Hatching-tide (04/15/2011)

[Groovebox]

High above the Twelveswood, the Raven circles, evermore seeking out truth hidden amongst the shadows of the trees.

In this edition, field correspondent Oliver Goodfellow has set his sights upon an odd, new festival recently arrived in Gridania, called Hatching-tide by its founder and followers. We try to learn more about what it is, whence it came, and what it portends.

● Prophet or Pretender?
No doubt you have all heard rumors of a motley crew of street urchins and spriggans, singing strange songs while dutifully dispensing outlandishly colored eggs to wary bystanders. These are the propagators of Hatching-tide, a lavish new festival conceived by an eccentric Miqo'te named Jihli Aliapoh, who to her followers is simply known as "the Dreamer." To learn more about the celebration, I attempted to speak with Jihli. It only took a few moments with the young woman, however, for me to realize I would need to take a different approach if I were to glean anything of value from our conversation. You see, the Dreamer only ever speaks when she is reciting from what I later learned was called the Dreamer's Gospel. Rather than attempting to decipher her cryptic musings, I instead opted to speak with a boy who appeared to be the Dreamer's famulus. And as it turned out, the boy, Bricot, was more than happy to answer all my queries.

As Bricot tells it, the idea for Hatching-tide came via a revelation experienced by Jihli late one starry evening. After drifting off into slumber, she was supposedly visited by twelve magnificent Archons who descended from the heavens on brilliantly colored eggs. As she stood in awe, one of the Archons stepped forth, placed his hand on Jihli's shoulder and whispered into her ear, "Rise, young Dreamer, and make ready the vessel for our return." The remaining Archons then began to sing, reciting the one hundred and twenty verses of the Dreamer's Gospel, and only when the echoes of the last line had faded did Jihli awake a changed woman.

● You Can't Make an Archon Without Hatching Some Eggs
After penning all one hundred and twenty verses of the gospel, which rang clear in her memory long after her vision had passed, Jihli set forth to begin what she believed was the bidding of the Archons. To do this, she first needed eggs. Hundreds and thousands of eggs. Realizing that she could not achieve this daunting task alone, she enlisted the help of the city's children, whom she sent out in search of spare eggs lying about the city. In another move of genius, she convinced a local bury of spriggans to steal eggs from dodo nests, utilizing the voidsents' natural instinct to hoard small, ovoid objects. Once the eggs were gathered, she then began coloring them in the same vibrant patterns she recalled from her dream.

At first, the public scoffed at this wide-eyed Miqo'te and her queer troupe, but the more they witnessed the passion with which she sung the gospel, the raw determination with which she painted her eggs, the more they, too, began to believe themselves that the Archons were destined to return. And now, the Dreamer has scores of followers busy "warming" eggs in preparation for the Hatching Hour, a final ceremony in which the eggs are used to beckon the Archons back to Eorzea.

● The Maddening Crowd
Even as we speak, the Dreamer's congregation continues to grow, but is this phenomenon truly a result of the masses belief in the prophecy Jihli sings, or is it something else that drives them, something less divine? It was only after further investigation, that I learned Jihli is offering specially crafted "egg caps" to all those who assist her in preparing for the Hatching Hour. Could it be that material lust is the true driving factor behind this festival's popularity? Perhaps we will never know, but what is certain, when the Hatching Hour comes and the celebration reaches its climax, all eyes will be on the Dreamer and her eggs. Will the Archons descend upon Eorzea, or will Jihli and her gospel fade into obscurity? The answer will be clear only when the Keeper's sands have run their course.

Oliver Goodfellow

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...13a4c8b1686111

Duration
Thursday, April 15 (1:00 a.m.) to Monday, May 9 (7:00 a.m.)
The Dreamers
Jihli Aliapoh, it appears, is not the only one claiming to have had visions of the Archons' return. Similarly garbed Dreamers have appeared in Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah as well.

Maybe this is 'an interesting and different' way to implement Chocobos? Bah! Who am I kidding?...

[Gokulo]

Chubby Mi'qote!

[Dense]

Is that an apkallu?

[shidobu]

Chubby Mi'qote!

....
if thats chubby id hate to see fat.

[Elcura]

Maybe it's my love for Chun-Li speaking, but I don't hate those legs.

[Groovebox]

Is that an apkallu?

Yes, there are apkallus in this game

[Telliani]

...screw the hats. I want LL's striped whore >_> coatee outfit O_o;

[Gulkeeva]

my guess was off on moogles giving out the quest, close enough miqo'te is even better!

[Corrderio]

Well I got an Earth Egg, however I have no clue how to get the others...

[Telliani]

I'm wondering if it's anything like the bells, where you get another in... 8 hours? Game day didn't work.

[Corrderio]

Well that sucks.

Also, there appears to be a glitch with this event, and it's somehow linked to anima regeneration:

We have confirmed the existence of an issue causing players to receive a message indicating that they are unable to participate in any special events, and subsequently being unable to join in any events. We are aware of the situation and are currently working to resolve it.

Players affected by this issue will be able to participate in events after regenerating anima. Therefore, if you find yourself affected by this issue, we would like to ask that you please wait and try again at a later time.

*Time remaining until anima regeneration can be viewed using he "/clock" text command.

We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

Source: http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...7b20897aeb63e9

[Katlan]

I like the Pic of the miq'ote

[Levin]

Jihli Aliapoh lol. One letter away from a water serpent general.

[Gulkeeva]

Maybe this is 'an interesting and different' way to implement Chocobos? Bah! Who am I kidding?...

Well I did see SE sneak in (maybe I missed it somehow?) gyashel greens in recently (checked yg didn't see it listed so presuming its recent).

Incase if people don't know, its that crap you had to feed to chocobos to get one in ffxiv (oh god did I hate that "feed sick chocobo" quest... but it was worth it at the end...

[Vuitton]

I love this picture. It has several art nouveau influences.

[Corrderio]

Just went back to the egg NPCs and still can't get anything, so it's more than 8 hours.

[Hyan]

The lore kinda hints that something "big" might happen when the event ends?

Never heard of those Archons before this patch either, it seems that

Spoiler: show

they fought against some evil 1500 years ago and there are still remnants of an ancient civilization from that era scattered around the region. It may even be the cause of Thanalan becoming a desert as was mentioned by one NPC.

They just keep piling up on the lore (dragons & ishgard, primals, garleans, archons..). I think the latter 3 may be linked somehow.

[miokomioko]

There's also a normal Ul'dah sidequest that talks about the coming of the Archons as well. This "hatching hour" intrigues me.

[Corrderio]

Just got another egg, seems you can get one once every 9-10 hours.

[solracht]

They just keep piling up on the lore (dragons & ishgard, primals, garleans, archons..). I think the latter 3 may be linked somehow.

Hope the lore starts being reflected in the game at some point. Hard to believe the Garleans are up to anything, even after doing the missions, for example. >.>