This is my Final Fantasy XIV page...thingy? I'm honestly still not sure of everything I'm going to put here but for now this is the hub where I talk about my playable character, or as the community collectively refers to them, the Warrior of Light.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that if you're reading this, you already know that FFXIV is an MMORPG famous for its very generous free trial and critical acclaim. While all that's well and good, as someone who has had a fascination with useless game trivia over the years, to me this game is also a wonderful celebration of Final Fantasy series as a whole; often referencing and synthesizing various concepts throughout the series to create a sprawling fantasy world and a narrative that surprisingly holds up (if not above) with the rest of the series. I'm still very new to this game myself, but I knew pretty early on that I wanted to use my website as a way to help track my progress through this game and very lightly dabble in some the role-playing aspects of the game that many players enjoy.

For the forseeable future though, I will still be using my twitter to post updates of my progress in FFXIV which I have linked below. Chances are you'll also find more pictures of my Warrior of Light there if you're curious.

In short, the Warrior of Light is the term that both the game and the community use to refer to the playable character of FFXIV which as an avatar character can be heavily customized and thus needs a general title like "Warrior of Light" to be referred to, especially since FFXIV's Main Story Quests often feature pre-recorded voice acting.As for what makes every person's avatar a Warrior of Light is that they have recieved the blessing of Hydaelyn, who is the source of Light in the world of FFXIV and also happens to share a name with the planet FFXIV takes place on. Throughout the Final Fantasy series, there have been many Warriors of Light who have also received blessings from magical crystals and have most often served as those games' main protagonist. Among the FFXIV community, many players get invested in role-playing as their WoL either by giving them unique backstories and personalities which is more or less what I ended up doing.

Anyways, with that explaination out of way, why don't I introduce you to the Warrior of Light on my version of Hydaelyn?

• Name: Elakdornn Lyngtoumwyn
• Race: Sea Wolf Roegadyn
• Gender: Nonbinary (She/They/He)
• Patron: Nophica the Matron
• City-State: Gridania
• Starter Class: Lancer
• Other Classes: Dragoon, Summoner, Machinist, Weaver

Screenshots

(Click to View Full Image)

So for those who are unfamiliar with FFXIV, like many other MMORPGs, FFXIV has it's own list of races the player can choose for their character and also inhabits the world as NPC characters.Roegadyns are one of FFXIV's five initial races the player could choose from along with the Hyurs, Elezen, Miqo'te, and the Lalafell. While these terms probably seem strange, for the most part they all align with an archetype of other well-known fantasy races as Hyurs are the standard human race, Elezen are based on elves, Lalafell are based on dwarves and gnomes, Mi'qote are just cat people, and Roegadyns are closest to an orc race. Roegadyns are a bit different to orcs though mainly that in FFXIV they are largely associated with marine warfair, giving them a bit of viking and pirate flair, though this is most prevalent among the most common tribe of Roegadyns in Eorzea: The Sea Wolves. The other tribe of Roegadyns, the Hellsguard, come from a volcanic region and tend to be better practicers of magic and are visually distinct from the Sea Wolves from their warmer skin tones and the dark spots they have on the bottom of their noses. There are also several non-playable Roegadyns that hail from regions other than Eorzea, namely the continent of Othard.

As cool as all this is, Roegadyns are notoriously under-represented in FFXIV's Main Story Quests as well as not being popular as playable characters. However, as I've always tended to gravitate towards unpopular starting characters, classes, and factions in RPGs, a Roegadyn seemed like the perfect choice for my playable character in FFXIV! Not only that, but I just love how unique they look due their large statures, the blue-green skintones of the Sea Wolves, and the way the Hellsguard look like they have animal noses. Because of this, Elakdornn would eventually become my main Warrior of Light, and I settled on Sea Wolf as her tribe in order to have access to the green skin tone I wanted for her.

-But first I had to give her a fitting name. Sea Wolf Roegadyn names are roughly based on old Welsh. Elakdornn's first name means “Elk Thorn” and her last name means “Daughter of Long Dream”. I knew from the beginning that I wanted Elakdornn to have motifs associated with forests, nature, deer and knighthood as she is partially inspired by Virizion from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, and I feel like her first name encapsulates that perfectly! Technically, Elakdornn's name isn't exactly canon compliant as female Sea Wolf Roegadyns are supposed to encorporate very specific words into their name that are usually very traditionally feminine (such as Swys (sister), Wyb (woman), Bryda (Bride), etc). Needless to say, I didn't vibe with this restriction at all, so in universe, I feel that Elakdornn changed her name to better fit her identity as a nonbinary person. As for her surname, all Sea Wolf surnames end with either Syn (son of) or Wyn (daughter of), but the first two components are pretty free to choose on your own. In the end, I settled on "Long Dream" because I myself am an avid day dreamer and the concept of dreams and dream worlds are very commonly used in fantasy to deliver important plot developments and all-in-all, it felt very fitting for a protagonist of a Final Fantasy game.

If you want to learn more about Roegadyn naming conventions check out the fandom wiki page on the topic, and the Roegadyn dictionary on the FFXIV official forums.

Elakdornn Lyngtoumwyn was born in the year 1547 of the Seventh Astral Era to Solkgrein Lyngtoumsyn (Father) and Valiant Elm (Mother) in the city-state of Gridania. Her father was a botanist and her mother was a carpenter respectively and they generally lived a peaceful, if not a somewhat isolated life in the Black Shroud.

As a child, Elakdornn was popular in her village, being very well mannered and talented as a hunter. As a young adult, Elakdornn joined the Wood Wailers in Gridania, being a natural fighter with a lance and a patient student under Ywain Deepwell. It was during her time serving as a Wood Wailer that Elakdornn began to become discontent with her life in Gridania as she noticed that the general politics of the Twin Adder was too restrictive and old-fashioned for her liking and would eventually turn to becoming a freelance adventurer. Before Elakdornn was able to resign from the Wood Wailers, the Calamity occurred as the Garlean Empire dragged the lesser moon Dalamud out of orbit towards the continent of Eorzea. Leading up to the battle, Elakdornn was briefly acquainted with Louisoix Leveilleur who she would be tasked with guarding from a distance while Louisoix performed the summoning ritual that would reverse Dalamud's descent. When Bahamut escaped from his Allagan bindings on the lesser moon and Louisoix was forced to change plans to destroy Bahamut, he used the last of his power to send Elakdornn's soul through the aetherial sea and away from Cartineau Flats.

Elakdornn awoke after that in La Noscea, where she became acquainted with members of the Limsa Lominsa Arcanist's Guild. When news broke that Louisoix perished when he defeated Bahamut and that Dalamud was in actuality an ancient Allagan facility built to contain the primal, Elakdornn developed a morbid fascination with the Primals and the effect their summoning rituals could have on the planet. In the next few years, Elakdornn made her way back to the Black Shroud while continuing her own research into the history of the Allagan Empire and how the Garlean Empire were able to even access Dalamud in the first place. Upon returning to Gridania, Elakdornn officially joined the adventurers guild and the rest - as they say - is history.

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