intent matters @nerobombs - Tumblr Blog

The short version: If your RP content is in danger in the face of the tumblr purge, I cannot recommend RPC as an alternative - not only for visual media but for written material as well.

The long version below.

Keep reading

cfs-melkire

Reblogging this first and foremost to signal boost, but also to say this:

I have never been for, and have always striven to be against, censorship… with a select few exceptions (I’m looking at you, extremist fringes). On the whole, though, the free and open exchange of ideas is fundamental to interaction, to community, and to development. All that is required is the willingness to be open to criticism, hopefully of the constructive kind. There are a lot of benefits to be had from honest discussions had in good faith. Hell, that’s what the Enlightenment was all about.

Ironically, in this case I seem to have created the supposed precedent for the above decision by moderation staff, not only by creating the environment but also by explicitly permitting the thread in which the discourse turned ugly. I regret not those decisions but in how the fallout was handled, not only because that eventually led to my stepping down from the moderation team but because it has apparently led to censorship.

I can understand, sympathize, and even empathize with proactive measures taken to limit workload by a group of VOLUNTEER moderators who should not have to step in when said discourse gets political. That doesn’t mean that I believe it was necessary in this case. On the contrary: this was a bad call. It was a bad call because it seems to have been made on a whim and AGAINST a precedent of lack of censorship. There was no violation of the rules. The offense appears to have been the availability of a document no more scandalous than many journals, textbooks, and diagrams that can be found in many public school libraries

I would recommend to staff that moderation without due cause is NOT precedent you want to set for a community, because it will destroy that community. Been there, done that, site is still recovering from my mistakes. Don’t make more.

nerobombs

Hello, it’s me, Nero, the current administrator of the RPC website. If for some reason you require proof of this fact, you can find my RPC profile here:

https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/profile/3936-nero/

In the interest of correcting misinformation, I will be posting factual elements of the decision that was made. Feel free to make your judgments as you see fit.

1). It is true that the Courtesan Compendium was and is in fact currently available on the RPC (see below). The user in question reposted the thread with a link to the google document on Monday, December 3rd, 2018.

In fact, an iteration of the thread dated since 2014 is and will continue to be publicly viewable and open on the RPC. It can be found in the following links, on both the RPC’s current IPS iteration and its older MyBB archive, in full public view.

https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/topic/7978-the-courtesan-compendium-a-guide/

https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb/showthread.php?tid=8481&highlight=pkthunda

2). It is true, from the moderator’s correspondence, that the Courtesan Compendium in question was considered, at best, a borderline case of our PG-13 policy. However, it is also true that the moderation staff was equally if not moreso concerned with the potential conflict of a small section of the document’s subject matter.

Note that the 2014 version of the thread in question does not have any of the content that the moderation staff asked the user to remove from the google doc.

3). It is true that I made an executive decision that the content should be allowed, as long as a compromise was offered for a section of the content to be altered.

The moderation team asked that three paragraphs totalling 178 words (out of a total of 3657 words on the Courtesan Compendium google doc, or a mere 4.8% of the entire doc’s textual content) be removed based on an earlier precedent set three years ago in 2015, wherein the subject matter of those paragraphs caused considerable conflict on the forums due to its political nature.

If this content was removed from the document by the user, then the rest of the document would be allowed to be published on the RPC otherwise un-altered.The user refused to compromise and made it abundantly clear that they would not alter the document in any way. As a result of this refusal, the thread in question would remain hidden.

With that information in mind, it can be demonstrated that users are NOT at risk of having their pre-existing or new content removed or otherwise censored as a result of a retroactive interpretation of “too mature” or “PG-13″. The RPC has had and will continue to have a relatively flexible PG-13 content restriction policy, a policy that will not and should not affect your written works as they are.

As proven by the details of the compromise that was offered, the RPC was and is fully prepared to allow 95% of the Courtesan Compendium to be posted on the website with no restrictions. The moderation staff’s primary concern was in disallowing content that had previously and demonstrably disrupted the website.

Ultimately, the RPC moderation staff has been very hesitant to allow issues of word politics or otherwise real world-related contentious subjects to be discussed publicly on the website, for the simple reason that the RPC is not an appropriate space to discuss such things, in the same way that a politics website is not an appropriate place to engage in FFXIV roleplay. Whether or not basic content moderation constitutes as censorship is something that I leave to your judgment.

#ffxiv #rpc

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Weapon Name Trivia In Final Fantasy XIV, STORMBLOOD EDITION

As before, here are the origins on a bunch of weapon names from Final Fantasy XIV, some from mythology, some from etymology, some just from bleedingly obvious common knowledge. Updated to include Red Mage and Samurai.

Ordered alphabetically and by job.

For the sake of completeness, I’ve included all previous entries with minor corrections and details.

