The Celestia Citizen (Two Hearts Edition)
Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to yet another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! This one comes red hot, as hot as love and as red as a beautiful heart! But what is better than one heart than TWO? Considering we’re entering into February, the month where we get to enjoy the most romantic day of the year (Valentine’s Day), it seems fitting that the theme for this month is love. Love for what, you may ask? Well, Phil Collins music is lovable. Which is why I have his upbeat classic “Two Hearts” posted here for your enjoyment. Credit goes to the Phil Collins channel on Youtube, Youtube itself, and of course the man himself, Phil Collins!
Before we get into the meat of this month’s newsletter, here’s some fun trivia: Phil Collins is a music legend in his own right, but he also has a famous daughter. Lily Collins has starred most recently in Emily in Paris on Netflix, but also has starred in some recent movies such as Mank, Extremely Wicked – Shockingly Evil and Vile, Okja, Rules Don’t Apply, and the film adaptation of the Mortal Instruments book series’ first volume (which turned instead into Shadowhunters, the TV series, starring instead Katherine McNamara).
Final Fantasy XIV News
First out the gate: Live Letter TIME!!!
On February 18th, the next Live Letter, “Letter from the Producer”, will air at 600pm PST. A couple of tidbits to expect will be the typical Endwalker Q&A, as well as the rough outline for the next 10 years of FFXIV. Links to the Youtube and Twitch channels are below:
Youtube ->: https://youtu.be/WRpdIL7_NII
Twitch ->: https://www.twitch.tv/finalfantasyxiv
Next, it’s been about a week since upload. But there is a latest patch for the game in version 6.08. Details are here: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/9325d2a5dae2ac34b9f970c803848e8fb1c3aaf7
There was also one patch released prior to this one during the same month, but it is also being covered here. Details on version 6.05, updated with 6.08 as latest patch, are here: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/674bcc0a4da4caba1ded710a7af99389094d52a8
Next, some big news regarding the Data Centers and upcoming plans to address the congestion issues in the near-future following Endwalker’s release:
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/9a6bed5c06ae511c363ece5ead0a98a3986554a2
That’s it for major news from this time.
Free Company Updates and Social Events
A new approach to covering Free Company content for Celestia is merging any and all FC specific updates and social event notices into its own block here.
Let’s start off with the first of our two social events that have transpired: The Lalaball Tournament (writeup below brought to you by our resident Officer, Simera Yeep).
On Sunday January 15, four intrepid players came to the Zee Zephos Sporting Arena to compete for glory at the Celestia Lalaball Tournament : Aminore Vespertine, Fred’a Iblis, Chitee Pa’town, and Faey Baali. Donning her black and white, the ball was played by Simera Yeep. Games were played to five points, and the series were played as a best of three.
The first series pitted Faey and Aminore against Fred’a and Chitee, and was won by the former 2 games to 1. All games were very close, but some strong defensive play by Aminore shut down the other team and was key in their game 3 victory giving them a series win.
Faey & Aminore after their game 3 win in the first series
Series 2 saw a reshuffling of teams, as Faey’s solid shooting skills made him a valuable free agent who was promptly scooped up in the off-season by Fred’a. That proved a wise investment, as the duo overcame a rough game 1 start and dominated game 2, 5-0, and winning the series 2-0.
With most participants winded by the hard-fought struggles of punting a lala up and down a lawn, Fred’a and Faey opted to play one more exhibition match, 1 on 1. Fred’a showed what he had learned from his Series 2 teammate and won this match.
Congratulations to all our players, and we look forward to sharing the fun with more CEL teams in the future!
The other social event that we had unfold occurred this prior weekend (January 29th), where our FC mates took to the glorious seas to appease Leviathan for generous bounties through Ocean Fishing.
As this was a casual event, there was no competitive awards to disclose or give out. Instead, this event allowed FC members to both level up their Fisherman job and to socialize with those they have not seen since the holidays.
Next, one upcoming social event is an annual tradition among many: The Officer Auction! Here’s the announcement per Blackhawk Slater, another of our resident Officers:
Hello, please join us on Saturday February 26th at 8PM EST, 5PM PST for our next FC event, Officer Auction! Every member who attends will be given a number of points to bet on winning an officer of their choice. The officers will provide the audience with the tasks they are willing to perform if you win them. The winner will then get to use that officer for some tasks for a designated amount of time. The officers are the prizes so no additional prizes will be handed out. Please let me know if you have any questions. Please sign up on the #social-event channel (on the Discord server) if you are going to attend.
In terms of any FC specific news, nothing on the grapevine as of yet. Be sure to sign up on the Discord server and look toward our #announcements channel for further major news.
Discord link to Free Company Server: https://discord.gg/celestiafc
Saint Valentine’s Valentione’s Day
It isn’t often that I get to cover a holiday or extend definition and meaning behind it, but I figure with this new year, one thing we could try different is to share context behind many widely recognized holidays. And what could be among the earliest of these than the most romantic day of the year?
