A couple questions about Scholar, faeries and blindness.

[Norimancy]

Hello!

Sorry to bother you guys with very specific questions, but I'm in the prospect of creating a somewhat lore-coherent character that's still fun to play with, and in the mists of interrogations I have, I had some about the Scholar job, its relation to fairies and if any of them could be blind.
Please pardon me if my terms are wrong, I'm not a native english-speaker and used non-english resources until now (and they're quite limited sadly).
So here we go!

First, about blindness:

• Does blindness exist in Eorzea? Can we see blind people in the game?
• EDIT: As there is a blindfold in-game, is there any point to being blindfolded too?
• If so, what causes are common?
• How is it treated or cured?
• Does braille exist? Do guide dogs (or creatures) exist?

Second, about scholar:

• I've read quite a few things about their codex and books, but most are contradictory. Some pretend the ink is aether-infused and thus readable without having to see it. Some pretend it is merely a book with standard ink, that list military strategies from past times. Some pretend it is a magical artifact or focus to channel aether through. What is the consensus on those?
• It seems they need a soulstone, unlike some classes, to be considered scholars, as it is needed for the fairy/aether construct they invoke. Those soulstones seem to come from Nym and nowhere else ; thus a scholar would need to either find one in Nymian ruins or inherit one from one of his peers. Is that correct?
• To follow-up on this question: it seems we do not have the ability to create a fairy from scratch in Eorzea, as it is ancient lost knowledge or reserved to mages that do not share their ways (Sharlayan mages for example), is that correct?
• Also, while in-game we pack soulstones in our pockets, where are they supposed to be stored?
• Do they usually have one book and never change, or do they cycle through the ones needed for each fight? Do they carry libraries around if so?

And last, about fairies:

• They seem to have sentience, and personalities, but are still bind to their scholar. Could they resist their will and never do as told or is it "programmed" that they obey their soulstone owner no matter what?
• Do they have a morality compass? Can they distinguish from what is right and what is wrong, even if they are forced to do their master's binding?
• As soulstones can be inherited, and only created in Nym in old times, doesn't that mean most fairies are old too? What happens if their stones haven't been found in ages? Do they exist inside them if they're not invoked?

I think that's pretty much it, but I'll probably have more questions from the answers I (hopefully) get. Thank you for your time and patience, I wish you a great day!

[Kalise]

First, about blindness:

• Does blindness exist in Eorzea? Can we see blind people in the game?
• EDIT: As there is a blindfold in-game, is there any point to being blindfolded too?
• If so, what causes are common?
• How is it treated or cured?
• Does braille exist? Do guide dogs (or creatures) exist?

As far as I'm aware, Blindness is not a thing in Eorzea, there's nothing I can recall about any characters being blind.

I assume that because of the status effect Blind and the use of Eye Drops to cure it, the affliction is rendered obsolete.

However, maybe someone else knows of a reference to a character who is blind.

As far as blindfolds go, they should work just fine. People don't have x-ray vision, merely they have a remedy for the deterioration of the blood vessels in the eyes (Be it natural, or caused by monsters)

I've read quite a few things about their codex and books, but most are contradictory. Some pretend the ink is aether-infused and thus readable without having to see it. Some pretend it is merely a book with standard ink, that list military strategies from past times. Some pretend it is a magical artifact or focus to channel aether through. What is the consensus on those?

From what I can tell in game, in fact, there's a quest for Alchemist (Level 20 called "The Arcanist's Tome") where an Arcanist talks about the use of the books.

If I recall correctly, the ink is normal as well as the book, however the writing and symbols inside are what they have to imagine in order to focus the aether into the spells they wish to cast. The clearer and more precise the penmanship the easier it is to successfully channel the aether.

Though, I'd imagine that if someone became incredibly versed in Arcanary then they might no longer need to use the book to imagine the symbols as they would be permanently etched into their mind. However, I don't recall ever seeing such a thing in the game (An Arcanist whom didn't need to use a book)

It seems they need a soulstone, unlike some classes, to be considered scholars, as it is needed for the fairy/aether construct they invoke. Those soulstones seem to come from Nym and nowhere else ; thus a scholar would need to either find one in Nymian ruins or inherit one from one of his peers. Is that correct?