Astrologian

Aldebaran : Aldebaran is the brightest star of the Taurus constellation. The name Aldebaran means “the Follower” in Arabic, because the star rises after the Pleiades star cluster.

Altair : Altair is the brightest star in the constellation Aquila. The name is an abbreviation of an Arabic phrase which means “the flying eagle”.

Atlas : Aside from a collection of maps, Atlas was a Titan in Greek mythology condemned to hold up the sky for eternity by the Olympians.

Capella : Capella is the brightest star of the constellation Auriga. The name means “female goat” in Latin.

Canopus : Canopus is the brightest star of the constellation Carina, and the second-brightest star in the night sky after Sirius. The star is named after the mythological Greek navigator Canopus who piloted the King of Sparta’s ship during the Trojan War.

Deneb : Deneb is the brightest star of the constellation Cygnus. Deneb is Arabic for “tail” from the phrase “tail of the hen”.

Ephemeris (Susanoo’s Ephemeris, Byakko’s Ephemeris, etc.): In astronomy, an ephemeris is a journal that records the natural positions of astronomical objects. Basically, it’s an astronomical Excel spreadsheet.

Kontengi : Written as “渾天儀”, “kontengi” means “armillary sphere” in Japanese. An armillary sphere is a model of the globe with rings and hoops that represent the equator, the tropics, and other celestial circles.

Muspell : Otherwise known as Muspelheim, Muspell is the primordial realm of fire in Norse mythology, ruled by the fire giant Surtr.

Pleiades : The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters, are a cluster of stars and the most visible star cluster in the night sky. The name is derived from the Pleiades of Greek mythology, who were the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas and companions of Artemis.

Rigel : Rigel is the brightest star of the constellation Orion. The name “Rigel” is derived from an Arabic name meaning “the left leg/foot of Jauzah”, with Jauzah being the Arabic name of Orion.

Sirius : The brightest star visible in the Earth’s sky. The name means “glowing” or “scorcher”.

Tenkan Chishi : Written as 天干地支 , “Tenkan Chishi” refers to the heavenly and earthly branches of the Chinese zodiac used to record and observe time.

The Evening Star : A blanket term referring to many things; in astrology it is most commonly used to refer to the planet Venus appearing in the western sky during sundown.

Vega : Vega is the brightest star of the constellation Lyra. The name is from a loose transliteration of an Arabic word meaning “falling”, full phrase “the falling eagle”.

Bard

Artemis Bow : Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt, wild animals, and childbirth. Artemis is often portrayed as a protector of young girls and one who relieves disease from women.

Astrild : Astrild is an old Nordic name for Cupid.

Berimbau : A berimbau is a Brazilian single-string percussion instrument.

Gandiva : The bow of Arjuna, the hero of the Hindu epic Mahabhrata. The bow was forged from moonlight by Brahma, the creator god of traditional Hinduism.

Failnaught : “Failnaught” is the bow of Sir Tristan, a Knight of the Round Table, in Arthurian legend. It is said to never miss its mark.

Kujakuo : Kujakuo literally translates to “Peacock King”. In Japanese pop culture, Kujakuo was a manga that ran in the 80s. More abstractly, “Peacock King” may be a reference to the “Peacock Angel”, the leader of the divine triad of the religion Yazidism.

Raijodo : Written as “ 雷上動 “, the name literally means “motion of lightning” or “movement of lightning”.

Rosenbogen : German compound word literally meaning “Rose’s bow”.

Sarnga : An alternate name for Sharanga, the bow of Vishnu in Hinduism.

Terpander : Terpander was a Greek poet who is referred to as the “father of Greek music”, and one of the earliest practitioners of lyric poetry.

Yoichi Bow : Most likely named after Nasu no Yoichi, a samurai of the Minamoto clan. The Tale of Heike states that while at sea, the enemy Taira clan placed a fan atop a ship’s pole, daring the Minamoto clan to shoot it. Nasu no Yoichi successfully shot the fan from a distance even amidst the rocking motions of the ship and waves.

Black Mage

Astrolabe : An astrolabe is a device used to predict the positions of the Sun, moon, planets, and stars.

Gambanteinn : Old Norse word meaning “magic wand” that appears in the Poetic Edda.

Hvergelmir : One of the three major springs that lays beneath the cosmic tree Yggdrassil in the Poetic Edda.

Kaladanda : In Hindu mythology, Kaladanda is the name of the staff of Death used by Yama, the god of the underworld.

Kujo : Written as 九條, which literally means “ninth street”. Most likely meant to be an abbreviation of “shakujo”, which is a ringed staff used by Buddhist monks that may be used in prayer or as a self-defense weapon.

