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scarletta vendetta
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scarletta vendetta

I'm Scarletta Vendetta, based out of Aether on Midgardsormr, where I've lived since 2.0. I am the founder of The Aether Entertainer and runner up on season 1 of Eorzea's Got Talent! I've tried to stay involved in the (FFXIV) publishing scene as much as I can, especially when it comes to charitable causes, entertainment, or Eorzean pop culture. I even did a stint as a columnist and event manager for Eorzean Illustrated Magazine and held a position as executive editor at Lodestone Magazine. Nowadays I am most active in the writing and RP scene, but I also enjoy end game raiding, working at AE Cafe, and performing as a bard a few times per week.

EGT Season 1

SOUL SACRIFICE

Discord @ vendetta0836

scarlettavendetta.carrd.co

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Eorzea's got talent season 1

Each grueling minute felt like an hour. The numbers ticking upward of close to 100 votes each. 89….then 89….91…then 91. Tit for tat each column ticked higher. First mine, then The Omni’s. I couldn’t bear to watch the poll anymore. (/sweat) I buried my face in my sleeve. Then DJ Yam’s voice rang out over the stream, “The Winner of Eorzea’s Got Talent is…”

Recently, my raid team decided to go on hiatus and I had been looking for new ways to fill my time. I had started barding last year for a few venues such as Skald’s Hall and The Solstice Equinox and figured I could get back into that so I put out a couple of ads looking for a few places I could play at weekly. I actually had a reasonably difficult time finding a good fit before settling on Wisteria Brewery, The Nest, and A Cat’s Terrace. As a solo bard, you can be easily overlooked for not being unique enough. Now let’s be clear, I am just your typical garden variety Gridania Aetheryte bard; I have no background in music theory, I don’t create my own music files, I don’t have a band, and I certainly never considered that I stood a chance of winning Eorzea’s Got Talent.Eorzea’s Got Talent was something I decided to do on a whim. I happened across DJ Yam’s post for the show on Twitter. There was a video clip attached showing Yams comically summoning bards to Shirogane and judging each of their performances. The video transitioned into Yams laughing and singing along before addressing the viewers to make a casting call for the official production of Eorzea’s Got Talent. Furthermore, there were limited participation slots available (30) and the winner would take home a sizable jackpot of 100 million gil. I was so taken aback by the idea I signed up immediately.However, when Onuka invited me to the EGT planning channel, I quickly realized how in over my head I was. It was packed with some of the most talented and influential musicians in all of Eorzea including Wren Darkcloud, Moogle Troupe, Moonswhisper, Traveling Strings, and my personal rock idol, Eltana just to name a few. I was so intimidated that I nearly backed out. Not only was this the most star studded lineup of bards I had ever seen, initially, I was also the only solo performer on the docket.After going over the rules, my first task was to designate three song choices. For our performance, we were given three minutes in the first and second rounds, and for the final round, we were given five. At first, my primary concern was just not choosing a song that was created by one of the other competitors! I had an aspiration that DJ Yams would sing my song on the stream, so I wanted it to be something that people knew the words too. I also wanted to choose songs whose Midi files sounded clean on the guitar, my go-to instrument… and considering I am a bard who is limited to publicly available files, I didn’t have a lot of options. I was really focused on the first round because I felt that was where my journey would end. Ultimately, I decided on Bowling for Soup’s 1985, a Midi file that was created by Skynyrd Fraefolgwyn, another talented midi editor, but one who was not competing that night. For my other song choices, I landed on Simple Plan, I'm Just A Kid by Nozomi Tenma, and Muse Starlight by A’two.I honestly couldn’t tell you exactly where the idea to parody these songs came from, but I think it was likely to do with me feeling a bit of grief over losing my raid team. This might seem weird to you, but I’ve been playing FFXIV since the day A Realm Reborn officially launched and have accumulated over 10,000 hours of playtime. I’ve always had a raid team, so being without gave me a void to fill. I was practicing tone-changing the guitar in 1985 for the show when I just started singing out loud about the ‘good ole days’ of FFXIV. The song became about Selene because I am a healer main and I remember when Selene was considered the ‘DPS’ fairy. So Selene’s grief is also my grief.When you are passionate about patches passed, writing the lyrics is the easy part. There was a good bit of technical drama I had trying to get the lyrics to appear on screen. I don’t have the most powerful PC and there are blocks built into the MIDI player that prevent single bards from singing lyrics (meant to reduce chat spam) and I needed to find a workaround for this performance. I reached out to the admins in the Bards and Bands Discord who helped me get it working. Huge shoutout to Kalle, because without their help I definitely wouldn’t have had any lyrics.I was so nervous the day of the show that I arrived in Marlboro about two hours early. The zone was filling quickly, and even an hour before the show began there were already shouts to dismiss minions. DJ Yams, the coordinators, and many of the other performers were already at Mih Khetto’s Amphitheater setting up, practicing, and socializing. Watching everyone didn’t help my nerves at all, because while I did manage to get things working, my setup was still relatively unstable. As the proceedings started, DJ Yams' electrifying energy was conveyed over the live stream. The first group began to perform and the zone absolutely lit up. It didn’t take long for DJ Yams’ stream to reach an astounding 700 viewers and make it to the front page of Twitch. I was nervous, so I slithered off to a remote location in the zone to test the lyrics to my songs.“Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the wonderful and amazing Scarletta Vendetta who is coming in hot with Bowling for Soup’s 1985,” rang out DJ Yams.

