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WotG/November Version Update
Topic Started: May 12 2007, 10:18 AM (1,806 Views)
Biddinger
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Bust-A-Move!
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when are these said festivals
75 sam 75 cor 75 war
cor > brd

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Blutig
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Galka Teddy Bear
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Time mage and alabama man wooo!
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Achika
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Daanciiiiiinnnnnnng FORCE!
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Biddinger
Sep 27 2007, 07:38 PM
when are these said festivals

Osaka Festival is early November. Fanfest is like the week after. And two days after we all get home from Fanfest is when the game is release, and two days after that is when the expansion goes live.
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Achika
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Dancers, Maidens of the Battlefield (10/22/2007)
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The Wings of the Goddess expansion slated for release this November marks the return of the dancer to the world of Vana'diel. The following is an introduction to this intriguing new job.

It was at the time of the Crystal War that dancers became truly sought after as battleworthy allies. Word soon spread of their inspiring ability to allay the troubled hearts of soldiers made uneasy by the trials and tribulations of the frontline, and of their prowess as heroines in their own right, staking their lives on the field of battle alongside the bravest of warriors. In this manner they came to garner immense favor and respect from all ranks in the great armies of Altana.

For more on the beginnings of the esoteric steps known as the Kriegstanz, click here.


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Maiden of the Battlefield
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'Tis the beatin' of the heart what lays the foundation. Ye embrace it with yer whole body, and then e'er so gently start tappin' out the steps. Yer blood gets t'bubblin' an' ye can hear it percolatin' about in there. An' then ye might stick a twirlin' turn and send it rushin' t'all yer extremities. Shimmies straight up the spine and sends a shudder clean through ye, it does. After that, then she's mine an' no mistakin'. Haven't the faintest where I be or how I got there, I just am. An' everyone around fuels me, each of 'em offerin' up their own music--a symphony o' souls. An' that's yer rhythm. Ye cannot help but dance.

[Dancer Laila Brilioth, following a seminal performance on Jeuno's Artisan Bridge in the year 884]


And so it was that in former times that dancers became truly sought after as battleworthy allies. Word soon spread of their inspiring ability to allay the troubled hearts of soldiers made uneasy by the trials and tribulations of the frontline, and of their prowess as heroines in their own right, staking their lives on the field of battle alongside the bravest of warriors. In this manner they came to garner immense favor and respect from all ranks in the great armies of Altana--such was the station of the dancer.
Their supple frames adorned in magnificent garments, dancing in plain view on the battlefield, boldly defying downpour after downpour of beastman arrow, the dancers bestowed countless of Altana's legions with both courage and resolve, earning them the title "maidens of the battlefield." Juxtaposed to this was their infamy among their enemies as "maidens of death," feared for their mastery of an unknown and foreign art.
The origins of the esoteric tradition known as the Kriegstanz are revealed below.

Revelry in Totentanz
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Come now, and dance with these bones!
Spin and turn, in life and in death!
Pauper, sage, even the nobleman knows,
They are all, in the end, of life bereft!
Savor now, doomed fool, and make merry this night!
Come now, and dance with these bones!
Sing and croon, in life and in death!
Old hag, young beauty, even the sweet child knows,
In time, a bleached skull, is all will be left!
Savor now, doomed fool, and make merry this night!


[a verse from the ancient "Bastokan Song of the Damned"]


This verse rose to prominence in dark days as the republic was ravaged by the Bastokan Blight.
On top of the already horrific and growing number of victims, unsubstantiated rumors and utter despair spread rampant through all quarters of the city. It was in this climate of social turmoil that the Bastokan Song of the Damned was taken up by the masses. Using magic to animate the remains of the deceased, throngs of the hopeless and grieving would choke the streets in processions of living and dead, booming in chorus as they danced the Totentanz in a form of morbid catharsis.

Despite the government's initial efforts to quarantine those infected by the blight, the frenzied nightly gatherings were at first reluctantly tolerated. This changed however, as the growing popularity of the Totentanz carried it to the frontlines of battle, where the crazed enthusiasm generated by the now ritualistic dancing led no small number of soldiers to neglect their posts. This being an unacceptable state of affairs in wartime, a series of prohibitions was promptly issued with unforeseen results...
An air of insurgency and rebellion swept the people, as dancing crowds began to take to the streets even with the sun still high in the sky. President Wilhelm was left with no recourse but to declare a state of emergency and mobilize the republic's main garrison of Galkan troops against the citizenry to suppress the escalating chaos. It is indeed a sad page in Bastokan history.

