FFXIV story/lore thread

[AnnaMolly]

Spoiler: show

Minfilia is mentioned in the dialogue of a lv 54 side quest in Mor Dhona. By the sounds of it it sounds like she's sick or something. She's referred to as 'Lady Ascilia' by Koharu who says she has been 'tending to' her or something along those lines. Basically it implies she's alive and somewhere in Revenant's Toll.

Well, shit.

Was an error. (Spoilers)

[ronin sparthos]

I'd much rather see Doma and liberate it one day than deal with Ala Mihgo. Preferably in the inevitable "visit Garlemald!" expansion.

[AnnaMolly]

I fully expect Ala Migho to be our Tavnazia.

We'll get close, but the best we're gonna get is a small outpost somewhere we can see the city from at a distance.

We ain't never going there.

Couldn't Little Ala Mhigo be considered the outpost? We just can't see the city.

[Jem]

And I hope not too, Ala Mihgans are generally dicks. I hate pretty much all of them and I'm tired as shit of listening to them whine about their homeland.
"Why'd you do the bad thing?"
"Because Ala Mihgo!"
Fuck Ala Mihgo.

Pretty much how I feel. Fuck off Ala Mhigo. Maybe if you hadn't been dickheads with the attempted Gridania invasion, you'd have been better suited to deal with the Empire years later. And maybe you'd have received more help. Karma's a bitch, isn't it?

[Niiro]

Couldn't Little Ala Mhigo be considered the outpost? We just can't see the city.

Little Ala Mhigo is just called that because that's where a bunch of refugees settled, Thanalan isn't anywhere even remotely near Ala Mhigo.

[Seravi Edalborez]

Right. Ala Mhigo is that little "arena" looking thing on the region map east of Gridania (with the Xelphatol(sp) region slightly NW of it, and Garlean Empire in the mists NE of that.

[AnnaMolly]

I wasn't aware of the Gridanian invasion lore.. LOL

[Jem]

Yeah, they are a right set of hypocrits.

They had no qualms with trying to invade Gridania which the alliance, including Ishgard, fended off. But then when the Empire invade Ala Mhigo a few years later and they all cry whilst trying to take the moral high ground. Ala Mhigo were hardly a peaceful nation who just happened to be a victim of Imperial expansion which is what you'd think with how they act.

It would be like someone wiping out the Empire and the remnants becoming refugees in Ishgard whilst crying about their luck and it not being fair.

Get fucked Ala Mhigo, you reap what you sow.

[Jem]

This is basically the lore I can find about it from a quick google as I'm working off what I remember. Found on the OF (forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/39515-Want-Lore-History-Here-you-go!-(Possible-Spoilers))

The East End is just that─the eastern end of the Black Shroud.

The Autumn War marked the beginning of hostilities between Ala Mhigo and Gridania. The first major victory in that war came at the First Battle of Tinolqa, and it belonged to Ala Mhigo. Defeated, the Gridanians retreated to the safety of Five Hangs. The front was splintered, and afterwards they would resort to opportunistic ambushes, and the constant redeployment of troops to continue their resistance. The Ala Mhigans, confident of ultimate victory, enjoined Gridania to surrender. As conditions, they demanded that all of the East and portions of the Central Shroud be relinquished, and perhaps more disturbingly, that the Seedseers be taken as wards of Ala Mhigo, where they would be met with no harm. Needless to say, Gridania refused.

Providence was to be delivered to the forestborn by the neighboring nation of Ishgard. Wary of Ala Mhigo's ambitions for the region, the See appealed to Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah for aid. The three joined Gridania in her declaration of war against Ala Mhigo, and sent troops to reinforce the front. But this was far from a gesture of charity. It is easy to see what the motives of the See were. Should certain sections of the Black Shroud be annexed to Ala Mhigo, Ishgard's southern and eastern borders would become extremely vulnerable to a possible invasion. For their part, Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah had virtually nothing to lose by entering into the war, and yet everything to gain by curbing the power of Ala Mhigo in the realm. Even more, victory would place Gridania in their debt. And so it came to pass that these four great nations joined into a grand alliance to combat the advance of Ala Mhigo. The fighting which was to follow would later be named the Second Battle of Tinolqa. The heaviest and most devastating combat took place on a tract of land called East End.