Laevateinn : A weapon referenced in the Norse Poetic Edda that most often appears as a magical sword, but sometimes as a wand or staff.

Lilith Rod : A reference to Lilith, a figure in Abrahamic religions most often portrayed as a succubus or demoness. In Judaism, Lilith was the first wife of Adam who was cast out of Eden for eating the Fruit of Knowledge.

Makibi : Most likely a reference to Kibi no Asomi Makibi, a Japanese scholar who lived during the Nara period.

Teiwaz : “Teiwaz” is the proto-Germanic name of the Norse god of law, Tyr.

Dark Knight

Arondight : The sword given to Sir Lancelot du Lac by the Lady of the Lake.

Balisarde : The sword of Porthos from The Three Musketeers.

Balmung : The sword of Siegfried the Dragonslayer in the epic poem Nibelunglied. The sword is called “Gram” in the Old Norse Volsung saga and “Nothung” in Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

Cronus : In Greek mythology, Cronus was the leader of the Titans that overthrew Uranus, before himself being overthrown by his son Zeus and imprisoned by Tartarus.

Cruadin : The Cruadin Caidid-cheann (meaning hard-headed) is the sword of the Irish warrior hero Cu Chulainn.

Dainslaif : The sword of the Norse king Högni from the Saga of Hild in Norse mythology. It is cursed to kill a man whenever it is drawn.

Kumokirimaru : The name “Kumokirimaru” means “Spider Cutter”. In the Japanese story The Tale of Heike, Minamoto no Yorimitsu wielded the Kumokirimaru to fight off spider monsters which were called tsuchigumo.

Nagamaki : A nagamaki is a type of Japanese sword with a very long handle.

Nothung : The sword of Siegfried the Dragonslayer in Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. The sword is named “Balmung” in the Nibelunglied and Gram in the Old Norse Volsung saga.

Odenta : The Odenta is one of the Tenka Goken (”Five Swords Under Heaven”) and one of the National Treasures of Japan, traditionally held by the Maeda clan. The name refers to its bladesmith, Denta.

Skofnung : The sword of the Danish king Hrólfr Kraki, renowned for its sharpness and imbued with the spirits of Hrolfr’s twelve berserker bodyguards. This must be the angriest sword ever.

Dragoon

Areadbhar : Loosely translated as “Slaughterer”, Areadbhar is one of the spears of the Celtic god Lugh.

Brionac : One of the spears of the Celtic god Lugh.

Gae Bolg : The spear of the Celtic hero Cu Chulainn given to him by his mentor, the warrior woman Scáthach.

Grasitha : Transliteration of Grásiða, which means “Grey Flank”. The sword of the protagonist Gisli Sursson from the Gisla saga of Icelandic literature.

Longinus : Also known as the Holy Lance or the Spear of Destiny, Saint Longinus used his spear to pierce the side of Jesus as the latter hung on the cross, as described by the Gospel of John.

Narval : It means narwhal. As in, the animal. Unicorns of the sea. You can wield a narwhal in Final Fantasy.

Rhongomiant : In Welsh Arthurian tradition, Rhongomiant is King Arthur’s spear.

Otegine : The Otegine is one of the three great spears listed in the Kyoho Meibutsucho, a record of famous weapons compiled during the Kyoho era.

Machinist

Armageddon : The location of the biblical battle of end times where Jesus will return to Earth and defeat the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and the Devil Satan.

Gjallarhorn : The horn of the Norse god Heimdallr who stands watch at the Bifrost, the bridge leading to Asgard.

Ikkansai : A Japanese first name and reference to the gun maker Kunitomo Ikkansai who built Japan’s first reflective telescope.

Kunitomo : A family name and reference to the gun maker Kunitomo Ikkansai.

Magnatus : Magnatus means “magnate” (a great or important person) in Latin.

Monk

Ai Apaec : The chief deity of the Mochica culture of northern Peru, Ai Apaec was worshipped as a creator, defender, a provider of sustenance, and the god of victory in battle.

Glanzfaust : German compound word that means “Shining Fist”.

Jikki : Written as “ 実基”. It may be a reference to a name when read as “Sanemoto”, which means roughly “true basis”. Depending on the kanji used, the word “jikki” can mean “true record”.

Kaiser Knuckles : Kaiser is the German word for “emperor”, derived from the Latin “Caesar”.

Nyepels : A fighting bracelet used in hand-to-hand combat from Sudan.

Rising Suns : "Rising Sun” or “Land of the Rising Sun” is an epithet of Japan.

Senju : Written as “ 千手 “, translates literally to “a thousand hands” or “a thousand moves”.

Sphairai : A type of boxing glove used in ancient Greece.

Sudarshana Chakras : The Sudarshana Chakra is a disk-shaped bladed weapon (or chakram) used by the Hindu god Vishnu.