Yes. Though, they could also be gifted one from the Tonberries or also find one that had been looted from a ruin (For example, someone might be trying to sell it after finding it or an adventurer might find one in the possession of some bandits or some beast tribes that might collect random shiny things found in ruins (Such as the Quiqirn))

To follow-up on this question: it seems we do not have the ability to create a fairy from scratch in Eorzea, as it is ancient lost knowledge or reserved to mages that do not share their ways (Sharlayan mages for example), is that correct?

As far as I'm aware, yes.

Also, while in-game we pack soulstones in our pockets, where are they supposed to be stored?

I don't think it matters, so long as it's on your person and unlikely to be lost.

Do they usually have one book and never change, or do they cycle through the ones needed for each fight? Do they carry libraries around if so?

They have one book. Until it starts to get damaged or wear out, then they need to get a new book. As far as I can tell, every book that is used in combat has the same contents (The aforementioned symbols needed to focus Arcanist/Scholar/Summoner magic) so replacements aren't an issue (Outside ensuring the quality is good)

They seem to have sentience, and personalities, but are still bind to their scholar. Could they resist their will and never do as told or is it "programmed" that they obey their soulstone owner no matter what?

I believe they have free will. Thus are not forced to do anything that the Scholar asks them.

As noted, in several points during the Scholar questline in game, your faerie actually defies you (At one point, she stops you from attacking something and at another point she refuses to let you leave until you follow her for example)

Do they have a morality compass? Can they distinguish from what is right and what is wrong, even if they are forced to do their master's binding?

As noted previously, they seem to have free will and thus would necessitate having a moral compass. In addition to not being forced to do what their Scholar wishes.

As soulstones can be inherited, and only created in Nym in old times, doesn't that mean most fairies are old too? What happens if their stones haven't been found in ages? Do they exist inside them if they're not invoked?

If they haven't been found in ages, then they can lose their memory over time. Meaning when they do eventually get invoked they might not remember much, if anything.

As to where they exist when they're not invoked, I'm not entirely sure. They seem to be connected to the Soul Crystals in so much as you need a specific crystal to be able to invoke a specific faerie (Though, it's not tied to whom the scholar is. Theoretically any scholar can invoke any faerie, given they know who the faerie is and have the correct crystal)

[Kurando]

I'm also curious about the blindness as we know one of the characters we come across in the game will suffer from this, though I don't remember the full story about it so hopefully someone can shed light on the lore behind it.

[Brightamethyst]

Blindness:
Yes, it's exists. People wear glasses, have missing or damaged eyes (eyepatches and blindfolds exist), and there are several completely blind NPCs.

Scholar:
Books are a mix. The formulas and patterns are drawn with magical ink and used as as an aetherial focus. It lets you cast complex spells by using the existing pattern rather than having to remember everything in real time.
You are correct about soul stones. It's theoretically possible to create a new one and make new fairies, but that knowledge is lost so for now finding and old one is the only way.
It never really specifies out the books, but books are big. You can have a lot a pages with a lot of different formulas in the same book.

Fairies:
Fairies aren't really sentient. They're more permanent than that intentionally disposable egis or carbuncles, but they're not alive.
Yes, all fairies are old. As for what happens over time, probably nothing. After all, our soulstone was sitting unused for almost 1500 years before we claimed it.

[Bright-Flower]

Blindness yes for sure. Ysthola is blind, and uses an alternative means to 'see' that is not an option for most people. People can have eyes or lose eyesight over time, as said above plenty of glasses are in use. As far as the blind status effect and existance of eye drops, I think the 'blind' effect is more 'there's something temporarily messing with the eyes, rendering you blind' rather than 'your eyes are damaged forever but eye drops can heal them.'

As for books, I believe I've seen npcs mention that higher quality ink can improve the flow of aether. So while you could use normal ink for the symbols, you can enhance them with ink that's better for conducting aether. But I'd have to do some digging to 100% confirm that.

