our unending journey

Have you heard of it? The critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV?

One day, a friendgroup was having a normal night when a member of their number burst into the room. "This game that just got a new expansion has a free trial!" he proclaimed. "Let's play for a few days!" Little did the cheering peanut gallery know that this would damn them all to a lifetime of subscription based services and crying over boys with cat ears.

I started playing FFXIV in Summer 2017, the same summer Stormblood launched. This was both a good and bad thing; the world was more livelier than ever, making it more enticing for fresh sprouts (especially one who never played an MMO before and didn't know what to expect), but it was also the summer of the infamous Raubahn Extreme. Of course, being a sprout my own Raubahn Extreme was just trying to do the very first A Realm Reborn instanced battle for the Limsa Lominsa classes where you beat up a bunch of poes with Y'shtola. I got disconnected a few times trying it. Also I got eviscerated by an A-rank that happened to be lurking outside the entrance to Summerford Farms, the first location they send you outside of Limsa Lominsa. Ah, the memories...

Weirdly, though there was no prior evidence that it could even do that to us, something about FFXIV had us hooked. My partner and I bought the full game before we hit the end of the free trial (which, back in the day, was A Realm Reborn itself). I loved my character—that cute Lalafell avatar who would eventually develop into Lunya Lanya, a full-fledged self-insert and OC—and dressed her up dutifully in the outfits we could get. Here's another precious first memory: the day we downloaded the free trial someone saw our group sitting and talking together in /say chat. He gave our one friend who already had the game 100k gil—unfathomable riches to us sprouts—and told her to split it when (when! Did he know?! Was it prophetic?!) we bought the full game. When I got my share I immediately spent it on the bridesmaid dress you can buy in Ul'dah and, in an age where glamour prisms could only be used at level 50, refused to wear proper gear until I physically could not complete an instanced battle wearing that level 1 glam piece.

I enjoyed the game but I wasn't super attached to FFXIV's story until Shadowbringers; before then my attachment to the game was based entirely on my attachment to Lunya and to being able to play with my friends. Shadowbringers was what completely drew me in, making me look back on how far I'd come in the game and truly appreciating who I met and what I'd done.

—NPCS

G'raha ♡♡♡
Hancock ♡
Themis ♡
Krile ♡
Alphinaud
Ardbert
Baderon
Estinien
Gaia
Giott
Hades
Hythlodaeus
Keeper of the Entwined Serpents (Hyur)
Lamitt
Leveva
Lue-Reeq
Melkoko
Momodi
Pagaga
Ranaa
Riol
Ryne
Thancred
Wilred
Venat
Y'mhitra
Zhai'a

—DUTIES

Orbonne Monastery
Hidden Gorge
Eden's Promise 1-4 (Savage)
The Aetherfont
Ala Mhigo
Castrum Fluminis
Doma Castle
The Grand Cosmos
The Great Hunt
Hells' Kier
The Heroes' Gauntlet
The Jade Stoa
The Twinning

—MOUNTS

Demi-Ozma
Dodo
Gilded Mikoshi
Argos
Aquamarine Carbuncle
Big Shell
Construct VII
Magicked Carpet
Megashiba
Orthos Craklaw
Phaethon
Rathalos

—MINIONS

Wind-up G'raha
Wind-up Mystel
Wind-up Namazu
Abroader Otter
Attendee #777
Benben Stone
Crabe de la Crabe
The Gold Whisker
Magic Bucket

—ZONES

Lakeland
Eastern La Noscea
The Crystarium
Old Sharlayan
Limsa Lominsa
Il Mheg
Lower La Noscea
Mor Dhona

—MUSIC

Painted Foothills
Flow
The Nautilus Knoweth
Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Dedicated to Moonlight
Eternal Wind
Endwalker - Footfalls
Knowledge Never Sleeps
On Our Fates Alight
Return to Oblivion
Sultana Dreaming
The Extreme (Shadowbringers)
Thunder Rolls (Pulse Remix)
The Warrens

—TITLES

Cieldalaes Connoisseur
Deadliest Catcher
Doom of the Deep
Master of the Seas
Fortune's Favored Kupo
Patron of the Fates

—SHIPS

Ardbert/Lamitt
Aymeric/Estinien
Cirina/Sadu
Ejika/Krile
Emmanellain/Sicard
Gaia/Ryne
Guydelot/Sanson
Hades/Hythlodaeus
Jullus/Zero
Krile/Y'shtola
Lalai/Zhai'a
Melkoko/H'mhasi
Thancred/Urianger

MOONSTRUCK BLOSSOM

fatal blooms in moonlight

LUNYA & MELMELTAN

Namazu and G'raha Tia enjoyer prime. Likes to hoard ventures and is the token Rival Wings enthusiast. Has the ability to make many different kinds of things but gets overwhelmed by her options and does nothing. The one who judges glamours the most harshly.