Verethragna : An Avestan word literally meaning “smiting of resistance”, and the name of a war god who grants victory in battle.

Ninja

Hofuds : Hofud is the sword of the Norse god Heimdall who guards the Bifrost, the entrance to Asgard.

Kannagi : The Japanese word for a female diviner or shrine maiden who acts as medium between humans and gods.

Misericordes : Derived from the Latin misericordia, which means “act of mercy” or “mercy stroke”. Misericordes were narrow daggers designed to punch through gaps in a knight’s armour plating or the slot of a knight’s visor.

Nagi : Written as “ 凪 “, the word “nagi” means “calm” or “lull”, usually in reference to the weather or the ocean.

Niokiyotsuna : A sword or group of swords (depending on historical interpretation) from the Kamakura period. There are some stories about a single sword called the Niokiyotsuna, such as it being used to cut the lock of a temple that was being burned down.

Ohojo : Named in the Japanese version as 大保昌 , the Ohojo is a dagger or tanto purported to belong to the Maeda clan during the Sengoku period.

Sandungs : A type of ossuary or burial shrine used in Indonesia.

Sasuke's Blades : While there is a figure in FFXIV lore known as Sasuke, who was the shinobi responsible for bringing ninjutsu to Doma, the FFXIV Sasuke was likely named after Sarutobi Sasuke, a fictional ninja who often appears alongside Lord Yukimura as one of the Sanada Ten Braves during the Sengoku period.

Yoshimitsu : A Japanese name, the weapon is likely a reference to Minamoto no Yoshimitsu, another samurai of the Minamoto clan.

Yukimitsu : A Japanese name. Likely a reference to the Japanese swordsmith Tosaburo Yukimitsu, who was said to have been the real or adoptive father of Masamune.

Vajras : A vajra, also known as a kila, is a three-pronged stake or knife used in Buddhist rituals.

Paladin

Swords

Aettir : The plural form of the Norse word “aett”, which means “clans” or “races”. More broadly refers to nature spirits from Norse mythology, such as “sjovaettir” or “sea spirits”.

Almace : The sword of the Bishop Turpin from the Song of Roland, a French epic about King Charlemagne.

Burtgang : Also known as Blodgang or Blutgang, Burtgang is the sword of the Germanic hero Háma, who appears in the epic poem of Beowulf.

Curtana : The sword of the paladin Ogier the Dane as described by the Song of Roland. The name “Curtana” is also ascribed to a ceremonial sword used in the coronation of British monarchs, allegedly wielded by Tristan of the Knights of the Round Table.

Excalibur : The sword of King Arthur.

Galatyn : Otherwise known as Galatine, Galatyn was the sword given to Sir Gawain by the Lady of the Lake.

Homura : Written as “ 焔 “, it means “flame”.

Onikiri : Japanese word meaning “Demon cutter”.

Tyrfing : A magic sword and subject of the Old Norse Tyrfing saga. It was forged by the two dwarves Dvalinn and Durin, who were trapped by Odin’s grandson Svafrlami. The sword was also cursed to kill a man whenever it was drawn.

Zantetsuken : Written as 斬鉄剣 , it means “iron-cutting sword”.

Shields

Aegis Shield : The aegis of mythology is an item carried by Athena (and supposedly Zeus) in Homer’s Iliad. Its most common interpretation is as a shield, but it has also been depicted as a cover or length of golden animal skin.

Ancile : In ancient Rome, the ancilia were twelve sacred shields kept in the Temple of Mars. Legend states that the original holy shield fell from the heavens during the reign of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome. Numa Pompilius ordered eleven copies made to confuse any would-be thieves.

Evalach : In Arthurian legend, Evalach was the shield of Sir Galahad that had previously belonged to King Evalach.

Mitsuba : Literally translate to “trefoil”, a kind of herb with three leaves. Can be more abstractly translated as “three leaves”.

Priwen : In Welsh Arthurian tradition, the Priwen or Prytwen is the name of the ship used by King Arthur and his men to sail to the Celtic Otherworld.

Prytwen : Same as above.

Red Mage

Verdun : The word “verdun” is a latinization of a word meaning “strong fort”. There are several towns called Verdun, mostly in Central Europe.

Guespiere : Part of the name of a French saint, St. Avit-les-Guespieres.

Murgleis : Also known as Murgleys (which can be loosely translated as “death brand”), Murgleis is the sword of Ganelon, the traitorous nemesis of the paladin Roland.

Mokusa : Written as “ 舞草 “, mokusa kind of plant related to the venus flytrap.

Schlaeger : Broadly refers to several types of dueling swords in fencing.

Shishio : Written as “ 獅子王 “, it means “lion king”. Can also be used to refer to the Disney movie.

