An open letter to all who attended!

It all began with a simple, chance meeting.  While passing through the Gridania markets one day, I struck up a conversation with a player under the name Selah Phocina.  After some banter, we realized two things: That we had that kind of instant chemistry that only rarely occurs, and that we both enjoyed trying to tell stories.

It wasn't long after establishing the beginnings of our role playing story that an idea occurred to me, that being that I could try my hand at actually writing a story based on my interactions with not just Selah, but others from my free company or those other randomly met denizens of Eorzea.

Thus, Silk Talons was born.  The first long running story I had attempted to write in years, and the first story I ever finished, Silk Talons may be rough around the edges in some places, but I was and am still proud of what I accomplished through it.  And even though I may be the story teller, the credit isn't solely mine, for I've been blessed with inspirations from multiple sources. (Which you can find the details of on my About Me page)

This leads us to Everyday Love, a story I write cooperatively with Selah, and from there will soon be Everheart, the third major story in the life of Ginal Celah.  And all this ultimately leads us to today, where I have been fortunate enough to receive a tremendous amount of support from all of you, my friends, my readers, my fans and people I've only just met, in putting together a large scale role playing event in Ginal and Selah's Ceremony of Eternal Bonding.

To see the story I began come to life in such a grand manner amazes, inspires and humbles me.  I am truly grateful for the outpouring of excitement, enthusiasm and support from all who attended, and if you'll permit me, I'd like to address some specific groups.

To Ovaela and Astania:
Thank you so very much for your efforts in filming and photographing the event.  I'm well aware of the amount of work involved in editing, filming, capturing and sorting.  You have my most genuine gratitude for helping us capture this event.

To all who read Silk Talons and Everyday Love:
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that a mere piece of fan-fiction would garner so much positivity and excitement, but here you all are.  To see that all of you enjoy this story so much that you actively sought to be a part of it makes me, as I said, inspired and humbled.  Thank you so much for helping me bring this story to life.

To those who have not read the stories:
The fact that you were willing to drop what you were doing and join in on a role playing event that you have no real knowledge of is yet another sign of how amazing the FF14 community can truly be.  You simply saw that Selah and I were excited about something, and you came to celebrate it with us.  I can't express how thankful I am to all of you for that.

Selah:
Thank you for challenging me and making me a better story teller.  Thank you for being excited about the things I'm excited about.  And thank you for being a good friend outside of Eorzea.  You've been a blessing.

-Ginal, in real life.

I can't add much to what Ginal has already said. We met in New Gridania on a day when I had been experimenting with glamouring. In a fit of fashionable daring, I had transformed my Dragoon armor into a tiny black bikini. (Those of you who have seen the black bikini in Eorzea have some idea what kind of figure I presented. I would have looked quite at home in a Frank Frazetta painting!) We started chatting, and Ginal asked if I liked to tell stories. Cooperative fiction is one of my passions, and we were soon planning the initial stages of what became "Silk Talons".

And now, many thousand words later, we have taken our story back into Eorzea by staging the marriage of our characters through the Eternal Bond ceremony, which Square Enix has so kindly provided. I have to say they did a wonderful job. It felt like we were participating in a beautiful real-life milestone, not just a quest in a video game. And I think I speak for both of us when I say it now feels like we are really married -- something our respective real-life spouses and partners probably find odd, but (I hope) not threatening. Games are their own universe, and a well-crafted game-world like FFXIV can feel surprisingly real.

I join Ginal in thanking all of you, our devoted readers, for following our adventures and sharing our wedding. It's been a grand ride. And I am probably not dropping any spoilers when I say that the ride will get even more exciting over the coming months, as Ginal and I craft the next major story arc.

What is it about? All I can tell you is that there is a reason that, immediately after the ceremony, Ginal and I both logged into Mog Central and changed our last names to our new married name of "Everheart". There's a story there -- and we intend to tell it!

Thank you, all. And, especially, thank you Ginal. You are a good friend, and you have made life in Eorzea so much more exciting than an endless series of dungeons.

- Selah in real life