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This fic is shaping up to be very long, very dense, and very OC-heavy. A glossary seemed like it would come in useful, for us if no one else. An asterisk (*) next to an entry means they are introduced in canon, but briefly enough a reminder seemed worthwhile, or else we've added a significant amount of relevant information.

Adana: bartender and owner of the Underground

Adaneisei: a religious sect in Cetho

Attelo, Tseïpho: a junior composer at the Ceth'opera

Barumened, Rezharo: daughter-in-law of the lighthouse keeper in The Grief of Stones

Barumened, Saru: son of the lighthouse keeper in The Grief of Stones

Belvativar III: 27th emperor of the Elflands, and husband of Csesipho Drazharan

Belvativar IV: 28th emperor of the Elflands, and infant son of Csesipho Drazharan

Belvativar V: 29th emperor of the Elflands, younger brother of Belvativar III; a puppet emperor of the Zhuliäda

Belvenivar: the semi-mythic 1st emperor of the Elflands; also an opera depicting the eponymous emperor as the lover of Cstheio Caireizhasan

Boronat*: a blend of unfermented black tea, sarsaparilla, and dried fruit or fruit oils, common in the Ethuveraz

Brachaleisei: a religious sect in Cetho, who proscribe cremation

Bradaran: principal soprano at the Dachenopera

Charmeän: secretary of Csesipho Drazharan

Civa: a page boy in the Untheileneise Court

Corat’ Drazh: "The Cruelty of the Drazhada"; the seal of Edrehasivar VII

Csenivensee: an ulimeire in Cetho

Csesipho Zhasan: the dowager empress of Belvativar III and IV; also an opera depicting the eponymous zhasan's ill-starred regency

Drenemar: principal director of the Chelim'opera
Emezhelnee: an ulimeire in Cetho, located in the Hadruvarna District

Emperor Varevesna Opera: an opera house in Cetho, also called the Varevesn'opera

Empress Vorezho Opera House: an opera house in Cetho, also called the Vorezh'opera

Ennu: a page boy in the Untheileneise Court

Grenelar*: a Witness for the Clenverada in the matter of the dragonhold mines, presently advising Edrehasivar

Grenelaran: wife of Osmer Grenelar, formerly a mid-soprano at the Vorezh'opera

Grenelin, Areänan: daughter of Osmer Grenelar, sweetheart of Prince Idra, and a coin-collector

Hanibarezho: a tibiceneiso, or double reed flautist, at the Varevesn’opera

Ischanhadra*: a horror novel; Evru's favorite

Isevren*: a high-quality tea that is picked then immediately sun-dried, without other processing

Ishenvoran: a short prayer repeated during meditative practice

Ishvaleisei*: a religious sect in Amalo and Cetho, who cremate their dead

Itenimar: principal director of the Varevesn'opera

Karkhade: a tart, bright red floral "tea" (really a tisane) of Barizheise import, served hot or cold

Kleӧpatis Athmaza: inventor of the revethmaz, for which he was according to legend punished by Cstheio and Ulis with an endless task
Kolveris*: a stiffly-brewed milk tea with warm spices and salt, common in the Ethuveraz

Levezho, Indaö: a famous soprano

Malikheisei: a religious sect in Cetho

Marigolds for Cseris: a novel

Mekhalmaned: a late principal composer of the Urvekh'opera

Meladrin: a junior prelate at Csenivensee

Michenara: a teahouse in Cetho

Narezho: junior principal contralto at the Dachenopera

Noralo: a marno artist

Opera House of Cetho: the longest-established opera house in Cetho, also called the Ceth'opera

Out of Sevezho: a novel

Pel-Berenakhet, Katilo: a mid-soprano in the chorus at the Dachenopera, and Iäna's Zhelsu

Pel-Marevis: advocate for the Barumenada in The Grief of Stones

Remenezh: an author of romance novels, likely pseudonymous

Revethmireän: a malign spirit said to haunt a photograph and feed upon the spirit of the photographed subject

Rozho: a servant girl in the Alcethmeret

Sevalezh: the senior prelate of Csenivensee

Tativan, Aizheän*: a close friend of Archduchess Vedero, a university-affiliated scholar and polymath, and grand-niece of the late Marquise Ulzhavel

The Anmur'theleian: Ethuverazhid stronghold in the Evressai Steppes; Iäna Pel-Thenhior's first original opera

The Celvazeise Boy: a novel

The Critic: the foremost operaneise periodical in the central Ethuveraz

The New Public Opera House of Cetho: an opera house in Cetho, also called the Dachenopera

The Pevennada: an opera

The Photograph of Mer Doriezh: a recent and critically acclaimed opera about a revethmireän

The Underground: a bar in Cetho, frequented by marnai
Vasthorneisa: an uncultured person; a philistine.

Virenar: a violineisa at the Vorazh’opera

Virenaran: a violineiso at the Vorazh’opera

Vizhenka, Nadeian*: maternal aunt of Edrehasivar, a few years his senior, and wife of Captain Vizhenka

Vizhenka, Tila*: Captain of the half-eshpekh of the Hezhethvora left by the Great Avar in the Untheileneise Court

Zhas, Zhasan, Zealot: a novel

Zhorvena, Ulcetha*: a scholar of the second rank in history, presently researching horoscopy as a method by which to identify propaganda

Zhuliar, Gaia: patriarch of the Zhuliäda in the Late Belvativareise Period

stolen from

adastreia , originally from tumblr here.

1. Do you know how many works you read this year?

a lot more than usual! generally i only read fic that i was directly linked to by friends or was written FOR me, but at the beginning of the year i was checking out stuff in the bg3 fandom just from ship tags (largely hellspawn & wyllstarion & firebloodpact, although i also skimmed the. what's the ship name. the bloodweave tag because the ship was so popular and i wanted to see if i could be convinced. i could not. but i tried and it's the thought that counts), and then in september i watched interview with the vampire from amc+ and immediately became incredibly mentally unwell about armand and went through all 2000+ works in his character tag clicking on anything that seemed like it might possibly dig into religious character study. so i probably read at least 500 things? i can't overstate how highly irregular this is for me, someone who usually reads, like, a tenth of that in a year.

2. Longest work you read this year?

maybe Ego Death by Nikocat, currently clocking in at 130k. it's an armand iwtv character study written half in traditional narrative format and half as the post-session notes of the therapist daniel told him he had to go to if he wanted to try and have a relationship. the author is a therapist themself (the therapist character is a very thinly veiled self-insert), and it's doing some very interesting stuff. definitely worth a read if you're into unconventional formats and/or therapy-fic. i don't have only praise for it - a side effect of the author wanting to dig into armand's actual issues is that the therapist character believes pretty much everything he says even though he's presenting himself as a human in his late 20s and without the context of being in the fandom and of course knowing his backstory really did happen, hearing most of this (especially on the timeline implied by his alleged age) would make any reasonable person wonder if he was a compulsive liar or delusional or both. i understand why the author wanted to stay away from basically accusing him of lying about his trauma for what they wanted to achieve here, but it does require some intentional suspension of disbelief or the assumption that armand is actively using the mind gift to keep the therapist from being too credulous. i also disagree with some characterization/backstory decisions on the "a three-second incredibly easy to miss moment contraindicates this decision" level because i am, as always, very normal about lore compliance, but i don't mean this to the fic or author's discredit at all - and if they had gone with the more technically canon compliant option, they wouldn't be able to explore the themes they're exploring in quite the same way.

3. Shortest work you read this year (not including art published on ao3)?

ummm, probably one of the spreadsheets created for FIAB, which i consumed all of canon-blind. it was an interesting experience!

4. Do you have any works you read that are between you and your web browser?

nah. the closest, in the sense of "oh, this is incredibly self indulgent" is a long (now that i'm thinking about it, probably longer than ego death) bloodweave human au where astarion is a former olympic gold medalist now on dancing on ice, and gale is a single dad and famous singer-songwriter who gets paired with him. i haven't actually finished it - i lowkey forgot it existed several months ago, and should go back to it, lol - but i read it, despite not shipping the main pair that the fic allegedly portrays (they're so heavily changed they'd be much better off, imo, with the serial numbers filed off) and having a not insignificant number of complaints about how over-complicated and just plain nonsensical the plot can get in trying to adapt the characters' d&d backstories to the human au, because i really really like figure skating fics. this being a bit cringe, i'll call that as close as we get to "this is between me and my web browser", even though i literally linked it to multiple people and am telling you about it now. the only reason it's not linked here is because i have to track it down again. if you're reading this and want to find it, uh, comment and i'll do my best.

5. Did anything you read make you cry?

yes!!!! Mining Site 2 Field Report — Presence of Native Life Forms, and How to Protect Them by galacticlance (which was one of our gifts for FIAB), an outer wilds in-universe field report, made me cry 4 times in 2 reads, once on the first read-through and three(!) times on the second, even though the second was in the morning with caffeine and not already emotionally compromised so i wasn't actually expecting to cry. more fool me. i think i also cried at the end of let the rock roll by volkswagonblues, an iwtv devil's minion uhhhhh postcanon role reversal(?), which is incidentally probably my favorite fic in the entire fandom i've read so far.

6. What's your absolute favorite works you read this year?

see the last question! also Nothing Like the Sun by odessacastle, which is a bg3 wyllstarion "different first meeting" au, Perfect Victims by argestas, which is an iwtv all-canon-ships human politician au that takes a lot of inspiration from succession (a show i hated) and turns it into something very compelling to me regardless, wudu (1, 2, 3) by loumandism, iwtv armand character study ft. canon bicycle armand, and some other things that are going to be answers for later questions so i'll hold off for now.

7. Did you read through any authors entire works?

not that i know of, unless anyone had only one fic. i certainly didn't do this intentionally, anyway.

8. Pairing you read the most for?

devil's minion (i.e., armand/daniel) iwtv by simple virtue of it being a ship that currently has, like, 2500 things in the tag right now, and most of my ships clock in at somewhere between 10 and 300 fics.

9. Favorite rare pair you read works for this year?

maia/csevet/csethiro from the goblin emperor/chronicles of osreth

10. Largest fandom you read for?

baldur's gate 3 or final fantasy xv? i'm too lazy to check which has more fics, but i think probably bg3

11. Smallest fandom you read for?

probably vatican miracle examiner? currently 136 works in the fandom on ao3

12. Did you as a reader receive any works as gifts?

yep! multi-fandom exchange regular. (!) means count this also as an answer to question #6

- Tenets of Nomai Discovery and Exploration concerning the Eye of the Universe by galacticlance (outer wilds, gen), for

ficinabox

- Mining Site 2 Field Report — Presence of Native Life Forms, and How to Protect Them by galacticlance (outer wilds, gen), for

ficinabox (!)
- Short circuit by Melime (scream of the shalka, 9/master), for

ficinabox (!)
- Between Details by

unravelledclementines (iwtv, claudia/madeleine), for

kidscomefirst
- help me make it through the night by Subject_XIII (ffxv, luna/ravus), for

relationshipping
- the branch that you break by

cataliepaquette (bg3, orin-centric), for

nonconathon
- All the Stars in My Sky: An Ignoct Manifesto by

adastreia (ffxv, ignis/noctis), for

highadrenalineexchange (!)
- i'll light the fire, you place the flowers by

adastreia (bg3, karlach/wyll/astarion), for

storkswap
- Fellow Creatures in Pain by within_a_dream (bg3, dalyria-centric), for

goreswap

13. What trope do you think you read the most of?

sex as a character study, probably!

14. Favorite AU you read this year?

in the interest of avoiding repeat answers, let's say Advocatus Ardens by m3rricat, a bg3 wyllstarion "modern au" in the sense that it's faerun but also they have cell phone reception. wyll is a public defender and astarion is a frequent flier in the county jail. together they ~~fight~~ do fight crime.

15. Favorite canon concept you read this year?

i do not understand this question ;_; like, a unique interpretation of canon? i haven't finished it yet, but probably 24 items from the collection of A.M. (1974 to 1985) by volkswagonblues, an iwtv dm era fic where the question of "how did armand know alice wanted to say yes?" is answered not by "because armand is alice" but by "armand and alice are friends"! volkswagonblues is consistently very big-brained, as is rosepetalfall, whom this fic was written for, and the format is super cool

16. Were your comments coherent or mostly screaming?

depends on the fic, and if the comment was on ao3 or liveblogged direct-to-author on discord, and also your definition of coherent. i try to at least have a couple sentences worth of useful things to say, but sometimes authors get several paragraphs of stream of consciousness and sometimes they get my favorite line in the fic and a series of exclamation marks.

17. Did you leave any comments that had to be in more than one part?

i don't think so - i left a few multi-part comments in that i left a comment on read-through #1 and then came back a little while later to re-read with even more thoughts, but i don't think i actually hit character limit on anything this year.

18. How many works did you bookmark this year?

one (1) - it was All the Stars in My Sky: An Ignoct Manifesto by

adastreia

19. Did you read any works published before this year?

yeah! the other day i read GWS 9450 TOPICS IN QUEER THEORY - NARRATIVE/POWER/EROTIC - STUART, A by king_edmund (iwtv, gen), which was written in 2022, and i'm sure there's been other things, too. mostly from 2022 and 2023, just by virtue of a lot of my reading this year being in recent fandoms, but i re-read some work from older fandoms, including a couple dr.who and discworld fics that are old enough to drink in the states.

20. Did you download any works?

yeah! i have an ereader and download longfic that i enjoy pretty regularly; i don't usually bother downloading epubs of oneshots, but i should get into the habit just on an archival level, probably

21. WIP's or completed works?

no preference! i'm pretty forgetful, so sometimes if i'm following a WIP i'll just drop off suddenly, but i don't mind at all if authors drop off, either

22. Category you read the most of?

this year, probably M/M, which is against type but a side effect of 1) reading more widely than usual and 2) getting into another sausage fest fandom with very little genderswap fic. that said, i wholeheartedly tinhat one half of several of my most-read ships as a trans woman, so it's still M/F in my heart. does that count?

23. What time of day do you read the most during?

in the morning before work, or on my lunch break with my horde of epubs!

24. Where do you read the most?

in bed, probably

25. Do you read on your phone or on your computer?

computer or ereader

26. Did you do any beta reading for anyone?

uhhhhhhhhhh i honestly don't remember. probably?

27. Do you listen to anything while reading?

no, never. i listen to one song on repeat sometimes when i'm writing (if there's a song with a particular vibe that i associate with the fic or scene (if OW) and i can tune it out enough to not just sit there and exist entirely as an extension of the music), but i get distracted by music really easily and so i'm just as likely to write in silence and i always read in silence, even if the author has linked a song/playlist.

28. Did any line/passage stick with you after you read it?

I hope her death is kind to her, perhaps she will meet LF2 in the stars. (from Mining Site 2 Field Report, linked above)

29. Do you have any works you think are required reading for (fandom)?

nah - there are fics that i think that specific friends need to read, because of their particular interests or because i need them to read it so i can talk to them about it because it hurt me (complimentary), but that's all. and i just link those to people directly.

30. Biggest surprise for you as a reader this year?

having a strong enough opinion about a specific character's foreskin or lack thereof that i will consistently close the tab on pwp that is Wrong about it. lmao

this fic is 14k of dense in-universe meta with several pieces of art buried inside of it. here's a post of just the art i did, for ease of viewing!

first, digital lineart and shading for my proposed interpretation of marius de romanus' "the temptation of amadeo"; this is not intended as a final artwork by any means, mostly just a composition study.

[link]

[link]

these were done in order to give @unravelledclementines a starting point for an in-universe study of this (lost) painting by a young riccardo, and to figure out my next steps for a piece of appropriation artwork created by "a. maripor" (armand) in the 1970s, titled "INDIA TIBI CESSIT", or "india yielded to you". linoleum block print and egg tempera on gessoed panel, 11x14

[link] [process blog]

a second sketch for marius: "slave boy with severed head", again NOT intended to be a completed artwork, just a quick study.

[link]

and then again, appropriation artwork by "a. maripor"/armand from the 80s. titled "self-portrait, or slave boy with severed head", this is intended as an early adobe illustrator illustration and viewed on a CRT monitor.

[link] [process blog]

one of the projects i worked on for FIAB was the "itinerarium garlemald suburbiaque" or transit map of garlemald and her suburbs, and two typefaces designed specifically for the project.

link to ao3 with additional meta.

[link]

LF Eschva [download link]

Eschva Futura [download link]

✨ holiday love meme 2024 ✨
my thread here

We're picking up where we left off in part one with the Stormblood Lv60 quest (thanks for nothing, character limit!), then after a brief ship manifesto we'll put on our tinfoil hats and do some theorycrafting, and then it's into the weeds with the appendices. Let's get to it!

16. East Meets West (Lv 60)

Before the release of Stormblood, visiting the Athenaeum after completing The Hands of Fate provided the following dialogue.

Jannequinard: Welcome back, CHARNAME. It is always a pleasure to see you here in the Athenaeum. Things have been quite hectic as of late, what with Lord Rufin traveling about the countryside preaching the merits of our field. Why, the number of applications for novitiate positions has increased tenfold over the past moon. And now, the Observatorium has begun requesting reports on domicile, modality, cadence... Dare I say we needn't wait much longer for the day when Sharlayan and Ishgardian astrologies have joined back together as one?

Heurriette: “Lord” Rufin will soon find that her disguise has not fooled anyone. A quick cut and tousle doesn't change the fact that her hair is still purple.

Mugueniel: Would you believe that the Observatorium has requested the drafting of new constellation-based celestial charts to supplement those we have used for the past four centuries? Of course you would. It was you and Lord Jannequinard who started this chaos.

Fleuraie: The Athenaeum headmaster has ordered me to begin training in Sharlayan astrology... What, I ask, did I do to deserve this fate? And don't you tell me Sharlayan astrology can show me the answer!

Jannequinard has something to say, and that glint behind his monocle suggests it is important.

Jannequinard: Top of the morning to you, CHARNAME. Or is it the evening? It is so hard to tell locked up here in the Athenaeum day and night. Alright, technically speaking I can leave at any time of my choosing, but it is as if some strange force prevents me for stepping forth into the light... But enough of that. You are here to learn what became of your humble companions while you were off saving the realm.

Jannequinard: Well, since Ishgard's quite abrupt change in leadership[14], the Vault has become somewhat more receptive to the contemporary ideas of Lady Leve─er, Master Rufin. They have even asked our compatriot-in-disguise to hold for them another symposium on Sharlayan astrology...and this time within the city–state proper, and not at some forsaken hamlet! (Nothing against the fine citizenry of Falcon's Nest, mind you.)

Jannequinard: In fact, the good Rufin has foreseen your arrival in the stars, and awaits you in the Observatorium. The look on your face tells me you are less than convinced. Still the skeptic after all we have been through together, eh? Allow me to recreate this morning's reading. In the center of the Dawn Cross we have the Spear. To its left, the inverted Arrow. To its right, the inverted Balance. Beneath, we have the inverted Spire and the inverted Bole. And finally at the crown, is the Ewer.

Jannequinard: Well...? Do you not see it? It is as plain as the stench of day-old piss in the Brume on a balmy summer's eve. “Though peace hath settled upon our great land, it will be along the path of coming destruction that friends new and old shall discover the bush that doth bear the fruit of knowledge and hope.” And to think it was you who attuned to all six heavens!

Jannequinard: In other words, she who brought peace to Ishgard (that would be you) will walk the road south to the Observatorium where...I don't know, you shall read some books with Lady Leveva to discover a new spell for delivering excruciating pain to your enemies and their families? It all sounded more convincing when she explained it to me this morning over that bottle of wine. Or was it two bottles...? At any rate, I would suggest you make haste. You know how our little protégée does not take kindly to those who make her wait. It was good seeing you again, CHARNAME. And something tells me you will be back again soon. <wink>

Jannequinard: The Dawn Cross uses all six of the major arcana to tell a person's fortune. The cards are shuffled and drawn one at a time. The first card drawn is placed face up in the scrying table's center. This card is also known as the “core” and represents the subject's present state. The second card is placed immediately to the core's left and represents what, in the past, has exerted influence over the subject. The third card is placed immediately to the right of the core and represents what will most affect the subject in the near future. The fourth card is placed below the core, with the fifth card placed immediately below that one. These cards represent misfortune the subject may face in the foreseeable future and the root of that misfortune respectively. The sixth and final card is placed directly above the core to form the cross, and is representative of the subject's overall fortune... Or at least that is what it said in that tome I copied it from on introductory astrology.

Well, who are we to spurn fate? On to find "Lord Rufin".

Leveva: Friend and fellow astrologian! It is so good to see you again. What has it been? Two...? Three...?[15] Ah, let us just say that it has been too long. Did Jannequinard speak to you of my reading? Well, then there is hope for that well-dressed dullard yet, though I've learned the key to success is not entrusting him with more than one task at a time, and making certain that task does not require much in the way of thinking...or acting, for that matter. As for the reading, I believe it instructs as to my─as to our─next step in spreading the knowledge of─

???: Master Rufin! An injured traveler has arrived at our gates seeking succor!

Leveva: An ill omen... With me, CHARNAME.

Far Eastern Traveler: Please... I can walk no further...

Leveva: The stars were kind in guiding you to this place. The astrologians here have ways of easing one's hurts.

Far Eastern Traveler: Astrologians!? I have no need of prophecy or prognosticatio─ Or...I could stay my tongue and allow you to tend to my wounds... My apologies.

House Durendaire Knight: May you have a quick recovery, friend. In time you will come to believe the power the stars wield.

Our mysterious visitor has just gotten to his feet when Jannequinard and Quimperain arrive.

Jannequinard: Lady Levev─er, Master Rufin! CHARNAME's felicitous return inspires me to step out for a breath of fresh air, and behold! Already does it appear a new adventure is upon us!

Leveva: Ah, and here I was thinking you made the journey south to lend your talents in preparing for the forthcoming symposium.

Far Eastern Traveler: Master Rufin. Or was it Lady Leveva? If I may, allow me to give you my thanks...and my apologies for earlier. I have a tendency to─

Leveva: Allow your unbridled emotions to get the best of you?

Kyokuho: That was amazing! You knew what I was going to say...before I even said it! But where are my manners. I am Kyokuho of Hingashi, and have braved storm and sea to learn of the many wonders it is said are to be found in this magnificent realm...but you already knew that, didn't you!?

Leveva: No. I did not. Now, if you would excuse me, I must get back to...um, matters...which are important.

Kyokuho: Important matters? Such as...astrological matters? Could you show me? I wouldn't be a burden. I'd stand in the corner. In the shadows. Behind a curtain.

Leveva: While I appreciate the somewhat forced enthusiasm, I'm afraid that won't be po─

Kyokuho: Oh, I was merely hoping that we might be able to share insight into each other's fields.

Leveva: Each other's fields...? You wouldn't happen to be a geomancer, would you!?

Jannequinard: A geomancer?

Leveva: So-called masters of wind and water. My grandfather had a tome written on the Far Eastern art of elemental and directional divination. Though much of it seemed little more than folklore.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva, did not the morning's reading mention “friends new and old”? What if CHARNAME were the friend old, and this peculiar little man the friend new?

Leveva: The Spear pointing west, the Balance pointing east, the Arrow pointing in all directions and none... It might just mean... Kyokuho. Though it pains me so to admit as much, it appears your arrival has been foretold. Perhaps there is much that I can learn from you─nay, that we can learn from each other.

Kyokuho: Hah hah! Oh, but there is! Soon you will learn the push and pull of the elements brings together those who require companionship most.

Leveva: Er, yes... The elements... We will have to discuss that further at another juncture. For the time being, I am placing you in the care of my first and foremost pupil, CHARNAME.

Jannequinard: An excellent proposal...or as I believe the Hingans say, “keikaku.” I dabbled a bit in the language when I was younger but for the life of me that ebon-haired emissary would not afford me even a sidelong glan─ Ahem! Then might I hazard that there is no finer place to begin unlocking the secrets of the stars than under the Bole near Rootslake? I shall even lead good Kyokuho to the South Shroud myself...if, ah, CHARNAME agrees to do the rest.

Kyokuho: After you, then!

Leveva: Next we meet, Kyokuho, you will have opened the first gate and better understand the influence the stars hold over all of us. Safe journeys. If this all goes according to plan...or keikaku, or whatever, then not only will the Easterner teach me his people's secrets, but he will help spread the art of my homeland across the Three Great Continents to the far shores of Othard!

Jannequinard: You most certainly do not need me telling you that Rootslake is located in the South Shroud near Camp Tranquil. You obviously remember the whereabouts of that particular location from that time that you, yourself opened the first gate. <wink>

Jannequinard: It all begins here, under the earthly stars. By opening the gate to the first heaven, we embark on a journey to self-enlightenment, to self-betterment, to unlock secrets untold... Finishing that journey, now, is another matter altogether. Hah hah...hah... <sigh>

Quimperain: My lady, it is an honor to defend you once again.

Kyokuho: There you are! I was beginning to wonder if you hadn't been eaten by the hoverflies on your way here! But I jest. Jannequinard tells me that you are quite the authority on all things relating the Bole. So enlighten me, oh, honorable sensei. I am, as you Westerners say, all eyes...or was it ears?

What will you explain?

> THE BOLE'S ORIGIN

Kyokuho: And Eorzeans believe it is from this tree planted by your gods in the very heavens that all life was born? Fascinating...

> THE BOLE'S BLESSING

Kyokuho: So say you the Bole offers protection to the weak? Intriguing...

Kyokuho: So this is your Bole... In the Far East we know of the constellation as something different, but know it all the same. I must admit, however, that seeing it under a different sky than my own fills my heart with a sense of both wonderment...and now confusion knowing what it represents to your people.

Kyokuho: What I cannot wrap my head around is that you would truly believe a notion so foolish as that the power of earth─a word that by your own definition means “soil”─would not come from the land itself, but rather from six tiny lights flickering in the night skies. We students of geomancy believe that such power naturally lies beneath our feet, ever flowing through creation, as blood does through our veins. Yet, despite the differences in our thinking, the similarities are encouraging. All trees are born of the earth, and their protection is universal.

Jannequinard: A most thought-provoking opinion that I am certain Lady Leveva will be delighted to hear...though might I suggest you withhold the part about being unable to wrap your head around our “foolish notions”...unless you enjoy having a steel-toed boot wedged firmly 'twixt the bollocks.

Jannequinard: Ahem! Shall we be going then? By this hour, Lady Leveva will have already made the journey back to the Athenaeum.

Kyokuho: I was just speaking with these fine ladies regarding their thoughts on the Sharlayan school of astrology. Your name came up quite often. Everyone here seems to think very highly of you. Of Jannequinard? Er...

ORIGINAL (THROUGH NOVEMBER 2018)

Jannequinard: Our Far Eastern friend has quickly become acquainted with many of the Athenaeum's female apprentices, who all seem smitten with his exotic locks and trappings. Not that I am jealous. Why would I be jealous? I am a son of the house of Durendaire! Third in line to my father's title! The most eligible bachelor in all the See! Hm? Leveva? Over there.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: Our Far Eastern friend has quickly become acquainted with many of the Athenaeum's female apprentices, who all seem smitten with his exotic locks and trappings. Not that I am jealous. Why would I be jealous? I am of House Durendaire! Third in line to my uncle's title! Or was it second? The most eligible bachelor in all the See! Hm? Leveva? Over there.

Leveva: My thanks for taking the Hingan off my hands. And not because I think our visitor an annoying little braggart with all the manners of a kobold foundling, which I still do, but because I needed the time to finish my work without distraction. So tell me, what did I miss?

Leveva: I see. Perhaps I judged Kyokuho too hastily. I still have my reservations, but I shall afford him the benefit of the doubt...for now. The teachings of geomancy may be grounded in faerie tales and falsehoods, but my grandfather told me that every lie is born of the truth. If I can find the truth within Kyokuho's backwards beliefs, it may provide insight into our own school of thought.

Leveva: I see now that my choice to assign you as his tutor was a wise decision. Might I ask this of you, CHARNAME? I promise that once the symposium has ended, I shall assume the duties of Kyokuho's tutelage. I sense good fortune in our stars, my friend. Good fortune, indeed.

17. Ride Like the Wind (Lv 63)

Lady Leveva has something to ask of her favorite pupil.

Heurriette: Between you and me... I've never been that skilled at astrology. Two winters here and I still haven't opened a single heaven. I can't even spell half of the ridiculous terms we're supposed to memorize! But since the arrival of that mysterious Easterner, I seem to have found a renewed interest in his body─I mean, my studies!

(CW: pet death) Fleuraie: When Chief Astrologian Forlemort assigned me here for “further training” I knew my accidental killing of his cat in that experiment with the Earthly Star was not to be forgiven. But now that Lady Leveva's teachings have garnered the attention of the Vault, it appears our stars have finally risen. The arrival of the brilliant and talented and handsome and talented Kyokuho is just further proof of this!

Kyokuho: Greetings! I know that Lady Leveva asked you to help me train, but since you were not around, I took it upon myself to open a few more of those pesky gates on my own. I hope you don't mind.

Jannequinard: Why hello, CHARNAME! If you haven't noticed, the Athenaeum is practically abuzz with talk of wind, water, and the optimal position of your bed pillows if you wish to avoid ill fortune in commerce. In other words, it hasn't changed since Kyokuho arrived...

Leveva: CHARNAME! I see you received my summons. You didn't receive my summons? Twelve damn that Jannequinard to the seventh hell and back! He is going to p─ Ah, forgive me. There shall be sufficient time for the condemnation of his soul after eleventh bell tarts. For now, I must speak to you of Kyokuho's training. Despite appearances...and attitude...and manners...and courting habits, our traveler from the East has proven quite motivated in his study of our ways. In fact, while you were off doing whatever it is you do, he successfully opened the next four gates of heaven.

Leveva: Anyway, preparations for the symposium have left me with little time to pick the boy's mind, but I have nevertheless managed to fully grasp the primitive concept of geomancy. In fact, I plan on incorporating several of the ideas as anecdotes into my presentation. It is what my father would have wanted.

Leveva: Now, as to why I have called you here. Kyokuho is very close to attuning to the final heaven─the Spear─and I think it only fitting that his instructor be there to accompany him during his finest moment. ...And because I am obviously too occupied at the moment, I thought perhaps you could join him in my stead.

Leveva: Then it is settled! You shall guide young Kyokuho on his final steps to glory and enlightenment, just as I did you those many moons ago. Follow me outside, CHARNAME, and let us bring our friend the good tidings together.

Jannequinard: Am I bitter that it took Kyokuho all of a single moon to open five gates? Am I bitter that he accomplished in a blink of an eye what took me near twenty summers?[16] No. Not. Bitter. At. All. See, I'm even smiling. Verily.

Leveva: That is odd. I could have sworn he was right here but a moment ago. Fleuraie! Have you seen Kyokuho? Fleuraie! Are you even listening to me!?

Jannequinard: If it is our Hingan novitiate you seek, he hurried out the Athenaeum's side entrance not five heartbeats past. He was quite animated...even more than usual. A veritable one-man mummer's tragedy all full of jumping and flailing and pumping of fists.

Leveva: What could have unsettled the boy so?

Jannequinard: I suppose it might have been that letter I handed him. It was delivered just this morning. Kyokuho skimmed over it quickly, asked me several cursory questions about the heaven of ice to which I gave several cursory answers, and then was gone.

Leveva: And you did not try and stop him?

Jannequinard: Why would I? He was leaving.

Leveva: Bah, if my intuition is correct...and it usually is, something in that missive has led Kyokuho to believe that he does not have much time left in Eorzea, and so has set out for the Steel Vigil that he might open the final gate and complete his training before he departs our realm. CHARNAME, it looks as if our plan is already set in motion. To the central highlands!

Jannequinard: Something tells me Lady Leveva is correct in her assumption about Kyokuho's whereabouts. Something indeed...

Kyokuho has been set upon by dragons. As they are so fond of saying in this game, we must needs offer our aid.

Kyokuho: CHARNAME. This is the second time you have saved me from my folly...well, technically speaking it is the first. You were merely standing around as Lady Leveva healed my wounds last ti─ Right. I'll stop there. I know it makes little sense to leave without saying anything despite the fact you, Lady Leveva, and Jannequinard all were but mere yalms from where I stood, but some stories are already told, and who are we to struggle against the ebb and flow that carry us ever toward our fates?

Kyokuho: All right, that was a poor excuse. The truth is, I have been summoned back to my homeland and was too ashamed to face those who had showed me so much support. And so I thought to come here, open the gate to the final heaven, and then take the next trading galley out of Ul'dah before any of you realized I was gone. As you can see, things did not unfold as planned... But since you are here, perhaps we could have one last lesson, for old times' sake?

What will you explain?

> THE SPEAR'S ORIGINS

Kyokuho: A palace of ice set ablaze with the light of the moon... And you say it was carved by a single spear? Remarkable!

> THE SPEAR'S BLESSINGS

Kyokuho: I see... Both power and compassion. The yin to the other's yang...

Kyokuho: It is as if the more I learn of your stars, the less I know! To think this may be the last I ever see of your heavens... I am beginning to understand why your people treasure them so.

Kyokuho: And with the opening of the sixth, I have prepared my mind and soul for the seventh. The final gate that leads to true dominion over the elements...or so Lady Leveva insists.[17] Our conversations have been...eye-opening, to say the least. She theorizes that our two schools may actually be one and the same. Whereas astrologians look to the stars above to read their fates, we geomancers look to the star below and listen to its songs, and draw our answers from its whispers.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH NOVEMBER 2018)

Kyokuho: While I am certain my masters back in Hingashi would cringe upon hearing that a westerner of but twenty summers believes she has grasped a thousand generations of teaching, I am more willing to indulge her eccentricities now that I know she means no ill will. I only wish that we would have had more time to possibly see if there were some way we could have combined our knowledge to create something new. Something the world has never before seen.

CURRENT

Kyokuho: While I am certain my masters back in Hingashi would cringe upon hearing that a Westerner of not twenty summers believes she has grasped a thousand generations of teaching, I am more willing to indulge her eccentricities now that I know she means no ill will. I only wish that we would have had more time to possibly see if there were some way we could have combined our knowledge to create something new. Something the world has never before seen.

Kyokuho: And with that, I bid you, Lady Leveva, Quimperain, Mugueniel, soft-skinned Fleuraie, sweet-lipped Heurriette, that tall chap on the second floor always mumbling about some star's magnitude...even Jannequinard the fondest of farewells. I have a long journey ahead of me, and if I do not leave now...I fear I will never be able to.

Jannequinard: Shoo! If Lady Leveva catches you speaking with me before you have reported to her, she'll have my head thinking that it was I who made you come to me first.

Leveva: You are back...but I do not see Kyokuho. Is he out fawning over Fleuraie again? Back to Hingashi? I cannot say this was unexpected. The Deck of Sixty told me as much this morning. That, and I asked Jannequinard what was written in the letter. What, you thought him above reading another's correspondence? You give him far too much credit where none is due.

Leveva: Kyokuho is not a child. He knew what coming to Eorzea would entail, and he knew that he would one day need return to his homeland. And while we may not have always agreed─alright, almost never agreed─I did come to respect the man and his, ah, steely resolve. Allow him his space. If the stars deem it fitting, then he will be back. Or perhaps next it will be our turn for a journey over storm and sea.

Jannequinard: He's gone!? And without saying good-bye!? I cannot believe it! I will not believe it! Oh, what I would not give to have but one last moment with my brother, my soulmate, my─ Lady Leveva told you I read his letter? Oh, well then.

Jannequinard: Yes, it will pain me to tell the other novitiates that Kyokuho has returned to his native lands far away on the other side of the world. I may even need to personally comfort those most stricken with grief by his sudden, and tragic departure. But truth be told? I am going to miss having the Hingan around. He certainly did liven the place up. Godsspeed, Kyokuho. May your return journey leave you miserable and wet...but see you safely home.

18. Come Rain or Shrine (Lv 65)

Before reaching Lv 65 to accept the quest, going to the Athenaeum gets you this dialogue:

Jannequinard: To keep her mind off Kyokuho's sudden return to his homeland, Lady Leveva has buried herself in the preparations for her symposium, locking herself in her alcove for days on end. Free from her usual nagging, I've found myself with a considerable amount of time on my hands...and decided to take up fortune-telling! Allow me to read your future.

Jannequinard: Ahem... The Bole...then the Spire...then over here goes the inverted Arrow...then down here another Arrow... Wait! Another Arrow? Who put two arrows in my deck!? If I find out who did this─!

Jannequinard appears ill. Could it be he is recovering from another long evening at the Forgotten Knight, or is something else disturbing the viscount?

Jannequinard: While your visit fills my heart with joy, CHARNAME, I cannot bring myself to smile knowing that the Lady Leveva is troubled so. Though she should be spending these final days before the symposium placing the final touches on her address to the Vault, she instead spends her time wandering about the Pillars in a daze, mumbling to herself about earth, wind, and water. I fear that Kyokuho's departure has left a gap in Lady Leveva's heart that she knows not how to fill.

Jannequinard: I have tried at length to set her mind at ease, but one need not be a reader of stars to guess how well that ended. Perhaps if you spoke with her, she would finally listen to reason.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva could be anywhere in the Pillars. Perhaps it would be best if we searched for her separately. I shall inform you via linkpearl if I happen across her first.

And so, we're off to find Leveva, who is indeed wandering about the Pillars.[18]

Leveva: CHARNAME? To what do I owe the honor? No, let me guess—our good friend Jannequinard asked you to talk some sense into poor addle-pated Leveva. And oh, goody. Today I have the privilege of being lectured by both of you.

Jannequinard: Why Lady Leveva...and CHARNAME! Imagine finding you two out here this fair morning!

Leveva: Enough with the theatrics, Janne. I know your play here; and as I have told you time and again, I have not forgotten my duty to the Athenaeum or my obligations to the symposium. I simply need...time to think. Alone.

Jannequinard: To which I keep replying, why think alone when you have one of the greatest minds in the realm at your disposal? And CHARNAME!

Leveva: <sigh> The greatest minds, eh? Then riddle me this: why are the results of my reading from that day both CHARNAME and Kyokuho arrived still weighing on my mind? Why does it feel as if I am missing...or rather misinterpreting some devilishly important detail?

Jannequinard: Peace comes, friends are made, dangerous paths are trodden, knowledge is gained. Did that not already occur? Kyokuho and CHARNAME both arrive as the Dragonsong War ends, CHARNAME saves Kyokuho from death at the Steel Vigil, and knowledge of geomancy is shared with the Athenaeum.

Leveva: Yes, but what if the coming destruction told by the inverted Spire was not the incident at the citadel, but something else? Something far more grave?

Jannequinard: ...Then that would mean the prophecy's "fruit of knowledge and hope" was not Kyokuho's stories of his art...but something different. Something we will only see by continuing on this perilous path?

Leveva: But is it truly the path that is disastrous, or our decision to pursue it? What is your interpretation of the cards, CHARNAME?

> At the end of the path of disaster is hope.

Leveva: Exactly what I was thinking. Only through the avoidance of some unforeseen peril will hope...and knowledge be acquired.

> To seek hope would be disastrous.

Leveva: An interesting...if not fairly liberal interpretation of the cards...as well as the basic rules of grammar and syntax. No, the sixth card clearly states that hope is a resulting factor of the misfortune described in the fourth and fifth cards.

> A big promotion is just around the corner?

Leveva: I know you are merely trying to ease my mind with humor, but this isn't the time for jests. If we are to understand where our fates lie, we must try and comprehend the signs we are given...and I believe those signs point to the pursuit of hope in the face of disaster.

Leveva: And I believe the disaster in question has something to do with Kyokuho's return home, if not the return itself. It could also mean that our friend is in danger.

Jannequinard: I see where you are going with this, and while I loved our red-robed ruckus-rouser as much as anyone (excepting Fleuraie perhaps), a journey at this time would mean the cancellation of our symposium, and with that, any chance of the Holy See ever taking us seriously.

Leveva: And now you can see why I've been up here day and night biting my nails to the quick!

Leveva: <sigh> I apologize. A lack of sleep can work ill on one's humours. But...I think your intervention here today may have provided me a solution to our predicament. A solution that I am now kicking myself for not having come to earlier. A solution I myself proposed not days ago when deciding how I might attend Kyokuho's opening of the sixth heaven! CHARNAME will travel to Hingashi!

Jannequinard: The reading did only mention "friends old" and "friends new." I recall nothing in there about silver-haired astrologians from Sharlayan.[19] But how do you propose CHARNAME find our charge? The Far East is a big place. Perhaps we could write a letter?

Leveva: Yes, and address it "To: Kyokuho. Hingashi." No, you dullard. We have something far better! We have the stars, and our undying faith that they will guide us to that which we seek!

Jannequinard: Or, CHARNAME could start her search in Kugane, the port city from which Kyokuho claimed he came, focusing on locations which serve as exceptional venues for stargazing—a pastime our friend warmed to during his stay with us.

Leveva: Or CHARNAME could— No, wait. That is actually a decent proposal. CHARNAME, you have your quest! May the stars guide you true! Oh, and I will expect reports. Many reports! Janne, let us return to the prepar— <yawn> Alright, maybe after a few bells rest first...

The UI tells us now to "Travel to Kugane and locate a place suitable for stargazing."

Wizened Elder: Kugane is packed like a warehouse with multistoried hostels and teahouses, so the cobbles will ne'er afford a man a decent view of the skies. No, if you want to see the heavens in all their glory, you must needs make your way up. Take this bridge behind me. There, atop that mighty span, the stars await. She faces directly west of Kugane castle, out towards the Ruby Tide and Othard beyond. It is said her location was determined by a great geomancer who told the first bugyo placing it there would ensure the city's prosperity for generations to come.

Udoku: If it is the stars you seek, then you need only look up! Hahahaha! But if it is a fool you seek—one who calls himself a master of wind and water when in fact he is nothing more than a cheat, a liar, and a disgrace to our noble profession—then perhaps you might find the rat where all rats hide: near the piers. You'd be wise to not allow that one your ear. He is liable to fill it with tales of woe and ruin in an attempt to cozen you out of your hard-earned coin—coin that would be better spent on the talents of a true geomancer.

Alluring Lady: When I wish to walk under the stars, I go with my promised to the Tasogare Bridge spanning yon pier. The melting of crimson into indigo is a sight you will not soon forget.

And so we go to the Tasogare Bridge at nightfall.

Kyokuho: I see someone has taken my spot. I may just have to slit her throat and toss her body to the tide. Hah hah hah! I'm pulling your arm, CHARNAME...or was it ear? You westerners have such odd sayings. What brings you so far from home?

Kyokuho: A path fraught with disaster? Misfortune? Impending doom? Hah hah hah! Ahem. Yes, well, the situation may not be as encouraging as my jovial demeanor suggests. It all began several decades ago when the bakufu decided they were opening the port to foreign trade vessels. To accommodate the influx of ships, a section of ancient coastline forest was cleared. However, doing so angered the entity who had guarded the wood for countless generations—a golden fox named Kinko.

Kyokuho: A great battle ensued, but claws and fangs were no match for cold steel. Kinko was slain and the new port completed. The fox's spirit, however, remained, spoiling our milk, withering our crops, causing storms that dashed ship after ship against our rocky cliffs, In desperation, the bakufu turned to the land's most powerful geomancer—my great-grandfather, Kazan. Kazan used the power of the sea, the skies, and the land to soothe the spirit long enough that he could erect an invisible barrier that not only protected the city, but ensured that it would prosper.

Kyokuho: At once, the fortunes of Kugane's citizenry turned. My great-grandfather was hailed as a hero, and geomancy as the savior of our nation. Within a matter of moons, the streets were lined with the stalls and tents of would-be seers, the people practically throwing coin at them for their advice and blessings. These pretenders, these charlatans, were not interested in the sacred rites passed down to my great-grandfather from his great-grandfather and his great-grandfather before him. They were not interested in maintaining the barrier that preserved Kugane's luster, and drove back the powers that would see it fall. No, they were more interested in lining their pockets. And now...

Kyokuho: Now the bonds that hold the barrier in place are about to break, and there is none left with the knowledge to mend them! The knowledge that died with the passing of my grandfather... And so I set out to convince the geomancers of Kugane that only united would we discover the means to save our fair city. That only united would we stave off the darkness and bring lasting prosperity to one and all. That only united would my great-grandfather's legacy live on.

Kyokuho: Alas, I failed. Branded a deceiver by those very men and women who had grown fat on deceit. Unable to mend the bonds myself, nor rouse my peers to action, I stood on this very bridge and thought on an answer...and then I saw it in the setting sun. My answer lay in the West. And so I packed my bags and headed to Eorzea, in search of something, anything that might help me save Kugane. I believed that something astrology, but before I could be certain, I was summoned home. This, you already know.

Kyokuho: Since then, I have been coming here every night, hoping the stars might provide me with another revelation. But they remain silent... CHARNAME, the heavens speak through you. Tell me, what do they say?

> Use geomancy to mend the barrier.

Kyokuho: I admit it was a long story, but did you not hear a single thing that I even said? If I could mend the barrier myself, I wouldn't have traveled halfway across the world in the first place! Wait... But I did travel halfway across the world, and I didn't come home empty-handed.

> Use astrology to strengthen the barrier.

Kyokuho: That's... That's brilliant! I don't know why I didn't think of it.

> Solve your own problems.

Kyokuho: Hah hah. Spare me your western— Your western...? Western? Western!

At this point, Kyokuho's dialogue is the same regardless of your answer.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH DEC 2021)

Kyokuho: If I learned one thing while in Ishgard, it was that western astrology is in many ways a complement to geomancy. Used together, they might just—! Unfortunately, that concept is all I had time to learn before the letter arrived. How to actually harness and wield the power of the stars was a lesson conveniently scheduled for the day after I returned home. But you... You know all the spells, right? You could help me mend the barrier!

CURRENT

Kyokuho: If I learned one thing while in Ishgard, it was that western astrology is in many ways a complement to geomancy. Used together, they might just work! After all, you need only use your Aspected Benefic and you can mend any injury, is that not so? ...No, really─I'm genuinely asking. The lesson explaining the finer details of the stars' power and how to harness it was conveniently scheduled for the day after I returned home. But you... You know it all! Tell me you can help repair the barrier!

This dialogue change is due to the removal of Nocturnal Sect, the gameplay mechanic that the original 60-70 questline was built around.

Kyokuho: Hah hah! I did it, Great-grandfather! I found a way to make things right! Well, then. We have no time to lose. My great-grandfather created his barrier by anchoring the energies of wind, water, and earth to four shrines located at the north, east, south, and west ends of the city. It is there the bonds must be repaired. We shall begin with the nearby westerly shrine on the Short Pier.

Kyokuho: This is one of the shrines of which I spoke. It may not look like much, but if it were to be destroyed, the entire city would be overrun with large-testicled raccoon dogs and flying rainbow cats...or possibly just angry spirits.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH DECEMBER 2021)

Kyokuho: My plan is simple. If I am correct, the strongest barrier the stars can create is through the use of Aspected Benefic while under the influence of the Nocturnal Sect. We shall wait until nightfall to perform the rite, for the last thing we need is a drunken ronin breaking your concentration.

CURRENT

My plan is simple─if I am correct, Aspected Benefic will intertwine with the barrier's geomantic energies, mending it as easily as it does flesh. We shall wait until nightfall to perform the rite, for the last thing we need is a drunken ronin breaking your concentration.

Time to enter an instanced duty! The listed task is to "Test the barrier's strength at the westerly shrine."

Kyokuho: Quickly! Check the shrine and tell me its condition!

Kyokuho: It is worse than I thought. The speed with which the bonds deteriorate increases with each passing day. At this rate, they will not survive through the next new moon.

We cast Aspected Benefic (once upon a time, in the Nocturnal Sect).

Kyokuho: The magicks intertwine! Like two halves of a whole!

The bond strengthened, Kyokuho prays over the shrine to strengthen the geomantic bond.

Kyokuho: From the heart of the mountain... To the eye of the storm... So do the waters flow 'til lasting bridges form.

Kyokuho: To the next shrine! We will find it deep in Rakusui Gardens to the south of here. You know what to do. Attune with the shrine to determine the extent of the bond's damage.

When we attune to the shrine, three evil spirits spawn.

Kyokuho: Servants of the fox? Our mending of the first westerly bond must have alerted her to our presence! Focus is required to complete the seal, and my heart will not rest easy until these restless spirits are sent back to the land. Now, CHARNAME! Before more are summoned!

We cast Aspected Benefic to strengthen the magicks of the shrine.

Kyokuho: That wasn't so bad! Now step aside. I shall complete the ritual. 'From the heart of the mountain... To the eye of the storm... So do the waters flow 'til lasting bridges form.' That's half! At this rate, the barrier will be at full strength before sunrise! Onward, to Kugane Castle!

Fleeting spirits roam the streets, attacking all on sight.

Kyokuho: It appears I spoke too soon... Kinko knows what we do, and is sending her minions out in force to stay our hands. Try and not stray too far from my side, if not for your safety...for mine!

Attuning to the easterly shrine causes more evil spirits to spawn.

Kyokuho: There's no end to them! I knew that Kugane had a bloody history, but to think this many of the dead still linger... Alright, CHARNAME. Let us put this shrine behind us. I fear every moment we tarry, the stronger Kinko's gaze upon us grows. Be my eyes, friend. I must now concentrate on the anchor. 'From the heart of the mountain... To the eye of the storm... So do the waters flow 'til lasting bridges form.'

Kyokuho: There is but one shrine remaining─the northerly. As you know...or do not, the north is where all ill fortune gathers. I expect the most resistance there. Prepare yourself.

An enormous enemy called 'the Fury of the Golden Fox' spawns when we attune to the northerly shrine.

Kyokuho: Away! Away foul denizen of the dark... It doesn't hurt to try, does it? L-Look out! We cannot breathe easy until your magicks are cast and I have completed the rite. Hurry! Deep breath, Kyokuho. You can do this... 'From the heart of the mountain... To the eye of the storm... So do the waters flow 'til lasting bridges form.'

Kyokuho: I, ah, we did it! We strengthened my great-grandfather's barrier and thwarted the golden fox! A fine display! Fine indeed. Though, if it were I, I might have used Gravity instead of Malefic when the foul creature had─Ah, right. I'll just be staying that tongue of mine again.

???: Kyokuho! I was told there were spirits in the streets!

Kyokuho: And you arrive just as they are vanquished! How fortunate! Yes, Master Murakumo. The bonds are mended, made whole with western magicks...and a little shoulder grease, or was it knuckle grease? CHARNAME?

Murakumo: Western magicks? Then this ijin lady is─

Kyokuho: None other! And wait until you see the reinforced bonds. The energies twist together with ours like sun and moon, like darkness and light. They are as one, Master!

Murakumo: Then I was right to summon you home. Pardon my intrusion, traveler. I am Murakumo. Second pupil of the great Kazan, and instructor to young Kyokuho.

Kyokuho: But with Kugane safe...I can now return to Ishgard to complete my training as an astrologian. Huzzah!

Murakumo: Absolutely not. While you have mended the weakened bonds for now, their ephemerality remains. Unless you expect your friend here to remain in Kugane for the remainder of her life, we will need to find a more permanent solution. In other words, the bonds must be laid anew.

Kyokuho: But you know as well as I, the secret to laying those bonds died with my grandfather!

Murakumo: Not a day goes by that I do not suffer the burden of my ineptitude. Had I shown promise in the art as your grandfather did, perhaps Kazan would have entrusted me with the knowledge as well. But he did not, and now they are both gone. We can lament that which we cannot change, or we can put aside our past failures and seek the path which leads us forward.

Kyokuho: My master is right. Perhaps there is something in my grandfather's tomes, or perhaps I may still find a way to win over the other geomancers to our cause. There is always hope, is there not? If anything, you've given us time to search for an answer, and for that I am grateful. The city would be, as well, if they knew you had saved them from an army of angry wraiths looking to devour their souls and defecate their bones straight to the darkest of hells!

Murakumo: In his haste to find a difficult answer, he looks past the simple one right before his eyes.

It may take Kyokuho time to realize it, but you are the hope which we seek. In time, you will come to see it, as well.

Murakumo: Though it was but a single generation past, the people of Kugane have already forgotten that the prosperity they experience is not the result of some serpent-tongued swindlers, but of the humble efforts of true geomancers like Kyokuho's great-grandfather.