Saint Valentine was a Roman who was also involved with the clergy under the Christian faith. He lived during the 3rd century, having lived from 226 AD to 269 AD (42/43 years old). He was martyred on February 14th, which became associated with being known as the Feast of Saint Valentine (a Christian Feast Day). Although it is not easy to trace the exact moment that this day became known as a day of romance and love, the earliest correlation of it as a day of romance originated from one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s stories, the Parliament of Fowls (published 1382). Other correlations have been attributed to the Roman Lupercalia (a February 15th holiday where a festival is held to promote fertility and health), and to the Charter of the Court of Love (issued by Charles VI of France in 1400 to declare it as an annual celebration of love).
The modern interpretation of Valentine’s Day involves many recent traditions having become commonplace: Chocolate exchanges were the product of Cadbury in 1868, when they designed the first ‘Fancy Boxes’ – Heart shaped boxes of chocolates. Flowers, specifically red roses, were associated during the 17th century to Valentine’s Day as a remembrance to Venus/Aphrodite (Roman/Greek). One of the goddess of love’s stories involves her lover, Adonis, becoming mortally wounded. Where his tears and blood mixed and fell, that is from where the first red roses bloomed. Her son, Eros, also had summoned roses across the land when he married his love. As for greeting cards, the earliest of these was in 1797 when paper valentines had originated with red lace, ribbons, and thoughtful sketches and poems set within.
That’s all I had to say on this particularly red holiday.
But what of Saint Valentione’s Day? Unfortunately, there is no news yet on when this year’s event is due to happen. However, if the timing is to be proper, expect that news will come within the next couple of weeks. Be sure to check the news on Lodestone, and within the Discord server for details!
Reminder: 2 Factor Authentication/Multi Factor Authentication
This is being revisited in another newsletter. And it will be vital for us to keep beating our FC members over the head with this critical news, for it is for their security that this is being done.
Please ensure that you safeguard your Final Fantasy XIV account, and your Discord account. Below is a copy-and-paste of my prior announcement made on our Discord server:
I am making a general awareness announcement to the FC in regards to security and safety for both your FFXIV accounts and your Discord accounts. With all of the rampant account hijackings occurring in the Discord world, you may have seen other servers stressing to avoid clicking on ‘sus’ (suspicious) links and downloads, especially from fellow server-mates. We are encouraging the same behavior in Discord so nobody has their Discord accounts hijacked and endangers others. If a member from the FC here does provide suspicious links or downloads directly to you, please reach out to one of our Magistrates ASAP. But what of the FFXIV front?
It turns out that ‘Yes’, you CAN have your FFXIV account get hacked. If a hacker gets your SQEX login that has a XIV account and sub attached to it, they could log in and give you a bad day. Do your diligence and safeguard yourself through the glory of 2-Factor Authentication in both Discord AND in FFXIV.
In Discord: Follow the safe link listed here for how to setup 2FA for your Discord account (this will just require you to download a free authenticator such as Google Authenticator, or Authy): https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/219576828-Setting-up-Two-Factor-Authentication
In FFXIV: Go to your Mog Station page (where you can manage your licenses, go to the shop for buying stuff, etc) > Square Enix Account Settings > “One-Time Password” > Select your choice of “token” or authenticator (per the image attached):
Security Token (key ring type, physical token): Retails for $14.99, no software on phone to juggle
Software Token (smartphone app): No cost, and uses Square Enix’s official Software Token app
Software Authenticator (smartphone app): No cost, offers flexibility on choice of authenticator app (Google, Microsoft, IBM, Authy, etc)
As always, be safe and keep yourselves secure for full enjoyment of these wonderful services, everyone!
Conclusion
I think that’s enough for us to discuss from this long start of the year. As we are a month into a new year, wondering what the next few months will bring us, please remember this. Know that not every single one of us has someone there. Whether it’s a loved one, or a dear friend who is supportive and equally lonely, or a pet that we keep for company, or just shunning this holiday out of pure choice, know that everyone will go into this month and this holiday with their own plans.
But do not let yourself be confined to the mundane and the safe. If you are on the lookout for love, start by going out and looking for it. Go to your favorite hangout spots, join a forum or a website or a server (on Discord), get out and meet people. And if you cannot find someone in time for this wonderful holiday, know that it’s just a day. The world will not end for you if love cannot be found on or before this day. Love is eternal, random, powerful, and universal in its application among every one of us. While we have Thanksgiving to be thankful, Christmas to be caring, New Year’s to be hopeful, we have Valentine’s Day to be loving. Because that…is the power of love. In closing here, enjoy Huey Lewis and the News’s classic (brought to you by their channel, Youtube, and the band itself…and Back to the Future, of course).
See you, space Warriors of Light. 🙂