#Padjals | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

autumnslance · 1 year

Text

Gridania vs the Elementals

Had a bit of a grouse on Twitter after seeing a decent take with a buncha of real not decent replies. Transcript of the tweets:

ARR inherited the mess in Gridania from the 1.0 team, no idea how to fix it, so ignore it.

It's also clear it's mostly a People problem, not the utterly alien blue-orange morality Elementals the folks who live in the Shroud adapt to living with (& corrupt folks use as excuses).

The Elementals are obviously not policing every detail of folks' lives & barely comprehend mortals as seen several times. When they lash out it's cuz they sense a threat they don't understand. Hence the need for Padjal & Hearers. Who are people & make mistakes or are corruptible.

Assuming the Elementals are evil or cruel for the hell of it is grossly misunderstanding the alien horror aspect of the Shroud & the druidic story of the Padjal. Nature isn't all kind & fluffy. The Elementals aren't even personified nature; they're aspects of it that can react.

The trouble in Gridania always comes from people mistreating each other, & sometimes that includes making claims about the Elementals. It's the same as corrupt priests in Ishgard or Monetarists in Ul'dah. Using authority for personal gain. It's explicit in the StB LTW quest.

I'd love to see Gridania get a glowup the way the other city-states have. I don't expect it to happen. Mostly I wish for it so maybe a fraction of folks would grasp slightly better the concepts of corrupt authorities vs alien nature elements.

I also once wrote a lot more about "why doesn't Kan-E just fix it?" as if it's that easy. https://autumnslance.tumblr.com/post/625180125899669504/the-seedseers-privilege

What happened in the EW Tank quest was cuz the Elementals couldn't tell who was at fault or why. They do not understand mortals or their reasons. They just knew something was happening. Removing padjal aspects instead of killing the boy too likely was their idea of mercy.

Meanwhile I'd side-eye any Hearer who claims "your kid specifically can't be cured cuz the Elementals say so."

If you don't trust an Ishgard priest making such claims of Halone telling him the same Herself, you shouldn't believe that Hearer, either. Why would they care or not?

Anyway. Not everything's a nice neat black & white easily understood & fixed situation. And the Elementals don't actually need fixing. Gridania does, but that's gonna take longer & isn't necessarily the WoL's job, but it's peoples'.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Gridania #Elementals #Padjals #Hearers #Corruption #Blue and Orange Morality #alien mindsets #grumpy old lady hours #Twitter

385 notes · View notes

odisauv · 27 days

Text

Life Finds a Way by Aeollon

#ffxiv #ff14 #aesthetic #final fantasy xiv fanart #the black shroud #gridania #white mage #whm #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #Gridania #padjals #elementals #moogle #forest #ffxiv fanart #fanart #ffxiv art #art

16 notes · View notes

vyragosa · 1 year

Text

lo¨PDHS¨Q0OIHD¨SQI0HDSQIOHDJSQIODHSQIO

no you’re right and it was good as fuck i will reblog it even soooooooo 🫡

#padjals

2 notes · View notes

lookbluesoup · 1 year

Text

So while I get that Gridanians live under these.... essentially toddler-gods who can afflict the entire territory with horrible plague, who will severely punish well-intentioned children that were manipulated by adults instead of the adult, and can't communicate their desires clearly, which leads the community to adopt a lot of hostility to change, paranoia, hate and even violence toward outsiders, etc...

Unless there's more explanation for this I haven't found? I know I'm not 100% up to speed on everything Gridania, especially pre-ARR....

Keepers of the Moon were living in the Black Shroud outside of Gridanian authority, for generations, presumably not being laserbeamed out of existence. There would have been a lot going on outside of the Seedseer's effective reach, and there aren't Moonkeeper Padjal to make up the gap there, only Hyur get to be Padjal.

Miqo'te are described as traditionally being far more in tune with nature and eschewing things like major city developments and whatnot. They're predators, yes, but predators have a place and function in the natural balance of the world.

"Beast Tribes" are a made up word from Ul'dah to protect trade monopolies in Thanalan, and Miqo'te could easily have ended up on the wrong side of that label if the rich elites had wanted them barred from the city. Historically, they're a lot more "feral" than a lot of the other spoken races.

I mention all this because it's unlikely the Elementals divide people into Beast Tribes and Human Races. Sylph's aren't being deleted by the Elementals, either, despite certainly having no inclination to live like the Gridanians do and being fairly mischievous.

My point being... I wonder if maybe the Gridanians kind of brought the Greenwrath on themselves. A lot of the time. The same way that some IRL religious institutions preach hate in the name of a deity and stir paranoia and fear of eternal condemnation. They create sins where there didn't need to be... Justifying division and destruction and isolation out of fear (and thus a need for control), and actually creating their own problems.