Kyokuho: So, I guess this is farewell... Unless, that is, you're staying? You're staying!? She's staying! Master, she's staying! What changed your mind?

Kyokuho: No, don't tell me. Knowing that you will be here with me and Master Murakumo is enough. I was beginning to worry what I would do the next time the city was invaded by Kinko's minions. The master can barely make his way out of the privy each morning, let alone battle blood-lusting specters.

Kyokuho: Now that you mention it, this all reminds me of that reading Lady Leveva conducted the morning I arrived at the Observatory. Something about friendly paths lined with dangerous fruit bushes winding their way to hope. Could the stars truly have predicted all this? If so...I'm impressed! I will need to think more on the issue. Until then, might I suggest you continue the refinement of your art here in scenic Hingashi? You will find our beasts just as formidable as yours in the West, if not doubly so!

19. Behind Door Number Two (Lv 68)

Kyokuho is giving you his best “Where have you been, young lady? I've been waiting for days” look.

Murakumo: Greetings, CHARNAME. I hope your training has fared better than our search for information...

Kyokuho: I have some good news and some bad news, CHARNAME. The bad news is, a thirty-seventh reading of my great-grandfather's tomes failed to reveal anything about the bonds that the previous thirty-six readings had not. The good news─if you can call it that─is that we did discover where Grandmaster Kazan conducted his training when he was a youth. How does this help us? Good question. I'm still not completely certain myself, but it is more than we had the last time you were here, and an onze of hope is better than none at all, so...what do you say, friend. Are you up for a journey across the Ruby Sea?

Kyokuho: Hah hah! I knew you couldn't turn me down. Still, the road ahead won't be easy. Yanxia is large and the scars of war run deep along the Gensui Chain. It may be that which might have helped has already been claimed by flame. We'll have to place faith in our fortunes, and hope they guide us true. I have decided we shall begin our search in Namai for the reason that, well...there is no reason, but you have to start somewhere, eh? I shall meet you there. Safe journeys, CHARNAME.

Murakumo: Master Kazan would rarely speak of his youth, but I do recall several instances during my own training where he would treat with visitors from the mainland. I did not dare ask who they were, for we were allowed to speak only when spoken to, but now that I reflect back upon those visits, it might have been that the men were geomancers from Yanxia.

Kyokuho: The air is heavy with mist, and these shacks probably let in more rain than they keep out. Something like a tome wouldn't survive a single moon here...let alone the decades since my great-grandfather's training. Still, a few words with the village elders provided an interesting bit of information. Though it required some coaxing, several were able to recall memories of robed seers who resided in a nearby temple─a temple that was in use right up until the Garlean invasion and the subsequent banning of all religion.

Kyokuho: The building─called the Swallow's Compass─while since abandoned, still remains in good repair. But listen to this. The locals avoid it for fear of disturbing the spirits with which they believed the geomancers communed. Do you know what this means? There could still be something left inside! Come!

Kyokuho: The Swallow's Compass. Built during the rule of the first Doman king. I took the liberty to explore the grounds before you arrived and discovered this door. I know, I know. It pales in comparison to that impressive gate behind us, compelling any normal thief or bandit to dismiss it outright. But then why erect a geomantic field to protect it? I sense the flow of powerful energies here. Whatever lies behind this door, the geomancers wanted to keep it safe. In fact...there may even be traps. Which is why only I should attempt a crossing of the threshold. I mean, who knows what terrible guardians have been summoned to protect the temple?

Kyokuho: Well, I guess now we know what terrible guardians were summoned to protect the temple! You'll also be happy to hear I was able to temporarily nullify the barrier, granting access into the chamber beyond. As there may be more traps, I ask that you wait out here to deal with them for me. Just kidding! I have already checked. There are no more traps. Probably.

Kyokuho: Fortune is with us, CHARNAME! The scrolls were intact, the barrier having protected them from both the elements and thieves. It took some searching, but I believe I was able to locate several that touch upon the laying of geomantic bonds. At least I think I was able to... The script on these scrolls is old and faded, not to mention written in a hand far beyond my comprehension.

Kyokuho: Luckily, Master Murakumo is almost as ancient as the tomes, and should have little difficulty prising out their secrets. A decanter or six of hot sake and he'll warm to the task. Ahah hah hah. I'll see you back at the Shiokaze Hostelry, CHARNAME. I'll even save you a cup!

Murakumo: Welcome back. The scrolls you and Kyokuho retrieved from Yanxia were not difficult to decipher. No, what has been difficult is deciding how to use this newfound information.

Kyokuho: ...

Murakumo: Kyokuho. The Westerner has joined us. Might I suggest you do the same?

Kyokuho: I...oh. My apologies, CHARNAME. You may want to sit down for this... Or not. It doesn't matter... Nothing really matters, does it? The scrolls─they contained knowledge of the complete ritual. In fact it was in the very first one. Hah... Just our luck, right? Wind, water, earth. Creation of the bonds calls for the energies of all three. Though this much even a first-year novice of geomancy could tell you. No, what gave us pause was the mention of a fourth energy─an energy to render the seal permanent...

Murakumo: Kyokuho...

Kyokuho: Life! Don't you see, CHARNAME? They spilled living blood to complete the ritual! They damned a soul to an eternity without peace so that their magicks would not fade!

Murakumo: I now understand why Grandmaster Kazan left no notes on the rites. He did not wish this knowledge to fall in the wrong hands.

Kyokuho: And because he never performed the rites himself, the bonds anchoring the barrier around Kugane were never completed. And that is why they require constant attention. No blood was spilled to make them everlasting.

My great-grandfather would not sacrifice even a single life to achieve his ends, and neither will I!

Murakumo: That's enough, Kyokuho. There will be time to think on this with the morrow. Return to Kogane Dori and see if you can find some solace in sleep.

Murakumo: I do not fault my master for keeping this dark secret from me. The burden would have been far too much for me to bear. But then...why tell Kyokuho's grandfather?

Kyokuho: I've failed... Just as did my great-grandfather, and my grandfather after him. We all knew the one means of creating a flawless barrier, and none of us could bring ourselves to do it. And lo, the bonds we strengthened but several nights past...already have they begun to loosen and fray. They were weak for overlong, allowing Kinko to regain her strength. To mend her wounds. To feed her anger. And now there is naught we can do but watch as she gathers her minions for a final assault on the land she once ruled. Kugane does not stand a chance...

Kyokuho: Now would be a good time for us to stumble across that hope Lady Leveva's reading promised would be at the end of this road to destruction.

20. Foxfire (Lv 70)

Kyokuho appears frantic...and Master Murakumo is nowhere to be found.

Kyokuho: CHARNAME! Thank the stars you are finally here. It's been almost four bells since Master Murakumo left on his daily inspection of the bonds. He most likely just stopped to warm his belly along the way, but I can't help wondering if it's something worse. Will you help me search for the old man? We can start at the closest shrine in Rakusui Gardens.

Udoku: Well look what we have here, boys. The pretender is back with his ijin lapdog to do...whatever it is they're doing. Tell me again, what exactly is it you're doing?

Kyokuho: Not here but two beats of the heart and I'm accosted by Udoku and his merry band of minions. I'll handle these three while you search yonder for Master Murakumo.

Kyokuho: Well, any sign of him? Where could he be? You don't suppose he tried anything foolish, do you? With the bonds as weak as they are, any manner of disturbance could rouse the golden fox...and the master is no longer of an age to defend himself.

Udoku: Defend himself against what? A maid could walk the streets naked and unattended carrying a gold-filled sack and not have so much as a finger laid upon her. Or are you spreading more lies about angry spirits to sow fear so that you might offer your “protection” in exchange for a bugyo's ransom?

Kyokuho: I've done no such thing! I've merely bid my fellow geomancers aid the city in its time of need. Not once have I asked compensation for what I seek! If anything, it is you who seek to prey on the citizenry's ignorance!

Udoku: Hah! So says the talentless hack who waves his great-grandfather's name around like he does his member! Your lies are growing stale, Kyokuho. Continue spouting them, and not only do you sully our craft, but the very legacy of Grandmaster Kazan. What would he say to this nonsense!?

Kyokuho: Are you even listening to me? Why does no one listen to me!? All I desire is to mend my great-grandfather's magicks and save Kugane! I do not seek coin! I do not seek fame! Why is that so hard for you to grasp!? Gah! We are wasting our time here, CHARNAME. Let us continue the search for Master Murakumo at the westerly shrine.

Udoku: Quite the performance. Perhaps the pretender should trade in his geomancer's robes for mummer's paint. Hah hah hah hah!

Kyokuho: Master Murakumo! Are you hurt!?

Murakumo: The bond...was nearly undone... I...tried to... But the...... Argh! Kinko... She's here. She's already through. We...we need to perform the blood ritual. It is the only way...

Kyokuho: No. I already told you. My great-grandfather spurned the spilling of innocent blood to complete the seal, and so have I. Besides, even if we were to conduct the ritual, there is no one to sacrifice.

Murakumo: Then I shall be the sacrifice, Kyokuho. For the many years since your grandfather passed, my sole purpose has been to find a means to mend Kazan's barrier. It would be the greatest honor knowing that with my death, I might not only save the city, but be granted the opportunity to watch over it for eternity.

Kyokuho: No! I can't let you die, Master!

Murakumo: Listen to what you are saying, Kyokuho. You cannot let me die? I want to do this. It is my decision to make and mine alone. Let not this selfishness in your heart distract you from what needs to be done.

Kyokuho: You're wrong, Master! There must be another way. There is always another way! There is always hope! Right, CHARNAME? Tell me! How do we save Kugane!?

> It's simple. Use astrology.

Kyokuho: 'Stop focusing on the bonds, and look to the fox'? What do you mean, CHARNAME?

Leveva: What she means? I'll tell you exactly what she means!

> It's simple. Sacrifice Master Murakumo.

Leveva: Not on my watch!

Leveva: There is a much easier solution to all this nonsense... but only if you stop focusing on the bonds, and turn your attention to the fox!

Kyokuho: Lady Leveva! How did y─Where did y─Why did y─Lady Leveva...?

Leveva: Your powers of observation never cease to amaze me, Kyokuho. Aye, it is me, in the flesh. Fresh off a galley put into port this very morn.

Leveva: The symposium was a rousing success, the Vault quick to realize the benefits my school's wisdom could bring when applied to the rebuilding of Ishgard. It was even decided that several new courses in Sharlayan astrology were to be taught at the scholasticate starting next term. And so, with my father's dream fulfilled, I was finally free to pursue whatever I wished...and I wished to learn more of geomancy. So here I am...and not a moment too soon, by the looks of it.

Leveva: In the few bells I spent exploring the city for leads as to your whereabouts, I learned much and more about our “pretender” and his end-is-nigh advocacy, so I began testing the bonds of this barrier myself. It did not take long to realize that it was Kyokuho who was speaking verily, and his detractors the true pretenders.

Kyokuho: So, you'll help us mend the bonds!? But how? CHARNAME and I have already tried using energies drawn from the heavens, and that only worked to delay the inevitable. The guardian spirit's strength has grown so great that the only thing that might hold her now is a new barrier anchored with bonds of lifeblood─but this I cannot allow.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH DEC 2021)

Leveva: As always, Kyokuho, your hasty charge into a difficult answer blinds you from the simple solution. For so long you have focused on mending your great-grandfather's bonds, when you should have focused on Kinko herself. If her wrath can be quelled, then a barrier will no longer be needed. In the heavens, there exist two sects which influence the type of energy that dominates the plane─nocturnal and diurnal. The former draws energies from the moon with the power to repel and protect. My guess is that this is what you and CHARNAME used to mend the bonds before. The second sect, however─the diurnal─draws energy from the sun. Energy to calm and to heal.

Kyokuho: So...you're saying that if we use Aspected Benefic under the Diurnal Sect, it will soothe Kinko so that we may convince her to stay her attack?

Leveva: Giving you time to re-lay your great-grandfather's bloodless bonds. But it will only work if Kinko is first weakened herself.

Kyokuho: Right! Weakened! Wait... Weakened? But won't attacking Kinko and her minions simply anger the spirit even more?

CURRENT

Leveva: As always, Kyokuho, your hasty charge into a difficult answer blinds you from the simple solution. You were right to harness the power of Aspected Benefic─but you failed to grasp its true potential to bring succor. For so long you have focused on mending your great-grandfather's bonds, when you should have focused on Kinko herself. If her wrath can be quelled, then a barrier will no longer be needed.

Kyokuho: So....you're saying that if we use the power of the stars to soothe Kinko's wounded heart, we may convince her to stay her attack?

Leveva: Giving you time to re-lay your great-grandfather's bloodless bonds. But it will only work if Kinko is weak, and the manifestations of her soul's scars cleansed.

Kyokuho: Right! So we only need to─ Wait. Won't attacking Kinko and her spiritual minions simply anger her even more?

Murakumo: Before something can be healed, it must first be hurt. It is a sound plan, Kyokuho. And...if it turns out you still require a sacrifice, I─

Leveva: There will be no sacrificing tonight, tomorrow, or ever! The stars have foretold our victory and will provide us the strength we need to see our enemy overcome!

Kyokuho: That's what I like to hear! Follow me, then, to Kugane Castle! The spirits are certain to be drawn there!

Kyokuho: The fox is a creature of the night. If Kinko is to reveal herself, it will be under the cover of darkness.

Leveva: Trust in the heavens...and always trust in yourself.

Udoku: The very hells have opened! Who will save us!?

Kyokuho: Tenkonto? We just walked up all those steps for a final showdown at Kugane Castle, and now we have to walk all the way back down to Ten─ Right. Mouth shut.

Leveva: Kinko will seek to draw our attention away from her by sowing chaos in the streets. Kyokuho, you focus your energies on the fox. CHARNAME, you make swift work of her angry supplicants. I shall provide you both with support from the rear.

It's time for an instanced d-d-d-d-d-duty!

Kyokuho: Kinko is attacking the people of Kugane! We have to save them!

Udoku: It was true... It was all true!

Kinko Kugane: Defilers of the land, hearken unto me! Tonight there shall be a reckoning!

Kyokuho: She flees! We can use this time to deal with Kinko's thralls before giving chase.

Kinko Kugane: What is this I smell...? The blood of he who dared keep me from my rightful domain! Kazan!

Kyokuho: The fox thinks I'm my great-grandfather... and it doesn't appear she's all that thrilled to see me...

Kinko Kugane: Your insolence is neither forgotten nor forgiven! It is you I shall devour first! For too long have I suffered the likes of man!

After a little while in combat, she teleports away.

Leveva: Hurry! We must not allow her time to heal her wounds!

One (1) add phase later...

Kinko Kugane: You will pay! All of you!

Leveva: Look there! So overwhelming are her wrath and anguish that they have taken shape!

We (literally) heal her Anguish and Wrath add tethers.[20]

Kinko Kugane: This light... Its warmth... The flames within recede with the morning tide... Trust... Forgiveness... They are truly what bind us...

Leveva: Her anger─we must soothe it once and for all!

Kinko Kugane: Hath man finally learned his power need not only be used for destruction? Perhaps my guardianship is no longer required...

ORIGINAL (THROUGH DECEMBER 2021)

Leveva: Now! She is ready! I shall prime the diurnal! CHARNAME! Tap into the nocturnal and guide its energies through Kinko!

CURRENT

Leveva: Now! She is ready! CHARNAME! Tap into the stars and guide their soothing energies through Kinko!

Leveva: Kinko is calmed! Now lay the bonds and complete your great-grandfather's ritual!

Kyokuho: May the rivers of heaven and earth, wind and water, flow together as one. May their currents cleanse this land of its impurities and see it ever guarded.

Kyokuho: May the wrath that once held rule be carried to the seas where it be forgotten...for eternity.

Leveva: It is done. Together we have saved Kugane, and with it torn down the walls that separated our two schools. This will be a day long remembered─the day a new hope was born.

Leveva: “At the end of the path of disaster is hope.” I'm not going to say I told you so...but I told you so. <wink>

Kyokuho: I don't know how to begin to thank you─both of you.

Leveva: Normally, I would say that this uncharacteristic display of humility is more than enough thanks, but I still require one thing in return for my assistance─a promise that this is not the end.

Kyokuho: Of course it's not the end! This is just the beginning─a new beginning for both geomancy and astrology! There's so much to be done. First, we'll need to write down all that happened here today, then I'll need to─

Jannequinard: So this is Kugane, eh? Not bad.

Leveva: Jannequinard!? What in the seventh heaven's name are you doing here!? I explicitly stated in my letter that you were not to follow me!

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva. I am disappointed. You of all people should know had you wanted me to stay put, you should have rather demanded that I come.

Leveva: Yes, yes. Whatever was I thinking?

Murakumo: Ahem. May I say that I am honored to have before me the foremost authorities on astrology. Your display last night taught me there is still much I must learn about my own school. Something I would not have been able to do had I...er...allowed myself to be sacrificed.

Udoku: Kyokuho! I... I wanted to...ap─ To apol─ Apol─ To apologize. There, I said it. I still despise you and that smirk of yours, but I can see I was mistaken about your being a pretender. You have talent...almost as much as I. You will make a worthy rival.

Kyokuho: Hah! Coming from you, Udoku, I'll take that as a compliment. Lady Leveva, under any other circumstances, I would be on a barque headed back to Eorzea this very evening to complete my training as an astrologian. But there is something I need to do first. Just as you fought to educate Ishgard of your school, I must do the same here in Kugane with mine. A geomancy unfaithful to the teachings of the masters has poisoned this city for too long.

Leveva: A wise decision─one that was surely not easy for you to make. Take as much time as you need, Kyokuho. See the ship righted. See truth prevail. The stars will guide you back to us when the hour is right.

Kyokuho: Don't you worry, Lady Leveva. Give me a few summers and I'll have an entire army of geomancers trained by yours truly lining up at your desk!

Leveva: An...entire army of Kyokuhos...?

Kyokuho: What? Is that a problem? Hah hah hah!

Kyokuho: CHARNAME! You're still in Kugane? I thought you would have sailed back to Eorzea by now. Is there something that keeps you in our fair city, or do you simply enjoy its pleasures too much to leave? As for me, I will require a little more time to...what did Lady Leveva say? Sit the straight ship? Pah, how I despise your cryptic expressions. Just tell her, if you see her, that I haven't forgot our promise.

Fleuraie: Have you heard the news? Of course you have! But I'll tell you anyway! They have made me an assistant professor at the Scholasticate! I will be teaching Lady Leveva's courses to all the young, handsome students... Oh, and the old, ugly ones as well. Of course. Why wouldn't I?

Mugueniel: While I am happy for Lady Leveva, the Vault's newfound interest in Sharlayan astrology has increased our workload here tenfold. Alright, that may be an exaggeration. Sevenfold, then! And not a fold less!

Heurriette: The symposium was a success, and now there is news that Kyokuho may soon return to the Athenaeum to resume his studies! Perhaps Lady Leveva will put us in the same kisses─I mean, classes! In the same classes.

Jannequinard: We have seen quite a change in Lady Leveva since her little sojourn in the Far East. Where once one could rarely find her in her study for the wanderlust which kept her ever abroad, she now has taken to remaining within the city's walls, content on guiding budding young minds to bloom.

21. Love, Astrologically (Lv 80)

Something─mayhap the stars─tells you that Jannequinard would like a word or two...hundred.

Jannequinard: CHARNAME! You always seem to know the precise moment at which your services are required. Such is the mark of an accomplished astrologian, if I do say so myself! Which would, of course, imply you are already aware of what I would ask of you! Yet, I shall indulge you with my request nonetheless. It is Master Rufin. Following our return from Kugane, she has been...distant. Well, more distant than usual. Enough to give one pause, at least. I thought I might ascertain the source of her worriment with the Deck of Sixty, but was presented the usual slumgullion of vague portents and portentous vagaries. By the time I unwrapped my throbbing head from the spread, all I could discern was something about a “dark wind blowing from the east.”

Jannequinard: I suppose this could imply any number of things─ill tidings from our allies in Doma, a rainstorm brewing over the Black Shroud, a fire at that fine patisserie near the Arc of the Venerable... Why, I suppose even you could be the dark wind. Ahem. No. Right. Let us simply say, I am worried about our companion, but am at a loss as to how I might help her. Leveva has been spending much of her days up at the Last Vigil, staring blankly out over the Sea of Clouds. I've attempted speaking with her, but the lady is about as receptive to my concerns as one might expect. Perhaps, though, she would prove more forthcoming with her star pupil?

Jannequinard: The Last Vigil was once a lookout for the See's Knights Dragoon, though by the time anyone manning the outpost spotted a dragon, it was far too late to do aught but crawl into a root cellar and pray.

Leveva: <sigh> It will never work, and I was a fool to think─ Oh, CHARNAME. Just the woman I wanted to see. Might you remember our good fr─ Might you remember Kyokuho? Lanky fellow, disheveled hair, somewhat capable in the geomantic arts? Well, it appears his travels will be bringing him once again to Ishgard. Seeing as he has provided me with a wealth of valuable insight into his discipline, the least I could do would be to greet him upon his arrival. Unfortunately, I must see to some unfinished affairs near the Architects... Would it be too much to ask for you to visit the aetheryte plaza in my stead? I shall catch up with both of you later at the Athenaeum Astrologicum.

(If you go back to the Athenaeum first...

Jannequinard: Kyokuho will be arriving at the aetheryte plaza. You cannot well greet him while loitering here in the Pillars, unless you heard tell he was flying in on the back of a dragon?)

Kyokuho: CHARNAME! Imagine us, meeting here! Could it be fate? Hah hah hah, I jest! Slow down, friend. I've only just arrived in Ishgard and already you're recruiting me to some urgent cause? You Westlanders certainly don't waste your time. I intended this to be but a short visit to discuss how matters have progressed since you vanquished Kinko and aided me in restoring my grandfather's wards. However, I suppose all that can wait. To the Athenaeum, then?

Jannequinard: Why if it isn't...a dark wind from the East!

Kyokuho: It is good to see you again, too, Jannequinard. CHARNAME tells me all is not well with Lady Leveva?

Jannequinard: Ah, so I see someone has wasted little time in informing every rat in the Brume of matters that I thought it obvious were of a more personal nature.

Kyokuho: Oh, save the drama for the stage, my friend. CHARNAME merely recognized that the intimate connection Lady Leveva and I forged in Kugane made me the perfect candidate for discerning what might be weighing oh so heavily on her soul.

Jannequinard: Hah! And how do you propose to do that?

Kyokuho: Do it? I've already done it! Lady Leveva's in love!

Jannequinard: But of course she is! Wait...what?

Kyokuho: Her archenemy defeated, her father's memory honored, and a city saved─Lady Leveva has conquered the countless peaks that rose before her with an air of aplomb that would belie her mere sixteen summers. And now, bereft of purpose, she has turned her eyes to companionship to fill the void that lies agape in her heart. And I believe I can help. CHARNAME, might you know the lonely lady's current whereabouts? Those massive stone effigies to raw masculinity!? Oh, it is worse than I thought! We must make haste!

Jannequinard: Don't tell me you take that addle-pated moonboy seriously. Lady Leveva? In love? What a ridiculous notion. Unless... If she is smitten with some unknown individual─and I am, by no means, implying that she is─it is my duty as friend of her father to determine if the cur is worthy of Lady Leveva's attention.

Leveva: CHARNAME. Might I assume you saw Kyokuho safely to the Athenaeum? Very well. I shall be along shortly.

Kyokuho: Look, there she is.

> Indeed. There she is. And?

Kyokuho: And nothing. That's the problem. She's just been standing there.

> Then why are we here?

Kyokuho: I was afraid you might ask that.

Kyokuho: What do you think we should do? I'm but a humble student of the geomantic arts. I have little understanding when it comes to matters of the heart.

Leveva: And what, pray tell, are you two doing here?

Kyokuho: I, uh...greetings and salutations, my dearest Leveva! Aren't you looking most resplendent this fine evening!

Leveva: Resplendent? Spent a few bells in the books, have we? Time will tell if this new vocabulary suits you, but time is not a luxury I am afforded at this moment. The city's din is positively deafening. It stifles my thoughts and upsets my humours. What I require is clarity─something unattainable within these stone walls. The quiet of Camp Dragonhead, however, may provide me with a moment's respite.

Leveva: Oh, and you may cease with this ridiculous talk of “matters of the heart.” Love is the furthest of my worries. I, for one, am already promised to another.

Kyokuho: Al... ...ready... ...promised!?

Kyokuho: How is that even...?

Jannequinard: Ah, Kyokuho. There's no need to kneel in my presence.

Jannequinard: Did I miss anything? I see. It comes as little surprise that one of her social standing would be betrothed at such a young age. Such is the custom amongst older houses─even in a city as progressive as Sharlayan─and she hails from one of the oldest.

Kyokuho: I suppose... It's just that─

Jannequinard: Kyokuho! Whither the vim and vigor from our conversation earlier? And all this upon learning Lady Leveva is to be married. A more astute observant might presume a certain emotional attachment to our young protégé. But that would be ludicrous. I, for one, know that good Kyokuho's feelings towards Leveva are naught but those of admiration for her skill at the astromantic arts. So let us return to the task at hand. We still do not know what is weighing down on the lady's fragile heart.

Jannequinard: And what better way to find out than to ask. A novel idea, don't you think? Asking someone what is troubling them rather than assuming─without having actually spoken with them, or even seen them for some time─that they're simply longing for amorous relations. Wonderful. Kyokuho and I shall return to the Athenaeum where I will make certain he refrains from idle meddlement in any other lives.

Jannequinard: I could accompany you to Camp Dragonhead, but one thing my time with Lady Leveva has taught me is that when she has her head wrapped about some vexatious affair, the last person's company she desires is mine.

Kyokuho: I fear I have offended the Lady Leveva... Will she ever forgive me?

Leveva: As persistent as always... Fine. You have seen through my ruse. I am not, in fact, promised to another. I simply implied as much to silence Kyokuho. Alright, there was a time I was promised to another. We have my grandfather to thank for that. However, since I am now officially deceased, my assumption is that the arrangement will have been annulled. Not that I shall ever bother to actually confirm this assumption.

Leveva: What is troubling me? <sigh> 'Twas not my intention to involve you or Jannequinard...or even Kyokuho in such matters. However, the discord my silence has sown perhaps warrants an explanation.

Despite repeated efforts following our recent achievements in Kugane, I have been unable to conceive feasible means of blending the teachings of Sharlayan astrology and those of Far Eastern geomancy. As Kyokuho explained, unlike astrologians who look to the stars above to read their fates, geomancers look to the star below and listen to its songs, and draw their answers from its whispers. Yet try as I might, I remain impotent in tapping the land's puissance. I've spent my life attuning to the slight variations in the aether of distant stars. So much so that when I look to Hydaelyn and her aether, I am overwhelmed by its potency...its glow, you could say. Think of it as trying to open one of the heavens' gates in a world of everlasting daylight.

> A world of everlasting daylight? About that... [21]

Leveva: You have visited such a place? Then my readings were accurate. Exactly where have your adventures taken you, CHARNAME?

> .....

Leveva: Your silence speaks louder than words. As do my readings. The Deck of Sixty has already revealed much and more about your recent foray into distant realms. Now, if you would care to elaborate.

Leveva: And you had no trouble channeling the aether from that world's heavens despite the fact that you never once physically laid eyes upon them?

ORIGINAL (THROUGH DECEMBER 2021)

Leveva: Intriguing... But I am a woman of reason, and shall require more than the word of another─no matter how close─to convince me of this phenomenon. A firsthand demonstration, however, might suffice. A single Aspected Benefic, perhaps? But only under the influence of the Diurnal Sect, mind you.

Leveva: When you are ready, CHARNAME. A single incantation of Aspected Benefic will suffice. But only under the influence of the Diurnal Sect, of course.

CURRENT

Leveva: Intriguing... But I am a woman of reason, and shall require more than the word of another─no matter how close─to convince me of this phenomenon. A firsthand demonstration, however, might suffice. A single Aspected Benefic, perhaps?

Leveva: When you are ready, CHARNAME. A single incantation of Aspected Benefic will suffice.

Leveva: Your faculty for aetherially conversing with celestial bodies both far and near is peerless. A most eloquent display...and one I should endeavor to learn from. I have committed the most grievous of sins by allowing things such as light, distance, and dimension─things that hold no dominion over the realm aetherial─to prevent me from unbinding my full potential. You, however, helped me to realize the error in my ways. I believe now I might continue my studies.

Leveva: Just...not here. I am unsure why I thought this would be a suitable location to ponder my predicament in the first place. Perhaps it was the memories of our first lesson here... Ahem. Let us hurry back to the Athenaeum lest we catch cold.

Jannequinard: So...my original reading was accurate all along! You were the dark wind! But then why...dark? I thought people were calling you the Warrior of Light... [22]

Kyokuho: Jannequinard was right. I was the dark wind from the east. If I hadn't arrived and upset Lady Leveva with my ridiculous notions, we wouldn't find ourselves in this mess...

Leveva: Foremost, I believe I owe you both an apology. Or at least I owe you one, Jannequinard. As for you, Kyokuho─ How did you arrive at the ridiculous notion that I was somehow languishing in the throes of love?

Kyokuho: When CHARNAME and Jannequinard mentioned you were not yourself after returning from Kugane, I simply assumed that─

Jannequinard: Do you dare suggest that we had any hand in this, Kyokuho? You were not a quarter bell in the Pillars before you were telling anyone who would listen about the cavernous maw that yawned in the heart of poor, lonely Master Rufin...and how you were to fill it.

Leveva: Lonely? Pah! I'm far from lonely. In fact, I've already promised my heart to another.

Kyokuho: Of course. Already promised to a─ Wait...what?

Leveva: You heard me, and I've never spoken a truer word.

Jannequinard: Whoever could it be? It is certainly not CHARNAME...or, heavens forfend, Kyokuho?

Leveva: Why, astrology, of course!

Leveva: What? Who did you expect, Quimperain?

Kyokuho: I suppose you're wondering what brought me to Ishgard in the first place. It most certainly wasn't to ruffle Master Rufin's feathers...though it seems I have succeeded in that nonetheless. Our triumph over Kinko having restored the people of Kugane's faith in geomancy, it was not long before a gaggle of eager mages were clamoring at my door, seeking guidance in the art of wind and water.

Kyokuho: To accommodate, I transformed my grandfather's study into a place where I might train those who are willing to invest the time and effort necessary to become masters. Which reminds me... My students are likely wondering where their sensei is! Farewell, CHARNAME!

Leveva: So he came to tell us of his new school of geomancy? Did we not give him a linkpearl?

Leveva: At any rate, allow me to thank you once again for the inspiration you provided. Despite being your mentor in matters astrological, I find myself consistently in your debt when it comes to...well, everything else. You are a true friend and confidant, CHARNAME.

Jannequinard: And as always, she has once again failed to acknowledge that it was I who first noticed her change in mood, and that it was my reading that predicted your arrival, and that it was my good judgment that eventually pointed you in her direction. But such is my destiny, I suppose. I am simply happy that Lady Leveva is back to her normal self. If aught were to befall her, Rufin would haunt me 'til the Eighth Umbral Era.

Jannequinard: Thank you again, CHARNAME. I would say we make a fine team, but considering you cover the coeurl's share of the footwork, I will refrain from any further analogies of a sporting nature.

Jannequinard: Ah, CHARNAME. I can only apologize once more for the role I played in the recent...farce to which you were forced to be party. Rest assured that there will be no more of that. As for Lady Leveva─she seems satisfied with the pace of her progress at the moment. She was practically skipping with joy last we spoke, in fact.

...and that's all of the AST quests! There are also a handful of quests that are not in the AST questline proper but have lore relevant to us, so we'll be looking at those now.

Supplementary Quest 1 - Flower Mill (Lv 51)

The widow is gazing mournfully at the bunch of flowers she is carrying.

Old Woman: Oh, how do you do there, deary? Not many people have time to talk to someone like me. I wanted to go and visit my husband's grave, but my back is troubling me dreadfully. Do you have the time to do a kindness for a weary old woman? It would mean the world to me if you could take these flowers to Gorgagne Mills and place them on my husband's grave.

Old Woman: Thank you ever so much for that, deary. I'm sure my husband appreciated it. ...Well, that, or he's turning in his grave, shouting, “Do it yourself, you lazy hag!” Heh...

Old Woman: He used to be a great knight under House Durendaire, you know. He was tutor to the house's heir─training him in the ways of combat. I was so proud of him having a job like that. And the heir himself was ever such a bright young lad. A genius if ever there was one... But one day, the poor boy set out to see the realm...and didn't come back. We never saw him again...

Old Woman: After that, my husband just wasn't the same... He ended up stepping down from his position and cutting his ties with the nobility. He became a farmer and started the farm at Gorgagne Mills. I think he just couldn't stand to be reminded of that boy every day he was at House Durendaire.

Supplementary Quest 2a - Ishgardian Restoration MSQ (Lv 60)

Okay, so. A couple things: first of all, despite the fact these are Lv 60 quests, they weren't released until after Love, Astrologically. Secondly, most of these quests are irrelevant to our purposes, so I'm not going to put the full text of them in like we have been up 'til now - just the relevant bits. If you'd like to see all of the resto quests, Claire Faye @ Lamia very kindly made a full playlist of them over on YouTube.

The TL;DR for our purposes is that Joacin Charlemend Francel de Haillenarte, the youngest of Count Haillenarte's children - who thankfully just goes by 'Francel' - has made it his business to become overseer of the postwar rebuilding of the Holy See, and we're helping him out with various tasks.[23] In "Overseer for a Day", the third quest in the chain, we have this dialogue:

Francel: We have received promising responses from all the High Houses. Though it was largely a matter of formality, I first went to secure the support of House Haillenarte. I then paid a visit to House Fortemps, which has been providing lodgings to visiting workers. There, I was given the assurance that they will increase their capacity as the need arises.

Francel: Next, I knocked upon the door of Durendaire Manor. As a house founded upon military traditions, I was informed that they had little to offer to the restoration effort. Resigned, I was about to take my leave when, by a stroke of good fortune, Lord Jannequinard appeared and pledged to open a school where children might learn their letters, numbers, and stars.

Francel: Last but not least, I took myself to House Dzemael, renowned for its architectural prowess, and they agreed to employ their expertise for the Firmament's benefit. [...]

After finishing this quest, we can wander around the Firmament and find a pair of schoolchildren!

Special thanks to Aeryn Striker @ Coeurl for caps of this pop-up dialogue!

Janne and Leveva don't appear anywhere else in this questline (well, okay, you can very briefly see the back of Janne's head in a crowd cutscene, but I'm not counting that), but ~~Janne's~~ ~~father~~ ~~uncle~~ the Count de Durendaire is in several quests!

From "The Making of a Market":

Francel de Haillenarte: After giving the matter considerable thought, it struck me─what if we were to bring in merchants from the realm over to ply their trade here, that Featherfall might be the Holy See's new hub of foreign trade? It is a most inspired idea, would you not say? And─if you would not disapprove─I would ask you to accompany me as our designated emissary to the three city–states. After all, who better to convince our esteemed guests to make the journey here to Ishgard than one of your influence and prestige?

???: And if you would not disapprove─or, quite honestly, even if you would─I will be accompanying you as well.

Francel de Haillenarte: L-Lord Charlemend! It is far from my place to object, but for whatever reason would the Count de Durendaire wish to come along on our humble expedition? Particularly in light of your honored house's rather...shall we say, conservative...views toward the expansion of foreign trade...

Charlemend de Durendaire: I'll thank you not to make assumptions about the interests of my house, Lord Francel. I have always acted in what I believe to be my homeland's best interests. And I will continue to do so. Mayhap House Durendaire did not give the warmest of welcomes to outsiders at the Observatorium and Whitebrim Front... But I assure you that we took only the necessary precautions to defend the See from external threats at a time of war. Surely the savior of Ishgard can understand our position.

Charlemend de Durendaire: At any rate, the war is over, and our nation has entered a new age. I am not inclined to sit idly by as House Durendaire is left behind the times. And yet, at this most vital of junctures, my son and heir remains lost at sea, and my cousins are either too young or unworldly for the task. And so it falls to me to see to matters myself. I daresay there is some merit for you as well. After all, whatever negotiations you intend to conduct, they can only be aided by the presence of the head of Ishgard's highest of High Houses.

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...I trust you have no objections?

Francel de Haillenarte: Your offer of assistance is most generous, Lord Charlemend. I would not dream of refusing it.

Charlemend de Durendaire: Of course not. We depart at once, yes? I've heard Gridania is most lovely at this time of year.

From "Dealings in the Desert":

Charlemend de Durendaire: You there! You know something of these parts, yes? I seek to do business with a trader possessed of a reputation worthy of my great house. You will introduce one to me at once.

Wymond: Aye, I'd be more than pleased to, friend. An' pray tell─how much is this introduction worth to you?

Charlemend de Durendaire: Worth!? You would demand payment for your piddling knowledge!

Wymond: Heh, you don't know how things work 'round here, do you, old man? In Ul'dah, information's a commodity like any other, an' a bloke only gets as much as he's willin' to pay for... Clearly, the knowledge I've got is worth somethin' to you─else you wouldn't be standin' here before me. So, we return to the question: how heavy is your coinpurse feelin' today?

Emmanellain de Fortemps: ...Allow me to handle this, old girl. Well met, my friend! How do you fare this fine day?

Wymond: If it ain't my favorite Ishgardian! Come to pick ol' Wymond's brain 'bout the latest happenings here in the sultanate? 'Course, I'm happy to oblige...in exchange for whispers you've heard 'round the Holy See.

Emmanellain de Fortemps: Ah, any other day and I would gladly trade rumors with you. Today, however, I meant only to offer a word of warning. That man is none other than the lord of the highest of our High Houses. He breathes political intrigue and sups upon machination...and believe me when I say you do not wish to make an enemy of him. ...But don't take my word for it. Just ask our friend CHARNAME.

Wymond: Seven hells! On second thought, don't bother takin' out your coinpurse. Whatever you're offerin', it's more than clear it ain't worth the trouble. An' now, if you don't mind, I've more pressin' matters to attend to.

Emmanellain de Fortemps: A wise decision, if I do say so myself. And worry not─I shall return before long with the rumors from the Holy See you so desire. Till next time, my friend! Fancy meeting you here, old girl! I would have never expected to find you in the company of the illustrious Count de Durendaire. Whatever is the occasion?

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...Hmph. I might ask you the same. Does the philandering son of House Fortemps intend to upstage his betters?

Emmanellain de Fortemps: Why, Lord Charlemend, you wound me! Rest assured that I meant only to spare you from a potentially inexpedient encounter. Purveyors of information in these parts are inevitably sharper than they let on─if they judge you to be less than knowledgeable about your surroundings, they will not hesitate to take advantage.

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...Hmph. If I needed the help of a self-indulgent stripling, I'd have asked for it.

Emmanellain de Fortemps: But I must ask, old girl, what brings you to the Jewel of the Desert with the good count at your side? What manner of information, pray tell, were you hoping to glean from our friend Wymond?

Lord Francel is looking to stimulate commerce and trade in the Firmament? Well, why didn't you come to me sooner! Do you think so little of your comrade Emmanellain!?

Emmanellain de Fortemps: ...Allow me to explain. My dear brother suggested that I might employ my considerable skill in mingling amongst the upper crust to more...shall we say productive ends. After all, social gatherings are a prime opportunity for overhearing choice tidbits of rumor and gossip. Remember the time we bumped into each other at the ball in Kugane? Oh, but I could regale you for hours with all the juicy tales I picked up on that particular excursion! And hours more about the fine ladies I encountered, but that is neither here nor there...

Emmanellain de Fortemps: The point being that I have acquainted myself with no small end of prestigious merchants and traders, including many who I believe would be most amenable to the idea of expanding their operations to Ishgard. I daresay that more than a few of them have most fetching daughters, as well. At any rate, you need trouble yourself no further. I will reach out to the parties in question and make the necessary arrangements. In return, I ask only that you convince Lord Francel to put in a good word with the lovely Lady Laniaitte on my behalf. A fair enough exchange, is it not?

Honoroit: Worry not, Lady CHARNAME. I will see to it that my lord remains focused on the task at hand, and does not let his emotions lead him to enter into any potentially disadvantageous agreements. We shall be in touch at a later juncture.

Emmanellain de Fortemps: Till next time, old girl! I do believe there is a banquet I should be attending...

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...Hmph. I suppose even foppery can serve a purpose on rare occasions. Though, needless to say, I could have handled the negotiations just as well without that fool's meddling. On the bright side, we can at long last take our leave of this blasted desert. Lord Francel was at some tavern called the Quicksand, yes? Let us tell him the deed is done and be on our way.

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...Hmph. Another den of riffraff and reprobates. Still, coming to a place like this...I can't help but look around for signs of my boy. It's been twenty years since he vanished with nary a trace, ambushed by pirates on a voyage around the realm. From time to time, rumors reach my ears─that he's rotting in a gaol somewhere, that someone resembling him has been sighted making the rounds in Limsa. For my part, I fear the boy is long dead. After all, if he were alive, why would he not return home?

Supplementary Quest 2b - A Parley with Pirates (Lv 60)

This is another Resto MSQ quest, but the whole thing is pretty relevant to our interests, so it gets its own section to keep these sections from getting too unwieldy.

Charlemend de Durendaire: Drunkards and ruffians, the lot of them. Rumors be damned, how anyone could even imply that my son might be found among them is beyond me... I still remember the sparkle in his eye the day he told me he meant to leave the See on a journey around the...

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...Ahem. I would thank you to leave me alone with my thoughts for a while.

Francel de Haillenarte: Are you ready to take to the road again, CHARNAME? Our final destination awaits us─Limsa Lominsa!

Charlemend de Durendaire: Hmph...if we must. ...Though if you truly expect to find a reliable trading partner in that den of pirates and ruffians, you are even more of a fool than I thought.

Francel de Haillenarte: Believe me, Lord Charlemend, when I say that I bear no love for barbarous outlaws. That said, by all accounts things have changed much in the years since Admiral Bloefhiswyn rose to power.

Charlemend de Durendaire: I have spoken of my son's disappearance to you in the past, have I not? If by chance you have forgotten, it was those accursed pirates who took him from me, and for that I will never forgive them. It was twenty long years ago. He was a boy of great promise, possessed of a curious mind and a burning desire to see the world. Then a murderous band of sea reavers raided his vessel, and...just like that, he was gone. To this day, the rumors reach my ears. That he rots in a gaol deep beneath the city. Or that someone resembling him has been seen wandering the streets. As his father, I want to believe he still lives somewhere, but there is only so long a man can...

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...Ahem. What I mean to say is, I would not trust a pirate half as far as I could throw him. They are the scourge of our realm and my house, and I will have nothing to do with them.

Francel de Haillenarte: You have my most heartfelt sympathies for the loss of your son, Lord Charlemend. By no means do I wish to open old wounds and stir up painful memories. Pray return to Ishgard ahead of us. CHARNAME and I shall handle matters from here.

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...No. I will accompany you. Regardless of what happened─nay, precisely because of it─I will not shirk my duty as lord of House Durendaire. I will march into that wretched hive of murder and villainy and seize from it a new age of prosperity for my house as due retribution for all they have taken from me.

Francel de Haillenarte: If it is what you wish, my lord. Let us be on our way. My preliminary research has led me to conclude that the area known as Bulwark Hall, a stone's throw from the airship landing, would make for a suitable place to commence our efforts.

Francel de Haillenarte: So this is Limsa Lominsa! Why, it is even livelier than I imagined!

Charlemend de Durendaire: <sniff> The Fury take me...how can all these people abide that gods-awful stench of salt and brine in the air!? Let us conclude our business swiftly and take our leave of this place. Lord Francel...I trust that your research has enlightened you as to where we might find a suitable trading partner?

Francel de Haillenarte: Indeed it has, Lord Charlemend! I have read that all goods incoming and outgoing must pass inspection at a place called Mealvaan's Gate. No doubt that would be a productive place to begin our inquiry.

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...Hmph, I see. Very well, then, let us be off to this Mealvaan's Gate, or whatever the place was called.

Francel de Haillenarte: Perhaps it is but wishful thinking on my part, but would you not say Lord Charlemend has softened some since we arrived here in Limsa? Why, he even waited for me to complete a full utterance before dashing off. Could it be that we have earned his trust?

Francel de Haillenarte: So this is where they conduct inspections on all goods imported to Limsa Lominsa. Most fascinating! I simply must take notes for future reference...

Mealvaan's Gate Assessor: Yes? What business have ye at Mealvaan's Gate?

Charlemend de Durendaire: You are employed here, yes? My companions and I hail from Ishgard, and we have come to Limsa to discuss matters of trade.

Mealvaan's Gate Assessor: Then ye've most definitely come to the right place! Any inquiries ye may have regarding duties, tariffs, prohibited goods, and what-have-ye, I or one of my fellow assessors would be more than happy to enlighten ye!

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...I see. To be precise, we seek to introduce wares from your nation to our own homeland, where we believe such items would be in demand. Might you be able to recommend to us a trader dealing in such wares?

Mealvaan's Gate Assessor: Aye, but of course! Why didn't ye say so sooner, my good man!? In that case, ye'll be wantin' to talk to one o' the three great pirate powers here in town.

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...Pirates!?

Mealvaan's Gate Assessor: Aye! 'Course, since the signin' of the Galadion Accord, they're more of an officially sanctioned agency, raidin' the Garleans at the Admiral's behest, takin' part in honest trade, and the like. 'Least, that much can be said o' the Sanguine Sirens and the Krakens. The Bloody Executioners are a whole 'nother matter, so I'd recommend ye limit any dealin' and negotiatin' ye feel like partakin' in to the former two. I reckon the Sanguine Sirens would be as good a start as any, as they're known to be a bit more welcomin' to outsiders like yerselves. Ye'll find them over in the tavern known as the Missin' Member, if ye're up for a parley.

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...Yes, I do believe I've heard enough. Thank you for your time, and good day.

I can scarce believe it has come to this, but I suppose we have no recourse. Well, Lord Francel? I trust you know the way to this “Missing Member”...[24]

Mealvaan's Gate Assessor: Should ye cut yourself a deal, don't forget to report all yer imports and exports to Mealvaan's Gate. Otherwise, we'll claim what's due one way or the other...

Francel de Haillenarte: This is my first time visiting an actual den of pirates. I must confess, I am rather excited and intimidated by it all!

Charlemend de Durendaire: Everyone is here, yes? Then let us be on our way.

Charlemend de Durendaire: By the Fury! Why, it's a veritable haven of pirate wenches... But I will not back down from this challenge. Watch closely, Lord Francel, and let me show you how a deal is made.

Melkoko: Greetings, and welcome to the Missing Member! Do you have a reservation, sir?

Charlemend de Durendaire: I...I do not. I have come from Ishgard to discuss matters of trade with the captain of the esteemed Sanguine Sirens, and I was told I might find her here.

Melkoko: You were, were you? Why, yes...I suppose you might. Make yourself comfortable and I'll go let the captain know that she's got a new vict─er, visitor.

Rhoswen: The 'ells ye want, drylanders? State yer business quick, and ye'd best hope it's worth my while, else me Sirens'll see ye gutted and sleepin' with the fishes before ye knew what cuffed ye!

Charlemend de Durendaire: P-Pray stay your hand, ah...my lady. I meant only to consult with you on a p-potential business proposition that might prove...ahem...mutually b-beneficial. I hail from the nation of Ishgard, and I...ah, do believe that your fine wares would be most highly s-sought after in our nation.

Rhoswen: Ishgard!? Ye must be daft to think any pirate in 'er right mind would have even 'alf a mind to set one foot in some bleedin' snow-swept wasteland at the edge o' the world! Ye must have me confused with that puffy-shirted captain o' the Krakens, or someone else who's got more swagger than sense. Now get out o' my sight before I cut out yer blabbin' tongue an' toss it into tonight's stew!

Charlemend de Durendaire: A thousand p-pardons, my lady. I shall take my leave anon and s-seek out these K-Krakens of whom you speak. I th-thank you for your kindness, and wish you and your S-Sirens all the─

Rhoswen: I said get out of my─wait a bleedin' minute. Why does that self-righteous face o' yers seem so bloody familiar...? Bah, never mind. I've bigger fish to gut. Now begone from here, or ye'll be joinin' 'em!

Melkoko: If I were you, I'd be taking her advice to heart. You'll find the Krakens at the Seventh Sage, just past here and beyond the Drowning Wench. I do hope your parley there proves more...fruitful.

Rhoswen: I could swear I've seen that smug old bastard's self-satisfied mug somewhere before, but bugger me if I could tell ye where...

Francel de Haillenarte: Considering his son's tragic disappearance at sea, one can only imagine the complex emotions the count must be feeling. Let us tread lightly, friend.

Zranmaia: Welcome to the Seventh Sage! Would you care to peruse our diverse array of exotic herbs and spices?

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...Ahem. Pardon me, my good lady. I am Charlemend of House Durendaire, and I have traveled to your fair nation from Ishgard. Might you or any of your colleagues perchance be interested in selling your fine spices in my homeland? I can assure you many of my countrymen would be willing to pay a handsome price for them.

Zranmaia: D-Durendaire, did you say!? I, ah...

Zranmaia: ...My sincere apologies, good sir, but in accordance with...ah...company policy, we are not entering into partnerships with parties from the Holy See at this time.

Charlemend de Durendaire: No parties from the Holy See...? What insular, closed-minded nonsense is─ ...Ahem. What I mean to say is, we are prepared to make the arrangement most appetizing to you. As appetizing as salted harbor herring, one might say. To wit: our astrologians have devised a method to accurately gauge one's present location and bearing regardless of the season, a technique which I do believe would be most beneficial to esteemed privateers such as yourselves.

Carvallain: To think the old man would be willing to reveal a treasured house secret to outsiders─dastardly, despicable pirates, no less... Perhaps there's hope for Ishgard yet.

Zranmaia: ...Ahem. Pray excuse me for a moment.

She calls her boss.

Zranmaia: C-Captain!? Why, yes. Worry not. I was just about to bid our guest farewell, as per your explicit orders not to─ Wh-What's that? Are you certain? ...I see. I'll convey the message, then. Forgive me for my hasty decision.

Zranmaia: ...Ahem. The captain says he will entertain your proposition, but on one condition: he will only speak to the adventurer here.

Charlemend de Durendaire: ...I see. In that case, I have little choice. CHARNAME, was it? I have done little to deserve your charity, but I would ask you this one favor. Might I entrust the negotiations to you?

Zranmaia: Very well, then. If you would come this way... Captain Carvallain of the Krakens awaits you atop the stairs. One more thing: you are by no means to speak his name, nor describe his face to anyone from Ishgard, or he will personally have you keelhauled. No hard feelings, of course.

Francel de Haillenarte: I place my full trust in you, CHARNAME. May the negotiations be a success!

Charlemend de Durendaire: I know not what you have done to earn a pirate captain's trust, but─in this rarest of cases─I am most thankful for it.

Carvallain: My associate has apprised me of the situation. So this delegation from the See wishes to establish trade relations with us, do they? The Ishgardians...consumed only with their petty war...living out their days in that gloomy, frigid land devoid of passion or imagination... Just thinking back to my dreary days in that miserable place is enough to make me ill.

Carvallain: But with the war's end, it would appear that a new wind blows in my homeland... While I am not so naive to assume that they have left their past entirely behind, I will trust that the See's desire to change─as well as that of the man who has come to me on their behalf─is sincere.

Carvallain: ...Besides, it would not hurt to be owed a debt of gratitude by one of Eorzea's greatest heroes, no? Anything to keep that most fearsome Lalafellin acquaintance of yours from making things difficult for me... Gerald! The document. This here is an agreement consenting to the formal commencement of trade between the Krakens and House Durendaire of Ishgard. It is in Gerald's name, and marked with our official seal to authorize the transaction. I would appreciate if you could deliver this to the Count de Durendaire on my behalf.

Gerald: Are you quite sure about this, Captain?

Carvallain: Let us be thankful for that adventurer showing up when she did. If that man had forced his way to my office, I shudder to think of what might have ensued. 'Tis strange, though... For long years the mere sight of the man's face filled me with loathing. But seeing it again now, I feel only this odd sense of...nostalgia. And yet, I dare not entertain the thought of doing anything more. It would only serve to undo all I have accomplished. ...No, I have no mind to give up my freedom for whatever I might gain in its place. Yes, this will do...