Fairies for now seem to be a lost art. You could write a RP story about your character finding a stone in some Nymian ruins, but I don't think anyone currently has the means to make more fairies.

As far as free will I kind of see them like carbuncles. I wouldn't normally think they could disobey, but then Tataru had a carbuncle desert her didn't she? So maybe it's possible. I believe our Fairy also tried to stop us from harming the Tonberry that used to be her master? Been a while since I did the original SCH questline.

[Raldo]

A sommelier vintner in Wineport (Shamani Lohmani) is canonically blind. I think it was said he was blinded during his encounter with Titan, but I don't think they gave any more detail beyond that. There's no mention of braille or guide dogs, but I see no reason why they couldn't exist.


I don't have any other answers, though.

[Norimancy]

Thank you for all your answers!

So, we could theorize that blindness in FFXIV can come from the same reasons or consequences as IRL, as illnesses, birth defects, injuries, and we could probably add some magical/aether discharge accidents in the mix, but otherwise it seems quite a standard condition then. Would a healer be able to do anything about it?
It seems through the lore I've read, that most handicaps can't be fixed through healing if they're old or serious enough (incapacitated or cut limbs, deep scars and so on), but just to be sure...

[Brightamethyst]

Healing is probably a lore vs gameplay issue. We see it as all powerful because that's what you need to make functional videogame battle system, bit in the lore it's more about accelerating natural healing than an instant cure. Healing magic will let a broken bone heal itself faster, but it won't regrow a lost limb.

[ObsidianFire]

When it comes to Scholar (and Archanists and Summoner tomes), the ink is aether conductive. Higher tier metals conduct aether better then low tier metals do, so using the most expensive ink affordable is probably a common thing among Archanists. This doesn't just extend to books though. One of the reasons mages prefer robes is because it gives them more surface area to weave arcane geometries into their robes with metallic thread. Robes that have cut-outs, like Summoner's AF3 armor, sometimes have arcane geometries painted/tattooed on the mage's skin with metallic ink even!

In-game there are at least six different geometries found in tomes, although I have a feeling that is a limit of FFXIV being a game. If this was "real life" no two tomes would have the same spell geometries in them. Tomes are not "worn out" so much as they are exchanged for the "next model". The materials tomes are made out of (metal, leather, gems, etc.) can only conduct a certain amount of ather. As an archanist's skill grows, they want tomes that can conduct more and more aether so they can cast bigger and stronger spells with the tome. In a lot of ways, Archanists, Scholars, and Summoners have the mentality of battle engineers rather then mages. They just use magic math for all their tinkering instead of mechanical devices.

Different spells seem to have different geometries, and require different tomes to cast them. The regular Archanist spells have a simple geometry that spins around the tome while a spell is being cast. Scholar and Summoner spells have different, more complex geometries built into the cast animations of their spells. Scholar's animation looks like a bunch of concentric circles with a spiral going down the circles in front of the tome. Summoner's animation looks like a bunch of runes in a circle that the Summoner is writing in air as they are casting a spell. Many of Summoner's spells don't seem to make direct use of a tome all that much either, which fits into their lore.

[Bright-Flower]

Healing is probably a lore vs gameplay issue. We see it as all powerful because that's what you need to make functional videogame battle system, bit in the lore it's more about accelerating natural healing than an instant cure. Healing magic will let a broken bone heal itself faster, but it won't regrow a lost limb.

Yeah. Maybe at most a healer on hand could quickly tend to an eye injury that would continue to degrade over time, allowing for quick intervention to prevent blindness where it may have otherwise occurred, but healers are limited in what they can do lore wise. If they weren't the setting would have no tension.

Back in WoW we had a guild where some people got upset that when a character died in a plot line, they couldn't just resurrect him. As if that's supposed to be an easy thing healers can just do willy nilly at the drop of a hat. I think the most a healer could commonly do is maybe resuscitate someone that had died just a moment before, but you can't just find a dead body and cast Raise either and expect it to work. When actual resurrections happen they tend to be under special circumstances.