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Inspired by someone else's writing year in review, I figured I'd do my own just for fun. I had a rough year with writing, and everything else frankly. Writing my college graduation thesis and then being left hanging for five months after handing it in took a toll on me and it showed in my writing output. Still, according to my ao3 stats page I published exactly 76,000 words this year so let's talk about those rather than lamenting the ones that weren't written.

2022 marked the year of me drifting away from FFXIV a bit, both in playing and writing. I still love the game, I still play it and I have writing projects cooking, but I haven't felt like writing oneshots for it very much. Maybe if 6.3 fixes the issues I have with the story I'll bounce back? We'll see. I still ended up publishing a few before my newfound obsession, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, swept me up and refused to let me go, ha. It's also been the year I discovered that drabbles are damn fun to write, something that I think lost me a few ao3 user subs (lol). I found them to be an interesting writing exercise, as someone who has a tendency to babble a bit in writing.

So let's go through it chronologically!

Note: I will not be warning for spoilers on this list.

A Proposed History of Languages on Etheirys (Final Fantasy XIV)

That was me airing out my inner language nerd. I had a lot of fun digging through the lorebooks to compile all the info, even with my ongoing frustration over not having enough knowledge on the tribes to include them in more than a cursory way. A couple people pointed out lore I missed in the comments; maybe next year I'll find the time and motivation to put out a revised edition.

The Gleaner and the Frog (Final Fantasy XIV)

I wanted to write that kind of sequel to the frog sequence in 6.0 since I first played that part. Alisaie taking Erenville's words as a challenge was fun to write.
>"Why do you want to know that?" Fourchenault asked.
>"Why did you disown us?" Alisaie asked back.
I still like this exchange. He deserves it.

Hands Filled With Hope (Final Fantasy XIV)

My entry for the 6.0 gift exchange I organised with a friend since the regular 2021 round didn't line up to allow for 6.0 requests. Another entry in the lineup of "this is how Zenos can still live". I honestly don't remember a lick about actually writing it, though, so I can't think of much to say on it.

As Part of a Favour (Final Fantasy XIV)

I wanted to write for the souvenir prompt in Zenohika week, and then my fill ran away from me and lost both the souvenir and the zenohika part, ha ha. I'm not super impressed with this one, I have to say, and I think I will bow out of doing these week events in the near future, maybe.

Purpose Fed, Forge Ahead (Final Fantasy XIV)

This was the original idea for the zenohika fill. I'm very proud of it, it's probably one of my favourite stories I've ever written and if the stats are anything to go by everyone agreed with that too! :D It also marked the first time anyone has ever made fanart for a fic I wrote, which made me very happy. If you read only one FFXIV fic from this list, make it this one.
>In which Jammingway gains a part-time worker and Zenos undergoes the challenge of learning how to fry eggs.
Also one of my favourite summaries across all my fics, I think.

Dominance (Final Fantasy XVI)

This was a writing exercise I did after handing in my graduation thesis to get back into the swing of writing. I wanted to write the sensation of transformation in a very "crunchy" way, if that makes any sense. Maybe I'll put out chapters for the other dominants before release.

Weight of a Life (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

More like start of an obsession. This was a spur of the moment thing I wrote after N was revealed close to release and I once again predicted with uncanny accuracy who my favourite character would be on basically nothing. I don't think this is a hugely impressive fic—more practice for a certain kind of mood than anything—but as it's the start of something personally important to me it's still somewhat dear to my heart.

The Future's (not) Ours to Decide (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

Now this one, this one I'm more proud of. Naturally, as it was written before release it's 100% inaccurate in almost every single way, but I like what I came up with. One day I want to revisit this and write more in this verse.

An Exercise in Trust (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

I'm listing this one out of order because it's the sequel to The Future's (not) Ours to Decide and while it is of course every bit as inaccurate I'm very, very fond of it. I have some scattered notes on developing this verse into a full on game reimagining, but that is, of course, a major undertaking so I'm not going to make any promises on actually doing it.