It so happened that in those days, mountainfolk from the hinterlands of the Gustaberg region would sometimes travel to Bastok to peddle medicinal herbs. The quelling of the near-maniacal outbreaks of saturnalia would find its form in the native dancers of these tribes. With no hesitation despite the apparent dangers of contagion to themselves, they would roam the city streets and visit barracks, displaying the aggressive yet graceful steps of their people's traditional dance, the Kriegstanz, with a timeless elegance. The majestic rhythms pounded out by these confident women and their motions, full of life, captivated observers instantaneously. And it was not long before the morose Totentanz rituals faded away as quickly as they had come. Some years later, the significant role the dancers played in the defeat of the deadly epidemic which claimed so many Bastokan lives was commemorated by the president in a now famous speech: "Though none can deny the scientific strides made by our great alchemists in curing this foul plague, praise is due also to those fearless masters of dance who came to us in our most dire hour. For it was their impassioned artistry that delivered us from the tyranny of this most lethal of epidemics, and the terror which had fast gripped our very hearts." And so it was that the dancers came to be credited with ending the Bastokan Blight.

In wake of its success and popularity during the blight, the Kriegstanz became a well-established school of dance, the study of which was such a grueling task that finding successors to carry on the tradition became quite a chore in its own right. It is not without some hint of irony that the second coming of the dancers would require a tragedy on the scale of the Crystal War--with the very fate of Bastok in the balance--to bring it about.

Knowing Kriegstanz
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One would be remiss to relegate the arts of
dance and combat to separate fields. A
masterful dance can be the most lethal of
weapons; a skillful fight, the most elegant
of dances. Alas, there does exist one point
of departure between the two. Whereas
martial beauty is a byproduct of precise
execution, the techniques of dance are a
thing of beauty in and of themselves. The
whole corpus of the Kriegstanz, though no
doubt applicable to combat,primarily, and
perpetually, seeks beauty.


[an excerpt from the dogmatic "Kriegstanzian Musings," composed by Annika Brilioth]


From that point on the Kriegstanz continued to evolve even further, incorporating unique steps developed in varying regions into new types of dance, yielding the Schwerttanz and Gauklertanz, among others. Dancing was found to not only encourage and instill morale in the practitioner's companions, but the most instinctual of dancers were found to be able to achieve an almost trancelike state, imbuing themselves with transcendental powers that could weaken their enemies with the sublime suggestiveness of their movements.

Held in high regard as both first-class entertainers and as accomplished martial artists, the dancers are driven by an insatiable passion for their art. Entirely devoid of timidity on both the stage and the battlefield, dance requires the most absolute resolve. Only one who has honed these traits and devoted their very life to the beauty and perfection of the art itself is worthy of being deemed "Dancer."


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Ultimage
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Even Match
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Unless they are keeping it a total secret, it still seems that Dancer will be female only.
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Achika
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Quote:
 
Kriegstanz - War Dance
Schwerttanz - Sword Dance
Totentanz - Danse Macabre - Dance of Death
Gauklertanz - [Trickster's?] Juggler's Dance (Can't find the trans on this, only for "Gaukler" ; ; )


Some translations of dances used in the story, found here.

Sword Dance YAYS
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Clumsy
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Ultimage
Oct 22 2007, 07:36 AM
Unless they are keeping it a total secret, it still seems that Dancer will be female only.

I was thinking along the same lines :/
75:ThfWarBluNinSamBrd
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Biddinger
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Bust-A-Move!
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they refer to it a few times as "maiden"...so its looking that way
75 sam 75 cor 75 war
cor > brd

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Divinius
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Windshire Secretary... apparently...
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I see this as going one of two ways:

1) Dancer will NOT be female only (though I would still assume that the male AF would look different), OR

2) Dancer WILL be female only, and there will be another new job added that is male only.

Anything else would just be stupid, and short-sighted. Adding a new job that only one gender character could use (without adding a counterpart job for the other gender) would do nothing but tick-off a LOT of players. Myself included.
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Drakmar
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well, isn't Dancer supposed to be female and Bard supposed to be male? that isn't quite possible anymore... Geomancer or Time Mage male only? Dancer male too? only time will tell, and i am damn tired of waiting.. lol
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Blutig
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That is a load of crap, I'm taking their asses to court if they deny my galka ass a flowery fruit suit cause I got the beat in my soul and a dance waiting to burst out of me.