Carvallain: The Count de Durendaire is waiting. I suggest you deliver the document with all speed─I have it on good account that he is not a patient man.

Francel de Haillenarte: Dare I ask how you fared in there, CHARNAME?

Charlemend de Durendaire: Well? Do you have anything to show for your efforts? Why, this is...more than I dared to hope we would achieve! However did you manage this!?

What will you say?

> Your passionate plea won him over.

Charlemend de Durendaire: You mean...he was listening in on our discussion? I...I am not quite sure what to say...

> He chose to believe in Ishgard's future.

Charlemend de Durendaire: He did? Pirate or no, this man clearly has done his research on our great nation, and I commend him for his wisdom and prescience.

> I made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Charlemend de Durendaire: An offer? What sort of─ Hm, never mind. I will trust that you have more experience in these matters than I.

Charlemend de Durendaire: At any rate, I have finally accomplished that which I sought to here in Eorzea, and can finally return to Ishgard in triumph, as befitting the lord of the highest of houses.

Francel de Haillenarte: I am in your debt, Lord Charlemend. And you, CHARNAME. With this, the day that the finest goods from the realm over are traded freely in the markets of Featherfall is all but upon us!

Supplementary Quest 2c - Charlemend Custom Deliveries (Lv 70)

For some reason, the Ishgard Restoration quests at this point make the truly deranged choice to give Charlemend de Durendaire, a man whose eldest, much-adored son by his own admission loathes him so deeply he describes being picked up by human traffickers as the best thing that ever happened to him and whose younger son(?) spent twenty-ish years certain that his only friend (and lover...?) was murdered on his orders, a redemption arc. Well. 'Redemption arc' is a tad strong. Immediately after "A Parley with Pirates", Charlemend becomes a champion of the poor in the space of two quests, and starts volunteering in a free medical clinic.

Absolutely nowhere in these quests is Jannequinard mentioned, which is even more confusing than the face turn, especially when Janne's total absence makes the whole vibe of this questline, uh... worse. I'll show you what I mean by that.

Meet Maelie. She's a young street urchin who Charlemend works with at the clinic.

Maurilette: I took the liberty of inspecting our inventory, and I'm pleased to say that all is in good order. The two of you are doing a fine job of managing the medical supplies.

Maelie: Hehe, that's because Charlemend's been teachin' me my numbers!

Maurilette: I certainly see you teaching Maelie often of late. A more zealous tutor one would be hard-pressed to find.

Charlemend: Yes, well, one might say 'tis a force of habit. I have a nephew, you see─a boy of an age with Maelie─and I daresay I see him in her. With my brother passed and firstborn lost, I took him under my wing as my successor, teaching him such knowledge as he needs to one day lead our knights in battle against the dragons. Yet now that the Dragonsong War has ended, we must dedicate ourselves not to the taking of life, but the bettering of it.

Charlemend: However, not all of our countrymen have embraced change. And as a father figure to my nephew, I felt that I must needs practice that which I preach. Leading by example, I wished to give him a glimpse of a new Ishgard, one where there is no highborn and lowborn─just fellow Ishgardians striving together for a better tomorrow. By that, I must confess that I do not have only the interests of the patients in mind. 'Twas wrong of me not to disclose this fact from the first, and I beg your forgiveness.

Maurilette: No apologies are necessary, Charlemend. Whatever your reasons, you've been naught but an asset to the infirmary. You and Maelie both.

And then, in the quest "Those Who Serve":

???: There you are, Uncle!

Charlemend: R-Ronantain! What are you doing here?

Ronantain: I'm here to bring you back to your senses! Since returning from abroad, you have turned your back on your highborn peers, choosing instead to consort with lowborn rabble! And as if that weren't unseemly enough, it transpires that you are working at an infirmary used by commoners! Your actions threaten to erode the standing that we nobles have had for generations! You've taught me everything I know, Uncle. You've taught me to follow in your footsteps, and I wanted naught more than to do you proud.

Ronantain: But now I scarcely recognize you! Whatever has happened to the man I so respected? Wherever he has gone, I want him back!

Charlemend: ...My apologies for the commotion. Please, continue.

Maurilette: Are you certain, Charlemend? Should you not attend to your nephew first?

Charlemend: Nay, this is a family matter, and I will not have it disrupt our work. I shall have words with my nephew afterwards.

Maelie: But he looked so sad and lonely... I'm goin' after him!

Charlemend: I apologize for my nephew's outburst. He is a good lad, truly.

Ronantain: ...

Maelie: There he is, CHARNAME! Ronantain!

Ronantain: Hmph, that's Lord Ronantain to you!

Maelie: Oh, hmph yourself! Don't you know there's no more highborn and lowborn? We're all just Ishgardians now. Your uncle himself said so! But never mind that now. You have to make up with him, you know. Your uncle. You do like him, don't you?

Ronantain: Th-That's none of your business! But...you have the right of it. Since my father died in the war, my uncle has treated me as his own son. There is no one I admire more. But of late, I struggle to understand him...

Maelie: Might be as you don't understand him, but your uncle's a good man. And you have to cherish the family you've got. So come on, let's go back to the infirmary.

[...]

Maelie: Family should get along. Isn't that right?

Ronantain: ...

Charlemend: Forgive me, CHARNAME, Maelie. 'Twas not my wish to embroil you in family affairs.

Ronantain: Not only do you keep the company of commoners; you would even bow to them!? We are of the noble blood of the knights twelve! Surely you've not forgotten this!

Charlemend: Listen well, my dear boy. While it is important to uphold tradition and honor our ancestors, I have come to see that it is wrong to look down upon others simply on account of their birth. Besides, as you too should know, it has since been revealed that all Ishgardians are descended from the knights twelve. This makes all of us equal according to our very own traditions.

Charlemend: After centuries upon centuries of the privileged standing we nobles have enjoyed, it is no easy thing to accept change. But the age where one's birth determines one's worth has ended, and change will come whether we will it or no. Hereon, 'tis our deeds that shall speak for us. That shall dictate our place in the world. To use an analogy─when you are exhausted after combat training, what is it that you desire?

Ronantain: ...That would be rest, I suppose. And perhaps some sweets with tea.

Charlemend: In like manner, at the end of a thousand-year war, the people of Ishgard yearn for the sweetness of stability. But stability will not manifest of its own accord. Nay, hard work is necessary to bring it about. So I ask you, in an age such as this, whom would you respect more? A man who sits idly by, waiting for the sweets to appear at his table? Or a man who busies himself in an effort to see everyone served?

Ronantain: I...I would respect the latter─the man who would see everyone served.

Charlemend: As you should, my boy. And I know none who serves more diligently than young Maelie here, who places the needs of the patients above all else. Learning from her fine example, I too am striving to be a man who serves others. In this way do I hope to set my own example for you, my heir.

Ronantain: You're doing this...for me?

So, uh. Anyway. There's that.

Supplementary Quest 3 - A Literary Delivery (Lv 80)

At the start of Endwalker, we find ourselves in Sharlayan─as Jannequinard would say, the Sharlayan.

Toffwyb seems excited to meet a real-life adventurer.

Toffwyb: Are you... Are you one of those adventuring types I've heard so much about!? Oh, but this is perfect! I just happen to have an errand of the kind that adventurers love! Or so I'm told. I'm holding on to some volumes my customers ordered in, but instead of coming to pick them up, they've all decided that they want their goods delivered. So, I find myself in need of a delivery drudge...er, person. Might that person be you!?

Toffwyb: Huzzah! Let me give you the details, then. All in all, there are three books on the delivery docket. The first, Ishgardian Astrology: A Comprehensive Theory, should be handed to the servant at Albright Manor. The White Yonder is for a certain talkative booklover who you'll know by the constant stream of chatter. And the last, Narrow Road through the Deep Grass, goes to one of the toughest, most unflappable gleaners I have ever met. I'll just mark their locations on this handy map...like so. The books are bought and paid for─no need to collect any coin─but do return to me for your own reward!

Albright Manor, you say? As in... Sevestre Albright? And what an interesting title! I wonder who wr─

That's right, baby! Jannequinard de Durendaire, the dimmest star in the constellation, successfully completed his dissertation. This man has a doctorate. Potentially more importantly, we can't see it because his uniform has a turtleneck, but Sharlayan-educated scholars get neck tattoos when they defend their dissertations... so, uh, here's Jannequinard in neo-Ishgardian menswear with his Archon mark on full display. For reasons. Yeah.

Anyway, let's go to Sevestre's house!

Albright Manor Servant: Welcome to Albright Manor! ...Do you have an appointment?

Albright Manor Servant: Ah, yes, one copy of Ishgardian Astrology: A Comprehensive Theory, just as his lordship requested. I must confess to some confusion, however... What interest would his lordship, an esteemed practitioner of Sharlayan astrology, have in such an outdated Ishgardian discipline? ...Not that I am in any position to question his lordship's reading habits, of course. Ahem. On your way, then.

And that’s it. That’s all the lore that currently exists for these characters, and is all that is likely to. It’s been three and a half years since the last mention of any of these characters (the sidequest in Sharlayan where we deliver Jannequinard’s dissertation to Sevestre Albright’s manor[25]), and we’re just shy of five years out from any substantive content, unless we’re to count the constant retcons as content - and I really do mean constant. In the time between publishing part one of this write-up and writing this section (less than a day!), the FF14 team has announced another complete rework of the job to release in a month and a half, which will necessitate even more quest rewrites! I will never be free!

Anyway.

The Ship, The Myth, The Legend

It’s kind of hard to figure out where to start off my little mini ship manifesto, because I’m so taken with Janne and Leveva I’m sitting here like, ‘how could you read these quest scripts and not ship them?’ They’re soulmates. They’re sharing the same single braincell. Dare I say they have… Synastry? During one of the job reworks, dialogue explaining the skill “Redraw” was taken from Jannequinard and given, completely unchanged, to Leveva instead. And it doesn't sound out of character at all!

There’s some obvious, shallow appeal to the ship - look at them, for one! They’re both gorgeous! No matter what age you think they are (16 and 32, or 19/20 and…mid-30s to 40?, or another option entirely), there’s a huge age gap. Jannequinard, at Elezen 0 height, is just shy of 6 foot 5, and Leveva at Midlander 25, is a whopping 5 foot 3. Leveva doesn’t seem to be a virgin (“‘Maiden’! Flattery will earn you nothing, Jannequinard… but I will accept it nonetheless.”), but there’s still an enormous experience gap in the bedroom—Janne’s been partying the early hours away for most of Leveva’s life. They’ve got kind of a mild “mean femdom” thing going on, which is especially cute seeing as Leveva is half Jannequinard’s age. They have access to magicks that can heal, manipulate time, and create temporary soulbonds that we don’t know doesn’t involve sharing sensations as well as the effects of healing magicks - you know the sex is gonna be insane.

If you’re a little more adventurous in your ship tastes, you can do some absolutely incredible pseudocest stuff with them too - I think a lot about Janne telling Leveva about her father, clearly the first (and ‘til now, only) great love of his life, stargazing with him on a rooftop garden and telling him about his wife’s pregnancy. Were Jannequinard and Rufin lovers? Sharlayans practice arranged marriage with childhood betrothals, and we know next to nothing about Rufin’s wife. Was Jannequinard just pining? He says more than once how much Leveva reminds him of Rufin, and then she goes and assumes her father’s identity! Imagine the half-joking roleplay, Leveva ordering Janne around as usual, an “Of course, Master Rufin,” with a quick peck on the lips, and then the next thing you know, Jannequinard is trying not to cry because he’s spent the last twenty years getting too drunk or high to think about the fact Rufin bled out in his arms, and how if he weren’t such a piss-poor astrologian Leveva would have met her father, and now it’s kind of all coming out at once.

Sorry. Uh. I really love fun domestic fluff with these two (as anyone who has ever heard me talk about Leveva scheduling their first child’s conception around her ideal natal chart can attest), but something that’s so compelling about this questline to me is how, beneath the light-hearted tone of the quests, these people have honestly miserable lives, and they’re dealing with it the very best they can. Leveva lost her father to a tragic crime that completely transformed the political landscape of her homeland, turned into a rallying cry for a cause that he would have ahbored. She’s committed treason, faked her death to dodge assassination attempts from her national government, can never go home and see her family and friends again. Her whole life thus far has been dedicated to her father’s dreams: she learned French (sorry, ‘langue ishvaise’ perhaps?[26]) so that she could travel halfway across the world to Ishgard to finish what he set out to do, leaving everything and everyone she ever knew behind, and now that she’s achieved her—her father’s—goals, what does she want? Does she even know?

And Jannequinard… oh, Janne. He says that he “will not claim [his] life is in any way difficult”, and while he’s certainly never gone cold or hungry… I really cannot stress enough that his brother—we’ll say brother for the purposes of this, because they look identical—was kidnapped as a boy and chose to give them a fake name so that they would just…traffick him and not ransom him back to his father, and even as an adult Carvallain is hiding behind pillars to avoid Ishgardians catching a glimpse of him and talking about how much he loathes the man - what on earth was going on behind closed doors, that the pirates seemed like the better option? Jannequinard was shipped off to another country to get him out of the way, and seemingly only came back because the Sharlayans deported him. His uncle has tried to kill him. Other unspecified relatives have tried to kill him. He spent twenty years certain that his father had Rufin killed, an experience that completely wrecked him! We see him having what appears to be a flashback to Rufin’s death when he’s trying to heal mortal wounds in the Lv 54 quest! Janne’s family wants him dead or at least gone, his coworkers can’t stand him, his only friend died in his arms, even many players take him at face value and think of him as nothing more than a and it’s only when Leveva (and the WoL) came into his life he realized “maybe life is more than the coffin that has been fitted for me.”

I’m not crying. You’re crying.

It's so satisfying to watch their relationship develop from near animosity (“You either continue your training with me and your...ahem...protégé, or you crawl back to obscurity.”) to grudging respect (“While I cannot forgive our patron for skipping yet another of his lessons, I cannot deny that the passion hidden deep beneath all his posturing may have its uses.”) to real fondness (“I would not trade friends such as you for all the gold in the Aurum Vale.”) to, after the Heavensward-to-Stormblood timeskip, sharing a bottle of wine while doing readings with the Deck of Sixty before heading to bed. Leveva isn’t living in the Athenaeum anymore either, after HW 60… How scandalous!

God. Anyway, their lives are terrible, Jannequinard has seemingly been disinherited by the end of Shadowbringers judging by the Charlemend Custom Delivery quests (or at the very least, Charlemend has deigned to completely ignore him in favor of a twelve-year-old nephew he’s decided to raise like a son and name his heir), Leveva can never go back to Sharlayan, and they’re left at the end of it all remarkably high in spirits, ready to build their lives anew.

They deserve the world. And a really fancy fantasy-Catholic wedding Leveva thinks is ridiculous. And several children to dote on. All I have left to say is this...

They're in love, Your Honor.

But What’s Up With All the Retcons?

Bro, I wish I knew. Koji Fox, who wrote the quests, gave an official word-of-god explanation of the inconsistencies in the AST quests back in November 2018, but they don’t really answer all the questions we’re left with, introduces more questions as of late 2019 with the Ishgard Restoration quests, and anyway, I don’t much hold with extracanonical information like posts on forums.

What Koji says is: Janne is 32, because that’s what the Encyclopedia Eorzea says; he’s Charlemend’s nephew, again because that’s what EE says; he’s third in line to the Count’s title, after Carvallain (supposedly Charlemend's only child) and then Charlemend’s oldest nephew, Janne’s cousin; Forlemort “is only a distant relative to Jannequinard. Janne refers to him as ‘mine uncle’...not because Forlemort is actually his father’s brother. It is a more generic term of affection/loose relation.” Which is a bit of a stretch, if you ask me, but sure. Okay. Unfortunately for Koji, this explanation does nothing to account for the fact that the nephew and heir of Count Durendaire we actually meet is very clearly a child, so clearly not the eldest nephew - so even if we do accept extracanonical information we have to throw away something.

To take the game in its current form at complete face value, we're looking at a family tree that looks something like this...

From Sharlayan Ascending (Lv 50), post-retcon:

Jannequinard: The count only truly cares about his newly appointed heir─just like the rest of my family. They expect great things from him. From me, they expect nothing. For a long time, I tried to prove that I could be as great as my cousin. It is why I went to Sharlayan. It is why I have tried to do things I had no business even trying.

If Ronantain is the cousin Janne is talking about here, then he has to be at least 17 years old, and Janne got a PhD to prove he was better than a literal infant. And that's... insane. Technically possible (Rielle is another character with a teacup elf model, and she's in her early 20s), but incredibly unlikely given the rest of Janne's comment. Janne also refers to "the commander of my father's guard" in Trumped (Lv 58) - from a Doylist perspective, it's obviously a missed line from the son-to-nephew retcon, but it's still there in the game, as is his Lv 50 duty's death line "I'm sorry, Father...", and so it's our problem. Possibly his father was disinherited, or he was born out of wedlock to Charlemend's sister, and that's why he has the name Durendaire but his father is not ahead of him in the succession? No good answers here.

Charlemend implies that Ronantain is his brother's son with the line "with my brother passed and firstborn lost...", but we could potentially amend this to the following...

...with the cousin Janne was attempting to live up to when he went to Sharlayan being Ronantain's father, who must then have died during the Heavensward MSQ, perhaps at the Steps of Faith. Still not perfectly consistent, and we keep the problem with Jannequinard's clearly living father, but it's a little less unhinged.

There's another Charlemend line in Ishgard Restoration, though, that throws another wrench in things. From The Making of a Market (Lv 60):

Charlemend: I am not inclined to sit idly by as House Durendaire is left behind the times. And yet, at this most vital of junctures, my son and heir remains lost at sea, and my cousins are either too young or unworldly for the task. And so it falls to me to see to matters myself.

'Cousins'?

(audibly pained) I guess if Jannequinard can call Forlemort his uncle non-literally, he can also be calling Charlie his uncle non-literally. Same problem with the living father, but Charlemend's brother becomes the one who died during Heavensward.

The above are the options that seem most viable if we're to take the current state of canon as...well...canon, but that's also not the story that I was introduced to these characters with. I started the AST quests in early 2019, which was right after the November 2018 retcon of the 60-70 quests' references to Charlemend being Jannequinard's father, but predated all of the other retcons - both about timeline and Janne's parentage. What this meant was that halfway through the questline, Janne suddenly started calling his father 'uncle' without explanation. And the thing is... well.

Here's an image of Carvallain, Charlemend, and Jannequinard side by side I took using modding tools in November 2020. Carvallain is Charlemend's firstborn, we know this. And Carvallain and Jannequinard look almost exactly alike. Here's another image of just the two of them:

When we look at raw data, Carvallain and Jannequinard have the same skin tone (3,7), while Charlemend and Ronantain are significantly lighter-skinned at 3,5, and the other known Durendaires paler still. Carvallain and Charlemend have 12,5 hair and 1,1 (pure white) eyes, while Jannequinard has 12,7 and 19,1 (the palest possible blue), respectively. No other known members of the family look so similar, and this is a game where characters further removed than siblings or parent-child tend to look completely different. The three of them appear very closely related, and especially Carvallain and Jannequinard. Based on this, and the information available to me when I was introduced to this characters - Janne repeatedly called the second son of the Count, right up until the end of Heavensward brought major political upheaval to Ishgard and Jannequinard now publicly at odds with Charlemend, the family situation of the Durendaires implied to be... very bad, judging by Carvallain's ARR-era description of being taken hostage by pirates as "the best thing that ever happened to me" and Jannequinard's total confidence that Charlemend had had his best friend assassinated - what seemed most likely to me is that Carvallain and Jannequinard are half-brothers, with Jannequinard's biological father being Charlemend's brother. 'Father' becomes 'uncle' when Jannequinard has fallen so far in favor with the house that there's no point in pretending.

Now, what happened to Charlemend's wife and brother after that, who's to say? This is all highly theoretical, but considering Carvallain says he loathes his father, and Emmanellain de Fortemps says "believe me when I say you do not wish to make an enemy of [Count Durendaire]"... I can't imagine, if this were correct, anything good.

The Encyclopedia Eorzea - the game’s official lore bible - lists Jannequinard’s age as 32 and Carvallain’s as 34. The EE is known to be a somewhat questionable resource where timelines and ages are concerned. It simultaneously claims that Estinien Varlineau was 12 and 17 when he was orphaned, that Solus zos Galvus was both 30 and 33 when he became dictator of Garlemald, and that Y’shtola Rhul and Lucia goe Junius are both several years younger than their younger siblings, just to name a few problems. The timeline is always a mess, because of the time bubble.

In the Stormblood MSQ, we get the following exchange:

Tataru: Well, I for one think the captain has a point. The five seas can be extremely treacherous, and many a poor, unfortunate soul has to come to grief out there on the waves. Why, when we were in Ishgard, I heard the tragical tale of how the heir to House Durendaire vanished at sea! Even now, nearly twenty years later, the poor count remains convinced that his son still lives, and would pay a sultan's ransom for news of his whereabouts...

Carvallain: Hahaha... Ahahahahaha! Truly a tragedy for the ages, and a testament to the misfortunes that may befall us should we act without...due consideration. But so long as you are prepared to abide the capricious whims of fate, I am willing to oblige you this once.

Tataru: The poor little boy had only seen fourteen summers when he left Ishgard. Can you imagine what it must have felt like─to finally be free to explore the world, unbeholden to all the stuffy traditions of the Holy See? Such a shame that he never returned home. Without him, the Count de Durendaire must look elsewhere for a successor...and the good Lord Jannequinard is one step closer to being the next in line...

Thanks to the fact that the game dialogue does occasionally recognize the passage of time between expansions, even if it remains insistent that 1562 6AE was fifteen years ago, damn it!, I've generally found it a relatively decent solution to treat references to characters' ages as true at their first post-Calamity introduction, even if they don't make sense in the context of where or when they're spoken. This might make Carvallain 34 in A Realm Reborn, so then likely 37 or 38 in Stormblood. At the very least, I believe that Carvallain went missing in the year 1557 6AE. It's worth noting that Tataru says that the Durendaire heir was fourteen when he left Ishgard, not fourteen when he went missing. An insignificant detail, maybe, except... remember when we met Carvallain back in Slings and Arrows (Lv 40)?

Carvallain: I only wish I had the time to speak a little longer with the young astrologian. There was something so familiar about her...

This implies he knew Rufin, which means either Rufin came to Ishgard before Carvallain went missing, or (more likely) Carvallain and Jannequinard went to Sharlayan together.

Jannequinard: For a long time, I tried to prove that I could be as great as my brother. It is why I went to Sharlayan. (Pre-retcon dialogue.)

If we assume that they went to Sharlayan together, spent a year or so there (Guillestet's "twelvemoon"), and then Carvallain left while Jannequinard remained in Sharlayan to apparently pursue his PhD and become an Archon, while Carvallain set out on an already-planned sailing trip 'round the─continent? World? Charlie, why didn't you finish your sentence?! In any case, he was summarily taken hostage by pirates. That... seems to match up? It even explains away the single year, which even Koji's forum post has to fudge:

"Jannequinard (at the age of 15) is sent to Sharlayan to be educated. For the next 1.5 years (the lorebook says “for several moons”...when in fact it’s between 16-18 moons--a “big” several, I know) he studies astrology (among other things) at the Studium." (x)

Jannequinard probably didn't complete and successfully defend his dissertation in a single year, and if he's two years younger than Carvallain and they went to Sharlayan together when Carvallain was fourteen, then he definitely didn't, especially if he attended the Studium, where the absolute youngest students to ever be accepted were eleven at age of entry and are very explictly stated to be child prodigies. It's worth noting that his education at the Studium - the in-universe equivalent of Harvard or MIT - specifically is extracanonical, and that in-game dialogue says that he studied at the Athenaeum of Sharlayan. It's possible both are true (the Athenaeum for a year, and then the Studium for his Archon candidacy), but also worth noting is that if he did attend the Studium, it either had an Idyllshire campus or he did spend time in the Old World.

Which brings us to Rufin and Leveva! Unfortunately, unlike with Jannequinard's family situation, we can't actually clear up the issue without taking sides. Pre- or post-retcon, we have to pick, because pre-retcon says that Rufin's death "a score─mayhap more" years ago was the impetus for the Sharlayan Exodus, and post-retcon says that Jannequinard left Sharlayan when he was deported due to the closure of Sharlayan's borders. It's worth noting that the Exodus (which took place in 1562 6AE) was planned around five years in advance, so if Jannequinard went to Sharlayan twenty years past with Carvallain, he would have probably known from the start that his stay would have to be temporary. This lets us combine pre- and post-retcon lines about Janne and Rufin leaving Sharlayan (that his education was complete, and that he was forced by the Exodus to leave) and going to Ishgard. Rufin's death in Ishgard cannot have been the reason for Sharlayan's borders to close, given that it was planned five years in advance of the event itself and surely Leveva was not five years old when her father died(!), but it was very likely taken as evidence that closing their borders was the correct move, and generally further radicalized Sharlayan politics. We can't really blame Leveva for confusing details like this, this all happened when she was literally a baby.

And on that note! The post-retcon dialogue that says that Rufin left for Sharlayan "several moons after" Leveva's birth and yet that she never met him is insane. Absolutely not, I'm sorry. That doesn't make any sense, and also if Rufin and Jannequinard left together then this game would expect me to believe that Jannequinard knew Leveva's name when she was born and then just, what, forgot? Thought that Mace Byrde had two different granddaughters both named Leveva? Spare me. We keep "several moons before I was born", giving Leveva a birthdate in late 1562 or early 1563, making her around fourteen in A Realm Reborn, and around sixteen when she's introduced in Heavensward, which of course makes her sixteen years old eternally. Koji in the forum post says that Kyokuho is just assuming she's 20ish, but the line...

Leveva: Friend and fellow astrologian! It is so good to see you again. What has it been? Two...? Three...?

...does suggest it's been a few years, as is typical between expansions, so she's probably eighteen or nineteen when Kyokuho guesses twenty. Jannequinard, whose age is never explicitly stated, but who we can probably assume is indeed two years younger than Carvallain given that absolutely no one ever suggests he's older, and two years is as good an age gap as any, would probably have been born then in 1545...? 32 in ARR, ~34 in HW, 36 or 37 in StB.

Does this all work out? My head hurts.

Another interesting detail in the context of Charlemend's relationship with Ronantain is this line from Ewer Right (Lv 45):

Forlemort: [Jannequinard] has only been allowed to continue this nonsense because he is harmless. Too caught up in the luxury of being the Count de Durendaire's thir─ah, second son to actually put forth any real effort in furthering his, ahem, “cause.”

What a fascinating line! A secret son! Or not so very secret, but not official, either. There are two options for interpreting this one, I think. The first is that there's a 33 year old middle child who's transfemme? Unlikely, but an entertaining option. The second is straight out of a soap opera plot, so of course you know what I'm rooting for.

Imagine: Charlemend has an affair with his brother's wife, who has his son. His brother in retaliation gets a child on Charlemend's wife. Charlemend's illegitimate son dies at the Steps of Faith or another one of the battles in Heavensward, and Charlemend adopts his orphaned 'grand-nephew' (really his grandson) and names him heir.

I know, I know. My own genius scares me sometimes.

Appendix A: Excerpts from the Encyclopedia Eorzea, vol. 1

Athenaeum Astrologicum: Founded by Guenriol de Durendaire, who confirmed the link between the coruscations of the dragon star and the movement of the Dravanians, the Astrologicum is the center of learning for students of the Ishgardian school of astrology. For expanding upon the theories of Adaunel the Younger and building the foundation of the moderm school, Guenriol was later venerated as a saint. [page 161]

First Dicasterial Observatorium of Aetherial and Astrological Phenomena: Three hundred years ago, Ishgardian astrologian Adaunel the Younger convinced the Holy See that he could predict the comings and goings of the Dravanian Horde by studying the movements of the heavens, and thus secured funding for the construction of the Observatorium and its grand astroscope. [page 162]

The legacy of House Durendaire extends back into antiquity, to Geunriol de Durendaire, one of King Thordan’s Knights Twelve and a founding father of lshgard. Represented by a golden bell on a red field, the House is known for their preeminent astrologians, who for generations have studied the heavens to predict the movements of the Dravanians, sounding the alarum should an assault be imminent. To that end, they have funded the construction and maintenance of the Athenaeum Astrologicum and the First Dicasterial Observatorium of Aetherial and Astrological Phenomena. Many of lshgard’s most formidable knights are sworn to the golden bell, and House Durendaire is widely considered to be the strongest and most influential of the four High Houses. However, the house is not without its troubles; the count’s firstborn son disappeared twenty years ago, and since then the line of succession has remained unclear. Whether the count will remarry and attempt to produce another heir, or turn to a rather less than ideal candidate, is an oft-discussed topic among the nobility. [page 157]

Born in the same year as his House Fortemps counterpart, [at age fifty-nine] Count Charlemend de Durendaire has, for decades, been engaged in a political rivalry with Lord Edmont. Yet his staunch opposition is not born out of mere stubbornness. Indeed, he once shared the Count de Fortemps’s desire to open lshgard’s borders and welcome foreign influences. Lord Charlemend’s position on such matters changed after his firstborn son took to sea on a voyage to broaden his horizons, only to be set upon by pirates and never seen again. Following that tragic incident, the count grew distrustful of outsiders, and adopted far more conservative positions in line with established policy. However, he is not blind to the changing times, and in light of recent historical revelations, he resolved to support the popular Ser Aymeric, in a pragmatic bid to retain influence and preserve some semblance of the status quo. [page 157]

An Elezen man of Ishgardian descent, Carvallain de Gorgagne is an enlightened pirate who believes men must change with their times. He was born the heir to House Durendaire, and walked the gilded path that all firstborn of Ishgard’s High Houses do. Dissatisfied with this fate, Carvallain assumed the alias of a House Durendaire bannerman and set out soon after his fourteenth nameday to learn much and more of the realm. A vessel he had signed aboard to gain passage south ran afoul of the Kraken’s Arms but three days out of port, whereupon he was taken captive. Jumping at the chance to escape the stifling confines of Ishgardian high culture, Carvallain enlisted in the pirate crew. He learned how to read the stars, and grew into a rare and excellent leader—so much so that he rose in the ranks. Now thirty-four years of age, he commands all of the Kraken’s Arms as their captain. When he is upon dry land, Carvallain is known to be an excellent chocobo rider who can put most men to shame in a race. [page 99]

Jannequinard de Durendaire
Race (Clan): Elezen (Wildwood)
Gender: Male Age: 32
Epithet: Jannequinard the Succedent

The sole proponent of astromancy in Ishgard, Jannequinard began his studies in the art when, during his formative years, he spent several moons at the Sharlayan settlement in the Dravanian hinterlands. Barely had he begun to graspthe fundamentals, however, when the Sharlayans withdrew to the Old World in fear of the Garlean Empire’s hostile advance. Jannequinard found himself suddenly bereft of both tutor and classroom, and had little choice but to make his way home. Upon his return to Ishgard, the disappointed and dissatisfied noble leveraged the inheritance of House Durendaire to secure a position at the Athenaeum Astrologicum. Fixated upon the dragon star and predicting the movements of the Horde, however, his colleagues had little time for the intricacies of astromancy, and Jannequinard’s efforts to pursue the discipline were met with disinterest, if not outright mockery. [page 243]

Leveva Byrde
Race (Clan): Hyur (Midlander)
Gender: Female Age: 16
Epithet: Leveva Heavensreader

Leveva’s parents both died early in her life—her mother during childbirth, and her father a scant few years later. This left the orphaned girl to be taken in by her grandfather, Mace, a renowned professor of astromancy, and his influence is ever present in her decidedly un-youthful perspective and manner of speech. Burning beneath Leveva’s mature veneer, however, is a fiery ambition to embrace her destiny, and continue her departed father’s work to bring astromancy to the wider world. Thus, when she learned of Ishgard’s desire to host an envoy of Sharlayan astrology, she immediately began making preparations to depart for Eorzea. But despite the haste of her decision, she did not make it in ignorance of the displeasure likely to be evinced by the isolationists in the [Sharlayan government]... [page 243]

Appendix B: Job Changes (For the Fic Writer)

This is not a job guide. My goal here is just to provide a couple resources regarding old actions and mechanics available to AST because sometimes you might want to use one in a fanfic! The Deck of Sixty is also very useful - here is a writeup of the lore on the Deck of Sixty that was printed in the EE.

The basic concept of AST is that you are manipulating fate to buff allies and debuff enemies, and manipulating the laws of physics to deal harm to enemies or heal allies. I personally write AST healing as literally hitting "rewind" on injuries, which makes the patient relive the experience of receiving the injury as it's undone - this makes astromancy a more painful form of healing magicks than conjury/"white magic", but does not run the risk of healing "wrong" or what I call "overheal", where for example a bad injury of both arm and torso healed not carefully enough with conjury may lead to the injuries healing together, fusing the limb to the body. There is no explicit reference to such a problem in the game, but it seems to be implied by the fact that non-magical treatments such as bone setting and stitches are commonplace even when characters are expecting to be seen to by a healer.

The reason why I interpret AST healing this way is twofold: first of all, obviously it's a time magick job. Secondly, one of the most...ah, essential... part of the AST kit is "Essential Dignity", which is a single-target healing ability that is more effective the nearer the target is to death. For gameplay-story integration purposes, it makes sense to me that the astrologian's goal is to put off healing for as long as possible and instead prioritize other ways of manipulating fate, due to the pain of re-experiencing an injury that is being healed through astromancy. Your mileage may vary!

In gameplay, all healers have access to the ability to raise the dead from a very low level (12), but in the lore, a holdover from the earliest iteration of the game (where you had to level several jobs to learn skills from them that you would take back to the job you were actually playing) is that only conjury is capable of raising the dead. While I am not nearly as mentally ill about the lore for jobs other than AST, this seems to still be true at time of writing, seeing as the white mage job guide on the official site reads as follows:

Those who would walk the path of the white mage are healers without peer, possessed of the power to deliver comrades from the direst of afflictions—even the icy grip of death itself.

This is worth noting especially for the context of Jannequinard's backstory. Why didn't he heal Rufin, when he found him near death? Well, surely he tried, but channelling healing magicks canonically requires total stillness and concentration. Holding his dying best friend/lover in his arms, it's not difficult to imagine Janne unable to stop his hands from shaking and his concentration faltering.[27] Why didn't he simply cast Ascend, once he had calmed? It's a mechanical placeholder for the cross-class skill Raise, and Jannequinard never studied conjury.

Anyway. In the EE (on page 243), a few skills have writeups, which are copied below:

Astral Stasis. By throwing wide the gate to the seventh heaven—the highest of the astral domains—the astrologian favors the battlefield with celestial benediction. This technique is said to hold the power to skew one's fate towards an almost certain victory.[28]
Benefic. Astrologians channel healing energies by attuning their aether to the "benefic" bodies in the heavens. Paired with an affinity for "malefic" bodies to effect destructive magicks, this attunement represents the fundamental principle of astromancy.
Gravity. This magick manipulates the inexorable pull of the stars to magnify the force of gravity. Creatures within the area are subjected to a crushing pressure, with the worst of the effects centered on the primary target.
Celestial Opposition. Considered to be the very essence of astromancy, this technique binds the astrologian's aether to the loftiest of heavens. A single tug on this celestial cord alters the patterns of fate, showering allies with fortune, and afflicting foes with sudden adversity.

In Heavensward, we had...

Cleric Stance! In HW, Cleric Stance was a toggle that, while active, significantly reduced the potency of your healing abilities, and significantly increased your damage output.
"Luminiferous Aether", which reduced enmity generation (makes enemies want to murder you specifically slightly less - one presumes this is how Jannequinard has survived so long) and restored MP over time.
"Stella" - much like the skill "Gravity", Stella manipulates gravitational fields to weigh down an enemy, making it incredibly difficult for them to move. They probably should have swapped the names, but it is what it is.
"Exalted Detriment" - from the days when debuffs were removed by Scholars with Leeches, AST had this guy. It's not as fun as Leeches for fanfic unfortunately. Not as sexy a concept.
"Disable" - no fun name for this one, but it's a short debuff on enemies. The implied ability to inflict curses/negative effects with AST beyond that of the Lord of Crowns is potentially interesting on a lore level.
Diurnal and Nocturnal Sect. At this point in time, Diurnal and Nocturnal were sort of a second Cleric Stance that could not be toggled off in combat: in Diurnal you had lowered cast times and higher damage output, while in Nocturnal you had increased healing potency and put protective shields on certain abilities.
Royal Road & Spread. "Spread" let you hold onto a particular card indefinitely to play when convenient, as cards at this time had specific and unique effects. RR would transform a card that was undesirable into a buff for the next card played.
"Synergy" - I linked this one up above in the ship manifesto bit, but this is a magick tether between two souls. They share the effects of healing magic, and you could definitely write them as also sharing pain and even other sensations.
"Time Dilation" - it slowed down time! In combat this effect functionally increases the length of your buffs, but the lore implications are fascinating.
"Celestial Opposition" - this ability still exists at time of writing, but in HW it was a wave of energy that stunned enemies, holding them in place briefly while also extending the effective length of your buffs: so basically a very short term time-stop.
"Lightspeed" - you guessed it, another time manipulation skill. This one made your actions much faster, many of them instantaneous and therefore not requiring concentration.

Cards in Heavensward and Stormblood had the following effects:

ARROW	BALANCE	BOLE	EWER	SPEAR	SPIRE
Increased movement speed, cast times, and recast times.	Increased damage output.	Reduced damage taken.	Regenerated MP.	Reduced cooldown times on abilities.	Regenerated TP (don't worry about what this means).
Royal Road effect: Increased buff duration.	Royal Road effect: Increased buff potency.	Royal Road effect: Increased buff potency.	Royal Road effect: Spread buff to nearby allies.	Royal Road effect: Increased buff duration.	Royal Road effect: Spread buff to nearby allies.

Stormblood specials:

Cleric Stance becomes a short-term damage buff.
Diurnal Sect is no longer a damage buff and instead Diurnal becomes focused on heal-over-time effects while Nocturnal remains focused on shields.
"Sleeve Draw" is introduced, but there's no real lore implications there - it just does Draw/Royal Road/Spread and another ability called Minor Arcana (which transforms a held card into either a healing effect or a damaging spell) all at once. There's probably a fun lore implication about the Deck of Sixty from the fact that that skill is called Minor Arcana, but I'm not creative enough to figure out what it might be.
Cut skills: Luminiferous Aether, Stella, Exalted Detriment, Disable.

Shadowbringers:

The cards were reworked so that they no longer have specific abilities but just increase damage various amounts based on the job of the player a card was played on.
Royal Road mechanics were replaced with "Arcane Seals" - each card was associated with one of three seal types (Solar, Lunar, and Celestial, symbolized by the sun, moon, and the Earth respectively), and the goal was to acquire as many different seals as possible to maximize the effect of a party-wide buff called "Divination". This created an absolutely disastrous RNG opener that I dearly miss.
Lord and Lady of Crowns from the Minor Arcana were very briefly replaced with higher-level damage buffs that did not grant seals, and then the change was quickly reversed.
"Horoscope"! As the skill itself states, you read yours and your allies' fortunes. This is a delayed healing ability - lore-wise, one must assume that basically, you read in the cards that everyone will take damage in the near future, so the knowledge of this makes it possible to avoid taking that damage.
"Neutral Sect" - for a short period of time, a skilled astrologian could attune to both the Diurnal and Nocturnal Sects simultaneously, doing an astonishing amount of burst healing and protective shielding.
Cut skills: Cleric Stance, Royal Road, Spread, Time Dilation, Celestial Opposition was reworked so completely it is functionally cut (it's just a healing spell now).

Endwalker:

"Divination" RNG was replaced with RNG on a personal buff called "Astrodyne". It still uses the Arcane Seals, now for some reason called "Astrosigns", which I for one think would be very funny to use in a fanfic as a younger astrologian's slang for the Arcane Seals associated with particular cards. Leveva would be alarmed, I think. Astrodyne's effects are called "Harmony of Spirit" (MP restoration), "Harmony of Body" (faster cast times and recast times), and "Harmony of Mind" (increased damage and healing output).
Diurnal and Nocturnal Sect were removed entirely. Neutral Sect stayed, and there's no dialogue regarding the skill, so the in-universe explanation for what you're supposed to be doing when you cast NS is... unclear. Personally I choose to believe that all historic mechanics exist in-universe simultaneously, so the Sects live on in the lore even if they've been removed from gameplay in an effort to simplify the job.
"Exaltation" - a damage reduction and delayed heal. Presumably in the lore the single-target equivalent of Horoscope.
"Macrocosmos" - another delayed healing ability, or more accurately it "compiles" damage taken while under the effect of the skill, and then can be triggered to immediately restore that health. So, another time travel thing, basically. It's time travel all the way down, babey.
Cut skills: Diurnal, Nocturnal, Sleeve Draw.

Dawntrail:

At time of writing, upcoming changes to the job were announced earlier today. They're removing RNG entirely, reworking the cards again, and removing Arcane Seals/"Astrosigns". This document will be updated upon DT release with the inevitable changes to dialogue, and with updates to this appendix as well.
Please look forward to it. 🫠

Appendix C: Random Bullshit Go!

This is where I'm throwing the stuff that hasn't got anywhere else to go but might be of interest or use to the enterprising astrologian enthusiast.

First up: the map of the Three Great Continents has very faintly visible latitude and longitude lines on it. Combining these with some basic assumptions based on geography, real-world cultural influences, and weather patterns in various in-game locations, I somewhat amateurishly overlaid the Three Great Continents on a globe for the purposes of hopefully, eventually, being able to construct semi-functional in-universe natal horoscopy. Maybe you will find it useful as well!

Now, so, the elemental aspect of hours, days, months, and years has no impact on gameplay, but it is presumably very relevant to horoscopy in-universe, and as you might have noticed, I think about horoscopy in-universe way too much. So I have some very ugly charts to show you!

But first, let's turn to "The Five Ages - An Eorzean Chronology":

Penned by Lewphon of Sharlayan, master theologian and astrologist, in the Year 233 of the Sixth Astral Era, to weave together the disparate histories of the nations of Eorzea with a common thread - the thread of time. For through its inevitable march the hours turn into Suns, and they into Moons, and they into Years. And from the Years come the Ages of Man. And ever eclipsing those is the eternity of Gods.

The Suns - By the unit of a sole Sun we mean that period which lasts for the duration of four cycles of the six elemental hours - those of Ice, Water, Wind, Lightning, Fire, and Earth. And so is the sun twenty hours and four, and so shall it ever be.

The Moons - The life of a single Moon spans four cycles of eight Suns, and is thus the sum of thirty and two. The eight deriveth from the elements six, Ice, Water, Wind, Lightning, Fire, and Earth, and the polarities two, Astral and Umbral.

The Years - The Year is made when the Moon goeth round the two Astral and Umbral poles, fluctuating between the six elements, and that in turn. In this, the Year can be said to be the length of twelve Moons. The first and second Moons of the Year are the first astral and first Umbral, and together they share affinity with Ice. On their watch, all is frozen, and breath of life sloweth to near silence beneath. The second Astral and second Umbral Moons come third and fourth in turn, and they are the Water of the melting Ice, and with their flowing slaketh the thirst of life again. Fifth and sixth are the third Astral and third Umbral Moons, and the Wind bloweth over the Water, carrying its heavenly boons near and far. The fourth pairing of Astral and Umbral Moons come six and seven. when the heavens rageth with the furies of Lightning and sendeth them below with godly terror to test the faith of men. The ninth and tenth Moons are the Fifth Astral and Umbral, as the Lightning turns to Fire, and it charreth growing life with the colors of its flames, bleeding blade and leaf with brilliant ues of crimson and scarlet. Year's end eometh in the eleventh and twelfth Moons, the sixth Astral and sixth Umbral, in which the Earth consumes all, for out of the ground we are taken for the dust we are, and to the dust we shall return.

Of Man - The wisdom of the Twelve saw fit to grant man with the cycle of years, and in turn the reverence of man bound them to his gods - the Year of the Navigator, of the Wanderer, of the Builder, of the Destroyer, of the Warden, of the Traders, of the Matron, of the Keeper, of the Fury, of the Lover, of the Scholar, and of the Spinner. The turning of these Years twelve is a sacred thing, and together they comprise one epoch of man, by which the histories of his endeavor are measured.

Of Gods - The constancy and eternity of time derive from the pulse and breath of the Twelve. And by their divine will the brilliance of the Astral Eras which see man flourish and prosper, and the shadows of the Umbral Eras which see man falter and doubt, are visited upon him in equal, and neither the greatest good nor the greatest evil may escape their purview. Since the peace among the Twelve was broken and life was created to wage their wars, six cycles of the Eras have come to pass in keeping with the elemental order. The Sixth Umbral Era belonged to the waters, as heavy rains fell and the seas rose high, submerging and cleansing all in a great deluge. With time the waters receded, ushering in the present Sixth Astral Era, during which man has again rebuilt his halls and tilled his lands. Naught save the ken of the Twelve themselves knoweth when the Seventh Umbral Era shall come and end our days. The sole certainty what resides within man is the selfsame as it has ever been - ours is the power to make of our Era what we might.

So, there's a lot to unpack here, honestly. The six elements have innate astral and umbral leanings, as seen in this poster in the Bookman's Shelves in-game, which I've recreated beside it.

So, wind, lightning, and fire are traditionally aligned with the Astral and earth, ice, and water are traditionally aligned with the Umbral. The epoch, or cycle of years, begins with the Astral, moving through the cycle clockwise (so that it begins with the element of Wind), while hours, days, and months begin with the element of Ice moving clockwise. I wish I could tell you why, but I don't actually know. In any case, the clock sort of looks like this:

So that every hour is aspected to a particular element, going through the six first in the Astral and then in the Umbral. It's kind of like how the months go through the Astral and Umbral in turns (the months being the "1st Astral Moon" then "1st Umbral Moon" and so on until we reach the "6th Umbral Moon"), except...that would be too easy, obviously, because we also know that the months are ordered so that we begin with the Astral Ice (Halone), then Umbral Ice (Menphina) and so on each element at a time, while the hours do all six elements in one of the polarities and then switches to the other. It's very overcomplicated for no reason and I feel bad for little baby Jannequinard trying to keep all this straight and in a foreign language to boot. But hopefully this kind of makes sense, and I'm very sorry because it is 3:30 in the morning and I'm a little scatterbrained.

And then this brings us to the week, which The Five Ages seems to be saying has eight elemental aspects, where the Astral and Umbral are for some reason separate from the elements (is that even possible outside of an active Calamity? A purely Astral or purely Umbral alignment? That doesn't feel possible to me), and the first day of each week is affiliated with Ice, the second with Water, the third with Wind, the fourth with Lightning, the fifth with Fire, the sixth with Earth, the seventh with the Astral, and the eighth with the Umbral. Which is already really weird! But then to add onto it, people talk about sennights all the time in Final Fantasy XIV, even though weeks are canonically eight days long and "sennight" means "seven nights".

But while I was working on transcribing the early quests, someone did use the word "week", and it got me thinking about the nundinal cycle, which is the traditional Roman eight-day market week which continued to be used alongside the seven-day liturgical week after the introduction of Christianity as the state religion. The word "nundinal" comes from the Latin word for "nine", because Romans counted inclusively - which means that the first day of the new week was considered the "ninth" day of the old week and also the first day of the new one. And I got to thinking, what if the "sennight" is, in fact, the six-day elemental week, while the "week" is the eight-day lunar week? The first of the month is always the new moon, and the seventeenth (the beginning of the third week) always the full moon. The lunar week would seemingly be very useful to astrologians, who are concerned with mapping the stars, while for most people the elemental week, the inclusively counted sennight, is perfectly sufficient.

This would of course allow the polarities of Astral and Umbral to not be needlessly and confusingly separated from the six traditional elemental aspects, and then the days can cycle as the hours do, one week being Astral and the next being Umbral so that each three months we begin anew with the 1st of the month being of Astral Ice. Does this feel right to you? It feels right to me. Unfortunately, we do still have to deal with the confusing wording in The Five Ages regarding the eight days of the week - but Lewphon calls the hours the "elemental hours", while of the days he says only that the eight "deriveth" from the six elements and two polarities. Can you tell where I'm going with this? I'm so sorry.

What if the days of the week are named for the elements and polarities, but do not necessarily correspond to the actual elemental alignment of those days? Iceday, Waterday, and so forth through Umbralday, so that, for example, Astralday the 7th of the 3rd Astral Moon in the Year of the Wanderer is triply aligned with Astral Wind (through year, month, and day), and at 2AM and 2PM quadruply so aligned?

Is it terrible and needlessly confusing? Yes. Do I love it? Kind of, yes. Here's a spreadsheet for you to look upon in horror.

Finally, lastly, no discussion of Ishgard can be complete without a side note about the clear linguistic ties between Ishgard and Garlemald. Or at least, none that I'm having. Why do they use so much Latin in Ishgard? Why doesn't Halone have elf ears? Why does "Ishgard" seem to share a root with "Eschva", the name of the Ilsabardian Elezen tribe that seems to have been one of the founding seven tribes of the Republic of Garlemald? I'm so glad you asked! I just so happen to have a 2500 word transcript of a ramble I posted on Discord two years ago about my completely unhinged theory about the shared cultural and religious history of the Holy See and Republican Garlemald on hand. Read if it you want.

Appendix D: Ship Memes and Fanart <3

You made it to the end! Congratulations! Here are some dumb, self-indulgent bullshit, because, by the Twelve, you've earned it after reading all that, and I've earned it after writing all of it.

First, some ship art! Both drawn on commission by

cadaver1ne:

FOOTNOTES

[14] The Heavensward expansion (levels 50-60) culminated in the dissolution of the theocratic government, end of the Dragonsong War, and foundation of a Parliament of Peers in Ishgard. ⬏

[15] While our mortal enemy the time bubble is still very much an extenuating factor to contend with, expansions are generally treated as occurring more or less 'in real time' compared to each other, as exemplified by dialogue like this and by the visible aging of Meteor/John Finalfantasy/Default Warrior of Light in the cinematic trailers for each expac. Heavensward released in 6/15 and Stormblood 7/17, so it has been just over two years since we last saw Leveva. ⬏

[16] I cannot find any early StB era screencaps or clips of this world NPC dialogue to confirm or deny that the current dialogue (which makes its first confirmed appearance in early 2019) matches the original; I expect that there is an original version that read "what took me more than twenty summers", but I don't want to claim as much without proof. ⬏

[17] Potential lore discrepancy! In 30-50 we establish that unlocking the gate to the seventh (purely Astral in aspect) heaven would outright kill you, but then, maybe Leveva is really just that hostile to the man. ⬏

[18] A wealthy neighborhood in the Holy See. ⬏

[19] Silver is...not purple. Leveva natural hair color reveal? While Elezen often have candy floss hair, Hyur seem to be restricted to human hair colors. ⬏

[20] Defeat dialogue.

Kyokuhou: Great-grandfather... I have failed...you...

Leveva: This wasn't in the morning's reading... ⬏

[21] Shadowbringers (70-80) takes place in a mirror universe where the sun has not set in a hundred years. ⬏

[22] The Warrior of Light takes on the title of the Warrior of Darkness in the aforementioned mirror universe. ⬏

[23] These tasks included a lot of manual labor if you were a crafter or gatherer. Personally, I made more than seven thousand awnings in the space of ten days. But by the Twelve, we sure did rebuild Ishgard. ⬏

[24] The Missing Member was called the Bloody Member in the first few expansions! This isn't really relevant to anything, it's just a favorite bit of trivia. ⬏

[25] Sevestre is also named in another Endwalker sidequest, though no information about him is given that wasn’t prior established in the AST quests, and appears in the background of one crowd cutscene. Neither Leveva nor Mace made any appearance, and the Athenaeum in Sharlayan is a building that cannot be entered and those NPCs wearing Astrologian’s gear are non-interactable. ⬏

[26] See Appendix C: Random Bullshit Go! for some notes on Eorzean languages and particularly the fantasy equivalents of French and Latin, both of which heavily feature in the Holy See. Everyone who knows me well enough to see where this is going is groaning already. ⬏

[27] I also personally interpret Janne's lack of progress in his studies in the past years as partially reactionary. If he had been slacking off on his studies in his youth and aware of it, his inability to save Rufin's life then becomes the fault of his own lax attitude. If he never learns how to heal well, then he can tell himself he's simply incompetent by nature. In a way, this alleviates his guilt. ⬏

[28] "Astral Stasis" is the name of the AST LB3, a once-per-fight full party resurrect that restores full HP and MP without granting weakness. In the Endwalker MSQ, LB3 is explained in-universe as being a manifestation not of magick but of hope itself. One might imagine this skill as almost a type of time travel? Because it is prior established that attunement to the seventh heaven would instantly kill you, it may be that you're forcing the universe to reset because your death in this manner was not fated. There's a lot of ways to interpret this skill, honestly, and they're all fascinating. It's also absolutely gorgeous. ⬏

Credit where it's due to Airell Gardiner @ Adamantoise, Galen Blackwell @ Cactuar, Kimiko Katsumi @ Adamantoise, Etienne Laurus @ Zalera, Ardonis Ryedel @ Adamantoise, and Thea Hyrtfyrwyn @ Omega for their gameplay footage.

