iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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FINAL FANTASY XIV @en.finalfantasyxiv.com · 20/08/2026

This month marks FFXIV’s 13th birthday! Celebrate the occasion with the Rising anniversary event starting on Thursday, August 27! 🎆 sqex.to/7jHOP

An illustration for Final Fantasy 14's The Rising 2026 seasonal event. Feo Ul, a pixie with orange hair pulled into short pigtails and purple wings sits admiring a berry branch on a table beside a teapot, stacks of books, and ink quill.

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💥 beanz 💥 @yuckieducky.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

i had to make some halmarut fanart now that spoiler embargo is over... i hope she is a Freak #ffxiv #ffxivart 💥

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Seas🌊 @sseassaltss.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I am a collage student I do not have money for a switch two but goddamn the splatoon hyperfix

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kieran 🦇 @belovedcrypt.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

i genuinely hate to ask but ive been sick the past few days so my check was pretty small since i been out. i have an interview for a new job in two days and i need to afford proper clothes for it as well as riding back and forth :,) anything helps

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Seas🌊 @sseassaltss.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Do any of my moots know how to make hair mods hat compatible… the person who did mine is gone off the internet and I would like it to be wearable with the blm hat

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pow-pow [comms open] @powboybecop.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Apected Adornments what do we call fanart of fanart?? jewelry for f1 & f2 femra horns unisex compat via spiswel's horns roulette Trello | Heliosphere

A cover image for a horn jewelry mod, featuring a female model xaela with face 1 horns, and a male model xaela with face 2 (female to male swap) horns. Text on the screen reads: Aspected Adornments. Dyeable horn jewerly. Femra face 1 horns. Femra face 2 horns. Unisex (horns roulette compatible). Dye preview. Channel 1 Metallic Gold. Channel 2 Gunmetal Black.

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captain elf @felezens.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

urianger: the winds of fate hath brought me to the shores of the 99 ranch market... be there any items thou desirest? ryne: shrimp chips please!! urianger: 🦐 the flavor of the crustacean shall be thine ryne: 🦐 urianger: 🦐

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Seas🌊 @sseassaltss.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Hey is anyone else having the lights turned off everytime your camera pans

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juni/ico @aetherflo.ws · 28/04/2026

good morning, happy patch day!!! please consider the 2-week embargo. tag your spoilers and/or rot13 if you really need to talk about it. hope ya'll win and have fun 💖

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AHTU / semi hiatus @hqeggs.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

— a shadow left with nothing to cast #GPOSERS | #elvashade

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chu/reaper 🌃 @reapervows.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

dancing green but he's 1 apple tall 🍏🐰🪩 ✦ #art #ffxiv #ffxivart #xiv

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rae ishouldsleep @eepysleepy.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

ice cold take. arr is like any of your required reading in high school, like frankenstein, or shakespeare’s works. it has aged some, some parts are slow, and your mileage may vary on whether it sucked, was just fine, or life-changingly amazing. but it’s foundational. objectively.

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dirt implied @wardeneater.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

[ caustic compassion ] #wardeneater

a triplet of images. in the first, a young girl with white hair in a grey robe reaches for a small chick fallen into the rass. in the second the figure of a goddess hovers larger than life over a scaled individual who hunches against her reaching hands, even though they reach out gently. in the third, a pale figure stands silhouettes against a giant stone statue framed against a dusk sky. over all three images text scrawls, reading "one of the first things we learn is not to touch a chick fallen from its nest. you mean well, but your touch taints. and its mother no longer recognizes the one she lost."

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nate @psychra.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

DO NOT USE CHIN TATTOOS! This isn't co-opted by white supremacists but is just straight cultural appropriation folks. It is in no way Norse or Nordic in any capacity. It is from various indigenous groups (Inuit, Maori, etc). DO NOT USE PERIOD. I will fight you if you do.

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meag 💚 gateway 🔜 @mermeag.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

such a cool yshtola

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wabbit @whiteassnjor.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Who lost their thancred

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shiho @shihoran.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

if you are mad, direct it at the square CEO and use it to fill the survey! there are plenty of folks who don't want to use ai with bosses who beat their employees over the head with it. it's good that koji pointed out he was forced to use it. now there is an opportunity to tell the CEO to fuck off ✌️

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chidorinnn @chidorinnn.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

shadowbringers is very good, yes, but it isn’t anywhere near as good if you strip it of the context that builds up to it, that you find in ARR-stormblood

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Tales of Arcturus 👓 @ottolinearcturus.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

So apparently there are some debates whether the aesthetics introduced in Evercold's art are Norse or Celtic, and while it could just as well easily be both, one of the concept buildings is an outright Stave Church, one of the most iconic (and some still-surviving!) examples of Norse architecture.

