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On the Heavens' Ward #1: Hierarchy
I love the Heavens' Ward, AKA the underrated and underrepresented titular antagonists of Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, and I think about them a lot! So let's talk about the Heavens' Ward.
Some of these posts will be headcanons/analyses I've posted around Twitter or Tumblr and just need to be stored somewhere long-form.
This one is from a Twitter thread, so it's fairly disjointed throughout. I'll probably try to talk more about each one of them in-depth once I have everything I want to save on here.
I think a lot about the hierarchy among the Heavens' Ward. They're obviously four groups of three (groupings made obvious by Primal mode helmet types) and the fact that the first four seats comprise of one from each makes me think those four hold internal commander roles for their respective groups.
I think the lancers kind of confirm it, given they wait for Vellguine's command and all. The mages too I think might have implied it with Charibert ordering the other two around.
Having distinct trios also makes for fun dynamics! The Knights likely only ever present themselves as a cohesive whole to the public but there could be stuff like - they tend to feel closer to those in their own trio, or "the mages are weird" "the axemen are at it again."
Friendships across the trios aren't frowned upon and generally encouraged so any brother can fight alongside any other one at any given time but stuff like this mainly affects who they hang out with during downtime and whose turn it is to help Janlenoux clear the kitchen of Noudenet's pets.
Fraternization beyond that? Honestly all of them know who's banging who but tend to look the other way. Just don't get caught or seen by the first three. Truly secret romances like my take on Charibert/Ignasse are rare and often difficult to maintain as a secret. Also since they're romancing not only across mage and lancer lines but also between a commander and brother - it's a little dicier.
And some thoughts on the commanders - honestly, Zephirin is so busy herding all 11 of his brothers that Adelphel and Janlenoux kinda generally get to do their own thing, so it's kind of a continuation of their camaraderie from before but with just one commander.
I can see Vellguine being fairly strict with his unit. Ignasse is well practiced and disciplined enough from his dragoon days so Paulecrain is the problem one who constantly needs to be reigned in (he is however, really good at keeping his head down when he needs to).
Charibert is awful as a commander. Mostly the mages are free to do their research and whatever they want but he can get really controlling and it's like hell for Haumeric. Noudenet just...does his own thing and Charibert only minds when something explodes.
And of course Grinnaux is kinda the worst commander given the prior treatment of his men. Guerrique fortunately doesn't seem to care, though Hermenost probably clashes with Grinnaux a bit when it comes down to it.
Normally, Charibert and Grinnaux would not be in those seats but...given circumstances, we know why they're there.
Also the point of the commanders thing is the delegation of duties and accountability and such. While Zephirin is in charge of the Ward as a whole, on a day to day basis maybe he hands out general orders to the other three, and they're the ones who get things done within their groups. If someone messes up, his immediate commander is the one to go to first.
//
Some of these posts will be headcanons/analyses I've posted around Twitter or Tumblr and just need to be stored somewhere long-form.
This one is from a Twitter thread, so it's fairly disjointed throughout. I'll probably try to talk more about each one of them in-depth once I have everything I want to save on here.
I think a lot about the hierarchy among the Heavens' Ward. They're obviously four groups of three (groupings made obvious by Primal mode helmet types) and the fact that the first four seats comprise of one from each makes me think those four hold internal commander roles for their respective groups.
I think the lancers kind of confirm it, given they wait for Vellguine's command and all. The mages too I think might have implied it with Charibert ordering the other two around.
Having distinct trios also makes for fun dynamics! The Knights likely only ever present themselves as a cohesive whole to the public but there could be stuff like - they tend to feel closer to those in their own trio, or "the mages are weird" "the axemen are at it again."
Friendships across the trios aren't frowned upon and generally encouraged so any brother can fight alongside any other one at any given time but stuff like this mainly affects who they hang out with during downtime and whose turn it is to help Janlenoux clear the kitchen of Noudenet's pets.
Fraternization beyond that? Honestly all of them know who's banging who but tend to look the other way. Just don't get caught or seen by the first three. Truly secret romances like my take on Charibert/Ignasse are rare and often difficult to maintain as a secret. Also since they're romancing not only across mage and lancer lines but also between a commander and brother - it's a little dicier.
And some thoughts on the commanders - honestly, Zephirin is so busy herding all 11 of his brothers that Adelphel and Janlenoux kinda generally get to do their own thing, so it's kind of a continuation of their camaraderie from before but with just one commander.
I can see Vellguine being fairly strict with his unit. Ignasse is well practiced and disciplined enough from his dragoon days so Paulecrain is the problem one who constantly needs to be reigned in (he is however, really good at keeping his head down when he needs to).
Charibert is awful as a commander. Mostly the mages are free to do their research and whatever they want but he can get really controlling and it's like hell for Haumeric. Noudenet just...does his own thing and Charibert only minds when something explodes.
And of course Grinnaux is kinda the worst commander given the prior treatment of his men. Guerrique fortunately doesn't seem to care, though Hermenost probably clashes with Grinnaux a bit when it comes down to it.
Normally, Charibert and Grinnaux would not be in those seats but...given circumstances, we know why they're there.
Also the point of the commanders thing is the delegation of duties and accountability and such. While Zephirin is in charge of the Ward as a whole, on a day to day basis maybe he hands out general orders to the other three, and they're the ones who get things done within their groups. If someone messes up, his immediate commander is the one to go to first.
//