Current Mood: accomplished

✖

Do you wish to know more of fate?
☛ Yes   No

The Astrologian (AST) quests are probably the most retconned questline in Final Fantasy XIV, and that's what you call irony, or something. The version of the quests that I experienced in my first playthrough no longer exists - nor does the version I experienced in my second, or third. Part of this is a side effect of the nature of MMOs—AST was (and still is) a notoriously janky and overcomplicated job, and every few years it gets rebuilt from the ground up to fit the game’s newest combat design philosophy and ever-increasing level cap, certain skills and gameplay mechanics that had been written into the narrative vanishing into the aether. Part of this is due to the developers retconning major elements of the backgrounds of the questline’s central characters for… no apparent reason.

Unfortunately, it’s really difficult to get someone into your faves when it seems like every few months the devs come back and ransack your house. This document hopes to serve as part lore resource, part red string murder wall, part ship manifesto. As the foremost AST lore scholar (and, once upon a time, the foremost AST...) and certified insane person, I'm here to help...demystify...this mess of a questline. And also to convince you that Jannequinard de Durendaire and Leveva Byrde are soulmates. That too.

ETA: Not 13 hours after I posted this, another complete AST rework was announced. Truly, it is beyond parody. There will be another update to this document around July 3rd 2024 - please look forward to it. 🙏

SO, WHERE DO WE BEGIN?

Let’s assume you don’t know much about FFXIV lore.

You don’t need to know that much for the AST quests—they’re a job questline with very few ties to the main story, and none of the main characters of the AST quests appear or are named in the main story at all. What you do need to know is this: there is a reclusive island nation called Sharlayan whose borders have been closed for the past 15+ years[1], and a city-state known as the Holy See of Ishgard, whose shtick is ‘What If Elves Were Catholic And At War With Dragons?’ They’re also French. The elves, not the dragons.

The Ishgardians are around a thousand years into the war with the dragons, and 5+ (see footnote 1) years into an eternal winter. The nation is majority elven (called ‘Elezen’) with a significant minority human (‘Hyur’/‘Hyuran’) population, and has a taboo against interspecific marriage (the one half-Elezen character we meet is called ‘half-breed’ and ‘the mongrel’) as well as a glaring class divide that is not exclusively racial in character (there are plenty of Elezen freezing to death in the streets, too) but Hyur are mainly excluded from the upper class. The Catholic—sorry, Halonic—Church has a very active Inquisition that tortures confessions out of suspected heretics who are then put to death, burns books, all that good stuff. Education is strictly religious in nature, and if it is not religious, it is tolerated only if it somehow supports the war against the dragons.

The secular government of Ishgard, insomuch as there is a secular government at the beginning of the game, is led by the Counts of the four High Houses, who descend from the semi-mythical dragon-slaying (and dragon-eating) founding fathers of the city-state: Durendaire, Dzemael, Fortemps, and Haillenarte. In the AST quests, we are concerned only with House Durendaire.

The Durendaires are one of the wealthiest families in the world of FFXIV, and their coffers bankroll the Athenaeum Astrologicum (henceforth ‘the Athenaeum’) and First Dicasterial Observatorium of Aetherial and Astrological Phenomena (henceforth ‘the Observatorium’), the former being the university and the latter being the research facility out in the middle of nowhere that has The Big Telescope™. Our quest-giver and main character of the Astrologian quests is Jannequinard (SZHAHN-key-nahr): Viscount de Durendaire, second or third in line to the most powerful position in Ishgard short of the actual Archbishop. Currently, Janne’s the front desk guy of the Athenaeum, and all of his coworkers hate him.

Our other main protagonist, a young woman named Leveva Byrde, is from Sharlayan, the country that closed their borders ages ago. Sharlayan is known for scholarly advancements and inventions in various magical fields (technological/non-magical inventions are the purview of Garlemald, an empire with a lot of relevance to the main game plot but very little relevance to this questline’s), and they’re incredibly protective of the nation’s intellectual property. The nation’s primary export is the servicing of ‘aetherytes’ (fast travel points), all of which are owned and maintained by Sharlayan[2], and the Sharlayans can shut them off at any time - as they recently did in the case of a war in Eorzea because they disapproved of their technology used for the movement of troops, etc. Many Sharlayans are strongly opposed to intervention in outside affairs, and the most conservative among them lately consider making available any Sharlayan advancements or scholarship to outsiders interventionist. They also have a certain penchant for facial and neck tattoos.

....and that’s all you need to know! And some extra stuff, probably. Sorry about that. I can’t turn it off.

Anyway, the main subjects of the AST retcons are the magicks themselves - the skills/spells and other gameplay mechanics available to the job - the Durendaire family tree, and the timeline. We’re not so much concerned with the former, but as we go through the quests, they’ll occasionally be referenced. The other two are a big deal for us, though, and we’ll talk about them a lot. First, though, we’re going to do side-by-side comparisons of the full text of each of the quests (serving as a script for those reading who may not have played them, as well as a resource for text changes). Because I hit character limit (oops!), this post covers the quests from first picking up AST to the Heavensward Lv 60 quest, and then part two will pick up with the Stormblood Lv 60 quest and finish them out, including some additional relevant sidequests, then go full Pepe Silvia. Part 2 will also contain the appendices. Yes, I am losing control of my life, thanks for asking.

Regarding the retcons: it is standard practice for the patch notes to say only "minor textual changes" regarding retcons, and never which quests' dialogue was altered. As such, retcons are dated to the closest approximation I can provide, between the timestamps on my own and others' videos and screencaps and timestamped conversations from Discord about the changes. Sometimes a retcon cannot be confirmed due to an absence of pre-retcon sources, if it is an optional dialogue. If I am missing anything or my timeline is slightly off, I apologize.

Credit where it's due to Airell Gardiner @ Adamantoise, Galen Blackwell @ Cactuar, Kimiko Katsumi @ Adamantoise, Etienne Laurus @ Zalera, Ardonis Ryedel @ Adamantoise, and Thea Hyrtfyrwyn @ Omega for providing gameplay footage and screenshots essential to writing up this lore doc.

00. World NPC dialogue in the Athenaeum before unlocking the AST quests

All of this is optional dialogue, and optional dialogue from here on out will be designated by light grey text rather than white.

Jannequinard: The heavens are boundless. One would have to live a thousand lifetimes to grasp but a sliver of the knowledge locked away in their dark recesses.

Heurriette: This is a star globe. Upon it you shall find a map of the very heavens above us. Any self-respecting astrologian would not fathom taking something so delicate out into the elements, let alone into battle...

Mugueniel: While sailors use the pole star for guidance, we astrologians look to the dragon star, for its position and magnitude in relation with neighboring celestial bodies can reveal when and where the Dravanian Horde will strike next.

Fleuraie: The ever-tightening grip of this unnatural winter has proven far more than a nuisance for many in my field. The stars can tell us little if their message is forever hidden behind a veil of storm clouds.

The NPC Guillestet opens up a menu with the following options...

> Tell me of yourself.

My name is Guillestet. I am in my second year on the coveted path to becoming an astrologian. All novitiates are assigned a task at the Athenaeum to which we are required to attend between our classes. The stars saw fit that I be assigned receptionist duty...with Lord Jannequinard.

He is, by no means, a bad man...only a tad eccentric. Being the second son to the Count de Durendaire means he is free to do as he wishes...and most of the time he wishes to pay call on the city-state's young maidens...despite being older than mine own father. The rest of the time, he continues his "studies" of Sharlayan astrology─something he began almost twenty summers ago when he spent a twelvemoon in the now abandoned city-state training with the heathen astrologians. His bloodline protects him from the scrutiny of higher-ranking officials here, but it is his lack of talent which truly keeps the wolves at bay.

In other words, he is harmless. I am merely required to suffer his whims until I pass my examinations and get assigned a position at the Observatorium. Then, some new novitiate will be assigned the post and the cycle will continue as it has for almost two decades.

> Tell me of this place.

The Athenaeum Astrologicum was founded by Saint Guenriol to serve as a place where astrologians such as myself might learn and perfect methods used to read the stars. Since the discovery by Adaunel the Younger that the Dravanian Horde were using the relative position of a celestial body we now refer to as the dragon star to determine their attacks on the Holy See, we have ever been seeking to decipher the dragons' code. Theories constructed here are subsequently taken south to the Observatorium where they are put into practice.

Ah... We also suffer...limited training in Sharlayan astrology─a school of star reading neither recognized or approved of by the Athenaeum, the Observatorium, or the Holy See. The only reason I even mention it is because I have been...ah, commanded to do so by Lord Jannequinard.

> Tell me more of astrology.

Astrology originated thousands of years ago in Sharlayan, and was introduced to Eorzea when the Sharlayans founded their colony in the Dravanian hinterlands. It remained a minor field of study, eclipsed by larger ones such as conjury and thaumaturgy, until three centuries ago when an Ishgardian astrologian by the name of Adaunel the Younger discovered that the stars could be used to determine the movements of the Dravanian Horde. It was then that Ishgardian astrology was born, the focus moving from fortune-telling and fate-scrying to something actually useful─preventing the death of knights by knowing when and where the Horde would arrive.

You will not see an Ishgardian astrologian carrying about a star globe or an astrolabe. You will not see him consulting with a divining deck or gazing into the stars, hoping to draw forth its aether and use it to manipulate fates. You will not hear talk of the gates of the seven heavens or the chantings of minor spells woven to heal cuts or enmusculate sword arms. Well, you will not hear these things as long as you keep your distance from Lord Jannequinard.

01. What’s Your Sign? (Lv 50)

While this quest's text has been altered previously (or rather, this quest's text is unchanged, but in 2015-2016 it was combined with the following quest), the discrepancies are not lore-relevant: Janne asks what brought you to the Athenaeum and you say "it was fate!" or "I am unsure", and the quest proceeds from there. Because of the pathing in this quest, and because the discrepancies are minimal, the formatting for this section will be a little different from the others.

Jannequinard: Greetings and welcome to the Athenaeum Astrologicum. Perhaps you were drawn by fate to this place of learning─or perhaps you wish to know more of fate itself?

Do you wish to know more of fate?

> Yes Then you were wise to come hither. For in the stars are written the fates of every woman and man on Hydaelyn.		> No So you say, yet here you are. You need only learn to open our eyes and see the answers which lie above us in the boundless firmament.

Jannequinard: It was there in the stars that I read a woman would call upon the Athenaeum this very day. A woman who would play an important role in my own life. Ah, but my apologies. Even the most skilled reader cannot scry a name from the heavens. Would you be so kind as to give me yours, so that I might know who is to be my newest protégé?

Give Jannequinard your name and become his newest protégé?

> Yes CHARNAME. Well... I was not expecting that. But what is a name, but an attempt by our begetters to wield power over the lives of their sons and daughters? Lives whose paths have already been foretold! In a sense, that is. My name is Jannequinard de Durendaire and I am an astrologian for the Holy See. Remember that name, for it shall echo forevermore in the annals of Ishgardian history. Well...it will once I put it there. Once we put it there!		> No Well...er... That was awkward. It would not be entirely true if I said this was the first time my offer had been spurned today... But Twelve be damned, I was certain you were the woman from my vision! (quest ends)

Jannequinard: Now, where to begin!? I suppose I could consult my divining deck for an answer, but that would be too easy now, wouldn't it? Very well, at the beginning it is! Astrology, or the reading of the stars, is a branch of aetherological science which originated in distant Sharlayan. There have been astrologians in Ishgard for thousands of years, but it wasn't until three centuries ago when Adaunel the Younger learned that the movement of the stars could also be used to foresee the movements of the Dravanian Horde that the field became popular.

Jannequinard: Since then, what was once a single science has bifurcated into two similar yet ultimately different schools of learning: the Sharlayan school of astrology and the Ishgardian school─the former placing a focus on tapping celestial aether and transforming it into beneficial magicks, or astromancy; the latter specializing solely in determining the actions of our dragon enemies to the north.

Jannequinard: I am a student of the former─the only student of the former here in Ishgard─and have been actively seeking a partner with whom to conduct my research. Let us just say that my fellow astrologians here have been less than approving of my path. But that is simply because they are afraid of what they do not know. Once they do know of how Sharlayan astrology can benefit the See and its soldiers, they will feel foolish for ever having doubted me...ah, us! You will be joining me, will you not? Walking the path that has been laid out before you, instead of stubbornly denying your fate, postponing the inevitable?

02. Stairway to the Heavens (Lv 50)

Jannequinard of the Athenaeum simply can't take his eyes off you.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH FALL 2020)

Jannequinard: I see you wasted no time making your decision. Like I always say, the stars are never wrong! Alas, even a lifetime of study and training cannot unlock all the secrets written in those stars. Myself, I have been a student of the astromantic arts for more than thirty summers, and I still oft misread the signs shown to me in the skies.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: I see you wasted no time making your decision. Like I always say, the stars are never wrong! Alas, even a lifetime of study and training cannot unlock all the secrets written in those stars. Myself, I have been a student of the astromantic arts for more summers than I can count, and I still oft misread the signs shown to me in the skies.

Jannequinard: Though, my readings are far more accurate now than they were when I attended the Athenaeum in Sharlayan. Not the Sharlayan, mind you.[3] The colony that once thrived in the Dravanian hinterlands. I can recall my time there like it was but yesterday. The first six moons, I was not even allowed to touch the Deck of Sixty, let alone conduct a reading with the major arcana. Most of my time was spent in the scriptorium transcribing old tomes on astrological fundamentals such as the six elemental houses, divine duplicity, class triplicity, house modality and polarity, dignity versus detriment...

Jannequinard: I abhorred the task, and would tirelessly pester my instructors as to when I might actually be granted the opportunity to weave a spell or perform a reading. It wasn't until the end of the sixth moon that I realized all that transcribing had prepared me with the essentials I would need to do those very things. The positions of the celestial bodies within the six elemental houses, and their relation to the major and minor arcana of the Deck of Sixty─therein lie the secrets to tapping the aetherial power locked in the heavens. And soon, you too will become privy to these secrets. But not this day. No, no. I would not have you transcribe musty old tomes, like I was once forced to do.

Jannequinard: No, the task I have for you is much more interesting. You see, I am expecting the arrival of a very important guest─my old mentor from the Studium has agreed to make the journey from the Old World to Ishgard and speak with the Holy See regarding the implementation of Sharlayan astrological techniques in city-state defense. Alas, the professor and his party are now fully seven days late in arriving, and I have begun to worry for their safety. I should be much obliged, therefore, if you would inquire of the other astrologians here at the Athenaeum if they have heard aught.

Jannequinard: ...Beg pardon? If the professor is so important to me, why haven't I asked them myself? Ah, let us just say that the other astrologians and I do not always see eye to eye on everything...or, in fact, anything.

Heurriette: Why would Lord Jannequinard think I had information on the whereabouts of a handful of unbelievers from across the Bloodbrine Sea? I am an astrologian, not a fortune-teller. I cannot simply look to the stars and scry the location of the viscount's guests...unless his guests are dragons, that is. I suppose if anyone knew aught, it would be the Observatorium. We here at the Athenaeum are but students dedicated to research. Those with any influence in our field are assigned to the astroscope.

Mugueniel: Let me guess, the good Lord Jannequinard said he saw you in a vision and that the stars told him that you were to study Sharlayan astrology with him. Am I close? You must be the hundredth of his little pets to pester me this week[4] alone. I harbor no ill will toward ignorant unbelievers unlucky enough to find themselves caught up in talk of stars and fortunes, but you may tell that sorry excuse for an astrologian─for the umpteenth time─that I have heard naught concerning his imaginary friends from faraway Sharlayan. (Just do not tell the viscount I called him a sorry excuse for an astrologian, all right?)

ORIGINAL (THROUGH FALL 2020)

Fleuraie: Jannequinard still waiting for word on his missing Sharlayans instead of actually making an effort to find them, is he? Of course he is. Is it any wonder that in the nearly twenty years since his return from Sharlayan, his skill in astromancy has remained unchanged? Any wonder that he has never yet managed to convince a single peer of the value of the Sharlayan school? He is a privileged little sprat who spends more time gazing at the stars in young maidens' eyes than actually trying to read the ones above his head.

CURRENT

Fleuraie: Jannequinard is still waiting for word on his missing Sharlayans instead of actually making an effort to find them, is he? Of course he is. Is it any wonder that in the nearly fifteen years since his return from Sharlayan, his skill in astromancy has remained unchanged? Any wonder that he has never yet managed to convince a single peer of the value of the Sharlayan school? He is a privileged little sprat who spends more time gazing at the stars in young maidens' eyes than actually trying to read the ones above his head.

Fleuraie: <sigh> All right, all right. You tell the poor man I just returned from the Observatorium, and one night at the communal feasting hall, happened to overhear Chief Astrologian Forlemort speaking with one of his aides regarding Sharlayan. He was visibly upset, and I wasn't about to risk my career over something I care little about, so I merely put my head down and ate my beet soup. But that is all I know, and you did not hear it from me.

Jannequinard: Master Forlemort!? And I thought this day could not get any worse... Ah? Oh, no. I'm not suggesting that meeting you in any way has been unfortunate. It is just...ah...that, er... It may not be in our best interests to be seen together as of yet. There are certain people in the See who do not approve of my studies. Couple that with the fact that you are an outsider and an unbeliever, and...well, people may come to the wrong conclusions. We must act with caution until we can prove that our intentions are just and for the good of all Ishgard. So, I must ask you to travel to the Observatorium alone, and meet me there.

Once you finish this conversation, some optional dialogues pop up with the world NPCs in the Athenaeum!

Heurriette: Oh, an astrologian now, are we? Well, then perhaps you can show me the approximate degree of the dragon star's cyclical declination as a result of the precession of the equinoxes when coupled with annual parallax? No?

Mugueniel: I could tell you that your decision to study under Lord Jannequinard was unwise, but that would imply that I cared.

Fleuraie: As a novitiate here at the Athenaeum, I have been assigned several important tasks outside my regular studies. One of those is delivering updated star maps to the Observatorium. Between you and me, I do not see why they cannot simply use moogles.

We pick up in the top floor of the Observatorium, where in addition to Jannequinard we meet Quimperain and Forlemort, pictured below respectively.

Jannequinard: Ah, CHARNAME. Allow me to apologize again for not accompanying you here. As for our business with the chief astrologian, you may leave the talking to me.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH FALL 2020)

Forlemort: Ah, Jannequinard. I might have known it would be you. Who else would be so indecent as to drag an outsider into this holy place of observation? You have always had an unhealthy obsession with the foreign. 'Tis why you are as worthless to the Athenaeum now as you were when you returned from that heathen city nearly twenty summers since.

CURRENT

Forlemort: Ah, Jannequinard. I might have known it would be you. Who else would be so indecent as to drag an outsider into this holy place of observation? You have always had an unhealthy obsession with the foreign. 'Tis why you are as worthless to the Athenaeum now as you were when you returned from that heathen city a decade and a half since.

Jannequinard: But the stars, they can serve us in other ways than merely revealing when the Horde will attack. Their powers can be tapped! The aether within can be used for─

Forlemort: The aether should be left be! Has history taught you naught about the folly of the Nymians? The Amdapori? The Mhachi?

Jannequinard: Mine uncle, the Sharlayans have been wielding astromancy for ages without disrupting aetherial balance. This power, combined with Ishgardian astrology could be what is needed to turn the tide of this thousand year conflict. Moreover, I have reason to believe that our masters at the Vault agree, as they have given me their blessing to continue my research.

Jannequinard: <sigh> I did not come to trade barbs with you, Nuncle. Let us save that for another time. I am here because it has come to my attention that you may have information as to the whereabouts of Professor Mace and his party from Sharlayan.

Forlemort: For someone who says he is not here to trade barbs, you have been quite generous in your dealing of them today. If it means you will leave and allow me to return to my work, then I'd be more than happy to let you know what information found its way to my desk just yesterday morn. Serpent Reaver sightings and foul weather prevented the professor's ship from entering the Strait of Merlthor, where they would have made their way up the Maiden and into Coerthas. After detouring around the south of Vylbrand, they finally disembarked at Vesper Bay, where they took the land route along the Allagan Royal Sunroad to the Black Shroud. It is there, it seems, they lost their way. A lost astrologian! Hah!

Jannequinard: It is as my morning reading predicted. Dalamud was in detriment in the House of the Spire while ascending over the ecliptic! CHARNAME, you must journey to the Black Shroud and assist Professor Mace.

Jannequinard: Allow me to introduce you to Quimperain. He is my personal manservant, and shall accompany you. He is not one for conversation, but his sword arm is amongst the best in all the Pillars. He should see you safe if any danger were to befall you, and something tells me danger lurks on the horizon.

Quimperain: It is a pleasure to serve you, milady. I shall make haste to Quarrymill and await you there.

Forlemort: I know not which is worse─the blasphemous wretch who mocks the very principles from which our field is sown, or the bumbling unbeliever who blindly follows him in hopes of gnawing on the scraps he drops in his wake.

Quimperain: Milady. I have questioned the residents of this hamlet and learned that a party of queerly dressed outsiders passed through not but a bell[5] ago. It should not prove overly difficult to find them now...but before we begin, might I ask a moment of your time?

Quimperain: I would not dare utter aught ill of my master, but his recent fixation with finding a protégé... I believe it ill considered. This passion, however pure, has left him with more than one enemy within the astrological community. Lord Forlemort has seen to this. I fear not only for how his name might be sullied...but for his life.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MID-2021)

Quimperain: I beg of you. Pray, do not drag him any further down into this quagmire. Let him quietly dabble in his dream, but let it remain at that─a dream. No good will come of encouraging him. It will only hurt the viscount and his family. You must remember that while I serve Lord Jannequinard, it is his father, the count, who employs me.

CURRENT

Quimperain: I beg of you. Pray, do not drag him any further down into this quagmire. Let him quietly dabble in his dream, but let it remain at that─a dream. No good will come of encouraging him. It will only hurt the viscount and his family. You must remember that while I serve Lord Jannequinard, it is his uncle, the count, who employs me.

Quimperain: Now, as for the task at hand, I suggest we find the wayward travelers and hurry back to our respective hearths. I shall lead. Might I ask you to take the rear and see that none might take us unawares?

At this point, we go to a marked section on the map, and there we find Quimperain defending a young woman and injured bannerman from a group of ne'er-do-wells who are holding an elderly gentleman at spearpoint.

The people relevant to us are Leveva Byrde (the young woman), Celie (the bandit leader), and Mace Byrde (the elderly man), pictured respectively below.

Quimperain: These are the Sharlayans we seek, and it appears they have found themselves some trouble.

Leveva: Unhand my grandfather!

Celie: Ah, feisty. We'll fetch a fine price for that one from the pleasure barge captains.

Mace: The Soul...has spoken...

While Celie and the other bandits are focused on Leveva and the newly-arrived player character, Mace tosses the Soul Crystal (the glowing rock in the above gif) into the grass a way's away.

Celie: Grab the old man. These wizard-types carry on them all manner of begemmed baubles and golden trinkets.

Slackjawed Thug: Up, or I'll toss you to the snakes!

Celie: You want to see the old man again, you leave us the girl. Try anything, and he's dead.

The bandits leave, Mace in tow. Leveva calls after him, but is helpless to do anything. When they've left, Leveva notices the glow of the soul crystal in the grass.

Leveva: Wait! Grandfather's soul crystal... Why would he leave it here, surrendering any power he might have had to free himself from those bandits?[6] Unless... You were the one he saw in his reading before we left the Old City... But that was more than a moon ago! My grandfather scried from the cards that he would serve as the bridge for countless souls to be passed to another... [(Speaking to Quimperain)] Might you be that other...?

Quimperain: These men of the forests are careless. Tracking them will be no difficult feat. I shall follow and strike before they have time to regroup in numbers.

Leveva begins to reach for Quimperain, then shakes her head.

Leveva: The stars have spoken and laid their path not before you, but before the adventurer here.

She places the soul crystal in the player character's hand, and it gives a flash of light.

Leveva: You. You must take the Soul of the Astrologian and place it near your heart. Listen to the tales of those who walked before you, and know their journeys as you do your own. As for the tools you require and the knowledge needed to wield them, I, Leveva, shall see to those matters. You saw there was no fear in my grandfather's eyes when the bandits took him. This is because he has seen you come to his rescue. Our lives were written in the stars long before we trod upon this land. It is not by chance that you stand here today with the Soul of the Astrologian in your hand. It is fate.

03. Fortune Favors the Bole (Lv 30)

Leveva waits patiently for you to pull yourself together and equip her grandfather's soul crystal.

Quimperain: I find it highly unlikely that a sparkling globe will sufficiently protect you from a bandit's blade. Stay back, and leave the fighting to me.

Armed Escort: I have been a guide in these woods since my tenth nameday, yet never have I encountered bandits the likes of these. They are not of the Twelveswood...

If you go back to the Athenaeum in the middle of this quest, Jannequinard has the following to say: Have you located the professor? Where is Quimperain? Why are you here?

Leveva: Now listen carefully, for we haven't much time. The star globe which you hold is both your sword and shield. It will grant you strength, as well as protection. But most important of all, it will grant you insight into the current location of the stars, enabling you to channel the heavens' aether into your body for use in all manner of magicks. The better attuned you become with the heavens and their “malefic” and “benefic” bodies, the better that aether might be manipulated to bring succor...or pain.

Leveva: Ah, but as you already know, the star globe is not the only tool an astromancer has at his disposal. Yes, the arcana, or more specifically, the six major arcana play a defining role in what type of astrologian you will become. Any layman will tell you that the cards can predict a man's future. This is both true and untrue. It is not the future that a card predicts, but the card influencing the man so that a certain future becomes more attainable. Seeking to tell a man's fortune, you “draw” a card from your deck. Upon “reading” the card, you scry that the man will be victorious in a coming battle. What is it that brings this man his victory but aether tapped from one of the lower six heavens granting the man strength, making it all that much easier for him to overcome his enemy.

Leveva: Of course, what card is drawn is linked directly to a target's destiny, as well as yours. Are you the one who will see this man to fortune, or will you lead him to downfall? It all depends on your reading. Normally, I would not dare cover so much in a first lesson, but it is my grandfather who has placed his life in your hands, and I am not about to watch him have his throat slit because you cannot tell the face of an arcana from its back. We have two seemingly capable soldiers here to take the brunt of the bandits' blows. Allow them to carve a trail of carnage while you convince the stars to nudge the two in a direction favorable to my kin.

Leveva: I understand this must be a lot to digest, but if you are ever to become a capable astrologian, you must believe in the path laid out before you, and in your power to read it, follow it, and ultimately control it. Take some time to acclimate yourself to your new abilities, and let me know when you are ready to begin.

At this point, we start an instanced duty, fighting various low-level enemies, healing Quimperain and Leveva's bodyguard, and collecting cards from Mace's deck he's been dropping to guide the way. Despite the fact the job worked very, very differently in 2015 compared to how it has in every following expansion, none of this dialogue appears to have been updated - and as always, within instanced duties, your allies will always have access to whatever skills existed at the time that duty was implemented. See Appendix B: Job Changes for more.

Leveva: I see in your eyes that you are ready. Whether that actually makes you ready or not, only time will tell. Time, unfortunately, is something we no longer have in abundance. Let us take to the shadows and find out where these bandits are holding my grandfather. May the stars be our guide.

Leveva: Do not let these bandits stand in the way of us locating my grandfather!

Leveva: This is a card from my grandfather's deck! He is leaving us a trail to follow! CHARNAME. Its power is now your own. There are six major arcana. We must find the other cards!

As you play through the instance and draw cards, Leveva provides advice:

You've drawn the Balance! Let the Warden's judgment grant our lance-wielding escort the strength he needs to slay his foes.

You've drawn the Bole! Beseech the Matron to embrace Quimperain, that he may fend off his opponent's blows.

You've drawn the Arrow! Allow the Navigator to guide our escort's lance true.

You've drawn the Spear! The strength of the Fury will benefit any and all who face insurmountable odds.

You have drawn the Ewer! The Scholar will see that the well of magicks within you never runs dry.

You have drawn the Spire! The Destroyer can bless our good guide's lance, granting it the ability to strike deep, if you but will it.

Eventually, after following Professor Mace's trail of tarot cards and attuning to them so
Your star is in dignity with the Major Arcana! [7] , the party catches up to the bandits.

Quimperain: Throw down your weapons, cur! You have no choice but to release the professor or meet the same fate as your men!

Celie: No choice, eh? What if our choice all along was to cross blades, houseboy? Come closer and let us end this.

(Celie summons a demon familiar.)

Leveva: A voidsent! This bandit is more than she appears!

At the end of this miniboss...

Celie: I was not told there would be two astrologians. Enough of this!

She flees! The aftermath:

Quimperain: I am Quimperain, in the employ of Lord Jannequinard. I am sent to escort you back to Ishgard. Are you unhurt, milord?

Mace: Jannequinard, you say? And where is my former student? His constant pestering is one of the reasons I agreed to make the long trip from the Old World.

Leveva: I see none but Quimperain and this adventurer.

Armed Escort: I too have seen no other.

Mace: Just like you didn't see those bandits until their knives were up our arses. But that is of no matter. It was all as the stars had foretold. Yes, I saw this adventurer long before even setting foot on this accursed continent when the arcana whispered and told me I would find a worthy successor for my soul crystal.

Leveva: And having witnessed how she eased into her new role, but mere moments after taking up the crystal, globe, and deck...

Mace: Yes, I knew at once my reading was true, and that this adventurer was the astrologian I had been seeking. But now, let us see if she has the potential for greatness within her. Look to the skies, CHARNAME, and there you will see six stars aglow in pale yellow. This is the Bole. This constellation is thought to be the gate to the first heaven─the heaven which holds the World Tree. Planted by the Matron and nurtured by the Keeper, the World Tree is the source from which all life is said to have sprung. The trunk of the World Tree, or the Bole, offers protection to the weak, defending them from harm.

Mace: You have now opened that gate, and its power is yours to command. A solid bole represents a solid foundation. It is not coincidence that this very constellation is risen to midheaven at this very moment─the moment of a new astrologian's birth. And to think, I saw all of this a moon ago. It seems I am a better reader of fates than I thought! Hah hah hah!

Mace: But I jest. It has been a long journey, with more than its share of unexpected excitement. I am an old man, and one does not need a deck of arcana to see that my weary legs will not carry me much longer. Let us make haste to Ishgard, so I may give that ungrateful Jannequinard a proper upbraiding.

The Bole blazes in the welkin, unlocking the gate to the first heaven.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH FALL 2020)

Mace: Jannequinard. Twenty-odd summers passed and still the flippant clod I lost half of my hair tutoring. Sending an adventurer to find the man you summoned halfway across Hydaelyn. Always taking the easy route. And you wonder why you still haven't been able to open the second heaven's gate!

CURRENT

Mace: Jannequinard. Fifteen summers passed and still the flippant clod I lost half of my hair tutoring. Sending an adventurer to find the man you summoned halfway across Hydaelyn. Always taking the easy route. And you wonder why you still haven't been able to open the second heaven's gate!

Jannequinard: Ah, I...uh, allow me to explain, Professor. You see, I was waiting here in case you made it to Ishgard before my manservant and CHARNAME could locate you. Think of the confusion if you had arrived here only to find the Athenaeum empty... Wait, how did you know I haven't opened all the gates?

Leveva: My grandfather is the greatest astrologian in all Sharlayan. There is naught he doesn't know unless he doesn't wish to know it. You of all people should know that. Perhaps I was hasty in my decision to remain here and see to your training.

Jannequinard: Train me? You? But what of Professor Mace? Isn't that why he made the journey?

ORIGINAL (THROUGH FALL 2020)

Leveva: My grandfather has already completed his task. He simply came to Ishgard out of courtesy to an old pupil...one who it appears he wasted decades on!

CURRENT

Leveva: My grandfather has already completed his task. He simply came to Ishgard out of courtesy to an old pupil...one who it appears he wasted years on!

Jannequinard: W-Wasted...? Wh-What are you implying, my lady?

Mace: Ah, my dear Leveva, you still do not see it, do you? Without Jannequinard stumbling into my tutelage nearly two decades past, he never would have taken this adventurer under his wing and sent her to us in his stead. It was all as the stars had planned.

Jannequinard: Your soul crystal! Professor! This adventurer has stolen your Soul of the Astrologian!

Mace: Hahahaha! Ever the unobservant, Janne. If this adventurer had stolen my crystal, Leveva would have read up some terrible fate for the lass. No. CHARNAME is my successor. Something I mistakenly thought you might be...but even I cannot see every future, it seems. But do not despair. I have not given up on you completely. Despite your failings, you have tried your best to promote the Sharlayan school of astrology here in this den of fools who fail to see aught and all beyond the dragon star. I wish to see you continue that fight. And that is why I've bade Leveva to remain here and continue your...and this adventurer's training.

Jannequinard: I...see. This is all rather...overwhelming. Might I have some time to consider your words?

ORIGINAL (THROUGH FALL 2020)

Leveva: No. You either continue your training with me and your...ahem...protégé, or you crawl back to obscurity. I shall give you both several turns of the sun to study the basics of Sharlayan astrology. It should not be so hard for you, Jannequinard, considering you've had more than a two-decade head start.

CURRENT

Leveva: No. You either continue your training with me and your...ahem...protégé, or you crawl back to obscurity. I shall give you both several turns of the sun to study the basics of Sharlayan astrology. It should not be so hard for you, Jannequinard, considering you've had a substantial head start.

Leveva: Once you have committed the basics to memory, then return here. In the meantime, I will be traveling Eorzea, searching for locations where CHARNAME... and you will unlock the remaining heavens' gates.

Jannequinard: B-But, you were only recently set upon by bandits. Perhaps traveling alone so soon is unwise.

Leveva: Don't you think I know that!? That is why you will be lending me the services of your able manservant, Quimperain.

Jannequinard: I will...? I mean, I will. Yes, of course Lady Leveva. Anything for the granddaughter of Sharlayan's finest professor of astrology. Quimperain! You heard the lady.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH DECEMBER 2021)

Leveva: Very good. Now I shall see my grandfather to the airship landing. Ah, but before we depart, let me teach you of the diurnal sect, so that you may learn to wield the power of those stars which are aligned with the sun.

CURRENT

Leveva: Very good. Now I shall see my grandfather to the airship landing, but rest assured that if you neglect your studies, I will know.

"Diurnal Sect" is a skill removed with the release of EW.

04. Hanging in the Balance (Lv 35)

Jannequinard believes you and he are ready for the next step in your training.

Jannequinard: Greetings, CHARNAME! The stars tell me you have been rigorously following Leveva's training regimen...though I harbor doubts that “go out and do things while I traipse about the realm” constitutes a regimen. Still, she is all we have, so I suppose we have to make do. And, as the stars would have it, she has just sent word that she is ready for us to attempt the opening of the second heaven's gate.

Jannequinard: You are aware of the seven heavens, are you not? Just as there are seven realms of the underworld, so too are there seven realms of the firmament. Each of the first six represent one of the six basic elements─earth, ice, water, wind, lightning, and fire─the seventh and final heaven representing the elements' astral polarity.

Jannequinard: The first six heavens are represented by the six constellations which each revolve around the pole star. Astrologians of the Sharlayan school draw on the aether contained in the celestial bodies represented in the constellations by “unlocking” or “opening” the gate to heaven that constellation is correlated with. There is no actual gate...think of it as more a portal to the soul. You are opening your mind, allowing for attunement with these distant bodies, much like one attunes with an aetheryte, but on a far grander scale.

Jannequinard: Now this may come as a revelation, but Hydaelyn is not flat like most believe. It is, in fact, a sphere so large, that when we walk upon it, it only appears to be flat. Because it is a sphere, there are some locations better suited than others for observing certain constellations. That is what Leveva is doing right now─finding a location in which the next heaven's gate will rise to a position directly in midheaven, where it will be easiest to attune with. And it seems she has found one...near the Final Prayer in eastern Thanalan.

Jannequinard: Oh, I harbor no ill feelings toward you regarding Professor Mace's decision to choose you over me as his successor. To tell you the truth, I was even sort of relieved. The successor to the greatest astrologian in Sharlayan? Think of all the responsibility...

Jannequinard: I don't believe my travels have ever taken me this far south. A tad dusty for my tastes. And warm. And dry. And brown.

Quimperain: The journey here was uneventful, but the moment we arrived, we were set upon by bandits. I had no trouble driving them away, but I fear they may return again in numbers. Focus on your training, milady, and I shall keep watch.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MID-2021)

Leveva: Here at last, I see. Bandits have kept poor Quimperain busy, harrying our camp since we arrived. I do believe the old man enjoys the excitement, however. I'm certain it beats wiping the arse of a noble brat whoring away his father's fortune while dreaming of becoming a real astrologian.

CURRENT

Leveva: Here at last, I see. Bandits have kept poor Quimperain busy, harrying our camp since we arrived. I do believe the old man enjoys the excitement, however. I'm certain it beats wiping the arse of a noble brat whoring away his uncle's fortune while dreaming of becoming a real astrologian.

Jannequinard: I am very well capable of wiping my own arse, thank you very much. And Quimperain has never once complained of his duties.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MID-2021)

Leveva: Of course he hasn't. Your father pays him to smile and nod, and I'm sure a comfortable position in the Pillars beats chasing after cloud rats in the Brume to flavor his soup.

CURRENT

Leveva: Of course he hasn't. Your uncle pays him to smile and nod, and I'm sure a comfortable position in the Pillars beats chasing after cloud rats in the Brume to flavor his soup.

Jannequinard: Are we here to trade banter, my lady, because I was led to believe we'd be unlocking a celestial gate? You will find Quimperain has a good many uses, and I haven't the faintest doubt that he will most ably handle any ruffians who happen to come stumbling about looking for prey.

Leveva: Now CHARNAME...and Jannequinard. We must be patient and wait for the constellation to reach its highest and brightest point─a point at which its flow of aether is the strongest in relation to Hydaelyn.

We're given a waymark to survey in order to trigger a cutscene; if we talk to Leveva again before doing so, we get this dialogue: Be patient, CHARNAME. We are at the mercy of the stars and their movements. Only a fool believes he can manipulate the heavens. It is the heavens which manipulate us. We merely take cues from the hints they leave behind.

Leveva: There, CHARNAME! The Balance! Focus on the constellation and attune to its power. The Balance represents the heaven of fire─a realm made prosperous by the blessing of the Traders, but at the same time, one whose equilibrium is maintained by the divine judgment of Azeyma, the Warden. Azeyma's might will empower those who would take up their blades and mete divine punishment in the name of the sun goddess.

Leveva: And thus has the Balance burned crimson in your heart, unlocking the gate to the second heaven. Now, let us speed ourselves to the next location─Little Ala Mhigo. Hm? Why so soon, you ask? Would you rather that I had you to commit yourself to another several moons of using malefics to put down hedgemoles? I thought not.

The Balance blazes in the welkin, unlocking the gate to the second heaven.

ORIGINAL (THRU FALL 2020)

Jannequinard: One gate in my first twenty years...and now look at me. Perhaps my previous methods of training were not the most efficient.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: One gate in my first seventeen years...and now look at me. Perhaps my previous methods of training were not the most efficient.

Quimperain: Lord Jannequinard complains of the sand, but only because he sees it as a nuisance. The sand can be a wonderful thing, if you know of its benefits. For example, it can be used to polish your mail, or cover your body at night to stave off the desert cold... Ah. Am I boring you, milady?

Leveva: Be patient, CHARNAME. Allow the stars to make their ascent into midheaven. Once they have, survey the skies and let the power run through you.

Once again, we have a waypoint to interact with in order to trigger our pretty night sky cutscene.

Leveva: Raise your eyes to the stars, and witness the violet glow of the Spire! In the third heaven rises an iron tower of spinning gears and taut springs constructed by the Builder Himself. It is assailed without cease by the jealous Rhalgr, but the Destroyer's mighty levinbolts only serve to power the spire's clockwork soul. It is through the blessings of both creation and destruction that strength is granted to she who sees her stars rise under this sign. You have now opened the gate, and its power is yours to command.

Leveva: Using the arcana to draw upon the powers of the stars they represent. This path we walk as astrologians is called the Royal Road. The Royal Road can be treacherous and fraught with peril, but it can lead men...and women to greatness.

The Spire blazes in the welkin, unlocking the gate to the third heaven.

Leveva: Your realm is...quite the paradox. On one hand, it is full of life, magic, and wonder─one of the richest lands on all Hydaelyn. On the other, it is literally brimming over with strife. Take Little Ala Mhigo─the wretched souls displaced from their homes by the flames of war. Or Ishgard─mired in its own pointless conflict with an enemy so old it does not even remember why it fights. The foolish believe that it is their fate to suffer, and so they turn their gaze away from the stars, when those selfsame stars have the power to show people there are many paths.

Leveva: But that power can only be channeled by the few. Those like me and you...and to a lesser extent Jannequinard. And it is our duty to use that power to benefit those who remain lost or misguided. Remember that, and maybe one day you will truly become my grandfather's successor.

Jannequinard: That is exactly what I have been trying to tell the astrologians of my home nation. Why disregard something that has the power to grant succor to the wounded, the power to uplift the downtrodden, to strengthen the weak?

Leveva: The answer to that is easy. Empowering those without power lessens the power of those who already have it. Heal the weak so they might rise up and topple those who made them weak? Why would anyone in a position of power do that? Even our great nation of learning is corrupted by this manner of thought. We hoard our knowledge so that we might remain the brightest. Why do you think that it took so long for Professor Mace to visit you, Jannequinard? Yes, I know what he told you, but that was not the whole of it. Those of the Ruling Quarter did their damndest to stand in the way of my grandfather, worried that his passion for his field would kindle widespread interest in Sharlayan astrology. They only allowed him his recent trip knowing he was now too old to do aught of the sort. Fortunately, the Ruling Quarter did not realize I would be accompanying my grandfather.

Leveva: CHARNAME, these past turns of the sun have been most fruitful. Yet while you have opened half the heavens' gates, there is still much of the Royal Road ahead of you. Take what you have learned here in the southern deserts and transform that knowledge into strength. If you wish to know more of the Royal Road, I suggest that you discuss it with Jannequinard back in Ishgard. If my grandfather is to be believed, his time transcribing tomes back at the Studium scriptorium should have left him more than capable of handling that task.

Back home at the Athenaeum, Janne has this to say...

ORIGINAL (THROUGH JULY 2019)

Jannequinard: You wish to know more of the Royal Road? I...uh...well... I...ah, seem to recall it had something to do with reassessing the attribution of an arcanum before reading it, which would result in a slight alteration of predestination... Or perhaps it had something to do with the kings and queens on the minor arcana. It was over two decades ago.

You are free to try it out yourself, I suppose.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: You wish to know more of the Royal Road? I...uh...well... I...ah, seem to recall it had something to do with reassessing the attribution of an arcanum before reading it, which would result in a slight alteration of predestination... Or perhaps it had something to do with the kings and queens on the minor arcana. It was over a decade ago.

Royal Road is no longer a gameplay mechanic, so turning in this quest does not unlock it. See Appendix B: Job Changes for more information.

05. A Lesson in Patience (Lv 40)

Jannequinard appears slightly distressed. Speak with the astrologian and try to learn if aught is amiss.

Jannequinard: Are you doing well, CHARNAME? Well then that at least makes two of us... Ah... I mean... Oh, I cannot keep such important news from you, CHARNAME! Lady Leveva and Quimperain...just last night they fell victim to another ambush at the hands of bandits! The ever-resourceful Quimperain proved his invaluable worth once again with a dashing display of chivalry that would shame any knight in the See─a statement that attests to the sorry state of our knights. But that is a chat we can have over a different cup of tea.

Jannequinard: When Lady Leveva attempted to retire to a room at that filthy inn in the Brume, I had our sorely disused second floor cleared and furnished with trappings from my own home. She is up there now, and asked to see you the moment you arrived.

And so upstairs we go─although if you talk to Janne again before you do so, you get the following...

Jannequinard: The Lady has been given a place on the second floor to recover, much to the chagrin of several of my fellow astrologians. Pah! It is not as if they ever go up there... Well, except for that what's-his-name. What is his name? Anyway, she has asked that you pay her a visit the moment you arrive...which, if this isn't last night's mead talking, is right now.

Leveva: Wait... You don't seem at all surprised to see me here... Did Jannequinard tell you of the attack? Damn the fool! And after I told him to keep his mouth shut! Though, I suppose I must bear some of the fault for ever thinking he could do as he was told.

Leveva: Now, I suppose you are wondering why I summoned you here to these makeshift chambers, and no, it has naught to do with the bandit attacks it appears are much more common in your realm than I thought.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH JULY 2019)

Leveva: Now, I was in no way trying to keep knowledge of our attack from you. I was merely attempting, in my own way, to teach Jannequinard the benefits of adding an arcanum to one's spread rather than using it immediately. A skill that requires patience. Something most nobles in this city-state lack, our present host included. You see, CHARNAME, one cannot influence the card the stars will see you draw. A good astrologian, however, knows that she can influence the timing at which that card is read. Adding a card to your “spread” and waiting until the perfect moment to unleash its power can be an effective way of ensuring beneficial results. I trust that you will pick up this technique swifter than Jannequinard.

CURRENT

Leveva: There are times when the heavens may provide you with a vision of a future that is...slightly beyond your original aim. In these cases, the stars are not flawed, only...out of order. So by shuffling a card back into the deck, we are in no way ignoring or denying a future, merely postponing a reading intended for a later date, and replacing it with something that better pertains to the present. I trust that you will pick up this technique swifter than Jannequinard.

The original skill taught here was "Spread"; when it was removed for the first ShB AST rework they took the skill and dialogue from the Lv.45 quest for the skill "Redraw" and moved it up here.

06. Slings and Arrows (Lv 40)

Leveva appears to be fully recovered from her ordeal with the bandits and is ready to continue your training.

Jannequinard: My not telling you of Lady Leveva's ambush was part of her lesson? Hah! The next thing you will tell me is that me talking with you now is also part of her lesson. (It's not part of her lesson is it? I do not think I can afford to fail another one of these.)

Leveva: Are you ready, my pupil? The gate to the fourth heaven awaits; however, the location I have chosen for attunement will not remain the most optimal for long. You are to travel with Jannequinard, and I will make the journey with Quimperain. There are no objections? Good.

Jannequinard: If it is Lady Leveva you seek, she just left with Quimperain for Limsa Lominsa. If you make haste, you may still be able to catch them at the airship landing.

Jannequinard: Me? As much as I would like to indulge myself on the pillows of Rhotano pleasure barges, there is a congress to be held in the Vault, and all the prominent houses have been summoned. My presence at such an event would be sorely missed, so I fear this next lesson must needs proceed without me. I'm certain the Lady Leveva will understand. I can always open the third gate another day...or was it the fourth? Third or fourth. It is of no matter. The stars certainly will not be going anywhere.

Jannequinard: If it is Lady Leveva you seek, she just left with Quimperain for Limsa Lominsa. And if you ask me, those two have grown awfully close as of late. I had best keep an eye on them, lest that honey-tongued manservant of mine forget his station.

Quimperain: Milady! The Lady Leveva is missing! We disembarked the airship together, but became separated in the chaos at the landing. Seeing as how the lady has found herself the victim of bandit attacks twice since arriving in Eorzea, I fear she may be targeted once again, especially considering the location...

Quimperain: This is my first time setting foot in Limsa Lominsa, but I have been made aware of its landmarks. Might I suggest we search independently so that we might cover more ground? I shall start with several of the seemingly more disreputable locations such as the Drowning Wench, the Astalicia, and the Bloody Member. Would milady be so kind as to search Fisherman's Bottom and the Coral Tower? Let us meet at the Seventh Sage once our survey is complete.

We go on a fact-finding mission and chat with some locals.

V'kebbe: Twenty-odd summers since I spilled from me ma's loins, and ain't once I ever heard the word astrologian. Now, in the span o' two bloody bells, I gone an' met meself not one, but an honest-to-goodness pair o' live star-gawpers. Didn't see where that other fair-skinned lass buggered off to. Ones as that, though, oft end up on the pleasure barges, if ye catch me drift.

Reyner: Another astrologian? How odd. It is not often that even our city-state, known for its diversity, welcomes a single reader of the stars through its gates...let alone two...and in the same day, no less. Yes, I took a few moments from my duties to speak with her about the city-state. She seemed quite interested in our dealings with the Sahagin, the Serpent Reavers, and the Garlean Empire. I told her what I could, but she left after only a few moments. It was as if she thought she was being pursued, but the Sharlayan was gone before I could assign her a Yellowjacket escort.

Reyner: I am commodore of the greatest naval force Eorzea has seen in at least two, if not three Astral Eras─closest man to the Admiral herself...and still I am subjected to a daily barrage of questions from what feels like every adventurer in the realm. I am seriously considering an iron lock for those bloody doors.

Broenbhar: Aye, I seen me a stuffy lass in rum garb pokin' her loverly head in holes where it weren't wanted. 'Tis rare we get one so worldly down in the gurglin' belly o' the Tower. I had to halt trainin' to work out what the fuss was about. The maid inquired as to where she might find herself a nip or two o' some o' the strong stuff, so I pointed her in the direction of our resident apothecary, Carvallain o'er at the Seventh Sage.

It's at this point we go to meet Carvallain de Gorgagne, a gentleman pirate who has been a bit part in the main story of the game a few times. We'll talk about him more later on, but for now all that you really need to know is that his world NPC dialogue very early on in the game was this...

Carvallain: Limsa Lominsa is a place where a man's work and wits determine his worth, where an orphan can pull himself up by his bootstraps to one day lead the Kraken's Arms! If my family hadn't been murdered at sea, I'd have no doubt followed my fortune-telling father into a life of divination. Fate is a funny thing─the worst thing ever to happen to me was also the best.

...and he looks like this:

Carvallain: This Lady Leveva... You said she was an astrologian, yes? It has been many summers, but there was a time when I, too, dreamed of reading the stars. To think, if I had a teacher as lovely as her, my life might have taken a different direction...

Quimperain: Lady CHARNAME. I bear good tidings. The Lady Leveva is scheduled to return here within a matter of bells. It seems she entered a contract with Carvallain for the purchase of several of the apothecary's wares.

Carvallain: An interesting girl, that one. Very rarely do we see young maidens walk the Lominsan streets without escort. And almost never do they come to me seeking...ah, 'spice'. Still, she did appear quite uneasy, as if being watched, or followed─suspicions, I must say, not uncommon in our fair city. Might she be in some manner of trouble?

Quimperain: Those few who agreed to speak with me at the Drowning Wench and the Bloody Member claimed the same. My short stay on the Astalicia bore no fruit whatsoever... What were you able to find, milady? [...]

I see. So we have ascertained that the lady is being followed...and that she is aware of the fact. If this is the case, I believe she will attempt to move somewhere she will be in plain sight of as many people as possible.

Carvallain: I doubt that will help in this town. Kidnappings and killings are conducted in broad daylight here, and when they happen, most people just keep their heads down, so as not to have them removed from their shoulders.

