Welp, you asked for this 🤓🤡 I'll leave it in the sticky notes since it's easier to read that way... 😅💦

Yelv's the type who might say the wrong thing sometimes, but never with ill intentions. His mouth just moves faster than his brain 🤭

Maybe Chloris could've tried blue hair for a bit, as part of her efforts to renew her identity🤔 And then swapped back to pink bc it didn't feel right😅

😆 You should feel special (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Yeah you're right. Frye is also rough around the edges like Yelv. Typical "I hide/forget my emotions by getting drunk" type guy 😅

And I appreciate that HB looks down on everyone equally at least 😂

at Frye with a side eye tho lmao... (ㆆ_ㆆ) But yeah, none of the guys show unlikable, toxic levels of masculinity or anything. Not even Yelv, despite his post-battle banter with Irina (being a little rough around the edges is okay 😅)

Yeah, it's not indulgent! I'm just writing a good role model 🥲

Being possibly the only person with spy Crosses just means they're extra unique and interesting to learn about, which I think is great 😌✨

You're right about most of the male party members being great guys overall, and it's another reason why I love the whole cast so much 🥰 I'm still kinda looking

I was typing out a reply about Mira & how Ch13 changed everything, but it got crazy long so... I don't know if you want to be subjected to that nerd rant lmao 🤡💦💦

But yes, it was a big a waste not to bring Prof B into the main story, considering all the juicy lore potential we got from his quests 🫠

That's why the community had so many theories going around about Mira being a simulation, purgatory, etc... The artbook also had concept art to suggest Mira wasn't a normal planet.

The devs 100% had a plan in mind for the story, but Ch13 felt like a lot of their original plans had to be scrapped 💀

Pretty sure that text was in the OG. There were always bits of dialogue here and there to suggest there was something very weird about the existence of Mira (and its surrounding space). Prof B's entire questline was about Mira's weirdness 😅

Yeah Haru is both 😅 He is still primarily his own character, but I know a part of him was also written to be the antithesis of the men in my family💀
Which does seem a bit idealistic/indulgent, but at the same time... Is it that indulgent to wish for people (men) to be a bit more respectful IRL? 🫠🙃

It's true 😂 Even for OCs that only adopted a couple traits from me, those are still the traits that make them miserable 90% of the time😅🤡 Write what you know, right? 🤡👍

I also like all the different answers people have invented re: Cross's circumstances. It makes each Cross feel much more unique 😄✨

Respectful towards others, willing to listen even if he doesn't always agree with their opinions, & treats women as equals. A healthy level of masculinity (not afraid to get in touch with his softer side, doesn't consider showing emotions a sign of weakness).

(Idk, does this count as indulgent? 🫠💀)

into existence just for her sake, so I waited until a concept came to me naturally. He was born as his own thing but also fit perfectly into the narrative puzzle 🧩✨

And I did design him around my "ideal man," not necessarily romantically but just a general "I wish more men behaved like this IRL..."

my theory that Cross became a pure blank slate because they woke up after the memory database had already been flooded and couldn't connect to their original consciousness anymore.

Haru's a weirder case. I wanted someone who Chloris could bounce off of narratively, but I didn't want to force an OC

As for specific OCs, Chloris' physical appearance was... 100% indulgence🫠 I love pink hair🥺 (Fun fact: I actually wanted a Cross with blue hair when I first played!! But I didn't like any of the shades of blue, so I defaulted to pink👉👈)

Everything else about her was narrative-driven, started by

Is it OC yap time again? 🤓
I make OCs to fit a narrative, but they tend to adopt a small bit of myself as well (not just my preferences, it's also flaws, experiences, ideas I want to explore).
I have 1 minor OC who took a lot of inspiration from me, but she died before the story even began so 🤡

Hal's powers are so pretty!!!🌼 It's funny to finally hear Hayami's voice in this game when I'd been imagining her as my alt's voice all this time 😅💦💦

(even funnier since I always envisioned Flora's Ancient counterpart being a disciple of Hal bc plants... now I have to commit to the idea 😆🌱)

I'm so out of the loop on FF14 news lately that I didn't even realize the 7.5 trailer was already out 🤡

but also MY GIRL'S BACK?!!!!!!! 👏😍💖💕

That thought from your dad is a bit twisted, yeah😅 but also, I kind of get it? 😳 That sounds like the sort of thought process you'd hear in stories about how to build a utopia (or dystopias 😅).

And I totally get the "not born from personal interest, but became a personal interest/relatable" thing 😅

I haven't thought of one for Haru yet 😅 Time for the both of us to start thinking of some names 👀✨

The Mediators should be in charge of stuff like that... but I think they're also understaffed. I guess everywhere is understaffed 😅🫠

Oh, that's actually one I've thought about before 🤓 Chloris' tyrant name would be "The Walking Disaster"... cause that's exactly what she is 😅🫠

Illegal businesses... like what Yardley's doing down there every night? 😅

So the base camps do get provisions provided to them via established supply routes.

And bathing during "mission downtimes" can be a thing... but the question of "how and where" remains a mystery 🙃

Early exploration & base camp lore (Ch1 - 2)
#XLoreInBoxes

They analyzed Mira before the ship crashed... does that mean they were able to scan the whole planet as they were crash landing??? 🫠💦

(also "less than half of them returned," oof 💀)

"Queen of the gel" sounds like the perfect gossip 😅 Chloris' reputation continues to get weirder... 🤡

I think there are a few people on some of the staircases, but it's mostly empty otherwise. Probably smarter to stay up top and try to prevent people from falling in the first place 😅

New HC unlocked: Chloris is surprisingly good at swimming, but it has nothing to do with how mermaid-coded she is. She just learned to get good fast because of how often she falls into the gel 🤡

"Clumsy folk"...

...how many times has Chloris tripped into the pool of gel at the bottom of NLA, I wonder? (゜▽゜;)

I didn't get the sense that Wilbur was a decent person considering how he bragged right to my face about owning a mansion (so he probably doesn't have roommates like others), swimming pool, beautiful secretary... 💀

Or maybe playing from Haru's perspective just made me judge him more harshly lmao 😅

I think Haru's the type who would enjoy working out, actually... but at this point in the story, nah, he's just going to hide his sadness under layers of fake smiles 🤡

Was there really no lawyers that made it on the ship? Or has there just been no mention of them so far? 😅

But yeah, as awful as it sounds, it's the most logical/pragmatic plan for their situation in the end 💀 Even if someone was a "bad apple," if they had the skills to help humanity survive, then that was enough to qualify.

Sounds like something Chausson would think up 😅

Tbf, the dialogue only specifies the active crew of the WW having special skills, so while the selection process for that was undoubtedly ableist, that doesn't have to be true for the other 20 mil people in the Lifehold (ideally 😓)

😅💦
I could make a doc that's regularly updated with links to every lore post we've made on bsky? I think that would be a lot easier to manage than putting screenshots in the doc itself, while still fulfilling the need for organization 🤔

I'll keep an extra careful eye out for floating boxes then 🫡