Talk:Ciel Wulfe

This talk page will be used primarily for OOC notes. I will list some of the songs, here, which I use for performances and RP.

Disclaimer: I'm no song-writer, myself! Of all the material I use in character, I have exactly ONE poem which was written by me: The Tale of Kupuri Kap.

In order to make up for my own inability to write music, I do borrow from various sources, and this can be from a variety of genres. I am, however, very careful about which songs I select. If a song doesn't have a certain sound, or if the lyrics don't fit the game's setting in some way and can't easily be altered to work, I don't use it.

First Annual Royal Ball

For the First Annual Royal Ball event, it was suggested that we (myself and Elan) use songs from Distant Worlds. This presented something of a challenge. While all of the music from Distant Worlds is remarkable, most of it is still instrumental, and then there are a couple of tracks in Latin, namely, One Winged Angel and Fithos Lusec Vicos Vinosec, neither of which really seemed to... fit the setting of a happy occasion like this one. Some improvising was necessary.

In order to complete my list for this event, I tapped other sources within the realm of Final Fantasy, most of which I'd even forgotten about. The songs used are listed below in no particular order.

• Eyes On Me - Final Fantasy VIII/Distant Worlds

• Diamonds In My Heart - Chocobo Racing OST

• Into the Light - Final Fantasy: Pray vocal collection

• Pray - Final Fantasy: Pray vocal collection

• Kiss Me Goodbye - Final Fantasy XII OST

• Love Will Grow - Final Fantasy: Love Will Grow vocal collection

• Melodies of Life - Final Fantasy IX/Distant Worlds - This one was performed as a duet between myself and Elan, at the request of Erik Mynhier.

About the duet: It took 8-9 macros for EACH of us to complete this song, with cues built in. Elan said it took about 5 hours to build all of the macros and test them to make sure everything flowed smoothly. I'd say it was a success!

General Use

The songs listed below are ones I have used in tavern and small public performances, and may use them again in the future. This list, also, may continue to grow as I add to Ciel's repertoire. As above, these songs are listed in no particular order. Try not to laugh if you recognize some of them. I have no qualms about tapping metal ballads for ideas if they sound good.

What I tried to do was come up with a set of 3-4 songs for each of the three primary cities. I never did get around to completing these lists, except for Limsa, and the three I had for that area are at the top of the list.

• Ocean Gypsy - Blackmore's Night

• Sailorman's Hymn - Kamelot

• Goddess of the Sea Mist - Laura Powers

• Ghost of a Rose - Blackmore's Night

• World of Stone - Blackmore's Night

• Soldier of Fortune - Blackmore's Night/Deep Purple

• Village Lanterne - Blackmore's Night

I also did have a version of Free Bird macro'd, aka Free Bard. It was a direct result of random shouts for the character to sing Free Bird whenever she was performing in a public setting. Never got a chance to use it. Funnily enough, it only took four macros.

Player's Philosophies for More Enjoyable RP

A collection of ideas based on years of experience in one RP format or another.

• RP is like a liquid. You can try to contain it in a specific form, but it works best and flows more naturally if left alone. Containing an idea in a specific form stifles the potential for growth and variety.

• Keep OOC and IC separate. There's no harm in poking the fourth wall once in a while, but taking RP too seriously and letting your personal feelings dictate what your character does can be harmful to your enjoyment and that of others. Same thing in reverse, don't take IC slights OOCly. Let it go and move on.

• Let the character be its own entity. You are just the typist. You may end up surprised at some of the decisions your character makes when you just let your muse play without any OOCly-imposed personal limits.

• Variety is the spice of life. Don't limit yourself to RPing just with your closest friends, your own FC or linkshell groups. Everyone who RPs has a different story and something to offer.

• When confronted by trolls, try to never break character. It will be a challenge, but a good exercise nonetheless, and will fluster the trolls when they don't get the reaction they want.

• Take quizzes which ask personal questions, but answer them in character. For example: Your character's favorite pie, vacation spot, the first thing they think when they look in the mirror. Slice of life questions will help you flesh the character out and fine tune it in your own mind.

Player's Interpretation of Bard

Bard Abilities and Effects

Back in 1.0, one of the classes required for Bard was Conjurer. As you may have noticed from the character's history and story "The Long Road Home", I've played with this a little bit and rooted the character in some Conjury experience. For Ciel, these experiences assist her with her abilities as a Bard even now in the form of a tiny amount of aetheric manipulation.

• Music: Her Conjury background enables her to use her voice and music to produce some special effects by causing the aether in her immediate surroundings to vibrate. The song effects are not focused, which is why songs such as Mage's Ballad and Army's Paeon have an effect on multiple targets, instead of just one. She needs a direct focus she can touch in order to impart an effect on a single target, as noted below.

The ability to cause aether around her to vibrate also applies to more mundane effects, such as enabling her to shatter wine glasses by singing a particularly high note. It's a great party trick, but replacing the stemware tends to become costly after a while. She tries to avoid doing this often.

• Wind Bite touches a little bit on the Aero spell and enables her to impart a tiny amount of wind-aspected aether into an arrow for the purpose of exposing a target's vulnerability.

Where she also has some experience with Thaumaturgy, she can apply the same principals to produce effects related to this field of magic.

• Venom Bite, while it could be replicated by purchasing amounts of toxins from alchemists on a regular basis, would become costly for practical reasons. When needed, she draws on a little bit of Thaumaturgy, instead, to impart the venomous effect on an arrow.

• Flame Arrow is also a favorite of hers. She draws an arrow, kisses it, and imparts enough fire-aspected aether to set it alight.

The Big B vs the Little b

While Ciel is familiar with Jehantel, the elder Bard who enables a player to obtain the official Bard job, for the sake of her own background and meshing with others, she's not a big B. She is very much a little b, mostly self-taught and does not ICly possess the Artemis bow. Just like being a big B, not everyone can ICly have one and explain it as being anything more than a replica. She doesn't keep a songbow on hand, just her old bow from the Immortal Flames and the harp she plays when she performs.

The "big B" is, of course, the Bard as far as game story and mechanics go, which can severely limit the player's creativity and IC options for background and growth.

The "little b" refers to any other bard whose personal history in the role is not dictated by the same game story and mechanics as everyone else. Thancred is a great example. He has referred to himself as a bard, even though he clearly isn't. He's just some guy who enjoys writing poetry and might be able to hum a few bars for the sake of impressing the ladies.

Therefore, Ciel is very much a "little b" bard ICly, and more often referred to by herself and others as a songstress.