FFXIV story/lore thread

[Rocl]

The Sahagin very clearly mention Leviathan (I haven't gone past Rank 2 in them though, focusing on maxing Kobold first for palanquin and got delayed a few days) and even say something to the effect of "I don't care if your people get tempered, more people worshiping Leviathan is good. The bad part is tempering people makes the Maelstrom angry and kill us so go free those Storm Privates I guess"

Also I don't know if it's a super retcon, since we had the Sahagin pulling strings with the Ascians early in 1.0. I mean we never saw them but saw the Serpent Reavers (who apparently exist as those tempered and those who simply didn't care where the coin came from). Their involvement with the Paragons seems to have carried over into 2.0 as well since the Priest mentions Elidibus lied to him when promising Eternity.

[Raldo]

Ah, I do vaguely recall that, though that still leaves it open whether or not the Sahagins themselves are tempered. I fully suspect they are, especially since the lore team has specified that "it's okay to kill those beastmen in the beastmen strongholds because they're all tempered", but I was surprised to not see it mentioned at all in the main questlines.

[Rocl]

ftr I looked in my journal and it's "Scarlet Sea Devil" and the tempered Sahagin are referred to as the Coral Tridents, or at the very least the most aggressive/fanatical Sahagin are called the "Coral Tridents"

[Raldo]

Goddammit, I knew it was a red color. No wonder nothing sounded right. I'll edit that.

[Kaixin]

Oooh fascinating reads!

So the rafflesia, landtraps, and lunar golems in T6 are just local flora (and rocks) that have been corrupted by Dalamud's impact. Neato! Makes sense.

I don't remember it being explicitly stated that the Allagans created chimera, was it in non-cutscene NPC text dialogue? Is there an easy way to review that?

I wonder if there's a significance behind the Renaud name. So far all I've got is: a french singer Renaud who sang a song titled Melusine, a french sculptor named Francis Renaud, and some other historical french Renauds. Maybe the cyclops are there because they were captured to use as test subjects for the lamia stone powers or just more foot soldiers?

The whole snake-lamia-Ascian connection/theme was something I had read earlier but never clicked for me until now. So clever SE!

The Avatar being a robot treant is super interesting too, if it's intended. Fuckin' with a treant, whether it's an actual Wolverine-style converted treant or just a mechanical (an oddly smooth and advanced looking one...considering the junky nature of clockwork knights/soldiers/dreadnaughts) replica plays into the whole "MAN AM PLAY GODS" thing the Allagan have got going on.

I don't know a lot about Meracydia (in fact this is the first I've ever heard of it as a continent that the Allagan conquered...never played 1.0. This thread is a gold mine). But given that they're linked with the bound Twintania and are all "of Meracydia" does it not make sense that wyverns are from Meracydia and that the Allagan enslaved them afterwards?

Finally, T9 speculation:

Spoiler: show

What's the deal with the extremely bland "10 seconds until Megaflare" warning in T9? Developer oversight, or intended given the nature of T9 as a holodeck?

[Raldo]

I don't know a lot about Meracydia (in fact this is the first I've ever heard of it as a continent that the Allagan conquered...never played 1.0. This thread is a gold mine). But given that they're linked with the bound Twintania and are all "of Meracydia" does it not make sense that wyverns are from Meracydia and that the Allagan enslaved them afterwards?

Given that they're called "Scourge of Meracydia", I'd be inclined to say that they were the weapons used against Meracydia, rather than them being from Maracydia.

[Alkar]

We are given an Asican's word that Belias is an elder primal but I don't recall any distinct reference of Zodiark being a primal, only a god (the one true god!) so I think that claim might be a little heavy handed. Much like the "omg hydaelyn tempered us qq" theory train. There's a lot of support and it makes sense but it hasn't been explicitly stated so it's not what I'd call definite.

It's a pretty safe assumption. If all we had regarding Leviathan were words from the Sahagin we wouldn't call him a Primal either. Yeah it's not stated but Belias being one kinda supports the theory even more.

[Lyall]

Unrelated, but is there any harder lore on how linkpearls work other than story cutscenes? We don't really talk into them but we always gesture to our ears when acknowledging. Is it basically a tiny radio? Is it a removable MGS codec? Does it pick up background noise like a phone would? How does it know to transmit? People have been asking me about it lately and I realized the only thing I've got to go on is headcanon and FFXI.