Of Reacquaintances Made (Final Fantasy XIV)

"Here's how Zenos can still live" fic number... many. I lost count. Inspired by the glimpse of his avatar in the 6.2 trailer, I wrote this on a whim.

Fuck (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

This is possibly my favourite fic title on my entire account. Unironically. This was born of random jokes in discord dms after I and a friend noticed that Lanz seemed to censor his swear words in the trailer—little did we know everyone else did, too. Trivia note: For whatever reason, I have been wholly unable to troubleshoot it, my greasemonkey scripts insist on hiding a specific line in this fic when I view it. I have no idea why. It's very strange.

Silence (Final Fantasy XIV)

I'm not listing every drabble I wrote but I like this one. There's a juicy contrast between start and ending that I enjoy.

To Be Moebius (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

I beat the game that day and had Emotions(tm). This is quite short, a drabble and a half but I quite like it. Prepare for, uh, a lot of Xenoblade 3 after this.

Sunk Cost Fallacy (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

This marks the start of me actually exploring Xenoblade 3 canon, with me writing about That One Month. I think it's a bit rough around the edges but I enjoy the dynamics nonetheless.

Inexorable Paths (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

This one's an N character study. "One day, I may be done putting N under a magnifying glass. Today is not that day," I said in the notes, and that day still hasn't come. Probably it will come, though. Maybe. I'm having fun with him, so I see no reason to stop.

To Be Ouroboros (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

I have a fondness for body horror so I wanted to infuse it into Xenoblade 3 canon. It was fun to think of ways for them all to change. I should do something like this for Moebius at some point.

Untitled Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Fic (Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Untitled Goose Game)

I love writing these. I really, really do. It's great fun to infuse characterisation for the cast into these tiny snippets while coming up with ways for the goose to troll all the characters. I'd say the FFXIV one I wrote in previous years might be a liiittle bit better but I still like this one a lot.

Spousal Ice Cream (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

This was just a short ventfic I wrote because the amatonormativity vibes of that particular section in Xenoblade 3 annoyed me. Somehow, this became my most popular Xenoblade 3 fic by metrics?? Never thought I'd see the day where fandom flocks to an aro fic, out of all things. I don't think it's particularly impressive by any means but I guess it just hit home for lots of people?

The Clock Strikes Six (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

I wrote this on a whim to get the idea out of my head before it could blossom. It backfired. I have a half-completed outline now. There's a good chance it'll happen.

Dubiously Fun Tag Shenanigans (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

The AO3 tag wrangler AU absolutely nobody asked for. Deeply cursed. SFW Sorean still makes me laugh. I'm enamored with this fic.

Of Treasures Buried and Lost (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

This was an experiment at telling an entire story in a sequence of drabbles. It was a very different approach from how I normally do things, but I really really like the outcome (also, if I dare say so myself, the central metaphor fits perfectly). Maybe I'll repeat the process again in the future.

Time Unchanging (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

This was written as a showcase piece to apply to the Xenoblade Travel Zine, as I had no suitable pieces in the fandom to apply with yet. It's very headcanon-heavy, but it felt good to flex my setting description muscles a bit.

From Forth the Wartorn Lands of These Two Foes (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

I rewrote an entire Shakespeare sonnet for this, thus sparking my own venture into sonnet writing in private. Maybe one day I'll show some in public. As for the fic as a whole, it's absolutely one of my favourites this year. As I sorted through my thoughts I became more comfortable with the aspects of canon that sparked that fic, but I still enjoy this reimagining of the story.

And They Were Mindmates (Final Fantasy XIV)

What do you do when Launch The Ship is happening but you can't think of anything? Borrow popular headcanons from twitter. Fun to write, this one.

What Remains of a Life (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

Very very fond of this one. What can I say? I'm a huge fan of angst and trauma and this one has both in copious amounts. Sorry, canonically unnamed kid—your suffering really did entertain me.

A Living Sword and Shield (Final Fantasy XVI)

I'm pinging on a character in an unreleased game. Again. Is this the "Weight of a Life" for FFXVI? Only time can tell. I find this one a bit clumsily written, but I couldn't be arsed to fix it up any further.

