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ARMORER: “Forging a Style”
Original Blanstyr
-One of the Lominsan guild higher-ups, Blanstyr, has decided to leave. He fears his work lacks character.
-He recently saw someone wearing far eastern armor that appealed. He wants to learn more.
-I love how encouraging the guildmaster is! She tells Blanstyr that these leaves of absence to improve one’s craft are crucial.
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Eastern Apprentice
-Blanstyr and I will be fellow students. We seek a teacher in Kugane.
-The smith at the main forge here, Fugetsu, is intrigued. Never had foreigners apprentice with him.
-WAIT, THIS IS AWESOME! For the first time, the item they ask me practice with – a suit of paladin mail – uses materials they just GIVE me. No need to farm them up myself.
[Later edit: This was the first Stormblood crafting job I started on. This one thing? It is the single greatest change to the crafting quests I could have wanted. Before this, you had to gather your own materials for the main job quests and get them to high quality.
Gathering the items took a while, and often I couldn’t get a 100% chance to craft an item at high-quality. So each job quest had this undertone of dread, of “please please PLEASE let this craft as HQ so I don’t have to waste time re-farming.”
This change removes ALL of that. Throughout the Stormblood crafting quests, I just had to do my best to use my abilities and get an HQ craft. If it failed, I’d just talk to the questgiver and try again.
I seriously can’t overstate how great this is. Thank you, Square Enix.]
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Forging with Scales
-Eorzean armor is made of large, shaped sheets, but Hingan plate is made from overlapping scales. Hingan armor also protects against arrows better. Different form and function.
-Our first task is to craft “kote,” gauntlets. Blanstyr and I go talk to a sekiseigumi (samurai) to hear their perspective.
-Range of motion is their biggest need. Not feeling like the hands are encased in lead.
-Sounds reasonable, and the titanium kote we make in reply fits the bill.
-This is more basic than Blanstyr expected. Patience, dude.
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Head-to-Head Contest
-Our apprenticeship progresses, and we’re ready to try a commission. The client is… oh crap, it’s “Master Gyosei.” A namazu?
-Whew. No. An actual samurai. He wants a helm for a tournament, so Blanstyr and I will try our best.
-The tournament takes place before nobility, so I should avoid ostentatious/gaudy designs. And I want it to have wide mobility and field of vision. I go with a “somen.”
(Is this a real thing? Quick Google search is not fruitful.)
-It sort of frames the faces. Blanstyr goes with a full helm with a snake motif.
Looks badass, but I think the samurai wants something more muted.
-Yeah, he goes with the somen. Less showy, he doesn’t need a full covering in a tournament.
-It’s a recurring theme in the 60-70 quests: treasure the needs of the client over your own artistic expression. Or rather, know that artistic expression derives from how you meet the client’s needs.
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A Confluence of Style
-Blanstyr has dived back into his study with renewed fervor.
-Gyosei had some success at the tournament and will depart Kugane soon to fight bandits.
-Blanstyr wants to craft something new for him, in apology for his last attempt. I’ll help.
-His idea is a suit of armor that’s fundamentally Hingan with Eorzean touches. I’ll make a “hara-ate” (a chest guard of some sort?).
-It comes out well. But it’s NOTHING compared to Blanstyr’s rabbit kabuto.
-It works. It’s Gyosei’s family animal, said to bring good fortune in battle. Bravo, Blanstyr!
-And that’s it. Not my favorite, but not bad. I like Blanstyr.
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LEATHERWORKER: “The Right Stuff”
A Taxing Request
-A pompous naturalist has requested my help.
ATELLOUNE: “You should be happy – proud, even – to assist me with my noble works. ‘Tis not often one has the opportunity to serve as my lady-in-wai – ahem, my dutiful apprentice.”
-She’s studying how the Calamity has changed the environment and drove animals towards extinction.
-LOLOL – she’s not so much worried about saving the animals as preserving them through taxidermy. I’ll prepare the skins, and her other assistant, Enion, will stuff’em.
-I like this twist. Screw saving the animals. Let’s decorate! [Later edit: she subverts later.]
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Mounting Expectations
-Bless the quest name. I’m a sucker for puns, which I probably give away with post titles.
-First creature up: the elusive Hengr dhalmel from the Sea of Clouds. And she’s still ultimately a naturalist. No killing these endangered animals; just stuff a recently deceased one.
-The Vanu Vanu (beast tribe) help us find one. The only problem is that Erion has never seen a dhalmel. Let’s get a good look at the pre-death version.
-They’re kind of beautiful, kind of goofy. Half giraffe, half camel.
-Erion and I do our things, and the taxidermy looks solid.
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The Value of Life
-Next up: an Ala Mhigan grizzly whose food source is diminishing.
-Erion and I find a dead grizzly, but it’s in rough shape. Scarred, a poor taxidermy subject.
-Still, we can salvage some gloves!
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The Trouble with Taxidermy
-The mounted dhalmel has attracted lots of attention, including from a jerkface conjurer named – not kidding – Marmaduke.
-He thinks the elements are “crying out in anger” at what we did to the poor creature. DUDE, HE WAS ALREADY DEAD!
-But he’s one of the city’s higher-ups and wants to shut us down.
-Atelloune’s suggests a leatherworkers’ exhibition. Show off how useful we are.
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True to Life
-Our crowning specimen will be a rare three-feathered gagana. Only problem is they were hunted to near extinction before Bahamut’s Calamity when people splurged on luxuries. Maybe we’ll get lucky?
-Not so much. No sightings, so we go with trickery. Take a regular gagana and make it look like a three-feathered gagana.
-I prepare the pelt and Enion stuffs it. I have my doubts.
-The show starts, and the Gridanians are… well, kinda pissed. I feel mixed about taxidermy myself. I don’t think it’s immoral if done ethically, but it feels kinda gauche? Idk, I don’t really see it that often.
“Our work is not a mockery of these animals but a tribute to their majesty!”
-Atelloune shows surprising passion in defending her work though, and really believes in it. She sees it as an avenue to change the way society acts. To hunt differently, be in touch with the real cost of the clothes we make and food we eat.
ATELLOUNE: “They are a lasting reminder of the lives sacrificed for the clothing on our backs, and a tool to arouse interest in the study of animals so many would otherwise ignore.”
-She wins Marmaduke over. (And me too. I plan to visit the local natural history museum.)
-This quest chain wasn’t my favorite throughout, but the character of Atelloune grew on me. She’s a gem. An obnoxious, assholish, moral gem. I hope we more in the future from her.
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Random Stuff Around Eorzea
I’ve loved gaelicats ever since I first met them on the Big Bridge in FFV:
A lightsaber? Light-katana?
Titania-themed chocobo barding:
The dapper Rocket Sauce:
-Some great player names:
Pocket Sensei
Ernizzle Shizzle
Kata Pult
Strawberry Poptart
Bul’kathos Ignius
Wittle Bean
Wei Lay
