Summoner and BLM differences

[TinyRedLeaf]

I can't really speak for how you choose to roleplay Miranda, but I'll try to explain how I've integrated the thaumaturge and archer aspects of my summoner's storyline.

When Merlwyb appointed Lyland as her envoy to Gridania and Ul'dah, he took the opportunity to learn more about the other schools of magic in Eorzea. From the conjurers, he learnt more about the art of healing and protection. But, more importantly, he met Sylphie Sweetwind, and wondered why she couldn't be allowed to strengthen her own reserves of aether and avoid endangering her life whenever she heals with magic.

It's not immediately apparent, but among the three schools of magic, arcanists are very likely the best at managing their internal flow of aether. This is represented by the arcanist's aetherflow ability, which not just replenishes his aether, but also sets up a "reservoir" of aether that can be released in a burst of magical power.

Lyland pondered this question when he next visited Ul'dah and studied thaumaturgy. He found that the thaumaturges had no apparent problem drawing from their own reserves of aether, unlike Sylphie, but they do seem to often run the risk of running dry on aether when they are most in need of it. The thaumaturges seemed to get around this through alchemy (ie, mana potions), but Lyland later discovered that judicious use of astral and umbral cycles of spells would help manage the problem quite effectively.

So, it came down eventually to a matter of dogma. The conjurers were consciously aware that they using a borrowed power, ie, the power of the elements, to work their magic, and were therefore tradition-bound to follow the rules of their agreement with the elementals.

Lyland did consider putting this to Sylphie, but he decided eventually to leave it alone. It was not his place, as a foreigner, to comment on local culture. He chose instead to support Sylphie as best he could as a fellow conjurer, and things worked out in their own ways in the end.

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As for archery, it's much more straightforward. Lyland picked up miqo'te archery from the U tribe of the Forgotten Springs. He sympathised with U'kahzuna's plight, and was quite happy that she managed to learn a new way to hunt in the end, with bow and arrow instead of claws. In support, he picked up the skill along with her, and developed it further in Gridania (where he was aghast to find so much antagonism towards his style of archery... but that's another story).


So, to be sure, Lyland was never quite bothered by any ideological differences between thaumaturgy and arcanima. To him, both schools are more similar than different, especially from the perspective of how they utilise internal reserves of aether. If anything, though, Lyland found much in common between summoning and conjury, as both schools have a heavy reliance on elemental magic.

The key difference, though, is that summoning relies heavily on personal aether reserves to draw forth the egi, which are in turn contained and controlled through arcane geometry. Lyland would later realise that he would have to apply everything he knew about aetheric manipulation, from thaumaturgy and arcanima, to succeed as a summoner.

And that's the way the story rolled with Lyland. I hope it gives you some inspiration for handling Miranda's story.

[AspectOfWinter]

I can't really speak for how you choose to roleplay Miranda

Okay well, first off, let me apologize for not being able to leave well enough alone. I know I can be pretty stubborn sometimes and I apologize if I'm being annoying.

Eikidoh has a VERY good point about the Jobs, that I must admit I kind of overlooked in my Scholar vs Bard thread. The advantage of the two Arcanist Jobs is that you are virtually the only one of their kind in the present day world, besides Tristan of course. So for purposes of the story, it doesn't really matter what traits the ancient Nymian Scholars or the Ancient Allagan Summoners had.

By that definition, if I say Miranda couldn't be a Scholar just because they were militant in the past, then being a BLM or a WHM would have to be disqualified as well, seeing as how it's heavily implied that most past WHMs and BLMs were very much fanatical warmongers, which is how the aether ran out and the arts became forbidden.

I also only recently did the WHM quests up to level 45 on Miranda, so I know for a fact that WHMs today aren't always peaceful and friendly.

But yeah, one other thing I apologize for not making clearer: Miranda's bitterness stems mostly from her strong belief that "tough love" and arrogance do more harm than good, and seeing as how the city states have a knack for displaying both attitudes, she has ended up becoming disillusioned and independent minded. Pretty much, what she's against is fighting out of hubris, not fighting in general.