Only I didn’t come in hot at all...
I took the stage, introduced myself, held my breath then hit ‘play.’ Instead of lyrics, a loud whammy sound shrieked from the guitar and my MIDI program promptly crashed. I exhaled trying to maintain composure. I knew that the coordinators allowed us 60 seconds for technical issues. Shaking, I reopened the MIDI player and quickly started ticking the appropriate settings. The crowd was uneasy. Someone shouted “ENCORE” and I felt like I was going to pass out. I was literally having the equivalent of tomatoes being thrown at me and it was a horrible feeling. “Pray tell, Scarletta?”I wasn’t even 100% sure that the settings were correct. I wasn’t sure if the lyrics would work, but I was so mortified and desperate to get off the stage so I hit ‘play’ again.When the opening notes played I felt a wave of relief wash over. At least now I was going to play the song. When the lyrics started, the stream chat exploded. I had it muted but it looked as if Yams was shouting. The in-game chat was going off too. While I did notice the crowd’s reaction, I was numb from the near miss and trying hard to focus on timing the tone changes of the guitar. It wasn’t until I got off the stage that I realized the impact of my performance. I cried when the vote came in, which pressed me on to round 2.Round 2 is where the competition started to heat up. My gimmick was the same. This time I didn’t have any technical issues and I felt a warm welcome back to the stage. I cruised through my performance of ‘I’m Just A Bard” with a similar reaction from the crowd and my friends told me that DJ Yams even sang out part of the song! It was at this moment when I realized that the vote count didn’t matter. I already felt like a winner. At the end of the round, I found myself in a back-and-forth vote battle with The Omni, a talented and established sextet who is known for their original compositions and being a mentor to other bard bands. I clenched round two by a single vote. I would meet The Omni, who received a well-deserved Golden Buzzer from Yams, back in the final round.The last round was a spectacular climax to an unforgettable night. Before going into the 3-way showdown between myself, Moonwhisper, and The Omni, we were entertained with a guest performance by Patrick Bates, a phenomenal musician who plays music in-game while also singing on stream. Moonwhisper threw down an amazing cover of Black Hole Sun, I laid it all out there with my Muse cover about the Warrior of Light, and The Omni blew the roof off the amphitheater with an all-original composition.As the votes soared and the tension mounted in those final moments, I found myself in a neck-and-neck battle with The Omni, with each vote column ticking higher, almost agonizingly so. Each grueling minute felt like an hour. The numbers reached upward of close to 100 votes each. 89….then 89…91…then 91. Tit for tat each column counted higher. First mine, then The Omni’s. I couldn’t bear to watch the poll anymore. (/sweat) I buried my face in my sleeve. Then DJ Yam’s voice rang out over the stream, “The Winner of Eorzea’s Got Talent is…”THE OMNI.

In the thrilling conclusion of Eorzea's Got Talent, The Omni emerged as the well-deserved winner, taking home the coveted title. I can’t help but admire the incredible talent displayed by The Omni, Moonwhisper, and my other fellow contestants. While the night didn't end with me being crowned the winner, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all who supported me. It was an incredible honor to share the stage with such extraordinary musicians and be part of a competition that brought the FFXIV community closer together. I'm genuinely touched by the warm reception my performances received, and the camaraderie I felt backstage made this experience all the more special. Congratulations to The Omni! Until we meet on stage again, my friends.