Runes of Chimera is a small-scale story-driven RPG targeting the FFXIV roleplay community. It serves as a prototype for the much larger Lunar Rose Academy game, building the core framework — combat, dialogue integration, character mechanics — at manageable scope.
Timeline placement: after the Fury’s Gaze arc, before the Umbra arc.
Story Summary
Zekito and Nimvaei recover ancient arcanima (runes) from Belah’dian ruins. Unable to decipher them, they seek help from Orraux Clauvier — an arcanist-medic at Camp Dragonhead — who agrees to decipher the runes in exchange for a chimera’s core, claiming it cures Blackram disease afflicting his daughter Edrette.
What follows is a quest across Eorzea to gather six specific ingredients, each tied to one of Nimvaei’s six elemental runes.
| Order | Rune | Location | Puzzle | Prerequisite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ice | Fury’s Gaze, Coerthas | Chimera boss fight (fire melts ice wall) | None |
| 2 | Water | Camp Bronze Lake, Vylbrand | Use Ice to shield from Oschon’s gale | Ice |
| 3 | Earth | The Shroud (20.3, 30.9) | Use Water to defeat corrupted earth elemental | Water |
| 4 | Levin | Anyx Minor, Dravanian Forelands | Recover Mari mammet from lightning dragon | Earth |
| 5 | Fire | Amalj’aa camp, S. Thanalan (35.1, 19.9) | Rune-matching wire puzzle | Levin |
| 6 | Wind | Red Rim, Coerthas Western Highlands | Woeborn sword realm fight with Liraz | Fire |
The Twist
Orraux is not Orraux. He is Mores Gwydion — who wrote the book on the ruins himself and engineered the entire quest. Zekito caught the scent of his intent early and was immobilised to prevent interference. The reveal scene:
Mores (as Orraux): “Oh you poor, gullible fool… I wrote that book so that you would go around fetching the materials I needed to bring her back once they matured.”
[looks to Zekito]
Mores: “At least that one was sharp enough to catch scent of my intent. As much as it pains me to hold him thus in his wounded state, I couldn’t have him interfere.”
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Nimvaei: “So then… enlighten this poor fool. Why do you need my blade? Why did you need us to gather all of those materials?”
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Mores: “Your blade?” [scoffs] “That blade is mine, girl. Forged for me — as in it, resides my daughter’s soul. The bloody beasts attacked my home, took my daughter to use her in their unholy experiments. Her soul resides in that blade. It was the only way I could keep her safe.”
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Mores: “I tried and tried to revive her but the soul is a stubborn thing. I realized I couldn’t just stuff her soul into a new body — she needed a body to match, to accept her soul.”
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Mores: “So I set out to infuse bits of her soul into the missing two elements, awaiting for the day all those elements would harmonize to the signature of her soul. After long years of waiting, it is finally ready. All that is left is to use the same cursed technique to merge them all into a vessel!”
[points toward Mammet Mari]
Mores: “Oversoul — her end… and her beginning.”
Ending
With help from Luvsan Tumet (dormant in Woeborn) and the mammet Mari, Nimvaei pulls Mores’ soul from Orraux’s body into Woeborn, where Nidhogg’s hunger confines him. Orraux is left comatose. Mores, dormant in the blade, eventually comes to peace — he is with Mari again, in a sense.
The journal Mores wrote for Mari — explaining everything he did and why — remains at the Blackram clinic for Edrette and the other patients. It makes it to her, just not the way he planned.
The Woeborn Fight — RP Log
Rune 6 (Wind), at Red Rim. Liraz faces the shade of Luvsan Tumet inside the sword realm. This forces her to relive the memory of killing him — and finally understand what she had actually been seeing:
Nimvaei (1/7): It was within those sparse few moments that the shade wrapped its arms around her that the world around her seemed to freeze… It was almost enlightening, emphasising that of which she had gradually allowed herself to believe. Despite his beastly actions, and how fearsome they are, he was in the end…
Nimvaei (2/7): Still human, still wishing to protect those that he loved… Her arms dropped as Liraz found herself drawn into a memory of days long gone… Of the days where she found herself shoved into the cart with numerous other women, all awaiting their inevitable slavery at some brothel Auria owned. This Dark Knight…
Nimvaei (3/7): He had been there, slaughtering Auria’s men left, right and centre… He had been naught more then a pain in her side for years, ruining her operations… It had been left up to her to put an end to him, less she wished to suffer the consequences; the look Auria had given her back then, the way her eyes seemed to take her apart piece by piece…
Nimvaei (4/7): …And then he was there, making her breathing come to a full stop, almost and her mind, body… It all screamed to RUN, to get this thing away… But she had a job to do. A job to complete before she could even give into her flight response.
Nimvaei (5/7): The knife plunged into his exposed neck, the warm liquid pouring out onto her hands… She reacted swiftly and pulled it out, only granting herself a few brief moments to watch his body collapse on itself; the other girls screaming in fear. But none of that mattered, back then… She was safe. She didn’t care. Finally.
Nimvaei (6/7): Liraz would pull herself out from the memory… she understood what it all meant now, how wrong she had perceived it. Her gaze drifting towards the dutiful shade that now stood by her shade… a sense of security blossoming within as a shadowy blade formed within her hands.
Nimvaei (7/7): “So… One more trial left then, huh? What’s it gonna be?”
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Combat System Design
Nimvaei — Elemental Rune Magic
As Nimvaei acquires runes, her magic panel expands. Each rune has distinct effects beyond damage type. Elemental weaknesses apply against enemies with defined compositions. Ice first was Zekito’s deliberate pedagogical choice — build control before chaos. Fire (her natural alignment) as the fifth rune means acquiring it feels like a homecoming. Her endpoint: Runic Dark Knight — a synthesis of rune magic (methodical, elemental) and Liraz’s inherited Dark Knight abilities (instinctive, abyssal).
Zekito — Chain Combo System
A rhythm minigame (directional inputs, Helldivers-style). Three chains per turn, increasing complexity (5→8→10 arrows). Damage scales: Good 125%, Great 150%, Excellent 175%, Perfect 200%. Skilled play = three 200% hits in one turn. The tutorial “boss fight” is just Zek and Nim sparring.