[Rocl]

I don't remember it being explicitly stated that the Allagans created chimera, was it in non-cutscene NPC text dialogue? Is there an easy way to review that?

I don't remember if I read it in game yet, but I definitely read it on xivdb's quest dialogue database. However apparently it's all been removed now. With any luck someone will have a backup.

I don't know a lot about Meracydia (in fact this is the first I've ever heard of it as a continent that the Allagan conquered...never played 1.0. This thread is a gold mine). But given that they're linked with the bound Twintania and are all "of Meracydia" does it not make sense that wyverns are from Meracydia and that the Allagan enslaved them afterwards?

No, not really. It's possible that the Allagans tried their standard dragons against Meracydia to some success before Primals were summoned. I don't remember where I read it specifically but I'm inclined to believe Alisaie herself thought the same thing (that the Scourges and maybe Twintania were used in the War against Meracydia)

Finally, T9 speculation:

Spoiler: show

What's the deal with the extremely bland "10 seconds until Megaflare" warning in T9? Developer oversight, or intended given the nature of T9 as a holodeck?

Given that there's quite a few videos out there of T9 now (well two wins and one guide at least) I'm not going to be coy here. Almost all of Nael's moveset is lifted from 1.0; in fact the general size of Lunar Dynamo is probably comparable to the fight in 1.0 too. Megaflare was used after 'van' Darnus became 'Deus' Darnus and our first clue as to what was inside of Dalamud (and I kick myself for not realizing it every day, what with figuring it was red herring since Ishgard theologians postulated the dragons worshipped a Primal as well) The countdown might just be for "dat FF feel" of Bahamut counting down. As for who's speaking? Maybe Nael, maybe the Holodecks, who knows. The fact the arena for the first half is fairly good copy of the 1.0 fight makes me happy enough to ignore a ton of shit (rip staircases and Fierce Ravensbeak)

It's a pretty safe assumption. If all we had regarding Leviathan were words from the Sahagin we wouldn't call him a Primal either. Yeah it's not stated but Belias being one kinda supports the theory even more.

You're right. If all we had was Sahagin calling Leviathan a God we wouldn't call him a Primal. However we have several other sources corroborating he is the same sort of entity as Titan/Ifrit/Garuda whom we designate Primals. The majority of the world doesn't know Zodiark exists. In fact, probably only the player character and the Ascians know; perhaps the Circle of Knowing know (heh) something as well. It is entirely possible Belias isn't an Elder Primal either, we don't know if the Ascian was simply telling Tristan what he wanted to hear. The Ascian knew Tristan knew of Primals, and likely of 'elder' primals even though this designation is relatively new to us as players (introduced as Bahamut's moniker between 1.0 and 2.0). We don't have any major claims to support that Zodiark and Belias are elder primals other than what the player pieces together for themselves. It hangs together nicely now but it's important to remember we don't really know what the fuck an Elder Primal is. We don't know what makes a Primal a Primal. We don't know what the Twelve are. We don't know what the Mothercrystal/Hydaelyn is (and Zodiark seems to be a direct opposite of her). It may be a well-informed speculation but it's still speculation, which is why I compared it to the idea that the Echo and Tempering are related.

Unrelated, but is there any harder lore on how linkpearls work other than story cutscenes? We don't really talk into them but we always gesture to our ears when acknowledging. Is it basically a tiny radio? Is it a removable MGS codec? Does it pick up background noise like a phone would? How does it know to transmit? People have been asking me about it lately and I realized the only thing I've got to go on is headcanon and FFXI.

We actually have evidence that the bolded is true. The MGS Codec thing is probably the best thing to think of I guess, I don't recall the specifics of MGS Codecs tho. Anyways on the bolded, Cid specifically mentions aetherial interference as a means of cutting off Garlean communication and as we go deeper into Eorzea to fight Gaius he gets cut off. There's also that badass bit before the Nero fight where he turns off your communication to Cid (and the music!) Assumedly whenever you wanted to listen/speak you'd touch your ear to activate the pearl. No idea how you fit 8 in your ear. No idea how you cycle through them. Shit's magic and probably won't have a serious explanation as it's a very shoddy way of incorporating the gamey parts of the game with the story/lore.

