An Unexpected Elezen

As I explained in my previous post, the Endwalker trailer and social media posts from FFXIV FanFest inspired me to create my first Elezen character, a man named Romarique Vremaix. His name is a tweak on a random that came up, so he’s definitely not the only character named Romarique. But that doesn’t make him less unique in my opinion.

To me, Romarique, or Roma as I’ve nicknamed him, is very unique and unexpected in that I never thought I’d make an Elezen character in FFXIV. Having played World of Warcraft for over a decade, I’m used to the style of elves in that game and the Elezen (elves) in FFXIV are quite different in appearance from them. But Roma has really grown on me as I’ve played him and has developed an interesting personality in my mind.

Although the in-game animations of Elezen can be a bit stiff and proper, my man Roma isn’t really like that. He’s very chill, easygoing, and friendly. He’s well rounded in that he’s explored several different jobs and professions in his life, ie I’m branching out quite a bit on him in the disciples of the land and hand department.

Roma started off as a thaumaturge (a name that I can’t say right to save my life) but I found the class too slow and limited for my tastes. Thus I switched him to pugilist as soon as I could and he’s now progressed into the monk class. I love that monks can use the Emporer’s New Fists glamour to hide their weapons because the idea of Roma fighting with his bare hands sounds fierce and perhaps less civilized than a more uptight Elezen would partake in. I eventually plan on making him machinist as well, which just sounds like a somewhat rebellious thing for an Elezen to do.

After so much adventuring and crafting, I figured Roma deserved a break so I got him a nice beach outfit so he could chill at Costa del Sol for a while with his constant companion Midgardsormr. I like to say that Roma doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder, he has a dragon on his shoulder and that’s far more adorable!

Roma’s personality has developed so much in my mind since I’ve started playing him that I decided to start writing fanfic about him and my Viera dancer Zhjya. He’s taller than her, even including her ears, and I have some fun ideas brewing for them. I’ve made each of their retainers in the other’s likeness and it’s nice being able to take screenshots of them together.

Although world building isn’t necessarily required when a video game world like Eorzea already exists, I have started building Zhjya’s house in a design program on my computer. Housing in-game for any of my characters is a long way off due to all the requirements and limits on housing availability, but I can create to my heart’s delight in my design program. Plus, I don’t think I’ll be able to create a home in the game that fits what I see in my mind.

I have Roma’s personality a bit more fleshed out than Zhjya’s so I’m not entirely sure where the fanfic story will go, but I started it yesterday and I’m just having fun writing again after a rather long drought. It’s funny, but I thought I’d be writing fanfiction about one of my Miqo’te characters first. Apparently the unexpected Elezen of Romarique had other ideas!