Samurai

Gunromaru : A weapon from Final Fantasy XI; I couldn’t find any specific references so it’s probably generic. “Maru” is a fairly common suffix for swords, ships, or castles.

Kagehide : A generic (if antiquated) Japanese name that may be loosely translated as “excellent shadow”.

Kanesada : The Kanesada are a lineage of Japanese swordsmiths.

Katayama : Written as “ 片山一文字 “ Katayama is a reference to any sword made by the Katayama-Ichimonji swordsmithing school.

Kotetsu : A reference to Nagasone Kotetsu, a Japanese swordsmith from the Edo period.

Kiku-ichimonji : The name given to a collection of swords made by thirteen Japanese swordsmiths for the Emperor in the early Kamakura period, each sword representing one of the months (numbered 1 through 12).

Okanehira : The Okanehira is a large tachi sword forged by the swordsmith Kanehira..

Tenguto : Traslates literally into “tengu sword”. Tengu are a kind of youkai typically depicted as bird-people.

Scholar

Anabasis : A historical text separated into seven books written by the Greek soldier and scholar Xenophon.

Ars Almadel : A part of the collection of occult grimoires known as the Lesser Key of Solomon, the Ars Almadel, also known as the Almandal, is a mystic text containing the details of a ritual for communing with angels. The noun almadel refers to a kind of portable altar used in the ritual described by the Ars Almadel.

Ars Notoria : A part of the collection of occult grimoires known as the Lesser Key of Solomon, the Ars Notoria is a mystic text that contains a series of prayers meant to grant perfect memory and instantaneous learning to the wielder.

Deus Ex Gratia : Latin for “god from grace”.

Ethica : Latin for “ethics”.

Fagrskinna : Old Norse for “Fair Parchment”. Fagrskinna is also the name of a Norse saga that describes Norway’s history from the ninth to twelfth centuries.

Gogyo Sosei : The Japanese name for the Chinese philosophy of the cycle of the five elements: earth, water, fire, wood, and metal.

Koyoshu : Written as “ 紅葉集 “, literally translates to “a collection of coloured leaves”.

Omnilex : “Law of All”, from the Latin roots omni (all) and lex (law).

Tetrabiblos : Literally means “four books”. The Tetrabiblos is a Greek astrology text written by Ptolemy alongside with the Almagest.

The Black Pullet : The Black Pullet is an occult grimoire meant to teach the reader about the magic of talismans and rings, including Kabbalah and the art of necromancy.

Summoner

Almandal : A part of the collection of occult grimoires known as the Lesser Key of Solomon the Almandal, also known as the Ars Almadel, is a mystic text containing the details of a ritual for communing with angels. This is distinct from the very similar sounding almadel, which is a kind of portable altar used in the ritual described by the Almandal.

Apocalypse : An “apocalypse” traditionally refers to a revelation or disclosure of knowledge. The biblical Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation refers to John’s revelation of the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

Cantamina Thavnaria : Cantamina is the plural form of cantamen, which is a spell or incantation.

Deus Ex Verbis : Latin for “god from words”.

Draconomicon : Roughly, “Law of the Dragon” from the Greek root draco (dragon) and nomos (law).

Gogyo Sokoku : The Japanese name for the Chinese philosophy of control of the five elements: wood, earth, fire, metal, water. Derived from “gogyō sokoku setsu”, literally “Five Phase Mutual Victory Theory”,

Kinyoshu : Written as “ 金葉集 “, translates roughly as “a collection of golden leaves”. More broadly, it’s an abbreviation of the Kin’yo Wakashu, which is a Japanese anthology of waka poems from the Kamakura period.

Mimesis : Mimemis is an Ancient Greek word for “imitating”, and refers to a philosophical concept that art imitates reality.

Morkinskinna : Old Norse for “moldy parchment” and the name of a saga about Norse kings.

The Red Pullet : An occult grimoire often associated with the Black Pullet. The Red Pullet is also referred to as the Red Dragon.

Warrior

Bravura : The word “bravura”, derived from “bravo”, refers to a display of great skill or daring.

Eisentaenzer : German compound word for “Iron dancer”.

Kintoki : The popular name of the Japanese folk hero Kintarō. Roughly translates to “Golden Time” or “Golden Era”.

Mikazuki : A Japanese word meaning “crescent moon”. Also the most badass Gundam protagonist to date.

Minos : In Greek mythology, Minos was the first King of Crete and an antagonistic figure in many Greek myths, such as Theseus and the Minotaur. After he died, Minos became a judge of the dead in the underworld.

Parashu : The Sanskrit word for a battle-ax. In Hinduism, Parashu is a weapon of the god Shiva, given to Parashurama, one of Vishnu’s avatars. Parashurama used this weapon to rid the world of the tyrannical ruling class twenty-one times over.