Quimperain: Twelve damn this town! Milady, I shall set out once more and try to locate Lady Leveva. There is still the chance she may return here on her own, so I ask that you remain in case she does. If she has not arrived at the rendezvous point by the time of her scheduled meeting with Carvallain, then we shall both go to the one location that is most populated after the sun falls in Limsa─the Drowning Wench.

Carvallain: It appears that your companion is tied up...not literally, I hope. Perhaps you should head to the Wench and see if she is there like your friend believes. Though, I fear that if she did not make it that far, you may never find her again. At least not alive.

Carvallain: Worry not, my starry-eyed friend. If, by chance, she were to arrive here after your departure, you have my word that no harm shall come to her while she remains behind the Seventh Sage's doors.

At this point, we enter an instanced combat zone running through the streets of Limsa Lominsa and interacting with various townsfolk.

Townsperson: A woman in black? What's wrong with the woman standin' afore ye?

Townsperson: I might've seen me a lass scurryin' off to the Hyaline.

Finally, success!

Townsperson: Will someone not save me?

We help her up, but then the Suspicious Astrologian (as the game names her) initiates combat!

Suspicious Astrologian: Me brave knight in shiny armor! Come 'n give me gutter a kiss!

While we're in combat, Quimperain catches up to us.

Quimperain: Milady! The area is filled with imposters who seek to keep us occupied while their leader pursues Lady Leveva. We must be quick!

Upon the doppelganger's defeat:

Quimperain: That there are those about who would attempt to stall us must mean the lady still eludes them. Follow me. I fear she may not be able to remain hidden for much longer.

We find Leveva quite literally tied up.

Quimperain: CHARNAME! We must save Lady Leveva!

We untie her...but once again, it is not Leveva.

Suspicious Astrologian: Like moths to the flame! Celie'll be pleased when I bring 'er back yer wings!

Quimperain: Another imposter! Ifrit's fiery piss! Just how many of these damned rogues are there?

After defeating this doppelganger as well, we continue searching and come upon an odd scene: two Lady Levevas, seemingly identical, in a standoff.

Quimperain: Which one is Lady Leveva!?

Quimperain: Lady CHARNAME... I cannot trust even mine own eyes. Which one is the true Leveva?

Adolescent Astrologian: I's Lady Lavevvi!

August Astrologian: You have to even ask, Quimperain!?

IF YOU CHOOSE CORRECTLY...

Leveva: Quite clever of you, CHARNAME, to discern which of us was the imposter.

Quimperain: Lady Leveva! Stay behind me! Evil still lurks!

IF YOU CHOOSE INCORRECTLY...

Suspicious Astrologian: Some good them cards are if they can't even scry where yer missin' maiden be!

Quimperain: Not another!

Suspicious Astrologian: Thal's balls! I thought she was one of us!

With the third doppelganger defeated, we enter a cutscene.

Quimperain: Lady Leveva... You have my apologies. It was my fault I allowed us to become separated...

Leveva: Do not blame yourself, Quimperain. I sensed danger at the landing, and it was my instinct to run...as ever I have. I forgot that I could trust you. Unfortunately, by the time I realized such, there was no sign of you, so I did what I could to blend in─choosing crowded places, speaking with as many locals as possible, though all the while feeling there were unseen eyes watching my every move. By the time I realized that my pursuers were simply leading me away from you, night had already fallen, giving them the perfect opportunity to strike. It was then that I witnessed several of the bandits had disguised themselves in garb similar to mine. I assumed this was to confuse the three─? Ahem, two of you still searching for me. It was then I conceived the idea to play the part of an impostor myself. Why hide in the shadows, when you can hide in plain sight?

Quimperain: That was quite brilliant of you, Lady Leveva. May I ask, were you, at any time, able to discern who these pursuers were? The amount of effort put into your capture would suggest they are more than mere pirates looking to sell you to slavers.

Leveva: Unfortunately, no. And I wasn't about to walk up and ask them who they were or who had hired them. But that is all behind us now. Let us see if we can salvage something from this horrible night. The fourth gate ascends nearby, CHARNAME. Shall we not see it made yours? To the Anchor Yard!

Astute Pirate: Well, I'll be a barnacle on a kraken's arse! If it ain't the star-gawpin' lassie come to scry us our fortunes! Tell us: which one o' ye'll be dyin' first, like? The beet red knight with a carp in his codpiece? Or the stern-faced 'venturer on her high hobbyhorse?

Combat begins.

Leveva: Godsdammit! How many pirates are in this godsforsaken hell!?

Quimperain: There's no end to them!

Leveva: What is it you want from me then? Coin? Is that it? Here, you can have all I carry!

Pirate Captain: How kind of ye. Though it ain't your purse we was hired to snatch. 'Tis you, milady. But we'll make sure yer coin makes its way into deservin' hands once we've tied and gagged ye and left yer friends here bleedin' in the gutter.

Upon near-defeat:

Pirate Captain: All the coin in the world is not worth losing my life over. Farewell, milady!

But there's more pirates to fight still -

Celie: Ye won't get away this time!

Quimperain: There will be time enough for questions once we've torn their throats out!

Leveva: Quimperain! More pirates approach!

And so they do! But so do some friendly faces! Broenbhar and V'kebbe, two of the people we talked to earlier in the quest, are here to help.

Broenbhar: The night watch reported a pair o' mages flingin' magicks down at the yard. Thought it'd be you two.

V'kebbe: Could hear the clamor all the way down in the Bottom...and I ain't one to turn a deaf ear to a proper midnight melee.

Leveva: Well met, my new friends! Your assistance is most timely!

Celie: Do not let a pair of new blades keep us from our prize, boys! Attack!

Upon defeat of the brigands[8]:

Celie: A manservant and a maid... That's all I was told...

Broenbhar: Worked up quite the thirst, I have. If ye find yerself beset by any more pirates or brigands or such, I'll be whettin' both me blade and me whistle o'er at the Wench.

V'kebbe: A fine spot of merrymaking, if I do say so meself! Maybe next time ye can learn me a couple of them star tricks.

Celie: Ha ha! Lay down them weapons, or I'll cut the old man a new grin under his chin!

Leveva: I cannot believe that actually worked...

Celie: Nor can I. But then again, never have I fought someone so credulous. Now let us do this as they do in the faerie-babes. You step over here, I let the man go. Easy peasy.

Quimperain: Wait... I know you... You're the bandit leader who attacked Lady Leveva's grandfather in the Black Shroud!

Celie: Someone has a good memory for being so on in years. Well, then. This changes everything. First off, I can finally drop this annoying pirate accent. And secondly, I suppose I can simply kill you now, rather than after pretending to let you go once the lady has drawn close enough.

Reyner: Stop right there. Unhand that man or I'll have your head tarred and on the prow of a galley by cockcrow.

Celie: First maniacal marauders, then feline fishers, and now the commodore of the swivin' Thalassocratic Navy. How many more gods is this machine going to drop on me? Until next time, Lady Leveva!

Quimperain: You have my apologies... I was a fool to fall for the bandit's trick.

Reyner: Amazing... In all my years, that was the first time I've ever seen that feigning-death trick actually work. But now is not a moment to be dwelling on our many failings. I have a dastard to apprehend. You would be surprised how often people run after being told to “stop right there.”

Quimperain: Lady Leveva. That pirate. She was the same bandit who─

Leveva: Yes, I know. And that changes little, for I still have no idea who she may be, or who she may be working for. There is naught we can do until the commodore brings the woman to justice, or until she decides to attack us again. What we can do is what we came here for─CHARNAME's training. Now, look to the stars and behold the Arrow!

Leveva: The fourth heaven─or the heaven of wind─was created atop a lofty peak by Oschon, the Wanderer, whose footsteps had been guided by the Navigator. The wind that blows off Llymlaen's seas guides the arrow fast and true, and so shall it deliver the weary souls of those trapped in the mire of confusion, indecision, and over contemplation.

Leveva: The fourth heaven has opened its gates, allowing you access to its sacred penetralia. From this day forth, its power is yours to interpret and wield. That power will further aid you as you continue to hone your skills. Now, let us return to Ishgard. I have a few words for a certain student of mine who felt inclined to forgo this particular lesson.

The Arrow blazes in the welkin, unlocking the gate to the fourth heaven.

Carvallain: Leveva and her sword stopped by earlier to pick up her...spices, and I must say, I was quite relieved to see her unhurt. My men tell me your party caused quite the commotion last night. I only wish I had the time to speak a little longer with the young astrologian. There was something so familiar about her...

Jannequinard: Ah, CHARNAME! You might have had the decency to warn me that Lady Leveva was in a mood with me for not joining you! She seemed to think I was to blame for your misadventures! Now why would that be? It is not as if my being there would have prevented the bandits from attempting to abduct Leveva─these being the same bandits who attacked you in the Black Shroud, which, by the way, is another location I was not at. This is plainly something far beyond our control.

Jannequinard: And furthermore, it is not as if I was merely sipping cordials and waltzing with baronets─I was helping further our cause! I spoke with several high-ranking cardinals about Lady Leveva being granted the opportunity to speak at the Vault regarding Sharlayan astrology! What do you think of that!?

Jannequinard: I was politely turned down, of course, but it is the gesture! The gesture that will one day lead to another gesture which will one day lead to a head inclined slightly in the general direction of another gesture! Little steps, my protégé! Little steps!

07. Ewer Right (Lv 45)

Jannequinard appears to be motioning to you with his eyes. Why he doesn't simply call out your name is both disturbing and relieving at the same time.

Jannequinard: Greetings. Your timing, my friend, is impeccable, for it just so happens that at this very moment I have need of your assistance. While our lovely Lady Leveva has been out making herself a target for every cutthroat and cur in the realm, I have been focusing my efforts on our main objective.

Jannequinard: Training? Pah! There'll be time enough for training later. No, I speak of our ultimate goal of spreading knowledge of the Sharlayan school of astrology throughout the Holy See! As you know, the Vault recently turned down my request to allow Lady Leveva to speak before them. But I am not one to be turned away so easily. No, I have a plan! I will entreat Chief Astrologian Forlemort to draw up an official recommendation! The Vault will not so quickly dismiss the words of a man of such standing.

Jannequinard: Yes, yes. I know my uncle loathes me with a passion rarely seen even in young lovers, and there is really no reason why he would aid our cause, being a staunch opponent of change and all... But that does not mean we cannot try. And if we fail? Well, then we can try again. And again. And again, until he is so annoyed that he writes us the recommendation simply to see us out of his thinning hair.

Jannequinard: And by we, I mean you. Considering how red the chief astrologian became the last time I visited him, I reason it would be detrimental to mine uncle's health should I arrive at his place of research...and we most certainly would not want him to fall ill or collapse before he penned us that recommendation.

Jannequinard: The chief astrologian is a furiously busy man, and despises those who would distract him from his work, especially when the cause for distraction is something he finds trivial. It is fortunate for us that our goal is anything but trivial!

And so on we go to the Observatorium, back to see a man with a funny hat.

Forlemort: Who do I see disturbing me this fine evening but Jannequinard's new scullery maid? I suppose you came here for this.

Forlemort: My nephew never ceases to amaze, does he? Not only does the lout have the nerve to ask me─ME─for aid, but he then refuses to do me the common courtesy of accepting that aid in person. Ever the entitled little shite, more worried about his popularity amongst the fairer sex than how his actions disgrace his family's name.

Forlemort: Ah, the slack jaw. I suppose you are wondering why in the world I of all people would agree to such nonsense. Well, it is simple. Allowing the heathen astrologian to dig her own grave in front of the entire Vault and the Ishgardian astrologian community will only serve to accomplish what I wished from the very start. Sharlayan astrology has no place in Ishgard. It has no place in Eorzea. It has no place in this world. It is dangerous and it serves no purpose but to take our eyes off what is truly important─using astrology to free us from the dragon menace and ensure man's return to Halone's Kingdom. Leveva's dithering will only make it that much clearer.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MID-2021)

Forlemort: And Jannequinard. Perhaps this will finally spell his downfall. He has only been allowed to continue this nonsense because he is harmless. Too caught up in the luxury of being the Count de Durendaire's thir─ah, second son to actually put forth any real effort in furthering his, ahem, “cause.” Sharlayan astrology is but an oddity which he can boast about at balls to get him in bed with the slatternly maids of lower houses. His father has protected him thus far, but allowing him and this lady to speak...there will be no brushing under the rug the shame this brings forth. Jannequinard will be finished.

CURRENT

Forlemort: And Jannequinard. Perhaps this will finally spell his downfall. He has only been allowed to continue this nonsense because he is harmless. Too caught up in the luxury of being in line to Count de Durendaire's title actually put forth any real effort in furthering his, ahem, “cause.” Sharlayan astrology is but an oddity which he can boast about at balls to get him in bed with the slatternly maids of lower houses. His father has protected him thus far, but allowing him and this lady to speak...there will be no brushing under the rug the shame this brings forth. Jannequinard will be finished.

Forlemort: Tell him what I told you, if you wish. I am not one to conceal my intentions. And truth be told, I sincerely hope that enlightening him on my views will somehow show him the error of his ways, and compel the little shite to abandon this foolishness and crawl back into his cups.

Jannequinard: Inform me right away once Chief Astrologian Forlemort has denied my request for a letter of recommendation...so we might begin work on our next request!

We give him the letter of recommendation.

Jannequinard: Is this...? It cannot be... It is! The seal is Forlemort's. How did you...? What did he say? No... Wait. Mayhap it is better that I do not know.

Jannequinard: Well, this changes everything. I will have to arrange another meeting with the Vault─summon the cardinals to Durendaire Manor. We will need wine...and sparrow-stuffed pheasant...and pheasant-stuffed goose...and goose-stuffed chocobo, and bards, a whole troupe...not to eat, of course.

Jannequinard: No, I fear I will no longer be able to join you on Lady Leveva's next opening of the gates. Do give her my regards, though, when you see her in Mor Dhona.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva will surely understand the importance of my remaining here in Ishgard after she hears the good news regarding Forlemort's letter of recommendation. You will be so kind as to inform her upon your arrival in Mor Dhona, will you not?

When we arrive, there's... a bit of a situation. Quimperain is fending off bandits once again, and Leveva is defending a terrified young woman.

Quimperain: Milady! Bandits!

Ishgardian Astrologian: Please! I cannot go back with them!

Leveva: For once, we were not the bandits' targets. We came across this young woman as she was being dragged into the hills. Though we drove her abductors away, I suspect they have already mustered the courage for a second attack. It is a good thing you and Jann─ ...It is a good thing you arrived when you did.

Leveva: The girl claims she is a student at the Athenaeum, and recently overheard Jannequinard mention we would be conducting another gate opening in Mor Dhona. She journeyed here on her own in hopes of having the chance to witness your astromancy firsthand. I say we give her something to remember. I will tend to the woman's hurts. You assist Quimperain!

We defeat the first wave of bandits. Of course, there are more to come.

Bandit Leader: Send in the hungry!

Leveva: They are merely bandits, CHARNAME! They cannot see things you can. They are unaware of the tragic fate which is destined to befall them. You must reveal it to them...in blood![9]

Bandit Leader: Didn't see this comin' now, did ye, eh? Rise, slave, and tear the bastards limb from limb!

Of course, this battle ends like all the rest, and the oddly-academically-inclined bandits are brought low.

Ishgardian Astrologian: You have my apologies, Lady Leveva. I did not think...

Leveva: Your only fault was an insatiable thirst for knowledge. A realm where one must apologize for being a victim is no realm worth living in.

Ishgardian Astrologian: But why would those men attack me?

Leveva: I believe it is now quite obvious that these bandits were not meant for you, but for me. It would seem that certain parties fear the spread of Sharlayan astrology...and will stop at naught to prevent it.

Ishgardian Astrologian: My Sharlayan constellation chart... The bandits... It must have been torn when they seized me...

Leveva: Here. You may take mine. I have the stars committed to memory.

Ishgardian Astrologian: I... I don't know how I'll ever be able to... But I will think of something. Just you wait. I will repay this kindness tenfold!

Quimperain: Lady Leveva, you mentioned something about certain parties wanting to prevent the spread of Sharlayan astrology. Have you any idea who they might be?

Leveva: I do, but I shall require more proof before I can be certain. You and CHARNAME should be able to assist me with that. However, as they say, “first things first.” We have a gate to open.

Quimperain: Lady Leveva mentioned before about those in power not wanting those below them to rise up. Could that have something to do with the attacks?

Leveva: CHARNAME. The fifth heaven awaits. Open your mind and become one with the stars.

Leveva: There! The Ewer! Focus, CHARNAME! Focus, and let the constellation's aether twine with your own. It is said through the fifth heaven flows a mighty river carrying the water spilled forth from the Scholar's vessel. And in that water is the knowledge of all that have come before and all who will follow─the aether spun from Nymeia's loom─the aether from which all magicks are drawn and to which all magicks return.

Leveva: And now the power of the Ewer is forever yours, and forever shall it point you to truth. While I cannot forgive our patron for skipping yet another of his lessons, I cannot deny that the passion hidden deep beneath all his posturing may have its uses. Word of our field is spreading, and our inherent nature has begun to stir. Curiosity is proving the better motivator than skepticism and faith. Our time may come soon.

The Ewer blazes in the welkin, unlocking the gate to the fifth heaven.

And with that, we can go back to the Athenaeum to talk to Janne.

Jannequinard: Do not tell me... Lady Leveva was attacked again. I knew it! And without a reading! My talents grow by the day!

Jannequinard: What is this you claim? A fellow astrologian was moved by my words, and went to witness the unlocking? That is amazing! I wonder who it could be, though. I would certainly recall speaking in detail with a young, supple...er, mind. I must find this woman and hold another...ah, special lesson with her. Lesson? Ah, that reminds me! Lady Leveva asked me to teach you a new technique before you head to open the fifth heaven's gate...which you have already gone and done... Ah, but it appears you were able to overcome your ordeal without it. Yes... Exactly according to my lesson plan!

ORIGINAL (THROUGH JULY 2019)

Jannequinard: There are times when the heavens may provide you with a vision of a future that is...slightly beyond your original aim. In these cases, the stars are not flawed, only...out of order. So by returning a drawn card to the deck and shuffling it, we are in no way ignoring or denying a future, merely postponing a reading that the stars have intended for a later date, and replacing it with something that better pertains to the present. If...that makes any sense.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: You still wish me to teach you the technique? Very well then. Though, I do not really see the point...

The original dialogue was for learning the skill "Redraw", moved to Lv.40 "A Lesson in Patience" with ShB's AST rework. The new (kind of half-assed, if you're asking me) dialogue is for the skill "Gravity".

08. Loved by the Sun (Lv 50)

Jannequinard is nigh ready to burst with excitement. Make the viscount wait any longer and there is certain to be a wardrobe malfunction.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva tells me that you are nearly ready to open the sixth and final gate. Yes. I said final. We all know there are seven heavens, but opening the seventh is impossible...well, except upon death, of course. An attempt to attune to the pole star would be sheer madness and most certainly spell your doom. Ah, but look at me. Even now, attempting to tutor the great CHARNAME, when it is obvious your talent far surpasses mine. Forgive me.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva has yet to depart for the location of the final gate. Doubtless she fears yet another bandit attack, but whatever the reason, she remains on the second floor and has asked that you visit her at your earliest convenience.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva is on the second floor only because she refuses to accept the room I have offered her at Durendaire Manor. It is not as if I would make any untoward attempts at sullying her honor. Having seen but half the summers as I, she is far too young for my tastes.

Leveva: You have come far since that fateful day our paths first crossed in the Black Shroud. And now, here we are, on the cusp of your attunement with the sixth heaven. Time truly waits for no woman, does it?

ORIGINAL (THROUGH DECEMBER 2021)

Leveva: Before we set forth on this task, I wish to teach you of a second set of stars─the nocturnal sect. The nocturnal sect contains those celestial bodies ruled by the two moons. I say two, because since the dawn of astrology, disciples of our field have used Dalamud in their readings. Now, even after the false moon's fall, its position...or should I say, its absence, yet has influence over our fates. Whereas the sun and the diurnal stars represent the self, expression, the active─and the moon and the nocturnal stars represent the unconscious, the passive─Dalamud represents, and still does represent the uncontrollable. Its power has the ability to quicken the senses, as well as provide added protection from the unknown─things beneficial when pursuing one's fate.

CURRENT

Leveva: By temporarily enjoining your fate with that of a companion's, they will reap the stars' benefit as do you. As a passable journeyman astrologian, you already wield sufficient control over aether. You need only focus it upon establishing a bond with your chosen ally to achieve synastry.

The original dialogue was for the skill "Nocturnal Sect", which sits unusable on my hotbar even now, three and a half years later. It doesn't have an icon anymore. RIP, Nocturnal Sect, you made the AST opener so fucking hectic. The current dialogue is for "Synastry".

09. Spearheading Initiatives (Lv 50)

Leveva appears anxious. It might be in your best interest not to keep her waiting any longer.

Jannequinard: Have you spoken yet with Lady Leveva? She said she would await your arrival on the second floor, but she is not one easily contained, and I fear it will not be long before she is pining to be back out in the field with Quimperain fending off the blows of mysterious bandits.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH DECEMBER 2021)

Leveva: Now that you have knowledge of the second sect, I believe you are ready to attune with the final constellation. The location of the next lesson is actually not far. I assume your travels have taken you to Camp Dragonhead? Excellent.

CURRENT

Leveva: I believe you are ready to attune with the final constellation. The location of the next lesson is actually not far. I assume your travels have taken you to Camp Dragonhead? Excellent.

Leveva: I, as always, will go ahead to make my final readings. If each of our previous outings are any indication, the bandits which harry us will most certainly jump at this opportunity, so I would have Quimperain scout the area ahead of time, and report any suspicious activity to the knights garrisoned at the camp. Let someone else bloody their hands for a change, I say. Feel free to tell Jannequinard of our plans, though I do not doubt he already has some of his own.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva has already departed? Well, then she must have leaped from the window, for I did not see her use the front door. I daresay that means we will be traveling alone. Hm? Of course I will be attending! Why wouldn't I be?

Jannequinard: Camp Dragonhead is but a few malms south and east of the Gates of Judgement. The journey should take no time whatsoever. As for bandits, we need not worry about an assault. The camp is occupied by a full garrison of knights who patrol the surrounding hills day and night. They will not allow a flake of snow to fall on Lady Leveva's head...let alone a thirty-ponze war hammer.

Leveva: CHARNAME...and Jannequinard? Well then... It, ah, appears giving my constellation map to that astrologian in Rathefrost was unwise, as my readings for the location of the sixth heaven have proven slightly off. However, a second calculation has shown that we are close. The optimal location lies just to the north of here in a derelict tower known as the Steel Vigil.

Stately Temple Knight: You. You've the look of the learned about you. Might I ask if you've seen this star map before? It was on the person of an astrologian who came to us seeking help after being attacked.

Leveva: That is my map─the one I gifted the astrologian in Rathefrost. Do you mean to tell me she was set upon again!?

Stately Temple Knight: Your map? Well, then I am going to have to ask you to accompany me for questioning. The astrologian claims she wrested this chart from one of her assailants before escaping their grasp.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva! Why would you assault the selfsame woman you risked your life saving!?

Quimperain: Because she did not, milord! Why would you even think something so foolish? This must be some sort of misunderstanding. I was present at the assault. We saved the young maid of which you speak from a party of bandits and Lady Leveva gave her own constellation map to replace the one damaged by her assailants. My lady CHARNAME here was also witness to these proceedings.

Stately Temple Knight: Well, we have our own witnesses who say otherwise. So until we can have a trial and an adjudicator who can pass his judgment, this Leveva will have to come in for questioning, for she herself has admitted the map is hers.

Leveva: It is all right. I have naught to hide, and arguing here will not bring us any closer to the truth. If anything, I wish to confront this woman who would bring false accusations against those who saved her life. Very well, then. Take me where you will. I shall answer all of your questions, and you will soon learn who is spouting falsehoods. My friends, you need not worry overmuch, for I shall be in the company of Temple Knights where no harm might befall me. I will return once I have proven my innocence.

Quimperain: No harm, quotha! That “knight” was the selfsame astrologian whom we saved in Mor Dhona. The astrologian who now claims we attacked her!

Jannequinard: Are you saying the astrologian was a Temple Knight!?

Quimperain: No! Listen...milord! I'm saying the astrologian is no more an astrologian than she is a knight. I'm saying we have been played! We've fallen victim to a ruse that has landed Lady Leveva in the hands of those who have been attempting to kill her since she set foot in Eorzea!

Jannequinard: Then... You are saying she won't be safe in the presence of those Temple Knights.

Quimperain: That's...grrr... Those weren't Temple Knights, milord. However, they were wearing the colors of Our Knights Most Heavenly, and if we were to assault them this near the heavily garrisoned Camp Dragonhead, we would be stuck full of arrows before anyone asked us why we even drew our blades. No, we must shadow Lady Leveva's captors and wait for an opportunity to take her back.

Jannequinard: How exciting! Can I take point? No? Of course not.

And so begins the funniest instanced duty in the game, because the player character, Jannequinard, and Quimperain are very slowly following a contingent of "Temple Knights"... but using a running animation, for some reason. This section takes about five full minutes, and it's incredibly tedious, but I would forgive it any crime.

You understand.

Jannequinard: Yes, ahem! I say we keep our distance until an opportunity to rescue Lady Leveva presents itself!

Quimperain: (And I say, that is what I have been saying all along! Now, might I ask that you keep your voice down, milord? Or it will not matter how concealed we remain.)

Quimperain: Our impostor astrologian has left the company to see to those ogres. Let us take her unawares!)

Jannequinard: (Very good. CHARNAME, you may follow.)

Quimperain: (It is as I thought. This woman is the same one we assisted in Mor Dhona, and I do not believe she was working alone. We must continue our pursuit.)

Jannequinard: (It is fortunate for us that they are on foot. If they were to make it to, say, an airship, we would have no means of keeping u─ Ah, is that an airship I hear?)

Leveva: Just as I expected. These fools have led me straight to the answers I've sought since my arrival in this backwoods realm. And if I am not mistaken, my trusted companions should be arriving right...about...

Leveva: Now! I'll be taking this!

Jannequinard: The moment you lift off in that airship, the whole land will know you are not true Temple Knights and you will be made to answer for your crimes!

Old World Thaumaturge: Once we're in the air, it will not matter what anyone knows, you fool! We will not be returning once we have slain you and your friends!

Leveva: No one shall stand in the way of my fate. Especially not some dogsbody of the Forum!

Old World Thaumaturge: I want Leveva and I want her alive! Kill the rest and leave their corpses to the wolves.

Leveva: I'm not going back to Sharlayan. Quimperain!

Quimperain: As you command, milady!

Jannequinard: The situation is dire, CHARNAME! We cannot let them take Lady Leveva![10]

Once the Sharlayans have been defeated, we retrieve a sealed missive off the thaumaturge's corpse.

Jannequinard: I do not think Lady Leveva would mind us taking a peek inside that missive, would she? No, you are right. Like enough she would.

Quimperain: Please, milady. Allow me a moment to gather myself.

Leveva: Of course I knew the Temple Knights were false. I recognized the astrologian we saved almost immediately, and I find it insulting that they believed I would not. I also knew that they would lead me to the true perpetrators if I played along, fully aware that you loyal three would follow.

Jannequinard: And I am pleased that you also knew that we would somehow crawl our way out of that little tussle with our lives, because I was uncertain for most of the journey.

Leveva: Well, I was certain CHARNAME would make it, for the stars have already told me she would unlock the sixth gate here at the Steel Vigil─the very location we ended up at, despite our unexpected ordeal. Your fate, Jannequinard... Well, I never bothered reading it, for I thought that you would skip this lesson like you have every other one!

Leveva: CHARNAME. Gaze upon the night sky and open your soul to the final constellation─the Spear!

Leveva: The Spear is the gate to the sixth heaven, where the Fury resides in a palace of ice carved by Her own spear─ice formed of moonbeams collected by the Lover, Menphina. The Spear fills us not only with the power to overcome our enemies, but also the compassion that is necessary to grant those same enemies mercy. And now that power is yours, to see directed to those whose fates require it. It is done. You have attuned yourself to the six lower heavens. And now that you know their strength, the true journey begins.

The Spear blazes in the welkin, unlocking the gate to the sixth heaven.

Leveva: Like I've said from the beginning. The stars, the heavens, the arcana─they know our fates, but they are fickle with their information. It is up to us to prise it from their hearts and use it in a manner that might benefit all mankind.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH FALL 2020)

Jannequinard: You have my congratulations, CHARNAME. What has taken me twenty summers to accomplish, you have done...and more in a matter of moons. But our time together has taught me that, despite what we may believe they are, we all have our roles, and each role is just as important as the other. Without taking both Quimperain and you under my wing, you would have never saved Leveva from her assailants...meaning, in a way, I saved Lady Leveva. Not that I am one to take all the credit for such heroism.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: You have my congratulations, CHARNAME. What has taken me more than fifteen summers to accomplish, you have done...and more in a matter of moons. But our time together has taught me that, despite what we may believe they are, we all have our roles, and each role is just as important as the other. Without taking both Quimperain and you under my wing, you would have never saved Leveva from her assailants...meaning, in a way, I saved Lady Leveva. Not that I am one to take all the credit for such heroism.

Jannequinard: Nor shall I take credit for this missive that never would have been discovered were it not for me taking you and Quimperain under my wi─ Ah, that cold stare. It befits this godsforsaken place. Point taken. Let us break the seal and see what we... Why... This handwriting... I have seen it many a time before. It is mine uncle's. But that would mean...

Quimperain: It would mean the highest ranking astrologian in all Ishgard has been attempting to assassinate us! If the Tribunal were to hear of this, he would be hanged!

Leveva: And a hanging will only earn us another ill-tempered Orthodox astrologian unwilling to open his eyes to the benefits of our discipline. No. We can use this missive to our advantage. As long as this remains in our hands, so too does the chief astrologian.

Jannequinard: Are you saying we use the missive to blackmail Forlemort!?

Leveva: I am saying we merely grant the chief astrologian his life in exchange for a little assistance in furthering our just and noble cause. No more, no less.

Jannequinard: I see... You are quite the devilet, my dear. Very well. I will summon mine uncle to the astroscope. There we can present him with our offer.

Forlemort: Jannequinard's lackey? But how are you still─ I mean, I haven't the time for idle chatter. Can you not see I am a busy man??

Forlemort: Why must you insist on pestering me, Jannequinard? I gave you your letter, now leave me be!

Leveva: Ah, but that would not be the only letter you have written lately, would it? Perhaps you recall a certain letter to the Forum?

Jannequinard: A letter carried by a party of less-than-savory characters who attempted to kidnap Lady Leveva and deliver her to Sharlayans, not to mention kill me, my manservant, and my good friend CHARNAME here─who you may have forgotten is currently an honored guest of House Fortemps. A letter drawn up and signed by none other than you, Nuncle.

Jannequinard: Oh, but do not presume to misunderstand us. We wish neither your disgrace nor your death. At least not at our hands. In fact, we wish very little from you. Naught, you might say─in the sense that you are to never again use your influence to hamper our efforts at spreading Sharlayan astrology here in Ishgard. Involve yourself no more in the affairs of me or my guests, and your secret remains safe. I will even forgive you for trying to have me murdered. If, that is, you give me your word.

Forlemort: It is not as if you've left me with much choice. You have my word, but know that silencing me will not make your nonsense any more accepted in the Vault. There are others who will see you fall. Others who care little whether or not I speak my piece.

Leveva: We are fully aware of the peaks we have left to scale. However, we shall not let that discourage us. I have been shown a path that I altogether plan on walking, and the stars shall guide my way.

Forlemort: The stars foretell many things, my dear. And not even the best readers can see them all. Do not forget this.

Forlemort takes his leave.

Jannequinard: So we have silenced him...but to hear him tell it, he was the least of our worries.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH DECEMBER 2021)

Leveva: Which is why we must strengthen our own bonds so that we might stand united in our cause. Synastry, to use a term taught to me by my grandfather. By temporarily enjoining your fate with that of a companion's, they will reap the stars' benefit as do you. Master this technique, and the hold our enemies have over us will surely weaken.

CURRENT

[QUEST COMPLETE]

10. Sharlayan Ascending (Lv 50)

So eager is Jannequinard to talk with you, it is almost as if there were a giant exclamation point hovering above his head.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Jannequinard: Now that my fine uncle has so graciously agreed to discontinue his meddling in our affairs, I believe we may find our peers and colleagues more receptive to our proposals. Perhaps I shall begin with another trip to the Vault to inquire about them reconsidering my petition to grant Lady Leveva the opportunity to speak with the conclave.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: Now that Forlemort has so graciously agreed to discontinue his meddling in our affairs, I believe we may find our peers and colleagues more receptive to our proposals. Perhaps I shall begin with another trip to the Vault to inquire about them reconsidering my petition to grant Lady Leveva the opportunity to speak with the conclave.

Leveva: We all have our strengths, Jannequinard. And none will deny yours is convincing seemingly sane people to do your bidding. CHARNAME here is a testament to that. I look forward to hearing of your progress. As for myself, there are still some questions I need answered. The first being, how exactly did Forlemort come into contact with the Sharlayan assassins? Quimperain. Attend me. I wish to visit Foundation and learn if there have been any sightings of suspicious foreigners.

Jannequinard: Might I suggest that CHARNAME do the same here at the Observatorium? Perhaps a second call on our new ally will help mine uncle recall aught he may have pretermitted in the heat of the previous moment.

Jannequinard: Let mine uncle know that there are no hard feelings. He is not the first relative who has plotted my timely demise. Such is the life of an heir to a High House. Why do you think I hired Quimperain in the first place?

Forlemort: Seven hells! I rue the day I ever see another Sharlayan. Please. I've done all you asked. What more do you want from me, blood!? Or are you simply here to boast?

Forlemort: ...Or mayhap you wish to know how the Sharlayans came to be involved in my scheme? Hah! I thought as much. If it was so important, why didn't your Lady Leveva ask me earlier? Her head is so far in the stars, she fails to see what unfolds around her on the ground.

Forlemort: The truth is, it was never my scheme in the first place─it was the Sharlayans'. They came to me not long after Professor Mace's ship was diverted to Thanalan. Yes, I said diverted. The pirates in the Strait of Merlthor, the magically manipulated storms off the Rhotano? All were staged to prevent your friends from ever arriving. But when they did, the Sharlayans were forced to change their plans. They required help hiring local hands discreetly─something they could not do as foreigners. I agreed to lend them my aid because I felt we both stood to benefit from the disappearance of Jannequinard and that foul chit.

Forlemort: I was a fool not to realize that the moment the Sharlayans were discovered, they would be quick to betray my name. That missive was to be destroyed at the first sign of trouble...

Edmelle: The chief astrologian? There is rarely a day when he isn't meeting with visitors from across the realm and beyond. Why, this past moon, he has been entertaining guests with very distinct markings on their faces. I asked Lord Forlemort whence they hailed, and he only answered, “the north.”

Edmelle: Is the chief astrologian ill? I saw him but moments ago, and he appeared as white as a ghost in a snowstorm.

Information gathered, we return to the Athenaeum.

Jannequinard: The Sharlayans came to him? That can only mean, then, that mine uncle was only a pawn in a much larger game... A game that began long before we ever became involved. Think back, CHARNAME. The bandits in the Black Shroud. And those pirates you described that attacked you in Limsa Lominsa. They all had strange facial markings...as did our false astrologian.

Jannequinard: It is not much, but perhaps Lady Leveva will be able to make more sense out of it all. Despite the time we have spent together, I have this feeling she has yet to be completely honest with us. Ah, but look at me. A beloved relative tries to have me killed, and the next day I begin doubting everyone. What a sad, sad state of affairs...

Jannequinard: Perhaps to clear my head I should call on that fine young viscountess visiting House Haillenarte from her family's stead in the eastern highlands. This information on Forlemort's associates should be relayed to Lady Leveva immediately... Would you be so kind? I seem to recall them saying they'd be questioning highborn in the Pillars.

Jannequinard: Ever since the affair with the false Temple Knights, Quimperain has been acting more...I don't know...boldly? It is as if he has to will himself to even address me as “milord.” Do you think the Lady Leveva is becoming a bad influence on the lad?

Quimperain: Milady. Were you able to learn anything of import at the Observatorium? Lord Forlemort was not the one to hire the Sharlayans!? Lady Leveva will want to know─ Lady Leveva? Lady Leveva! She was right here!

Quimperain: We must find her. I would not think any harm could come to her here in the center of the Holy See...but then again, that is what we believed back at Camp Dragonhead. I shall search the Hoplon. Might I ask you search in the opposite direction near the Last Vigil?

Old World Astrologian: I am sorry. I think you have mistaken me for someone else.

Leveva: CHARNAME! When you were speaking with Quimperain, someone approached me from behind and placed a dagger to my back. I had no choice but to be led silently away. Luckily, my assailant let down his guard when we arrived in the shadows, and I was able to deliver him a swift kick to the groin. I've been running ever since.

Leveva: So Forlemort wasn't the architect of this scheme to drag me back to Sharlayan after all. I had my suspicions... I was a fool to believe they would simply let me leave. Do you recall when I mentioned there were people in the Old World intent on hoarding our nation's knowledge? Well, it appears that my efforts to train you and Jannequinard have attracted their ire.

Leveva: CHARNAME... Allow me to apologize. I have not been wholly frank with you about my reason for visiting Eorzea. The truth is...I came here because of my father.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Leveva: My father dreamed of rekindling the Holy See's interest in Sharlayan astrology, believing that it would be of great benefit to the embattled people of Ishgard. He came here several moons before I was born, intending to remain for only a season. However, he never made the return journey... His dream was left unrealized and his newborn daughter left without a father...

CURRENT

Leveva: My father dreamed of rekindling the Holy See's interest in Sharlayan astrology, believing that it would be of great benefit to the embattled people of Ishgard. He came here several moons after I was born, intending to remain for only a season. However, he never made the return journey... His dream was left unrealized and his newborn daughter left without a father...

This is an utterly mystifying retcon, particularly as the following line remains untouched. I have questions.

Leveva: Never once did I meet him, but every night when I look to the stars, I know that those are the same skies he, too, gazed upon. The same skies he used as his strength and guide. It was only natural that I follow in his footsteps, in spite of the objections from my mother, who did not wish to see her only daughter lost, as well.

Leveva: And here I am in Eorzea, almost two decades later, pursuing a dream my father never lived to realize. A dream that has become my own. And now, someone is trying to stop me. Well just let them try, I say. Just let them try.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva! A maiden of your beauty should not wander off without an escort. Monsters hide even in the shadows of the Pillars.

Leveva: Maiden! Flattery will earn you nothing, Jannequinard...but I will accept it nonetheless.

Leveva: Tell me, what did the Vault say to our proposal?

Jannequinard: They accepted it! We have been given official permission by the Holy See to conduct a symposium on the wonders of Sharlayan astrology, with you as our guest speaker! Now come! We must hurry back to the Athenaeum and begin preparations! <sigh> More than fifteen summers to make ready for this moment[11], and now I only have a matter of days!

Leveva: I've never seen Jannequinard that enthusiastic about...well...anything. I suppose we'd best hurry back to the Athenaeum before his passion cools and he finds a warm bed in which to reheat it.

Quimperain: I shall escort the lady back to the Athenaeum, and hold her hand if I must...ah, to ensure that she doesn't wander off again, of course.

Jannequinard: CHARNAME. This has been a most...beguiling past few moons. I must say, I truly did not expect the turns my fate has taken. I suppose that speaks much to my capacity as a reader of the heavens.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Jannequinard: I am not blind to what goes on in Foundation, so I will not claim that my life is in any way difficult. But, that does not mean I do not have my share of troubles, however trivial they may be. Being second in line to a countship is not all “whores and rainbows.” My father only truly cares about my older brother─just like the rest of my family. They expect great things from him. From me, they expect nothing. For a long time, I tried to prove that I could be as great as my brother. It is why I went to Sharlayan. It is why I have tried to do things I had no business even trying.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: I am not blind to what goes on in Foundation, so I will not claim that my life is in any way difficult. But, that does not mean I do not have my share of troubles, however trivial they may be. Being anything but first in line to a countship is not all “whores and rainbows.” The count only truly cares about his newly appointed heir─just like the rest of my family. They expect great things from him. From me, they expect nothing. For a long time, I tried to prove that I could be as great as my cousin. It is why I went to Sharlayan. It is why I have tried to do things I had no business even trying.

Another confusing choice: while changing "My father only truly cares about my older brother" to "...about his newly appointed heir" makes sense in this particular context, as we'll see later, "For a long time, I tried to prove that I could be as great as my brother," should have remained unchanged. Even this dialogue describes him as newly-appointed, and the boy in question wasn't even born yet when Janne went to Sharlayan, even after the timeline was shortened.

Jannequinard: Then, once I realized no one was looking, I simply stopped caring, my actions becoming more and more outlandish...because at the end of the day, that is what everyone expected. But then you two walked through that door and helped me realize that maybe life is more than the coffin that has been fitted for me. Maybe the fate I believed was mine, was not mine at all. And for helping me see that, CHARNAME, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

11. Empty Nest (Lv 52)

Word at the Athenaeum Astrologicum is that Jannequinard has begun preparations for a journey.

Jannequinard: I have good news and bad news...

Jannequinard: The good news is, preparations for the symposium on Sharlayan astrology have been progressing smoothly, as we have expectedly encountered very little resistance from the Vault. They have even gone to the trouble of securing us a spacious venue for the event.

Jannequinard: The bad news is...the spacious venue in question lies in Falcon's Nest. Lest you wonder, I speak of the same frigid building site in the middle of nowhere that you will doubtless have heard so many good things about. Yes, my friend─that Falcon's Nest. Yet I suppose this may be a blessing in disguise... I am just not certain what that blessing may be. Perhaps we should all make for the hamlet and see!

Jannequinard: I hear the roast yeti they serve in Falcon's Nest is sublime...so there is that.

Heurriette: Still playing astrologian with Lord Jannequinard? Might I ask how many Horde attacks you've predicted in the past moon? None?

Mugueniel: Word is that Chief Astrologian Forlemort has become significantly less vocal in his objections of Lord Jannequinard's eccentricities. If you ask me, the only reasonable explanation is blackmail.

Fleuraie: As an Athenaeum courier, I am one of the few novitiates who has the honor of meeting with Chief Astrologian Forlemort on a regular basis. However, his foul mood as of late has me wishing I were assigned something─anything─else. Well, anything but receptionist duty with Lord Jannequinard.

And with that, we're off to Falcon's Nest.

Leveva: The Vault has set us up for failure... Damn them! Damn them all!

Quimperain: Falcon's Nest is populated with knights and masons. Unless Sharlayan astrology can warm frostbitten toes or fill an empty belly, I do not believe we shall find many people who will even give us a quarter bell of their time.

We find Janne talking up the Sharlayan school of astrology to anyone who will listen... which, unfortunately, is no one. Points for effort, though.

Jannequinard: Greetings, CHARNAME. It appears...that not only is our symposium to be held in a tiny hamlet malms away from civilization crawling with people who cannot even spell astrology, let alone grasp how it works...but that no one in the whole town has even been informed of our arrival.

Jannequinard: The three of us have been spending the last bell speaking with whomever will listen, inviting them to attend the event so at least we won't be speaking to an empty forum. Oh, worry not, my friend. We have saved the northern district just for you. <wink>

Jannequinard: None of us have come across even a single astrologian...but then again, perhaps they are all hiding in the northern part of the hamlet? No, I did not think so, either.

Falcon's Nest Elder: Sharlayan astrology, eh? You a heretic? Because you're talkin' like one. There's only one kind of astrology in Ishgard, and it ain't the heathen kind. Considerin' as you are an unbeliever, I suppose the knights might allow you to yap and yammer...but cause too much commotion, you'll be disappeared like that other lad. Now when was that...?

Wounded Knight: Bloody... Heretics...

Falcon's Nest Elder: An outrider! And his wounds look deep! Is there a cutter nearby!?

Falcon's Nest Elder: This one won't make it without a cutter to tend to his wounds. He's already lost too much blood as it is.

Wounded Knight: Please... I have five...children...

> Cast Aspected Benefic on the Wounded Knight.

Wounded Knight: What is this sorcery? My cuts... They knit themselves! Are you a healer, adventurer? If so, I have another request of you. There were others in my scouting party. We were all wounded. Some of us more gravely than others. I fear that my fellow knights may be in grave danger. Would you seek them out and tend to them as you did me? I will report to Ser Redwald, but fear that by the time he can muster reinforcements, several men will have perished.

Falcon's Nest Elder: Did you see his wounds, lass? If that poor bugger was the only one of his party to make it back to Falcon's Nest, I shudder to think of the condition of the others. You must hurry, healer. Or the wolves will eat well tonight.

Heading out to find the knight's fellows, we find someone set upon by enemy mages.

Slow-footed Knight: I beg of you... Slay these enemies of the Fury so that I might die knowing the bastards suffered the same fate as I...

After defeating the enemies, speaking to the knight again before healing him gets us...

Slow-footed Knight: I thank you, adventurer... I shall...tell the Fury of your kindness...when I kneel before Her at the gates to...

Aspected Benefic time!

Slow-footed Knight: How did you...? It is as if I was never dealt a single wound! What manner of magicks do you wield, friend? Astromancy? But I thought the stars served only to grant us insight into the Horde's movements. Why are there not more astrologians in the field?

Slow-footed Knight: You and your companions are in Falcon's Nest to discuss that very topic? Perhaps I can persuade others in the garrison to attend. Now I must hurry back to the hamlet. My captain will want a full report of the day's happenings.

We head back to Falcon's Nest to report back to our own... whatever Janne is.

Jannequinard: Where have you been? When you did not return, we visited the northern gates and found the area astir with knight activity.

Jannequinard: You left the hamlet to aid wounded scouts? You could have been killed! Or eaten! Or killed then eaten! Or eaten then killed!

Jannequinard: What is this? You say your display of astromancy has impressed the knights into attending our event? Hm... This may work to our advantage. If the knights begin clamoring for astrologians to be assigned to their ranks, then the See may just listen. Let us find these good men and inform them that the symposium is about to commence.

At the site of the symposium...

Leveva: I knew it. Empty... Well, except for that poor sod who had the ill fortune of drawing stairwell watch duty. <sigh> We have been made to look the fool.

We go and find the no-longer-wounded knight, who is speaking with one of his fellows as we approach.

Wounded Knight: Thal's hoarfrosted balls, not a single person came. I told you! I told you this was a terrible plan. 'Use the confusion from the jam-packed symposium to approach the target,' she says. 'You'll have her out of the hamlet before her companions even know she's gone,' she says. Even a blind babe could have seen that no one would gather for a talk on astrology in the middle of swiving─ah! The astrologian who tended to my wounds!

Wounded Knight: As you can see, both me and my fellow...knight made swift recoveries. Thanks to your wonderful magicks, of course. Hm? Reinforcements from the garrison never arrived? Reinforcemen...toh! Yes. I... I spoke with...er, Ser Redwolfe myself. Perhaps he felt there was no need for reinforcements after I...uh...convinced him what an able healer you were!

Wounded Knight: Yes, that is it. That is most certainly the reason. Yes. And...as much as we would like to attend...uh, the captain has already assigned us to another mission. I apologize to you and your companions. Perhaps we can make uh...the next symposium. Carry on, then!

Leveva: Well that is that then. The Vault wins.

Jannequinard: Do not think of it as such, Lady Leveva. This is but one hurdle we must leap. The Vault wants us to stop and turn around, and they will continue placing hurdles before us until we do. But we cannot let that discourage us. We must carry on until we reach our destination...or they run out of hurdles.

Falcon's Nest Elder: Hah. You cry over hurdles. You know not how lucky you were.

Jannequinard: Did you come...for the symposium?

Falcon's Nest Elder: No. I wouldn't let anyone see me at that gathering. I'd be branded a heretic and sent to Witchdrop. Or worse, they'd just slit my throat and toss me out to the beasts. Like as they did that other astrologian from the Old World.

Leveva: The other astrologian? When was this?

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Falcon's Nest Elder: When you reach my age, all the summers melt together. My hair still had color, so it must have been at least a score...mayhap more.

CURRENT

Falcon's Nest Elder: When you reach my age, all the summers melt together. My hair still had color, so it must have been at least a score...mayhap more, mayhap less.

Jannequinard: There was an astrologian who was... But it was long ago. It could not have been anyone you knew.

We cannot dwell on the past. We must needs find a way to interpret the cards we have been dealt, so that they might benefit the present─our present.

Leveva: No... It could not have been anyone I knew... I never had the chance to─

Leveva: You are right, Jannequinard. We mustn't let the Vault, or bandits, or closed minds prevent us from achieving what we came here for. The stars will point the way. And we will help the people of Ishgard see that as well.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva did not take the old man's recollection of the slain astrologian well at all. I understand that hearing of a fellow colleague's death might unnerve someone...but you would think she had lost her father.

Jannequinard: Oh... Oh...... Ohhh, Jannequinard, what have you done? I will not live down this offense.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Jannequinard: You see. The astrologian of whom the old man spoke─it so happens that I knew him well. His name was Rufin, and he was my friend and confidant when I studied in Sharlayan─my only friend. He followed me back to Ishgard when my stay in the city–state was complete.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: You see. The astrologian of whom the old man spoke─it so happens that I knew him well. His name was Rufin, and he was my friend and confidant when I studied in Sharlayan─my only friend. He followed me back to Ishgard when my stay in the city–state was cut short by the exodus.

Jannequinard: His dream was to rekindle interest in the forgotten techniques which gave rise to Ishgardian astrology. But this was a time when the Holy See was even more opposed to foreign ideas than they are now. That evening I discovered him bleeding at his bureau was one of the saddest in my life. But even at the hour of his death, Rufin remained strong, and he made me promise that I would not let his dream fade because of the closed-minded.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH JULY 2019)

Jannequinard: <sigh> Sometimes the mere gravity of a situation can harm a person more than a blade itself. If we can learn to wield that gravity so that it may benefit us, perhaps then the healing can begin.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: <sigh> Not that that has gone particularly well thus far... Yet perhaps if we reach a greater accord with the stars, they will show us the way forward. Yes, that sounds likely...

The original dialogue coincided with learning the skill "Gravity", since made available at Lv.45.

12. Conviction (Lv 54)

Jannequinard appears to have information on your next symposium.

Jannequinard: The Vault went and outdid themselves. The location for our next symposium? The Convictory─a makeshift camp for a band of bickering knights! I've spoken at length with Lady Leveva about how we might handle this second inconvenience so as not to meet the same fate we did in Falcon's Nest. I fear the worst, but the lady believes that we may be approaching this all wrong─that we should embrace the situation and use it to our advantage. I believe she is merely unaccustomed to the thin alpine air and her wits are not in order. Perchance we should make for the camp and see for ourselves.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva and Quimperain are already on their way to the western highlands. It would be remiss if we were to keep them waiting any longer. To the Convictory!

Imagine if you could see the Black characters in this game, would that be cool or what?

Jannequinard: I arrived not moments ago to find this! What in the Fury's name has happened here!?

We arrive on the scene to find Quimperain injured, and the party surrounded by a mob of knights crying "Take your fortune-telling elsewhere!"

Leveva: Tread lightly, CHARNAME. This is not the work of bandits. Quimperain's hurts were dealt by the Convictors.

Jannequinard: You were assaulted by the men sworn to protect us? This is madness!

Leveva: The Vault led the knights to believe that a party of astrologians would be arriving to aid them in scrying the location of the Horde's next attack. They took out their frustration on poor Quimperain when they learned I can foretell the whims of a dragon about as well as I can those of Jannequinard. But no. We must not let this discourage us. If words have no weight with these men, then let our magicks do the speaking.

A good many of the Convictors are badly injured after a dragon attack - Janne and Leveva tend to some, and the player tends to the rest.

Wounded Convictor: Ouch! Me leg! Just cut the damned thing off! I cannae take much more of this!
Wounded Convictor: The pain... It's gone! How did you...?

Wounded Convictor: Give me a swift death... That's...all...I ask...
Wounded Convictor: But you're an astrologian. You can't heal people! That's not what astrologians do!

Wounded Convictor: Leave me... I am not much longer for this realm...
Wounded Convictor: My wounds...it is as if they were never there! Wait... Who's going to believe that I slew a dragon if I haven't the wounds to show for it!? I don't know whether to thank you, or slit your throat. Though, I suppose I wouldn't be able to do either if you hadn't healed me with those queer magicks, so this day, I see fit to forgive you.

