Meet your guide on this trip, Avalonia

This is Eirenne, first and always a PLD - though she spends time supporting her comrades as WHM and BRD these days, as well. Eir started endgame quite early, venturing into Dynamis at a mere level 66, though she had 2 75s before she jumped the rest of the way into HL activities. In between HNMs and HL events, Eir spends most of her time running from one static party to another, and occasionally working on cooking.

Alternately, you can find Eir living a different sort of life as the Elvaan girl, Avalonia. For now, Ava spends her time seeing how fast she can pull hate with BLM nukes, but will eventually be the one in The Hat as the party's RDM.

Introducing Tyrannia

This Elvaan lady started out as a melee RDM, and that instinct to do harm to the enemy never faded, as she is now also DRK, THF, and COR. The latest addition to the list of 70+ jobs is PLD, giving Mels at least 1 of each support, DD, and tank jobs. These days Mels can be found bazaaring chocobo cards in Windurst when she isn't traipsing around Vana'diel to put TH4 on some big bad monster or to sleepga some horde of angry mobs, or else to shoot something in the face.

In that alternative reality, Mels can be found as the slightly shorter hume girl Tyrannia, presently a WAR and previously a MNK, but is eventually destined to be a DRG - with a wyvern named Rex.

Presenting Saichania

 

This is Sheathe, a sexy hume BRD who has been known to moonlight as a WHM and PLD, and now RNG as well. When not shooting away vast amounts of gil on RNG, or perpetually deleveling on BRD, Sheathe can be found enjoying all kinds of endgame activities from Sky to Salvage, and occasionally doing off-the-wall things like duo sleep-nuking skeletons on WHM in KRT for fun and merits.

In our alternate reality, this jack-of-all-trades is a fearless hume girl called Saichania, who rushes into battle without a second thought. For now, Sai has been a MNK and is now a WAR, but eventually she will be our suicidal DRK. She has the damage and dying down already - well on the way to being a successful career DRK!

Please welcome Dimetrodon

This hume male started out DRK, and then took SAM, PLD, and WAR to 75 as well - but he has never forgotten his first love. A quintessential DD, Ellion recently finished upgrading the relic great sword, Ragnarok. While he is an excellent tank and will even agree to go as PLD to certain events, with the completion of Ragnarok, he is most often seen on DRK these days. Ell's endgame experience includes Sky, Sea, Einherjar, Dynamis (uh, duh?), Limbus, Salvage, and ground kings.

In another reality, this heavy-hitting hume can be found healing his party as the pimpin' Elvaan WHM, Dimetrodon. Indeed, Dime really is the pimp of the group - of the 6 members of the MoG Squad, he is the only male character! He started out as RDM, and is now bringing WHM up through the ranks. In the final party setup, Dime will be providing the musical inspiration to the rest of us as a BRD.

May I present Hamalocephale

Meet Imitarate. A versatile Hume male, Imit started as a RDM, then took DRG to 75. These days Imit can be found soloing on his PLD, destroying Nyzul Isle floors with flying creatures on DRG, or refusing to cast Haste on anyone but himself on RDM. ^.~ One of these days Imit might finish off his MNK and DRK. Imit is another who has done just about everything that he can in the game, but Summerfest in Windurst will always have a special meaning to him.

In the alternate reality that we sometimes exist in, Imit can be found chasing his own tail as the Mithra Hamalocephale. Up to now Hama has been a MNK, but will be WAR until we reach 40. At that point Hama becomes the main healer of the party as a lithesome feline DNC.

Allow me to introduce Ingenia

 

This is Phlux. This Elvaan male started out a RDM, and is an excellent one. In addition to RDM, he has BLM, WAR, and THF at 75, with DRK and WHM coming up through the ranks quickly. Phlux has probably done just about everything one can do in FFXI - all manner of endgame activities, missions, quests, and battlefields, and he has the gear to show for it.

In an alternate reality, this handsome Elvaan man is an adorable Tarutaru female named Ingenia. We call her Ing, or sometimes Geni, and for the time being she is a MNK. In our final party setup, Ingenia will be our PLD tank -- because Tarutaru female PLDs are among the cutest in the game.

An experiment in choosing to be noobs

It all started as a crazy idea, formed in a half-dream state as I was falling asleep one night.

I have been playing Final Fantasy XI for about 2 years now. I've got 2 jobs at 75, I have a decent grasp of most of the game, and I've experienced a big chunk of the things you can do. Boy a lot has changed - I remember being a total noob who didn't even know how to talk to people or move around. I wonder what it would be like to be a noob again - like if I was starting now, but with all the knowledge I have about the game?

I mulled the idea over for a few days before bringing it up to Melsara. Mels is one of my favorite RDMs (and DRK, THF, COR) and has been playing the game longer than I have. He laughed, and then decided the idea sounded fun. We started talking about finding an alternate server to make mules on, so that we could duo. But the more we talked about it, the more we both thought it would be even more fun if we had a full party of 6 to play with.

We approached my in-game twin, Sheathe, first. The idea was greeted with much enthusiasm, and Sheathe came firmly onboard. Next up, I talked to two of my other favorite RDMs, Imitarate and Phlux. Imit first said no, that he was going to be too busy - but that didn't last long. ^_^ "What the hell? I'm in." was the answer after about 5 minutes. Phlux thought about it for a couple of minutes, then agreed that it would be fun.

5 down, 1 member to go. We spent a week or so discussing who else would be a good fit for our group, and fit all of our requirements - 1-2 jobs at 75 on Gilgamesh, a good grasp of the overall game dynamics, and someone who is known and on friendly terms with everyone else in the group. Then it hit me - Ellion! A real life friend of mine, and someone that everyone else knew and liked. I proposed the idea, and he immediately agreed.

With the party filled out, thus was born the Mules of Gilgamesh!