Concept art from the keynote stream. A multi-tiered building with raised roofs and spires.

A photo of the Borgund Stave Church in Bergen, taken in 2005. The church was constructed in the 1200's, and is one of the best surviving examples of Norse architecture. Around 28 stave churches still survive in Norway to this day. Not the triangular, triple-nave style similar to the concept art, as well as the serpent-like motifs on the roof, also present in the concept art building.

Lom Stave Church in Lom, Norway, constructed around 1158. Shares many similar motifs.

Heddal Stave Church, located in the village of Heddal, Norway. Constructed in the 1200's.

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mori supreme @etheirysformula.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

cracks me up that when yoshi-p brought the ceo on stage it felt less like inviting the big boss in charge and more like a threat. like hey man. if i don’t get 4 gillion dollars for my savage raids all these guys will do the ending of weapons on you. please look forward to it.

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Sellesion @tweetrinkets.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

I saw her on the show floor just before this and can confirm!!! If only I was better at getting peoples cosplay handles. 😅 #fanfest #wuklamat #cosplay #ffxiv

A very cute Wuklamat cosplayer at Fanfest 2026 on the show floor; holding up her claws for the camera. The details of her cosplay are bright and crisp orange and bronze; with an excellent looking wig and big smile.

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Seas🌊 @sseassaltss.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

I’ve been playing ffxiv for 6 years and now my youngest sibling is 16 and shb is now free. Which finally means I can force them to play the free trial.

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☀️ UC ❄️ @beaknettle.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

it's cold on the fourth, ok

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tides ✮ @wolcred.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

almost got hit by a car making this

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Seas🌊 @sseassaltss.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Watching fan fest made me miss the freak so much I logged on to look at him

A hyur man standing in shallow water. He carries two blades, one which he points at the viewer

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tali (sumire hanamitsu 7.5) @demoniofleurs.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

1.0 coerthas, by the way. your fav npcs lost this when the calamity struck. this was how their homeland looked for a majority of their lives. [shakes u all by ur shoulders] REMEMBER COERTHAS, REMEMBER THAT IT ONCE WAS GREEN!!!!!! NOT WHITE!!!!!!!!!!!

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Seas🌊 @sseassaltss.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

I’ve not been very active in the ffxiv community for a lot of reasons (one of those things being touken Ranbu whoops) but ummmmm. Feeling hopeful with the new expansion rn

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mint @mintaii.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

qifrey and the star........

an illustration of qifrey from witch hat atelier. he's resting upon a mass of tree roots and branches, coming in swathes of purples, greys and blues. his robes are long and flowy, cascading down and around him like water; both his clothes and the tree are blending into one another. qifrey is looking slightly behind him, towards a giant, golden star haloing him. MILD SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 93: his hands come to his chest; one gripping his ribbon tassel while the other brushes against the swirl of tree branches. At the center of these branches is a lantern which partially covers the silhouettes of a young qifrey and olruggio.

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mizBun @mizbun.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

A few weeks ago, when The Merchant's Tale dropped in FF14, a GREAT Tumblr post was made about the stuff that the content does RIGHT, and the things that are just Orientalist slop. Some ppl requested the post in image form and so I reached out to the OP to get permission to do just that! Spoilers! 🧵

Merchant’s Tale from FFXIV, Part 1

Credit where credit is due. FFXIV’s latest Variant Dungeon, Merchant’s Tale, came out this week in Patch 7.45. There’s been a lot of well-deserved criticism levied towards it already, because some of the most prominently marketed aspects of this new release - the gear, some of the bosses, etc. – have been Orientalist caricatures that are demeaning, racist, and frankly rather disappointing. It’s obvious why this is (sex sells and Disney’s Aladdin sells; hence the “exotic” belly dancer gear, the blue genie of the lamp, the flying carpets, etc.), and I won’t rehash those points here because that isn’t the focus of this post.