Edit: rip i misinterpreted "background noise" as "interference/spotty reception"

[Kaixin]

Huh, after what you said, I looked it up. I had no idea that Megaflare is traditionally associated with both Bahamut and a countdown. They're all extremely blunt, flavorless countdowns too. Neeeeeat. Kinda wish I was more of a FF fan to get these little tidbits. http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Countdown_(Ability)

[Obsidian]

I thought Eorzea was the only continent known to have Primals? Is Meracydia Eorzea's old name or is/was it it's own continent, separate from Eorzea (and Garlemald, I guess? Was Allag the old Eorzea?). I'm totally lost on the geography haha.

[Rocl]

I thought Eorzea was the only continent known to have Primals?

Absolutely not! The first known summoning of a Primal (to me anyways) of the Modern Era is in Orthard in response to Garlean invasion! This is why I was keenly interested in Yugiri's reaction to Leviathan. I was pretty disappointed ftr.

In fact, this is why Garlemald freaked the fuck out when Eorzeans summoned Primals. I'm also not sure how they overcame the Eastern Primals. I feel like whatever happened at Silvertear Falls regarding the Primals is the biggest concern of Garlemald; as I recall Primals were rare/nearly nonexistent in Eorzea before this happened.

Is Meracydia Eorzea's old name or is/was it it's own continent, separate from Eorzea (and Garlemald, I guess? Was Allag the old Eorzea?). I'm totally lost on the geography haha.

Meracydia is the name of the Southern Continent. Eorzea is a region consisting of the Aldenard continent and surrounding islands (including Vyldbrand, where Limsa is). Aldenard is connected to Islemabard (sp) by an isthmus, this is where the Empire comes from. The Allagan Empire was based in Eorzea. Othard is the Eastern Continent. There's a "New World" and a Western Continent, and I want to say the Northern seas are full of islands (where Sea Wolves hail from iirc)

Edit: Please note I included beastmen in "eorzeans" because we don't know who summoned what after the Fall of Ala Mhigo.

[Lyall]

Thanks, Rocl. I expect pearls are just a handwaved mechanic. I always figured they were tiny speaker systems, more or less, and we were pressing our ears to focus on the sound to make out what was being said, not unlike when people press a phone against their ear harder if the person on the other side's got a shitty connection. I don't recall ever seeing someone speaking directly into one, so I also figured after being pressed like that they'd just transmit your voice until you stopped talking, similar to Push To Talk on... well, anything.

[ebil]

Oooh fascinating reads!
I wonder if there's a significance behind the Renaud name. So far all I've got is: a french singer Renaud who sang a song titled Melusine, a french sculptor named Francis Renaud, and some other historical french Renauds. Maybe the cyclops are there because they were captured to use as test subjects for the lamia stone powers or just more foot soldiers?

Melusine is a "fairy" from French medieval myths: she's most often depicted as half-woman half-snake. Renaud, who later becomes King of Bohemia is the one-eyed son of Mélusine.

I was so frustrated when I discovered she wasn't Medusa after all, would have meshed so well with the whole Asclepius/Ophiucus theme from first Coil. Oh well.

[Neon_Sea]

Just about t8 the Avatar is actually named bio treant in the french version, so the it's not just a model rip.

[Rocl]

Melusine is a "fairy" from French medieval myths: she's most often depicted as half-woman half-snake. Renaud, who later becomes King of Bohemia is the one-eyed son of Mélusine.

I was so frustrated when I discovered she wasn't Medusa after all, would have meshed so well with the whole Asclepius/Ophiucus theme from first Coil. Oh well.

Maybe the Lamia suspended in green goo above the T7 battlefield is Medusa and her blood is being used in the internment hulk to help speed the regeneration of Bahamut!

Just about t8 the Avatar is actually named bio treant in the french version, so the it's not just a model rip.

Awesome, that actually lends my crazy theory credence! Are there any other deviations you know of off the top of your head?

[Raldo]

Probably not terribly important to the story, but for anyone who's cleared Coil2 already... where do you pop out?

[Rocl]

I haven't cleared but as I recall from quest dialogue that was on xivdb, Northern Thanalan. I recall Alisaie remarking on being back at another of Dalamud's Talons.

[Seravi Edalborez]

^ Yep. Seen a T9 clear series of screenshots where they popped out in N.Than, where you used to pop out from Turn 5.

[Rocl]

ftr this is likely because it's the closest in-game zone to Carteneau Flats, where Bahamut is located underneath I imagine