COCO

The little guy who likes to do savage and extreme content just for funsies and not because he actually wants any loot. He was too powerful so his arm nerfed him and now he has chronic pain or whatever. Lunya's partner IRL and resident game dev who likes modeling sparkly things. The one with the worst inventory management.

BABYCORN & CHERRYPIT

The origin of Babycorn's name can be traced through years of some kind of inside joke spawned through the movie Planes but SOMEONE got a little attached and gave her really thorough lore. Has no less than 99 cornbread on her at all time and is the tiny guard dog at FC events. The one who suffers the most.

VERTICAL & B'IG

Statty got into FFXIV because the rest of us wouldn't shut up about it and accidentally got trapped with us forever. You know those twitter artists who suddenly became an FFXIV artist overnight? That's Statty. Most likely to be found in Seal Rock or without Fists of Fire on during prog. Really wants a ranged MNK move. The one with the most hours in the Diadem.

VIGGO

Team Mom and the Lore Person of the group, Andres abducted them off the street during Hatchingtide 2017 during his first attempts at playing the free trial (without most of the current roster), all because they had a funny name. Peepo has since then become a trusted friend and a Garlean. Connoiseur of Live Letter bingo sheets. The one with the shiniest tinfoil hat.

HIMBO

The token furry and WoW refugee, Himbo just meant to hang around until Shadowlands dropped, except he got really into the whole Himbo Hooters thing and leveled CUL and BTN so he could make beaver burgers by the hundreds and hand them out to the unsuspecting, and now he runs a restaurant in our basement most Sunday nights and has become Siren's most iconic cryptid. Likes to spin bosses. The one with the least amount of clothes on at any given time.

INSTALLSHIELD

Resident European ping representative, Elly loves soup, pointy hats, and fiery explosions, but doesn't like having to prophesize the appearance of the next AoE three minutes before it shows up on her screen. She's can frequently heard crying over Enochian and will 99% of the time be found in the Rak'tika Greatwood trying to pop Ixtab. Logs in to queue for mahjong and logs out. The one most likely to accidentally pull a boss in her excitement.

ANDRES

Andrew got everyone else into FFXIV, founded the Free Company, and then ditched us to play his 50 other video games. Likes to log on to do the MSQ and then get wildly sidelined with an urge to RP walk all the way back to Ul'dah from the Tempest. His FC room is a shrine to Nanamo and Raubahn. The one most likely to shamelessly wander into someone else's RP session uninvited.

KHALJAN

Chal picked up the most obscure NPC I'd completely forgotten the existence of and gave her a new home which is a major power move and ne's also interested in making an actual language for the Xaela of the Steppe! The one who actually gets the FFXIV/Destiny memes I keep seeing.

I'm a softcore raider because of health conflicts and I get burned out extremely fast, so I don't always finish raid sets during the tier :') Here are the EX+ difficulty duties I've completed synced!

The Baldesion Arsenal
Memoria Misera EX
Castrum Marinum EX (Emerald Weapon)
The Cloud Deck EX (Diamond Weapon)
The Whorleater Unreal
Eden's Promise 9 Savage (Cloud of Darkness)
Eden's Promise 10 Savage (Shadowkeeper)
Eden's Promise 11 Savage (Fatebreaker)
Eden's Promise 12 Savage (Eden's Promise & Oracle of Darkness)
Zodiark EX
Hydaelyn EX
Pandæmonium: Asphodelos 1 (Ericthonios)
Pandæmonium: Asphodelos 2 (Hippokampos)
Pandæmonium: Abyssos 1 (Proto Carbuncle)
Pandæmonium: Abyssos 2 (Hegemone)
Pandæmonium: Anabaseios 1 (Kokytos)

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MOONSTRUCK BLOSSOM

fatal blooms in moonlight