Ragnarok : The battle of end times in the Poetic Edda. In the Ragnarok, many of the chief gods and goddesses are said to die, the world of Midgard submerged in water and reborn with two human survivors in an eternal winter.

Skeggiold : Old Norse for “Axe Age” or possibly “big axe”. Skeggiold is also allegedly the name of a lesser Valkyrie, responsible for guiding the souls of warriors who die in battle to the afterlife, though I have yet to find any historical basis for this.

Sparth : A Danish axe. Sparth axes featured large axeheads with crescent-shaped blades.

Ukonvasara : The hammer of the Finnish lightning god Ukko.

White Mage

Alkalurops : Alkalurops is derived from the Greek word kalaurops, which means “shepherd’s staff”.

Astaroth Cane : Astaroth is a powerful greater demon of the First Hierarchy from the Ars Goetia of the Lesser Key of Solomon, said to be on par with Beelzebub and Lucifer.

Byakurenge : Written as “ 白蓮華 “, it translates to “white lotus”.

Deae Gratia : Latin phrase roughly meaning “For the sake of the gods”.

Majestas : Majestas is a Latin word referring to royal authority or rulership.

Masakaki : A Japanese term describing a kind of evergreen tree (”true sakaki”) used in tamagushi, a traditional Shinto offering to the gods. Tamagushi was made by decorating a sakaki tree with zigzag-shaped paper streamers known as shide.

Mistilteinn : Translated as “mistletoe”, Mistileteinn is the sword of the Icelandic hero Hrómundr Gripsson from the saga that shares his name. Hrómundr used it to kill the Swedish champion Helgi the Valiant during a Swedish invasion of Iceland.

Nirvana : Nirvana is an enlightened state of mind that is described as devoid of desire, aversion, and delusion in traditional Buddhism.

Prester : Also known as a prebyster, a prester is a leader of local Christian congregations, synonymous with priest.

Seraph Cane : Seraphs are the highest order of angel in Christian angelic hierarchy.

Sindri : In Norse mythology, Sindri is the name of both a dwarven character and a hall that serves as a resting place for virtuous souls after Ragnarok.

Thyrus : Also known as a thyrsus, a thyrus is a wand or staff of giant fennel covered in ivy vines and topped with a pine cone. It is most often associated with Dionysus, the Greek god of hard partying.

Yagrush : In Phoenicion mythology, Yagrush was one of two clubs used by the chief god Baal to defeat the rebellious sea god Yam.

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv trivia #mythology #stormblood

koyoriin

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Another drawing of Oboro :3

[Previous FE fanart]

quarkmaster

Heroine

René Aigner

omoshiro-i

Lakshmi sketch for a client

chaos-dyke-old

Any particular reason why the Indian goddess of wealth is being shown as whiter than my fucking teeth?

ephemerle

This is a FFXIV character. That’s her actual design. If you want to argue, contact Square Enix, but don’t bash the OP for using her canon design. You would have known that if you looked up in the tags and reblogs of this post for a second before writing this angry comment. Envanyell actually wrote an entire paragraph explaining this. That’s a gorgeous drawing, so please don’t hijack the post to talk about things that actually have nothing to do with the fanart.

chaos-dyke-old

Hey here’s a thought: maybe if a source material is super racist (in this case, whitewashing Indian gods), then maybe when people make art of it they can make the art non racist and color them properly? Perfectly drawing a racist source material creates a racist drawing! This contributes to the whitewashing of my culture! If you think that has nothing to do with the fanart then lmao.

ephemerle

Look. FF games (among so many others) have always been using all kinds of mythologies for their bestiary. FFXIV is no exception. Do i think Lakshmi would have looked better if she was portrayed as a PoC in the game ? Yes, I do too.

But these characters AREN’T the actual gods. They are only inspired by the mythologies they are taken from. The FF character Gilgamesh is portrayed as a kabuki giant when he’s actually inspired from sumerian myths. Doesn’t look the same at all, right ? Enkidu is a freaking green chicken in FFXIV. If you looked up the other deities used in these games, you would have seen how far they are from their actual inspiration. These characters are FFXIV characters, and not meant to represent the actual deities and they never pretended to. They just have the same name, which isn’t forbidden. This ISN’T the Hindu goddess.

You just can’t be mad about an artist who draws a character with their canon design (especially when it’s a commission, they don’t have full freedom to do what they want). If you don’t like this design, that’s totally your right ! I would have understand your anger if the character was actually whitewashed. But the character in FFXIV is white, so she isn’t, the artist is just using her CANON DESIGN. You can’t FORCE someone to draw as you please. The OP never pretended to draw the actual goddess, they were very clear that it was the FFXIV character. If you want the artist to draw her as you want, commission them. Again, you can’t blame them for drawing the character as she looks in the game.

