Designated Healer

Random Final Fantasy compilation doodle that crawled out of my brain?

Dawntrail is a story about cultural connection and understanding, but for the first half, all the different groups you meet, the key aspects of their cultures are fun and interesting but harmless - the Pelupelu love of commerce, the Yok Huy views on death. (the Mamool Ja and their dependence on the Blessed Siblings is the exception). But the key points of Alexandrian culture, the dependence on Regulators, souls as a currency, and erasure of the dead, are antithetical to the way both Eorzean and real-life cultures do things. Making them even more controversial is their European-esque aesthetic, coupled with the fact that they plunked their dome down in the Fantasy Americas, leading to a resemblance to real-life colonialism. But this is complicated further by the fact that their home Shard is destroyed, making them both would-be colonizers and post-apocalyptic refugees at the same time. Even if we wanted to kick them out of Tural or something, we can't, because there's nowhere for them to go back to.

So the second half of Dawntrail and the patches is about learning to coexist with a culture that is vastly different. Its easy enough to accept another culture when they're represented by fun festivals and happy merchants and the like, but what about one where their core views clash with yours? Can you still accept them as neighbors then, or will you feel the need to draw a line in the sand?

Welcome and well met, my brave little spark ✨️