pottery must be an ancient trade in Eorzea - we dig up potsherds in Palace of the Dead, which is at least 1000 years old or something, but we don't even get a mention of modern-day potters or claymakers in NPC chatter.

[WhiteArchmage]

Funnily enough, ALC has a recipe for Potter's Clay which is, in turn, used in some housing items, particularily potted plants (also ALC) so we can asume that some members of the alchemist guild or with some experience with the guild turned away from the potionmaking trade and moved towards more mundane works like glassmaking and pottery

(EDIT: Whoops, I double checked and Potter's Clay is a reagent dug up by miners, not an ALC recipe, but IS used in some ALC recipes)

[Jyera]

Funnily enough, ALC has a recipe for Potter's Clay which is, in turn, used in some housing items, particularily potted plants (also ALC) so we can asume that some members of the alchemist guild or with some experience with the guild turned away from the potionmaking trade and moved towards more mundane works like glassmaking and pottery

(EDIT: Whoops, I double checked and Potter's Clay is a reagent dug up by miners, not an ALC recipe, but IS used in some ALC recipes)

If I'm remembering correctly, it's used in a recipe for red brick (so, ALC = ceramics specialists, possibly ).