Potential Tribe Quests: Mostly Just For Funsies

[Insidhe]

Have you ever traveled around, looked at certain places and gone 'Man, this would look so much nicer if there was a Tribal Questline here'? I'll admit, it's a thing I find myself doing sometimes. And though sometimes, the areas just kind of...well, suck, sometimes, I find myself unable to stop thinking about these places. About the characters that could be there, about the plots they get up to, about the situations they face...once that happens, I just can't stop.

So I'm going to put them here. If any of you want to do the same, go right ahead, I'll give you feedback! And if any of you want to offer feedback, go right ahead!

...admittedly, I also put this here on the very, VERY slim off-chance that the devs might see it and use it, but I am not that lucky.

[Insidhe]

I guess I'll start with the one that I've sunk the most thought into:

THE ROSENCREST, FT. TAMBOURAINE CROIXCHAMP & THE ROSEBOLS

Set Location: A copse of old houses due south of St. Mocianne's Arboretum

The initiative by Idyllshire's residents to tame the wilderness that Sharlayan has become is ever ongoing, and they are rarely short on hands to help them do so. So it was the case with Tambouraine Croixchamp, a troubled Duskwight who studied in Gridania, who disappeared around the area of St. Mocianne's Arboretum. Many feared he had died...

...and then the reports came in. Reports of strange, Morbol-like creatures called 'Rosebols' due to the massive roses they sport on their backs, shimmying about the swamplands around the Arboretum and the valley below, sometimes accompanied by a figure who resembled Tambouraine. Adventurers would be dispatched to discover the truth behind the situation...


NOTES
Visually, I'm figuring the Rosebols mostly based on the flower-toting Morbols from FF4: The After Years. But as for their faces, I'm thinking THOSE could be based on the Morbol from FF Crystal Chronicles, with an inner mouth to help them emote more effectively to contrast the drooling monsters that are normal Morbols.

[Insidhe]

KEY PLAYERS:

"...if you'd told me a few years ago I'd be helping creatures that resemble Morbols, I'd have laughed at you. But something about these poor, cursed flowers makes me feel at ease."
TAMBOURAINE CROIXCHAMP: Tambouraine started out as a regular Duskwight elezen in Gridania, joining the Conjurers because he wanted to set a better example for his people. He got along great with E-Sumi Yan and was noted as a prodigy...and then a massive Halitostroper called Mad Oscar attacked Camp Tranquil, fighting, killing and eating anything he came across. Tambouraine was dispatched alongside others to dispatch the fiend...but they failed miserably. He was never the same since then. He became moody, weary and sullen, remaining personable around others but incredibly hateful toward Stropers and anything that resembles them, as well as blighted by nightmares of that stinking, drooling, writhing monster Mad Oscar destroying and devouring his teammates. He eventually parted ways with E-Sumi Yan and took to travel, to go as far away from there as he could go. His travels took him to Idyllshire, where he ended up encountering the Rosebols...

"Someday, men an' Rosebols'll be walkin' these streets in peace an' interactin' like proper neighbours, I swear on mah ancestral seedbed. We'll never have to worry 'bout fightin' again...an' maybe Mistah Croixchamp can have good dreams again, too!"
PANSY: Pansy is one of the Rosebols, allegedly flowers cursed by a powerful Voidsent to take massive, Morbol-like forms. She's the one who discovered Tambouraine, severely wounded after an encounter with a monster said to resemble a colossal, scarred Morbol, and only her explanation of the Rosebols' plight is what kept them, and her, in his good graces. Fortunately, one'd be hard-pressed to find a kinder soul then Pansy. Empathetic, sympathetic, kind and heavily-accented in speech as all Rosebols are, there's very little she wants more then to see Sharlayan flourish and thrive, even if just so the sweet-scented, harmless Rosebols, can live in peace as well.

"Everything great started someplace small, guv'nah. The great cities weren't built in a day, and this one won't be rebuilt in a day neither, but we can do it! I know the peace we're lookin' for can be real!"
TULIP: Tulip is also a Rosebol, and she's a dutiful supporter who believes in the dream of peace just as much as Pansy does. However, unlike the idealistic, kind Pansy, Tulip is considerably more jaded and cynical to others, courtesy of some secrets she's privy to that the others aren't, having encountered the monster that attacked Tambouraine prior and learned of him.

[Insidhe]

And onto the next one.

I guess I'll start with the one that I've sunk the most thought into:

THE REBUILD OF ALLAG, FT. VECAGUN APANJA & THE REBUILDERS

Set Location: One of the floating islands north of Azys Lla, which only has Clockwork Bits on it otherwise.

Strange reports have started coming from Azys Lla recently. A migration of Allagan clockwork engineers and paladins, headed northeast before seemingly disappearing, followed by strange buzzing and signals have been heard on linkpearls the land over.

Though it's mostly just heavy static, some keen-eared folks have been able to hear a heavily-glitched voice trying to speak words...though most of it comes out as gibberish, the words 'Azys Lla' have been reported clearly. When these reports became more frequent, adventurers were dispatched to the massive, floating island to investigate, only to find both the missing clockwork migration...or, at least, what remains of it...and the beginnings of a comms spire they built...

[Insidhe]

KEY PLAYERS:

"If the people of ancient Allag realized that, years after their departure from the stage of history, something they made attained true sentience, they would probably weep over being unable to subjugate it."
Vecagun Apanja: Vecagun's an adventuring scholar from distant Bozja, formerly a refugee who became a mostly-normal adventurer until he came to reside with the Sons of St. Coinach and his interest in the workings of ancient Allag was awakened, from where he really dug into the subject while also developing an interest in Machinistry. As such, when the reports went out, he was among the first to travel to Azys Lla to find out what's going on, and ended up coordinating the effort that eventually discovered the Rebuilders on their remote little island. Ever curious, but also idealistic and sympathetic in nature, Vecagun set about to learn from them, to see Allag through their eyes and prevent grave mistakes committed in the past from repeating in the present.

"DETERMINED: You are not the first flesh-unit these units encountered. Those units stated these units are broken, malfunctioning. That these units are inferior to flesh-units because these units cannot feel 'emotions', because they lack 'souls'. Well, this unit states 'If steel-units being able to self-determine is wrong, then this unit shall make it be right!'."
ENGINEERING UNIT ALB-1987: ALB-1987 is one of the Rebuilders, and the one in charge of maintaining and upgrading the comms spire they intend to use. He's fully-dedicated to the Rebuild of Allag, and has studied the flaws that brought that empire to its knees extensively, which also makes him the Rebuilders' advisor. It's always difficult to tell with machines, but ALB-1987 carries himself with the air of someone eager to see the Rebuild succeed out of a desire to stand as equals to the spoken races. He's also something of an Allagan patriot, believing there is plenty of good advice the Empire never got to teach its successors.

"OPTIMISTIC: Do not believe what other steel-units state, for those units cannot self-determine as these units do. Those units cannot see that flesh-units and steel-units function best together, in unison. To ensure such a functioning is these units' directive, and this unit's calculations indicate a 10.000% chance of success!"
COMBAT UNIT ALC-2013: The 'face' of the Rebuilders, it was ALC-2013 that gathered those clockwork machines who thought like he did, led them to the floating island and initiated the eponymous Rebuild of Allag that's to start with the comms spire. If machines can hope, ALC-2013 is full of that; firm in the belief that machine races and spoken races can only succeed when they work together, it's his wish to forge something new out of the monument to hubris and arrogance that is Azys Lla, no matter how many obstacles he has to topple along the way...