The point is this: there’s been some actual research & work that’s gone into Merchant’s Tale, and those facets should be recognized and praised and discussed, even as we are justly and rightfully denouncing the aforementioned Orientalism. I’m an Iranian-American; I may not be the best person to speak on this on account of how I am diaspora, but my grasp of Farsi/Persian and my cultural upbringing gives me enough background to recognize the work that Creative Unit 3 did put into this latest release. It’s my personal belief that we should be encouraging more and better representation, not less and worse, and until matters & industries & reach improve enough that we can enjoy homegrown representation developed in the countries best suited to represent themselves, we ought to give companies feedback to encourage them to do better (hire natives and first language speakers, do their research, understand what not to do, etc.) rather than to become entirely avoidant (“why bother with representing this culture when we’ll only get slammed for it”) or, worse, to start disregarding our feedback entirely in favor of what sells best. There’s enough good representation in Merchant’s Tale that it’s worth not losing sight of it, and I’m going to be covering all of those things in this post.

Be warned: spoilers await you.

Finally, before we start: please pray for the people of Iran.
The Framework

The first thing about Merchant’s Tale to reckon with is that it isn’t current-day Corvos, which is to say that it isn’t FFXIV’s closest analogue to the Middle East. It’s Corvos as depicted by a fictional collection of stories. Sound familiar?
Several textboxes from Y'nazqha follow:
If you have no objections, I would start right away. Now, will you journey into the pages of ancient folklore with me?
It is a beautifully illuminated manuscript that bears a treacherous enchantment: it can draw the reader's very mind into its pages. Needless to say, such a rare tome is notorious among collectors of unique and dangerous documents. Now, I hope you understand the reason I requested your company. Might you keep me safe while I explore this world of fiction? Yes, er...I am...very thorough. But enough about me- surely you're curious about the book! It's entitled The Merchant's Tale, and it is a well-known fable passed down in Corvos, located in southern Ilsabard. The protagonist is a shrewd young merchant, and the story describes his journey to find the perfect gift to win the heart of a young maiden.

The tale in question also suffers from having countless versions:
Screenshot of a textbox from Y'nazqha again:
However, over generations, countless versions of the tale have been passed down and retold. I can't say for certain how this particular manuscript ends.

One aspect of the story is about as traditional as it gets in folklore. A young man winning the heart and hand of a woman:
Another textbox from Y'nazqha:
The protagonist is a shrewd young merchant, and the story describes his journey to find the perfect gift to win the heart of a young maiden.

If there’s any doubt as to what’s happening here, the reward for unlocking all thirteen routes of Merchant’s Tale is an eye mask that looks like sleepwear. Something you’d wear to bed.
A screenshot of the FFXIV facewear item "The Faces We Wear - Comfortable Eye Mask" which is a white eye mask with a black and yellow head strap.

And, of course, there’s both the genie and the flying carpet(s) which call to mind Disney’s Aladdin, based on Aladdin, a tale that originates in a certain collection of folktales. I’m not including the picture of the genie here, you’ve all seen it, but we will revisit the carpet later.

FFXIV’s Merchant’s Tale appears to be based on, or heavily influenced by, One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of mostly Middle Eastern stories. I say mostly because some are mostly inventions added to the collection at later times by Westerners. The prime example of this is Aladdin; look that up if you’d like more details.

The majority of stories found within One Thousand & One Nights aren’t very well known in the public zeitgeist, and we can probably attribute a great deal of that to vast gulfs in culture and sensibilities (old vs. modern). The most common and universal aspect of the collection, however, is the framing device: the stories contained in the collection are presented as stories told by Sahrzahd (commonly known as Scheherazade) to her husband the king starting on the night of their marriage. She regales him with these stories throughout the night, and ends mid-tale each time come sunrise; intrigued and possessed by the need to know how each story ends, the king always delays her execution (long story, you can look it up) until the next day.

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kieran 🦇 @belovedcrypt.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

I hate to ask for everyone’s help again, but unfortunately right now its important and a bit of an emergency. As you know my tablet broke on me a few days ago, which = i cant work on my comm queue, or draw at all. I don’t have the money for one at the moment. anything helps. ko-fi.com/I2I3Z5SV

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🪽 @tuliyollal.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

can we please please get some help we have to spend literally all we have on car insurance right now and we have nothing left at all

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Valerian @valeriannnn.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

honestly my favorite form of underrated thancred torture is to never allow him a solid answer on whether or not hydaelyns chosen are - by any reasonable definition - tempered

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