Jannequinard is tending to his own gravely injured knight.
Jannequinard: Close your eyes. Soon, it will all be over...ah, better. Better.

And meanwhile, Leveva's patient is... oddly familiar?
Leveva: May the stars heal your wounds!

Janne's patient gets to his feet, and while our backs are turned, Leveva cries out.

Leveva: You...

Jannequinard: What is wrong, Leveva? Have you tapped too deeply into your mental reserves? Perhaps you should take a moment of respite.

Quimperain: That blood is not the knight's!

Celie: Ah, the loyal lapdog. Without you to state the obvious, where would your masters be, pray tell?

Quimperain: You...again!

Celie: One might think these markings would betray my identity, but you Eorzeans have a singular capacity to look without seeing. I am amazed you are not constantly wandering into bonfires or off cliffs. I have grown weary of this masquerade, and I am done with entrusting my fate to this realm's blundering mercenaries. My name is Celie, and I am here to take the Lady Leveva into custody so that she can be transported back to Sharlayan and tried for her crimes.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Leveva: Taken into custody? On whose authority? For what crimes?

CURRENT

Leveva: Taken into custody? On whose authority?

Celie: You are here without permission of the Forum, performing acts which amount to treason. Your grandfather has already been detained and questioned. I am giving you the opportunity to turn yourself in, and put an end to this farce, once and for all. Do as I say, and no one will be harmed. Yourself included, Lady Leveva.

Jannequinard: But Lady Leveva... I thought you and your grandfather were dispatched on an official expedition...

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Celie: It seems that Leveva has not told you everything. Did you know that it was her father who was killed nearly twenty summers past? Twenty summers past, Jannequinard. Your adventurer friend seems already to have put two and two together. Why she didn't tell you earlier, I cannot fathom. What else are they leaving you out of, Jannequinard de Durendaire?

CURRENT

Celie: It seems that Leveva has not told you everything. Did you know that it was her father who was killed nearly fifteen summers past? Fifteen summers past, Jannequinard. Your adventurer friend seems already to have put two and two together. Why she didn't tell you earlier, I cannot fathom. What else are they leaving you out of, Jannequinard de Durendaire?

Jannequinard: I... But... Silence!

Celie: This is my final warning. When you see me again, you will either give yourself up, or you will die at my blade. Think on that, Leveva.

Jannequinard: CHARNAME! Lady Leveva's wound is deep. I do not believe I can heal it on my own. Lend me your aid!

If you dither, he says it twice more, just to be sure.

Jannequinard: I lack the capacity to heal Lady Leveva on my own. We must combine our Benefic magicks!

Jannequinard: I have not the skill to heal Lady Leveva on my own. You must cast your magicks on her as well!

Leveva: Thank you, my friends... For someone who claims she was hired to bring me back to Sharlayan, her aim was quite true...

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva... This Celie claimed that you are not here with the blessing of the Forum... Is this true? Why did you not see fit to mention this?

CURRENT

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva... This Celie claimed that you are not here with the blessing of the Forum... Is this so? Why did you not see fit to mention this?

Leveva: My grandfather knew the Forum would never allow us to come to Ishgard, and that their “contemplation” over the matter was merely a tactic to stall and discourage us. The stars had spoken to my grandfather, and he was not about to turn a deaf ear to them. I kept silent because I did not wish to let the petty politicking of men thousands of malms to the north stand in the way of our dream─our dream to spread the word of Sharlayan astrology. And such was my father's dream...until he was killed for it by closed-minded peasants.

Jannequinard: But Rufin never once spoke ill of those he wished to enlighten. Even at his end...

Leveva: How do you know my father's name!?

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Jannequinard: Your father and I became close friends when I was in Sharlayan. When it was my time to return, he asked if he could accompany me, saying that he wished to try and convince those who once believed in the stars' power to look to the skies again. And we did for several moons.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: Your father and I became close friends when I was in Sharlayan. When the exodus forced me to return home, he asked if he could accompany me, saying that he wished to try and convince those who once believed in the stars' power to look to the skies again. And we did for several moons.

Jannequinard: My countrymen were deeply skeptical, and slow to warm to the idea of heathen magicks─some were even rude─but he never gave up on them. Right up until he was...

Jannequinard: I was there during your father's last moments. I heard a commotion come from his room late one night and went in to check...only to find him bleeding and slumped over his diary, which he was writing when he was attacked. With his last strength, he handed me the diary and asked that I do not blame my people, and that I continue our work.

The diary Janne apparently keeps on his person at all times, for he gives it to Leveva now.

Jannequinard: I believe this belongs with you now.

Leveva: I do not know if I can forgive those who killed my father...

Jannequinard: I do not expect you to forgive us yet but...but knowing that he did...even at the moment of his death...perhaps will help you one day understand. You have always reminded me of Rufin, even before I knew he was your father. Your passion for your discipline equals his own, or may even exceed it.

Leveva: Father... Did you know what fate awaited you in this realm? Did you see all this? Did the stars have you merely pave the way...for me?

Quimperain: If they did, then I shall not allow anyone to stand in your way.

Jannequinard: You are right, good man. And so I shall allow this breach of etiquette, but if you fail to address Lady Leveva properly again, I'll have you spit shining the privy back at Durendaire Manor.

Leveva: Oh, leave him be, Jannequinard. Without Quimperain, here, I'd have been tied up and shipped back to the Old World moons ago. The stars have him here with me. He is not going anywhere. And neither am I. I am done with symposiums. That is not what my father wanted. He came here not to speak of astrology, he came here to use it. And so that is what I shall do. There are still many Convictors who can benefit from these magicks.

Jannequinard: And what a better way to convince people of your greatness than by ensuring they remain alive long enough to sing your praises!

Leveva: Janne... Will you...tell me of my father?

Jannequinard: I would be delighted, my lady...unless, that is, you mean now, as I have a prior engagement with a pair of lovely baronesses from House Dzemael, and I would not wish to keep them waiting.

Leveva: A prior arrangement... Of course he has! I suppose my father's journal will have to suffice until then.

Jannequinard: To think that my old friend Rufin may have seen what grim fate awaited him in Ishgard...but chose to come anyway, knowing that it would inspire both me and his daughter... Gods, sometimes these celestial machinations are simply too grand in scope to grasp! However, if it is as we believe, then we must, as Quimperain so bluntly stated, make sure that naught disrupt us on our path to that fate.

Jannequinard: Perhaps it is time I revealed to you a more powerful form of Malefic, so that you might be better prepared for the trials that are to follow. Ah, that furrow upon your brow suggests you could have used this spell earlier in your training. In retrospect, I would be inclined to agree. Hah hah!

13. Feather in the Cap (Lv 56)

Jannequinard has the latest information on Lady Leveva's current location.

Jannequinard: I am happy to report that Leveva is fine and well, and hasn't been attacked by bandits, dastards, curs, Sharlayan spies, or disgruntled knights once since her last encounter at the Convictory. After restoring health to all the Convictors so they might return to getting wounded again, she journeyed northwest into the Dravanian forelands. If that journey was without incident, she should be in Tailfeather now, tending to the chocobo hunters there. Might I suggest that we go and join her, CHARNAME?

Jannequinard: I cannot remember the last time I was in the forelands...probably because I have never been to the forelands. Why would anyone go there? It's literally crawling with dragons!

Leveva: CHARNAME! It is good to see you again. I pray you have not been neglecting your training. Now, you may be wondering why I chose Tailfeather, of all places, to visit next. Well, the truth of the matter is, I did not choose it at all; it chose me. The hunters here somehow heard of what we had done at the Convictory and placed a formal request to have me come and tend to the hamlet's wounded.

Leveva: I would like to believe this proof that word of the benefits of Sharlayan astrology is slowly but surely spreading through the realm. Ah, but enough talk. There are still many ailing souls that require succor. Would you and Jannequinard mind assisting me again as you did in the western highlands?

Leveva: Though many of these men's wounds are deep, Aspected Benefic should provide sufficient healing.

Jannequinard: Other than singeing the arse of a Jeweled Crozier cutpurse or soothing the scraped knee of a tripped maiden, it is rare that I have the opportunity to use many of my spells while behind the ramparts of Ishgard proper. This is actually all quite exciting.

Injured Hunter: The pain! Oh, the pain!

Injured Hunter: I don't know who you are, but you're good in my book.

Injured Hunter: Damn each and every one of the Twelve to the seventh hell and back! I'm not ready to die!

Injured Hunter: Praise the Twelve! I'm healed!

Injured Hunter: Two score summers trappin' chocobos and not a single beak in the eye or talon in the arse...and here I am on my deathbed on account of trippin' over a caelumtree root.

Injured Hunter: An honest healer! Here in Tailfeather? Now I have seen everything.

Jannequinard: I do believe that is everyone...at least for today.

Leveva: These men and women have chosen a horrendously dangerous profession. A chocobo's talons can rip open flesh to the bone, and a single kick can knock an otherwise hale hunter out for a sennight...if he survives it.

Jannequinard: Many of them seemed surprised─grateful, of course, but surprised─that we were here helping them. Does the hamlet not have its own healers? Do the Temple Knights not dispatch their hospitaliers this far from Ishgard?

Leveva: The Holy See only cares for the war with the dragons. It cannot be bothered with a handful of hunters, despite the fact these hunters are its citizens. I was told on my arrival that they manage with makeshift poultices created using herbs gathered from around the hamlet. When the wounds are more severe...they turn to their sole barber who...well, is also the local butcher. I'm sorry. My frustration with the situation coupled with the day's efforts have me slightly drained. Might I be allowed a few moments of respite?

Jannequinard: Quimperain, CHARNAME. Would you be so kind as to accompany the lady on her stroll? It has been far too long since that Sharlayan assassin showed her face, and a reading I conducted earlier this morning showed a day rife with conflict and confusion.

Leveva: I am glad you came, CHARNAME. There is something important I must tell you. Since Jannequinard gave me my father's journal, I have spent my nights poring over his writings, trying to piece together what I could about his life. It appears he was hardworking, and just. He trusted all, and truly wanted to help people in need. He believed that knowledge should not be hoarded like food, but shared amongst the intellectually starved.

Leveva: He also knew that there were those who would see him stopped. Persons who used their influence to trick and frighten the Forum into believing that knowledge should be kept at one's breast─persons who saw my father as a threat. His final few entries all speak of how he feared for his life─of how one man in particular was working to see him dead. That man's name─

Celie: Is not important, for in the end, it turned out your father was killed by the very people he was foolish enough to trust. People who, in their slaying of a good man, proved that they were unworthy of the knowledge he so freely offered them. And now, here you are, making the same mistake as he. Continue with this foolishness, and you, too, will suffer his fate.

Leveva: Do not dare talk of my father as if you knew him! You know nothing. Your mind is as closed as the minds of those back in the Old World who believe that hiding in their books will shield them from the pain and suffering of the real world!

Celie: Such passion... It is a pity it remains misdirected. My employer only wishes to see you back, safe in Sharlayan. The Forum recognizes your talent. You are an asset to our nation and its people. We would have you live a long and prosperous life, so that you may rise even higher than your father ever had the opportunity to.

Celie: Ah, but we both know you are far too stubborn to take this gift so graciously offered. You would rather fight. And you know? So would I. No more games, Leveva. Let us end this. Right here. Right now. With your precious stars as our witness!

And so Janne's reading this morning proves accurate. We enter combat wave #1.

Celie: Spare no one! Not even the girl!

Leveva: Fate has guided us here, CHARNAME! Now let us guide our fates to victory!

Wave #2. There's a lot of them.

Celie: Oh, do not think because you bested me in the past, you can do the same here. This time I come prepared!

Leveva: Is there no end to them!?[12]

Tailfeather Hunter: Looks as if you could do with an extra blade!

With the hunters on our side, the tide of battle turns.

Celie: I will not die like your father did, on foreign soil, at the hand of barbarians!

She summons this thing. It's not plot important at all, it's just any old add, but it's called a "Gruntamulous Dindergrabble", so I would be remiss not to show it to you.

The two are summarily defeated by Leveva, Quimperain, and the hunters of Tailfeather.

Celie: Ah... The irony...

Jannequinard: Are you all right!? I heard the commotion and came as quickly as I could!

Leveva: Not as quickly as these four. You remember, the hunters so gravely wounded not less than a bell ago? If memory serves me, they could barely lift a finger, let alone rush headlong into a heated battle and help turn the tide.

Tailfeather Hunter: Ah, don't be too hard on the silkshirt. Turns out we didn't need his help anyroad. Who'd have thought it, eh? Real live fightin' astrologians. Now I truly have seen everythin'.

Jannequinard: Leveva! I daresay those men would not have risked their lives had they little respect for us or our craft. You were right. Our actions here have done more to promote Sharlayan astrology than any long-winded discourse. Why, I expect this very night, the tale of your daring deeds will be told a hundred times over in mead halls across the forelands.

Leveva: Which means it will not be long before the Forum has heard as well. We Sharlayans may have officially abandoned this realm, but our ears remain. If the one who hired Celie is who I think it is, then I expect naught less than a formal edict of extradition to be issued.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Jannequinard: An edict of extradition? But Sharlayan has no power to force Ishgard to deliver you into their hands. Furthermore, what exactly is it you have done wrong, but allowed others to partake in your great nation's bottomless well of knowledge...as I did nearly twenty summers ago when I studied in her halls?

CURRENT

Jannequinard: An edict of extradition? But Sharlayan has no power to force Ishgard to deliver you into their hands.

Furthermore, what exactly is it you have done wrong, but allowed others to partake in your great nation's bottomless well of knowledge...as I did more than fifteen summers ago when I studied in her halls?

Leveva: Things changed after you left, Jannequinard. Many even believe it was my father's death that tipped the scales in favor of closing Sharlayan's doors and locking away all our knowledge. If the Forum deems it so, I could be arrested and imprisoned for “the theft of national resources.” And I see no reason why your Holy See, who has already shown its disdain for our efforts, would stand in its way.

Jannequinard: So what do we do? Your grandfather... Your father... They have given up so much to see you here. We cannot just concede defeat, now that we have finally begun to make headway!

Leveva: I never said we would, Janne. I have no intention of giving up or giving in. Doing so would be to deny the sacrifices made by my father and grandfather. The stars have shown me the path I must take. There is no other. And it begins back at Tailfeather healing those who aided us. I will see the two of you in Ishgard once I have settled matters here. Quimperain will see I arrive unharmed.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva still has not returned from Tailfeather. Oh, but do not worry. I have had word that she simply intends to stay a few turns of the sun longer. What we should be worrying about, however, is the Forum and their pending decision on our companion's extradition. If an official edict is drafted, I fear we may find ourselves at the mercy of the Vault. And if that were to happen, there will be little we can do to keep Leveva here, short of starting a war.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH JULY 2019)

Jannequinard: If only we had more time... When I was studying in Sharlayan, I recall hearing whispers of an ancient astromantic spell which could stop time and the very movements of the heavens. All of my professors denied it existed, the only technique remotely similar being something called Time Dilation─a process in which diverting a celestial body's otherwise straight flow of aether creates the illusion of slowed time, increasing the duration of beneficial magicks.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: If only we had more time... When I was studying in Sharlayan, I heard whispers of an ancient astromantic spell which could stop time and the very movements of the heavens. All of my professors denied it existed, the only technique remotely similar being something called Time Dilation─a process in which diverting a celestial body's otherwise straight flow of aether creates the illusion of slowed time, increasing the duration of beneficial magicks. A pity I never learned to cast it.

14. Trumped (Lv 58)

Jannequinard has some exciting news.

Jannequinard: Word of Lady Leveva's charity has begun spreading, my friend. I have attended more than one luncheon where it was positively dripping off the tongues of all the good lords and ladies. And the knights? Oh, the knights. They have started rumbling about why magicks that not only heal the wounded, but also enhance the strengths of the healthy are not being employed to save the lives of those on the front lines.

Jannequinard: Needless to say, the Vault is not amused. Their plan to have us fade into obscurity has rebounded upon them, and now they are scrambling to twist this situation to their advantage.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MID-2021)

Jannequinard: Listen, CHARNAME. The Vault would have us officially attend an operation currently underway in the western highlands village of Hemlock. The settlement was abandoned after the Calamity, and has since been overrun with beasts of all manner. The Holy See seeks to reclaim it, and my father has generously volunteered his knights to clear the area of any remaining threats.

CURRENT
Jannequinard: Listen, CHARNAME. The Vault would have us officially attend an operation currently underway in the western highlands village of Hemlock. The settlement was abandoned after the Calamity, and has since been overrun with beasts of all manner. The Holy See seeks to reclaim it, and my uncle, the count, has generously volunteered his knights to clear the area of any remaining threats.

Jannequinard: It is win-win for the Vault. The operation is small enough and far enough away from the capital that even if it is a success, no one will pay it half a mind, but the Vault will be able to say that they answered the pleas of the knights. If, for any reason, the operation were to fail, then the Vault would be able to attribute the failure to the astrologian presence, and turn the High Houses against Lady Leveva. I spoke with the lady about this, but she said she was not interested in the politics of the situation, only that it was her duty to aid people in need. We should speak with her, and soon. Let us make haste to Hemlock.

Jannequinard: Reports from Hemlock claim the village is a veritable den of feathered dragons─the few remaining homes naught more than gutted shells. When we arrive, we should seek the commanding officer and have him direct us to our young charge.

House Durendaire Knight: You here to help with the operation? Word has it the battle has taken a turn for the worse.

Leveva: There are wounded everywhere, CHARNAME! We must help them!

Quimperain: What I lack in healing talents, I shall make up for with my blade.

Jannequinard: So this is battle... I... I never knew... All the blood...

Knight Captain: We severely underestimated the strength of our enemies, and now my men and women find themselves overwhelmed. The tight wedges we had at the day's onset have all degraded into small knots of fighting, and the number of wounded is growing faster than our chaplains can heal them. Thank the Fury you arrived when you did.

Knight Captain: Our wounded hide in the lee of yonder boulders for we have not even the means to pull their ailing bodies to safety.

This is an active war zone, and we must do battle with the dragons to get to our patients. The UI doesn't like this very much.

Wounded Knight: It's so dark... Why is it so dark? Weren't we fighting during the day...?

Wounded Knight: Where am I? Where is my company? I must return to them!

Wounded Knight: There are others...with wounds still deeper than mine...

Wounded Knight: Please... Help...

Wounded Knight: I shan't forget this, astrologian. I am forever in your debt.

Wounded Knight: I once heard that at the end...your life flashes before your eyes... Why is it, then, I can only recall the bodice of that wench at the Forgotten Knight...?

Wounded Knight: You have my thanks, but there must still be many who require succor. I heard a woman's scream beyond this very boulder not moments before you arrived. I did not recognize the voice. Could it have been one of your companions?

Janne and Leveva are surrounded by dragons.

Jannequinard: They descended from the mountains. We barely had time to draw our globes...

Leveva: My arm was bit and my deck scattered. I do not think I can be of any assistance, CHARNAME. You must forgive me...

We defeat the enemies, and go to provide aid...

Sevestre: What have we here?

Leveva: Sevestre? You who vowed never to set foot in this barbarian land again? Unless...

Sevestre: Clever girl. Yes, it was I who hired Celie to bring you back to Sharlayan. And if you had come back with us quietly, you would be free right now, rather than a wanted criminal facing a trial, imprisonment, even execution... depending on what you have told these tamed savages of yours. Yes, my dear. I offered you a chance, and you foolishly refused it. The edict has been issued. And I am here to collect you.

Sevestre: Though, I must place some of the blame for that on our friend Celie. Had she not insisted on playing games, perhaps you would have displayed reason back in the Black Shroud. Instead, she merely added fuel to a fire already hot with your inherent stubbornness. And now I am forced to make the journey to this filthy realm to clean up her mess. And I suppose that starts with these companions of yours.

Leveva: CHARNAME. Take Jannequinard and leave... Right now. Neither of you are ready for magicks of the variety he wields.

Jannequinard: But what of you, my lady!?

Leveva: I am going to reclaim my father's journal!

Sevestre: Brave. Your father was brave. Your father is also dead.

Quimperain: Lady Leveva!

Sevestre: Ah, I now understand Celie's frustration. This realm is truly overrun with vermin. How we suffered here for so long, I will never know. Very well, Leveva. You leave me no choice.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Sevestre: You may already know we have questioned Professor Mace regarding your unauthorized passage into Eorzea. What you may not know, is that we still hold him...in the Dark Cells. Just as a precautionary measure, of course. We would not want to see him flee again before the trial.

CURRENT

Sevestre: You may already know we have questioned Mace regarding your unauthorized passage into Eorzea. What you may not know, is that we still hold him...in the Dark Cells. Just as a precautionary measure, of course. We would not want to see him flee again before the trial.

Sevestre: Now, your grandfather is not as spry as he used to be, and I am uncertain how long the sanity a man of his age will last in complete darkness. Though, the longer you delay, the closer we come to finding out. If you wish to see your grandfather released, you will come to the abandoned city in the Dravanian hinterlands. There, my airship will be waiting to take you back to the Old World where you will be tried. Fairly, of course.

Sevestre: I suppose you could run, but know that doing so would have grave consequences for your grandfather, and possibly your mother, as well. And, we would still eventually find you.

...and with that, Sevestre is gone.

Leveva: Wait! My father's diary!

Quimperain: He may still be close. Wait here!

Leveva: Sevestre... I knew it...

Knight Captain: I see you were forced to join the fighting as well. Luckily, your arrival provided us with just enough momentum to drive back the beasts.

Jannequinard: Lady Leveva, who was that? I have the strangest feeling I should know him from somewhere...

Leveva: Sevestre─leader of the Bibliothecs─a powerful group of conservative fundamentalists who seek to control the whole of Sharlayan's knowledge. They believe that our people should not become involved in history, only be witness to it. Then analyze it until all the lives lived and lost are but numbers on a page.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Leveva: You may remember Sevestre, Jannequinard, because he was the selfsame man who pushed for old Sharlayan to batten its doors and abandon Eorzea...and used my father's death as his rallying cry. And now I am certain that he had my father killed. Near the end of my father's diary, he mentions being contacted by a young Sevestre, who happened to be a classmate of his when they were both at the Studium. Sevestre, looking to make a name for himself as a politician, warned my father against continuing to disseminate knowledge of Sharlayan astrology in Eorzea.

CURRENT

Leveva: You may remember Sevestre, Jannequinard, because he is the selfsame man who has pushed for old Sharlayan to batten its doors...and has used my father's death as his rallying cry. And now I am certain that he had my father killed. Near the end of my father's diary, he mentions being contacted by a young Sevestre, who happened to be an older classmate of his when they were both at the Studium. Sevestre, looking to make a name for himself as a politician, warned my father against continuing to disseminate knowledge of Sharlayan astrology in Eorzea.

Leveva: A warning my father, of course, did not heed. Soon after, several attempts were made upon my father's life. When he subsequently looked into the matter, he discovered that there was a price on his head...and that Sevestre had put it there. I discovered a contract signed by the wretch folded in my father's journal. He had planned on revealing it to the Forum on his return... But he never had the chance.

Leveva: Jannequinard. My father gave you that journal before he died...but you never once opened it?

Jannequinard: I did not think it was mine to read. But what you say... If it is true... We must get that diary back. Come, it seems the fighting has died down. Let us report to the captain of the knights, then return to Ishgard so that we may plan our next move.

Jannequinard: I do not know what to believe anymore... We must report to the captain and then hasten back to Ishgard. Perhaps then we can attempt to make sense of all that has befallen us here today.

Knight Captain: Many lives were saved because of you. If this is what we can expect from Sharlayan astrology, I see no reason why we shouldn't have knights trained in the field. I will recommend this to the lord commander. I suspect he will be pleased to see the day won with so few casualties.

Jannequinard: If you require our services again, you need only ask. Come, CHARNAME. Let us hasten back to Ishgard.

House Durendaire Knight: Will you be returning now, astrologian?

Knight Captain: I applaud you and your companions on a battle well fought. We knights do not forget the bravery shown by our allies.

Jannequinard: Moments ago, we received a missive from the commander of my father's guard.[13] He thanked us again for our assistance in Hemlock, and has formally requested that Lady Leveva train several of his knights in Sharlayan astrology. The Vault, however, remains silent, and I believe this silence to be calculated. If the edict issued for Lady Leveva's extradition has arrived, they need only turn a blind eye to Sevestre's actions, until he has spirited the lady from the realm...and people simply forget she was ever here.

Jannequinard: But we are not going to let that happen...are we, my lady?

Leveva: I am sorry, Jannequinard, but I no longer see how we cannot. Sevestre has my grandfather, he has threatened to take my mother, and he now has the one thing that could have saved them both─my father's journal.

Leveva: No, Jannequinard. I cannot deny my fate any longer. I have done several readings since our return, and every one is the same. Deceit... Manipulation... Submission... My path is clear. You, however, can carry on. Sevestre has no authority over you, or you, CHARNAME. See that my father's dream is fulfilled... Promise me that much.

Jannequinard: I shall promise you that and more, my lady. Quimperain and I will see you to the place of meeting, and do whatever possible to make certain this Sevestre keeps his word.

Leveva: You know that by attending me, you put yourself in danger. He has shown he will not hesitate to kill anyone who stands in his way. And now that he knows I know of his involvement in my father's death... But still you would stand by my side in my last moments in Eorzea. I do not deserve friends such as you...

Leveva: CHARNAME. Aether is the building block of all that surrounds us, meaning that everything is connected. Someone closely attuned with that aether can, in a sense, link themselves with others, feeling their joy, feeling their pain. Scholars of the soul call this empathy. Crystal-gazers and card-readers call it the wheel of fortune. We astrologians call it collective unconsciousness. Whatever you call it, I feel that bond with you. Both of you. Thank you.

15. The Hands of Fate (Lv 60)

Jannequinard and Lady Leveva appear to be ready to depart─with or without you.

Leveva: There is no other path for me to take. If I do not give myself up, I will be putting the only family I have left in danger, and I cannot bear such a burden. You may accompany me if you wish, but know that by doing so you put yourself in grave danger for no reason other than your pride.

Jannequinard: CHARNAME. I am quite aware that the mere notion of accompanying Leveva to the Answering Quarter is bordering on absurd, but I cannot in good faith abandon our good friend in her time of need, not after all we have been through. I am joyed to see that you have come to the same conclusion as well.

Leveva: You two are foolish...but I would not trade friends such as you for all the gold in the Aurum Vale.

Jannequinard: But there is no gold in the─

Jannequinard: Ahem, my lady, might I ask you entertain a second option? You said that your father's diary contained a document which implicates Sevestre in Rufin's murder. What if─and I fully understand the enormity of this if─but what if Sevestre still has yet to lay eyes on that document? Suppose he only took the diary to provoke you? If we could somehow retrieve it before you boarded his airship...

Leveva: Then we would have a bargaining chip of our own... But this man is the leader of the Bibliothecs─their sole purpose in life is the hoarding of knowledge. Of course he read the diary. And knowing Sevestre, the document would have been set to flame the moment he discovered it.

Leveva: Unless... We told him that there was another document... One that I removed from the diary to have examined. One that was not in the diary when he stole it. Of course there is no such page, but it would be easy enough to draft something up from memory of what I saw. Something that would appear official from a distance...

Leveva: It just might work...though there is always the chance that he may simply attempt to take the document by force... Were that to happen, we would be fortunate to escape with our lives. Sevestre is a formidable astrologian. Some say he even possesses the power to stop time.

Jannequinard: But I thought those were only...!? No. We mustn't think of that. There is little time left before the scheduled meeting in the Answering Quarter. Lady Leveva's plan is all we have. If we are to save both her and her family, we must act, and trust that the stars will guide us to victory.

Jannequinard: There is little time, CHARNAME. If we are late to the arranged meeting place in the Answering Quarter, who knows what Sevestre will do to Professor Mace or Lady Leveva's mother!?

Leveva: This is where my people lived... Where my father was born and raised. Where he became an astrologian. Where he took his first steps on the path that would lead us all here. He was not a Sharlayan. Not even Hyuran. He was an Eorzean. Like Jannequinard and Quimperain. Even you, CHARNAME.

Quimperain: What happened here...?

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Jannequinard: Less than a score summers have come and gone since I last set foot on the Paths of Contemplation, yet this place appears as if it hasn't been inhabited for centuries.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: Nigh on fifteen summers have come and gone since I last set foot on the Paths of Contemplation, yet this place appears as if it hasn't been inhabited for centuries.

Leveva: Nature is the greatest of levelers, Jannequinard. She provides us with what we need, but when we are done with it, she is quick to take back what is, and always has been, rightfully hers. There is still time before Sevestre is to arrive. I would like to take a walk and see where my father lived. Just knowing that I tread the same ground as he may grant my mind peace.

ORIGINAL (THROUGH MARCH 2019)

Jannequinard: Well, then might I suggest a rooftop garden directly to the south of here? Your father and I would spend many a night there gazing up at the stars and prattling on about our dreams into the small hours. It is where he first told me of your mother...and the child she was carrying.

CURRENT

Jannequinard: Well, then might I suggest a rooftop garden directly to the south of here? Your father and I would spend many a night there gazing up at the stars and prattling on about our dreams into the small hours. It is where he first told me of your mother─your birth mother, not the aunt who cared for you after Lady Byrde died in labor─and the child she was carrying.

Jannequinard: Not all of the conversations Rufin and I had here were pleasant. He was a fiery spirit, who, once an idea had filled his head, would make it his whole life, regardless of how outlandish it was. Reintroducing Sharlayan astrology to Eorzea was one such idea. I was against it at first, knowing firsthand how traditionalist the people of my city–state were... But your father overwhelmed me with his passion, and it was not long before I, too, found myself a disciple of his vision.

Leveva: I wonder if my father knew that one day I would be here, standing under the same sky he did. Did he know that he would have a daughter who was as stubborn as he? A daughter who put her life and the lives of those she loved in danger because of an unfulfilled dream?

Leveva: I think he did. And I think if he were here now, he would be proud. Proud that I at least tried. Proud that I did not let fate control me, but that I rather walked hand in hand with that fate down a path my father left, not only for me, but for all those who would carry in their hearts the same dream.

Jannequinard: I believe he would be, as well, Lady Leveva. Though I did not fully realize it until recently, these past moons, it has been as if Rufin was here by my side once again. The passion...the stubbornness...the talent. I do not think he would stand idly by as Sevestre had his way, and so I believe neither should we.

Leveva: Thank you Janne... I know I have been hard on you, but it is only because you were an incompetent astrologian with an aversion to training...not because you were anything but a good man...and a good friend.

Leveva: Now, let us see what the stars have in mind for us today.

Quimperain: (speaking to the player) You may keep your readings to yourself. No offense, milady, but the only thing that shall be guiding me tonight is my obligation to Lady Leveva. That, and my blade.

Jannequinard: Fate is but a suggestion. Remember that.

Leveva: Sevestre is not a man to be late. He will be here.

Sevestre: Ah, ever so predictable, Leveva. I am sorry to inform you, there has been a change of plans. There will be no return to your homeland. No tear-filled reunion with your grandfather. No trial. Only a sentence. And that sentence shall be carried out here, by mine hand. You see, after reading your father's diary, it became clear that you and your wretched friends know too much.

Sevestre: You would not believe how long I have been searching for that document. The last one that connected me to your father's...unfortunate accident. I tracked down and had all the others destroyed. But this one has eluded me for almost two decades.

Leveva: ...The last? Janne, CHARNAME! It appears we are left with but a single path.

Jannequinard: There was only ever one, my lady! And we shall see it to the end!

Combat time!

Sevestre: Thanks are in order, Leveva. By ignoring my directions to come alone, you have saved me the effort of tracking down and slaying each one of you individually.

Leveva: Silence!

Sevestre: If you barbarians are one thing, it is brave. I shall give you that. Bravery, however, is the blunt blade of the foolish and the weak. Let me show you why the barbarians cannot be allowed to have this knowledge!

Leveva: Sevestre plots something ill. Do not let down your guard!

Leveva: Those arcana... They are not right. I sense forbidden magicks. Hurry and destroy them! The power they draw from the constellations is too much!

Sevestre's very long castbar (barely visible on the middle left of the screen in the gif above) is called "Celestial Stasis", and no points for guessing what it does. At the same time, he summons six Arcana tethers, each aspected by one of the six elements (Ice, Water, Wind, Lightning, Fire, Earth). Destroying the tethers does not end the spell, just makes it less powerful.

If he's not killed before he gets the Celestial Stasis cast off, he follows it up with "Ancient Graviga", which also has a very long castbar. The more Arcana tethers remain, the longer the party will be frozen in stasis, potentially making escaping Ancient Graviga impossible, but I've only ever seen this failed on purpose.

Sevestre: The morning star riseth in the east, granting me strength! The malefic descendeth in the west, granting me knowledge! The benefic shineth in the south, granting me life! The pole star shineth in the north, granting me dominion!

Judgement has been rendered... The verdict of history is...

Time stop!

Sevestre: Destiny lies in mine hands! By your own definition, you manipulate the fates of others...but then bleat like lambs led to slaughter when another does the same to yours. Do you still not see the fallacy in this!? Do you still not see that there is no escape?

Leveva: I see that our fates are what we make them!

Sevestre: Wait! If you wish to see your grandfather live, you will not kill me!

Leveva: That was never our intention, Sevestre. No... I only wish to ask a few simple favors─the first being the return of my father's diary. You will then send word back to the Old World to have my grandfather released immediately. And finally, you will return to Sharlayan and report to the Forum that I have disappeared and am presumed deceased. Fail to do these things, and I shall tell the Forum all I know of your involvement in my father's death. I doubt they will be as generous with their mercy as I.

Sevestre: And what? You shall remain here and continue to spread our knowledge across this worm-eaten realm like it was sweet cream butter? You know not what you do. The barbarians of this realm have shown that they can only use knowledge to destroy each other. They corrupt it. They lessen it. And then they forget it. They never once have shown they are worthy of the knowledge they so defile. And yet you would still give it to them.

Sevestre: <sigh> Very well. I shall do as you ask. But know that the Forum is ever listening, ever watching. Should you continue your escapades here in Ishgard, they will find out. And they will send others until they have succeeded where I have...failed.

Leveva: Then you'd best make certain they do not. You are a powerful man who also happens to be a master of lies and deceit. I pray the task should not prove too difficult. And if it does, well then, I can always show them what manner of a man you truly are.

Jannequinard: I do not think there will be any need for that. Sevestre, however wicked, is not a fool. He will not sacrifice what he has spent the past two decades building over a girl he, even with his back to the cobbles, sees as an inferior. Especially if you have offered him a means of accomplishing it without causing him to lose face. His pride, of course, will ache, but it's naught a little wine cannot cure.

Leveva: <sigh> You are right, Jannequinard. Something I never thought I would admit...at least out loud.

Jannequinard: So, does this mean you will remain in the See and continue your teachings?

Leveva: Of course I will. There is the pending contract with House Durendaire, my obligations to the Convictors and the hunters of Tailfeather...and then, of course, there is the matter of your incomplete training. If memory serves me, you have still only opened half of the heavens' gates.

Quimperain: You may recall a time when I pulled milady aside and spoke of how I did not trust my master's heathen magicks. Well, I still do not trust his...but Lady Leveva's and yours? A man my age should not have lasted a half bell in that last battle. Hells, I still cannot believe we fended off those pirates in Limsa Lominsa... I could not have survived this long without you, Lady CHARNAME. Should you ever have need of my sword, you need only ask.

Jannequinard: Truth be told, I have no idea how we survived that battle. Think of it a moment. Sevestre could stop. Time. Perhaps fate has a stronger pull than I imagined... Or perhaps I've merely evolved into an all-powerful astrologian. Likely the former.

Leveva: Well, things did not go completely as planned, but we arrived at the fate intended for us nonetheless. Now, the question is, what do we do with this fate we have been granted? I believe this warrants another reading...but perhaps, after we've had a bite to eat.

Jannequinard: Ah, CHARNAME. You are just in time to greet the Athenaeum's newest member. May I present you with Lord Rufin.

"Rufin": Why the surprise? Ah, but I believe I know the answer. Your senses are doubtless reeling from having witnessed poor Lady Leveva's tragic end in the hinterlands. <wink>

"Rufin": Contrary to popular opinion, I was not murdered at all, but merely on a long and winding journey that has finally brought me back to Ishgard so that I may teach the secrets of Sharlayan astrology once again. I mean to show the people that fate is a path that need not be walked in darkness. That the stars can be used to light the way. And my first lesson? That those who oppose this celestial guidance shall be doomed to mark time for all of eternity.

FOOTNOTES

[1] FFXIV takes place in what the developers call a “time bubble”, where certain historical events are always treated as having been 15 years ago, even while events within the canon timeline take place years apart. This supposedly makes things less complicated, somehow. Everyone hates this. ⬏

[2] Pedantic clarification time! This is only true of aetherytes in the Source (teleportation crystals in Hingashi are not strictly aetherytes but 'tenkonto', and it is unclear if they are a closed system in-universe, or are cross-compatible with Sharlayan aetherytes). The aetherytes in Norvrandt were presumably installed by G’raha Tia, a Sharlayan scholar, which explains why it also has a toll (teleportation fees are in-universe a charge incurred partly to fund maintenance of the aetheryte network); the maintenance fees for those in Elpis (reached through time travel) can be similarly explained. The aetherytes in Amaurot (forgotten vestige of a long-dead society in an alternate reality, surely unmaintained) and the Sea of Stars (potentially imaginary?) complicate this, but we’re getting very off-topic. ⬏

[3] Sharlayan is the name of an island nation far in the north, but it is also the name a now-abandoned research outpost in Dravania (the dragons' homeland) and company town for Sharlayan scholars is known by to residents of Ishgard. 'Sharlayan' is used of both interchangeably throughout these quests, with the nation also called 'the Old City' or 'the Motherland'. The research outpost is known by the current inhabitants as Idyllshire. ⬏

[4] It's worth noting the use of the word 'week' here, because FFXIV often uses the word 'sennight' (literally 'seven nights') and only rarely 'week', despite the fact that the only official calendar provided by the canon features an eight-day week (or nundinum, if you're a classicist) aligned with the lunar cycle. See Appendix C: Random Bullshit Go! for further discussion of this topic. ⬏

[5] 'Hour'. ⬏

[6] So here's the TL;DR on soul crystals: in FFXIV, crystals are kind of like flash drives and also kind of like butter - they soak up the 'flavor' of what they're stored around. That flavor is you - your memories, your skills, aspects of your personality, even. Sometimes the crystal is literally you - after a sudden, typically violent death, the life energy, or aether, of a person may create a new crystal, called 'atma'. People with extraordinary abilities carry around 'soul crystals' that, by being carried with them, become imbued with certain skills, techniques, or understandings that they can then pass down to others. Many soul crystals are also important foci for manipulating aether to perform magicks: while a mage still knows their craft in the absence of a soul crystal, they're severely hampered by its loss. ⬏

[7] Please do not ask me what this is supposed to mean, lore-wise. I can't even tell you what it means astrologically in real life - "in dignity" is not, to my knowledge, a term that's really used - there are essential and accidental dignities, yes, and a star may be "in exaltation" (one of the essential dignities), for example, but "in dignity" is so vague as to be functionally useless. From the speed at which we go through them, I expect we're talking about elementally-aspected decans or even individual degrees. For more useless rambling please see Appendix C: Random Bullshit Go! ⬏

[8] If it is rather the player's party that is defeated, Leveva says, "Grandfather... Did you see this fate, as well?" ⬏

[9] Defeat lines for this battle are as follows...

Leveva: The battle is not yet lost. Do not give up hope, CHARNAME... Let the stars guide you to victory.
Quimperain: Lady... Leveva...
Ishgardian Astrologian: Wait! This wasn't part of the─ ⬏

[10] Defeat dialogue as follows.

Quimperain: I've done all I can... Seems it was not enough...

Jannequinard: I am sorry, Father...

Leveva: CHARNAME! They will not kill me...but they will kill you. You mustn't give up! ⬏

[11] This is the first point at which we originally started hearing 'fifteen years', which to my mind (and that of the devs initially, seeing as levels 30-60 were released all at once) is not inconsistent at all with the earlier 'twenty years', since those are in reference to when Janne began studying Sharlayan astrology, and this is in reference to his goal to introduce the Sharlayan school to Ishgard. ⬏

[12] Defeat dialogues.

Quimperain: I cannot─ Gaaah...
Leveva: This cannot be...where my path ends... ⬏

[13] The eagle-eyed reader may wonder if I forgot to check the current dialogue, but as a matter of fact, this reference to Count de Durendaire being Jannequinard's father (indirectly - it refers back to the dialogue at the beginning of the quest, which was retconned) survives to the current version of the game. ⬏

[PART TWO]

Current Mood: accomplished

Hello, potential creator! Avia here. This account is run by two people, and our requests are all things that we've mutually agreed upon wanting to see, so if you write for us, don't be surprised to get two comments! Usually one from me, under

graiai, and the second from

Arianne.

This is our first time doing Heart Attack, and I'm excited to see how it goes! We're pretty easy to please, honestly - we've got a painfully extensive likes list (about 1500 words) that covers a wide range of genres and interests. We like character studies, domestic fluff, darkfic... fics with explicit sex are just as welcome as those without... and while we've provided some prompts for each fandom/ship combo to hopefully inspire you, we're by no means married to those ideas, either. If there's something you feel pulled to write (and you don't have reason to believe we'd totally hate it), go for it! With a 10K minimum especially, I think it's a lot more fun to read something that maybe isn't something I would have thought of but that the author was passionate about than to read something that's painstakingly tailored to my likes list but was a chore for you to write. Have fun with it!

In addition to potential fic prompts, each request also has where to find the canon, some of the things we like about the original work, and unrequested relationships (platonic and otherwise) and characters we also really like - some people can carry 10K on two people sitting in a room, but I'd definitely find it a challenge.

General Likes

messy relationships; unhealthy aspects of relationships not being brushed over (but the characters also not trying to fix them); relationships that by modern western standards (and maybe the standards of a large portion of the cast) would be considered unacceptable; social mores that don’t match the modern western world, and characters whose social mores don’t match each others’
“us against the world” narratives; “we were always going to end up here” narratives; “no one understands you like i do” narratives; characters making the best of their situations, not unhappy, but not living Happily Ever After, either
father/child and sibling incest (portrayed romantically), pseudo-incest between unrelated characters, mentor/protégé relationships and big-p Platonic teacher/student relationships, erastes/eromenos and dominus/deliciae relationships; age difference, size difference, experience difference, power imbalance, underage (adult/minor and minor/minor)
ideas about sex, sexuality, marriage, gender identity, etc that may differ wildly from our own ideas and between characters; historical or dated constructs of gender/sexuality; arranged marriages considered normal/not inherently abusive
medical realism and its consequences: persistent and permanent injuries, realistic and semi-realistic recovery, healing magic having limitations (and exploring what those are); not shying away from less pretty parts of sex, pregnancy, birth, or having a body in general
emphasis on character voice, characterization, motive, morals, ethics; culture clash; worldbuilding (especially specific medical and legal worldbuilding); character studies; unreliable narrators; limited POVs, outsider POVs, POVs missing context that would recontextualize events considerably
feel free to look at our unconventional fanworks exchange letter for weird format likes!

Domestic/Fluff Likes

romance: established relationships, courting, letter-writing, wedding plans, elopement, family planning; helping pregnant partner give birth, being stuck anxiously/excitedly in the waiting room while pregnant partner gives birth
domesticity: dancing together, playing instruments together/performing duets, doing arts and crafts together, playing chess together, doing tarot spreads, cooking together, helping each other dress or do makeup; tired mornings and late nights, not putting on airs for each other
slice of life: teaching partner how to dance/play an instrument/draw/paint/cook/play chess/etc; taking turns with household responsibilities (chores, childcare, etc); new/first time parents trying their best and maybe doing an okay job of it; (consensual and appropriate) public displays of affection, between lovers or friends
emotionally significant friendships and close friends/confidants; characters having people they can/do go to other than their lover (friends or supportive family); close relationships between female characters and an emphasis on the friendships of female characters; positive sibling relationships and mother/child relationships

Darker Likes

consent issues: noncon (where requested), dubcon, consensual but a bad idea, consensual but it shouldn’t be, and messy/unclear combinations of several of these; power/experience/age imbalances; somnophilia (including comatose characters), necrophilia, and possession
manipulation: gaslighting, mutual manipulation, seduction, “you’re so mature for your age” and similar ploys; unclear lines between victims and aggressors, victims manipulating their abusers/assailants back; stockholm syndrome, lima syndrome, trauma bonding; chess as a mind game/power play, specifically, and chess moves portrayed as acts of violence between the players
forced intimacy: playing at domesticity, nonconsensual PDA, nonconsensual kissing, sleeping beside each other/spooning, rapists performing oral, rapists comforting victims, victims forced to comfort rapists
pain and fear kink: crying/dacryphilia, screaming, uncomfortably detailed loving descriptions of both or either, painful sex, characters in pain kinking on it, characters in pain not kinking on it (their loss!)
injuries or physical trauma: lovingly described acts of violence (consensual and otherwise), genital trauma or mutilation (perineal tearing, episiotomy, castration, fgm/c, tearing from sex, sharp object insertion), amount of blood/injury exaggerated for kink purposes, eye trauma, broken limbs, internal bleeding, childbirth related injuries and medical complications (symphysiotomy or breaking the pelvis for childbirth, broken clavicle or limbs in newborns, emergency hysterectomy, congenital birth defects, low APGAR, etc), short- and long-term medical care and aftermath of injury, trauma, or disability
dark pregnancy-related kinks/topics: (threat of) traumatic miscarriage, forced abortion, unsafe abortions (coathangers, ingesting poisons, trying to induce miscarriage through injury to self)
trouble at home: abusive, controlling, or disapproving (grand)parents, tense home environments, arguments about arranged marriages, inheritance, keeping the baby, childrearing (between parents/children or between coparents or partners)
harm to children: characters who are underage depicted in fic with appropriate neurological development for their ages and developing trauma appropriate to the events of the canon and/or the fic; child soldiers, CSA victims, etc normalizing what they’ve been through, not having the neurological development to understand the impact of events, not understanding their own feelings, enacting their trauma on other children or adults
aftermath: of rape or CSA, of abuse, of wartime or other nonsexual trauma, of injury; impact of trauma on mental and physical health; medical treatment, being forced to deal with the authorities, trying to hide trauma or ‘go back to normal’

Smut Likes

oral fixations: smoking, making out, lip biting, hickies, biting in general, finger sucking, cunnilingus, cockwarming, emetophilia (gag reflexes! morning sickness!)
hand and finger kink: manual stimulation, calluses, pinching breasts, fingering after fucking, weaponizing fingernails, fingers in mouths
intercrural, incomplete penetration/“just the tip”, eunuchs/castration, soft cock kink, small or soft cock handjobs, sex you might have the impulse to call “sex*” or “sex(?)” - where coming isn’t necessarily the goal, where the people involved may not have bodies in the traditional sense, where the people involved may not have sex drives or even understand what sex is
marking/possessiveness: bruising, comeplay, breeding kink, postpartum sex (and kinking on the physical affects of childbirth), gaping, somnophilia
blood and injury: bloody hands, bloody teeth, nosebleeds, tearing from sex or birth, menstrual blood, spotting, episiotomies, postpartum bleeding, amount of blood and injury exaggerated or (bordering) dangerous for kink purposes
romantic incest kink, dd/lg, sibcon, characters who aren’t related acting like they are for horny reasons; kinking on a character’s youth or presumed youth and physical markers typically associated with it (virginity, flat/small breasts, small cock, etc); kinking on a character’s sexual inexperience (in general, with a specific act, with another character’s gender, etc)
medfet: take everything from the general likes list about medical accuracy and apply it to pornography! partners being possessively horny at the OB-GYN, nobody but the reader being horny over lovingly detailed descriptions of medical exams, realistic birthing (but being horny about it), weirdly detailed interludes about period birth control methods? you name it, we’re probably into it

DNWs

DNW any on-screen, referenced, or implied
- skin-related mutilation like flaying, burning, or branding
- harm to animals including meat-eating (just not mentioning what a character is eating is fine)
- shower/bath/rain sex, one character washing or grooming another non-infant character (even consensual aftercare), or onscreen bathing of any kind
- petting, brushing, or playing with hair as a form of consensual intimacy (pulling on it during sex is fine; doing someone’s hair without intimate subtext is fine; intimacy played as horror is fine)
- maternal incest or mommykink
in any capacity. If you think 'surely this isn't enough to count for the DNW', it is.

unrequested romantic relationships; unrequested rape/non-con between members of a requested ship; unrequested trans headcanons or rule 63; cis mpreg and futanari
altered states (drugged, drunk, sex pollen, etc)
formal BDSM, including safewords or the stoplight system and kink negotiation scenes (sex going wrong and agreeing in the moment not to do something particular again is fine)
AUs that drastically change the setting or the core rules of the setting (modern AUs, A/B/O, soulmark AUs, etc… canon divergence AUs including pre-canon divergence points are fine; using 3.5 or 5e rules in a BG3 fic is fine)
“bad ends” (no chance at escape, mindbreak, etc); scat kink (changing a baby’s diaper is fine); onscreen, explicit sexual contact under age 10 (implied or fade to black is fine)

Requests:

[Final Fantasy XII] Basch fon Ronsenburg/Larsa Ferrinas Solidor

Where can you find the canon? FF12 is available on PC, PS2, PS4, XBox One, and the Switch. You can also watch a full cutscene compilation on Youtube (about 6 1/2 hours long) - personally, privately, as someone who doesn't find the gameplay itself very fun, this is my recommendation.

What do we like about it? Politics! FF12 has a lot of political drama and intrigue and fancy people insinuating things, which we tend to find more fun than straightforward confrontation! There's also a lot of really rancid interpersonal dynamics that are begging to be explored (Larsa's upbringing and Basch and Gabranth's whole deal really stand out here), and we love the MENA-inspired setting. Digging into those inspirations for worldbuilding is always appreciated. The bittersweet/tragic ending is also a huge plus for us.

Other characters and relationships we enjoy: Vayne/Larsa, Gabranth/Larsa, Gabranth/Basch and Basch&Gabranth Cid/Venat, Cid&Balthier, Larsa&Penelo is also a really fun lens to explore Larsa's particular issues with - he hasn't really had a childhood or been around peers before, not to mention the class disparity and culture clash.

This is a ship that is just begging a character study, if you ask me. We've been interested for ages in digging into the postgame dynamic in particular: Basch taking on Gabranth's role, and Larsa wanting more from him than Basch can give. Basch learning things about his brother that he doesn't like.

This could lean closer into an & ship, with uncomfortable sexual overtones or Larsa attempting to take things further (or trying to bait Basch into taking things further and failing to understand why he won't), or it could be written with an overt sexual or romantic relationship. We'd love to see Larsa as the instigator and Basch at best dubiously consenting out of a misplaced sense of duty and honor, or not even able to stomach that - Larsa may not have a healthy enough concept of boundaries and consent to take stock in Basch's discomfort... he is Basch's lord. Basch pledged himself to him. Larsa is a thirteen year old boy with untold social/political power, absolutely no good role models, and, well, the libido of a teenage boy. Past Gabranth/Larsa (actual or maybe just pining) and/or Vayne/Larsa would be a lot of fun to explore here. Far postgame with a more grown Larsa, years into this dynamic with Basch (whatever it looks like) would also be welcome!

Angst or horror or a bittersweet ending would be great - maybe characters grow for the better, but the past can't be undone. Maybe characters grow for the worse. Maybe Basch-as-Gabranth begins to lose himself in the role. Maybe he refuses to, and rips the bandaid off whether or not Larsa is ready to be confronted with the reality of this situation and how he was raised. Opting into rape/non-con for this ship, but dubcon and "consensual but it shouldn't be" situations are great too!

[Final Fantasy XIV] Leveva Byrde/Jannequinard de Durendaire

Where can you find the canon? You may have heard of the critically-acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV with an expanded free trial where you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn as well as the award-winning Heavensward and Stormblood expansions up to level 70 for free with no restrictions on playtime! Available on PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, and XBox One. The requested characters are exclusive to a single job sidequest chain, and I have a 60,000 word ship write-up of all quests, retconned lore, and other relevant additional information here, because I want to get people into my OTP but I don't want to force them to play a live service subscription game that takes 1000+ hours.