I understand why you don’t like the FFXIV design, but that really doesn’t justify your rudeness towards the artist. You don’t seem open to discussion seeing how defensive you are on your blog so I guess I’ll stop there.

chaos-dyke-old

Hey did you know the very post that you linked to in your last reblog says the opposite of what you’re saying right now? That they’re meant to be the actual deities from different religions and they’re wreaking havoc on the world and your quest is to destroy them to save the world? That’s all fine, I love stories taking down the gods and fighting against organized religion messages and stuff. But now you’re saying that she’s not at all the Indian goddess and she’s not meant to represent her and she’s her own completely separate character and therefore it’s perfectly ok for to be white. Ok.

omoshiro-i

I was commissioned to draw this character.

Feel free to pay me for custom art that fits your preferences

chaos-dyke-old

Lmao why would I commission an artist who supports whitewashing. Sorry. Try a different person more ok with their culture being erased. Or, perhaps, stop supporting whitewashing.

wildforge

Right, so I’m no major follower of FF14′s lore as I only just got into the game, nor do I possess much knowledge of India’s folklore or mythology surrounding their deities and their depictions. Along with this fact I do by no means intend on offending anyone with this post nor try to falsely educate anyone on their own culture, rather I’d like to point out the flaws in the argument that FF14′s depiction of Lakshmi is whitewashed and educate people on the subject in general.

What the original artist did was make a gorgeous piece of fanart based around Lakshmi, one of the Primals, or pseudo-deities/demigods of FF14′s lore. What he did not make however is a depiction of the Indian Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess of wealth, fortune and prosperity. The two contexts are completely different, with the only similarities being the etymology of their names and similar aesthetics between the design of FF14′s character and traditional depictions of the Goddess.

The Indian Goddess Lakshmi is typically depicted as an ‘elegantly dressed, prosperity-showering golden-coloured woman with an owl as her vehicle’, with images showing her generally showing her as a woman of tan to pale-ish skin, or golden skin as mentioned above. These depictions include images like this -

this,

or this.

Now, of course my own knowledge of this is limited and I only know of these depictions through my own research, but this is the Indian Goddess.

FF14′s depiction holds a clear difference however, one that the arguing party may have neglected to take into account wilfully or ignorantly - FF14′s depiction is inspired by the Indian Goddess. Not a direct depiction nor a copy implemented into the world of Eorzea, but a character in the game’s own mythos which, while possessing the same name and similar aesthetic properties that are derivative, is not a carbon clone of the original.

Now, FF14′s Lakshmi is said to be ‘The Lady of Bliss, beloved deity of the serpentine Ananta tribe’, with the Ananta being a female-only serpentine Beastmen Tribe, one of many such tribes that exist within the game’s world and lore. Lakshmi is depicted in-game as how the OP’s artwork depicts her, like this -

Or, as in concept art,

The Ananta look like this.

Primals generally bode ill for the world of Eorzea, as they require fervent and desperate worship from their followers along with a massive supply of aether, essentially the world’s life-force. As a result they are normally only called upon in times of dire need, with the negative effects created by their summoning necessitating the need of us, the player, to strike them down and restore balance in order to return the world to a natural state.

What the second party has done here is either wilfully or ignorantly chosen to neglect the clear differences between these two different characters and instead attack the artist based on their somewhat justified, yet ignorant assumption that the artist was seeking to white-wash the Indian Goddess. As pointed out by @iluzart and @tevruden, all @omoshiro-i has done is draw a piece of commisioned art to the specification of the commissioner, of a character from a game whose only similarities to the Indian Goddess lie in the etymology of her name and in certain aspects of her design.

This is not whitewashing - this is art drawn of a character that the above poster has chosen to get offended by, who, either by ignorance or their own choice, cherry-picking pieces of information to fit their own narrative. All of this poster’s behaviour does, getting offended by this art of a video-game character, not the actual Goddess, is simply reduce the seriousness and need for attention for other pieces of actual whitewashing and cultural erasure.

So, rather than seeking to berate an artist for doing what they are being paid to do, have some intellectual curiosity and actually do your damn research before getting offended.

kasumi-ffxiv

On top of that, for many centuries now pale skin has been revered in Indian culture as a sign of wealth and beauty. It’s not really a new thing. So it makes sense that much Indian art of Lakshimi, depict the goddess of wealth, fortune and prosperity with pale or golden skin as seen above. Some Indian women even have pale skin, usually from keeping out of the sun or natural genetics. Ffxiv Lakshimi also has brown hair and brown eyes, so she could easily enough be a POC, just with paler skin, due to Indian cultural values and the many artistic depictions by -Indian- artists of the goddess with pale skin. Her eyes and hair are both brown so she easily could be a POC but it’s hard to tell with the animation and style of art besides the dress of the ffxiv goddess which is traditional Indian dress.

liadanswhisper

I just want to point out here that Lakshmi as depicted up top isn’t the Hindu goddess…uh…she’s a snake person. Well, the echo-like dream of a particular snake person who happened to be named something similar to Lakshmi.