Anyway this would be a nice time to push the galka not really having a gender thing and get the best of both worlds hahahaha HA.
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Selophane
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Blutig
Oct 22 2007, 09:59 PM
That is a load of crap, I'm taking their asses to court if they deny my galka ass a flowery fruit suit cause I got the beat in my soul and a dance waiting to burst out of me.

Anyway this would be a nice time to push the galka not really having a gender thing and get the best of both worlds hahahaha HA.

Is that the first sign of galka hax?
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Total EXP 7,596k - 109/402 Merits - 3,436k to Maats cap
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Blutig
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;)
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Biddinger
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Bust-A-Move!
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SE will soon be promoting transvestitism
75 sam 75 cor 75 war
cor > brd

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Achika
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Daanciiiiiinnnnnnng FORCE!
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The Crystal War (10/26/2007)
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The Crystal War, or Great War as it is also known, was the largest conflict between the beastmen and the children of Altana in the history of Vana'diel.
After suffering staggering losses, the Allied Forces of Altana finally emerged victorious. Yet even after twenty years of rebuilding, this dark chapter of the past still casts a shadow over the people of Vana'diel.

Learn more about the events of the Crystal War here.


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The Crystal War erupted in 862 C.E. and lasted until 864 C.E. The Allied Forces of Altana battled the combined armies of the Shadow Lord, known collectively as the Beastman Confederate, in a conflict that raged over both the Quon and Mindartian continents. It is recorded as the largest and bloodiest war in Vana'diel's history.

In the year 855 C.E., a mysterious entity arrived in the land of Valdeaunia with the howling hosts of the underworld at his command--the impact of the Shadow Lord's appearance was akin to a meteor strike. In a few short years, the Shadow Lord had united the disparate factions of the beastmen into a single, organized force and declared his intention to scour every last child of Altana from the face of Vana'diel. During the 4th moon of the year 862 C.E., he had already begun his invasion of the San d'Orian region of Norvallen.

In the opening stages of the war, the nations of Vana'diel attempted to fight the beastmen independently, only to suffer repeated losses against their enemies' vastly superior numbers. At the behest of Archduke Kam'lanaut of Jeuno, the nations of San d'Oria, Bastok, and Windurst put aside their historical enmities and formed the Allied Forces of Altana. As the isolated nations began sharing information and resources, they gradually developed the infrastructure to plan operations that would span entire continents.
The most significant step towards the execution of cooperative operations was taken during the battle waged in the defense of Jeuno. The retreat of the Beastman Confederate in the face of the three nations' coordinated attacks served to further strengthen the newfound alliance.

After the triumph at the Siege of Jeuno, the allied forces began retaliating against the beastmen across all the lands of Vana'diel. In the 4th Moon of the year 863 C.E., a final resounding victory was won in the Battle of Xarcabard, where the main force of the Beastman Confederate was smashed under the combined military might of Altana's armies.

Castle Zvahl fell to the allies soon after. In the year 864 C.E., the Orcish Hosts, who had refused to concede defeat, were at last forced into the northern sea. And thus were ended two long years of bloody warfare.

Battle of Jugner

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The Beastman Confederate advanced on Jugner with one hundred thousand soldiers. Yet despite repeated request for aid, Marquis Rouhent was sent only a paltry three hundred reinforcements from the Royal Knights under the command of Count Aurchiat. The marquis attempted to use his intimate knowledge of the forest to blunt the progress of the massive army, but with barely a thousand troops to stand against a sea of beastmen, he was hopelessly outnumbered. News of the elite Norvallen knights' defeat came as a sobering shock to the capital, but it was merely a prelude to the looming horror of the Crystal War.

Siege of Jeuno

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Even with a mountain of their own dead to impede their advance, the endless waves of Quadav continued to push forward. Battlements were shattered under a hail of cannon fire and Gigas-thrown boulders...
The forces of the Beastman Confederate that pressed the fortress-city of Jeuno on all three sides finally converged on the vulnerable Batallia front. One, two, and then three of the four ramparts that protected the city crumbled under the assault.
The allied forces rallied their troops and launched a coordinated counterattack that resulted in a critical victory against the beastman invasion.

Battle of Xarcabard

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When the driving snows suddenly died and a shaft of sunlight pierced the clouds to illuminate the battlefield, a rousing cheer rose from the ranks of the allied forces. The feint to split the forces of their enemy had succeeded--the army before them was clearly outnumbered.
However, those cheers turned to shouts of dismay as the battle was joined. The soldiers they faced were no ordinary troops, but the elite vanguard of the Shadow Lord, highly trained and handpicked from among the champions of each beastman race.
The allied forces claimed victory, but only at tremendous cost.


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