Elementals might not care about a lot of the stuff Gridania does, its clear a few times when something bad happens to someone, even just getting sick, panic strikes that the Elementals are behind it and people act irrationally out of fear, like the IRL Salem Witch Trials.

If you look at places like Haukke Manor... a country living in balance with nature does not need massive monuments to vanity like that. And there's apparently a whole quarter devoted to mansions for nobility in Gridania (which the npc says we're not allowed to visit.) Why do you have that. Why do you think that promotes peace with the natural world.

There's Wood Wailers who talk about wanting to kill Moonkeepers on sight, just in case they're "poachers." That's sort of like killing wolves because they're predators. Outside of some genuine bad apples, though, a lot of what seems to drive actual Moonkeeper poachers AND Duskwight Elezen to banditry is a straight up need to survive. Gridania's essential demand that they have dictatorial rights over management of the forest leads them to disrupt these group's lives, sometimes with exceptional cruelty.

I know that "central authority" is kind of... not super really a thing for Gridania, power is pretty divided up and a lot of it seems to run on an honor system. But that seems to have led to a lot of Process Loss and enabled a lot of prejudice and abuse to run rampant. Especially now that the Elementals are weaker than pre-Calamity.

I guess basically I wonder if the reason Sylphs and traditional Moonkeeper clans managed to survive out there was because, unlike Gridania, they don't have social systems built from the ground up on fear and condemnation. They're not constantly LOOKING for reasons to think the Elementals hate them and someone to blame for it.

They just live "natural" lives, that aren't inherently dangerous to the overall balance of the forest ecosystem, and they don't have an entire religious/government body dedicated to trying to interpret vague impressions from the Elementals (this is a HORRIBLE system of government and EXTREMELY susceptible to personal prejudices/bias), so these non-Gridanians run into conflict with the Elementals far less often.

i.e. Moonkeeper kills a rabbit, uses the meat, skin, and bones, is behaving like a hunter, Elementals don't care. VERSUS Gridanian kills a rabbit, uses it the same way, but then a villager gets sick and their friends panic and they turn into a mob and punish the Gridanian, Elementals didn't care but now they're a little pissy bc you're disrupting the forest with your insanity.

Basically... Gridania is the real affront to the Elementals, their very infrastructure and their culture of micromanaging the forest and constantly looking for scapegoats, kind of flies in the face of actually living in balance with nature. The Elementals aren't omnipotent or a unified group, and seem to struggle to understand human minds anyway, so they're trying to work with this city-state and have established some kind of partnership, but Gridania is really its own worst enemy.

#ffxiv #ff14 #miqote #gridania #keeper of the moon #elementals #padjal #sylph #seedseer #duskwight #lore #meta #shower thoughts #text #long post

510 notes · View notes

cookiehana · 9 months

Text

#ffxiv #padjal #elezen #my art #cookiehana #padjal belongs to a friend #ocs #otp

150 notes · View notes

kicktwine · 9 months

Text

A kissaroo from me to you! (judo flips kan-e-senna)

also I had a dream everyone turned into a dragon . alphiesaur

#play game #doodles #my art #I really am out here just doodling recently #ffxiv #Kan-e-senna #I decided. You know what. If there’s ONE character that gets to be extremely forest creature mothdeerwoman. it’s her #so she looks like this to me. it’s canon she can change her form a little. I think #I try to keep the wol playable races a bit more humanlike with Cool Traits but npcs have NO SUCH RESTRICTION. MOTHFAIRY CEO OF ELF RACISM.#AND MAGIC AND SUCH. I THINK. I haven’t even touched a healer class #alphinaud leveilleur #(dragon)#the similarities between padjal true forms and elezen (hoof feet; moth whiskers; etc) only serves to cement their belief that they were #the original denizens of the forest. despite the fact that padjal are more often than not hyur born #Also I read a description somewhere describing her horns as antlers and went no they are not but she should have them

76 notes · View notes

diadoesart · 4 months

Text

The first post for 2024 is actually a birthday gift I made back in October (that I realised I never posted) for @concaviddavid

#ffxiv #ff14 #ff #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy #miqo' te #thancred waters #zhloe aliapoh #padjal #miqo'jal #wol #warrior of light #please look at my catsband and his other spouses i love them all so much

22 notes · View notes

cindernet-explorer · 7 months

Text

Disturb not the tranquility of the White Mage.

Behold! A previous life of U'nia, Yama-O-Ran. A padjali white mage of the Six Umbral Era. I've been fiddling around with her design and I'm finally happy with it!