What do we like about it? What don't we? There's soap opera level interpersonal drama in noble families, there's political intrigue and assassination plots and heirs missing at sea, there's arranged child marriage worldbuilding, it's at turns funny and tragic, there's an age gap size difference ship, there's a very sad elf boy who's also charmingly stupid and flirts his way out of (or into) problems... Truly, what more could you ask for?

Other characters and relationships we enjoy: Anything to do with the drama in House Durendaire; Carvallain&Jannequinard, Charlemend/Edmont de Fortemps, past Rufin Byrde/Jannequinard; digging into Leveva's Sharlayan heritage (was her marriage arranged to an OC? A Leveilleur? Some other minor Sharlayan NPC? Janne himself?), including potential relationships between the Byrde and Leveilleur, Baldesion, etc families, platonic or romantic.

Jannequinard and Leveva are the OTP. The blueprint. The unsinkable ship. We'd read pretty much anything about these two: we're into deep dives into Jannequinard's trauma surrounding the death of his old lover, Leveva's father, we're into the idea of them getting married so Jannequinard can't be compelled to testify against Leveva before the Sharlayan Forum for treason, we're more generally always up for a canon divergence AU after Lv58, we're into them getting married just... because they want to get married, and Leveva having to deal with Ishgardian high society, wedding planning, unfathomably shitty in-laws, and officially converting to Elf Catholicism. We're into the horrifying implications of everything the game has ever said about House Durendaire (what was going on in that house that Carvallain decided he'd rather be a captive on a pirate ship than return home, and even as an adult seems terrified of Charlemend? what about the mess with Jannequinard maybe being Charlemend's son, maybe his nephew?) We're into pregnancy and kidfic and cute getting-together fic. We're into Janne being Leveva's godfather, or the man her hand in marriage was sworn to in infancy because her father knew his own star-crossed lover would never treat his daughter poorly, or the only thing tying them together being the stars.

Literally pretty much anything you could think of writing about these two? We're sold. Fluff? Humor? Angst? Curtainfic? Follow your heart wherever it leads and you cannot go astray.

[Final Fantasy XV] Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia

Where can you find the canon? FFXV is on PS4, XBox One, and PC, plus... Amazon Prime for the tie-in film and anime, I think? You can also find cutscene compilations on Youtube - this one is 7 1/2 hours.

What do we like about it? Obsessive devotion! Tragedy! Social media! The fact that the protagonist is magic royalty and his favorite video game is canonically Assassin's Creed? Impeccable.

Other characters and relationships we enjoy: Noctis and Prompto's friendship, Lunafreya/Ravis.

Honestly, the #1 thing we'd like to see for this ship in this exchange is something building on the "fantasy based on reality" and the full implications of that. By which, of course, I mean RPF shippers. Duh. Protagonists who exist in a world with a concept of celebrity is just begging for outsider POV. Give us an in-universe ship manifesto! Students at Noct and Prompto's high school! Paparazzi photos! Twitter threads! 2-hour long youtube videos titled like "Brothers or Lovers?: A Chronically Online Deep Dive Into Insomnian Royalty"! Is Noct allowed to run his own social media accounts? Who the hell is responsible for his PR? Just go in hard on the worldbuilding premise, and have fun!

[Baldur’s Gate 3] Astarion/Karlach, Astarion/Karlach/Wyll, Gale/Raphael

Where can you find the canon? BG3 is available on PC, Mac, PS5, and XBox Series X/S. Some relevant scenes to the requested relationships can be found on Youtube or elsewhere: here's Wyll's romance on Karlach origin, although Karlach's dialogue options are provided only in Italian; here's Karlach's act 3 romance scene on Wyll origin; another Wyll origin scene with Karlach; meeting Wyll as Karlach origin; Wyll origin Avernus ending; Astarion romance on Karlach origin (this player didn't fix her engine, and unfortunately I can't find a clip of this romance on Karlach origin with a fixed engine, but there's no sex scene either way); Karlach romance on Astarion origin, and we'll ignore the fact they Ascended him; here's a collection of other endings (spawn Astarion can only go to Avernus with Karlach on a Karlach origin playthrough - on Astarion origin, they both burn on the docks); here's a twitter thread of various Wyll and Astarion scenes that may be of interest (including Karlach and Astarion being horny together about Wyll's new look); here's Gale talking about Raphael's offer; here's what happens when Raphael is alive in the God of Ambition ending; bg3.wiki is also a very useful resource, particularly for finding the text of books/notes in game and the flavor text on weapons (which often has interesting lore - the Helldusk armor namedrops the forgemaster of Avernus, who presumably installed Karlach's heart, Rhapsody has an absolutely horrifying anecdote about Cazador in the days before he became a vampire, etc); as for wider D&D lore, from 5E Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, Murder in Baldur's Gate, and Descent into Avernus are useful and interesting resources, and from 3.5 (which I'm partial to) is Libris Mortis, an undead-specific sourcebook with some great stuff in it.

What do we like about it? Honestly, the best way to answer this question might be to say what we didn't like, or rather, what we wanted more of - more negative repercussions for our actions (everything from "we shouldn't be able to heal Astarion" to "the party members should be more hostile to each other" - especially with a Sharran in the party and a druid&undead matchup - to "Wyll should lose his magic immediately if he chooses to break the pact in act 3" and "spurning Shar in the middle of the Shadowfell while your only healer is a Sharran cleric is a terrible idea, and if you do it, there should be severe consequences, and choosing not to is pretty understandable"), relationships between origin characters building more slowly or in different ways than the game has the room for on its own, characters having to work harder to earn trust or being unable to because of their situations, etc. Basically: it's a great game, and a lot of fun to play, and we'd love to see the stuff that would have made it probably a lot less enjoyable to play but make for interesting stories in fanfic!

Other characters and relationships we enjoy: While we're not requesting Karlach/Wyll or Astarion/Wyll on their own, those ships are great (there's just plenty of great fic of them already), and if you write the OT3 you should feel absolutely free to write it as a proper ménage à trois rather than a V-shaped triad; Lae'zel is my perfect darling baby girl, light of my life, I'm so sorry I let you get permanently brain damaged at the crèche; background horror ships are always welcome (Karlach/Zariel, Mizora/Wyll, Astarion/Cazador et al); the wider infernal cast (including everyone in the House of Hope - especially Hope herself) and the Szarr family, including the other spawn, Amanita, Vellioth, hell, the other relatives named in Amanita's letters; Gale/Mystra probably goes without saying; Tara, of course, is a joy and we'd love to see more of her.

Let's start with Gale/Raphael. We like our Gale kind of shitty and power-hungry and too depressed to shave after having flown too close to the sun and been presented with his failures then left to clean up his mess by his girlfriend to boot. This ship makes sense to us in the context of Gale on his bad end/God of Ambition arc (and, to be clear, we do consider this his bad end), or at least getting close to it, but if you have ideas that allow for Gale to ultimately make amends with Mystra (or even rekindle that mess of a relationship!) and make an enemy of Raphael in the process, please feel free to play around with it! The draw of this is Gale's clear interest in Raphael from day dot, and of course they're a rival ship - they can flirt and they can fuck but at the end of the day one of them is going to get the Crown and achieve his goals, and the other one won't, and neither one of them would hesitate to leave the other behind in the dirt. Or, y'know, maybe offer concubinage as a boon, I guess. We also think they'd have absolutely atrocious sex (Raphael being canonically terrible in bed, and I can't really see Gale having experience with actual sex, and not tantric soul-merging in the Weave). Over and done in 90 seconds. It's very endearing.

On Karlach/Astarion: It's them! The gayest hetship you've ever seen! We love these two together. The touch-averse/touch-starved contrast, their unparalleled ability to understand each other and their respective Horrors (something that stands out to me especially is that they were both in slavery until RIGHT AT the beginning of the game, becoming free through luck alone, and now have suddenly gained everything while standing to imminently lose it - and have to figure out how to act like people again) without devolving into awkward and uncomfortable pity, their shared enthusiasm for bloodshed and somewhat questionable ethics (while Karlach certainly is trying her best to be Good, she's incredibly gung-ho about murder, and let's not forget that she eats souls - and if you try to cut her off, she does, like, fully threaten to kill you about it)... Even when they're not romancing each other, one of their first overworld dialogues is about going on a date in the Upper City, and Astarion shows real concern for her wellbeing when you choose between them (and only for her - every other companion he mocks).

Astarion: Darling, healthy relationships are not my, ah, strong point, but even I can tell she loves you. Normally I'd be all for finding an arrangement, but hearts are fragile things at the best of times. And Karlach's? After what she's been through, it will need a very gentle hand. So let's not complicate things, hmm?

Meanwhile, Karlach has this to say.

Anyway! Love them, love their romance, would absolutely love to see more of it. We're suckers for tragic romance, and there's something so appealing about the fact that their needs are kind of opposed? Spawn Astarion in Avernus doesn't have to worry about the sun, or about food, but Karlach has to give up going home, and if she finds a cure, has to wrestle with what it means to ask him to give up a lot of freedom. And if they don't go to Avernus... when playing through the game for the first time, we kept coming back around to the idea of Karlach not giving up on the idea that they could both be cured. Her heart could be fixed! Astarion hasn't been dead long enough he can't be properly resurrected (assuming you have 25000gp worth of diamonds and a veryyyy fancy cleric, anyway), if they could figure out a way to keep his memories intact/restore them to a newly-raised 39yo Astarion! But, well... they're living on borrowed time, for both of them, really, and without a solution for Karlach's heart, he'll lose her. And just like how Karlach can handle to go back to Avernus, if it's with someone she loves at her side, maybe Astarion can handle a lifetime in darkness so long as he has her. The days after she burned were... bad.

These are depressing concepts, but I swear we're connoisseurs of fluff, too! We love tragedy and bittersweet endings and we love curtainfic too, especially if they've had a really hard time getting to that happy ending in the first place (please feel free to make them earn it). There's also plenty of room for mid-canon fic of all sorts, or probably pre-canon alternate meeting stuff if you're creative? If you like writing upsetting character studies through porn, there's definitely something that could be done with the fact that, while their romance can even be completely sexless, Karlach becoming able to touch people again right at the same time she finds out she's dying and Astarion is having his "actually I don't think I want to have sex" realization makes for some big messes potentially - it's so very easy to convince yourself Karlach's owed this, after everything she's been through, and anyway, she's dying. He won't have to keep having sex he doesn't want for that long, will he? SO MANY OPTIONS. Go wild, really.

On Karlach/Wyll/Astarion: Everyone's seen this clip by now, right? Take everything I said above, and add Wyll into the mix! Does he come with them to the Hells? Is he utterly miserable in Baldur's Gate, lying to himself that he can help people the most by being the Grand Duke, and that he's happy here? Free of his pact, or still entrapped? I'm a big fan of Wyll having to deal with his very strict, LG worldview where it comes up against the fact the people he loves are... not that. It's all well and good to be a monster hunter who thinks monsters are hot, but it's a different thing to try and build a life with one. And while Wyll is very quick to flip the switch from 'monster' to 'victim' in his estimation of people, well, at some point you've gotta realize that it's not that simple. Astarion obviously isn't a good person, and again, Karlach is very bloodthirsty in her own right! And eats souls! And at some point the honeymoon period is gonna be over and this relationship is going to have to do some growing, or else.

Fandom-specific DNW exceptions: for navigating the animal harm DNW with Astarion, brief, non-detailed allusions to his canonical pre-game diet are fine, and eating bugs is fine. Drinking the blood of thinking creatures (consenting or otherwise) is also totally fine and can be written in detail if you so desire.

Fandom-specific DNWs: Tav or Durge; EA Wyll or Gale, Ascended Astarion, Mindflayer Karlach, or Selunite Shadowheart (Shadowheart failing to become a Dark Justiciar is fine, even losing her faith, but we'd rather not see her rebounding with Selune or receiving divine magic from her for Plot Reasons); Astarion’s issues with sex and intimacy resolved by either Cazador’s death or True Love (him pretending they are and hurting himself in the process is fine); Gale having been groomed from childhood by Mystra (their having a toxic relationship/power imbalance is fine).

[SAFETY] [Vatican Miracle Examiner] Hiraga Josef Kou/Roberto Nicholas

Where can you find the canon? It's available on Amazon Prime, and if you're in the US and your library is affiliated with hoopla, you can find it there for free!

What do we like about it? Look, we aren't generally Catholicism kink people, but the UST of these gay priests who live together and make home cooked meals and clearly want to bang just so, so bad, and whose love gets dream sequence affirmed by the angels? I'm picking up what they're putting down. The longing! The vows of chastity! The absolute fucking insanity of the casefic! Roberto's horrifying backstory! This show is an incredible romp and we loved it.

Do you want to write domestic fluff? Go for it. 10k of pining? Go for it. Casefic? Sure! Whump one of them in front of the other? Why not!

For an actual prompt... I present you with this tweet:

@robmanuel · May 11
The Vatican are allowed to take part in Eurovision and really it's a missed opportunity that they don't - either gag entries like the Pope rapping from the Pope mobile - or take it 100% serious and write a new hymn every year for square kids to sing at school.

Do with this what you will.

Opting in to art fills for this request!

[SAFETY] [Original Work] Far Future Archaeologist Excavating Site of Nuclear Waste Repository

So, the field of nuclear semiotics is all about figuring out how to communicate to people 10000 years in the future "nuclear waste is buried here and it will kill you". It's super cool, and has lots of incredibly fun quotes - you've probably seen This is not a place of honor. No great deeds were commemorated here. This is a simple request: we'd love to see what you'd do with a far, far future archaeological dig uncovering one of these nuclear waste repositories or something of a similar design, and dig into how it's being interpreted! Is it widely assumed that this is some sort of religious message, a supposed magical curse trapped below like the Minotaur? The bodies of plague victims? Do they take it seriously? Are these messages irrelevant for some reason, like the archaeologists in question being members of some alien or genetically modified race that doesn't have trouble with plutonium and finds all this superstition quaint or misguided?

Worldbuild as much as you want, in whatever direction you want. Have a romance of some sort to explore alongside this dig site? Cool! There's a lot of great sci-fi potential in nuclear semiotics and we'd love to see what you come up with.

Opting in to art fills for this request!

Thanks again for reading, and have a happy Heart Attack!

With love,
graiai

Dear creator,

Thank you for taking the time to look at this letter! We* don’t have a lot of specific prompts for this exchange (beyond the tags themselves), for the most part, but we do have over 1000 words on our likes list, and at the end of the day, we’re very easy to please. Hopefully you find something to inspire you!

*Plural pronouns in this letter are because graiai is a shared account we use for exchanges: if you write for us, don’t be surprised to get two comments!

General Likes

messy relationships; unhealthy aspects of relationships not being brushed over (but the characters also not trying to fix them); relationships that by modern western standards (and maybe the standards of a large portion of the cast) would be considered unacceptable; social mores that don’t match the modern western world, and characters whose social mores don’t match each others’
“us against the world” narratives; “we were always going to end up here” narratives; “no one understands you like i do” narratives; characters making the best of their situations, not unhappy, but not living Happily Ever After, either
father/child and sibling incest (portrayed romantically), pseudo-incest between unrelated characters, mentor/protégé relationships and big-p Platonic teacher/student relationships, erastes/eromenos and dominus/deliciae relationships; age difference, size difference, experience difference, power imbalance, underage (adult/minor and minor/minor)
ideas about sex, sexuality, marriage, gender identity, etc that may differ wildly from our own ideas and between characters; historical or dated constructs of gender/sexuality; arranged marriages considered normal/not inherently abusive
medical realism and its consequences: persistent and permanent injuries, realistic and semi-realistic recovery, healing magic having limitations (and exploring what those are); not shying away from less pretty parts of sex, pregnancy, birth, or having a body in general
emphasis on character voice, characterization, motive, morals, ethics; culture clash; worldbuilding (especially specific medical and legal worldbuilding); character studies; unreliable narrators; limited POVs, outsider POVs, POVs missing context that would recontextualize events considerably
feel free to look at our unconventional fanworks exchange letter for weird format likes!

Domestic/Fluff Likes

romance: established relationships, courting, letter-writing, wedding plans, elopement, family planning; helping pregnant partner give birth, being stuck anxiously/excitedly in the waiting room while pregnant partner gives birth
domesticity: dancing together, playing instruments together/performing duets, doing arts and crafts together, playing chess together, doing tarot spreads, cooking together, helping each other dress or do makeup; tired mornings and late nights, not putting on airs for each other
slice of life: teaching partner how to dance/play an instrument/draw/paint/cook/play chess/etc; taking turns with household responsibilities (chores, childcare, etc); new/first time parents trying their best and maybe doing an okay job of it; (consensual and appropriate) public displays of affection, between lovers or friends
emotionally significant friendships and close friends/confidants; characters having people they can/do go to other than their lover (friends or supportive family); close relationships between female characters and an emphasis on the friendships of female characters; positive sibling relationships and mother/child relationships

Darker Likes

consent issues: noncon (where requested), dubcon, consensual but a bad idea, consensual but it shouldn’t be, and messy/unclear combinations of several of these; power/experience/age imbalances; somnophilia (including comatose characters), necrophilia, and possession
manipulation: gaslighting, mutual manipulation, seduction, “you’re so mature for your age” and similar ploys; unclear lines between victims and aggressors, victims manipulating their abusers/assailants back; stockholm syndrome, lima syndrome, trauma bonding; chess as a mind game/power play, specifically, and chess moves portrayed as acts of violence between the players
forced intimacy: playing at domesticity, nonconsensual PDA, nonconsensual kissing, sleeping beside each other/spooning, rapists performing oral, rapists comforting victims, victims forced to comfort rapists
pain and fear kink: crying/dacryphilia, screaming, uncomfortably detailed loving descriptions of both or either, painful sex, characters in pain kinking on it, characters in pain not kinking on it (their loss!)
injuries or physical trauma: lovingly described acts of violence (consensual and otherwise), genital trauma or mutilation (perineal tearing, episiotomy, castration, fgm/c, tearing from sex, sharp object insertion), amount of blood/injury exaggerated for kink purposes, eye trauma, broken limbs, internal bleeding, childbirth related injuries and medical complications (symphysiotomy or breaking the pelvis for childbirth, broken clavicle or limbs in newborns, emergency hysterectomy, congenital birth defects, low APGAR, etc), short- and long-term medical care and aftermath of injury, trauma, or disability
dark pregnancy-related kinks/topics: (threat of) traumatic miscarriage, forced abortion, unsafe abortions (coathangers, ingesting poisons, trying to induce miscarriage through injury to self)
trouble at home: abusive, controlling, or disapproving (grand)parents, tense home environments, arguments about arranged marriages, inheritance, keeping the baby, childrearing (between parents/children or between coparents or partners)
harm to children: characters who are underage depicted in fic with appropriate neurological development for their ages and developing trauma appropriate to the events of the canon and/or the fic; child soldiers, CSA victims, etc normalizing what they’ve been through, not having the neurological development to understand the impact of events, not understanding their own feelings, enacting their trauma on other children or adults
aftermath: of rape or CSA, of abuse, of wartime or other nonsexual trauma, of injury; impact of trauma on mental and physical health; medical treatment, being forced to deal with the authorities, trying to hide trauma or ‘go back to normal’

Smut Likes

oral fixations: smoking, making out, lip biting, hickies, biting in general, finger sucking, cunnilingus, cockwarming, emetophilia (gag reflexes! morning sickness!)
hand and finger kink: manual stimulation, calluses, pinching breasts, fingering after fucking, weaponizing fingernails, fingers in mouths
intercrural, incomplete penetration/“just the tip”, eunuchs/castration, soft cock kink, small or soft cock handjobs, sex you might have the impulse to call “sex*” or “sex(?)” - where coming isn’t necessarily the goal, where the people involved may not have bodies in the traditional sense, where the people involved may not have sex drives or even understand what sex is
marking/possessiveness: bruising, comeplay, breeding kink, postpartum sex (and kinking on the physical affects of childbirth), gaping, somnophilia
blood and injury: bloody hands, bloody teeth, nosebleeds, tearing from sex or birth, menstrual blood, spotting, episiotomies, postpartum bleeding, amount of blood and injury exaggerated or (bordering) dangerous for kink purposes
romantic incest kink, dd/lg, sibcon, characters who aren’t related acting like they are for horny reasons; kinking on a character’s youth or presumed youth and physical markers typically associated with it (virginity, flat/small breasts, small cock, etc); kinking on a character’s sexual inexperience (in general, with a specific act, with another character’s gender, etc)
medfet: take everything from the general likes list about medical accuracy and apply it to pornography! partners being possessively horny at the OB-GYN, nobody but the reader being horny over lovingly detailed descriptions of medical exams, realistic birthing (but being horny about it), weirdly detailed interludes about period birth control methods? you name it, we’re probably into it

DNWs

DNW any on-screen, referenced, or implied
- skin-related mutilation like flaying, burning, or branding
- harm to animals including meat-eating (just not mentioning what a character is eating is fine)
- shower/bath/rain sex, one character washing or grooming another non-infant character (even consensual aftercare), or onscreen bathing of any kind
- petting, brushing, or playing with hair as a form of consensual intimacy (touching or pulling on it during sex is fine; doing someone’s hair without intimate subtext is fine; nonconsensual and threatening is fine)
- maternal incest or mommykink
in any capacity. If you think 'surely this isn't enough to count for the DNW', it is.

unrequested romantic relationships; unrequested rape/non-con; unrequested trans headcanons or rule 63; cis mpreg and futanari
altered states (drugged, drunk, sex pollen, etc)
formal BDSM, including safewords or the stoplight system and kink negotiation scenes (sex going wrong and agreeing in the moment not to do something particular again is fine)
AUs that drastically change the setting or the core rules of the setting (modern AUs, A/B/O, soulmark AUs, etc… canon divergence AUs including pre-canon divergence points are fine; using 3.5 or 5e rules in a BG3 fic is fine)
“bad ends” (no chance at escape, mindbreak, etc); scat kink (changing a baby’s diaper is fine); onscreen, explicit sexual contact under age 10 (implied or fade to black is fine)

Requests:

[Professional Chess RPF] Magnus Carlsen/Hikaru Nakamura (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply] Arrogant asshole character fucked into submission by Top's incredible skills · Clearly The Fact That We Keep Having Sex Is A Series of Unrelated Bad Decisions · Competence Kink - Rivals Are Incredibly Turned On By Each Other's Talent · Competitiveness in Bed · dubcon - character offers sex to bargain or for a bet; doesn't expect to actually have to pay up · Frenemies with Benefits · Grudging/Horrified One-Sided Attraction to Someone Annoying · Sex As A Match Stipulation · Sex Chicken - 'I won't back down first!' mentality leads to sex · Strip Games

Sooooooooo, maybe it’s just me, but every time one of them mentions that private hotel room six-hour-long blitz match in interviews, the one from when they were 19 and 22 respectively and which Hikaru always calls ‘the worst mistake of [his] career’, I make the vibrating eyeballs emoji from discord in real life. They need to fuck, Your Honor.

Maybe it’s That Night™ (as some of these tags lend themselves to), maybe it’s at any one of the events where they were fighting for #1 and #2, maybe it’s at the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2022, where a blundered rook cost Magnus their game on day one! Maybe the Niemann v. Carlsen lawsuit is going on in the background, building pressure or leading to Magnus and Hikaru spending more time talking to each other than usual due to their lawyers collaborating (or dealing with the potential of the discovery process leaking their personal relationship - if you’re insane enough to write this, feel free to play fast and loose with procedure in the name of drama). Maybe you’ve got your mind on something else entirely, PWP or otherwise! I would never seek to unreasonably restrict the creation of Art.

Background Fabi/Cristian is also great, LOL.

Request-specific DNWs: confirmation that any characters, whether part of the ship or no, have cheated in any OTB games unless admitted or proven IRL (other characters believing as much is fine—just no legit photos surfacing of Ding Liren using an engine in the bathroom stall or similar, please!); Carlsen and Nakamura actually engaging in a conspiracy to knowingly falsely accuse Niemann of cheating.

[Historical RPF] Julius Caesar/Octavian (FIC)

[Rape/Non-con] Character raised to obey male authority figures · Character study through porn · Dirty Talk - Homophobic Dirty Talk · Experience - Non-Penetrative Sex to Preserve Virginity · Foreskin Play · Functionally Meaningless Consent · Greek & Roman Sex Politics · Grooming - Psychological · Masturbation - Character's masturbation is guided/instructed by another · Physical inspection/examination as a show of dominance and control · Victim Honored to Have Aggressor's Attention

Suetonius’ Life of Augustus, 68: “In early youth, he incurred accusations of various disgraces and shameful acts. Sextus Pompey taunted him for his effeminacy; Mark Antony [with the claim] his adoption by his uncle [Caesar] was a reward for submitting to sexual abuse (stuprum); Lucius, brother of Mark Antony, [claimed] that after Caesar plucked [Octavian’s] honor, for 300,000 sesterces he likewise laid down for Aulus Hirtius in Hispania.... Moreover, a bit of wordplay which was universally interpreted by the people as an insult directed at him - and received with the greatest applause - was spoken onstage of a eunuch priest/ess of Magna Mater playing the tambourine: ‘You see how the finger of that catamite beats on his drum/...governs the whole world?’”

Basically: wow, this whole family is fucked up! Tell us about it! Research your little heart out if it pleases you! Straight up porn? Always welcome. Something a little less explicit? Sure! Feeling psychoanalytical and want to tie Caesar and Octavian’s alleged relationship to Augustus’ later…issues, both in and out of the bedroom? Go for it! Maybe Caesar inspected him like a buyer (cf. Sue. Aug. 69) or even *cough* played marbles with the young Octavian (cf. Sue. Aug. 83)! Maybe Caesar was the instigator— maybe Octavian— maybe (if you want to blend historical record and later wholly fictional portrayals) even Atia.

The ‘Foreskin Play’ tag is here regarding penile infibulation, literally using a pin to ensure the foreskin chastely covers the glans. We think it’s hot. Do with this information what you will. The ‘Homophobic Dirty Talk’ tag was selected with Roman-typical derision of free male passivity in mind, not modern attitudes. Think talking about worn-out holes or Caesar touching a young Octavian’s face and calling him ‘my delicate boy’. That vibe. Feel free to ignore the tag entirely if you need to!

Request-specific DNW: modern homophobic slurs, e.g. the f slur, “fairy”, “queer”, etc.

[Rome (2005)] Julius Caesar/Octavian (FIC)

[Rape/Non-con] Character hits head and wakes up in porn movie version of their life · Character raised to obey male authority figures · Dirty Talk - Homophobic Dirty Talk · Fingerfucking - Fucking Partner’s Mouth with Fingers · Fingering After Fucking · Foreskin Play · Functionally Meaningless Consent · Greek & Roman Sex Politics · Grooming - Psychological · Oral - Face-fucking · Physical inspection/examination as a show of dominance and control · Victim Orgasms During Rape and is Ashamed

You’ve seen the Historical RPF version of this request already. You’ll notice the tags on this one are a lot more… penetrative. Look, it’s HBO, and unnecessarily horny clips like the beginning of this scene from Caesar’s triumph changed us irrevocably.

We’re very much willing to play fast and loose with historical accuracy for the sake of horny in this request. If there’s something that’s hard to work around or you just don’t want to bother, that’s totally fine.

As in the Historical RPF request, the ‘Foreskin Play’ tag is here regarding penile infibulation, literally using a pin to ensure the foreskin chastely covers the glans. We think it’s hot. Do with this information what you will. The ‘Homophobic Dirty Talk’ tag was selected with Roman-typical derision of free male passivity in mind, not modern attitudes. Think talking about worn-out holes or Caesar touching a young Octavian’s face and calling him ‘my delicate boy’. That vibe. Feel free to ignore the tag entirely if you need to!

The ‘Character hits head and wakes up in porn movie version of their life’ tag we were envisioning here as actual, real life Octavian hitting his head and waking up in Rome (2005), which we think would be absolutely hilarious. Like, awful for him, I’m sure, don’t get me wrong. But great for us.

Request-specific DNW: modern homophobic slurs, e.g. the f slur, “fairy”, “queer”, etc.

[Rome (2005)] Octavian/Titus Pullo (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage] "Practice" No-Homo Sex Is Actually Real Feelings Sex · Experience - Inexperienced character asks experienced friend to help them 'practice' · Experience - Non-Penetrative Sex to Preserve Virginity · Increasingly transparent attempts to deny that platonic sex-tutoring is actually just sex · Foreskin Play · Masturbation - Character's masturbation is guided/instructed by another · Sparring or Fighting as Foreplay

Look, the tags on this request speak for themselves, really. Would you believe that there is not a single fic for this ship on AO3? Appalling.

Anyway: playing up the age/experience disparity and the expectation that Pullo teach Octavian how to be a man, and the intensely essentialist ideas that Roman society bakes into what a man is and how he acts. Let Pullo wanna fuck Octavian really, really bad. Let Octavian want to be fucked by Pullo! Can they restrain themselves in the face of temptation that would absolutely destroy Pullo’s life?

Going for more of a rom-com than angst or horror energy here, with the caveat that obviously everyone in this show is at least a little evil and unhinged. Horny logic should ultimately win - whether for you that means lingering on the yearning for the forbidden while much more acceptable things, like frotting and intercrural, or it means they actually go for it. Maybe Octavian has to murder a slave to cover it up, I don’t know. Follow your heart.

For the third time now: the ‘Foreskin Play’ tag is here regarding penile infibulation, literally using a pin to ensure the foreskin chastely covers the glans. We think it’s hot. Do with this information what you will. The underage archive warning has been selected alongside NAWA because Octavian is underage by modern standards, and we absolutely do fetishize pederasty and you should feel very free to do so as well if that is your speed, but the characters themselves don’t have any reason to be like ‘that’s a child!’ and we’re not expecting that. Octavian’s the one running the show here, let’s be real.

Request-specific DNW: Pullo depicted as grooming Octavian or their age difference being predatory.

[Baldur’s Gate] Karlach/Zariel (FIC)

[Rape/Non-con, Graphic Depictions of Violence] Competence Kink · Consensual But It Shouldn't Be · Danger/Adrenaline Kink · Degrading Praise · Dub/Noncon - Victim Mouths Off and Makes Things Worse for Self · Falsely Gentle Threatening Touches · Fingerfucking - Fucking Partner’s Mouth with Fingers · Incest - Ancestor/Descendant Incest · Injuries - Blood and Injury · Injuries - Wound Fingering · Medical Care/Repairs as Foreplay · Medical Kink - Victim Used As Anatomy/Medical Practice Dummy · Non-Consensual Body Modification · Physical inspection/examination as a show of dominance and control · Robots - Kinking on Cyborg/Robot/AI Partner's Mechanical Body Parts · Sex After Non-Consensual Body Modification · Size - Size Difference · Torture - Torturer and Victim Both Realize They're Getting Off On It

Obviously this ship was built for noncon, and noncon body modification with incredibly sexualized guro, and regular noncon immediately after or during noncon body modification with incredibly sexualized guro. But we also needn’t be limited to just those options. There are cathedrals everywhere for those with the eyes to see, or however that tweet goes. Karlach was Zariel’s favorite for a decade. Zariel wants her back. Zariel always fought on the front lines of the Blood War alongside her soldiers. Alongside Karlach.

Zariel is also ten feet tall and has claws and a flail replacing one hand and there’s so many horny options here in so many different flavors. We haven’t even touched on the incest yet. The incest really adds something, I gotta tell ya.

We haven’t played/read Descent Into Avernus yet so it’s totally fine if you haven’t. If you have, follow your heart, we don’t mind spoilers.

[Baldur’s Gate] Karlach/Mizora (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-con] Character study through porn · Clearly The Fact That We Keep Having Sex Is A Series of Unrelated Bad Decisions · Characters Turned on By Murder · Competence Kink · Competitiveness in Bed · Consensual But Not Safe Or Sane · Dubcon - Repeated DubCon as Part of a Cat & Mouse Game Between Rivals · Falsely Gentle Threatening Touches · Robots - Kinking on Cyborg/Robot/AI Partner's Mechanical Body Parts

Okay. Look. Yes, Karlach says she never fucked anyone in Avernus. However, personally, if I had been fucking the woman who sent my new friend/maybe boyfriend to kill me and then noncon TF’d him into a devil to punish him for not doing that. I would probably lie. For his sake, really.

Anyway, we don’t know why Mizora sent Wyll to kill Karlach (it wasn’t because she’d escaped, because she hadn’t actually done that yet when Wyll was first sent after her), and we’ve chosen to believe, in the absence of any major evidence to the contrary, it’s because they had a bad breakup and Mizora is a sore loser. We know they knew each other in the hells, and when you sleep with Mizora while romancing Karlach, Mizora offers Karlach a turn. Is there anything else I need to say to convince you?

Morally dubious Karlach is great here - remember, this is a woman who will gladly eat souls for a pick-me-up and threatens to kill you if you stop letting her do that. She can be a little fucked up, as a treat. Maybe there’s some jealousy or competitiveness vying for Zariel’s attention wrapped up in all of this, maybe Mizora was someone Karlach once trusted (or as close as you can get to trusting someone in Avernus) and there’s some deeper personal betrayal going on. Maybe it’s just no-thoughts-only-horny PWP. Up to you!

Background/implied Mizora/Wyll and whatever her relationships are like with her warlocks generally is fine, as is background Karlach/Zariel!

[Baldur’s Gate] Karlach/Wyll, Astarion/Karlach/Wyll (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply] Mutual Masturbation With Intent to Watch Each Other in Lieu of First Time Sex · Characters mutually pining finally get together and have amazing sex · C overhears A/B discussing a fantasy involving them · Dancing as Foreplay · Monstrous transformation does not get in the way of a relationship - it makes things better · Talked to Orgasm · Touch-starved character overwhelmed from seemingly innocent touches · Kiss - CPR Turns Into Kissing · Kiss - "We Lived" Kiss Reveals Feelings · Polyamory - Character in v-shaped relationship gets their lovers together · Threesome - A/B have sex while C watches · Threesome - Established Couple Seducing Third Character

This is the cute one. Wyll is very sweet and doesn’t have a murder kink and he’s a good partner who spurs his loved ones on to generally make good choices. Thank goodness someone here is, huh?

A lot of these tags speak for themselves! Some probably require further explanation. As for the ‘Monstrous transformation…’ tag: Wyll obviously has some (very understandable) body dysphoria due to being turned into a devil! He should get to see some positives too! Whether that’s just how sexy both Karlach and Astarion think his horns are or some fun with the “bumps and prongs in unmentionable places”, ahem. Related to that link, “C overhears A/B discussing a fantasy involving them”... well.

On the CPR tag: look. Does CPR break ribs? Yes. Can that be sexy? Yes, if you’re not a coward. Should Wyll’s ribs get broken and then he gets kissed better? Yes. Yes they should. And thank god someone in this ship has a working heart.

A/B while C watches could be Karlach/Wyll with Astarion watching, or if you can pull off Wyll having sex before Karlach’s heart is fixed maybe she’s the one watching. We aren’t super picky. We ship these three in every iteration. Live your truth. If post-game: we’re very fond of the crew in Avernus, but if you have another resolution in mind that doesn’t go against DNWs, go for it!

If filling Karlach/Wyll: background flirting with or crushing on Astarion by either or both is welcome, as is combining this prompt with the one below. For either ship in this request: past/referenced Mizora/Wyll, Karlach/Mizora, Karlach/Zariel, Astarion/Cazador and/or Astarion/various is fine.

Request-specific DNWs: Tav or Durge; Ascended Astarion or mindflayer Karlach; Astarion’s issues with sex and intimacy resolved by either Cazador’s death or True Love (him pretending they are and hurting himself in the process is fine)

[Baldur’s Gate] Astarion/Karlach (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply] Characters Turned on By Murder · Competence Kink · Danger/Adrenaline Kink · Dubcon sexual relationship develops feelings · Faking Reciprocated Interest to Make Other Character Happy · Fisting with a semi-corporeal hand · Licking Blood off Partner's Face · Masturbation - Character's masturbation is guided/instructed by another · Mutual Masturbation With Intent to Watch Each Other in Lieu of First Time Sex · Sex While Covered In The Blood of Their Enemies · Soft Cock · Talked to Orgasm · Touch-starved character overwhelmed from seemingly innocent touches

We love these two a lot. They have so much in common! Siding with Karlach is the first ‘good’ action that gets you Astarion approval in the game! All of the dialogue they have about each other is incredibly fond and their romance arcs with each other are fantastic! Sometimes I think about them holding hands and I tear up.

Anyway. They’re also murder-horny little freaks who eat people (or, well, souls, in Karlach’s case. See above in the Karlach/Mizora section for more on our opinions about Karlach and morality), and we deserve to see them be murder-horny little freaks in love.

Wanna do Act 1/early Act 2 stuff before Karlach’s heart is fixed with guided masturbation and/or Astarion’s Mage Hand (which in 5e base rules is immune to fire damage)? Hell yeah. Fisting like the tag says is great, and fingering is only not here because we forgot to nominate it—whoops! Wanna do something later on with, like, cuddling and tenderness (while maybe still being a little unhinged)? Love it. Every time on Karlach origin we’d run up to Astarion to check if he has dialogue and they’d be sighing over how beautiful the other was and both of them were always just completely soaked in blood, it was great. You can really lean into that.

The ‘Soft Cock’ tag is here because, look, first of all, we have a fetish, and secondly Astarion is a food-insecure vampire. Surely there are occasions, many of them, especially in Act 2 where almost everything is undead, where Astarion doesn’t have enough blood in his body to have an erection. I cannot overemphasize how you can absolutely not go too far with this one. Hell, the Act 2 dialogue with Raphael explaining Ascension arguably supports the idea that vampires can’t get hard at all no matter how well fed they are (“the arousals and appetites of man will return to him”).

On the dubcon and ‘Faking Reciprocated Interest…’ tags: emphasis there on the ‘catching feelings’, like… we do very much endgame ship them, but that doesn’t mean the road there isn’t rocky, and faking reciprocated sexual interest while not faking reciprocated romantic interest is a mess and a half that would be a lot of fun to explore.

Background flirting with or crushing on Wyll by either or both of them is fine, as is combining this prompt with the prompt above. Past/referenced Karlach/Mizora, Karlach/Zariel, Astarion/Cazador, and Astarion/various is all fine.

Request-specific DNWs: Tav or Durge; Ascended Astarion or mindflayer Karlach; Astarion’s issues with sex and intimacy resolved by either Cazador’s death or True Love (him pretending they are and hurting himself in the process is fine)

[Baldur’s Gate] Astarion/Cazador (FIC)

[Rape/Non-con] Character study through porn · Degrading Praise · Dream sex resulting in real orgasm · Falsely Gentle Threatening Touches · Fingering After Fucking · Injuries - Wound Fingering · Mind Control - Victim Can Still Think And/Or Talk But Can't Control Their Body · Physical inspection/examination as a show of dominance and control · Place - Sex In A Graveyard · Sex After Non-Consensual Body Modification · Sloppy Seconds · Soft Cock

The obligatory vampire incest prompt—and please feel very free to emphasize the incest/pseudocest angle.

Pre-canon? So many options, including Cazador fucking Astarion on his grave, which is certainly the only reason I can fathom why Astarion later propositions the player there. Mid-canon? Imagine the horror of Astarion reliving a memory in trance while in camp and coming back to himself having spent himself! Or something set after a successful kidnapping, I don’t know. Go wild, be creative. Hell, set it before Astarion was even murdered. We’re not at all married to the whole ‘magistrate randomly murdered by monster hunters while a vampire lord just so happened to be nearby’ thing. Literally every part of that could be a lie if you felt so inclined.

On the ‘Soft Cock’ tag, as explained in the prompt above as well: Raphael’s explanation of Ascension arguably implies that vampires are on the whole physiologically incapable of having erections, and that’s super hot, but so is the good old fashioned trope where they can get hard if they’re well-fed. Which… Cazador is, but Astarion generally isn’t. Maybe never. Unless Cazador specifically wants him to be. Ahem.

‘Sloppy Seconds’ probably speaks for itself, but you can throw that ‘Fingering After Fucking’ tag at the exact same scenario if you want! Nobody said that the person doing the fingering and the person doing the fucking had to be the same.

Background/referenced Cazador/Vellioth, Astarion/various, or any variety of ships you can construct among Cazador and his children is fine; if writing something set mid-canon, background Astarion/Karlach or Astarion/Wyll or the three of them together is also fine.

Request-specific DNW waiver: it’s okay to mention Astarion feeding on rats, just please don’t focus on it.

Request-specific DNWs: Tav or Durge; Ascended Astarion; Astarion’s issues with sex and intimacy resolved by either Cazador’s death or True Love (him pretending they are and hurting himself in the process is fine)

Thanks again for reading, and happy S4S!

With love,
graiai

Dear creator,

Thank you for taking the time to look at this letter! I like to think we’re very easy to please. Hopefully you find something to inspire you in our prompts and incredibly long likes list!

(Plural pronouns in this letter are because graiai is a shared account we use for exchanges: if you write for us, don’t be surprised to get two comments!)

General Likes

messy relationships; unhealthy aspects of relationships not being brushed over (but the characters also not trying to fix them); relationships that by modern western standards (and maybe the standards of a large portion of the cast) would be considered unacceptable; social mores that don’t match the modern western world, and characters whose social mores don’t match each others’
“us against the world” narratives; “we were always going to end up here” narratives; “no one understands you like i do” narratives; characters making the best of their situations, not unhappy, but not living Happily Ever After, either
father/child and sibling incest (portrayed romantically), pseudo-incest between unrelated characters, mentor/protégé relationships and big-p Platonic teacher/student relationships, erastes/eromenos and dominus/deliciae relationships; age difference, size difference, experience difference, power imbalance, underage (adult/minor and minor/minor)
ideas about sex, sexuality, marriage, gender identity, etc that may differ wildly from our own ideas and between characters; historical or dated constructs of gender/sexuality; arranged marriages considered normal/not inherently abusive
medical realism and its consequences: persistent and permanent injuries, realistic and semi-realistic recovery, healing magic having limitations (and exploring what those are); not shying away from less pretty parts of sex, pregnancy, birth, or having a body in general
emphasis on character voice, characterization, motive, morals, ethics; culture clash; worldbuilding (especially specific medical and legal worldbuilding); character studies; unreliable narrators; limited POVs, outsider POVs, POVs missing context that would recontextualize events considerably
feel free to look at our unconventional fanworks exchange letter for weird format likes!

Domestic/Fluff Likes

romance: established relationships, courting, letter-writing, wedding plans, elopement, family planning; helping pregnant partner give birth, being stuck anxiously/excitedly in the waiting room while pregnant partner gives birth
domesticity: dancing together, playing instruments together/performing duets, doing arts and crafts together, playing chess together, doing tarot spreads, cooking together, helping each other dress or do makeup; tired mornings and late nights, not putting on airs for each other
slice of life: teaching partner how to dance/play an instrument/draw/paint/cook/play chess/etc; taking turns with household responsibilities (chores, childcare, etc); new/first time parents trying their best and maybe doing an okay job of it; (consensual and appropriate) public displays of affection, between lovers or friends
emotionally significant friendships and close friends/confidants; characters having people they can/do go to other than their lover (friends or supportive family); close relationships between female characters and an emphasis on the friendships of female characters; positive sibling relationships and mother/child relationships

Darker Likes

consent issues: noncon (where requested), dubcon, consensual but a bad idea, consensual but it shouldn’t be, and messy/unclear combinations of several of these; power/experience/age imbalances; somnophilia (including comatose characters), necrophilia, and possession
manipulation: gaslighting, mutual manipulation, seduction, “you’re so mature for your age” and similar ploys; unclear lines between victims and aggressors, victims manipulating their abusers/assailants back; stockholm syndrome, lima syndrome, trauma bonding; chess as a mind game/power play, specifically, and chess moves portrayed as acts of violence between the players
forced intimacy: playing at domesticity, nonconsensual PDA, nonconsensual kissing, sleeping beside each other/spooning, rapists performing oral, rapists comforting victims, victims forced to comfort rapists
pain and fear kink: crying/dacryphilia, screaming, uncomfortably detailed loving descriptions of both or either, painful sex, characters in pain kinking on it, characters in pain not kinking on it (their loss!)
injuries or physical trauma: lovingly described acts of violence (consensual and otherwise), genital trauma or mutilation (perineal tearing, episiotomy, castration, fgm/c, tearing from sex, sharp object insertion), amount of blood/injury exaggerated for kink purposes, eye trauma, broken limbs, internal bleeding, childbirth related injuries and medical complications (symphysiotomy or breaking the pelvis for childbirth, broken clavicle or limbs in newborns, emergency hysterectomy, congenital birth defects, low APGAR, etc), short- and long-term medical care and aftermath of injury, trauma, or disability
dark pregnancy-related kinks/topics: (threat of) traumatic miscarriage, forced abortion, unsafe abortions (coathangers, ingesting poisons, trying to induce miscarriage through injury to self)
trouble at home: abusive, controlling, or disapproving (grand)parents, tense home environments, arguments about arranged marriages, inheritance, keeping the baby, childrearing (between parents/children or between coparents or partners)
harm to children: characters who are underage depicted in fic with appropriate neurological development for their ages and developing trauma appropriate to the events of the canon and/or the fic; child soldiers, CSA victims, etc normalizing what they’ve been through, not having the neurological development to understand the impact of events, not understanding their own feelings, enacting their trauma on other children or adults
aftermath: of rape or CSA, of abuse, of wartime or other nonsexual trauma, of injury; impact of trauma on mental and physical health; medical treatment, being forced to deal with the authorities, trying to hide trauma or ‘go back to normal’

Smut Likes

oral fixations: smoking, making out, lip biting, hickies, biting in general, finger sucking, cunnilingus, cockwarming, emetophilia (gag reflexes! morning sickness!)
hand and finger kink: manual stimulation, calluses, pinching breasts, fingering after fucking, weaponizing fingernails, fingers in mouths
intercrural, incomplete penetration/“just the tip”, eunuchs/castration, soft cock kink, small or soft cock handjobs, sex you might have the impulse to call “sex*” or “sex(?)” - where coming isn’t necessarily the goal, where the people involved may not have bodies in the traditional sense, where the people involved may not have sex drives or even understand what sex is
marking/possessiveness: bruising, comeplay, breeding kink, postpartum sex (and kinking on the physical affects of childbirth), gaping, somnophilia
blood and injury: bloody hands, bloody teeth, nosebleeds, tearing from sex or birth, menstrual blood, spotting, episiotomies, postpartum bleeding, amount of blood and injury exaggerated or (bordering) dangerous for kink purposes
romantic incest kink, dd/lg, sibcon, characters who aren’t related acting like they are for horny reasons; kinking on a character’s youth or presumed youth and physical markers typically associated with it (virginity, flat/small breasts, small cock, etc); kinking on a character’s sexual inexperience (in general, with a specific act, with another character’s gender, etc)
medfet: take everything from the general likes list about medical accuracy and apply it to pornography! partners being possessively horny at the OB-GYN, nobody but the reader being horny over lovingly detailed descriptions of medical exams, realistic birthing (but being horny about it), weirdly detailed interludes about period birth control methods? you name it, we’re probably into it

Art Likes

mediums and styles/movements: pen, pencil, charcoal, etching, woodcut, watercolor, oils, digital art, sequential art, mosaic, tapestry; art deco, art nouveau, baroque, expressionism, fauvism, precisionism/cubist realism, surrealism
color and shading: black & white, spot color, limited palettes, flat color, black-figure (greek technique); hatching, line contouring, stippling
imagery: symbolism, occult imagery (tarot, etc), historical composition techniques, pastiches of saints’ iconography for canons that play with christian imagery
subjects: (see domestic, darker, & smut likes) — technically nonsexual art that still feels kinky somehow, in your bones; hands and fingers and dynamic hand positions (playing instruments, smoking, fingers in mouths, etc); artistic and heavily stylized violence

DNWs

any on-screen, referenced, or implied
- skin-related mutilation like flaying, burning, or branding
- harm to animals including meat-eating (just not mentioning what a character is eating is fine)
- shower/bath/rain sex, one character washing or grooming another non-infant character (even consensual aftercare), or onscreen bathing of any kind
- petting, brushing, or playing with hair as a form of intimacy (touching or pulling on it during sex is fine; doing someone’s hair without intimate subtext is fine)
- maternal incest or mommykink
in any capacity. If you think 'surely this isn't enough to count for the DNW', it is.
unrequested romantic relationships; unrequested rape/non-con; unrequested trans headcanons or rule 63; cis mpreg and futanari
AUs that drastically change the setting or the core rules of the setting (modern AUs, A/B/O, soulmark AUs, etc… canon divergence AUs including pre-canon divergence points are fine)
“bad ends” (no chance at escape, mindbreak, etc); scat kink (changing a baby’s diaper is fine); onscreen, explicit sexual contact under age 10 (implied or fade to black is fine)
altered states (drugged, drunk, sex pollen, etc; off-hand references to characters drinking wine is fine)
art DNWs: furries and candy gore; exaggerated breast size, OTT ahegao (stuff like heart shaped pupils or gasping open-mouthed is fine), graphic depiction of unclothed erections (soft cocks ok - nonsexual nudity, castration, HRT all welcome!)

Requests are divided by fandom and ship.

Rome (2005)

Gaius Julius Caesar (adult)/Octavian (child) (TEEN) (R/NC) (FIC WITH SMUT)

While we're requesting the HBO show this time, and not straight up historical RPF, feel free to take as much real-world inspiration as you like - or as little! No-citations-only-horny is always, always loved for this canon, so don't look at the paragraphs I'm about to copy/paste out of an old RPF request and assume that perfect historical accuracy is the only way we'd want to see this ship!

From our Relationshipping 2023 signup:

Suetonius' Life of Augustus, 68: "In early youth, he incurred accusations of various disgraces and shameful acts. Sextus Pompey taunted him for his effeminacy; Mark Antony [with the claim] his adoption by his uncle [Caesar] was a reward for submitting to sexual abuse (stuprum); Lucius, brother of Mark Antony, [claimed] that after Caesar plucked his honor (pudicitiam), for 300,000 sesterces he likewise laid down for Aulus Hirtius in Hispania.... Moreover, a bit of wordplay which was universally interpreted by the people as an insult directed at him - and received with the greatest applause - was spoken onstage of a eunuch priest/ess of Magna Mater playing the tambourine: 'You see how the finger of that catamite (cinaedus) beats on his drum/...governs the whole world?'"

Basically: wow, this whole family is fucked up! Tell us about it! Research your little heart out if it pleases you! Straight up porn? Always welcome. Something a little less explicit? Sure! Feeling psychoanalytical and want to tie Caesar and Octavian's alleged relationship to Augustus' later...issues, both in and out of the bedroom? Go for it! Maybe Caesar inspected him like a buyer (cf. Sue. Aug. 69) or even *cough* played marbles with the young Octavian (cf. Sue. Aug. 83)! Maybe Caesar was the instigator-- maybe Octavian-- maybe (if you want to blend historical record and later wholly fictional portrayals) even Atia.

Again - don't let the citations scare you off, we're always here for iddy Rome-flavored incest. This request matches on the teen age bracket, but if you want to write something that involves longer-term grooming that starts younger than ~14 that's totally fine!

Request-specific DNW waiver: Non-con is totally fine for this request, including overt, intentional "forceful" rape and one or more characters considering what happened rape.

Octavia (child)/Octavian (child) (TEEN) (R/NC) (FIC WITH SMUT)

It's been years and honestly I still can't believe HBO gave us canon Octavia/Octavian. This one absolutely can (and probably should) play a bit fast and loose with history, but if you're galaxy brained and can make an argument for something more grounded in reality, who are we to stop you?

The general Roman attitude towards incest ("no public accusations until after the girl's safely married, so it won't negatively impact her prospects") may or may not work in Octavia's favor here. Atia's opinions? God, who even knows what's going on there. Follow your heart.

Request-specific DNW waiver: Non-con is fine for this request.