In the beginning, there were several small-scale skirmishes, but the allied powers succeeded in foiling the stratagems of Ala Mhigo at every turn. Feeling the tide begin to turn against them, Ala Mhigo dispatched its pikemen─known far and wide for their effectiveness against mounted units such as the knights of Ishgard. To rally the troops even more, King Manfred himself took to the field to lead them. At first, it seemed as though Ala Mhigo had succeeded in reversing its fortune, as the allies began a slow retreat towards East End. This was a clever ploy, however, designed to lure the pikemen into the dense growth of the forest, where their long polearms would be unwieldy and near useless.

It was during these days that the archers of Gridania would prove their value beyond the bow, singing songs of heroism and glory in the field to bolster the allied troops. It is said that this gave birth to the bard tradition. The archers of Gridania excelled at combat in the dense vegetation of the Black Shroud, and their arrows inflicted heavy casualties on the Ala Mhigans. In the end, General Gylbarde was slain, King Manfred severely wounded, and Ala Mhigo completely and utterly defeated.

And that is a brief summation of the history of East End─site of the end of the forest, and the end of the war both. Do you know, I can almost feel you getting less stupid

Also some more insight about Ala Mhigo

The Last King of Ala Mhigo

As I likely explained if you have ever bothered to ask me about monks and the Fist of Rhalgr, the King of Ruin, Theodoric, was a ruthless despot and tyrant. It should come as no surprise then, that he was the last king of Ala Mhigo.

But the tale of his rise and fall is the stuff we historians live for! Theodoric's lust for power was such that nothing less that absolute rule would appease him. To counter the political influence of the Fist of Rhalgr, he proclaimed his kingship to be the product of divine will─ordained by Nymeia herself. What followed was a crusade which sought to exterminate the monks entirely. Yet it was the truly depraved acts of barbarism to come that would shake Ala Mhigan society to its very core. This ensuing era of terror was what earned Theodoric the title “King of Ruin.”

After the massacre at the Fist's main temple, religious opposition to Theodoric nearly disappeared altogether. He then began purges of the Ala Mhigan royalty, seeing any and all potential pretenders to his throne dead and buried─regardless of house, loyalties, or standing. Beheadings were commonplace, carried out daily. Before long, it looked as though Theodoric would have no heads left to take. But he then turned his wrath upon any soul with a claim to the throne, no matter how remote. After that, it was to be the empowered nobles and wealthy merchants.

Fearing for their lives, they professed their innocence to the queen, pleading for her to stay her maniacal husband's hand. She attempted words to assuage his lust for power turned lust for blood, but he was deaf to her appeals. Finding no recourse, she conspired with a group of nobles to murder Theodoric. Yet before the regicide could take place, one among them betrayed their plot, and for their treason, the king saw them all less a head. This only served to compound Theodoric's paranoia and insanity. Distrustful of all, his purges now became little more than random executions, claiming of the lives of noble and beggar and all in between.

It is not difficult to imagine what transpired next.

The palace became a despicable gathering of sycophants and backstabbers, and the common folk scarce left their homes. Seeking heads on which to lay blame for worsening conditions, Theodoric turned the axe upon his most loyal followers. When the oppression became too much to bear, the people revolted and stormed the palace. The royal guard cast aside their vows and allowed the Ala Mhigans to pass. A noble revolt? For the best, no? False! It was the absence of leadership and solidarity in the wake of this chaos that prompted Garlemald to attack! In the end, Theodoric was lucid enough to judge suicide preferable to death at the hands of an angry mob. He ended his own life, and with it, his reign of ruin and his own bloodline. Or so it was thought at the time! But Theodred, a nephew to the king, was hidden by his mother in a remote temple of the Fist of Rhalgr which had survived the purges, and thus he escaped his uncle's fury.

And that is the history of the last king of Ala Mhigo. And many a lesson there is to be learned from it! It is only a pity you are too dull to do so.

[Lujei]

So, this is going to be very dumb, but what are Lahabrea and Igeyorhm doing offscreen during Heavensward? Is one constantly staying around the Holy See? Not directly in his presence, as we clearly know that's not true from multiple scenes, but, say, as a guest with a personal room. Or do they both return to their own pocket dimension and wait it out until they feel they're needed/called?

I suppose that, after rewatching the cutscenes, it seems strange that Igeyorhm just walks offscreen beside the pope after Bismark. Earlier, Lahabrea happened to be there at the right time when you returned to Ishgard after Nidhogg and spoke as if he was planning and discussing things with the Holy See on a relatively frequent basis. It makes me think one of them is in the relative vicinity of the Holy See at all times while the other is off doing whatever it is Ascians do in their free time.

[Carth]

That awkward feel when when you've finished the HW storyline then start doing the DRG quests.

