How do Au Ra use Linkpearls/Linkshells?

[VeliusVire]

As the title asks, a friend and I were sitting around, talking nonsense, when I asked the question, "Linkpearls need to be inside your ear, or at least in some form, to avoid others from not only eavesdropping but also to effectively wear the item...how the hell do Au Ra wear them?"

Now, I'm expecting the answer of, "Like every other accessory", but these are like private chats between Point A and Point B, so how do they wear it? Where do they place it? Probably an easy question to answer but not an answer I am aware of!

[Anonymoose]

I think it's finally time I start looking into this, lol. When I first noticed that they didn't seem to have visible ears, I joked that perhaps they hear by sensing vibration through their horns. Believe it or not, even regular old humans can hear this way - you can buy bone conduction headphones on Amazon right now.

But I'll dig around a bit and see what I find. (EDIT: Done! See next post.)

Me? I'd love to know how they can find a single comfortable sleeping position between the horns and tail.

It's gotta be, like, a special pillow, or something...

[VeliusVire]

It's right up there with "How do Miqo'te wear glasses, or something else that requires being suspended upon the ears?". Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it outright confirmed that they do, indeed, hear through vibrations picked up by their horns? Or was that just the fanbase trying to make sense of how the sense of an Au Ra function?

[Anonymoose]

Aaand I'm back! This one was faster than usual. I didn't find anything in the game, but the string turned up a hit on stuff I saved from the Heavensweard PR website.

<...> enhanced hearing and spatial recognition granted by an Au Ra's cranial projections <...>

So they actually do hear through the horns. In that case, you could probably hear a linkpearl through a specialized "earring.".


Welp, I guess I'm back to just wondering how they sleep.

It's gotta be, like, a special hammock or something...

[Lukha]

Me? I'd love to know how they can find a single comfortable sleeping position between the horns and tail.

It's gotta be, like, a special pillow, or something...

Most probably something along the same lines as the takamakura used by Geisha in order to keep their elaborate hairstyles from getting messed up while they slept. Especially appropriate considering the Eastern aesthetic the Auri have.




NOT the most comfortable piece of equipment to use (especially when a lot of them are made of unpadded ceramic!), but I could see something similar in design but more focused on preventing bed-goring and less on keeping your haiir from touching anything being reasonably pleasant to use.

[PArcher]

Me? I'd love to know how they can find a single comfortable sleeping position between the horns and tail.

Doubt the tail does anything to sleeping, really, otherwise we have to question the Miq'ote too (well, maybe the croc-tail, but the others, na)

Maybe use two pillows? Or they invented a pillow they can shape however they want and aren't sharing it with anyone else?

[WhiteArchmage]

From my time as Auri I remember the earrings being "pierced" by earrings (in fact, pretty sure that was a discussion some time after HW was released, don't remember if we concluded they were pierced or just clip-ons). If we actually pierced the "horn" and are still able to hear then using a linkpearl attached to an earring would emit the vibrations from the pearl which the "ear" would translate...as Moose said >_>

[Warr_of_Lint]

I'm rather surprised that people assumed linkpearls were sound based. Given that everything is powered by magical crystals, and that there is no indication of knowledge of radio waves, I naturally assumed that linkpearls worked "magically" and that they facilitated telepathic communication. Any references to hearing was just a way of explaining telepathic messages, in the way that we understand that text bubbles represent audio speech. People just put them in the ear cause it's the hole in the head with the least amount of traffic. Au Ra would then be only slightly handicapped by having to use a less suitable hole in their head (the nostril is my bet).

Regarding sleeping with horns, I did not see this as an issue. I know this guy who is fine wearing jeans to bed--with a belt. Not the loose fit mind you, but the slim fit ones. The ones that make your butt look good, but elicit a grunt from you when you sit. Some people just have a greater tolerance threshold for discomfort.

I see evidence that Au Ra hang upside-down when they sleep, though. I have older friends, with this exercise device that hangs them upside-down from their feet to decompress their spines. When you consider that Au Ra males are much taller than females, it makes sense if they're hanging upside-down for a considerable amount of time, their larger mass causing them to stretch more. Notice how the male Au Ra thin around the waist, but expand at the shoulders. Now think of them hanging upside-down, they kind of form the shape of of a tear drop or silly putty hanging from a roof.

[Frederick22]

Guys we need to asume that the Auras are phisicaly addaped to whatever way they sleep. They are used to it.

Imagine tring to sleep on the solid rock, its hard yes. But if someone sleeps since birth? That person would have any issues-

[Anonymoose]

I'm rather surprised that people assumed linkpearls were sound based. Given that everything is powered by magical crystals, <...> I naturally assumed that linkpearls worked "magically" and that they facilitated telepathic communication.

It's an easy assumption to make; when NPCs chat via linkpearl, they touch their ear and speak outloud as if it's a shellphone. NPCs even occasionally overhear someone speaking into a linkpearl. Aether is confirmed to have something to do with it, but Cid can use them just fine and he's a pureblood Garlean, so I guess not part of the core, end-user functionality?

Suspicious characters? Well, now that you mention it, I did see a strange fellow wearing a garish purple robe. At first, I thought he was talking to himself, but then I realized he had a linkpearl. I heard him say something about the “wrong man” and the “Silver Bazaar.”

The Face of Thal

The only evidence I could find to another interpretation was from the NPC Linkshell Distributor, who claims that you can't carry more than eight because the cacophony of voices in your head would surely drive you insane. However, it might just be a meta-joke about rapidly-streaming textboxes to begin with, as the NPC is clearly struggling to remain "in-character" while telling you what to click and what to type and how to assign permissions. There was never really any in-world explanation for what linkpearls even are (even in XI).

In 1.0, the NPCs told you even they didn't understand wtf they were doing.

Little is known about linkpearls, other than that they somehow manipulate the planet's aether, allowing us to project our voices over long distances, in a similar way to how aetheryte enables bodily transport. Yet the system has many quirks, and missent or missing messages are an everyday occurrence on most linkshell channels. There is a good chance that the message which arrived earlier wasn't even intended for the Path.

and that there is no indication of knowledge of radio waves

The Garleans use radio, technically, though only the French client fall out calls it "radio".
You help Cid build an electromagnetic wave jammer, remember?

To prevent this from happening, I'm going to put together a makeshift communications-jamming device. The explanation is like to get a bit technical, so bear with me. Imperial forces communicate at a distance via electromagnetic waves. Simply put, voices are borne upon aetheric lightning energy that permeates the air.

Drowning Out the Voices

Regarding sleeping with horns, I did not see this as an issue.

I got curious enough to make a character and use the bed emotes / inn room. They sleep on their side and their entire horn clips through the pillow, lol.
"Don't think too hard about it.", I guess.