Of Meetings and Partings (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

"I think this will be 6k-8k long so I need some other ideas," I said, and then it ended up landing at 13k lol. I like the concept quite a bit and I would never have thought of it if my assigned person in the exchange hadn't written their prompts the way they did, so thank you for that!

Bookshelf Woes (Final Fantasy XIV)

Another thing I've been wanting to write since I played 6.0. Sorkhatu and high bookshelves do not mix well.

Reflections of an Afterimage (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

Another exchange piece, this one exploring a canon divergence post-chapter 5. N, my scrunkly. I just love making you suffer so before giving you a break. I like the title on this one quite a bit.

[yuletide fic goes here when anon period is over.]

Pale Moon in a Blue Sky (Granblue Fantasy)

Aaaand to cap off the year, something completely different! As I mention in the AN, this is an old work I wrote shortly after Home Sweet Moon came out. I remember putting it aside because I felt it needed a lot of work to be decent, but when I recently found it again and read through it, it was a lot better than I recalled so I touched it up and finally posted it. It'll finish posting in January.



So! That was my public-facing 2022 writing year. There's more cooking—including the fabled ffxiv longfic I've been vagueing about forever. If all goes to plan, I will hopefully maybe finally start posting that sometime next year. Other than that, I've been tinkering with original fiction behind the scenes, but I'd rather not mix that with my fandom online presence so that's all I'll say on the matter. Expect a Xenoblade 3 novella-length work early next year—the initial draft for that is almost complete.

2023 is sure to bring its own challenges to the creative part of my life, but I hope I will be able to find ways to navigate them and maintain the momentum I've been trying to claw my way back to after university woes derailed my entire life.

Here's to a creative 2023 for me and everyone else!
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Now contains 6.1 spoilers!

Alright, I said I would type it up in full, so here goes:

First and foremost, I'm almost certain that we will end up going to Corvos in 7.0. Now, for anyone unaware, Corvos was first mentioned in the Zenos short story exclusively published in the Chronicles of Light anthology. In it, Zenos' sword tutor came from Corvos. We didn't get any real detail on Corvos beyond it being an imperial province then, including the fact that Corvos is actually where the Garleans came from too. At the time, it was just a background flavour name.

Now, 6.0 has added a surprising amount of detail to it. G'raha being Corvosi by birth? Corvos being a former Allagan colony/outpost/whatever, with Allagan remnants still being there? Corvos/Locus Amoenus being the Garleans' origin as well? None of this information was necessary, and Corvos as it stood didn't really need any fleshing out.

Unless, of course, they're prepping to have it star in the next expansion.

I could be wrong, of course, there are other things they could use Corvos for, but the sheer number of times this randomly came up makes me think it will feature in something prominent.

This is the part I'm fairly certain about; now gather round while I don the tinfoil hat.

Theory #1: The Garleans are an artificial Allagan creation (and that's how they originated from Corvos).
Fact #1: We know the Allagans artificially engineered entire species. The Ixal are confirmed to be one such species.
Fact #2: Affinity with aether leads to less affinity with dynamis and vice versa.
Fact #3: Garleans can't use aether.
Fact #4: Travelling through space requires enormous amounts of aether, or alternatively control of dynamis.
Fact #5: Amon wanted to go to space even during his Allagan days.
Fact #6: Amon dreamed of his amaurotine days, and even as a sundered soul clearly retained some of Hermes' traits.

Conclusion: Amon engineered the Garleans to be suited to space travel, based on possibly half-remembered facts from his former life. As they don't seem to have any of Meteion's capabilities, we can surmise that they were deemed a failed creation, if so.

If this is the case then it would fit perfectly into introducing Corvos, as that would be where those experiments would have taken place, and records of it can easily be implemented in whatever ruins remain.

And if Garleans feature heavily in 6.x/7.0—that brings me to my next point! Zenos.