[Rocl]

At the very least Alberic acknowledges he knows of Estinien's fate. Still fucking weird like how does he know, bro? That's like if House Fortemps knew Estinien stole the Eye and went rogue.

Also, as for what characters do offscreen: who the hell knows. How the hell did Thordan manage to trick some immortal fucking beings?

[Shalafi]

They didn't know that Nidhogg's second eye was stashed?

[gattsuru]

I wonder if the Ascians knew they were vulnerable to being eaten by Primals, and if they're normally vulnerable to such attacks or they must been severely weakened first.

The only other time we've seen an Ascian-like being consumed as Lahabrea was, it was after Merlwyb had shot and killed a sagahin shaman several times. They'd have to be pretty stupid to teach so many different people to summon Primals if they're normally vulnerable to consumption, especially since until the use of white auracite that seems to have been their only vulnerability. On the other hand, Lahabrea doesn't seem particularly smart...

My guess is that the Ascians knew of both Eyes, and of the ElfPope's plan to summon Primals. If the Warrior of Light hadn't interfered, they'd probably have just done whatever they were intending at Warring Triad Control (set part of the Triad free? grabbed some magitech?) and high-tailed after doing the grunt-and-nod as the Knights of the Round arrived but before they turned into Alexander and Friends. It's only because we beat them up that they became vulnerable and didn't get away in time.

[Hiryo]

That awkward feel when when you've finished the HW storyline then start doing the DRG quests.

Spoiler: show

tfw the npc presents you with their ultimate enemy and all you want to say is. "Yo, I can squash all these mfers right now if you want me to."

In regards to primals being the vulnerability of ascians and using the sahagin as an example, the idea may be that the primals can destroy/detain echo users in general(including ascians as echo users). So the player may still be the target, but on a more grander scale. As in, if the eternal conflict between WoL and Ascian can be put to an end if their/our echo soul or w/e is destroyed by primals. Of course, the fact that their first attempts at this seemed to spark intrigue in the ascians rather than disappointment makes it seem like WoL death during 2.1 ex primal era wasn't the goal at all :\

[Vuitton]

Need some clarification. If Azys Lla was the research capital of the Allagans where they perfected binding primals, the warring triad being the first three, and bahamut being the next. What purpose did bahamut serve in dalamud while in orbit? Was it an energy source for the crystal tower to summon the void? I think I knew this but have since forgotten...

(I wonder who summoned the warring triad since each primal has had somebody desiring a primal's presence via prayer. If the triad is 3 separate primals, and they're "warring", I'd guess that three different factions summoned each of them to fight for their side?)

[Niiro]

Dalamud was a big ass solar panel in space channeling energy to Syrcus tower to maintain the portal to the void, yes.

As for the real deal with the Triad there's not much to go on, I just hope they make them interesting and substantial and it wasn't just a throwaway reference to try and hype the expansion.

[Spira]

I believe the story alludes to the warring triad as eikons (the allagan definition of it) as opposed to primals, meaning that they weren't willed into existence by prayer and crystals, but are actual aether beings that roam the world.. like Odin.

[gattsuru]

Assuming Crystal Tower is still canon, Primal!Bahamut was a channeling system to bring aether from the sun through Dalamud before it was transmitted to the ground. Officially, Xande claimed that Dalamud's conduit was to better power the Allagan Empire, but according to Dogi, secretly he intended to use it to power a voidgate even before it lifted off. The Warriors of Light merely hurried his plans to their catastrophic end. Xande's overuse of this system to try and open a voidgate large enough for the Cloud of Darkness caused a Calamity of Earth, but the Crystal Tower itself also safely powered the majority of Allagan magitek well before the establishment of Dalamud and that eventual disaster. The resulting aetheric deficiency from the Crystal Tower's loss is what really sunk the empire, and why nearly everything we find is in stasis mode.

The Warring Triad are also Elder Primals/Eikons, in whatever sense also makes Odin and Belias an Elder Primal/Eikon. It's not clear what this actually means, but if Odin's any guide it includes some ability to persist with few or no believers. There's also no record of who summoned Odin to begin with; he and/or the Warring Triad may date back before the Allagan Empire.

[Niiro]

I believe the story alludes to the warring triad as eikons (the allagan definition of it) as opposed to primals, meaning that they weren't willed into existence by prayer and crystals, but are actual aether beings that roam the world.. like Odin.

Yea it was odd that Odin got namedropped in the 3.0 EX primal quests considering how unrelated he was to what was going on.