Final Fantasy XII

Larsa Ferrinas Solidor (child)/Basch fon Ronsenburg (adult) (TWEEN) (R/NC) (FIC WITH SMUT)

We have a lot to say about this ship, and we've said a lot in the past already. I'm lazy, so I'll just copy/paste it here now. This text is from CIEX '22!

So, what we were thinking of with this one is, Basch is the new Judge Gabranth. Wonderful! Only one problem: he’s a better person than his brother was, and Larsa expects certain things from his Judge that Basch doesn’t want to give him. Not that it matters, really.

Maybe this is immediately post-game, and Larsa’s grief over Gabranth the first’s death and lack of any models for healthy boundaries and relationships get Basch in over his head. ~~Maybe this is years on, and Larsa’s old enough now that he can understand what’s wrong here, if only Basch could admit to Larsa that he’s never been a consensual party to this.~~

We’re always glad to see background/past (Noah) Gabranth/Larsa, Vayne/Larsa, and/or Basch/Gabranth; if other background relationships feel useful for exploring the mental health situation here (with other cano n characters or with OCs, even), go for it!

And here's another one from Smut 4 Smut '22:

We’re really interested in exploring the relationship between Basch and Larsa in the epilogue, particularly in the context of past Gabranth/Larsa, Vayne/Larsa, and/or Basch/Gabranth. Milk it for as much psychological drama (and trauma) as you like! Is Basch pretending to be interested in Larsa as part and parcel of taking on his brother’s identity? If so, what spurred this on in the first place, that Basch isn’t just enforcing normal boundaries? Or is Basch actually attracted to Larsa, for his own sake or for some twisted sense of emotional closeness, Larsa now being the closest Basch can get to being with Gabranth again?

Request-specific DNW: Any Larsa ship being portrayed as unambiguously healthy and good for him.

Request-specific DNW waiver: Non-con is totally fine for this request, including overt, intentional "forceful" rape and one or more characters considering what happened rape.

Gabranth (adult)/Larsa Ferrinas Solidor (child), Vayne Carudas Solidor (adult)/Larsa Ferrinas Solidor (child) (TWEEN) (R/NC) (FIC WITH SMUT)

Look... the game really says it all already for these ships. We'd love to see Larsa in Situations™ at the hands of the adults in his life who should have been protecting him.

Request-specific DNW waiver: Non-con is totally fine for this request, including overt, intentional "forceful" rape and one or more characters considering what happened rape. Well. Larsa probably doesn't, but that's also intentional.

Final Fantasy XIV

Lyon rem Helsos (adult)/Menenius sas Lanatus (child) (TEEN) (R/NC) (FIC WITH SMUT)

This is an admittedly unhinged request, and I'll let past us explain it. From S4S '22:

A bit of lore background: when Menenius was 15 (what appears to be Garlean age of majority) Lyon was 28. Menenius was also most likely still, eh, 4’10” on a good day, and Lyon was a close confidant of the man who pressured his father into marrying his mother and adopting him. So while today they’re clearly an old married couple, the early days of their relationship may have been a bit… messier. Please milk this for as much sexy political drama as you desire.

We’d love something from the first months or years they were together, when Menenius might have found himself set up with a brash older mentor and all the expectations of sexual favors therein (whether Menenius is intimidated, afraid, or just expecting to view their relationship as just another chore expected by his parents), only for the both of them to catch feelings for each other after all.

Request-specific DNW waiver: Non-con is OK for this request, but nothing overt/intentional, i.e., a sexual encounter or relationship can absolutely be what in the real world we'd consider sexual abuse or assault, and the narrative and characters can treat it as such, but we don't want to see Lyon pinning Menenius down and in his own perception of events committing rape. Menenius playacting consent because he thinks all of this is inevitable, stuff like that, that's totally fine. We're also very much interested in the ship being completely consensual, within the limits of the context, but the characters aware of and engaging with how fucked up the situation is.

Gaius van Baelsar (adult)/Alfonse bas Baelsar (child) (TEEN) (R/NC) (FIC WITH SMUT)

If only there was something Alfonse could do to show Father how grateful he is!

That's it, that's the prompt. The game really gives us everything you need. Alfonse coming onto Gaius because he thinks that food and shelter has a price tag? Gaius grooming him? Combining this ship with Gaius/Livia and doing a weird incestuous threesome? Please, really, follow your heart.

The requested age category for this was Teen but if you want to write first time fic or long term grooming or what-have-you, going down into Tween age range is totally welcome too!

Request-specific DNW: minimizing the familial relationships of the characters because the kids are adopted; Gaius/Livia shipbashing.

Request-specific DNW waiver: Actual non-con is OK for this request, but please no violent, overt assault. Basically, grooming is fine, incredibly unhealthy relationship dynamics are fine, but we don't want Gaius pinning Alfonse down and, in his own words, raping him - ideally Gaius has convinced himself that this is a consensual relationship, even if Alfonse absolutely would not agree (and Alfonse's POV considering this rape is totally fine!)

Nael van Darnus (adult)/Milisandia bas Baelsar (child) (TEEN) (R/NC) (FIC WITH SMUT)

There's one sentence in the Ruby Weapon quest where Gaius says something along the lines of "I didn't realize Milisandia was so close to van Darnus" and we're incredibly, incredibly normal about it.

Request-specific DNW waiver: Canon-compliant Eula mindbreak/tempering stuff is fine!

Lahabrea (adult)/Elidibus (child) (TEEN) (R/NC) (FIC WITH SMUT)

These two make me feel emotions previously known only to shrimp. The exchange they have in 2.x lives rent free in our brains forever...

L: By my will--
E: By His will.
L: ...by His will.

...and so will Pandaemonium's "Then say my name."

We love them as weenwoons, we love them as horrifying eldritch abominations a la Hades' let us show each other our true faces, we love them as the very Athenian experienced man and beautiful hairless youth, we love them as an insane, evil ghost possessing some unfortunate Hyur and the amalgam of a dead planet's hopes and dreams poorly approximating the child he sacrificed to create a god who would ultimately fail to bring salvation. Just... these two. My god.

Pandaemonium brought us some fun and interesting details, like wouldn't it be fun and sexy if Elidibus had been intimate with Lahabrea already but only known him as his half-souled self, all his most violent and uninhibited tendencies removed? Wouldn't it be so incredibly hot to see newly-whole Lahabrea absolutely obliterate this twink? For that matter, Themis is the name of Gaia's daughter in Greek mythology (as Erichthonios is really Hephaistos and Athena's son), and Gaia-Loghrif was the original Convocation member set to become the Heart of Zodiark. What changed? Why Themis-Elidibus? Did Mitron and Loghrif go to Lahabrea for assistance creating a soul custom-made for the duty? Was Elidibus born to be sacrificed?

...Wouldn't it be hot if he was?

Basically anything you could think of to do with these two will make us go insane. Bonus points if Elidibus' piano-playing (see the cover art for the Shadowbringers piano collections and Soken's Elidibus cosplays at Fanfest) is involved here at all - we have a relentless hand and finger kink, not to mention a teacher/student kink.

For bodies, especially with genitalia and sex acts: feel free to go weird with it, if you want! Human limitations absolutely need not apply (weird xenobio? dualsexed characteristics? no genitalia at all?), but we also won't be at all upset if you want to keep things traditional.

The age category requested was Teen but they're weird immortal alien creatures and also Lahabrea might have created Elidibus, so if you want to have elements of the fic go younger than that that's fine too!

Request-specific DNW: if Lahabrea has a vagina, please don't make him the receptive party to PIV or cunnilingus!

Request-specific DNW waiver: Canon-typical mindbreak/tempering is absolutely welcome (including Lahabrea being tempered by Zodiark - feel 100% free to completely ignore Endwalker's revisionism on that), and non-con is also totally fine, with the same caveat as usual to avoid overt, "pinned down and screaming" style sexual assault. Grooming, manipulation, complete incapability to consent is all perfectly welcome!

Ameliance Leveilleur (child)/Fourchenault Leveilleur (child), Ameliance Leveilleur (adult)/Fourchenault Leveilleur (child) (TEEN) (NAWA) (FIC WITH SMUT) (FIC WITHOUT SMUT)

To start out with here I'm gonna copy/paste a section of an old Storkswap letter - if you, too, are an individual of taste and refinement and love pregnancy and kidfic, feel 100% free to write some teen pregnancy or overwhelmed teenage parents in a toxic household for us, but you can also ignore that element completely! Either way, it's a helpful infodump.

According to the AST 80 quest, Sharlayan nobility and other wealthy families practice arranged child marriage. Depending on how you choose to interpret characters’ ages and the game’s timeline, Fourchenault could’ve reasonably been anywhere from 17-24 when the twins were born (17 if the ages listed in the lorebook are at a character’s first appearance and the timeline is analogous to the expansions’ real-time release dates, as Yoshi-P referenced in LL68; 24 if no/a very short time has passed, the twins are 16 now, and weren’t lying about their ages in ARR). He was also very likely pre-growth spurt ;)

Maybe Fourchenault and Ameliance were betrothed from childhood and happy to marry; maybe they fell in love while one or both was engaged to another, and had to, ah, convince their families that it would be much less of a scandal if they were allowed to dissolve their engagements and wed each other; maybe, if Fourchenault was a little older when the twins were born, he and Ameliance conceived while he was (gasp!) married to the girl his parents picked for him. Maybe they’ve known each other their whole lives, maybe their families are long-time political rivals, or maybe Fourchenault met Ameliance in Garlemald when he went there to try and secure a peace treaty shortly before the twins were born.

You can also go less canon, more iddy with this! We're always in favor of ignoring canon timelines for horny reasons in this household. Basically, we just want to see Sharlayan child marriage stuff here, and we always love teacup elves. If you want to make Ameliance a little bit older (and already tall) that's very sexy, we think! We've loved these two since back when Fourchenault was just a blurry face in the Encyclopedia and Ameliance didn't have a name. We've been talking about their sex lives for - I'm dead serious - four years now. We would love fic of them so so so much.

Jannequinard de Durendaire (adult)/Leveva Byrde (child) (TEEN) (NAWA) (FIC WITH SMUT) (FIC WITHOUT SMUT)

ASTROLOGIENCE.

Ahem. Sorry.

We love these two. We love sappy romance. We love pregnancy and kidfic and we love marriage and we love Janne blackmailing his family into agreeing to him marrying a foreign Hyur girl and we love Leveva betrothed to Janne from birth because Sharlayan Rufin knew who he'd be able to trust with his daughter and we love weird time-manipulation porn and really basically anything you could possibly give us. Please. Oh my god.

Canon is a fuck and has been retconned a million times, but the original version has the largest age gap and is therefore the sexiest. To quote Storkswap:

Listen, the Bole is in the eighth house right now and that means Janne and Leveva are going to have a baby. Or something.

This is a super straightforward request, to be honest, and the tags all speak for themselves: they’re in love, they should get married, they should maybe have seen the condom breaking coming, what with being professional fortune-tellers and all, and if Leveva’s showing a bit at the wedding, well, that’s fate. We’re looking for canon-typical romcom hijinks, canon-typical long-winded astrology jokes, and canon-typical attempts on Jannequinard’s life and the lives of anyone he cares about (usually but not exclusively by his father and uncle).

These quests have been retconned several times, but we tend to prefer their first iteration, which has the largest age gap (Janne in his 40s and Leveva 16) and places Janne as Charlemend’s second son*—Carvallain’s younger brother—but third in line after Carvallain and then their baby cousin Ronantain. Janne is probably Leveva’s godfather under Sharlayan law, but what the Holy See doesn’t know can’t hurt it!

*Or perhaps publicly recognized as his son but actually Charlemend's brother's bastard by his wife!

And to quote our last Smut 4 Smut sign-up:

Please, please, I beg of you, let them fuck. We are desperate for any and all content for this pairing. It can be as romantic and sappy or as ‘no thoughts, only horny’ as you want. Have fun with AST artifact gear (all that jewelry!), or the size/age/experience difference, or Janne’s history with Leveva’s father, or even the horny potential of the AST skills themselves? Sex under the effects of the now-removed Time Dilation, or the still-extant Lightspeed, would be incredible for the freeform “Fucked While Time is Stopped”, and the “Sharing Physical Pleasure Through Soul Bond” tag was picked with Synastry in mind. “Generate an aetheric bond with target”? Don’t mind if I do.

Don't want to write them fucking? Do, for some reason, want to write a lot of logistics for Jannequinard getting a Sharlayan green card or Leveva converting to Elf Catholicism so they can get married in the church? Absolutely, completely, obsessively welcome. Or Janne opening up to Leveva about the trauma he has from her father, the once love of his life, dying in his arms because his own father colluded with the Forum to put a hit out on him? (openly sobbing)

I cannot express enough, literally whatever you want to write for these two, we will probably love to absolute bits.

Request-specific DNW: Transmasculine interpretations of Leveva using her father's name after she fakes her death.

Rufin Byrde (adult)/Jannequinard de Durendaire (child), Rufin Byrde (child)/Jannequinard de Durendaire (child) (TEEN) (NAWA) (FIC WITH SMUT) (FIC WITHOUT SMUT)

I'm gonna just copy over Smut 4 Smut again here:

Once again, really, we’d love to see anything for this ship, honestly. Their slow-burn flirtation when Janne was put to work copying tomes for Mace, and their first time? Rufin getting incredibly horny over Jannequinard successfully defending his dissertation? We’d love to see either early-relationship stuff for this ship (the fact Janne must have still been a teacup elf when they started dating, and might even have still been when Rufin passed, is absolutely worth exploring) or Jannequinard mourning Rufin years later equally—you can also feel free to combine this request with the Janne/Leveva one! We absolutely believe that Rufin was the love of Janne’s early life and Leveva the love of his adult one.

No request-specific DNWs, but one request-specific DNW waiver: Leveva’s mom being brought up is fine! We prefer Jannequinard and Rufin’s affair to be one all three of them were fine with, Rufin and his wife’s marriage being arranged and friendly but not particularly more than that, but if there’s a story you want to tell that doesn’t quite adhere to that, that’s totally fine, too!

We'd love porn, we'd love extremely sad fic about teenage Janne holding Rufin while he bleeds out in his arms (and Janne too panicked and inexperienced to succeed in casting any of the healing magicks that might have been able to save Rufin's life...), we'd love weird little slice of life fic worldbuilding their youth together in Sharlayan after Janne was sent there as the tiniest of little teacup elves (he's 0 on the height slider and was like twelve when he was sent to live with the Byrdes!). Throw the canon timeline out the window if you want! Have them be in Old Sharlayan proper and not the colony! Follow your heart, let them kiss, let them have heartfelt conversations about how they'll still be the most important people in each other's lives after Rufin's wedding! Let Janne be the ringbearer!

(incoherent screaming)

The age category requested for this was Teen but you can go younger than that, too!

Leveva Byrde (child)/Alisaie Leveilleur (child) (TEEN) (NAWA) (FIC WITH SMUT) (FIC WITHOUT SMUT)

What if Leveva took Elf French classes on weekends with the twins, and what if she and Alisaie made out? That's it, that's the prompt.

As always, any worldbuilding you might want to do for Sharlayan and wrap into this is incredibly, incredibly welcome, as is going a little younger than the request technically says!

Final Fantasy XVI

Cidolfus Telamon (adult)/Benedikta Harman (child) (TEEN) (NAWA) (FIC WITH SMUT)

Look, I'm gonna keep this short and sweet: this game sucked, Benedikta deserves so much better, and also we don't care what Ultimania says, or the game itself for that matter. Full narrative revisionism here if it suits us: for example, Cid actually treating Benedikta well! If you're particularly invested in something from the new Ultimania lore and want to write that, go for it, but if you're insane like us and are like 'actually, no, I came up with Benedikta's whole backstory in my heart already just based on the game' this is your invitation to write exactly that.

We're big on Benedikta and Cid being Mid's bioparents (Bene'd've been 17 when Mid was born if we go by her Ultimania age), and we'd love fic about that! We'd love fic about Bene discovering what it's like to be cared for and have her own desires and needs taken into account and what it's like to discover she is, for once, not scared of a man in her life!

Hugo Kupka (adult)/Benedikta Harman (child) (TEEN) (NAWA) (FIC WITH SMUT)

BENEDIKTA AND HUGO WERE IN LOVE AND THE FINAL FANTASY SIXTEEN DEVS CAN SUCK MY DICK FOR ALL I CARE.

Ahem. Thank you.

As per the Cid/Bene request: ignore whatever from canon or from Ultimania doesn't suit you! We can be the change we want to see in the world, and we can give Benedikta a story that actually treats her halfway decently - and for that matter, makes a little bit of sense! If you have headcanons that don't mesh with the lore, we want to see your headcanons way more, I promise!

Absolutely obsessed with Benedikta discovering the feeling of being loved and cherished and having her desires and needs taken into account and not being treated as an object. With Hugo especially, with their incredible size difference, and maybe a not-insignificant age difference too, Benedikta coming to the realization that she's not the least bit afraid of him, and how safe she feels with him, and how powerful that makes her feel. He would never, ever hurt her: she's sure of this, and she's right, and he might very well be the only person in her life that's actually true of (more negative takes on Cid in the background or history of endgame Bene/Hugo is fine for this request!).

I vaguely have this headcanon about Hugo having been a child soldier before he awoke as a Dominant, and Hugo and Benedikta being able to connect with each other on this level of having actually spent a great deal of their lives truly helpless, something that just isn't really true for Barnabas or Cid, certainly not to the same extent. Feel free to run with that, or go with something else that speaks to you - this request at its core is really just all about giving Benedikta some goddamn agency, and if you do that we'll love you forever.

Sleipnir Harbard (adult)/Barnabas Tharmr (child) (TEEN) (NAWA) (FIC WITH SMUT)

Okay so once again, we recognize that Ultimania just came out, but we do not care literally at all about keeping "canon compliant". Wouldn't it be fun and cool actually if Dominants awoken generally younger (X-Men puberty metaphor style), and maybe Barnabas' mom died when he was younger and more vulnerable, too, so when he awakens as Odin his newfound power gives him a companion in the form of...whatever the fuck Sleipnir is? A very sexy twink, when you're a hormonal teen, and and an emotional support magic horse to boot! What more could a boy ask for?

DNW note: the game obviously flirts with an incestuous relationship between Barnabas and his mom, or at the very least something Freudian going on there. Canon-typical grief is fine, very brief allusions to CSA are fine if necessary, but please under no circumstances put any explicit details about a sexual relationship between the two of them in the fic, and please do not depict it as consensual.

Thanks again for reading, and happy KCF!

With love,
graiai

General Likes

messy relationships; unhealthy aspects of relationships not being brushed over (but the characters also not trying to fix them); relationships that by modern western standards (and maybe the standards of a large portion of the cast) would be considered unacceptable; social mores that don’t match the modern western world, and characters whose social mores don’t match each others’
“us against the world” narratives; “we were always going to end up here” narratives; “no one understands you like i do” narratives; characters making the best of their situations, not unhappy, but not living Happily Ever After, either
father/child and sibling incest (portrayed romantically), pseudo-incest between unrelated characters, mentor/protégé relationships and big-p Platonic teacher/student relationships, erastes/eromenos and dominus/deliciae relationships; age difference, size difference, experience difference, power imbalance, underage (adult/minor and minor/minor)
ideas about sex, sexuality, marriage, gender identity, etc that may differ wildly from our own ideas and between characters; historical or dated constructs of gender/sexuality; arranged marriages considered normal/not inherently abusive
medical realism and its consequences: persistent and permanent injuries, realistic and semi-realistic recovery, healing magic having limitations (and exploring what those are); not shying away from less pretty parts of sex, pregnancy, birth, or having a body in general
emphasis on character voice, characterization, motive, morals, ethics; culture clash; worldbuilding (especially specific medical and legal worldbuilding); character studies; unreliable narrators; limited POVs, outsider POVs, POVs missing context that would recontextualize events considerably
feel free to look at our unconventional fanworks exchange letter for weird format likes!

Domestic/Fluff Likes

romance: established relationships, courting, letter-writing, wedding plans, elopement, family planning; helping pregnant partner give birth, being stuck anxiously/excitedly in the waiting room while pregnant partner gives birth
domesticity: dancing together, playing instruments together/performing duets, doing arts and crafts together, playing chess together, doing tarot spreads, cooking together, helping each other dress or do makeup; tired mornings and late nights, not putting on airs for each other
slice of life: teaching partner how to dance/play an instrument/draw/paint/cook/play chess/etc; taking turns with household responsibilities (chores, childcare, etc); new/first time parents trying their best and maybe doing an okay job of it; (consensual and appropriate) public displays of affection, between lovers or friends
emotionally significant friendships and close friends/confidants; characters having people they can/do go to other than their lover (friends or supportive family); close relationships between female characters and an emphasis on the friendships of female characters; positive sibling relationships and mother/child relationships

Darker Likes

consent issues: noncon (where requested), dubcon, consensual but a bad idea, consensual but it shouldn’t be, and messy/unclear combinations of several of these; power/experience/age imbalances; somnophilia (including comatose characters), necrophilia, and possession
manipulation: gaslighting, mutual manipulation, seduction, “you’re so mature for your age” and similar ploys; unclear lines between victims and aggressors, victims manipulating their abusers/assailants back; stockholm syndrome, lima syndrome, trauma bonding; chess as a mind game/power play, specifically, and chess moves portrayed as acts of violence between the players
forced intimacy: playing at domesticity, nonconsensual PDA, nonconsensual kissing, sleeping beside each other/spooning, rapists performing oral, rapists comforting victims, victims forced to comfort rapists
pain and fear kink: crying/dacryphilia, screaming, uncomfortably detailed loving descriptions of both or either, painful sex, characters in pain kinking on it, characters in pain not kinking on it (their loss!)
injuries or physical trauma: lovingly described acts of violence (consensual and otherwise), genital trauma or mutilation (perineal tearing, episiotomy, castration, fgm/c, tearing from sex, sharp object insertion), amount of blood/injury exaggerated for kink purposes, eye trauma, broken limbs, internal bleeding, childbirth related injuries and medical complications (symphysiotomy or breaking the pelvis for childbirth, broken clavicle or limbs in newborns, emergency hysterectomy, congenital birth defects, low APGAR, etc), short- and long-term medical care and aftermath of injury, trauma, or disability
dark pregnancy-related kinks/topics: (threat of) traumatic miscarriage, forced abortion, unsafe abortions (coathangers, ingesting poisons, trying to induce miscarriage through injury to self)
trouble at home: abusive, controlling, or disapproving (grand)parents, tense home environments, arguments about arranged marriages, inheritance, keeping the baby, childrearing (between parents/children or between coparents or partners)
harm to children: characters who are underage depicted in fic with appropriate neurological development for their ages and developing trauma appropriate to the events of the canon and/or the fic; child soldiers, CSA victims, etc normalizing what they’ve been through, not having the neurological development to understand the impact of events, not understanding their own feelings, enacting their trauma on other children or adults
aftermath: of rape or CSA, of abuse, of wartime or other nonsexual trauma, of injury; impact of trauma on mental and physical health; medical treatment, being forced to deal with the authorities, trying to hide trauma or ‘go back to normal’

Smut Likes

oral fixations: smoking, making out, lip biting, hickies, biting in general, finger sucking, cunnilingus, cockwarming, emetophilia (gag reflexes! morning sickness!)
hand and finger kink: manual stimulation, calluses, pinching breasts, fingering after fucking, weaponizing fingernails, fingers in mouths
intercrural, incomplete penetration/“just the tip”, eunuchs/castration, soft cock kink, small or soft cock handjobs, sex you might have the impulse to call “sex*” or “sex(?)” - where coming isn’t necessarily the goal, where the people involved may not have bodies in the traditional sense, where the people involved may not have sex drives or even understand what sex is
marking/possessiveness: bruising, comeplay, breeding kink, postpartum sex (and kinking on the physical affects of childbirth), gaping, somnophilia
blood and injury: bloody hands, bloody teeth, nosebleeds, tearing from sex or birth, menstrual blood, spotting, episiotomies, postpartum bleeding, amount of blood and injury exaggerated or (bordering) dangerous for kink purposes
romantic incest kink, dd/lg, sibcon, characters who aren’t related acting like they are for horny reasons; kinking on a character’s youth or presumed youth and physical markers typically associated with it (virginity, flat/small breasts, small cock, etc); kinking on a character’s sexual inexperience (in general, with a specific act, with another character’s gender, etc)
medfet: take everything from the general likes list about medical accuracy and apply it to pornography! partners being possessively horny at the OB-GYN, nobody but the reader being horny over lovingly detailed descriptions of medical exams, realistic birthing (but being horny about it), weirdly detailed interludes about period birth control methods? you name it, we’re probably into it

Art Likes

mediums and styles/movements: pen, pencil, charcoal, etching, woodcut, watercolor, oils, digital art, sequential art, mosaic, tapestry; art deco, art nouveau, baroque, expressionism, fauvism, precisionism/cubist realism, surrealism
color and shading: black & white, spot color, limited palettes, flat color, black-figure (greek technique); hatching, line contouring, stippling
imagery: symbolism, occult imagery (tarot, etc), historical composition techniques, pastiches of saints’ iconography for canons that play with christian imagery
subjects: (see domestic, darker, & smut likes) — technically nonsexual art that still feels kinky somehow, in your bones; hands and fingers and dynamic hand positions (playing instruments, smoking, fingers in mouths, etc); artistic and heavily stylized violence

DNWs

DNW any on-screen, referenced, or implied
- skin-related mutilation like flaying, burning, or branding
- harm to animals including meat-eating (just not mentioning what a character is eating is fine)
- shower/bath/rain sex, one character washing or grooming another non-infant character (even consensual aftercare), or onscreen bathing of any kind
- petting, brushing, or playing with hair as a form of intimacy (touching or pulling on it during sex is fine; doing someone’s hair without intimate subtext is fine)
- maternal incest or mommykink
in any capacity. If you think 'surely this isn't enough to count for the DNW', it is.
unrequested romantic relationships; unrequested rape/non-con; unrequested trans headcanons or rule 63; cis mpreg and futanari
AUs that drastically change the setting or the core rules of the setting (modern AUs, A/B/O, soulmark AUs, etc… canon divergence AUs including pre-canon divergence points are fine)
“bad ends” (no chance at escape, mindbreak, etc); scat kink (changing a baby’s diaper is fine); onscreen, explicit sexual contact under age 10 (implied or fade to black is fine)
altered states (drugged, drunk, sex pollen, etc)
art dnws: furries and candy gore; exaggerated breast size, OTT ahegao (stuff like heart shaped pupils or gasping open-mouthed is fine), graphic depiction of unclothed erections (soft cocks ok - nonsexual nudity, castration, HRT all welcome!)

Requests:

[Assassin’s Creed] Alexios/Kassandra, Aspasia/Kassandra, Kassandra/Roxana, Kassandra/Xenia (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply, Graphic Depictions of Violence] Cunnilingus as the Main Event · Danger/Adrenaline Kink · Escalating Kinky Pain Contest · Oral - Menstrual Cunnilingus · Sex While Covered In The Blood of Their Enemies · Sex While Covered In Their Own Blood

Look, this is a simple request. Let Kassandra have a good, albeit potentially incredibly violent time, either with another morally ambiguous lesbian or with her long-lost brother. Let your id run free— and by no means feel limited to these particular tags for your inspiration.

No request-specific DNWs here, but it’s worth noting we are not requesting noncon for these ships! Dubcon or other messy consent issues is always great, though!

[Professional Chess RPF] Magnus Carlsen/Hikaru Nakamura (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply] Clearly The Fact That We Keep Having Sex Is A Series of Unrelated Bad Decisions · Competence Kink - Rivals Are Incredibly Turned On By Each Other's Talent · Competitiveness in Bed · dubcon - character offers sex to bargain or for a bet; doesn't expect to actually have to pay up · Reluctant attraction - sexual attraction to someone they (should) dislike · Strip Games

Sooooooooo, maybe it’s just me, but every time one of them mentions that six-hour 40-game blitz match in interviews, the one Hikaru always calls ‘the worst mistake of [his] career’, I make the vibrating eyeballs emoji from discord in real life. They need to fuck, Your Honor.

Maybe it’s That Night™ (as some of these tags lend themselves to), maybe it’s at any one of the events where they were fighting for #1 and #2, maybe it’s at the recent Fischer Random Chess Championship where Hikaru defeated Magnus, or, hell—maybe somewhere in your imagined behind-the-scenes of the Niemann v. Carlsen lawsuit (either how it’s going in the real world, or some potential future where it actually goes to trial) Magnus and Hikaru get… close, y’know? Or something else entirely! I would never seek to unreasonably restrict the creation of Art. Background Fabi/Cristian is also great, LOL.

Request-specific DNW: confirmation that any characters, whether part of the ship or no, have cheated in any OTB games unless admitted or proven IRL (but other characters believing, even testifying to that belief is fine—just no legit photos surfacing of Ding Liren using an engine in the bathroom stall or similar, please!)

[Final Fantasy XIV] Leveva Byrde/Jannequinard de Durendaire (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage] Character with Low Self-Esteem has Self-Worth Affirmed Through Tender Sex · Clothing - Wearing Nothing but Jewelry · Cunnilingus After Coming Inside · Experience - Inexperienced character asks experienced friend to help them 'practice' · Fucked While Time Is Stopped · sex under the stars · Size Kink - "It Won't Fit!" (It Fits) · Size kink - very small girl filled with very big dick · Soul Bond - Sharing Physical Pleasure Through Soul Bond · Vaginal fingering while wearing rings · Wedding Night

[Final Fantasy XIV] Rufin Byrde/Jannequinard de Durendaire (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage, Major Character Death] Aroused by Partner's Scholarly Accomplishments · Fucked While Time Is Stopped · One-Sided - Character A gets off to thoughts/memories of Character B · Size - Size Difference · Soul Bond - Sharing Physical Pleasure Through Soul Bond

That stuff we said in the request above about Synastry, Time Dilation, etc? Apply it all to these requests, too!

Once again, really, we’d love to see anything for this ship, honestly. Their slow-burn flirtation when Janne was put to work copying tomes for Mace, and their first time? Rufin getting incredibly horny over Jannequinard successfully defending his dissertation? We’d love to see either early-relationship stuff for this ship (the fact Janne must have still been a teacup elf when they started dating, and might even have still been when Rufin passed, is absolutely worth exploring) or Jannequinard mourning Rufin years later equally—you can also feel free to combine this request with the Janne/Leveva one! We absolutely believe that Rufin was the love of Janne’s early life and Leveva the love of his adult one.

No request-specific DNWs, but one request-specific DNW waiver: Leveva’s mom being brought up is fine! We prefer Jannequinard and Rufin’s affair to be one all three of them were fine with, Rufin and his wife’s marriage being arranged and friendly but not particularly more than that, but if there’s a story you want to tell that doesn’t quite adhere to that, that’s totally fine, too!

[Final Fantasy XIV] Themis/Lahabrea (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage] Clothing - mask kink · Dubcon - Sleeping With Mentors/Trainers Socially Expected To Show Appreciation For Their Teaching · Experience - Acquiring a Body & Discovering Sex · First Time - Has Never Been Aroused Before · Pederasty

We like our Ascians best as weenwoons who can choose to take bodies (of potentially only dubious similarity to what we're used to) when it would be useful to them, but aren’t naturally in those forms, and whose social norms bear a striking similarity to…oh, I don’t know, say…ancient Athens. Elidibus the ephebe as Lahabrea’s eromenos, oh my! In Pandaemonium, the line “Then say my name,” changed something in us irrevocably.

No request-specific DNWs.

[Final Fantasy XIV] Lyon rem Helsos/Menenius sas Lanatus (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage, Major Character Death] bickering as foreplay · Calling character(s) by their title or rank in bed · Character Embarrassedly Asks For First Time Kinky Sex · Dubcon sexual relationship develops feelings · Face-Fucking as an Act of Trust · One-Sided - Character A gets off to thoughts/memories of Character B · Size - Character Embarrassed to Admit to Size Kink; Partner Happy to Indulge Them · Size Kink - "It Won't Fit!" (It Fits)

God. Where to even begin with these two. We have a lot of weird headcanons about their relationship beginning as a weird dubcon situation where Garlean social customs led to Lyon being more or less given teenage, teacup elf Menenius to do with as he saw fit and eventually turning into Twu Wuv™ (you can read more about this in our S4S letter from last year), but we’re also just invested in their adult dynamic and the kinky sex they are definitely having—and in the emotional devastation of your lover dying in your arms, of course! These tags run the gamut, and we’d love any of them (or many of them!) equally, from the plottiest, most worldbuilding heavy ship content you could think of, to nothing but some old men doing the nasty. Let your id lead you where it will!

No request-specific DNWs.

[Final Fantasy XIV] Alfonse/Gaius van Baelsar (FIC)

[Underage] Character raised to obey male authority figures · Experience - First Ever Orgasm · Incest - A convincing their partner B to sleep with their sibling (while A watches) · Masturbation - Character's masturbation is guided/instructed by another · Position - Character A sits in Character B's lap and they make out

If only there was something Alfonse could do to show Father how grateful he is!

Look, this isn’t a complex request, LOL. We’re interpreting here ‘Incest - A convincing their partner B to sleep with their sibling (while A watches)’ to mean A (Gaius) convinces B (Alfonse) to sleep with B’s sibling; we’re most interested in the sibling in question being Livia or Allie, but we won’t stop you if you have other ideas.

Request-specific DNW: diminishing the family relationships of the characters (aka, “they’re adopted, so it’s not really incest”), Gaius/Livia being depicted or referred to as nonconsensual.

[Final Fantasy XIV] Gaius van Baelsar/Livia sas Junius (FIC)

[No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage] Breeding Kink - as dirty talk without risk · Character raised to obey male authority figures · Cunnilingus After Coming Inside · Experience - First Ever Orgasm · Incest - A convincing their partner B to sleep with their sibling (while A watches) · Incest - outsiders think they're being kinky but they really are related · Masturbation - Character's masturbation is guided/instructed by another · Position - Character A sits in Character B's lap and they make out · Size kink - very small girl filled with very big dick · Somnophilia - A feigns sleep to let B explore · Soulmates - Incestuous

Haha anyway so about the wall of tags. Um. Yeah. A lot of these were picked with the underage archive warning in mind, but if you’re interested in writing the dynamic but not necessarily prepared to actually write extremely underage father-daughter incest, that’s totally fine, too! Just, y’know, maybe “Character’s First Ever Orgasm” shouldn’t be at age 23, LOL.

This is another one of those ‘really we’d love anything’ ships, be it anywhere from Livia’s early childhood to literally after her death (if you let her climb out of the Palace of the Dead to find her dad, I might legally be required to give you my firstborn child). The “Breeding Kink - dirty talk without risk” tag does not mean we’re not up for actual impregnation kink, we just think that Livia being very irritated Gaius will dirty talk about knocking her up but insists upon using protection is cute. We’re interpreting “A convinces B to sleep with their sibling (while A watches)” as A (Gaius) convincing B (Livia) to sleep with her sibling, specifically, and for that tag we’d prefer Livia/Alfonse. As for the “Incestuous Soulmates” tag… yeah. Straight up red string of fate soulmate AUs are totally fine for this request. I think it’d be incredibly fun especially if Garleans, due to their inability to sense or manipulate aether, don’t necessarily know they’re living in a soulmate AU.

Request-specific DNWs: diminishing the family relationships of the characters (aka, “they’re adopted, so it’s not really incest”), Gaius/Livia being depicted or referred to as nonconsensual.

Thanks again for reading, and happy S4S!

With love,
graiai

Dear creator,
We* are very easy to please.
*Plural pronouns in this letter are because graiai is a shared account we use for exchanges: if you write for us, don’t be surprised to get two comments!

General Likes

messy relationships; unhealthy aspects of relationships not being brushed over (but the characters also not trying to fix them); relationships that by modern western standards (and maybe the standards of a large portion of the cast) would be considered unacceptable; social mores that don’t match the modern western world, and characters whose social mores don’t match each others’
“us against the world” narratives; “we were always going to end up here” narratives; “no one understands you like i do” narratives; characters making the best of their situations, not unhappy, but not living Happily Ever After, either
father/child and sibling incest (portrayed romantically), pseudo-incest between unrelated characters, mentor/protégé relationships and big-p Platonic teacher/student relationships, erastes/eromenos and dominus/deliciae relationships; age difference, size difference, experience difference, power imbalance, underage (adult/minor and minor/minor)
ideas about sex, sexuality, marriage, gender identity, etc that may differ wildly from our own ideas and between characters; historical or dated constructs of gender/sexuality; arranged marriages considered normal/not inherently abusive
medical realism and its consequences: persistent and permanent injuries, realistic and semi-realistic recovery, healing magic having limitations (and exploring what those are); not shying away from less pretty parts of sex, pregnancy, birth, or having a body in general
emphasis on character voice, characterization, motive, morals, ethics; culture clash; worldbuilding (especially specific medical and legal worldbuilding); character studies; unreliable narrators; limited POVs, outsider POVs, POVs missing context that would recontextualize events considerably

Domestic/Fluff Likes

romance: established relationships, courting, letter-writing, wedding plans, elopement, family planning; helping pregnant partner give birth, being stuck anxiously/excitedly in the waiting room while pregnant partner gives birth
domesticity: dancing together, playing instruments together/performing duets, doing arts and crafts together, playing chess together, doing tarot spreads, cooking together, helping each other dress or do makeup; tired mornings and late nights, not putting on airs for each other
slice of life: teaching partner how to dance/play an instrument/draw/paint/cook/play chess/etc; taking turns with household responsibilities (chores, childcare, etc); new/first time parents trying their best and maybe doing an okay job of it; (consensual and appropriate) public displays of affection, between lovers or friends
emotionally significant friendships and close friends/confidants; characters having people they can/do go to other than their lover (friends or supportive family); close relationships between female characters and an emphasis on the friendships of female characters; positive sibling relationships and mother/child relationships

Darker Likes

consent issues: noncon, dubcon, consensual but a bad idea, consensual but it shouldn’t be, and messy/unclear combinations of several of these; power/experience/age imbalances; somnophilia (including comatose characters), necrophilia, and possession
manipulation: gaslighting, mutual manipulation, seduction, “you’re so mature for your age” and similar ploys; unclear line between victim and aggressor, victims manipulating their abusers/assailants back; stockholm syndrome, lima syndrome, trauma bonding; chess as a mind game/power play, specifically, and chess moves portrayed as acts of violence between the players
forced intimacy: playing at domesticity, nonconsensual PDA, nonconsensual kissing, sleeping beside each other/spooning, rapist performing oral, rapist comforting victim, victim forced to comfort rapist
pain and fear kink: crying/dacryphilia, screaming, uncomfortably detailed loving descriptions of both or either, painful sex, characters in pain kinking on it, characters in pain not kinking on it (their loss!)
injuries or physical trauma: lovingly described acts of violence (consensual and otherwise), genital trauma or mutilation (perineal tearing, episiotomy, castration, fgm/c, tearing from sex, sharp object insertion), amount of blood/injury exaggerated for kink purposes, eye trauma, broken limbs, internal bleeding, childbirth related injuries and medical complications (symphysiotomy or breaking the pelvis for childbirth, broken clavicle or limbs in newborns, emergency hysterectomy, congenital birth defects, low APGAR, etc), short- and long-term medical care and aftermath of injury, trauma, or disability
dark pregnancy-related kinks/topics: (threat of) traumatic miscarriage, forced abortion, unsafe abortions (coathangers, ingesting poisons, trying to induce miscarriage through injury to self)
trouble at home: abusive, controlling, or disapproving (grand)parents, tense home environments, arguments about arranged marriages, inheritance, keeping the baby, childrearing (between parents/children or between coparents or partners)
harm to children: characters who are underage depicted in fic with appropriate neurological development for their ages and developing trauma appropriate to the events of the canon and/or the fic; child soldiers, CSA victims, etc normalizing what they’ve been through, not having the neurological development to understand the impact of events, not understanding their own feelings, enacting their trauma on other children or adults
aftermath: of rape or CSA, of abuse, of wartime or other nonsexual trauma, of injury; impact of trauma on mental and physical health; medical treatment, being forced to deal with the authorities, trying to hide trauma or ‘go back to normal’

Smut Likes

oral fixations: smoking, making out, lip biting, hickies, biting in general, finger sucking, cunnilingus, cockwarming, emetophilia (gag reflexes! morning sickness!)
hand and finger kink: manual stimulation, calluses, pinching breasts, fingering after fucking, weaponizing fingernails, fingers in mouths
intercrural, incomplete penetration/“just the tip”, eunuchs/castration, soft cock kink, small or soft cock handjobs, sex you might have the impulse to call “sex*” or “sex(?)” - where coming isn’t necessarily the goal, where the people involved may not have bodies in the traditional sense, where the people involved may not have sex drives or even understand what sex is
marking/possessiveness: bruising, comeplay, breeding kink, postpartum sex (and kinking on the physical affects of childbirth), gaping, somnophilia
blood and injury: bloody hands, bloody teeth, nosebleeds, tearing from sex or birth, menstrual blood, spotting, episiotomies, postpartum bleeding, amount of blood and injury exaggerated or (bordering) dangerous for kink purposes
romantic incest kink, dd/lg, sibcon, characters who aren’t related acting like they are for horny reasons; kinking on a character’s youth or presumed youth and physical markers typically associated with it (virginity, flat/small breasts, small cock, etc); kinking on a character’s sexual inexperience (in general, with a specific act, with another character’s gender, etc)
medfet: take everything from the general likes list about medical accuracy and apply it to pornography! partners being possessively horny at the OB-GYN, nobody but the reader being horny over lovingly detailed descriptions of medical exams, realistic birthing (but being horny about it), weirdly detailed interludes about period birth control methods? you name it, we’re probably into it

Art Likes

mediums and styles/movements: pen, pencil, charcoal, etching, woodcut, watercolor, oils, digital art, sequential art, mosaic, tapestry; art deco, art nouveau, baroque, expressionism, fauvism, precisionism/cubist realism, surrealism
color and shading: black & white, spot color, limited palettes, flat color, black-figure (greek technique); hatching, line contouring, stippling
imagery: symbolism, occult imagery (tarot, etc), historical composition techniques, pastiches of saints’ iconography for canons that play with christian imagery
subjects: (see domestic, darker, & smut likes) — technically nonsexual art that still feels kinky somehow, in your bones; hands and fingers and dynamic hand positions (playing instruments, smoking, fingers in mouths, etc); artistic and heavily stylized violence

DNWs

DNW any on-screen, referenced, or implied
- skin-related mutilation like flaying, burning, or branding
- harm to animals including meat-eating (just not mentioning what a character is eating is fine)
- shower/bath/rain sex, one character washing or grooming another non-infant character (even consensual aftercare), or onscreen bathing of any kind
- petting, brushing, or playing with hair as a form of intimacy (touching or pulling on it during sex is fine; doing someone’s hair without intimate subtext is fine)
- maternal incest or mommykink
in any capacity. If you think 'surely this isn't enough to count for the DNW', it is.
unrequested romantic relationships involving requested characters having significant screentime (mentions and past lovers appearing as bioparents are fine, but if the relationship is unrequested they should not be coparenting or considering coparenting in any capacity); rape/non-con between requested ships (IRL or in-universe legal inability to consent is fine, but characters should both consider themselves and each other consenting); unrequested trans headcanons or rule 63; cis mpreg and futanari
AUs that drastically change the setting or the core rules of the setting (modern AUs, A/B/O, soulmark AUs, etc… canon divergence AUs including pre-canon divergence points are fine)
“bad ends” (no chance at escape, mindbreak, etc); scat kink (changing a baby’s diaper is fine); onscreen, explicit sexual contact under age 10 (implied or fade to black is fine)
altered states (drugged, drunk, sex pollen, etc)
art dnws: furries and candy gore; exaggerated breast size, OTT ahegao (stuff like heart shaped pupils or gasping open-mouthed is fine), graphic depiction of unclothed erections (soft cocks ok - nonsexual nudity, castration, HRT all welcome!)

Requests

[Final Fantasy XII] Larsa Ferrinas Solidor xcons Basch fon Ronsenburg

Abuse of Authority - Do As Your Monarch Commands You
Aftermath - Aggressor believes victim enjoyed it despite evidence otherwise
Cooperation - To Avoid Hurting Aggressor
Crying - Aggressor Cries During Xcon
Intimacy - Victim Forced to Comfort Aggressor Afterward
Motive - Aggressor has normalized their own past abuse
Scenario - Victim Endures Unwanted Sex To Spare Unknowing Aggressor's Feelings

Maybe this is immediately post-game, and Larsa’s grief over Gabranth the first’s death and lack of any models for healthy boundaries and relationships get Basch in over his head. Maybe this is years on, and Larsa’s old enough now that he can understand what’s wrong here, if only Basch could admit to Larsa that he’s never been a consensual party to this.

Request-specific DNW(s): Any established relationship involving Larsa portrayed as unambiguously healthy (whether or not Larsa would consider them loving and healthy).

All standard DNWs apply, but don’t worry too too much about ‘bad ends’ with this prompt—we don’t want Basch starting to believe he really is Gabranth, but it’s totally fine if he never gets out of his situation and knows as much.

[Final Fantasy XIV] Lyon rem Helsos xcons Menenius sas Lanatus

Abuse of Authority - Mentor/Trainee Relationship
Aftermath - Xcon Sexual Relationship Leads to Feelings
Attitude - Victim Unwilling to Admit They Want More
Cooperation - Society Expects Victim to Submit to Aggressor
Cooperation - Victim Tries to Make Xcon Feel Good for Aggressor
Cooperation - Victim(s) Initiate Sex to Control Encounter
Misunderstandings - Attempts at Flirting Mistaken for Threats
Motive - Victim is a Reward for Aggressor
Violence - Aggressor is less scary after Xcon

When Menenius was 15 (what appears to be Garlean age of majority) Lyon was 28. Menenius was also most likely still, eh, 4’10” on a good day, while Lyon was a close confidant of the man who pressured his father into marrying his mother and adopting him. So while today they’re clearly an old married couple, the early days of their relationship may have been a bit… messier. The tags pretty much speak for themselves here, with anything from the first months or years they were together, when Menenius might have found himself set up with a brash older mentor, with all the expectations of sexual favors therein.

Request-specific DNW(s): Lyon presented at the end as irredeemable.

[Final Fantasy XIV] Athena xcons Lahabrea

Abuse of Authority - Aggressor Takes Advantage of Subordinates
Attitude - Aggressor is totally nonchalant about xcon
Attitude - Aggressor's Morality Does Not Fit Societal Norms
Attitude - Victim Feels Honored
Cooperation - Victim's Pride Won't Let Them Say No
Dynamic - Attempting to Mutually Manipulate Each Other
Medical - Medical/Scientific Examination
Praise - Condescending
Scenario - Xcon as Part of Job Duties

We really don’t have much to say here - we love when the ancients are depicted as particularly inhuman/possibly even disembodied completely (weenwoons are cooler than tall people), so go as weird as you like; we personally like to imagine these two literally invented and then patented the concept of sex for the purpose of creating a child, so sky’s the limit. Making Athena the older of the two (Lahabrea actually taking over from his wife, the previous Lahabrea, as the first set of raids seemed to imply) would be super cool, creepy teacher/student is always beloved. These tags contain a pretty wide range of potential dynamics, so pick your favorite.

DNW any reference to/implication of either Lahabrea or Athena doing anything incestuous with Eric, please!

[Final Fantasy XIV] Unukalhai xcons Elidibus

Attitude - Victim Unsure of Own Consent
Betrayal - Aggressor realizes it's xcon in the middle of the act
Dynamic - Codependency
Inexperience - Sexually Inexperienced Aggressor
Inexperience - Victim Doesn't Know What They're Consenting To
Inexperience - Victim Doesn't Know What Sex Is
Motive - Aggressor Doesn't Know Victim is Incapable of Consent

Unukalhai as the aggressor here is such an interesting angle to explore, especially with the state Elidibus is in around 5.x. And after Pandaemonium, we feel like you could make a pretty good argument that Elidibus doesn’t know what sex is at all (no, sweetheart, Hesperos doesn’t want to be Lahabrea’s son, he wants Lahabrea to be his daddy), never mind his ‘current’ state.

Any point in the timeline here would be lovely, from the original loss of the Thirteenth up through 5.3, even a post-EW “no, he’s not dead, don’t ask how, just go with it”. Just have fun! Want to make Unukalhai a shard of Azem and so Elidibus has a weird crush he doesn’t totally understand? Go for it! Have another idea? We’d love to see it! Follow your heart.

(Canon-compliant mindbreak is totally fine here.)

[Revolutionary Girl Utena] Tenjou Utena xcons Himemiya Anthy

Archive Warnings: Underage

Aftermath - Aggressor horrified by own actions
Aftermath - Xcon Sexual Relationship Leads to Feelings
Betrayal - Aggressor doesn't realize victim feels obligated to offer sex
Betrayal - Aggressor is unaware it's xcon and victim tries to shield them from the truth
Betrayal - Aggressor realizes it's xcon in the middle of the act
Coercion - Victim Goads Partner Into Xconning Them
Dynamic - Aggressor and Victim Have Romantic Feelings For Each Other
Inexperience - Aggressor doesn't know what sex is
Magic - Spell/curse makes victim unable to say no to sex even when they want to
Motive - Aggressor Doesn't Know Victim is Incapable of Consent
Scenario - Aggressor never finds out it's xcon
Scenario - Victim Endures Unwanted Sex To Spare Unknowing Aggressor's Feelings

There’s a lot of overlap between this and the other request (Anthy xcons Utena), and we’re also more than glad to see a sort of mutual lack of respect or understanding of consent. I’d say ‘boundaries’, too, but what boundaries? This ship doesn’t have boundaries.

We love all of the messy potentials of aftermath, all of the awful things that can come from Anthy’s role as the Rose Bride (is her obedience and tractability just centuries of abuse at work, or is she actually magically bound to whatever her betrothed wishes?), all of the super weird symbolism and dreamsharing stuff RGU really lets you go ham with.

We’re always glad to see background ships! Akio ships, Utena/Wakaba, etc…

For this fandom’s purposes, Hanahaki and other soulmate AU type tropes do not constitute DNW breaking so long as they aren’t a normal, everyday thing: e.g., Anthy can get Hanahaki Disease, but it shouldn’t have an entry in the encyclopedia. We’re also fine with Altered States - Dream Sex specifically where requested.

[Revolutionary Girl Utena] Himemiya Anthy xcons Tenjou Utena

Aftermath - Xcon Sexual Relationship Leads to Feelings
Altered States - Dream Sex
Arousal - Victim's First Orgasm is During Xcon
Attitude - Victim Unsure of Own Consent
Attitude - Xcon Makes Victim Aware of Own Previously Unrealized Feelings
Dynamic - Aggressor and Victim Have Romantic Feelings For Each Other
Inexperience - Aggressor takes advantage of virginal victim's lack of knowledge about sex & consent
Inexperience - Victim Doesn't Know What Sex Is
Motive - Aggressor has normalized their own past abuse
Motive - To Prove Victim Means Nothing to Aggressor
Motive - Training Victim for Future Sex
Oral - Aggressor Performs Cunnilingus
Scenario - "You xcon them or I will"
Scenario – Xconned While Severely Injured

There’s a lot of overlap between this and the other request (Utena xcons Anthy), and we’re more than glad to see a sort of mutual lack of respect or understanding of consent. I’d say ‘boundaries’, too, but what boundaries? This ship doesn’t have boundaries.

We’re a little obsessed with the up-to-thousands-of-years age difference on this ship, especially with how terribly naive Utena is, and Anthy for her part doing absolutely nothing to help Utena become more informed or better equipped to handle the world she’s in. Might Anthy take advantage of a fiancee who seems to have no plans to use her, and for once prioritize her own pleasure and interests? Or - especially if there’s magic underpinning the Rose Bride’s obedience - using fae-style exact words to twist a curious or experimental Utena’s orders into something more to her liking? To say nothing of the finale or postcanon - what more might have happened that we didn’t see? And what state was Utena left in - does she even remember Ohtori Academy and Anthy, back in the real world? We love these two as an endgame ship, don’t get me wrong, but to quote Marie Kondo, we love mess. :)

We’re always glad to see background ships! Akio ships, Utena/Wakaba, etc…

Hopefully you found something here that caught your eye!

With love,
graiai

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