N O C T L U N A W E E K

N O C T L U N A   W E E K

Day 6: Night and moon

Quote by: Frederick L. Knowles

14 associations: Valoren Stormcrow

tagged by @why-raven ! passing this on to anyone who sees this and wants to join :D

ANIMAL: gaelicat. A curious, charming creature with a feline body and the wings of a bat. It possesses a keen, mischievous intelligence. Gaelicats are an important part of Vanu Vanu culture, with the Gundu using them in fortune telling rituals, releasing them into the Sea of Clouds to receive omens of the future. Their ancient predecessors, the ailouroi, were familiars created to keep watch and bring inspiration as muses.

COLOR: robin-egg blue. Often associated with lightning, water, and the sky, this vibrant shade of cyan is the color of Valoren’s soul.

SONG: Fake Out by Fall Out Boy. The perfect upbeat anthem for a man whose life has been one long, heartbreaking fake-out.

NUMBER: zero. The Fool in tarot is numbered as zero. Valoren also thinks of himself as a non-entity, with no true identity. His sister’s derogatory nickname for him growing up was Valoren Nothing, and it really stuck.

TIME OF DAY: very late night. In the darkest hour that comes before dawn, Valoren has always thrived. He’s practically nocturnal. Not only because that’s when his jobs as a tavern bard take place, but because he finds pace in being awake when almost nobody else is.

FLORA: nightshade. A beautiful purple flower whose scientific name is derived from the Greek mythological figure Atropos, the deadliest of the three Fates. Of course, the plant is infamously poisonous.

SMELL: lavender. Valoren has a custom perfume blend made of lavender, vanilla, and cardamom. He uses the same scent profile in his soaps. You can tell a letter is from Valoren not only because of his signature blue ink, but because it smells like lavender.

GEMSTONE: moonstone. A multi-hued stone that seems to shift depending on what light it's in, moonstones are also associated with tides and, obviously, the moon.

SEASON: autumn. While the weather is often dreary, it only makes for a better excuse to stay home and be cozy. The beautiful leaves also make for an excellent show!

PLACE: rooftops. Valoren often climbed up onto the roof as a child to escape his (less dextrous) older sister’s torment, and they’ve always been a place of solace for him.

FOOD: plum fool. One of the first things Valoren made, a plum fool is a dessert with layers of lightly cooked and sweetened plums and either rich custard or freshly whipped cream.

ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: the spire. It is associated with dominion over others, the noble class, and the element of lightning. Often, the Spire heralds a disaster or upheaval.

ELEMENT: lightning. As an astral element, lightning takes an active role in shaping the world around it, either in creation or destruction. It is the divine wrath of a storm, the spark of inspiration, the flash of brightness that’s alleged to never strike the same place twice.

BEVERAGE: top-shelf bourbon, neat. Valoren fails to see the point of drinks that aren’t either caffeinated or alcoholic. When he’s drinking on his own gil, he prefers a strong drink with complex flavors and just a hint of burning.

Little OC Creation Ask List

I am trying to help a friend with their creative block around creating a FFXIV OC. So I thought I might try putting together a quick Ask List on the topic and maybe they would find people's responses helpful. Also it might be interesting to learn about how people approach the creative process!

How did you decide on the sex and/or gender of your OC? Was it important that it was the same as yours? Or the same as what you personally find attractive? Or did it not make much difference either way?

To what degree is your OC a self-insert? Are they in any way an aspirational version of yourself? Or perhaps a way to explore feelings and behaviours you suppress in yourself?

Is it important to you that you "like" your OC (as in consider them likeable)? Or is it more important to create a distinctive character, even if they are unpleasant or evil?

Do what degree did you intend your OC to be canon-compliant? Did you end up sticking to this or did you veer off into unforeseen territory over time?

How important is it to you that your OC is attractive? Does that mean attractive to you personally (sexually or just for purposes of playing dress-up!)? Or do you aim to make an OC over which others will inevitably thirst?

To what degree do you use the OC creation process as a way of exploring your own strengths and flaws?