Okay, yes, I *know* I said I would go forward under the assumption we would get no more Zenos content, but it makes *no god damn sense* for him never to feature again. You want to tell me that they would leave everything about him open after literally delaying the expansion to ensure all loose ends were tied up? Because:
-We don't know what his dreams about the Final Days are about. This is as recent as 5.2. (Edited to add: Fandaniel actually brought them up in 6.0 too!)
-We don't know what experiments Emet conducted on him (also 5.2).
-We don't know why he mastered the Resonant to a degree no other Sundered ever has, not even close. Why can he see souls? How did he end up being a bodyhopper? The latter came up *in* 6.0!
-His voidsent has a special design, but it barely features. For all it did in 6.0, they might as well have used the one the players get, it's not like it's a bad design.
-What's the deal with naming him viator? That means traveller. Not only is that an odd title to give someone for being a traitor, you also can't tell me that's not significant.
(-This is conjecture but I couldn't help but notice that they put his hair in his coat in the same expansion as giving Estinien a ponytail to prevent his hair from clipping everywhere...)

Look, yeah, I don't want to be disappointed again either, but come on. Don't tell me it wouldn't be seriously weird if they just dropped all of this without resolving it.

And besides, it would fit perfectly into exploring the Garleans' Allagan origin. He's also an experiment. Whatever Emet did might well have used data from that, if any of this is accurate. Furthermore, Fandaniel clearly knew at least some things about what Emet was doing, which leads me to think that Zenos might be especially involved with dynamis—might even be an entelechy.

Potential explanation for his dreams: Being so in tune with dynamis would make him susceptible to Meteion's influence in ways that others might not be, so perhaps it isn't so much that he dreams of the Final Days specifically but the memories of them are reawakened by Meteion's influence? And if that is the case, might he not have been influenced by her to not value life, which would go a long way towards explaining why he is the way he is?

(And *that* leaves the question of how he would fare without her in the picture... but let's not get carried away too far.)

And that leads me to my third prediction!

Late 5.x introduced a void questline, a little thing tacked on after the 3.x trial series and after completing all Shadowbringers rolequests in which Unukalhai and Taynor send a scouting familiar into the void to see if they can find a way to restore it, or something to that effect. It was a nice quest, and also feels *kind of significant actually*. Now, this is locked behind an optional trial series and completing all 5.0 rolequests, so a big chunk of the playerbase is never going to do those, but! Guess who else has a potential connection to the void?

Zenos and his special design voidsent.

And yeah, it sure looked like he's dead, but also it's Zenos. I can think of several ways for him to make it out alive, if the writers are so inclined.

So this is my prediction of where the story will go. 6.x will lead towards exploring the origins of the Garlean people, which, through Zenos as a catalyst, will lead towards the Void. Possibly to restore it? Who knows.

Also, the Garleans are totally the third beast tribe of 6.x.

EDIT 19/02/2022:

Two extra things:

Live letter 68 strongly indicated that Zenos being a reaper is going to be relevant to future content (as they said they thought about it but couldn't talk about it). It also hinted that Zenos isn't actually dead for real (that much dodging a real answer is suspicious).

Also, as it turns out, the Void is said to be devoid of all aether. At the time this wasn't something that had much significance, but we know about dynamis now. If I'm correct and the Garleans are somehow related to dynamis, then that only ties them to the void more.

EDIT 12/04/2022:

Notes from 6.1 regarding this theory:

-Zenos' voidsent is back, and the void is strongly indicated to be the focus of the next storyline.
-Zenos' voidsent being back means that it IS possible for souls to leave Absolute Horizon, and it's quite telling that Yoshi-P et al. focused heavily on Zenos' body when talking about the matter of his death. Zenos likely has the ability to shard-hop with his soul, since Ascians are able to do it as well. This also ties into Y'shtola talking about how voidsent are frequently only summoned as souls, which may apply to this voidsent as well.
-I don't think the voidsent actually is Zenos in any capacity. The "bereft of saviours" line makes little sense for Zenos to say, in my opinion.
-6.1 possibly hinted at the old lore stuff about the void being devoid of all aether being retconned? Not entirely sure.

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