Revelations from the Endwalker Preview Site

[Alien_Gamer]

The avatar being our thirteenth shard could work as a reveal at level 80/90 but it can't be a basic fact because the job isn't story-locked

I agree it couldn't be something tied to the WoL but it could still work as a basis of the job. Almost everyone has a counterpart soul on the other shards even if they aren't the WoL; reaching out to that soul could be the basis of the job and not be tied to WoL in any way. Those that no longer have a soul on the 13th shard or are unable to connect with it wouldn't be able to become a RPR.

I also agree that doing anything with voidsent seems bad...almost all the lore from BLM to WHM to Ascian shenanigans shows dealing with the voidsent is a bad idea. I wonder if this will be a partial retcon or if they'll take the approach of ignorance is dangerous. History shows voidsent are dangerous because people handle them improperly but if you know how to handle them properly then voidsent aren't any more dangerous than a wild dog. Maybe an analogy would be electricity, if you don't know how to handle it then you can easily kill yourself or others but if you know how it behaves and how to manipulate it correctly then its not a dangerous thing.

[RyuDragnier]

I also agree that doing anything with voidsent seems bad...almost all the lore from BLM to WHM to Ascian shenanigans shows dealing with the voidsent is a bad idea. I wonder if this will be a partial retcon or if they'll take the approach of ignorance is dangerous. History shows voidsent are dangerous because people handle them improperly but if you know how to handle them properly then voidsent aren't any more dangerous than a wild dog. Maybe an analogy would be electricity, if you don't know how to handle it then you can easily kill yourself or others but if you know how it behaves and how to manipulate it correctly then its not a dangerous thing.

They may be taking an approach to where being a Reaper is only dangerous if you are not on the battlefield often. Assuming you enter into a pact with the Voidsent, it's likely they want you to supply them with aether from those you've killed to nourish them. As long as you do so often, you are in no real danger because they know that you will supply them with food from your kills. But if you are unable to, it's likely they'll take you instead, finding that you've no longer lived up to your side of the deal. To quote Darth Vader for how they feel when they take you, "You've failed me for the last time."

[Jandor]

I'm fairly confident the writing team to make something that makes sense, still a little apprehensive, but very interested too. Lot of potential to be really good or really bad here.

[YianKutku]

They may be taking an approach to where being a Reaper is only dangerous if you are not on the battlefield often. Assuming you enter into a pact with the Voidsent, it's likely they want you to supply them with aether from those you've killed to nourish them. As long as you do so often, you are in no real danger because they know that you will supply them with food from your kills. But if you are unable to, it's likely they'll take you instead, finding that you've no longer lived up to your side of the deal. To quote Darth Vader for how they feel when they take you, "You've failed me for the last time."

According to the Mhach raids, voidsent are also very prone to violating the spirit of the contract, by finding as many loopholes as they can in "even the most carefully-worded of contracts". Hence the Nullstone, which was Mhach's contract enforcement.

So I'm curious if the Garleans who became Reapers had some sort of Nullstone equivalent, and how they made it work. The Mhachi Nullstone did need magical power to banish voidsent, but maybe it's not the only way.

[zeylos]

The red part of the garlean emblem symbolizes the blood of those who died in service of garlemald, This might be a bit of a stretch but it could almost be the origin of it's meaning via being symbolic of the reaper using the souls of the dead to reap vengeance. Not to mention reaper is used in the naming of their most iconic machina, the magitek reaper.

Im so confused about them 'using' the souls of the dead, didn't we get told at ShB that souls were eternal and indestructible and they all would eventually reincarnate into smth?

[Jandor]

Im so confused about them 'using' the souls of the dead, didn't we get told at ShB that souls were eternal and indestructible and they all would eventually reincarnate into smth?

I think they have to go back to the lifestream for the whole reincarnation cycle to start, I guess in theory so long as you can prevent that step from occurring you can use souls for other stuff for a bit.

[Styrmwyda]

Reaper being straight up voidsent summoning is quite odd, summoning creatures from the void has always been a very solidly bad thing to do up till now.

I do find it funny we're getting this job from the same team that wouldn't let us play Thief because it didn't fit with the character of the WoL.

Isn't Rogue/ Ninja more or less Thief? They even retain a few of the skills from Thief in FF11, and the outfit worn by Rogue's Guild NPCs is very similar to the Thief armor from that game. Lore wise, they were even originally called "The Upright Thieves".

[Alleo]

Im so confused about them 'using' the souls of the dead, didn't we get told at ShB that souls were eternal and indestructible and they all would eventually reincarnate into smth?

Maybe there are "parts" of one soul that basically stays back or "falls of" when someone dies. So the core would always go on but something still lingers which then can be used by others.

[Jandor]

Isn't Rogue/ Ninja more or less Thief? They even retain a few of the skills from Thief in FF11, and the outfit worn by Rogue's Guild NPCs is very similar to the Thief armor from that game. Lore wise, they were even originally called "The Upright Thieves".

Rogue is basically Thief, yeah.

I just find it a little funny that they don't actually call it Thief because it doesn't fit with the character of the WoL, but a scythe wielding Reaper summoning a demonic aether starved entity from a ruined hellscape dimension is a-ok.

[RyuDragnier]

According to the Mhach raids, voidsent are also very prone to violating the spirit of the contract, by finding as many loopholes as they can in "even the most carefully-worded of contracts". Hence the Nullstone, which was Mhach's contract enforcement.

So I'm curious if the Garleans who became Reapers had some sort of Nullstone equivalent, and how they made it work. The Mhachi Nullstone did need magical power to banish voidsent, but maybe it's not the only way.

It may have to deal with the exact terms of the contract. Depending on how thorough the contract is set up, the voidsent may be unable to find a loophole. Something as vague as "Give me power, I give you souls" gives a lot of legroom for contract exploiting. However, something more specific like, "You give me your power, I give you the souls of those I kill, including my own upon my death. However you cannot under any circumstances do anything that could result in my death, whether directly or indirectly," is a lot harder to exploit.