But um, anyway, the important point here is that the Lakshmi in the original drawing is a literal snake person. I’m pretty sure the actual Hindu goddess Lakshmi isn’t actually a snake person. Am I wrong?

Edited to Add: Also, this isn’t whitewashing at all. Unless that’s something Japanese people do on a regular basis? Cause his design, the concept, everything, was created by an entirely Japanese set of developers.

nerobombs

I want to make a new term.

Bugwashing.

It’s when a mythological being that was originally a person is turned into a bug.

As a person who is terrified of the idea of giant bugs wielding swords that can kill me, I’m very offended by this.

Bring back True Ravana. He shouldn’t be a bug. He should have ten heads.

Is Square Enix head-ist? Do Japanese people hate things that have more than one head? Find out more at 11.

#this is very funny

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Daily sketches - week #51

Final week! Find me also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/chistowskiart and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chistowskiart

Tomasz Chistowski

I have no idea how to write female characters, so all I do is write male characters and then add tits.

#writing #it's hard

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The amazing digital art of Anna Kharitonova

Sketching from the Imagination: Characters

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Reblog this with your best FFXIV RP Experience(s)

Because it’s Starlight, and we can always do with more positivity in this community. I want to hear all of your favorite moments.

nerobombs

I once typed an entire RP paragraph in chat while my hands were really cold, without having to backspace a single typo.

nerobombs

wait is that not what the question is asking

meandering-mind

Reblog this with your best FFXIV RP Experience(s)

Because it’s Starlight, and we can always do with more positivity in this community. I want to hear all of your favorite moments.

nerobombs

I once typed an entire RP paragraph in chat while my hands were really cold, without having to backspace a single typo.

#legit #no really #my level #get on it

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Drawing I did on the plane and finished in Photoshop later…!

thecollectibles

Character designs by giorgio baroni

shitteadrinkersays

Yanno, maybe females just shouldn‘t raid. /s

WHAT AN EYECATCHING TITLE. And you say:

“But Tea, aren’t you female? Isn’t that hypocritical?”

And I say sort of because let me tell you what I keep seeing.

Tea joins a static. Tea doesn’t like to talk in voice a whole bunch. I cue my mic for shit like “Swiftcast is down.” Or some other crucial piece of info. So people aren’t even really sure what/who I am to begin with. I just do my job and according to FFLogs I perform in a VERY high percentile.

Then we have token chick I’ll just call Pooksie Boo for lack of effort. Pooksie Boo can’t perform for shit. Anything more complicated than a white mage is out of the question and even then you can forget about any HoT uptime whatsoever. According to FFLogs they perform horribly. If you watch them on replay they have huge 30 secs swaths of standing there doing nothing. No HoTs, no Stone, no dps, no healing, no nothing. Additionally, they still manage to die to mechanics they’ve seen for 3 weeks.

FFLog ranking between us looks like this:

However, Pooksie Boo has one GIGANTIC advantage Tea does not. She loooooves to flirt with the guys in Discord. Cute tee hee’s and giggles followed by ‘scandalous’ remarks about penises and cocks and how she “likes them thick” with enough vocal fry that you could cook a fucking egg on it and enough embellishment that you’d think she’s performing on a phone sex line.

Pooksie Boo decides she doesn’t like Tea. Cuck boys then kick Tea.

I just want to say to all the Pooksie Boo’s (and you know who you are) out there that what you are doing is trashy. You are acting like 100% garbage and you are the reason females in video games get the negative reputations they do. You will do anything to avoid actually getting good and are simply the MMO equivalent of bloodsuckers and gold diggers in real life. All the girls that can’t get in a raid group without flirting on the mic, without sending nudes to the static leader or otherwise selling yourself like meat. Go drink the “respect yourself” juice.

Also if you’re LETTING yourself be a cuck boy….WTF ARE YOU DOING. STOP IT. I’M TRYING TO RAID HERE. This is JUST as much your fault. You encourage the same behavior you claim to abhor by enabling it. Use your damn brains and not your dicks.This is 100% a choice you are making and you are CHOOSING to get led around like a dog.

I’m out.

nerobombs

it’s never what you know that matters, only who you know

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Shogi Queen

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I commissioned this fantastic piece from @britishmuffin to encapsulate Roen’s journey through ARR and HW with some of the important people who played a key part. Thank you all!

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