Is your OC based upon another character or person? Or aspects of several? Is this just in terms of their appearance? Or also their personality?

Do you create the OC first and then the backstory? Or do you have a backstory lined up and then create an OC that will fit this?

Have you ever retconned your OC's story or situation? What inspired this? Did you just fancy a change? Or were you bored with them as they were? Or did you regret your decisions on first creating them?

To what extent does your OC function as a mouthpiece for your own views when it comes to describing their opinions or reactions? Do you quite like exploring how someone with very different values to your own might respond to a situation?

What is your main focus when creating an OC - making a character for yourself and your own enjoyment? Or do you try to create a character that will be popular with others or attract a lot of attention?

How much importance do you attach to humour when creating a character? Are there inevitably comic elements? Or are you more focused upon angst or drama?

Does your OC need to be believable (within the context of the fictional world in which you place them)? Or are you more interested in pushing the boundaries of what you can invent?

How do you want other people to view or react to your OC?

Is there anything you regret about how you designed your OC or their backstory?

Do you have the same OC (broadly speaking) across multiple fandoms or settings?

Did you design your OC with a specific aspect of RP in mind? Such as shipping, NSFW things, attending in-game social events, hosting events or entertaining others?

Has anyone ever reacted badly to your OC? Why was this?

Do you want other people to become invested in your OC? What would this look like ideally?

Is it important to ensure your OC has flaws or negative traits? Or do you try to make an idealised character as far as possible?

Do you want or enjoy your OC having in-game interactions with other people's characters? Or do you prefer to keep things more distant (like Ask Games on Tumblr!)? Or is your OC private and just for you?

How do you feel about others making art of your OC or writing about them? Do you feel like you need to vet their creative process? Or does anything go?

Was there a location in-game that inspired your OC (like Ishgard or Hingashi etc.)?

Was there something in the MSQ or even a side-questline, that inspired you to create them? Perhaps meeting the Sylphs or the Namazu? Or visiting the Unsundered World? Or even something to do with crafting or gathering?

To what extent does their appearance in game match your vision of them creatively? Are there things you wish you could change about them in this regard? Or possibly do, if you knew of a way to do so...

Do you have a voice claim for your OC? Did you have this before you did anything else? Or did you decide on it later?

Which OCs that are not yours do you most admire? What is it about that character that you find impressive or engaging?

To what extent have other people's OC influenced your own? Perhaps in the sense of inspiring your ideas? Or giving you "permission" to create a character you might not otherwise have done? Perhaps a lore-breaking one, or an overtly sexy one, or a self-insert, or a villainous one etc?

What do you try to avoid when creating an OC? Are these things you dislike in other people's OCs? Or purely your own personal preference?

What is your favourite thing about your OC or OCs? Is there something about them of which you are particularly proud?

To what extent does it matter that you are being "original" when you create an OC? Or is it OK to base them on an existing character or celebrity, so long as you enjoy it?

If you're stuck for ideas when creating an OC, what do you do to inspire yourself? (if you never have this problem, then what would you advise to someone that did!)

Is there an OC you would love to create in-game, but currently you are unable to do so, perhaps because that race is not playable or that sex is unavailable (hello female Hrothgar)?

How many OCs do you currently have? If you have multiple OCs then how different are they from each other? How often do you create new ones?

What things do you most want to see in someone's OC? Or what do you always find the most interesting? Or stimulating, if you're in that sort of mood?

26. What’s ONE location that’s important to them?

(for alannah x ardbert!)

Get to Know My Shipping Preferences

The Bowl of Embers.

It's not the first place they met, or the first place they fought, or where they fell in love.

But it is the place where they finally understood one another and forged a connection that would transcend death and the space between stars.

It's the memory of their battle there that carries Alannah through the events of Shadowbringers, that brings Ardbert back from the brink of becoming a fading shade.

The name itself is fitting, because the embers of what happened there that day would eventually evolve into the spark of trust that leads them to bond, and become the flame that burns in them now.

@why-raven thank you for the ask!