#ff14 padjal #padjal #ffxiv padjal #gposers #whm #Screens: Yama-O-Ran

18 notes · View notes

buggleboos · 3 months

Text

mysterious padjal involved in the upkeep of the moogle mail system, E-May-Yul

#generic art tag #oc tag #ffxiv oc #padjal #its E-May!#hes around 80 years old but doesnt like to be involved with gridania very directly #they do unfortunately have some responsibilities as a white mage #which is why they have to babysit pitaya (black mage)

18 notes · View notes

twelve-forfend · 5 months

Text

it was not a good time!!

#ffxiv #shadowbringers #e-tam-pesi #padjal #faynish's art #i haven't met a single Padjal on the First #since they're the only ones who are allowed to use white magic canonically #and they trace their history back to amdapor which is full of sin-eaters #do you think every Padjal on the First just became a greater sin eater immediately?#E-Tam-Pesi your pale colouring and horns have never looked more suspicious

13 notes · View notes

autumnslance · 19 days

Note

send DIFFERENT for a scene from my muse's past that they feel changed their outlook / personality / etc, for the better or worse

“Something I don’t understand,” Dark said.

“And what’s that?” The padjal replied, voice placid as a pond on a still summer afternoon.

“The Elementals removed the Ixal for their excessive logging and hunting, right?”

The padjal nodded and continued with his gardening work as they moved through this stretch of the forest, Dark aiding his cultivation of the natural resources along old paths created by generations of animals and people.

“And there are others living within the Hedge now; cutpurses, and gangs of hunters, and others who cause problems for travelers and the various settlements, but they are allowed to stay.”

“They do not upset the balance of the Wood,” the padjal said simply. “While they may live outside the laws of Man, they are yet children of the forest, and practice similar hunting and gathering practices to ensure the balance is maintained.”

“What of outsiders, like those refugees coming from Ala Mhigo?” the roegadyn girl asked, thinking of her cousins still in the East End.

“So long as they learn how to live in harmony within the Hedge, with the conservation practices we must abide by, they will always be welcome; the Wood provides for all.”

She frowned. “But I thought the Elementals want them to leave, because their very presence upsets the balance.”

The padjal frowned and straightened. “I’ve sensed no such thing. Where did you hear that?”

She hesitated. “Well our local hearer said—”

The padjal’s face clouded. “Which Hearer?” He demanded, voice like thunder. She stared, suddenly reminded this small, slight, child-like figure was in truth *decades* older than herself, a vessel for the power of Nature in all its fury.

“C-Constallaine,” she replied.

The padjal made a face, then shook his head, some of the storm clearing. “I’m not angry at you, child,” he said, voice gentle again, though she still heard the thunderous undertones. “But you must understand, Dark Autumn: the Elementals are not people. They are not mortal. They are Nature, and do not see nor understand the world as we do. They do not see political boundaries, or ethnicity. They are the Wood.”

She nodded politely, but she already knew this. Any forestborn did, since they were a baby.

“Hearers interpret the Elementals. But Hearers *are* people. Hearers *are* mortal. Hearers *do* see political boundaries, and ethnicities.” The padjal sighed. “Elementals don’t lie—they *can’t*. They don’t speak the way we do, nor share the same understanding. They simply…are. And they simply do.”

“But people can, and do, lie,” Dark said slowly. The padjal nodded as she frowned. “But Hearers are s’posed to report the will of the Elementals.”

“They are,” the padjal said, a rumbling growl in his voice again. “I will speak to Constallaine about his interpretations, and remind him of his duty to the Wood.” He looked around, and smiled, though it was tense. “Thank you for your help today, child; go on home now. I suspect you have much to think on.”

Dark nodded and watched him walk further into the woods, swiftly swallowed by shadows and leaves. She turned to make the walk home, mulling over the learned respect of Hearers and their words, compared to the lifelong teachings and experiences with the Elementals of the Twelveswood.

#final fantasy xiv #Lyn Writing #Dark Prompts #backstory #Twelveswood #Elementals #Padjal #The Black Shroud #Dark Autumn

26 notes · View notes

capriciousvisage · 3 months

Text

To protect is to love!

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #gposers #ffxiv screenshots #ff14 screenshot #gpose #ffxiv midlander #padjal #emrys posting #i feel like i should really update his tag thats not his name anymore......#ffxiv posting

14 notes · View notes

starryscale-art · 1 year

Photo

i was thinking about that one quest where a-ruhn senna talks about being mistaken for a xaela and realized jai and him definitely get along well! stubborn but well respected horned healers...